Archive for 11/4/2008 - 6 Heshvan, 5769

For those sick of the AFLAC duck, this is truly an unfortunate event.

(Unless of course the duck sunk to the bottom of the sea and stayed there.)

Julia Roberts is a horrible mother. She (and her husband) named their newborn son Phinnaeus, and their newborn daughter Hazel. It was their first decision as parents, and they decided to be cruel.

1) My suspicion is, with their son, they are very bad spellers, and were making reference to the recent remake of Verne’s classic Around the World in Eighty Days. Unfortunately, the protagonist in that book/film is Phineas Fogg.

However, it is possible they spelled the name correctly, and they are interested in The general methods of brain/behaivor analyses and are making reference to a famous case of accidental brain injury.

Or a little more likely they are fans of the Christian Rock group Juggernautz which have a song subtitled ‘j-nautz vs Phinnaeus’ on an album.

It could also be a ‘family name’ but when you put the name into google, and only get a grand total of 14 references, most of them to one of the two above scenarios, it’s doubtful.

2) Unless a family name, Hazel is likely either the maid from the 1960s sitcom, or a reference to the plant the Witch Hazel. Hoperfully the former. Regardless, the name suggests to me someone who is over 60. But maybe the name is staging a comeback.

Both kids will be teased about their names. Phinnaeus more so. Hopefully their decisions as parents improve — but this was an important one, and in my opinion, they failed.

Of course, neither child has been gifted with “moon unit” or “dweezil”. There are definitely examples of entertainment figures who were crueler.

Listening to: Lumpy Gravy

Due to the history of this blog we would be negilgent if we were not to mention the death of John Drew Barrymore, 72. Father of Drew.

His last credited role in a movie, according to IMDB, was the 1974 Sci Fi film, Clones.

Of course, it is my belief his best work was released on Feb 22 of the following year. “Co-Produced” with his wife, Jaid. I was six at the time.

The below statistical graphs only refer to the section of my website titled: “Victor Hugo Central”. They don’t include my blog.

Here’s the “percent-share” by time zone of all the visitors to the site:

I find this interesting in that the Eastern time zone has a significantly larger share than other time zones in the US. I am attributing it to a possibly larger concentration of colleges and universities, since they are my primary audience. However, I’m not sure if there really is a larger concentation. There are universities and colleges in every state.

It’s nice to see that there is a significant international audience as well.

This is perhaps the most surprising graph. Well…maybe not. The 4 days with the least amount of traffic this month: November 6, 13, 20, and 27. All Saturdays. Is it really surprising that college students aren’t using Saturday for research? Mondays and Tuesdays are the most active. Party all weekend, and when Monday and Tuesday arrive, and you realize you’re behind on that paper that’s due soon, you go to the internet and start your research.

Or maybe today’s students are different than they were in my day…perhaps the research papers are assigned on Monday or Tuesday…and today’s conscientous students immediately begin their research that night. Yeah, right.

How are Victor Hugo, Nicolas Flamel, Harry Potter, Priory of Sion, and the inhabitants of the planet of Mercury all related? Find out here.

That’s funny…You don’t look Jewish…

Here’s another Edgar Guest poem. Some people might find it strange this is one of my favorites. But it does bring tears to my eyes reading it. If one’s to post this, it needs to be posted early enough to get the intended results.

(One could replace the word ‘Christmas’ though with ‘Pesach’ and it would scan perfectly. The fifth line of the second stanza might need a little additional work. And the meaning would hold true.)

On Going Home for Christmas - by Edgar Guest

He little knew the sorrow that was in his vacant chair;
He never guessed they’d miss him, or he’d surely have been there;
He couldn’t see his mother or the lump that filled her throat,
Or the tears that started falling as she read his hasty note;
And he couldn’t see his father, sitting sorrowful and dumb,
Or he never would have written that he thought he couldn’t come.

He little knew the gladness that his presence would have made,
And the joy it would have given, or he never would have stayed.
He didn’t know how hungry had the little mother grown
Once again to see her baby and to claim him for her own.
He didn’t guess the meaning of his visit Christmas Day
Or he never would have written that he couldn’t get away.

He couldn’t see the fading of the cheeks that once were pink,
And the silver in the tresses; and he didn’t stop to think
How the years are passing swiftly, and next Christmas it might be
There would be no home to visit and no mother dear to see.
He didn’t think about it — I’ll not say he didn’t care.
He was heedless and forgetful or he’d surely have been there.

Are you going home for Christmas? Have you written you’ll be there?
Going home to kiss the mother and to show her that you care?
Going home to greet the father in a way to make him glad?
If you’re not I hope there’ll never come a time you’ll wish you had.
Just sit down and write a letter — it will make their heart strings hum
With a tune of perfect gladness — if you’ll tell them that you’ll come.

Thanksgiving - by Edgar Guest (my choice for King of Sentimental Poetry)

GETTIN’ together to smile an’ rejoice,
An’ eatin’ an’ laughin’ with folks of your choice;
An’ kissin’ the girls an’ declarin’ that they
Are growin more beautiful day after day;
Chattin’ an’ braggin’ a bit with the men,
Buildin’ the old family circle again;
Livin’ the wholesome an’ old-fashioned cheer,
Just for awhile at the end of the year.

Greetings fly fast as we crowd through the door
And under the old roof we gather once more
Just as we did when the youngsters were small;
Mother’s a little bit grayer, that’s all.
Father’s a little bit older, but still
Ready to romp an’ to laugh with a will.
Here we are back at the table again
Tellin’ our stories as women an men.

Bowed are our heads for a moment in prayer;
Oh, but we’re grateful an’ glad to be there.
Home from the east land an’ home from the west,
Home with the folks that are dearest an’ best.
Out of the sham of the cities afar
We’ve come for a time to be just what we are.
Here we can talk of ourselves an’ be frank,
Forgettin’ position an’ station an’ rank.

Give me the end of the year an’ its fun
When most of the plannin’ an’ toilin’ is done;
Bring all the wanderers home to the nest,
Let me sit down with the ones I love best,
Hear the old voices still ringin’ with song,
See the old faces unblemished by wrong,
See the old table with all of its chairs
An I’ll put soul in my Thanksgivin’ prayers.

TShirtHell has some nice^* tshirts for the holidays. I’ve done a little censoring below, but I think everyone should be able to get the gist.

If that shirt isn’t nice enough for you, TShirt Hell definitely aims to please:

Of course, they have stuff inappropriate for all ages, genders, faiths, orientations…so if you like that sort of stuff…

^*The word nice has an ironic etymological history. In Middle English, it meant ‘foolish’. It comes from the Latin word, ‘nescius,’ which means ‘ignorant’. It is still used today in this manner, but usually with a sarcastic tone of voice.

Things don’t look good this week for the lovable ‘kosher robot’, Shabot 6000

Maybe the CIA will become involved.

The BBC’s Radio One is selling Beat Bullying Wrist Bands. Several stars are promoting them. Including Bono:

Anything Bono wears looks cool, so I wouldn’t mind ordering one. But of course, the order page says “will only ship to UK addresses”.

I checked Ebay…but no enterprising UKers have put theirs up for sale yet.

From the methodology section of the FBI report it says:

The FBI collects hate crime data regard-ing criminal offenses that are motivated, in whole or in part, by the offenderís bias against a race, religion, sexual ori-entation, ethnicity/national origin, or dis-ability, and committed against persons, property, or society.

So unless gender-based crimes are counted along with their orientation-based cousins, they’re not counted.

UPDATE

Gender-based violence is a significant social and historical problem, with women the predominant victims. Only recently, however, have these acts of violence been characterized as hate crimes. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1998 would make gender a category of bias-motivated crime.

Except for crimes against homosexuals, the federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act does not collect data on gender.

– American Psychological Association

The above article is 6 years old. The Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1998 apparently didn’t pass, as Gender, Sexuality, and Disability are still not considered under Federal Hate Crimes. The FBI counts the statistics for sexuality and disability, but not gender.

The 2003 Hate Crime Stats have been released. (The link is to the FBI’s report, in PDF format)

Lots of charts, but the “offenses by Bias Motivation” interested me in that it categorizes everything they consider hate:

Race: 3,844 incidents
Religion: 1,343 incidents
Sexual Orientation: 1,239 incidents
Ethnicity/National Origin: 1,026 incidents
Disability: 33 incidents
Multiple Biases: 4 incidents

In general, the numbers don’t surprise me. I was curious whether they counted hate crimes motivated on gender. It’s possible they classified it based on the sexual orientation of the victim, but that’s not entirely accurate. Gender and Sexual Orientation are not the same thing.

I know there are misogynists out there, as well as their men-hating counterparts, the word for which I am forgetting right now. (Misandrogyny?) I assume crimes they commit based on that hatred are considered hate crimes, right?

Note: ‘Misandrist’ was the word I was looking for. A misandrogynist would be one who hated hermaphrodites.

After 9.01237e+37 pages in this session, a monkey typed:

Anthonio. In sooth IC5A]OhTDwi9(vR3WvYpT)9b
utDZIrA…

the first 20 letters of which match “The Merchant of Venice”:

Anthonio. In sooth I know not why I am so sad,
It wearies me: you say it wearies you;

(unfortunately, I only have another hour before I will have to end this session, so if my monkeys are going to surpass the 22 character record, they need to work harder.)

More analysis on the Urban/Rural split of America.

As I said in earlier posts, I still tend to agree with Barack Obama’s assessment. A candidate who sticks to Progressive and Liberal policies, and backs it up with a moral faith-based foundation, will win.

Those who actually vote on policy lean to the left. And while this is frustrating for us on the Left, we should also feel encouraged that if we can find a candidate who shares our views, but has a ‘personality’ the rest of America likes, we should be in pretty good shape.

Monkey Shakespeare Simulator

Simulates monkeys typing random keystrokes…and matches random keystrokes against Shakespeare database.

The longer you keep the simulator going, the better the chance the monkeys have of achieving greatness.

Current record: 22 Shakespearean keystrokes.

I’ve been letting it run in the background for a few minutes…and my monkeys are up to 19.

After 8.78899e+36 pages in this session, a monkey typed:

Leonato. I learne i[Ix’W4B3NtW([A9AuZEkUX,e&Wiy1N5…

the first 19 letters of which match “Much adoe about Nothing”:

Leonato. I learne in this Letter, that Don Peter of Arragon,
comes this night to Messina

Which is more ironic:

1) Rain on your wedding day
2)

The answer is (2).

Irony (The two most common uses)

* An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
* Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.

No one would ever expect to see someone ironing their clothes underwater — without electrocuting themselves.

Notice no definition exists comparable to “something that sucks.”

But, you protest, no one expects rain on their wedding day!

No, no one wants rain on their wedding day. Expectation requires either some sort of control, or a knowledge of the odds. So if it were July, in the Northern hemisphere, and it snowed, that would be ironic. But it would be ironic whether you were getting married or not. If you were in the middle of a desert, and it rained, that would be ironic.

Or if you were Thor…and it rained on your Wedding day…or didn’t rain…depending upon what you, Thor, the God of Thunder, expected…that would be ironic.

Oh, hell, it’s been 8 years. It’s a losing battle.

Is Mike or Mic the proper shortened form of ‘Microphone’?

Here’s one linguist’s argument for ‘Mike’.

The most persuasive part of his argument, I feel, is that ‘miced’ doesn’t work as a verb. But since I have no intention of ever using the word as a verb, this is irrelevant for my uses.

Ben has some other pictures for captioning as well

Bulls find the upper portion of a cow’s nose extremely arousing.
So the white line below is to protect the moral values of their young.

Alternate Headline: Young Cow Urged to Surrender to Police

“If George Bush [Jr] decided he was going to turn the troops loose on Syria and Iran after that he would last in office for about 15 minutes.In fact if President Bush were to try that now even I would think that he ought to be impeached. You can’t get away with that sort of thing in this democracy.”

Lawrence Eagleburger, US Secretary of State under George Bush Sr — April 14, 2003

Security! There’s a vicious rabbit on my chair!
Oh, sorry, just a raindrop.

Upset with recent elections?
Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires.

Bill Gates gets 4 million emails a day. (Mostly spam.)

And girls will still be girls in East Texas.

A small-town in East Texas had a tradition during homecoming week of boys dressing up as girls, and girls dressing up as boys (and reversing social roles as well) No longer, as someone complained they were teaching the kids to be homosexuals.

As the article points out, similar cross-dressing days in other parts of the country have recently been cancelled as well. Some due to protests from the “left”, complaining it was offensive to the transgendered.

One could also argue that reversing social roles for a day reinforces those social roles the other 364 days of the year. But we’re talking Texas here, so I’m sure no one cared about that.

Now the kids are going to be asked to dress up as soldiers instead. (Teach them to fight, and kill. Much better.) Since we’re talking Texas, I’m sure this will cause no problems.

Confession: The Blogger has been known to ‘cross-dress’ in the past, usually, but not always involving alcohol. [photo removed]

The AP has the best response to the “Monday Night Football” incident I’ve seen so far.

Let’s see if we’ve got this straight:

Showing Nicollette Sheridan in a pregame promotion for “Monday Night Football” wearing nothing but a towel?

Bad.

Showing the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders repeatedly during the game, all 38 of them dressed in costumes that, sewn together, still wouldn’t be enough material for a decent towel?

Good.

Listening to ABC fake an apology and watching the NFL recoil in mock horror because somebody forgot the difference between league-sanctioned “cheesecake” and the unsanctioned variety?

Priceless.

I didn’t see it, but from the descriptions, it was no more salacious than stuff I’ve seen on many a primetime show. The only thing ’seen’ was a woman’s back. No, not ‘backside’, ‘back’. The ’shocker’ was the implication that the woman was naked. (Horrors!)

Let me suggest those shocked watch an episode of Star Trek:TNG entitled Menage a Trois. It appeared in the late 80s, and Star Trek is generally considered a “family show.” Both Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and Lwaxana Troi (Majel Barrett Roddenbery) (mother and daughter) were kidnapped by a ship of Ferengi, and forced to remove their clothing.

Both Q and Picard in later episodes, played by John DeLancie and Patrick Stewart, were naked as well. Lwaxana ended up naked again when she walked down the wedding aisle. There was a lot of nudity on the show. (And some people claim there was one episode with near ‘Full Frontal Nudity” even though the character was ‘fully dressed’ in body paint. The same episode, “Cost of Living” had a scene which implied several adults and a kid were sharing a mudbath)

So get over it.

Amend for Arnold.org makes the case for Amending the US constitution to allow foreign born Presidents. Their case: They want Schwarzenegger president.

If you go to the website, you will see a header: Amend for Arnold and Jen
Surfing the site, it’s not easy figuring out who “Jen” is. She’s only mentioned on one or two pages.

Michigan Governor, Jennifer Granholm (D)

Obviously, the constructors of the site were tyring to make it look “bi-partisan”, but they aren’t putting much effort into that beyond mentioning her name once or twice.

Granholm actually looks like a much more appealing candidate. Probably because she got elected based on her record as Attorney General, not based on a character she played in a movie. She was born in Vancouver, BC.

I think I agree that someone foreign born can make as good a president as someone born in this country.

And if we don’t amend the constitution, we’ll never have a President Portman either.

So, Amend, yes. For Arnold? No.

THe CBBC has a section on What to do if the news upsets you. All excellent advice.

• Always check the facts if you hear a nasty story - it might not be true or it could be exaggerated.

  Exactly. It’s still possible the vote in Ohio could go the other way. Unlikely, but possible. Electoral maps of the results looked absolutely awful. Cartographical maps of the results looked much better.

• Remember that things in the news are often in the news because they don’t happen very often.

  Once every four years for Presidential elections.

• Discuss the news with your friends or chat about it on a message board. You’ll be reassured that you’re not the only one worried.

  I did a lot of this on blogs and in mailing lists in the last few weeks. Made me feel much better.

  What if you’re having nightmares?

• Tell your mum or dad - reassurance from them will make you feel much better.

  Several members of my family carried on an extensive email discussion following the election. Most reassuring were posts from the ‘older generation’ about their similar feelings in 1968..,and how they were certain the world had ended. It didn’t.

• Try talking about your nightmare or even drawing it. This will help you to confront your fear.

  I can’t draw, but I do write poetry.

• Surround yourself with things that make you feel secure at night - even if it is your old teddy bear that you keep hidden from your mates!

  Damn, I wish I still had my teddy bear. Or a mate.
  

• Try to balance the news you read. If you read a bad story then try and read a happy one before you go to bed.

  Never, ever, let Fox News be the last thing you listen to before going to bed.
  

One of five pictures of the Quidditch World Cup Campsite from Harry Potter IV filming. (Courtesy of the CBBCnews - which I am guessing stands for Children’s BBC)

Monty Python:

Praline (to camera) Hello. (he walks in followed by Superintendent Parrot and goes to desk) Mr Milton? You are sole proprietor and owner of the Whizzo Chocolate Company?
Milton I am.
Praline Superintendent Parrot and I are from the hygiene squad.We want to have a word with you about your box of chocolates entitled the Whizzo Quality Assortment.
Milton Ah, yes.
Praline (producing box of chocolate) If I may begin at the beginning. First there is the Cherry Fondue. This is extremely nasty, but we can’t prosecute you for that.
Milton Agreed.
Praline Next we have number four, ‘Crunchy Frog’.
Milton An, yes.
Praline Am I right in thinking there’s a real frog in here?
Milton Yes. A little one.
Praline What sort of frog?
Milton A dead frog.
Praline Is it cooked?
Milton No.
Praline What, a raw frog?
Superintendent Parrot looks increasingly queasy.
Milton We use only the finest baby frogs, dew-picked and flown from Iraq, cleansed in the finest quality spring water, lightly killed, and then sealed in a succulent Swiss quintuple smooth treble cream milk chocolate envelope, and lovingly frosted with glucose.
Praline That’s as may be, but it’s still a frog!

Museum in Liverpool (It’s a 2002 news article, so I’m a bit late in noticing this.)

Baseball season is long over, and I don’t go to football or hockey games, but while I was watching a few post-season games at Busch the question crossed my mind:

Why do we remove our hats when singing the national anthem?

Sure — it’s to show respect for the flag. But that’s not an answer. Or even if it is, it’s just “begging the question.”

Why is “hats off” showing respect?

In my tradition, “hats on” is showing respect. (At least with reference to G-d).

And when I put my hand over my heart, what am I saying? Is it “respect for country” “love of country” or “worship of flag”?

And if I stand, but refuse to take off my cap, and refuse to put my hand over my heart, am I a bad American?

Any input welcomed.

The Real Vote for the US President hasn’t occurred yet. It occurs in 4 weeks, on December 13, when the Electors from each state vote.

Not that the result will be different…but theoretically, it could be.

Two third party candidates have filled out the required forms, and paid the required money, to demand a recount of the votes in Ohio.

If the recount is completed by Dec 13, and somehow, due to provisional ballots, hanging chad, and computer error in electronic voting the popular vote in Ohio ended up differently…the Electors in Ohio would have no choice.

Ohio is one of several states that requires their Electors to vote for the party that won the popular vote in the state. If the popular vote under recount went to Kerry, they’d have to vote for Kerry.

It is irrelevant, as I mentioned to a friend this weekend, that Kerry conceded. The concession is just a procedural statement. And if the majority of electors on Dec 13th voted for Kerry, he would become our next President. He wouldn’t say, “sorry guys, I may have won, but since I conceded earlier, its too late.” Conersely, Bush, nor anyone else who understands the Constitution, would argue, “But wait, you conceded, so it doesn’t matter.”

Not that that is going to happen. From all appearances, even though there is evidence of some electronic error, and a disproportionate amount of provisional ballots in minority districts…there isn’t enough to change the outcome. (Which is why Kerry said he conceded.)

But in November the populace of the US chooses not the president, but the electors. The Electors proceed to choose the President in December.

Ben connects Ol’ Dirty Bastard to Arafat in a few simple steps, and asks who will be the third…

There’s actually a much easier way to connect the two.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard was a founding member of the Wu Tang Clan
Another member of the Wu Tang Clan was Method Man
Method Man wrote a song called “PLO Style”
(The PLO is mentioned in the lyrics of several Wu Tang Clan songs, actually)
Arafat was the leader of the PLO

There’s no need to bring Elton John or Yellow Brick Roads into the equation.

What to do when you run out of guinea pigs

Someone at the EPA
has recently been reading
Jonathan Swift.

Unfortunately
They were unable
to detect the satire.

They observed all the guinea pigs
in the chemical testing chambers
were dying.

So they searched for new subjects,
and noticed several complaints
about a lousy economy

and unemployment.
So they arrived
at a brilliant conclusion.

“Poor People:
give us your kids,
and we’ll give you video cameras!”

It sounded good to the EPA.
But a few people have complained.
So they’re reassesing the idea.

11/12/2004: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), led by Bush appointees, plans to launch a new study in which participating low income families will have their children exposed to toxic pesticides over the course of two years. The study entitled CHEERS (Childrenís Environmental Exposure Research Study) will look at how chemicals can be ingested, inhaled or absorbed by children ranging from babies to 3 years old.

For taking part in these studies, each family will receive $970, a free video camera, a T-shirt, and a framed certificate of appreciation.

[…]

Important Note on Suspension of the Study: On November 11th, the EPA announced suspension of the study’s launch until early 2005 for the sake of “final review.” The Organic Consumers Association is taking this opportunity to call on the nation’s citizens to demand the EPA permanently terminate this abuse of low income children by the chemical industry.

You can sign the Organic Consumers Association petition, and find out more, here.

I’d heard Trader Joes was coming, but no one told me they were here. (Well, until this weekend, but the stores opened on October 29th, so I could have been shopping there for 2 weeks.)

Brentwood
48 Brentwood Promenade Court
Brentwood, MO
(314) 963-9837

Chesterfield
1679 Clarkson Road
Chesterfield, MO
(636) 536-7846

Ok. What’s so great about a supermarket chain? I’d wondered that myself, but I had heard people say they loved the store and wished one was here. So I visited it this weekend. The Brentwood location is as mobbed as Whole Foods was when it opened, and I heard one customer commenting that the Chesterfield location was even worse. It will probably take a couple months for the “newness” factor to wear off.

They definitely have appetizing looking items I haven’t seen at other stores in the area, at good prices. What more can one ask? To give you an idea of their selection, here’s their holiday guide of selected items. (It’s in PDF format) Here’s a larger list of their store-brand products. And if you’re watching your food intake, they provide the fat, calorie, and fiber (PDF) content of a lot of their food.

I’m in IMDB!.

No one is allowed to comment that one of the credits is dated 1958, and I was born in 1969. A time machine was involved.

Kevin Bacon was in Cavedweller (2004) with Dan Lett
Dan Lett was in Under the Piano (1995) with Colin O’Meara
Colin O’Meara was in The Adventures of Tin Tin (1990) with Maureen Forrester
Maureen Forrester was in Life and Times (1996) with John Newmark

Madonna made The Forward’s list of top 50 Jewish Americans, even though she insists she isn’t Jewish..

However, she was listed as #51, and The Forward explained:

“This year’s Forward 50 actually contains 51 entries, to make room for someone who is not Jewish but might well be the world’s most famous practitioner of Judaism ó the pop singer Madonna. To include her on a list of prominent Jews would have been false, but to leave her off would have been no less misleading.”

I haven’t been over to my favorite news sources for awhile.

I’ve heard of underwater basketweaving, but this is ironic…

Dutch burglar tries to get into Guinness Book of Records.

If you spouse/SO ever sees “steamy” text messages on your cell phone, here’s an excuse you can use.

How come the Beatles always win the top spot in music polls…even when it’s for the “Worst”? (At least Meatloaf came in third)

When you can’t find your cell phone, what do you do? Dial the number, naturally, and listen for the ring. A turkish man did this, and the phone started to ring…from inside his dog.

Anybody who wishes to hear me perform 2 different poems about the election results should be at Hartford Coffee Company tonight between 7 and 9 pm.

Anybody who enjoys poetry and music should be there every week. It’s a great open mic. My 2nd favorite of all time — the first for always will be the Wabash Triangle Cafe, which burned down over 10 years ago.

George, George
George of the Jungle,
Strong as he can be.
(Ahhhhhhhh)
Watch out for that tree.

George, George,
George of the Jungle,
Lives a life that’s free.
(Ahhhhhhhh)
Watch out for that tree.

When he gets in a scrape,
he makes his escape
with the help of his friend,
an ape named Ape.
Then away he’ll schlep
on his elephant Shep
While Fella and Ursula
Stay in step.

Well….George, George
George of the Jungle,
Friend to you and me.

Watch out for that tree.

schlep: Yiddish. carry laboriously

See: Yiddish with Dick and Jane to learn a few more Yiddish words.

(Someone is likely to remind me that Laverne DiFazio and Shirley Feeney weren’t Jewish, despite their TV theme. Nu?)

Action Verbs to Avoid on Resumes (courtesy of McSweeneys.net

original use of graphics in header on this weblog occurred almost 2 years ago.

Even though the news has been known for several days to be coming, Arafat has been declared dead

As others have pointed out:
Proverbs 24:17.

בנפל אויבך אל תשמח ובכשלו אל יגל לבך
If your enemy falls, do not exult; If he trips, let your heart not rejoice.

I agree with the Golden Globes decision to delare F-9/11 ineligible, but not their reasoning on Gibson’s Passion.

F-9/11 is a documentary (albeit a biased one), and if the Golden Globes doesn’t consider documentaries, it’s not eligible. (Some people argue documentaries can’t be biased, but every individual on earth has biases, and anyone who believes that a documentary doesn’t reflect the filmmaker’s biases is closing their eyes to human nature. At least Moore is out in the open about his biases.)

However, just because a film is in a foreign language doesn’t make it a foreign film. What would happen if an American Producer and Director made a film with all actresses and actors being Spanish-speaking Americans, and set the film in America? Would the Golden Globes rule it was a foreign film? Apparently so.

Maps and Cartograms drawn according to population show the country isn’t as red as the electoral map suggests.

Therefore the DNC should be encouraging those Democrats in Blue States to move to the Red States. Those in cities should move to rural areas. Lets take 2008 by the Grass Roots by uprooting ourselves and moving to where our votes will count the most!

For example…How many Democrats would it take to move to Texas? Sure…there are easier states to mark as targets (such as Missouri), but just think if we were successful?

As of right now at Google’s catalog of news sources, there are
1280 stories about the Berlin Wall, and 56 about Kristallnacht.

Anniversaries which are multiples of 5 do tend to garner more news stories, so a slight discrepancy would be understandable.

Copyright laws vary from country to country. In the EC, songs are under copyright for 50 years. So Elvis’ 1954 song, That’s Alright, enters public domain in January.

In the US, due to the 1998 Mickey Mouse Law (at least that’s what I call it), audio copyrights last 95 years, so Elvis’ song won’t be in the public domain here until 2050.

Of course, as Rev. Matt points out this morning on a different issue, the internet changes the marketplace.

The NYTimes article suggests that the most restrictive copyright law nations will likely win. But only if the less restrictive nations cave in to Big Brother.

Speaking of which…

Have a hankering to read Orwell’s 1984? In the US, since Orwell died in 1950, you will have to wait until 2045. But have no fear, go here and read it now, along with Animal Farm, and others. They’re all public domain in Australia, and are freely available at the Australian Project Gutenberg.

By the way, notice the URL: gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty.html