Feel good about yourself after a dip in the press pool

Quiz me! Big week. Bill got a stunning five, which he would like to add to his Brattle Theater Trivia contest win and call a seven. Perhaps some Thai cartographers can get cracking on that adjustment.
Without any point boosting I got a six. I would like to point out that I had dental surgery this morning and cannot feel my mandible at this time.
That has no bearing on my score but I'm getting pretty hungry and don't know when I am biting my own toungue. I'm going to have to eat over a sink. Soup is out of the question. Sheesh.

Alas

HST Obit



Many innocent college benches and light fixtures will be vandalized tonight as a tribute to impotent rage. That's an unavoidable fact. A sense of personal loss will flood the blogosphere this week. Some of it will be turgid and some of it will be better.
I feel strongly about the guy, his books, and what he's done for America and I am going to ignore his death the best I can.

Titanic, alcoholic, geriatric, obstetric, prophetic, atmosheric and maybe something about gay penguins

Quiz Me! I got 4 and I am sure that the 1 Bill got was about the Fatima prophecies, which I missed. Between us then, we got 5. Tough week.

Hoist by my own petard, it seems

Busted Steve and I both fell for it this week.

News flash: British Scientists also missing 66 pounds of Anti-plutonium

Best viewed with the anti-Internet Explorer -6.0 or lower So I'm hopping around looking to figure out how large a 66 pound wad of Pu is going to be and I hit this site. "Cool," I think, "This will be really handy when I, hey wait a minute, anti-water and anti-rocks? This is only going to be handy if I ever forget to put "Anti-" in front of everything in the anti-universe. That's about as likely as forgetting to say "bizzaro-" before the name of everything in Bizarro Universe. Look, a periodic table of the anti-elements! Or is it a "periodic anti-table?" In Bizarro Universe it would be a "continuum of elements" I suppose.
Anyway. The best part is down at the bottom of the page. If you are looking for work you may be tempted to check out the Opportuities link UNLESS you are looking for something more exciting than some physics lab. Then you'd use the Dangers link.

Don't worry too much about the dangers, as the intrepid author of this site is looking out for you. "I have written NASA Office of Space Science and had discussions with NASA’s personnel. They have a general understand; but unfortunately, they don’t comprehend a 16,000-megaton explosion with a comet. I have request NASA cancel the Deep Impact launch scheduled for December 30, 2004."
That didn't help. It was launched. So, what do we have to look forward to this summer when the Deep Impact hits?
"After years of the terror and destruction, only several thousand people will survive around the world; and mankind will be driven back to living as caveman. If Atlantis is used as an example, mankind will take over twelve thousand years to recover. "
Man, that sucked the first time, you know, back in Atlantis days.

British Death Metal

Yipes, missing plutonium! I just read " The Radioactive Boyscout" which documents one boy's home breeder reactor and the amazingly dangerous situation a little knowlege and some unregulated materials can create. It would take very little determination to really mess up a large part of England with the good stuff since critical mass of isotope 239 is only 2/3 of a pound. At least it's an island but I would miss it.

Plutonium is referred to as the deadliest substance known to man. When you talk about 66 pounds of the stuff it adds the additional lethal consequence of having it fall off a shelf and hit you.

The grim state

Bush promotes forward thinking torture advocates to top posts This review and synopsis of "The Torture Papers" is a chilling read in itself. the book is about the specific plans and decisions that gave permission for torture to those "bad apples" who now are taking the fall while the architects are getting federal posts and cabinet positions.

Got Tesseract?

Stop, Javatime This is pretty nice. It's a good read and it's really fun to adjust the model. Thanks Ted. I will leave it up to a one of you college stupid types to bring up the inevitable comparisons to the Timecube site.

Brickhouse of the lord

Noah likes wineI am sure Caanan deserved what he got, but what did he do? Scholars, help me out here.I just fixed the link to the front page. Noah is far down the right column.

I'll find you yet

Google pixies! Google maps. Yet another advance from Google Labs. Will we spend a lifetime waiting for the other shoe to drop?

Damn, we should have brought a bigger sack

Just one more story from the occupation It's a shame. It's a very expensive and costly shame. I am glad it's being heard in congress but it won't be heard over the back slapping over the election results.

Hey, you, get off of my lawn.

Architects I had never suspected that the rise in public space was based on the egomanical tendancies of architects. This fella says that their mistrust of my personal design scheme leads to the rise in malls and loss of my territory in urban planning. Laziness may also play a part in it. It's easier to do a public greenway than 40 individual yards. I am not sure if I buy it but, yeah, I'm kicking the tires.

Bzzapp!

When conspiracy theorists start suggesting that the rash of lasers being aimed at pilots was early testing of this system, I for one will be inclined to believe them.

Blatently coincidental airplane lasers

It's more than a quiz, it's a test of your current event acumen

Quiz me! Tough week. I got a four, Bill three. How did you do?
My favorite turn of phrase is in the answer to one of these in which a plan "came unstuck."

Look Around You

Like birds, we don't know what it is. My life work is done, by these guys.

Actually, it's a buck and a quarter staff.

After intense lobbying by the Association of Wisconsin Corn Reapers And Processors, the Mint agreed to make the corn more impressive looking...

Updated Wisconsin Quarters

Apostromania

Whoever is building the freakin' walk gets to decide whether it's the freakin' scholars' walk or the freakin' scholars walk. It's not about apostrophe usage; everyone in the conversation knows perfectly well when to use an apostrophe. It's about the meaning of the name. Decide that and the punctuation will follow.

Overanal'ysis

Thank you Gummi pixies

Chewy "We also cannot control the firmness of the Smurfs from tub to tub. Order at your own risk. We are not able to reimburse for damaged containers, color tone variations, or Smurf texture."

because pennies would have been ridiculous

Small time dealer caught He only sold in nickle bags.

NYSE lays it out on "President's day" sham

Observed! NYSE sayeth
"Washington's Birthday was first declared a federal holiday by an 1879 act of Congress. The Monday Holiday Law, enacted in 1968, shifted the date of the commemoration of Washington's Birthday from February 22 to the third Monday in February, but neither that law nor any subsequent law changed the name of the holiday from Washington's Birthday to President's Day.
Although the third Monday in February has become popularly known as President's Day, the NYSE's designation of Washington's Birthday as an Exchange holiday (Rule 51) follows the form of the federal holiday outlined above (section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code). "

They also know the second verse of the Star Spangled Banner and insist on singing it each time since it is part of the song and no one ever says "Please rise and sing the first verse only of our national anthem."

Thanks for coming, let's visit some other blog.

Yeti still not liking Bush: Best line in the SOTU summary: "'My fellow Americans, these are not the droids the nation is looking for.'"

Are you hip to the zeitgeist?

Quiz Me! I am sad to report that I only got three and even sadder that I took a "worst-possible-scenario" guess twice and was right on one of them. Bill got 2. SPOILER ALERT: He also was dismayed that American High School students are polling as 50% fascist.

Adios, Dean Wormer

Veteran character actor was one degree from Kevin Bacon Do yourself a favor and watch it again this weekend. It's not like the Superbowl will be more entertaining.
"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son"

While you watch keep an eye out for writer Doug Kenney as Stork. He also wrote Bored of the Rings and Caddyshack. Then he fell off a cliff in Hawaii

Hey, no playing cards in the pews

I wanna adore the host all night, and party every day This article has been on my mind for a couple of days. I know folks find comfort and salvation in prayer but the round-the-clock ritual wasn't even very popular when it was popular.
Here's my favorite line
"I think we're going to have an explosion this year," Powell said. "People are just calling out of the woodwork. It's amazing."

I am sure there are a lot of Lutherans in this town that are not impressed by a grass roots works program that's catching on at the local parish. A self-elected program of works like this is the sort of thing that sent Fr. Martin to the tool box originally.

Man, I haven't even got a stake in this and I got all worked up.

I'm not going to Katmandu

Yet i still like Nepal I recall the massacre that put this man, the late king's brother, king in power and reading this short history of a governement in constant crisis makes me wonder how it can end well and when China might just move in.
What really got my attention was the crazy hat he seems to be wearing. The state run television station should consider moving that thing over to the side.

The last great Smedley

History lesson Jon has written up a tribute to an American General I knew little about. Thanks Jon. I think it's important to look at more of our American history when we talk about the president's mission of spreading our brand of Liberty.