Funny... Kinda Sorta

Here’s one of the funnier things I’ve come across today (all links, however meaningless, left intact)…

Meaning of Life is in need of a "expert on the subject"

I am an expert on the meaning of life... it is 'Duh', because the answer is in the fu**ing question! the meaning of life is life itself...duh -God

Is that a joke? Can anyone be a expert on the subject of the meaning of life? Other than experts on the religious explanations of the meaning of life? Correct me if I'm wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andypham3000 (talk • contribs) 18:06, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

I thought that was hilarious too, but this article does need some serious attention, preferably from someone with a background in comparative philosophy or religion. --NickPenguin_(contribs) 21:31, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't know how I found myself on this page, but that tag just struck me as one of the funniest things I've seen on Wikipedia in years. Antandrus (talk) 03:34, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes, Wikipedia could make an even greater contribution to the world if it could provide a forum for a genuine expert on the meaning of life. Millions might benefit! (On the other hand they might be reverted....)

But to address the actual issue: If we had a tag that said "experts" (instead of "expert"), it may have seemed less humorous. Each section needs an expert on that section's topic(s) - philosophy, comparative religion, psychology, cognitive science, physics, etc. If you take a look at the sorry state of this article a year or so ago and compare it to the remarkably improved quality that we have now, you might conclude that the placement of that tag could possibly have been the single best edit this article has ever had. -DoctorW 21:23, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

How about the body a psychotherapeutic literature as being a claim on the idea of being 'expert' in the meaning of life. I'm going to add some contributions made by the prominent Psychotherapist and Psychiatrist Irvin Yalom, about the difference between "the meaning of life?" and "the meaning of my life?". —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rob2000 (talk • contribs) 19:18, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

The original article ain’t all that bad, assuming you’re “in” to this sort of thing. I’m much more of a “42” person, myownself, and I’ve never, ever lain awake at night asking myself “Why am I here?” Unless I was someplace I didn’t really want to be… in the purely physical sense. Life may have some sort of larger meaning but it’s not something I concern myself with, seeing as how there are other, more pressing issues in this temporal world. IMHO.

Nope. I think we’re here to live well and be as good to each other as we can possibly be. Other than that? Nothing much beyond “You live. You die. Game over.” My attitude tended to really annoy The Second Mrs. Pennington, seeing as how she used to be into those metaphysical things. She may still be, for all I know.

Trailer Park Sunset

We’ve not had many sunsets lately that live up to New Mexico’s billing in this space. The last few weeks have either been clear as a bell or completely overcast… there’s been no middle ground… which doesn’t make for photogenic sunsets. This past evening was a different story, though… and we were treated to the sort of sunset that made me grab my camera and step outdoors for 15 minutes or so.

I took 65 photos, beginning at 1732 hrs and ending at 1746 hrs. I can be that precise about the time because digital cameras tell you these things, ya know.

And, apropos of not much… can you imagine shooting 65 pictures on film, rather than on a digital camera? That would be over two and a half 24-exposure rolls of film… and I dunno about you, Gentle Reader… but I wasn’t in the habit of blowing that much money on a single sunset, no matter how beautiful. And then there was the wait for the finished product... even with one-hour (heh) processing... not to mention the expense of said processing. All that by way of saying “I (heart) technology”… especially when it comes to photography.

And now the pics… which have been re-sized and cropped... but NOT Photoshopped in any way. As always, click for larger.

We begin at 1732 hrs (above). The next two images are interesting, given they were taken a minute and a half apart and yielded significantly different results… which is ALL a function of the camera settings, as noted (selected meta-data below each image).

Image description Image 032
Datetime 2009:02:12 18:39:10
Exposure time 1/200 s
F-number 8
Exposure program Shutter priority
ISO speed ratings 1600

Image description Image 033
Datetime 2009:02:12 18:40:57
Exposure time 1/200 s
F-number 3.5
Exposure program Shutter priority
ISO speed ratings 200

And finally… 1746 hrs (above).

Wow.

Juan Williams, speaking about Michelle Obama on Bill O'Reilly's show, January 26th...



The money shot begins around 1:39 into the video... and it's a great one! For those of you who may be bandwidth-challenged... here it is in print:

“Michelle Obama, you know, she's got this Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress thing going," said Juan Williams on Fox News. "If she starts talking, as Mary Katharine [Ham, a conservative blogger] is suggesting, her instinct is to start with this blame America, you know, I'm the victim. If that stuff starts coming out, people will go bananas and she'll go from being the new Jackie O to being something of an albatross”

Heh. NPR listeners were NOT pleased.

Waiting For Godot UPS...

Well... the day is pretty much blown. Here I sit... waiting for the UPS Lady... who is normally so punctual that I could set my watch by her appearance. But not today. I'm sitting here waiting mainly because one of two items scheduled for delivery today is time-sensitive, in that it must be repackaged and sent on its way elsewhere via the US Postal Service in order to meet a self-imposed (and self-important) deadline. This must also be done tomorrow, at the latest, due to Monday's holiday. But... no UPS, as we speak. I'm disappointed to say the least.

One of the things I thought I could count on turns out to be much like everything else in life: there WILL be disappointments. And yet another bitch/moan/complaint... I was gonna make a combo commissary/pharmacy run out to the base this afternoon after UPS arrived, but that won't happen... as the pharmacy will be closed by the time UPS arrives (if/when, I should add) and I get The Green Hornet saddled up and on the road.

Enter the moan: the pharmacy is closed tomorrow. I don't know how this came to happen, exactly, but the USAF has taken to creating four day weekends out of EVERY single holiday that comes down the pike. It's not like I begrudge our air-people time off... far from it. But aren't three-day weekends enough? The cranky ol' man in me thinks that USED to be the case, back in the proverbial day. But times change, I guess. And I can pick up my prescription next Tuesday; it isn't like this is a life-threatening situation... it isn't. I always phone in refills well before the current supply of meds is exhausted. It's just inconvenient... and I'm pampered enough to resent inconvenience.

At least the commissary will be open tomorrow. I think.

(Image obtained here... along with an explanation if you're not familiar with Godot.)

Ramirez On the Stimulus

Michael Ramirez, via Townhall.com. Click to enlarge... ever so slightly.

Mr. Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln, America’s most beloved president, was born 200 years ago today. As might be expected, there are literally thousands of commemorations, ceremonies, parades, and such planned all across the country today and throughout the upcoming holiday weekend… not to mention the numerous web sites devoted to honoring our 16^th president.

But since we did mention web sites… the best of the bunch, for my money, is C-SPAN’s “Lincoln 200 Years.” I’ve been watching C-SPAN’s build-up towards the Lincoln bicentennial for a couple of months now and the things they’ve done… and are doing… are most impressive, indeed. Most of C-SPAN’s Lincoln-related programming is available on the linked web site in one form or another, with LOTS of streaming video for those with broadband connections. The other features are also excellent, including the image and fine arts galleries, from which the illustrations for this post are taken.

A new penny celebrating the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth will begin circulating this month. Four new pennies, actually… and you can see the designs here.

Happy Birthday, Mr. President. The nation honors you, salutes you, and most importantly, remembers you with a fondness and love that is unique in the entire world.

Stimulating

It looks like SN1 is doing his bit to stimulate the economy, what with sending several thousand Yankee Dollars to those wonderful folks in Milwaukee who assemble Hardly-Ablesons. This photo is all I have to go on at the moment... sent via Sprint Picture Mail not five minutes ago. That would be Grandson Sean in the picture. I'm wondering why he has his fingers in his ears... I'm promised that all will be revealed this weekend via voice call.

I'm also wondering if SN1 kept the Kowalski (the red mo'sickle at the link) or traded it off to acquire the Monster Bike. You'd be correct if you think I look upon Milwaukee Vibrators with something of a jaundiced eye, Gentle Reader. "Taste is all in the mouth"... as it's said. But a Big-Ass cruiser is probably fitting for a 40-something guy, right? (insert smiley-face thingie here)

I Wish I Was a Bear...

…so I could hibernate and miss all this sort of krep:

Obama's turn as Vogue cover girl establishes her as modern-day style icon

[…]

Michelle Obama will soon grace the cover of America's style bible, Vogue magazine, amid her stated intention to focus on raising her young girls and to implement a three-pronged policy agenda: supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family and encouraging public service.

Not surprisingly, in a celebrity-obsessed nation that has long adored its cover girls, it's Obama's role as a fashionista rather than her work ethic that's fuelling the most excitement.

The 45-year-old Obama is only the second first lady to appear on the cover of Vogue. Surprisingly, it wasn't Kennedy who beat her to the punch - it was Hillary Clinton in 1998, donning a black Oscar de Renta evening gown. Both first ladies posed for famed photographer Annie Leibovitz.

I'd LOVE to be able to say something like “Wake me when it’s over.” But I remain awake and crap like the above is simply unavoidable as it's seemingly EVERYWHERE.

And about that cover… “The First Lady the World's Been Waiting For?” Really? You mean the world wasn’t satisfied with previous First Ladies? Or just that part of the world that happens to view itself like this? (on the right, obviously) I, for one, thought the previous First Lady was stylish, graceful, and more importantly... eminently sensible and composed. The current First Lady has BIG shoes to fill, IMHO, Vogue cover or no.

Can we just frickin’ STOP THE MADNESS? It’s already beyond old… it’s pathetic.

Follow-Up

Remember this past Monday when I was on about the previous evening's rain? This is what I said, in part:

I don’t have a rain gauge here on the premises of El Casa Móvil De Pennington, but my educated guess is we got about a half-inch of rain, perhaps more.

Well... fast-forward to Monday's Clovis News-Journal (which I just got around to reading today):

Showers accompanying the brief storm, which hit around 6 p.m., dumped between a quarter and three-quarter inches of rain in Clovis and almost a half-inch in Portales, Meteorologist Jennifer Palucki said Monday.

[...]

The last time there was a comparable rain in Clovis was Oct. 15, when there was a half-inch of rain and an inch on Oct. 14 in Portales.

And the wind helped mark it as a severe storm, with gusts upward of 60 mph. One gust was measured at 63 mph.

Looks like my “educated guess” was right on the money… would that I could be so accurate in other areas of life. That said… we’re still in a drought condition, what with no measurable snow this year (so far) and precious little precipitation of any other sort. And there’s nothing in the ten-day forecast to suggest change is on the way.

―:☺:―

Speaking of “change” and P-Ville… there’s this:

The City of Portales and Roosevelt County want a piece of the proposed $838 billion federal stimulus bill pie.

According to Portales City Manager Debi Lee, the city will request approximately $15 million for six projects — the biggest of which is a new waste water plant, with an estimated cost of about $7.5 million.

Among other projects, the city is requesting money for water well system work, streets, railroad crossing improvements, enhancements to the city pool and a gymnasium.

I’ll buy the waste-water plant, water well system work, and the streets improvements. All of those projects will stimulate the local economy and would be good for the area… in that there would be lasting benefits. But the pool and the gym? Not so much. And therein lies the problem. It seems like we ALL have our hands out, and P-Ville ain’t immune from the pork-plague. Kinda strange for a bright-red burg like Portales... and Roosevelt County, generally speaking.

Just sayin’.

Photo Linkage

I was chasing up a hit in SiteMeter a few minutes ago and stumbled upon some pretty nice photography taken around Portales during June of 2007. The folks at StormBruiser are in to chasing tornadoes... which, to my way of thinking, is a lot like poking around in bear dens. It might be exciting but rational people just don't DO that sort of thing. An excerpt from the link:

Rain and small hail descended upon us soon after these photos were taken. The cell was unable to develop strong, sustained, and tight rotation at low levels apparently, though it seemed like it wanted to get serious about tornado-making for a few minutes on the approach to Portales. We departed Portales and attempted to get southeast of the updraft base again, but heavy precipitation slowed us down some. Brian’s minivan came up lame with a flat tire, so we waited out the core and were treated to a brilliant mammatus and rainbow display on the west side of the storm before sunset.

The photos are just pretty danged cool... and illustrate one of the better things about living in these parts: brilliant vistas. We DID have some interesting weather in June of 2007. Here's a shot out my back door, four days after the shots at StormBruiser were taken.

This shot isn't nearly as good as the pics at the link... but dramatic, none the less. As taken... no P-shopping here....those are the colors as viewed in "real life."

(Sigh)

This is why I sometimes wish I lived in Colorado... and one of the better things I've ever read about Valentines Day (apropos of nothing):

Dark Kriek

For many years we’ve celebrated Valentine’s Day at New Belgium Brewing by creating a special small batch beer for our family and friends. These beers tend to be a little funky, fruitful and straight from the heart. This year we decided to share the love.
New Belgium Brewing’s Dark Kriek is a limited edition Belgian kriek or cherry beer. Much darker than a traditional kriek with a dash of sour cherry up front, our Dark Kriek is actually a blend of two beers. We start with a light, dry, tannic beer aged two years in oak barrels and combine this with a heavier, dark ale and cherries to create one smooth cherry blast of love.
8% ABV
(ed note: "share the love" is rather limited... from a New Belgium Tweet: "lowdown on location for Dark Kriek (cases by state) CO 500, CA 500, WA 150, OR 150, IL 25 - and 25 cases to our Liquid Center")

But then again... Colorado has all that danged snow. Never mind. Priorities, yanno.

Update, 2210 hrs: Pursuant to the conversation going on in comments to this post... the contents of my fridge, about 20 minutes ago. There's one less 1554 in the fridge, as we speak.

Apropos of Nothing...

I was doing some poking around in the archives, looking for something specific (which I found) and came across this... which I think is deserving of a re-run:

Merchandise YOU Can Use. Maybe.

An occasional correspondent sends this along, and I thought you might find some of these products useful…

Like this:

Just the thing if you find yourself in a hot ‘n’ heavy political discussion with a ‘bat. Or maybe your mother-in-law. Pull this out, offer ‘em a piece…and things should be all over but the shouting, eh? Well, discounting the possibility of a beating about your head and shoulders, if the discussion you're attempting to end is really with your M-I-L.

―:☺:―

This lil item on your immediate left, on the other hand, is something I have little or no use for these days. Assuming, of course, the product is meant to be a shared experience, as the packaging would seem to indicate.

You, Gentle Reader, are probably in a much different boat (and arguably a much better boat) than I.

―:☺:―

I might could change my…ummm… situation, were I to buy a ton of this stuff on the right.

Ya think?

Nah. Probably not. I probably would just get the sh!t slapped out of me, were I to offer a piece of "Get Lucky" gum to some unsuspecting sweet young older thang.

―:☺:―

And finally, I have absolutely NO use for the product on the left, nor do I know anyone (nowadays) that would. You have to squint to read it, but the gum comes in "Fresh Fruit Flavor." Heh.

I used to know folks that would buy a ton of this stuff, not that there's anything inherently wrong with that. But I left SFO five years ago… ya know?

All this merchandise and much, much more...available here.

Really.

Update: ...later that same evening. Dunno how I missed this, but I did. And I just had to rectify the oversight, of course. I might get one or two of these non-permanent tattoos. They're right up my alley.

Gnarly. Yes.

Re-runs are about all I have the motivation and/or energy for at the moment. I'm semi-preoccupied with watching the Dow Jones Industrials in free-fall mode (down 362, as I type... not as bad as -380, earlier) and wondering if my 401(k) will evaporate like a puddle after a New Mexico summer rain. The prospect of spending my dotage in penury isn't exactly appealing... yanno?

Further on Valentines Day

Commentary by Nancy Gibbs, as heard last evening on "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer." This is a 4:30 mp3 file converted to wmv format.



What she said.

It Ain't Just Me

I've been on about Obama's negative language concerning the economy for a while now, and we're beginning to see pieces on this subject in the dead-tree media and elsewhere. Case in point:

From crisis to catastrophe. Off a cliff. Dark, darker, darkest. Mortal danger of absolute collapse. Armageddon.

President Obama and top Democrats on Capitol Hill are deploying these and other stark predictions of doom and gloom to push through their economic-stimulus package. In terms not heard in Washington since the late 1970s under President Jimmy Carter's watch, the new president has sought to terrify Americans into supporting the $800 billion-plus bailout bill.

[...]

"Mr. Hope has to be careful not to become Dr. Doom," said Frank Luntz, a political consultant and author of the book "Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear."

"The danger for him is using the Jimmy Carter malaise rhetoric, particularly for Mr. Obama, who was elected because people thought he was the solution. There's only so much negativity they will tolerate from him before they will feel betrayed," Mr. Luntz said.

Brad Blakeman, a senior aide to Mr. Bush from 2001 to 2004, said the new president's language is immature.

"It's not presidential. An American leader needs to be hopeful and optimistic - and truthful. Everything he says is parsed; everything he says is searched for deep meaning. When he goes to 'DefCon 5' on the economy and says that we're on the brink of catastrophe, it's absolutely insane."

Well, yeah. Even if the last guy quoted is a lil bit unclear on the DEFCON concept. Which is quite another story, to wit... civilians using military metaphors that they don't quite get. Inexcusable, from my point of view, but we digress.

One of the reasons Jimmuh went down to defeat at the hands of The Gipper was his pessimistic rhetoric... who among us old enough to remember can forget "malaise?"... which was the icing on the cake of his dismal performance. The One had better be careful in this space. But that's just speaking about The One. My biggest concern is for the economy... and the nation as a whole. I don't think it's mere coincidence the market seems to tank on the days Obama utters his latest doom-and-gloom predictions.

Wise-up, Mr. President.

Heh

Via Blog-Bud Morgan... an old joke, well told. Be advised: there are F-Bombs. But don't let THAT stop you from watching. Unless you're at work, of course.



I love it when women my age talk dirty. In a manner of speaking, of course. More here.

News You Probably Can't Use

I have no idea why I did it, but I was looking at the Portales page on Wikipedia this evening and noticed (a) the page has been extensively edited since the last time I visited and (b) my Fair City is growing… much more so than I thought. From The Wiki:

Portales is a city in and the county seat of Roosevelt County^[1], New Mexico, United States. The population of Portales and its near suburbs, contained in Zip Code 88130, was nearly 17,000 people in 2007, not including a majority of the city's college students.

That’s something like a 42% increase over what we announce to folks driving through our beautiful burg.

But this is what really caught my eye:

According to a study conducted by Bizjournals.com, of 577 micropolitan areas, Portales ranked 15th (ed: my link added) in the nation and ninth in the western United States in overall quality of life.^[3] The goal of the study was to identify America’s most attractive micropolitan areas and points were given to small, well-rounded communities where the economy is strong, traffic is light, the cost of living is moderate, adults are well-educated, and access to big-city attractions is reasonably close.

The study identified 12 categories including population growth, per capita income, small business growth, professional jobs, commuting, cost of living, and advanced degrees. Cities were given points for positive results and negative scores if they were below the national averages. These scores were then totaled to determine its overall rank on the list of micropolitan areas.

Portales, the smallest city in the top 25, received a quality of life score of 8.96, the 15th highest score in the nation. According Scott Thomas, the author of the study, the income per capita, short commuting times, low taxes, and substantial percentage of adults with a graduate degree contributed to the ranking. Los Alamos was the only other New Mexico city to be recognized in the top 20.

[…]

Unemployment in Roosevelt County in 2007 averaged less than 3%, and the cost of living was approximately 83% of the US average, based primarily on the historically low but rising cost of housing in the area. By 2009, Portales continued to experience economic growth, with unemployment in the 3% range. Portales in 2009 remained largely insulated from the national economic downturn due in part to a balanced economy based on food processing, higher education, and government, along with a growing population of university students and US Air Force employees.

Well, now! One learns something every single day… I now know I live in a “micropolitan area,” whereas I previously thought I lived in the proverbial “one-horse town.” T’ain’t so! SN1 has long called Clovis “the microplex,” which was a running joke about The Big(ger) City™ among the troops out at Cannon Airplane Patch in the way-back and still might be, for all I know.

All joking aside, the last paragraph quoted above is largely responsible for my perception that the current “economic crisis”… as beat into my head by the Talking Heads on my teevee … ain’t everything it’s cracked up to be. I’m not saying the current recession isn’t serious — far from it. It’s just that we here on The High Plains of New Mexico are fortunate to be insulated from the down-turn. So far.

―:☺:―

More local news… We got our first precipitation of 2009 this past evening in the form of massive thunderstorms that rolled through P-Ville and the surrounding area for about an hour and a half last night. “Driving rain” would be an understatement of massive proportions, Gentle Reader, and there was considerable hail, too. At one point I looked out the window and the ground was completely covered in hail… looking for all the world like a moderate snow fall. And have I ever told you about the racket hail makes on the roof of an RV? I have? OK… never mind.

I don’t have a rain gauge here on the premises of El Casa Móvil De Pennington, but my educated guess is we got about a half-inch of rain, perhaps more.

We needed it.

―:☺:―

In news of another sort… for the first time in recent memory I own the Grammy-winning “Best Album of the Year.”

Oh, and there were some trophies handed out. A leading total of five of those went to the unlikely tandem of classic rock demi-god Robert Plant and country angel Alison Krauss, who paired for "Raising Sand," a mystic-minded journey through American roots music. "Raising Sand" won for album of the year and the evocative track "Please Read the Letter" claimed the prestigious record of the year honor.

No… I didn’t watch the Grammies. Are you kidding me? I’d rather listen to hail beat down on my roof. And so I did. But reading that Plant/Krauss won big was a bit of good news. Taste is still alive in America, albeit on life support. Beyonce didn't win shit anything... as near as I can tell.

Hockey Day in Portales...

Hockey and my morning coffee. I'll take it!

GO WINGS!

Update: All's well that ends well: Dee-troit 3, Pittsburgh 0. Conklin gets the shut-out. My Sunday is pretty danged good, so far.

Aiiieee! My EYES!

Today's just the sort of day for this kinda thing...

(h/t for the image to My Buddy Ed in Florida... via e-mail. The likeness is incredibly accurate, btw.)

Puffs and Pans... Not Necessarily In That Order

So… Valentine’s Day is still about a week and a half away… which means at least eight more days of being subjected to this crap:

I’m glad this “special day” is here and will be gone with the sunset this evening. Why? So I won’t be exposed to Creepy Valentines Day advertisements on my teevee every 17 minutes. From these guys. (ed: video of the tacky commercial at the link) You know, the people who tell ya there’s “…only one gift guaranteed to get women to take their clothes off…” with “all that spa stuff that women just love,” the bottom-line being “she’ll think you spent weeks planning it.” Yeah. Right. To say these ads insult male intelligence is only scratching the surface. And were I a woman receiving a V-Day pajamagram, I’d seriously RE-consider the quality of my relationship. That goes for Vermont Teddy Bears, as well… perhaps double. I’ve read both businesses are owned by the same company. Which may or may not be true, but the ads for both products look very similar, so I tend to believe what I hear. About which…

Yet another business to add to my list of places to visit when I begin my post-retirement career as a midnite fire-bomber.

That was YrHmblScrb, ranting on St. Valentine’s Day last year. The supremely irritating ads for VTBs and PajamaGrams began last Monday evening, as best as I can determine, and tend to run in various late night slots. FNC’s “Red Eye” seems overrun with the ads, just to cite one example, which presents me with yet another case where my mute button gets the ultimate work-out. The PajamaGram ads are quite tolerable with the sound turned off, though. Nice eye-candy. The VTB ads? Not so much…

The thing that really gets my goat is the ads are the very same ones the companies have been running for the last two or three years. You’d think they would create some NEW ads… every couple of years or so. But nooooo…

―:☺:―

I mentioned Fox News Channel’s “Red Eye” in passing, above. This show has become my Guilty Pleasure, and I just LOVE it. Mainly for stuff like this. (I tried to embed the video, but Blogger won't display it.)

Andy Levy’s Halftime Report and Game Wrap-Up are arguably the best parts of the show, but the rest of it is pretty danged good… if a lil bit inconsistent. Edgy stuff tends to be that way… like Longfellow’s Lil Girl With the Curl… when it’s good it’s very good indeed; and when it’s bad it’s horrid.

Oh, and about the vid above… Red Eye had the absolute BEST commentary on the recent Michael Phelps incident of any media piece… written or broadcast… that I’ve seen so far.

―:☺:―

Serendipitous find, while googling “Red Eye:”

Diva duel: Etta James blasts Beyonce

Published February 6 2009

Watch out, Beyonce--Etta James wants to kick your butt. During a concert Jan. 28, James unleashed her fury at the actress who portrayed James in "Cadillac Records," for daring to perform her signature song--"At Last"--as the first dance for Barack and Michelle Obama at an inaugural ball, the L.A. Times reports. "I tell you, that woman he has singing for him, singing my song, she gonna get her ... whipped. I can't stand Beyonce, she had no business up there singing ... my song that I've been singing forever," James said during her Seattle performance. Ouch.

RedEye

You GO, Etta! I’m right behind you, in your corner, with you all the way, and whatever similar words of encouragement I can muster. I can’t stand Beyonce… what a frickin’ tart!… and her theft of your signature song is just beyond the pale.

This Just In...

... in an e-mail from the Air Force Association's CEO Mike Dunn (who is also a retired USAF Lieutenant General), a link to this 4:27 video about USAF fly-overs at NFL games:



Which I just HAD to share, of course. There's some pretty nice commentary from NFL coaches and players on the fly-overs and a little bit about the prep-work your Air Force does before those jets roar over the stadiums. Good stuff, Maynard... not to mention the plane-pr0n itself.

Marketing Run Amok

Now just WHO on God's Green Earth would actually WANT one of these? And I'm almost convinced Ovechkin was just texting his lil heart out at the All Star Game. Almost.

Stupidity knows no bounds.

Re-Direct

I don't know if any of you Gentle Readers are in the habit of reading Daphne at Jaded Haven. But you should be... for the wisdom in it. Daphne may not be everyone's cuppa, but she sure rings MY bell.

Pun intended.

Heh

"Here they come... SEVEN of 'em..." (0:13)

(America's Finest at Super Bowl XLIII)

Now and Then...

All y'all who frequent milblogs... especially those run by Naval Aviators... are probably familiar with videos produced by those talented folks in our nation's carrier air wings. The advent and ubiquity of video cameras and incredibly easy-to-use PC-based editing software have produced some real gems in the amateur video world. One of the best known examples (4:53):



But... the Air Force got there first. Witness (a lil over seven minutes, and worth EVERY second, especially the engine change sequence):



The notes accompanying the vid on YouTube:

One of the first Air Force Squadron made videos about the arrival of the "new" North American F-86 Sabre jet. This was made by the 526th FIS (Fighter Interceptor Squadron),"The Black Knights". This film was made at a USAFE base in Germany in the mid 1950's. This film is also only available from a select few museums, so enjoy watching it, you will not find it anywhere else on the internet.

A BIG hat-tip to commenter SJBill at Lex's place!

Cold Earth, GoogleEarth, and Unearthed

From the January 8^th Daily Mail…The fountains in Trafalgar Square had frozen over this morning due to the freezing cold temperatures in London.

Lord Nelson looks pretty danged cold, doesn’t he? But that was last month, as noted. In case you hadn’t heard, London was paralyzed by about a foot of snow yesterday and this past weekend (two-minute video and story at the link).

Photo credit: The Guardian (UK)

I’ve been in London during a heavy snowfall and it ain’t pretty. Well, check that… it IS pretty in a purely aesthetic sense. But getting around? Ug-leee. The Brits just aren’t equipped to handle snow in any substantial amount, defined (as near as I can tell) as about five inches or more. Things just STOP while the authorities… and everyone else… waits for it to melt. OTOH… any snow at all results in a snow day. And that’s not a bad thing at all, once every ten years or so.

There are 45 photos of the recent snowstorm at the Guardian’s web site; still more at the Beeb. All of the Brit papers have pictorials (and more than a few American news outlets do, as well)… just go to Google News and type in “London snow 2009.” Or click the link… I’ve made it easy for ya, Gentle Reader.

―:☺:―

Speaking of our friends at the Googleplex… There’s some pretty cool new features in GoogleEarth… and here’s a short (1:38) video highlighting the new stuff:

I like the historical imagery feature and I think that’s the thing I’ll use the most. The ocean stuff looks interesting but it might be a “one time use” feature where I’m concerned. All that said… Jeez. I’ve become a shill for Google. As if they needed one…

―:☺:―

We’re heavy on video today… but I just could NOT resist this two-minute 1981 teevee news bit about how the San Francisco Examiner was developing the first on-line edition of the newspaper… hosted in Columbus, Ohio (!). Here’s “1981 primitive Internet report on KRON.”

I liked this bit especially: “… it takes over two hours to receive the entire text of the newspaper over the phone and with an hourly use charge of five dollars…” Note there’s no mention of graphics… just text. And five bucks an hour? Yowza!

See how good you have it, Gentle Reader? Text and pictures. Video. Links to major foreign news sources. All right here, right now... at your fingertips... assembled by an old geezer in New Mexico. And we take all this for granted!

Progress. It’s what’s for dinner… and breakfast and lunch, too.

For Geeks Only

Via Blog-Bud Daphne (indirectly)... a visualization of Wal-Mart's expansion across these United States, from 1964 through 2007. I had to watch the visualization a couple of times as the data flows quickly... and the year is in the lower right hand corner of the screen while the number of stores is in the upper left hand corner. Can you say Rapid-Eye-Movement? Or, more importantly... can you DO REM?

The "5 Best Data Visualization Projects of the Year" is worth your time as well... assuming you're into this sort of thing. Here's a four minute video example (an analysis of on-line dating profiles), taken from the "5 Best" link...



Cool, eh?

25 Things

The following is a meme that's circulating on Facebook. Taking my cue from Blog-Bud Barry... who also published HIS "25 Things" on both Facebook and his blog... I've decided to do the same. So, without further ado...

25 Things

1. I lived in London (six months), Paris (three years), and Ankara, Turkey (two years)… all before the age of 13. Which, of course, was one of the benefits of being an Air Force brat during the 1950s. I also returned to all those cities as an adult… living in London for three years during the ‘80s.

2. I was bi-lingual once upon a time and spoke French like a native. This isn’t an exaggeration… shopkeepers in Nice, France thought I was a French kid until I came into the stores with my parents in tow one day. (They abused me: I had to shop for them while we were on vacation.)

3. My French is completely gone now… a classic case of “use it or lose it.”

4. I crashed my dirt bikes hundreds of times and was run over twice in motocross and desert races. But never enough to be seriously injured, although I DID get knocked unconscious in a desert race once upon a time.

5. I WAS seriously injured in a motorcycle accident when a clue-free 19 year old girl turned left in front of me. I was doing 70 mph on a two-lane road in Michigan’s Thumb at the time. I was lucky I didn’t get killed.

6. I’ve had one serious car accident but walked away from that unscathed, as well. The car, however, was totaled.

7. I think I’m lucky where vehicles are concerned. (knocks on wood)

8. My best assignment in 22 years in the Air Force was three years at RAF Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon.

9. My worst assignment was Fortuna Air Force Station, North Dakota. I was there for one year, three days, eight hours and ten minutes. “Worst” is in terms of geographical location… the people were great. I NEVER had a bad assignment where people were concerned.

10. I have three friends I’ve known for over 30 years; one for over 40. I met all of them in the Air Force.

11. I’ve lost track of more people… good people… than I care to think about.

12. I seriously think the demise of “good manners” is ruining our country.

13. I’m a confessed internet JUNKIE. Life without a computer is unthinkable.

14. I’ve been a lifelong photographer. I got my first camera around age nine or ten… a Brownie Hawkeye.

15. Pachelbel’s “Canon in D Major” is my favorite piece of classical music.

16. And no… I didn’t first hear it in “Ordinary People.” But I was surprised and pleased as all get out when the credits ran.

17. The Rolling Stones are my favorite rock ‘n’ roll band. “The Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World” is NOT hyperbole when applied to the Rolling Stones. “Exile on Main Street” LIVES in my car.

18. I LOVE artichokes. Fresh from the steamer or cold… with drawn butter, or vinegar and oil, or mayonnaise. I’d like to meet the first guy that ever ate an artichoke.

19. Thai is my favorite ethnic cuisine. Japanese is a close second.

20. I don’t consider Mexican food “ethnic.” I live in New Mexico, ya know.

21. My passport expired four or five years ago. I may never renew it.

22. I consider loyalty to be one of life’s greatest virtues… if not THE greatest. Loyalty is in a dead heat with honesty, when you come right down to it.

23. I’m VERY proud with what my adult sons have done with their lives. I’m hoping their little brother lives up to their examples.

24. I’m agnostic, in one sense of the word. I believe in a higher power – I just don’t know his/her name. It could be “Bruce,” for all I know. But I like to think it’s something like “Phoebe.” The concept of The Goddess is alright with me.

25. I liked this meme better when it was only five things. But this wasn’t TOO hard.

I was at a total loss for an illustration for this post. It's late... and I'm "imaginatively challenged" in the midnite hour. Hmmm. Wilson Pickett!

On the Menu This Evening...

... or it would be, had I not already eaten. But, metaphorically speaking, I DO have some black bird to eat. I take it back... what I said earlier... tonight's game was everything one could ask for in a football game, and then some. Which doesn't mean I'm a convert, by any means. Principles, ya know. I'll continue to watch football on Saturdays. But I'll watch the Super Bowl in future, as well.

Oh yeah... The Boss was good great. It didn't hurt that he led off with "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," which is my all-time favorite Springsteen song. And then he just got better. A most-entertaining evening of teevee, this was.

Yet More Excellent Photography...

Via Blog-Bud Doc... London from Above, at Night. One example, just to whet your appetite:

As I said at Doc's place...

One of the regrets (few as they are) I have about leaving my previous life (the bid'niz one, with all the flying from here to there) is the absolute lack of airborne vistas these days, and most especially the night-time views. There simply isn't a "suitable substitute."

I can't begin to match Doc's experience when it comes to flying, but I've seen my share (for a civilian) of nighttime city-scapes from the air. And as I noted... there just isn't a suitable substitute. But you can get close by following that link to Boston.com...

Soooper Sunday

As the title sez… it’s the NFL’s Big Day. I don’t watch football on Sundays as a general rule, believing as I do that football, the sport, is played on Saturdays… and Friday nights. Football, the bid’niz, happens on Sundays… and Monday nights and even Thursday nights, occasionally. But I will resist the temptation to launch a rant in this space, even though I’ve got a danged good start on one, right here.

Nope, I’ll probably watch the damned thing if only for the ads. I don’t need to watch the ads in real time now that we have YouTube… and if I really hated pro ball as much as I think I do (hunh?) I wouldn’t have any plausible reason to watch the event at all. But there is more. The Sooper Bowl is one of the few great shared-experiences in our culture and deserves respect for that fact alone. Nice marketing job, NFL.

Oh. Nearly forgot. I’m not that big a Springsteen fan, either. I do like his early work, though.

―:☺:―

Well… if it ain’t football, it’s gotta be hockey! Speaking of which… here’s Ville Leino of the Detroit Red Wings with his first NHL goal, in his first NHL game... yesterday:

“Beauty!” as they say in The Great White Up. In Portales, too, but only in certain circles. VERY small circles.

As long as we’re on about the Wings, here’s a nice piece about the franchise from Michael Russo, writing in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Excerpts:

In all seriousness, is there a better model franchise in hockey than the Red Wings?

It starts with owner Mike Ilitch, who has assembled the best management in the league, starting at the apex with GM Ken Holland, and followed by right-hand men Jim Nill, Jim Devellano and the beloved Steve Yzerman.

From top to bottom -- from the drafting led by European superscout Hakan Andersson to the recruiting of free agents such as Marian Hossa to the convincing of homegrown star after star to accept "hometown discounts" to remain inside a franchise that has created an unparalleled culture of winning, nobody does it better.

The Red Wings are the envy of 29 teams.

[…]

This (ed: four Stanley Cups in 11 years), despite the fact that in the past 15 years, the Red Wings haven't picked higher than 19th in the draft. In the past 12 years, they've had five first-round picks.

Yet, year after year, the Wings unearth talent late in the draft: (Johan Franzen, 97th, 2004; Jiri Hudler, 58th, 2002; Valtteri Filppula, 95th, 2002; Zetterberg, 210th, 1999; Pavel Datsyuk, 171st, 1998; Tomas Holmstrom, 257th, 1994). And there's quite a pipeline in the minors of young 20-somethings waiting for their shots. (ed: watch that video above once again!)

This is why most players with a desire to win first, make money second, want to go to Detroit. This is why nobody ever wants to leave Detroit. They know the grass isn't always greener.

You’d be forgiven if you think Mr. Russo wrote a puff-piece, but almost everything mentioned and discussed in the article is true. Bonus: There are “management lessons” in what appears to be an article about a hockey team, and they ain’t too hard to figure out.

Now… about those Caps… But… if one HAS to go on a losing streak (umm… five in a row?), now’s the time to do it.

―:☺:―

Today’s Pic(s): We haven’t posted any gratuitous baby pictures in a while… so here are a couple just to keep an EIP tradition alive. The Second Mrs. Pennington and SN3, taken on two separate occasions in July of 1998.

SN3 will be 12 this month. Oh My… How time flies.