The puppeteers behind the State of the Union

Things are never as they seem on television. This is even more so the case when it comes to the Bush white house. Keep this in mind if you plan to watch Bush's propaganda extravaganza.

Beastie Boys concert film

With an army of 61 camera wielding fans, the Beastie Boys created a new way of producing a concert film. The key ingredients to this new type of visual endeavor are the amateur videographers, coupled with Adam Yauch as director, and an editing team of Macs running Final Cut Pro, not to mention thousands of audience members in Madison Square Garden on October 9, 2004.

Terri Gross interview with the makers of Hustle and Flow

While driving the other night, I heard an intriguing interview with Craig Brewer and Terrence Howard, director and star of the movie Hustle and Flow. While I haven't seen the movie yet, listening to their story of making the movie was compelling. Recently recommended by Jake and Kristin on the suggested movie list, this movie sounds like a great one to check out.

A couple of video links

First off is John Cleese's eulogy for Graham Chapman, an inspiring profanity-laced speech that is full of sincere feelings and camaraderie for the fellow Pythonian. The second is a short film from a recent episode of Saturday Night Live.

Google map of world prejudices

Ever wondered what the general consensus is on the societal personalities of Thailand or Kenya or a number of other countries? Wonder no more.

Stella is 6 months old!

It's hard to believe but Stella has now been on the outside for six whole months. She has been learning a lot and making a variety of advances in recent days. She is now an avid carrot and sweet potato gourmand and looks forward to delving into peas. Our little girl should soon master sippy cup usage and enjoys standing provided she is given a bit of balancing assistance. Congratulations and have a happy half birthday, Stella!

New Stella pics

She's back and better than ever. See for yourself.

Levis make iPod compatible jeans

True to form for the intrepid little electronic device, iPod is now inspiring fashion.

The Million Dollar Home Page sells out

It looks like the British student who came up with a novel idea to make himself rich has made it a reality.

Schwartzeneggar breaks the law

Arnold Schwartzeneggar, currently playing the role of governor of California until that unfortunate occurance can be corrected, crashed his motorcycle this past week. That's not outstanding news in and of itself, however it is interesting that he didn't have a license to drive a motorcycle at the time, nor has he in all the years that he has ridden motorcycles in the US. He claims to not have even thought about getting one. I wonder if his ignorance defense would work with any other motorcycle rider without a license in Kal-e-fone-e-ya? Another prominent Republican breaks the law and expects no repercussions. Big surprise.

Iraq War could cost more than $2 TRILLION (that's a 2 with twelve zeros after it)

A war with no justifiable purpose, no support from the world community, haphazard planning for the attack, no plan after the battle ended, under-equipped troops stretched too thin, no definition of victory and no plan as to how to leave, the war in Iraq could not possibly be anything but a disaster. Now it's a disaster that has cost our country thousands of lives and its good image abroad, created the most divisiveness within its citizens since the American civil war and is stacking a mounting debt on the backs of future generations. To put things in terms of what $1 trillion could do for us in this country:

"How much is $1 trillion?"

by Richard Craig

How much is $1 trillion? It is a 1 followed by 12 zeroes: $1,000,000,000,000.

It's enough to build a $75,000 house, place it on a $5,000 lot, furnish it with $10,000 worth of furniture, put a $10,000 car in the garage, a give this to every family in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa.

You would also have enough to build a $10 million hospital and a $10 million library in each of the 250 cities and towns throughout that six-state region.

After having done that, you would still have enough money left to build 500 schools at $10 million each for the communities in the region.

And after having done that, you would still have enough left from the original $1 trillion to put aside, at 10 percent annual interest, a sum of money that would pay a salary of $25,000 each per year for 10,000 nurses and the same for 10,000 teachers.

You would still have enough at 10 percent annual interest to give $5,000 per year for each and every family throughout the six state region not just for one year, but forever!

So what is it that we are getting for our money? It certainly isn't greater security or a democratic Iraq. How is it that the Republican party, the party that both overwhelmingly backs Bush's war and also claims to be for "family" values and gloats of its superior morality, how is it that this party seeks to bankrupt the country for its own gain. Don't look to the citizens of Iraq, most of that $2 trillion is not destined for their pockets. It is earmarked for friends of the administration like Halliburton and Bectel. It's for golf trips and fundraising dinners and special favors to religious extremists. It's for secret prisons and torture consultants and the fences around "free speech zones". It is for corporate welfare and tax breaks to the wealthy and clandestine payoffs and Republican pork projects like Alaska's bridge to nowhere. It is the grease that oils the wheels of a government so corrupt that it has no connection to the populace it was supposedly elected to represent. What a fine legacy the Republicans who run this country have endowed to us.

The $20 "Banana Bill" up for auction

A US $20 bill with a serious flaw is up for auction today. It was printed with a Del Monte banana produce sticker on the paper, under the ink. This would be of special interest for my brother Chris who collects both paper money and produce stickers. Unfortunately he is out of the country.

A Vagabond Journey Around the World

Not long ago I had the fortune to read an original 1899 edition of "Sailing Alone Around the World," by Captain Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail alone around the world. Read the book in HTML here. It was a terrific story and left me wanting to buy a sloop and set sail. Recently I found an original printing of another old travel book, published in 1910 at a used book store. The title intrigued me and while flipping through it I read a few interesting passages. It was a first person perspective of a young traveler who after college graduation decided to work his way around the world, leaving with $104 and a Kodak. I had never heard of the author but it was reasonably priced and I was between books, so I bought "A Vagabond Journey Around the World," by Harry A. Franck. At present, I'm about 200 pages into the 500 page volume, but am quite amazed at the quality of the writing and the courage of the intrepid explorer. So I looked up Franck and found that the multilingual traveler lived an adventurous life and later wrote dozens of travel books and served in the US military during the two world wars. Although the prejudices and attitudes of the times in which he lived sometimes find their way into his writing, a reader who looks at this book in context will find Franck ahead of his time in his desire to break down the artificial borders of the world represented by lines on a map.

Interesting note: While researching Harry Franck, I stumbled across Project Gutenberg, a source of free ebooks online.

The Beastles

While listening to an archive of Do or DIY with People Like Us, I came across a track that was a terrific mashup of the Beastie Boys and the Beatles. A Google search later, I came up with a site that featured the track that I had heard as well as numerous others. Mixed by djbc, The Beastles is a lot of fun.

Fish Escape

Photo documentation of the purchase of a fish from an Asian market to the freedom of the New York waterways.

How Much?

The final 1,000 pixels of the Million Dollar Home Page are for sale on eBay. As of this writing the bidding is up to US $35,503.09.

Letterman gives it to Bill

Dave had bastard Bill O'Reilly on his show tonight. At first, I was thinking, "What the hell is Dave doing having this vile mouthpiece of the evil empire on his show?" Why give him even more air time? Well, as it turned out, he had a good reason. To his blotchy face, Dave questioned Bill's reasoning behind attacking Cindy Sheehan. In his honest, Hoosier manner of speaking, Dave stuck it to Lyin' Bill who groped but couldn't find any reply but spin.

Dave to Bill O'Reilly: "I think 60% of what you say is crap. I don't think you represent an objective viewpoint."

One (non-verbatim) Letterman Question to O'Lielly: Do you have any loved ones who died in Iraq like Cindy Sheehan?

O'Lielly: No.

Dave: Then how can you speak for her? Honest to Christ.

Atta boy, Dave. Apparently to have balls and be on tv, you can't be a so-called investigative journalist.

Arrested Development parodies itself

The award winning sitcom that is certainly too intelligent for Fox is struggling to survive after being booted by the network. So what does the show do? It parodies itself in the latest episode. Even as they are cut down, they are brilliant. I'm looking forward to the release of this terrific show on DVD. Watch it on the next few Monday nights on Fox while you can. Visit Save Our Bluths, a site determined to save the show.

"Blue" is dead

Otherwise known as Patrick Cranshaw, the actor who is perhaps best known for playing an elderly frat boy in Old School has died at age 86.

Tom DeLay's House of Scandal

Roll over the chart in this link to see just how interconnected DeLay and other big GOP figures are to the numerous unethical events in Washington and around the country. Congress is "delaying" the start of the next session in an attempt to aid their indicted, embattled ethically challenged leader regain his post. Its a good thing that the Republicans are the party of supposed high moral values.

Abramoff Pleads Guilty

The corrupt Republican uber-lobbyist and close friend of Tom DeLay and other high GOP officials chose to rat out his pals for a reduced sentence. It will be interesting to see how many mostly Republican legislators and staff will hit the fan.

Mars Rovers Still on the Job after 2 years

It's quite amazing that these intrepid little representatives of our planet are still alive and exploring long after their warranties expired. The fact that dust storms are partially credited with Spirit and Opportunity's long lives by blowing dust from their solar panels makes me wonder whether the engineers who designed them developed any countermeasures against dust in the first place. Whatever the reason, it is very remarkable that they have survived for so long and have been so productive in adding to our knowledge of Mars.

100 things we didn't know this time last year

Compiled by the BBC, this is a fascinating list. Of particular interest are:

#23. In America it's possible to subpoena a dog.

#35. The name Lego came from two Danish words "leg godt", meaning "play well". It also means "I put together" in Latin.

#65. Actor James Doohan, who played Scotty, had a hand in creating the Klingon language that was used in the movies, and which Shakespeare plays were subsequently translated into.

#89. Spanish Flu, the epidemic that killed 50 million people in 1918/9, was known as French Flu in Spain.

#99. The Japanese word "chokuegambo" describes the wish that there were more designer-brand shops on a given street.

World's Largest Ball of Paint

Odd. Useless. Environmentally irresponsible. A complete waste of time. Something that could probably only happen in America. A 1700 pound ball of paint.