Happy Easter and Other Stuff

Look out, Leonardo, I’m adding a new nerd-crush! The obscure genius of Cornelius Drebbel: Renaissance “engeneere” or “vulgar mechanic”?

Truth is one of the first casualties of War. Russian press harangued the Kiev transitional government as being controlled by neo-nazis, then leaflets demanding that Jews register were reported in pro-Russian province.A UN report urges all parties to knock it off because people will do horrendous things when they think they are right.

In other news, Mike Huckabee compares the U.S. unfavorably to North Korea. Sharp as a knot-hole, that guy!

“Afghan opium cultivation has reached a record level, with more than 200,000 hectares planted with the poppy for the first time, the United Nations says“.

Bloomberg has a nice visual presentation, “How Americans Die“, that gives pause for thought. Why is suicide taking such a huge statistical slice out of most age groups?

The (non)persecution of the Goddists: If you can get a New Jersey vanity license plate that reads “BAPTIST,” why not one that reads “8THEIST”? (The answer is ‘you can, but you have to be willing to sue’).

Research on coaxial lasers shows promise in triggering rain and lightning on demand.

If only they were furriners, dagnabbit! The cos-play convention of armed lunatics in support of Cliven Bundy’s decades-long criminal activity offers a unique opportunity for federal authorities to identify and interdict a butt-load of domestic terrorists. I’m sure the opportunity will be wasted.

 

Little Bunny Foo-Foo

Make that ‘Little Bunny YuTu’:  Good luck to ‘Jade Rabbit‘!! China has achieved the first soft landing on the Moon in 37 years!

The 500 people who live in Awra Amba, Ethiopia, do things a little differently, by design. The village has a mill, where grain is crushed into flour, a textile factory, a café, a tourist hostel, and two stores that cater to people from outside the village. Yet the people of Awra Amba do not follow organized religion, and that can make waves with neighboring communities. Let’s hope they don’t weigh the same as a duck, eh?

Here’s chapter and verse on a more-or-less comprehensive list of things banned in Leviticus. Some seem awfully petty. A number of them are punishable by death.

‘Rudolph’ is non-canonical. Death to the Rudolphite heretics! And the adventures of a philosophically inclined mailman.

This Khmer Rouge history lesson by Spalding Gray still fascinates me.

Walt Disney as a complex character of his times with some kinks and warts. In The Wayward Canary, from 1932, Minnie Mouse seems to own a lighter with a swastika on it, for some reason.

Traditional Catalan nativity scenes include a figure you don’t see in the States much.  He is known in Catalan as the caganer. That translates most politely as ‘the defecator’ – and there he is, squatting under a tree with his trousers down.

There’s so many similarities between the mythology of faeries and ETs, it’s like they were one and the same critters.

Nifty rocket launcher, it’s like a lazy-susan of death! This is sooo coool, but it needs Ron Popeil to really sell it!

Did you know mammoths still walked the earth when the Great Pyramid was being built?

Here’s some early incarnations of some iconic toys.

When do the action figures arrive? Google has officially acquired Boston Dynamics, makers of robots as cool as they are terrifying. We are ordered not to fear them.

Gods and Monsters

Dark Horse has launched a new comic book series where atheist superheroes protect the Earth from supernatural forces they don’t even believe in.

Here’s 11 horror movies that are incredibly scary because of what they say about humanity. I thought they all were!

Rare non-face palm news out of Indian Territory! The first 24 hour automated library in the U.S. has been installed in Norman OK!

The robot apocalypse has been postponed! In front of dozens of journalists yesterday in Hong Kong, DARPA’s 330 pound Atlas robot lost its balance and broke its ankle during a demonstration of walking.

Law of Urination: all mammals empty their bladders over the same duration.

A new study published in the American Journal of Medicine finds that heavy pot smokers tend to be slimmer than former marijuana users and non-smokers. So that’s what happened to my 30 inch waist!

Poor children are now the majority in American public schools in South, West. Standardized testing won’t fix that.

Yes, Evil Knievel endorsed a scooter-chair in his declining years. Sad, isn’t it?

Authority > Leadership. “Authority in the Village from Italy to Ireland“.

There’s an interesting “sedition petition” that’s got over 40,000 signatures.

At a loss for words? Try the Tea party Insult Generator! It’s powered by actual insults spewed on John Boehner’s Facebook wall!

Beloved Imbeciles

“The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace” – (Proverbs 13:5). Yea and verily, my own district’s Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Pekoe and Orange Pekoe) issued the following statement on his vote to continue the government shutdown Wednesday night:

I voted ‘No’ on the bill to raise the debt ceiling without any spending controls and fund the government without providing any relief to millions of Americans being harmed by Obamacare. The President’s policy of funding all of the government or none of the government violates the principles of a representative republic and is devastating to a nation historically governed by consensus.

Yep, them Obamacare casualties are just littering the streets, aren’t they?  This kind of hyperbole, coupled with the fact that Bridenstine is known to be able to both read and write, is why I conclude that he is a very lazy liar that just doesn’t care to sound even a little credible. Because, hey, TYRANNY!, right?

Mr. Bridenstine doesn’t seem to comprehend that, under the Constitution of this representative democracy, there are just two ways to undo the Affordable Care Act (since the Supreme Court has already killed the “declare it unconstitutional” gambit):

1. Pass a bill in congress to overturn the ACA, and have the president sign it into law, or
2. Pass a bill in congress to overturn the ACA, have the president veto it, then override the veto by two-thirds vote in both houses of congress

It’s a little odd to have to explain this to a congressman, even a spurious ‘wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross‘ rookie like Bridenstine, but he’s just a mendacious little tool and not an overly bright one at that. Go Okie voters!

Rep. Tom Cole was the only member of Oklahoma’s all-Republican delegation voting to re-open the government. I’ve lauded Rep. Cole in the past for being the most pragmatic member of the Oklahoma delegation, by far. We might not agree on much, but with Cole you won’t get an argument about the sky being “up” or 2+2 being equal to 4. This sets him head and shoulders above the rest.

On the other hand, in the Senate, crazy old Tom Coburn (R-Rampant Lesbian) was among the 18 senators who voted against the measure. Sen. Jim Inhofe, recovering from surgery to remove a scientific hoax, was unable to vote but released this statement:

The president has taken care of his pet projects while letting the most foundational elements of the Constitution — from budgeting to national security — sit on the back burner. Because of his leadership, we have operated from one crisis to the next. It happened once again when he and Majority Leader (Harry) Reid held Congress hostage with the debt ceiling in order to forge a deal that falls short of anything worthy of conservative support. It’s time this ends and my colleagues face the overdue discussion on the scope and size of federal government.

Does that parse as being as disconnected from reality to you as it did for me? Maybe it was only the Demerol talking, though with Inhofe how would you ever know?

#^^$&%, not Monday again!

Edward Snowden, American hero of conscience. The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA’s history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows.

“My fellow Americans: I just wanted to see if you have any self-respect left“, explains the president.

Surveillance video shows a thief approaching a locked SUV in a driveway, carrying a small device in the palm of his hand: he aims it at the car and pops the locks electronically. He’s in, with access to everything. (I know many RKE systems are based on Microchip’s rolling code system, does anyone have more info on this exploit? I’d like to learn more about this).

“Tax the wealthy and corporations – as we once did in this country – and invest that money in the middle class-as we once did in this country.” Nick Hanauer warned Congress that rich people like him aren’t the engines of the economy. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee he explained why, in fact, middle-class workers are the economy’s real job creators.

Standing With Stones is a fantastic documentary on the megaliths of Great Britain and Ireland, filmed over the course of a two year tour of the monuments. Get to know your stones, man, and hit the donate button to help the filmmakers out a bit.

Ok, now Zahi Hawass, former supreme ruler of Egypt’s antiquities, has had a conversion experience, and now believes that the robot-discovered “Gantenbrink doors” may hold the key to finding Cheop’s treasures after all.

The first quarter of 2013 brought the biggest quarterly decline in U.S. hourly wages since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping track in 1947.

The Care of Books, by John Willis Clark, 1901, lists several interesting curses written into books to deter their theft.

If I did this I’d get arrested. A Spanish town has come up with an ingenious way to keep its streets clean of dog mess – by sending the offending deposits back to the owners in an official box marked ‘Lost Property’.

Quandaries

Atheists raising children in the Bible Belt face certain quandaries, for instance what guidance to give them on religion. My own memories of being quizzed by my peers usually resulted in a “You’re going to Hell!” response from the fundies. I tend to encourage a more mysterious approach now… or maybe an occasional “Go away or I’ll feast on your soul!!” for the more persistently bothersome.

‘GOD HATES FALSE-FLAGGERS!’: irate Boston man confronts ‘sh*theel’ Alex Jones reporter over ‘false flag’ claims.

They’ve programmed E. coli to generate a carbon-neutral bio-diesel from sugars, still needs optimization though.

Maggie Koerth-Baker gets us a tour of the Leech Library at the American Museum of Natural History.

NatGeo brings us the origins of Egypt, complete with catfish, beer & scorpions.

Boston bombing suspects’ friends arrested for evidence destruction and interfering with the investigation. “… [T]he three went back to Mr. Tsarnaev’s dorm room. When they returned to their apartment, they were carrying the backpack, fireworks, a jar of Vaseline and Mr. Tsarnaev’s laptop”. What, no Batman suit? I’d say those were pretty close friends in a major moral quandary, leading to a long-term bonding experience.

A giant floating head isn’t just for Zardoz any more! Art projects gone wild?