Not to in any way diminish the pride that sports can bring to a nation, but be wary of applying more significance than deserves to be applied. Angry Arab:

Do you notice this in the US and Saudi media? How they are treating the victory of the Iraqi soccer team as it is a validation of the Bush doctrine? We will live to a day when countries are invaded under the pretext of improving the performance of their soccer teams.

Update 2pm: Apparently the Iraqi team captain wants the US to leave, and won't return to Iraq to celebrate because he fears for his life.

Bush Face

From the NY Times the other day. More here.

New Religion

T-Rex at Dinosaur Comics starts a New Religion...

Commenting on the video "Rapture Ready: The Unauthorized Christians United for Israel Tour," Sadly, No! says:

Just listen to that opening statement from Tom DeLay, peeps. He actually says that the Second Coming of Jesus is “what I live for and I hope it comes tomorrow.” He then says that “obviously we have to be connected to Israel to enjoy the second coming of Christ.” Consider that this man used to be majority leader of the House of Representatives and weep for our nation.

Walking Stick from Texas

IMG_3865.JPG, originally uploaded by cricketheron.

I was recently in Texas for J's family reunion, and had a lot of fun taking photos of the Large Bugs there - including this enormous walking stick. Loads more on my flickr site, including, if you know me, pics of actual humans!

Hey, Gmail Team! How about less funny video contests, and more Adding IMAP Support to your product so I can stop jumping through forwarding-to-dreamhost hoops to get you to work with the iPhone? Thanks.

And yes, it's free, but I'm trying to kneel before you over here, and you're making it a little awkward.

Sadly, No! writes on the article the other day on the "re-branding" of the military, "Pentagon tries to learn from Madison Avenue":

See, I’m not sure if this sorta thing is something that can be solved through re-branding. At the end of the day, nobody likes having their country invaded, even it’s by giant bunnies who give away free carrots and celery sticks to children in order to liberate them from crappy nutrition. I mean, you can’t sell people shit sandwiches just by putting them in pretty packaging. Instead you have to, you know, make them not be shit sandwiches.

Hmm...you mean, like installing lots of little waterwheels in your veins to generate power?

Saturday in Bay Ridge

Just a lovely day out around town

Another incredible post from Dark Roasted Blend - on "Abandoned Tunnels and Vast Underground Spaces." This is a shot from something called "G-CANS: Tokyo Storm Water System" - not the Mines of Moria.

cranbrook pool.

cranbrook pool., originally uploaded by SpencerM.Ashby.

Beautiful shot of a locale from the school where I grew up...(and a historical fact I did not know, even though I played around this place for years)

John Aravosis is keeping track:

The lies continue from the Pentagon top brass. Two days ago they said we should wait until September before making any judgment on the "success" of the Iraq war. Then yesterday they told us, sorry, we meant NOVEMBER. And today, it's next summer.

The endless war will continue forever unless the Republicans are stopped.

When Bush goes under for surgery this weekend, and Cheney becomes president momentarily, does that mean that Nancy Pelosi becomes our Acting Vice President? Rockin.

All Hail the great site English Russia - originally pointed out to me by antimattar...

I love Gawker:

We're not sure what it says about where we're at when a statement from the mayor like this one is viewed as comforting ("There is no reason to believe this is anything other than a failure of our infrastructure") but there you have it.

Tom DeLay lets his wank hang out:

Al Qaida has hopefully learned that against all their hopes and prayers to Allah, Harry Reid and friends cannot deliver them the victory that their suicide bombers cannot win on the field of battle. Hopefully, also, the American people now know that those that produced last night’s Senate Kabuki act stayed true to the art form and are truly “outside of the mainstream” that wants see America succeed rather than fail against her enemies. Let’s settle in for the final act.

Thanks for the help at ending divisiveness, Tom. Maybe we should send Joe Lieberman over to talk to you.

Farewell to NY1 Clock

I like to take final photos of objects before I throw them out.

close-up of Damon tibialis - whip spider from Sao Tome, West Africa

close-up of Damon tibialis - whip spider from Sao Tome, West Africa, originally uploaded by artour_a.

Any photographer that has an Amblypygi tag on their flickr site is All Right With Me...

I Can't Even Remember Anymore

How did I explore what was happening in the world, say, 8 years ago? How did I investigate what the world was thinking? Did I wait for Tuesdays, when Newsweek would come out and "serious" people who "investigate" would tell me Of What the World Consisted? Would I watch the Evening News and learn the most important events?

My life and how I relate to other humans, both on small scales (family, friends, co-workers) and large-scales (my Homeland, other countries, other hemispheres, other demographics) has so drastically changed in the last 3 years, especially, that it's hard to remember the time that I'm having trouble not thinking of as an Age of Disconnection, relative to the overlapping threads of network I live within now.

Your Daily Furry Pic

IMG_3417.JPG, originally uploaded by Drab Makyo.

God Bless the Internet

The best page of Optical Illusions I've ever seen. From Xeni's Web Zen last week, which includes more illusion links.

I want iTunes for words - clips, speeches, interviews, short quips or sayings, web articles, comment boards - anything. Separate database of speakers/writers, with integration with osx address book.

Please.

I find "accent jokes" and, generally, racially- or ethnically-based jokes deeply unfunny, and it's sad to hear that Transformers felt the need to "go there." Bay clearly had so much great source material - why throw in that shit? Tripmaster Monkey:

Now, here’s how Bay mucks it up: Within the first 10 minutes, you get characters telling people to “Speak English!” But this is only the beginning. A weird and totally unnecessary racial and cross-cultural undercurrent gets played out through the whole film. What’s with the backhanded compliments about the technological prowess of the Japanese? Really, did we need to have an India-bashing moment in the middle of a heated firefight where the alpha white male (Josh Duhamel) argues with a South Asian call center operator? And, without giving too much away, one of the “big surprise” casualties is the jive-talking robot who can dance.

True Lies, 2007

Burt Prelutsky, in an article actually called "Where's John Wayne When You Need Him?":

So, do you really blame me for wishing that I could look forward to going to the local Bijou in the near future and see the Duke mopping up a bunch of these whiny punks in a movie that might be called, “Allah, Be Damned”?

Yes, Burt, I do.

Why can't I sit on my couch with the iphone and administrate what songs I transfer to it from my full itunes library right there on the device itself?

There are a million ways in which the iphone can become a true "Universal Remote."

Endless

Digby on the Return of the Haircut "story":

Television gasbags have been gleefully recycling this Edwards nonsense all day, based upon the latest Soloman story and treating it like it's news. Matthews said "sometimes small stories can reveal big things." He pretends he's cleverly pointing out that Edwards is a phony populist for getting expensive haircuts but what he's really doing is pushing GOP propaganda that Edwards is effeminate and soft. Like all Democrats.

Fox's Major Garrett just did a huge piece on this "controversy" ending with this:

"The stylist said 'I try to make the man handsome, strong, more mature and these are the things, as an expert, that's what we do.' For sheer irony, that Edwards seems to believe he needs all three, might be the sharpest cut of all."

They've played the "I Feel pretty" video three times in the last half hour.

Compassionate Conservatism:

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- The U.S. military is seeking to improve conditions for many Guantanamo Bay detainees by offering more recreation and activities, including a weekly movie night for the best-behaved, the commander of the detention center said Tuesday.

...via Hominid Views, who asks

Wouldn’t it be better to actually provide lawyers, take them to a real court, give them a legitimate trial, and identify who, among the suspected terrorists, really ARE terrorists?

A generalized solution for that irritation where the iphone opens iphoto (for me, a HUGE ram hog) when you have greater-than-zero photos on the iphone when you attach it.

You have to open Image Capture, which is located in your Applications folder.
Go to Preferences and set what you want to have happen when you connect a camera.

Thanks, Ryukyu!

The iPhone keyboard may work beautifully, but it's still a pleasure to use a real one...

It fell to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to determine the cause of the foot-severing accident at Six Flags a few weeks back?

Bull in Chinashop of Law

Oompa, Doompa, Doompa-dee-Doo!

By yesterday morning, in fact, Mr. Bush’s arguments for keeping Mr. Libby out of prison had become an unexpected gift to defense lawyers around the country, who scrambled to make use of them in their own cases.

“The president of the United States has come in on his own and said, ‘30 months is not reasonable in this case,’ ” said Susan James, an Alabama lawyer representing Don E. Siegelman, the state’s former governor, who is appealing a sentence he received last week of 88 months for obstruction of justice and other charges.

“It’s far more important than if he’d just pardoned Libby,” Ms. James said, as forgiving a given offense as an act of executive grace would have had only political repercussions. “What you’re going to see is people like me quoting President Bush in every pleading that comes across every federal judge’s desk.”

The iphone era begins...