Friday, July 16, 2004
From Bunny: the NorthEast Fisheries Science Center Photo Archives. Featuring fish! And photos!
From Daniel: ClearChannel, meet freedom of expression. The battle is on. Also from Daniel: Brown Equals Terrorist, which is one man's experience with our so-called protectors in Homeland Security. I can't even describe how outraged and frustrated this sort of thing makes me. Please, people, let's not just lie down and take this.
On a related note: Librarians Against Bush. Check out their store. I especially like the bumper sticker which says "Our president doesn't read."
Remember back in the '80s, when we were all afraid of nuclear war? (I wish I could go back in time and tell my teen self not to worry so much, at least not yet.) Relive those heady colorful days with '80s commercials, parts one and two. I don't remember Nerf fencing at all. I would have loved that!
Have a good weekend, everyone. See you Monday.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Anyway. "Librarians burst stereotype and break out of the stacks," says a local article. I like how the headline makes it sound like we're clones of the Incredible Hulk. Arrrrg! Smash stereotypes! Rarrrrr!
From ResearchBuzz: You can now watch over fifty years of presidential commercials. Then you can go through and tally which promises were and weren't kept! (Actually, that would be a pretty interesting research project or thesis paper or something.) Also from ResearchBuzz: explore the mysterious world of abandoned airfields. Maybe you can find UFO crash remnants.
The Library of Congress has updated their online photography collection again. I would love to work in their photo archives. Can you imagine the cool stuff you'd see on a daily basis?
The history of books: an animated analysis. This is fun for all ages.
And finally, to bring this post round to politics again: "The White House and the CIA have refused to give the Senate intelligence committee a one-page summary of prewar intelligence in Iraq prepared for President George W. Bush that contains few of the qualifiers and none of the dissents spelled out in longer intelligence reviews, according to congressional officials..." (Thanks, Daniel!)
Tomorrow: links from others!
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
On to other news. Vive la France! It's Bastille Day, and Paris is celebrating. If you live a little too far to the west to celebrate, you could check out Alaska's Oceans Festival this weekend.
News of the spooky abounds this week. A tiny English townseems to be in the midst of its own version of Twin Peaks; a skeleton from the 1660s has been discovered in a Maryland cellar; and a haunted house in Spain is up for sale.
And here's something really interesting: why do you never hear about Jack Parsons? The answer has something to do with the unholy combination of science and magic. Fascinating stuff.
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
In honor of tonight's All-Star game, I give you what may be the best baseball team name ever. I wish their mascot actually looked like this, but sadly, it is some weird orange elephanty creature instead.
Chrissie Hynde left a voicemail for about 12,000 P&G employees on behalf of PETA. No word yet on Chrissie's feelings toward orange elephanty creatures. (Thanks for the link, Zazoo!)
Hey, it smells like teen spirit in here! Or maybe dinosaur. Or burning trees. Bunny is forever insisting that dinosaurs smell like charcoal. How he knows what dinosaurs smell like is beyond me. Maybe he experienced a Land of the Lost type of adventure and hasn't told me yet.
Absurd link of the day: go to the Pringles website, and look! Your cursor turns into a little Pringles man! And if you hover over certain countries, the Pringles man wears different hats! Can anyone explain his Brazilian hat, by the way? Is it supposed to be a baseball cap, or something else entirely?
And finally, the "20 questions to a better personality" quiz. My results were as follows:
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You are a WRCF--Wacky Rational Constructive Follower. This makes you Paul Begala. You are unflappable and largely unconcerned with others' reactions to you. You were not particularly interested in the results of this test, and probably took it only as a result of someone else asking you to.
You have a biting wit and intense powers of observation. No detail is lost on you, and your friends know it--relying on you to have the facts when others express only opinions. You are even-tempered, friendly, and educated. Foolish strangers may mistake your mildness for weakness--they will be surprised.
Your entire approach to life is enviable. You will raise good kids.
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So there. Apparently I rock and don't even know it. Find your own inner self and let me know who you are. And while you're at it, let me know how I can be wacky AND rational at the same time!
Monday, July 12, 2004
Pablo Neruda would be 100 years old today. Go read some poems to celebrate, or watch Il Postino.
Check out the cast of the new Spamalot; I would love to see this!
The Voynich Manuscript is examined yet again, and thought to be a hoax, sadly. In tangentially related news, The DaVinci Code has sparked a surge in tourism around the places mentioned in the book.
You're all going to vote in November, right? RIGHT? The image of the day will be returning soon with some anti-war, anti-Bush posters, but in the meantime you can check out Clothing of the American Mind, which features several different t-shirt options and some photos of well-known people wearing said shirts. Spread the word.
