A Plague Undetected
See if you can guess where this picture was taken (winner gets a Gmail invitation).
Post a comment to submit your answer.
Clue (11-06-2004): Not Port Liberty, New Jersey
Clue (10-28-2004): Not South Korea.
Clue (10-27-2004): Look here
Clue (10-17-2004): Not the Gyaing River, Myanmar.
Clue (10-14-2004): this picture was taken @ June 1990
(via Media Matters for America)
I thank God now in the 21st century for talk radio, that three hours a day people like
Sean Hannity1,
Rush Limbaugh1,2,
and hundreds of others are telling the truth of what really is going on. I thank God for
FOX News Channel1.
I thank God for the Internet bloggers and the news producers like
NewsMax.com1,3,
WorldNetDaily.com1, even
The Drudge Report1,4.
— Radical Cleric Jerry Falwell
(from the countering creationist idiocy dept.)
(via Pharyngula)
I like the idea of printing these stickers and sending them to students in school districts that pass or are trying to pass these silly textbook disclaimer laws.
(from the I want a boat too, but I don’t expect someone else to pay for it dept.)
(via Eschaton)
Congress Passes $388 Billion Spending Bill:
The Senate voted 65-30 for the legislation late on Saturday that sets aside funds for a range of priorities including a presidential yacht, foreign aid and energy. It is one of the final pieces of work for the 108th Congress and they may return to finish a spy agency overhaul before the end of the year.
Presidential yacht? WTF? I wonder how many people went into the voting booth on Nov. 2 and thought, “I’m going to vote Republican, because this country really needs a presidential yacht.”
Actually, I’m all for the preservation of presidential yachts and other historic vessels (if this is the purpose of this appropriation). But don’t you think there should be other spending priorities?
UPDATE: Budget bill has $15.8B in extras:
$2 million for the government to buy back the presidential yacht USS Sequoia, sold in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter to demonstrate frugality.
The Republicans are showing fiscal responsibility by undoing Jimmy Carter’s act of frugality. Welcome to bizarro world. By the way, the Sequoia seems to be in good hands, so this is not a case of preserving a historic landmark.
(via email)
(via Musings of a Philosophical Scrivener….)
Hardee’s introduces new mega-calorie Monster Thickburger:
ST. LOUIS (AP) — As many fast-food chains are catering to the health-conscious, Hardee’s is introducing the biggest and thickest of its Thickburgers — one with enough calories to make Ronald McDonald blush.
The St. Louis-based chain on Monday rolled out its Monster Thickburger — two 1/3-pound slabs of Angus beef, four strips of bacon, three slices of cheese and mayonnaise on a buttered sesame seed bun. The sandwich alone sells for $5.49, $7.09 with fries and a soda.
Even a news release touted the Monster — at 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat– as “a monument to decadence.” Add fries and a soda and a single meal would involve more calories and fat than most people should get in a day.
…
The introduction comes at a time when McDonald’s, Wendy’s and other fast-food giants are offering salads and other lower-calorie fare. Subway advertising has long used patron Jared to tout the low-calorie items on the menu.
Hardee’s has gone another direction.
Hardee’s has gone another direction.
You think? 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat
– Holy crap! Just reading the description is enough to cause chest pains.
I’ve been playing around with Hydrogen – an advanced drum machine for GNU/Linux. So far, it seems to be full featured (I’m more familiar with “real” drums). Hydrogen can import sound samples in .wav, .au, and .aiff formats and export “songs” to midi and wav files. Hydrogen uses an XML file for its native song file format, thus allowing the potential for manual tweaking of song files and the ability to manipulate these files by other applications.
Hydrogen might just have the best splash screen ever:
I used to be on top of this kind of news.
I’m in the process of converting my music CDs into mp3’s* (thus probably violating several federal laws) largely because I’m tired of packing my briefcase full of CDs.
Anyway, while ripping Wall of Voodoo‘s Call of the West, I got curious and searched Google for information about WoV’s guitarist, Marc Moreland (I wanted to see what he’s done since his work on the Pretty and Twisted album). Sadly, I learned he died on March 13th, 2002.
Marc Moreland was one of those guitarists you could simply recognize by his distinctive sound.
*For my own personal use from CDs I own.
(Stolen from Musings of a Philosophical Scrivener….)
As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
— H.L. Mencken
(via Eschaton)
Here’s your Bush Mandate (look here).