Isaac Hayes has passed away

Word is breaking right now that singer/songwriter/actor Isaac Hayes has passed away.That's how I'm always going to remember him as. The very first time that I heard of him: when he played the Duke in Escape from New York.Hayes also wrote and performed the theme song from Shaft. And of course he was Chef on South Park, before that very odd dispute with the producers.Adding...

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RED DAWN? Google reports Russians attacking Savannah, Georgia

"WOLVERINES!"(Look, somebody had to say it... :-)In a very wonky case of mistaken identity, Google News has been reporting that the Russian Army is invading Georgia... as in, Georgia in the southeastern United States! The mix-up stems from the trouble going on with Russia and Georgia, the country in the Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian.Don't worry folks. Even...

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The hope of new life, the promises of a new life together

A number of things are "clicking" perfectly this weekend. Not just for me personally but for a number of people that God is also showering His blessings upon...First there's Jenna Olwin, who over the past few years has not only become a very dear friend to Lisa and I but also a wonderful sister in the Lord, who will tie the knot with her boyfriend and soul-mate Lou tomorrow. Here's her blog post about getting engaged from back in March. There...

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Bernie Mac has passed away

Comedian and actor Bernie Mac has passed away from pneumonia complications at age 50.That's one bit of news that I sure wasn't anticipating.A very funny and talented person. And seemed like way too nice a guy to leave us at a pretty young age.I thought his television show was pretty good and always had a good moral at the end. His work in Ocean's Eleven and its sequels was...

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The brewing war between Russia and Georgia

In case anyone's paying attention, this is why the United States should exercise a hella lotta caution before getting involved in anyone else's business.I'm hearing mixed word on what started this: the Georgians claim the Russians invaded and the Russians are stating that missiles from Georgia attacked their military positions. It's almost like a repeat of Fort Sumter.The U.S. aligned itself with Georgia awhile back. A lot of people are saying...

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Video of alleged ghost at Asheville High School

Asheville High School is not just a great school, it's a beautiful building. I know 'cuz some years ago I did a lot of substitute teaching there. So I'm pretty familiar with the layout of the place and the kind of people there. Which makes this story all the more interesting for me personally...A video surveillance camera at Asheville High has purportedly captured the moving...

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Ozzy Osbourne to be playable character in GUITAR HERO WORLD TOUR

I've talked about Rock Band a lot on this blog ('cuz Lisa and I play it together all the time) and we're eager for Rock Band 2 next month, but I'm also a big fan of the Guitar Hero games. Lisa got me Guitar Hero III for my birthday a few months ago. Now if only I can get past Slash...Well, the next few months are going to be pure crazy on the rhythm gaming front, with Rock...

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Apple working on Wi-Fi streaming iTunes

Mac Rumors has found a story about a very cool technical innovation that Apple is researching. It involves wireless streaming of the iTunes on your home computer to your iPhone or iPod Touch, wherever you happen to be! So, say you're driving through Colorado and your home is in Atlanta, and you want to dial up a song (maybe even a video) on your Apple appliance that you don't happen to have on the device itself. So long as you're in a Wi-Fi or...

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Kenneth Johnson is making V into a big-screen feature?!

That's what Ain't It Cool News is reporting today. The guys at Latino Film Review seem to have gotten their hands on the proposal script, and it reads like a combo of the two miniseries (minus that "Starchild" crap, well let's hope it's not in it anyway).Even if this specific project never gets made, I don't care. I'm just glad to hear that there is some movement afoot to bring V back to the screen.Hopefully as a re-imagined and updated story,...

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Medical MacGyver saves baby's life with home-brewed dialysis machine

BBC News has an uplifting story about Dr. Malcolm Coulthard, a British kidney specialist. A few years ago he was given a patient: a baby girl who was born with a life-threatening condition that demanded dialysis treatment. Unfortunately the normal dialysis machines were way too big to be used on someone with such small weight.So Dr. Coulthard built a dialysis machine that would do the job, using scrounged-up parts and literally working out of his...

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THE FUGITIVE premiered 15 years ago today

One of my all-time favorite movies, The Fugitive, came out fifteen years ago today, on August 6th, 1993.(How much is it one of my favorites? Well, it's on my iPod, for one thing...)Starring Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive was based on the 1960s television series about Dr. Richard Kimble, a physician who is wrongly convicted of murdering his wife, then escapes...

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Gymnastics at Olympics drops "perfect 10" scoring

Remember how legendary Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton became when they each scored a perfect 10 in their Olympic gymnastics competitions? Heck, "Perfect 10" has become a part of our vernacular because of their achievements and those of other gymnasts. Well, we can kiss any hope of seeing some 10s at the Beijing Olympics goodbye 'cuz a new scoring system completely gets rid of the traditional 10.0 grade.In its place is a convoluted scheme that...

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So much to write...

...and so little time.(And yes, that The Dark Knight review is still comin...

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Sickest YouTube video ever?

I'm not going to embed this. In fact, I don't know if it'll work as an embed. This particular video has age verification enabled, so you've got to be a registered YouTube user and click through the agreement that yes, you're old enough and you do want to watch.No, it's not pornography. But it's not for the squeamish, either. And it is legit. I first heard about this clip two years ago, and if a friend hadn't passed it along I never would have...

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Scientists find the hottest water on Earth

Just south of the equator and nearly two miles below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, researchers have discovered the hottest liquid water ever found on Earth, in a state that has never before been observed in the natural world. Hydrothermal vents are discharging water in a "supercritical" state (I'm thinking it's analogous to plasma as a super-heated gas) that has been...

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This blog has just been notified of an important anniversary

We missed it by three days, but I don't think most people will mind if we "honor" it belatedly!Yes folks, this past Friday, August 1st, was the thirtieth anniversary of a certain somebody going all nuts in a convenience store in east Texas, pulling out a revolver and threatening to kill the store's owner, then making off with a ridiculously tiny sum of money before being apprehended following a twenty-minute high-speed car chase... in a Ford Pinto.(Was...

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Alexander Solzhenitsyn has passed away

The sad news is going out at this hour that Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel-winning novelist who spent decades in exile from his homeland in the Soviet Union after describing the evils of its prison system, has died at the age of 89.Solzhenitsyn served as an officer in the Red Army during World War II (and I don't care what some people might say about it, but the Russian...

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