...and it's not a fit night to be out and about if you can help it.
So I'm stayin' in, cooking pizza and watching some good movies for a snowbound evening.
I'm thinking The Shining, Misery, and The Thing :-P
Friday, December 18, 2009
The most horrific news story I have read all year
A Campbell County, Virginia woman gave birth and smothered her newborn child to death. But she won't face murder charges because the umbilical cord was not yet cut so legally it's not murder but abortion.
Officials say that the loophole in the law keeps them from pursuing charges.
God help us.
Read the story here at WSLS if you have the heart for it.
Jack Bauer interrogates Santa Claus
I'm not much of a 24 fan, but this is darned funny!
Rebel Christmas Card gets the credit for this hilarious mashup.
Chuck Baldwin sez: Rage against federal government ain't good enough
Chuck Baldwin - the man who I voted for President in the 2008 election (and not Obama or McCain, nyah nyah nyah nyah nyaaaaaahhh) - has published an EXCELLENT op-ed piece on his website about why the anger of many Americans toward Washington is wildly misplaced. Baldwin recommends instead re-focusing our energies on the states, and reasserting our Tenth Amendment rights.
Here's a hearty morsel of Rev. Baldwin's fine essay...
You see, the wizards in Washington and on Wall Street have us figured out. Along with their compatriots in the propaganda press corps, they know that no matter how loudly we scream, how much we protest, or how angry we become, the system is rigged to protect them. The best we the people can seem to come up with is "throwing the bums out" every two or four years. BUT NOTHING CHANGES--at least, not in terms of restoring the fundamental principles of freedom and constitutional government.If anyone cares to know why I've never jumped on the Sarah Palin bandwagon (or why to this date I've yet to listen to a minute of Glenn Beck on the radio and I don't even know what the hell his voice sounds like anyway) well, Baldwin articulates much of my own personal sentiment here.Throw out George H.W. Bush in 1992, and nothing changes. Throw the Democrats out of Congress in 1994, and nothing changes. Throw Bill Clinton's party out of the White House in 2000, and nothing changes. Throw out G.W. Bush's Republicans in 2008, and nothing changes. The only thing that happens with a changing of the guard is an escalation in the pace of whatever version of socialism--or Big Government program--is currently in vogue. With Bush it meant expanding the Warfare State. With Obama it means expanding the Welfare State. But both do everything they can to expand Big Government.
When will we awaken to the reality that Washington, D.C., has had the American people chasing their tails for decades? People, wake up! As long as we continue to focus our attention and energy on Washington, D.C., we will only continue to supply more rope to those who wish to hang us.
Washington, D.C., is too far gone to salvage. Admit it! Washington is a cesspool, a landfill, and a putrid pond of corruption and duplicity. Neither the Republican nor Democratic Party will ever allow a principled constitutionalist to become its Presidential nominee. No matter whom we elect as President, the beat toward Big-Government socialism and one-world internationalism will go on without interruption. Big Government scalawags own the entire federal system, including Big Media, Big Business, Big Labor, Big Religion, and Big Special Interest Groups. They are all feeding at the government teat.
Therefore, it is absolutely obligatory that freedom-minded Americans refocus their attention to electing State legislators, governors, judges and sheriffs who will fearlessly defend their God-given liberties. And, as plainly and emphatically as I know how to say it, I am telling you: ONLY THE STATES CAN DEFEND OUR LIBERTY NOW! And awakening to this reality means we will have to completely readjust our thinking and priorities.
It means awakening to the fact that Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Bill O'Reilly (and the rest of Big Media's talking heads) are, for the most part, irrelevant to providing real solutions to the continuing loss of liberty. And, in truth, they are, more often than not, part of the problem, because they continue to focus our attention on Washington, D.C., and off the source of genuine solution, which lies with the states drawing a constitutional line in the sand for freedom. Good grief! Beck and O'Reilly have recently even advocated for higher federal taxes! Yeah! That's a real solution: more power and money to Washington, D.C. Ughhh!
Instead of getting all worked up about what Glenn Beck says or what Sarah Palin says or what CFR member and Big Government neocon Newt Gingrich says, start paying attention to what your State legislators and candidates are saying.
Best man rigs newlywed friend's bed to Twitter during sex
Yeah it's a slow news day apparently.
Read the wonderfully lurid technical details about the prank here.
And if you are interested in this kind of... stuff... click here to follow the Twitter feed straight from the newlyweds' bed.
Dan O'Bannon, writer of ALIEN and TOTAL RECALL and creator of the Death Star plans, has passed away
But not long after that O'Bannon turned in a screenplay for a Ridley Scott-directed project called Alien. That would have been more than enough to have Dan O'Bannon's name emblazoned forevermor into movie legend.
He didn't stop there. Some years later O'Bannon wrote the script for Total Recall: another masterpiece of science fiction. Word is he was still working on a number of other screenplays.
And now the sad news has come out of Los Angeles that Dan O'Bannon has passed away at the age of 63.
Thoughts and prayers going out to his family this morning.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
12 inches of snow tomorrow? White Christmas too?!
That's what the meteorologisticians are predicting. Cold air plus a system pumping a lot of moisture up from the Gulf of Mexico. That usually means beaucoups of snow in this part of the country.
And we stand a good chance of snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as well.
The bad news is that it puts a crimp in plans to see Avatar tomorrow. But if worse comes to worst I suppose I can always download it :-P
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Scientists crack entire genome of skin and lung cancer
Researchers working around the globe as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium have announced that the entire genetic code for skin and lung cancer has been "decrypted".
The scientists have discovered more than 30,000 transcription errors in genetic replication that give rise to melanoma (and almost all of these are triggered from too much sunlight).
And if you're a smoker, think about this the next time you light up: you typically acquire one fresh new mutation for every 15 cigarettes that you smoke. Not all of these are malign, but there are more than 23,000 genetic errors and some of them will lead to lung cancer.
That's about, what... 1.25 mutations per pack of cigarettes, on the conservative side of the figures?
Yul Brynner was smoking five packs a day. This is what he had to say about it, in a 1985 television spot intentionally airing after he died...
The International Cancer Genome Consortium researchers are hailing their findings as a tremendous breakthrough in the fight against cancer. That it certainly is.
But folks, let's not pin too much hope on research. Take care of yourself so that you don't have to likely appreciate the fruits of future medicine.
Damn the gods! New CLASH OF THE TITANS trailer unleashes the Kraken on your eyeballs
In general, I loathe remakes of original films. It takes a lot for a revamped movie to impress me.
But I am getting pretty darned close to sold on Clash of the Titans, if this new trailer is indication of what we'll see in theaters on March 26th a few months from now...
Mash down here for the Clash of the Titans trailer in full beautiful Quicktime!
First trailer for IRON MAN 2 flies onto the Intertubes!
You can wait for it to show up on YouTube, or...
...you can watch it in Quicktime right now!
(Go for the Quicktime, it's better.)
Gotta wonder if Steve Jobs is looking at this and secretly wanting to make such an entrance at an Apple event :-P
Iron Man 2 comes out on May 7th, 2010.
Newly discovered "super Earth" has water, atmosphere
Maybe we should name it "Saunaworld"? :-P
Roy Disney has passed away
The sad news coming down this afternoon that Roy Disney, nephew of Walt Disney and longtime upholder of the family legacy, has died at the age of 79 following a battle with stomach cancer.
Few will argue that Disney as an entertainment brand would not be anything like the powerhouse it is today were it not for Roy Disney fighting behind the scenes: both to foster creative drive and in the corporate boardroom. His history with Michael Eisner - the man who Roy Disney first brought in as chief executive officer before being ousted in a stockholder coup led by Disney - is the stuff of business legend.
I don't know if there's any comfort in saying this, but I'm glad that Roy Disney lived long enough to see his uncle's company return to traditional animation before he passed. I haven't seen The Princess and the Frog yet but that Disney's 2-D department has been revitalized is a huge victory for Roy Disney.
Thoughts and prayers going out to his family. And Los Angeles Times has a fascinating article about his career.
Not a good gift idea
I don't understand why anybody would want a hippopotamus for Christmas.
Look people: Those things are DANGEROUS!! They cause more human deaths on the African continent than any other animal.
And they cost a fortune to feed, too..
The Battle of the Bulge began 65 years ago today
The Germans called it "Operation: Watch on the Rhine". Among the Allies it was officially referred to as the "Ardennes-Alsace Campaign". For General Anthony McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne it was simply "Nuts!"
But you and I know it better as the Battle of the Bulge.
It was perhaps the hardest-fought battle of the European theater. It would have been that even without the snow and ice and freezing temperatures that the Allies (mostly American but several British as well) were forced to endure.
But in the end, more than a month later, the Nazis were in retreat. The Allies had prevailed... and the western front was poised to arrive right at Berlin's front door.
For those who fought - and especially for those who fought and never came back - from this most pivotal moment of World War II, this blogger tips his hat in gratitude.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Swiss scientist on trial for causing earthquakes
Markus Haering appeared in court in Basel, Switzerland today. The charge leveled against him: that his company's activities caused earthquakes, one of which measured 3.4 Richter magnitude. Haering's firm is researching geothermal-generated electricity. Well, according to court documents his company's deep-drilling in 2006 triggered the quakes. There were no injuries but $9 million in damages were reported. If the judge finds him guilty of intentionally damaging property, Haering faces five years jail for making the earthquakes happen...
...which is gonna be a heckuva retort when he gets asked "So what are you in for buddy?"
(Seriously though, sounds like it's gonna be an easy charge to beat. Lex Luthor might have been put behind bars for doing something like this but not Markus Haering. Dude doesn't even have a nuclear weapon, fer pete's sake...)
The photography of Jessica Nicole Reed
