William Shatner and State Farm make weird Thanksgiving safety video

One week from today I'm gonna be up to my elbows in marinade, Cajun seasoning and all kinds of other good stuff as I prepare three... count 'em, three... turkeys for a hot fryin' bath in cottonseed oil. Yes it's that time of the year again, when Yours Truly goes bonkers for the deep-fried turkey! As has been done in years before, expect photos chronicling the art, and perhaps even a video or two.

However I cannot emphasize it nearly enough: deep-frying turkey is potentially a very dangerous activity. I haven't been burned (yet) but there have been a few close calls, despite taking every precaution that I know of. To me it's worth the risk because deep-frying honestly does produce the most tender and succulent meat that you'll ever get from any method of cooking a turkey, and I suppose that there's always going to be a possibility of injury with any activity involving a heat source. Unfortunately the vast majority of turkey frying disasters happen because those doing the cooking overlook some ridiculously simple and even common sense issues pertaining to the peculiarities of deep-frying.

And speaking of things "peculiar", State Farm Insurance has produced this wacky and fun public service announcement starring the one and only William Shatner! So without further ado, here is The Shatner in "Eat, Fry, Love"...

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Occupy Wall Street finally ends as police clear park

Two months after it began with no clear mission, Occupy Wall Street was brought to a conclusion as New York's finest cleared out Zuccotti Park in the wee hours of the morning.

Now all that's left is a "campsite" ridden with disease, drugs, rape and Lord knows what else.

Might I make a suggestion for cleanup, courtesy of a certain Corporal Hicks...

"Nuke the site from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure."

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HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED for the Atari 2600

Tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of the release of Halo: Combat Evolved. Arguably the most influential video game of the past decade, the first installment of the Halo series drew in millions of loyal players with its combination of breathtaking beauty, tactical ability and mythology on a vast scale.

Fittingly, tomorrow will herald the arrival of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary in stores. It's the original game with remastered graphics for the high-def Xbox 360 (and you can even switch between the look of the 2001 Xbox game and compare it to the shiny new veneer). But one clever dude named Ed Fries has decided to go really old-school in the classiest way possible: adapting Halo: Combat Evolved as an Atari 2600 game! Yes it's true: Halo 2600 lets you guide Master Chief along on the surface of Halo in his fight against Grunts, Elites and other forces of the dreaded Covenant in all the glorious graphics that 1977's technology had to offer. It's quite a charming lil' conversion, be you a die-hard Halo fan or nostalgic for the 2600 (or both, like me :-) Check it out!

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Strange things are afoot in the deserts of China...

Bunches of e-mails, tweets and Facebook discussions today about some downright mystifying patterns that users of Google Earth have spotted carved into the floor of the Chinese desert.

Gizmodo has been on top of this story since it first came to light and you can find pics of many more odd structures. Some readers have also pointed me toward SlashGear's discussion of the patterns. Some of these configurations are huge: one has been measured at being approximately 18 square miles (or 29 square kilometers for our Brittish brethren and others using Metric reckoning).

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THE WALKING DEAD tonight: They grow 'em ripe on Hershel's Farm, don't they?

Y'know, I grew up on a farm. Saw a lot of sicko stuff, like that time the vet came to work on one of Dad's cows. He made an incision in its side and for some reason, Dad had to stick his arm into it, right up to his elbow, to do something with its stomach. One of its stomachs anyway, 'cuz a cow has four, but anyhoo...

NOTHING I saw living and working on that farm however, compared to what the kindly good Christian veterinarian Hershel Green was found keeping in his barn on tonight's The Walking Dead.

"Chupacabra" was one whacked episode, extra-trippy. We got a glimpse of the early days of the zombie apocalypse with that very cool shot of Shane and Lori watching from afar as the United States military opens fire with missiles and napalm on downtown Atlanta. Stuff like that just leaves me hungering for more fluff about those days gone by. Then there is the increasing tension between Rick's band of survivors and Hershel's family.

Andrea, dear Andrea: the Twitter feeds are screaming for your blood tonight. Be darned thankful that you only grazed Daryl, who even before that happened, had already demonstrated that he's the most hard-core bad-ass of the survivors. But what the heck was with that necklace he made?! Shades of Apocalypse Now there...

Then came the worst dinner party ever, Glenn sitting at the card table with the other kiddies before he attempted a midnight tryst in the hayloft at the barn, only to find that Hershel has at least a dozen walkers paddocked-up inside. Ummmmm... yeaaahhhh I know why they are, 'cuz I read some of the graphic novel. But even so, 'twas quite a shock to see that realized on the small screen.

A very, very solid episode, but I'm hoping the search for Sophia gets wrapped up pretty soon 'cuz it's beginning to wear thin.

And please, in the name of all that's good and holy, keep Andrea away from the guns!!

EDIT 10:47 p.m. EST: My girlfriend Kristen thinks that we should refer to that mob of walkers in the barn as "Hershel's Herd" from now on :-P

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See BS: Tiffany Network caught discriminating against Paul, Bachmann

If CBS or any other "major media outlet" alleges that this is a matter of time constraint, then I'm gonna have to call it that I see B.S.

Look, five years ago I was one of sixteen candidates for school board in my home county, and in the final week before the election we all took part (well, one of us declined to participate, but that's another story) in a public candidates forum. A "debate", if you will. And each of us got ample time to state our beliefs and opinions on the various issues. For the very same questions, mind ya. Many people to this day still tell me that they got a kick out of my answer about whether school boards should have the power to tax: I told the audience "Look, if I get on that board and we have that power, there are good people on that board but I'm telling you now: DON'T TRUST US!! Don't trust us with that power to tax you!" But I digress...

The point is, even with a considerable number of individual candidates for office, there is PLENTY of equal time and opportunity to be afforded them by the organization sponsoring the debate... IF that organization is determined to be fair, balanced and impartial, that is.

Didn't Howard Stern once say that the term "Tiffany Network" reminded him too much of the name of a prostitute? If so, then last night CBS was certainly caught in the act of selling out its principles. What few it had left anyway...

During yesterday evening's televised debate of the Republican candidates for President, Ron Paul was given a scant 89 seconds of airtime to answer questions and lay out his claim for the Oval Office. Fellow candidate Michelle Bachmann received similarly reduced on-air exposure. The lion's share of the questions and time for answers went to Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich.

It is now a clearly documented fact that CBS was practicing deliberate discrimination against those candidates that it believes the American citizenry would do just as well to ignore.

CBS political director John Dickerson inadvertently forwarded the Bachmann campaign an e-mail stating that Bachmann would not be given much show time because...

“Okay let’s keep it loose since she’s not going to get many questions and she’s nearly off the charts in the hopes that we can get someone else."

CBS later said that they were trying to be "realistic" since Bachmann is "polling" about 4% nationally.

And this blogger says: that don't don't hunt. A study released last month by University of Minnesota notes that Ron Paul, though polling a strong third or fourth nationally, has been given the least amount of debate time during every televised forum.

Now if this ain't intentional bias and discrimination on the part of a major television news outlet, then... what is it? How can anyone defend CBS - and indeed, most of the more corporate-run press in this country - as being an objective and impartial observer of this country and this world?

Some are probably reading this and no doubt determined to tell me "Chris, CBS is a multi-billion dollar corporation and you're just a guy with a blog: what the hell do you think you can do about it?"

True, I don't have CBS's viewing numbers.

But I can document that network's abuse of journalistic ethics. Which in my opinion, this is an example of.

And there are a lot of others out there in the ether of the Intertubes who are likewise documenting it.

Meanwhile, networks like CBS keep losing viewers, 'cuz there are a lot of folks out there who are getting sick and tired of seeing B.S. too.

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Veterans Day is today

Do you want to know why Veterans Day is on this date?

It was November the 11th, 1918, at the 11th hour, that the armistice took effect and the guns of the Western Front fell silent.

World War I, the Great War, the "war to end all wars", had drawn to a close.

Veterans Day - a day which has come to honor all American veterans - was originally a day set aside to honor the service of the millions of soldiers from the United States who went "Over There" to fight in the trenches of Europe.

And this Veterans Day is the first that we have ever had without even one of those brave men and women among us...

Frank Buckles, the last surviving "doughboy", passed away in February of this year. He was 110 years old.

They are all gone now.

May we never forget them.

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First track from THE GREATEST MIRACLE score

Good friend of this blog Mike Casteel sent this to me. It's from a movie called The Greatest Miracle, that I had not heard of until a short while ago and I had to do more than the usual amount of Google-ing to find its official website. From its synopsis...

The Great Miracle is an inspiring story which illustrates hope and faith. The story revolves around the lives of three characters which are in crisis:

Monica, a widow and the mother of a nine year old child, doing everything she can to keep her house.

Don Chema, a public transport driver who receives the news of a disease which can eventually lead to the death of his son.

Doña Cata, an adult woman who feels her mission in life has already concluded.

The stories intertwine as they feel a great feeling of being in the Church.

And what they cannot imagine is that something is about to change their lives forever.

It's a 3-D animated movie: the first one that I know about to be produced from a spiritual perspective. And I'm curious enough about it that I'd like to check it out sometime.

Until that happens, here's the first track from its score, composed by Mark McKenzie. And it's a rather beautiful piece! Here it is for your listening enjoyment :-)

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iOS 5.0.1 has been released

If you've an Apple iOS device that's been plagued by battery problems from iOS 5, be of good cheer: iOS 5.0.1 is now available, and it's said to put those high-drain issues to bed!

This is also the first time that iOS can be updated "over the air" via a Wi-Fi connection, which is what I just did with my iPad 2. It's by far the most straightforward process I've ever experienced in upgrading any operating system. Just go into Settings and tell your iOS gadget to check for an updated version. From there it was just a simple matter of about 40 MB of download and the iPad running from there. Total update time: less than 10 minutes. I bet my Dad could even do it... and he hates computers! :-P

Anyhoo, iOS 5.0.1 is out there now. You know you want it...

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Darren Aronofsky's four horrifying anti-meth PSAs

Anti-drug ads have sure come a long way from an egg dropped into a frying pan...

Darren Aronofsky, the filmmaker behind Pi and Requiem for a Dream, has produced four public service announcements for the Meth Project, warning against meth abuse.

Here's one of them...

And that's not even the most disturbing example of Aronofsky's latest work.

GeekTyrant has collected all four of them for your convenience. But be mindful: these are all pretty harsh. One of them is intensely disgusting. Consider yourself duly warned.

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Bil Keane, creator of FAMILY CIRCUS, has passed away

The very sad news today is that Bil Keane, creator of the long-running comic strip Family Circus that has entertained readers for more than half a century, has died at the age of 89.

Family Circus was one of the best examples of what comic strips could be in their finest form: entertainment for people of all ages. As Keane once said in an interview...

"We are, in the comics, the last frontier of good, wholesome family humor and entertainment... On radio and television, magazines and the movies, you can't tell what you're going to get. When you look at the comic page, you can usually depend on something acceptable by the entire family."

His friend Charles M. Schulz, the late creator of "Peanuts," once said the most important thing about "Family Circus" is that it's funny.

"I think we share a care for the same type of humor," Schulz told The Associated Press in 1995. "We're both family men with children and look with great fondness at our families."

A lot of people today are no doubt going to share their favorite Family Circus cartoon in remembrance of Bil Keane. This blogger however is choosing not to do that. Because my most very favorite cartoon that Bil Keane did wasn't for Family Circus at all!

It's from April 1st 1997, the day of the now-legendary "Great April Fools' Day Comics Switcheroonie". Forty-six comic strip artists "swapped places" with each other for a massive April Fools gag that played out across the funny pages. To many people, myself included, the very first sign that something was amiss that day was when we turned to read Scott Adams' Dilbert and found this instead...

And in case you're wondering what Scott Adams did to Family Circus, click here.

Thoughts and prayers going out to Bil Keane's family today.

Thank you for sharing Billy, Jeffy, Dolly, P.J, Mommy, Daddy, Barfy, Sam, Kittycat, Not Me, Ida Know, and Grandma with us Mr. Keane. Through them, you brought us many years of great laughs and good memories.

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Grinch Obama's heart grows three sizes in a hurry as "Christmas Tree Tax" is called off

Late last night this blog joined numerous other outlets in reporting that the Obama Administration was set to impose a 15-cent tax on all freshly cut Christmas trees. You can read that initial post for more information, including some stuff I came across during a bit o' investigatin' (I'm still curious as to who the heck the people behind "Christmas Tree Promotion Now" are...)

Looks like Obama and gang got the message: the tax is being put on hold. But not without some snide commentary from the White House...

White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told ABC News that despite some media coverage, “I can tell you unequivocally that the Obama Administration is not taxing Christmas trees. What’s being talked about here is an industry group deciding to impose fees on itself to fund a promotional campaign, similar to how the dairy producers have created the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign.”

Nonetheless, the criticisms have apparently had an impact as the program is now being delayed.

I did not know until a comment left on my post last night that the "Got Milk?" campaign is funded with money taken from farmers without their consent by the Department of Agriculture. This "Christmas Tree Tax" would have done much the same. And in the case of the dairy farmers we're talking thousands of dollars extracted from their budgets each year. No doubt that the larger commercial milk producers can easily pay that. But as someone who grew up on a small family-run dairy farm and knows people who still operate small farms well... let's just say that five or six thousand dollars a year ain't chicken feed.

More and more I'm inclined to believe that this scheme to tax Christmas trees came in part - however large or small - from larger tree growers. Can't outright prove that mind ya, but even so: it would be good to know who the people are behind the Christmas Tree Promotion Now outfit.

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You're a mean one Mister Obama! President to impose "Christmas Tree Tax"

This is not satire and it's not from The Onion. I already checked and it's true...

President Barack Obama's administration is trying to impose a 15-cent "Christmas Tree tax" on all freshly-cut trees intended for Yuletide celebration. Fifteen cents on the sale of every tree to... get this now... "enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States."

Okay, two things that already stick out in this blogger's mind: that this is a tax without any representation or due process, regardless of what the administration is arguing. Indeed, within the text of the "order" issued by the Department of Agriculture it is found that "...the assessment provided for in this type of program is not a tax nor does it yield revenue for the Federal government. These producer and importers funds raised by producers and importers are for the benefit of producers and importers."

What. The. Hell?!? Ummmm this is an attempt to use the force of the federal government to extract from us money against our consent, and they have the audacity to say that this is not a "tax" because it's doesn't "yield revenue for the Federal government"?!

If it's not for the Federal government then what is this money being taken from us for?!?

And then I have to make note of how I'm hard-pressed to see how this isn't acting in respect toward an establishment of religion. True, there are many Christians who do not celebrate the holiday of Christmas, and that is fine. However, I can't find in the text of the order or anywhere else in the Federal Register that there's going to be a parallel tax imposed on Kwanzaa Trees.

Here's the official text of the legislation from the Federal Register. Feel free to peruse it for yourself. Feel even more free to be honked-off at what must be the most ridiculous act of big government in recent memory...

...but I've no doubt that even worse is being thought of as I write this.

EDIT 11:33 p.m. EST: Someone left a comment earlier about how this tax was coming at the urging of the Christmas tree industry. So that led me to performing some research and investigation...

The Department of Agriculture is saying that this request came from something calling itself the "Christmas Tree Checkoff Study". Until tonight this cryptic group barely appeared anywhere, except for the proposal and order in the Federal Register and this website at checkoffstudy.blogspot.com. I went to that errr, "industry site". All I found was that there are ten people said to be from the Christmas tree industry who met with Department of Agriculture to push for this tax. However I can't find out anything about who exactly they are.

Well, further along at checkoffstudy.blogspot.com it is found that Christmas Tree Checkoff Study is allegedly acting at the behest of an outfit called Christmas Tree Promotion Now. Christmas Tree Promotion Now has a slightly more proper website at christmastreepromotion.com... but there again, there can be found NO information at all about who exactly constitutes this "industry-wide group of producers and importers".

In the past hour or so I've contacted two friends who each grow Christmas trees for commercial sale, and they didn't know anything about this tax either until I told them about it. Nor had either of them ever heard of Christmas Tree Checkoff Study or Christmas Tree Promotion Now.

I don't think it's an invalid question at all: WHO is asking for this tax? Let's see some names!

And I'm especially curious about knowing that, in light of this statement on Christmas Tree Promotion Now's Frequently Asked Questions...

Why not a voluntary program?

Voluntary marketing efforts have had success in the Christmas tree industry; however the challenge has always been the ability to sustain funding. A program that provides fair, consistent funding for promoting farm grown Christmas trees is needed so that all producers and importers can benefit.

There will always be a small minority attempting to side step the system. Because this would be a Federal program, then those who are assessed are legally required to comply.

Ummmm... WHO EXACTLY GETS TO DECIDE WHAT IS "FAIR"?!?

And that "there will always be a small minority attempting to side step the system" so there needs to be "a Federal program" to make those dissidents "legally required to comply"?!

That is government-enforced thuggery at its worst!

Again, I would like to know who exactly is pushing for this tax. As things stand at this moment, there are only two possibilities that come to mind: either it is the Obama Administration itself, or it is... well, let's just call it "crony capitalism".

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85-year old grandma reels in 849 pounds of marlin!

Very cool story from Down Under today...

An 85-year-old Australian woman said she "didn't feel 85" when she reeled in a 849-pound marlin off the north coast of Queensland.

Connie Laurie, a grandmother who said she has been fishing all her life, said she was on a fishing charter trip during the weekend off the coast of Cooktown when she caught, and then released, the hefty marlin, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday.

"I certainly didn't feel 85 when I was bringing it in, I was too busy concentrating on keeping it on and getting it into the boat," she said.

You go Grandma!! Gotta love reading about stuff like this :-)

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"Smokin' Joe" Frazier has passed away

Former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier, better known to his many fans as "Smokin' Joe" Frazier, has passed away at the age of 67. His death comes just days after publicly disclosing that he was fighting liver cancer.

Frazier will always be remembered as one of the greatest - some say the greatest - boxers in the sport. His 1971 bout with Mohammed Ali that saw Frazier keeping his belt would still be considered one of the most legendary matches of all time. But even that was eclipsed by the "Thrilla in Manilla" a few years later: the third and final fight between the two and the end of Frazier's attempt to win back the heavyweight title.

But y'know, it doesn't matter that he didn't, not really. Joe Frazier was one of the greatest in the ring and he was a true gentleman out of it. A guy with as much heart and love for God and others as he had for his sport. He will always be a man remembered for those qualities.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family tonight.

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THE WALKING DEAD tonight made Chris go freaking bonkers!!!

For the record, that was the MOST intense scene that I have personally witnessed from any television drama. If you saw it then you know what I'm talking about even if I don't say it: the walker down the well at Hershel's farm and how the gang uses Glenn as, ummm... bait.

No kidding: I was screaming HARD and grabbing the sides of my head during that part. Kristen was hollerin' loud too! That was definitely one of the best filmed and edited sequences that I've seen in a very long time.

The Walking Dead has been consistently raising the bar with each passing week and tonight's episode, "Cherokee Rose", upped the ante across the board. Especially watching Shane wrestle with the internalized anguish of the choice he made at the high school in the previous episode. That and the interaction between Rick and Hershel: a character who I am enjoying more and more every time he gets screen time. Sorta reminds me of the "man of science versus man of faith" dynamic that Jack and Locke had on Lost.

And speaking of The Walking Dead, longtime friend and fellow blogger/geek Geoff Gentry directed my attention to the website of Bear McCreary, the composer of The Walking Dead's music. Prior to that he scored Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica series. McCreary maintains a blog on his site in which he discusses his musical work and the process of composing for television, and it's quite a fascinating read! The latest thing he's shared via his site is this very cool video of himself doing an "accordion orchestra" of one of the pieces from Battlestar Galactica. Check it out!

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THE DARK KNIGHT RISES orchestral score needs YOUR voice!

In what has to be one of the coolest efforts at crowdsourcing ever, composer Hans Zimmer has put the word out that he needs our vocal talents for next summer's The Dark Knight Rises: Christopher Nolan's third and final Batman film.

Want to contribute? All you gotta do is record yourself repeating the same crazy chant that's been heard in the teaser that came out a few months ago. As Zimmer puts it...

"I'm shining the bat-signal up into the sky to call you all! We need to hear your voices! Now and Loud! We are creating the sound of a worldwide chant. Everyone come and be part of it. It's easy: There is no such thing as out-of-tune, no timing we can't fix later. If you mumble, growl, scream or whisper, it's all good. Make it yours. If you only get halfway through, no problem! Do it alone, bring your friends, but do it with energy and commitment. Let your voice be heard and be a part of our adventure!"

The chant itself is apparently "Deh-shay, deh-shay bah-sah-rah, bah-sah-rah", which means in Moroccan "He rises, he rises!" Go to the project's main site, read and agree to the rules, then start chanting away! Who knows: that could be your voice booming across those IMAX speakers come July!

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