Via Jim Henley, who has an adorable new pup, this TED presentation with Ian Dunbar is well worth your time:
Good stuff.
Grand Unified Craziness
I’ve been a little disappointed by the lack of birtherist rhetoric from the teabaggers disrupting the townhall meetings, the Mike Castle incident notwithstanding. But I recently hit the jackpot on a local teabagger google group (no link — you have to join the group):
In case anyone has any doubts about what is coming, local, state, and federal governments have the authority to mandate vaccination once a particular health emergency is declared. The word is MANDATE, as in MANDATORY. They are under no obligation to grant exemptions and in case you are wondering, you will not likely be getting one. The only possible exemption is to get wout of town but, really, there will be no place to go as this will certainly be a federal issue. We are being hyped up right now to willingly accept their unproven swine flu vaccine which is ostensibly designed to PROTECT us against a so called flu strain which from all indications is less potent than any ordinary flu strain. Why then the need to vaccinate everyone against something like that? Why indeed? Why the need to pass legislation for trillions of dollars in new spending to solve a problem which barely exists and do it all within 2 weeks? Why pass a $787 billion so called “stimulus” plan without debate and with no one having read the bill? Why have an administration whose chief antagonist is a guy with no birth certificate and with no one willing to ask him for one? Imagine that. Hwe could end the entire controversy immediately and gain legitimacy and would be able to prove his detractors as fools, thus gaining hugely increased political power and further leverage to push his agenda simply by producing his birth certificate. Not a fake computer generated copy but a real one. All he has to do is open his sock drawer, reach in, pull out his birth certificate and present it to the world, thus making fools of his detractors. What could be easier?
[…..]Look at the following.
If you’re scoring at home, that’s birtherism, anti-vaccination craziness, and a link to an Alex Jones article, all in one post.
Here’s the kind of stuff that scares me (from the same group):
Yes, some will be hurt, some will be killed, but our resolve to fight for freedom will only grow stronger. Obama is a fascist and until the majority of the citizens of this country realize that is not an exaggeration or the first word that I could think of, this will continue. Once we all realize who he is and stand together we will defeat him and remove him from power.
CBS Sunday Morning
A brand new shiny thread for you.
And the red skies did not lie last night. Beautiful here today.
Saturday Night Open Thread
Over at Brian and Tammy’s house with Lily and Sam and the plethora of cats, so no more blogging tonight. We went to the farmers market this morning, then did some shopping, then hit the rails to trails, and then topped the night off with a pretty sick dinner.
Had some onions from the market baked with a demi-glace and bacon and topped with chives, some blanched green beans, some sauteed mushrooms, some browned new potatoes, and a Chateaubriand that was perfectly cooked. Having some iced coffee now and listening to Stevie Wonder with Lily on my lap and Sam running around being crazy, and I thought I would come rub it in because it was SOOOO damned good.
The sky is red, which means the hiking and gardening will be perfect tomorrow. Things are good. This is how it is supposed to be.
Artists in Our Midst
I just got my prints that I ordered from the last time we had one of these (I got two nice pictures from 30fps), have them all framed up and hanging in my home office. They really look sharp.
At any rate, been a while since we had one of these, so I thought I would put another one up. If you are an artist and have wares for sale or stuff you just want to share, throw it in the comments section. Who knows- someone might be looking for what you have to offer.
Also, don’t worry if you go into the spam filter, there is no need to post twenty times. I’ll check in every hour or so and clear you out.
Late Night Open Thread
Because I can:
“Are you a good doggy? Are you a good doggy? Yes you are! Yes you are!”
Tunch is just disgusted.
Friday Night Open Thread
We need some pets. This little fellow was sent in recently, and the owner thinks he sees a little Lily in him. I agree:
And this lucky lady was just recently adopted, and according to the owner, he had resisted getting a dog for years until the Lily stories made him change his mind:
I’ll gladly take credit for that.
BTW, not sure how many of you read Cleek, but he has had some great photography lately. Just scroll.
*** Update **
New Monk tonight.