Good evening Crasstalk. Hope you are having a great weekend so far. Tonight’s movie is from 1962 and is called The Brain that Wouldn’t Die. Try not to get so scared you have to turn the lights on.
Have a wonderful night.
Daily Archives: March 19, 2011
9 posts
We’re already in the second third round of the NCAA tournament, so I thought I’d give you all a Crassballin’ update. Here’s the current Top 10 as of Saturday afternoon:
We had a total of 62 entries. Also, notice that 7 of the top 10 scorers so far are ladyfolk. Apparently you don’t actually need balls to dominate at Crassballin’. Continue reading
Well, why not? Let’s understand something first. You never HAVE a kitty. The kitty has YOU. In The Sims 2, a dog goes from Stranger to Friend to Master, and a cat goes from Stranger to Friend to Mine. Someone at EA Games understands cats, really, REALLY well.
Oh, dogs are wonderful. There isn’t anything like a Golden Retriever or a Chocolate Lab or best of all, a German Shepherd. A Shep will give his life to protect you, your wife and kids. A cat will do this too. But it’s more like a favor than an obligation. I’ll never understand “dog people” vs. “cat people”, though frankly I think cat people are smarter. That said, I just love animals, and if my space was bigger, a German Shepherd puppy would be a lifelong friend of mine, well until his whiskers turned gray.
But cats. Especially smart breeds like Siamese or Maine Coons or Orange Tabbies. There is nothing like coming home to a furry friend who meows his face off to say hi. I pick up our Maine Coon Tuxedo cats every night when I come home, because they yowl if I don’t. Edmund rubs his head on mine, and Lucy buries her face in my neck. While they cuddle with me, when it’s Mike’s time to come home they stand at the door and bitch him out, like “Where the hell WERE you?!?!” Once that’s done, it’s all about dinner. Mike sings the “I got a can!” song and they yowl and it’s pretty damn hilarious. My life is kinda awesome because of this. Yeah, because cats are imperious and snotty and not affectionate. Not.
Let’s not understate dogs. A cop in Penn Station a couple of months back had a great conversation with with his canine buddy. Very politely, he said “Ouw, ouw ouw!” The dog looked at the ceiling and let out the most amazing , echoing “Arooooo!” I’ve ever heard. People applauded.
So both kinds of animals are Man’s Best Friend. Cats have dignity. Dogs have respect. Both are our very best companions.
Another crazy thing that cats and dogs both do is that they know when you’re sick and they sit right by you as you recover. They detest the smell of Nyquil and Robitussin, but it does not matter. That cat or dog will sit by you until you are well. Doctors have issued a clinical study that a purring kitty reduces stress. I’ll go out here and say that a dog laying his head on your leg does the same thing.
In short, it’s only an either/or thing if space and time is an issue. Dogs need more room and more maintenance. It’s not fair to either of you to have one if you can’t care for one properly. Get a kitty instead, if that’s your deal.
Since the passing of UN resolution 1973 which authorizes a No Fly Zone over Libya and authorizes “any military or preventative measures” to protect Libyan civilians and civilian areas “while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory” things have moved quite quickly. The first shots of the UN forces have been taken by French fight jets, opening fire on four Qaddafi tanks and other military vehicles. It is unclear as of now whether this will lead to a ground-force invasion in the upcoming days.
Al Jazeera is reporting witnesses as saying Qaddafi’s forces are trying to storm Benghazi from the coast and the south.
The BBC has video of a fighter jet being shot down over Benghazi which may or may not belong to Qaddafi forces and a BBC journalist in Benghazi says he has seen pro-Gaddafi tanks inside the city, presumably the ones that have been blasted by the French jets.
The BBC has excellent live coverage of the ongoing crisis.
Update 3:06pm: A US defence official tells Reuters that the US Navy has three submarines in the Mediterranean preparing for operations in Libya.
“Prime Minister David Cameron is currently with members of his cabinet in front of a video wall planning operations, our correspondent adds.” Damn, war is so futuristic now.
Update 3:18pm: The jet was a rebel jet. They shot their own jet down.
Update 3:49pm: The Guardian confirms that the rebel’s only fighter jet was shot down by Qaddafi forces.
Update 3:53pm: The BBC is reporting that the US has launched Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets inside Libya.
Update 4:01pm: Reuters quotes a senior US military official saying US, British, French, Italian and Canadian forces are to launch a strike along the Libyan coast.
Nothing says Rock and Roll like conservative America. Just ask The National Review. While you may not think of the county Republican meeting as a swaggering display of animal sexuality, it is that pro-freedom passion that makes conservatives rock. Just ask the Ted Nugent.
So here is a collection of the best Rawk the Tea Party has to offer. Feel free to bookmark these videos so you will have something to watch when you hang out at you aunt’s house in Arizona next Christmas.
This chick has sort of a Laura Branigan thing going on. Unfortunately, no one told her that the use of the word accountability in a song sucks most of the rock right out. However, she does get points for dramatic lighting.
Here is a classic from the health care debate. Try to resist dancing in front of your computer.
This guy is really trying to rock in a sort of Mr. Mister sort of way. However, he really needs to rethink the Naziesque gray shirt combo, especially while bitching about the British. Don’t live the stereotype, dude!
Here is a low-fi treatment. This guy wants freedom like Lou Reed wanted junk. This is what happens when you bundle Garage Band and IMovie on new Macs.
OK, I can’t leave this without at least one country song. This is epic and contains stars and stripes burqas. Warning: The viewing of this video will make you afraid to ever visit The National Mall.
I like word games, do you? Here’s one I invented years ago that we can all play called Famous Name Chain which is very simple and a lot of fun. You simply chain together names of famous people so that you can separate any two names at any point and they still are a famous name. The names can be factual or fictional and the people must be known by two names, not three (a la Sally Jesse Raphael or Martin Luther King) Confused? Here’s a very simple one:
Jerry Lewis Black
That’s a three-name chain which can be separated into the names of comedians Jerry Lewis and Lewis Black.
Here are a few more in increasing complexity:
4-Name Chain: Spencer Tracy Morgan Fairchild
(Spencer Tracy – Actor, Tracy Morgan – Actor/Comedian, Morgan Fairchild – Actor)
5-Name Chain: Ayn Rand Paul Simon Cowell
(Ayn Rand – Writer, Rand Paul – Politician, Paul Simon – Singer/Songwriter, Simon Cowell – Professional Asshole)
6-Name Chain: Raggedy Ann Frank James Joyce Brothers
(Raggedy Ann – Doll, Ann Frank – Holocaust Victim/Diarist, Frank James – Outlaw, James Joyce – Writer, Joyce Brothers – Columnist/Psychiatrist)
7-Name Chain: Jessica Walter Scott Walker Percy Shelley Long
(Jessica Walter – Actress, Walter Scott – Poet, Scott Walker – Governor, Walker Percy – Writer, Percy Shelley – Poet, Shelley Long – Actress)
9-Name Chain: Lionel Richie Rich Little Richard Benjamin Franklin Pierce Brosnan
(Lionel Richie – Singer, Richie Rich – Cartoon Character, Little Richard – Singer, Richard Benjamin – Actor, Benjamin Franklin – Founding Father, Franklin Pierce – President, Pierce Brosnan – Actor)
How long can you make a chain?
The word dharma has origins in both Hinduism and Buddhism. It is translated as “essential quality or character, as of the cosmos or one’s own nature.”
The well-known Buddhist saying, “This too shall pass” is usually utilized to encourage someone through a difficult time or loss. But the essential meaning is far broader than just advising that the unpleasantness of life shall pass: all things shall pass, the joys as well as the sorrows. Peace may come in embracing the wholeness of this truth.
While most of us would concur that we’d rather not have to deal with difficulty, it is undeniable that it is a part of life; the dharma of difficulty is that it is omnipresent. But accepting challenges and obstacles (instead of running from them or avoiding them) can make for a richer life experience than striving merely for a comfortable stasis.
Many spiritual teachings promote the idea that all our external circumstances are merely outward reflections of our inner state of being. Unfortunately, this concept is far too easy to abuse, as in asking volatile questions such as, “Do victims of natural disasters or other horrific misfortunes somehow bring the malice upon themselves? (The answer, in my opinion, is a resounding no.) If we significantly narrow our focus to the realm of that which is within our personal responsibility, I believe the insight of the aforementioned precept can prove itself to be true.
When I consider a person or circumstance to be difficult, I am often projecting some aspect of myself onto either or both of these. I prefer to think of myself as kind and unselfish, but if it’s significantly annoying me that someone is behaving in a petulant, self-serving manner, then maybe what’s really bothering me is that I’m seeing an aspect of my own nature unflinchingly reflected in his or her actions. If a challenge or obstacle in my path seems daunting, it is easy for me to forget that I am the one that invited the challenge to begin with, in response to a realization that the status quo was stagnant or otherwise unsatisfying.
As much as we would like to, we don’t get to pick and choose the precise way the situations of our lives unfold. As John Lennon presciently wrote, “Life is what happens to us when we’re busy making other plans.” But if we start from a place of self-responsibility — again, for only those things that exist in that realm — ultimately, it can be far more productive than merely seeing ourselves as the victims of the choices we’ve made.
Hello Crasstalk. Hope you are having a wonderful day. Here are some cartoons. Try not to spill Cheerios on the couch.
Buttercup is such a bad ass. Have a wonderful day.
-= MESSAGE FROM BENS =-
Guys, we’re having some connectivity issues. I’m 80% certain its our host’s DNS server. It seems to be really slow. IntenseDebate will probably act slower too, so just be aware and don’t compulsively refresh if the page is taking a long time to load. Thanks!
As Japan races against time to get its Fukushima nuclear reactor under control, questions are being raised about quality of leadership in this time of crisis. As of this writing, the alert level of the reactor has been raised to 5 point (out of 7, on par with the Three-Mile Island incident), there are about 15,000 people dead or missing and another 440,000 people in evacuation centers. From the regions north to those surrounding Tokyo, residents are trying to go about their lives while worrying about their relatives, fearing dire radiation poisoning, trying to find non-existent food in stores, hastily planned rolling blackouts that have been implemented by the government to save energy, limited train service, limited bank service, no fuel for heat and transport, and an ever-present fear of aftershocks. Cities located further out like Osaka, Kobe, and beyond are trying to deal with a sudden influx of people trying to escape the areas deemed affected by the radiation
Clearly, this is a time when people are looking to strong leadership to help them find strength and hope. Prime Minister Naoto Kan doesn’t seem to be that person. Up until this earthquake, popular opinion of Kan was in the 20-percentile range and it looked likely that he was going to resign despite statements to the contrary. Kan came into power by a historical defeat in 2009 of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) by the Democratic Party (DPJ) to take the leadership. There were high expectations and the defeat was in answer to the recent economic crash. Up until then, the LDP had controlled the government for 54 years with the exception of a short time in 1993. The defeat was momentous.
When the earthquake struck, Kan quickly sent troops into the worst affected areas and shut down reactors that posed a risk. However throughout this crisis, the general public sentiment, and indeed, that of the world has been that Nagata-chou has not been forthcoming with critical information regarding nuclear safety. For starters, there has been a striking lack of frequent, direct communications from the Prime Minister, allowing the Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano to be the face of the government. He has been the link for people who are grieving and has grown so popular (and thus reinforcing the unpopularity of Kan) that there has been concern on the part of the public that he has been “too much” the face of the crisis. Twitter channels have popped up with hashtags such as #Edano_nero (Edano, go to sleep) and #Kan_okiro (Kan_wake up). Part of the reason for the huge connection he has stirred within people is because he has not been the standard politician, favoring instead to speak directly and not with a script. Kan has yet to go to the affected area, saying that he is considering going next week, almost two weeks after the tragedy.
But despite that, are they giving enough information? One of the main reasons being considered is that there is a possibility that the government has been withholding information because it has not wanted to induce mass panic. The average Japanese in Tokyo has now been required to go back to work and is trying to resume life as usual. However, countries like the US, France, Hong Kong, and Germany have been sending in charter flights for people wishing to go to Osaka or leave the country entirely. When the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions, Gregory Jaczko commented on the danger level due to the lack of water in the cooling pools of the number 3 and 4 reactors, Edano, avoided comment. According to the New York Times on March 17th,
Japanese officials did not flatly deny Mr. Jaczko’s comments but hedged. Asked about the level of water in the No. 4 reactor, Yoshitaka Nagayama, a spokesman for Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said: “Because we have been unable to go to the scene, we cannot confirm whether there is water left or not in the spent fuel pool at Reactor No. 4.
The technical nature of the issue perhaps compounded the Japanese news media’s tendency to shield the government. Reporters who cover agencies and ministries are organized in press clubs that have cozy ties with officials and decide what to report — and what not to. The lack of attention received by Mr. Jaczko’s comments was consistent in the news media.
The position of the government is that they’ve been honestly conveying information despite an admission that they might’ve gotten it out more effectively earlier on. Kan had blown up at Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the plant’s operator for not providing sufficient information.
In all, the government reaction has been seen as a crisis in lack of forethought and mismanagement. While, the double hit of earthquake and tsunami might have seemed impossible, it is baffling that no one had the forethought to make a causal connection and make plans accordingly. Hopefully, the government will use this as a wakeup call and step up to become one that the people want so desperately to believe in.