30 November 2008

Travel Travail?

Today was the Family Thanksgiving Gathering 2008. There was much avoiding of Interstate Highways as it's the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which is the heaviest travel day. For example, on the way back, traffic was bumper-to-bumper 5mph just before we left the interstate for the final time.

This was the path to the Gathering:

This was, in the dark and the rain, the path home:


All's I can say is that flat land all looks the same.

29 November 2008

Saturday Post

Seen all over Teh InterWebs Tubes, so here's my version:

1. Five names you go by:
a) Bob
b) Phydeaux
c) Robert
d) Robb
e) Babe

Three things you are wearing right now:

a) Duke Basketball tee shirt
b) gym shorts
c) socks

3. Two things you want very badly at the moment:

a) yes
b) and how


4. Three people who will probably fill this out:

That's a good question, and I can't answer it.

5. Two things you did last night:

a) Watched an episode of Rosemary & Thyme with my sister.
b) Played Spades online.

6. Two things you ate today:

a) Granola
b) Organic Colby Cheese

7. Two people you last talked to on the phone:

a) My Dad
b) Jen

8. Two things you are going to do tomorrow:

a) Go to the Family Thanksgiving gathering
b) Blog and/or play Spades online

9. Two longest car rides:

I'm not sure of the answer... I mean, longest in what time frame? Last day? Last year? In the history of time?

10. Two of your favorite beverages:

a) Stout
b) Coffee

28 November 2008

Friday Kitteh Blogging

As you know, I said goodbye to Puff last week, before I came to stay with my sister.

This does not mean I have no kitteh companionship, because, there just happens to be a kitteh living here.


"What is this new Human Animal doing here?"




"Well, I guess he's okay, cause he skritches my chin."

Van Morrison Friday


27 November 2008

Breaking News!

Archival footage of the Elven Threesome discovered in vault!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

May Your Massacrees be Fun

Friends, today is Thanksgiving day, and you know what that means. It's time to load up the red VW Microbus and head over to Alice's for dinner (non embeddable YouTube link).

My local (well, local when I'm at the Secret Lair) NPR station will be playing it "all 18:34 of it, around 12 Noon," if you prefer to listen to it with others.

But if you want to just read it (sorry, no eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one is about) then here you go:

Alice's Restaurant
By Arlo Guthrie

This song is called Alice's Restaurant, and it's about Alice, and the
restaurant, but Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant,
that's just the name of the song, and that's why I called the song Alice's
Restaurant.

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was on - two years ago on
Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the
restaurant, but Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the
church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and
Fasha the dog. And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of
room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Havin' all that room,
seein' as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't
have to take out their garbage for a long time.

We got up there, we found all the garbage in there, and we decided it'd be
a friendly gesture for us to take the garbage down to the city dump. So
we took the half a ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW
microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed
on toward the city dump.

Well we got there and there was a big sign and a chain across across the
dump saying, "Closed on Thanksgiving." And we had never heard of a dump
closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in our eyes we drove off
into the sunset looking for another place to put the garbage.

We didn't find one. Until we came to a side road, and off the side of the
side road there was another fifteen foot cliff and at the bottom of the
cliff there was another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile
is better than two little piles, and rather than bring that one up we
decided to throw our's down.

That's what we did, and drove back to the church, had a thanksgiving
dinner that couldn't be beat, went to sleep and didn't get up until the
next morning, when we got a phone call from officer Obie. He said, "Kid,
we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of
garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And
I said, "Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope
under that garbage."

After speaking to Obie for about fourty-five minutes on the telephone we
finally arrived at the truth of the matter and said that we had to go down
and pick up the garbage, and also had to go down and speak to him at the
police officer's station. So we got in the red VW microbus with the
shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the
police officer's station.

Now friends, there was only one or two things that Obie coulda done at
the police station, and the first was he could have given us a medal for
being so brave and honest on the telephone, which wasn't very likely, and
we didn't expect it, and the other thing was he could have bawled us out
and told us never to be see driving garbage around the vicinity again,
which is what we expected, but when we got to the police officer's station
there was a third possibility that we hadn't even counted upon, and we was
both immediately arrested. Handcuffed. And I said "Obie, I don't think I
can pick up the garbage with these handcuffs on." He said, "Shut up, kid.
Get in the back of the patrol car."

And that's what we did, sat in the back of the patrol car and drove to the
quote Scene of the Crime unquote. I want tell you about the town of
Stockbridge, Massachusets, where this happened here, they got three stop
signs, two police officers, and one police car, but when we got to the
Scene of the Crime there was five police officers and three police cars,
being the biggest crime of the last fifty years, and everybody wanted to
get in the newspaper story about it. And they was using up all kinds of
cop equipment that they had hanging around the police officer's station.
They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and
they took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each
one was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach,
the getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to
mention the aerial photography.

After the ordeal, we went back to the jail. Obie said he was going to put
us in the cell. Said, "Kid, I'm going to put you in the cell, I want your
wallet and your belt." And I said, "Obie, I can understand you wanting my
wallet so I don't have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you
want my belt for?" And he said, "Kid, we don't want any hangings." I
said, "Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?"
Obie said he was making sure, and friends Obie was, cause he took out the
toilet seat so I couldn't hit myself over the head and drown, and he took
out the toilet paper so I couldn't bend the bars roll out the - roll the
toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape. Obie
was making sure, and it was about four or five hours later that Alice
(remember Alice? It's a song about Alice), Alice came by and with a few
nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went back
to the church, had a another thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat,
and didn't get up until the next morning, when we all had to go to court.

We walked in, sat down, Obie came in with the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back
of each one, sat down. Man came in said, "All rise." We all stood up,
and Obie stood up with the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures, and the judge walked in sat down with a seeing eye dog, and he
sat down, we sat down. Obie looked at the seeing eye dog, and then at the
twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows
and a paragraph on the back of each one, and looked at the seeing eye dog.
And then at twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one and began to cry,
'cause Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American
blind justice, and there wasn't nothing he could do about it, and the
judge wasn't going to look at the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each
one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. And
we was fined $50 and had to pick up the garbage in the snow, but thats not
what I came to tell you about.

Came to talk about the draft.

They got a building down New York City, it's called Whitehall Street,
where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected,
neglected and selected. I went down to get my physical examination one
day, and I walked in, I sat down, got good and drunk the night before, so
I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning. `Cause I wanted to
look like the all-American kid from New York City, man I wanted, I wanted
to feel like the all-, I wanted to be the all American kid from New York,
and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down, brung down, hung up, and all
kinds o' mean nasty ugly things. And I waked in and sat down and they gave
me a piece of paper, said, "Kid, see the phsychiatrist, room 604."

And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

Didn't feel too good about it.

Proceeded on down the hall gettin more injections, inspections,
detections, neglections and all kinds of stuff that they was doin' to me
at the thing there, and I was there for two hours, three hours, four
hours, I was there for a long time going through all kinds of mean nasty
ugly things and I was just having a tough time there, and they was
inspecting, injecting every single part of me, and they was leaving no
part untouched. Proceeded through, and when I finally came to the see the
last man, I walked in, walked in sat down after a whole big thing there,
and I walked up and said, "What do you want?" He said, "Kid, we only got
one question. Have you ever been arrested?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the Alice's Restaurant Massacre,
with full orchestration and five part harmony and stuff like that and all
the phenome... - and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, did you ever
go to court?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and the paragraph on
the back of each one, and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, I want
you to go and sit down on that bench that says Group W .... NOW kid!!"

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"
And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench
there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand,
and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of
things, until the Sargeant came over, had some paper in his hand, held it
up and said.

"Kids, this-piece-of-paper's-got-47-words-37-sentences-58-words-we-wanna-
know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-
you-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I-want-to-know-arresting-
officer's-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-gotta-say", and talked for
forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said, but we had
fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there,
and I filled out the massacre with the four part harmony, and wrote it
down there, just like it was, and everything was fine and I put down the
pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the
other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on
the other side, in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the
following words:

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?")

I went over to the sargent, said, "Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to
ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm
sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin here on the Group W bench
'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women,
kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and
said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints
off to Washington."

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm
singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a
situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get
anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if
one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said
fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and
all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the
guitar.

With feeling. So we'll wait for it to come around on the guitar, here and
sing it when it does. Here it comes.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

That was horrible. If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud.
I've been singing this song now for twenty five minutes. I could sing it
for another twenty five minutes. I'm not proud... or tired.

So we'll wait till it comes around again, and this time with four part
harmony and feeling.

We're just waitin' for it to come around is what we're doing.

All right now.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Excepting Alice
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Da da da da da da da dum
At Alice's Restaurant

©1966,1967 (Renewed) by Appleseed Music Inc. All Rights Reserved.


Have a happy day, everyone!

26 November 2008

Flatland Excursion: Day Seven

Things I learned today:

1) Big Freaking Universities come with big freaking traffic jams.
2) Lowe's is on the other side of a Big Freaking University from here.
3) This town (which sits adjacent to the town in which resides the Big Freaking University) has only 20,000 (or so) residents. Asheville has upwards of 100,000. (That may be the total for the urban area and not just the town. I can't be arsed to check right now.)
4) Ummm, I guess that's all.

25 November 2008

Flatland Excursion: Day Six

Today I made the bestestestestest discovery -- the local food co-op carries Highland Brewery (made in Asheville) Beers:



Yours truly with a Black Mocha Stout 22oz'er.


I may just survive after all.

ETA: Also? Weaver Street Market and all other places that sell beer? Stout is meant to be drunk at room(ish) temperatures. Stop putting it in the coolers, okay?

I Like It, But I Think the Value Might Be Too Large



Found at d-cap's place, in this excellent economic post.

Snow?

As regular readers will know, I am a huge fan of snow. You also know that I'm far from Teh Mountainz (far meaning I can't even see them on the horizon).

Since I left the Secret Lair (aka '73 Winnebago) last Wednesday morning, it has snowed twice there, with a chance of more this morning. And this morning I'm scanning my Google News page, and come across this headline:

Officials prepare heavy snow in western NC


Now, I hope this is just a case of a missing preposition, because otherwise it would mean that "Officials" could have prepared somea that snow before I left, so's I could have enjoyed it.

24 November 2008

What's in a Name?

From Commander Other, comes the Other Names Meme!!!

1. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Luke Edgar
2. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother’s dad, father’s dad): Laslo Thomas
3. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 2 letters of your last name, first 4 letters of your first name): Ruwill
4. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Purple Panther
5. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you live): Bob Fletcher
6. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite alcoholic drink, optionally add “THE” to the beginning): The Brown Mocha Stout
7. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name): Wige
8. GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Fudge Chunk Toll House
9. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet’s name, current street name): Puff Holly Mountain
10. PORN NAME: (1st pet, street you grew up on): Kobuk Mertie

I tag pido, kona, Jen, DCup and ... Portly Dyke!!

23 November 2008

Ceci N'est Pas Une Post




In case you missed it, René Magritte's birthday was Friday.

22 November 2008

Linguistic Saturday Post

Ever wonder the etymology of "okay"?

From Dictionary.com:

Word History: OK [okay] is a quintessentially American term that has spread from English to many other languages. Its origin was the subject of scholarly debate for many years until Allen Walker Read showed that OK is based on a joke of sorts. OK is first recorded in 1839 but was probably in circulation before that date. During the 1830s there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses. Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation for all correct, the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren's 1840 campaign for reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently suitable for political slogans. That same year, an editorial referring to the receipt of a pin with the slogan O.K. had this comment: "frightful letters ... significant of the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, old Kinderhook, as also the rallying word of the Democracy of the late election, 'all correct' .... Those who wear them should bear in mind that it will require their most strenuous exertions ... to make all things O.K."


Doesn't your day feel more complete? I know mine does.

21 November 2008

Travels With Phydeaux: Day Three

Have established a base camp from which I can foray out to observe these strange creatures known as Flatlanders:

20 November 2008

Thursday Python Random Monty



Attention pidomon, Ouyang Dan, and all the fans of the Random Python postings!!

Monty Python have their own YouTube Channel now!!

19 November 2008

Checking In

Have made the journey to... here... without incident.

Am observing the natives.

Not sure how to react, cause they're flatlanders, as alien to me as creatures from the constellation Lyra.

18 November 2008

The Tubes Are In Mourning...

Ted Stevens loses his re-election bid.

That's 58 for the Dems, counting Whatsisname in NH (apologies to Granite Staters) and Joe "Wrist Slap" Lieberman, with MN and GA still to be determined.

Goodbye From The Secret Lair

No, I'm not shutting down the blog.

I'm leaving in the morning to go stay with my sister for a couple months or so, and then I may well do some more traveling (note to self: make sure to take passport) before I return to Teh Mountainz.

ETA: I'll be taking my computer with me, and using my sister's much more dependable InterWebs Tubes connection while I'm there.

The Weather Gods, knowing how much I like snow, have decided to mess with me by having it snow nearby -- but not here before I head for the flatlands. The mountains north and west of here got a nice covering of snow, but nary a flake here that I saw. I fully expect the next to months to be full of blizzards, since I won't be here to enjoy it.

Here's a photo I took the other morning, and then forgot that it was in the camera. It was foggy, and I just stuck the camera out and snapped:




Oh, and one other thing. I may be gone for 3 months or more, in the middle of winter, so I can't leave the cat here in an unheated space (there's no way I'm leaving with the heat on -- in fact, I'll be unplugging the power completely, so the neighbors won't have to worry about the SL exploding or some shit while I'm gone). Anyway, I can't take her with me, either, so, in just a few minutes, Downstairs Neighbor's boyfriend is coming to take her to her new home. He's involved with the Animal Compassion Network, so I know Puff will be in a loving, safe place.

But I'm sure gonna miss her.

Goodbye, Puff.

17 November 2008

lol your satire

A Note To That Woman In Alaska


Silly Party protesters march up and down the square on election day to show their support for the "real" Palin!

16 November 2008

These All Go To 11

Is Nigel Tufnel now a programmer at BBC?


(screenshot of BBC video player)




Curses! Foiled Tagged Again!

pidomon has bestowed upon me the



All I can figure is that the rest of Teh InterWebs Tubes (oh, have you heard that Ted Stevens is now behind in the vote count in Alaska?) has already been awarded the above, so now it's down to me and the spam porn sites.

Seriously, thanks, Brotha pido, for thinking of me. :)

Oh, there's rules:

  • Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
  • Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
  • Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.
  • Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!
  • Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.


As I said afore, it seems as though the entire Web has already seen this one, so I'm not gonna single out anyone (or five). But if you're on my blogroll(s), I view you as a Superior Scribbler. So give yourselves a round of applause!!

15 November 2008

I'm sick today, so I'm stealing from the NYT

Dick Cavett on Sarah Palin:

What will ambitious politicos learn from this? That frayed syntax, bungled grammar and run-on sentences that ramble on long after thought has given out completely are a candidate’s valuable traits?


What on earth are our underpaid teachers, laboring in the vineyards of education, supposed to tell students about the following sentence, committed by the serial syntax-killer from Wasilla High and gleaned by my colleague Maureen Dowd for preservation for those who ask, “How was it she talked?”

My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars.

And, she concluded, “never, ever did I talk about, well, gee, is it a country or a continent, I just don’t know about this issue.”

It’s admittedly a rare gift to produce a paragraph in which whole clumps of words could be removed without noticeably affecting the sense, if any.
(NYT)

14 November 2008

Computer Side Chats?

President-elect Barack Obama will make weekly broadcasts on YouTube when he becomes president.

His campaign said Friday that he will keep making the weekly radio reports that presidents have made on the model of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” — 30 speeches by radio that president made between 1933 and 1944. They’ve become part of American nostalgia and lore, with Norman Rockwell-esque images of families gathered around the antique radio set to hear the speech.
(Atlanta Business Chronicle)

How very cool. I like that he will be bypassing the MSM to get his messages directly to the public. When is the last time anyone actually listened to the "weekly radio address", anyway? All I've ever heard is snippets on the NPR hourly headlines.

Bookmark the YouTube Channel now and beat the (War Against) Christmas rush!!!!

I Can Haz Protekshun?

Is your cat plotting to kill you?

Click on the pic above to go straight to the test... but I suggest clicking HERE to ease yourself into it.

(h/t to Cap'n Dyke, who has a great picture)

13 November 2008

The Amazing Reappearing House!!



What a difference a week (or so) makes! A good bit of wind and rain, and Viola! the trees are all but bare.

12 November 2008

Too Relaxed



Puff, asleep.

JSYK

I am a liberal.

That is all.

11 November 2008

Teh Lair Woods Are So Good For Me

At least according to the results of The paper, "The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature". Jonah Lehrer of The Frontal Cortex sums it up thusly:

Thoreau would have liked this study: interacting with nature (at least when compared to a hectic urban landscape) dramatically improves cognitive function. In particular, being in natural settings restores our ability to exercise directed attention and working memory, which are crucial mental talents. The basic idea is that nature, unlike a city, is filled with inherently interesting stimuli (like a sunset, or an unusual bird) that trigger our involuntary attention, but in a modest fashion. Because you can't help but stop and notice the reddish orange twilight sky - paying attention to the sunset doesn't take any extra work or cognitive control - our attentional circuits are able to refresh themselves. A walk in the woods is like a vacation for the prefrontal cortex.


My prefrontal cortex and I agree.

10 November 2008

No Idea...

...what to post tonight.

Any suggestions?

Guess I'll follow this sage advice:



(h/t to FranIAm for the pic)

08 November 2008

Saturday Funny

Ah, the things one finds trolling rambling around Teh InterWebs Tubes.



Found in comments at Brave Sir Robin's.

Oh How I Like Fairlane

Get ye over to Jonestown and read this post now!!!

07 November 2008

A Monkey Post, Sorta

"A pirate without treasure is like a monkey without a spatula."
(watch it all the way to the end, ye who be fans of LOST)

Thanks to Boxer Rebel for turning me on to that Universal Truth.

Cartoon o' the Day



Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year....

Ladles and Jellyspoons, it's War on Christmas Time!!!

More on Blue NC

I received an email from a good friend of mine that sums up my feelings about my state perfectly, and with his permission I am posting it below:

Finally!!!!!!!

For the better part of almost 18 years I have though a LOT about moving. I planned for years to move out West, perhaps to Phoenix. I’ve flirted several times with moving to Canada. I’ve thought about moving to Spain. I once even considered packing up and heading to New Zealand. All because I wanted to live in a place with people who value things like I do: personal freedoms for everyone and strong beliefs in equal rights for every single person, a commitment to the betterment of all people by helping those less fortunate no matter where in the world they are, and a deep sense of environmental stewardship and responsibility for our precious Earth.



Now I don’t have to move.



In 9 of the last 10 Presidential Elections, North Carolina has voted Republican, we’ve been a bright, ruby-red gem in the glittery Republican crown. It’s been almost 40 years since our state elected a Democratic nominee. So it is historic that we have turned our state Blue.

I now have a new Democratic Senator representing me.

I now have new Democratic Congressional leaders representing me.

And I also (still, but a new one) have a Democratic Governor representing me.

And most of all, our state voted for Barack Obama to support us all!



I have always loved North Carolina, but I’ve never been prouder and happier to live here – and in America – than I am today.

We truly live in a greater world today, there is hope for everyone.



John Magers

New New Deal

06 November 2008

Carolina Blue


Is that not the most beautiful thing ever?


The Associated Press declared Obama the winner after canvassing counties in North Carolina to determine the number of outstanding provisional ballots. That survey found that there are not enough remaining ballots for Republican John McCain to close a 13,693-vote deficit.

North Carolina's 15 electoral votes brings Obama's total to 364 — nearly 100 more than necessary to win the White House — to McCain's 162. Missouri is the only state that remains too close to call, with McCain leading by several thousand votes.

Obama's win in North Carolina was the first for a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter won the state in 1976.
(AP)

Oh, one thing. It must be noted that the blue is a beautiful Royal (aka Duke) Blue, not that faded blue they use at that other school.

05 November 2008

Quote of the Day: the Blub Edition

After eight years of assault on our Constitution, we have elected a President who teaches Constitutional law. I cannot express what this means to me.


Hilzoy

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!!



Obama supporters hangin' out at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

UPDATE 1: Party in the streets of DC.

UPDATE 2: Blue Gal did this kick ass video montage:


UPDATE 3:

And Now The Work Truly Begins

President-Elect Obama (how sweet the sound) begins solidifying his transition team today, and will probably begin announcing staff and Cabinet picks soon. Who will he choose to fill the spots? How will he deal with the New Depression? And let's not forget the truly existential threat of our time:



(picture h/t to Cap'n Dyke)

For Posterity (and so's I can find it later)





Fun With Math

According to the 2006 estimate from the Census Bureau, there are 6,740,374 people of voting age in North Carolina.

According to the State Board of Elections, there are 4,876,543 registered voters in North Carolina.

According to the poll results from yesterday, 4,216,993 people voted for President in North Carolina.




CandidateVotes for%age of vote
Barack Obama2,101,98649.85
John McCain2,089,82649.56
Bob Barr25,1810.59


So that means:

62.89% of eligible NC voters voted and,
86.47% of registered NC voters voted.

Can you say "Wow!"?

04 November 2008

The Night America Grew Up?


Congratulations, President-Elect Obama!

(screen cap from the livestream of Obama's Victory Rally)

Wow

Technology is cool:

A Non-political Election Day Post

(click for to embiggen)

The Reappearing House:


Fall colors around the Secret Lair (aka '73 Winnebago):




Fired Up! Ready to Go!!



Speech from 3 November, 2008

03 November 2008

02 November 2008

The Party of Family Values

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe (you know, the dude that's sent you about a blue million emails in the last two months?) was on Fox Noise Sunday and questioned by Chris Wallace. Included in the interview was this:

WALLACE: In fact, you do have a very big event coming and that is not the election. It’s the birth of your second child.

In fact, that’s the reason you’re in Washington. Your wife, as I understand it, was due yesterday. What do you do if you’re in Chicago on election morning and you get the word your wife’s in labor?

PLOUFFE: I will get back as quickly as I can and head to the hospital. First things first, and we’re obviously so excited about that. We’re hoping that our new one will wait till after Tuesday, but either way we’ll be thrilled.

WALLACE: But you’re saying that if election morning you find out that the new one’s coming and isn’t waiting for the election, you’re going to leave Chicago and head off to the hospital?

PLOUFFE: Absolutely.

WALLACE: Boy, there are — a lot of people in the Beltway are going to question your priorities, David.


OMG!!! He cares more about his wife and soon-to-be-born child than he does about the outcome of the election!?!?!? Frakkin' socialist.

01 November 2008

LOL Your Translating



That's Welsh, there, below the arrow. Care to guess what it says?

(Hint: not what you think)

(Hint #2: What does your 'vacation' email message say?)

Yep. It says, "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated."

Story at the BBC, via Angelos.