Category — Uncategorized

So, I’m reading this AP story about the discovery of a bust of Caesar by underwater archaeologists in France, and my first thought was “He looks like Tom Brokaw.”

Time to up my caffeine level.

This is one of the many bad habits picked up from too close an association with Calvinism – the BBC magazine reports: A little dash of panic

American public information films weren’t like the British ones. They were scary, for starters.

It was in postwar Britain and the US that public information films truly came into their own. In the wake of morale-boosting incitements to help the war effort came movie shorts designed to educate young people on the perils of everything from hot pans on stoves to the terrors of “reefer madness”.

But a search through the archives shows there was a marked difference in approach on either side of the Atlantic.

Yes, never rely on information when you can terrorize people.

Lower Manhattanite at Group News Blog has some fun in Television For Dummies riffing off of a mistake made at Fox News.

The graphic above is a stamp issued by the “Republik of Abkhazia” celebrating the fall of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately Georgia and Russia are not in agreement over the status of Abkhazia, to the point of deploying troops.

Update: If you are interested, Elayne actually has some of these stamps.

The Associated Press reports on an effort to separate church and state: ‘An Evangelical Manifesto’ criticizes politics of faith

The statement, called “An Evangelical Manifesto,” condemns Christians on the right and left for using faith to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, according to a draft of the document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

“That way faith loses its independence, Christians become ‘useful idiots’ for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology,” according to the draft.

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Don’t miss Catnapping’s latest graphic/verse entry: Mayday, Mayday!.

The Associated Press felt compelled to report the suppositions of a political careerist Air Force General: CIA: Syria reactor could make 1-2 bombs a year:

WASHINGTON – A suspected Syrian reactor bombed by Israel had the capacity to produce enough nuclear material to fuel one to two weapons a year, CIA Director Michael Hayden said on Monday.

Hayden said the plutonium reactor was within weeks or months of completion when it was destroyed in an air strike last September 6, and within a year of entering operation it could have produced enough material for at least one weapon.

“In the course of a year after they got full up, they would have produced enough plutonium for one or two weapons,” Hayden told reporters after a speech.

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First stop is Iran, where CBS News takes a break from the Wright-Obama kerfuffle¹ to tell us that “Hostile” Iran Sparks U.S. Attack Plan:

(CBS) A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the planning is being driven by what one officer called the “increasingly hostile role” Iran is playing in Iraq – smuggling weapons into Iraq for use against American troops.

“What the Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen and -women inside Iraq,” said Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

U.S. officials are also concerned by Iranian harassment of U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf as well as Iran’s still growing nuclear program. New pictures of Iran’s uranium enrichment plant show the country’s defense minister in the background, as if deliberately mocking a recent finding by U.S. intelligence that Iran had ceased work on a nuclear weapon.

Unsubstantiated claims that only Iran can possibly responsible for the problems faced after the US invasion of Iraq, because everyone knows that “terrorists” must have a state sponsor, just like the Cold War.

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The crew at Wikipedia have already added the Obama reaction to the Reverend Wright to its article on Sister Souljah moment. They are certainly timely.

When was the first animated cartoon created?

Via Jams O’Donnell at Poor Mouth, an article in Animation Magazine says it was 5200 years ago painted around a bowl in Iran. They have a video showing the effect of spinning the bowl on a turntable [like a potter’s wheel].

Lisa at All Hat and No Cattle has another great photo essay/series at the bottom of today’s post.

CBS does some actual reporting about a corporation I hate: Agricultural Giant Battles Small Farmers

Today, Monsanto’s patented “Round-up Ready” soy commands the lion’s share of the genetically-modified soybean seed market, its genetic code manipulated to withstand the company’s popular weed killer.

But the promise of fewer weeds and greater production comes with a hefty fee. Farmers must sign an iron-clad agreement not to re-plant the harvested seed, or face serious legal consequences – up to $3 million in damages.

“It’s about protecting the patent, defending the patents, so farmers have the protection and can use these technologies over time,” said Monsanto spokeswoman Tami Craig Schilling.

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Ellroon has updated an Otis Redding classic: Sitting in the Dock of The Hague. You must know the tune.

[We lost Otis in 1967, but got the song 40 years ago, one of the few good things in 1968.]

They took the sippy cups, but you didn’t care.

They took the chocolate pudding, but you didn’t care.

Well, Bubba they have their sights on your jon boat, so you better wake up: the Associated Press reports that the Feds fight threat of small-boat terror strikes

Initially the government considered creating a federal license for recreational boat operators, but that informal proposal was immediately shot down by boating organizations. Coast Guard and homeland security officials have toured the country in the past year to sound out the boating industry and its enthusiasts. While the government insists there will be no federal license, the strategy suggests that the government consider registering and regulating recreational boats.

Another internal passport, no doubt tied to the RealID, more regulations, more interference in your life. How do you like being tagged as “a potential threat” every time you feel like casting at line out on the water. It’s not going to be a “license”, just a “safety certificate” that must be with the boat and you must have identification to prove you own the boat. No more borrowing a boat because yours is getting repaired.

You voted for them Bubba, so don’t complain to me.

I lived in San Diego for a decade, but even with Roger Hedgecock’s re-trials, and Maureen O’Connor’s mayoralty, things were never as bad as they appear from the headlines.

On Friday KGTV reported that Beach Closed After Man Dies In Shark Attack

SAN DIEGO — A shark attack on a man was reported at Solana Beach Friday by San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. The man died at the scene, sheriff’s officials reported.

A witness who was part of a Friday swim group the man was with at the time told 10News of seeing a swimmer bitten by a shark below both knees. The attack took place about 150 yards offshore and several swimmers wearing wetsuits were in a group when the shark attacked, Solana Beach lifeguard Craig Miller said.

The experts believe it was probably a Great White who mistook the swimmer for a sea lion, and the county beaches remain closed. I know that beach, well.

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