Worthy cause of the day: “Keep Your Katrina Promises”

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day: The petition “Keep Your Katrina Promises”. Please sign and tell your Senators that you want the federal government to stop neglecting the Gulf Coast and help get its inhabitants properly housed. It has been two years since the hurricane. No one should still be living in a trailer. Thank you for your help.

Aaron

17 ’Elul 5767: National Trail Mix Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “But We Said . . .”
  
• “Archaeologists: Muslim dig damaged Temple wall”
  
• “Toxic Chemical From Iraq Found Stored in UN Office ”
  
• “US Jews unimpressed by Israel's PR on refugees”
  
• “Jumbo gets the girl in smashing circus act”
  
• “U.S. Teens Fall Short on Vaccine Coverage”
  
• “Spider web engulfs Texas park trail”
  
• “The remains of bacteria may lurk in animal genomes”
  
• “Time and Relative Dimensions on my desk”
  
• “Jesus' conviction 'null, void'”
  
• “N.Z. burglar returns goods, apologizes”
  
• “'Virgin chicken' off the menu in Beijing”
  
• “ANALYSIS: Shiite clashes in Iraq ominous”

Today’s weird thing is “Stupid Plot Tricks”. Enjoy, share the weirdness with the evil overlord you love, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

big brother sux day

yo dudes

todays weird thing s all the sick bigits in the current season of BIG BROTHER

some of the most recent stuff comes from amber the crybaby 4 jesus its like cool she likes god & jesus & stuff but damn every little thing that goes wrong shes like in the diary room crying her eyes out & acting like god really cares like she wins and s working 4 her like he doesnt got more important things 2 do like RUNNING THE UNIVERSE yo dudette jesus wouldnt do what ur doing it turns out amber said all this antisemitic stuff (moron jesus was jewish so was jesus some big nosed money hungry guy jerk b word) it aint cool & u shouldnt say things like that because u look like a bigit & now everyones gonna know coz THERE ARE CAMERAS EVERYWHERE YOU DUMBUTT!!! how stupid can u b?!?!?! heres the proof

http://youtube.com/watch?v=isHw2pcxL_s

n all fairness a bunch of the other houseguests also got caught being a bunch of bigitid dumbutts dudes if you cant say that around the people ur talking about u shouldnt say it @ all i hope u all lose & will be telling eric to vote u all out u should too

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ucqedy8l1fI&mode=related&search=

16 ’Elul 5767: National Toasted Marshmallow Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “Israeli Democracy (1974)” (If at some point I make ‘aliyyah, someone remind me to start my own party and run for office on the platform that I could not possibly do worse than the parties currently in charge.)
  
• “Back to School”
  
• “Give some blood, get free movie tickets” (Interesting tactic.)
  
• “Point, Click ... Eavesdrop: How the FBI Wiretap Net Operates”
  
• “New Orleans marks Katrina anniversary”
  
• “China's Wall becoming less and less Great”
  
• “Whistleblowers on Fraud Facing Penalties” (This is inexcusable. People exposing fraud ought to be treated as heroes, not punished. I would like more detail on who is benefiting from the fraud and how they are connected to the Bush administration, but one company that shows up in the article which ought to be familiar to almost anyone is Halliburton. Vice President Richard Cheney used to be CEO of Halliburton.)
  
• “Pranksters Hit Karl Rove's Car”

Today’s weird thing is THE GREAT PIANO PROJECT. Enjoy and share the weirdness with your favorite fish.

Aaron

Worthy cause of the day: “U.S. Must Support Peacekeeping Mission”

Greetings.

Today’s worthy cause is the petition “U.S. Must Support Peacekeeping Mission”. Please sign and tell President Bush to get off his butt and do something about the genocide in the Sudan. Thank you.

Aaron

15 ’Elul 5767: David’s birthday/More Herbs, Less Salt Day

Greetings.

Divine misconception of the day: “Washington Post, Other Newspapers Won't Run 'Opus' Cartoon Mocking Radical Islam”. Now, while I support the legal right of free speech, including the right of the media to not publish any material they find offensive, there is something hypocritical about refusing to carry this cartoon. After all, Berkeley Breathed, creator of the “Bloom County” family of strips (which includes “Opus”), has repeatedly poked fun at evangelical Christians in his work. The idea that radical Islamists are less worthy of being mocked than evangelical Christians is hard to swallow. Yes, evangelicals are annoying to many people, and their world-view strikes many as bizarre and divorced from reality, but even the most offensive, rabid evangelical is essentially peaceful. The worst they do is intellectual dishonesty and legal hijinks. They do not physically assault or kill anyone to get what they want. Radical Islamists, however, are known to be bent on World domination and kill anyone they can who refuses to submit to their rule. If the evangelicals are worthy of mockery, the radical Islamists are seventy times more worthy of being mocked.

In the name of my freedom of speech, you can find the “offensive” cartoon here. There is a religious misconception in it: Lola Granola is incorrect that radical Islam is a fad. Islam has been spread by the sword ever since Muhammad had to leave Mecca due to ostracism and he started dreaming of revenge. Considering that Lola is flaky enough to have been an “Amish nudist”, that she would consider radical Islam to be a fad is not surprising.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “Summer Heat Wave (1980)”
  
• “Sky & BBC Analyst: Celebrating Nuclear Genocide”
  
• “Where's the Outrage?”
  
• “Pawns in Sderot”
  
• “Girl's heart regenerates thanks to artificial assist”
  
• “With Durban II now in the works, the UN secretary general can choose to speak truth to power now”
  
• “Most successful pirate was beautiful and tough”
  
• “London bar launches index-linked cocktails”
  
• “Record Number of Americans Lack Health Insurance”

In honor of the fact that my brother David is an engineer, today’s weird thing is an engineering project, the USB Airsoft Turret 1.0. This in the perfect project for people wishing to shoot copies of The Washington Post and other newspapers that do not carry “Opus” full of holes. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

14 ’Elul 5767: World Sauntering Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Israel offers Palestinians control of Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin” (To be blunt, ’Olmert is being an idiot. The so-called “Palestinians” have demonstrated zero ability at self-government. Giving them even more territory to control is a recipe for ruining even more people’s lives.)
  
• “Gilad Schalit spends 21st birthday in captivity” (This is disgraceful. Governments are supposed to take care of their citizens, not abandon them in enemy captivity.)
  
• “CNN's "God's Warriors": Hard on Jews, Soft on Islam”
  
• “Archeologists slam authorities over Muslim dig”
  
• “Palestinian cops rescue Israeli soldier” (Fatah must be desperate.)
  
• “Palestinian journalists protest threats, arrests”
  
• “Hamas orders private Gaza clinics shut down”
  
• “Norway puts "first ecological prison" on show”
  
• “AIDS victims 'buried alive' in PNG” (Ignorance and misinformation kill.)
  
• “NASA shuttle to launch Luke's lightsaber”
  
  

Today’s weird thing is something Barry and Nancy forwarded to me and included below. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

---

This has to be one of the best singles ads ever printed. It is reported to have been listed in The Atlanta Journal.

SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good looking girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me. Call (404) 875-6420 and ask for Daisy, I'll be waiting..

Over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society about an 8-week-old black Labrador retriever. (Men are so easy.)

13 ’Elul 5767: International Kitchen Garden Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “Their Tragic Blunder”
  
• “God's Jewish Warriors -- CNN's Abomination”
  
• “Truth and the Armenian Genocide”
  
• “The Big Lie and the Media War Against Israel: From Inversion of the Truth to Inversion of Reality”
  
• “Officials say Gonzales has resigned” (Excellent. Now if only we can get Bush and Cheney to resign...)
  

Today’s weird thing is “On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study”. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

12 ’Elul 5767: National Cherry Popsicle Day

Greetings.

Divine misconception of the day: “China Regulates Buddhist Reincarnation”. It makes plenty of sense from the perspective that the Chinese government tries to control all the religions in the country, so naturally they try to control Tibetan Buddhism and the process of reincarnation as well. However, this makes no sense whatsoever from the perspective of objective truth. Reincarnation has not been verified to occur ever, and there is no solid theoretical reason to believe that it might occur. Furthermore, no reliable mechanism is being given for directing reincarnation, preventing reincarnation, or verifying that reincarnation has occurred. And even if it does occur, what is the Chinese government going to do about “unauthorized reincarnation”? Are they going to somehow force people to become “enlightened” so that they do not reincarnate? Are they going to arrest small children on the charge of having been Tibetan monks in a previous lifetime? Considering that the Chinese government has failed to eliminate an underground Catholic Church still loyal to Rome, despite persecution and having their own “Patriotic” Catholic Church, I confidently predict dismal failure in controlling Tibetan Buddhism as well.

Other divine misconception of the day: “Mother Teresa's '40-year faith crisis'”. Despite the common notion that holy people have perfect, unwavering faith, it is no surprise that Mother Teresa had problems maintaining her faith.  Even the most devout people remain human, and the belief systems of humans do not usually remain perfectly unchanged over time.  Furthermore, a little doubt is healthy.  Doubt makes us reevaluate what we believe, giving us an opportunity to discard incorrect beliefs.  Also, her actions, whether for good or for bad, remain the same no matter how strongly she believed; imperfect faith does not impact the effect she had on people one bit.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “China, Japan to launch lunar missions”
  
• “Study: Chick Magnets Today Look Like Cavemen”
  
• “Pink, pink, pink, pink. Pink moan”
  
• “Help Wanted Ads Go Unanswered in West”
  
• “Hamas battle cartoon mimics 'Lion King'”
  
• “Imperfect people and high office”
  

Today’s weird thing is Communications From Elsewhere, which is an automatic pseudo-intellectualist philosophobabble essay generator. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

10 ’Elul 5767: Knife Day

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day, submitted by Barry: “Support the Global Child Survival Act”.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “Moral Compass”
  
• “An Arabic Europe (1973)”
  
• “Square Watermelon”
  
• “Queen Guitarist Brian May Gets Astrophysics Doctorate” (Mazel tov!)
  
• “Huge Hole Found in the Universe”
  
• “US judge rules public funds can be used for church renovations” (Isn’t this unconstitutional?)
  
• “Evangelicals Go Green -- Will Conservative Candidates Follow Suit” (My congratulations to “green” evangelicals, both religiously and politically. Religiously, because they are realizing that religion is not limited to a very narrow section of life, but rather affects life as a whole, including the environment; working together with scientists is a definite improvement. Politically, I congratulate them for not blindly adhering to the Republican Party line.)
  
• “2 New York prisoners sue to get their banned religious books back” (I have no idea why Kushner is banned; what I have read of his work is worthless, but it does not incite people to do anything illegal.)
  
• “How To Steal Cars — A Practical Attack on KeeLoq”
  
• “Hezbollah exhibits 'victory' over Israel”
  
• “Experiments Get Close to 'Out-of-Body' Experience”
  
• “Dark Side of Uranus' Rings Reveals Dramatic Changes”

Today’s weird thing is The infamous evil overlord film, which is one of Tom Finne’s videos.  Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

9 ’Elul 5767: National Spongecake Day

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day, submitted by Barry: The MoveOn.org petition “Make our toys safe”. Please sign and tell your Congresspeople you want the government to do its job protecting our children. You may also want to consider boycotting products from China, such as toys, when an equivalent product is available from a less-offensive country.

Today’s news and commentary, which will be extra-long since I did not post anything yesterday, doubly so since Barry submitted a few things:

• “The New China”
  
• “Bush political hackery puts kids at risk”
  
• “The Independent's Foul Play”
  
• “Warner Bros. Follows the Yellow Brick Road” (In related fake news, Princess Ozma has banned Todd McFarlane from ever setting foot in Oz. The Gnome Liberation Organization, however, has hailed McFarlane’s Oz aspirations as “our best hope at winning the propaganda war against those namby-pamby do-gooders in the Emerald City.”)
  
• “US kills controversial anti-terror database”
  
• “Tougher US immigration leading to 'reverse brain-drain': study”
  
• “Tenn. Nuclear Fuel Problems Kept Secret”
  
• “1 in 4 in U.S. report not reading a book in past year” (Shameful!)
  
• “T-rex versus Beckham? Sorry, David, you're lunch”
  
• “Science Blogger Sued for Unfavorable Book Review”
  
• “Nothing Says "Early Earth Was Cool" Like World's Oldest Diamonds”
  
• “Success of abstinence in cutting teen pregnancies is a 'myth'”
  
• “Gaza's Public Workers Paid to Stay Home”
  
• “Flushing Out a Record of Local Drug Use” (I cannot make this up!)
  
• “First genome transplant changes one species into another”
  
• “Baucus proposing free college tuition” (Great idea.)
  
• “Bangladesh demos spread; curfew imposed”
  
• “Sales soar for morning-after pill”
  
• “Report Faults CIA For Pre-9/11 Failures” (Wasn’t the CIA fingered years ago?)
  
• “E-voting predicament: Not-so-secret ballots”

Today’s weird thing, thanks to Barry (who has done much to make putting together this blog easier), is the eBay auction “LOT OF POKEMON CARDS THAT MY KIDS TRIED TO SNEAK BY ME”. The seller also has her own blog, “BECAUSE I SAID SO”. Enjoy, share the weirdness, and try not to hurt yourself rolling on the floor laughing.

Aaron

---

UPDATE: My mother approves of today’s weird thing.

7 ’Elul 5767: National Spumoni Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “Occupied Territory in Africa (1977)”
  
• “Panorama in Gaza: The BBC Gets It Right?”
  
• “Artificial life likely in 3 to 10 years”
  
• “Feline Memories Found to be Fleeting”
  
• “Watchdog groups brace for 'Durban 2'”
  
• “Electricity is latest Gaza battleground” (Intuition suggests that Hamas and Fatah will do far more damage to Gaza than the Israelis ever did.)
  
• “Sudanese refugees fear deportation”
  
• “Feeding the Hungry and Sick: Fish Farming Boosts Nutrition in Rural Malawi”
  
• “Scientist unveils plan on climate change”
  
• “Identity attack spreads; 1.6M records stolen from Monster.com” (I am so glad I am not using Windows.)
  
• “Head count belies vision of ‘Eurabia’” (Europe might not be doomed after all.)
  
• “Poll: Family ties key to youth happiness” (America might not be doomed after all.)
  
• “Islands emerge as Arctic ice shrinks to record low” (The Arctic polar ice cap, on the other hand, is apparently doomed.)
  
• “Women really do prefer pink, researchers say”
  
• “Not the topless car wash they expected”

Today’s weird thing is “Look Ma, No Han!”. Enjoy and share the weirdness with the person frozen in cabonite you love.

Aaron

6 ’Elul 5767: National Radio Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “Western Semantics”
  
• “Can a Jew rescue a non-Jew on Shabbat?”
  
• “Making Room for Moderates”
  
• “Ending Malaria Deaths in Africa”
  
• “Activists slam deportation of refugees”
  
• “Concerns Raised on Wider Spying Under New Law”
  
• “Cop cutout reminds drivers to slow down”

Today’s weird thing is “Rhyming Minnesota Poet Laureate Bill”. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

5 ’Elul 5767: Root Beer Float Day/Potato Day

Greetings.

Divine misconception of the day: “Roman Catholic Bishop Wants Everyone to Call God 'Allah'” To be blunt, this is a monumentally bad idea, and to see why, let us discuss why “God” is itself a bad term.  Originally identified as YHWH (the God of Judaism, or at least the Greek equivalent Theos was in the Septuagint), the term “God” has gained the annoying feature that it can be used to refer the chief or unique deity of almost any religion.   This makes it easy to gloss over very real differences between YHWH, the Christian Trinity (or just the First Person thereof), Allah, the Mormon Godhead (or just the First Person thereof), Ahura Mazda, Brahman, Vishnu, Shiva, Kali, the God of Aristotle, etc.  The result makes it easy to misapply attributes (or lack thereof) of one deity to another or slip into unfounded syncretic notions.  It is because of this slipperiness that I have taken to avoiding using “God” in favor of the more specific “YHWH” in writing and “HashShem” in speech, which are very clearly the God of Judaism without connotations of the Christian Trinity  or other Supreme Deities.  “Allah” has the inverse problem of “God”:  it is specifically the name of the God of Islam.  While in Islamic countries “Allah” may have similar properties to “God”, it most certainly does not in the West.  A Western non-Muslim calling their Supreme Deity “Allah” is essentially adopting an Islamic conception of whom they worship; even if there is an explicit rejection of Islam, the term “Allah” carries the Islamic connotations, whether people acknowledge them or not.  Better everyone call their Supreme Deity by their traditional name and avoid the names from other religions like the plague.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Japan shirt maker sews in fan to beat summer heat”

Today’s weird thing, oddly appropriate for someone whose on-line pseudonym is frequently “Hiergargo”, is “If you dig straight down, where will you end up?”. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

3 ’Elul 5767: Sandcastle Day/National Thriftshop Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Yazdis in Iraq”
  
• “The Russian Game (1980)”
  
• “Can't See the Forest for the Biofuels”
  
• “'We're taking the heat for Israel'”
  
• “Money Is Green, but Online Banking Is Greener”
  
• “Mystery of 'Poe Toaster' revealed”
  
• “Study: 66% of Deaths Preventable”
  
• “Low-Fat Diet Not Good for Kids ”
  
• “Rattling the Cage: The Age of constipation” (We have the same problem here in the USA.)
  
• “Scientists Give Wild Elephants Photo IDs”
  
• “Civil Fights: Bumps under the rug”
  
• “Plain soap as effective as antibacterial but without the risk” (I heard about this years ago.)

Today’s weird thing is something from Emily’s collection, included below. Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

---

We Must Stop This Immediately!


Have you ever noticed that when you're of a certain age, everything seems uphill from where you are? Stairs are steeper. Groceries are heavier. And, everything is farther away. Yesterday I walked to the corner and I was dumbfounded to discover how long our street had become!

And, you know, people are less considerate now, especially the young ones. They speak in whispers all the time! If you ask them to speak up they just keep repeating themselves, endlessly mouthing the same silent message until they're red in the face! What do they think I am, a lip reader?

I also think they are much younger than I was at the same age. On the other hand, people my own age are so much older than I am. I ran into an old friend the other day and she has aged so much that she didn't even recognize me.

I got to thinking about the poor dear while I was combing my hair this morning, and in doing so, I glanced at my own refection... Well, REALLY NOW. Even mirrors are not made the way they used to be!

Another thing, everyone drives so fast today! You're risking life and limb if you just happen to pull onto the freeway in front of them. All I can say is, their brakes must wear out awfully fast, the way I see them screech and swerve in my rear view mirror.

Clothing manufacturers are less civilized these days. Why else would they suddenly start labeling a size 10 or 12 dress as 18 or 20? Do they think no one notices that these things no longer fit around the waist, hips, thighs, and bosom?

The people who make bathroom scales are pulling the same prank, but in reverse. Do they think I actually 'believe' the number I see on that dial? HA! I would never let myself weigh that much! Just whom do these people think they're fooling?

I'd like to call up someone in authority to report what's going on -- but the telephone company is in on the conspiracy too: they've printed the phone books in such small type that no one could ever find a number in here!

All I can do is pass along this warning: Maturity is under attack! Unless something drastic happens, pretty soon 'everyone' will have to suffer these awful indignities.

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO WE CAN GET THIS CONSPIRACY STOPPED!


PS: I am sending this to you in a larger font size, because something has caused fonts to be smaller than they once were too!

2 ’Elul 5767: Watermelon Day/Bratwurst Festival

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “Stories You May Have Missed”
  
• “UCF physicist says Hollywood movies hurt students' understanding of science”
  
• “Chinese couple tried to name baby "@"”
  
• “Is That New Car Smell Toxic?”
  
• “Major League Umps Call More Strikes for Pitchers of Same Race”
  
• “Study Finds Abortion Pill Safe”
  
• “Watch this video and pass it on - Help End Dick Cheney's Quagmire in Iraq”
  
• “AIST develops 3D image projector”
  
• “Russian polar submarine TV footage faked” and “Reuters gets that sinking feeling” (As Barry noted, Reuters does not have to be talking about Israel to get things wrong.)
  
• “Comet-like Tail Discovered Behind Speeding Star ”
  
• “Floods deter crop circle makers”

Today’s weird thing is “Top 11 Signs You've Got an Old Computer”. Enjoy and share the weirdness, except with David Letterman, who will probably sue.

Aaron

The Cave of Speen: Weird stuff and reviews

• A complaint from Marvin the Paranoid Andrioid (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; 2005-04-08)
  
• Another complaint from Marvin the Paranoid Android (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; 2005-04-12)
  
• Yet another complaint from Marvin the Paranoid Android with an extract by Ford Prefect (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; 2005-04-26)
  
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (actual review; 2005-05-15)
  
• A message from His Highness Galactic Emperor Palpatine (Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith; 2005-05-23)
  
• Review of War of the Worlds (2007-07-03)
  
• Review of The Fantastic Four by the Count (2005 version; 2005-07-10)
  
• Doctor Octopus versus the Hulk (2005-07-20)
  
• Star Wars ✕ Cops (2005-09-04)
  
• Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005 version; 2005-12-14)
  
• Review of King Kong (second remake; 2005-12-18)
  
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (observation; 2006-02-20)
  
• Animusic (2006-03-19)
  
• V for Vendetta ✕ Sesame Street (2006-03-24)
  
• "The Great Robot Race" (episode of Nova; 2006-03-30)
  
• The History of Scientology (2006-04-23)
  
• Star Wars ✕ The Simpsons (2006-04-25)
  
• Star Wars ✕ Cops (again; 2006-04-27)
  
• Resolution concerning Napoleon Dynamite (2006-04-28)
  
• Elephants Dream (open-source movie; 2006-05-30)
• A letter from a concerned and moral reader (Superman Returns; 2006-07-04)
  
• Star Trek ✕ Monty Python and the Holy Grail (2006-08-07)
  
• The Generic Bad Movie Drinking Game (2006-09-10)
  
• Review for Epic Movie (2007-01-29)
  
• Charlie the Unicorn (2007-02-19)
  
• Lost in Oz (television series pilot) (2007-02-20)
  
• The Rainbow Road to Oz (preview for unmade Disney film; 2007-02-21)
  
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910 version; 2007-02-22)
  
• Star Trek: Insufficient (parody of Star Trek: Insurrection; 2007-05-15)
  
• Transformers:  Identity Crisis (response to the Transformers movie by Soundwave of the Cybertonian Embassy-at-Large)
  • Week 1:  Bumblebee/Loki (2007-05-22)
    
  • Week 2:  Jazz/Meister (2007-05-29)
    
  • Week 3: Ratchet/Schaltklinke (2007-06-05)
  • Week 4: Elita One/Freya (2007-06-12)
  • Week 5: Generation Two (2007-06-19)
  • Week 6: Ironhide/Eisenhaut (2007-06-26)
  • Week 7: Optimus Prime/Konvoi (2007-07-01)
  • Epilog: Microtron’s review (2007-07-06)
  • Second epilog: Arcee’s message to Megatron (2007-10-16)
• Review of The Simpsons Movie by Ned Flanders (2007-07-29)
  
• Review of the pilot for Flash Gordon by Prince Vultan of the Hawk People (2007-08-13)
  

1 ’Elul 5767: Ro’sh Ḥodhesh/Assumption Day/National Relaxation Day/National Failures Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Incitement and Political Correctness”
  
• “'Nobody can strike the Kabba in Mecca'” (The scary thing is that the idea of destroying the Kaaba might be a good way to strike a blow to Islamofascism. Even Islamofascists have to think twice when their actions have serious consequences.)
  
• “Did Life Begin In Space? New Evidence From Comets”
  
• “Making Gasoline from Bacteria”
  
• “Viking ship lands in Ireland after nearly 1,000 yrs”
  
• “Power Paper: Energy Storage by the Sheet”
  
• “Wiki Whacky Editors”
  
• “Italian town to pay residents to shed flab” (Interesting tactic in the war on obesity.)
  
• “Moving Rocks of Death Valley”
  
• “A Gateway for Hackers”
  
• “Hot Gas in Space Mimics Life ”
  

Today’s weird thing is “ceramics for breakfast”. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

30 ’Av 5767: Ro’sh Ḥodesh/National Creamsicle Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Ben Gurion's Dream (1974)”
  
• “Emotional Rove announces 'next chapter'” (One down, two to go. Congresspeople, go forth and impeach Bush and Cheney!)
  
• “Good Fence, Lousy Neighbors” (Major rule for warfare: NEVER tell your enemies about weaknesses in their defenses! The idiot who posted the video referenced in this article pointed out what Israel needs to work on in order to keep the so-called “Palestinians” inside their penalty box. Are these terrorists so stupid as to make life harder for themselves? No wonder they are doing a horrible job fighting their jihad.)
  
• “Thousands attend West Bank rally of global Islamic movement” and “Islamic hard-liners gather in Jakarta” (Major rule of conspiracy: NEVER be public about having a conspiracy! As I have said before, these people are doing absolutely the wrong thing to make people believe that Islam is a religion of peace.)
  
• “Spanish parish stages hunger strike to back priest” (This is not religiously fallacious behavior by any means, though I am not crazy about the notion of hunger strikes. I am just impressed by how dedicated these parishioners are.)
  

Today’s weird thing is XBox Modification, which gives instructions on how to use the XBox game machine as an actual computer running Linux or Mac OS X. This is a fun way to make Microsoft very mad. The weird thing is that this is not a silly, useless hack; people have actually talked about using XBoxes for cheap parallel processing. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

29 ’Av 5767: Blame Someone Else Day

Greetings.

In observance of today’s quasi-holiday, I blame Fred, the imaginary evil fourth Adelman brother.  I have no idea what I am blaming Fred for, but I blame him anyway.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Global Warning”
  
• “So you want to be rich?”
  
• “New party for annexation of territories” (This was statistically inevitable. Not everyone in politics can be suicidal.)
  
• “Threats force Egyptian convert to hide” (Whatever happened to “There is no compulsion in religion”?)
  
• “The Region: When logic is unconnected with reality”
  
• “U.S. lags behind 41 nations in life span”
  
• “Toll records trip up philanderers”
  
• “Eternal frontier”
  
• “Egypt might reject African refugees”
  
• “Aussie Muslim banned” (This is no way to run a conspiracy.)
  
• “Israel Is Us” (Submitted by Barry.)
  
• “'Voltron' gets bigscreen go” (Make it stop! Make it stop! Down with remakes!)
  
• “Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?” (Submitted by Barry.)
  

Today’s weird thing was submitted by someone with a strange sense of style and is included below. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

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Shame on the Sci Fi network! Recently they showed the pilot for a new series, Flash Gordon, based on the never-ending permutations of comic strips, movies, and television series.

Gordon's alive? Barely it seems.

In this version, Flash Gordon and Dale Arden seem to be made of plastic and have as much chemistry as the Emperor Ming has kindness. This is surely not the actors' fault. Even if they were the greatest players in Shakespearean theater, they could have hardly done better with this writing. Unlike their admirable remake of Battlestar Galactica, which explored the possibilities of the situation and fleshed out the characters into credible people, this version is no more sophisticated than the earlier versions. This might be forgivable if it were lovably cornball, but the actors are too serious and the production values too dull. Indeed, if anything the production is cheap and the premise distorted about this cheapness. Mongo is not reached by Dr. Zarkov's homemade spaceship, but by a small device which looks and works much like the "timer" on Sliders. We see little of Mongo or its grandeur, so little that, even with the establishing shot, that the tiny bit of Mongo that Ming claims to rule is not so much a city as a building that might be smaller than the Mos Eisley catania. Yes, people know more about space travel now than they did when the original serials appeared, but pointing a television remote control to empty space and zapping a gateway there could have been done with a bit more charm. The laziness extends to the writing as well, which gets dull and predictable. Gordon and Arden had a previous relationship, and even though she is engaged to someone else, they are inevitably drawn together in their pursuit of a plot device. Ming's daughter is given slightly more depth than before in her motivations, but she is not given any chance to develop properly. While they expurgated the potentially racist insinuations by making Ming a blond-haired blue-eyed Caucasian, they did hardly anything to make him more interesting; he was not even made an amusing megalomaniac, just an uninteresting one. (Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz still reigns as the best megalomaniac dictator of all time.) The ultimate insult was the choice of plot device for this pilot. Instead of Dr. Zarkov dragging Gordon and Arden with him into space when he realizes that a rain of rocks from the sky is an attack by Ming, the writers gave Gordon a father who worked with Zarkov in creating the Sliders device, and who apparently had a device called the "Imex" which is the character-attracting macguffin. I shan't reveal what the "Imex" is, but if you haven't identified it well before Gordon does, you deserve to be enslaved by Ming.

Needless to see, this is extremely disappointing, and I would be rather battling the most viscious soldiers that Mongo can send to us than this abominable waste of time. And with Battlestar Galactica coming to a close, it seems there will hardly be anything left there to be watching at all. Pity.

Prince Vultan of the Hawk People

26 ’Av 5767

Greetings.

A dear friend of mine passed away yesterday evening.  Due to the mood, there will be no weird thing until Monday.

Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

25 ’Av 5767: National Polka Festival

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day: “The Olympic Dream for Darfur”.

Hack of the day: “Create a truly transparent Activity Monitor Dock icon”.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Charming the Americans (1979)”
  
• “Being Unhealthy Could Cost You -- Money”
  
• “Sorry Vigario Geral, Gaza takes precedence”
  
• “Wine Labels Can Ruin A Restaurant Meal”
  
• “In Dusty Archives, a Theory of Affluence”
  
• “Requiem for a Freshwater Dolphin”
  
• “Mr. Prime Minister, do not abandon the Golan”
  
• “Cardboard Children Used To Slow Neighborhood Speeders”
  
• “Preventive steps could save 100,000 U.S. lives: study”

Today’s weird thing is “The Newspaper Clipping Generator”.   It can be used to create things like this:

Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

24 ’Av 5767: Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Night

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Olmert Explains”
  
• “Giving a Platform for Extremism?”
• “Right on!: Has Israel lost its soul?” (Is there some place all countries can deport their evil and incompetent politicians? Maybe an isolated Pacific island or Antarctica...)
  
• “Many Kids With Private Insurance Missing Vaccinations”
  
• “Laws to Ban Driving Under the Influence — of Texting?” (I am glad to hear that common sense is prevailing among the population of the US on this issue.)
  
• “Crocodile falls 12 floors in escape bid”
  
• “Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a baby, 4Real!” (And people think my idea of naming a kid מטטרון/Metatron is weird...)
  
• “Spain hauls in 8 tonnes of jellyfish”
  
• “Giant Lego man found in Dutch sea”
  

Today’s weird thing is the Geostationary Banana Over Texas. I have no clue what the point of this is other than “art”, but I bet the astronomers will not like it. Enjoy (or be puzzled or something) and share the weirdness.

Aaron

Worthy cause of the day: “Congress must reverse their capitulation”

Greetings.

Please sign the petition “Congress must reverse their capitulation” and tell Congress that no one should be legally entitled to wiretap without a warrant.  The United States of America is a constitutional democracy, and you have the legal and political right to exercise free speech on this and all other issues, including that you (presumably) want the Constitution enforced and not subverted.  There is no point in giving Bush power to wiretap without a warrant.  If he has probable cause, then he should have no trouble getting a warrant.  If he does not have probable cause, then he has no business wiretapping, period.

Thank you for your attention.

Aaron, exercising his right to free speech

23 ’Av 5767: Sea Serpent Day/Hamburger Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “London Gathering Defends Vision of Radical Islam” (You know, conspiracies work a lot better when they’re kept secret. Not to mention this makes a mockery of the notion that Islam is a peaceful religion.)
  
• “Astronomers Witness Whopper Galaxy Collision”
  
• “Largest Known Exoplanet Discovered”
  
• “Meraki's Guerilla Wi-Fi to Put a Billion More People Online”
  
• “Time to saw South Carolina off from the US and set it free” (Yes, our politicians ought to be thrown out of office. Please send us better ones if they can be found.)
  
• “Publix offers 7 free antibiotics” (Noted by Barry.)
  
• “Eating Made Simple”
  
• “"McFood" Better Than Food, Kids Say”

Today’s weird thing is SSI Shredding Demonstrations. Enjoy or be puzzled or something and share the weirdness with the sea serpent you love.

Aaron

22 ’Av 5767: Wiggle Your Toes Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “The Latest Bush Plan”
  
• “IDF to try troops who refuse to evacuate Hebron market” (If ’Olmert and company are trying to create internal divisions among Israeli Jews, they are doing a good job. Somebody throw him out of office.)
  
• “"Spiderman" arrested atop bridge” (The Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus must have ratted him out. ☺)
  
• “ISRAEL: THE OUTSIDE STORY”
  
• “Immigrants to get identity cards at B-G”
  
• “House approves foreign wiretap bill”
  
• “Hackers click locks open at conference in US” (This sounds like something right out of a Doctor Who episode.)
  
• “'Hamas forced professor to convert'” (Whatever happened to “There is no compulsion in religion”?)
  
• “Energy search goes underground” (Submitted by David.)
  
• “Army Corps dumps old bombs, charges town” (Talk about huspah.)
  
• “Sudan, Egypt, and Israel”
  
• “Study: mahjong can lead to seizures” (Wrong! This article describes 23 cases of people who played mahjong and then got seizures. There is no mention of controls, so there is no way to tell if playing mahjong caused the seizures or whether it was simply a coincidence.)
  
• “Inspector general finds lax computer security by IRS employees ”

Today’s fake news, thanks to Barry and Nancy:

• “Various Deities Still Sorting Through Victims Of Tragic Queens Bus Accident”
  
• “Nation's Snowmen March Against Global Warming”
  
• “Christ Announces Hiring Of Associate Christ”

Today’s weird thing is the USB Flexible Keyboard.  This is eerily similar to a rollable synthesizer keyboard that appeared in an episode of Star Trek:  The Next Generation.   Wait a minute... They also make something even more like that. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

21 ’Av 5767: National Mustard Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “Hostility Puts Men's Hearts at Risk”
  
• “Abstinence Programs Don't Cut HIV Risk”
  
• “Bad bosses get promoted, not punished”
  
• “Future of Stem Cell Tests May Hang on Defining Embryo Harm”
  
• “Why I Admire Israel”
  
• “Spacecraft to carry library to Mars”
  
• “Your Printer May Be Hazardous To Your Health”

Today’s weird thing, submitted by Barry, who heard about it from Nancy, is “God is watching”. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

19 ’Av 5767: National Watermelon Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “Pole Dance”
  
• “Harry Shabotter”
  
• “Demographic threat? Nonsense”
  
• “Space Settlement and War”
  
• “Granny becomes world's oldest master”
  
• “Ban the Burqa - and the Niqab too”
  
• “Orangutans signal loud and clear”
  
• “DRM Scorecard: Hackers Batting 1000, Industry Zero ”
  
• “'Egyptians killed 4 Sudanese on border'”
  
• “A meaningful Tisha Be'av”
  
• “Deer Caught by Fisherman in Chesapeake Bay”
  
• “Researcher's Analysis of al Qaeda Images Reveals Surprises”

Today’s weird thing is “How To Write Unmaintainable Code”, which should be enjoyable to anyone who has ever written a computer program. Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

18 ’Av 5767: National Ice Cream Sandwich Day

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day: “Tell President Bush: Plan for the safe withdrawal of our troops”.

Today’s news and commentary, some of which Barry is responsible for:

• “American Pressure (1992)”
  
• “Gaza 'Under Siege'?”
  
• “Rowling: So you want to know what happens next?”
  
• “Real Harry Potter weathers Pottermania”
  
• “Insurers Claim Global Warming Makes Some Regions Too Hot to Handle”
  
• “Boxing beetles face off in Tokyo tournament”
  
• “Dow: Our Unethical Tests Show That Nerve Poison is Safe” (What the gezornenblat was their internal review board thinking?)
  
• “Brain Electrodes Help Man Speak Again”
  
• “Chocoholic squirrel steals treats from Finnish shop”

Today’s weird thing, submitted by Barry, is the Doctor Who Tardis USB 4 Port Powered Hub Station , the perfect gift for Whovians who use a lot of USB devices. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron

17 ’Av 5767: Air Force Day

Greetings.

Today’s news and commentary:

• “And Now ...The Splurge!”
  
• “Rocker Sees Real Stars: Queen's Guitarist to Become Astrophysicist ” (Good for him!)
  
• “Church house is free, but you move it”
  
• “Study debunks full-moon injury beliefs”

Today’s weird thing is JP Brown's Serious LEGO. It’s amazing what one can do with plastic bricks. Enjoy and share the weirdness.

Aaron