Shiny!

Now that I've got an official-type Web 2.0 logo, I'm ready to sell this blog. $40 million ought to be about right.

via the Web 2.0 Logo Creator

Hmmrrruurrrrghhhh...

Zombie Letters from e-zombie.com

You're On Notice, William Carlos Williams!

The Steven Colbert "You're On Notice" Board Generator

Better Than A Wax Cylinder Upside The Head

(via the Vinyl Record Generator)
If it's good enough for Matt...

Christmas in August: Lieberman, McKinney Lose

It's been so long - I have completely forgotten how to react when things go right.

With 95 percent of the precincts reporting, Lamont led Lieberman 52 percent to 48 percent, according to The Associated Press.

---

Also on Tuesday night, Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney lost in a runoff to Democratic challenger Hank Johnson.

All right, world -- what's the catch?!?

Sen. Joseph Lieberman conceded to anti-war cable executive Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary for the Connecticut Senate nomination Tuesday night but vowed to run as an "independent Democrat" this fall

Oh, right. Carry on, then.

Prohibido Entrar

The LA Times reports: Two miles of beach were closed Tuesday because of a spill in Culver City that released 20,000 to 30,000 gallons of sewage into Ballona Creek. (©Bryan Chan / LAT - August 8, 2006)

The Golden Gate, from Crissy Field, SF

  

Four Years + One Week

While you weren't looking, this blog passed its fourth anniversary.

Pay no attention to that seven month gap between posts (7/13/02-2/20/03). I was resting up.

(blogging is hard.)

Tales of Wikipedia, Part One: The Jewish Autonomous Oblast

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is a small district in the Russian Far East, on the border with China, which was created by Stalin in the late 1920s as an alternative Zionist state.

via Wikipedia's "Random article"

Dr. Katz

A Dr. Katz parody (via Slate)

4th of July

Hey, baby - it's the Fourth of July!

(Mexican kids, are, of course, shooting fireworks below at my apartment too!)

One Way

Discovery's launch (from the BBC.)

A very muddled afternoon

Some random filler: the emails at work have been flying fast and furious about mojito recipes.

Ms. B____ started things off by asking for recommendations for "a light rum, but with excellent flavor".

Mr. A____ recommended Bacardi, and suggested raspberry flavor.

"Mojito fanatic" Mr. C_____ disparaged the raspberry idea: "Rasberry?!? That is not a real mojito. Go simple (Limes, rum, mint, sugar, soda) and always use fresh materials, no mixes. Bacardi is yucky. Use Myers White AND Dark rums."

Countered Mr. A____:

Depending on what you like and what flavor....i love raspberry ones and an original that has a little spicy kick to it by adding crushed and chopped chilies but no seeds..... Yeah I know... Chilies....also you have to follow the steps. Do not do one step over the other.

Here is the original firecracker mojito,,

In a cup, put 5-6 slices of limes, a medium size batch of mint, once small red chili chopped, and half and half (sugar and water that was boiled with a small amount of brown sugar). Take something you can smash all ingredients with. When it is all smashed together having all lime juice out, pour in 3-4 oz (I like mine strong) of bacardi light rum and top it off with soda water. Take a shaker it shake it 3 times and pour. But make sure all ingredients are on the bottom or else your will be sipping most of it in your straw.

There are also other recipies. I can put a whole list together and send it out on Monday

Bacardi is the best cuz it does not give you a hang over and its cheap unless you want to use more expensive rum..... I can tell you more.

Mr. B________ sent out a link to Bacardi's website, Ms. P____ recommended blending the mint into the drink (rather than mashing or smashing), and Mr. C_____ provided his own recipe suggestion:

A Mojito is a very personal thing.

Always use more rum!

In a tall glass, put a large amount of mint, a small handfull, in with a tablespoon of sugar, a little extra if it is a very big glass. Grind the sugar and the mint together with a blunt instrument, the handle of a wooden spoon works well. Fill the glass with ice. FILL! Use a strong shot of white rum (I suggest Myers White), as much lime juice as you are willing to squeeze, at least one large lime, and then fill the rest with soda. Stir. Float a little Myer’s Dark rum on top.

If you are going to make a pitcher, make sure you use a lot of lime, mint and sugar, and not too much soda... Often people get tired of squeezing limes and short themselves... Here is a stolen recipe for a pitcher of mojitos.

3 cups (packed) fresh mint leaves
9 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups light rum
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
6 cups club soda
6 cups crushed ice
6 lime wedges

MOJITO SHOWDOWN!!!!!!

That's all well and good, but it needs more wresting mask. Youtube?


I feel we got a lot accomplished today.

Jacaranda Days 2006

  

Egg-Fu

The Absorbascon's "Scipio" has had a couple of really good posts this week. Due to the reverse-chronological nature of blogging, I read the second one first - a wonderful reintroduction to the Batman villain Professor Radium. (Comics blogs + scanners + free image hosting = crazy delicious!) Good stuff, Maynard.

The other post is an analysis of the latest issue of DC Comics' 52-week series, "52" (#6). Or, more specifically, of the writing on the blackboard left behind by the missing time travel expert Rip Hunter. This led, in comments, to added analysis of the clues hidden in the comments of mad scientist T.O. Morrow, and of the secrets behind the Chinese superhero team, The Great Ten. Both commenter Jamie Ott and I noticed a disturbing possibility -- that the mastermind behind the Great Ten may well be the Silver Age Wonder Woman villain (and hideous Sixties racial stereotype) EGG-FU!

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

A Trip To GlitterMaker.com

http://www.GlitterMaker.com/ - Glitter Graphics

Thou Shalt Not Mock "Today"

We learn from a posting at "Dispatches From the Culture Wars" that the 2006 spoof issue of the Calvin College student paper, "Chimes" (a parody of the incredibly dull CRC devotional Today: The Family Altar), has been banned by Calvin.

Student journalists at Calvin College are being given an unexpected lesson: When the subject is piety, there are limits to parody.

The annual spoof issue of the student newspaper, Chimes, often has ruffled feathers among conservatives at the Christian college. But this spring the college said staffers went too far when they parodied "Today," a daily devotional published by the Christian Reformed Church.

The spoof version, dubbed "Cliche," ran afoul of campus censors who had trouble with some of its mock meditations and prayer parodies. They also objected when it poked fun at Calvin benefactor and gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos and James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family.

After a three-week standoff between the Chimes staff and a subcommittee of the college's Student Life Committee, the newspaper, led by Editor-in-Chief Nana Yaa Dodi, announced Friday it would not publish "Cliche."

Scott Admiraal, a Grand Rapids senior who worked on the spoof, said when staffers chose the format, they assumed not everyone would like it.

"At the same time, by using this format, we knew we could make a comment we could not make in a dry, academic way," he said.

Despite the publishing ban, the tract found its way onto the Internet, a move that led to the firing of two Chimes staffers, college officials said.

Though the so-called "spoof subcommittee" had served in an advisory capacity in past years, the panel was given more power this year and demanded changes.

"The prayers invoke God's name inappropriately and the Bible passages in some cases are not used in a context that is honoring the holy Word of God," said the committee's memo to the Chimes staffers.

A tongue-in-cheek meditation that encouraged readers to revere DeVos for his family's donations to Calvin also was forbidden. "Don't critique a friend of the college merely because he is a friend," they warned the editors.

The decision to censor the DeVos reference proves their satire was on target, Admiraal said. "The whole point was that we were pandering to donors' dollars," he said.

As for the references to Dobson, former managing editor Justin Pot said they were willing to change them to "Jim Dorbsin" to avoid legal problems.

"The spoof for a long time has been a sensitive thing," said Pot, a junior from Ontario. "But we never thought it would come to this."

Jennifer VanAntwerp, an assistant professor of engineering who chaired the spoof subcommittee, said the rules changed this year to include veto power over the final product. The Student Life Committee, which includes faculty, students and administrators, always has held final authority over college-funded activities, she said.

"Is the content edgier this year than in other years? Not really," she said. "We probably would have blocked things in previous years, too."

VanAntwerp said she was disappointed by the end-run publication of "Cliche" on the Web. "We're a community and we're tying to come to a community decision. We all in good faith followed that process."

On Friday, college officials said editor Dodi fired Admiraal and Pot, in part because she believed they were involved in putting the spoof online. It is on a Web site registered to a Chimes alumni, students said.

Both Pot and Admiraal said they did not know how the forbidden tract made it online. Pot said he resigned from Chimes after a discussion with Dodi, who declined to be interviewed. Admiraal could not immediately be reached for comment on the firing.

Pot acknowledged he knew the alumnus who posted the spoof, but said they are not close friends. The junior said the edition has been on Chimes' computer servers for three weeks.

The newspaper staff was not without its defenders on the subcommittee.

Christopher Smit, an assistant professor of communication arts and sciences, said he argued for publication.

The 1996 Calvin graduate said the spoof is taken too seriously by some. "I agree that they pushed some buttons, but they knew they would set off alarms," he said.

"When I look into this thing and see what's under it, I respect what's under it."

This being the 21st century, the issue has been placed online, of course.

All Songs Considered - Neko Case concert mp3

Awesome: NPR has an mp3 of alt-country goddess Neko Case live in concert at Washington DC's 9:30 Club available for download.

Awesome squared: Blogger "Kaya Na Kisser" has, magically, split this 128k concert mp3 into individual song mp3s, at 192k!?!

Modern Mechanix

"Yesterday's tomorrow, today."

Truly, this is an age of miracles!

"Hold me like a mother would, like I've always known somebody should"

In honor of the recent release of the film documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston, I present to you one of Mr. Johnston's songs, performed by Kathy McCarty, from the 1989 Bar/None sampler Time For A Change (this version is far better than the version from Dead Dog's Eyeball.)



mp3 link: Kathy McCarty, Living Life