Posted at 06:11 AM in Photo Caption Contest! | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Since we are on a bit of a coffee theme today, you still have 2 days left of the big sale at Porto Rico Importing:

click for website

Posted at 10:23 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Back in April 2004, I posted Your Coffee Sucks!

It definitely resonated with people -- as you can tell from the many comments its recieved.

Well, we have an update: This week, I received as a birthday gift the latest Capresso Design -- and its awesome: The Capresso 455.05 CoffeeTEAM Therm Stainless Coffeemaker/Burr Grinder Combination

Yeah, its $300 -- but its the best machine I've come across that's under 4 figures.

The latest advance -- aside from the slick black and chrome sdesign -- is that there is no pot/carafe warmer, which has a tendency to burn coffee. Instead, the brew drips into a vaccuum thermos.

Mrs. essays & effluvia one complaint about the old Capresso grind & brew was that it wasn't hot enough (she says that about most coffee makers. though).

Not so with this baby -- its not only much hotter than the old machine when it brews, but an hour or two later, its still much hotter. On Sunday morning, you can start the NYT with a cup, and refill it when you are done, with fresh still very hot coffee. Hmmmm, delicious.

I've only had it a week, but its awesome.

If you can't bring yourself to spend that type of wood on a coffeemaker, than put it on your list for a holiday gift. Its the type of indulgent item that is easier to give a s a gift than spend the money on for yourself. You will not be disappointed. 

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You probably don't want to spend this type of wood, but the next step up is the $3,000 Magic Saeco. Yeah, that's right, you can drop 3 large on an expresso maker, so stop whining about 300 bucks . . .

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Oops! That was the origianl price --its now on sale at the low low price of $1,159.00

Posted at 06:16 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

This is Blackbird, take 1, from the "White Album" sessions.

Posted at 06:19 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A Lamborghini isn’t just a car, it’s an event. The Murciélago, named for a famous Spanish fighting bull, has been out since 2001 with a 580-horsepower V-12 engine, and more than 2,000 have been sold — a huge number for a supercar. The LP640 is a new variant that is more powerful and more user-friendly.

The LP designation refers to the engine’s mounting position (“longitudinale posteriore”) behind the two seats; 640 is the horsepower it makes in European specification. Because of slight changes to meet American emissions rules, the output in this country is slightly less, at 632 horsepower — akin to the difference between getting hit by a .44-caliber bullet or a .45; the wounds are pretty much the same size.

The V-12’s displacement has grown to 6.5 liters, from 6.2, by increasing the cylinder bore and lengthening the piston stroke; torque output is improved to a mighty 487 pound-feet.

Gas mileage is on par with the thirstiest big trucks, just 9 miles a gallon in town and 13 on the highway, earning the government’s biggest gas-guzzler tax, $7,700. This is part of the price you pay for the most powerful street-legal (to use the term loosely) Lamborghini ever. It is also the fastest. This 3,670-pound projectile has a claimed a top speed of “over 211” miles an hour. The numbers on the speedometer go up to 220, in case you catch a good tailwind.

INSIDE TRACK: Have mercy!

Source:
2007 Lamborghini Murciélago LP640: More Horsepower on the Hoof
JERRY GARRETT
Published: October 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/automobiles/autoreviews/15AUTO.html

Posted at 05:44 AM in Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

How cool is this:

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The Sun, with the Space Station and Shuttle
(its the speck middle left)

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"It looks like a speck of dust on the surface of the sun. But this spectacular picture shows the space shuttle Atlantis alongside the International Space Station (ISS) silhouetted as they orbit the earth.
The image was taken in Normandy by French astrophotographer Thierry Legault. He used a digital camera attached to a £5,000 specially kitted-out telescope.

The shuttle, which returned last week from a 12-day mission, and the space station can be seen in orbit 250 miles above the earth while the sun is 93 million miles away."

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Source:
A spot in the sun
Daily Mail, 12:37pm on 29th September 2006
http://tinyurl.com/mr2uu

Posted at 06:18 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Very funny:

Posted at 06:37 AM in Film, Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pretty ridiculous via SupersizedMeals.com

Posted at 06:21 AM in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Olbermann addresses the Military Commissions Act in a special comment:

Full text is here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15321167/

Posted at 05:37 AM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The reason a dog has so many friends is that he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
-Anonymous

Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.
-Ann Landers

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.
-Will Rogers

There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.
-Ben Williams

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves
himself.
-Josh Billings

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person.
-Andy Rooney

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made.
-M. Acklam

Dogs love their friends and bite their enemies, quite unlike people, who are incapable of pure love and always have to mix love and hate.
-Sigmund Freud

I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.
-Rita Rudner

A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.
-Robert Benchley

Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like never washed a dog.
-Franklin P. Jones

If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons.
-James Thurber

If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise.
-Unknown

My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That's almost $21.00 in dog money.
-Joe Weinstein

Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul -- chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth!
-Anne Tyler

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
-Robert A. Heinlein

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man.
-Mark Twain

You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'Wow, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'
- Dave Barry

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.
-Roger Caras

If you think dogs can't count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then give him only two of them.
-Phil Pastoret

My goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am.

"If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men."
-St. Francis of Assisi

Posted at 06:53 AM in Philosophy | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Count Me Out (*in):

Posted at 06:49 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Funny:

Posted at 05:59 AM in Humor, Politics, Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A new Hubble image of the Antennae galaxies is the sharpest yet of this merging pair of galaxies. As the two galaxies smash together, billions of stars are born, mostly in groups and clusters of stars. The brightest and most compact of these are called super star clusters.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and B. Whitmore (Space Telescope Science Institute).
Acknowledgement: James Long (ESA/Hubble)
Larger version

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The Universe is an all-action arena for some of the largest, most slowly evolving dramas known to mankind. A new picture taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), onboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the "sharpest ever" view of the Antennae galaxies - seemingly a violent clash between a pair of once isolated galaxies, but in reality a fertile marriage. As the two galaxies interact, billions of stars are born, mostly in groups and clusters of stars. The brightest and most compact of these are called super star clusters.

Source:
Colliding galaxies pictured in amazing Hubble picture
HUBBLE INFORMATION CENTRE NEWS RELEASE
October 17, 2006
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0610/17antennae/

Posted at 06:28 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Funny bit:

Posted at 06:13 AM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I have lots of LIRR miscreants in the queue, but this LIRR customer couldn't wait. He was in such a hurry to park on 10/15/06, that he overshot the lot and ended up plowing into the stairway.

Hey dude, there's always another train coming!

How funny is this:

Posted at 05:54 AM in LIRR Commuter From Hell | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Bob Herbert wrote about this yesterday:

But Adrants was all over it months ago:   One Sort of Facial Promotes Another:

"this Clinique ad - currently appearing in People - comes to us today in an attachment called "Money Shot" along with wonderment regarding just what sort of facial is being eluded to. Really. How exactly does a glob of fluid on a woman's face promote moisturizing cream?"

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Source:
One Sort of Facial Promotes Another
Ad Rants
http://www.adrants.com/2006/08/one-sort-of-facial-promotes-another.php

Posted at 11:55 AM in Art & Design, Current Affairs, Philosophy, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

What is going here?

Posted at 06:22 AM in Current Affairs, Politics, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

These are great:

Note the product:

Looks dangerous

And for you coffee drinkers:

Posted at 05:41 AM in Art & Design, Design, Humor, Shopping | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

There are very few artists who can pay homage to a musical influence, sprinkling melodic and stylistic references, yet remain fresh and original in their own right.

Vaughn Trapp manages to do just that.

The melodies are gorgeous, belying the bittersweet political anguish beneath. The retro influences provide a musical framework and historical reference point. But it is fresh enough not to be weighed down by the burden of that reference.

There is a clear lineage to The Beatles -- both middle year Lennon McCartney tunes and latter day George Harrison arrangements are a major influence on many of the cuts here. These beautifully written and arranged songs stand on their own, apart from their lineage and influences. It is impossible to listen to "Mr. Hurricane" and not think of George Harrison; "Almost Gone" is reminiscent of John Lennon on Revolver;  "Doin' the 911" channels Rubber Soul, complete with George Harrison on guitar. Its high praise indeed to say that some of these songs could have been penned by The Beatles in some alternative universe. 

Not only does the the work stand on its own musically, but it is relevant to today's current events.  Delve into the lyrics, and you discover an artist deeply moved by what has happened politically in the United States. Much of the musical community has been fairly low key, for instance, about the circumstances of the the Iraq war. At least, when compared to what happened during Viet Nam.

That's beginning to change now-- see Michael Franti and Spearhead's Yell Fire as a prime example.  Vaughn Trapp is another instance of musicians finding their muse in disappointment in political leadership. The incompetence and corruption produce a melancholy and sense of loss on Amerika that is palpable throughout the recording. 
My favorite cuts are:

Open Your Eyes
Almost Gone
Doin' the 911
Mr. Hurricane

You can sample the songs at My Space

Download the CD at iTunes

Posted at 11:56 PM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I remember when this came out -- despite the obvious flaws -- we were so excited to hear anything new form John Lennon (after his death).

The remixed song, with Paul McCartney adding vocals:

Posted at 06:13 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A terrific article in the WSJ (of all places) on Why 'The Big Lebowski' is a cult classic:

"What makes a relatively minor film like "The Big Lebowski" a cult object in the first place? Here the discussion was more accessible, even fathomable. People love it. They love it because it's densely and quirkily detailed. They love it precisely because it's minor; a classic film noir like "The Big Sleep" has already been appropriated by previous generations, and its Hollywood descendants, like the now-classic "Chinatown," carry the burden of mainstream stars and commercial success.

Young people in particular identify with the Dude's slackerdom because they're feeling pressured by the need to make fateful choices in a complex, competitive world. (Or because they're cultivating an authentic gift for sloth.) They identify with the film's mix of goofiness, stylization, alienation (the Dude is a blithely befuddled, superannuated campus radical from the '60s, while his buddy Walter is a Vietnam vet raging hilariously against straight society) and mock-epic flavor (the Stranger, a mustachioed cowboy narrator played by Sam Elliott, ties the film to the mythology of Hollywood Westerns).

"Lebowski" fans who may be inclined toward mysticism are captivated by one detail that surfaces in the first reel: The date of a check that The Dude writes to pay for a 69-cent supermarket purchase is Sept. 11. "It's the sort of talismanic mystery that helps to cement cult status," a symposium participant said. (As a resident of Santa Monica, I had noted from the address on the check that the Dude lived near me, in neighboring Venice, but I had never noticed the date.)

Most of all, Lebowski cultists love the film because it's full of oddball characters -- "multiple points of identification," that is -- spouting memorable, often profane lines. Weaving many of those lines into their conversations, the happy congregants in Louisville wore others on their jackets or bowling shirts ("The Dude abides"; "The rug tied the room together"; "At least I'm housebroken"; "Let's roll"; "You're entering a world of pain"; "Fuck it, Dude, let's go bowling")."

I keep telling you: I don't roll on Shabbos

Source:
Deconstructing the Dude
Why 'The Big Lebowski' is a cult classic -- and a cultural touchstone
WSJ, October 7, 2006; Page P13
http://tinyurl.com/y32vde

Posted at 06:44 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Devastating interview:  Former #2 man in the Faith-Based Initiatives office David Kuos states: "The Bush White House is playing millions of American Christians as suckers."

PLAYING THE JESUS CARD

Posted at 11:03 AM in Books, Politics, Religion, Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Too funny: The Nietzsche Family Circus pairs a randomized Family Circus cartoon with a randomized Friedrich Nietzsche quote:

Is man one of God's blunders? Or is God one of man's blunders?

Posted at 06:51 AM in Humor, Philosophy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

He is still one of the best: George Carlin

Posted at 06:02 AM in Current Affairs, Humor, Television | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Afghanastan & Iraq are only part of the preoblems facing the U.S.:

WSJ:

Concern about extremism seeping out of Iraq underscores a painful irony in the five-year-old war against terrorism: The U.S. and its allies now face the distinct possibility that the same kind of "failed state" that gave terrorists a haven when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan -- leading to Sept. 11 -- could be forming again, in more than one place.

Both Iraq and Lebanon are threatening to degenerate into states with weak central governments where extremists can thrive. Iraq already appears to serve as a kind of finishing school for young radicals seeking battlefield experience. In Lebanon, Hezbollah's war with Israel this summer both destabilized the country and enhanced the reputation of Hezbollah extremists, who in the past have demonstrated a desire to extend their reach beyond Lebanon's borders.

To make matters worse, Afghanistan itself now appears to be sliding backward so much that it could again become an international terror breeding ground.

Forces from the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are locked in the bloodiest fighting in Afghanistan since late 2001. U.S. casualties are running at more than twice last year's rate. U.S. military commanders speak openly of an "Iraq-ification" of Afghanistan: Once-rare suicide bombings and roadside bombs have become common, and both arms and militants flow over mostly undefended borders. Much as in Iraq, the bulk of the Afghan insurgency is local, but there are signs al Qaeda-linked foreign fighters are participating.

Source:
Growing Concern:  Terrorist Havens In 'Failed States'
YOCHI J. DREAZEN and PHILIP SHISHKIN
September 13, 2006; Page A1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115811276948461524.html

Posted at 05:55 AM in Current Affairs, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ever feel compelled to laugh at a really inappropriate time?

Its even worse if you are a talk show host . . .

Posted at 06:06 AM in Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione concept car has a 4.7-liter V-8 engine that generates 450 horsepower:

Sources:
The Green Flag’s Out for Bold, Fast and Highly Styled
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
Published: September 30, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/business/30auto.html

Posted at 06:01 AM in Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Paul talks about acid:

Posted at 06:09 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ben Sargent via Yahoo!

Posted at 06:15 AM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Friday evening goof:

Posted at 07:19 PM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Toles via Yahoo!

Posted at 05:21 AM in Humor, Politics, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

We scared up some more photos of the badass looking wheels:  When the French automakers steal the limelight in style, you know something cool is going on:

The Peugeot 908 RC design study.

For Peugeot, that something is the 908 RC, a design study to be displayed at the Paris auto show this month. The sleek black 908 RC is an answer to the S-Class or 7 Series, a lux limo powered by a 700-horsepower V-12 diesel designed for endurance racing.

It is unmistakably French: like the cathedral of Notre Dame, it has flying buttresses — rakish forms stretching from the rear edge of the roof to the rear deck.

Courtesy of NYT

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The Peugeot 908 sports a black lacquer exterior and a 700-horsepower, 5.5-liter V-12 diesel engine meant for speed.

Source:
Score One for France
PHIL PATTON
NYT, September 15, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/15/automobiles/17BEAM.html

Posted at 05:40 AM in Automobiles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

They just look wicked cool:

Source:
Air Force Jet Wins Battle in Congress
LESLIE WAYNE
NYT, September 28, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/business/28plane.html

Posted at 06:18 AM in War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The only function of the Suspicious Looking device is to appear as suspicious as possible, whether carried in hand or placed indiscrimately in public places.

The SLD contains LEDs, a LED array, a character display, an optical distance sensor, capacitive touch sensor, buzzer, and motors.

Click here for a video of the Suspicious Looking Device.

via boingboing

Posted at 06:14 AM in Politics, War/Defense, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Disappointing legislation from a constitutional perspective:

Ben Sargent via Yahoo!

Posted at 06:12 AM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Beatles!

Posted at 07:26 AM in Music, The Beatles | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack