I'm watching Bill O'Reilly interview Michael Moore (?!) on Fox right now at the convention. The issue is whether President Bush "lied" to the American people when he claimed that Iraq had WMD, or whether he was merely "misinformed."

We won't get into all the reasons why this is such a gross over simplification of a very complex, multi-faceted issue -- instead, I will just cut right to the chase, and quote O'Reilly. He actually says to Moore:

"Its not a lie if you believe it."

As George would say, "Do you ever just get down on your knees and thank God that you know me and have access to my dementia?"

Posted at 08:56 PM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Great collection of Bob Hope quotes:

ON TURNING 70 "You still chase women, but only downhill."

ON TURNING 80 "That's the time of your life when even your birthday suit
needs pressing."

ON TURNING 90 "You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than
the cake."

ON TURNING 100 "I don't feel old. In fact I don't feel anything until
noon. Then it's time for my nap."

ON GIVING UP HIS EARLY CAREER, BOXING "I ruined my hands in the ring ...
the referee kept stepping on them."

ON GOLF "Golf is my profession. Show business is just to pay the green
fees."

ON PRESIDENTS "I have performed for 12 presidents and entertained only
six."

ON RECEIVING THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL "I feel very humble, but I think
I have the strength of character to fight it."

ON HIS FAMILY'S EARLY POVERTY "Four of us slept in the one bed. When it
got cold, mother threw on another brother."

ON HIS SIX BROTHERS "That's how I learned to dance. Waiting for the
bathroom."

ON HIS EARLY FAILURES "I would not have had anything to eat if it wasn't
for the stuff the audience threw at me."

-Bob Hope: May 29, 1903 - July 27, 2003

Source: Quotes of the Day,
([email protected]
subject=Subscribe_Quotes_of_the_Day)

Posted at 07:34 PM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pretty cool idea: A recent advance in light-emitting diodes may illuminate the path to replacing light bulbs with LEDs within the next five years, according to researchers. Fred Schubert, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y.), claims to have invented a 99-percent efficient reflector that promises to speed the replacement of light bulbs with LEDs:

"Until now, all lighting systems, especially incandescent bulbs, generated more heat than light. But our 99-percent efficient reflectors for LEDs makes them the first candidate for light-bulb replacement that generates more light than heat," said Schubert.

By tipping the scales towards more light than heat, Schubert said, there's also light at the end of the tunnel. He envisions white LEDs beginning to replace incandescent light bulbs within five years. Schubert has so far only demonstrated his omnidirectional reflector LEDs in red and blue, achieving more than twice the brightness of earlier LEDs. The next step is to demonstrate white LEDs for light- bulb replacement."

Source:
Bright idea: LEDs poised to replace light bulbs
R. Colin Johnson
EE Times, July 23, 2004 (1:00 PM EDT)
http://www.eetimes.com/at/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=25600144

Posted at 07:54 AM in Science | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Banned Music.org is a peer-to-peer collaboration that makes it impossible for the major record labels to ban or censor musical works. When record labels send legal threats to musicians, record stores, or websites, we will post the music here for download and publicize the censorship attempt. There is a clear fair use right to distribute this music, and for the public to decide whether current copyright law is serving musicians and the public, they need to be able to hear what's being suppressed.

via Trubble.com

Posted at 06:44 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The Truth About Cars is one of those terrific websites that have yet to be found by the mainstream press. Put out by a pair of freelance automotive journalists -- Robert Farago and Chris Paukert -- its heavy on reviews, and light on filler.

I particularly liked their recent review of the RX8:

"Imagine you’re zizzing along in third gear, waiting for an opportunity to put pedal to metal. The instant you floor it, the RX8’s tacho needle begins an Olympic sprint around the dial straight to - hold on, is that really 9000rpms? “Nine”, as in one before “ten”? After a few seconds spent listening to the binging rev limiter, you look down at the speedo and discover you’re doing over 80mph, with three more gears available for your dining and dancing pleasure. All of which offer identical levels of blender-smooth grunt and go.

Slot the flyweight gearbox into fourth, fifth or sixth. Guide the RX8 into a bend. Notice that the turn-in is quick, crisp and accurate. As you seek out the apex of the turn, the RX8’s perfectly-balanced chassis adjusts to your throttle and helm inputs both intimately and infinitely. You can change your attitude mid-corner without life-threatening repercussions."

Posted at 07:06 AM in Design | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Television Critics Association embraced my favorite new sitcom, Fox's low-rated social satire "Arrested Development," giving it the award for outstanding comedy and best new program.

I find the show hysterical, and I'm dumbfounded that so few people watch it -- the characters are amusing, the writing is brilliantly sharp

The show virtually owes its survival to the support of critics, who lobbied all season for its return and were rewarded when Fox announced it would bring the show back this fall in the post-"Simpsons" slot at 8:30 Sundays.

You should catch as many of the summer reruns as you can. They are brilliantly subversive.

Oh, and the TCA presented a real journalism award, to Jon Stewart and the Daily Show: "Only television critics, for instance, would have conferred this year's prize for outstanding news and information programming to Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" — vaulting it over rivals like PBS' "Frontline" and ABC's "Nightline."

It was a decision made on both merit and message. As my cross-town rival, Melanie McFarland of the Post-Intelligencer, said when presenting the award, at a time when the mainstream media seem cowed, Jon Stewart and company embody "a core of truth."

Source:
TV critics vote for merit, message
Kay McFadden / Times staff columnist
Seattle Times, July 21 2004
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2001983225_kay20.html

Posted at 10:07 PM in Television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

MP3 Aggregator . . . http://www.mp3blogs.org/

An aggregated feed of mp3 weblogs: updated every hour on the hour. Read online or via the RSS feed. Never miss a link to your new favourite tune again.

Posted at 11:52 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tom Toles always seems to capture the heart of the moment in politics just so:

via Yahoo!

Posted at 06:08 AM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Here's a fun game... First, look up the most popular and critically-acclaimed books, movies, and music on Amazon. Click on "Customer Reviews," and sort them by "Lowest Rating First." Hilarity ensues! It's the Amazon.com Knee-Jerk Contrarian Game!

Post your own favorites in the comments!

Here's a fun game... First, look up the most popular and critically-acclaimed books, movies, and music on Amazon. Click on "Customer Reviews," and sort them by "Lowest Rating First." Hilarity ensues! It's the Amazon.com Knee-Jerk Contrarian Game!

via Waxy

Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue" "This is one of the worst albums I've ever bought. It's so boring and lifeless. Good to fall asleep to." "its boredom,nostalgia and scarcely concealed contempt make it the perfect background music for this narcissistic age of ours." "I found Mr. Davis' playing to be laughable at best. Finally, it's irritating; and confusing that so many people laud it." Abbey Road I bought this album because I totally thought the guy on the right was Kate Hudson's husband. So I mean, I THOUGHT I was scoring some QUALITY stoner grooves or like, something kinda White Stripey.

Dude, was I wrong.

Like, are there ANY phat beats on this thing? Um, NO--I heard they don't tour at all--I bet they can't dance, 'cause not one of their boy band harmonies has a kickin' beat behind it, so what's the point?

And what's with the look? I mean, dude, hit a gymn already, and like, catch Queer Eye like even once, and get some product in your hair.

And those lyrics...they don't take it from the streets to the suburbs (props to Eminem) or the suburbs to the suburbs (shout out to tha Kid)--in fact THEY DON'T RAP AT ALL. I Want You (She's So Heavy)--I mean, sure we all want the hot girl, but do you have to make the other girl who's fat feel bad by telling her that? Too cold. And what's with Carry That Weight--is the guy going with the fat girl after all, or has he gotten fat himself? Confusing. Give Me "your body is a wonderland" any day.

Speaking of heavy, forget slammin' tracks--these guys are ENGLISH, so they don't hit it like like Korn or Limp Bizkit or Phantom Planet. And okay, yeah, Sun King was kind of cool to chill to, but it would be better if it lasted like, twenty minutes with the same downbeats going all the way through--you can't get halfway through your doobie before the song is like, over. And Polythene Pam right after? Freaked me out, man.

So, in summary, check out a real band like Incubus.

posted by par on July 2, 2004 12:20 AM

Posted at 05:09 AM in Books, Film, Humor, Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The photograph below was taken by the crew on board the Columbia during its last mission, on a cloudless day.

The picture is of Europe and Africa when the sun is setting. Half of the  picture is in night. The bright dots you see are the cities lights. The top part of Africa is the Sahara Desert. Note that the lights are  already on in Holland, Paris, and Barcelona, and that's it's still daylight in  Dublin, London, Lisbon, and Madrid.

The sun is still shining on the Strait of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean  Sea is already in darkness. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean you can see the  Azores Islands; below them to the right are the Madeira Islands; a bit below are  the Canary Islands; and further South, close to the farthest western point of  Africa, are the Cape Verde islands.

Note that the Sahara is huge and can be seen clearly both during Daytime  and night time.

To  the left, on top, is Greenland, totally frozen.

click for larger chart

Source: Graphic Humor & Inspiration ([email protected])

>

UPDATE: August 30, 2005 7:31am
Turns out this was not taken by the Columbia crew:

"The photograph included in this mailing predates the Columbia shuttle disaster by quite some time. As we found with the World Trade Center attacks of 2001, even the most nondescript of chain letters seems somewhat more "special" when associated with a national tragedy. Fortunately, this one appears to be a hopeful misattribution and not an intentionally misleading hoax (like another chain, supposedly including a series of photographs of the Columbia's destruction)."

Posted at 05:50 AM in Art & Design, Science | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack