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Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is just terrific. Joss Whedon and his cadre are brilliant. Thank you!

Watch Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. 42 minutes very well spent.

You know how on Stargate Atlantis they are always talking about using Naquadah generators when the ZPMs aren’t working?

Well, you can now buy Naquadah generators …. FOR REAL

It’s about $25 million for something about the size of a hot tub  that can provide a continous 25 megawatts (like 20,000 homes) for about 5 years with zero maintainence.

http://www.hyperionpowergeneration.com

Update, they changed their name to Gen 4 Energy

via Engadet

This is on my x-mas wish list.

(this used to be a Page on my blog but I’m demoted it to being just another entry in the Reading, Watching, Listening category of my blog.)

On any given day in the last 15 years, the song that has most often been floating through my head was one that I learned in an African music class. It’s a polyphonic Ewe Mbira song taught to me by professor David Locke in the Music Department at Tufts University. The song has floated around in my head so long probably because of it’s polyphonic nature… I can “sing”  it in my head or on an instrument but not out loud. I  would need 4 more sets of vocal cords. I can’t recall the name of it right now… something like “Threshing Wheat at the Mill” or…. grr. It’ll come to me.

Some songs I appreciate include…

• Stand by Me – The original version by Ben E. King
• Lean on Me – The original version by Bill Withers, not that st00pid jazzed up one by Club Nouveau
• Amazing Grace – Every version ever made. It’s such a standard song that -how- it is sung is what conveys itself.
• When the Saints Come Marching In – plays just like Amazing Grace.
• Red Hot and Blue – The whole album (except for 2 songs) makes me float on air.

Redbull had a soap box derby a couple weeks ago on Dolores in front of Dolores Park. I walked over with Rick.

It was fun :-)

That soap box car was a boat-thing. About 5 seconds after I snapped this image, the car bumped into a hay bale and the thing frickin SHATTERED into a milltion pieces. It was a wonder to behold!

Check it out!!!

Long Live NIMBY!

From the website

Introducing NIMBY 2.0

We are pleased to present the first images of NIMBY’s new home.   With over 30,000 square feet of indoor shop space and two outside yards totaling more than 33,000 square feet – we are very excited about our very large new building.   One yard will be primarily for off street parking while the other will be used as an open space and gallery. Our expected move in date is in early December.   We are signing a 10 year lease – so there will be no more moving anytime soon. The building is in great shape and already has a working and certified sprinkler system and a ton of power.   We could not have found a nicer land lord or a better location.

Watch this

Yes, the source material The Daily Show used from Fox News is real. Here is the original Fox News broadcast on Youtube:

(local archive)

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

It is a discussion with Fox News Chief Carl Cameron and Bill O’Reilly (Daily Show quotes begin at about 40 seconds)

It’s a bit insane that Bill O’Reilly would try to defend a Vice Presidential candidate that, to his knowledge, could not name all of the countries in North America. O’Reilly said (starting at 1:53 in the video) “You can tutor people and you can get people up to speed on the basics… here’s the government, here’s the exceptionalism that we’re talking about, here’s the world map…”  

Umm, he’s trying to defend a VP candidate that, to his knowledge, doesn’t know how many countries are in North America. I’m sorry, that’s just not defensible. It’s fine to challenge the veracity of the claim but, I’m sorry, if it’s true that she can’t name the countries are in North America (that would be, the US, Canada and Mexico), then she shouldn’t be defended. So why is he defending her in this situation? That’s the question.

Note that I’m critisizing a couple things here: First, that Palin isn’t qualified (which might not be the case, the claims of her lack of knowledge isn’t entirely proven). Second, that O’Reilly would use the defense that he did, saying that it’s OK if she didn’t have the knowledge. And then of course there’s the whole media cover-up which was humorously hightlighted by the Daily Show.

Jon Stewart, “Why are we just hearing about this now?”

Fox News Chief Carl Cameron,  “Well, I wish I could have told you back at the time  but all of it was put off the record until after the election.”

Yipe. That’s not very Fair or Balanced.

Update 11-14-08: Some/most/all? of the digging of Palin are unfounded. The leaks about Palin not knowing about Africa and possibly other items were faked by a person going by the name of  Martin Eisenstadt. Google for him and his issues. My commentary about O’Reilly and Fox News stand firm.

I know that in high school and through my early 20s I held my stress in my throat. When I’d get stressed, when I had to do something nerve-wracking, My vocal cords and neck would get tight. My voice would get tired quickly under stressful conditions (like public speaking, pthaw).

Later, I recall holding quite a bit of my stress in my shoulders. Right in the spot between my shoulder blades would tighten.

This week I had some stress and it manifested in mid-back pain. About 8 inches below the spot between my shoulder blades. A very sharp nerve pain between two vertebra. I sat down to put my shoes on, slipped my right shoe partially on, crossed my right leg over my left, put my left index finger in the heal of my right shoe to slip the heal in and when I applied a little pulling force, that spot between my vertebra screamed. It was like the (very slight) sheering force was going to tear me apart.

I sat upright and held there for a minute, staring at my shoes, wondering how the hell I was going to get them on. Joy.

I resolved to gently work through the pain. The shoes went on and I went out.

Crism was on the left coast for business. I played Agricola with him, Riley, Sean, Josh. It’s a good game.

Saw Soylent Green today:  Soylent Green audio clip 1,  Soylent Green Audio Clip 2. Good movie.

I caught Hancock a couple weeks ago. Quite enjoyable. :-)

Iron Man is a really good Blockbuster. Witty, tight, fun. :-)

I watched the opening ceremonies of the Bejing Olympics. Wow, wow, wow and wow. Did I mention “wow”? It scares me in much the same way that the Blue Angels do during Fleet Week.

Oh, and a while back I caught Silent Running. It’s a movie that I don’t think stands the test of time. It’s got this odd flower-child bent to it.

My folks got me one of these when I was a kid. It was wonderful. The Walgreens down the street is selling this, the original Popeil Pocket Fisherman.

Ron Popeil, you are in my pantheon.

I heard this podcast the other day. It was a famous movie producer. He laid down this amazing piece of story telling wisdom in the middle of the interview. I wish I could recall the speakers in he interview. I recall that the producer had made movies of the ilk of Indiana Jones, though it’s not Steven Spielberg being interviewed.

Interviewer asking: So it’s all about, I mean for the audience you’re suggesting it’s this hunger to know what’s going on and why it’s happened.

Producer: No. It’s a hunger, that’s a very good word, to know what’s going to happen next. So we ask what’s going on in order to… that’s the only reason what’s going on. What we’re saying is in effect, “What am I rooting for?” That’s all we ever want to know.