Hootworthy
jfiore | May 18, 2009What do you expect when you pick up an autobiography of a rock musician? Sex? Drugs? Rock-n-roll exploits with a chainsaw and a gallon of baby oil at the Ramada? Scandalous stories of band-mates and sundry hangers-on? You get virtually none of that in Bill Bruford The Autobiography. It's much better. Insightful, entertaining, and well-written, Bruford gives the reader a unique view into his 40 year career as a drummer to see just how he got to where he is and precisely how this business works (or doesn't, as the case may be). You don't have to be a follower of his music or even a drummer to…
bushwells | February 15, 2009Nabbed via digg, check out this clip of NdGT's wonderfully acerbic commentary on the Day of Doooooooom! That is to say, December 21, 2012.
bushwells | December 27, 2008Correspondent SDC, reporting in from the Land o' Hoosiers, offers an awe-inspiring account of a recent visit to the famous Creation Museum, located "just seven miles west of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport."
A teaser follows. The rest of the article (including photos), copiously dusted with SDC's dry sardonic humor, may be found here: Elitist Liberals Visit The Creation Museum.
I am not particularly unusual in wanting to be there when history is unfolding. Last month I was excited about playing a tiny, tiny role in Obama's victory over John McCain. A few weeks ago, I…
bushwells | December 24, 2008I am so pleased to see that Adam Kay's masterwork has made it to the big time: YouTube.
Happy holidays, bonobos!
(Pharma-phunnies, some medically graphic, contained therein.)
jfiore | July 31, 2008Time for a gear shift on the Refuge. Handy-dandy tip number 105: "How to keep ants out of your hummingbird feeders". I can't say that I blame the ants for swarming over the feeders. After all, who doesn't love a little sucrose in solution with water? Heck, as my brother, an avid cyclist at one time, used to say "I never met a carbohydrate I didn't like."
Anyway, no matter how careful I am about not spilling nectar, the local ants always seem to find the feeders. I don't know if they bother the hummers (mostly ruby throated where we live), but as the feeders are hanging off of our decks, I'm…
jfiore | July 21, 2008If you haven't been following the Al Franken/Norm Coleman race for US Senate, do yourself a favor and check out some of Al's ads here. I really enjoy their style: direct, informative, and with a twist of humor. Having read several of Al's books, I think he would make a great senator.
jfiore | June 17, 2008The Freedom From Religion Foundation will hold its 31st annual convention in Chicago, October 10-12. Speakers include journalist Eleanor Clift and Daniel Dennett. Clift has been a contributing editor at Newsweek for a number of years and appears regularly on some of the "political pundits" shows. Professor Dennett is well known for his books, including Breaking the Spell and Darwin's Dangerous Idea. He will receive the Foundation's Emperor Has No Clothes Award.
Check out the FFRF website and be sure to take their Bible quiz. It's an absolute hoot!
bushwells | June 13, 2008Speaking of procrastination, from LOLtheorists:
See more funny videos at CollegeHumor
bushwells | April 18, 2008Finally! A prescription medication tailor-made for me!
From the makers of Damitol and Fukitol, here is...
bushwells | April 17, 2008Lewis Black is my favorite comedian these days, and as such, he has drawn me into the accretion disk of his latest offering on the Comedy Channel: Root of All Evil. My response to its premier was tepid, but as I have kept watching it, the show has grown on me. The format has Black as hilariously dyspeptic judge presiding over a faux trial in which a pair of comedians from Comedy Central's stable argue for the inherent evil of a pair of the unholy. For example, who is more evil: Paris Hilton or Dick Cheney?
Last night's episode asked which is more evil: High School or "American Idol?"…
jfiore | April 4, 2008How does a 7000 pound, 35 foot diameter chandelier using high-brightness LEDs sound to you? Well that's what was installed the other day at the Stanley Theatre in Utica, NY. The manufacturer, Meyda Tiffany based in nearby Yorkville, claims that it is the world's largest LED chandelier. Here are details from the local newspaper and from an industry magazine.
The Stanley is one of those grand old movie houses from the 1920s, in an opulent style called "Mexican Baroque". It's one of the jewels of Central New York. I love going to the place and just looking around. Recently it has undergone a…
bushwells | January 30, 2008From Lumosity Brain Games:
Are you as smart as a chimp?
Ayumu is a 7-year-old chimpanzee... Can you beat Ayumu in this memory test?
Inoue and Matsuzawa from Kyoto University used the 'limited-hold memory task' to show that their chimps can out-perform college students. Watch Ayumu, then take the test... to see if your memory is as good as a chimp's!
The chimp handed me my ass in this test.
bushwells | January 17, 2008Luskin's latest "overrun" by angry "dinosaurs."*
* Refresh (within the link) by clicking "Go" in top menu bar. Select the web site of your choice for mayhem and destruction here.
ETA: This comes with sound effects! Be sure to turn on the volume your computer's speakers. Up to 11.
jfiore | January 16, 2008Check out Al Franken's ads for his Senate bid. It would be nice to have an intelligent, thoughtful (and humorous) voice in Washington. If he lived in New York State I'd vote for him.
jfiore | January 14, 2008Here's a lovely new item from Pat Condell entitled "Hook, Line and Rapture":
My favorite bit involves Pat talking to God in a dream about a bible: "I said 'What bible? That's just a blank sheet of paper.' and he said 'Yeah, this is the non-fiction version'".
jfiore | December 24, 2007Richard Dawkins is heading to the US heartland for a series of speaking engagements:
He is to address a series of 2,000-seater venues in the American heartlands. The tour will coincide with the publication of his best-seller The God Delusion in paperback in the US in January and act as a prelude to a series of global events to mark the bicentenary of Charles Darwin in 2009.
I wish he'd take a detour to central New York, but it's good to see him walk straight into the belly of the beast.
Thanks to hopper3011 for the heads-up!
jfiore | December 22, 2007Given the arrival of winter solstice, you might be interested in this. It graphs sunrise, sunset, length of day, angle of sun, and other items given your location. And although most people may be aware that winter solstice is the day with the shortest daylight of the year, I'd guess that not many are also aware that it is not the day with either the latest sunrise nor earliest sunset.
And finally, to help celebrate the holiday, I am reminded of an old school-yard Christmas tune (feel free to finish the verse your own merry way):
Chester's nuts roasting on an open fire,
Jackie's nipple on your…
jfiore | December 16, 2007Arthur C. Clarke is 90 today. He has three wishes:
Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke listed three wishes on his 90th birthday Sunday: for the world to embrace cleaner energy resources, for a lasting peace in his adopted home, Sri Lanka, and for evidence of extraterrestrial beings.
Like many of my generation I first became familiar with his works via his collaboration with Stanley Kubrick on the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It remains one of my favorite movies (and books). ACC shares this birthday with Ludwig van Beethoven, who also shared a collaboration of sorts with Kubrick via A…
jfiore | December 4, 2007A new Pat Condell video regarding the "inappropriately named teddy bear" fiasco in the Sudan. As usual, it's vintage Condell:
jfiore | December 4, 2007Pat Condell answers some critics in the atheist community regarding so-called "hard line" atheist arguments to believers in the supernatural. It's six and a half minutes well spent: