interesting historical tidbit of the day

Schräge Musik

for English majors

Try this if your degree just isn't working out for you.

sly lit

If you'd rather be reading at work than working, try this site.

sneezing trees

I can't wait for my son to start asking me "why" questions. I'm probably going to give him a few answers like Calvin's dad did.

Burn After Reading

The new Cohen brothers film looks fun.

old school

Another impossibly large photo to keep your hard drive healthy. This one's of Montgomery, date unknown taken in 1916. (Thanks guys)

UPDATE: I got the photos here. Just do a 'Montgomery' search.

shatterer of worlds

A picture from Opération Canopus, France’s first two-stage thermonuclear test conducted on August 24, 1968 at Fangataufa atoll. I've seen this a hundred times but these high resolution shots are fascinating.

insert bad dog pun here

Apparently Ohio Northern University, where I attended law school, has recently awarded a dog a bachelor's of science degree in canine companionship.

Mary Pat's reaction: "They're gonna disbar us."

opulence

One wine connoisseur wondered just what makes the '47 Cheval Blanc one of the finest wines in the world. He found out:

The impeccable storage undoubtedly explains why the '47 Cheval I drank that night now ranks as the greatest wine of my life, a title I doubt it will relinquish. The moment I lifted the glass to my nose and took in that sweet, spicy, arresting perfume, my notion of excellence in wine, and my understanding of what wine was capable of, was instantly transformed—I could almost hear the scales recalibrating in my head. The '47 was the warmest, richest, most decadent wine I'd ever encountered. Even more striking than its opulence was its freshness. The flavors were redolent of stewed fruits and dead flowers, yet the wine tasted alive; it bristled with energy and purpose. The '47s signature flaws—the residual sugar and volatile acidity—were readily apparent, but it was just as Lurton had said: In this wine, the flaws inexplicably became virtues. The analogy that sprang to mind wasn't port; it was Forrest Gump. This was the Forrest Gump of wines—clearly defective, completely charmed. I realized that it was silly even to try to place the '47 in the context of other wines; it defied comparison, a point underscored when I tasted another legend, the 1945 Château Latour, later that night (yeah, it was a nice evening). The Latour was stunning—probably the second-best wine I've ever had—but it at least fell within my frame of reference: It was a classically proportioned Bordeaux that just happened to be achingly good. The '47 Cheval, by contrast, was an otherworldly wine—a claret from another planet. And it was amazing.

those pesky women

The Vatican once again proves its inability to cope with the modern world.

chair of the day

from here.

put your orders in now

Apparently Volkswagen is developing a protoype car due out in 2010 that gets 235 mpg.

word of the day

"Staycation"

think your gas is high?

It's all relative.

'breathtaking inanity'

According to a recent study conducted by the National Science Foundation, one in eight U.S. high school biology teachers presents creationism or intelligent design in a positive light in the classroom, despite a federal court's recent ban against it.

back in the day

Lovely old photos of New York City.

quote of the day

"God put me on this earth to raise hell."

- Richard Burton

flashy

Spectra is one of the coolest news aggregator/reader things I've seen.

temple of doom

Interesting article on Otto Rahn, the Nazi archaeologist who inspired the real Indiana Jones.

quote of the day

"The density of the cloud can make no difference in the right to have it removed."

Whitney v. Port Huron, 50 N. W. 316, 317

Alabama's Gourmet Beer bill has been ignored again

Last year the Gourmet Beer Bill was given the "Shroud Award" for the "deadest bill of the session".

This year members and supporters of Free the Hops rallied around magnificently and carried out a sustained effort of education on the issues, such that every single legislator in the Alabama Legislature heard about Gourmet Beer and knew what the real issues were.

We were failed by the Senate. They spent the entire session in petty bickering, being too busy scoring political points to do the job we pay them to do. An entire legislative session squandered in point-scoring instead of dealing with the very grave legislative issues that were before them.

The senate didn't deal with the education budget. They didn't deal with removing the 4% grocery tax. They didn't deal with the smoking ban. They didn't deal with a bill to prevent large corporations avoiding paying Alabama taxes. They didn't deal with a bill to exempt the Federal Stimulus Check from Alabama taxation.

It is time for you, the people of Alabama, to feel outraged at this. The senators behaved in a way that brings shame on the state, and they need to learn that their actions have consequences on their own political careers.

Let me be blunt here: the issue is not that the senators failed to deal with Gourmet Beer. The issue is that they failed you, the people of Alabama - and that failure needs to be punished.

Call, email, or write your senator. Tell them how you feel about their dismal failure to achieve anything this year. Tell them how you feel about their poor representation of you on the national political field. Tell them how you feel about them confirming everyone's prejudices about our great state.

Tell them you will remember that all they achieved in 2007 was to vote themselves a huge pay rise.

Above all, tell them that in 2010 you will remember their failures in 2007 and 2008. And that voluntary failure is not acceptable.

Find your senator: http://capwiz.com/state-al/dbq/zs.dbq

Stuart Carter, President, Free the Hops | Alabamians for Specialty Beer

hahahah

San Diego Zoo, Prison Merge

SAN DIEGO—Plagued by a lack of funding and growing staff shortages, the San Diego Zoo and Ironwood State Prison were combined earlier this week, bringing local inmates and wildlife together for the first time under the same roof.

The new state-of-the-art facility—which will house 12 separate cell blocks, a reptile house, two weight rooms, and a primate sanctuary—is expected to save the state of California up to $5 million in operation costs over the next year.

hyperreal

This is the new CGI. Apparently it involves lots of destruction.

hypnotic

A water balloon at 1000 feet per second.

READS NEWSPAPER AT THE TABLE

How do you rate on the Marital Rating Scale?

triple style word

Must have these.

full service

just does not understand

No, no, no.

DUDE, YOU DRIVE A CAR THAT GETS 14-16 MPG. Correlation?

go Delta go

Delta to install revolutionary Cozy Suite seats in economy class, tourists rejoice.

wiley

Are you a coyote starving in the desert with no food around except a very fast roadrunner? Call ACME Products for a full color catalog.