Get 'em while they're hot.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:14 AM | Comments (54)
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Already? Are you sure?

Can I get an extension?

Posted by: LauraW at 05:59 AM | Comments (59)
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Hey hey it's Sunday. So let's make the weekend count for something.

The Making of Jive Talk From Airplane!
Here the writers and director of Airplane!, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker (known as ZAZ), and the two actors tell how the famous scene of the men speaking 'Jive' came to be. And the jive subtitles are a nice touch.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:30 PM | Comments (941)
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Grabbing headlines on a slow-news weekend is Stephen Hawking's Discovery Channel series in which he repeats the Sagan view on the likelihood for extraterrestrial life:

HawkingÂ’s logic on aliens is, for him, unusually simple. The universe, he points out, has 100 billion galaxies, each containing hundreds of millions of stars. In such a big place, Earth is unlikely to be the only planet where life has evolved.

“To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational,” he said. “The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like.”

The answer, he suggests, is that most of it will be the equivalent of microbes or simple animals — the sort of life that has dominated Earth for most of its history.

He's far from the first to come to that conclusion. Scientists have long been conjecturing that extraterrestrial microbes are present in our own solar system. For the past decade, scientists have been trying to prove that meteorites that originated on Mars contain evidence of such life.

However, he also thinks that some extraterrestrial life may develop to intelligence that can travel between stars. His advice on that issue is, well, alarmist:

Hawking believes that contact with such a species could be devastating for humanity.

He suggests that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and then move on: “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”

He concludes that trying to make contact with alien races is “a little too risky”. He said: “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

Well, it's definitely not my area of expertise, but his discussion seems contradictory. He goes from saying that there are likely billions of planets out there (read "resources"), but that aliens might target Earth because planetary resources are scarce.

I'm not buying that. Any species that has viable interplanetary travel isn't going to need any specific resource that's found only on Earth or that can only be made from elements found only on Earth (ain't no such thing).

No, the real danger from contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life is cultural. Finding out your kind is a late-developing and not very advanced one-of-many tends to derail your development.

Hawking's comparison to the "Big Oops" when Columbus ran into America and called it India is apt. Culturally, the societies of the Early American Immigrants (as I like to call them) ended up stressed until they broke, even aside from the things that came with colonization of the Americas. The introduction of new ways of thinking and, especially, new technologies irrevocably altered the culture and would have destroyed what existed in the Americas regardless of whether colonization occurred. In short, what we should worry about is the introduction of alien thought...

Except not. Because there ain't no aliens coming to visit. Even if you buy into the idea that extraterrestrial intelligences exist or will exist and that extrasolar travel is feasible at some level of development, the distances between stars are so incomprehensibly vast that interplanetary species aren't likely to come across each other within the lifetime of their species. The same "numbers alone" that Hawking hawks to infer the existence of life out there work against him when considering the possibility that some of that life will ever be in a position to make contact.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 12:27 PM | Comments (956)
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Just a quick roundup of what our putative representatives in the legislative branch are up to.

First, GOP Senator Lindsey Graham has withdrawn his support from the Democratic global warming bill. No, he didn't recant his unscientific alarmist stance, nor did he take a principled position that carbon taxes are bad for businesses and children and other living things. He just threw a tanty because Democrats are vowing to push the comprehensive immigration piece of shit first. Senate Democrats have cancelled the global warming bill rollout tomorrow.

Second, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News Sunday that he and 40 of his best pals will prevent the Democratic permanent bailout bill from reaching a floor vote on Monday. Senator Chris Dodd (how in the world is this fellow the guy Dems tapped to push bank reform?!?) says they don't have any GOP votes...yet.

Third, GOP Senator Saxby Chambliss, told CNN's "State of the Union" this morning that Dick Cheney's advice to Charlie Crist to either stick with the GOP or drop out of the race was "not helpful" to Republicans. "You jump on one side or the other in these races and that's probably what happened," he said. "It's certainly stepped up the rhetoric." I guess Chambliss was uncomfortable with Cheney pushing the Republican side of this race. Chambliss has fundraised for Crist in the past.

Fourth, Democrats will unveil this week a response to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which upheld the right of individuals working in groups (aka "corporations") to make political speech. The Democratic bill, described here, is blatantly unconstitutional in its speech restrictions.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:37 AM | Comments (170)
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So, I see that Dave in Texas put up a post last night talking about Time Magazine's attempt to link the Republican Governors Association's "Remember November" ad to 17th Century British terrorist Guy Fawlkes.

Well, at least that's what I gathered it was about from the comments. Truth is, once I saw that it was written by "Dave in Texas", I just assumed that it was a "Grandpa Simpson-esque" rambling first-hand account of the plot to blow up parliament by a guy who was there to witness it. So I didn't read it. At least Ken Burns includes pictures in his boring stories. Did I mention Dave was really, really old?

But, if that was indeed the theme of Time's story as recounted by Dave in Texas, I would like to ask Time Magazine a question.

Which reactionary, tea-bagging member of the Rethuglican reich-wing has the following wikipedia entry describing their song "Remember"?

The song was influenced by -------- primal therapy sessions with Dr. Arthur Janov, and the lyrics reflect things typically remembered in therapy. The memories described are unpleasant ones, of conflict with family, authority and peers. -------- employs his wit, mentioning how "the hero was never hung, always got away", and parents "wishin' for movie stardom, always playin' a part," instead of being honest and open.

At the end of the song, --------- sings an excerpt from the poem Remember, Remember, The Fifth of November, then an explosion is heard. This is a reference to Guy Fawkes Night, a holiday in Britain celebrated with fireworks. In an interview with Jann Wenner, -------- said this was part of a lengthy ad-lib and that he later decided this line ought to be the culmination of the song.[1].

Writing a song that explicitly invokes the memory of Guy Fawkes to advocate for the violent destruction of the source of unpleasant memories?

It was probably one of those red-neck, sons-bitches like Toby Keith or Lee "God Bless the USA" Greenwood, wasn't it? Or maybe Taylor Swift. She seems like she's too "clean-cut" and "wholesome" to be real. She's the last person you would suspect of being in a militia, which means, of course, that she probably is.

Answer after the jump. more...

Posted by: Jack M. at 05:53 AM | Comments (192)
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Welcome all M&M-types to an ONT of memory, hate, and shoes.

Remembering Operation Eagle Claw and President FAIL

Today is the 30th anniversary of Operation Eagle Claw, the US military operation on April 24-25, 1980 that attempted to rescue the 52 American hostages being held by Iran. It was an audacious plan to land helicopters and C-130s at a staging area in Iran then launch a raid on the US embassy in Tehran to extract the hostages and then return and fly them out on the planes.

Unfortunately when only 5 helicopters made it to the staging area, which was the minimum deemed necessary to complete the mission, President Carter ordered the mission aborted. As the forces were flying out a helicopter and a C-130 collided and 8 service men were killed in the explosion. So after this debacle the Iranians moved the hostages and held them until the day Ronald Reagan took office. While sand and bad luck played their part, I've always blamed Carter personally for whittling down the rescue forces until the margin for error was nil. Which according to reports was due to his fear that a larger force might 'antagonize' the Iranians.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:09 PM | Comments (736)
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Much has been made (idiotically) regarding Time magazine, the 2007 publication you can read in your doctor's waiting room, associating the recent cool ad from the Republican Governors Association, the meme "Remember November" (from the Fantastiks), and a 17th century anti-British government failed Big Ben Bomber named Guy Fawkes.

I say 17th century as a guess, because it happened around 1605, and for reasons I'm still fuzzy about, you're supposed to add a century for the th.

This is about as lame as you could imagine something from Time could be. And "lamest Time" thing is a pretty high bar.

more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 03:33 PM | Comments (221)
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So our workaholic, nose to the grindstone, "all work and no play makes Barack a dull boy" President and his extremely elegant, petite and graceful wife did something unusual this weekend: they stayed in and enjoyed a quiet night to themselves.

ON BIZARRO EARTH!

On ours, however, the President took time off from improving his short game to travel down to Asheville, NC with Michael Dorn Michelle for yet another much ballyhooed "date night".

Now, normally I wouldn't be too much interested in the comings and goings of our First Couple. As long as I know they are nowhere near me, what with their entourage of traffic congesting Secret Service vehicles and the like, I'm O.K.

But I have been to Asheville on a number of occasions, and I was curious as to which restaurant they would visit. After all, while Barack Obama may look like a guy who gets by on the Asheville hippy standard menu of wheat-germ and cocaine organically grown, Fair Trade coffee, Michelle looks as though she requires, shall we say, a tad bit more substantive fare.

Fortunately, the New York Post was there to record the important meal for posterity. Here, then, is what the Obamas ordered.

The meal included BBQ ribs, greens, baked beans, corn pudding, mac & cheese and corn bread, guzzled back with icy cold sweet teas.

Now I could ask some relevant questions here. For example, how much salt do you think was in this meal? Isn't Michelle Obama supposed to be leading some kind of "war on obesity"? How many calories do you think were consumed here? Why did they even go to 12 Bones restaurant when that restaurant's menu doesn't include any nutritional information as required by the President's own health care law? How much sugar was in the sweet teas? Doesn't sugar contribute to diabetes which is an affliction that drives up health care costs? How many did they drink? Did they use artificial sweetener? What kind? How much did they use and was it a product that "scientific studies" have indicated raise the risk of cancer?

Like I say, I could ask these questions. But I'm a conservative, and, frankly I don't give a damn about what other people eat. The Obamas, though, seem to think that I should. Or, rather, that federal regulators should. And that I should face some sort of consequence from deviating from their imposed vision of a healthy diet.

Which, frankly, seems to be an instance of "doctor, heal thyself", really.

Who knows? Maybe Pres. Obama doesn't understand what folks mean when they rightly call the VAT a "consumption tax" and he just wants to gorge now while it remains "cost-effective" to do so. I could believe that.

In any event, it was nice of 12 Bones to go to the trouble of naming one of their sandwiches after the First Lady. They didn't have to do that, you know.

Posted by: Jack M. at 01:41 PM | Comments (280)
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The campaign to topple Boxer and take the governor's mansion has a rough road ahead. The Democratic advantage in party registration—14 percent—is the largest it's been in at least twenty years.

Fortunately (?) the number of individuals who "decline to state" is also up:

The number of Republicans fell from 34.6 percent of California's electorate during the last gubernatorial primary four years ago to 30.8 percent in April. The latest number also is slightly lower than Republican registration during the 2008 presidential election.

Democratic registration increased from 42.7 percent of voters in 2006 to 44.6 percent in April. It was up slightly from Democratic registration in 2008.

The report issued by by Secretary of State Debra Bowen said voters who decline to state a party preference account for 20.1 percent of the 16.9 million Californians who are registered, a record. It's up slightly from 19.9 percent in 2008.

May 24 is the last day to register for the June 8 primary.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:45 AM | Comments (351)
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