Donder is Pissed

In the original Clement Clarke Moore tale Twas the Night before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas we have the following:

Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

The name was (and is) Donder ... not Donner. Just thought I'd clarify that. In case, you know, you were worried about it or anything. So in the Rudolph Christmas special, that would make Rudolph's dad being Donder. Not Donner. You know, in case you were worried. Next we'll discuss the deplorable living conditions of the reindeer, living in bleak unfurnished caves.

Geek Times Infinity

Found this on Gizmodo. It puts into perspective the awesome achievements of mankind:

Click the image to see some really cool details.

Don't Worry, I'll Grow More

Being the son of a man who had a heart transplant (and a bad ticker since his 40s - I'm now 45), I've been hoping for some medical breakthrough to make bypass surgery and, you know, stuff related to the heart ... um ... well ... easier. More reliable. Less intrusive. And all that jazz. At least five years ago I read reports about a patch of your own tissue, grown in a lab, that could be slapped onto the side of your heart where your arteries are clogged and it would start growing blood vessels and create your own bypass. No taking veins from your legs and making them act as arteries for your heart. Well, over five years later, I haven't heard anything new about that procedure. In fact, I don't hear anything at all about it anymore. Instead, doctors are using balloons to enlarge clogged arteries and placing stents in there and still doing "old-fashioned" bypasses.

But now I'm hoping the trachea has just opened the door for, not only the heart, but all kinds of "regenerative" surgery for one's body. In case you haven't heard about it, click here to read a CNN article about it. They used her own stem cells to grow a windpipe for her and then transplant it into her body. Now I'm not expecting them to grow new organs, but why couldn't they grow your own blood vessels for grafting onto your heart? I sure don't know, I ain't the science guy, but I would think it's getting closer to reality. And if they're just trying to graft a section of your own lab-grown tissue, could it not be attached non-surgically? Instead of stitching it into place, you "glue" it over the clogged arteries and wait for it to start attaching blood vessels to your heart. Maybe that could mean some type of arthroscopic heart surgery instead of the full-blown open-heart surgery.

And maybe monkeys'll fly out of my butt. Though, honestly, I'm guessing new heart procedures are much closer to reality than anus monkeys.

Thank You Very Much

Well, I guess we should thank them. These three men helped usher in the new Democrats. Without them, Dems wouldn't be running all three [sorry, just two - executive and legislative] branches of government (well, as of January 20, 2009). So thanks, fellas.


I'm still undecided, however, how to characterize them. Are they evil or just incredibly stupid? Or both. And I'm being serious. I would love to know if they were going about the destruction of the country (and parts of the world) thinking they were doing the right thing, but were simply too stupid. Or did they set out to help their friends (corporation, oil, etc.) and they just didn't care what the hell happened to the country or the world? I lean towards thinking that Iraq was all a ploy to drive up the price of oil to give Bush's oil buddies one last hurrah. Even these numbnuts know that oil is on a downward slide. Alternatives must (and certainly will) be found (I hope). So Bush did everything he could to make sure his buddies got their golden parachutes before the world heads away from an oil economy.

Now we have the Democrat Triumvirate [nope, no triumvirate, as noted earlier]. I honestly feel immensely relieved. But I'm also scared. Yes, Dems govern better than Republicans, but when you're the sole power, it's so easy to get full of yourselves. So to Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi, all I have to say is: Don't be jackasses. Do the right thing. Remember that the MAJORITY of this country is in the middle. We have the right-wing nuts and the left-wing wackos, but most of us are stuck in the middle. Don't be too liberal, or the House will be back in Republican hands by 2010 or 2012. As with most things in life, moderation is a good thing. Yes, we'll need bold immoderate leadership in the beginning to get us out of this hell that Bush put us in. But please, please, please remember where most of us live ... in the middle.

A New Hope

Man, I haven't felt this much pride in my state

or my country in a long time. It doesn't wash away the Bush years, unfortunately, but it is a time of hope and relief.

The Early Worm

UPDATED November 4, 2008 - HAPPY ELECTION DAY

As of yesterday, November 3, here are the stats for early voters in Colorado:

Percentage of registered voters sent mail-in (absentee) ballots: 62% (wow)
In-person ballots cast: 365,215
Mail-in (absentee) ballots cast: 1,339,065 (82% have been cast)

That's 64.6% of registered voters.

Click here to go there.

A Water, "Whoa, dude."

Just watch this.

There's Batusi Flyin' All Over the Place

For whatever reason (and, really, who needs a reason?), Ty Buttars got some artist pals together to do their rendition of the Batusi. Here's the original:

And here's one of the new ones, featuring the ever-lovin' blue-eyed ...

Click to see the rest

This is a watercolor done by Evan (Doc) Shaner. Click here to see other stuff he's done.

I've Been Processed!

Well, Jefferson County has acknowledged my mail-in ballot, telling me it was received and processed on October 15. I can finally sleep at night.

And we just had a big rain and thunderstorm, which is pretty rare for this late into October (the thunder part).

Absenteeism at its Finest

Gotta love the absentee ballot. No, really, you gotta! Okay, well, I love it. My wife, step-daughter, and myself voted two days ago. I even got to wear the little "I Voted" sticker (nice touch voter people!).

Now don't get me wrong, without the absentee ballot I still would have voted, trundling on down to my polling place and casting my vote in person. But it's nice having this option. The last time I showed up in person was when my polling place switched to computerized voting four years ago (or so). Had to try it out. But my voting of choice has been the mail-in ballot, which I've used for many years now.

And now you can check online to see if they received it. Well, you can if you live in Jefferson County, Colorado. Shall we check? Okay, let's see, you click on this link right here: www.votejeffco.com. All right, now let's see. It's not really clear what you click on next. Ah, the big link at the top of the page that says: Look up my Voter Registration (woulda thought that meant your registration, not your ballot, but under it you'll see it says you can track your ballot).

Click (ain't this exciting?!).

Okay, enter my birthday (shhh, no telling) and my address number and click Search. Waiting a long time and ... hey, it's my voter information (though my name is not listed, which is probably a good thing). Shows that my voting status is Active and that I'm a Democrat (huh, who'da thought?) and ... that they have not received and processed my ballot yet. Ack.

Well, hang in there kids, we'll see what they have to say tomorrow (or maybe later today).

Stupid anti-climaxes.

John McPenguin

Uh, this is just too scary (if you want to cut to the punchline, just watch the second one):

You Betcha

Fargo, North Alaska:

It Ends Here - Let's Hope Metaphorically

The end of the world never looked so cool. This is an inside view of the Large Hadron Collider.

Some think there's a possibility that when fully functional (sometime next year) and they (the science guys, that's their official title) start pissing off protons by throwing them at each other at ridiculously high speeds (99.999999% the speed of light) that the LHC could, well, create a blackhole right here on Earth, pretty much destroying us all. But you gotta admit, the picture is way cool. Note the man at the bottom. This thing is friggin' huge!

They're Identical Cousins Attached at the Spine

Jon, take it away:

Really?!

Some stuff I didn't know about Sarah Palin that scares me:

• Palin recently said that the war in Iraq is "God's task."
• Palin wants to teach creationism in public schools.
• Palin doesn't believe that humans contribute to global warming.
• Palin is extremely anti-choice (actually, I already knew this)
• Palin opposes comprehensive sex-ed in public schools.
• As mayor, Palin tried to ban books from the library (and get the librarian fired when she didn't cooperate).

My wife had this on her blog. It's pretty darn funny.

Sunday Ritual

The missus and I started a Sunday ritual about six weeks ago (Note: there're hardly any human and/or animal sacrifices). This was Shannon's brainchild and has turned into a cool Sunday morning thing to do. There's this shopping area near us called Belmar and every Sunday during the summer they have a farmers' market. Here we see the farmers setting up with tents and prepping for the day.

So we started getting there early, when the coffee shop first opens.

We grab a table and order coffee or chai and I usually get a chocolate chip muffin (imagine that).

The coffee shop, called The Press Coffee Company, is Colorado-owned. And according to the wife, it's the only other coffee shop she's found with chai as good as Starbucks.

We spend roughly two hours here, writing or people watching or maybe just surfing the 'net with their free WiFi. Then we wander the market and usually pick up some fresh produce. Lovin' it, man.

Oh Please, Girlfriend

I know women like to lie about age and weight and all that, but this is ridiculous. Let’s say the average length of a car is 20 feet. That makes her at least 120 feet tall. Come on, that’s not even in the same zip code as 50 feet. I’m sure she’s self-conscious about her height, but at least be realistic with your lies. If she had said she was 100 feet tall, I could accept that and look the other way. But when you’re off by 70 feet I’m going to have to call you out on it.

And think about the poor military. They're thinking they’re only dealing with a 50-foot woman. They’re probably rounding up a couple of tanks and only a few pounds of chocolate. But when this gigantically tall and hot chick comes around the corner they’re going to be woefully unprepared.

Her lying only hurts herself. It's sad, really.

Here's Looking at You, Kid

Saw the last part of Casablanca last night. One of the perfect movies. The stories surrounding it are just as interesting as the movie itself. We think we know that Ronald Reagan was up for the role of Rick, but according to some sources, he was not and that was merely a publicity stunt at the time to keep Ronnie's name in the press. They (the movie-maker people) didn't know until very near the end of shooting whether Ilsa would stay with Rick or leave with Laszlo. The very last line was thought up by the producer after filming was complete and was dubbed by Bogart later on.

It's one of the most quoted films of all time, with such gems as:

Here's looking at you, kid.

Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship [this is the line dubbed by Bogart].

Ilsa, I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.

Well there are certain sections of New York, Major , that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade. [Rick is talking to the German Major after the Major talks about invading the U.S.]

Darwyn's Origin of the Shiznit

Darwyn Cooke is one of my favorite comic book artists (and authors) working in the industry today. His style is simplistically complex. It's like going back to the comics you loved as a kid and actually being able to recapture that magic and awe. He creates comics for grownups that a kid can read. Let me show you some of his art. Here, from his The New Frontier book (an alternate history take on the origin of the Justice League of America) is Superman:

Somewhat recently he restarted Will Eisner's The Spirit (which Frank Miller is turning into a movie). He did the first 12 issues, which are out now in a trade collection. He captures the whimsy of Eisner's Spirit while embuing the comics with a new and vigorous life.

Love it. And so I leave you with this Batman drawing and a video interview of the creator himself. Enjoy. And, no, I can't provide a link to Mr. Cooke's website because so far as I can tell, he ain't gots one.

Just in From the Batcave

After waiting months (since February, when I first ordered) my 1/18th scale Hot Wheels 1966 Batmobile showed up yesterday. The hood, trunk, and doors all open. The steering wheel turns the front wheels. It's heavier than I thought it would be. And just way cool. It's a limited-edition collector's item, so first thing I took it out of its box and got my fingerprints all over it. So much for collecting.

Spawk!

Here are the first official pics of the new Star Trek movie cast. Looking pretty good, I think. Quinto as Spock is, of course, spot on. I saw a different picture of Chris Pine that looked a lot like the younger Shat. That's Zoe Saldana as a hot Uhura (though Nichelle Nichols was certainly not homely). Of course, it ain't the looks we're lookin' for. Hope the story is fan-f'ing-tastic. Otherwise, who cares? Oh, and the fourth guy is Eric Bana as the bad guy. I think he's supposed to be the newer, badder Romulan.

To find out more, visit your library. The lady'll stare at you for a moment and then call security. Oh, they have security now, don't you worry. Where was I? Oh, yeah, click here for more Trek info. The link ain't to the official site, so it actually has information.

Two Turntables and a Bic

This, my dears, is pretty dang cool. I get close to understanding how it's done, but then my brain explodes.

Holy Batusi!

Here's a cooler than cool blog about comics: www.DialBForBlog.com. As of this second, it's going into zany details about cool facts about the Batman TV show (you know, from the 60s, with the one and only real Batman: Adam West).

Flaky Flix Finx

Um, yeah, the title makes perfect sense. I was going to say Flaky Flix Sucks (but with an F and, well, that just wouldn't be prudent). Anyway. Mother's cookies, which I think is owned by a Taiwan company (I kid you not), started making Flaky Flix again.

These USED to be one of my favorites (they have a vanilla center and a chocolate fudge center, I preferred the chocolate fudge). I bought a box and wow did they suck (with an S). They changed the recipe and now they're barely edible. The chocolate is waxy. There's no fudge flavor to the supposed fudge inside. It's quite pitiful. Luckily, there's a more than adequate surrogate, thanks to Nestle.

These things taste much like the Flaky Flix of yore. Sure, there's some difference, but they have the fairly intense chocolate fudge flavor with the crispy crunchies on the outside. Great stuff. This is my favorite way to eat chocolate, by which I mean the chocolate being part of a pastry or cookie (is a cookie a pastry?) or cake or a candy bar-cum-cookie.

Son of a Basketball

If you haven't noticed (then why am even writing this?) I haven't been posting. It's because my main computer is in the shop getting a new motherboard and processor because mine got fried, even though it's always plugged into a surge protector.

My computer won't be ready for another week or so. Cripes.