Swedish Toast

This is a composite of several five-minute exposures of the night sky, revealing star trails that literally trace out the rotation of the earth. Nice photo Josch, whoever you are...

Here's a slideshow by someone from Iceland on Flickr. Nice photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/7750282@N03/show/

Here's one from Joe (thanks Joe, very funny):

Here is a new cursor for your computer...turn volume up and move cursor around...

http://www.1-click.jp/

remind me never to stand like this guy:

This is from Uncyclopedia, the best source for really fake news and erroneous information:
"DID YOU KNOW ... that every time you stifle a sneeze, the force of the sneeze cannot simply disappear from existence? It must manifest elsewhere, often causing a small creature to explode or a chef’s hat to fly off into the air!"

This is also where burps come from.

From a book called “The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss”:

This is heavy stuff. The Progress For A New American Century boys are still muscling their way through international affairs. This is the latest (I wish I could say the last) incident of Wolfowitz, Cheney and Bush bullying international organizations. Not that the orgs are innocent or naive, but they are consistent in letting the US walk all over them.

How is it that Chevy Chase does not live, or hail from, Chevy Chase, Maryland?
Is it just me or is that the eighth wonder of the world?

Why no Dave, this is the eighth wonder of the world:
Why? Because at a molecular level their asses aren't actually touching.

Listen, the Pubes are sparring. How ridiculous. I'm sure there is some scientific prediction for what happens when a bag of assholes flexes past its physical limit, but I'll leave that to the next President to demonstrate.
Here's a couple of memorable quotes from the latest Pube debate:

'Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts said he would support “not torture but enhanced interrogation techniques. And taking a tougher line than President Bush and Mr. McCain, who have said they would like to shut down the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Mr. Romney said he wanted the facility doubled in size.' (Please fellow Americans, give pause to the fact that this guy's name is Mitt.)

"Now, if something is morally wrong, let’s oppose it." (Incorrect. He should have said "ethically wrong". You are responsible for your morals, we are responsible for our ethics.)

Silly crap nonsense crap crap.

I just love Jackie McLean. Such a playful sax player, often so simple and complex at the same time. He seems to have a bunch of lines that he plays over and over, with slight variations that tend to build up to a melody. I think Dexter Gordon did the same thing, repeating notes and lines to the point where you wonder how a melody could emerge. And then, suddenly, you lose awareness of the blowing horn as a device, and the music just arrives.

I highly recommend these Jackie McLean tunes:
Profile of Jackie and Love Chant - from Pithecanthropus Erectus by Mingus
Mode For Jay Mac and Where Is Love? - from A Ghetto Lullaby by McLean
Our Love Is Here To Stay - from McLean's Scene by McLean
Music From The Connection by Freddie Redd is great (the McLean one, but the Howard McGhee set is great too) and also Jammin in Hi Fi by Gene Ammons is fun, especially The Twister and Four.

There's more where this came from, just ask me if you're interested.

(and while I'm talking about great music, there is an album by Mal Waldron - Billy Holiday's pianist who also played with Jackie a lot - called For Lady, and it has a bare bones but lovingly arranged version of God Bless The Child - hhooaa, it's golden)

Hey look, another "surprise visit" by a North American leader to one of his wars.
Isn't it significant that these visits need to be surprise ones? I think it would be nice if they surprised us by not showing up. Or quitting.
Cheney Announces Surprise Resignation. That's a headline.

I haven't been following the election in France too closely so this is just a first impression here. The winner Sarkozy wants to remove the restriction that currently only allows people to work 35 hours a week. Here's what one automaton says:
"If people want to work 40 hours a week, they should be able to. What gives me confidence in [Sarkozy] is that he’s someone who always says what he thinks, even if it’s not very popular."
Yeah, thank God for blind trust in beligerent people; nothing makes a democracy run smoother. He may be a prick, but at least he told me he was a prick. Hail the mighty and fuck the weak. More Bushes and less growth.