Amusements

• Went to Target yesterday to buy some office/computer supplies. I wandered down the aisle where they keep the flash memory (ie. digital camera 'film') and noticed that they package their little 2"x1" Sony Memory Sticks in these huge 10"x14" clear plastic clam-shells - reminds me of this.
  
  
• After civilization destroys itself, one of the ways future archeaologists who come across our landfills will be able to mark off our years is by counting the layers of turkey carcasses that we laid down every fall (or by finding the layers of brightly-colored paper we laid down every winter).
  
  
• A 15 pound turkey is a lot of turkey, for two people. Four days of nothing but turkey for two meals a day is just about enough. And even though roast turkey makes really good enchiladas, it'll probably be weeks before I open the two bags of frozen turkey I put away.
  
  
• We watched a lot of VH1 this past weekend. We saw their 100 Absolute Least Metal Heavy Metal Songs (Europe's: The Final Countdown), their 100 Absolute Least Dirty Dirty Songs (I forget what #1 was), their Top 100 One Hit Wonders (The Macarena), and started their Top 100 Most Cheesetastic Video Tricks (Didn't make it past the first three). Conclusion: VH1 is the nostalgia network; everything they do is backwards-looking.
  
  
• Christmas starts way too early, lasts way too long, and the pressure to consume is far too much. I look at pictures of lines of consumers who get up at 4AM the day after Thanksgiving to go stand in line for the latest consumables at the local big box store and feel nothing but disdain; why must we devote 50 days each year to the act of shopping ?
  

Portrait Post Mortem

Nikon D100, 105mm macro, with 50mm reversed

Oh, Pear

Nikon D100, 105mm macro

Thanks

Thankful for: in-oven digital probe thermometers, Alton Brown's turkey brine recipe, Beaujolais Nouveau (even though its kind of strange this year - it's fun to have a reason to buy more wine), Saranac 12 Beers (though I think the Caramel Porter tastes like a Brachs caramel - vile), Paid Time Off, Advair (cause I didn't know my lung capacity was as low as it was until I began inhaling the magic steroids twice a day. Now when I run, my legs can't keep up with my lungs - a nice switch), and of course Mrs Cleek (cause she makes it fun to be me).

Why are porn movies legal?

What's the difference between prostitution (sex for money) and shooting a porn movie (sex for money in front of a camera) ? Not much, it turns out: a state of mind, mostly. defective yeti did some research, and tells us all about it.

Be sure to read the comments, where his mother makes an appearance.

World City Photo Archive

This is pretty cool: the World City Photo Archive is a collection of pictures of cities. For example:


Reykjavik, Iceland.

Via, electrolite

Wired News: A Kinder, Gentler Copyright Bill?

Americans' ability to fast forward through commercials is safe! for now.

Sadly, atrocities like these pop up all the time. SlashDot is nearly always clamouring for its readers to write letters to their representatives telling them to vote 'No' on the latest power-grab from the entertainment industry.

Grace

Nikon D100, 105mm macro

Temptress

Nikon D100, 105mm macro

Sobriety

Apparently, today is Global "Sober.I" Virus day. I'm getting sober-virus-laden emails at a rate of about 1 every five minutes right now. Sweet.

Clemency

"`Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, `don't kill me.'"

Picture via skb

See?

Slashdot reports:

In newly published study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, heavy computer users were 74% more likely to develop visual field problems as compared baseline in a group of 10,202 randomly selected workers. Furthermore, heavy computer users were found to be 81% more likely to develop glaucoma.

Uh. Crap.

Papery

Nikon D100, 105mm Macro

Re-views!

• The Cure - Join The Dots . Back in the day when cassettes ruled the world, you could get The Cure's greatest hits collection (79-86), Standing On a Beach, with a great collection of B-sides on the flip side. And, over the years, I've come to like the B-sides just a little bit better than the singles themselves. But, they never released the B-sides on CD... until now. Join The Dots is a collection of all The Cure's B-sides, from the late 70's through today. And, the first disc, to me, is reason enough to have the whole 4-CD set; it contains all the Standing On a Beach B's, most of the Japanese Whispers EP, and some really early stuff that you can't find anywhere else. The second disc has a bunch of really good Disintegration B's, some Kiss Me alternate versions, etc.. There are also a lot of covers and goofy remixes that I don't care much for. But just having the Standing On a Beach B's fills a huge hole in my must-have collection.
  
  
• Jekyll and Hyde, live. My wife likes musicals, and she likes Sebastian Bach from Skid Row. So, when Jekyll and Hyde, starring Sebastian Bach, came to town, we had to go. Now, I don't much care for musicals, so I was skeptical about the whole thing. And, there were parts that grated on me: especially that too many of the songs tried to make emotional home-runs out of well-hit doubles. But, overall it was much better than I'd expected. The sets were pretty cool - they managed to accomplish a lot with simple black and white photographs of the late 1800's and some colored lighting. I thought Sebastian Bach started out sounding weak, thin and nasally, especially when singing conversational songs to other people. But when left to himself he loosened up; and when he did the Hyde parts, he was, actually, awesome. His voice is much better at the growling, shouting and screaming My Hyde, than the proper Dr Jekyll; and the songs where he did both Jekyll and Hyde at the same time were sometimes amazing - as when he switched from one character (and voice) to the other for alternating couplets. Definitely the best live musical I've ever seen.
  
  
• Robyn Hitchcock, live at the Cat's Cradle. We saw him many years ago at a sports bar in Colonie NY; about 30 people showed up, but he still put on a great show. Then we saw him in 1999 at the Cat's Cradle with ICQ, Cornelius and the Flaming Lips (we left before the Lips). He sucked - he looked drunk and was totally out of sync with the audience who wanted to rock and jump around. But, this time he was right on. The crowd was full of aging hipsters who were ready for him and his strangely poignant songs about fish, bugs and ghosts. Interesting cover of "Love don't live here anymore". Lotta fun, if you like that kinda thing.
  
  
• Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights. It's impossible to hear this and not think about Joy Division... unless you've never heard Joy Division, I guess. Still, I like it a lot. They grabbed a discarded style and ran with it, and it works.
  

Snark o' the day

This is floating around the net right now - author unknown (author = Jim Hightower. Maybe you'll be able to say you saw it here first...

Dear President Bush:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would propose and support a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. As you said "in the eyes of God marriage is based between a man a woman." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination... End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.

1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her? (I'm pretty sure she's a virgin).

3. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is, my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

4. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it? How can I help you here?

5. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Aren't there 'degrees' of abomination?

6. Lev.21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

7. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

8. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

9. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14) I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.

Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging. It must be really great to be on such close terms with God and his son, ... even better than you and your own Dad, eh?

Physics

Fafnir explains gravity, and some other theories:

General relativity says gravity is caused by the 'curvature of space' which is crazy. Space isn't curved! It's big an black an empty an fulla spaceships! If it was curved how would spaceships fly in it? They would crash into the curves an blow up an stuff! Gravity isn't caused by any crazy 'curved space'! It is caused by scientifical processes such as leprechauns.

Leprechauns are all over the universe grabbin onto matter with their tiny leprechaun hands an holdin it together. hen you walk down the street insteada plummeting into pace it is because leprechauns are holdin you down onto the earth. Of course leprechauns are pretty small so when you jump you break free for a little while until the leprechauns grab you again!

And in the comments, we find facts that support this theory. Such as:

...leprechauns don't swim well, and that's why you feel lighter in water.

Who can dispute it?

Rods

Nikon N80, Kodak Gold 100, 70-250mm

Oh boy, a list

So, my brother invited me to put together my own personal list of the 50,75 or 100 top albums of all time. Someone he knows is going to compile lists from a bunch of people and then the lists will be compiled, ranked, weighted and otherwise munged into a final definitive list, or something. Being a total sucker for rankings and lists and ranked lists of albums, I jumped at the chance.

So, here they are:

1. Sonic Youth : Daydream Nation
   
2. Pavement : Slanted and Enchanted
   
3. Joni Mitchell : Blue
   
4. Liz Phair : Exile In Guyville
   
5. My Bloody Valentine : Loveless
   
6. Miles Davis : Kind Of Blue
   
7. Talking Heads : Remain In Light
   
8. Neutral Milk Hotel : In An Aeroplane Over The Sea
   
9. Pixies : Surfer Rosa
   
10. Pink Floyd : Dark Side Of The Moon
    
11. Led Zeppelin : II
    
12. Beatles : Abbey Road
    
13. Fleetwood Mac : Rumors
    
14. The Beatles : Revolver
    
15. Rolling Stones : Let It Bleed
    
16. AC/DC : Back In Black
    
17. Pink Floyd : Wish You Were Here
    
18. The Cure : Disintegration
    
19. U2 : The Joshua Tree
    
20. The Beatles : The Beatles (white album)
    
21. Pavement : Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
    
22. Big Star : #1 Record
    
23. The Pretenders : The Pretenders
    
24. Cowboy Junkies : The Trinity Sessions
    
25. The Cure : Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me
    
26. Led Zeppelin : Houses Of The Holy
    
27. Van Morrison : Moondance
    
28. REM : Reckoning
    
29. Nirvana : Nevermind
    
30. Sonic Youth : Sister
    
31. Sea And Cake : Nassau
    
32. Yo La Tengo : Electr-O-Pura
    
33. Violent Femmes : Violent Femmes
    
34. Elliot Smith : XO
    
35. A Tribe Called Quest : Midnight Marauders
    
36. Bauhaus : In The Flat Field
    
37. Jimi Hendrix : Axis: Bold As Love
    
38. Stereolab : Emperor Tomato Ketchup
    
39. Led Zeppelin : Physical Graffiti
    
40. Black Sabbath : Paranoid
    
41. The Beastie Boys : Ill Communication
    
42. Crosby Stills and Nash : Crosby Stills and Nash
    
43. Robyn Hitchcock : Eye
    
44. Dave Brubeck : Time Out
    
45. Pavement : Wowee Zowee
    
46. Pink Floyd : Animals
    
47. The Beatles : Rubber Soul
    
48. Rolling Stones : Exile On Main Street
    
49. The Doors : The Doors
    
50. Cream : Disraeli Gears
    
51. Peter Gabriel : So
    
52. Fleetwood Mac : Fleetwood Mac
    
53. The Doors : Strange Days
    
54. Big Star : Radio City
    
55. Bob Dylan : Highway 61 Revisited
    
56. Slint : Spiderland
    
57. Pixies : Doolittle
    
58. Jane's Addiction : Nothing's Shocking
    
59. Nick Drake : Pink Moon
    
60. King Crimson : Discipline
    
61. Yes : The Yes Album
    
62. Rush : Moving Pictures
    
63. ZZ Top : Tres Hombres
    
64. Stevie Ray Vaughan : Texas Flood
    
65. The Cars : The Cars
    
66. REM : Murmur
    
67. U2 : War
    
68. Pixies : Come on Pilgrim
    
69. Steely Dan : Aja
    
70. The Cure : Seventeen Seconds
    
71. The Feelies : Crazy Rhythms
    
72. Replacements : Let It Be
    
73. The Police : Zenyatta Mondatta
    
74. Yo La Tengo : Fakebook
    
75. Stereolab : Peng
    
76. Gillian Welch : Time, The Revelator
    
77. PJ Harvey : Rid Of Me
    
78. Lilys : A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns
    
79. Spoon : Girls Can Tell
    
80. Superchunk : No Pocky For Kitty
    
81. Dinosaur Jr. : You're Living All Over Me
    
82. Gillian Welch : Revival
    
83. Sunny Day Real Estate : Diary
    
84. The Shins : Chutes Too Narrow
    
85. Big Black : Songs About Fucking
    
86. Codeine : Frigid Stars
    
87. Tortoise : Millions Now Living Will Never Die
    
88. Wilco : Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
    
89. The Flaming Lips : The Soft Bulletin
    
90. Robyn Hitchcock : I Often Dream of Trains
    
91. Gastr Del Sol : Camofleur
    
92. A Tribe Called Quest : Low End Theory
    
93. Son Volt : Trace
    
94. Grandaddy : The Sophtware Slump
    
95. Death Cab For Cutie : Transatlanticism
    
96. Modest Mouse : The Lonesome Crowded West
    
97. Polvo : Cor-Crane Secret
    
98. Buena Vista Social Club : Buena Vista Social Club
    
99. Archers of Loaf : Icky Mettle
    
100. Beck : Mutations
     

I made this Friday and Saturday. And looking at it now, while everything's probably within 5 spots of where it oughtta be I can see a few things I'd change; like, I'd probably move Midnight Marauders down a few spots and Pink Moon up a few, and I'm a little ambivalent about some of the lower spots. But I'll just go with this, because I know that overall it's mostly right. I'd probably never be 100% happy with it - it's something I could fine-tune forever. Maybe I'll revisit it in a year.

Rotting Corpse!

Britain's Channel Four Recruits Rotting Corpse:

"Which is more entertaining: watching paint dry or watching a human body decompose? Thanks to Channel 4, British audiences may soon get to decide for themselves. The tentatively titled documentary 'Dust to Dust' will tackle the taboo of rotting human flesh and bring those images into British homes.

According to the Guardian newspaper, producers on the show are currently searching for a terminally ill patient whose family is willing to sign off on letting a national television audience watch him rot. After the patient's death, the body will be placed in a private area of London's Science Museum and a number of cameras and scientists will get to watch the body decompose."

I guess it's better than more Absolutely Fabulous reruns.

Because the fish, the fish, is on the dish

No ribeye tonight. Instead, I bought myself a nice thick tuna steak, liberally coated it with cajun seasoning, seared it on both sides in a cast-iron skillet - just enough to leave the middle pink, and enough to turn the outside a nice crispy dark brown. Then I plopped it in the middle of a pile of warm Hoppin John that I had left over from a couple of nights ago. Lemme tell ya, this might have been the best thing I've ever made. The taste of New Orleans, at home - but it wasn't $35/plate and my street doesn't smell like vomit, piss and old beer!

I highly recommend this. I'm sure you could use just about any fish.

Next step ... get my wife to like tuna steaks.

Blacksmiths and copyright

Cory Doctorow, at Boing Boing has some interesting things to say about copyright. Among them:

Copyright is a system for regulating technology -- it regulates technologies used to make and distribute copies. We have lots of technology regulation in the world: there are rules that govern the operation of automobiles and rules that govern the marketing of electrical appliances. This isn't per se wrong.

But when the 20 horsepower locomotive was invented, the blacksmiths weren't able to successfully lobby to have 80 horseshoes welded to each engine, despite the rule that said that every 'horse' used for transport needed four shoes. When you invent a railroad, you need railroad-rules for it, not horse-and-buggy rules. The facts that the railroad doesn't need shoes, or oats, or curry-combs don't reflect bugs in railroading: they are the feautres of railroading.

The Internet has one overarching feature that makes it superior to the technologies that preceded it: it can copy arbitrary blobs of data from one place to another at virtually no cost, in virutally no time, with virtually no control. This is not a bug. This is what the Internet is supposed to do.

Ah, more CNN...

I should really find a new news site to check; CNN is just too dumb.

Their current survey is "Do you think the job market is improving?" (54% say "No"). Their current "Business" headlines are:

• Is the job market back?
  
• SBC plans to cut 10,000 jobs
  

Man Food

Sony P7

The wife went out of town for the weekend, so I'm gonna eat myself into a stupor. The 16oz ribeye is up first.

Unicorn

Andy Richter tells a story:

A priest has been summoned for a meeting with the archbishop. He's ushered into the archbishop's office, and the archbishop tells him that there's a conference at the Vatican the next week, and that he wants him to go there and represent their archdiocese at the conference. He also tells him that he's going to get to meet the pope. So the priest is very excited and honored, and the next week, he flies to Rome. When he gets there, he goes and rents a car and starts driving to the Vatican. He's driving along a deserted stretch of autostrada when a unicorn comes bounding out of the woods, and -BAM!- the priest smashes his car right into the unicorn. The dazed priest slowly gets out of the mangled Fiat and goes over to where the unicorn's lying. He stands there for a second in disbelief, marveling at the beauty of the dying creature. Then he notices that it seems as if the unicorn is trying to speak, so he gets down and cradles its head in his arms and leans in to listen. The unicorn turns his eyes toward the priest and, with his dying breath, says, 'All my life, I never got to do what I wanted.'

Hosta

Nikon N80, Fuji Sensia 100, 105mm macro

Word of the day

Aureole



See also, hagiography, beatification

A.P. photo from front page of CNN.com.

Election

Well, that's that. I had hoped for the other guy to win, but as 1/165,000,000^th of the voting public and 1/3,500,000^th of a state that was gonna go to Bush no matter what, I guess it really doesn't matter what I'd hoped.

The growing-more-idiotic-by-the-day CNN tells us:

Just over half -- 51 percent -- of respondents said they were pleased with the outcome of the presidential election

I suppose that would be a surprise if Bush didn't get 51% of the popular vote.

On the bright side, it seems only fair that Bush and his party be forced to clean up the messes they've made. And yet, I have no confidence that they can or will; and worse, the election gives them no incentive to. They've been rewarded for the mistakes they've made, and encouraged to make more.

And I feel bad for Robyn Hitchcock, who told the crowd Monday night at the Cat's Cradle that "the world thanks you for making the right decision." That was when things were looking up. Now I guess the world will have to un-thank us.

Sunset over Emerald Isle

Nikon D100, 70-250mm

Not much of a skyline, and you can't see the ocean. But, I like the color of the sky.

Man tries to convert lions to Jesus, gets bitten

Don't know that there's much else to add: MSNBC.

If it doesn't work out

If you're a single Kerry fan, and find yourself unable to stay in the country should Bush win, maybe you should check out MarryAnAmerican. "No good American will be left behind!"

Vote

Do it.