I haven't broken out the Terraform software (a terrain editor and generator) in years...I did this river and valley in about ten minutes.
click to enlarge
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Friday, September 30, 2011
Terraform
By Jack Brummet, Software Editor
I haven't broken out the Terraform software (a terrain editor and generator) in years...I did this river and valley in about ten minutes.
I haven't broken out the Terraform software (a terrain editor and generator) in years...I did this river and valley in about ten minutes.
Those wacky monkeys typing away at Shakespeare may actually succeed one of these days
By Jack Brummet, Poetry Editor
Maureen O'Connor just wrote an article titled "Monkeys on Typewriters ‘Close to Reproducing Shakespeare." We've written about the Shakespeare/Monkey theorem a few times before, and a few years ago we participated in a crowd-sourced/distributed computing project that put virtual monkeys typing away on thousands of peoples computers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. I think we came up with a couple of lines from two or three plays.
"As a fun side project," Jesse Anderson created millions of small computer programs that generate "random sequences of nine characters." As each sequence is created, it is compared to Shakespeare's oeuvre; if it matches anywhere, it gets checked off a list. The monkeys have been typing for 35 days, and most recently completed "A Lover's Complaint."
"Those monkeys are typing Shakespeare in order, so monkey-literature-ologists aren't sure if it should "count."
As it turns out, the one time someone actually went out and hired real monkeys to do the mashing, the sequences weren't even random, according to an article in the Daily Telegraph:
Maureen O'Connor just wrote an article titled "Monkeys on Typewriters ‘Close to Reproducing Shakespeare." We've written about the Shakespeare/Monkey theorem a few times before, and a few years ago we participated in a crowd-sourced/distributed computing project that put virtual monkeys typing away on thousands of peoples computers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. I think we came up with a couple of lines from two or three plays.
"A computer programmer testing the "Infinite Monkey Theorem"—that, with enough time, a monkey randomly mashing a typewriter would eventually type the complete works of Shakespeare—says his virtual monkeys will soon complete the works, way ahead of their infinity deadline!"
According to another article by Nick Collins in The Telegraph: "The monkeys, which started typing on August 21, have already completed more than five trillion of the 5.5 trillion possible nine-letter combinations, but have so far only finished one whole work. But the experiment is an imperfect reproduction of the infinite monkey theorem because it saves correct sections of text while discarding future wrong guesses, experts said."
According to another article by Nick Collins in The Telegraph: "The monkeys, which started typing on August 21, have already completed more than five trillion of the 5.5 trillion possible nine-letter combinations, but have so far only finished one whole work. But the experiment is an imperfect reproduction of the infinite monkey theorem because it saves correct sections of text while discarding future wrong guesses, experts said."
"As a fun side project," Jesse Anderson created millions of small computer programs that generate "random sequences of nine characters." As each sequence is created, it is compared to Shakespeare's oeuvre; if it matches anywhere, it gets checked off a list. The monkeys have been typing for 35 days, and most recently completed "A Lover's Complaint."
"Those monkeys are typing Shakespeare in order, so monkey-literature-ologists aren't sure if it should "count."
As it turns out, the one time someone actually went out and hired real monkeys to do the mashing, the sequences weren't even random, according to an article in the Daily Telegraph:
"In 2003 the Arts Council for England paid £2,000 for a real-life test of the theorem involving six Sulawesi crested macaques, but the trial was abandoned after a month.
The monkeys produced five pages of text, mainly composed of the letter S, but failed to type anything close to a word of English, broke the computer and used the keyboard as a lavatory."
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Thursday, September 29, 2011
Robert Plutchik's "Wheel of Emotions"
By Mona Goldwater
Psychology and behavioral sciences editor
Thirty years ago, Robert Plutchik created a wheel of emotions. He believed there were eight primary/bipolar emotions: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. His model also connects the idea of an emotion circle and a color wheel. The primary emotions can be expressed just like colors at different intensities and you can mix with one with the other to form different emotions.
Psychology and behavioral sciences editor
Thirty years ago, Robert Plutchik created a wheel of emotions. He believed there were eight primary/bipolar emotions: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. His model also connects the idea of an emotion circle and a color wheel. The primary emotions can be expressed just like colors at different intensities and you can mix with one with the other to form different emotions.
| Human Feelings (The results of Emotions) | Feelings | Opposite |
|---|---|---|
| Optimism | Anticipation + Joy | Disapproval |
| Love | Joy + Trust | Remorse |
| Submission | Trust + Fear | Contempt |
| Awe | Fear + Surprise | Aggression |
| Disappointment | Surprise + Sadness | Optimism |
| Remorse | Sadness + Disgust | Love |
| Contempt | Disgust + Anger | Submission |
| Aggression | Anger + Anticipation | Awe |
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Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Eric Schulman's "History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less"
By Jack Brummet
Unexplained Phenomena Editor
This is Eric Schulman's "History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less." I have been been grokking on this one for a couple of weeks (and looking up the words and phrases I didn't understand). Wow.
These 200 words inspired A Briefer History of Time which also led to the Annals of Improbable Research Universal History Translation Project. Reprinted from the AIR, Volume III, Number 1, January/February 1997, page 27.
Unexplained Phenomena Editor
This is Eric Schulman's "History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less." I have been been grokking on this one for a couple of weeks (and looking up the words and phrases I didn't understand). Wow.
These 200 words inspired A Briefer History of Time which also led to the Annals of Improbable Research Universal History Translation Project. Reprinted from the AIR, Volume III, Number 1, January/February 1997, page 27.
Quantum fluctuation. Inflation. Expansion. Strong nuclear interaction. Particle-antiparticle annihilation. Deuterium and helium production. Density perturbations. Recombination. Blackbody radiation. Local contraction. Cluster formation. Reionization? Violent relaxation. Virialization. Biased galaxy formation? Turbulent fragmentation. Contraction. Ionization. Compression. Opaque hydrogen. Massive star formation. Deuterium ignition. Hydrogen fusion. Hydrogen depletion. Core contraction. Envelope expansion. Helium fusion. Carbon, oxygen, and silicon fusion. Iron production. Implosion. Supernova explosion. Metals injection. Star formation. Supernova explosions. Star formation. Condensation. Planetesimal accretion. Planetary differentiation. Crust solidification. Volatile gas expulsion. Water condensation. Water dissociation. Ozone production. Ultraviolet absorption. Photosynthetic unicellular organisms. Oxidation. Mutation. Natural selection and evolution. Respiration. Cell differentiation. Sexual reproduction. Fossilization. Land exploration. Dinosaur extinction. Mammal expansion. Glaciation. Homo sapiens manifestation. Animal domestication. Food surplus production. Civilization! Innovation. Exploration. Religion. Warring nations. Empire creation and destruction. Exploration. Colonization. Taxation without representation. Revolution. Constitution. Election. Expansion. Industrialization. Rebellion. Emancipation Proclamation. Invention. Mass production. Urbanization. Immigration. World conflagration. League of Nations. Suffrage extension. Depression. World conflagration. Fission explosions. United Nations. Space exploration. Assassinations. Lunar excursions. Resignation. Computerization. World Trade Organization. Terrorism. Internet expansion. Reunification. Dissolution. World-Wide Web creation. Composition. Extrapolation?
Copyright 1996-1997 by Eric Schulman.
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Copyright 1996-1997 by Eric Schulman.
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Alien Lore No. 216 - Our Message In A Bottle, Lobbed Into The Cosmos
By Jack Brummet, Alien Lore Editor
For the last forty years or so, we've beamed messages into the cosmos in hopes of contacting our cousins—if we actually have cousins—way Out There. We take our best guess and fire off something we hope they're smart enough to decode or understand. Some of this stuff is pretty strange, to say the least.
photo courtesy of Nasa/Jet Propulsion Lab
The Pioneer Plaques are identical, gold-plated plaques attached to the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. The plaques contain a picture of the solar system (which they would presumably understand), a picture of the Pioneer, and a picture of "a hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen," we were sure that whoever was smart enough to recover our spacecraft would Get It.
The Pioneer Plaque attached to Voyager 10, photo courtesy of Nasa/Jet Propulsion Lab
According to NASA, The Pioneer Plaque "is designed to show scientifically educated inhabitants of some other star system, who might intercept it millions of years from now, when Pioneer was launched, from where, and by what kind of beings. (With the hope that they would not invade Earth.) The design is etched into a 6 inch by 9 inch gold-anodized aluminum plate, attached to the spacecraft's antenna support struts in a position to help shield it from erosion by interstellar dust. The radiating lines at left represents the positions of 14 pulsars, a cosmic source of radio energy, arranged to indicate our sun as the home star of our civilization. The "1-" symbols at the ends of the lines are binary numbers that represent the frequencies of these pulsars at the time of launch of Pioneer F relative of that to the hydrogen atom shown at the upper left with a "1" unity symbol. The hydrogen atom is thus used as a "universal clock," and the regular decrease in the frequencies of the pulsars will enable another civilization to determine the time that has elapsed since Pioneer F was launched. The hydrogen is also used as a "universal yardstick" for sizing the human figures and outline of the spacecraft shown on the right. The hydrogen wavelength, about 8 inches, multiplied by the binary number representing "8" shown next to the woman gives her height, 64 inches. The figures represent the type of creature that created Pioneer. The man's hand is raised in a gesture of good will. Across the bottom are the planets, ranging outward from the Sun, with the spacecraft trajectory arching away from Earth, passing Mars, and swinging by Jupiter."
The Voyager Record, is literally a metal record...an LP...a long-player. It even includes Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."
Photograph of the Voyager Record photo courtesy of Nasa/Jet Propulsion Lab
The 12 inch gold-plated copper discs contain "greetings in 60 languages, samples of music from different cultures and eras, and natural and man-made sounds from Earth. They also contain electronic information that an advanced technological civilization could convert into diagrams and photographs. Currently, both Voyager probes are sailing adrift in the black sea of interplanetary space, having left our solar system years ago."
The Arecibo Image is a short binary message beamed into space. When decoded, it creates an image that looks similar to an 80's video game:
Dr. Frank Drake, of Cornell University, wrote the message, with help from Carl Sagan, and others. The encoded message has seven parts:
1) the numbers one (1) through ten (10);
2) the atomic numbers of the elements hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus which make up DNA;
3) the formulas for the sugars and bases in the nucleotides of DNA/the number of nucleotides in DNA;
4) a graphic of the double helix structure of DNA;
5) a graphic figure of a man, the dimension (physical height) of an average man, and the human population of Earth ;
6) a graphic of Earth's solar system;
7) a graphic of the Arecibo radio telescope and the dimension (the physical diameter) of the transmitting antenna dish.
[Ed's note: Arecibo in Puerto Rico sends messages to the universe, and is the site where SETI attempts to track blips in the universe and link them to other intelligent beings.]
It will take 25,000 years for the message to reach its target of of stars (and, presumably, an additional 25,000 years for the return trip for any reply). Interestingly, the stars the message is aimed at will no longer be there when it arrives. According to a Cornell News press release of Nov. 12, 1999, the real purpose of the message was not to make contact, but to demonstrate the capabilities of newly installed equipment.
The Teenage Message was beamed into space in 2001. It starts with some radio-transmission Doppler-tuning and then segues into theremin music, and ends with more binary images, including a logo for the Teenage Message program itself.
According to SETI, in 2001, "a group of Russian teens from Moscow, Kaluga, Voronezh, and Zheleznogorsk participated directly and via the Internet in composing a Teen-Age Message (TAM) to extraterrestrial intelligence, and in the selection of target stars. Their message was transmitted in the Autumn of that year, from the Evpatoria Deep Space Center."
"Two previous interstellar radio messages (IRM), one transmitted from Arecibo in 1974 and the one from Evpatoria in 1999, had digital format and represented binary scans of one (Are) or 23 (Evp) black-and-white stylized images. But one might suppose that transmission of analog IRMs is also possible. So, before composing the message's content (as well as trying to decode future signals from ETI), let us try to determine such a message's possible format and structure."
Television Signals are a longstanding science fiction trope in which greys, or "Martians," or aliens intercept television shows and are so impressed with a show that it becomes the basis for their entire civilization. You may have seen some variation of this story on The Twilight Zone. If our TV signals really do become extraterrestrial messages, who wouldn't love to see the results?
I'd like to see the Hee Haw or the Andy Griffith Show as the basis of a civilization, or maybe Celebrity Boxing, F Troop, The Sopranos, My Mother The Car, or maybe even Cop Rock.
For the last forty years or so, we've beamed messages into the cosmos in hopes of contacting our cousins—if we actually have cousins—way Out There. We take our best guess and fire off something we hope they're smart enough to decode or understand. Some of this stuff is pretty strange, to say the least.
photo courtesy of Nasa/Jet Propulsion Lab
The Pioneer Plaques are identical, gold-plated plaques attached to the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft. The plaques contain a picture of the solar system (which they would presumably understand), a picture of the Pioneer, and a picture of "a hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen," we were sure that whoever was smart enough to recover our spacecraft would Get It.
The Pioneer Plaque attached to Voyager 10, photo courtesy of Nasa/Jet Propulsion Lab
According to NASA, The Pioneer Plaque "is designed to show scientifically educated inhabitants of some other star system, who might intercept it millions of years from now, when Pioneer was launched, from where, and by what kind of beings. (With the hope that they would not invade Earth.) The design is etched into a 6 inch by 9 inch gold-anodized aluminum plate, attached to the spacecraft's antenna support struts in a position to help shield it from erosion by interstellar dust. The radiating lines at left represents the positions of 14 pulsars, a cosmic source of radio energy, arranged to indicate our sun as the home star of our civilization. The "1-" symbols at the ends of the lines are binary numbers that represent the frequencies of these pulsars at the time of launch of Pioneer F relative of that to the hydrogen atom shown at the upper left with a "1" unity symbol. The hydrogen atom is thus used as a "universal clock," and the regular decrease in the frequencies of the pulsars will enable another civilization to determine the time that has elapsed since Pioneer F was launched. The hydrogen is also used as a "universal yardstick" for sizing the human figures and outline of the spacecraft shown on the right. The hydrogen wavelength, about 8 inches, multiplied by the binary number representing "8" shown next to the woman gives her height, 64 inches. The figures represent the type of creature that created Pioneer. The man's hand is raised in a gesture of good will. Across the bottom are the planets, ranging outward from the Sun, with the spacecraft trajectory arching away from Earth, passing Mars, and swinging by Jupiter."
The Voyager Record, is literally a metal record...an LP...a long-player. It even includes Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."
Photograph of the Voyager Record photo courtesy of Nasa/Jet Propulsion Lab
The 12 inch gold-plated copper discs contain "greetings in 60 languages, samples of music from different cultures and eras, and natural and man-made sounds from Earth. They also contain electronic information that an advanced technological civilization could convert into diagrams and photographs. Currently, both Voyager probes are sailing adrift in the black sea of interplanetary space, having left our solar system years ago."
The Arecibo Image is a short binary message beamed into space. When decoded, it creates an image that looks similar to an 80's video game:
Dr. Frank Drake, of Cornell University, wrote the message, with help from Carl Sagan, and others. The encoded message has seven parts:
1) the numbers one (1) through ten (10);
2) the atomic numbers of the elements hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus which make up DNA;
3) the formulas for the sugars and bases in the nucleotides of DNA/the number of nucleotides in DNA;
4) a graphic of the double helix structure of DNA;
5) a graphic figure of a man, the dimension (physical height) of an average man, and the human population of Earth ;
6) a graphic of Earth's solar system;
7) a graphic of the Arecibo radio telescope and the dimension (the physical diameter) of the transmitting antenna dish.
[Ed's note: Arecibo in Puerto Rico sends messages to the universe, and is the site where SETI attempts to track blips in the universe and link them to other intelligent beings.]
It will take 25,000 years for the message to reach its target of of stars (and, presumably, an additional 25,000 years for the return trip for any reply). Interestingly, the stars the message is aimed at will no longer be there when it arrives. According to a Cornell News press release of Nov. 12, 1999, the real purpose of the message was not to make contact, but to demonstrate the capabilities of newly installed equipment.
The Teenage Message was beamed into space in 2001. It starts with some radio-transmission Doppler-tuning and then segues into theremin music, and ends with more binary images, including a logo for the Teenage Message program itself.
According to SETI, in 2001, "a group of Russian teens from Moscow, Kaluga, Voronezh, and Zheleznogorsk participated directly and via the Internet in composing a Teen-Age Message (TAM) to extraterrestrial intelligence, and in the selection of target stars. Their message was transmitted in the Autumn of that year, from the Evpatoria Deep Space Center."
"Two previous interstellar radio messages (IRM), one transmitted from Arecibo in 1974 and the one from Evpatoria in 1999, had digital format and represented binary scans of one (Are) or 23 (Evp) black-and-white stylized images. But one might suppose that transmission of analog IRMs is also possible. So, before composing the message's content (as well as trying to decode future signals from ETI), let us try to determine such a message's possible format and structure."
Television Signals are a longstanding science fiction trope in which greys, or "Martians," or aliens intercept television shows and are so impressed with a show that it becomes the basis for their entire civilization. You may have seen some variation of this story on The Twilight Zone. If our TV signals really do become extraterrestrial messages, who wouldn't love to see the results?
I'd like to see the Hee Haw or the Andy Griffith Show as the basis of a civilization, or maybe Celebrity Boxing, F Troop, The Sopranos, My Mother The Car, or maybe even Cop Rock.
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The National Debt—apportioning blame from RWR down to BHO
By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
illustration by Jack Brummet
This is an interesting chart, and you can poke a lot of holes in it in various spots, but it is more or less correct. And while the s***-storm began coming down during President George W. Bush's last year in office, and may indeed have been aggravated by his actions and policies, we all know, ineluctably, that the bulk of the blame is apportioned—whether it makes sense or not—on the President upon whose watch said s***-storm finally came down, whether he really he had anything to do with it or not.
President Obama is on track to raise about $1 billion dollars in campaign contributions. It will be interesting to see if even that war chest can deflect the ugly mood out there in America.
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illustration by Jack Brummet
This is an interesting chart, and you can poke a lot of holes in it in various spots, but it is more or less correct. And while the s***-storm began coming down during President George W. Bush's last year in office, and may indeed have been aggravated by his actions and policies, we all know, ineluctably, that the bulk of the blame is apportioned—whether it makes sense or not—on the President upon whose watch said s***-storm finally came down, whether he really he had anything to do with it or not.
President Obama is on track to raise about $1 billion dollars in campaign contributions. It will be interesting to see if even that war chest can deflect the ugly mood out there in America.---o0o---
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Alan Lomax portraits of Stavin' Chain and Wayne Perry performing, Lafayette, La.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and
Photographs Division, Alan Lomax Collection
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Breakin' rocks in the hot sun: two photographs from Alan Lomax
click to enlarge - photos courtesy of
the Library of Congress, Alan Lomax Collection
click to enlarge - photos courtesy of
the Library of Congress, Alan Lomax Collection
Prisoners breaking rocks at a prison camp. The exact date of these photographs is unknown, but they were taken between 1934 and 1950. From Alan Lomax, the national treasure and incredible ethnomusicologist and folklorist.
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An 1855 Daguerreotype
click to enlarge - Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Daguerreotype collection
An unidentified man and woman, seated, facing front, by Francis Grice, 1855.
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Photograph: Leadbelly in Prison, Angola, Louisiana
By Jack Brummet, Music Editor
This photograph, by the great ethno-musicologist Alan Lomax, shows Leadbelly a/k/a Hudie Ledbetter in prison in Angola, Louisiana. That is Leadbelly in the foreground. The picture was shot in 1934. On the back of the photo, in Lomax's hand, is written: "Prison compound No 1. Angola, La. Leadbelly in foreground." This photograph is included in the Lomax collection of photographs, mostly depicting folk (country, blues, bluegrass). The photos of musicians were taken as he traveled the south and recorded local musicians. This music changed modern American music, and inspired several generations of roots, folk, country, and rock musicians.
click to enlarge
photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs Division
This photograph, by the great ethno-musicologist Alan Lomax, shows Leadbelly a/k/a Hudie Ledbetter in prison in Angola, Louisiana. That is Leadbelly in the foreground. The picture was shot in 1934. On the back of the photo, in Lomax's hand, is written: "Prison compound No 1. Angola, La. Leadbelly in foreground." This photograph is included in the Lomax collection of photographs, mostly depicting folk (country, blues, bluegrass). The photos of musicians were taken as he traveled the south and recorded local musicians. This music changed modern American music, and inspired several generations of roots, folk, country, and rock musicians.
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Two paintings: a) Purgatory and b) Night Sweats
click Purgatory to enlarge
click night sweats to enlarge
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Sunday, September 25, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
42nd Street, 1986
By Jack Brummet
NYC Metro Editor
Not long before the Times Square cleanup began, there was still a thriving grindhouse row on The Deuce, a/k/a 42nd Street. Here are some double and triple features that ran on 42nd Street 25 years ago.
42nd Street (North)
Rialto: Basic Training/Madman
Victory: "3 Adult Hits"
Lyric: Police Academy 3 / The Protector
Times Square: April Fool's Day / Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Apollo: Eyes of Fire / Hell Night
Selwyn: Band of the Hand / The Last Dragon
42nd Street (South)
Cine 42: I: Critters / Deadly Blessing; Theater II: The Toxic Avenger/ Bloodsucking Freaks
Harris: P.O.W.: The Escape / Exterminator 2/ Delta Force
Liberty: Make Them Die Slowly/Savage Man, Savage Beast / King Dick
Empire: Shaolin Kung Fu/ Shaolin Vs. Lama /Shaolin Red Master
NYC Metro Editor
Not long before the Times Square cleanup began, there was still a thriving grindhouse row on The Deuce, a/k/a 42nd Street. Here are some double and triple features that ran on 42nd Street 25 years ago.
42nd Street (North)
Rialto: Basic Training/Madman
Victory: "3 Adult Hits"
Lyric: Police Academy 3 / The Protector
Times Square: April Fool's Day / Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Apollo: Eyes of Fire / Hell Night
Selwyn: Band of the Hand / The Last Dragon
42nd Street (South)
Cine 42: I: Critters / Deadly Blessing; Theater II: The Toxic Avenger/ Bloodsucking Freaks
Harris: P.O.W.: The Escape / Exterminator 2/ Delta Force
Liberty: Make Them Die Slowly/Savage Man, Savage Beast / King Dick
Empire: Shaolin Kung Fu/ Shaolin Vs. Lama /Shaolin Red Master
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Friday, September 23, 2011
Daybreak on Mars, at Gale Crater
Image Credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory - click to enlarge
This image shows Mars between darkness and daylight, and includes a glimpse of the Gale Crater. Gale is the crater with a mound inside it near the center of the image. Gale Crater will be the landing site for Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory. The mission's rover will be placed on the ground in Gale Crater in August 2012. Gale Crater is 96 miles in diameter with a mountain rising about 3 miles (higher than Mt. Rainier) above the crater floor. This image was captured from the Mars Orbiter.
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Rick Santorum's crappy problem with the Santorum neologism
By Jack Brummet, Pranks and Payback Editor
with research by Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
Illustrations by Jack Brummet
Only yesterday, Ex-Senator Rick Santorum publicly asked Google to fix his problem. He said he KNEW they could suppress the sexual references to his name on the G.I.S. results if they wanted to. He also implied that if he were a Democrat, they would have eliminated his problem long ago. As Google pointed out, it's not like they're doing anything other than reporting the search results. They didn't put up the definition of "santorum."
Rick Santorum's Google problem started in 2003, not long after he told the Associated Press that "In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."
Seattle sex advice columnist and best selling author Dan Savage was understandably P.O.'d and decided payback could be fun. He asked readers for a definition of "Santorum.". The winner was "Santorum: The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex." Savage created the website Spreading Santorum", which soon became the top Santorum result in most search engines. Years later, in 2010, Savage offered to take the website down if Santorum donated $5 million to Freedom to Marry, a group advocating legal recognition of same-sex marriages
And even now, to Santorum's enormous inconvenience, that definition is the top entry when you Google the word "Santorum." [Ed's note: We noticed today the definition has slid down six notches in the Google search results, but we're pretty sure it was pushed down in the results due to a lot of searching on Santorum asking Google, basically, to have mercy. We think the definition will pop back up to the top right after this story dies down (and it will die fast. No one cares. ).]
A cranky Santorum appeared on right-wing Steve Malzberg's talk show to express his ire and frustration:
with research by Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
Illustrations by Jack Brummet
Rick Santorum's Google problem started in 2003, not long after he told the Associated Press that "In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."
Seattle sex advice columnist and best selling author Dan Savage was understandably P.O.'d and decided payback could be fun. He asked readers for a definition of "Santorum.". The winner was "Santorum: The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex." Savage created the website Spreading Santorum", which soon became the top Santorum result in most search engines. Years later, in 2010, Savage offered to take the website down if Santorum donated $5 million to Freedom to Marry, a group advocating legal recognition of same-sex marriages
And even now, to Santorum's enormous inconvenience, that definition is the top entry when you Google the word "Santorum." [Ed's note: We noticed today the definition has slid down six notches in the Google search results, but we're pretty sure it was pushed down in the results due to a lot of searching on Santorum asking Google, basically, to have mercy. We think the definition will pop back up to the top right after this story dies down (and it will die fast. No one cares. ).]
A cranky Santorum appeared on right-wing Steve Malzberg's talk show to express his ire and frustration:
"It's just that. It's filth. It's, you know, this man has, has gone out there and tried to destroy my integrity. I mean, you've heard the whole issue of the Google issue. That's Dan Savage. You know, it's, it's the lowest, you know, debasement of public discourse. It's, it's offensive beyond, you know, anything that any public figure or anybody in America should tolerate, and the mainstream media laughs about it. They, they, they kid about it. They write about it. They say, 'Oh, Santorum's got a Google problem.'Dan Savage responded on AMERICAblog Gay:
"And you have to love how Santorum is out there mewling about being the victim here and about civility-- this from the man who compared people in stable, loving same-sex relationships to dog fuckers and kiddie rapists, this from a man who would make gay and straight sodomy illegal, ban gay marriage and any other protections for same-sex couples, and prevent loving same-sex couples from adopting children who need homes. This from a man who would literally destroy my family if it were within in his power to do so. And the "Savage Love" gang? All we did was make a dirty joke at his expense. There has been no effort to strip Rick Santorum of his civil rights, no moves to nullify his marriage, no one has suggested that his children be taken out of his home, no one is trying to prevent him from having more children. No one has compared Rick Santorum to a dog fucker or a pedophile. Compared to Rick Santorum, my readers and I have been models of decorum and restraint."
"And don't think you're fooling us, Rick. Now that you're running for president -- eight years after we redefined 'santorum' -- you're whining to attract a little attention to your campaign and because your advisors think that maybe you'll get a little traction playing the pansy-assed victim card, Ã la Sarah Palin, and rake in a few bucks. Oh, look at that mean gay dude -- one of the guys I want to oppress -- he's picking on meeeeeeeeee."
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Thursday, September 22, 2011
Let's Bake! (NSFW)
When we finally start our cooking blog, we're pretty sure this will be the image on the front page.
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A flyover of earth, from the International Space Station
We have really been enjoying the photography coming out of the International Space Station as it orbits earth. This time lapse video starts over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica.
You can see--in order--Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, various cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico, Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon. You see earth's ionosphere (the thin yellow line), the starts of the Milky Way, and at :55 seconds, a satellite.
You can see--in order--Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, various cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico, Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon. You see earth's ionosphere (the thin yellow line), the starts of the Milky Way, and at :55 seconds, a satellite.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Dead/Elvis (Elvis Costello plays and sings with Grateful Dead successors Furthur)
By Jack Brummet
Rock Editor
On 3/27/11, at Radio City Music Hall, Elvis Costello and his wife Diane Krall, sat in with Furthur (the Dead) and sang “Tennessee Jed,” “Friend of the Devil,” “Ship of Fools” > “Must’ve Been the Roses” > “Ship of Fools.” In the same show, Larry Campbell sings The Band’s “Chest Fever” and plays guitar and violin on a number of tunes.
Diana Krall, sings “Ripple” to end the first set and in the second set sings (and plays piano on) “Chest Fever” in the encore. Campbell’s wife, Teresa Williams, sings “Sunrise” in a second set that also includes “Uncle John’s,” “St. Stephen,” “Unbroken Chain,” “Morning Dew” and, to end the evening, “Attics of My Life” (with Teresa and Elvis in the chorus).
You can stream or download an audience tape of this show here. The show is not currently available for sale from Further or Dead.net.
Rock Editor
click to enlarge
Diana Krall, sings “Ripple” to end the first set and in the second set sings (and plays piano on) “Chest Fever” in the encore. Campbell’s wife, Teresa Williams, sings “Sunrise” in a second set that also includes “Uncle John’s,” “St. Stephen,” “Unbroken Chain,” “Morning Dew” and, to end the evening, “Attics of My Life” (with Teresa and Elvis in the chorus).
You can stream or download an audience tape of this show here. The show is not currently available for sale from Further or Dead.net.
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Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Sarah Palin: Quote of the Day
By Mona Goldwater, Tea Party Editor
Quote of the day:
"I knew that we'd be buddies when I met her when she said, 'Drill here, drill now.' And then I replied, 'Drill, baby, drill' and then we both said, 'You betcha!'"
- Sarah Palin, quoted by theWall Street Journal, recalling a previous meeting with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN).
Quote of the day:
"I knew that we'd be buddies when I met her when she said, 'Drill here, drill now.' And then I replied, 'Drill, baby, drill' and then we both said, 'You betcha!'"
- Sarah Palin, quoted by theWall Street Journal, recalling a previous meeting with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN).
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Another sweet photograph from the International Space Station
By Mona Goldwater
Aerospace Editor
The ISS Expedition Three crew captured the setting sun on a digital still camera, and the thin blue airglow line just at the Earth's horizon. Some of the station's equipment is in silhouette in the foreground. This image is from three days ago. Click on the image to see a much larger one. . .
Aerospace Editor
The ISS Expedition Three crew captured the setting sun on a digital still camera, and the thin blue airglow line just at the Earth's horizon. Some of the station's equipment is in silhouette in the foreground. This image is from three days ago. Click on the image to see a much larger one. . .
click to enlarge - image courtesy of NASA (your tax dollars at work)
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Monday, September 19, 2011
What Democrat will take on President Obama in the Presidential contests?
By Pablo Fanque
National Affairs Editor
Unless something REALLY goes wrong, say, worse than it already has, in his last year in office, President Barack Obama will run for the White House for the Democrats, against, quite possibly, Governor Rick Perry or Ex-Governor Mitt Romney. . .and maybe an indie like Ron Paul. Where is the opposition?
The big question, as Presidential Candidates.Org, wrote:
There seems to be a fair amount of support for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to throw her hat into the ring. But Clinton told ABC News recently that the odds of her running are “. . .below zero. One of the great things about being Secretary of State is I am out of politics. I am not interested in being drawn back into it by anybody,” she said. (We get what she means, but it seems disingenuous to claim that the SoS is "out of politics.")
In recent weeks, there have been more and more calls by Democrats--including, predictably, Dennis Kucinich--for someone to step up and run against the President. Congressman Kucinich, who ran for President in 2004 and 2008, told CNN that a challenge to BHO would “make him a better president.”
Representative Peter DeFazio from Oregon told The Hill that growing numbers of Democrats believe Obama needs a challenge. “It’s a common refrain, and it’s certainly common in my district among Democrats,” he said. “They want the guy back that they voted for.”
During the debt ceiling fiasco, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said , “It would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition.
Democratic strategist James Carville in a CNN column last week asked the President to 'wake up' and 'panic' and to clean house, and circle back to the "Democratic principles that got him elected." Carville wrote "The time has come to demand a plan of action that requires a complete change from the direction you are headed." And, finally, "Fire somebody. No — fire a lot of people."
Ralph Nader said earlier this year that if The President is challenged in some of the early primaries “it is harder for him to say no. His strategists can say, ‘Don’t fight it, Barack; use it, revel in it; you’re good on your feet.' ”
The problem with all this, as Newsmaxx pointed out last week, is "The re-election attempts of Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush were all undone by primary challenges, while Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all won second terms after avoiding any serious internal party fight."
National Affairs Editor
The big question, as Presidential Candidates.Org, wrote:
"Do we give President Obama his second term to reap the projected returns of his policies, or should we wipe the slate clean and bring the Republicans back into power again in the hope that this time, things will be different?"
Painting by Jack Brummet - click to enlarge
There seems to be a fair amount of support for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to throw her hat into the ring. But Clinton told ABC News recently that the odds of her running are “. . .below zero. One of the great things about being Secretary of State is I am out of politics. I am not interested in being drawn back into it by anybody,” she said. (We get what she means, but it seems disingenuous to claim that the SoS is "out of politics.")
In recent weeks, there have been more and more calls by Democrats--including, predictably, Dennis Kucinich--for someone to step up and run against the President. Congressman Kucinich, who ran for President in 2004 and 2008, told CNN that a challenge to BHO would “make him a better president.”
Representative Peter DeFazio from Oregon told The Hill that growing numbers of Democrats believe Obama needs a challenge. “It’s a common refrain, and it’s certainly common in my district among Democrats,” he said. “They want the guy back that they voted for.”
During the debt ceiling fiasco, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said , “It would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition.
Democratic strategist James Carville in a CNN column last week asked the President to 'wake up' and 'panic' and to clean house, and circle back to the "Democratic principles that got him elected." Carville wrote "The time has come to demand a plan of action that requires a complete change from the direction you are headed." And, finally, "Fire somebody. No — fire a lot of people."
Ralph Nader said earlier this year that if The President is challenged in some of the early primaries “it is harder for him to say no. His strategists can say, ‘Don’t fight it, Barack; use it, revel in it; you’re good on your feet.' ”
The problem with all this, as Newsmaxx pointed out last week, is "The re-election attempts of Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush were all undone by primary challenges, while Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush all won second terms after avoiding any serious internal party fight."
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