Saturday, March 17, 2007

A drawing of Adolph Hitler (made using Faces 3.0)


Click The Fuhrer to enlarge

I used the Faces 3.0 identikit software to create this, and then touched it up with the flag in Paintshop Pro XI. . My creations with Faces mainly seem to work if you have something like a toothbrush moustache or othert caricature-able feature. Let's face it, this could as likely be Charles Chaplain as Adolph Hitler. As for as someone ever identifying a wrongdoer with one of my identikit sketches--that's not likely!
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Friday, March 16, 2007

Poem: Changes 41/Decrease



1
Increase and decrease
Come in their own time.

The lake at the foot of the mountain evaporates.
Its loss is the mountain's gain.

The lake is a symbol of passion:
It fills its hollow to the brim.

Without decreasing yourself,
You bring increase to others.

You fear nothing, because luck
Is ordained from on high.

You're God's boy, dispensing
A blessing to the whole world.

Every increase that comes to you
Benefits the whole.

In America, we call it
A win-win.

2
I donated a pint of blood today.
In three days

My body will replace the blood.
My loss is someone's gain.



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Barack Obama Calls John Edwards "kind of cute," and "good looking"


Will it come down to a slugfest between the two cuties?

Sen. Barack Obama slipped in a compliment about the compteition during two appearances in Iowa last weekend, according to The Hill.

“I want to wait and hear what John Edwards has to say, he’s kind of good-looking,” Obama pictured the rank and file in this battleground caucus state saying. At another appearance, he said the same thing, more or less, this time calling Edwards “kind of cute.”

Some of us were puzzled by these comments, since Sen. Barack Hussein Obama often says that he is rising above petty politics and has said before—about his own handsome visage—that looks do not matter!

A poll on the issue (holy moly, they poll on this kind of s***?) by Nerve.com, found both Senators Obama and Edwards running behind former President Bill Clinton on the hot-or-not scale.
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Thursday, March 15, 2007

My favorite birds

Roadrunner
Woodpecker - and not just because of Woody
Water Ouzel
Owl (from the spotted own to the cigarbox White Owl)
Hummingbird - What's not to like?
Crow - for their color, and intelligence
Buzzards, Hawks, Eagles. . .all the raptors - Just Because
Chicken, Pigeon, Duck, Squab, Turkey, Pheasant, Quail, Goose - they're good eatin'!
Lyre Bird [1] - see this fantastic video by David Attenborough below if you doubt me on this one.
Any of the amazing birds Morris Graves ever painted


You will need to click the play button 2x (don't ask)

[1] The Lyre Bird is a fantastic mimic: it can imitate people, cars, machinery, even chain saws and pneumatic drills. According to the Wikipedia: "A lyrebird's call is a rich mixture of its own song and any number of other sounds it has heard. The lyrebird's syrinx is the most complexly-muscled of the Passerines (songbirds), giving the lyrebird extraordinary ability, unmatched in vocal repertoire and mimicry. Lyrebirds render with great fidelity the individual songs of other birds and the chatter of flocks of birds, and also mimic other animals, human noises, machinery of all kinds, explosions and musical instruments. The lyrebird is capable of imitating almost any sound — from a mill whistle to a cross-cut saw, and, not uncommonly, sounds as diverse as chainsaws, car engines, and alarms, camera shutters, dogs barking, and crying babies. Lyrebirds are shy birds and a constant stream of bird calls coming from one place is often the only way of identifying them and their presence."
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Former Senator John Edwards is beginning to scare me: his cause may be hopeless if he keeps telling the truth



Former Senator John Edwards is probably not a real dark horse—to meet that definition, you probably need to be toward the back of the pack, and not No. 3. [1]

I haven't looked at any polls recently, but you have to think that Ann Coulter's recent comment must have helped his standing. If Coulter despises him that much, and is willing to slur him (and probably cost herself some book deals and speaking engagements). . .he must be doing something right. And he is. He's telling the truth. He tells us he will raise taxes to fund his health care program. He admits he made a mistake voting for The President's war (as opposed to, say, Senator Clinton who doesn't say she made a mistake. She says she was misled).

John Edward’s honesty and focus on actual issues is a welcome relief from the rest of the pack of weasels, who spend most of their airtime dancing around the issues and avoiding any real commitment to virtually anything at all this early in the race.

John Edwards on Bill Maher, February, 2007: “I was wrong” means – I’m only speaking for me – means that I take responsibility for making a serious mistake on a vote that was probably the most important vote I cast in the United States Senate. I think we desperately need leaders in this country who will admit when they were wrong. We’re all human. All of us make mistakes. Admit when we’re wrong, change course, take responsibility for being wrong. I don’t think you can have the foundation for leadership, the moral foundation for leadership, if you don’t start by telling the truth. And, at least for me, this is the truth."

[1]
Top Dogs:
Senator Hillary Clinton
Sen. Barack Hussein Obama

Ex-Senator John Edwards

Bottom Dogs:
Ex-Vice-President and Ex-Senator Albert Gore (undeclared, but not saying no)
The Reverend Al Sharpton (he's making noises)
Senator Joe Biden, Delaware - almost blew himself out of the water
Gov. Bill Richardson, New Mexico
Gov. Tom Vilsack, Iowa
Senator Christopher Dodd, Connecticut
Ex-General Wesley Clark
Ex-Governor Mark Warner, Virginia
Senator Evan Bayh, Indiana - already threw in the towel
Senator John Kerry, Massachusetts - blew himself right out of the water

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Poem: Changes 40/Deliverance


1
The hawk on a high wall
is hardened in his wickedness

2
A thunderstorm clears the air
Like Wyatt Earp's peacekeeper

3
Deliver yourself from your great toe.
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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

It's been another rough month at the white house




  • The Eight Fired U.S. Attorney's (including Seattle's) and calls for AG Gonzales's resignation


  • The Army Hospital scandal


  • Scooter Libby's conviction for lying and the protracted appeal


  • FBI data collection scandal using a Patriot Act loophole


  • The War Going South


  • Revelations POTUS played fast and loose with facts and figures


  • The Stock market going south


  • Blood money, oil money, lies
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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Homosexuality (and adultery) is immoral

According to the Associated Pres, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday he considers homosexuality to be immoral and the military should not condone it.

Pace, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and a 1967 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, said he based his views on his upbringing.

I wonder just how many gays and lesbians a person like the General has even met in his life?

It's immoral to have sex with someone of your own gender, but maiming and killing?, well, we make a little exception for that. I don't want to be the first one to throw stones, but you have to admit, the General looks like he just might be a little light on his feet himself!

[editor's note: And today, the General retracted his statement. A Fark caption suggested that the General would not doubt be entering rehab tomorrow!]
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Video: Will Farrell sings Dust In The Wind at Blue's funeral (from the film Old School)


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A confession: How I slipped through the NSA metal detectors. . .with some heavy metal!

When I was returning home to Seattle from Oakland last week, something happened to me that hasn't happened in eight years. I stepped through the metal detector and it didn't go off! I've been flying around the country a lot in the last few months, and I was a little shocked. I looked at the woman running the machine and she said "OK, you can go." And I almost told her. But I didn't.

You may or may not recall that I have an artificial hip. It is made of stainless steel. And every time I've walked through metal detectors over the last eight years, they have sounded the alarm. But this time, there was silence. I was stunned. And it was so nice not to be stared at by my fellow fliers, gone over with the wand, and then frisked, that I just walked away without saying a word. Now, this hip replacement has more mass of metal in it than any handgun. Therefore, I could have been packing a Glock (far less mass than a prosthetic hip), or any number of grenades. But fortunately, I left them at home this time.



Hey NSA, you might want to check out security at the Oakland airport. For all I know, someone in your organization fiddled with the machine in preparation for a fellow member of their sleeper cell to slip through and do something heinous.
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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

226 years ago today, Uranus was discovered



Today in 1781, William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus. Herschel, a German-born astronomer, was not the first person to observe the seventh planet from the sun, but he was the first to correctly identify it as a planet. Prior to Herschel, Uranus was believed to be a star.

That's 226 years of really lame jokes.
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Danger: Police In Area!


Click to enlarge

Click here to go to October22.org.
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