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July 25th, 2008

02:24 pm
mhoye

An Update
The world has changed, and my blog is now here, my photos are here, and RSS feeds are available for both of them. Thank you for your attention in this matter, world.

(Leave a comment)

07:58 pm
thette

[Link]

In the Amazon box
Just dispatched from Amazon.co.uk: The Hand of Fear (Sarah Jane's departure), The Brain of Morbius and (WOOO!) the Davros box. A yummy month.

(Leave a comment)

12:54 pm
randompictures
[benchilada]

[Link]

( Since Lovely Wife Sara has to get one on Monday, here's what a spinal tap looks like... )

(9 comments | Leave a comment)

01:52 pm
useless_facts
[heathyre]

[Link]

Villagers were shocked after a monkey-like piglet was born in China.

Curious locals flocked to the home of owner Feng Changlin after news of the piglet spread in Fengzhang village, Xiping township.

"It's hideous. No one will be willing to buy it, and it scares the family to even look at it!" Feng told Oriental Today.

He says the piglet looks just like a monkey, with two thin lips, a small nose and two big eyes. Its rear legs are also much longer than its forelegs, causing it to jump instead of walk.

Source

Current Mood: curious

(8 comments | Leave a comment)

05:52 pm
scalzifeed

[Link]

Don’t Stop MP3in’, Hold On That Feeling

http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=1105

Via a tip off from Rob Thornton, behold the Journey mp3 player!

Oh, yes, it’s real:

The Zvue Journey comes preloaded with Journey music — 11 of their classic hits (”Any Way You Want It,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Wheel in the Sky,” “Open Arms,” etc.) as well as the 11 songs on their new album Revelation featuring a new vocalist, Arnel Pineda. With a 1GB capacity, the Windows-only Journey also has room for additional MP3, WMA and WAV music, a microphone for recording your most fervent Journey-related musings, a rechargable battery, seven EQ presets and a tiny little speaker.

All for 40 bucks! At Wal-Mart!

I’ve already got the album and an mp3 player, but I’m seriously thinking of buying one just to terrify all my friends. $40 is not too expensive to watch the reactions on their faces.

(Leave a comment)

03:00 pm
snopes_dot_com

[Link]

Barack Obama in Afghanistan

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp

E-mail claims presidential candidate Barack Obama "blew off" U.S. soldiers during his recent visit to Afghanistan.

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

01:55 pm
randompictures
[lillyluna]

[Link]

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

01:47 pm
demonfafa

[Link]

All Part of the Plan
( More and More: The Jewey Show Was Awful Crap Continues )

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

12:38 pm
benchilada

[Link]

Sara's gonna be getting another EMG on Monday.

And a spinal tap.

Cross every finger you can find, even if they belong to other people.

A trip to the grocery store tires her out these days.

Even with a sleeping pill she can't make it through the night without waking up.

Too many tears, too many worries.

I want this to be over.

All of it.

I want my wife to be well again.

b

Tags: sara

(18 comments | Leave a comment)

10:09 am
cuteoverload

[Link]

Noseverload

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/07/noseverload.html

For those of you who CAN'T GET ENOUGH XTreme Puppeh Schnozzle Action, there's this page of Noses.

Your daily requirement has now been fulfilled. Thank you.

I've got 100% of my daily XPSA now, Panda Amanda.

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

06:40 pm
warren_ellis

[Link]

World Wide Week 2008

(28)

(Automatically crossposted from warrenellis.com. Feel free to comment here or at my internet church at Whitechapel. If anything in this post looks weird, it's because LJ is run on steampipes and rubber bands -- please click through to the main site.)

(Leave a comment)

01:37 pm
coyotegoth

[Link]

I met up with

rezendi for sushi today; after talking to him, I’ve added Montreal to my list of mini-vacations for August. (Considering that I literally learned how to swim in the St. Lawrence, it’s been ages since I visited Canada proper.) Alas, I don’t think

ophi and I are going to get to say hello before she leaves- I hope you had a lovely visit, hun! *knuffel* Ahh, that makes me think of the old days, at a chat room I privately think of as “Survivors of Cliff”- although it’ll be a cold day in hell before I go there with any regularity again, it was an interesting place, once upon a time, and many wonderful people on my flist were first met there, ages ago.

(Meanwhile, could someone tell me how this was ever supposed to strike fear into the hearts of the underworld? They’d be pestering him for hugs!)

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

01:34 pm
trotfox

[Link]

You know it!

Your result for The Steampunk Style Test...

The Gadgeteer

15% Elegant, 69% Technological, 30% Historical, 56% Adventurous and 26% Playful!

You are the Gadgeteer, the embodiment of steampunk technology. Ironically, many of the things that most define your style are probably too large to easily carry about, but given the opportunity you would prefer to be seen surrounded by boiler engines, gear-driven calculators, and incredible automata. Of all the steampunk fashion styles, you place the greatest emphasis on technological accessories, and you are the most likely to create elaborate gadgets that are as much a part of your outfit as your clothes. You probably have goggles, but unlike most people you consider them to be for more than decoration. Whereas most people might look odd carrying a satchel of tools around, for you they may well be essential. Above all, you remind everyone that what sets the genre apart from Victoriana is simply the level of technology.

Try our other Steampunk test here.

Take The Steampunk Style Test at HelloQuizzy

Current Location: Werk
Current Mood: headache

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

09:51 am
tjcrowley

[Link]

London After Midnight?
So, if you are a complete nut about horror movies then you probably know about the infamous LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT. Most of my readers will think I'm talking about a particularly overwrought band from Los Angeles, but in reality this is the title of perhaps one of the more infamous "lost" films in movie history. When you start talking about lost silent films, the two that always come up are the 10 hour version of GREED (based on Frank Norris' MCTEAGUE, another of my dear San Francisco novels) and LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT starring the infamous Lon Chaney.

Filmed in 1927 as a silent film, this film was assumed to have been lost in a fire at a film vault in 1967. You see, these old movies are shot on silver nitrate film. Films from this era are literally explosive -- a lit cigarette can make them burst into flame. This film was also a victim of the changover from silent to "talkies" -- the first talking pictures were starting to come out, and while LAM was a huge financial success for the film studio, it quickly went into storage because the number of silent theatres quickly dropped to zero by 1935. Lon Chaney was in talks to be the main character of a new Tod Browning talking picture called DRACULA when he died in 1930, and the role went to a foreigner named Bela Lugosi.

MGM took the film completely out of circulation and then 40 years later the last copy was supposedly destroyed in that fateful fire. Or was it?

A blogger with a horror blog website has stated that he actually HELD a print of LAM in his hands in 1998. I've been sitting on this story for a few days to see if anything shakes out, and in the meantime I've been asking film professionals on my own about it. I know an awful lot of film buffs and Folks Who Would Know. While they all say that it's possible a print survives in some really wretched collector's hands, this story is more than likely a complete fabrication. The suspicious traits are there -- the blogger references a "Ted Newsom" in the post that turns out to be another poster on the same website with over 8500 posts to his name -- seems really suspicious. Add to this the fact that the people running this website have some kind of imaginary competition going on with RUE MORGUE magazine, and the entire thing just screams LET'S GET HITS TO OUR WEBSITE. In that respect they have succeeded, because this story made the pages of Aint It Cool news -- plus it's coming out during Comic Con so I am sure they will be the talk of that convention.

I really want to believe this story. Unfortunately, I also understand that human beings are greedy, selfish, lying bastards as a whole. I apologize if you are fans of the Horror Drunx website, but they've purposefully spread a story that can only be proven correct when the film is found and can't be disproved at all and is quite unbelieveable. I can tell you one thing -- if I had found a copy of LAM in a film vault in 1998, I would have probably tried to take it with me or at least NOT LET IT OUT OF MY HANDS until I could find someone who knew the importance of the film. This part of the story just doesn't ring true. Any film buff would tell you the same thing. Harry Knowles (of AICN.com) has stated that he would pay $10,000 plus airfare to whereever it was being shown just to see it. If this guy had his wits about him, he could have stolen the print and been set for life -- a collector would pay millions for it.

If this is true that's awesome, but more than likely it's an opportunistic lie. The refrain everyone is hearing from the Horror Drunx folks is "Prove us wrong!" when in reality the burden of proof is on them. In a perfect world, these people would be run out of town on a rail for being such idiots, but sadly it's probably just going to get them more traffic.

Tags: assholes, movies

(Leave a comment)

01:20 pm
calysto

[Link]

So, McCain has constantly been criticizing Obama for being inexperienced and uninformed because Obama has never been to Iraq or Afghanistan and never visited our key allies in Europe.

So Obama takes a trip to those places and now McCain is loudly criticizing Obama for campaigning abroad instead of domestically?

wtf?

I'm so voting for my cat.

(6 comments | Leave a comment)

01:00 pm
aaronace

[Link]

Print Sale
To help lessen the blow of the flooding, I'm having a print sale. If you ever thought about buying one of my pieces, this would be the perfect time.

$15 for signed 9"x12" prints, with free shipping in the US. You can browse through this journal or my flickr gallery. If you see something you like, drop me a line at aaronace [at] gmail [dot] com, and I'll let you know if it's available.

Thanks for all the well wishes and kind comments. I really appreciate your support and friendship.

Peace.

(Feel free to cross-post as desired, the more the merrier.)

(9 comments | Leave a comment)

09:57 am
rimrunner

[Link]

Cymbeline
Randy Pausch, of last lecture fame, succumbs to cancer.

Watch the lecture, if you haven't seen it. It's about an hour, admittedly, but watch even part of it if you can. Or read the book. (Mom: this is the one I sent you.)

"We don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well." — CMU commencement address, May 2008

Current Mood: quiet
Tags: death

(Leave a comment)

02:58 am
pamshouseblend

[Link]

Confessions of a Schoolyard Bully

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PamsHouseBlend/~3/345796407/showDiary.do

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6256

Cross-posted on Daily Kos

I have never endured a more difficult experience than the cliquey, judgmental, make it or break it middle school crowd of my childhood years. I'll be perfectly honest, at 20 years old, those memories are quite fresh in my mind. I'm sure you can relate in some way.

I know, I'm well aware of the demographics of Dkos, however I also am aware of the universality of assholes, bullies and jocks throughout time, culture and class. If not middle school, then high school or certainly college. So many of us Kossacks can recall those dark experiences of school harassment in the form of intimidation, humiliation and sometimes violence.

Some of us, like me, remember those days as perpetrators. I know it may be hard to imagine, but for us reformed bullies, the experiences can sometimes be far worse than anything we dished out. Please allow me to explain.
First the facts:

A 2005 study found that gay-bashing remains a major problem in the nation's schools.
Three-quarters of American students surveyed by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network said that they heard derogatory remarks such as "faggot" or "dyke" frequently or often at school in the previous year. Nearly nine out of 10 reported hearing "that's so gay" or "you're so gay" - meaning stupid or worthless - frequently or often.

My middle school functioned as a hierarchy, and I was nowhere on top. I remember my 1st month of 7th grade clearly as my efforts to blend in and remain unnoticed were foiled by a botched haircut.

My aunt, a now very successful Port Richey, Florida hairstylist, botched giving me some highlights in my hair 2 days before the first day of school. First off, the mere attempt of getting highlights in a semi-rural, conservative-esq environment was a risk in itself. Needless to say it was horrific when I saw that I instead had bright orange streaks.

I was instantly identified as a possible queer, to be ridiculed and isolated. I still remember my lunch room group, we were WITHOUT question the reject table. The crowd that couldn't afford the commercialization of our cafeteria (ice creams and fast food restaurants moved in early into our cafeteria), and were stuck with a limited free school lunch selection (that is, on the days where I wasn't able to steal money from my grandmother to play rich for a day).

Over a third of students said they experienced physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a quarter on the basis of their gender expression.

There was another kid on the same hierarchal level as me, Michael Johnson, I remember his name to this day. He was a pimply kid, and wasn't known for his fashion sense. Like me, his family (then) couldn't afford the designer jeans and stylish clothes. We were relieved that the baggy clothes movement could be our excuse to rock hand-me-downs with a little less shame.

Anyway, he was my ticket up. After all, if I bullied someone too, I wouldn't be the bottom of the food chain so to speak. As a side benefit, I also could fortify my heterosexual credentials by questioning Michael's sexuality and taking the heat off lingering questions about my own.

Note to readers, those bullies you remembers that loved to call other people faggots or dykes, or always seemed to work a homoerotic joke into every conversation. A lot of the time they're using those insults to convince themselves of their heterosexuality. I know, I've been there. For further reference check out Rev. Ted Haggard or Larry Craig.

Anyway, middle school for me embodies social hell. I pushed away any means of normal socialization for a kid my age in favor of books. Books, after all, never judge. To this day, I often find myself declining to hang out in favor of curling up with a nice book. It's a defense mechanism against societal judgements that I so feared in middle school.

To this day however, the fact that I was bullied is something I barely remember. The memories that are seared into me from middle school are the instances where I myself was the terror, the bully, the instigator. Most bullies never have real power, they just have huge insecurities and are trying to compensate. For me those insecurities still exist, although I have oddly enough found myself transformed from a homophobic school terror to a queer identified LGBT rights activist.

To those who have been bullied, you have suffered and I understand. But us ex-bullies live with the knowledge that we subjugated other human beings to living hell.

Nearly one in five students reported they had been physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation and more than one in 10 reported assaults because of their gender expression.
The study also showed that bullying has a negative impact on learning.
LGBT students were five times more likely to report having skipped school in the last month because of safety concerns than the general population of students.

My repentance exists in the form of my impassioned activism in favor of LGBT (especially the L the B and the T) civil rights. Anti-bullying legislation is an issue dear to my heart. My concern, as much as I think about those being bullied, is also concern for those very same bullies who instigate the terror. When you come down to it, victim or bully, they're all children, sometimes without a full understanding of the effect their actions will have on themselves and others in the future.

As I vacation in Florida, knowing that Broward county in this state just passed one of the most comprehensive anti-bullying policies, I look forward to seeing the day when every school district in America has protections. I especially hope to see those protections address sexual orientation, and equally as important, gender identity/expression.

Broward county, this is a cheers to you. This former bully applauds your move to correct the foolish actions of bullies everywhere. Sooner or later, we realize that the strength of the victims we once harassed stick with us throughout our lives as examples of the durability of the human spirit, of humanity.

The Broward County School Board passed the strongest anti-bully ing policy in Florida this week.
The policy contains a full list of prohibited forms of harassment, bullying and discrimination; prohibitions include targeting victims based on their sexual orientation, as well as gender identity and expression.
The law was passed to comply with new state requirements that school districts develop and enact anti-bully policies by Dec. 1, 2008, and that those policies to protect all students.
"This is the ideal policy that other schools should replicate. By fully listing all forms of prohibited harassment, Broward County is making crystal clear what the legislature has repeatedly said, that all students must be equally protected," said Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida.
"Not only does this policy provide the best protection for students and teachers, but it also protects the school district by demonstrating that they are fully complying with the law," she said.
The state requirement was passed earlier this year and signed into law last month by Gov. Charlie Crist (R).
Under the requirement, individual school districts decide specific categories of students to be protected, although lawmakers stated on the record that it was designed protect LGBT students, as well as other minorities.
Districts who do not comply by Dec. 1 risk losing state funds.

Author's Note: My name is Travis Ballie. My area of activism centers particularly around queer activism. My goal is to write diaries on DailyKos as a regular update concerning issues facing the queer community and occasionally other issues dealing with race, gender and class. I sincerely hope to gain a readership base of committed LGBT activists and our supporters. Such a base will only enhance DailyKos and provoke greater thought. Just as a note, I may use terms like gay, lesbian, bisexual transgender (GLBT) or queer (a substitute for GLBT).

(Leave a comment)

03:44 pm
pamshouseblend

[Link]

Killer of Lawrence King to be tried as adult

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PamsHouseBlend/~3/345796409/showDiary.do

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6259

The whole situation is tragic -- it's an example of how and why homophobia and transphobia are so toxic. One young man is dead, the other, acting on unchecked cultural bigotry, faces a long sentence if convicted. The adults in charge at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, CA saw it all coming and didn't realize or act upon the gravity of the situation, and the defense attorney relies on blaming the victim, a minor.

Relying on past court decisions, a judge ruled Thursday that trying a 14-year-old boy accused of murder in an adult court does not violate the constitution, swatting down legal arguments raised by the boy's attorney that it was cruel and unusual punishment to do so.
Teenage defendant Brandon McInerney of Oxnard is charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime in connection with the Feb. 12 killing of classmate Larry King, 15, who sometimes wore makeup and told friends he was gay.
McInerney is accused of shooting the Oxnard youth as students worked on English assignments in a classroom at E.O. Green School in Oxnard.

* Defense attorney of Lawrence King's murderer: it's the victim's fault
* Q Of The Day: Try Lawrence King's Alleged Killer As A Juvenile, Or As An Adult?
* Ellen speaks out about the Lawrence King murder
* Parents confront officials about Lawrence King shooting

(Leave a comment)

12:48 pm
james_nicoll

[Link]

More ReformaTory PR
This was also printed on the cheap in black and white and looks more like something the tinfoil hat brigade might have come up with to warn the populace about the terrible menace of CHUD. The topic in this one is the shadowy menace of YOUTH CRIME (as represented by a masked kid in a hoodie) and that the ReformaTories are dealing with the issue.

(6 comments | Leave a comment)

10:48 am
slacktivist

[Link]

L.B.: The hidden display

http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2008/07/lb-witness-tamp.html

Left Behind, pp. 456-458

I should start by acknowledging something remarkable about this passage: Jerry Jenkins succeeds in conveying some of what he's trying to get across. Nicolae Carpathia is genuinely creepy here, just as Jenkins intended. There are touches that actually work. Nicolae's calm, polite cold-bloodedness is effectively disturbing.

This isn't the first time we've encountered something creepy in these pages. Nearly every scene with Rayford, for example, is deeply disturbing. But this is the first time that Jenkins succeeds in being intentionally creepy -- still not creepy enough, perhaps, but to some extent legitimately creepy. Yes, the scene borrows heavily from things we've all seen before, and yes it goes on a bit too long, but on some basic level, this bit here works:

"Everyone be seated, please," Carpathia said, calm again. "Jonathan, on your knees."
Painfully, the old man crouched, using Hattie's chair for support. He did not face Carpathia or look at him. The gun was still in his ear. Hattie sat pale and frozen.

"My dear," Carpathia said, leaning toward her over Stonagal's head, "you will want to slide your chair back about three feet so as not to soil your outfit."

Part of the reason that little bit works a little bit is because it's understated. As we've seen time and again, Jenkins is capable of understatement, but he can never seem to leave it at that. Every time readers encounter something that seems subtle or nuanced, we're quickly reminded that Jenkins uses such light touches only as a one-two combination, a quick jab always followed by a big, sweeping, off-balance roundhouse.

Stonagal began to whimper. "Nicolae, why are you doing this? I am your friend! I am no threat!"
"Begging does not become you, Jonathan. Please be quiet. Hattie," he continued, looking directly into her eyes now, "stand and move your chair back and be seated. Hair, skin, skull tissue and brain matter will mostly be absorbed by Mr. Todd-Cothran and the others next to him. I do not want anything to get on you."

That seems less creepy and more just kind of gross.

Plus I think Nicolae is right about Jonathan Stonagal -- begging doesn't suit him. He shouldn't be the begging type, and "I'm no threat" is exactly the opposite of what he should be saying here. He's Jonathan Stonagal, after all, he owns banks and governments all over the world. He's the head of an international shadow-government conspiracy. It seems likely he's had a gun pointed at him before.

We've all seen this scene on television or at the movies enough times to be familiar with its conventions (which is a nicer word than "cliches"). The eerily calm master manipulator never flinches at the sight of the gun. He simply explains to the person with the gun why shooting him would run counter to their own best interest. He mentions intimate details about their friends and family members in a vaguely menacing way; he explains the consequences he has ensured will occur should anything unforeseen happen to him. He hints at secrets that would never be revealed if he were to die, and at secrets that he would no longer be able to conceal. He doesn't raise his voice and he doesn't beg. And he absolutely never whimpers or pleads for mercy on the basis of friendship.

We're supposed to accept here that Stonagal is surprised by Nicolae's sudden betrayal. That seems unlikely. First of all, Stoney didn't get to be where he is today as a global puppet-master by trusting anyone. He might have to rely on his associates and his deputies, but that's not the same as trusting them. He would anticipate the possibility of betrayal by any or all of them, and he'd have plans in place for that contingency. That seems doubly true in the case of his protege. He knows that Nicolae is capable of murderous betrayal because he, personally, taught him how to do it. So it seems unlikely that Stonagal could be caught off-guard like this.

Stoney is also well-acquainted with all of the dirt in Nicolae's past. He knows where the bodies are buried. Rather than whimpering and begging, he ought to be reminding his protege of that and advising him of the consequences of pulling the trigger -- such as perhaps the nonstop global broadcast, through his many-tentacled media empire, of every incriminating or embarrassing or career-ending detail of Nicolae's past. ("Remember that unfortunate situation in the Ukraine? I told you not to worry, that I'd take care of it? Well, she's still alive. Oh yes. She's almost 12 now, and the specialists think she may even be able to walk again some day. And that videotape? I'm afraid I may have exaggerated slightly when I told you that every copy had been destroyed. Although should anything unforeseen happen to me that tape would be the least of your problems ...")

Stonagal is supposed to be the great Machiavellian manipulator. What we needed to see here was Nicolae out-manipulating him, beating him at his own game. There ought to be a final chess match between these two evil megalomaniacs, ending with Nicolae's crowning "checkmate," but instead he just knocks the board over, scattering the pieces. That doesn't fit with the picture Jenkins is trying to paint of Nicolae as a calm, methodical mastermind carrying out a carefully devised plan.

This chapter's preoccupation with seating arrangements also undermines that image. Everyone comes into the room and Nicolae has them all take their seats just as he's arranged for them to do, orchestrating their every movement according to his master plan. Now at last, the pieces are all in place and his grand scheme can go into ... Wait. Sorry. Jonathan, you and I need to switch places. Right, good. Thanks.

OK, now at last the pieces are all in ... Hold on. Todd-Cothran, would you mind switching seats with Hattie? Just skooch over a little there ...

This game of musical chairs might have worked if Nicolae was supposed to be a capricious sadist -- a psychopath who took pleasure in toying with his victims before killing them. But that's not what the authors are shooting for here. Nicolae is supposed to be anything but capricious. He has a meticulous Master Plan. It's hard to worry about his nefarious Master Plan, though, when he can't even put together a proper seating chart.

Carpathia was in no hurry. "I am going to kill Mr. Stonagal with a painless hollow-point round to the brain which he will neither hear nor feel. The rest of us will experience some ringing in our ears. This will be instructive for you all. You will understand cognitively that I am in charge, that I fear no man, and that no one can oppose me."

... Until I run out of bullets.

Again, it's difficult to be impressed by what was billed as a supernatural display of power when the only actual power on display turns out to be that of Man With Gun in Room Full of Unarmed People.

Buck considered a suicidal dive across the table for the gun, but he knew that others might die for his effort.

So Buck continues to just sit there, doing nothing. In a few pages there's a dramatic scene in which he sits there, saying nothing. And then a few pages later he springs into action and ... runs away.

"When Mr. Stonagal is dead, I will tell you what you will remember. And lest anyone feel I have not been fair, let me not neglect to add that more than gore will wind up on Mr. Todd-Cothran's suit. A high-velocity bullet at this range will also kill him, which, as you know, Mr. Williams, is something I promised you I would deal with in due time.
Todd-Cothran opened his eyes at that news, and Buck found himself shouting, "No!" as Carpathia pulled the trigger. The blast rattled the windows and even the door. Stonagal's head crashed into the toppling Todd-Cothran and both were plainly dead before their entwined bodies reached the floor.

Those high-velocity bullets, it turns out, are way deadlier than your typical low-velocity bullet.

Nicolae puts the gun into Stonagal's hand, staging the scene, roughly, to look like a kind of suicide with collateral damage. He's not wearing gloves, so his prints are on the gun and the powder residue is on his hand, but he's not really worried about that. He can always mind-mojo the CSI squad if he needs to, and he's got a room full of eyewitnesses to support his version of the story:

"What we have just witnessed here," he said kindly, as if speaking to children, "was a horrible, tragic end to two otherwise extravagantly productive lives. These men were two I respected and admired more than any others in the world. What compelled Mr. Stonagal to rush the guard, disarm him, take his own life and that of his British colleague, I do not know and may never fully understand."

And of course this works. Over the next several pages, all of the non-born-again eyewitnesses in the room will dutifully repeat this version of the story, believing that this is what they really saw happen. Here, at last, we see that Nicolae really does have some supernatural Antichrist powers beyond the kind of trigger-pulling powers available to every mere mortal.

The display of supernatural powers by the Antichrist ought to be chilling, but here in the final chapter of Left Behind it falls flat. This is partly due to bland, unimaginative writing (as we'll see when we look, in our next installment, at the following pages), but mainly it's due to his grand display of Antichrist powers just plain not making any sense.

Nicolae demonstrates his supernatural powers by concealing them. I can't figure out how this constitutes a "show of strength."

Everyone in the room is thoroughly convinced that they saw nothing other than the suicide Nicolae just described. That scenario scarcely holds up -- Stonagal could barely kneel unassisted, how could he have overpowered the guard? And why would he have run back to his seat? -- but set that aside. Apart from Buck, no one in the room will remember what they really just saw. Apart from Buck's Tribulation Force friends, no one outside the room will ever hear any other account of what occurred there. How is that account supposed to make the whole world "understand cognitively" that Nicolae is in charge, that he fears no man, that no one can oppose him?

Bruce Barnes said that, according to prophecy, "The Antichrist will solidify his power with a show of strength." If Nicolae is really the Antichrist, he told Buck, then "He has to show some potency. What might he do to entrench himself so solidly that no one can oppose him?"

What might he do? Well, he might just convince the entire world that he had been a hapless bystander at a suicide. Power solidified. Prophecy fulfilled.

(Leave a comment)

12:34 pm
kadath

[Link]

I harvest the finest links from other blogs!
Top 10 Ghost Towns

Aurora cause debate resolved. (

jror_tholin, the magnetic field collapse theory won.)

Tags: linkage, science

(Leave a comment)

04:00 pm
hascheezburger

[Link]

iz u done vacooming now??

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ICanHasCheezburger/~3/foDRkrMx6SM/

http://icanhascheezburger.com/?p=81499

cat

iz u done vacooming now??

i haz 2 kleen awl of da dust bunnehs.

picture: dunno source, via our lolcat builder. lol caption: bonjourxminou

» Recaption This

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11:28 am
randompictures
[roughestgunark]

[Link]

touche

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08:20 pm
e_apraksina

[Link]

прелесть

Tags: кошкофильское

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11:19 am
fengi

[Link]

Days of Yep Five: Wonderful Spam
The found poetry of the junk mail folder is a tired joke which I still find entertaining, be it the audacity of direct pitches or the word jumbles seeking to foil filters. My easy amusement is mostly due to from imagining a group of exceedingly sincere poetry slammers standing on a stage reading each line with great pretense and passion. Like dreams, they mix unspoken desires and anxieties with absurdity.

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Vulcan!

John Mccain Eats A Bug

College credit for what you already know...Now

Who wouldn't want someone to look at your life and then hand you a degree for it? Part of my mind still operates in four year cycles - and considering our general framing of the seasons is highly influenced by the school calendar, it's not an entirely unreasonable notion.

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11:24 am
randompictures
[lafinjack]

[Link]

Ride of the lolkyries?

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03:26 pm
metro_weird

[Link]

Pole dancing granny a YouTube hit

http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/324/f/4509/s/185d3c4/story01.htm

For those who just can't get excited about bland YouTube videos anymore, here's what you've been waiting for - Pole Dancing Granny.

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11:12 am
mistresschewtoy

[Link]

Today. . . .
I will not turn on the television while attempting to work. A Shear Genius marathon was on Bravo yesterday and I got sucked into it while trying to work. It made me think hair and made me want to clip, bleach and color. I had to get away from it to concentrate. Later I made the mistake of turning it on again. Superman had just come on. I didn't notice until I heard Brando in the background, I was then sucked in. Can't do that today.

Must stay focused. . .after I check all my email.

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03:41 pm
worldocrap

[Link]

Go Speed Novak, GO!

http://world-o-crap.com/blog/?p=861

Reasonable Conservative Jon Swift helpfully illuminates recent McCain campaign strategies, showing us the linear progression from branding the electorate pussies, to whimpering in front of sausage and fudge restaurants, to countering Democratic GOTV efforts with negative advertising and vehicular homicide.

Read and Be Reasonable.

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10:30 am
cuteoverload

[Link]

Back AWAY from the bamboo, Sir

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/07/back-away-from.html

Panda: OK! OK! [Paws up]

I was only going to Nom a small amount—I SWEARS!

You better get a ~~otter~~ lawyer Susan W.!

[UPDATE -- ohhh I'm reprehensible, but CLICK HERE for Reality-Casual Flashback... - Ed.]

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09:01 am
cuteoverload

[Link]

Imperial Alpacas

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/07/imperial-alpaca.html

Have arrived and are going to sniff this situation out.

Just stand still and they should pass over you in a second.

They only travel in a massive, sniffing mob, Nancy A. Snorf.

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05:00 pm
warren_ellis

[Link]

World Wide Week 2008

This time round, I received at least 500 more photos than I could possibly use. You people have amazed me. I’ve still got more to go through — and, yes, I’m looking at every single one of you — but in order to get this stunt wrapped semi-successfully today, I’m having to skim and post a representative selection.

The mosaic-making software is pretty random in how it crops and arranges the shots. So the second tier of this one is entirely serendipitous:

(27)

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10:46 am
interactiveleaf

[Link]

Here are three posts that any of you with teenagers, and maybe some of you who are adults but don't know this yet, ought to go read:

How to Not Get Killed: The Routine Traffic Stop
How to Not Get Killed 2: A Lawful Order
How to Not Get (Nearly) Killed 3: Getting Permission to Break the Law

Agree, disagree, whatever, just read. Feel free to discuss there or here.

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10:40 am
jerrygarciuh

[Link]

Apllo 14 Astronaut Confesses Official Knowlege of Alien Life

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,390161,00.html

July 24, 2008 02:05pm

FORMER NASA astronaut and moonwalker Dr Edgar Mitchell - a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has stunningly claimed aliens do exist.

And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions - but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades.

Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'

He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.

Chillingly, he claimed our technology is "not nearly as sophisticated" as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned "we would be been gone by now".

Dr Mitchell, along with with Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard, holds the record for the longest ever moon walk, at nine hours and 17 minutes following their 1971 mission.

"I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real," Dr Mitchell said.

"It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it.

"I've been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it's been happening quite a bit."

Dr Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated.

He told the astonished Kerrang! radio host Nick Margerrison: "This is really starting to open up. I think we're headed for real disclosure and some serious organisations are moving in that direction."

Mr Margerrison said: "I thought I'd stumbled on some sort of astronaut humour but he was absolutely serious that aliens are definitely out there and there's no debating it."

Officials from NASA, however, were quick to play the comments down.

In a statement, a spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe.

'Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue.'

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03:00 pm
bablogfeed

[Link]

What are the Lagrange points?

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/345737164/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/07/25/what-are-the-lagrange-points/

In my live video chat session Saturday, I was asked about the Lagrange points, places of gravitational stability. I decided I needed props for this (yes, the return of the Squishy Brain of Science and the Mintie of Science!), and it works even better with pictures, so I created a video for it.

You can learn more details about the Lagrange points at the Montana University site. The Lagrange point images (and the WMAP picture) come from the WMAP website. The JWST picture is from the (duh) JWST site. The portrait of Lagrange is from Wikipedia. Everything else is pure me, baby.

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11:33 am
nihilistic_kid

[Link]

Apropos the other day

ambe_indikaze notes that anti-elitist countersnobbery tends to push others toward elitism, and vice-versa.

That would explain why discussions of the same always end up with 100+ comments of canned arguments from people who are absolutely sure they aren't making canned arguments.

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05:34 pm
randompictures
[johnnythunderz]

[Link]

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11:13 am
kadath

[Link]

Potential Table of Contents for the Great Explication

Introduction
The Cartesian coordinate system and the equations of curves
The differential calculus
Sidebar: The integral calculus
Polynomial approximations of functions
The calculus of multiple variables
Ordinary differential equations
Partial differential equations
The theory of numerical analysis

Bonus Material; or, Gaussian Error Analysis; or, Disproof of the Existence of a Loving God Who Wants Me To Be Happy; or, Crap I Can't Do On Timed Tests and Thus Probably Won't End Up Writing About:

The trigonometric functions
Euler's identity
Analytic representation of real-valued functions
The theory of Gaussian error analysis

Tags: science

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11:16 am
hadesflower

[Link]

...because the apocalypse doesn't have to be lonely
( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

Current Location: work
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Maneater

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10:23 am
pharyngula

[Link]

Baylor rededicates itself to bible college status

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/345720423/baylor_rededicates_itself_to_b.php

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/baylor_rededicates_itself_to_b.php

The president of Baylor, John M. Lilley, was fired abruptly yesterday. He demonstrated insufficient dedication to their "faith mission", so of course he had to go. I'm sure the ID crowd will be pleased — by encouraging a stronger "Christian vision", the next president of the university will probably encourage more Intelligent Design nonsense…which, of course, is an entirely secular concept that is not reliant on faith or Christian visions. Right.

I also have to say that this diagram accompanying the commentary is spot on.

Read the comments on this post...

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11:09 am
demonfafa

[Link]

Banning Goth & Emo
More on the gothix front: The Russian Parliament is trying to make Goth & 'emo' music illegal

Oh yeah, that's a great idea and will certainly prevent teen suicide. Because anyone who listens to awful Russian techno won't want to commit suicide.

Then again, no one said those Russian lawmakers were smart.

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11:02 am
randompictures
[bearbugs]

[Link]

today's woot

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08:08 am
rimrunner

[Link]

Friday words
734. I haven't written much this week because I've been working on outlines and character notes. I have a sneaking suspicion that this one is a novella, maybe a novelette. Hmph. Wish me luck.

Off to work.

Current Mood: awake
Tags: writing

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02:46 pm
metro_weird

[Link]

11-year-old boy bites dog, loses canine tooth

http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/324/f/4509/s/185c4e7/story01.htm

An 11-year old boy showed he had some bite by sinking his teeth into the neck of a dog that attacked him.

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09:49 am
pharyngula

[Link]

A slight delay

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/345694069/a_slight_delay.php

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/a_slight_delay.php

We were supposed to have a new edition of the Tangled Bank this week, at the Blue Collar Scientist — but has more serious real-life issues with which to contend, so unsurprisingly it has not made it up yet, and I haven't heard back from my email query. If I don't hear anything by this afternoon, I'll put something together myself — no blame to the BCS, of course, and please do give him your support.

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09:38 am
pharyngula

[Link]

Friday Cephalopod: a subtle overlord in blue pastels

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/345669657/friday_cephalopod_a_subtle_ove.php

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/friday_cephalopod_a_subtle_ove.php

Sepia smithi

Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide ^{(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll)}, by Mark Norman.

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07:52 am
wtf_nature
[brockulfsen]

[Link]

Kangaroo mauls elderly NSW woman
Kangaroo mauls elderly NSW woman
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/4807365/kangaroo-mauls-elderly-nsw-woman

A big roo can do lethal damage, and the males are often quite aggressive.

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02:36 pm
worldocrap

[Link]

“No, No, Mr. President, You’re Supposed To FIGHT Crime”

http://world-o-crap.com/blog/?p=860

Our old friend Andrew Klavan (see here) has emerged from the cineplex with a trembling sense of awe; he has stumbled to his knees, cast his moist, yearning eyes heavenward, and seen a revelation glowing from the underbelly of the sky…

A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . .

Oh, wait a minute. That’s not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a “W.”

Yes, Andrew has jumped on the meme-wagon and joined other conservative cineastes in declaring that George W. Bush is Super-President!

There seems to me no question that the Batman film “The Dark Knight,” currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war.

Well, there’s no question as long as the movie remains popular. If it had debuted to the kind of notices and box office that, say, Batman and Robin did, I doubt the Conservateriate would be hugging it to their bodies and screaming, “Mine! Mine! Mine!” like Daffy Duck hoarding a mound of jewels in Ali Baba Bunny.

Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

Of course, if you can make an emergency last long enough (did that Terrorist Color Swatch Chart ever drop below fuchsia?) then blown boundaries become the norm and you don’t have to restore squat. And unlike W, at least The Batman lost a little sleep over using the Constitution as a mud-butler.

And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society — in which people sometimes make the wrong choices — and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.

Or you can split the difference and drop the “free” part, then everybody can knock off early and meet for Long Island Iced Teas and Double-Stuffed Potato Skins at Bennigan’s. We can just Fed-Ex the rest of your civil rights to Hell in the morning…I’ll leave a note on Jerri’s desk.

“The Dark Knight,” then, is a conservative movie about the war on terror. And like another such film, last year’s “300,” “The Dark Knight” is making a fortune depicting the values and necessities that the Bush administration cannot seem to articulate for beans.

Maybe they should fire Dana Perino and hire Frank Miller. Forget press conferences, and just issue all Presidential statements in comic book form. I mean, they’re already halfway there; just install a fireman’s pole, a super-computer, and a giant penny in Cheney’s Secure Undisclosed Location, and you’ve got instant Bat Cave. Get someone from DC or Marvel to design uniforms — we already know Bush enjoys dressing up in costumes — and get David Frum working on a catchphrase. Not only would this finally restore a bit of honor and dignity to the White House, it would be revenue-neutral, since all costs could be defrayed by merchandising deals and cross-promotional tie-ins with Burger King.

Conversely, time after time, left-wing films about the war on terror — films like “In The Valley of Elah,” “Rendition” and “Redacted” — which preach moral equivalence and advocate surrender, that disrespect the military and their mission, that seem unable to distinguish the difference between America and Islamo-fascism, have bombed more spectacularly than Operation Shock and Awe.

Why is it then that left-wingers feel free to make their films direct and realistic, whereas Hollywood conservatives have to put on a mask in order to speak what they know to be the truth? Why is it, indeed, that the conservative values that power our defense — values like morality, faith, self-sacrifice and the nobility of fighting for the right — only appear in fantasy or comic-inspired films like “300,” “Lord of the Rings,” “Narnia,” “Spiderman 3″ and now “The Dark Knight”?

Wow. This takes the art of the rhetorical question to a whole new level, doesn’t it?

When heroes arise who take those difficult duties on themselves, it is tempting for the rest of us to turn our backs on them, to vilify them in order to protect our own appearance of righteousness. We prosecute and execrate the violent soldier or the cruel interrogator in order to parade ourselves as paragons of the peaceful values they preserve.

Well, we railroad obscure, powerless underlings while insulating management from accountability, but sure, I get your point.

As Gary Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon says of the hated and hunted Batman, “He has to run away — because we have to chase him.”

That’s real moral complexity.

And real fruit flavor!

And when our artistic community is ready to show that sometimes men must kill in order to preserve life; that sometimes they must violate their values in order to maintain those values; and that while movie stars may strut in the bright light of our adulation for pretending to be heroes, true heroes often must slink in the shadows, slump-shouldered and despised — then and only then will we be able to pay President Bush his due and make good and true films about the war on terror.

Perhaps that’s when Hollywood conservatives will be able to take off their masks and speak plainly in the light of day.

Hell, I’d be satisfied if they’d just start by taking off the two wetsuits and pulling the dildoes out of their ass. At least during business hours.

So I guess the lesson is, conservatives aren’t biologically capable of producing good, popular movies, but they’re certainly eager to adopt them as their own. Which I guess makes them the moral equivalent of a married gay couple with a nesting instinct.