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December 29, 2006
New Fantastic Four Trailer Kinda Impressive
Please excuse me while I experience this moment of Easily Amusedness. I swear to all that's holy I never pictured the new FANTASTIC FOUR teaser trailer looking any sort of cool. I also never figured they'd make Silver Surfer look like a force to be reckoned with.
I'm curious how the whole Galactus bit is going to work out. Surfer is his herald after all. I guess we'll all know this June.
The glamourous hi res version lives on the apple site.
(via iwatchstuff)
Posted by Groonk at 02:36 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Comics, Movies, Trailers
Odd Things are happening at the Apollo
They're viewing James Brown's body en masse.
That's seriously freaking my shit.
UPDATE: Michael Jackson out weirded everything by showing up to Mr Brown's funeral and speaking some sort of jibberish. Now that takes a special kind of weird.
(photo cred via WENN heads up via ontd)
Posted by Groonk at 02:13 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture
Godfather of Soul James Brown 1933 - 2006
I forgot to mention, James Brown is Dead.
This is becoming upsetting. I feel like I'm turning into a death blog. Even more upsetting. The old regime is dying out leaving a new one that is not up to snuff.
ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- James Brown, the dynamic, pompadoured "Godfather of Soul," whose rasping vocals and revolutionary rhythms made him a founder of rap, funk and disco as well, died early Monday, his agent said. He was 73.Brown was hospitalized with pneumonia at Emory Crawford Long Hospital on Sunday and died around 1:45 a.m. Monday, said his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music. Longtime friend Charles Bobbit was by his side, he said.
Copsidas said Brown's family was being notified of his death and that the cause was still uncertain. "We really don't know at this point what he died of," he said.
Along with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and a handful of others, Brown was one of the major musical influences of the past 50 years. At least one generation idolized him, and sometimes openly copied him.
His rapid-footed dancing inspired Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson among others. Songs such as David Bowie's "Fame," Prince's "Kiss," George Clinton's "Atomic Dog" and Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song" were clearly based on Brown's rhythms and vocal style.
The man had a troubled soul but he was a major influence on the world at large. I think he deserves his own Graceland.
(via cnn and flashback youtube and ireland)
Posted by Groonk at 01:52 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, Music, People Who Died
December 28, 2006
Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Guaranteed "Clone Free"
WASHINGTON - Meat and milk from cloned animals may not appear in supermarkets for years despite being deemed by the government as safe to eat. But don't be surprised if "clone-free" labels appear sooner. Ben & Jerry's, for one, wants consumers to know that its ice cream comes from regular cows and not clones. The Ben & Jerry's label already says its farmers don't use bovine growth hormone."We want to make sure people are confident with what's in our pints," company spokesman Rob Michalak said. "We haven't yet landed on exactly how we want to express that publicly."
For food that does come from clones, the
Food and Drug Administration is unlikely to require labels, officials said.The FDA gave preliminary approval Thursday to meat and milk from cloned animals or their offspring. Federal scientists found virtually no difference between food from clones and food from conventional livestock.
(via yahoo news)
Posted by Groonk at 03:46 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Cloning, Culture
Former US President Gerald Ford 1913 - 2006
Just a few days ago, Gerald Ford died and the news media coudln't wait to run their various profiles on the man's accomplishments and faults.
I acknowledge his accomplishments but I can't help but recall that time he guested on The Simpsons.
PALM DESERT, California (CNN) -- Preparations were under way Thursday for ceremonies to say farewell to former President Gerald R. Ford in California, Michigan and the nation's capital.Ford, 93, "died peacefully" Tuesday evening at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, his widow, Betty Ford, said in a statement. An official cause of death was not announced.
"His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country," she said.
[...]
In Ford's honor, Bush ordered U.S. flags at all federal government buildings to fly at half-staff for 30 days.
Former President Carter, who defeated Ford in the 1976 presidential race, said Ford "frequently rose above politics by emphasizing the need for bipartisanship and seeking common ground on issues critical to our nation."
For more Ford video that borders on the surreal watch an old SNL skit from 10 years ago via Cynical C Blog.
Posted by Groonk at 03:46 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, People Who Died, USA, Video
Joseph Barbera 1911 - 2006
While I was readying to leave the city last week, Joe Barbera died and the world cried a little inside.
Joe Barbera, half of the Hanna-Barbera animation team that produced such beloved cartoon characters as Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear and the Flintstones, died Monday, a Warner Bros. spokesman said. He was 95. Barbera died of natural causes at his home with his wife Sheila at his side, Warner Bros. spokesman Gary Miereanu said.With his longtime partner, Bill Hanna, Barbera first found success creating the highly successful Tom and Jerry cartoons. The antics of the battling cat and mouse went on to win seven Academy Awards, more than any other series with the same characters.
The partners, who had first teamed up while working at MGM in the 1930s, then went on to a whole new realm of success in the 1950s with a witty series of animated TV comedies, including "The Flintstones," "The Jetsons," "Yogi Bear," "Scooby-Doo" and "Huckleberry Hound and Friends."
Their strengths melded perfectly, critic Leonard Maltin wrote in his book "Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons." Barbera brought the comic gags and skilled drawing, while Hanna brought warmth and a keen sense of timing.
Hanna died in 2001.
(via everywhere including ONTD and povonline)
Posted by Groonk at 03:34 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, People Who Died, Video
December 23, 2006
This Year the Sewdish Christmas Goat Stood Unmolested
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - For 40 years it has been torched, vandalized, had its legs cut off and even been run over by a car. But officials in the Swedish city of Gavle are guaranteeing that this year's giant straw Christmas goat - the victim of Sweden's most violent yule tradition - will survive unscathed.
The 43-foot-high goat - a centuries-old yule symbol that preceded Santa Claus as the bringer of gifts to Swedish homes - has been burned down 22 times since it was first set up in Gavle's square on Dec. 3, 1966.
But for its 40th anniversary Sunday, officials think they have finally outsmarted the resourceful vandals by dousing the battered ram with flame-resistant chemicals normally used on airplanes.
"It is impossible to burn it to the ground this year, although you might be able to singe its paws," said Anna Ostman, a spokeswoman for the committee in charge of building the goat. "After 40 years, we think we finally found the solution."
The company providing the fireproof treatment is so sure of its resilience that its spokesman Freddy Klassmo told newspaper Aftonbladet that "not even napalm can set fire to the goat now."
Posted by Groonk at 01:09 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Holiday
NORAD Stalks Santa, Celebrities Incredibly Grateful
dash away all!
Posted by Groonk at 01:04 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Holiday
December 21, 2006
Full TRANSFORMERS Trailer Saddens and Confuses Me
I am doing my damndest to not be that Rabid Tranformers Fan but Bay and company are trying my patience. This full trailer for the new TRANSFORMERS movie looks cool(ish), as cool as a Michael Bay project can be, mind you. But I can say the same thing about electron microscopic views of ebola virus.
This looks nothing like TRANSFORMERS or even the spirit of TRANSFORMERS. The only thing that comes close to making it TRANSFORMERS is there are machines in it that transform.
I don't know, Bay. I think my $7 USD will be better spent on getting me drunk this July. It would be my birthday, ya know.
(via yahoo and google video and ONTD)
Posted by Groonk at 02:43 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Movies, Trailers
Jack Kerouac Shares THE ROAD with Steve Allen
Wow. How in the hell did I miss this? I should visit BoingBoing more in 2007.
There is a year's worth of other videos at BoingBoing, right now.
There's a documentary on Jack Kerouac on You Tube in its entiety.
(via boingboing 2006 year in video review and vintage YouTube and Jack Kerouac)
Posted by Groonk at 02:13 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Books, Interviews, Video
December 20, 2006
John Hodgman Gives Away Precious Knowledge and His Book
You know him best as the funny and affable PC guy who is in a constant losing battle with that snide and pretensious Mac guy in those generally amusing Mac commercials. But John Hodgman is more than that. He's recited Hobo names. He blogs funny and clever. He's on the Daily Show in most amusing ways.
Now he's giving away his book The Areas of My Expertise via iTunes for FREE for a limited time only and with apologies to those in CANADA, AUSTRALIA, GERMANY, and the UK.
I'm grabbing mine now, as I post, via BoingBoing's provided link.
(via Boingboing and neil gaiman)
behold the majestic hobo
You found it. You went under the cut, of your own volition, and found the video cut I planted and gave no clue that it was lying in wait for you here.
I suppose you feel extremely proud of yourself right now. Keep feeling that.
Posted by Groonk at 11:38 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Books, Digital Share, Just Freaking Neat, Video
December 19, 2006
Borneo is Chock Full of "new" Critters
By "new" I'm sure the article meant "new to us." For the critters always were what they needed to be. Just cause we never saw them before doesn't mean they were newly placed on the Earth yesterday.
I guess my baseline today is scientist/philosopher:
GENEVA - Scientists have discovered at least 52 new species of animals and plants on the southeast Asian island of Borneo since 2005, including a catfish with protruding teeth and suction cups on its belly to help it stick to rocks, WWF International said Tuesday."The more we look the more we find," said Stuart Chapman, WWF International coordinator for the study of the "Heart of Borneo," a 85,000-square-mile rain forest in the center of the island where several of the new species were found. "These discoveries reaffirm Borneo's position as one of the most important centers of biodiversity in the world."
Much of Borneo, which is shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and the sultanate of Brunei, is covered by one of the world's last remaining rain forests.
(via yahoo news)
Posted by Groonk at 07:08 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Science
The Baseline Must Be Set
(via zefrank: 3 months til the end of The Show)
Posted by Groonk at 06:51 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Blogged, Flash, Just Freaking Neat, Video
December 18, 2006
HOTW: The Unsuggester Proves Why I'll Never Read Eragon
This week's Hero of the Week comes early cause I plan on being the hell away from the internet for a good week and a half. HERO OF THE WEEK unofficially began with Danny DeVito's The View tirade. I made the decision to do HOTW every week but finals made me forget my head.
As long as I remember the commitment, HOTW will be: 1)weekly 2)around Friday or so and 3) possibly in the Groonkly Bits section. Thereby forcing me to put words, even the stupidest of words, to digital paper at least once a week.
The Library Thing has a new feature called The Unsuggester which works as follows.
Unsuggester takes "people who like this also like that" and turns it on its head. It analyzes the eight million books LibraryThing members have recorded as owned or read, and comes back with books least likely to share a library with the book you suggest. The unsuggestions come from LibraryThing data, not from Amazon.
I ran my latest pet peeve Eragon through The Unsuggester and it verified many suspicions. Some author names that came up: Fyodor Dostoevsky, C. G. Jung,Hunter S. Thompson, Sigmund Freud, William Faulkner, Aristotle, and Ian Fleming to name a few. According to The Unsuggester, Eragon is the antithesis of any kind of intelligent thought. Sure, that's a bold statement, but that's my new creedo, "Bold and an opinionated prick."
As most outspoken writers tend to be.
(via neil gaiman)
Posted by Groonk at 11:15 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Books, Just Freaking Neat
Huntsville has Completely Lost Its Shit
I've never been happier that I stopped going to TGI Fridays many months ago.
At least one person is dead in a Sunday night restaurant shooting.Jamal Roderick Woods, 21, has been charged with one count of murder.
Family members and friends identify the man who died as 21-year-old Tanqueray 'Tank' Beavers.
(via waff news)
Posted by Groonk at 09:31 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Alabama
December 15, 2006
You'll Never Be Lost on Mongo Again
The Strange Maps blog is posting all kinds of cartography curiosities. Funny maps. Fictional maps. Factional maps.
If it's a map, I guess it'll end up there.
(via strange maps and warren ellis)
Posted by Groonk at 02:31 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Blogged, Comics, Weird
Woman Claims Soldier's Remains was Mixed in with Luggage
Cynthia Hoag, 56, a former Army reservist, said she was waiting for a flight at Rochester International Airport on Oct. 27 when she saw the coffin taken off a commercial flight along with passengers' luggage. A uniformed soldier accompanied the coffin as it was placed in a baggage car and transported to another flight, she said."At the very least, couldn't there have been a hearse to transport the fallen soldier?" Hoag asked in an essay in Tuesday's Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. "At the very least, couldn't there have been a group of soldiers to receive one of their own?
Her account prompted Monroe County's executive, Maggie Brooks, to write a letter of her own to the Pentagon, asking it to change the policy for transporting the coffins of war casualties.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, Cynthia Smith, said Hoag's description doesn't correlate with military procedure.
That story first appeared on Nov. 30th. Plenty of time for the military to reply. And they did.
The military said Hoag's account is inaccurate, plain and simple.No one denies Knier's flag draped coffin was put on a baggage cart at Rochester's Airport. That's not unusual. But Cynthia Hoag claimed passenger luggage also got tossed in with the fallen soldier's remains.
The alleged mishandling spawned a full blown investigation thanks in part to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who said airports "...are seldom notified when the casket of a soldier will be arriving."
(via cbs news and newschannel5 and 7d)
Posted by Groonk at 11:57 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of War
Next Stop, the Terahertz Barrier
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have again broken their own speed record for the world’s fastest transistor. With a frequency of 845 gigahertz, their latest device is approximately 300 gigahertz faster than transistors built by other research groups, and approaches the goal of a terahertz device.[...]
With their latest device, Feng and his research group have taken the transistor to a new range of high-speed operation, bringing the “Holy Grail” of a terahertz transistor finally within reach. Faster transistors translate into faster computers, more flexible and secure wireless communications systems, and more effective combat systems.
In addition to using pseudomorphic material construction, the researchers also refined their fabrication process to produce tinier transistor components. For example, the transistor’s base is only 12.5 nanometers thick (a nanometer is one billionth of a meter, or about 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair).
(via engadget and news bureau UI)
Posted by Groonk at 11:50 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Technology
Organic Transistors are the Key to Cheap Electronic Paper
Researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles, published a study Wednesday illustrating that single-crystal organic transistors can be mass-produced with a new technique. Typically, high-performance organic transistors are set by hand, making them rare in electronics manufacturing."This work demonstrates for the first time that organic single crystals can be patterned over a large area without the need to laboriously handpick and fabricate transistors one at a time," Zhenan Bao, associate professor of chemical engineering, said in a statement. The study was published in the December 14 issue of the journal Nature.
The researchers devised a method of printing patterns of transistors on surfaces like silicon wafers and flexible plastic. The method begins with placing electrodes on the surfaces of these materials wherever they want a transistor, then producing a stamp (with the desired pattern) out of a polymer called polydimethylsiloxane, a common silicon-based polymer. Following that step, researchers coat the stamp with a crystal growth agent called octadecyltriethoxysilane, and a vapor of the organic crystal material causes the single crystals to grow. A transistor is formed when those crystals bridge with the electrodes.
Posted by Groonk at 07:23 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Research, Technology
Belgium TV Station Punks Entire Country
Shades of Orson Welles attacking Grovers Mill with tales of martian invasion cannot be overlooked.
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Suddenly and shockingly, Belgium came to an end. State television broke into regular programming late Wednesday with an urgent bulletin: The Dutch-speaking half of the country had declared independence and the king and queen had fled. Grainy pictures from the military airport showed dark silhouettes of a royal entourage boarding a plane.Only after a half hour did the station flash the message: "This is fiction."
It was too late. Many Belgians had already fallen for the hoax.
Frantic viewers flooded the call center of the RTBF broadcaster that aired the stunt. Embassies called Belgian authorities to find out what was going on, while foreign journalists scrambled to get confirmation.
[...]
About the only people who enjoyed the program were the separatist far-right Flemish Interest party. It wants to get rid of the king and thought it could see a flash of its future in an independent Flanders.
"I want to congratulate the RTBF for this daring show," said Flemish Interest leader Filip Dewinter.
(via yahoo news)
Posted by Groonk at 06:59 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of World
December 14, 2006
Urban Outfitters Sells Pathetic Trees
And I want one of my very own.
(via 7d and urbanoutfitters.com)
Posted by Groonk at 10:54 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Holiday, Just Freaking Neat
Hawking wants the Human Virus to Spread
No, I don't always think of us as a virus. That only happens on the dark days I'm angry at the world and The World returns those feelings in kind.
"The long-term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet," he said in a radio interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. "Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all out. But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe."Because there are no other planets like Earth in our own solar system, Hawking said humans will have to travel to another star to find a hospitable planet to colonize. At the speed of chemical-propelled rockets like the Apollo, the trip to the next nearest star would take 50,000 years, he said.
While the warp drives described in science fiction are just that, Hawking said that using matter/antimatter annihilation, described in the TV series "Star Trek," would allow for travel at almost the speed of light.
Hawking is right. If we don't find and colonize new worlds, the wonders and perils of humanity will fall by the wayside. No Louis Armstrong. No Marilyn Monroe. No upside down squeezable bottles of ketchup*.
It would figure I like the idea of saving things for the future.
(via 7d and mywaynews)
*That truly is a wonder of modern science.
Posted by Groonk at 10:36 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Science
Phyllis Diller Amused My Soul
"Look, if it's a little old lady, I get the role," she says, breaking into that famous Diller laugh, the one that sounds something like AHHH! AHHH! AHHH AHHH!
Still, she has had to turn down some roles because they were too big and required more work than she could handle.
"I have energy, but I don't have lasting energy," says Diller, who had a pacemaker installed after a near-fatal heart attack in 1999. "I could do maybe two hours, but beyond that I can't. And you have to know your limitations."
(via mywaynews and 7d)
Posted by Groonk at 10:26 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Quotables
REIGN OVER ME Looks Worth the Celluloid it was Filmed On
(via ontd)
Posted by Groonk at 10:21 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Movies, Trailers
Duckbilled Dino Skin found in Hell Creek
Nov. 21, 2006 — In the past, what we've learned about dinosaurs has been mostly based on bones. That might soon change with the recent discovery of an extremely well preserved, 67-million-year-old duckbilled dinosaur found with fossilized skin in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana, according to a North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences press release.The near-complete remains may yield precious soft tissue, thanks to a technique that recovered structures resembling blood cells in a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton last year.
"We've only been looking at one thing in the past, the dinosaur skeletal system, but we could learn so much more if we could study their circulatory system and other body systems," Vince Schneider, curator of paleontology at the museum, told Discovery News.
(via discovery news)
Posted by Groonk at 09:51 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Science
Colbert Officially "Truthy"
Merriam-Webster's 2006 Word of the Year? You guessed it:
I saw it on Colbert 2 nights ago. So it must be true.
(via colbertnation and merriam-webster)
Posted by Groonk at 09:36 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Grammar, Just Freaking Neat
Petrified Dino Eggs Perserved Mid-Split
The first fossils of half-billion-year-old clusters of soft-shelled eggs have been found preserved in a strange new way in south China — some of the eggs were even caught in the act of dividing.The three-dimensional clusters of petrified eggs from invertebrate animals that lived in a sea 501 million to 510 million years ago are preserved in silica — glass essentially. Jih-Pai Lin, an Ohio State University paleontologist, explained this is a totally unexpected way for soft eggs to fossilize and survive for eons.
Lin is the lead author of a report on the egg clusters published in the December issue of the journal Geology.
(via discovery news)
Posted by Groonk at 09:13 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, History, Science
These Days I find Myself Wondering, 'WTF Happened to John McCain?'
He's working hard on being that ultra right puppet.
It's sad because I used to respect the man.
John McCain has made clear that he doesn’t like the blogosphere. Now he has introduced legislation that would treat blogs like Internet service providers and hold them responsible for all activity in the comments sections and user profiles. Some highlights of the legislation:
– Commercial websites and personal blogs “would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000.” – Internet service providers (ISPs) are already required to issue such reports, but under McCain’s legislation, bloggers with comment sections may face “even stiffer penalties” than ISPs.— Social networking sites will be forced to take “effective measures” — such as deleting user profiles — to remove any website that is “associated” with a sex offender. Sites may include not only Facebook and MySpace, but also Amazon.com, which permits author profiles and personal lists, and blogs like DailyKos, which allows users to sign up for personal diaries.
Kevin Bankston of the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes that this proposal may be based more "on fear or political considerations rather than on the facts." When he introduced his legislation to the Senate, McCain offered no evidence that children are being victimized by people who post comments on blogs. McCain’s legislation could deal a serious blow to the blogosphere. Lacking resources to police their sites, many individual blogs may have to shut down open discussion.
(via thinkprogress.org and ONTD)
Posted by Groonk at 09:06 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Politics
Open Leave Policy the Holiday of Holidays
This sounds positively wonderful.
Compared with other developed countries, Americans receive the fewest vacation days per year on average -- 14 days, as opposed to 17 in Australia, 19 in Canada, 24 in Great Britain, 27 in Germany and 39 in France, according to the Expedia survey. So not only do we earn less vacation time, but we also take less than we're provided. (Could this be the root of road rage?)At least one company, however, has put the vacation dilemma into the laps of its own employees. UCG, a Rockville publisher of business newsletters, electronic magazines and directories, has had an open leave policy since 1994. That means none of its 1,000 employees has a set amount of sick leave or vacation time.
The enlightened plan stemmed from a realization that no matter the policy any employer puts in place, someone will ask to change or bend the rules. Because many employers have to go through all sorts of machinations when it comes to vacation time anyway, UCG decided to let its employees judge how much vacation they need and when. "We have a lot of respect for our employees, and they know what they need to get the job done," said Jerry Purcell, director of human resources at UCG. The employees need to work through their managers when they determine which days they need off. But there is no limit.
(via 7d and washingtonpost.com)
Posted by Groonk at 09:01 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of USA
My conspiracy circuits are warming up
WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson was in critical condition Thursday after late-night brain surgery, creating political drama about which party will control the Senate next month if he is unable to continue in office.
Johnson suffered from bleeding in the brain caused by a congenital arteriovenous malformation, the U.S. Capitol physician said, describing the surgery as successful. The condition, present at birth, causes tangled blood vessels.
(via yahoo news)
Posted by Groonk at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Politics
December 13, 2006
It's a Scrubs Christmas, Charlie Brown!
This mashup is a thing of beauty.
"How bout some pity sex, Laverne?"
(via geekologie and good grief, youtube)
Posted by Groonk at 03:20 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Holiday, Just Freaking Neat, Video
The Tale of the Table that Walks
But by "walk" I mean "waddle."
Kudos to you, Dutch guys. You created a thing that's neat-as-hell yet weird-as-fuck. How do you work these strange magicks?
(via geekologie and table waddlin' YouTube)
Posted by Groonk at 03:08 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Video
HOW: Your Car Suspension Works
UPDATE: I moved the damn thing under the cut. I can't abide videos that auto-start.
(link via ponzu)
Posted by Groonk at 04:32 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Marketing, Sex, Video
December 12, 2006
Ethics Committee Snuck the Foley Report by in the Trash
Take out the Trash Day involves The White House sneaking sensitive, newsworthy material out the press conference door on a Friday thereby lessening harsh media backlash.
Oh, West Wing, you taught me so many things about politics and a US government ruled by thoughtful, yet powerful, Democrats. If only the entire Earth could learn from your truthiness.
So just how badly do members of the U.S. House have to behave to get disciplined by their peers on the ethics committee? That's the logical question after the bipartisan panel's whitewash of the scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley.In a report released Friday, the committee found that House leaders and top staff knew for months or years that the South Florida Republican was getting "overly friendly" with teenage boys in the House page program. They failed to intervene aggressively for fear that they might expose his homosexuality, damaging him and his party.
In short, they put partisan politics ahead of protecting the pages under their charge from a predator. It took leaks to the media of Mr. Foley's sexually explicit messages to break the scandal open and bring down the congressman.
Yet despite the committee's findings, it refused to mete out so much as a reprimand, because it decided no House rules had been broken. In reaching this stunning conclusion, the committee conceded that there is in fact a rule that requires members and their staffs to act at all times in a way that "reflects creditably" on the House. But, the panel added, that "does not mean that every error in judgment or failure to exercise appropriate oversight and sufficient diligence established a violation," according to the report.
Thus the epic battle between being morally right and legally right continues while the fates of countless underage boys' lives hang in the balance.
(via zefrank and orlando sentinel)
Posted by Groonk at 05:25 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Politics
NERD WAR: Decemberists vs Colbert is On
This is how it happened.
The Colbert challenge was made.
The Decemberists homage.
Colbert throws the gauntlet:
The Decemberists, counterchallenge.
"Mr. Colbert, assuming that we watch his show (ok, we do), went on to suggest that we had stolen his idea, calling us 'a bunch of coat tail riding jerks!' Who's riding on whose coat tails, sir?"We already played out the light saber thing months earlier, live and on stage-- sans animation, stunt double and fancy green screen-- with pure rock, sweat and C batteries:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51fCwGAue5Q
[...]
http://www.colboard.com/cn/challenge.php
"and send them to us here:
The irony of all this is I'm aggressively unfond of The Decemberists sound. Yet I find myself drawn in by the hooha Colbert has created.
Damn you marketing concepts.
(via ONTD, pitchfork news, and various nerd bravado)
(Check out a legitimate non-Colbert infected entry.)
Posted by Groonk at 04:54 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Marketing, Music, Video
December 09, 2006
Buy a Bit of a Celebrity's Soul to Help Fight Breast Cancer
Project Teddy Bears, that is. There's an auction to support the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer wherein famous lads and lasses take pictures with little bears and the kind folks at the charity sell said pics and autographs in an auction.
Some of the photos are dreadfully amusing. While one of them(I'm looking at you Rue McClanahan) scares the crap out of me. I put a very small sampling of photos in the below graphic.
If you want to own a bit of a famous person's soul, go to the auction and bid away breast cancer.
(via neil gaiman)
Posted by Groonk at 07:52 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Blogged, Culture, USA
December 08, 2006
She Comes for the Little Ones First
The title on You Tube gives too much away. I followed Gaiman's lead and left it simple.
(via neil gaiman and deceptive YouTube)
Posted by Groonk at 01:56 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Movies, Video
December 07, 2006
HOT FUZZ has a Story
I'm remiss. The HOT FUZZ official trailer has been out some time now. It gives you a little taste of what the HOT FUZZ movie will be about.
(via none window adjusting google video)
(I mean, what is that about, really? Who wants to watch a video blown up beyond its resolution capacity? I'm looking at you, Google Video progammer.)
Posted by Groonk at 11:58 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Trailers
I'm a Ninja. AWESOME. It's a Party!
"ninja of the night"
(via secret shadow strike YouTube)
Posted by Groonk at 11:37 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Video
The Ancient Computer Reveals more Secrets
I've read the articles and watched documentaries on this and other items like it for quite some time now. The more I learn about ancient civilizations and cultures, the more I realize they did have technology to be reckoned with. It's easy for us to think of them as simple people with simple desires but that's really a limited view. They had desires and the technology just as we do.
It's funny that the average American history class skims over all the good stuff and only does it's best to turn you into a living recorder. They make you spit out dates and times like that is what's important. And that couldn't be furthest from the true.
Or maybe I just had a shitty public school experience. I am one of legions no doubt.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Imagine tossing a top-notch laptop into the sea, leaving scientists from a foreign culture to scratch their heads over its corroded remains centuries later. A Roman shipmaster inadvertently did something just like it 2,000 years ago off southern Greece, experts said late Thursday.
They claim to have identified a handful of puzzling metal scraps found in the wreck as the earliest known mechanical computing device that pinpointed astronomical events.
Only the first clockwork devices appeared more than a thousand years later in western Europe.
"It was a pocket calculator of the time," said astronomer John Seiradakis.
(via myways news and 7d)
Posted by Groonk at 09:17 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of History, Research, Technology
James Kim 1971 - 2006
I've been so wrapped up in my own stuff, I just didn't know about this. I watched his segments on Tech TV when Tech TV was good.
Again, I didn't know him personally. And again, I am saddened by the tragedy.
James Kim was a respected expert on cutting-edge digital devices, an owner of a trendy clothing store and a lover of the futuristic-sounding music known as electronica.
The body of the 35-year-old Kim was discovered Wednesday in a rugged wilderness area in southern Oregon. He had set out across snow and ice with only tennis shoes to protect his feet. He had eaten little in the seven days since his car got stuck.
"Anyone that knows James will tell you that he would do anything to protect his family," said Jason Zemlicka, a friend of 10 years and former co-worker. "I know him, and he must have believed he was going to get somewhere."
The path James Kim took has been mapped on Google Earth.
(via ponzu and cnet's tribute site)
Posted by Groonk at 09:01 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Culture, People Who Died, Technology, USA
PAPRIKA is Curiously Cool Looking
This ain't your mama's paprika. This here PAPRIKA will invade your headspace and cause fits of cool to shudder throughout your body.
Can dreams drive you crazy? Is the boundary between dream life and so-called real life permeable? Satoshi Kon has been making brilliant animations based on these and similar questions since "Perfect Blue," his 1998 feature debut about an idol singer whose life, inner as well as outer, is invaded by an obsessed fan.His latest and, he says, last investigation of this dream-vs.-reality theme is "Paprika," which premiered at this year's Venice Film Festival and has been selected as a possible nominee for an animation Oscar. I have no idea if his film will make it into the final five, but it is definitely different from not only the talking-animal, 3G animation for kiddies that is now standard in Hollywood, but also the manga-based, sci-fi fantasy that the Japanese animation industry exports in large quantities to the world.
True, it has SF elements, the main one being a gizmo called the DC Mini that looks like a futuristic hearing aid and can transmit the wearer's dreams -- think of an MP3 Web site that allows you to share dreams instead of tunes.
But instead of focusing on his hardware or spinning the usual good-vs.-evil SF story, Kon takes his audience on a wild, fantastic ride into a land of extreme dreaming, where primal desires and fears (absolute freedom, appropriation of one's identity by a malevolent Other) come to gaudy, phantasmagorical life.
I know it sounds like THE CELL. But this actually has a thought behind it. I'm sure of this(sight unseen) cause director Satoshi Kon did the amazing PERFECT BLUE, the mesmerizing MILLENIUM ACTRESS, and the flat out awesome PARANOIA AGENT.
That's 3 to 1 against CELL director Tarsem Singh.
All THE CELL did was show me J Lo smoking pot(points for the panty shot) and Vicnent D'Onofrio in weird hair. It got points for mentioning FANTASTIC PLANET but lost all off them when it turned into a 90 minute music video.
There's a one sheet under the cut.
(via ontd and anime luving YouTube and The Japan Times)
"excuse me, who are you?"
Posted by Groonk at 06:17 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Anime, Movies, One Sheets, Trailers
Santa's Butt would get you Drunk
I say 'would' cause the prudes in maine have an issue with the label. I guess the beer gets distributed elsewhere. Except Maine...and Alabama.
The beer gets distributed in places that matter.
In a complaint filed in federal court, Shelton Brothers accuses the Maine Bureau of Liquor Enforcement of censorship for denying applications for labels for Santa's Butt Winter Porter and two other beers it wants to sell in Maine.
The dispute recalls a similar squabble last year when Connecticut told Shelton Brothers it had problems with its Seriously Bad Elf ale.
"Last year it was elves. This year it's Santa. Maybe next year it'll be reindeer," said Daniel Shelton, owner of the company in Belchertown, Mass.
[...]
"There is no good reason for the state to censor art, even art found on a beer label," said Zachary Heiden, staff attorney for the MCLU.
The label for the English-made Santa's Butt Winter Porter features a rear view of a beer-drinking Santa Claus sitting atop a barrel. The beer's name refers not only to Santa's ample backside, but also to the barrel. In England, brewers once used a large barrel called a "butt" to store beer.
[...]
States have the power to regulate alcohol through the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition in 1933. "But I don't know where they get the idea they can ignore the rest of the Constitution," Shelton said.
(via 7d and mywaynews and Shelton Brothers beer)
Posted by Groonk at 04:31 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Holiday
Weird Clipart will Rot your Brain
I think I was looking for a santa hat clip art.
(via weirdclipart.com)
Posted by Groonk at 04:22 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Art, Web Design, Weird
Humpback Whales has Brainz..."Human" Brains!
BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. marine scientists say they've found humpback whales have a type of brain cell that is also seen in human brains.Researchers of the Department of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York studied the brains of humpback whales and discovered a type of cell called a spindle neuron in the cortex, in areas comparable to where they are seen in humans and great apes.
The function of spindle neurons, which is not well understood yet, may be involved in cognition -- learning, remembering and recognizing the world around oneself.
The finding may help explain some of the behaviors seen in whales, such as intricate communication skills, the formation of alliances, cooperation, cultural transmission and tool usage, the researchers report in The Anatomical Record.
(via warren ellis and china view news )
Posted by Groonk at 01:03 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Science
Stonehenge was a hospital
There's a theory out there that Stone Henge was not religious but a spa/healing center for the rich, and most undoubtably famous, of that time.
By the agrarian revolution of the third millennium BC Stonehenge was already an important site, but its extension about 2300BC was clearly intended by its guardians to make it a major pilgrimage attraction. This needed some sensational draw, and what could be more sensational than a henge composed of the fabled Preseli bluestones, fount of a hundred holy wells? It was worth any Olympian expense.The medieval historian Geoffrey of Monmouth told of a belief in the healing power of Stonehenge's stones, brought by Arthur's magician, Merlin, "from Ireland", where stones have long had magic properties. Geoffrey's stories are ridiculed, but his folk memory might contain a grain of truth. Could the appeal of the bluestones lie not in ancestor worship or astronomical ritual but in the power these objects were thought to hold back in Preseli?
[...]
I find this theory convincing. The joy of archaeology is that it licenses wild conjecture by subjecting it to the relentless test of science. Here it cries, plus ça change ... In the third millennium BC - as in the third AD - the rich would go anywhere and believe any nonsense if they thought it might win them health and longevity.
Interesting theory.
(via warren ellis and guardian limited)
Posted by Groonk at 12:52 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Science
Horny Manatee, Strange Joke
Conan recntly learned the power of the internet. He once made a joke about a website name for some skit that had a modicum of laughter(www.hornymanatee.com). His story claims that his standards lawyers made him buy the website url cause any url announced on TV has to be bought and used by the show who made said statement.
I call bullshit on that. TV shows, movies and whatnot have been doing the url joke for ages and they almost never take advantage of that bit of free advertising. Oh well, at least it led to a useful way for Conan to create a net prescence.
(via conan's Dec 6th show)
Posted by Groonk at 12:42 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Marketing
Xerox Now Works for Inspector Gadget
Xerox has created the temporary document paper. The ink fades in 16 to 24 hours.
That's right, Chief, no more of those exploding documents, to extremely unfunny effect, for you. But the Office Porn Guy(there is one required for every office you know) and the practical jokers are rubbing their hands with anticipation.
The experimental printing technology, a collaboration between the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Inc.), could someday replace printed pages that are used for just a brief time before being discarded. Xerox estimates that as many as two out of every five pages printed in the office are for what it calls "daily" use, like e-mails, Web pages and reference materials that have been printed for a single viewing.
(via geekologie and xerox press release)
Posted by Groonk at 12:01 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Technology
December 06, 2006
That Moonbase Business is Happening on One of the Lunar Poles
Unveiling the agency's bold plan for a return to the moon, NASA said it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts land there.It is a sweeping departure from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and represents a new phase of space exploration after space shuttles are retired in 2010.
NASA chose a "lunar outpost" over the short expeditions of the '60s. Apollo flights were all around the middle area of the moon, but NASA decided to go to the moon's poles because they are best for longer-term settlements. And this time NASA is welcoming other nations on its journey.
(via yahoo news)
Posted by Groonk at 11:58 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Science
There's Water on Mars...Maybe
Nasa says it has found "compelling" evidence that liquid water flowed recently on the surface of Mars.The finding adds further weight to the idea that Mars might harbour the right conditions for life.
The appearance of gullies, revealed in orbital images from a Nasa probe, suggests that water could have flowed on the surface in the last few years.
But some scientists think these fresh gullies could also have been cut by liquid carbon dioxide (CO2).
The latest research emerged when Nasa's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft spotted gullies and trenches that scientists believed were geologically young and carved by fast-moving water coursing down cliffs and steep crater walls.
(via warren ellis and bbc science)
Posted by Groonk at 11:54 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars
December 05, 2006
NASA Makes Bold Statements About Permanent Moon Base in 2024
A continuation of the previous boast.
WASHINGTON: The National Aeronautic and Space Administration has announced plans for a permanent base on the moon, to be started soon after astronauts return there around 2020.The agency's deputy administrator, Shana Dale, said Monday that the United States would develop rockets and spacecraft to get people to the moon and establish a rudimentary base. There, other countries and commercial interests could expand the outpost to develop scientific and other interests, she said.
Dale and other NASA officials said the agency envisioned a base at one of the lunar poles, to take advantage of the near-constant sunlight for solar-power generation, and giving it an "open architecture" design to which others can add the capabilities they want.
Scott Horowitz, NASA's associate administrator for exploration, said crews of four astronauts would make weeklong missions to the moon starting around 2020. As more equipment was set up, stays would eventually grow to 180 days, and become permanent by 2024. By 2027, officials said, a pressurized roving vehicle on the surface would take people on expeditions far from the base.
Groonk + NASA = Believe It + See It
Someone check me on that. my math/formula might be wrong.
In the meantime, I will try to keep my incontinence in check when 2024 rolls around.
(via international herald tribune)
Posted by Groonk at 03:40 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Mars, Science
December 04, 2006
WATCH: An Octopus Slip through a 1 inch Hole
If I were a lesser man, I would make a joke about the handiness of this skill in escaping the random coyote ugly experience.
If I were a lesser man. That would happen.
(via geekologie)
Posted by Groonk at 05:44 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Animals, Video
Bravia Blows Stuff Up... in Colour... and with Clowns
I was well into enjoying the hell out of this commercial. It was filmed in Scotland. The buildings were the epitome of artsy urban decay. There were explosions. Glorious explosions. I'm talking literal hits of color all over the place.
And then the damn clown ran by destroying all my bliss.
I can't abide clowns.
Bravia
There's a making of video explaining all the ins and outs of blowing shit up with color. I dropped it under the cut as well. I'm a generous bastard today.
(via ifilm and ifilm the making and 7d)
Posted by Groonk at 02:39 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Marketing, Video
December 03, 2006
Santastic II: Puts the Claus in Clausome
Another Christmas. Another Clausome multi-DJ mashup.
LISTEN: Santastic II-Clausome
1. Jingle Jane - Divide and Kreate
2. Carpenter's Christmas (Karen Meets Roots Radics Uptown) - Go Home Productions
3. Lonely Siberian Winter - DJ John
4. Donde Esta Santa Claus? - Lenlow
5. The Darlene Love Sub-Zero Ecosystem - ATOM
6. X-Mash - Divide and Kreate
7. Let Me Clear My Throat At Christmas - Cheekyboy
8. Pere Noel Blues - ComaR
9. The Rockin' Manger Twist - Voicedude
10. Dreidl-Bells - DJ Flack
11. Chanukah Song (GoyiMix) - dj BC
12. Give Da Jew Girl Toys (Clean) - A plus D
13. Rudolph The Paranoid Reindeer - ToToM
14. I Want A New Limb For Christmas - Pilchard
15. Rudolph Berry Molecular Pattern 4 - ATOM
16. Red Nosed 5 - Solcofn
17. Wonderful Christmastime (Rhythm Scholar Kringle Kut Remix) - Paul McCartney vs Rhythm Scholar
18. Last Christmas The Winter Took The Street - Martinn
19. Stop I've Had Enough Christmas Music - King Of Pants
20. White Christmas (Electro Remix) - Miss Frenchie
21. Imagine Santa - dj BC
22. Frosty John - Secret Santa
BONUS (Mature Themes):
Horny Christmas - Loo and Placido
Give Da Jew Girl Toys (Dirty) - A plus D
(via Santastic II )
Posted by Groonk at 11:37 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Albums, Digital Share, Holiday, Just Freaking Neat, Music
Where the Bloody Hell are They?
Well:
Booboo's stealing food.
Madonna's stealing babies.
Bill Murray's washing your dishes.
Found in and around ONTD.
Posted by Groonk at 11:26 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Avatarem, Quotables
George Clooney is a Sneaky Drunk
I find comfort in the fact that Clooney is out there dumping excess shots in plants while DeVito is the hard charger:
"It wasn't like we were out drinking. We were at a restaurant, sitting down, drinking. I was in bed by 11:30 at night and I woke up at, you know, 7 (a.m.) and I was still drunk (laughs). ... It was a brutal night."[...]
When Lauer asks Clooney how much was consumed, he replies: "A lot. ... I got to the point where I was dumping the shots into, ah, you know, a plant next to me and, um, I don't think ... I don't think Danny saw me do that."
(via ONTD and aol news, of all things)
Posted by Groonk at 11:19 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Quotables
The Wii is Cheap, Fun, and Easy
And it's beautiful and blonde and vivacious and playful. I've got to get into one of those Wiis:
(via 7d and ifilm)
Posted by Groonk at 08:19 PM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Marketing, Sex, Video
December 01, 2006
GA Man Tries to Stuff Wife in Oven, then Hides Under Mom's Bed
At one point during the fight, Jackson allegedly attempted to stuff his wife inside the kitchen oven, which had been left on to heat the house, Shupe said. The woman escaped and went to the sheriff's office with visible head injuries, Shupe said.Investigators found Jackson hiding under a bed at his mother's house in Decatur, where he had been living since the separation, Shupe said.
(via 7d and AP MyWay)
Posted by Groonk at 04:36 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Weird
Danny DeVito is a Fun Drunk
So DeVito goes on The View after an all night bender with pal George Clooney. He mocks the current president. He talks about he and Rhea "utilizing" every corner of the Lincoln Bedroom at the White House(during the Clinton regime).
He generally gets away with a bunch of crap and manages to promote his new flick(DECK THE HALLS) to boot.
DeVito is working hard on being my new hero of the week.
When, exactly, did The View become a thing I want to watch? I'm seriously scared by this idea.
(via View finding You Tube and AP MyWay and 7d for the general heads up)
Posted by Groonk at 04:14 AM | Comments (0) | Ministry of Funny, Video
