Fireworks lit up the sky over the South Dakota landmark last night, kicking off a weekend of activities.
Never before seen audition tapes!
I’m sure some people might find this offensive. Women, quite possibly. People who live in Cleveland, most definitely. So, in advance, sorry ladies and Clevelanders (is that the right term?)… but I couldn’t help laughing at this.
The Day the Universe Changed (TDTUC) is a British documentary television series produced by and starring science historian James Burke, originally broadcast in 1985. A companion book of the same title, also written by Burke, was published the same year, presenting the same general premise of the television series in expanded detail (highly recommended, btw).
The series’ primary focus is on the effect of advances in science and technology on western philosophy. The title comes from the philosophical idea that the universe essentially only exists as you perceive it; therefore, if you change your perception of the universe, you have changed the universe itself.
To illustrate this idea, much as he did in his previous series Connections, Burke tells the various stories tracing the development of important scientific discoveries and technological advances and how they fundamentally altered how western civilization perceives the world. The series runs in roughly chronological order, from around the beginning of the Middle Ages to the present.
This 2004 Channel 4 documentary about the Bible opens with images of George Bush – and Osama Bin Laden. The Bible, holy books and the religious faith they inspire are on the news agenda as they’ve rarely been before, and the presenter of the program, British theologian and Oxford lecturer Dr. Robert Beckford, is looking for good answers to what sounds like a simple question: Who wrote the Bible?
“Oh Fatal Ambition” 1777-1778
The “united” states remain in dire need of funds and military support. Congress dispatches Benjamin Franklin to France in hopes of creating an alliance which will provide both. Meanwhile, a British army marches down the Hudson River trying to cut off New England from the other colonies. After failing to link up with another army under Gen. Howe marching north up the Hudson, the British under Sir John Burgoyne are crushed by Americans at Saratoga, thereby prompting the French to enter the conflict on the American side.
We are unable to find such a god,
because a creator of the universe
must exist outside of it.
We would have to leave the universe
to find its creator.
So, if we do find a god in our universe,
that is surely not its creator.
Kind of a weighty subject for a Thursday afternoon.
I neither the time nor the patience to get into it with this sadly deluded fellow, although Lore Weaver (“The Atheist Conservative”) is making a valiant effort to knock some sense into the unfortunate Mr. Ball. It’s quite an entertaining discussion actually.
Update: It seems Mr. Ball is eager to propound a lot of misconceptions about atheists as well. For example, “Atheism at its core has a void and a blackness to it that is matched only by their worship of the Void as the ‘first cause’ of both the material universe and of life…” Yikes!
What teenagers do for “fun” in Lee County, Georgia.
According to the report “the video has been removed from YouTube…” Yeah, but we can watch it courtesy of MSNBC who happily play it over and over and over. Anyway, that just struck me as a little funny in an ironic kind of way. More on the story here.
As for the teenager, well what can you say? Load him up in a trebuchet and fling him into another county… see if he “bounces” on impact.
An online profile from The Wall Street Journal last year: Technophiles are tapping into a movement known as “steampunk,” where computers, keyboards and other gadgets are re-imagined as if built during the Victorian era.
Featured is a hobbyist called “Datamancer” and his “pixelo dynamatronic computational engine.” More at The Steampunk Workshop. I realize this isn’t exactly “new” — many have probably seen this elsewhere before — but it’s soooooo cool.
Interesting discussion with British author and newscaster Rizwan Khan and a panel of Turkish experts about the debate over the role of Islam in this secular Muslim country.
More about the “dangerously polarized” situation in Turkey from Eurasianet.org.
Q: “You have admitted that you're not exactly an expert when it comes to the economy and many have said –
McCain: I have not. I have not. Actually I have not.
ABC News, Good Morning America, 7/2/08
As can be clearly seen in the video, Timm-eh! nailed McCain dead to rights on Meet the Press about his self-confessed lack of knowledge and expertise regarding the economy.
The expression “double-talk” seems far too generous in my opinion. How about just calling it what it is: bald-faced lying.
Rachel Maddow and former Asst. Sec. of Defense Lawrence Korb of the Brookings Institution, discuss the reality on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Here’s the story they’re referring to about the American Army spying on their “allies” in Iraq.
Believe Me, It’s Torture
What more can be added to the debate over U.S. interrogation methods, and whether waterboarding is torture? Try firsthand experience. The author undergoes the controversial drowning technique, at the hands of men who once trained American soldiers to resist—not inflict—it.
You may have read by now the official lie about this treatment, which is that it “simulates” the feeling of drowning. This is not the case. You feel that you are drowning because you are drowning—or, rather, being drowned, albeit slowly and under controlled conditions and at the mercy (or otherwise) of those who are applying the pressure. The “board” is the instrument, not the method. You are not being boarded. You are being watered. This was very rapidly brought home to me when, on top of the hood, which still admitted a few flashes of random and worrying strobe light to my vision, three layers of enveloping towel were added. In this pregnant darkness, head downward, I waited for a while until I abruptly felt a slow cascade of water going up my nose.
Read the complete Vanity Fair article here.
“The Times That Try Men’s Souls” 1776-1777
Days after the Declaration of Independence is signed, a British force of 32,000 men commanded by Gen. William Howe, supported by a powerful fleet under the command of his brother Admiral Richard Howe arrives in New York harbour. After a series of defeats, Washington and his troops are driven to New Jersey. With only a few days of enlistment left for many of his volunteers, a desperate Washington leads his army quietly across the Delaware River on the day after Christmas, 1776, to mount a surprise attack on a sleeping Hessian garrison of three regiments in Trenton.
Haloscan seems to be on the fritz, again. So, should I keep it, or dump it in favour of returning to Blogger’s default comment system? You decide.
Note that seeing as the Haloscan is buggered at the moment, you can leave remarks if you want to at PollDaddy by clicking on the comments tab on the poll.
“Blows Must Decide” 1774-1776
A total break from Great Britain remains hard for Americans to imagine, even after shots are fired at Lexington and Concord. Words push matters “over the edge” in 1776. Paine’s influential pamphlet Common Sense argues that it’s the natural right of men to govern themselves. The Declaration of Independence declares this same idea a “self-evident” truth. For Americans, there’s no looking back. There will be war with England...
As reported by ABC News, “According to U.S. Army documents and officials, Glass was discharged from the California National Guard Dec. 1, 2006, four months after he arrived in Canada.” ABC quotes Major Nathan Banks a U.S. Army spokesman as saying, “He is not considered absent without leave. He is not considered a deserter. He is running for no reason. He is fully welcome in the United States. I cannot believe this is a big deal in Canada.”
It seems that, unknown to him, Glass was actually discharged from the U.S. Army shortly after he went AWOL in 2006. “I had absolutely no idea that I had been discharged,” said Glass when ABC News informed him of his status. “This is insane. This is so weird. There are no warrants? No one is looking for me?”
“The Army called my mother and told her I would be treated as a felon and never be able to find a job,” Glass told ABC News after learning he had been discharged. “But I never got anything official. I guess I never really asked.”
Well, that certainly puts a different spin on matters, doesn’t it? One has to wonder if the same situation applies to the other “deserters” (or “conscientious objectors” if you prefer)?
Seems like a fitting time to run this series over the next several days. This six-hour 1997 PBS documentary on the American Revolution covers the 25 year period from the passage of the Stamp Act (1765) through the ratification of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights (1789).
In addition to narration and interviews with historians, the series uses re-enactments of military engagements and excerpts from letters, diaries and other documents of the period, spoken by actors. I watched this several months ago. It’s actually quite a good treatment of the Revolution that dispels many of the popular myths and common misconceptions surrounding its causes and military events, as well as the war’s socio-economic and political underpinnings.
You may have seen this truly appalling story on CNN last night. A 49 year-old woman died on the psychiatric emergency room floor at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, NY earlier in June after being left unattended for almost an hour (she had been waiting for 24 hrs., apparently). CCT video footage showed people indifferently ignoring the woman sprawled out on the floor in front of them and security guards likewise paying no attention — one even stood at the doorway nonchalantly watching an overhead television as the woman lay directly beneath it. Afterwards, hospital staff falsified records to indicate that the woman had been mobile and alert during the period of time in question. People… go figure.
It’s difficult to watch this series with so much its attention focused on the issue of immigration and race relations and not reflect on how little attitudes have changed amongst certain more reactionary, hysterically xenophobic and, let’s face it, downright racist elements of our own society (case in point here).
Produced by Avro Aircraft Limited for the first flight of the CF-105 Arrow interceptor on March 25, 1958, this film is a nostalgic look on the incredible lead Canada had in aircraft design and production in the post-war years. According to some, the Arrow was so advanced that its performance figures and concept were at least 20 to 25 years ahead of all the other countries that were producing such aircraft. Even today, 50 years after the Arrow first flew, Canada’s front-line fighter, the CF-18 Hornet, can’t match the top speed of the Arrow.
Update: The Avro Jetliner.
This episode featuring “Stokey” — a bear hypnotized into starting, rather than preventing, forest fires — was pulled from the series (never to be broadcast again) after one airing. The U.S. Forestry Service objected to what it saw as degradation of its mascot, Smokey Bear.
Once a mild-mannered insurance salesman, who while portaging his canoe through Algonquin Park, was suddenly hit by a giant bolt of lightning and had the canoe welded to his head. Thus, he became… Mr. Canoehead, Canada’s greatest aluminum crime fighter! Brother of Ted.
Good Canada Day, eh?
Enjoy this blast from the past CBC National report from 1981 with Barbara Frum.
Warning: Some people may find the content offensive. (Don’t expect me to care.)
From last week’s program, Bill Moyers talks with journalist Douglas Blackmon whose new book Slavery by Another Name tells the unfamiliar story of “neo-slavery” — a system of de facto bondage that carried on long after slaves in the rebel territories had been ostensibly freed by The Emancipation Proclamation.
Blackmon first became intrigued by this episode of U.S. history while researching a story for The Wall Street Journal which documented how U.S. Steel Corp. relied on forced black laborers in Alabama coal mines. He discovered that under laws enacted specifically to intimidate blacks, tens of thousands of African Americans were arbitrarily arrested, hit with outrageous fines, and charged for the costs of their own arrests. With no means to pay these ostensible “debts,” prisoners were sold as forced laborers to coal mines, lumber camps, brickyards, railroads, quarries and farm plantations.
Thousands of other African Americans were simply seized by southern landowners and compelled into years of involuntary servitude. It was a system that Blackmon found persisted in some areas until the early days of World War II.
In this interview from November of last year, Noam Chomsky talks about how perceptions of the conflict with Iran are being shaped by a combination of historical ignorance and a perspective largely defined by American arrogance and hypocrisy.
For example, Chomsky notes that any country such as Iran thought to be “interfering” with the American invasion and occupation of Iraq is regarded as engaging in “criminal” behaviour, whereas America has engaged in exactly the same behaviour in the past by inserting itself through proxies into various conflicts around the world...
Chomsky also maintains that much of the antagonism towards Iran is because “Iran is out of control. It’s supposed to be a U.S. client state, as it was under the Shah, and it’s refusing to play that role.”
Update: Sy Hersh talks about covert operations against Iran and how the situation would be affected by a new administration in Washington.
Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president. — Gen. Wesley Clark
It seems obvious that what Clark said was entirely correct. And yet, there was Shieffer, the Texas-lovin’ buddy-of-Bush, completely incredulous at the notion that getting shot out of a plane didn’t somehow magically qualify a man to be president. “Really?” he sputtered in stunned amazement before moving on to his next question. Look, in the 2004 campaign Kerry made his military record a major part of his campaign, and conservatives pointed out that his naval service 30 years ago didn’t necessarily mean he had a strong national security record today, so what’s the difference with what Clark is saying?
Furthermore, as unsavory as certain people might regard it, why isn’t the speculation of some on the left about the details of McCain’s military record legitimate? As John Cole (hardly a member of the “nutroots” or an “anti-American socialist dirtbag”) wondered some time ago: “I’ve never been sure why he is a hero. He graduated 4th or 5th from the bottom of his class. He wrecked three of his own aircraft (if I remember correctly) and he was captured in
One could also add to that the observation that spending five years in a cage is bound to mess up your head and should even perhaps disqualify McCain from the highest office.
Predictably, the Wingnutosphere is exploding with indignant outrage! Take your pick: Hot Air, TownHall Blog, Confederate Yankee, Daimnation!, Cold Fury, GayPatriot, and so on. You can bet all the same folks were just as repulsed when John Kerry was being swiftboated in 2004. Right? No, of course not. Even now, they haughtily reject any such comparisons.
An interesting look behind the scenes with pushcart food vendors on the streets of New York. Considering some of the disputes between property owners and street vendors, it’s hard not to be reminded of the “Large Object Theory of History” from one of my favourite children’s books.
That appears to be the gist of this absolutely hilarious editorial from the Washington Times contending that Obama’s “proposals are more reflective of Canadian values than American national ideals.” Oh nooooooo!!! According to the editors of the right-wing, Moonie-owned paper, adoption of the dreaded Canadian values “will result in stifling initiative and rendering America less meritocratic.” Canadian economic policies it maintains are a demonstrated failure as indicated by the yearly exodus of “the most talented, dynamic and enterprising individuals” fleeing south of the border “in order to escape the stagnation and limitations imposed on them by their government.”
And on it goes with similarly ridiculous distortions, hackneyed stereotypes and fact-free assertions that can be easily demolished, as many have already done in the comments section to the editorial, especially with respect to the healthcare system.
Unfortunately though, our mendacious BT friends are ever busy spreading their Canada-hating lies far and wide, even in foreign newspapers. One writes: “The taxes are insane and the majority of the money goes to the collapsed health care system and the propoganda [sic] machine, the public CBC.” Yeah, right. Never mind that public broadcasting represents about 0.2% of federal spending, that’s where this putz thinks all his money goes. The same person also claims that “something like 90% of the people here that cannot find a family physician”… Gosh, it’s fun just making up shit, isn’t it? Something like just about everybody… Hmmm, better slap a percentage on that.
Discrimination against Canada’s indigenous population is featured including the appalling conditions in northern settlements. In Rhodesia, the last painful pangs of the Empire are felt, as white and black nationalisms clash.
Black Adder • The Archbishop
From BBC: The King has murdered three successive Archbishops of Canterbury so Blackadder is understandably terrified when he is the next appointment. Determined not to be the next prelate to be brutally slain in a freak accident, he brilliantly persuades a rich nobleman to donate all his lands to the King and not the Church. However, the King accidentally orders Blackadder’s murder anyway. Blackadder narrowly escapes and is stripped of the title of Archbishop when all three popes realize that he is not suitable priest material.
Note: YouKu video replaced now — seemed to be causing technical difficulties with Firefox.
Filmmaker and writer Terry Jones discovers a colony of penguins, which are unlike any other penguins in the world... More here.
Paul Wells floats the idea, apparently being bandied around by “senior Canadian Liberals,” that a comparison between the Australian Labor leader and Stéphane Dion may not be too far-fetched. To emphasize his point, Wells runs an advertisement from the last election campaign showing Rudd touting his concern for the environment, promising to ratify Kyoto, &etc.
Accordingly, I couldn’t resist showing this parody advert from The Chasers boys that skewers Rudd, portraying him as a calculating, opinion poll-driven panderer who’s “a passionate supporter of happy families, beautiful water, sunny days and… anything else? Ah yes, children — I strongly support children.”
Update: The Toronto Star this morning has more on the comparison between Rudd and Dion. “The similarities between Howard and Harper are striking but most importantly, of course, the Conservatives kept making a big deal out of the fact that they were disciples of Howard and were learning from them, really, what right-wing tactics work electorally,” said one Liberal insider. “So, we thought we better figure out the other side of that.”
I posted part of this interview back in May, but here’s the whole program from C-SPAN’s Book TV series with former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, author of Target Iran: The Truth About the White House’s Plans for Regime Change and Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist for The New Yorker magazine.
Interestingly enough, National Newswatch has Hersh’s latest article in The New Yorker called “Preparing the Battlefield” as it’s lead story this morning (kind of an usual source for them) and he was also featured on this CNN’s Late Edition program today.
Update: More here on the rising tensions in the Middle East with threats and counter-threats of air strikes by Israel and Iran. As the Guardian notes, this “comes at a time when a resolution has been put forward in Congress calling for a naval blockade of Iran led by US warships. The proposal calls for the United States to lead an international effort to cut off the country by sea, something that would almost certainly by seen as an act of war by Iran. The resolution has got huge support from Israeli politicians and the country’s highly effective lobbying industry in Washington, led perhaps inevitably by Aipac, which has made the issue its legislative priority.” According to a former top CIA analyst Larry Johnson, “The war drums are beating. There is no doubt about that.”
What is there to do?
Apocalyptic wilderness survival training, Bible reading, Scripture memory contests, marksmanship competitions, Old testament wild deer and boar sacrifices, gun care and cleaning, manly fellowship, Bible skits, and evening super surprise game competitions where children use tranquilizer guns to hunt unsaved homeless people who are dropped into the mountains by helicopter.
Find out more today!
A multitude of thanks to Mark Francis for turning me on to this absolutely brilliant, wickedly hilarious show.
In this episode, after learning in church that God’s greatest gift is life, Orel recruits his friend Doughy to help protect that gift. They steal a copy of the Necronomicon from the library, then head for the cemetery to dig up a few corpses and bring them back to life. The two mistakenly believe that the dead smell because of their clothing, so they undress them. The naked zombies wreak havoc on the town and devour the brains of the living. Of course, this is Moralton, so even the living dead say grace before eating other people.
The citizens grow increasingly agitated, not so much because people are being mutilated, but because the zombies are naked. As Orel’s father explains to him, people should be ashamed of their bodies, just as the 11th Commandment states (it’s one of the “Lost Commandments” apparently).
I seem to recall that someone complained last week there wasn’t a cartoon on Sunday. So, without further ado, here’s “Popeye’s Mirthday” from 1953. For some reason there are only three of his nephews in this one; there are actually four: Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye.
During the period following WWII, “Populate or perish” became the catchcry of the Australian Government as it embarked on an intensive international promotional campaign to encourage mass migration to Australia. The campaign was directed almost exclusively at whites of “European origin” only however and initially targeted Britons with schemes such as “Bring out a Briton” that subsidized their travel costs and even provided free housing on arrival. But the so called “land of tomorrow” wasn’t always receptive to immigrants, even the ones from Britain (referred to derisively as “poms”) with some Australians feeling that “the only good pom, is a dead pom.”
Of course, that mild sort of xenophobia was nothing compared to the cruel forms of discrimination exercised against the country’s indigenous population. Under its policy of “assimilation” the hope of the government at the time (and for the next 40 years) was that the displaced “full blood” aborigines would simply die out over time from starvation and other causes, and that “mixed decent” natives would eventually be absorbed into white society, by force if necessary through practices similar to those employed in Canada through the now disgraced residential school system.
“The fundamental problem of cosmology is that the laws of physics, as we know them, break down at the instant of the Big Bang.” — Michio Kaku
