My Ears (and Eyes) are Bleeding

John likes to post videos here, and what better thing to post than the first YouTube clip in a couple of months that made me literally sit stupefied with my mouth open, incredulous that somebody thought this video was a good way of getting people to vote for your favorite candidate.

And what, might you ask, was the last thing that left me agape in cartoon-style shock? The last video that the same guy made.

Note: Please don't watch all of either of these videos as the combined insanity may make your head asplode.

Surprise Me, You Filthy Bastard

Nothing like a little Jeopardy action here on a Friday afternoon. I stumbled across this interesting and completely random interview with Alex Trebek, and couldn't help tossing it up here.

The title for this post is, of course, a reference to the genius SNL Celebrity Jeopardy skits. But while we're at it, why not some further hilarity from Jeopardy wunderkind Kenneth Wayne "Kenny-Boy" Jennings III who won a zillion dollars a few years back.



I love Trebek's response, "Woah! Is that what they teach you in school out in Utah?"

The More You Know!

Did you know there are around 100 uncontacted tribes of people on the Earth still today? To me this is comforting news, and contrary to the trends that I see swirling around me... perhaps this is a very American take on the world. Nonetheless, the BBC has some good coverage of photos taken in fly-overs of one such tribe near the border of Brazil and Peru.

Now, you might be asking yourself about how fair it is to call this group, "uncontacted" when we fly over their shelters taking pictures. In a number of the photos you can clearly see the tribsmen and women looking up at the airplane... and possibly shooting arrows at it (doesn't it look like they're aiming bows of some sort in a couple shots?). The photos were taken by a group that monitors this and other similar tribes to try and protect them from encroachment by the outside world. This group in particular is seen as threatened by illegal logging on nearby lands.



I find this whole story a fascinating one to mull over... the overlaps of modernity and antiquity... groups trying to preserve these tribes and their detachment from our modern world... doing so by flying airplanes over head. Hmm, anyway, I thought it was pretty interesting stuff.

h/t Huffington Post.

Starting to Feel Like Summer

Ice Bucket, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

I imagine most of my fellow nutmeggers here in CT would agree... May has been a strange weather month. Much like the bizarre warmth of November and December 2007, May has been full of cool breezes and showers up here in the CT. Still, things are looking up. Last night's 8pm softball game was greeted by mid-60's temperatures, perfect for a little running around in the outfield. Scratch that, I was running around like a crazy person in the outfield last night.

The weekend ahead includes a BBQ like last weekend and Philly and other warm-weather related activities, so here we go Summer... your time has come! Yeah.

Outfoxing Murdoch

So Rupert Murdoch is hip to what a phenomena Obama is, so much so that he recently predicted a landslide victory in November for the Illinois Senator. Huffington Post linked to a very enjoyable post over at 23/6 where they mock up some Fox Noise treatment for Rupert's remarks. Check it out here.

Here's my favorite of their mockups:



Cheers

Assassination Talk

I'm late to the game in writing anything about this, and hopefully it's a bizarre group of episodes that will be past and forgotten before long. Still, it seems impossible to ignore the numerous instances lately where the idea of assassination has been discussed in relationship to the Democratic primaries. It's unlikely anyone has missed Hillary's now repeated mentions of Robert Kennedy (the various instances where she has dropped this tidbit are chronicled well in the video of Keith Olbermann's Special comment available on Huffington Post), but I for one missed for a few days the fact that a Fox News commentator joked and chuckled about the idea of Obama being "knocked off" (she did later offer an apology). Yesterday when I uncovered this ugly piece of cable news, I'll admit I was so enraged... outraged... saddened that I couldn't even figure out what to say about it.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm a young person and have a relatively brief experience in being politically informed and engaged. I was not alive during the bleak stretch of American history where numerous leaders who stood ready to speak out on behalf of the poor and the downtrodden (Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy) were cut down in cold blood, preventing them from living out a full life and continuing to advocate for deeper equality and justice. As someone who works in the arena of fighting poverty I take personally the ethical charge to help those less fortunate.

I truly believe that focusing on issues that help people build stronger futures for themselves, their families, their children (education, increasing access to affordable healthcare, help to our elderly) are the types of issues that are build a stronger nation. Here, in a year where a candidate of relatively unique ethnic background also speaks so clearly to these types of issues and to aspiration for a better future I think we should all speak out in outrage against those who would raise the prospect of assassination interfering as it has in the past. The notion is bleak at best, nauseating really, and while I agree that preparing to prevent such an outcome is wise, tossing the prospect around lightly is grotesque.

It is naive to ignore what has happened in the past when applicable to our current situation, but I would raise the challenge that the past gives us two possibilities:

1. We can treat the past as a script, believing that those who have tried and failed simply show how efforts for progress are inevitably doomed. Cynically we can accept that efforts for good are going to be derailed by corruption, violence, or other means and we can prepare ourselves by deciding in advance that there is no chance for progress.
2. Or... We can learn from what we have seen. We can take up the challenge of being a creative people who engage our own problems head-on with the innovation and energy needed to build something different. Without denying that bad things can happen and certainly will at times, knowing the world is not simple, and being unafraid of the fact that there will be bumps in the road. We can set out towards a bright future taking the unity and strength we've seen growing this spring all across America as a sign of what might be if we are daring enough to believe.

For whatever reason the Clinton camp has decided that the last best way they can argue for their continued existence in the race is to raise all the prospects of what might go wrong if they leave (or are not chosen... even though it becomes clearer every day that the nation's Democrats already chose quite clearly). All the assassination talk is, to me, the most bleak development in this slowly unraveling string of rhetoric, and it deserves all of our resounding rejection. Fear is not the way to our brighter future.

Hillz The Early Years

Today is the day for me to mimic Wonkette, apparently. Caught this enjoyable video over there... it includes a bizarro cameo by once big star Jerry O'Connell.



I really enjoy the voice-over they use when the text "Young Hillary Clinton" comes on screen.

McCain Secures Oatmeal Nation (Wilford Brimley Throws Down the Gauntlet)

Wow, we've been light on posts here for the past week. I was home in Philadelphia for Memorial Day, saw some fam and friends... wonderful. Before that came a busy week of work. Still, the world keeps turning, and here on my birthday, the world has offered up a sign that time keeps moving on. No, it's not the length of Wilford Brimley's mustache... impressive as always. It's this:

While the Democrats refuse to end their silly bickering, John McCain has secured the most important endorsement in all of politics: the Quaker Oats Guy Himself, Wilford F-ing Brimley. I don't know where the mainstream media is on this one, but as usual Wonkette keeps us up to speed on the latest breaking news 10,000 times better than CNN with all their "magical maps" and Wolf Blitzing.

I'd guess any day now Obama and Clinton will hold a joint press conference to reveal that in light of Brimley's endorsement the Democrats are packing it in and heading to Howard Dean's secret underground bunker to plan ahead for 2012.

Running Around (the joy of it!)

Does anyone else have those times where you realize it's nice to use your body, to push it and to feel that tightness in your chest just after? Perhaps my vagary here will be mistaken for a description of some other thing from what I intend, so let me be clear:

Tonight I was back out on the softball field (a two-nights-a-week habit for me this summer) and between playing outfield for the first time in a game this season, and legging out some hits I really chugged around the field tonight. A teammate was nice enough to suggest I ought to be called, "rabbit" in the future. Still, speed aside, what really made me take notice were the moments where I really felt the fact that I had just been sprinting. Tightness in my chest, muscles truly awake and alert, cool night air rushing in my nose... fine examples of feeling alive may very well be out there, but for today I'll say that one takes the cake.

A few hours later there is very reasonable soreness, and the certainty that I'll be sleeping well tonight.

Summer, I'm so glad you're coming back to us. Stick around for awhile, wadda ya say?

Heading West to (Oregon and) Kentucky

Today is yet another chance for the Democrats to run head-long into one another, give some speeches and call it a day. Still, with the rally of 75,000 in Portland this weekend and the continued flood of Super Delegates to Obama, the air of inevitability seems to have shifted to a comfortable sense of acceptance. The Democrats have a nominee, and they have one last candidate who isn't ready to call it quits. That's fine. The Onion's got a great little piece on a possible new tactic for Hillary.



Continuing some of the way-back machine action from the past few posts, above is a clip from an interview between Daniel Day-Lewis and Bryant Gumbel circa 1992. The Last of the Mohicans had just come out, and the clip shows one of my favorite bits of dialog, when Day-Lewis's character talks about how he'll get to Kentucky.

ok... I can't have Bryant Gumbel in a post without some reference to, "white people love Wayne Brady because he makes Bryant Gumbel look like Malcom X." It had to be done.

Bill O'Boogie

I think there are few people who regularly haunt the internets who haven't yet seen the vintage clip of Bill O'Reilly freaking out on the set of Inside Edition back when he had hair (or this goofy response to the situation). Earlier in the week I heard a pretty brilliant remix of the sound clip from the video... then I stopped by Purple State this weekend and they had posted the following amazing video version of said remix!

BRILLIANT!!!



Because if you're not outside this beautiful weekend, at least you should have something hilarious to keep you company. And with that, I'm going to go get some fresh air!

Posting on a blog

I have now posted! I have neat things to tell you! But I must go to a flea market, so neat things will wait. A tid-bit:

100 miles on a liter of water! Fact? Fiction? Dream-turned-reality?

Stay tuned for more!

Remember When?

For whatever reason I'm having a way back evening. I just found out that Weezer is releasing a new album this summer... that had me thinking back to high school days listening to Buddy Holly, Surf Wax America and other fine tunes off their first album. Then for whatever reason I ended up going back and watching Jon Stewart on Crossfire from 2004, and WOW, I've got to say, that clip really doesn't get old.




Take your pick, honestly... I'm not sure what piece I love more. Is it when Jon Stewart mocksTucker Carlson's bow ties? When he tells him he's as much of a dick on his show as he is on any show? I thought this was one of the most brave, inspiring and remarkable moments in television back when it happened, and it still is damn cool today.

Anyway, heading into the weekend, if you're fishing around for other interesting stuff to read or check out, I found this:

• A post from Chris Cillizza over at the Washington Post discussing the 10 senate races that might end up with Democrats winning new seats this fall. With all the talk about the presidential election this year, these past few weeks have had people talking about the House and Senate. This piece gives some food for thought on that front.
• Jason Werth of the Phillies homered in his first three at-bats of tonight's game against the Blue Jays. Nice week for the Phils this week.
• And here I thought refusing nuns in their 90's the right to vote because they didn't have a photo ID was bad... in Amsterdam the Dutch are considering making it, "an offence to use the services of a sex operator without a licence or a non-registered independent prostitute"
  

Terry McAuliffe, One Craaaaaaaaaaazy Dude

This has been up at Talking Points Memo for a few days, and I just finally got around to watching it today. I'm going to admit, I never quite realized what a nut Terry McAuliffe is, but this little treasury of video clips certainly is a fun little intro if you, like me, haven't fully appreciated his zany antics. Once you watch it, let me know if you agree that America can likely completely eliminate our dependence on foreign oil if we figure out how to harness the energy stored in Terry McAuliffe. Patent pending on that brilliant idea, so don't go trying to steal it.

Here's the video:




If nothing else, be sure to catch the voice crack at 1:52!

"I don't know how ironic it would be,but..."

I heard about this a couple of days ago, but haven't gotten a chance to post until now. Seems that in Oregon, Obama was asked whether it would be ironic if he won the nomination by winning the state. Amazingly, he actually pointed out, in a nice way, that it would not be ironic. It's refreshing to see a candidate who actually uses words to mean things. Rather a nice contrast with McCain, who tends to use words loosely, even when they refer to terrorist organizations...

Biden for VP

Busy week here... wish I was posting more. Meanwhile, interesting stuff keeps happening in the world. For example, today George Bush celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Israeli state by giving a blatantly partisan speech overseas comparing Obama to Nazi sympathizers. Nice move Georgie. Best response so far?

"This is bullsh**t. This is malarkey. This is outrageous. Outrageous for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, sit in the Knesset…and make this kind of ridiculous statement" - Joe Biden

h/t Americablog.

Meanwhile, if you're looking for entertainment, Purple State does it again this week with a week of Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard and otherwise) themed Daily Diversions. My favorite so far is here.

While you're there, Purple State also has some great coverage the fallout from the NARAL and Edwards endorsements, and a post with clips of former undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith appearing on Daily Show, both things I found incredibly interesting and worth a little of your time.

Mental Images I Never Wanted To Have

Joe Lieberman... rarely do I blog about what a disgrace you are to my current home state of Connecticut. Still, some things simply can't be resisted, and pointing out how nauseating the mental image caused by the video below is seemed, well, unavoidable.

Yuck.



Just goes to show, Ole Joe really shouldn't try to be clever. Clearly clever isn't working for him.

A place where "power generation, water management, transportation, and urban planning all come together"

Check out a fun but somewhat tiny snippet about MIT and the United Arab Emirates working together to create the first carbon-neutral city. Interesting little article with fun discussions of "transportation pods" powered by the city's photovoltaic panels, and other fun and interesting stuff.

Andrew Sullivan had a link to Boozhy's post about the story that pointed out (astutely) that the future of environmentalism appears to be heading in a direction where change is driven more and more by the economic realities (and incentives) for shifting to green. The folks in Abu Dhabi clearly state their motivation as economic (the potential for a project like this as a magnet for business and investment).

Weekends and Sunshine

Heller's and Pfeiffer's and Sky oh my, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

Well, folks, I think it's been a pretty remarkable week... don't you? ABC is the first news outlet to tally recent announcments (and defections from Camp Clinton) and say Obama now leads in super delegates... perhaps another sign of the wave that is forming to come tidy up any unresolved questions in the Democratic primary. Not sure if it's a bigger piece of the wave or not, but the Time magazine cover is pretty darn cool. Also amazing, the website Hillary is Mom Jeans (a response to the brilliant Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle). I've got too many favorites from their all-caps little quips, but a new favorite of mine today is, "HILLARY YELLED FREEBIRD AT YOUR CONCERT" brilliant stuff.

Meanwhile, outside the world of primaries there's a whole mess of other stuff going on, right?

• On Ebay you can pick up JFK's air guitar... sweet (hat tip: Wonkette).
• Sadly, probably the biggest story in the world is still the mess in Myanmar, where somewhere between 20,000 and 100,000 people were killed by a cyclone that has supposedly impacted over a million lives, yet the military leaders are balking at letting outside aid workers inside the borders of their tightly-controlled nation. Hopefully progress on this mess will be swift (at least there are some signs of hope), but so far there's a lot to feel bummed out about here.
• The oldest gorilla in captivity celebrated his 55th birthday with a frozen fruit cake. I take it they mean a cake made of frozen fruit, not an unwanted Christmas gift retrieved from the depths of somebody's freezer.
  
• When bong-making creativity goes horribly wrong: In Texas some kids dug up a secluded grave, removing a skull that they then crafted into a bong. Wow.
  
• Finally, on a lighter note, researchers say some sexy orchids may reap the benefit from the way their forms attract certain insects, but they may also hurt the insects that pollinate them since they decrease their chances for reproduction. See, the confusion over their appearance causes the bees to, "frequently ejaculate and waste copious sperm." Wait... did I say that last story was on a lighter note... well, if you hate bees I guess this is good news.
  

Anyway... there's your Friday dose of randomness, have a wonderful weekend!

Oh, and the photo above is another from my March visit to Washington DC... taken along Mt. Pleasant Ave. in downtown Mount Pleasant. I'm not sure why I didn't post this sooner, but it's one of my favorites from that trip.

Finding the Right Time to End It

I was part of a fascinating conversation last night with a group of engaged and informed Democrats all raking over the details of what happened Tuesday. The consensus of the group was that the primary is basically over now, but the conversation took an interesting turn (I described this in a comment earlier this morning, but then thought it was post-worthy). What fascinated me, and what I would love to hear others' thoughts on was the following observation:

Someone in the group suggested that it would make no sense at all for the Democratic Party to have Hillary drop out of the race now. If she did, there is a fair likelihood that she would still beat Barack in West VA, and also a good chance she would win in Kentucky. The idea being suggested was that it is against the interests of both the party and Obama's candidacy to have Hillary drop out just in time for Barack to lose two of the first three uncontested races. Instead it would look much better for her to stick around and play nice for a couple weeks.

What I found intriguing about this idea is that I think many people are eager to see this whole thing end, to see Hillary change her mind, hold a press conference, and close up shop today. It's been interesting for me to ponder whether she would serve her party better to stick around at least for another week or two. Still, this all ignores the question of whether altruistic thinking like this is at play at all in the Clinton Campaign's considerations this week.

On an interesting side note, check out this post on Talking Points Memo regarding repaying the Clintons for their "loans" to Hillary's campaign (hat tip to Amiercablog where I saw this discussed). I had not heard about this piece of the picture until today, but as one of the 1.5 million small donors to the Obama campaign, I can say with certainty that I never intended my donations to go for paying the Clintons back on the loans that kept Hillary running in spite of inadequate fund raising totals this spring. I find the notion this could possibly happen quite troubling.

Update: Check out a completely dweeby but fascinating discussion of super delegates and primary election math over at SUPERDELEGATELAND.

Oh What a Night!

Well, I don't know if anybody else is having a hard time convincing their eyes to stay open after staring deep into the CNN ridiculousness until well after 1AM, but I think it was worth it.

While around 9PM it looked like Hillary had pulled out a somewhat reasonable margin in Indiana and Barack had hit one out of the park in NC, by the time I finally allowed my head to hit the pillow it was quite different, with the margin in Indiana down to 2% or less, and with NC staying up near 14%... a result I for one thought was quite decisive indeed.

Still, perhaps the most interesting development of the evening was CNN's discovery that Obama is, in fact, running against a space alien from Star Trek. Seriously, though, it's truly a new day today and if you need something to convince you of that, perhaps the best post I've seen around is this one from the Jed Report. The content is about changes to his blog, but the picture says it all. It's time to look forward to November and beyond.

Thoughts While Holding My Breath

It's Tuesday so there must be some people voting somewhere... Guam? Nope, already happened. But today there's a Carolina and an Indiana full of folks punching their votes in, and a nation of Democrats crossing their fingers about the results. While you wait (if you're a political spaz like me) why not read about some good/fascinating stuff?

• Andrew Sullivan has a post up about Nigerian rebels contemplating a cease-fire based mainly on an appeal from Barack Obama... interesting. I also found his link between Obama's past as a community organizer, the bottom-up approach his campaign has taken and this news bit. Thoughts on this welcome... need to ponder a bit more myself.
• Hilarious and random, a post on Wonkette yesterday about Ben Smith offing all the other reporters at Politico made me chuckle. Sure, that sounds morbid, but I swear, really, it's some funny.
• Turns out, spell check is a right-wing nutjob afterall! Who knew? After the initial piece that makes me sad, the second bit about Klingons is pretty amazing.
  

Finally, Purple State had yet another amazing Daily Diversion yesterday, and while I hate to feel like I'm just co-opting their fun, it's below. Feel free to send them some hits by watching the video through their own post here, or just hop over to their main page for some interesting political writing.

Anyway, For anyone who spends too much time on Facebook (like me, he admitted, feeling like a dweeb) or for anyone who doesn't precisely because they're freaked out by the whole thing, this little British video wonder is pretty amazing:

Lazy Weekend Video Break

Here comes the weekend! Know what you need? Some video to inspire, entertain, and stupefy. With that in mind, I've got two little things to get you started. From the joyous world of You Tube viral wonderment, I present you the following:

1. My buddy over at Stamford Talk posted this one as a comment, but I liked it so much I wanted it out here in the light of day as a main page post. In the video below Michelle Obama talks about one of the main reasons she thinks her husband offers something unique among the presidential contenders. I've seen some tiny snippets of this larger video played on news shows this week, but the whole thing is well worth the whopping 6 minutes it will take you to watch.



2. Purple State Blog is the first place I saw the following video mash-up of the primaries, Star Wars... and all sorts of other wonderment. Now, I've got to say that the amount of play You Tube is getting this election cycle is incredible, but when it results in videos as entertaining as the one below I say it's a blessing. The editing in this one is pretty remarkable.

Party Goes On as Monkey Humps Death Star

Party Goes On as Monkey Humps Death Star, originally uploaded by Chambo25.

This past weekend I was in Atlanta for birthday celebrations and you know... strange things can happen at birthday parties. You sorta never know what you might come across. For example, you might come across a monkey piñata humping the broken shell of a Death Star piñata. Now, if you're me, when you see such a spectacle you stop and take a few quick pictures. Most other people didn't seem bothered that this was going on. Anyway, as we all head towards the end of our work days this beautiful Thursday afternoon... I thought I would share one such picture.

'Cause nothing says Thursday like a monkey piñata... humping a Death Star... piñata.

Things That Do (Suck): Abstinence Only Sex Ed

or... does abstinence mean it can't suck.

Anyway, if there is any upside to the Bush administration's bizarro world obsession with abstinence only education it is this bit from the Daily Show, an update on the Global War in Your Pants:



Hat tip to Meredith whose Facebook post tipped me off to this!