OMG - An oath of office with Koran!


- Video at Huffington

Saudi Arabian Road Skating


- Video at Glumbert



Top ten fallacies about the violence in Iraq

30 open source software packages for Windows

An awesome Japanese Zen Garden photo collection 

USA Is a Giant Prison - 1 in 36 Males In Jail or on Parole

Link between mental illness and support for Bush confirmed?

David Kuo writes a passionate open letter to Dobson and Colson



Brrrrr...  We received a cold snap last night.  To celebrate, because we really don't get a lot of cold weather here, I made a large pot of red beans and rice in the crock pot.   Needless to say, it included liberal doses of Tony's and Tabasco. ;)

Hope you're enjoying the weekend. - As always, Cheers!

A clip from the movie Before The Music Dies, impressed me enough that I thought it deserved its own post.    Although there are some popular songs that I enjoy (see Friday posts), I'm still in the camp with most people, I believe, who miss the days when our popular songs sounded different. The clip after the jump provides an entertaining look at how all of this musical homogeny comes about. - A bit of trivia in the comments.

- Watch The Promo

- Related News

Looks pretty cool, doesn't it? - I'm don't do many dark themes, but I've been enjoying this one tremendously since installing it last Friday. It comes via the 'Stylish' extension for Firefox and some handy CSS work by 'Valacar.'  If you'd like to give it a try, I have a link to the Firefox extension and Valacar's style below. - You'll need to install in that order.  /  Many more styles here.

- Stylish  / YouTube Dark

85 years of life in just 40 seconds


- Video at Azedia

FBI releases new 9/11 tape


- Video at Huffington



Awesome mushroom photographs

A guide for speeding up your bittorrents

40 facts about sleep you that you may not know

Glaciers may preserve viruses for millions of years

Christians and the Oath of Office:  Bible forbids swearing



Sometimes it seems unfair to mention the evangelicals so frequently.  No doubt, there are oddities on every path, but the best article I've read today involves the evangelicals once again.  According to this story at Alternet,   Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family recently began offering a two-day multi-media Bible boot camp for $179 per person after a study revealed that less than 10% of the evangelicals were actually bible literate—-at least according to this view which includes, among other things, support for a national flat tax.  /  Might therein we find the rub?

At home, our cold snap continues. - As always, Cheers!

Yesterday, the BBC published a graphic showing the impact that climate change will have on crop production. The graphic shows the areas where wheat grows now compared to where it will grow in 2050. - The word they're using is famine.

- View Image

The Movie  -  Beatles: Yellow Submarine


- Video at Google

Close call with a train in India


- Video at YouTube



Azureus debuts high-end video sharing website

NYT:  Dawkins-Harris write joint letters to the Editor

New York becomes first to ban trans fats in restaurants

Brazil takes unprecedented step to save the Amazon rain forest



A few weeks ago I mentioned ordering a reference for Sanskrit, and I'm glad to report that it finally arrived today.  This was my first time to order a book from India (the title wasn't available through Amazon), but it came through without a hitch.  For anyone who may be interested in something similar, you can read a little more about this one on the author's website. He also offers a short Sanskrit dictionary that can always be accessed for free.

Thanks for your visit. - As always, Cheers!

NASA photographs have revealed bright new deposits seen in two gullies on Mars that suggest water carried sediment through them sometime during the past seven years.  -  Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, says this is the strongest evidence yet that water still flows occasionally on the surface of the planet.

 - NASA  /  NY Times

 

I'm a Christ Follower -  (part one)


- Video at Azedia 

Vivek - The Homeless Prophet


- Video at YouTube  (long)



Even the blind get Déjà Vu

Do you believe? 350 UFO photos

Australia lifts four year ban on cloning

Video: Scientists spot 'Tsunami' on the Sun

Dick Cheney's openly gay daughter is pregnant

Bush meets with Iraq study group - Asks zero questions

O'Reilly having fits as ACLU sues Rumsfeld for authorizing torture

Christians get permission to distribute fliers in schools - Pagans do too



Things have been busy! - I worked two doubles this week and in between managed to drive over to Hattiesburg for some Christmas shopping. That's about seventy miles away. Normally I do most
of my shopping online and I'm sure it will be that way again this year, but I enjoyed getting out and about.  - At home, I'm continuing to look at my new Sanskrit book, and I recently began Astavakra Samhita.   For anyone with a similar interest, I'll mention that my current reading list pretty much follows the suggestions of Dennis Waite.  I find the tips quite helpful.

Hope you're enjoying the weekend. - As always, Cheers!

How many times have you rented a DVD only to find out half-way through the movie that the disc was unplayable?  -  Well, I recently tried a suggestion for that and since it worked I thought I'd share it here.  As it turns out spraying some household Pledge on a scratched DVD and then wiping it off with a soft cloth will often get your DVD going again.  Just like on furniture, the clear wax fills in the scratches and that can make the disc playable.

- h/t Lifehacker

- Animated 4D Rotation

"Apocalypto" - SNL movie trailer Re-cut


- Video at Azedia

All about the Mandelbrot set


- Video at Google  (53 min)



VideoLan - VLC media player 0.8.6 released

Say "Good morning" in more than 250 languages

Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay starts a blog

90 million Americans believe the government was behind 9/11

Another mega-church pastor resigns admitting his homosexuality



I recently ordered a Christmas gift for my niece that may be worth mentioning. Over the years I've developed a habit of giving her something unique, but as she's grown older (Emily's fifteen now) finding something that's both useful and unexpected has become more and more difficult.  This year, after much searching, I stumbled on a Window Nest Box. - I'd forgotten they even existed! - If you're looking for something a bit out of the ordinary perhaps that will work for you too.

At home, life is good. - As always, Cheers!

"There's a slow poison out there that's severely damaging our children and threatening to tear apart our culture. . .  The dangerous food I'm speaking of is soy.  Soybean products are feminizing, and they're all over the place.  You can hardly escape them anymore."

- There's More

 

Pre-President Clinton takes on a heckler


- Video at YouTube

Amazing finger style guitarist


- Video at YouTube



Hack Amazon URLs for bargains

Man stuck in photo he can not escape

Anti-Bush t-shirts not allowed on airplanes

Has the war on drugs spread to cold medicine

BBC - 100 things we didn't know this time last year

US Border fence building firm snared for hiring illegals



One of the coolest moves of the week has to go to C-SPAN.  Like most folks I admit to never watching the channel, but I like knowing that it's there. What I didn't know until yesterday is that since its inception C-SPAN has been prohibited from training their cameras on the House floor. However, on Thursday, noting that the Democrats have pledged to increase transparency, C-SPAN called on Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to give viewers the same real-time access to views of the House floor as anyone sitting in the gallery would have. / One has to guess that she'll say yes.

Only 9 days left to Christmas! - As always, Cheers!

YOU were named TIME magazine 'Person of the Year' Saturday for the explosive growth and influence of user-generated Internet content.  You -- Yes, YOU!   :)

- There's More

 

All is going great! - It's Christmas Eve,  I watched this wonderful movie last night, and  I'm just now finishing the project that's kept me busy for these last few days.   Whatever you're doing I hope that it's full of cheer!   If you're interested in the movie and don't mind downloading you'll find a bittorrent link below. -  Happy Holidays!

- mininova

 

 

Santa Clause came! :P I don't write many reviews, but I wanted to give a few kudos to this one and also say a few thanks. This chair was a gift from my family this year, and I can't begin to tell you how comfortable it is. Because they asked me to help pick it out I can also relate that as far as chairs of this type go this one is a bargain . I'm so happy with it I'm thinking about giving it a name.. Office Depot

BMW Films - James Brown:   ( "Beat The Devil")


- Video at Azedia  9 min

Why Widescreen Is Better on TV


- Video at Widescreen.org



Nepal's mystery "Buddha Boy" reappears

Pat Robertson's 2006 Predictions - How'd he do?

What $1 Million will buy you in homes around the world

BBC to place hundreds of programs on Azureus' Zudeo site



Have any of you been following the Ram Bamjon story? - I watched it pretty closely for a while, and I still have his name on a Google Alert.  If you're unfamiliar with the buzz or want to see some photos I have some information here. The news has died down considerably from what it was, but it's still a story that I enjoy following.

RIP, James Brown. - As always, Cheers!

 

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.  Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.  Do not believe in anything because it is found written in your religious books.  Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.  Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.  But after observation and analysis, when you find anything that agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

- meaninginmylife.com

 

How old is the Grand Canyon?   The Park Service won't say.   They aren't permitted to give an official estimate of its geologic age due to pressure from Bush administration appointees.  Many of the president's supporters believe that the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than geologic forces.  To promote the idea there's even a book about the subject in the park's stores.  But now Park Service employees are beginning to fight back. 

- There's More  /  Digg It

AP Poll:   Bush #1 Villain in 2006


- Video at Crooks&Liars

Celine Dion - singing AC/DC


- Video at YouTube



What happens when you quit smoking

Your Pics - Photo Sharing Website Face Off

How to browse Zaadz at work and not get caught

British Poll:  82% say religion does more harm than good

9 out of 10 (US)., both men and women, have had premarital sex

Sam Harris guest article for the Shambhala Sun  -  Killing the Buddha



My New Year weekend is shaping up to be a quite but enjoyable one.  I bought a rotary tool the other day and plan to try my hand building a window nest box with it.  I'm also going to install a dimmer switch in my bedroom which is part of a larger move as I make the change to energy saving bulbs. - That's a pretty quite weekend as far as New Year celebrations go, but I'm very
happy  with it.  I might get wild and also buy some fireworks.  :P

Hope you're having a good one! - As always, Cheers!

What to say, what to say...   It's very frightening that the United States can invade a country on false pretenses, depose its leader and summarily execute him without an international trial or appeals process.  Is there anyone among us who feels more safe today or for that matter more moral?  My guess is that while most of us believe Saddam should have been brought to justice, today most of us are also feeling somewhat sick.   The irony here is that Saddam's crimes occurred 15 months before Rumsfeld visited Iraq to embrace an alliance between the United States and Saddam to defeat Iran. - For any who are wondering about Internet video, Wikipedia hesitantly (I'm sure)
points to an outgoing link on the bottom of their page.

- Wikipedia