December 31, 2006

A Happy Spineless, Skritchy New Year

The 16th Circus of the Spineless is up at The force that through... and the 145th Carnival of the Cats is up at Watermark.

Happy New Year!

Posted by Steve on December 31, 2006

December 29, 2006

Friday Ark #119: Limited Edition

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

Limited Edition Alert (12/28 14:55 MST) : The Ark crew is encamped high in the Northern Idaho mountains with no net access in our abode. There may be some opportunity Friday between 10-2 PST to do some boarding but I expect it will be Saturday night or Sunday before everyone gets on board.

Do link to the Ark every week!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

Cats

Dogs

Birds

Other Vertebrates

Invertebrates

In Memoriam

  • x

Didn't Make It

  • x

Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

  • x

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map. (75 shouts as of 12/21)

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey's Musings. Also, there are more doggies at Weekend Dog Blogging hosted this weekend by Sweetnicks.

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and the 144th edition, 12/24, is up at IMAO. The 144th edition will be hosted by Watermarkon 12/31. There are more weekly cats at Weekend Cat Blogging hosted on 12/30 by Champaign Taste . Do go shout out at The Catbloggers Frappr Map.

Bird folks: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks. The 39th edition is up and hosted by the Natural Visions. The 40th edition will be hosted on 1/11 by Peregrine's Bird Blog.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles. The 15th edition is up at Words & Pictures. The 16th edition will be hosted at the end of December by The force that through....

For other current carnivals check out The Conservative Cat's Carnival Page, The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Note for Haloscan Users:

Over the past month or so Haloscan started (the end of July) handling of trackbacks has improved though it is still pretty broken for carnival type posts. Now, instead of rejecting every attempt to ping it accepts single pings for a while and then will start rejecting them. I will keep trying to track back to Haloscan boarders but can make no guarantees for any particular week.

Note for Typepad Users:

Typepad continues to behave similar to Haloscan for trackbacks. I been able to get trackbacks to most, if not all, Typepad based boarders. I have to do it one at a time and wait a while in between pings but Typepad does not go into semi-permanent rejection mode like Haloscan.

Posted by Steve on December 29, 2006 | Comments (8)

December 28, 2006

A Visit from Sandy Claws

I and the Bird #39 is up at Natural Visions who notes:

And no holiday season would be complete without a visit from Sandy Claws, bringing us a whole sack full of gifts from our fellow birders

Opening the packages will be like a second christmas for you.

Posted by Steve on December 28, 2006

December 23, 2006

Why Write Original Content When....

...a blank post will work.

Ok, it will work for PZ and seems to work for Atrios who must publish more empty posts than the rest of the blogosphere combined, but for the rest of us,....nah, don't even go there.

On the side, it would make me happy if the Science blogging crew could make it so that trackbacks to their hosted blogs would work.

Posted by Steve on December 23, 2006

100 Last Minute Suggestions...

....not!

For your bemusement a selection of the worst album covers ever.

Posted by Steve on December 23, 2006 | Comments (1)

December 22, 2006

There Is Still Time For Some of You to Do Your Part!

In some parts of the world it is still Global Orgasm Day!

WHY? To effect positive change in the energy field of the Earth through input of the largest possible surge of human energy a Synchronized Global Orgasm. There are two more US fleets heading for the Persian Gulf with anti-submarine equipment that can only be for use against Iran, so the time to change Earth’s energy is NOW!

More at Wind in the Wire and Marginal Revolution.

Posted by Steve on December 22, 2006

Friday Ark #118

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

We add boarders all day Friday plus intermittently on Saturday and Sunday so visit frequently.

Do link to the Ark every week!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

Cats

Dogs

Birds

Invertebrates

Other Vertebrates

In Memoriam

  • x

Didn't Make It

  • x

Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

  • x

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map. (75 shouts as of 12/21)

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey's Musings. Also, there are more doggies at Weekend Dog Blogging hosted this weekend by Sweetnicks.

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and the 143nd edition, 12/17, is up at The House of Chaos. The 144th edition will be hosted by IMAO on 12/24. There are more weekly cats at Weekend Cat Blogging hosted on 12/23 by Tiggy the Tiny Tiger. Also, go say hi to Tiggy's human. Do go shout out at The Catbloggers Frappr Map.

Bird folks: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks. The 38th edition is up and hosted by the Ben Cruachan Blog. The 39th edition will be hosted on 12/28 by Natural Visions.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles. The 15th edition is up at Words & Pictures. The 16th edition will be hosted at the end of December by The force that through....

For other current carnivals check out The Conservative Cat's Carnival Page, The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Note for Haloscan Users:

Over the past month or so Haloscan started (the end of July) handling of trackbacks has improved though it is still pretty broken for carnival type posts. Now, instead of rejecting every attempt to ping it accepts single pings for a while and then will start rejecting them. I will keep trying to track back to Haloscan boarders but can make no guarantees for any particular week.

Note for Typepad Users:

Typepad continues to behave similar to Haloscan for trackbacks. I been able to get trackbacks to most, if not all, Typepad based boarders. I have to do it one at a time and wait a while in between pings but Typepad does not go into semi-permanent rejection mode like Haloscan.

Posted by Steve on December 22, 2006 | Comments (6)

December 21, 2006

The 2007 Government Seal

2007seal.jpg

The government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed!

-------

Gleaned from the inbox.

Posted by Steve on December 21, 2006

December 20, 2006

How To Sell Zunes

Preloading the Zune with pr0n will probably work for a certain demographic but, really, it is not appropriate for 12 year olds.

Posted by Steve on December 20, 2006

gates Explains the bush Legacy

Following his swearing in ceremony new defense secretary robert gates said:

Failure in Iraq at this juncture would be a calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility, and endanger Americans for decades to come.
Is there any doubt that the Iraq venture has not been a failure for some time?

No matter the next course of action (inaction?) it is a calamity that will haunt our nation, impair our credibility and endanger Americans for decades to come!

Posted by Steve on December 20, 2006

The Whole Thing is A Disaster

Scott Thill aptly describes* the current state of the war on drugs:

The war on drugs is a fucking disaster, except for the law enforcement and prison industries, who make a pretty penny off its wrongheaded persecution of small-timers when white-collar cocks grift billions in wars we don't need using the bodies of those they would save from the horrors of marijuana.
Unfortunately he forgets his own lesson:
Uh, first of all, we're talking about differentiating weed from heroin and coke, so kudos to Riley for linking the two back together again in attempt to keep the guilt-by-proximity criminalization streak alive.
Sorry Scott, but what you said: the war on drugs is a fucking disaster. Sure, you might get pot legalized someday. You will, though, still be left with a war on drugs that is a fucking disaster perpetrated by a bunch of immoral thugs.

Isn't it about time to remove the perps from power?

*Also cross-posted here.

Posted by Steve on December 20, 2006

December 15, 2006

Friday Ark #117 - Power Outage Edition

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

We add boarders all day Friday plus intermittently on Saturday and Sunday so visit frequently.

Do link to the Ark every week!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

Power Alert (09:40 PST): Our power has been off since 8PM PST 12/14. I am temporarily at an alternate Boarding station about 50 miles away. I'll get caught up on updates over the next 1-2 hours and then that will be it until some time power comes back..

Update (11:15 PST): Sorry, no more updates until after power is back. All boarders will eventually get on!

Cats

Dogs

Invertebrates

Birds

Other Vertebrates

In Memoriam

  • A Blog Around The Clock: Louie: Rest in Peace

Didn't Make It

  • x

Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

  • x

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map. (75 shouts as of 12/7)

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey's Musings. Also, there are more doggies at Weekend Dog Blogging hosted this weekend by Sweetnicks.

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and the 142nd edition, 12/10, is up at The House of (Mostly) Black Cats. The 143rd edition will be hosted by House of Chaos on 12/17. There are more weekly cats at Weekend Cat Blogging hosted on 12/16 by kitchen Mage (it's up early). Do go shout out at The Catbloggers Frappr Map.

Bird folks: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks. The 38th edition is up and hosted by the Ben Cruachan Blog. The 39th edition will be hosted on 12/28 by Natural Visions.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles. The 15th edition is up at Words & Pictures. The 16th edition will be hosted at the end of December by The force that through....

For other current carnivals check out The Conservative Cat's Carnival Page, The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Note for Haloscan Users:

Over the past month or so Haloscan started (the end of July) handling of trackbacks has improved though it is still pretty broken for carnival type posts. Now, instead of rejecting every attempt to ping it accepts single pings for a while and then will start rejecting them. I will keep trying to track back to Haloscan boarders but can make no guarantees for any particular week.

Note for Typepad Users:

Typepad continues to behave similar to Haloscan for trackbacks. I been able to get trackbacks to most, if not all, Typepad based boarders. I have to do it one at a time and wait a while in between pings but Typepad does not go into semi-permanent rejection mode like Haloscan.

Posted by Steve on December 15, 2006 | Comments (5)

December 14, 2006

Birding Around the World

I and the Bird #38 is a treat.

Start with the opening photo of Duncan and the birds. Then join the Duncan and his wife as they go birding in the only way they can...around the world on the internet.

Make sure you have some time to linger on your journey to China, Tazmania, North America, Europe and back to Australia where you will find out why you should keep your fingers crossed for the Willies.

Posted by Steve on December 14, 2006

December 12, 2006

Heroesblogging Anyway

Not having a new Heroes episode last night left a void that was only partially filled by The Lost Room*.

In lieu of an episode here is a hint of what is to come:

We will be back in January. First with 2 Marathons of past episodes & a
clip show so new viewers can catch up, & old viewers can see all the Kool
plot-character connections. Then New episodes begin on Jan. 22nd.
I gotta find a place for some more Dead songs.
But..........New characters with new powers are on the way.
Gleaned from an Alan Arkush post on the GD Hour mailing list.


*I'm taping this one so I can watch it all in one sitting at a future date. It does get pretty disturbing and disorienting by the end of the first hour!

Posted by Steve on December 12, 2006

December 10, 2006

Winter Coats and Mini's Treats

The 142nd Carnival of the Cats is up at The House of (Mostly) Black Cats.

Go skritch'm, check to see how their winter coats are filling out and count how many treats Mini will get.

Posted by Steve on December 10, 2006

Quote of the Day

Yeah, we're much better here. The government only rapes rather than kills you.

Warren Meyer, Coyote Blog, 12/10/2006

Read the rest to find out how milk producers are making millions off the back of American consumers.

Also see Battlepanda.

Update 12/11: From Kip at A Stitch in Haste:

"Crushing a competitor" by outcompeting him is one thing. Crushing him by outpoliticking him is something entirely different and entirely despicable.

So the next time you hear a baby crying for milk — or a liberal crying about milk prices, or prices in general, or income and poverty in America — rest assured that Congress is "doing something" about it.

Just don't think too much about what that "something" actually is.

Posted by Steve on December 10, 2006

What the h' does it cost?

It's time, well, past time for Xmas lists and such. Our family circulates our wish lists via email and we double check with each other when buying gifts for another family member. This has worked fine for many years but I'm a sucker for trying new stuff.

Thus, when I ran across this post touting a service called Family Gift Organizer I decided to take a few minutes to check it out.

It has a pretty nifty set of capabilities that mimic quite a bit of our wish list and gift buying behavior:

The Family Gift Organizer will allow you and all the members of your family or group to organize your gift giving activities. Each member will be able to:

* Enter his/her own "wish" list including the name of the item, a short description, a web site address to be linked to the gift item and a price range
* View all other family member's "wish" lists
* Plan purchases, designate gift items as purchased and add gift items to the "wish" lists of other family members
* Personalize his/her "wish" list page with a photo, a short description and contact information

The Family Gift Organizer keeps your planning and purchasing secret from other family members. Gifts that you add to another family member's list will not be displayed when that family member logs in.

Ok, I'm a bit more interested now but find within the small print a suggestion that the service costs something. Now, I'm quite willing to pay for a useful service. Tell me what it costs and I'll make a choice.

What was not acceptable was that I could not find the price anywhere on the publicly visible pages. Apparently they expect you to register before they tell you the subscription fee.

No thanks!

Posted by Steve on December 10, 2006 | Comments (1)

December 8, 2006

Friday Ark #116

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

We add boarders all day Friday plus intermittently on Saturday and Sunday so visit frequently.

Do link to the Ark every week!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

Cats

Other Vertebrates

Dogs

Birds

Invertebrates

In Memoriam

Didn't Make It

  • x

Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map. (75 shouts as of 12/7)

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey's Musings. Also, there are more doggies at Weekend Dog Blogging hosted this weekend by Sweetnicks.

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and the 141st edition, 12/3, is up at Catymology. The 142nd edition will be hosted by The House of (Mostly) Black Cats on 12/10. There are more weekly cats at Weekend Cat Blogging hosted on 12/9 by Belly Timber . Do go shout out at The Catbloggers Frappr Map.

Bird folks: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks. The 37th edition is up and hosted by Five Wells. The 38th edition will be hosted on 12/14 by Ben Cruachan Blog.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles. The 15th edition is up at Words & Pictures. The 16th edition will be hosted at the end of December by The force that through....

For other current carnivals check out The Conservative Cat's Carnival Page, The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Note for Haloscan Users:

Over the past month or so Haloscan started (the end of July) handling of trackbacks has improved though it is still pretty broken for carnival type posts. Now, instead of rejecting every attempt to ping it accepts single pings for a while and then will start rejecting them. I will keep trying to track back to Haloscan boarders but can make no guarantees for any particular week.

Note for Typepad Users:

Typepad continues to behave similar to Haloscan for trackbacks. I been able to get trackbacks to most, if not all, Typepad based boarders. I have to do it one at a time and wait a while in between pings but Typepad does not go into semi-permanent rejection mode like Haloscan.

Posted by Steve on December 8, 2006 | Comments (12)

December 7, 2006

They Have No Spine

But they party hearty! And, some make great h'orderves!

The 15th Carnival of the Spineless is up at Words & Pictures.

Here is one of the revelers, a black widow, getting some refreshments:

black-widow-small.jpg

Head on over to the carnival to find a larger version of this (see Burning Silo) and to check out the other carnivalites!

Posted by Steve on December 7, 2006

A Tree of the Season

Here is one of the discoveries I made while journeying on The Tangled Bank Survey #68: The Voyage of Discovery.

Puhutukawa.jpg

It is a New Zealand Christmas Tree and its Maori name is Pohutukawa.

Board the ship and make a few discoveries of your own.

Via Pharyngula.

Posted by Steve on December 7, 2006

Playin' and Losin'

I've lost The Game again.

Thanks to the kind commenters that have reminded me that the game goes on!

At some level of participation chaos could reign as 100s, no thousands of folks are losing and our RSS readers, comments and trackbacks are filled with reminders. Surely we will be wise enough to fold before then.

Posted by Steve on December 7, 2006 | Comments (1)

December 6, 2006

Who Would'a Thought...?

The Game.....

GDgamekidsurplus_1923_219767498.gif

A review.

Now, me, I'm looking forward to this:

NYE1976DECD317.jpg


The game via Grateful Dead News.

Posted by Steve on December 6, 2006 | Comments (2)

December 5, 2006

Quote of the Day or Why You Aren't President

The first reason you are not president is that you probably are not..., well, read on:

To me, the desire to be President of the United States in itself means you're a psychopath who should never be President of the United States. Unfortunately, of course, this desire is a job requirement.

A Funny Little Story About The Media, Jonathan Schwartz, 8/22/05

He goes on to note:

But the point is the powerhouse media and their politician lovemates truly do feel there are things normal, grubby Americans simply can't handle. Moreover, it has nothing to do with political parties. Everything I've seen in my life confirms that, with few exceptions, they feel this way across the (extremely narrow) political spectrum.

If you're not part of their little charmed circle, believe me, all your worst suspicions about them are true. They do think you're stupid. They do lie to you. They do hate and fear you. Most importantly, they think you can't be trusted with the things they know—because if you did know them, you'd go nuts and break America.

I don't know as going nuts is the right phrase but it seems it might be wise to calmly and with determination reclaim our lives and our potential from the political parties and their bureaucratic lapdogs at every level of government

Via Making Light via Pharyngula.

Posted by Steve on December 5, 2006 | Comments (1)

December 4, 2006

Heroesblogging

Mix X-files, Twin Peaks and all your favorite super hero comics together. Then add some special sauce to produce Heroes.

It is the best show on the tube at this time. Well, certainly the best show that I've watched over the past few years.

All time? Maybe....but that answer will have to wait a few years.

Posted by Steve on December 4, 2006 | Comments (1)

I Passed. Can You?

The INS wants you score 80% or better on an oral version of this test.

I scored 90% and will make the usual disclaimer that at least one of the questions I got wrong was not particularly germane to being a good citizen. It was something that most folks would look up rather than remember.

How well did you do?

Here is the current list of possible questions (PDF) with answers.

In the new pilot exam (PDF) applicants are required to anwer only 6 out of 10 questions during the pilot period.

Via Rants From The Rookery.

Posted by Steve on December 4, 2006 | Comments (3)

December 2, 2006

Why Maine bureaucrats Don't Want Santa's Butt To Be Sold

Main bureaucrats will not allow this beer to be sold:

santas_butt.jpg

But not because it exceeds alcohol content limits or some other more appropriate reason.* Nope, aschcroft and gonzalez would be proud of them:

But the state says it's within its rights. The label with Santa might appeal to children, said Maine State Police Lt. Patrick Fleming.
Gosh, do they really allow children to buy alcoholic beverages in Maine?

Via Pharyngula.

*Regular readers know that the Modulator staff believe that the only legitimate reason to prohibit sale of a product might be that the product contained contaminants like mercury, e coli, etc. Otherwise the state has no business interfering in economic transactions between consenting adults.

Posted by Steve on December 2, 2006

Trees, Trees and More Trees

The 6th Festival of the Trees is up at Arboreality.

Oh my, to have time to read and view the whole festival! sigh...

Via Burning Silo.

Posted by Steve on December 2, 2006

December 1, 2006

Two 2007 Nude Calendars for You

Get the Skepchick and Skepdude 2007 Nude Calendars (WS):

Two calendars, two dozen critical thinkers in various states of undress

Via Total Drek.

Posted by Steve on December 1, 2006

Friday Ark #115

We'll post links to sites that have Friday (plus or minus a few days) photos of their chosen animals (photoshops at our discretion and humans only in supporting roles). Watch the Exception category for rocks, beer, coffee cups, and....?

We add boarders all day Friday plus intermittently on Saturday and Sunday so visit frequently.

Do link to the Ark every week!

You can find out how to board the Friday Ark at the Arkive page.

Cats

Birds

Dogs

Invertebrates

Other Vertebrates

In Memoriam

Didn't Make It

  • x

Exceptions (inclusion not guaranteed)

Extra, Extra: All Ark boarders are invited to shout out at the Friday Ark Frapper Map. (75 shouts as of 11/30)

Dog folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Dogs hosted by Mickey's Musings. Also, there are more doggies at Weekend Dog Blogging hosted this weekend by Sweetnicks.

Cat folks: remember to submit your links to the Carnival of the Cats which goes up every Sunday and the 140th edition, 11/26, is up at Scribblings. The 141st edition will be hosted by Catymology on 12/3. There are more weekly cats at Weekend Cat Blogging hosted on 12/2 by The Hidden Paw . Do go shout out at The Catbloggers Frappr Map.

Bird folks: I and the Bird: A Blog Carnival for Bird Lovers is published every 2 weeks. The 37th edition is up and hosted by Five Wells. The 38th edition will be hosted on 12/14 by Ben Cruachan Blog.

For the spineless: Circus of the Spineless. A monthly celebration of Insects, Arachnids, Molluscs, Crustaceans, Worms and most anything else that wiggles. The 14th edition is up at The Neurophilosopher's Weblog. The 15th edition will be hosted in early December by Words & Pictures.

For other current carnivals check out The Conservative Cat's Carnival Page, The Blog Carnival and The TTLB Uber Carnival

Note for Haloscan Users:

Over the past month or so Haloscan started (the end of July) handling of trackbacks has improved though it is still pretty broken for carnival type posts. Now, instead of rejecting every attempt to ping it accepts single pings for a while and then will start rejecting them. I will keep trying to track back to Haloscan boarders but can make no guarantees for any particular week.

Note for Typepad Users:

Typepad continues to behave similar to Haloscan for trackbacks. I have, though, for the past month been able to get trackbacks to most, if not all, Typepad based boarders. I have to do it one at a time and wait a while in between pings but Typepad does not go into semi-permanent rejection mode like Haloscan.

Posted by Steve on December 1, 2006 | Comments (11)