This is my favorite footage of the meteor that landed in western Canada:
I can hardly imagine the fear and wonder in seeing something like that in person.
Did they find the impact zone yet?
Monday, November 24, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Shaken, not stirred
A couple weeks ago at work, someone asked, "Who was the best suited for playing the James Bond?"
a. Roger Moore
b. George Lazenby
c. Sean Connery
d. Timothy Dalton
e. Pierce Brosnan
f. Daniel Craig
An interesting and important question! If you need someone to accomplish a diversity of tasks including (but not limited to):
Then I place my trust in Daniel Craig. Notice that each contender has their own strengths.
Sean Connery would be best at high-stakes bacarrat but would get winded running around the block.
Roger Moore could handle the dangerous animals without breaking a sweat, but nobody wants to see him on a beach.
Pierce Brosnan could get any secretary to show him the “secret files”, but would have trouble overpowering a Per Mar security guard at Kinnick Stadium much less killing anybody.
If you need to defuse a doomsday device, then you want… Well, actually, you want MacGyver in that case, but the point is that Daniel Craig can credibly handle the full range of secret agent duties in a way that the others cannot.
I’ll have to disqualify Dalton and Lazenby just because they never fully settled into the role.
Oddly, I’d have to say that my “favorite” James Bond was Roger Moore. He played the role with an effective sense of humor but, most crucially, he was in the role during the era where the movies were most meaningful to me. He wasn’t the best James Bond, but he was MY James Bond.
Roger Moore made the news recently when he expressed his displeasure with the amount of violence in more recent Bond films. He's got a point. I always thought what made Bond Bond was the cheeky humor that went along with the madcap stunts and action.
So I'll adjust my opinion just slightly and say that Daniel Craig has the ready potential to be the greatest Bond ever. Let's just give him the chance to play for some laughs in amongst all the butt kicking.
a. Roger Moore
b. George Lazenby
c. Sean Connery
d. Timothy Dalton
e. Pierce Brosnan
f. Daniel Craig
An interesting and important question! If you need someone to accomplish a diversity of tasks including (but not limited to):
- Killing people
- Driving at unsafe speeds
- Winning a hand of bacarrat with the fate of the free world at stake
- Making women’s hearts flutter simply by appearing on a beach wearing small swim trunks
- Irritating M
- Defusing a doomsday device under severe time constraints
- Looking cool while smoking even AFTER everyone knows it’s bad for you
- Defeating, befriending, or otherwise thwarting dangerous animals, e.g., tarantulas, Bengal tigers, black mambas, Doberman pinchers, poisonous jellyfish, etc…
- Sweet talking a secretary
- Distinguishing the age and rough percentages of malt vs. grain (if blended) from the aroma and mouth feel of 4 oz of Scotch
- Bedding a femme fatale
- Perform feats of jaw-dropping athleticism (normally only associated with Olympic decathletes and Cirque du Soleil acrobats) while wearing a tuxedo
Then I place my trust in Daniel Craig. Notice that each contender has their own strengths.
Sean Connery would be best at high-stakes bacarrat but would get winded running around the block.
Roger Moore could handle the dangerous animals without breaking a sweat, but nobody wants to see him on a beach.
Pierce Brosnan could get any secretary to show him the “secret files”, but would have trouble overpowering a Per Mar security guard at Kinnick Stadium much less killing anybody.
If you need to defuse a doomsday device, then you want… Well, actually, you want MacGyver in that case, but the point is that Daniel Craig can credibly handle the full range of secret agent duties in a way that the others cannot.
I’ll have to disqualify Dalton and Lazenby just because they never fully settled into the role.
Oddly, I’d have to say that my “favorite” James Bond was Roger Moore. He played the role with an effective sense of humor but, most crucially, he was in the role during the era where the movies were most meaningful to me. He wasn’t the best James Bond, but he was MY James Bond.
Roger Moore made the news recently when he expressed his displeasure with the amount of violence in more recent Bond films. He's got a point. I always thought what made Bond Bond was the cheeky humor that went along with the madcap stunts and action.
So I'll adjust my opinion just slightly and say that Daniel Craig has the ready potential to be the greatest Bond ever. Let's just give him the chance to play for some laughs in amongst all the butt kicking.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Change you can SEE
I recall my Mom, fairly early in the primary campaigns, saying that she hoped Obama would be president for the sheer juxtoposition of "Barack Hussein Obama" with the WASPy blueblood names of Presidents past.
Along the same lines... (Click for a larger image.)
This was taken from http://www.patrickmoberg.com/ .
Along the same lines... (Click for a larger image.)
This was taken from http://www.patrickmoberg.com/ .
Friday, November 7, 2008
Rahmbo
Here are links to a couple articles about Obama's new Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel from Newsweek and Rolling Stone.
There are many stories about Rahm and many of them are even true. Here's one from Politico that I hadn't heard before. From the time of the Lewinsky scandal in the Clinton White House:
And it seems this pick flies in the face of the Obama-is-a-Muslim-Manchurian-Candidate rumours since Emanuel is allegedly a member of the Mossad.
The incoming President's middle name = Hussein.
The incoming Chief-of-Staff's middle name = Israel.
Only in America?
There are many stories about Rahm and many of them are even true. Here's one from Politico that I hadn't heard before. From the time of the Lewinsky scandal in the Clinton White House:
"You got it backwards," Emanuel, who is Jewish, reportedly told Clinton at the time. "You messed around with a Jewish girl, and now you're paying a goyish lawyer. You should have messed around with a goyishe girl, and gotten a Jewish lawyer."
And it seems this pick flies in the face of the Obama-is-a-Muslim-Manchurian-Candidate rumours since Emanuel is allegedly a member of the Mossad.
The incoming President's middle name = Hussein.
The incoming Chief-of-Staff's middle name = Israel.
Only in America?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
President Obama?
Could the epic '08 campaign finally be nearing the end?
Maybe 20 minutes ago, Olberman pointed out that California, Hawaii, and Washington would give Obama the presidency. (This was before Iowa was called for Obama.)
So McCain could win ALL other states and still lose. With Iowa to Obama, McCain could win everything left but California and Washington and still lose.
Maybe 20 minutes ago, Olberman pointed out that California, Hawaii, and Washington would give Obama the presidency. (This was before Iowa was called for Obama.)
So McCain could win ALL other states and still lose. With Iowa to Obama, McCain could win everything left but California and Washington and still lose.
If You Can't Beat 'Em, Claim Credit
From Ta-Neishi Coates' live-blogging of the election:
9:51 ... I'm listening to Karl Rove and Chris Wallace claim that Obama "moved to the center" and didn't campaign as a liberal. Last week he was a socialist. Now he's Reagan.
Electoral College Watching
FiveThirtyEight.com ran 10,000 simulations of today's general election.
According to the simulation, McCain won 624 times which would equate to a 93.76% liklihood of an Obama win.
But here's the significance for watching the election returns tonight:
Watch those 7 states.
According to the simulation, McCain won 624 times which would equate to a 93.76% liklihood of an Obama win.
But here's the significance for watching the election returns tonight:
Also, there are some states that truly do appear to be "must-wins" for McCain. In each and every one of the 624 victory scenarios that the simulation found for him this afternoon, McCain won Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Indiana and Montana. He also picked up Ohio in 621 out of the 624 simulations, and North Carolina in 622 out of 624. If McCain drops any of those states, it's pretty much over.
Watch those 7 states.
Monday, November 3, 2008
What's in the records?
If Atlantic blogger Andrew Sullivan seemed out-of-line with his repeated questions about Palin's pregnancy, he seems a little less so given the final chapters in the saga of the non-release of the Palin medical records.
To be clear, absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of (insert shocking medical condition here). But why would her staff earlier indicate that the records or, at least, a summary thereof would be released only to then NOT release anything?
Shouldn't she at least come out and say, "I will not release any medical records because I believe it's an invasion of privacy." (or whatever) ? But...
No press conference. No medical records. No modern precedent.
To be clear, absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of (insert shocking medical condition here). But why would her staff earlier indicate that the records or, at least, a summary thereof would be released only to then NOT release anything?
Shouldn't she at least come out and say, "I will not release any medical records because I believe it's an invasion of privacy." (or whatever) ? But...
No press conference. No medical records. No modern precedent.
It's a Palin epidemic, it's a Palin disease
Eva Anderson, University of Northern Iowa sophomore and erstwhile Palin impersonator, is now out with a rap video which is good kitchy fun.
Chinese Restaurants: A Naming Paradigm
How about an interlude from whining/venting about politics and the election season?
Observation: There seems to be a dominant naming paradigm for Chinese restaurants. The pattern is as follows:
[Peking | China | Hunan | Szechuan] + [House | Star | Buffet | Village]
Sixteen Google searches provide the following number of results.
Note: current searches may return different results. I ran these ~ 6 weeks ago.
Conclusion: There are many 'China' restaurants, there are many 'House' restaurants and, appropriately, China House is the most popular name. Arguably, 'Beijing' and 'Shanghai' could be added as columns. But I was concerned that the number of results referring to the Shanghai Star newspaper was skewing the results. Similarly, Beijing Village seemed to refer predominantly to Olympics related locations.
Anecdotally, I can report that there is a China Star in downtown Iowa City and a Szechuan Village in Coralville. The first Chinese restaurant I can remember visiting was the Shangri-La in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. My favorite Chinese restaurant is the legendary House of Nanking in San Francisco.
In Cedar Rapids, we tend to patronize the non-compliant, prosaic & pedestrian sounding Egg Roll House. And the closest Chinese restaurant to our house is the also non-compliant Ting's Red Lantern. This name, at least, is evocative and I appreciate the opportunity to make the periodic...
Me: (speaking to native Mandarin speaker): You know how we make fun of foriegners speaking English?
Mandarin speaker: Ah...
Me: Yes, we exaggerate common mis-pronounciations like "Any ting you wah".
Mandarin speaker: Ah...
Me: Can you make fun of me?
Mandarin speaker: Ah...
I think this is a variation of the "lost in translation" trap where the joke would have to be explained at such depth so as to ruin the effect.
Observation: There seems to be a dominant naming paradigm for Chinese restaurants. The pattern is as follows:
[Peking | China | Hunan | Szechuan] + [House | Star | Buffet | Village]
Sixteen Google searches provide the following number of results.
| Peking | China | Hunan | Szechuan | Totals: | |
| House | 379,000 | 36,300,000 | 199,000 | 838,000 | 37,716,000 |
| Star | 5,700,000 | 22,100,000 | 850,000 | 365,000 | 29,015,000 |
| Village | 2,080,000 | 5,980,000 | 118,000 | 410,000 | 8,588,000 |
| Buffet | 804,000 | 864,000 | 681,000 | 554,000 | 2,903,000 |
| Totals: | 8,963,000 | 65,244,000 | 1,848,000 | 2,167,000 | 78,222,000 |
Note: current searches may return different results. I ran these ~ 6 weeks ago.
Conclusion: There are many 'China' restaurants, there are many 'House' restaurants and, appropriately, China House is the most popular name. Arguably, 'Beijing' and 'Shanghai' could be added as columns. But I was concerned that the number of results referring to the Shanghai Star newspaper was skewing the results. Similarly, Beijing Village seemed to refer predominantly to Olympics related locations.
Anecdotally, I can report that there is a China Star in downtown Iowa City and a Szechuan Village in Coralville. The first Chinese restaurant I can remember visiting was the Shangri-La in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. My favorite Chinese restaurant is the legendary House of Nanking in San Francisco.
In Cedar Rapids, we tend to patronize the non-compliant, prosaic & pedestrian sounding Egg Roll House. And the closest Chinese restaurant to our house is the also non-compliant Ting's Red Lantern. This name, at least, is evocative and I appreciate the opportunity to make the periodic...
You can get any Ting you want....joke. And that reminds me. I want to hear similar jokes in other languages making fun of native English speaking pronounciation and/or close sounding words. But how to approach that?
Me: (speaking to native Mandarin speaker): You know how we make fun of foriegners speaking English?
Mandarin speaker: Ah...
Me: Yes, we exaggerate common mis-pronounciations like "Any ting you wah".
Mandarin speaker: Ah...
Me: Can you make fun of me?
Mandarin speaker: Ah...
I think this is a variation of the "lost in translation" trap where the joke would have to be explained at such depth so as to ruin the effect.
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