Etcetera

Jonathan Coulton's Flickr song/video

It's a fairly big download, but it's worth it. Jonathan Coulton's ode to people who share their pics on Flickr. Here's his blog entry about it.

Notorious exhilarating

Sheila Omalley tells us about how seeing a movie in a theatre is different, and in many ways better, than watching it home alone.

I found myself caught up in it too - I saw the moment for the first time. Movie-going is - after all - a communal experience. That's part of the joy of it. I like going to the movies. I like sitting home and watching movies too - but there's nothing like going out, and sitting there with a bunch of strangers, watching a movie. It's one of my favorite things to do.

My kind of Holiday

Frank Paynter says,

December 24 has long been celebrated as the first day of Frankmas, a festival that doesn't end until January 2.

What do you think? "Jackmas"?

Is Bush the worst President ever, part 2

I don't know how reliable this site is, but I found it quoted at a couple of places that I do trust.

President Bush is reported to have held a meeting in the Oval Office, with Republican leaders about renewing the Patriot Act, where the President said this.

I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”

Are we gonna have to Impeach the President, for real this time?

NH First District winnable by Democrats

From the Daily Kos' analysis of vulnerable Republican Congressional seats in the '06 election:

New Hampshire 01 The southeastern New Hampshire seat is the less Dem friendly of the state's two. Still, the state as a whole is closely divided and is the only state to flip from Bush in 2000 to Kerry in '04. The district has a partisan score of 49.3% Dem. The representative in the First CD is Jeb Bradley, who looks like a moderate but votes like a GOP drone. He succeeded John Sununu when the latter was elected to the Senate in 2002, winning 60-40. His win in '04 was with 63%. This is the type of district, though, that we can win in a wave.

New Hampshire 02 This district is slightly more Democratic than the 1st. Its partisan score is 52.8% Dem. It is Represented by Charles Bass, who ousted Dem Dick Swett in the 1994 landslide and has held the seat since, with a few close calls. He won with 58% in 2002 and 60% in 2004. Like the previous two, this district is one that can easily swing our way with a wind at our backs.

Read the whole thing...

Still 40.

Back from the Christmas Holiday, and it's still 40 degrees. And it's been raining for the past 12 hours. A lot of the snow has melted, Yay!

The forecast is for sunny tomorrow and Wed, then even warmer, and more rain, later this week. Whooppee!

It's 40 degrees in Southern NH

What a way to kick off the Christmas Holiday! It's 40F here at the lake.

I'm about to head off to visit family and friends for the holiday. There may not be any blogging till next Monday.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a happy time celebrating your holiday of choice. Yay!

Only Two QueerEye Redsox Left

Meg Hourihan has a "remaining-redsox" list too:

Of the five Sox who appeared on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," (Kevin Millar, Jason Varitek, Johnny Damon, Tim Wakefield, and Doug Mirabelli), only Wakefield and Varitek now remain.

Hoping 2-0-6 is better than 2-0-5

New video from "This Land" creators Jib-Jab.

Redsox Championship team down to 11 players

The official departure of Johnny Damon reduces the list of players remaining from the Worldchampionship team to this:

Tim Wakefield (1995)
Trot Nixon (1996)
Jason Varitek (1997)
Manny Ramirez (2001)
David Ortiz (2003)
Bronson Arroyo (2003)
Mike Timlin (2003)
Curt Schilling (2004)
Lenny DiNardo (2004)
Kevin Youkilis (2004)
Keith Foulke (2004)

(in parens, the year they joined the Redsox)

Don't shoot your eye out.

My friend Jan and her girls have a tradition of watching the Christmas Story movie every Christmas Eve. Here's the 30-second version. It will save them time.

UPDATE: And here's the trailer to an alternate reality version.

[Thanks to Boing Boing for both these links]

I have the same problem with Jessica Alba

Lawyers for David Letterman want a judge to quash a restraining order granted to a Santa Fe woman who contends the CBS late-night host used code words to show he wanted to marry her and train her as his co-host.

Read the whole thing. This is really odd.

What the heck is happening?!?

It seems that common sense is breaking out all over.

Yesterday the court said that you can't teach Intelligent Design in the schools. And today the US Congress beat down a sneaky attempt to allow oil drilling in Alaska.

Paul Hodes is running for Congress

Paul Hodes is running for the NH 2nd District Congressional seat. I just got a fundraising email from him. I don't know anything about him other than he's a Democrat. I plan to find Democratic candidates to support in the 2006 election. I'll be watching to see if he's the one.

If you want to give money to Hodes. You can do so here.

Johnny Damon going to Yankees?

Unconfirmed reports have it that Redsox Center Fielder Johnny Damon has signed with the New York Yankees.

He's gonna have to cut his hair.

UPDATE: Channel 4 says it's true

UPDATE2: BostonDirtDogs now says that Gordon Edes of the Globe is reporting the story too. I'd link to the Globe but they have a registration wall that won't let people in.

OMG, Leo died!

Seriously, this is very sad, and a blow to the show The West Wing.

E!Online via Yahoo:

A year after his West Wing alter ego survived a heart attack, [John] Spencer [who played Leo McGarry] was felled Friday morning by a deadly one. He was four days shy of his 59th birthday.

President Bush repeatedly authorized NSA spying

AP via Yahoo:

President Bush has personally authorized a secretive eavesdropping program in the United States more than three dozen times since October 2001, a senior intelligence official said Friday night.

The disclosure follows angry demands by lawmakers earlier in the day for congressional inquiries into whether the monitoring by the highly secretive National Security Agency violated civil liberties.

The problem is, if we impeach Bush we get Cheney, who is worse.

Coffee good!

A while back I posted something about how decaf coffee is bad for you. Now we have positive confirmation that regular coffee is actually a health food.

US News vis digg:

Every passing week brings news for latte lovers, and the latest on coffee is the best buzz yet. It turns out that a cup of joe--or a carafe--may chase away the blues; turn you into a better athlete; and protect against diabetes, Parkinson's disease, gallstones, and some cancers. Last week's headline: Researchers at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases found that a two-cup-a-day habit can dramatically cut the risk of chronic liver disease in those at greatest risk. "If its benefits continue to mount, coffee may come to be viewed as a health food,"...

70% Voter Turnout in Iraq

I'm on the record as having many issues with the way the Bush government started, and is running, the war in Iraq. But, if these reports are to be believed, you have to admire the Iraqi people, who are voting under the scariest of circumstances, and are still turning out in numbers that put us here in the US to shame.

Maybe some good is coming from this travesty.

Another Champion Departs Redsox

Thirdbaseman Bill Mueller signed with the LA Dodgers. That leaves 14 of the Worldchampion team remaining.

Updated list.

Make a snowflake

snowflakes.lookandfeel.com

Help reform the Patriot Act

From Talking Point Memo, Senator Russ Feingold:

The current betting is that the House will take up the Patriot Act conference report tomorrow (Wednesday). If it passes, it will then come to the Senate, and a vote to cut off debate - i.e., prevent a filibuster -- is likely to take place Friday morning. So that's the key vote in the Senate. Now is the time to contact your Senators to urge them to oppose cloture and insist that a Patriot Act reauthorization bill include the modest but crucial reforms that I and the other bipartisan opponents of the conference report have recommended.

Redsox name dual-GMs

Double your pleasure

Jed Hoyer and Ben Cherington, who have been part of the redsox baseball operations team under Theo Epstein, have been named co-general-managers of the team.

The rumors still float around about the return of Theo. The latest is that he will be back full-time in time for Spring Training.

Survivor Final Four

The finale starts in 10 minutes. Just for the record, here's how I think the Final Two pairings will come out.

Any pair with Lydia or Danni, the other person will win. If it's Danni vs Lydia, Danni wins.

The interesting pairing would be Stephanie vs Rafe, where Stephanie would win.

But how will we get to the Final Two? In the Final Four immunity challenge, which will be about trivia about those already voted out, Steph or Rafe will win. The other of these two will be voted out.

In the endurance challenge of the Final Three, Lydia will be out first, I am tempted to say that the winner will take Lydia to the Final Two because Lydia will lose, but Steph, Rafe and Danni are all gonna want to appear fair, so they will send Lydia home at the final three and it will be Rafe and either Steph or Danni in the final two.

So to recap:

Rafe vs Danni, Rafe wins.
Rafe vs Steph, Steph wins.
Danni vs Steph, Steph wins.

That's what I think.

Redsox trade Mirabelli, others to go soon

It looks like the Redsox have traded #2 catcher Doug Mirabelli. I'm sorry to see him go, but he's really too good to not be a starter, so I'm hoping he's landed somewhere where he can play more. I wish him good luck.

There were lots of trade rumors floating around today, on sports radio and on the web. The departure of Mirabelli and others soon, got me to thinking about how many members of the 2004 Worldchampion team are still around.

Here's the list I put together. Of the 38 players who appeared in at least 10 games in 2004, only 16 are still on the team.

2004 Redsox Roster (16/38)

Position Players(10/22):
Jason Varitek
Kevin Millar
Mark Bellhorn
Bill Mueller
Pokey Reese
Manny Ramirez
Johnny Damon
Gabe Kapler
David Ortiz
Orlando Cabrera
Kevin Youkilis
Doug Mirabelli
Nomar Garciaparra
David McCarty
Trot Nixon
Doug Mientkiewicz
Dave Roberts
Cesar Crespo
Brian Daubach
Ricky Gutierrez
Ellis Burks
Adam Hyzdu

Pitchers (6/16):
Derek Lowe
Pedro Martinez
Curt Schilling
Tim Wakefield
Bronson Arroyo
Keith Foulke
Mike Timlin
Alan Embree
Curt Leskanic
Scott Williamson
Ramiro Mendoza
Lenny DiNardo
Terry Adams
Mark Malaska
Mike Myers
Anastacio Martinez

Note: I think McCarty is gone too, but Yahoo Sports says I'm wrong.

Roster Sources:
Current sports.yahoo.com
2004: www.baseball-reference.com

Pine Banks Auto Center is Excellent

I was down in Melrose since yesterday, and the slow leak that I've had in one of my tires for a few weeks, suddenly became a fast leak. It went completely flat overnight.

We used the compressor to pump it back up, and my dad suggested that I go to the auto repair place across the street from where we used to go every year and talk to Santa Claus. Pine Banks Auto Center. I did, and they were great. They took my car instantly when I arrived. Found the leak. Patched it. And I was back on the road. Very impressive.

If I ever need car work while in the Malden/Melrose area of Massachusetts, I'll definitely go to them again.

Inverse panorama photography

Odd/cool wrap-around pic of a guy's head. I did something similar, but not nearly so sophisticated, a while back.

Is Bush the worst President ever?

Richard Reeves via Yahoo!News:

[15th US President, James] Buchanan [who historians have always considered the worst US President ever] set the standard, a tough record to beat. But there are serious people who believe that George W. Bush will prove to do that, be worse than Buchanan. I have talked with three significant historians in the past few months who would not say it in public, but who are saying privately that Bush will be remembered as the worst of the presidents.

Read the whole article...

A little over a year ago I wrote this...

Pull my finger

This. For all the grade school boys who read this blog.

Via Dave Winer

Is today a special day in your life?

Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to YOU.
Happy Birthday to you.

Yay!

Only One Year Now!

...Oh, and do the Pancake!

Brain Pushups

Technology Review:

Baby boomers regularly head to the gym to combat middle-age spread. Now evidence is piling up that exercising the aging brain is just as important.

A new cognitive training program designed to rejuvenate the brain's natural plasticity could slow down mental decline by as much as ten years. The program and others like it may be an accessible way for older people to take advantage of recent advances in the neuroscience of aging.