On The Tonight Show, William Shatner did a “reading” of the poetry inherent in Sarah Palin’s farewell address as governor of Alaska: I’m speechless… — Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice. — Technorati : Sarah Palin, William Shatner Del.icio.us : Sarah Palin, William Shatner Zooomr : Sarah Palin, William Shatner Flickr : Sarah Palin, William Shatner

This excerpt from The Daily Show titled “The Born Identity” illustrates exactly how idiotic the “birther movement” is: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c The Born Identity www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day — Is it “post-partisan” to say that some political stance is idiotic? I say it is, because if you cannot call a spade a spade (and before anyone gets upset, “spade”...

One of my earliest memories is seeing this on television: Which happened four days after the launch on July 16, 1969. Forty years ago today we launched Apollo 11 to land men on the Moon. In commemoration of the event, there is a website called We Choose the Moon that is playing back audio of the radio transmissions during the mission in real time. (Warning, the site is very Flash intensive, to load it requires a lot of bandwidth, and systems with slow processors or lacking RAM may choke on it) Amazing,...

This is unsettling: Swine flu resembles feared 1918 flu, study finds New H1N1 strain more likely to cause pneumonia than regular flu viruses The 1918 flu pandemic killed between 3% to 6% of the entire world population, and possibly may have killed more people than the Black Death. Yet, where are we putting most of our efforts? — Cross-posted to Random Fate and The Moderate Voice. — Technorati : H1N1 flu, H1N1 virus, influenza, swine flu Del.icio.us : H1N1 flu, H1N1 virus, influenza,...

As more is revealed on the secret warrantless wiretaps and other surveillance of American citizens that President George W. Bush authorized illegally, supposedly to fullfill his “duty” to “keep Americans safe from the terrorists” this quote comes to mind: When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. -George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950) We should all be ashamed we let those small men do such great damage. — Cross-posted...

Even today, well after the memorial service and weeks after his death, Michael Jackson is still dominating the news. Why do I say this? Look at this screenshot of Newsmap: This site is a news aggregator and displays headlines of topics sized according to the number of current articles on that topic. Normally for my configuration, the red blocks, which are world news, and the gold blocks, which are national news, cover more than half the screen, the blue, which is entertainment news, covers what...

It’s a few days late, but I don’t recall seeing much comment on this milestone: CompuServe has been shut down by AOL, the current owner of the name and whatever was left of the company. To enlighten those younger than their forties, CompuServe was one of the first online services, back in the dark ages before the Internet (which was indeed capitalized in the early days…) and the World Wide Web (again, capitalized before becoming ubiquitous), starting 30 years ago in 1979 to be exact,...

At The Huffington Post, there is a very unsettling entry titled “Trying to Fix the Broken 401(k) System“. It reveals that as has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt in the past year, those on Wall Street are more than ready to utilize any and every means to exploit their “customers” in the quest for profits. Sigh… With pension plans disappearing, the 401(k) was pretty much the only replacement that would aid people in retirement, yet they are being used to enrich those...

From MSNBC.com: Report: Palin resigning as Alaska governor I generally don’t try to anticipate the strategies of politicians, I have a life to live, but I certainly wasn’t expecting Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to resign her office this early, before campaigning for the 2012 Presidential election began in earnest. I’m sure even if there is a follow-up announcement regarding the reasons for the resignation, speculation will run rampant. This is why personalities matter in history....

The headline says it all: LAPD Under Scrutiny After Jackson’s Death Let the speculation and creation of conspiracy theories begin… — Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice. — Technorati : LAPD, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson death Del.icio.us : LAPD, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson death Zooomr : LAPD, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson death Flickr : LAPD, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson death

Many amazing things were accomplished in the days before computers became ubiquitous and the world wide web became a distraction as well as a tool. Nazi Germany built the first jet fighter in the world, and was in the process of building a plane that bears a remarkable resemblance to the modern B2 bomber (although I think the stealth aspects of the “Hilter’s Stealth-Fighter” were an accidental byproduct and not the result of considered design). There was no computer modeling available...

It’s almost 15 minutes long, but it’s very funny. John Hodgman, the “PC” in the “Hi, I’m a Mac… And I’m a PC” commercials speaks at the Radio and Television Correspondent’s Dinner: President Obama flashes the Vulcan salute twice, so he really is our first nerd President. Cool… — Thanks to TrekMovie.com for the link to the video. — Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice. — Technorati : John Hodgman,...

Iran had an election yesterday, and the results are not exactly what were expected (if you want updates on the situation, Andrew Sullivan is posting frequently, if rather breathlessly, on this news). Current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected by apparently unrealistic margins, especially when the reported election results over time are examined. From Kevin Drum at his weblog hosted by Mother Jones: I was at a book party for Bob Wright’s The Evolution of God last night, and...

With the transition to broadcast digital TV and the ending of brodcast analog signals, there has been much discussion and heartburn. Given that the vast majority of people who live in urban and suburban areas get their TV signals via cable, those most affected live in rural areas and don’t get good reception in the first place. Since the video card in my computer has a digital TV input, I decided to buy an inexpensive antenna to check it out. For around $16 I was able to get a Philips set-top...

Three short words… They have a power that is almost unimaginable until one hears them from someone that is important… …or when one doesn’t hear them. Hearing them can inspire, can heal, can ease the pain that is life. Not hearing them can hurt, can destroy, can cause the loss of will to overcome the pain that is life. Yet some cannot say them without prompting, even if they have the feeling in their heart, apparently unknowing in the damage done by positive feelings left unsaid. Just...

I work in downtown Austin, almost dead center in the city, in a building on the corner of 6th Street and Congress Avenue. When I leave work, I drive by that corner. Today, there was a very interesting tableau that definitely shows where the slogan “Keep Austin Weird” came from. On the corner, standing on an upturned bucket, was what I gathered to be a performance artist, dressed in black, with a hood, black fabric covering his face, long sleeves, and gloves. None of his skin was visible,...

Cross-posted between Random Fate and The Moderate Voice. Embed code directly from the Dilbert web site. Technorati : Dilbert, economy, humor Del.icio.us : Dilbert, economy, humor Zooomr : Dilbert, economy, humor Flickr : Dilbert, economy, humor

…how can we justify laughing at all? This is funny and wistfully sad simultaneously, but you have to admit, Adam West has handled his situation with respect to fame/infamy, camp, pop culture, and fads as well as anyone could, with self-deprecating humor and class. Batman’s garage sale… Cross-posted to Random Fate. Technorati : Batman, humor, pop culture Del.icio.us : Batman, humor, pop culture Zooomr : Batman, humor, pop culture Flickr : Batman, humor, pop culture

I ran across this when I was reading a post at Balloon Juice the other day (I can’t find the original post, so I linked to a Geek Cool kind of post), and I think it’s very good: The artist has a MySpace page which you should visit if you want to find where to download the song. I may not have focused enough on the video to really understand what it’s about. I think I can extract some meaning, but I may not be catching it entirely since I didn’t focus on it. The point is,...

The piracy situation off the coast of Somalia is not as straightfoward as many think it is. There are origins to the piracy beyond simple greed for easy money. These origins do not excuse the actions of the pirates, but we cannot resolve the situation without an understanding of how it arose. This is not some simple-minded action movie with a obvious solution through the use of massive force. — Cross-posted to Random Fate.

…President Obama restated, reaffirmed, and re-swore the Oath of Office today, showing far more regard for both the letter and the spirit of our Constitution than his predecessor did, you know, the one who appointed the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who flubbed the Oath in the first place, along with ignoring needs for search warrants before wiretapping or habeas corpus requirements before throwing American citizens in prisons where Presidentially-approved torture was perpetrated. Am I...

My previous very brief comment at my personal weblog, Random Fate, was regarding the contrast between President Obama (at that time the President-elect) and former President Bush (at that time the President: Obama confronts fear and defies it, in contrast to President George W. Bush, who appears to embrace fear. Just a thought. When reviewing Obama’s inagural address, note the statements I have emphasized below: My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful...

I recently left my job of 12 years at Freescale Semiconductor (née Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector) and started with a new company, essentially out of the semiconductor industry and into the realm of making money by licensing intellectual property. It has been a big change that was motivated in no small part by the precipitous decline of the semiconductor industry in the United States. Recently, John Cole at Balloon Juice has asked in regards to the Big Three automakers in the United...

Since there is more to life than politics and other “real” news, some may be interested in reading why I’m “A bit bummed about the new Star Trek movie“.

For many years I looked at the Roman Catholic Church, in the modern era despite the efforts of Pope John Paul II, as remarkably open-minded and receptive to ideas that were not necessarily compatible with the orthodoxy pronounced by the central authority. Part of this view was influenced by the first college I attended, Christian Brothers College, now Christian Brothers University, in Memphis, Tennessee, a school run by the Christian Brothers monastic order. In other words, the Church recognized...