2008-12-26

Hulk Clumsy Bastard!!!!

Fake Plastic People

Nestled in a ground-tied cloud is my snow laden house. Squirrels and deer and birds have looked in the window at me, plaintively. The feeders have gone empty. But I sit in front of the computer, jaw slack.

The cat has nudged my ankles and looked at me adoringly, yet still my eyes are glued to the screen.

I hear tell of a coup and shootings and more economic woe but I am briefly sheltered by unreality.

My brother has gotten me Sims 2 for my MacBook and damned if those stiff limbed faux people aren't fun to wreck havoc with.

2008-12-23

Put Your Lips Together and Blow



Bonnie, a 30-year-old female orangutan at the Smithsonian National Zoo, surprised her caretakers in the 1980's with a pretty neat trick.  By watching people, she figured out how to whistle. This is the first documented case of a primate spontaneously mimicking the sounds of another species.

Full article here.

Um, so can Ujan.

Peace in Detroit


At least in the form of a baby aardvark named Amani (Swahili for peace.)



Amani will be seen with parents Rachaael and Mchimbaji in the spring of 2009 with the Zoo’s other aardvarks, Amy Bob and Lily.

"This could be your head!"

Or you could just get one of these. Or just follow these instructions.

Can You Love Handle It?


Beverly Hills doctor and green multi-tasker Craig Alan Bittner is saving the planet one liposuction at a time.

He has converted fat removed from patients into biodiesel fuel for his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator.

And, as you would expect, there is more to the story than fuels the car.

2008-12-16

We'll we're definitely using one pot today!"

Rufus Wainwright and his mom, Kate McGarrigle stop by Martha Stewart to make ginger cookies (in the case of dear Rufus, rather badly) and to entice people to their Christmas show at Carnegie Hall. The show proceeds go to a charity Kate M started that aids in cancer care and research.

The video is rather damned funny for those who enjoy watching others struggle in the kitchen.





Too Full


I am not available
At the moment
Except to myself.

Downstairs the plumber
Is emptying the big tank,
Water-logged.
The pump pumped on and on
And might have worn out.

So many lives pour into this house,
Sometimes I get too full;
The pump wears out.

So now I am emptying the tank.
It is not an illness
That keeps me from writing.
I am simply staying alive
As one does
At times by taking in,
At times by shutting out.

A Winter Notebook




2008-12-12

"I want to be remembered as a woman who changed people's perspectives concerning nudity in its natural form"


The real thing, Bettie Page has died at 85.  She had had a heart attack on December 6th that had left her in  a coma.

Her issue of Playboy is the second most-requested issue in the magazine's history and Page got all of $20 for it. She had hoped to recoup some of the money made from her iconic image

2008-12-11

The Brightest and the Bestest

That will be the full moon visible on this Friday night. La Luna will be 30% brighter and 14 % larger than our average full moon (it is at is closest perigee for this orbit). With a reflection off the snow covering most of my area, it will be bright enough for a moon tan.

After trudging through a parking lot covered in grayish-tan cold muck, the moon rising in pink sky tonight lifted my spirits. I will being spying with my little eye tomorrow and may attempt a crap photo or two. 

What Fools These Mortals Be

2008-12-09

A Lion Pride in Winter

“At the Justice Department.”

Wanting it, wanting
with all my hunger this anguish,
this knowing in the body
the grim odds we’re
up against, wanting it real.
Up that bank where gas
curled in the ivy, dragging each other
up, strangers, brothers
and sisters. Nothing
will do but
to taste the bitter
taste. No life
other, apart from.
—  Denise Levertov, “At the Justice Department.”

2008-12-08

Radka Toneff - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

Not Fred's Bedrock


Rhythmic bedding in sedimentary bedrock within Becquerel crater on Mars.

A favorite site, NASA and their current images.

Extra: Greedy Ass Report


It bonus time in corporate American and we are about to see where that bail out is going to take us.

The first ass I've bothered to report on: John Thain of Merrill Lynch. His company was on the conveyor belt heading for bankruptcy right after Lehman Brothers. But John has asked his beleaguered company for a $10,000,000 dollar bonus. Because he's just that damn cool (insiders say he felt that without his guidance the company "could have done worse."

More surely to be added to this last in the weeks to come. As I bother to report them.

Feel the Beat of the Rhythm of my Mullet

2008-12-07

Conway vs. Wheelchair





And here is a link to many, many, many other out takes from this brilliant show.

2008-12-03

"They are very demanding."


Saved after being abandoned by their mother's after heavy storms, 300 flying fox babies are wrapped and pampered in order to save them for a future colony. The cuteness quotient is quite high.

Because I Am.....


The SoftLightes - The Microwave Song