The argument for big and heavy cars...

I'll remember this video and yell, "Bullsh@t!" the next time I see any movie where the action hero drives up to a 747 and somehow manages to jump onto the landing gear and climb aboard the plane:

The Dharma Initiative? Now those Lost tie-ins are getting a little out of hand...

Photo: NASA

So did anyone catch these pictures taken from the Cassini Space Probe orbiting Saturn that were released by NASA a couple of weeks ago? According to the NASA site, this phenomenon isn't new, as it was also seen by Voyager 1 and 2 as they passed the planet, as well. I think the red color above is just a result of the infrared imaging used to capture the picture, but it's still kind of freaky nonetheless.

Of course, when I worried about strange alien life inhabiting Saturn and creating such a geometric shape that surely could only mean impending doom from an extraterrestrial weapon of mass destruction set to destroy the Earth, it turns out that swirling hexagonal shapes actually do occur in nature. HC? Well, I guess it's gotta be PHYSICS!

N = C + {fb(cm) . fb(tc)} + fb(Ts) + fc . ta

So after Wander's recent picture post about that heavenly porcine meat, I seem to be running into all sorts of articles about bacon.

First, is a recipe for--get this--bacon popcorn! I guess it's popcorn, and that's kind of a healthy snack, right? Yeah, does anyone notice that it's always the overweight people (me included) that you always see snacking on popcorn and drinking Diet Coke, and it's the skinny people you see in magazines always boozing it up in nightclubs and bars?

Then in The New York Times, we get the mathematical formula for the perfect bacon sandwich. Again, I wonder why I do what I do for a living, and not this. If my biggest worry in life was to determine the optimal decibel level for bacon crunch noise, I think I would truly be in heaven...or is that hell? That could be truly boring. I wonder how much governmental funding they got for that study, though? Now that's what I call pork barrel spending! Ba-dum-bump!

More Nintendo Flashbacks

One of my favorite Simpsons moments.

If Only...

Defying the Odds

In the last four months, a bizarre occurance has taken place in my life. I have accomplished a feat rarely seen within the confines of marriage. As is normally the case, I started my winter journey of growing a beard. This typically starts soon after (usually the same day of) my wedding anniversary. The journey consisted of the usual full beard which stays trimmed and comes off in February.

On the first of the year, I shaved the beard down to a goatee which my wife has put up strong opposition to in the past. This time, though, she did not think it looked as bad as she thought it would. I attribute this feat to having gone from a full beard to a goatee, and I decided to keep it for a while. As it grew I decided that I wanted to take this thing as far as I could. It would accompany me on a personal journey heading towards one of my goals for the year of 2007. I would not, I could not, get rid of it or trim it until I had reached this goal. The length grew and grew. Little did I know that my wife would put up with such antics as long as she did and all the while continue to be "intimate" with me. This defies all odds.

Last night, however, proved to be a moment of weakness, and I caved. It would prove to be rather timely though. After achieving a length greater than I did in my mid twenties, I got rid of my goatee before reaching my personal goal because it was even too ugly for me to see in the mirror. Little did I know that this morning I achieved that personal goal and the growth was not in vain. It has accompanied me well on my journey. While it was ugly, I had grown accustomed to the warmth it provided. And so it too will provide you with some warmth today - the warmth of laughter - in the viewing of some pictures.

The Pippi Longstocking Version:

The Perv Version:

The Singing Bush Version:

The Dreadlock Version:




The Cowboy Version:

Rubbing isn't racing, it's just stupid...

I watched a bit of the Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday. Now, I won't go back into a rant about the inferiority that is NASCAR, but since I've still got F1 on the mind, I'll share this really nice commercial from Shell and the Ferrari Formula One racing team.

This also got me thinking about the whole environmental movement in the car industry. You'd think that at some point in the future, we'll all be driving some form of zero emission cars. Will that mean that gas as we know it will be gone, as well? What will oil companies like Shell be selling, and what will race cars run on?

Super Mario!

Happy Friday everyone!

Am I getting to old for this?

It's been a little over 24 hours since I saw Snow Patrol at The Pageant here in St. Louis, and I'm a little worried because my left ear is still ringing. It was a great concert, but I left feeling a bit like an old fart.

My wife is a huge Snow Patrol fan, having discovered them a few years back when they debuted in the U.S. with their album Final Straw. Of course, her enthusiasm shot up into the stratosphere when their music was prominently featured on her favorite television show of the moment, Grey's Anatomy. I think they're a pretty awesome band myself, so we staked out some prime space close to the stage on the floor, and passed on the amenities of seats and booze in the "21 and over" section towards the back. Nope, instead we huddled with the young folk--14 and 15 year old girls puffing on cigarettes trying to look cool, adolescent boys with that bad "I'm going through puberty" B.O., college kids talking to who knows whom on their cellphones.

The opening acts, Silverspun Pickups and OK Go, were great. Really got the crowd going. But in the midst of it all, I kept catching myself being like some grumpy old man. The music was too loud. These kids were annoying me and invading my personal space (which apparently my wife was thinking, too, when she shoved back some girl trying to squeeze her way into space behind us that wasn't there). My back was hurting from standing there so long. Why does it take so long to set up between bands? I'd look up in the balcony seats and see crowds of middle aged adults, thinking to myself, "Boy, I should be up there. It would be nice to sit down, order a beer from the cocktail waitress, and watch the show where the speakers weren't dead-on aimed at me."

Oddly, the space around me thinned out a bit after OK Go, and I ended up really enjoying my vantage point when Snow Patrol came on. But now my ear is still ringing, my back is sore, and I'm still annoyed that kids are smoking (in public, no less). Yup. I'm turning into middle-aged man, and I'm still in my early 30's.

Interesting tidbit I learned from Wikipedia: Apparently, Snow Patrol came up with their band name while eluding the police in Telluride, CO after being caught trying to cut down a Christmas tree and hiding out in a cave for a few hours. Sounds like something we would have done in our younger days. Scratch that--something YOU guys would have done. I would have been at home while you guys did this, then scratching my head the following day trying to figure out how you guys always seem to get in trouble when I'm not around. ;-)

Since Wander mentioned him...

I had to go find an adult picture of Ralphie.



Just mentally put those glasses on him and you can see it.

I wonder if he ever runs into Scott Farkiss?

Sighting #8. And I was almost thinking Willie's use of the Force was becoming more powerful than mine...

This one was literally right under my nose. I walk this way to the hospital almost on a daily basis, so either R2-D2 wandered over here (meaning Tusken Raiders can't be far behind) or the U.S. Postal Service has been putting out more. This placement probably made the most sense to me, though, being in front of the children's hospital. Anything to make a kid that probably isn't feeling too well put a smile on his face.

A Moment Of Silence

S0me sad news out of Hollywood.

LOS ANGELES -- Film director Robert Clark, best known for the beloved holiday classic "A Christmas Story," and his son were killed Wednesday in a car wreck, the filmmaker's assistant and police said.
Clark, 67, and son Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, were killed in the accident in Pacific Palisades, said Lyne Leavy, Clark's personal assistant.
The two men were in an Infiniti that collided head-on with a GMC Yukon around 2:30 a.m. PST, said Lt. Paul Vernon, a police spokesman. The driver of the other car was under the influence of alcohol and was driving without a license, Vernon said.

As I've mentioned before, "A Christmas Story" is one of my favorite films, and Tellulah and I watch it every Christmas all day (and I usually watch it on dvd a couple of times throughout the year).
What a sad ending.

Although on a more interesting note, Peter Billingsley, who played Ralphie in the film, is an Executive Producer on the upcoming "Iron Man" film. Apperently he and Jon Favreau, the director on "Iron Man" (and not a bad actor himself) are good friends. Go figure.

The Rising Price Of Energon

Some sweet new pics from the Transformers movie were released today. I'm sure there will be plenty of haters out there, but me? Man, I couldn't have asked for a cooler Optimus Prime then the one in the pic above. Well, except maybe this one.

When I die, this is how I want my funeral to be...

I can't remember if I ever posted this video before, but since I've got The Wrath of Khan on the brain:

What's the greatest sci-fi movie ever? No, this is not a gimme question...

I remember Wild Willie raving about the movie Serenity a while back, but haven't managed to put it on my Netflix queue yet. Perhaps I need to see this film. Based on a poll by SFX, a British science fiction magazine, Serenity is the best sci-fi movie of all time, even beating out Star Wars (and by a pretty large margin)!

Considering Willie's passion for all things Skywalker in light of his endorsement of Joss Whedon's film above, I'm wondering how he feels about this.

I'm just disappointed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan didn't crack the top ten, 'cause that movie was awesome.

KHAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!

R2D2 Sighting #7

Sighting #6 was a use of the force coupled with some plans retrieved by a Bothan spy, but after that sighting I turned off my targeting computer and decided to just "roam" downtown a little more. Within a matter of minutes, I was led by the ancient jedi about three blocks east to the corner of Fayetteville St. and Martin Street. Now you have #7.

R2D2 Sighting #6

Yesterday started out with a nice use of the force, and with my evening being spent in Raleigh it only got better. The midiclorians within me decided to kick it in high gear and lead me to the corner of Dawson St. and Martin St. in downtown Raleigh, NC.

R2D2 Sighting #5

On the corner of Market and College in Greensboro, NC R2D2 #5 was sighted.



This little fellow proved to be a tough one to find. After having no luck with seeing him around town, I broke down and went to the main post office to ask where I might find him. As is often the case, I came in contact with a non-Star Wars fan who was one of our very own postal workers. I was amazed that they didn't even know what I was talking about. My guess is that the USPS doesn't do much with making their employees aware of their own marketing efforts. (Hey USPS employees, did you know that at one time you were the sponsor to one of the 21st century's dominate athletes?) Anyway, I explained the whole campaign to him and told him that there are only 400 of these in the system. With much excitement I proceeded to tell him that we were blessed with at least one in Greensboro. He responded with very muted excitement and said he would see if anyone else knew what I was talking about. After about 5 minutes he returns from the back to let me know that they have one alright. It was sitting in the back currently to which he had just spent some time looking at it. It had already been taken off the streets for reasons I was not told. Could I see it? Would it make it out again? Where? When? I could not see it because I was not of the proper postal status to be able to get into the back. All the other questions were met with the same muted excitement and responded to with an, "I don't know." It seems though that the force was with me, and I found it a few days later.

I never made it through engineering school. I guess I lost "The Knack"...

Thanks to Fandango for making us aware of this video clip, with some added footage at the end courtesy of YouTube:

Because canine obesity is the real epidemic problem we face as Americans...