Can you spot Kibbutz Masada, from this Earth Obervatory view, where I “worked” on my cousin’s chicken farm one summer long past? You never forget the smell because it never quite leaves you. Speaking of never forgetting read this travelogue. Then listen to the President’s greeting (and I thought he was Irish).
Oh yeah, … it is!
This is based on real events, and was produced and directed by a NASA astronaut.
On a brighter note, the 2009 online calendar for Yuri’s night parties worldwide is up.
“Yuri Gagarin was the first human to go into space on April 12th, 1961. The US Space Shuttle first launched on April 12th, 1981. Yuri’s Night is like the St Patricks Day or Cinco de Mayo for space. It is one day when all the world can come together and celebrate the power and beauty of space and what it means for each of us.”
Interestingly, there is no party yet for either Boston nor Moscow.
Patrick Moberg illustration. BTW, BHO will be President number 44 = !5 = number of derangements of the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}.
Born on this date in 1869 and assassinated 60 years ago, Mahatma Ghandi’s great TRUTH is the possibility of using non-violence to achieve freedom and justice. He said,
If the mad race for armaments continues, it is bound to result in a slaughter such as has never occurred in history.
On September 26, 1983 it almost happened. As recounted in an upcoming documentary by independent director Slawomir Grünberg, a Soviet Lieutenant in charge of monitoring US missles correctly assessed 5 blips on his radar as system errors, and did not push the red button. For his courage, Stanislav Petrov was retired early with a $200 per month pension. After the incident was declassified, Petrov won a $1000 award from the Association of World Citizens.
Director Grünberg has been filming in High Def using the Sony HDW-F900, a camera with an MSRP of $100,000 that can be picked up for a mere $40,000 on the street. Recently Canon announced the EOS 5D Mark II at a MSRP of under $2800. Vincent LaForet demonstrates why this is a revolutionary camera.
In a surpreise move, the nominial Republican Presidential candidate, John McCain, choses Washington outsider Palin as his running mate. And I thought you had to be a US citizen.
We first blogged about George Carlin, appropriately enough, in a post about language, pointing you to the seven dirty words – verbatum transcript prepared by the FCC. Dirty words keep changing – prior to 1900 the terrible seven would have been doggone, drat, forcryingoutloud, gee or jeepers, Jiminy Crickets (safe enough for Disney now), Odsbodkins, and the ’sh’ words shoot and shucks. Genius is a constant and lives on.
A Variety article on Carlin’s 50+ years in the business, a transcript of the Modern Man poem read on the Tonight Show, a Mother Jones article on a darker look at education from an HBO special, and finally, a deciphering of the bumper stickers on the hippie VW van, Fillmore, which Carlin voiced in the movie Cars, can all be found on the internets.
What was missing till now are Lia and Alan’s remarkable impressions of Carlin. Below is Lia’s impression.
Here is Alan getting into makeup.
And the splitting image.
As Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer began a presentation at the Corvinus University in Budapest, a rude Hungarian (redundant) student stood up and shouted
Hey you! Microsoft has stolen 25 <billion> Hungarian Forint. To the Hungarian people, give that money back. Right now!
He then threw 3 eggs – 1 on the floor, 1 on the wall, and 1 on the projector screen – before running out of ammunition, while Ballmer took refuge under the rostrum. The student was asked to “Please leave” and “Very quickly” and “What were you thinking?” to which he responded the country pays while this guy has the nerve to be parading around here, and walked out exposing everyone to the back of his shirt proclaiming “Microsoft = Corruption.”
Following the “friendly disruption” Ballmer calmly continued his talk, wherein he was found by index.hu to be a surprisingly brilliant speaker. In the Q&A he admitted to being egged before, in 1966 (no doubt on Halloween, when he would have been 10).
While the whole incident took place in broken English, Fake Steve Jobs is looking for a Czech translator!? I am sure you’ve seen the original recording of the event posted on youtube – here is the Bono version. Now we know who the Eggman is, but who is the Walrus?
