Oldtimertreffen

The World Vespa Meet in Munich this year:

Time: 9:48

Pick up the Cans on Aisle Three

Shelf stockers take note:

Architects and engineers compete to see whose team can build the most spectacular structure using little more than cans of food at Canstruction, the 13th annual NYC Design and Build competition.

Coolness.

Dying dialect gets a voice

 The people who settled Fredricksburg, Texas, have an interesting history. Their language is dying with the last generation to speak it.

Unlike other German immigrant destinations, such as Pennsylvania and the Midwest, many Texas-bound Germans settled in rural, isolated communities, particularly in the Hill Country, where German was a dominant language.

Kowabunga, Dude

If a President Were Elected

… on the strength of his resume and accomplishments, perhaps the man currently occupying the office would still be drilling dry holes somewhere in the dust bowl.

Apparently, he doesn’t feel the need to ask those in his administration just what their qualifications are, either.

I mean, tossing Brownie aside, take the Secretary of Education (puh-lease!), Margaret Spellings (sic), a real jerkess when it comes to her own political tastes. In an edition of Celebrity Jeopardy, she had to watch herself get roundly thrashed by none other than David St. Hubbins of Spinal Tap.

(Yes, I know it’s not his real name, but still… he’s an actor.)

And she is the Secretary of Education?

For the United States?

of America?

C’mon, did Harriet Miers recommend her for the job?

Someone’s backside needs a serious introduction to the Board of Education.

How Can You Tell When President Bush is Lying?

His lips move!

I landed on this wonderful rant about Clueless’ exactitude of truthiness.

He has lied about his time in the National Guard, and lied about his criminal history. He lied about his relationship with Ken Lay, he lied about who would benefit from his tax cuts, and he lied about stem cells. He lied about his visit to Bob Jones University, he lied about why he wouldn’t meet with Log Cabin Republicans, and he lied about reading the EPA report on global warming. He lied about blaming the Clinton administration for the second intifada, he lies constantly about how he pays no attention to polls, he lied about how he loves New York, and he lied about moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. He lied about finding WMD in Iraq, he lied about making his decision to go to war, he lied about the CIA’s dismissal of the yellowcake rumors, and he lied about the IAEA’s assessment of Iraq’s nuclear program. He lied about funding the fight against AIDS in Africa, he lied about when the recession started, and he lied about seeing the first plane hit the WTC. He lied about supporting the Patient Protection Act, and he lied about his deficit spending, and now my wrist hurts.

Heh.

One of My Heroes Bites the Dust

I’ve been media geek my whole life, and of film especially.

The 70’s was the decade I came of age. Two of the directors that mattered the most to me were Peckinpah and Altman.

Now that Altman has left us, I’m sad, but so thankful (it’s that time of year) he left such a great body of work to enjoy- until the time is right that I too kick the bucket.

The clip below is of the eight-minute long tracking shot from his big comeback film The Player.

Enjoy.

Another American City Wiped out by the Army Corps of Engineers?

300 miles upstream from Nashville (ugh- I hate country music) a dam’s underpinnings are eroding, and the potential for disaster is great.

Just think… in one swell foop, country music could be wiped off this planet.

Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuu!

The Relics of Mu?

I’ve been to Newgrange in Ireland (Wikipedia), and am always awed by discoveries that reveal people unknown to us once walked the planet.

They existed before history was recorded.

The people who built Newgrange preceded the Celts, dying off without much of a trace as to their beliefs, skill, what they looked like, or even what they called themselves.

Something like this is a genuine wonder. If it’s ancient, who built it? Were they contemporaries of those who built Newgrange?

That’s a Big Bomb