I seem to recall the major networks covered the first night of the Dems in Boston. In fact, I thought they carried footage all four nights.

McCain -- as close to a media darling as the Repubs have to offer -- is currently giving a speech, which is carried only by our local PBS affiliate. I don't have cable or satellite, so I don't have a clue what kind of coverage this is getting elsewhere.

Disappointing, if not very surprising.

Update: Rudy Giuliani's on now, and the three "majors" are still showing their normal lineup. What is the effin' deal???

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This clip is a lengthy download, but well worth it. (Download mirrors here).

Some enterprising gamers (and it took many) restaged the opening minutes of The Matrix using the X-Box game Halo. Given the number of characters on the screen most of the time, this looks like at least 2 or 3 networked X-Boxes. I wonder how many takes it took. Geek out!

Via Milk and Cookies.

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Rob the Llamabutcher's account of reading to his llama-ettes got me to thinking about the books I've read aloud to my sons (I still read short little picture stories to my 5-year old daughter).

I love reading to my kids, but some authors are almost impossible to read aloud. J.K. Rowling springs immediately to mind, as she runs on with florid and wordy sentences always ending with a clause beginning with an "ing" word, piling on the clauses one after another, stopping for nothing, droning on and on and on. (Her stories are fun and the boys and I like them, but she really needs an editor with a spine).

Throughout 2003, I read the complete Lord of the Rings out loud to my oldest son. Tolkien knew how to craft beautiful language that was both fun to read out loud and to hear myself reading. It gave me a whole new perspective on the power of his stories and his language.

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My Roast Lamb and Vegetables recipe is up at this week's Carnival of the Recipes.

Be sure to surf over, and if you try the recipe, please let me know.

I also especially liked the look of the Crunchy Tossed Salad and the Steak With Garlic Blue Cheese Butter.

On a self-centered note, readers following the Carnival link finally pushed my blog over 10,000 visits total. Yay! (I'm sure Glenn's link to the Carnival helped boost the readership).

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Via the Llamabutchers, fifty things about me:

1. Your name spelled backwards. suinal nhoj

2. Where were your parents born? Dallas, Texas.

3. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? Planet of the Apes as Twilight Zone episode (yet another exhibit for short copyright terms and a vibrant public domain).

4. WhatÂ’s your favorite restaurant? A toss-up: Japon Steakhouse and Sushi Bar (perfect for both romantic dinners and whole-family outings) or III Forks (best ribeye I've ever had).

5. Last time you swam in a pool? Last Saturday at The Texas Pool (our local members-only pool, shaped like the State of Texas with an island where Plano is).

More in the extended entry: more...

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This is just weird. Video game characters "undressing" for Playboy?

Just one question: Where's Cortana?

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VerukaSalt examines the proposition of what "car care" would look like if we gave employers an incentive to create car insurance plans that cover maintenance and disconnect the consumer's price paid (i.e., the copay) from the actual cost of the service. Interesting.

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Well, re-styling this site is taking most of my blogging time, so you get a "giant" link-fest tonight, a la Jeff Patterson at Gravity Lens instead of any erudite or witty original commentary.

A collection of props from Land of the Giants. Wine tips from Giant Foods. The Jolly Green Giant (helicopter), Jolly Green Giant recipe ideas, They Might Be Giants, Giant Cthulu Statues, Giant Robot Costume, The Iron Giant, Gentle Giant, Giant Eyeball Recipe, and Giant Sharks.

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As I mentioned a few days ago, Strengthen the Good exists to identify and raise awareness of worthy "micro" charities.

However, with the recent devastation caused by Hurricane Charley, Strengthen the Good has identified a slightly larger "macro" micro-charity: The Gulf Coast Community Foundation Of Venice Hurricane Charley Disaster Relief Fund.

Please follow both links. Check out this opportunity to help people in need. If you wish to donate, please do so.

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The Crack Young Staff at Hatemongers' Quarterly have posted a challenge to their readers to submit the worst rock song lyrics of all time.

I have submitted the lyrics to Touch and Go by Emerson, Lake and Powell and Neil Diamond's I Am I Said.

Funny thing is, I like both of those songs.

For me lyrics are usually incidental: just a means of carrying a melody and maybe some harmony. Rarely do bad lyrics mess up good music for me, but I cannot abide good lyrics accompanied by bad (or boring) music (cases in point: Country and Rap).

The one group whose lyrics I really tune into is Rush, because they are reliably intelligent and often libertarian. Ironically, since one of the biggest turn-offs to non-Rush fans is the singer's (Geddy Lee's) voice.

Ah, well, I can't wait to see the results of the lyric contest.

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The Llamabutchers are officially moved in at their new digs here in Munuviana.

Steve did all the heavy lifting getting the site set up (and thanks for noting the little bit of help I rendered) and now Rob is back from vacation, presumably tanned, if not so rested, but we hope ready to resume his prolific blogging.

Welcome back!

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From my wife (who passes it on from one of her email correspondents):

A senior citizen in Florida bought a brand new Mercedes convertible. He took off down the road, flooring it to 80 mph and enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left on his head.

"This is great," he thought as he roared down I-75. He pushed the pedal to the metal even more.

Then he looked in his rear view mirror and saw a highway patrol trooper behind him, blue lights flashing and siren blaring. "I can get away from him with no problem" thought the man and he tromped it some more and flew down the road at over 100 mph. Then110, 120 mph!

Then he thought, "What am I doing? I'm too old for this kind of thing." He pulled over to the side of the road and waited for the trooper to catch up with him.

The trooper pulled in behind the Mercedes and walked up to the man. "Sir," he said, looking at his watch. "My shift ends in 30 minutes and today is Friday. If you can give me a reason why you were speeding that I've never heard before, I'll let you go."

The man looked at the trooper and said, "Years ago my wife ran off with a Florida state trooper, and I thought you were bringing her back."

The trooper replied, "Sir, have a nice day."

I love that my wife and I can both laugh out loud at this. . .

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Strengthen the Good is a network of bloggers designed to focus the attention of the blogosphere -- readers and authors alike -- on opportunities to make a positive difference to people in need through small, direct actions.

Conceived by Alan Nelson of The Command Post, our job is to raise awareness of "micro-charities," which can benefit from even minimal donations. Members of the network will receive a notice from Alan, and our job then will be to highlight the opportunity and link to the information about it.

Your job? Spread the word. Give. And, if you like, join so that the network can reach even more readers and donors.

(Hat tips: Virginia Postrel and Alan Brain whose posts first alerted me to this).

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. . . because I find this fascinating.

(Hat tip: Timothy Sandefur).

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Surfing around tonight, I found this interesting gallery of high-speed video captures (i.e., slow-motion playback) of a variety of activities.

I like the heart valve visualization, engine combustion, and rattlesnake strike clips.

Enjoy!

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Ace has posted the long-awaited results of the American Haiku contest.

Priceless.

Yours truly entered, but neither placed nor showed. Ah well, there's always a next time. . .

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One of Ace's funnier commenters, VerukaSalt, has finally set up a blog of her own.

Today she completely nails the media's [non-]coverage of our recent push in Iraq. Money quote(s):

Update: From Fox News - Dude, we are kicking their asses, the enemy is running away like a red headed kid that just pissed off his step mom. . . .

Update: From The Washington Post - Innocent Iraqi militia men are being slaughtered in the street by US and Iraqi military forces, We have the audaucity to return fire on these innocent freedom fighters that are puting up a game but futill attempt to overthrow the American's currently occouping Iraq. A relief fund for the families of these Militia freedom fighters is currently being set up by our good friends at moveon.org with almost 2 quarters of a percent going to the freedom fighting militia.

VerukaSalt doesn't hold back on the four-letter words, so you have been forewarned. But I have laughed more reading her blog tonight than any time recently, so she goes on the blogroll.

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1 Thanks for the recommendation! Also, do you have a link to where we can send contributions to those poor, misunderstand, brave underdog "militia" (that and militant are the new synonyms for terrorist)?

Posted by: RP at August 13, 2004 09:49 AM (LlPKh)

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I'm not ashamed to admit that, despite early exposure to classical music by my parents, I didn't really get into it until I got heavily into progressive rock music, particularly Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Many of my first classical recordings were the originals covered by ELP (Ginastera, Copland, Janacek, Bartok, Bach, and Holst, to name a few).

So it's really fun to see the tribute flowing in the opposite direction thanks to this Australian Physics Professor, who has arranged, recorded, and posted mp3 samples of Led Zeppelin's classic Stairway to Heaven as it would have been authored by Schubert, Holst, Glenn Miller, Mahler, Bizet, Beethoven, and then a grand finale mish-mash of the styles.

A loud and obnoxious "bravo" to BoingBoing for unearthing this gem.

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1 That is so cool. I especially loved the Glenn Miller snippet, but then I'm partial to Big Band.

Posted by: Ted at August 13, 2004 08:20 PM (ZjSa7)

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Stephen Green channels that other Steven today, musing on what victory will look like in this war, and whether we can plan to "win the peace."

Meanwhile, doc Russia makes a compelling case that we are in fact winning:

Well, we are now in no danger of Iraqi WMD's being used on american soil for the next twenty years. We are now establishing a foothold for democracy in the middle east. The map of the middle east, once covered in its length and breadth with breeding grounds for terrorists, has now broad expanses of areas where terrorists must focus their energy, and not a half a world away. Now, the terrorists are trying (and failing) to hold on to their territory in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Africa, instead of trying to destabilize and demoralize the US. Is that what the moments before victory will look like?

Would it look like Marines stomping in the guts of the last holdouts of the Taliban?

Would it take the form of fresh-faced soldiers lighting up Al-Qaeda insurgents?

Maybe the laughable idea (at least in 2002) that the Saudis and even the Pakistanis would be rounding up terrorists within their own borders?

Would victory include terrorists being rounded up both here in the US and in Europe? Would we be able to get the terrorists to fight our kind of war, and send them to their deaths at every turn?

Would we in fact have newspapers ever proclaiming that Al-Qaeda was on the run?

Would there come a penultimate moment when even the hardiest of martyr wannabe's can see that they are going to lose?

Be sure to read the whole thing.

While part of me hears the voice of Han Solo ("Great, kid, don't get cocky"). there is some real evidence that we are making significant progress, and we should be cautiously optimistic.

(Hat tip: Owlish).

Posted by: JohnL at 11:36 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 Thanks for the linkage. And you are spot on that this is not the time to get cocky, or to rest on our laurels. It does appear, however, that while we still have a ways to go, this conflict is heading in the general direction we want it to.

Posted by: doc Russia at August 11, 2004 03:58 PM (vFMqj)

2 Careful with that 'penultimate' word there. It doesn't mean what you think it means. I got bit by it a while back myself.

Posted by: Ted at August 13, 2004 11:22 AM (blNMI)

3 One could argue (I'm a lawyer, I have to argue ;-) that doc R got it right. The penultimate moment is when the bad guys see, i.e., realize they are going to lose, and the ultimate moment is when they actually get blasted to smithereens.

Posted by: John Lanius at August 14, 2004 04:18 PM (gplif)

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Fellow Munuvian Ace has the goods on this awesome automatic grenade launcher:

Be sure to click through to the XM307's site and catch the video.

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