This is a very nicely presented video on wealth inequality in America. Among other things, compares peoples perceptions of how it is with their opinions on how it ought to be, and puts those both against reality. A bit slow, but eye-opening for most.

A nice legal response from the Cleveland Browns.

This petting zoo is giggle-worthy

Hey Kool aid!

Understanding Infographics

Judge Judy rules in 20 seconds. You got to love the dumb criminals.

I want one of these amazing rings. It must be magic.

A little neglect goes a long way

Bill Gates is awesome in unexpected ways.

I’ll have to call you back

How to death metal

30 for 30 covers Space Jam

Even The Dark Knight makes mistakes

Fun with Google Translate

Like a Rolling Stone – an interactive video. Clever.

Sir Nicholas Winton meets the lives he saved.

I like Kings of Leon. They tend towards the harder side of rock and roll, but I also enjoy their quieter songs. Here are a pair of songs from them that I can play over and over. They are easy to sink into.

Kings of Leon are great craftsmen. They don’t do solos. Every note is carefully planned out. They are not stunning instrumentalists. The drummer is particularly very good, but for the most part they are all professionally competent. And you have to say the singers voice is… not so amazing. It’s a Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix voice, an acquired taste. From these ingredients, they have made a wide variety of really good songs and a couple great ones.

There are a few auto accessories that ought to be illegal. (Or if they already are illegal, enforced.)

1) The fancy rims. The rims keep turning after the vehicle is stopped. That gives false visual information. At some level it appears that the vehicle is moving when it isn’t.
2) CDs and pendants hanging from the mirror that scatter and reflect light. Not only does the glare get in my eyes, but it does so in a random pattern making it difficult to adjust to. Everyone understands that having your brights on is rude. An old friend used to keep an enormous spotlight in his car, and if anyone behind him had their brights on too long he would shine right in their eyes. Those folks wised up quick.

Visual clutter and disinformation is an actual issue. A friend of mine got in a car crash. The car in front of him was stopped, but the brake lights weren’t on, and he plowed right into it.

None of this is because I am anti-bling. I am pro-bling, it amuses me. For instance, I am in favor of huge crazy spoliers on Honda Civics, and neon all over the undercarriage. It also amuses me that probably no one who has that kind of bling calls it bling anymore. There’s a more current term by now.

I’m going back to the past. I haven’t read these books for over twenty years. They were some of my favorites back then.

So far they are worse than I remember, but better than I expected.

I took two readings on my scale. I took them 1 minute apart, the only difference was my morning pee. Thus, I can now state scientifically that my morning pee weighs 8/10ths of a pound, and increased my body fat by 0.4%.

Science has spoken! No skepticism will be tolerated!

Living in the South, my political views are a minority. I’m used to that. But I will never get used to the lack of subtlety. I respect the directness of the view. But yet. It lacks any sense of message of anything beyond Me-good-you-bad. Where is the beautiful wit of the “F the President” sticker?

These are the people who outvote me.

When there is something that makes me say, “That is one stupid state”, the odds are good it’s my own state of Georgia. Sigh. Are you curious to know about those idiotic partisan kamikaze dolts who risked our countries good faith and credit and wreaked vast destruction on the country for no reason?

Here they are. The 32 hardcore house republicans who couldn’t take no for an answer. Or even yes for an answer. Or any kind of answer unless it came from their efforts to hold the country hostage. This will go down as a shameful episode in American History, and one more nail in the coffin of the modern Republican party.

I am not surprised that Georgia overindexes by 500%. Not a bit.

The Kids Meal

A generic surprise party

Sad boy does the unexpected on talk show

Canadian police chase

Advice for the newly pregnant and their spouses

The Most Amazing Golf Shot Ever

Charlotte’s Web

Park bench dedication

Jason Alexander shows Larry David how to play George Costanza

Kiss Cam winner

Look behind you

Is your dog involved in a sex scandal?

The money shot

A: I can’t believe it. I forgot to pack my work pants to change into. Ugh.
B: I have an extra pair you can borrow.
A: Really? How come you have an extra pair of pants around?
B: My marriage isn’t going well. I’m living out of the car these days.
A: Wow, that’s lucky!!

My new favorite face

Despite the many hours of my life that have been spent in the gym, this is the first time I have ever attended a class. There was a spinning class, which I know now is a unnecessary alternative word for biking. As I have been biking regularly as part of my workouts I was looking forward to it. The regular instructor was out so there was a DVD instead.

It kicked my ass. I quit after twenty minutes. Wow. That was hard!

Along the way I learned the exact demographic this was designed for – 30 to 40 year old women who are neither attractive nor unattractive and can’t stop smiling vapid smiles.

Your viewpoint on the GOPs tactics depends less (or should depend less) on your feelings about the existential threat of Obamacare, and more on the precedent it sets. The precedent for using a non-partisan crisis as a hostage for partisan gains, and the precedent it sets for constitutional powers. This is a genuine constitutional crisis.

Jonathan Chait is easily my favorite writer on what is really going on. But the best context is from Abraham Lincoln. Yes, that Abraham Lincoln.

From the Cooper Union address of 1860.

Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events. This, plainly stated, is your language…

In that supposed event, you say, you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, “Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!”

To be sure, what the robber demanded of me – my money – was my own; and I had a clear right to keep it; but it was no more my own than my vote is my own; and the threat of death to me, to extort my money, and the threat of destruction to the Union, to extort my vote, can scarcely be distinguished in principle….

Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored – contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong…

I’ve been on a bit of a Rolling Stones kick lately. I’m most of the way through Crossfire Hurricane, a pretty great documentary. This live version of Tumbling Dice is incredible.

Wish the video was more interesting, but there you go.

Days without breaking our garage door: 1
Days without backing into a mailbox: 1

K.D. Lang covers Helpless by Neil Young

Thanks big bro!

Shawn Colvin’s cover of Crazy is fantastic.

For a bonus, here’s a live version with Prince.

Virgin O’ Riley – mashing together Like a Virgin with Baba O’Riley. I’m amazed at how much I liked it.

Awesome bachelor party prank, groom thinks he is bungee jumping blindfolded

Perspective

Incredible camouflage

Louisiana literacy test from the racist 1960s. You couldn’t pass it today.

Finding your meet cute

Should you eat that meat?

Car Pong

Marriage

Life after Harry Potter

It’s taken over five years for me to come to peace with it. The scars have healed. Tonight I watched a show about the Patriots loss to the Giants in the 2008 Superbowl. Stupid Giants.