Yeah... what about Mars?

I too want my trip to Mars.

Weird

It feels weird to be a Virginian and not have to cringe in embarrassment over our Senator. Really weird, but I like it.

Happy 301st

Awww. I missed Ben's 301st birthday. It was yesterday.

From his website:

Did you know that Franklin was so sure that fresh air was important for good health that he took a daily “air bath”? He wrote to the French physician, Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, describing it thus: “I rise early almost every morning and sit in my chamber, without any clothes whatever, half an hour or an hour, according to the season, either reading or writing.”

Got your teeshirt yet?

Scores of people were killed in Baghdad on Tuesday in bombing and shooting incidents, most of them in neighborhoods where the militia of a powerful anti-American Shiite cleric holds sway. A suicide bomber and a car bomb killed at least 65 people and wounded 138 more at entrances to a once-prestigious university in Baghdad. LINK

It really looks like the beginning of a slide into the prelude of a full-out escalation into the possibility of a full-blown ramp up to a chance that there will be an actual start of a something that looks very much like, but possibly isn't, a civil war.

Whose side are you taking? Team Sunni? or Team Shi'ia? I can't decide - Bush is taking Team Shi'ia, obviously, so in theory, I ought to be on Team Sunni, but that puts me in bed with Saudi Arabia, which I understand is a very uncomfortable place to be. Decisions, decisions...

Apocalypse NOW!

51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse - it's the End of the World as We Know It! Thank god

Buy stock in snack foods

Scooter Libby trial starting now. (And what kind of name is 'Scooter' for a grown man?)

Now look what you started

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Friday reaffirmed Turkey's right to send troops into Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels there and chided U.S. officials for questioning it. link

You know, I don't know how anyone didn't see this coming. I mean, if we can invade countries willy-nilly, why can't just anyone?

Jellicle Cats

In honor of Kevin Drum's new cat:

The Song Of The Jellicles by T. S. Eliot

Jellicle Cats come out tonight,
Jellicle Cats come one come all:
The Jellicle Moon is shining bright--
Jellicles come to the Jellicle Ball.

Jellicle Cats are black and white,
Jellicle Cats are rather small;
Jellicle Cats are merry and bright,
And pleasant to hear when they caterwaul.
Jellicle Cats have cheerful faces,
Jellicle Cats have bright black eyes;
They like to practise their airs and graces
And wait for the Jellicle Moon to rise.

Jellicle Cats develop slowly,
Jellicle Cats are not too big;
Jellicle Cats are roly-poly,
They know how to dance a gavotte and a jig.
Until the Jellicle Moon appears
They make their toilette and take their repose:
Jellicles wash behind their ears,
Jellicles dry between their toes.

Jellicle Cats are white and black,
Jellicle Cats are of moderate size;
Jellicles jump like a jumping-jack,
Jellicle Cats have moonlit eyes.
They're quiet enough in the morning hours,
They're quiet enough in the afternoon,
Reserving their terpsichorean powers
To dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon.

Jellicle Cats are black and white,
Jellicle Cats (as I said) are small;
If it happens to be a stormy night
They will practise a caper or two in the hall.
If it happens the sun is shining bright
You would say they had nothing to do at all:
They are resting and saving themselves to be right
For the Jellicle Moon and the Jellicle Ball.

Too Stupid to know they should be embattled

Cheney denied the White House felt isolated or embattled, adding "I've seen embattled administrations, and this isn't one of them."

Beach Babe Obama

Stop looking at me, said the senator.

Sorry, Senator, no can do.

Still?

Fallen soldier's faith goes unrecognized

Yes, still.

Encyclopedia Galactica

If you're like me, you have no problem understanding hyperbolic space intellectually, but may have trouble visualizing a space that expands in all directions the further you go. Well, wonder no more. Mathematician Daina Taimina from Cornell has made physical models in crochet - you can do it yourself and have hyperspace models you can touch and feel.

Here's one: The more you increase as you crochet, the more 'folded' the space becomes: ... until it's really really twisty: Further proof, if you needed it, that the Internet is the Compendium of All Human Knowledge.

Jasmine

Awwww. This makes me sad. Jasmine was one of the original 'cat blogging' cats back when Kevin was still CalPundit.