Brilliant

So here's a site where you can make a French presidential canidate dance. It's awesome.

If he's so great...

Last night I'm reading Alfred Bester's Demolished Man in bed. Andy says, "What are you reading?"

"Only one of the greatest sci-fi writers in the 20th century."

"Oh yea? If he's so great, did he write Batman?"

I flip to the biogrpahy blurb at the front of the book and I read, "He then embarked on a career as a scripter for comic, radio, and television, where he worked on such classics characters Superman, Batman, Nick Carter, Charlie Chan, Tom Corbett and the Shadow."

Andy looked confussed. "You're making that up!"

"No, he rocked."

Here's a podcast from StarShipSofa discussing the qualities of Alfred Bester's work.

Aethel the Bad - Slipper Hunter

Andy woke me up this morning. "Mel, you got to see this."

I climb out of bed, groggy and cold.

In the living room Aethel is wrestling with one of my pink slippers. She hisses and pounces and they tumble. Then, triumphant, she bites down on the slipper and carries it away. The slipper is as big as her. Her little cat legs are straddling the slipper as she draggs it under her body and she waddles away. Hallarious.

Great News!

Great News, everyone! Defense Secretary Robert Gates submitted to Congress a manual for trials for detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The manual allows for heresay evidence and coerced testimony. However, it does provide a prohibition for evidence obtain by torture after December 30, 2005.

Fantastic. My government just admitted in a back handed way that it tortures. Not just "intense questing"...torture.

And it doesn't say the military will stop torturing. Just can't use it as evidence.

And it doesn't seem to be in the news. I found this articel buried on CNN.com.

I want to be Canadian.

Happy Chewbacca!

And now a carol to celebrate the most joyous of holidays.

L.I.A.R.B.Y.R.D.

Get Your Cyborg Name

Name My Laptop

So the new laptop is nearing a month old and I haven't decided on a name yet. I really wanted just to keep the name of the old laptop, Ian, but was informed last night is was major major bad mojo to keep the same name for computers. Fine. But I need a name.

I'm bouncing between a sci-fi name (Khan is a front runner) or a traveler/explorer name, which is where Ian came from. (Ian Wright, host of Globe Trekker. I love that guy.)

So, here I am, typing on a spiffing new machine with no name. Help.