02/15/2008
A few things I'd like to cover before we break for lunch.
First off, thanks to the diligent efforts of our website experts, this site will be undergoing an upgrade in the very near future; we'll be offline for a few days whilst migrations are migrated, tweaks are tweaked, and issues resolved. You'll find an announcement here instead of my distorted mug, but fear not; I will return ready to vend merch, review books, promulgate strange MP3's, and generally waste everyone's time.
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To finish off my recent fascination with crop circles, Flip wrote back to add A) that he hadn't actually visited the sites physically, he'd gone there via Google satellite voodoo, which made me feel a lot better and somewhat less humbled, and B) he added this regarding the Smithville, TX landowner named LUECKE::
"I think the Luecke is done by good ol' surveying: my friends and I had the same curiosity, and someone found this post: http://wonko.com/post/309#comment-3926
'I work with the guy that did the surveying for this. I don't remember how long he said it took to complete or it's dimensions, but he said that he set up his instrument and shot a straight line and communicated with the bulldozer operator to keep him on line. Look closely at the bottom of the letters (or what would be the bottom if you were to turn it 1/4 turn counter clockwise). There is a fairly faint line just below the letters. The entire rectangular area consisted of the same type of vegetation as the letters currently are.If memory serves me, I believe that the green parts of each letter is 300 to 350 thick. The rest of the field is a coastal hay field." NASA actually uses it to qualify their space cameras (hairy math paper:
http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/newsletter/SpatialRes/default5.htm
...see bottom of page)'"
On the other hand, Jonathan wrote in to point out there's a better use for your GPS equipped phone than to find the nearest Mexican restaurant with a good frozen margarita:
"It's not quite the same thing, but I think it appeals to some of the same elements as the crop circles thing - http://www.confluence.org/
Basically, the idea is that people go to each of the confluence points where longitude and latitude meet, and then they take pictures where X is the spot."
If you're headed for Madagascar anytime soon, this is the project for you.
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The wife recently introduced me to the joys of Netflix streaming movies. If you're a member, you get unlimited time and access to a large, if somewhat ragtag bunch of flicks (viewable via PC/IE only. Bah.). Quite a few wonderful documentaries, though. I saw Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without A Pause while I was in bed nursing a cold, and it's excellent. Keep in mind that I hold Chomsky in such high regard that if someone made a movie called "Noam Chomsky Walks His Dog And Hawks One Into The Gutter On The Way To Get A Quart Of Milk," I'd love that too.
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A few recent developments of the zillions I have backed up waiting for my nasty, cynical comments:
Much to my surprise, Congress has actually done something to challenge the White House in a substantial way. Whether it turns out to have any real effect, we'll see.
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Looking into my crystal ball, I predict a discovery that - in accordance with the best information management practices - a vast number of e-mails pivotal to the many scandals in the Justice Department have been erased. If anyone's interested, I'm giving very short odds. Practically even, in fact.
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This trend shocked even me. Time to think about moving to New Zealand, or perhaps Easter Island.
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The United States instigated and led a long blockade of Iraq, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi infants, who were denied critical medicine and health care materials. Then, after 9/11, Bush and his scummy pals simply invaded the joint and killed several hundred thousand more Iraqis to seize their oil for Exxon/Mobil stockholders.
In today's paper, what do we see? A photo-op of a f***ing Iraqi DOG some GI adopted, profiled against the f***ing Capitol building. I'd say something about needing to have our priorities straight, but first we'd need a sane press.
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Perhaps we can hope for a cage match? Fat Republican Junkie Squares Off Against Hypocritical Republican Politico!
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And, in conclusion: As they were, so are we becoming.
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Assuming the site revamp happens soon, I'll see ya on the other side of the improvements. I'm sure I'll be in a better mood, all tra la la and maybe even over my cold.