Not-politics – Page 1155

I completely forgot that the Perseid meteor shower started last night.

Then again, I went to bed insanely early (for me). The Sundries Shack reminds us that there’s also viewing opportunities tonight, moonlight and weather permitting. Useful orientation video here:

I’m going to try for just after dusk, myself.

“Clementine.”

Clementine, Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer

You know something? I’m going to go to bed early. It’s been a longish day and I’m tired.

Well, that’s one way to stay on a strict shooting schedule.

Via @jaketapper, the story that you always knew that you’d read some day.

SAO PAULO, Brazil – In one murder after another, the “Canal Livre” crime TV show had an uncanny knack for being first on the scene, gathering graphic footage of the victim.

Do I really need to keep going?

Too uncanny, say police, who are investigating the show’s host, state legislator Wallace Souza, on suspicion of commissioning at least five of the murders to boost his ratings and prove his claim that Brazil’s Amazon region is awash in violent crime. Police also have accused Souza of drug trafficking.

The ironic bit is, of course, that you could throw a script around this concept and sell it to any number of crime drama television shows in a heartbeat*. Hell, take away the murders and the drugs and you’ve got a Scooby-Doo episode.

Well, maybe just take away the murders.

Moe Lane

*Except Law & Order: Infinite Regress. Too much work adding the three plot twists and twp places where they complain about New York judges.

“Rocky Raccoon.”

The Beatles (The White Album)

I used to sing this one… nah, that’s a boring story.

I believe that you need to teach children the classics early.

Some might call it “indoctrination.”

Bah. Some are foolish.

Moe Lane

PS: You can watch all of Voltron: Defenders of the Universe on YouTube now.

You’re welcome.

In case you were wondering what kind of dinner conversations I have…

…with my wife – well, this isn’t always a good example. Sometimes we go with gaming theory, I bore her with political minutiae, or there’s always something worth talking about involving the child’s Digestive System. If even that pales, we can spend quality time playing the game Is this a symptom of pregnancy? – only, the answer is always yes.

Nonetheless. Gnomic Verses with Harp. She does this for fun. When she’s not working on robots.

Ha!

Moe Lane

The Japanese have come up with touchable holograms.

And Glenn Reynolds explains why the University of Tokyo is at this very minute suddenly not caring at all that there’s a recession going on.

Yup. Western civilization may now start making preparations for an orderly, controlled collapse.

CYV Watch: The Cheese Jerky song.

This is wrong on multiple levels.

Hannah Montana store

You can stop the pain any time you like, of course.

“American Woman” (No, not the Kravitz one).

Although it must be admitted that there’s a certain schadenfreude to that version.

American Woman, The Guess Who

Look, if you let mere inane political rhetoric get in the way of your enjoyment of late Sixties music you’ll run dry pretty quickly. Besides, this is one of the few songs from that period that doesn’t require illicit drugs in order to make sense.

Also: I’m pretty sure that I’ve run into at least a couple of these guys at my local gaming store.

Moe Lane

Book of the Week: The Breath of God.

Finally, yes: we’ll switch out SM Stirling’s The Sword of the Lady for Harry Turtledove’s The Breath of God, which is his sequel to Beyond the Gap. It’s pretty much an alien invasion series, only set during a Bronze Age with magic, and with no spaceships.