Random
catdynamics | July 18, 2008two oldies that I randomly realised I didn't have digital copies of and had to acquisition immediately from iTunes in the interest of my sanity
My brother in law had to mention this upon seeing the senior family member f.Thor...
This one is all Colbert's fault - having them still doing the drum riff 23.5 hours later on the next show was just absolute brilliance...
I got the live versions of both. Of course.
catdynamics | July 18, 2008Steamy friday, again, and another science lite week goes by.
So, oh mighty iPod: "Sizzle" - will it sizzle or be a cool flop?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: It's Silly Time - Twin Sisters
The Crossing: Fantaisie de Concert: I. Moderato
The Crown: If Love Was a Train - Michelle Shocked
The Root: Buckeye Jim - Burl Ives
The Past: Stillborn - Michelle Shocked
The Future: Any King's Shilling - Elvis Costello
The Questioner: Travelin' Soldier - Dixie Chicks
The House: Irk The Purists - Half Man Half Biscuit
The Inside: Life Is A Scream - Violent Femmes
The Outcome:…
catdynamics | July 15, 2008is the physics blogosphere a bit boring right now?
Angry Physicist says it is, and he's mostly right...
so, I got nothing - maybe I'll say something mean about Yarn Theory again later this week just to stir things up, or something...
actually, I lie, I have about two hundred items that I have thought of, been asked to do or feel obliged to blog on, but no time
Nuclear Mangos has a frightening set of quick hits - but not science per se.
Calculated Risk is probably the best blog on the planet right now but getting frightfully busy
In the meantime, I have a moral dilemma: clotheshorse that I…
catdynamics | July 14, 2008A marine biologist, a gay couple and a polar bear walk into a studio...
Hey! That's not funny.
But Sizzle is.
It is not Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell goofy slapstick funny, which is just as well, because I mostly can't stand that kind of humour.
More Steve Carrell level.
Randy Olson, marine biologist and filmmaker, director of Flock of Dodos has now come out with Sizzle, a documentary comedy about climate change.
Olson, with Brian and Mitch, his sponsors, and Marion and Antwon, his crew, sets out on a roadtrip to interview scientists, climate skeptics, and, of course, celebrities.
Because you…
catdynamics | July 14, 2008Fiddlesticks, boy.
Feed the birds, and what have you got?
Fat birds!
You can purchase first and second trust deeds
Think of the foreclosures!
Bonds! Chattels! Dividends! Shares!
Bankruptcies! Debtor sales!
...for kharmic balance.
catdynamics | July 11, 2008Iraq denies reports Israeli Jets exercising deployment to Iraqi airfields in preparation for Iran strike...
PS rhetoric is heating up further
Jerusalem Post denial story
Phew, had me all worried there for a mo'
Former Spook dissects the rumours and starts some new speculation
Funny how these rumours get started...
Here is the Iranian take on it
Hey Iran Press does Instapolls - 56% of readers believe Israel will strike Iran...
PS: Iran to target 32 US bases in Gulf if attacked
catdynamics | July 11, 2008apropos Bush... I heard a curious third hand tale recently
At a recent international meeting, not the G8 summit as it happens, I was told by a reliable source, that Bush was very ebullient meeting with allied leaders, but acted mildly bizarrely.
As I heard it, Bush would actually undercut US negotiating positions on items of medium importance, contradicting or undermining his people doing actual dealing, and as far as the other side could tell, doing so purely out of contrarian spite (I am intepreting here).
That is, Bush would make concessions or negate US claims purely because he could,…
catdynamics | July 11, 2008Artsy fartsy family friday becoming scienceless saturday!
Yikes.
So, since we've gone all week without science, let us finish in style...
Oh, mighty iPod One, modulo the vagaries of fickle men, who will win the Presidency this autumn?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering:Tom the Peeper - Act.1
>
The Crossing: Kings of the Wild Frontier - Adam and the Ants
The Crown: Ræningjasögur - Ævar Kvaran
The Root: Reason to Believe - Aimee Mann & Michael Penn
The Past: Christmas in Dixie - Alabama
The Future: Sur Le Pont d'Avignon
The Questioner: Animal Alphabet Song
The House:…
catdynamics | July 10, 2008"Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."
[President Bush at the G8 summit] ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."
He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.
(archive image)
Uncouth.
Independent has more
Josh at Thoughts from Kansas also on it
PS: Interesting additional summit report from the IHT - "...For four exceedingly enlightening minutes, the world was treated to an unvarnished view of the American president as he expounded on everything…
catdynamics | July 10, 2008Apparently Karl Rove just told a Congressional subcommittee that he would not bother to show up to an oversight hearing, despite a subpoena.
In justification his lawyer cited a letter allegedly sent by the President's lawyer, to Karl Rove, telling him not to appear, claiming Executive Privilege.
Chairwoman Linda Sanchez issued a six page ruling (pdf)
It is a thing of beauty, rather nice crisp point by point refutation of the assertion by Rove and his lawyer.
Stern letter, well written, are nice.
Now what?
...
Personally I'm pondering whether Congress will keep surrendering power to the…
catdynamics | July 8, 2008so, this week is, yet again, decision time on the mystifying FISA Amendments Act
this is an abominable piece of legislation which simultaneously manages to gut parts of the US Constitution, set historically bad precedents and violate centuries of hard fought legal principles
It is not science, and not something I like to harp on, but I keep getting these flashbacks to the Late Roman Republic...
One aspect of the amendments is to provide retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that co-operated with government requests for surveillance without warrants under the current FISA act.…
catdynamics | July 4, 2008My iPod Won't Let Me Be President
Huh! You can do that?
Woosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Fortunate Son - Creedance Clearwater Revival
The Crossing: I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got - Sinead O'Connor
The Crown: Santa Claus is Coming To Town
The Root:Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
The Past: Dodo - Henri Des
The Future: Between the Wars - Billy Bragg
The Questioner: Prayer - Yellowman
The House: Paradise Lost (You're the Reason Why) - Half Man Half Biscuit
The Inside: I Went to a Wedding... - Half Man Half Biscuit
The Outcome: Desecration Smile - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Yes…
catdynamics | July 2, 2008Has Senator Obama actually read the text of FISA Amendments Act of 2008? aka H.R. 6304 (new pdf link)
Not one of his staffers, he himself?
I mean all of it.
Specifically Title II Section 802?
Specifically a) 4) B) ii)?
I would like a lawyer to explain to me how "determined to be lawful" is consistent with US law and precedent?
As far as I understand it, a deputy head of an element of the intelligence community indicating that the action was "determined to be lawful" is meaningless.
Determined by who? A court? A judge? Their dog?
I understand the pragmatism, the political traps and the…
catdynamics | July 2, 2008Christopher Hitchens does some field investigation for Vanity Fair, and experiences waterboarding for himself
video link here
it is not very dramatic, which is probably the most interesting thing about it, all over very quickly
h/t Ackerman on Firedoglake
catdynamics | June 27, 2008Stormy friday, and we idly ask the iPod: what about the weather?
Will the Mississippi flood down river? Will the droughts continue elsewhere?
We gots to know.
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: Donna Non Vidi Mai - Pavarotti
The Crossing: Dies Bildnis is bezaubernd schön - Mozart
The Crown: Carnival of the Animals: The Elephant
The Root: The Unknown Soldier - Doors
The Past: La Primavera - Vivaldi
The Future: My Only Love - Roxy Music
The Questioner: On Passing Lilac Urine - Half Man Half Biscuit
The House: Like The Way I Do - Melissa Etheridge
The Inside: Grafir og Bein -…
catdynamics | June 25, 2008Hardly seen any of the footie to date, just caught the second half of the Spain-Italy quarter final, and now the last 30 mins of Turkey vs Germany (replay).
ESPN, for some strange reason, feels obliged to tell us, to three significant figures, how many kilometers they estimate various players have run at different times of the game.
Which is an absolutely bizarely irrelevant statistic, unless maybe I were a german assistant coach looking for a rationale to get rid of a beloved but aging midfielder.
Which I guess is why Germany strangely reminds me of the English teams of the 80s or 90s - flat…
catdynamics | June 20, 2008Frantic, frazzled frændfólks friday.
So, oh mighty iPod - will any good come of all this, and you know of which I speak...?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: It's Going to Happen - Undertones
The Crossing: Housefly Blues - Wee Hairy Beasties
The Crown: Lullaby
The Root: Uffington Wassail - Half Man Half Biscuit
The Past: Gaudeamus Igitur
The Future: Frímann Flugkappi - Stuðmenn
The Questioner: To Be With You - Mavericks
The House: I Don't Even Know Your Name - Mavericks
The Inside: Here Comes the Summer - Undertones
The Outcome: Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
"Oh…
catdynamics | June 13, 2008Hot and sultry friday.
We ask the iPod: will GLAST really detect cold dark matter annihilation radiation from centers of nearby galaxies?
Whoosh goes the randomizer.
Whoosh.
The Covering: My Flying Saucer - Billy Bragg
The Crossing: Revenge - Spoon
The Crown: Real Wild Child - Iggy Pop
The Root: When Love Comes To Town - U2
The Past: King James Version - Billy Bragg
The Future: Baggy Trousers - Madness
The Questioner: Firebird: Introduction
The House: E Lucevan Le Stelle - Three Tenors
The Inside: Iris - Goo Goo Dolls
The Outcome: Hersham Boys - Sham 69
"And the Stars Were Shining..."
The…
catdynamics | June 12, 2008About a week ago, George Will, in a column, asserted incorrectly that Cuba was letting NorwayChina drill for oil in Gulf waters.
The meme was promptly picked up and eventually asserted by the US vice President.
Where did this come from?
The rumours predates Will's column.
It surfaces in several blogs, unsourced, on sunday June 1st.
Before that, in late May, it appears in a bunch of low key speeches by republican congressmen and is echoed in editorials and letters in local papers around the US.
Now Cuba is leasing blocks for exploratory drilling, eventually, the Brazilians are interested; and…
catdynamics | June 7, 2008New Sigur Rós album coming out, they they do a free concert with Björk in Reykjaví at the end of June.
In the meantime video and free download of Gobbledigook - first song on the album - here - signin required.
Album pre-order also available online.
They seem to be on form.
Astonishing video - good cinematography. Not for the prudish though.
It amuses me endlessly how many people listen without understanding the lyrics...
Remind me of my youth.