Aliens Must Think We Are Idiots

I wouldn’t contact us either.

Something I Would NEVER Do

Anna Kane, 5, of Alton, Ill. lays down on ‘The Ledge,’ the new glass balconies suspended 1,353 feet (412 meters) in the air and jut out 4 feet (1.22 meters) from the Sears Tower’s 103rd floor Skydeck Wednesday, July 1, 2009 in Chicago. The Ledge will open to public on Thursday.

(AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Who Watches The Watchmen?

Fred

It appears that Lancaster, PA has a budding non-profit who is putting up video cameras all over town to watch for illegal activity.  Yeap, not the government but a non-profit.

We can debate the pros and cons of this until the cows come home, but what made me laugh was the comment I link to above.  This should be an internet meme, kind of like “All Your Base Belong To Us” and Goodwin’s Law.  Anytime someone wonders who is keeping track of those with power the answer should be “Fred”.

Found An Awesome New Web Comic Today

HijiNKS Ensue

Yet ANOTHER reason for a public healthcare option

From Mother Jones:

Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations decided to investigate the practice of recission.  This is when you pay your premiums for years to a healthcare insurer, then get sick, and then have your insurance cancelled.  The insurance industry executives at the hearing did not exactly cover themselves with glory:

….Late in the hearing, [Bart] Stupak, the committee chairman, put the executives on the spot. Stupak asked each of them whether he would at least commit his company to immediately stop rescissions except where they could show “intentional fraud.”

I’m just starting to read on the options for health care…but anything has to be better than the situation people are in now; lose your job, lose your health care, if you even have a job that offers it.

This One Is For The Wife

Why do we need whiteners for coffee drinkers?

PETA Goes Overboard…Again

When the average American thinks of PETA they think of extremist animal-lovers.  While sometimes that extremism can highlight animal cruelty and basic injustice, all too often it just makes the cause and the supporters of said cause look silly.

Case in point is a recent call to ban the throwing of fish at Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA.  In case you haven’t heard of this place, here’s a synopsis; at one of the stores in the market, after a customer buys a fish, the staff throws the bought fish to another staff member to be wrapped and paid for.  Sometimes the distance of the throw is extreme.  Very rarely does a fish drop and then that fish is no longer saleable.

PETA would like this to stop because,

“Killing animals so you can toss their bodies around for amusement is just twisted,” said Ashley Byrne, senior campaigner for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Washington, D.C.

Of course, the throwing part is only for the tourists, the actual reason the fish are killed is to eat them.  Not that PETA likes that idea either.

But, the real reason I made this entire post was to be able to link to this little ditty in the comments section at Boing Boing, where I first found this fishy tale.  I give you Carrot Juice Is Murder (mp3) by The Arrogant Worms:

Listen up brothers and sisters,
come hear my desperate tale.
I speak of our friends of nature,
trapped in the dirt like a jail.

Vegetables live in oppression,
served on our tables each night.
This killing of veggies is madness,
I say we take up the fight.

Salads are only for murderers,
coleslaw’s a fascist regime.
Don’t think that they don’t have feelings,
just cause a radish can’t scream.

It’s Not Just The Big Banks

Harylesville National Bank is where I have my business account.  The branch I use is a nice place and the people are extremely accommodating.

Looks like the residential housing crisis is hitting them pretty hard as well.

Homebuilders’ Troubles Burden Harleysville National Bank

The article states they have until the end of the month to get properly capitalized which means, come July 3 they might be ‘eated’ by the FDIC.

That will be strange.

It’s not like I am particularly worried.  I have a small amount in the bank (since it is just me I just keep in cash to cover taxes and small expenses) and since taxes will be paid on June 15 I am not overly concerned.  Also I heard a “This American Life” a few months back that talked about the process of bank take overs.  It doesn’t appear to impact the customer much at all.  But it is a HUGE deal for the bank employees and owners.

This is something I’ll be tracking for the next couple weeks.  I wonder if Harylesville notices a drop in deposits since this story broke?

Garfunkel and Oates

This duo is worth watching!

Medley from Riki Lindhome on Vimeo.

This is their “Worst Song Medley”.  It is entirely worksafe but I’d still suggest headphones cause some people just HATE “Cotten Eye Joe”.

I also swear that the brunette played Ted’s girlfriend on Scrubs last season….

However, this one, “Sex with Ducks” is decidedly not work safe.  But does go a long way to making fun of Pat Robertson, so that makes up for the NFSW tag.

Sex with Ducks from Erika Lindhome on Vimeo.

Sonia Sotomayor

Unsurprisingly I am supportive of President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court.  I do not believe she is the liberal that I was hoping for but I do think she’ll be a good replacement for Souter.  My current hope is that this pick is just softening the Republicans up for what’s coming when Ginsberg retires.

But the whole ’she comes from the Bronx so she must be too empathetic’ thing isn’t going to work. Especially since Samuel Alito used the same reasoning for why he WAS the best choice for the bench.

Overall it really comes down to the President gets who he wants.  That is unless they Bork it up.  But in the meantime we get some political-Kabuki and a distraction from the recession.