Weirdness: January 2005

http://www.countgore.com/Tower.htm

Perri Pagonis is a rather surreal writer whose short stories are generally based in Northern Virginia. His latest little tale is at the above link.

Chinese Watermelon Sculpture

http://www.americade.info/melons.htm

Some amazing stuff here.

double guitar

http://www.compfused.com/directlink/603/

Sweet, Lifesaving, Beer

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1261997.html?menu

I hereby pledge to always be prepared for any avalanche; you should too.

fun stuff! - a real mechanoid!

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/011705/sta_20050117006.shtml

Bran Mak Morn being reissued!

http://randomhouse.com/delrey/DRIN/howard.html

a great resource for fans of the pulps

http://pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/

new Prisoner novel on the way!

http://www.powysmedia.com/

http://www.amervets.com/phmedl.htm

I thought I'd pass along this interesting little site where they are attempting to maintain records of all Purple hearts awarded. There's also a nice FAQ regarding the medal.

Happy Birthday William Claude Dunkenfield!

AKA W. C. Fields.....

a very cool looking kid's game - Fireball Island

http://x-entertainment.com/articles/0924/

Children's Book

http://www.justaplant.com/story/story.html

Russian Airforce vs Cloud

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/01/27/dangerouscloud.shtml

impressive picture of a waterspout

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050120.html

some great Monty Python sound clips

http://www.audiocomedy.net/soundboards/montypython.shtml

a new keyboard

http://www.newstandardkeyboards.com/Product.html

The Matrix creates a "religion"

http://www.geocities.com/matrixism2069/

(Sigh), the Matrix is NOT about religion, it is about anarchism. Stupid wankers...

Phone Call for you, Dr. Moreau

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0125_050125_chimeras.html

Superman, Spiderman, &.....RINGO!!!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050127/ap_en_mu/people_ringo_starr

Tee Hee!

The latest pseudo headline:

India plans two moon missions. First will map lunar terrain, second will establish call center.

the cutting edge of the Atkins diet

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4208389.stm

the cutting edge of cock fighting

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/26/coxboxing.reut/index.html

Cool news - Douglas Adams honored

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6867061/

the ride....

http://www.wimp.com/redneckride/

weird car crashes

http://www.wreckedexotics.com/newphotos/weird/

Truly - THE Cutting Edge of Cleanliness

http://fetosoap.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=FS&Product_Code=Razor&Category_Cod

the cutting edge of shoes

http://www.verbforshoe.com/

Things just get weirder and weirder.

for the pet that has everything

http://www.petsmobility.com/

a nice source for all thing Gorey

http://www.goreydetails.net/

Diplomacy Convention in D.C.!!!

http://www.wdcindc.org/

Kung Fu, Onion style....

http://www.theonion.com/opinion/index.php?issue=4104

an amazing sky diving video

http://www.blennus.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=206&Itemid=

Ghost Tour of Fells Point

http://www.fellspointghost.com/

Dylan exhibit in Georgetown

http://www.govindagallery.com/pages/exhibitions/current_fr.html

Gaming and Artificial Intelligence

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6914

(It'll never win at Diplomacy...)

Gimme That Old Time Religion...

http://www.nbc4.com/news/4123079/detail.html

very cool article explaining various theories about the Universe(s)

http://prospectmagazine.co.uk/article_details.php.6701.html

I especially like the "Big Splat" theory, (or at least the description of it). I hope to work it into every conversation I have today.

New Agey Tree Houses

http://www.freespiritspheres.com/

Tiki Central

http://www.munktiki.com/

stopping smoking...

http://www.wimp.com/grumpy/

Space Fossils

http://www.xenotechresearch.com/spicrin1.htm

Some intriguing pics...

WW I Aerial Dogfight Game

http://www.freeworldgroup.com/freegames/hostileskies/index.html

the cutting edge of taxidermy

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1469&item=5540370660

creating digital environments

http://darwinathome.com/

very strange....

The Kryptos Scultpture

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66334,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1

the Iron Chef game...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ia/text/0,,FOOD_16696_27031,00.html

Create Your Own Bayeux Tapestry!

http://www.adgame-wonderland.de/type/bayeux.php

Very cool!

the water balloon

http://mangoat.net/archives/2BnH2nCwRFSh.wmv

Kolchak Lives!

http://home.hiwaay.net/~tfharris/pulpculture/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1106274005,73255,

a new Sword & Sorcery e-zine

http://www.swordandsorcery.org/

new REH book out!

http://www.lulu.com/content/98782

Kool Aid Man. OH YEA!

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2653311

(You'll have to sit through a commercial before viewing this, but it IS worth it. I wish this were a real film!)

The Sperm Game

http://www.humoralert.com/games/game.php?spilnummer=58

create your own facelift

http://www.p11.com/funhaus/facelift/index.htm

Alien Killer game

http://www.humoralert.com/games/game.php?spilnummer=59

THE Watch...

http://www.stonehengewatch.com/

This is sooo cool!

CD Fashions

http://www.rave.ch/pics/Z03/pages/image9.html

Snow Writing!

http://pi.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/snow.html

RIP Johnny...

There'll be tons of ink about the loss of Johnny Carson. He was one of the last common denominators in America. He was also one of our most unique comedians. Johnny's jokes were rarely all that funny, it was his reaction to their failure that was masterful and great. Farewell Karnack the Magnificent!

Monopoly Variants

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_179.html

I just came upon this now. The Straight Dope has published a list of variant rules for the game Monopoly. Cool stuff!

An Oscar for Bela

http://www.oscarworld.net/awardlobby_read.asp?LobbyId=3439

Apparently, there's a move on to try and get the late great Bela Lugossi an Oscar. I wish them luck.

World Horror Convention in NYC

http://www.whc2005.org/

Dragons Are Coming!

www.dragonsarecoming.com

Apparently, the Animal Planet network believes dragons are real, and hopes to convince you too. There are previews of their program on this site. The interesting thing is that some of the shots appear to be in mountainous country. I'd be curious if it's the Swiss Alps. If I remember my cryptozoology, dragons HAVE been reported there in modern times (!).

nice little synopsis about the Aurora aircraft

http://www.defencetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=3477

Alpha Force?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/23/national/nationalspecial3/23code.html?ex=1107504844&ei=1&en=d54ea45412331d1b

Some of you reading this probably remember/know more than I do about this unit. Weren't there vague rumors years ago of a platton-sized unit within Delta Force called Alpha Force? I wonder if this is it.

trailer for the new Tim Burton film

poke him in the face

http://www.wimp.com/facepoke/

Wildlife!

Thanks for all the wildlife photos Rob Lake!

nice!

hello!

neat!

interesting...

meow!

test

colorful!

tee hee!

more fun

Some nice wildlife photos, (Thanks Rob Lake!)

Jackalopes Are Official Now!

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/01/20/news/casper/ef50c0836d53581c87256f8f000373b1.txt

getting older

"Meet The Beatles" was released on this date 41 years ago....

God Is My Copilot

Comrades,

Well, the moment I’ve been dreading finally arrived. D.C. had its first snowfall. You may remember that I wrote about the anticipation for this catastrophe a month or two ago, and now the dark night is upon us. As predicted, the media weathermen pounced on the possibility of snow with the type of feral glee one expects of a school of crazed piranha. By one o’clock we’d accumulated about 2 inches of snow. Now, that may seem paltry by outlander standards, but hereabouts that’s the psychological equivalent of a new Ice Age. I left work early, knowing that commute would already be something out of a Bosch nightmare, and was not disappointed.
For sheer terror, depravity and panic, I think one would have to go back to Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow to get a true picture of my commute home. I’d already heard that there’d been several major accidents blocking my usual ways home. One at Shirley Highway and Route 7 was strategically placed, and would guarantee a backup that would stretch from Richmond to Delaware. I would need all my knowledge of the back roads and all my skills as a veteran Road Warrior to get home. Route 1 was already in terminal deadlock and I barely managed to escape to some side streets to avoid permanent entombment there as I left my office in Crystal City. I then faced the challenge of going through Arlandria, a community inhabited by illegal aliens. Under the best of times, this is a slow and treacherous tarpit; adding snow increases the hellishness by a factor of ten. Those inhabitants who can afford cars all buy the same type. I’m no expert, (some of you reading this would have to identify it for me), but it’s a very small foreign model, (I believe Japanese). Judging by its performance, it is powered by a used weed wacker. It is apparently required by law that they never possess more than one working tail light. The natives pile into it until it resembles nothing more than a circus clown car, and then they creak out into traffic at 5 mph. Well, the car sits so low that even our two inches of snow pile into the engine grill causing the miserable little things to slow down and stall. I found myself weaving through the carnage like some sort of maddened auto-pinball, leaving in my wake an army of stunned and unprepared men. The snow will take them all, and there’ll be a grim thaw come Spring…
From Arlandria I wended my way up through the old neighborhood to Bradlee and Fort Ward. Now the problem with this area is that the average age of the inhabitants is 127. They drive cars that are as big as battleships with a speed that would make continental drift look like a NASCAR event. Of course the snow merely increased the danger as I skidded around one dreadnaught after another in a Jutland-like exercise of evasion. I should point out that during this entire trip I saw no evidence of any treatment of the roads. Not one grain of sand, not one dollop of salt aided me in my sojourn. Clearly, local government now views snow as some sort of experiment in natural selection. Life belongs to the strong and the agile here in Northern Virginia!
By the time I got to North Springfield the strain was beginning to show. My hands were shaking uncontrollably, sweat poured from my brow as bloodshot eyes darted madly about – looking for the next obstacle – alert for the next death trap. The strain would have killed a lesser man, but I come from strong stock. As it was, luck was with me – traffic was light and I managed to fishtail my way home. I suspect most people were at the grocery stores; rioting and fighting over the last rolls of toilet paper and loaves of bread. At night I could see the gentle glow in the distance, as the now empty stores were torched by the losers in those contests. Famine will follow, but Linda and I are well stocked. Let the silly and the weak perish, Darwinism begins at home!
It is calm now, but as I type this I know that there are still ten more weeks of Winter. April and Spring are but a distant taunt, and there are predictions of a MAJOR storm this weekend. The culling will continue…

The Poe Grave Tradition Continues

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050119/ap_on_re_us/poe_mystery_visitor

Speed

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/science/article/0,20967,1013672,00.html

X-Ray Spex!

http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=6657

The Crossdressing Spawn Of Cthulhu!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4188495.stm

It's so difficult to be a parent these days!

the lawyer ad...

http://www.wimp.com/wrong/

Why we need software testers

Bill Gate's learns the hard way...

http://blennus.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=194&Itemid=

For Serious Tramps

http://www.brucebase.shetland.co.uk/

An unbelievable source for all things Springsteen. The recording notes are awesome.

Nevermore....

Happy Birthday Edgar Allan Poe!!!

http://www.eapoe.org/

http://bau2.uibk.ac.at/sg/poe/poe.html

http://www.poemuseum.org/

http://www.poedecoder.com/

Cheetah Unleashed!

Boy's Family Wants Monkey Locked Up
NEW YORK, NY -- A confrontation between a boy and a monkey in a Brooklyn, New York supermarket has left the boy with bite marks and his family fuming.

Disabled Brooklynite Steven Seidler was shopping with his service monkey, Darla, on Sunday at a Key Food store. He claims Darla was on a leash and in her harness when two-year-old Thomas Romano reached over from his shopping cart and yanked on the animal's hair.

Seidler claims the boy pulled the monkey's hair three times before the animal finally snapped. But the boy's grandmother told the New York "Daily News" Thomas was minding his own business when Darla bit him on the forearm.

The boy's family wants the monkey locked up. Monkeys are illegal as pets in New York City, but police say Seidler has a permit for a service monkey under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Thanks for the article Pete!

I met a girl who sang the blues...

And I asked her for some happy news,
But she just smiled and turned away.

Janis would have been 62 tomorrow....

Sock Full Of Bees Game!

http://www.thelatetrain.com/features/sockfullofbees.html

Darth Tater

http://www.mangoat.net/archives/darthtater1.jpg

the snow storm...

http://www.wimp.com/storm/

Fireworks, the Way God Intended Us To Use Them!

http://www.wimp.com/firecracker/

Mouseferatu!

http://arcanetimes.keenspace.com/d/20040526.html

And my next t-shirt: http://www.cafepress.com/arcanetimes.8402342

Thanks for the links Nick!

an interesting article on one person's efforts to thwart ageing

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/02/issue/feature_aging.asp?p=1

for all fans of Babylon 5 (tee hee!)

http://www.mbhs.edu/~bconnell/cty/babylon-pie.html

when biotech combines with nanotech

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4181197.stm

This really is getting fascinating...

Water Balloon Drop Game

http://www.wimp.com/drop/

Conan O'Brien plays baseball, circa 1864

http://www.plsthx.com/disp.php?type=m&id=159

When in New York City...

http://www.cryptkeepertours.com/homepage.html

Happy Birthday to the REAL King of Rock and Roll!

http://www.chuckberry.com/

http://departments.colgate.edu/diw/pegg/chuck.html

If he were White, Berry would be the one considered the greatest rock'n'roller of all time. Unfortunately, his discography on CD reissues is still not perfect. For all serious fans, you need the three volume LP set, Golden Decade. Listen to it, and you just know he is THE MAN at the center of Rock.

Motown Lives!

http://www.hip-oselect.com/catalogue_motownsingles1.asp

This looks soooo cool!

a very strange little game

http://www.wimp.com/ball/

for emergencies

http://www.wimp.com/emergency/

When idiots play with cheap imitation swords...

http://www.wimp.com/knives/

very cool origami

http://design.origami.free.fr/Diagrams/cp.htm

Strawberry Fields Are Not Forever

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050112/od_nm/odd_strawberry_dc

neat article on the evolution of chess and computers

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/13/technology/circuits/13ches.html?ex=1106613486&ei=1&en=22a0c47e34cbc37e

Jim Warren interview

http://citypaper.net/articles/2005-01-06/cover.shtml

For those of you who don't know, Warren was the publisher of the magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland as well as Eerie and Creepy comics, (and therefore a major influence on American pop culture). Someday I want to write about those zines, they were VERY cool.

A Cthulhu LARP taking place during WWII

http://www.wraithcthulhu.com/

Pretty neat!

No Child Left Behind

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/education/4048808/detail.html

Darwinism Lives!

The Cutting Edge of Divorce Settlements...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1467&item=5549066938&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

There's a new werewolf picture coming out called "Cursed" with Christina Ricci. I've no idea if it's going to be any good, but one VERY encouraging sign is the cane she's holding from this publicity still - it's the cane from the original Wolfman, used to kill Larry Talbot (lon Chaney, Jr.). Someone knows their horror film history!

For Bruce Fans Only...

http://www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,1002474,00.html

A Legal Precedent Is Set!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2151-2005Jan11.html?referrer=emailarticle

I had no idea that reptiles could give legal depositions!

Old Frothingslosh Is Back!!!!

http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002425.php

I have to get some cans! This is a Classic!

RoboSapien Foundation

http://robosapienfoundation.com/

Be sure to check out the heart warming videos.

beer haiku

http://www.beerhaiku.com/

for sushi lovers

http://www.theoriginalsushipillow.com/pages/1/index.htm

Ahhnold Meets Jesus

http://www.pureesoiree.be/Post/?P_ID=518

Eddie Munster is coming to town!

http://www.butch-patrick.com/Appearances.html

neat article about singing sand dunes

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/050111_singing_dunes.html

The King Of The World! The Master Of The Universe!

http://www.clarenceclemons.com/

Happy Birthday BIG MAN!

As many of you know, there's nothing like a Bruce Springsteen performance. And the rock on which its built is Clarence Clemons. He provides a perfect counterpoint to Bruce's leaping around the stage. A massive presence around whom the tunes, and Bruce, orbit.
His solo albums are pretty good, but Clarence is at his best in tandem with musical Superstars. Just check out his work with Aretha, Ronnie Spector, and Darlene Love. You know it's gonna be all right when the Big Man Joins The Band.

Oh! The Humanity!

http://www.wimp.com/mourns/

the campers

http://www.wimp.com/campers/

Are You Ready To Rumble!?!

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/ice_berg_ram.html

The Polearm Shop

http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/GiantITP/ootscript?SK=136

You've got to be a fan of Monty Python AND D&D to really enjoy this...
Thanks for the link, Nick!

new military history TV channels

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050109/ap_en_tv/military_channels

The Mysteries of the Universe Revealed!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=14&item=3774640005&rd=1

my next car

http://66.34.10.12/aaamembersnew/zac/external.htm

And, Happy Birthday Little Buddy!

Today is Bob Denver's birthday - player of two of televsion's two most beloved characters - Gilligan and Maynard G. Krebs.

http://www.bobdenver.com/

Happy Birthday Angel Eyes!

http://members.aol.com/vancleefed/

Almost everyone prefers Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name in Spaghetti Westerns, but my favorite was always Van Cleef playing Colonel Moritimer in For A Few Dollars More. A quiet, sardonic, intelligent man, who'd kill you in an instant. I've found all of these traits to be necesary in software testing....

On The Poe Side Of Town

http://poecelebration.tripod.com/

Looks like Baltimore will be putting on a nice birthday celebration for Edgar.

resource for minaturist gamers

http://www.warflag.com/

Incredible work here - they've created little templates of historical flags for miniatures.

a cute little comic strip

http://cheston.com/pbf/archive.html

for gamers...

These sites look pretty good for information on bows and archery:

http://www.student.utwente.nl/~sagi/artikel/

http://www.bio.vu.nl/thb/users/kooi/saaflder.html

Have a chat with Jack...

http://triumphpc.com/jack-the-ripper/

A creepy little site...

Museum of Food Anomalies

http://www.hanttula.com/exhibits/freakyfood/index.htm

This is kinda cool, actually...

neat article about a whistle language

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0105_050105_whistle_language.html

strange weaponry ideas

http://www.defensetech.org/archives/001310.html

dollar paintings

http://www.kamielproost.com/dollar.html

the flashlight

http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main/co_disp/displ/prrfnbr/24204/sesent/00

(check out the price)

Sculpture!

http://www.endangeredfaeces.co.nz/unique-gift-ideas.php

Happy Birthday Chill!

Tomorrow will be Charles Addams' birthday. A wonderful cartoonist (the Addams Family, etc.)

http://www.westfieldnj.com/addams/

http://www.bpib.com/chasaddm.htm

Bonus Link - Cousin Itt's Site!!!: http://www.felixsilla.com/

Dastardly Drowned Darjeeling Displayed - Despite Dark Doubts

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/oukoe_life_teaparty

Last Gasp

http://www.lastgasp.com/

I'd lost track of these guys over the years, and just rediscovered them. A nice little resource for "underground" comics and the like...

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE...

http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/index.asp

Does this mean Peter Straub took out George Harrison?

Life, The Universe, And The E Street Shuffle

Comrades,
It was on this date in 1973 that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band released their first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, and the soundtrack for my life, (and a lot of other folks’ too), began, although I was unaware of the album at that time. Much has been written about that album and Springsteen’s career. It brilliantly combined elements of pre-British invasion American rock’n’roll with Dylanesque lyrics, and a street punk delivery and poise. I could go on and on, but it’s all been said before and better than I could. So I’ll talk about something else – me!
My friend Cliff introduced me to Greetings as well as the next album (The Wild, The Innocent, and The E Street Shuffle), in the next year. I will forever be grateful to him. I will also forever be embarrassed to say that they didn’t click with me immediately. Perhaps I was a little too young, or too engrossed in the shamanistic revels of the Doors, but for what ever reason, I just found them pleasantly interesting. Then in ’75, Born To Run was released and it was like Satori! I quickly went back to the first two albums and was immediately hooked. In ’78, Darkness On the Edge of Town was released and those four LP’s formed a backdrop to the decade. A lot of you reading this were there too, I’m happy to say. For those of you who weren’t, it still strikes me as a strange time. There was always an edge to it, and that’s reflected in Springsteen’s lyrics. It almost certainly had something to do with the economy, which was in a shambles, lurching from one recession to the next. So much opportunity seemed to be slipping away. It was probably also due to our age, being young is always dramatic. Once, a British reviewer exasperatingly asked why every time Springsteen went to the 7/11 for a pack of cigarettes he had to write an epic song about it. I still laugh when I think about that accusation – it’s really kinda true. But that’s the way it was then, your life IS important to you and that’s what Bruce was reflecting. Though they may hold universal truths and observations, these songs, both lyrically and musically, reflect real lives and times. I can tell you with great confidence that you didn't have to live in the 70’s to experience them. Listen to Spirit In The Night and you ARE in 1974. Listen to Backstreets and you ARE in ’78. I, (and many of you), could site dozens more examples.
The thing I don’t know is if the music has much validity beyond that. Can a kid in California or Kansas, living today, find themselves in these songs – I just don’t know. But as for me, it means hanging out and “Growing Up” with Edmund, Millie, Nancy, Scott, Ed, Roger, Margaret, Cliff, Rick, Ron, Beth & Ken, and a ‘supporting cast” of hundreds. Shuffling along the bricked sidewalks of Old Town and Georgetown, cruising the one-time back roads of Fairfax and PG counties, loves found and lost, plans both joyous and grim, shows and concerts, parties and Gatherings, chances and gambles, clubs and bars – always the bars. And through it all, Bruce was there on the stereo, putting down on vinyl what we were putting down on our lives. Whether it was the cocky joy of Rosalita or the forlorn loss of Darkness On The Edge of Town – he was there creating a melody and a poem for those of us stumbling into adulthood.
So, here’s to Bruce, and his E Streeters – Mad Dog, Funky Chicken, Mighty Max, Miami Steve, The Big Man, Phantom Dan, Professor Roy, and the rest. And here’s to my compatriots in an ill-spent youth, wandering the Backstreets. Perhaps we still are.

Weirdness

Monday, January 31, 2005

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Friday, January 28, 2005

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Monday, January 24, 2005

Sunday, January 23, 2005

RIP Johnny...

Friday, January 21, 2005

Wildlife!

Thursday, January 20, 2005

getting older

God Is My Copilot

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Cheetah Unleashed!

I met a girl who sang the blues...

Monday, January 17, 2005

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Friday, January 14, 2005

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Tuesday, January 11, 2005