Monday, November 15, 2010

Bendy Wendy, er, Zlota

Tonight's ultra-bendy girl:

Why Chuck can't get his business off the ground

Today's vast-regulatory-state video:

Sunday, November 14, 2010

A random act of culture

Tonight's random act of culture - the Opera Company of Philadelphia and 650 singers perform the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah at Macy's in Center City, Philadelphia:

From the video's description:
On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers. This event is one of 1,000 "Random Acts of Culture" to be funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation over the next three years. The initiative transports the classical arts out of the concert halls and opera houses and into our communities to enrich our everyday lives. To learn more about this program and view more events, visit www.randomactsofculture.org. The Opera Company thanks Macy's and the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ (www.wanamakerorgan.com) for their partnership, as well as Organ Music Director Peter Conte and Fred Haas, accompanists; OCP Chorus Master Elizabeth Braden, conductor; and Sound Engineer James R. Stemke. For a complete list of participating choirs and more information, visit www.operaphila.org/RAC. This event was planned to coincide with the first day of National Opera Week.



Saturday, November 13, 2010

Not so handy, man

Tonight's D-I-Y fail compilation:

Friday, November 12, 2010

Travel Teleprompter

Tonight's iPhone app:

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Flyover

In honor of Veterans Day, tonight's NFL pre-game flyover video:

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Water rocket

Tonight's water-power video - water-propelled toy rocketry, from Air Command Rockets:

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Shweeb along

Tonight's human powered transportation prototype:

Things that make you go "Hmmmm ..."

[Update 10 Nov 2010: Some are saying this is merely a commercial jet contrail, as seen from a certain angle - see Jet contrails from some angles look like missile trails for one such analysis]

Apparently, someone launched a missile off the coast of Los Angeles yesterday evening:



Via Karl Denninger, who has his own commentary here.

From Fox News: Missile Shot Off Los Angeles Still a Mystery for Pentagon Officials

... The Missile Defense Agency told Fox News it did not launch any test missile Monday night that could explain the dramatic images. The Navy and the Air Force were also unable to offer an explanation.

[Col. Dave] Lapan said it does not appear that whatever was flying was part of a "regularly scheduled missile test." He noted that before a missile test, notifications are sent to mariners and airmen. This does not appear to be the case here.

At this point, the military is working only with video taken from the local news camera, and NORAD and Northcom apparently were not able to detect the contrail on their own. [emphasis added]

It appears from the video, Lapan said, the object was launched from the water and not U.S. soil, though at this point there is no way to be certain. ...

Monday, November 8, 2010

Favourable lie

Tonight's tough-golf-shot ad:

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Send in the clowns

Tonight's singing instruction - Stephen Sondheim teaches a student (possibly Jaye Griffiths, who went on to become a British stage and TV actress) from the Guildhall School of Music in London a fragment from Send in the Clowns:



Saturday, November 6, 2010

Momma cat and baby rabbit

Tonight's dose of "awwwww" -- a nursing cat adopts a baby rabbit:

Friday, November 5, 2010

Not's your daddy's Matchbox car set

Tonight's matchbox / hot wheels video:



Thursday, November 4, 2010

Musical interlude

Tonight's musical interlude - Taylor Swift's Love Story:



Obama high-tails it to Mumbai; trip costing $200 million per day

The Marxist-in-Chief is getting ready for his trip to Mumbai, India with his close personal Teleprompter, wife, and an emperor-sized contingent of 3,000. We taxpayers get to pick up the $200 million a day tab:
Mumbai: The US would be spending a whopping $200 million (Rs 900 crore approx) per day on President Barack Obama's visit to the city.

"The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit," a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit said.

About 3,000 people including Secret Service agents, US government officials and journalists would accompany the President. Several officials from the White House and US security agencies are already here for the past one week with helicopters, a ship and high-end security instruments. ...
Your money, hard at work. Or something.

Tsunami

So writes Erick Erickson over at Red State about Tuesday's election results:
... There will be 18 states subject to reapportionment. The Republicans will control a majority of those — at least ten and maybe a dozen or more. More significantly, a minimum of seventeen state legislative houses have flipped to the Republican Party.

The North Carolina Legislature is Republican for the first time since 1870. Yes, that is Eighteen Seventy.

The Alabama Legislature is Republican for the first time since 1876.

For those saying this is nothing because it is the South, consider these:

The entire Wisconsin and New Hampshire legislatures have flipped to the GOP by wide margins.

The State Houses in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Montana, and Colorado flipped to the GOP.

The Maine and Minnesota Senates flipped to the GOP.

The Texas and Tennessee Houses went from virtually tied to massive Republican gains. The gains in Texas were so big that the Republicans no longer need the Democrats to get state constitutional amendments out of the state legislature. ...
Read it here. Looks like the big action was at the state level. Change we can believe in.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Dot.

Tonight's cell phone short movie:

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

White knuckles

Tonight's music video - OK GO's White Knuckles - reportedly, most of the dogs used in the video were rescues from animal shelters:

Monday, November 1, 2010

Packing for a month

Tonight's tightly packed suitcase:

Voter fraud - what to watch for

Today's public service information, via Pajamas Media:
There’s been lots of talk about voter fraud this election season. Already machines have purportedly preselected candidates and in other places, documents demonstrate non-citizens are registered to vote. Anyone who says voter fraud doesn’t exist has no credibility. I’ve covered elections for over 10 years. I’ve seen it over and over again with my own eyes. I’ve proved it in federal court. It is significantly more common than Sasquatch.

But what does voter fraud look like? What can citizens be on the lookout for when they participate in their election? Let me share some examples:

Commands to vote

I’ve seen election judges telling voters for whom to vote. In Philadelphia, I have repeatedly seen the people who sign you in and check off your name give instructions to voters for whom to vote. It isn’t supposed to work that way, and if you see it, get the name of the election official and report it to their boss. Better yet, try to get the name of the voter.

Mass illegal assistance

One of the most outrageous behaviors is campaigns of illegal assistance. I’ve seen lone soldiers of a political machine march dozens of voters into the booth and vote for them. In some instances the voter provided little or no input. Remember that disabled citizens have a right under federal law to have anyone assist them, as long as it is not an employer or union representative. Illiteracy and inability to speak English well also trigger this right. So just because someone is in the booth with a voter doesn’t mean something illegal is happening. But if you see van loads of voters being “voted” without expressing their own input, get the tag number of the van and remember what illegal assistant looked like.

Phony voters

I’ve watched people in states without voter ID seek to vote who were clearly not the people they said they were. During one election, I saw a young man give a name. It caused the women working the polls who knew him to laugh at him and tell him to stop fooling them. He insisted, even under watchful eyes, that he was this person everyone knew him not to be. Everyone was laughing, but the poll workers relented and reluctantly gave him a ballot, somewhat perturbed that he pushed the issue. For a brief moment, he was someone else. And since voter ID was not the law in this state, he voted a regular ballot. ...
Read the rest here.