Comic of the Day part 2
We knew it was genetic! Uncle Lars, if you’ve come out of it, give me a call! We’ll get together for some mishegas!
Archive for the 'Comics' Category
Comic of the Day, pt 1
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from Doonesbury@Slate
Of course, warriors have rushed into battle on the wings of heavy metal tunes since at least the times of Roman battle songs and Viking Valhalla chants and African battle drums. Of courses the modern generation, earbuds soldered to their helmets, are wielding those multi-million dollar weapons of localized destruction to a killer soundtrack of Heavy Death Acid Thug Thrash.
Even the battlemix is old hat. We have a friend from the old days who swears that in his days as a helicopter gunner in Vietnam, he and his crew liked nothing so much as dropping multiple hits of windowpane acid, fueling up their bird, and heading out over the impenetrable jungle on night patrol. When the acid started to kick in, they would but on their favorite Jimi Hendrix mix tape (Machine Gun, Voodoo Child and the Star Spangled Banner, no doubt) and shoot off a quarter of a million dollars (in 1970 dollars) in ordnance atomizing trees, clearings and the occasional unlucky water buffalo.
Why we lost the war, brother…..
Comic of the Day
This has become a regular point of contention between the Dowbrigade and his main feline spiritual advisor, Chiqui. Rather than walk on our face (always a risky proposition) Chiqui sits calmly and prudently a few inches to one side and gently paws somewhere in the nose-mouth region. What he means is A) fix my breakfast (he manages to survive on a protean diet of Sensitive Systems hi-tech dry food and boiled chicken breast B) scratch me, and C) don’t you have to be somewhere so I can have the bed to myself the rest of the day?
We have become used to this routine,and occasionally are able to perform our duties in a sufficiently somnambulistic manner to return to dreamland for a few precious minutes afterward. However, lately we have noticed a perturbing precision in Chiqui’s wakeup calls which have us wondering about collusion and outside agendas. Turns out Chiqui has been awakening me at precisely sunrise.
For example, today, according to the Boston Globe, the sun rose at precisely 6:21. Sure enough, at Chiqui’s first touch I looked at the clock, and it read 6:21. Yesterday, it was exactly 6:17, and the day before 6:14. Obviously, this is good news going into the Fall, as eventually we will be allowed to sleep past 7. But it is precisely the precision which has us wondering.
Has Chiqui learned to read the clock, and the Globe? Does he have some feline, or human, co-conspirator giving him cues? Does he have an internal clock even more precise than his master’s (we have never owned an alarm clock, and have never missed a plane)?
We are thinking of installing “Kitty Cams” to find out what he really does all day while we are at work…..
Comic of the Day
The China Conundrum was inevitable. Importing entire Wal-Marts full of goods from a third world country with as creative and casual an attitude towards standards and regulation as China was wound to have repercussions in a country as litigation-loco as the US. The first thing an American thinks when he stubs his toe is “Who can I sue?”
In fact, many Americans don’t even wait to stub anything, they wake up in the morning thinking “Who can I sue today?”
The fact that the answer to that question, in an increasing number of cases, is “Someone in China” is sure to lead to an increasing demand for American lawyers versed in the procedures of bringing suit in Chinese and international courts, and for English-speaking Chinese lawyers to defend the coming avalanche of suits.
Coincidentally, the Dowbrigade has recently become one of the world’s top experts in teaching legal English to foreign lawyers. Actually, one of the world’s few experts. But, be that as it may, we are evaluating where the best locale for an International Institute of Legal English – Hong Kong or Beijing?
OED Claims to have Invented WIKIs – 150 years ago!
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This word born on the Pacific Island of Hawaii finally got an entry into the latest edition of the online Oxford English Dictionary along with 287 other new words. "Words are included in the dictionary on the basis of the documentary evidence that we have collected about them. A while ago this evidence suggested that wiki was starting to make a name for itself," John Simpson, the dictionary’s chief editor, said in a statement. "We tracked it for several years, researched its origins and finally decided it was time to include it in the dictionary," But "wiki wiki," meaning "quick" in Hawaiian, has a very different meaning in its new host language: a type of Web page designed so that its contents can be edited by anyone who accesses it. That the word acquired a new meaning is attributed to the fact that commenting and editing on Internet websites became faster, said the dictionary’s principle editor of new words, Graeme Diamond. "There was no delay in submitting a comment," Diamond said. The most famous example is the popular Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia. Diamond said the Internet-age concept of "wiki" fits well with the 120-year-old dictionary’s own methods. from the Boston Globe |
LONDON — If you think "wiki" doesn’t sound like English, you are right. But it’s English now.Say Goodbye to Radio Free Interent
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Sooz, it seems, has her own internet radio station on the popular Live365 streaming audio site. As it happens, Live365 is one of the few premium services that the professionally parsimonious Dowbrigade actually pays for, listening to obscure channels like Momo Radio (Brazilian Funk) and LoungemasterLondon (electronic/chill), so we will add Sooz’s Exploit.Boston channel (Boston indie bands) to our favorite channels list – for as long as it lasts. The gist of the article is that due to a substancial rise in ther fees internet broadcasters are forced to pay for the rights to use the music. This is not a problem for Howard Stern and satrad, but if it goes into effect it will effectively shut down poor Sooz and her "dozens" of loyal listeners. We expect to see Sooz this weekend at Barcamp Boston II, a free (registration required) Un-conference to be held at the MIT Stata Center, one of the most discussed recent additions to the local architecture here in Beantown. This bizarre building is the latest excretion of controversial Canadian architect Frank O. Gehry. We really like what he did with the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, but the Stata Center reminds us of a particularly unpleasant STP trip we took in 1972, at least from the outside. Hopefully, we will soon get a chance to post from the conference, and get to see what the inside looks like. Pictures and report to follow. article from the Boston Globe |
Music maven and Berkman blogger 
Spring in the Air – a Waft of Teargas
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Folks should be able to move from one country to another as easily as they can move from one state to another – and for the same reasons. A better job, better weather, better sports teams…..People shouldn’t be condemned to lives of moral, political, religious or economic opression by accidents of birth. Most people would stay where they were born and raised, just as they do in the United States now, but like-minded people will congregate in different regions. Won’t things get too crowded? Will there be enough jobs for everyone? We believe there are enough resources in the world for all of the people alive on earth today to live a lifestyle as rich and rewarding as that of the average American citizen, if available resources were distributed efficently. Perhaps not as energy-intensive, but with comparable standards of mobility, entertainment and consumer choice, and superior levels of health, education and economic opportunity. Plus, believe it or not, billions of people around the world, don’t think is US is Paradise. They live in, or know of, other places which offer more of what is important to them. To each his own. Our history consists of immigration – and opposition to immigrants. In the end, Immigration is the most American of experiences. After all, its the only thing we all have in common. Today there is a rally at Trinity Church in Copley Square (5-7 pm):
And tomorrow there will be a protest in front of the JFK Federal Building in Government Center (4-6 pm): Beer Cat – Watch the Spray
Symptomatic of Steroid Abuse?
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Local action in Boston concerning the Homeland Security Gestapo-style raid on the defense-contractor leather factory in New Bedford seems to be percolating up from the grass-roots level. The Dowbrigade position on immigration is that people ought to be able to live and work wherever they want and can find a job. 
RALEIGH, N.C. — When John Cornwell graduated from Duke University last year, he landed a job as software engineer in Atlanta but soon found himself longing for his college lifestyle.
Captain America, a Marvel Entertainment superhero, is fatally shot by a sniper in the 25th issue of his eponymous comic, which arrived in stores yesterday. The assassination ends the sentinel of liberty’s fight for right, which began in 1941.
