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November 22, 2006

Dinner-table conversation: JFK, cat talk, polygamous wife, lefty joy, P2P, Donut Robot of Love

Nov. 22, 1963: Lyndon Baines Johnson takes the presidential oath of office on November 22 as Air Force One carries his wife, Lady Bird, Jacqueline Kennedy -- still in her blood-spattered pink suit -- and several White House aides back to Washington from Dallas after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Life Magazine: 100 Pictures that changed the world at Digital Journalist.
The Most Famous Photographs
Pulitzer Prize Photographs
Memorable Photographs on Wikipedia

The Kennedy Assassination - 40 Years Later (NYT, 1963 special)
The Kennedy Assassination
The JFK Assassination Dallas Police Tapes
JFK assassination video resources
The Kennedy Assassination for the Novice

We're dense: Your Bi-Lingual Kitty at Catcentric:

Adult cats, living apart from humans, have very clear communication with one another. It is spoken mostly through scent, then through facial expression, complex body language, and touch.

Vocal communication involves caterwauls for mating, chattering upon spotting prey, hissing to ward off an intruder, or shrieking when hurt or terrified. Meowing is not part of this language. Meow-ese, it would seem, is a language developed exclusively for humans. ...

Ready, set, shop: Bargainist -- Deals, coupons, tips, freebies.

Why? The life of a 'sisterwife': 'We don't get very much actual sex': Guardian (U.K.),

Maggi, who belongs to a Mississippi-based group of practising polygamists, wrote this account in an internet chatroom of her life as a "sisterwife" in one of the more extreme polygamist groups

P2P primer: How BitTorrent Works at How Stuff Works. When somebody asks what this "file-sharing stuff is all about..."

Holey machine: Donut Robot of Love 2000. Witty writing, and photos:

Here is my Belshaw Donut Robot 42. My robot came configured to make 384 donuts per hour automatically. I bought it on eBay for $900, which I thought was a good deal as this particular Donut Robot normally sells for a few hundred dollars more.

It was difficult to find information about the Belshaw Donut Robot 42 other than the owner's manual, so I will be the first person on the internet to tell the world about the warm, human, emotional side of the Belshaw Donut Robot.

...The reason I operated the Donut Robot in the laundry room was that it needed a 220v 1 phase outlet, burning 21 amps of donut making fury. The only place I had this kind of juice was the one powering the dryer, so I commandeered the washer-dryer combo to be my doughnut center of operations.

For losers: The end of lost keys? BBC.

A new electronic gadget called the Loc8tor uses radio waves and multiple aerials, plus some fancy software, to locate postage stamp sized transmitters which can be attached to almost anything, within a range of up to 600 feet.

Along with a floating bed and "the crustastun" - a device to electrocute Lobster, pre-boil - it has been nominated as one of Time Magazine's inventions of 2006.

The ways we'll be: Brilliant Minds Forecast the Next 50 Years at New Scientist.

Tomorrow's another day: Gratitude Not Dead After All This just in: Feelings of genuine thanks return to U.S., unpack bags, 'might stay awhile' Mark Morford at sfgate lets out a whooping joy cry from the left:

Now, thanks is back, has some heat and juice and even a sly and knowing smile. Thanks might even forgive us our trespasses as we forgive the BushCo that trespassed against us. Thanks was shocked as all hell by this last midterm election and said, Wow, you're serious about getting your s-- together? OK, let's give it another shot, but don't mess with me this time, all right?

This Thanksgiving, we have more to be genuinely grateful for than at any time in the past six years. A tentative return to "real" democracy. The desperate curse of corruption and misprision being lifted. Many of our nation's most sneering demons -- Pombo, Santorum, Hastert, Rumsfeld, the dogma of the Christian right -- all gone, all like so many slowly fading nightmares. A Democrat-run Congress that might actually serve a comparatively humanitarian, progressive agenda not based in war and scandal and a violent, judgmental God. Thank you, thank you, thank you. ...

Infiltration: Doc Searls' Cluetrain is the top of this Miami Herald holiday business book gift list.

It's alive:
Far Side cartoons made real. A photoshopping contest at Worth 100. Wonderful.

Middle East map game: Reader Gina Minks sends this link from Rethinking Schools. There are an awful lot of little countries there. This isn't easy.

Truth to power: Former president Bush battles Arab critics of his son: Former president George H.W. Bush during a speech to a leadership conference in Abu Dhabi:

"We do not respect your son. We do not respect what he's doing all over the world," a woman audience member bluntly told Bush after his keynote speech.

Bush appeared stunned as the audience of young business leaders whooped and whistled in approval.

The retired president had just finished a folksy address on leadership by telling the audience how deeply hurt he feels when his son the president is criticized.

"This son is not going to back away," Bush said, his voice quivering. "He's not going to change his view because some poll says this or some poll says that, or some heartfelt comments from the lady who feels deeply in her heart about something. You can't be president of the United States and conduct yourself if you're going to cut and run. This is going to work out in Iraq. I understand the anxiety. It's not easy."

Gift lists Fimoculous 2006 list of lists: Includes Best Books, 50 Coldest People in Hollywood, The Best And Brightest, Greenest Cars, many more, and bound to be growing as the year nears its end.

Falling water: Photo: Niagra Falls From Space. A stunning photo.

Indexing, not theft: The YouTube Effect: CBS Gets Massive Boost at Mashable:

Analysts have long been saying that YouTube is a gift for the TV networks: now we have the stats to prove it. CBS announced today that viewers are flocking to their TV shows after seeing the clips on YouTube. “Letterman” has gained 5 percent (or 200,000 new viewers), while “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” is up 7 percent (or 100,000 viewers) since the CBS YouTube channel debuted a month ago. They’ve uploaded 300 clips so far, which have averaged 857,000 views per day in total - that’s 29.2 million views on YouTube this month. ...

If RIAA had treated music the same way, instead of suing file-sharers, the music industry might have enjoyed a similar boom.

Historical eats: Thanksgiving Dinner, Civil War Style:

Last Thanksgiving, it snowed.

Posted by Sheila Lennon  at 10:01 AM | Permalink