Pith Helmet

This week's Bartholemew J. Simpson Memorial Delicious Ironing Web Award for the Advancement of Irony, Incongruity, and Cognitive Dissonance goes to xxxThePeachxxx in recognition of the following statement culled from her Youtube site.

I despise the sickness called faith, and, in my opinion, it is not worthy of respect or praise. I have very little patience for conspiracy theorists. I have no time for bigotry of any kind, nor threats of eternal torture for not choosing your particular desert cult.

This was in my email when I woke up this morning.

It is ganked verbatim from The Art of Manliness.

When famed War Correspondent Col. Frederick Palmer called on Douglas MacArthur at his Manila Headquarters, his most vivid memory of the meeting was that of the three frames hanging over the General’s desk. On the left, a portrait of Washington. On the right, a portrait of Lincoln. And between them, a framed version of a poem called “Youth” by Samuel Ullman. He also hung it in his office in Tokyo when he took over as Supreme Allied commander of Japan, and would continue to quote it in the many speeches he gave his “old” age. Because of his influence in Japan, the poem became very popular among the Japanese, and it is still more well known and beloved there than in the West.

Youth

By Samuel Ullman

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
i
Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

The Zoom Quilt II collaborative art project is a bit of Flash-work done by over thirty different artists. This animation takes the viewer deeper and deeper inside the painting to see surreal landscape that includes everything from tentacled horrors to cheese-eating mice. You can find it at http://zoomquilt2.madmindworx.com/zoomquilt2.swf.

Venture: The Gathering
From the mind of Andy: Venture Brothers Magic: The Gathering cards. Richard Garfield, eat your heart out. More can be found at http://community.livejournal.com/venturebrothers/432084.html.


All We Here Is Radio Ga Ga
The Vigilant Citizen has exposed pop singer Lady Ga Ga for what she truly is: a puppet for the Illuminati.

"Every construct we've built in American life is falling apart. Why? Because of personal greed and ambition. Capitalism without regulation can't protect us against personal greed...."
--Jim Carrey, The Guy Who Made $108,385,533 for Starring in Ace Ventura II, When Nature Calls

Once again I am justified in my belief that actors should be limited to a maximum of $500,000 per film. Considering the popularity of the Stimulus Bill's provision sal-capping of CEOs at 500 Grand per year, I believe limiting what an actor can make per film would definitely help keep "personal greed" and "ambition" in check.

Famine in Far-Go was my favorite Gamma World module. I ran across the following video which reminded me of that fine TSR product.


MST3K - Chicken Of Tomorrow

Riz | MySpace Video

I Love This Guy
Originally posted by Jeff Rients over at Jeff's Game, this old guy is my new idol.

Creative Ecology
The Morae River: an exploration of the Morae River's ecosystems and the beings that inhabit them is a website at which one man makes up his own continent and the lifeforms that populate it.

May Be Worth Getting
Batman/Doc Savage Special #1. Despite having sworn off comic buying, I will definitely have to check this out.

Last night, I watched the Civilian Conservation Corps episode of PBS's The American Experience. I've been interested in the CCC ever since I found out that my sole maternal uncle was a member. It was so good, I almost became a New Dealer. Now where's my "I Hate Von Mises to Pieces" t-shirt.

• A 1933 Time Magazine article introducing the newly-formed CCC, "Rizzo Goes to Work"

• Legacy of the CCC —The CCC Legacy Project outlines the Corps’ lasting contributions

• John A. Salmond’s cornerstone biography of the CCC, The Civilian Conservation Corps:
A New Deal Case Study from the National Park Service website

• Daily Life in the CCC—former CCC enrollee Paul Mathews recalls life in his
Pennsylvania camp

• National Park Service book chapter, A Day in the CCC

• Order your CCC t-shirt today

• CCC at the Digital Library of Georgia

• CCC at the Digital Library of Georgia

• CCC Links at Roadside Georgia

I just heard a soundbyte of some newsguy trying to blame Nidal Malik Hasan's actions on the Army's hostility toward Muslims. He said that he has been told by Muslim soldiers that they felt "harassed," "under pressure," and "made to feel like they aren't welcome."

Um.... That's the way everyone is made to feel when they join the military.

The ABCs of Awesome/Cool, as swiped from Michael May's Adventureblog and Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness

A is for Astronaut


B is for Bandoliers


C is for Crewcut


D is for Dim Mak


E is for Eazy


F is for Fez


G is for Gordon


H is for Hovercraft


I is for Inquisition


J is for Jambiya


K is for Khazars


L is for Laser


M is for Minions


N is for Nebelwerfer


O is for Orange Crush


P is for Pith Helmet


Q is for Quint


R is for Robot


S is for Smokejumpers


T is for Trenchcoat


U is for U2


V is for Vancleef


W is for Wolverines!


X is for Xenophon


Y is for Yeti

A friend of mine needs to describe the sound of a Lee-Enfield. Any suggestions?

All comments appreciated.

If I were to host a Halloween party for all of tens of readers out there, who would you come as?

Embedded video from CNN Video

h/t spy-fi channel

Be Seeing You

h/t Calvin's Canadian Cave of Coolness

"Hitting things with a stick is the cornerstone of civilization."
--P. J. O' Rourke

LOST's Michael Emerson won the 2009 Emmy Sunday night for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series ... for his riveting portrayal of Other Benjamin Linus. After Kanye West stole some of the limelight from Taylor Swift at MTV's VMAs the other night, it is a shame that Mr. West did not try to repeat his "performance" as Mr. Emerson was receiving his award.

In spite of the fact that I've historically voted GOP, I have been vocal about my opposition to torture (and that includes waterboarding folks) for quite some time. After listening to torture victim John McCain, reading an essay by Master Chief Nance (the Navy NCO who headed his service's SERE School, which teaches naval Top Guns to endure it), and using my own moral compass, I decided I had to break from the pack on this one.

Tonight, I found yet another article by someone I respect on the subject:

Robert Baer in TIME.

Yesterday, I went to the library to drop some stuff off. As I was leaving, I looked in the little computer room, and there was a balding, grown-ass man sitting there watching Beverly Hills 90210 re-runs and eating out of a box of Cheez-its. Strange.

Afterward, picked my son up from school. His art project for the afternoon was a Death Star made out of Chiclets.

Reading: Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer