College Posters

It's time for college to start and a lot of kids moving into dorms or off campus apartments need to cover some wall space. Read this article about what the posters you have in college really mean. I think there is a lot of truth to it, you? My roommate Kenny had Pablo Picasso's, The Old Guitarist on one of our walls the entire sophmore year. He liked it because he played guitar. Makes sense. Funny thing is, it wasn't until later in the year when we were watching Ferris Beuler's Day Off (during their trip to the Chicago Art Institute) that we realized it was hung sideways. The old man just looks more comfortable on his back.

It's gone; flippin' blogger erased the Bogut post. Maybe it isn't just Milwaukee that doesn't want the Bucks?

Anyway, summary of this post is Andew Bogut looked good as the only talented player for the Aussie national team in the World Championships and you can find cool Bogut highlights on youtube.com. Oh, and this Simmon's article is good.

Easy question

How many planets are there in our solar system? Nine right? WRONG! Pluto is no longer a planet. About 2,500 experts in Prague for the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) general assembly have voted to demote Pluto from planet status.

There are eight planets in the Milky Way, pass it on.

Listening to music & drinking some beer

No comments to the Photo Friday post, but I hope some of you visited and viewed the sites I linked to. Some amazing images.

I was going to run out and get the new Outkast album today at lunch, but didn't go out of my way after reading this review (wow, The Village Voice hates the new Idlewood album). I usually listen to my ipod on shuffle or stream MPR public radio's the current at work (see my links). Today I happened to find this great blog that writes about concerts, then offers mp3s from the show. Radiohead was an opener for REM at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, UK in '95. The mp3s available are good quality and rock. My friend Zak sent me this link a month back to get full Radiohead concerts at will (you'll need to download this software to listen). Thanks Zak Attack!

And just to keep the playing field even; here's a Forbe's special report my friend AY emailed me that needs no introduction > America's Drunkest Cities. I moved from the #1 to #2 city; my liver hurt just reading.

Happy Birthday Dave!

For a super present click here.

Making holes in my house

It's every kids dream. Cut a hole in a wall. After a year and a half of looking at the A/C wall unit in my dining room (and not using it because I have central air), I knocked it out onto the ground outside. Man did they use a ton of caulking to hold that sucker in. The studs have been reinforced and the siding is bought and ready to go in once I cut it to size (no one carried 8" hard board siding, so I bought 12" at Menards). The inside is sheet-rocked and ready for matching paint.
I felt that went so well I decided it was time I had a closet in my master bedroom. It also became a necessity because I just got a second roommate and my clothes need a new hang out. The solution to my closet-less bedroom has been in the planning stages in my head for over a year. The existing closet in the hallway next to my room was basically pointless. I could hang clothes, but with no light source and narrow dimensions it was pretty hard to access things. Solution! I cut a 48 x 80" hole in the wall shared between the hall closet and my room. I plan to leave the door in the hall and create a foot deep linens closet. The new closet will get framed in and some new doors can be hung in my bedroom. With anything I've done in this old house, I had a few surprises. First, the amount of layers.
From the closet side to me room I went through plaster on lath on wood siding, on studs, then back to lath, plaster and drywall over the plaster. Why is the wood siding in there? Was my room added on? It's the same base siding I found under the hardboard siding when I took out the A/C. The other surprise is that a battery powered reciprocating saw only has enough juice to last 25-30 minutes. I had to stop, let it charge then go at it again several times. It allowed for phases of clean-up. The electric outlet needs to me relocated, the heat and A/C ducts to the upstairs may need a little adjusting as well. Before anything else happens though, I need to have a competent person assess the structural element of the studs in the wall. Once that gets done things will get moving again.

Taking a little time for the saw to re-charge I watered the yard and wanted to share the one and only flower on my endless summer hydrangea. It just flowered last week and it's August. Hardly an endless summer, but the wait was worth it.

Photo Friday

Yay! I'm sure most of you have heard about the Reuter's freelance photojournalist that doctored photos of Beirut recently (and got fired). It's wrong and dishonest, but it also shows just how amazing photography can be. Pictures can snap a moment in time and act as a stark reminder of a scene that may never be duplicated. But it can also be manipulated to portray just about any emotion or vision that someone can imagine. Well, go ahead and kick up your feet and take in some great pictures at these sites>

Reuters picture archive
National Press Photographers Association Best of Photojournalism contest
National Geographic archive
BBC's photographer of the Year '04
BBC's photographer of the Year '05
BBC's photographer of the Year '06 (only one category done)

In all fairness

Laughjon has declared war! His aggressive post today is based on me changing his link from "Jon writes ads" to simply "Jon complains." With post titles like; The gayest movie of the year, I HATE (OK HATE IS A STRONG WORD, MAYBE DON'T UNDERSTAND) VEGANS, Thanks Mr. Stotts. Thanks a lot, The Airline Industry Can Go F*ck Itself, WISN Channel 12 Can Go Straight to Heck, and of course his Screw you Radiohead for not playing stadiums and Thom Yorke rants of late I began to get a feeling he was only complaining. After going through each blog post he has made since December '05 I determined the above tally of positive, neutral, and negative posts. To be fair I have decided to change his link yet again. 54.5% of the time Jon is negative. More interesting may be that knowing Jon, I'd bet he thinks about pizza at least 15% of the week. Yet, only 3 of 57 posts talk about pizza at all.

Good luck in Chi-city buddy!

Leaflet dropped by the Israeli air force on Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon. The caption above reads: "People of Lebanon! Understand! A face like a brother, a back of the head like a snake."

Leaflet dropped by Israeli air force on Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon. The cartoon depicts Hizbullah Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah as a genie summoned out of a bottle by (left to right) Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, Hamas politburo head Khalid Mashaal and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The genie is asking, "What is your wish?"

Worst Week Ever?

Would Hizbullah’s leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah consider this the worst week ever? Would Mel Gibson? Or would others feel this was the best week ever? A chance for a new beginning (or a new place to complain like Jamaal Magloire will)? The August LINK OF THE MONTH is the blog version of VH1's show Best Week Ever. Enjoy.

Back to the Middle East briefly; my temper flares up when I watch the news and hear Lebanese civilians upset that the conflict in their country continues. But in the very same breath they cheer Hizbullah. They're using you as a human shield people. You'll never have true freedom or peace if you believe a group that hides behind women and children is there to help you.

I found the above leaflets interesting; this is as much a military operation as it is a time to help form opinion and change perceptions.