Friday iPod Random Ten

Ken AshfordRandom MusingsLeave a Comment

Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel The Want Of A Nail – Soundtrack from the film "Camp" Not While I’m Around – "Sweeney Todd" (Original Broadway Cast) Lady Maramalade – Labelle Breakfast In America -Supertramp Undertow -Suzanne Vega Tuesday Afternoon -The Moody Blues Sunny – Bobby Herb

Too Depressed To Blog About This, But I Will

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

I don’t think most people understand what happened yesterday.  Our country changed.  In many ways, it changed more yesterday than it did on 9/11/06.  On that day 5 years ago, many people lost their lives.  But our country’s principle’s were unscathed.  Yesterday, Congress passed a bill which sacrificed much of what this country stands for, effectually doing what our enemies … Read More

Dream Research

Ken AshfordGodstuffLeave a Comment

Here’s some quotes from an article describing recent dream research: Liberals are more restless sleepers and have a higher number of bizarre, surreal dreams — including fantasy settings and a wide variety of sexual encounters. Woo-hoo! Conservatives’ dreams were, on average, far more mundane and focused on realistic people, situations and settings. They dream about people having a panel discussion … Read More

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Your Dead Husband’s A Liar

Ken AshfordPopular Culture1 Comment

How embarrassing. Paul Vance, the lyricist for the early 60’s hit "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", died earlier this week.  His passing was noted by the Associated Press. This came as a surprise to the other Paul Vance — the one who really wrote the lyrics to the novelty hit (and who has collected millions of dollars … Read More

Zombie Protest

Ken AshfordLocal Interest1 Comment

Apparently, a bunch of zombies held a protest in Austin this past week: A good time was had by all. That is, until the pirates showed up, staging a counterprotest. The full photo set is on FlickR. Why do I bring this up?  As a shameless plug for this: I haven’t seen the show, but I hear good things.  Also, … Read More

The Torture Bill’s Biggest Flaws

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

From the New York Times: Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of “illegal enemy combatant” in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he … Read More

The Coolest Thing Ever

Ken AshfordScience & TechnologyLeave a Comment

If this is what it is cracked up to be, I’m signing up. Many people have 3 phone numbers: a work number, a home number, and a cell phone number.  How can your friends and family know how (and when) to reach you? Wouldn’t it be great if you could give your contacts ONE phone number, and their calls would … Read More

Why Is Mona Lisa Smiling?

Ken AshfordHistory, Popular CultureLeave a Comment

Scientists think they’ve found the answer.  Using some fancy 3D technology, they’ve determined that the model for Mona Lisa (whose name was Lisa Gherardini, wife of Florentine merchant Francesco de Giocondo) "had just given birth to her second son when she sat for the painting". They were also able to pinpoint the exact year of the painting: 1503. Read about … Read More

NIE, NIE, NIE

Ken AshfordIraq, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

If you’re interested in this subject, you’ve probably already discovered the controversial NIE already.  The "key judgments" section  was declassified by Bush and is available here [PDF format]. Even though the released portion of the NIE is three pages long, let me provide a summary of the summary done by Midtopia: Good news1. We’ve seriously damaged the leadership of Al-Qaeda. … Read More

Studio 60 Update

Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

I Tivo’d but haven’t watched the second episode.  Lance Mannion (who missed the pilot) liveblogged it.  As his wrap-up suggests, he (like me) was a little underwhelmed, but willing to give it a chance: I’m going to give Studio 60 a couple more chances.  West Wing made me grumpy like this for the first few episodes—and there were things about … Read More