They don't all live in their parent's basement



Arizona deputies in Hawaii seeking Obama birth certificate

Emails Show How Hawaii Stiffed Arizona Secretary Of State’s Birther Investigation

Okay, this one is a private citizen. But I bet she runs for office: Birther-In-Chief Orly Taitz Loses Again

Kate Beaton drew a truly lovely Mother's Day cartoon.

Ouch



Did the creator of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index volunteer to get stung by everything on earth?

It's a pretty cool column, and has this paragraph:

This may surprise those relying for their scientific information on Wikipedia, which provides a chart of the Schmidt index listing precise decimal gradations for sting severity, with the fire ant rated at 1.2 and the bullhorn acacia ant at 1.8. These implausibly exact numbers don’t appear in any of Schmidt’s scientific papers, but rather were wheedled out of him by an editor at Outside magazine, who was trying to goose up a story for that publication in 1996.

(It's already been quoted in the talk section of the Wikipedia article, so I'm betting the change is forthcoming.)

Is Awake the American version of Life On Mars done correctly?

(It's opposite The Mentalist here, a program I have almost no interest in, but I know I have a lot of friends who watch it. Therefore they won't know what I'm talking about.)

Via mobylives_feed, a video of Colbert and Sendak. I get the impression that Sendak was aware of Colbert's schtick, but still tensed up a few times before remembering, oh yeah, this is an act.




Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak.


Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak, Part 2.

Edit: Hmm, this video has embedding problems, so I'm providing a link instead.

Almost four years ago, I pointed out a webcomic, Darths & Droids. There was some comment on whether it was worth reading if you hadn't seen the prequel movies, and the question was left in the air.

They're up to Star Wars now. Give it a shot.

The Star Wars sequence begins here (sorry for the delay in mentioning it).

New York Times article on Sendak here.

Huh, according to the article, Where the Wild Things Are was published when I was five. I think I saw it when I was in kindergarten (both in class and, I believe, in a Captain Kangaroo broadcast), so whatever controversy it caused probably hadn't started at that point.

I'll definitely miss him. Reading interviews with authors can be a worrisome experience for a reader, but I liked his answers and his viewpoints.

I have never played Mass Effect, nor have I ever seen anyone play the game. So this was... yeah, just click it.

But I do want to see how well the ensemble cast interacts with Clark Gregg. What a guy.

The Egg McMuffin is genuinely good, in fact (warning: heresy approaching) it is better than the Eggs Benedict that is its source and inspiration (opinion fueled by the fact that I despise Hollandaise sauce).

It's not perfect of course; using a better cheese would be a good start to improving it.

Yeah, I said it foodies, what're ya gonna do about it?

When saving a cookie in javascript, to be read later by PHP code, make sure you save the domain information. Heart-ache and suffering will be greatly reduced.

The reasoning is impeccable

Scottish crime writer Shona MacLean has been forced to change her name – to S G MacLean – to make her novels more appealing to men.

MacLean’s novels can hardly be described as being for a solely female market, given that they are thrillers centred on the fictional character of Alexander Seaton, a scandal-hit minister-turned-Aberdeen University teacher caught up in the political and religious turmoil of Scotland in the early 17th century. Crucible is the third in the series, following on from The Redemption of Alexander Seaton, set in Banff, and A Game of Sorrows.

Hmm. Kobo has her name (both real and boys-only) and her book titles in the search list, but despite that doesn't have the books available. Nothing in the Chicago Public Library system either.

Shakespeare may have used a collaborator on occasion.

Nuclear Secrecy is an interesting blog that I was pointed to in e-mail, and apparently a popular one, if only for an app called NUKEMAP.

Yes, of course I blew up my neighborhood. What kind of mad scientist doesn't start with his own backyard?

It's not just in science fiction where the argument occurs -- it seems to be running in popular fiction and/or literature, depending on where you place Jodi Picoult.

Why Are Wolf Scientists Howling at Jodi Picoult? Picoult's book Lone Wolf has a wolf scientist share a carcass with wolves, and attributes mythical powers over the pack to the alpha female wolf.

I have only read the review, so I don't know why Picoult thought it important to do this. But I think we've come across an equivalent to "seeing Alpha Centauri in the Northern Hemisphere" in SF.

Live Theater

The 2012-2013 season for Lifeline Theater is its thirtieth, and they've announced their productions. Lifeline Theater does adaptations of novels, and happen to be very good at it.

• The Woman in White
  September 7 - October 28, 2012
  Based on the novel by Wilkie Collins


• The City & The City
  February 15 - April 7, 2013
  Based on the novel by China Miéville


• Bridge of Birds: A Tale of an Ancient China That Never Was
  May 31 - July 21, 2013
  Based on the novel by Barry Hughart

Yes, you read that right: two of the three slots are taken by the Hugo award-winning The City & The City and the World Fantasy award-winning Bridge of Birds. And The Woman in White isn't too shabby a choice either.

Time for a season ticket purchase, I think.

Tag!

Continuing with the release of new fairy tales, the New Yorker has jumped into the game and published one translated by Maria Tatar, "King Goldenlocks".

It also gives me a chance to text LJ's new spoiler tag, which also works in responses:



(For your own use: <lj-spoiler>Your ruining text here</lj-spoiler>.)

A friend was visiting this weekend. Friday we saw Laurence Hopgood (jazz pianist who has performed with Kurt Elling and Robert Pinsky -- not at the same time, alas) at the Green Mill,.

Saturday we saw "Fuck You, I Love You, Bye: The Rahm Emanuel Story" at The Annoyance Theatre. And I wish to apologize to whomever I sprayed with water after a particularly funny and profane line.

Ah, Annoyance. I remember "Co-Ed Prison Sluts" with fondness.

Still, the pictures are cool

A Panorama of ‘Middlemarch’

A Panorama of “Bartleby, the Scrivener”

Both by Jason Novak

The Trials of Greg Mortenson.

As might be expected, it's not a closed-case situation. Nonetheless, the defenders (of anyone) in the comments section certainly do like their ad hominem attacks, don't they.

Or other wind-related titles

This is a heck of a way to find out about Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg, who work in the growing field of data visualization:

Live wind patterns in the continental U.S., created from the National Digital Forecast Database, according to flowingdata.

Edit: Sorry about the missing link.

Why was it so hard to find out the results of my district's state senate race (Democrat)?