Year: 2009

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Long Island Wants To Secede

I’m not normally a fan of The Daily Show, mostly because the show’s humor is all kind of the same after a while. Jon’s great and all, but the “reporters” all use the same shtick over and over again. I mean, how many times can the show ambush some hapless local politician and make it funny?

This clip, however, had me in stitches. Apparently some folks in Long Island, NY want to secede from the union, and Samantha Bee went to investigate:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Long Island Wants to Secede
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran
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ABC sends observer

Sorry for the lack of Anglican news lately. It’s just so… depressing.

Here’s something unusual though:

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has sent the Rt. Rev’d Santosh Marray, retired bishop of the Seychelles (2005-2008) in the Province of the Indian Ocean, as his official pastoral visitor to the Anglican Church of North America Provincial Assembly in Ft. Worth, TX. Bishop Marray, was born in Guyana and is a former rector in the Diocese of Florida. He is a member of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Pastoral Visitor Programme started this past February.

I wonder what all this means? Nothing, probably. But it sure is… interesting.

As always, thanks to BabyBlue for the tip.

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Hotel Babylon: Season 4, Episode 1

Hotel Babylon
Season 4, episode 1
Aired: June 19, 2009 on BBC1

hotel_babylon_s04_e01_01

SYNOPSIS

Hotel Babylon is being shut down. To that end, baliff Juliet has taken over the hotel to oversee the closing.

Tony is working closely with the Chadhuri family for their “meeting party” (daughter Aishia is the victim of an arranged marriage to Omar, a “down on his luck” Bollywood star. Aishia’s father, Pramit, is throwing the party for the couple who are meeting for the first time). It will be the Babylon’s last big event.

Continue reading “Hotel Babylon: Season 4, Episode 1”

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Penguin to open 2nd restaurant!

Sweet news for hipster Charlotteans:

The managers of The Penguin haven’t allowed the recession hold them back: They’re opening a second restaurant this fall.

Greg Auten, the minority partner who’s in charge of designing the new menu, said they’ll call the new restaurant “Pinky’s.” It will be located at the corner of Morehead Street and Freedom Drive, a few blocks from Bank of America Stadium near uptown, and he hopes it will open by November.

“We’re really excited about it,” Auten said. “It’s not going to be The Penguin, but it’s going to be a cool place, too.”

Although, to be frank… I’m worried about a restaurant serving fried pickles being so close to Lisa’s work. That could be bad!

via Penguin managers to open 2nd restaurant | CharlotteObserver.com.

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-06-21

  • Give us back our shotglass, Melisa! #
  • I can't decide if I LOVE or HATE the Ting Tings… I also can't tell if Pixie Lott is cute or not. What a Monday! #
  • "Hotel Babylon", my most guilty of guilty pleasures, returns this Friday on BBC1! #
  • tax #
  • @tonycasemore Wow – THANK YOU for waking up my girlfriend at 6:43am yesterday with your text message! Some concierge you are! 😉 #
  • Show support for democracy in Iran add green overlay to your Twitter avatar with 1-click – http://helpiranelection.com/ #
  • Medical marijuana in NC? http://ping.fm/VfT9I #
  • Woot! Sam's now has GIANT bags of Utz crab chips! #
  • @tsanijones – Digsby ROCKS! #
  • During WWI's Allenby campaign, cavalry from Calgary charged up Calvary. Don't think about that too hard or blood will squirt out yer nos … #
  • Wow – I really like Madness' new album! #

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Xbox on the BIG screen!

How badass is this?  Jonas Brothers video director Steve Fatone hooked up an Xbox 360 to the giant new display at the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium and was able to play some Gears of War on it.

FWIW, the new screen measures 72×160′, or around 22x49m):

xbox_cowboys_stadium

Read more about it (and see more awesome pics) at Engadget here.

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The History of the Blood Chit

A “blood chit” is a piece of paper or cloth issued to soldiers and (especially) airmen operating in areas where the local population speaks a language other than the serviceman’s own. The chit usually states, in the local language, that the soldier or pilot is working on their behalf, and to please give him food, water, shelter and\or medical attention, then give him any assistance in getting back to his or her military base. So if an airman was shot down in a strange land, he or she could simply find a local and hand them the chit. The civilian would then (hopefully) take care of the pilot and get him back an an American base. As an incentive for the local, rewards were usually offered for the safe return of the serviceman.

Here’s an example of a chit from the early days of World War II:

blood_chit

This was particular chit was issued to the Flying Tigers, a group of American pilots who volunteered to fly missions against the Japanese in China. This chit says: “[t]his foreign person has come to China to help in the war effort. Soldiers and civilians, one and all, should rescue, protect, and provide him medical care“. Another Flying Tiger chit read: “I am an American airman. My plane is destroyed. I cannot speak your language. I am an enemy of the Japanese. Please give me food and take me to the nearest Allied military post. You will be rewarded.”

Continue reading “The History of the Blood Chit”

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Website news

Just a heads-up…

JaguarPC – the company that hosts this blog – will be doing some upgrades at their NOC in Houston tonight at approximately 23:00 EDT. This may result in slow performance or outages for this site for approximately 30-35 minutes.

Thanks for understanding!

Jim

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SONGS I LOVE: “Another Likely Story”

Au Revoir SimoneYou know those songs you instantly fall in love with? That happened with me and Au Revoir Simone’s “Another Likely Story”, the lead track from their newest album Still Night, Still Light.

The band, whose name comes from a line in the film Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, formed in Brooklyn in 2003, and their music has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy, Ugly Betty, and a few other films and TV shows. For what it’s worth, film director David Lynch is a huge fan of the band (cite), and even had their tunes played at his wedding!

It’s easy to see why Lynch and others like the band so much: the gentle, airy electronic atmospheres the band creates are lush and inviting. It’s music that just sucks you in. It’s like these three girls have created their own fairy tale world (that’s not too twee) and we’re all welcomed to join them. Still Night, Still Light is its own universe, and although I don’t love it as much as I loved Emiliana Torrini’s Love In The Time of Science, this album comes close… very close.

I’ve had this tune on the iPod since I found it, always near the beginning or end of a playlist, so I could quickly find it. Listen to the lyrics closely… like The Cardigans, Au Revoir Simone might sound like a harmless pop band, but their lyrics are actually pretty dark:

[audio:au _revoir_simone.mp3]

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Fire destroys Georgia Theatre

Sad news:

Fire this morning heavily damaged the historic Georgia Theatre in downtown Athens, shrouding the central business district in smoke and knocking out electric and cell phone service to the area.

Firefighters were called at about 7 a.m. to the theater, located at the corner of North Lumpkin and West Clayton streets, when a man walking home through downtown smelled something burning and found smoke billowing from the theater doors.

Within an hour, the roof on the historic building had collapsed.

Dozens of big-name acts had performed at the Georgia Theatre — musicians such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, John Prine and Jorma Kaukonen, not to mention Athens-based acts like R.E.M., Randall Bramblett and Davis Causey.

via Fire destroys Georgia Theatre | Breaking News | OnlineAthens.com.