The Summer Wind – Madeleine Peyroux

Tortured Logic

Apparently this isn’t considered torture by more than a handful of Americans.  Hmmm, that being the case, I wonder why the police aren’t allowed to use it to get confessions out of suspects? 

I hope Hannity bites at Olbermann’s offer, but I’m not holding my breath.  I’ve found the torture news of this week to be extraordinarily depressing.  I know I’m depressed when I can no longer get angry at or mock the wingnuts.

On the other hand, I think discussing what is/isn’t torture is preferable to talking about Michelle Obama’s biceps or summoning up some faux outrage over photoshopping a picture of the President taken in Hawaii.

UPDATE:  Now that I’ve had a day or two to think about it, I suppose waterboarding Hannity, even for charity, wouldn’t be right.  As much as I thought it would be good for Hannity to experience waterboarding so he wouldn’t take it so lightly, principles are principles and we shouldn’t be torturing anyone.  ‘Nuff said.

Kodo – Taiko Drummers

I saw this group on the UC-Berkeley campus in the early 90s and it was the most powerful music I’ve ever witnessed.  These drummers are truly athletes.  The percussion was so great, every seat in the house was vibrating.  (Kodo means ‘heartbeat’ in Japanese. )  If you ever get the chance to see them perform live, don’t miss it.

What Would Molly Think?

I miss Molly Ivins.

This Would Be My Luck

 [see Common Bonds]

Tame Those Snarls

I really enjoy creative advertising.  This one was done by P&G in Bangkok to advertise their line of hair conditioners.  There are several more interesting ads here.

Common Bonds

What do Richard Feynman, Jodie Foster, George Carlin, and Bertrand Russell have in common?  They, and 46 45 other fine folks, are on the 50 Most Brilliant Atheists of All Time list.  I’m in good company.

UPDATE:  See comments.

Crap

Well here’s that 10-22″ of predicted snow.  It came as rain, rain, and more rain and has made a mess out of everything.  I would have much preferred 2 feet of snow to this.  Last summer we dug out a window well because we were getting water in our basement during these kinds of rains.  Mr. gyma installed a new sump pump in that window well earlier in the week and we were hoping that, in combination with the $5k we spent last summer to have the Olshan boys tear up our basement, would keep the basement dry.

It didn’t work.  This rain is icy cold and the 5-gallon bucket the sump pump is sitting in is a bit too small for the float to move freely.  I guess it really wouldn’t matter because the water is so cold it’s frozen up the pump.  We began by bailing out the window well with a 2-cup measuring cup and putting the water into a 5-gallon bucket.  That got old fairly quickly so we took a 6′ section of garden hose so we could drain the water directly into the bucket.  That worked better but we’d spend 10 minutes draining 20-gallons of water, come upstairs for 10 minutes, only to discover a completely full window well.  We now have a garden hose sunk in the bucket with the other end draining into the toilet.  Our goal is to reach homeostatis so we can watch the rest of the 2nd disk in the first season of Damages. 

It’s gonna be a long, crappy night.

Yeah, Yeah I Know

Okay, I know people are already getting tired of hearing about Susan Boyle, but here’s her version of “Cry Me a River” that was done 10 years ago for a charity in Scotland.  I wish her great success.

Spelling Impaired

Maybe I should hire myself out as a protest sign spellchecker. 

[From yesterday's T.E.A. protests.]