Tropical Blues

Happy Birthday, Etta James!

2010-01-25T22:02:00.003-05:00

The 10 Worst Rock Star Plane Crashes

2007-02-01T17:58:00.000-05:00

What is it about famous musicians that makes them believe it’d be a swell idea to charter a small, unreliable aircraft through inclement weather? Music history is quite literally littered with the tragic wreckage of such ill-fated journeys. Blender.com examines the 10 worst rock & roll air disasters and the sometimes dubious decisions that led to them.

Also fun to read on the same site, The 50 Most Awesomely Dead Rock Stars.

It's About Time!

2007-01-29T21:28:00.000-05:00

With enormous snakes swallowing alligators, dogs, turkeys and kitty cats; and with gators in carports and back yards, there's never a dull moment in South Florida. Floridians now may be required to register their pythons.

Now I can sleep at night.

World Mysteries

2007-01-24T21:51:00.000-05:00

World-Mysteries.com invites you to "explore lost civilizations, ancient ruins, sacred writings, unexplained artifacts, and science mysteries. Meet subject experts, find related books and resources". Lots of info and photos on numerous sacred sites on the planet. The satellite image gallery is particularly interesting.

The Literary Encyclopedia

2007-01-20T15:54:00.000-05:00

The Literary Encyclopedia is "an expanding global literary reference work written by over 1,400 specialists from universities around the world, and currently provides over 3,700 authoritative profiles of authors, works and literary and historical topics". In 2007, they'll publish at least 800 new profiles. Also listed are nearly 19,000 works by date, country and genre.

There is a fee to join, but for the bibliophile and the researcher, this seems like a valuable resource.

And while we're on the subject of resources, Ask A Scientist focuses on questions from K-12 students and teachers that are not commonly found in libraries, reference books or text books. The question you submit is emailed directly to volunteer scientists (located throughout the world) and answers will be emailed to the return email address you have provided.

Ask a Scientist deals with astronomy, biology, botany, chemistry, computers, general science topics, engineering, environmental and Earth science, mathematics, molecular science, physics, veterinary, weather and zoology.

Remembering Junior Wells

2007-01-19T23:22:00.000-05:00

December 9, 1934 – January 15, 1998

Click image for larger view.

Has it really been nine years since Junior died? It seems like only yesterday that he was blowing his harp at the Back Room in Delray Beach on New Year's Eve.

More on Junior from a previous post.

Begonia Blogging

2007-01-19T14:10:00.000-05:00

click photo for larger view

A stunning specimen of Begonia 'Benitochiba', from the Yahoo Begonia Group. This Japanese hybrid with silvery leaves, dark green veins and hints of lavender, is a favorite of mine, although begonias with silvery leaves are usually more prone to mildew and harder to grow.

More begonias

The World's Best Congueros

2007-01-16T15:44:00.000-05:00

While he was alive, Miguel 'Angá' Díaz, a Grammy-winning Cuban percussionist, played five congas with unparalleled brilliance and mastery. He died unexpectedly last August, in Spain, at the age of 45. What a loss!

Here he is soloing with Irakere in 1994.

The reigning King of the Conga now is Giovanni Hidalgo. Check out this mindboggling solo from the Festival Jazz Plaza 2000, in Havana, Cuba.

Related links:
Ray Barretto
Salsa Night
Jammin'

Europeans are getting taller and taller...

2007-01-15T18:53:00.000-05:00

...and Americans aren't. An article in The New Yorker from two years ago details a study of height differences in people around the world.

Over the past thirty years, a new breed of “anthropometric historians” has tracked how populations around the world have changed in stature. Height, they’ve concluded, is a kind of biological shorthand: a composite code for all the factors that make up a society’s well-being. Height variations within a population are largely genetic, but height variations between populations are mostly environmental, anthropometric history suggests. If Joe is taller than Jack, it’s probably because his parents are taller. But if the average Norwegian is taller than the average Nigerian it’s because Norwegians live healthier lives. That’s why the United Nations now uses height to monitor nutrition in developing countries.

In the nineteenth century, Americans were the tallest people in the world. But in the mid twentieth century, something strange happened.

While heights in Europe continued to climb, Komlos said, “the U.S. just went flat.” In the First World War, the average American soldier was still two inches taller than the average German. But sometime around 1955 the situation began to reverse. The Germans and other Europeans went on to grow an extra two centimetres a decade, and some Asian populations several times more, yet Americans haven’t grown taller in fifty years. By now, even the Japanese—once the shortest industrialized people on earth—have nearly caught up with us, and Northern Europeans are three inches taller and rising.

Sports Giants

The Unfilmables

2007-01-14T14:59:00.000-05:00

Screenhead has compiled a list of novels that would be nearly impossible to adapt to film. Some have never been tried. Some have been made with disastrous results. Some bad novels have been made into good films (almost all of Hitchcock's movies); and some, such as Jane Austin's works, are quite easy to adapt. But the works on this list would challenge even the best filmmakers. Among them:

Ulysses, by James Joyce
Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
100 Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Marquez
Metamorphosis, by Franz Kafka
Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

Screenhead does suggest directors who might be the only ones capable of pulling off each adaptation, should anyone be foolhardy enough to try.

Eric Johnson - Manhattan (G3 Live)

2007-01-13T14:56:00.000-05:00

Eric Johnson is a guitarist's guitarist from Austin, Texas, who fuses a multitude of musical styles with a mind-boggling technical proficiency and a cool, smooth delivery. Perfection.

Ava's Videos

2006-06-23T18:43:00.000-05:00

On the heels of Tony Snow saying the troops that have died are "just a number" comes this video made by Ava Lowery, the fifteeen year old girl from Alabama whose first video promoting peace caused death threats and the desire to see her raped or tortured.

This video is beautifully done.

Her What Would Jesus Do piece is chilling.

More of her videos here. She was interviewed on CNN, and she attended the YearlyKos Convention in Las Vegas recently. More here.

Bush Sure Likes The Taste of His Own Foot

2006-06-21T13:53:00.000-05:00

Today, President Bush held a press conference in Vienna, Austria as part of a diplomatic visit to Europe. He was asked by a member of the press why approval for his policies, particularly on national security issues, was so low in Europe. Bush explained that Europeans didn’t take the 9/11 attacks seriously. “For Europe, September 11th was a moment. For us, it was a change of thinking.”

85 Europeans died in the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Bush added that “some people,” presumably Europeans who disagree with his policies, believe it’s “OK to condemn people to tyranny.”

Video and transcript

R.I.P. Billy Preston

2006-06-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

Billy Preston, who played keyboards for the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and many others, died today in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Watch his phenomenal performance from 1971 on this video.

"Concert For Bangladesh" presented by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar for relief and aid to the starving people of Bangladesh. A list of people on stage for this concert is remarkable. George Harrison, Ringo Star (former Beatles), Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Klaus Voorman, Carl Radle, Don Preston, Jim Keltner, Jesse Ed Davis, Bad Finger...and none of them took a penny. Madison Square Garden 1971 - Billy Preston - "That's The Way God Planned It". Preston's performance, energy and love of the reason he was there, made this perhaps one of his best Live performances ever.

Al Gore Video

2006-06-04T23:33:00.000-05:00

This video was made by Spike Jonze in 2000, but never aired. I wonder if it would have changed the outcome, although I'm sure they would have managed to steal the election from him no matter how many votes he got.

It shows Al at home with his family, showing off the pictures and mementos on the walls and joking around with his wife and kids. He's very soft-spoken and sincere, and comes across as very honest, with a great sense of humor.

There's a movement afoot to elect Al Gore in 2008. See here and here.

Update: There's an interesting article about Al Gore on Huffpo.

Patriotic Posters

2006-06-03T14:05:00.000-05:00

Check out the whole insanely creative collection at
The White House.

Right-Wing Radio Talk Host Turns On Bush

2006-05-18T12:43:00.000-05:00

California's McIntyre in the Morning host, Doug McIntyre explains his turnaround. God, he sounds like a liberal!

"...So, accept my apology for allowing partisanship to blind me to an obvious truth; our President is incapable of the tasks he is charged with. I almost feel sorry for him. He is clearly in over his head. Yet, he doesn’t generate the sympathy Warren Harding earned. Harding, a spectacular mediocrity, had the self-knowledge to tell any and all he shouldn’t be President. George W. Bush continues to act the part, but at this point whose buying the act?

Does this make me a waffler? A flip-flopper? Maybe, although I prefer to call it realism. And, for those of you who never supported Bush, its also fair to accuse me of kicking Bush while he’s down. After all, you were kicking him while he was up.

You were right, I was wrong."

Listen here.

If Al Gore Were President

2006-05-14T12:10:00.000-05:00

A funny "Saturday Night Live" spoof. Check it out on Crooks and Liars.

Blue Rose

2006-05-13T10:08:00.000-05:00

For as long as I can remember, rose enthusiasts have tried to hybridize a blue rose. Now the Japanese brewer Suntory is touting "the world's first blue roses" at the World Rose Convention in Osaka. I don't know about you, but to my eyes, that's lavender, not blue.

Every time you bathe a cat a boy turns gay.

2006-05-12T18:08:00.000-05:00

Fourfour is the go to guy for America's Next Top Model recaps, but he's also famous for his cat, Winston. It's Winston's bath time again, and we find out the funky reasons why. For the history of this charismatic cat and for dozens of great shots of his life, check out fourfour's cat blog Kitty Pride.

"Guardians of the Groove"

2006-05-11T20:56:00.000-05:00

"Guardians of the Groove" percussionist2
Originally uploaded by offshore.

Spotted this cool pic of a conguero on Flickr, from offshore's collection.

How Cute Is She?

2006-05-03T17:07:00.000-05:00

YouTube is a gold mine for videos. You never know what you'll find. Check out this little future American Idol.

Juan Cole Is PO'd!

2006-05-03T08:57:00.000-05:00

Boy, is Juan pissed today!!

Christopher Hitchens made a big mistake when he misquoted part of Cole's private email (which in itself is unethical, but the popinjay doesn't care about such minutiae), and Cole lets him have it in his blog today.

It's a must read.

(Thanks, Julio!)

Do Not Attack Iran

2006-04-25T17:36:00.000-05:00

In an article for the International Herald Tribune, Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter, gives four compelling reasons against a preventative air strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.

1. In the absence of an imminent threat (with the Iranians at least several years away from having a nuclear arsenal), the attack would be a unilateral act of war.

If undertaken without formal Congressional declaration, it would be unconstitutional and merit the impeachment of the President. Similarly, if undertaken without the sanction of the UN Security Council either alone by the United States or in complicity with Israel, it would stamp the perpetrator(s) as an international outlaw(s).

2. Likely Iranian reactions would significantly compound ongoing U.S. difficulties in Iraq and in Afghanistan, perhaps precipitate new violence by Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in all probability cause the United States to become bogged down in regional violence for a decade or more to come. Iran is a country of some 70 million people and a conflict with it would make the misadventure in Iraq look trivial.

3. Oil prices would climb steeply, especially if the Iranians cut their production and seek to disrupt the flow of oil from the nearby Saudi oil fields. The world economy would be severely impacted, with America blamed for it. Note that oil prices have already shot above $70 per barrel, in part because of fears of a U.S./Iran clash.

4. America would become an even more likely target of terrorism, with much of the world concluding that America's support for Israel is itself a major cause of the rise in terrorism. America would become more isolated and thus more vulnerable while prospects for an eventual regional accommodation between Israel and its neighbors would be ever more remote.

It follows that an attack on Iran would be an act of political folly, setting in motion a progressive upheaval in world affairs. With America increasingly the object of widespread hostility, the era of American preponderance could come to a premature end.

Entire article here.

Good News From Chernobyl

2006-04-22T14:07:00.000-05:00

According to a BBC article, the area surrounding the worst nuclear accident in history is teeming with wildlife. Tests continue to be done on the animal population, and many of the results are surprising.

"Animals don't seem to sense radiation and will occupy an area regardless of the radiation condition," says radioecologist Sergey Gaschak.

"A lot of birds are nesting inside the sarcophagus," he adds, referring to the steel and concrete shield erected over the reactor that exploded in 1986.

"Starlings, pigeons, swallows, redstart - I saw nests, and I found eggs."

There may be plutonium in the zone, but there is no herbicide or pesticide, no industry, no traffic, and marshlands are no longer being drained.

There is nothing to disturb the wild boar - said to have multiplied eightfold between 1986 and 1988 - except its similarly resurgent predator, the wolf.

While mutations in DNA have been found, some scientists argue that the benefits to wildlife of removing humans from the area have far exceeded the harm from exposure to radiation. One scientist has even said, "I have wondered if the small volumes of nuclear waste from power production should be stored in tropical forests and other habitats in need of a reliable guardian against their destruction by greedy developers".

Vote For Your Favorite

2006-04-13T13:28:00.000-05:00

Miss Ellie

Lucille Bald

Pee Wee

Remember Sam, three time winner of the Ugliest Dog Contest, in California? He died last year, so another contender will take the crown at the Sonoma-Marin Fair. Three of the hopefuls are pictured above. You can see more pics, read their stories and vote for your favorite here.

You gotta love people who love their ugly dogs!

Why?

2006-04-10T23:12:00.000-05:00

Many interesting questions are posed on this short video about 9/11 and the collapse of the WTC.

The Idiot Wind

2006-04-09T18:19:00.000-05:00

Now everything's a little upside down,
As a matter of fact the wheels have stopped.
What's good is bad, what's bad is good; you'll find out when you reach the top, you're on the bottom.
I noticed at the ceremony, your corrupt ways had finally made you blind.

The idiot wind blowing like a circle around my skull
From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol
The idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

---Bob Dylan

Begonia Blogging

2006-04-01T11:12:00.000-05:00

Click for larger image

Begonia 'Annan Blossom'. Another beautiful shot from the Yahoo Begonia Group. This is a Ross Bolwell hybrid from 1996, a very compact growing cane with dense foliage, rich green, spotted white, with undulate margins and a white drip tip.

Where the Hell Were You?

2006-04-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

In an open letter, Watertiger blasts democratic Senators Schumer, Feinstein, Kennedy, and Biden for not showing up at the Judiciary Committee censure hearing.

A fabulous rant!

The Sky Is Falling

2006-03-25T09:54:00.000-05:00

Only this time it doesn't look like a false alarm. In "What Ever Happened to Congress?" Tom Engelhardt interviews Chalmers Johnson on Antiwar.com. It's one of the scariest things I've ever read.

In it, they discuss

1. the lunacy of the 2007 Pentagon budget
2. the out of control military
3. the huge expansion of executive branch powers
4. the failure of Congress to do its job
5. the collapse of the American economy
6. the fall of the Roman Empire

I don't see the obvious way out of our problems. The political system has failed. You could elect the opposition party, but it can't bring the CIA under control; it can't bring the military-industrial complex under control; it can't reinvigorate the Congress. It would be just another holding operation as conditions got worse.

Crooks and Liars

2006-03-22T00:42:00.000-05:00

The colossal lies, the intelligence ignored, the ongoing slaughter, the criminally irresponsible waste of taxpayer dollars, the countless opportunities lost, the crony profiteers. [snip]...a headline juxtaposition that perfectly reflects the dangerously delusional world of the President of the United States.

A link-rich post on Crooks and Liars.

Your Inner Dog

2006-03-21T23:56:00.000-05:00

In keeping with my animal theme, I'm linking to this funny video of a completely insane dog. Don't take my word for it. Check it out. Could be some kind of weird autoimmune disease?

If you'd like to find out what your inner dog is, try the game on
this site. Click on Game in the left hand column, answer the ten questions and find out which dog you're like. I'm a Shetland Sheepdog. At least I'm not the dog in the video. Well. Sometimes, maybe.

Baby Animals

2006-03-15T10:46:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry about this. I seem to need heavy doses of cute lately.

The little feet! Awwwww

(Cute Overload)

Much more at babyanimalz.com.

Monet

2006-03-14T23:34:00.000-05:00

My diabetic cat, Monet, an orphan from Hurricane Andrew, in 1992. I give him an insulin shot every day, and he doesn't seem to mind. Too bad his blue eyes are closed. He would probably prefer the Beck's box to an expensive cat bed.

If Picasso Had Painted Shannen Doherty

2006-03-13T09:54:00.000-05:00

The diabolically clever artist, 14, has started a series called "What if Important Artists of the 20th Century Were to Paint the Portraits of Today's Tabloid Celebrities?" in Gallery of the Absurd. Shannen Doherty is the first vict...er, subject.

Also provided is a link to Mr. Picassohead, where you can create your own work of art.

Beginning To See The Light

2006-03-11T14:11:00.000-05:00

It has taken more than three years, the loss of tens of thousands of Iraqi and American lives, and the expenditure of $200 billion -- all to achieve a chaos verging on open civil war. But finally the neoconservatives who sold the United States on this disastrous war are starting to utter three small words.

We were wrong.

Interesting article.

The president who claimed he had no idea Katrina would be so bad, despite repeated urgent warnings, must now explain why he also didn't heed the warnings of Middle East experts who warned him about exactly what is unfolding in Iraq.

As ABB says,

It’s like taking a rabid dawg to your neighbor's birthday party, watching it go crazy for two hours and then abruptly leaving while shouting ‘sorry!’ as you rush out the door. The regret is legitimate, but you might want to take that rabid dawg with you. Oh, and help clean up the mess, pay for the medical bills and counseling and so forth. But maybe your neighbor doesn't want to look at your face for...well, ever again?

Y’all feel me?

Scorned Woman

2006-03-11T11:17:00.000-05:00

I don't know if the story in this eBay listing is true, but it's funny to read. It's the ultimate revenge. Reminds me of Scorned Woman Hot Sauce and the blurb that goes with it.

You've known many a scorned woman - but none that produce this kind of kick. Give it a try and understand just how mad she was, and how lucky you were to escape. Or, ladies, taste it and know just what you're capable of, right FireGirl? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!

Rainbows

2006-03-10T11:46:00.000-05:00

I didn't know there were so many different kinds. 18 months ago, I saw a spectacular double rainbow; two perfect rainbows, one larger than the other. It was over the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean, so the shot would have been spectacular. Oh well. At least it's stored in my memory bank.

Stephan's Quintet

2006-03-08T13:11:00.000-05:00

(AP Photo/Nasa via Pa)

NASA's telescopes keep generating these incredible images of outer space. This one shows the central region of a group of galaxies 300 million light-years away known as Stephan's Quintet. Astronomers say that this distant galaxy is generating a 'sonic boom' of cosmic proportions, caused by one of the galaxies falling towards the others at high speed, ploughing through a cloud of hydrogen gas travelling at 540.6 miles per second - 100 times faster than the speed of sound.

It makes me feel like a speck of dust in a tornado, but it also makes me feel like part of something incomprehensibly magnificent.

The Oscars

2006-03-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

The rabid ferret living in Helena Bonham Carter's hair must have attacked Tim Burton's head. I mean, seriously, would it have hurt him to comb it for the Oscars? Are there mirrors in his house? Helena is a poem herself. I wish I understood the significance of her "do". I know. Meow. But really.

This year I wasn't willing to spend 3½ hours watching the Oscars. Why should I, when I can read hilarious recaps on TVgasm?

9:36pm
Commence the porn groove as badass Samuel L. Jackson comes out to present a masturbatory retrospective of movies with a "social conscience." Oddly, the montage is accompanied by "Rodeo" from Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, better known as the The Theme Song to Beef. Just after the music reaches soaring, inspirational heights, Jon Stewart deflates the entire montage with his sarcastic proclamation "...And none of those issues were ever a problem again." Haha, the Academy must HATE him.

Ok, he was a little confused about Copland's work, but he's funny. Check it out.

Poppy Velvet Toes

2006-03-05T15:39:00.000-05:00

On the Daily Kitten. Too cute for words!

Yo Yo Man

2006-03-05T14:17:00.000-05:00

No, not the cellist misspelled. And not Tommy Smothers.

This guy is amazing!

Alocacias

2006-03-04T10:29:00.000-05:00

This is a little dark, but I don't have a better shot at the moment. Alocasia cuprea has an odd juvenile leaf that looks heavily shellacked. I've never read about any speculation on what the purpose of that would be. I can't imagine one, unless it's to help prevent fungus. It's a small plant, growing only about 50 cm tall, with leaf blades about 30 cm long.

Alocasias belong to the family Araceae, one of the largest plant families, which includes philodendrons, anthuriums, colocasias, amorphophallus, xanthosomas, and many other genera.

Contrasting with species like A. cuprea, which grow close to the rainforest floor, are alocasias with the largest leaves of any herbaceous plants in Nature, such as Alocasia robusta, whose leaves can reach 10 meters in height. Click here for a truly awesome photo of Alocasia robusta, growing in the wild in Sarawak.

Americans Don't Know Diddley

2006-03-04T10:07:00.000-05:00

A recent study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22% of Americans could name all five family members in "The Simpsons", compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms. About one in five thought the right to own a pet was included.

As AngryBlackBitch astutely observes,

This is great news, chil’ren! All this time a bitch has been harboring a secret fear that my fellow Americans understood the freedoms they were willfully handing over to the current administration.

[snip]

Americans aren’t willfully handing their freedom over to Satan’s helpmate…they're just ignorant as a motherfucker.

Where Is Gandhi When You Need Him?

2006-02-28T18:39:00.000-05:00

(AP Photo/A. Mahesh Kumar)

Bush is headed to India on Wednesday for a 3 day visit. Guess he's looking for allies wherever he can find them now that virtually the whole world is against him. Well, they're ready for his ass. Dozens of protests have been planned by Islamic leaders and communist politicians.

"Bush is terrorist No. 1, and it is an insult to Indian Muslims that he is coming to India as a guest of the government," said Mohammed Saeed Noori of the Bombay-based Muslim organization Raza Academy. "Bush first destroyed Afghanistan, then Iraq. He should be stopped from entering India."

Would you like some catsup with your Baigan Ka Bharta, Mr. Bush?

Eye Candy

2006-02-25T11:11:00.000-05:00

This specimen of the extremely difficult to grow Begonia 'Midnight Sun' earned a much-deserved Best Of Show at one of the recent ABS conventions. It was most likely a Texas or California convention. Apologies to the grower and the photographer, because I didn't save the info. The striking foliage is fantastically variegated, with bright pink, pale pink, dark green and red coloration mixed throughout. Who needs flowers when the leaves are so colorful? The photo is from the wonderfully informative Yahoo group on Begonias.

Orientalist Art

2006-02-21T19:00:00.000-05:00

By chance, I saw a clipping from a magazine on the wall of a photographer's darkroom of a painting, which depicted a scene in what appeared to be North Africa. It had a photographic sharpness and detail, mystery and intrigue, and a mesmerizing appeal. Without the name of the artist or the painting, I did a little sleuthing and discovered the world of Orientalist Art.

'The Bath' by Jean-Leon Gerome

After Napoleon marched into Egypt in 1798, a torrent of westerners flooded into the Near and Middle East. The writers who wrote about their experiences and the artists who painted what they saw became known as the Orientalists. They traveled through Turkey, Iraq, Persia, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Arabia and North Africa. With time this became an art movement and today it is called Orientalist art.

According to Orientalist Art,

This movement spanned over a century and included hundreds of known artists. Many of them were giants of the art world and created beautiful paintings that seem almost photographic in detail. Many of them took incredible risks and endured considerable hardship. Disease was the greatest hazard and gun battles with bandits were commonplace. At other times they were received with the greatest kindness and made lasting friendships.

They came from all over the world: from England, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Russia, America, and Australia. Some of them specialized in landscapes, in archeological themes, or in people. Some of them were very religious and created biblical scenes, some specialized in military history. Others recorded the flora and fauna of the Near and Middle East. Encompassing many different painting styles and political leanings, the only generalization that can be made about them is that they were extremely diverse.

'Complicity' by Jean-Leon Gerome

Of all the paintings I found online, my favorites were painted by the French artist, Jean-Leon Gerome. According to the Orientalist Art Web site, he is the most renowned of the Orientalists. While I never found the painting that originally intrigued me in the photographer's darkroom, I think it may have been one of Gerome's works.

'Arnaut Smoking', Jean-Leon Gerome

The detail is incredible, and you just want to enter the picture and explore that mysterious world.

'An Almeh with pipe' by Jean-Leon Gerome, French. Oil, 1873.

Prostitutes were a favorite subject, but it took some street smarts and some help from the locals to pull it off. It wasn't exactly the best part of town.

Check out Orientalist Art for more paintings and fascinating commentary.

Ray Barretto (1929 -2006)

2006-02-17T22:18:00.000-05:00

The world of music lost one of its greats today. Ray Barretto died today in a New Jersey hospital. He had had two heart surgeries within the last month. For nearly 40 years, conguero and bandleader Ray Barretto was one of the leading forces in Latin jazz. In 1957 he replaced Mongo Santamaria in Tito Puente's band and performed with them for four years. He performed and recorded with many jazz greats, such as Max Roach, Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, Cannonball Adderley , Freddie Hubbard, Cal Tjader, Dizzy Gillespie, and others.

This makes me sad.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2006-02-14T16:17:00.000-05:00

(Reuters)

Two elephants spooning in Thailand.

The Smell of Moondust

2006-02-02T09:41:00.000-05:00

NASA has made the Apollo Chronicles available on its Web site. Installment three goes into detail about the sensory delights of moondust.

"I wish I could send you some," says Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan. Just a thimbleful scooped fresh off the lunar surface. "It's amazing stuff."

Feel it—it's soft like snow, yet strangely abrasive.

Taste it—"not half bad," according to Apollo 16 astronaut John Young.

Sniff it—"it smells like spent gunpowder," says Cernan.

How do you sniff moondust?

Gene Cernan looks a lot like Keven Federline. Just as clean, too.

New York Hack

2006-01-28T12:38:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder what it's like to be a New York City cab driver? This lady's blog will tell you about her grueling, 12-hour night shifts, illustrated with lots of digital pics of New York traffic.

Another Lie Exposed

2006-01-25T10:36:00.000-05:00

...with deadly consequences. Three days after Hurricane Katrina hit, Bush claimed that the government had no way to foresee the damage it would cause. "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." Oh yeah? We were told months ago about "Hurricane Pam," a fictional Category 3 storm used in a series of FEMA disaster-preparedness exercises simulating the effects of a major hurricane striking New Orleans. "Pam" predicted almost everything that happened in New Orleans and Mississippi at least a year before it happened.

Now the Washington Post reports that

In the 48 hours before Hurricane Katrina hit, the White House received detailed warnings about the storm's likely impact, including eerily prescient predictions of breached levees, massive flooding, and major losses of life and property...

The Department of Homeland Security's National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC) document predicted losses in the tens of billions of dollars.

In addition to the NISAC document, WaPo obtained a FEMA slide presentation that was prepared for a meeting two days before Katrina hit. They compared the potential damage to the simulated disaster of "Hurricane Pam", but said it could be even worse.

It's horrible that so many government employees, who were doing the job they were hired to do, tried in vain to warn those in charge about the impending disaster, and all their warnings were totally ignored. Then we had to endure the lies, the spin, the finger-pointing and shifting of blame to someone else. As the facts which contradicted the government's position began to emerge, and the horrors of the Superdome played out on television for the world to see, the truth became obvious, and Bush was forced to accept the blame. I don't even recall an apology. I really don't think there was one.

How much more incompetence do we have to endure? The only glimmer of hope I see is that the Bush administration will go down as the worst in the history of this country and will become a model of what to avoid in the future. If we don't go over the brink before that can happen.

Watch Old Faithful Blow

2006-01-24T16:06:00.000-05:00

Yellowstone National Park has a Web cam set up for the Old Faithful geyser.

The Camel Toe Report

2006-01-19T21:15:00.000-05:00

After 17 days without blogging, I thought it would be appropriate to post an edifying entry, something to appeal to the intellect. For this purpose I've chosen The Camel Toe Report. The emphasis is on the female toe, modeled here by Sharon Stone...

But there is no dearth of male toe and moose knuckles. You would never see a Hollywood celebrity today in a Speedo and flippers. Kind of ruins the Bogart mystique, doesn't it?

The commentary that accompanies the photos had me laughing so hard, I almost lost a lung.

Happy Birthday, Edgar Allan Poe!

2006-01-19T16:33:00.001-05:00

For the 57th straight year, a mystery man paid tribute to Edgar Allan Poe by placing roses and a bottle of cognac on the writer's grave to mark his birthday.

The 2005 Sour Orange Awards

2006-01-02T15:16:00.000-05:00

Two writers for the St. Petersburg Times have "scoured newspapers, magazines and the Internet for all the futile, inane and moronic news stories in Florida." There's never a shortage of craziness in this state. Here are the winners.

The Abramoff Connection

2006-01-02T13:48:00.000-05:00

Jack Abramoff, American lawyer and lobbyist, and close personal friend of Tom DeLay, is apparently involved in so many political scandals and investigations of scandals that the mind boggles trying to follow it all. This Daily Kos entry on Saturday is a good place to start, with quotes and links throughout.

...the GOP will be covered with an avalanche of scandals.

We might take control of Congress because so many in the GOP will suddenly need to "spend more time with their families".

They are in BIG trouble. It couldn't happen to a better set of scoundrels.

[snip]

Any dollar Jack touched leads to another scandal. Grab a thread and start pulling.

Remembering the Tsunami Victims

2005-12-26T17:54:00.000-05:00

(Adrees Latif/Reuters)

Five thousand floating paper lanterns fill the sky over the Andaman Sea, in Khao Lak, Thailand, in remembrance of tsunami victims killed one year ago today. 47 villages along the country's Andaman Sea coastline were wiped out.

(Eddie Keogh/Reuters)

The lanterns symbolize letting go of the dead.

(Parth Sanyal/Reuters)

A candlelight silent march in Nagapattinam, about 202 miles from the southern Indian city of Chennai.

(Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

Candles in the sand on Patong beach in Phuket, Thailand.

REUTERS/Adrees Latif

A ceremony in Khao Lak, Thailand.

REUTERS/Nicky Loh

Remembering the more than 231,000 people who died in last year's tsunami.

Pandora

2005-12-21T23:52:00.000-05:00

This is pretty cool. It's a music player that allows you to create music stations by typing in the name of a favorite artist or song. The music data base is scanned for similar music, based on rhythmic patterns, orchestration, instrumentation, etc. Pandora will act as your personal DJ and play the style of music you like. In order to refine what your station plays, you can select the tunes you like and eliminate the ones that don't fit your taste.

So far I've tried it with blues and Latin jazz, and it works well with those. Salsa was a bust, though. They just don't have much of it in their selection. Sometimes you'll hear an artist you don't know, so it's a way of expanding your list of favorites.

Pandora is an outgrowth of the Music Genome Project.

On January 6, 2000 a group of musicians and music-loving technologists came together with the idea of creating the most comprehensive analysis of music ever.

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.

Over the past 5 years, we've carefully listened to the songs of over 10,000 different artists - ranging from popular to obscure - and analyzed the musical qualities of each song one attribute at a time. This work continues each and every day as we endeavor to include all the great new stuff coming out of studios, clubs and garages around the world.

You can't beat the price. Pandora is free.

Headline of the Month

2005-12-15T11:37:00.000-05:00

Without question!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

2005-12-10T23:49:00.000-05:00

Shoooot. It worked for Mary Poppins.

Colorful Key West

2005-12-10T11:46:00.000-05:00

Credit: all photos by Andy Newman

As many years as I've lived in Florida, I've never been to Key West, which is less than five hours to the south. There, you can watch sunrises and sunsets over the water, something I've never done.

Key West, a.k.a. the Conch Republic, is known for its colorful gay community and laid-back lifestyle. You just never know what's going to happen, but it's usually a lot of fun.

The picture above is of one of the contestants, prancing in his amazing court jester costume during the Paradise Costume Competition at the Pier House Pretenders in Key West on Thursday. The event was a part of Fantasy Fest, Key West's annual masking and costuming festival that was delayed six weeks this year due to Hurricane Wilma. The festival continues through tonight and will be highlighted by the Fantasy Fest Parade down Duval Street.

These two participants are celebrating the hurricane theme, as is this guy in his "Storm Surge" costume.

Showing off their "Raggedy Ann and Andy" costume at the Fantasy Fest Pet Masquerade are Bumper McCabe of Boca Raton and his poodle Tinker Toy. They won second place in the pet/owner look-alike division.

Peter Parente of Sugarloaf Key, and his two-toed sloth, Molasses, show off their "Gargoyle in a Haunted Tree" costume. They placed second in the contest's best theme adaptation category. See what I mean? Who has a sloth for a pet??? Only in Key West!

The winners of the pet/owner look-alike category were James Brooks of Ramrod Key and his bulldog, Brutus. A very clever spoof of FEMA's role during hurricane recovery.

The Nigerian Solution

2005-12-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

(AP/George Osodi)

Children wash near the rubble of their demolished house in the Chika area of Abuja, Nigeria, on Dec. 8, following government evictions and the demolition of all the housing stock in the area. Soldiers and police have evicted thousands from a residential area of the capital as part of a plan to avoid the city disintegrating into the chaotic situation of Lagos and other Nigerian cities, residents and officials said.

Yeah, that'll solve the problem of what to do with all those impoverished people. Now they're not only hungry, they're homeless! Maybe they'll just die of starvation and disease, and you'll be rid of them. A wonderful a model for other countries, Nigeria. Way to go!

Ouch!

2005-12-10T00:50:00.000-05:00

Scarlett Johanssen takes breast support to the extreme.

What's Wrong With This Guy?

2005-12-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

Last September, during a post-Katrina NBC-produced special to benefit the Red Cross, Kanye West made some unscripted remarks which shocked the nation and infuriated a lot of people. He ended his verbal diarrhea by stating that, "George Bush doesn't care about black people!"

While that may or may not be true, it's a very simplistic way to look at the situation. The truth is that Bush lives in a parallel universe and doesn't have a clue about what he's doing to this country.

With the Grammy's coming up, he's shooting off his mouth again.

"If I don't win album of the year, I'm gonna really have a problem with that," the Chicago rapper told MTV this week, responding to predictions that his mouth would cost him a victory.

"I don't care if I jumped up and down right now on the couch like Tom Cruise...I don't care how much I stunt--you can never take away from the amount of work I put into it."

And Kanye wasn't done: "I said I was the face of the Grammys last year. I'm 10 times that [this year]. . . . Two things: Do not let me get on that stage and do not let me get on that stage. Either way, we goin' crazy!"

To top it all off, his Assholiness wears fur. Watch your back, Kanye. You never know when PETA might appear.

Oh, and before I forget. I'm not done with you. Your song, "Golddiggers"? Here's what AngryBlackBitch had to say about it. Jerk.

"Hey, Laaaaaaaaa-dy!"

2005-12-06T13:56:00.000-05:00

I don't know what I'd do without Watertiger's humor on Dependable Renegade! Her hilariously captioned photos crack me up every day.

The Worst President In History

2005-12-05T16:07:00.000-05:00

James Buchanan, the 15th president, is generally considered to be the worst president in American history. A recent informal poll of historians indicates that 338 believe Bush is failing, while 77 say he's succeeding. Fifty said they thought he was the worst president ever. Worse than Buchanan.I just had to highlight that. It gives me hope.

This is what those historians said -- and it should be noted that some of the criticism about deficit spending and misuse of the military came fromself-identified conservatives -- about the Bush record:

He has taken the country into an unwinnable war and alienated friend and foe alike in the process.
He is bankrupting the country with a combination of aggressive military spending and reduced taxation of the rich.
He has deliberately and dangerously attacked separation of church and state.
He has repeatedly "misled," to use a kind word, the American people on affairs domestic and foreign.
He has proved to be incompetent in affairs domestic (New Orleans) and foreign ( Iraq and the battle against al-Qaida).
He has sacrificed American employment (including the toleration of pension and benefit elimination) to increase overall productivity.
He is ignorantly hostile to science and technological progress.
He has tolerated or ignored one of the republic's oldest problems, corporate cheating in supplying the military in wartime.

Bo and Family

2005-12-05T14:03:00.000-05:00

Credit: Tamara Reynolds

You'd have to be living in another country to not know who Bo Bice is. For the two of you who read this blog :D , Bo, an Alabama native, was the runner-up on the last season of American Idol. He seems to be a super nice guy. Southern rock is his thing, but he can sing ballads too, and he has perfect pitch. I LOVE it that a talented musician who spent years toiling away in honky tonks finally made it big.

Love the doggie pacifier!

His debut album, The Real Thing, will hit stores on Dec. 13.

75 Bands

2005-12-03T14:14:00.000-05:00

There are supposed to be 75 bands suggested by this picture. There are actually more. Click here for a larger view.

All of the following bands are represented. If you want to try it yourself first, don't peek!

Alice in Chains, B52’s, Animals, Beach Boys, Bee Gees, Black Flag, Black Crowes, Blind Melon, Blondie, Blues Brothers, Blur, Byrds, Cake, Cars, Cornershop, Cowboy Junkies, Cranberries, Crowded house, Cypress Hill, Dead Kennedy’s, Deep Purple, Dinosaur Jr., Doors, Eagles, Eels, Eminem, Fish, Garbage, Gorillaz, Great White, Greenday, Guns ’n Roses, Hole, Iron Maiden, Jewel, Kiss, Korn, Led zeppelin, Living Colour, Lemonheads, Madonna, Manic Street Preachers, Matchbox 20, MC Hammer, Men at Work, Monkeys, New Kids on the Block, Nine Inch Nails, Pet Shop Boys, Pink, Pink Fairies, Police, Postal Service, Postman, Prince, Queen, Radiohead, Ratt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rolling Stones, Roots, Scissor Sisters, Scorpions, Seal, Sex Pistols, Shadows, Silverspoon, Simply Red, Smashing Pumpkins, Spoon, Strokes, Subway Sect, Sugarplum Fairies, Talking Heads, Tatu, The Go-go's, Twisted Sister, U2, Yellowman, Wings, White Stripes, Whitesnake, White Zombie

Another Argument Down The Tubes

2005-11-30T13:39:00.000-05:00

As Bush supporters desperately defend his disastrous presidency, they scramble to find scraps from his crumbling regime. Lately they've been charging that Congress was privy to the same intelligence as Bush, and yet the Democrats voted for war. They deny that Bush skewed intelligence to serve his nefarious purposes. Oh yeah?

Ten days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush was told in a highly classified briefing that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein to the attacks and that there was scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda, according to government records and current and former officials with firsthand knowledge of the matter.

The administration has refused to provide the Sept. 21 President's Daily Brief, even on a classified basis, and won't say anything more about it other than to acknowledge that it exists.

The information was provided to Bush on September 21, 2001 during the "President's Daily Brief," a 30- to 45-minute early-morning national security briefing. Information for PDBs has routinely been derived from electronic intercepts, human agents, and reports from foreign intelligence services, as well as more mundane sources such as news reports and public statements by foreign leaders.

One of the more intriguing things that Bush was told during the briefing was that the few credible reports of contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda involved attempts by Saddam Hussein to monitor the terrorist group. Saddam viewed Al Qaeda as well as other theocratic radical Islamist organizations as a potential threat to his secular regime. At one point, analysts believed, Saddam considered infiltrating the ranks of Al Qaeda with Iraqi nationals or even Iraqi intelligence operatives to learn more about its inner workings, according to records and sources.

There's so much more detailed in this National Journal article, Key Bush Intelligence Briefing Kept From Hill Panel.

Lawrence Wilkerson Takes Aim

2005-11-30T12:27:00.000-05:00

AnneGearan, AP Diplomatic Writer, reports:

A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.

In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush's detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. He said Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because "otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."

No matter how many times I read reports of this type, as officials continue to come forward and confirm the rumors, it's still extremely disturbing. The noted Israeli military historian, Martin Van Creveld, has written in the US Jewish newspaper Forward that,

For misleading the American people, and launching the most foolish war since Emperor Augustus in 9 B.C sent his legions into Germany and lost them, Bush deserves to be impeached and, once he has been removed from office, put on trial along with the rest of the president's men. If convicted, they'll have plenty of time to mull over their sins.

The Disturbingly Cute Little Forest Mushroom

2005-11-27T15:33:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite illustrations from Gallery of the Absurd, this one of Kelly Osbourne is really cute.

Panda Cam

2005-11-26T14:18:00.000-05:00

AP/San Diego Zoo, Ken Bohn

If you can never get enough panda cuteness, check out the San Diego Zoo Panda Cam. There are also panda blogs, photos, videos, slide shows and panda news on their site.

The Smithsonian National Zoological Park also has a panda cam and lots of information.

'Fess Up

2005-11-26T13:40:00.000-05:00

Photocopiers take a beating during the holidays. Case in point.

Tim Andrews, a Canon employee from London, said: "We always fit lots of new glass to copiers after New Year due to 'rear-end copying.'"

Geoff Bush from the north of England said one case he'd attended, where a young lady had cracked the glass mid-scan, also jammed the scanner so that it wasn't until the machine was fixed and her colleagues all sober that copies of her backside starting pouring from the machine.

I'm sure this problem isn't confined to England. They just have the cojones to admit it.

Bloated Car

2005-11-25T10:55:00.000-05:00

What the...??

The Blind Leading The Blind

2005-11-25T10:37:00.000-05:00

Michael Brown, the disgraced former director of FEMA, has started a disaster-preparedness consulting firm! This kind of jaw-dropping insanity is a reflection of the mixture of incompetance and arrogance that characterizes the Bush administration.

"If I can help people focus on preparedness, how to be better prepared in their homes and better prepared in their businesses — because that goes straight to the bottom line — then I hope I can help the country in some way," Brown told the Rocky Mountain News for its Thursday editions.

Brown said officials need to "take inventory" of what's going on in a disaster to be able to answer questions to avoid appearing unaware of how serious a situation is.

If a company needs to hire Brown to do that, they don't have a prayer of succeeding.

Sad News

2005-11-24T00:36:00.000-05:00

Sam, the World's Ugliest Dog, has died. R.I.P., Sam.

The Ubiquitous Paris

2005-11-20T13:52:00.000-05:00

Paris Hilton is one of the most photographed women in the world. Watch how her facial expression doesn't seem to change in this flash sequence. I've never understood the fascination people have for her, and yet this is the second time I've blogged about her. 14's brilliant illustration is, so far, my favorite of all the ones she's posted in her Gallery of the Absurd, which just featured the new Paris Hilton VooDoo Doll. Notice the droopy left eye, the vacuous expression and the grotesquely large hands and feet.

Weather Update

2005-11-19T21:54:00.000-05:00

It's looking good for us now. The storm has doubled back like a hairpin, and the path now takes it through the Camagüey area of Cuba and south of the Bahamas. If it continues that way, we might only get a few clouds and some wind, as we've been getting for the last couple of days.

Sunday update: Gamma is one strange little storm. Now it looks as though it may miss Cuba entirely or fall apart completely. Friday's track took it right across Palm Beach County. Two days later it's nowhere near Florida. Maybe it still has some tricks up its sleeve. When it comes to tropical systems, you DO need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. But, still, don't follow leaders, watch the parkin' meters.

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don't wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles

Subterranean Homesick Blues

The Punching Bag

2005-11-18T17:14:00.000-05:00

HA! Ahem.

Update: Gamma's track has moved to the south since yesterday, so if it continues with the track it's on, we should be spared the worst of it. It now looks as though Cuba, the Keys and the Bahamas will be in its path.

Just Because

2005-11-18T15:08:00.000-05:00

I love to plantblog. Three blue ribbon winners from the Tropical Fern and Exotic Plant Show in Miami last year. The middle one is a species of Lycopodium, an ancient plant and fern ally. It's flanked by two entries of the same orchid. I grow it, but don't remember the name. Orchids aren't really my thing. The few that I have are tied onto trees and pretty much take care of themselves.

Each year this orchid produces new shoots with leaves, like the ones you see at the top of the plant. These grow longer and longer as the plant ages. The following year, the old stems sprout flowers all the way down to the tips. As the plant gets older and has more and more flowering stems, it puts on a spectacular display.

Operation Restore Mojo

2005-11-18T13:13:00.000-05:00

James Wolcott dissects the last throes of neocon support for the worst presidency in this country's history in an article entitled "Windbags of War Give It One Last Wheeze". Clever with words, that Wolcott. After citing the same old tired rhetoric of Bush apologists, he comments,

No one better embodies the creamy elitism of the neocons than does [Bill] Kristol, who believes that the American people are a lumpy mass easily manipulated and are incapable of arriving at judgements of their own. But they can, they do, and they have. They have turned against this war and slowly come to the conclusion that they were deliberately misled. Questioning the patriotism of the war's critics isn't going to work because a majority of Americans now share that criticism and don't think of themselves as unpatriotic. Bush's counteroffensives are no longer effective because he's lost the confidence of the American people: they've had it with this guy.

Josh Marshall, of Talking Points Memo, sums it up.

"What a sorry, sorry, unfortunate president -- caught in his lies, his half-truths, his reckless disregard ... caught with, well ... caught with time. Time has finally caught up to him. And now he doesn't have the popularity to beat back all the people trying to call him to account. He could; but now he can't. So he's caught. And his best play is to accuse his critics of rewriting history, of playing fast and loose with the truth -- a sad, pathetic man.

[snip]

"In the president's new angle that his critics are trying to 'rewrite history', those critics might want to point out that his charge would be more timely after he stopped putting so much effort into obstructing any independent inquiry that could allow an accurate first draft of the history to be written. In any case, he must sense now that he's blowing into a fierce wind. The judgement of history hangs over this guy like a sharp, heavy knife. His desperation betrays him. He knows it too."

It's his blogger allies who don't.

The First Annual MySpace Stupid Haircut Awards

2005-11-15T15:54:00.000-05:00

Some kids wear their pretentiousness and self-absorption on top of their heads. DemonBaby has compiled a sort of 'Hall of Shame' of fantastically stupid hairstyles floating around MySpace. Here are the super heroes of bad style. The hipsters, the goths, the just-plain-confused. He includes his own picture at the end of the list, and I have to say, he looks way too young to be so clever. Very funny!

"Dark Red Flower"

2005-11-15T13:06:00.000-05:00

Nadia Anjuman
(1980-2005)

Nadia Anjuman, age 25, died Sunday, Nov. 6, in Herat, Afghanistan. It appears she was beaten to death. Her husband, who confessed to striking her on Friday, has been apprehended, as has her mother.

Anjuman published her first book of poems this year, a collection entitled “Gul-e-dodi, which means dark red flower.” Her work was especially popular among women in Afghanistan and Iran.

A piece in the Middle East Times reports, “Under the fundamentalist Taliban regime of 1996-2001 women were denied the right to education and could not even leave their homes without a male member of the family.

“Women have been given more freedom since the Taliban were toppled in a US-led campaign in late 2001. But rights groups say that (women) are still mistreated by men, including through sexual and domestic violence.”

United Nations spokesman Adrian Edwards called Anjuman’s death, “tragic and a great loss to Afghanistan.” He added that “violence against women remains dramatic in Afghanistan—in its intensity and its pervasiveness.”

A tribute from someone who knew her.

Anjuman leaves behind her Dark Red Flower and a six-month-old daughter.

What Is Laura Bush On??

2005-11-15T11:52:00.000-05:00

Seriously. Uppers? Mood stabilizers? General zombie pills? Can she look more demented?

Well, maybe. :)

These photos were taken during Charles and Camilla's recent visit to the US. Calm and pleasant Camilla looks as though she's suppressing a laugh. She probably can't believe her eyes.

The most disturbing one is hilariously captioned on Dependable Renegade. Oh, my God. How funny! Click for the caption.

Hot Dogs For Homos

2005-11-13T23:27:00.000-05:00

This video is just too frikken hilarious!

Gone With The Wind

2005-11-13T18:43:00.000-05:00

Begonia 'Little Miss Mummey', another victim of Hurricane Wilma.

Word Play

2005-11-12T16:07:00.000-05:00

This is circulating on the Internet, purportedly from The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational. I don't think it has anything to do with the Post or with Mensa, because I can't find any confirmation of it. It's funny, nonetheless.

Readers to are asked to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's {2005} winners:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly

3. Bozone: The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Cashtration: The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

10. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

11. Decafalon: The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido: All talk and no action.

13. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

14. Arachnoleptic fit: The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web. [This one doesn't meet the criteria.]

15. Beelzebug: Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

16. Caterpallor: The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

17. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an a s s hole.

18. Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

Become a Republican

2005-11-12T15:08:00.000-05:00

Hey Democrats! Sick of losing elections? Bored with honesty and common sense? Feel like America has lost its mind? Become a Republican!

I could never do it. I'd have to give up tofu.

The Ship Is Sinking

2005-11-12T15:00:00.000-05:00

Two analysts of US national security have concluded that the present troop levels in Iraq are not sustainable for the US:

Unless the Bush administration significantly cuts American troop levels in Iraq next year, the U.S. military's roughly 140,000-strong presence there will become a detriment to America's national security, according to a report released this week.

"It has become clear that if we still have 140,000 ground troops in Iraq a year from now, we will destroy the all-volunteer army," said the report written by the center's Lawrence Korb and Brian Katulis. Korb served as assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan.

We've Done It!

2005-10-22T19:28:00.000-05:00

We've broken the record set in 1933 for the most hurricanes in one season. Tropical Storm Alpha, the first system using a name from the Greek alphabet, has officially formed in the Atlantic. We ran out of names with Wilma, which will be the eighth storm to hit Florida in 14 months.

A scary possibility has emerged. This is from a weather blog:

The GFDL model is calling for an interesting development. It wants TD25 to strengthen into Category 3 Hurricane Alpha east of the Bahamas. Then once Wilma crosses Florida, it merges the two storms over the Gulf Stream, tracks them up the coast, and places a Cat 2 hurricane off Cape Cod. Food for thought!

And here I sit, grateful and sorry at the same time, for the disaster that has befallen the Yucatan Peninsula. Why do these horrible storms force us to prefer someone else's suffering to our own? Now we await the inevitable, winds even stronger than Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Jeanne from last year. The cars are gassed up, money withdrawn from the ATM, water, ice, batteries and cans of tuna stocked. Tomorrow the shutters go down, plants brought in, outdoor cats put in the laundry room (they're sprayers...can't come in the house). Now we wait for this thing to pass, like a huge gallstone. Thank God for beer.

Sports Giants

2005-10-22T00:10:00.000-05:00

This shot always makes me laugh. Shaquille O'Neal looks like he's saying, "You're kidding me!" Earl Boykins, of the Denver Nuggets, is only 5'5" (1,65m). Shaq is 7'1" (2,16m). You could make a tent out of Shaq's shorts and shelter a family of four.

Then I saw this:

(AP photo)

The New York Liberty's Becky Hammon, in front, guards the Connecticut Sun's 7-foot-two-inch center Margo Dydek, of Poland, during the second half of their WNBA game at Madison Square Garden. My God, she's an inch taller than Shaq!

Salman Rushdie on Religion

2005-10-21T13:37:00.000-05:00

I found this quote by Salman Rushdie on the Bill Maher Show website and thought it was awesome:

"That old-fashioned philosopher Karl Marx used to say that religion was the opiate of the masses. Now it's the crystal meth of the masses."

Aristolochia gigantea

2005-10-14T21:52:00.000-05:00

I took this picture of Aristolochia gigantea at night. It's climbing up the chinaberry tree and rambling through the Xanthosoma esculenta (Elephant Ear) area. At around 8" long, the flower is like Aristolochia elegans (Dutchman's Pipe) on steroids. It's a major food source for the larvae of the swallowtail butterfly, so I don't often find flowers that are intact. It always reminded me of grandma's calico dress. The velvety black interior and the bright yellow center are just gorgeous.

I Ain't Superstitious, But A Black Cat Has Crossed My Trail

2005-10-13T13:52:00.000-05:00

(jjoats)

Why does it seem like every time the Bush administration gets some bad PR, a terror alert goes up within days? I think we all know the answer to that question. Keith Olbermann suggests that in the last three years there have been about 13 similar coincidences - a political downturn for the administration, followed by a “terror event” - a change in alert status, an arrest, a warning. He describes each of them in the article. Here's Number Two:

June 6th, 2002. Colleen Rowley, the FBI agent who tried to alert her superiors to the specialized flight training taken by Zacarias Moussaoui, whose information suggests the government missed a chance to break up the 9/11 plot, testifies before Congress. Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Graham says Rowley’s testimony has inspired similar pre-9/11 whistle-blowers.

June 10th, 2002. Four days later, speaking from Russia, Attorney General John Ashcroft reveals that an American named Jose Padilla is under arrest, accused of plotting a radiation bomb attack in this country. Padilla had, by this time, already been detained for more than a month.

As the approval rating continues to fall, Bush's handlers scramble to repair the damage. First the "terra" alert in New York. Then the photo op at a Habitat For Humanity site.

(jjoats)

Then trumping the race card by pulling a couple of really nervous black kids from a mostly white classroom. They should have made him pay them a fee for using them as props. The Lauratron doesn't look too happy in that picture either.

Life In Paradise

2005-10-11T15:27:00.000-05:00

Pythons swallowing alligators and kitty cats,
crocodiles in carports. Never a dull moment in South Florida.

UPDATE: It's happened again! This time a 10-foot-long African rock python ate a turkey in a Miami nursery and couldn't get back through the fence due to his bloated tummy. They've captured him and will transport him to a zoo in Central Florida.

PETA Nails Wintour!

2005-10-10T13:24:00.000-05:00

Hooray for PETA! For the second time in a year they've nailed Wintour, the editor of Vogue magazine and one of the world's biggest advocates of fur. This time it was a vegetarian tofu tart.

Adding to Wintour's charm, Andre Leon Talley, who is an editor at Vogue, said on Oprah that Anna does not like fat people.

Salsa Night!

2005-10-08T16:06:00.000-05:00

Eeeepaaa!! Last Saturday we found a neat little place in Delray Beach with a live salsa band. It's a restaurant called Brisa Atlántica, off East Atlantic, in what used to be a little house. The place was packed to the gills, but we managed to find a table. There are tables outside too. All were filled and people milled around inside and out, windows and doors open, music wafting into the humid night air. No air conditioning! Fortunately, the nights are starting to get a little cooler, but it's still balmy and very South Florida warm.

The musicians were crammed into a little corner, just inside the entrance. I don't know how they fit all their equipment and themselves in that little space, with any elbow room to play. In the picture above you can see the conguero, the timbalero and the sax player/singer. Out of view are the pianist and the female singer. They were excellent! Wow! No real dance floor, just a walk space that everyone scrunched into to cha cha and mambo. You can see how warm it was from the sax player's shirt. It looks like someone poured water on him.

The lovely Latina in the picture below just stood out of the crowd with her beauty. Ah, to be that young and pretty!

If you want to listen to the best salsa on the planet, check out Alma del Barrio on KXLU in Los Angeles. It's on from 9:00AM til 9:00PM EST every weekend. Click on Listen Live and enjoy!

And if you're in the West Palm Beach area next weekend, be sure to check out the Pachanga LatinFest downtown at the Meyer Amphitheater. The fabuloso Tito Nieves is the headliner on Saturday night.

Understanding Women 101

2005-10-06T15:58:00.000-05:00

From the Female Lexicon, a few definitions that may be useful to men...

FINE
This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

FIVE MINUTES
If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

NOTHING
This is the calm before the storm. This means "something," and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with 'Nothing' usually end in "Fine"

GO AHEAD
This is a dare, not permission. Don't do it.

LOUD SIGH!
This is not actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing"

THAT'S OKAY
This is one of the most dangerous statements that a woman can make to a man. "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

THANKS
A woman is thanking you. Do not question it or faint.
Just say you're welcome.

WHATEVER
It's a woman's way of saying *!#@ YOU!