Yes, yes, it’s Nora’s first birthday, and there’ll be plenty of time for that later, but also:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEEZER
Go tell PJ I sent you, and wish him a happy birthday.
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cotyledon?
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This was just too awesome not to share: our next door neighbor won the Dispatch’s Regional Spelling Bee, and now is off to represent Cowtown at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in DC at the end of May.
Hopefully we won’t have a repeat of this.
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Photomatic
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For those who are interested, I just finished a massive upload of three months’ worth of pictures to Flickr, including Christmas 2006, Carl as Superman (sort of), and our trip to Orlando last month.
Some gems to whet your appetite:
And more where those came from.
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I Love the 80s, Too…
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…but somehow, I think 80s pop culture repository RetroJunk might have gotten taken in on this one:
the adventures of desmond tutu and butros butros gali Show Info
Aired: 1987 – 1987
Show Type: Animated
Country of Origin: UK
Show Summary: A satirical program about contrasting political and religious issues with special appearances by ghandi, barney the dinosaur, doodles from the tweenies, chuck norris and a visually impared kestrel in a lettuce and mink head scarf.Pretty sure someone would have remembered seeing that before.
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Flips That Aren’t Flops
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Former SPINSANITY contributor Brendan Nyhan points out a very good essay from Jon Chait [registration required; use bugmenot] regarding the arbitrariness of defining politicians by “flip-flops”, and makes a few good points on the subject on his own.
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Solaris
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Click this to see a short quicktime clip of Earth’s moon passing in front of the sun, as recorded by two of NASA’s spacecraft dedicated to observing the sun.
It’ll take a minute for the clip to load because of its size, but wait for it. It’s worth it.
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Oh No SpongeBob!
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Cartoonist Troy Walker created a comic strip in 1991 about a sponge with a personality.
Bob Spongee had eyes, legs and arms. He lived on Apple Street with his wife, Linda, and their daughter, Bubbles.
Walker, of Fairfield, Calif., then produced 1,000 dolls: yellow sponges with a “drawn-on” face that he sold as collectibles in flea markets and through the mail.
In 2002, he learned about Nickelodeon’s buck-toothed animated character, “SpongeBob SquarePants,” who lives underwater in the fictitious city of Bikini Bottom.
“They took all of it,” Walker said this week. “I sold the Bob Spongees all throughout Northern California. It obviously fell into the hands of one of the producers of the show. It’s a clear pattern of duplication.”
SpongeBob’s image now decorates almost any object children use — from lunch boxes and sippy cups to pillow cases and window curtains.
The 40-year-old cartoonist has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco against Nickelodeon, Viacom, Paramount Studios and Stephen Hillenberg, the creator of SpongeBob SquarePants.
Walker has demanded $1.6 billion in damages, alleging that the defendants used his idea without his permission.
[more]
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Your Average Rooskie, Son, Don’t Take a Dump Without a Plan
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Anyone who’s ever talked to me about politics in the last six or seven years will probably not be one bit surprised that I find this interesting:
Baker, who Wednesday made a visit to the Senate, was asked by several Republicans about his involvement on Thompson’s behalf.
“He said, ‘I am making a few calls and I think it’s a great idea,’” said one Senate Republican who heard Baker discuss his efforts to advance Thompson’s prospects.
One Republican who discussed a possible bid with Thompson described his interest and Baker’s queries as “a friendly exploration.”
…Rumors about Thompson running for president have filtered into Republican circles during the last several weeks. One lobbyist who recently asked Thompson about his plans said that Thompson merely smiled and replied, “I’m keeping my powder dry.”
Well, huh. Via The New Republic’s blog.
