Today's Mighty Oak


Alright, let’s see what we have today. First up, the stories behind the names of Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods.

The stories within stories: the fictional books we wished were real.

The recurring jokes of Arrested Development.

New Looney Tunes are coming to HBO Max and this is making me want to subscribe:

The PG (granted, it’s become a right-wing rag on the editorial side) has a neat interactive site about the bridges of Pittsburgh. Note this may be behind a paywall, I think it was one of my three free articles when I read it.

Dolly Parton secretly executive produced Buffy! And we just now found this out!

A DM and a set designer created a DnD adventure in a dresser! Each drawer is new level of the dungeon!

We’ve all been doing a lot of virtual exploration of place, and the British Museum recently revamped their online collections.

Speaking of, need some peace in your life? Check out the livestream of the Northern Lights!

Because there is such a need for blood right now, the FDA has reluctantly allowed itself to accept blood from gay men, as long as we don’t have sex for three months. They still don’t want our blood, but they realize they need it.

The Atlantic has a great piece about pandemic fatigue, how we should approach it both in ourselves and others. The article also covers the similarities between COVID and the HIV pandemic: they’re very, very similar, just on a different time scale. Be kind to yourself and others, be as smart and safe as you can.

Also in Pandemic related content, CGP Grey’s new video about it. While I will disagree, I think that for many, just surviving is enough (instead of creation of coming out ‘better’ in some way), this video has great tips about how to survive our new reality:

Dumb Runner, The Onion of running, hits it on the head: Local runner cancels backyard marathon, refuses to offer refund.

New research shows that Antarctica used to be a rain forest. Global tectonics and climate history really are awesome!

The voice of Big Thunder Mountain looks exactly how you think he does. And that is comforting.

The trailer for the new Netflix show ‘Hollywood” looks really fun:

Myst is set to become a TV Series….for the third (?) time. I’m excited, but will believe it when I see it.

Slog has great coverage of the white privilege of protesting stay at home orders. Worth a read.

An artist created a chandelier that forms as it collects rain water, and it’s beautiful!

That’s it for today, but I’ll be back soon, have a great one!



Alright, let’s see what we have today, little bit of a video heavy one, but let’s go with it!

For Star Wars Day, Heathrow added flights to destinations in the Star Wars galaxy to their boards.

In good news, Ireland is looking to prosecute practitioners of gay conversion torture.

The trailer for POSE looks so good:

Spoilers for Infinity War, but here’s a great break down of the real villain.

In that vein, want to see if you survived the final events of Infinity War?  Click here.  Spoiler, I didn’t make it.

Also related: straight people shouldn’t write about gay ‘culture’ if they don’t know what they’re talking about.  Bad NYTimes.

The music video for Deadpool 2 is amazing:

It’s a little heavy handed, but good on AIG and the All Blacks for these awesome new jerseys!

Two classic Mega Man games are being re-released….on cartridges!

I ran the marathon a few weeks ago and had a blast!  I talked with the guy filming this, but we didn’t make it in, but still a really cool video!

Required reading: Dan Savage eviscerates a gay republican and it’s so perfect.

Also, conservatives are sad because people don’t like them.  If I wasn’t busy trying to save the world, I still wouldn’t give a shit.

Arrested Development is coming back for season 5, and I’m so, so excited:

That’s it for now (hopefully these video links work, Youtube was acting strange for me), have a great one!



Alright, let’s see what we have today.  Oh hey look, Drumpf is rolling back transgender health care.  We keep fighting.

And a gay teacher in Kansas was run out of town due to death threats for being gay.  When we say this country still hates us, we’re not lying.  We keep fighting.

Republicans introduce a bill to allow anti-queer discrimination in adoption agencies nationwide.  We keep fighting.

Thank you, to Garfunkle and Oates for hitting it out of the park with this song:

This makes me laugh, but it’s what we deal with all the time.  A person makes some bigoted remark about how he thinks gay people are going to hell and then gets all upset when the pushback happens.  The hypocrisy is staggering.

The trailer for the new Ryan Murphy show Pose, about the ballroom scene.

Let’s talk about gun control.  Thankfully, America’s Best Christian, Betty Bowers is here to have the conversation:

In case you forgot, PA state Rep (from north of Pittsburgh, so not my elected official) Daryl Metcalfe is a bigoted, misogynistic,, racist waste of oxygen.  He’s also been single handedly holding up the bills that would give me some equal rights in the Commonwealth.

HRC is hitting hard against Mike Pence, which is good to see them going on the offensive as he starts campaigning across the country for the midterms.

The BBC released a really good video about what homophobia feels like in 2018.

From a favorite youtube channel, Ask a Mortician, let’s talk about funeral strippers:

A bartender who was organizing a drag show that was “supposed” to be a satirical look at Hitler has apologized.  How does someone even think that is a good idea?  Words escape me.

Are you excited for Infinity War?  Do you like to crochet?  I have the link for you!  Crochet your own Infinity Gauntlet!

Speaking of The Avengers, the new movie will have an Arrested Development reference in it!  I must admit, I was so excited I decided to blue myself early and I have a little bit of a mess on my hands.

Randy Rainbow hits it out of the park again:

A Neural Network created new DnD monsters, and the results are pretty awesome.

Speaking of DnD (and crochet from above), would you like to make your baby look like a Beholder?  I mean, please don’t, Beholders are the worst.

GLOW comes back this June!  Check out the trailer:

And finally, it looks as though Labyrinth is going to become a stage musical!



Alright, let’s see what we have today.  First up, for those enjoying the fourth season of Arrested Development, or in case you want to get caught up, there are two great summaries of the ongoing jokes here and here, and a good article at Nerve about what you learn about love from AD.

This is very scary, ice tsunami:

Wil Wheaton explains why it’s awesome to be a nerd.  Check it out here.

Jason Collins has revealed that he choose the jersey number 98 as a tribute to Matthew Shepherd.

I will never ride this (also because it’s in Texas):

I’m not a huge fan of the Pope, or the Catholic Church, but this new pope has made some good in-grounds.  Including his comments here.  Fun fact though: a crazy bigoted former coworker who is on his way to seminary, is freaking out because in his own mind, you can only go to heaven via the Catholic Church.  You know, ignore the pope, his boss, because he doesn’t hate the same people he does.  Sigh. 

In case you’ve forgotten that public transportation is important, to everyone on the round, check this out.

Google Glass from the perspective of a two year old:

A bridge (I believe the one that collapsed a few years back) in St. Paul lit up to celebrate marriage equality in Minnesota.

And in sad equality news, a baker has denied a cake to a lesbian couple for their wedding.  For those curious, just substitute, say, “African American” before couple and see if it’s still bigoted, and illegal.  Hint: it is.

This has been floating around, and it’s awesome.  Sad that it needs to be posted, but awesome:

It’s always fun to see hockey graphic departments show their nerd sides.

I’ve been working my way through Crash Course: Chemistry, and this is a great companion piece (that is not from Crash Course):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUDDiWtFtEM

That’s it for now, but I’ll be back with more soon.  Have a great one!



Lots of video today, but lots of other things as well, hope you enjoy.

First up, in case you missed it everywhere else on the Internet, the season 4 trailer for Arrested Development:

There are a lot of videos, so I won’t embed this one, but also in case you haven’t seen it anywhere else on the Internet, the first music video from space (of Space Oddity, of course)

From a favorite blogger Clintus, this is actually very accurate:

Also from Clintus, the definition of a very, very bad day.

And we’re all glad she’s back, and of course wish her the best, but Hyperbole and a Half knocks it out of the park.  Read this.

The final piece of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz):

 The UK Parliament is finally working towards apologizing to Alan Turing, the man pretty much responsible for all modern computers.

Congratulations to Minnesota on passing marriage equality.  And the mayor of St. Paul is pretty awesome:

And speaking of marriage equality, Mika is throwing a free concert in Paris to celebrate as well as to fight homophobia.

And if you want to follow along with the next state to debate (most likely Illinois), here is a good BINGO card.

The first promo for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which has been picked up for the fall.  I don’t think the trailer is that good, but of course I”m excited for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySsw-6aety

And as it turns out, this year may be the time that Pennsylvania catches up and enacts an anti-discrimination ordinance.

A massive map of the dialects of North America.  Not much happening out in the Midwest and West Coast.

And what I think is the last video today, the greatest hits of the last 10 years of Mythbusters:

 That’s it for today, have a great one everyone!

 



Alright, let’s see what’s going on today.  First up, in case you didn’t hear, from the lips of Mitt Romney and Lucille Bluth:

And on that note, the Million Muppet March.

And in case you forgot, the testimony from Mr. Rogers in front of the US Senate that saved PBS:

And lastly on the subject, from my favorite astro-physicist:

In more political news, the PA voter ID requirement has been delayed, but the state is lagging behind getting that information out here.  Rachel Maddow’s show had some fun with it:

As a complete and total no-brainer, access to contraception reduces the abortion rate.  Thankfully, Obamacare does just that, provides free and available contraception options to women.

And lastly in politics today, this is floating around, but give it a watch, it’s great:

There is a new captcha system, that brings light to human rights abuses.  Pretty awesome if you ask me:

And leaving politics for a little bit, for those of you eager to celebrate Halloween, check out how to make this awesome pumpkin keg.

Or even better for Halloween, printable poison labels:

That’s it for now, have a great one!



Alright, let’s see what we have today.

First up, in horrific news: bacon shortage.

This is just awesome:

One of Mitt Romney’s sons is mean.  Just saying.

And the awesome Mitt Romney/Lucille Bluth mashups, a favorite:

This will totally be my brother and his wife’s child (if and when they have kids, as far as I know, not in the works):

It’s funny, because now Gov. Walker wants unions….:

This is pretty amazing, How I Met Your Mother in under a minute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6SJkBuXapU

Amtrak is testing 165 mph trains!

Scott Brown’s staff made a really racist video about Elizabeth Warren.  She hits back:

And finally (a lot of video today), remember Shit ___ says?  The creators talk:

That’s it for now, have a great one!

 



Quick update, and then I’ll be back with more later hopefully.

First up, this group is awesome, and I love the set/lighting design of this video, as well as the camera drops:

Awesome article about the 24-year old Pulitzer recipient who broke the Sandusky scandal.

When Season 4 of Arrested Development comes out in one big chunk, I know what I’ll be doing for five hours one day.  And the next, and probably the next as well.

CGP Grey is back with another awesome video:

Hehe, it’s like I’m twelve, go read the headline and the article.  And giggle.  You know, if you’re as immature as me, or the writer and editor apparently.



First up, this came out a while ago, and it’s in French, but it’s Mika’s new single:

Gizmodo reports on an awesome free t-shirt which was given out to German white supremacists, which, when washed, revealed a message of equality.  We had shirts over the summer that when they got wet the ink would disappear.  Close, but not quite.

Unplggd has a cool article about integrating your TV into your decor.  Check it out.  Or check out their article about clocks.  There are a lot of cool clocks out there.

Remember when the Pirates were doing awesome, and then we were the victim of a horrible call which sent us into a ten game losing spiral?  Well, Benstonium put together this video:

Big Think puts the odds that we’re all just Sims in some kind of giant computer program at 20%.  Does it still count if we discuss that possibility?  I’m getting confused.

I actually don’t like this that much, it seems impractical, but you can buy bookshelves to spell anything.

Back before the split, Jason Alexander was trying to get humanitarian aid for those affected by the Netflix price hike.

A good friend is a huge Michael Buble fan, and I found this awesome bad lip reading of his video for “Just Haven’t Met You Yet,” which becomes “Russian Unicorn:”

I was always kind of interested in this case, and it seems as though the code of the Zodiac Killer may have been cracked.

Awesome list of insane job titles, and points for the Arrested Development reference at the end, here’s a great one as well:

 

It takes a little bit of moving around to see it all, but should I work for free?  Check out this flow chart to find out.

I just want people to watch this:

And finally, need some propaganda for social networks, check out the posters here.

 



In case you missed it, Arrested Development is coming back for a fourth season before the movie (provided, it all gets a distribution deal and whatnot, I’m still cautiously optimistic).  After they announced the news, the cast did the chicken dance:

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