Today's Mighty Oak


The world is awful, and there’s a lot going on, but let’s see what we have. First up, let’s calm down a bit with a beautiful exploration on Canon in D:

Dumb Runner (The Onion but for running) had two great articles which made me laugh a lot recently. The first, local runner receives photos from his virtual marathon and one that is so true locally, ‘without the marathon, residents scramble to find something else to bitch about.’

Brass players (and percussionists, opera singers, etc), be the change you (and hero) you want to see in this world.

Feeling down? Here’s Chris Hemsworth to tell you, yes you, how awesome you are!

We’re getting a new Star Wars Holiday Special! Which….that is news, but this time it’s Lego!

Also, here’s how we should swap the titles of the Star Wars movies around.

Okay, buckle up, getting to politics. First up, the Mass Dem party coordinated with the College Democrats of Mass to try to levy false sexual abuse accusations at a gay candidate in the primary. The whole thing is dirty and reeks of homophobia, as well as a misunderstanding of the dynamics of gay relationships.

AT the DNC, Michelle Obama was immaculate (transcript here):

Likewise, President Obama set out in the starkest of terms what is at stake (transcript here):

On the final night of the convention, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was extremely funny, and since I enjoyed VEEP so much, a nice touch!

Pete Buttigieg had a moving moment talking about his marriage as he was introducing Biden.

And then finally, the acceptance speech:

Since then, of course, things have gotten worse, with more stoking of hatred and violence, but in a stirring move, the Mets and Marlins left their game and left a BLM shirt draped over home plate.

And finally, the NBA has come to agreement to turn their arenas into voting sites!

That’s it for today. Have a great one, wash your hands, wear your mask, double check your voter registration and make a plan to vote!



Note: Yesterday I wrote up a recap for one of my DnD games, so while I wrote, it’s not here on the blog, I’m still on track to write everyday in July!

Today marks what would have been Nelson Mandel’a 100th birthday.  I remember where I was on the day he died: I was on a treadmill at the Penn Hills Y watching the news coverage, saddened and tearing up.

His story shows both some of the worst and best that humanity is capable of, and I think that’s why I’m drawn to it so much.  I’ve listened to Archbishop Tutu speak of his close friend, and read many of his speeches, but what I know Mandela barely scratches the surface of what he did and who he was.

Still though, his dedication to democracy, and his example of the spirit of reconciliation are admirable and at least in myself, I feel unattainable.  But much like other shining examples, I hope I can strive to be the man he knew that I was.

On the news of his death, President Obama said this:

The day he was released from prison gave me sense of what human beings can do when they’re guided by their hopes and not by their fears.

And maybe it was because 2013 was such a different time, but I can remember how much his death affected me that day and those following.  Mandela’s work continues on through his foundation and The Elders, and I hope that we can all continue to live up to his giant legacy.



Alright, let’s see what we have today.

One of my professors actually had this happen at her kid’s school, and I think it’s smart.

Today was the deadline for briefs for the Prop 8 and DOMA cases going before the Supreme Court.  Briefs have come in from Democratic members of Congress, Republican lawmakers, NFL Players Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadjeo, 300 major corporations and the rest of the 50 briefs can be read here.

President Obama weighs in here (the justice department submitted a brief):

Kathy Bates is joining American Horror Story for Book 3, very exciting!

A statue of Rosa Parks has been unveiled at The Capital.  Fun fact, she is a saint in the Episcopalian church.

I love when the Internet makes things like this:

How about a replica of yourself…made from gummy candy?

That’s it for now, have a great one!



Alright, let’s see what we have today.

First up, a really cool webpage from Starbucks that allows you to look up referendum that are going on in your state this election.  Note to those in Pa: we got nothing.

But I do have to say to the House of Pa: WTF.  No seriously.  YOU WANT NEWBORN BABIES TO STARVE.  What is wrong with you?!

This is going around, I saw it from Betty Bowers, and of course, Santorum make an appearance:

Amazing take-downs of Ann Coulter.  Although I am loath to even mention it, I hate giving her any attention.

And President Obama takes down Ayn Rand.  Very well done.

But this will make you a smile, a fun radio ad airing in Minnesota.

And quite possibly the best tweet ever:

This has made me happy all day: “Not my problem” in Polish is “nie moj cyrk, nie moje malpy.” Literally “not my circus, not my monkey.”

— Howard Tayler (@howardtayler) October 24, 2012

So here is the first TV spot for The Hobbit:

Or if you’d rather learn about Middle Earth, check out the LotR statistics project.

Penguin and Random House are in talks to merge.  Not great for the publishing world, or readers.

This is really cool:

And finally, coming soon to The Nerdist channel on Youtube:

That’s it for now, have a great one!



Quick update today, first up, check out this amazing view of a black hole.

I read through this article about all the deaths in Joss Whedon productions (spoilers, obviously), and I got really nostalgic about all of them.  Also, really sad about quite a few of the deaths.

If you haven’t seen it yet, check out this awesome ad (language!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og35U0d6WKY

The Archbishop of Canterbury is stepping down at the end of the year, and he thinks the job is too big for one person.

That’s it for now, have a great one!



Alright, let’s see what I have today.  First up, fun WTF posters:

This is what annoyed me about college, especially freshmen year.  Students who didn’t know how to live away from home.  Apparently, now it’s even worse with students paying for disposable sheets, cleaning services and deliveries of snacks.

Beer-drinking chart:

Internet Addiction may be linked to the same gene that makes one more susceptible to nicotine addiction.

Awesome accidental photos from Google street view.

A primer on how to ride the subway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_duJUp9emY

A vial of John Paul II’s blood was stolen and then recovered. Creepy.

A schism in atheism?  Never thought I’d hear of that.

The Ohio Art company is once again cashing in on the Etch-a-sketch, and I don’t blame them at all:

The richest women in the world thinks that those who are poor are just lazy and should work harder.  Like her, you know, since she inherited $30 billion from her father.  You know, hard work.

This is just shameful: remember a few weeks ago Romney had a rally in Ohio that was attended by “enthusiastic” coal miners?  They were forced to attend by their employer, and not paid for that day, either.

Also in somewhat political news, a delegate (from PA, sadly) at the RNC was offended that a Mexican immigrant was working at the America station in Epcot.  Sigh.

And the reaction shot from the White House to #Eastwooding:

That’s it for now, have a great one!

 



I somehow lost a post from yesterday, I’m going to keep searching and see if I can find it.  I’m thinking I may have hit ‘cancel’ instead of ‘save’.  We’ll see if I can recover it.  Until then, check out this awesome billboard for The Dark Knight Rises:

This is pretty awesome, and it has changable heads, so you can keep the handle:

And this was floating around before, but I thought it was neat, the best excuse note ever:



Quick update for everyone, let’s see what I have today.  First up, from Better Book Titles, “The Colour of Magic” which is the first book of an amazing series:

If you haven’t watched it before, a short TED talk by Frank Warren of PostSecret.  Fun fact, whenever the conversation comes to who I could have dinner with if I could with anyone in the world, Warren is always on my list.  I saw him speak at Pitt and it was amazing, so check out the talk.

Good Old Games is finally able to offer the Quest for Glory series.  All five games!  I’m totally excited and going to be losing a lot of time to these (one and five are the best, in my opinion).  Such amazing games!

I’m trying to find a link, but the rumor I heard on a podcast is that in the upcoming Spiderman tie in game, if you preorder (I think from Amazon), you unlock the ability to play as Stan Lee in one of the levels.  Epic!

Awesome new blog from a jaded copywriter: Depressed Copywriter:

In case you care, which you shouldn’t, check out Bristol Palin’s response to Obama’s interview yesterday.  The irony will make you laugh out loud.  Or weep, probably both, actually.

And if you too need to ‘evolve’ on the issue, may I suggest this link.  I especially love images 4, 6 and 14

The staff of the Stranger got a plastic dinosaur and took lots of pictures with him!

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

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Update for everyone, let’s see what we have.

First up, this was actually posted by The Drunk Yinzer:

In a cocktail moment from Maddow: Bacon!

A fun parody of It Gets Better:

How cool is this, Obama read “Where the Wild Things Are” at the annual Easter Egg roll.  Although I love his faces, I’m going to have to say Christopher Walken was better (since there is audio of that).

And from Better Book Titles:

The fun thing is that both Better Book Titles and Sword and Laser are reading this as their book club pick.  It’s an amazing book, you really should read it!

Hug a Coke machine and get a free drink:

A new, promising type of treatment for cancer is being developed in the UK.

You shouldn’t drive and text, nor should you walk and text:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmhvdtX72eQ

So true:

That’s it for now, but I’ll be back with more soon!



And I’m back (not on the netbook, but I’ll be back on that tomorrow most likely).  First up:

This seems unnecessary: tattoo ink that vibrates when you have a cell phone call.

We just passed the two year anniversary of Obamacare:

Slog points us to a cool view of the Sistine Chapel.  I particularly think the music is a nice addition.

MaddowBlog has this amazing bumper sticker posted:

And College Humor points us to some wonderful travel posters for the modern day.

I don’t know if the video will embed below (I’ll guess no ahead of time), but Dan Savage’s new show starts next month on MTV.  And it’s actually making me want to watch MTV again!  Check it out:

 

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