On the Shores of the Black Horse River

A picture worth a thousand questions...

Via Commonwealth Conservative

Always wanted to know how to whistle using your fingers? Google can tell you how.

Just some random stuff.

• A low fat diet does not cut health risks for women, in WaPo (via Ann Althouse).
• Interesting article on the history of telegrams.
• They've made over Ken (as in Barbie). His new image: "Ken's new garb includes a motorcycle jacket and cargo pants. But that's not all: he now dabbles in Buddhism."

Check out the newest pictures of Evie, from January and February, on the pictures site.

I have to say that this letter from Sen. McCain to Sen. Obama is possibly the most hilarious use of irony in a political contest I have seen since Sen. Proxmire. The beginning paragraph:

I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere. When you approached me and insisted that despite your leadership’s preference to use the issue to gain a political advantage in the 2006 elections, you were personally committed to achieving a result that would reflect credit on the entire Senate and offer the country a better example of political leadership, I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable. Thank you for disabusing me of such notions with your letter to me dated February 2, 2006, which explained your decision to withdraw from our bipartisan discussions. I’m embarrassed to admit that after all these years in politics I failed to interpret your previous assurances as typical rhetorical gloss routinely used in politics to make self-interested partisan posturing appear more noble. Again, sorry for the confusion, but please be assured I won’t make the same mistake again.

I have been catching up on the riots and protests over the cartoons published in a Danish newspaper ridiculing Mohammad, and the paroxysm of protest and anger that has followed in the Muslim world. I honestly don't think that these cartoons are the point; the real reason for these eruptions is that the Muslim world is angry, in

Instapundit quotes a Muslim reader who writes, "It doesn't matter, I'm told. It literally means nothing to them, because in their world, everything should revolve around them and their culture, and God made the world for Muslim Arabs to control." Now, Iran has decided to rename Danish pastries "Mohammedan" pastry. And in the stupidest stunt yet, they're burning Swiss flags outside Danish embassies.

A common argument is that Christians often react like Muslims, for example when they protested "The Last Temptation of Christ. But if that is the case, why are people not burning down the art expo in Madrid where there is a sculpture of Jesus holding a Phoenix missile? Certaintly not because of the Vatican, who takes the side of the mobs by declaring that the right to freedom of expression does not include the right to offend the religious feelings of the faithful.

There are definitely some in the Muslim world who haven't lost their sanity; muslim blogger Big Pharaoh has some frank advice for his peers.

Brit Hume puts it perfectly when he says, "And it is a disgrace not least because of the obvious, howling double standard involved here. The really great sins are ignored. And this trivia is protested." Mark Steyn hits it on the head too (via lgf):

Thus, NBC is celebrating Easter this year with a special edition of the gay sitcom "Will & Grace," in which a Christian conservative cooking-show host, played by the popular singing slattern Britney Spears, offers seasonal recipes -- "Cruci-fixin's." On the other hand, the same network, in its coverage of the global riots over the Danish cartoons, has declined to show any of the offending artwork out of "respect" for the Muslim faith.

Which means out of respect for their ability to locate the executive vice president's home in the suburbs and firebomb his garage.

I think we have a foot of snow here, significantly better than the nine inches that we were forecast. Its perfect packing snow, wet and heavy. We took Evelyn out on the deck in her bear bunting and let her crawl around. She seemed to be interested but not terribly thrilled. Pictures to follow.

Thank goodness we have had a decent snow this winter. I was starting to get a little dispirited - it isn't a worthwhile winter without a good snow! And this winter in particular has hardly deserved the name. And it really gets me in an Olympic mood with the view outside our house looking a little more like the glorious alpine snow shots from Turin.

And here is one giant pet peeve of mine. The 1980 olympics were the Moscow olympics, not the Moskva olympics, and I am going to call these the Turin olympics. It is a little silly when the NBC talking heads talk about the various cities in Italy, and they list Rome, Florence, Venice, and Torino. It's either Rome, Florence, Venice, and Turin, or Roma, Firenze, Venezia, and Torino. Be consistent, people!

I have to say, the home office that this guy has makes me drool.

Check out the Loudoun Landscapes blog. The pictures there are quite beautiful, and really show off the best parts of Loudoun County's pastoral side. Personally, I think the neon high-rise side is pretty as well, with the juxtaposition of chrome and woods, but perhaps that reflects my upbringing in Reston.

I am back at work, and after my ten days of recovery I feel like it is going well. My energy level is high, and I am collected and organized. Let's hope it continues!

I read the ABC News reviewed the ads in advance. Funny that Fabio almost sank the Gondola.

We're also watching in lag, to fast forward repeated commercials (Blockbuster), so we are a little behind. We're mostly rooting for Pittsburgh, the team with the cool story, but I personally would enjoy seeing the Seahawks win, because our high school mascot was the Seahawks.

That which is good:

• Bud Light "Magic Fridge". Best one so far.
• "Prehistoric FedEx" was pretty funny.
• Leonard Nemoy for Aleve
• Bud Light "Roof Picnic"
• Diet Pepsi "Stunt Double" w/Jackie Chan
• Budweiser "Goat Streaks the Clydesdales Football Game" - good to see that traditional commercial continue
• "Mobile ESPN" - not our style of commercial, but very well done
• "Mission Impossible III": Blow stuff up! Yeah!
• Shaq for Desparate Housewives
• Sprint "Crime Deterrent"
• Budweiser "Baby Clydesdale Pulls the Cart" Awwwwwww!
• Degree for Men "City of Risks"
• MacGuyver Mastercard Priceless
• Nationwide Sky Banner Proposal

Honorable mention: The "Oh the places you'll go" introduction to the Super Bowl

That which is bad:

• Whopperettes. Why would anyone ever want to download that to their cellphone?
• Jessica Simpson as a Pizza Hut waitress. Whatever!
• Bud Light Bear Attack. Seems in poor taste with "Grizzly Man" in theaters.
• Diet Pepsi "Brown and Bubbly" was, like, whatever.
• Ameriquest "Well, that killed him" - very bad! Made me sad!
• "Escalade Fashion Show" was stupid.
• The Hummer H3 as the love child of Godzilla and the Iron Giant. Just plain stupid.
• I don't remember last year's GoDaddy commercial, so bite me.

Honorable Mention: The smell of old man farts on stage at the halftime show

And about the game... it was a big defensive contest, which makes for a slow-seeming game. It livened up in the second half, but it never really seemed to be a very watchable game, nothing like Pittsburgh's other victories. But Pittsburgh earned a tremendous victory, with 1/8th of the Super Bowls on record belonging to them. And coming from the #6 seed to win it all, always an inspirational story. Congrats to the Steelers.

After discovering exactly how deep the depths of grossness are on "The Aristocrats" and bailing, we watched Cinderella Man last night as something wholesome to cleanse our brains. Heather and I were both surprised with how well we liked it. I had expected it to be good from a cinematography perspective, what with the awards nominations it got, but we were both surprised with how gripping it was. The initial period of grinding depravity was harsh, but set the mood for the rest of the movie, and it kept moving at a good pace, never dawdling too long. We stayed up too late watching it because it was so gripping, and the performances of both Russell Crowe and Craig Bierko were very good.

I definitely reccommend it.

• A guy with Pac Man on his butt
  
• "Wasp performs roach-brain-surgery to make zombie slave-roaches"
  
• A USB drive in a twig
  

So, the blog looks a little different. I've been debating a rename for quite a while - to usher in the new year, and to generally cause people to give me fewer strange looks. "Mental Borborygmus" appealed to my taste for imagery and pompous vocabulary, but as usually happens when I indulge this kind of impulse, didn't work out in the end.

Also, I like this stylesheet. Very clean.

Anyhow...