Clipmarks | ericskiff's clips

Our Soldiers

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 15:22:41 GMT

clipped by: ClipClipHooray
clipper's remarks: Our flag does still wave because of young people who are committed to serving our nation. Thank you!

Clip Source: letters-from-the-desert.blogspot.com

Jim Higgins

A mobilized Army Reserve Chaplain from Atlanta, currently stationed in Balad, Iraq at LSA Anaconda

Clip Source: letters-from-the-desert.blogspot.com

I recently attended a showing of "Spiderman 3" here at LSA Anaconda.

As is the custom back in the States, we stood and snapped to attention when the National Anthem began before the main feature. All was going as planned until about three-quarters of the way through the National Anthem the music stopped.

Now, what would happen if this occurred with 1,000 18-22 year-olds back in the States? I imagine there would be hoots, catcalls, laughter, a few rude comments, and everyone would sit down and call for a movie. Of course, that is, if they had stood for the National Anthem in the first place.

Here, you could have heard a pin drop. Every Soldier stood at attention. Suddenly there was a lone voice, then a dozen, and quickly the room was filled with the voices of a thousand Soldiers

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,

o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Tags: iraq, coalition forces, national anthem, respect

A "Second Sphinx" at Giza?

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:03:34 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: omega.wordpress.com

After analyzing the elements of the Ancient Egyptian belief system, Egyptologist Bassam El Shammaa comes up with a very unorthodox view that would shake the established Egyptology and most likely, trigger a swarm of fresh debates on the origins of the monuments at Giza. Pointing out the dualist essence of the Ancient Egyptian cosmology, El Shammaa argues the very likely existence of a “Second Sphinx” on the Giza plateau, next to the one we know as The Great Sphinx.

“Whenever we have to deal with the solar cult, we should speak of one lion and one lioness facing each other, posing parallel to each other or sitting in a back-to-back position,” says El Shammaa. He draws our attention to the Egyptian creation myth, where the almighty Atum gives birth to his son Shu and his daughter Tefnut, in the form of a lion and lioness. He also points out that the Dream Stela carved by Thutmosis IV and found between the paws of the giant statue, clearly depicted two sphinxes.

Tags: archaeology, egypt, giza, sphinx

So Bob, where's that 8 inches you promised me last night?

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:34:52 GMT

clipped by: fukengruvin

Clip Source: www.thehumorarchives.com

So Bob, where's that 8 inches you promised me last night?

← previous next →

This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days and a very embarrassed female news anchor who will, in the future, likely think before she speaks. What happens when you predict snow but don't get any.... true story...

A female news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn't, turned to the weatherman and asked....

"So Bob, where's that 8 inches you promised me last night?" Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too they were laughing so hard

← previous next →

A female news anchor

Tags: news, michigan, funny

NYTimes Skewers "The Love Guru"

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 05:30:38 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Wow - this is one of the most damning reviews of a popular movie I've ever read.

Everything I've seen of "The Love Guru" looks like complete dreck, and I'm a pretty big Mike Meyers fan, dating back to the "So I Married and Ax Murderer" days.

The Times really gives it to him here - I'm surprised to see them go so far in panning it, it must be even worse than I expected.

Clip Source: movies.nytimes.com

Movie Review

The Love Guru (2008)

To say that the movie is not funny is merely to affirm the obvious. The word “unfunny” surely applies to Mr. Myers’s obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, “The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.

Tags: the love guru, movies, movie review

Fun with a laser cutter: Tinysaur is Tiny

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:48:55 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: This was cut using our new epilog laser at NYCResistor. Look at how little and awesome he is! I wonder how the heck Kelly put it together.

Clip Source: www.nycresistor.com

Martin sent us a dino pattern to celebrate our laser. I made a regular size dinosaur, but Kelly made a tiny tinysaur!

Where do you hide all the best object files on the internet? We want to play with them!

The tinysaur has been spotted again! - Link

Tags: dinosaur, tiny, laser, nycresistor

Colorado "purges" voter registrations

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 15:39:53 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Regardless of your political leanings, one thing is clear. Unless everyone has the same opportunity to vote, our democracy doesn't work.

Clip Source: www.gregpalast.com

In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.

In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters.

It’s time SOMEBODY raised the alarm about these missing voters; not to save Obama’s candidacy – journalists should stay the heck away from partisan endorsements - but raise the alarm to save our sick democracy.

Palast on the Thom Hartmann Show 7-29-08 [10:20m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: vote, voting, politics, colorado, swing state

Hank's Bailout as Nigerian Spam

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:47:15 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: I get a bunch of these every day in my spam... Funny to hear the bailout plan put plainly in this same language.

Clip Source: www.boingboing.net

Hal sends us this "brilliant satiric email phrasing Hank Paulson's giant Wall Street bailout as Nigerian spam."

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

Tags: bailout, economy, finance, spam

Line your walls with books to save heat

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 18:43:26 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Kill trees to make books to line your walls to save the planet

Clip Source: www.boingboing.net

The editorial staff of the UK's Bookseller magazine want you to know that lining your exterior walls with books is practically a moral imperative, since it reduces your energy costs and saves the world. You don't have to tell me -- I've been lining my walls with books for decades.

"Books are the original insulator. A shelf of books along an outside wall works well to prevent heat escaping,"

Link (Thanks, wiseGEEK!)

The Fox is Wrong: Obama

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:45:58 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Amazing to see the patterns displayed so clearly here.

Clip Source: bravenewfilms.org

[Video]

FOX’s objective is clear: carpet bomb Barack Obama with negative stories, distortions, and smears before the Pennsylvania primary in an attempt to skew the outcome toward the Republicans’ preferred adversary, Hillary Clinton. But did FOX imagine that the “liberal” media would be such willing accomplices?

Creative Commons Launches in India

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:35:11 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: It's good to see Creative Commons spreading around the world. Sharing isn't just for software!

Clip Source: creativecommons.org

Commons advocates in India now have a localized version of Creative Commons licenses to use with today’s launch of the Creative Commons India project.

Adding Creative Commons India, 35 jurisdictions around the world to date will have localized CC’s “some rights reserved” licenses

The launch is part of Asia’s largest technology festival held in Mumbai – Techfest.

Outside of this event, there will also be two parallel workshops offered as part of Techfest 2007 on Creative Commons: “Do We Need Remix?” and “Sharing is Creating” on January 26-27.

Tags: india, creativecommons, mumbai, techfest, cc

Steal my content, please!

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:09:31 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: I completely agree with Scoble on this one, although I can understand why people who make their living directly from their creations have a hard time letting go of the fear of giving away at least some of the rights to their content.

Cory Doctorow began releasing all of his literary work under creative commons licenses years ago, allowing people to freely download and distribute his work under some light provisos. I downloaded and read "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" on my palm pilot, freely and legally, and was hooked.

Because of that, I've read a huge amount of his writing, become a mammoth fan, and will likely purchase every book he publishes. I've also published everything I've written, shot, and produced under a similar license.

While that certainly hasn't brought me traditional commercial success, it has definitely accelerated serendipity countless times for me, and if you trace out the effects of those 'lucky' events, it's helped shape both my career and life.

Clip Source: scobleizer.com

I was just reading feeds before heading to the second day’s events at LeWeb3 conference in Paris. Along comes Susan Mernit’s blog, who quotes Lane Hartwell, who is pissed that people steal her photographs. She’s decided to take all of her Flickr photos out of the public eye.

Me? I’m the opposite of Lane. I WANT YOU to steal my content. In fact, next year I’m going to do stuff to make all my content available via Creative Commons license so you can use it whereever and whenever, including my video shows. I’d like a credit, yes, but don’t demand it. I’d rather just add to the human experience and if that means that other people make money off of my work, so be it.

I’ve found that the more I give away my content, the more magical stuff happens to me anyway and if that means my photos or writings or videos get used in some way that I don’t really like, well, that’s a risk I’m willing to take. Lane obviously is not.

Washy Ad Jeffy - Presidential mnemonic song

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:59:22 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: Jonathan Coulton just put up another great song - aside from being a great mnemonic device, it's also a catchy little tune. I've never learned the Presidents, I'm going to use this to finally memorize them

Clip Source: www.jonathancoulton.com

When I was a wee lad my father taught me the greatest mnemonic device in the history of mnemonic devices. It’s called “Washy Ad Jeffy” and it’s a little jingle/rhyme thingie that helps you remember the order of all the US presidents and how many terms (or partial terms) they served - the number of syllables in the nickname is the number of terms. My father learned it from Mrs. Govan, his 8th grade history teacher at Memorial Junior High School in Ohio. He believes she made it up, but he’s not entirely sure. At the time he learned it, and of course when he taught it to me, it only went up to Eisenhower. I have added to it over the years, so really it’s a collaboration between Mrs. Govan (maybe?) and me.

[Video]

I’ve made an mp3 as well:

You can get it for free or else pay for it, your choice.

Clip Source: www.jonathancoulton.com

Len sent in this Washy Ad Jeffy poster - Coolidge kind of looks like Hodgman, don’t you think? And check out the X’s in Harrison’s eyes…

Tags: joco, jonathan coulton, mnemonic, learning, president, presidents, song

Oil jumps $25!

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:44:59 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: I don't think this has hit the market yet, some of my tickers are still reporting the old price. Once today's market gets wind of a major jump in oil on worries about the dollar because of this bailout, we're in for some trouble.

How can we bail out banks to the tune of $700b+ from federal money without devaluing the dollar?

Clip Source: www.breitbart.com

Oil prices spiked more than $25 a barrel Monday—the biggest one-day price jump ever—as anxiety over the government's $700 billion bailout plan

Crude has gained about $40 in a dramatic four-day rally that has at least temporarily halted oil's steep two-month slide below $100. At this rate, crude is within striking distance of its all-time record of $147.27, reached in July.

Tags: money, oil, economics, economy, bailout, dollar

Dollars for Oil is now Euros for Oil

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 07:02:43 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: The opening of the Iranian Oil Bourse (which coincidentally happened to be delayed by a bunch of internet cables being severed underwater) trades in Euros. That means that the world no longer has to get dollars first to buy oil, and could continue to have a drastic effect on the value of the dollar.

Clip Source: oil-price.net

The Iranian Oil Bourse establishing Euro-based pricing of oil is set to open on February 17th 2008 and could have devastating effects on the US dollar.

Currently all three major oil markets (WTI, NYMEX, IPE) trade barrels of oil in US dollars. Consequently any country buying oil needs dollars to pay for it. This enables the US Federal Reserve to issue huge volumes of dollars to meet increasing demand for oil.

But this balance may become unsettled after a fourth major oil market opens this month, trading in Euros: the Iranian Oil Bourse (IOB).

Having the world's second largest oil reserves of 136 gigabarrels, Iran will likely extend its influence on financial markets when the IOB opens. Although under-reported by the media, this historical shift and its consequences should be watched closely.

Jonathan Coulton plays the Brooklyn Ikea opening

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:19:19 GMT

clipped by: ericskiff
clipper's remarks: If you don't already know Jonathan Coulton, go take a listen at http://jonathancoulton.com

His song "Ikea" is a fantastic parody / send up / love letter to the swedish flat-pack furniture giant, and apparently they had him play it at the opening of the store in Red Hook! Awesome.

Clip Source: twitter.com

Playing the Brooklyn ikea opening. 6:30 am this morning. Dream come true. Not really.

Jonathan Coulton

Tags: jonathan coulton, ikea, awesome, music, funny