the pod bay door

:: George Carlin offered the “Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV” on his 1972 album, Class Clown, which caused more than a few legal problems for broadcasters at the time. Read: Appendix to Opinion of Court, to see the words. (NOTE: Appendix is NOT for the faint of heart.)

Anyway, the US House of Representatives recently passed an amendment to a section of the US Code “to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.” What the punishment might be is not clear. But six of the seven words made it into the amendment – only the word that rhymes with “sits”, and refers to a part of the female anatomy, was left out. Lewis Black, rapidly becoming one of my favorite comedians, delivered a scathingly funny take on the new amendment on his most recent Back in Black segment on The Daily Show. It’s not available yet, but when it’s uploaded, I’ll link to it. In the meantime, check out “Back in Black – Series Finales“, to learn why he didn’t give two shakes about the end of Sex and the City. I’m looking forward to watching his HBO special, Black on Broadway, when it airs – wait a minute – oh yeah, we DON’T GET HBO in Canada. I forgot.

:: Tonya has a new Challenge of the Week. I may try to meet 10% of it.

:: Jerry Orbach may be leaving Law & Order to join – wait for it – the 3rd spinoff series, Law & Order: Trial by Jury. When will Law & Order: Library Fines, go into production?

:: I’ve received links to a few interested videos lately. Check out the History of the BBC News site, choose 1950s, and click on “Panorama.” You’ll watch a short documentary on the annual spaghetti harvest in Switzerland, broadcast on April 1, 1957. The BBC switchboard was lit up with callers wanting to know where they could buy spaghetti trees. (via Robert.)

Another message led me to this “index of videos” page. If your vehicle has ever been stuck in snow, and another vehicle tried to tow it out of the drift, this video will make you laugh and cringe (takes a while to load – forget it if you have dialup). Some of the videos are rude, some hilarious, some offensive – you’ve been warned.

:: Robert also sent a note about this: a non-English language site (appears to be Scandinavian) for the upcoming Thunderbirds movie. (Click on the viewer to see the trailer in Quick Time.) Yep, a live action version of the 1960s Supermarionation hit by Gerry Anderson, who also created Space: 1999.

:: From Jena’s site, a link to The Crimson Room. The English translation may remind you of “All your base are belong to us.” If you solve this, let me know before I commit suicide by beating myself to death with a wet sock. So far I’ve found only 10 of the items in the room. Jena, what did I do to you to deserve this?

:: I’m not much older than the Fender Stratocaster.

:: I saw 19 movies in January, easily a new record for films viewed in one month. It sounds like a lot, but I did see 8 of them in four days while I was sick with the flu.

:: On Friday morning in Winnipeg, my mom slipped while getting into her car on the way for a workout.

She thought she sprained her wrist, but after getting x-rays later in the day, learned that she broke the radial bone in her right arm. MOM! Be careful! Love, Your Caring Son!!!

:: Time seems to move at a faster speed when you get older. It’s hard to explain. Tomorrow is Groundhog Day. At best, six more weeks of winter. We’ve had a lot of snow in the past two weeks. Today, while returning home from dim sum, I slid into the back of another car while driving on 99th Street. Luckily, there was no damage to either vehicle, and the driver, a young woman, was gracious, polite, and very friendly, and told me that it wasn’t a problem. She was very sweet and considerate. I was angry with myself for not watching the road more closely. Lesson learned.

:: … Jena’s site, the absolutely worst version of the Christmas carol, O Holy Night, ever recorded. Turn up the sound, get out the earplugs. It’s hilarious.

:: … Robert’s site, a link to some amazing photos from the Hubble Telescope.

:: … Oliver Willis’s site, this entry on the decline of the bookstore comfy-chair (well, in the USA, anyway, we don’t have Borders or Barnes & Noble around here.) Fascinating to read through the 45+ comments to find an entry from someone who thinks Oliver’s observation is a left-wing cause. Eh?

:: … Derryl’s site, a photo that breaks the gigapixel barrier, containing about 1.09 billion pixels, and stitched together from 196 separate photographs.

:: various sites, mention of the National Board of Review’s Award winners, and the nominations for the 2004 Independent Spirit Awards.

:: It is the end of the day, and for various reasons, it has been less than memorable. Nothing major, but small, nagging things, things that can’t be articulated very well at the best of times, decided to appear and make themselves visible. Tonight I wish them away, back to where they originated, that they may find someone else to annoy.

:: I saw Bad Santa on the weekend, and the film didn’t work for me. My observations are available on Blogcritics.com. I am, however, in a distinct minority, as the film is getting mostly good reviews.

:: My mom called this evening to tell me that when she opened her oven to put in a chicken this afternoon, the bottom element was on fire. My dad used the fire extinguisher, which didn’t work initially, but he kept at it. The fire alarms went off, and four firemen in a firetruck appeared soon afterwards. All is well, but the oven is a mess, and according to Mom, their kitchen and living room are covered in a fine, white mist, from the fire extinguisher. She spent the remainder of the day working to clean everything up (and if you know my Mom, you know the house MUST be clean!)

:: I’m off work this week, taking some holiday time. The weather has been cold, snowy and dull. I want to clean up my house, a task of major proportions at best. I started cleaning one room last night, so can report some progress. I’ve worked out in the morning the last two days, and it’s been a major struggle to get the body to accept this change, even for a few days. Normally I exercise after work. I don’t know how the morning people do it.

:: Derryl sent along this gem: examples of some of the worst album covers of all time.

:: You might think it odd to get upset over soup, but…Safeway sells hot soup every day, two varieties. All the soups sold are made by Campbell’s. My favorite is Italian-Style Wedding soup. I had never heard of it until Safeway started selling it in their deli. I haven’t been able to find it lately, so I spoke to someone there, who told me that a “new soup program” is imminent, so the other choices have been removed, permanently. The manager of my local store verified this, saying that it’s happening in all Safeway stores in Canada and the USA.

Italian-Style Wedding soup was one of Safeway’s most popular hot soups; the deli worker with whom I spoke confirmed this, noting that other customers have expressed their dismay as well. Why mess with success? It’s a decision made by suits in an office in a Big City somewhere far from here. Idiots.

:: If you are interested in the recent solar flare activity, check out the SOHO site: Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. There are some great pics and mpegs of what the sun has been doing (blasting the Earth with ionizing radiation as a result of exploding superflares.) Here in the Great White North, we’ve been missing the spectacular aurora activity because it’s been cloudy for days.

:: Some kind soul has posted these pictures taken in Halifax, in the aftermath of Hurricane Juan.

:: Tim Berners-Lee is credited with inventing the world wide web in 1989. He shares his ideas of a more “intelligent” web in this interview from the BBC.

:: Spider Robinson asks, “Why are our imaginations retreating from science and space, and into fantasy?“