The "Beatles" sing 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing'
There is something a tad bit creepy about this video. These guys have each of the four Beatles mannerisms down pat, making me wonder how normal of a life these guys have had.
Archive for December, 2011
Dec 22
Nigel Richards, greatest Scrabble player ever.
Why do champion Scrabble players have to be odd and quirky characters? Why can’t they be named Biff, have six-pack abs and run triathlons in 30 minutes or less? Nigel Richards of New Zealand, currently the reigning world champion and three-time U.S. National Champion, appears to be the epitome of the bookish, brainy Scrabble player who can pull words such as ‘chlorodyne’ or ‘saprozoic’ out of thin air. He works as a technician for the water company in Christchurch, didn’t attend University and bikes 11 kilometers to and from work every day, time he uses to “go through the lists” in his mind.
The ‘North American SCRABBLE Players Association’ has an interesting profile on Richards in their August, 2009 newsletter:
Nigel is amused by the legend that has grown up around him—even by the simple fact that other players have opinions about his style, his perceived weaknesses, and his word knowledge. “People say, ‘He knows all the words.’ It would be nice if I did. But I’m quite happy to have people think that.”
I guess image is everything.
John Lennon: It was 31 years ago today…
John Lennon died on this day 31 years ago in New York City. It’s still an event seared in my memory, being the “Kennedy” moment of my life. It was just after 8:30 in the evening and an NBC news bulletin interrupted ‘Little House On the Prairie’ to announce that he had just died. I still think to this day about the prospect of great music being lost in that instant. Lennon was not a perfect human being, by any means, but he proved to be one of the most interesting people to dominate the world stage over the past 50 years.
December 8 typically elicits endless repeats of news coverage announcing Lennon’s death in 1980. But I find it much more interesting listening to people telling simple stories about the man. It’s a much more effective way to learn about Lennon and what he was like in real life.
Watch LENNONYC Outtakes: Jack Douglas on PBS. See more from AMERICAN MASTERS.
Harry Morgan Of MASH & Dragnet Dies at Age 96
My favorite colonel of my favorite TV show, Harry Morgan, died today at the ripe old age of 96. He will certainly be missed. Whenever a beloved TV character dies in real life, one of the first places I tend to go to is the Archive of American Television (AAT) which contains troves of interviews from just about every TV actor you can think of. Considering the sad news about Harry Morgan, there is an interview he gave for AAT a few years back that is definitely worth viewing, even if it is quite long.
Here is a short clip of Alan Alda’s AAT interview talking about his work with Harry Morgan.
Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan…
It is not that long ago when Afghanistan was a completely different world than it is today. It’s downward spiral from the early 1970s to today is a tragedy of epic proportions.
A half-century ago, Afghan women pursued careers in medicine; men and women mingled casually at movie theaters and university campuses in Kabul; factories in the suburbs churned out textiles and other goods. There was a tradition of law and order, and a government capable of undertaking large national infrastructure projects, like building hydropower stations and roads, albeit with outside help. Ordinary people had a sense of hope, a belief that education could open opportunities for all, a conviction that a bright future lay ahead. All that has been destroyed by three decades of war, but it was real.
- Foreign Policy: Once Upon a Time in Afghanistan
Compare the pictures in the Foreign Policy essay quoted above to that seen in a recent film by Lukas and Salome Augustin. The differences between today’s Afghanistan and that from the 1960s are staggering.
Kill The Penny Already
I am no economist, but this argument to kill the penny seems pretty thorough and completely sensible. The government does a lot of things that make no sense, but continuing to manufacture pennies at a cost greater to the penny itself seems pretty mind boggling. As the video points out, Abe is also on the $5 bill and that ain’t going nowhere.
Jesus and the case of the missing safety pin
If the actor here just ignored the fact of the missing safety pin, it would be one form of damage control. But him reaching around to check his undergarments (as I’m sure Jesus did when he ascended into heaven) priceless.
Dec 1
Photo Essay: Mars Science Laboratory – Curiosity Rover (NASA)
Still to this day, I find it amazing how much work and detail is put into launching a space probe to another planet. From the design and engineering of the spacecraft and its different components, to the construction of the rocket to blast it into space, to the contamination protection of both the probe and the rocket, repeated testing of how the probe will land on a planet surface, to the mission control center and its monitoring of the space craft both en route to the planet and during it’s mission, to the scientific analysis of the reams of data the mission will collect throughout its multiyear life time. While some may complain about a multi-billion dollar price tag, I find it worth every penny to provide our world with not only beautiful pictures, but new knowledge to last long beyond our generation.
The In Focus photography blog at The Atlantic Online has a great photo essay of the preparation of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover that was launched on November 26. It gives just a mere glimpse into all the work put into preparing just the first stage of a 2 year mission.
View The Atlantic’s In Focus photo essay on Curiosity.
