Otter Disaster Designs - Pop Culture Themed T-Shirts

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Miscellaneous Debris Part I

Just a few miscellaneous items today:

Sean Scallon at American Chronicle has a nice Op-Ed piece on Ron Paul, true change, and the military/security industrial complex. Talks a bit about how that complex has affected prior elections and what it means for the election in '08.

Reason Magazine tells us why GW is the GOP's own version of Jimmy Carter.

Via Damned Interesting
30 Dead and 300 injured in New York Terror Attack

Via TV Squad
Finally, just for fun, the last 10 seconds of all of Season 1 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Count how often Picard says, "Mr Laforge, Engage!":

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Ambigrams are Cool


Ambigrams are text images that can be read two or more ways when flipped upside down or mirrored. Also when looking at the negative space of one set of letters reveals a second word, image or set of letters.

Above is one of my favorites created by Punya Mishra and reads as Good and Evil.

Punya Mishra has done several other ambigrams that can be found here including a cool Harry Potter ambigram.

More about ambigrams here.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Maybe Something for the Fall 2009 Season

Via TV Squad

Here is the TV Show Pitch Generator

Just click and you get a randomly generated pitch for a tv series. Some of these are better than what's on the air right now. . .

For example:

An alien with only days to live owes its life to a mobster who is accused of a murder. Stars Emilio Estevez and David Arquette. Genre: Sci-Fi

or possibly:

A dentist who is secretly married enlists the help of a ventriloquist with a photographic memory. Stars Christy McNichol and Jack Black. Genre: Drama

Give it a try when there's nothing on TV.

My guy in '08

I voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 as a youngster who'd grown up with Reagan/Bush and wanted 'change'. It was the first time I voted for President, 19 years old and not really into politics.

As I saw Clinton in office, and as I liked him less and less, I decided I must be a Republican, so I became a Limbaugh quoting dittohead. I read and listened to Rush, and came to the conclusion that he really did know 'How Things Ought To Be' more or less. Limbaugh taught me to appreciate free markets, and to view any new government program with skepticism.

That lasted for a while, at least until the Gingrich Republicans swept into the House in '94 and I saw that they were a bunch of jerks in their own right. They showed me that Republicans are OK with new government programs as long as those programs are introduced by Republicans. A lesson that has been driven home with the force of a nuke during the W years.

In the run up to '96 with Clinton vs. Dole as the main event, I stumbled across a third party debate on C-SPAN. There was the Green Candidate, the Constitution Party candidate (Who said a lot of things I liked, but seemed to think that God and Christianity were meant to be a big part of Government), and finally there was the Libertarian Candidate(who said even more things I liked).

The Liberarian Candidate was a man named Harry Browne, and I voted for him in 1996 and in 2000. I read his book Why Government Desn't Work and it said a lot of the things that Limbaugh's book did and a lot more besides. I came around to the Libertarian position and it didn't take a lot of convincing.

I voted Libertarian in 2004 for Micael Badnarik, and while I knew he wouldn't win, at least I felt I'd voted for someone who more or less held most of my political beliefs as opposed to 10-30% percent of them like any given Democrat or Republican. I fact I refuse to vote for any Democrat or Republican in any election at any level if given a third choice. Even if that choice is Green or even Reform.

That could change as we are running up to Election 2008. He is effectively a Libertarian(and ran for President as one in 1988), but has a bit of a Populist streak in him as well. As a Republican member of the House of Representatives he will vote only in favor of bills that he sees as mandated or allowed by the Constitution. Because of this he has a nickname around Washington D.C. He is called Dr. No. His real name is Ron Paul, and he's my guy in 2008. His chances of winning the nomination for the Republicans is extremely slim. He's certainly the only chance the Republicans have of getting my vote in '08.

He's not the world's greatest speaker, and he's not particulary great looking (but he's not a goon like Tommy Thompson or a manifestation of Pure Evil like Sam Brownback either), but he does have an odd charisma and a weird energy that is a little infectious.

Here are some good Ron Paul resources:

Paul's YouTube page - Good way to keep up on his recent media appearances and such.
Paul's Campaign page - Links, articles, positions etc.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Lists

I'm a big fan of lists. Show me 10 best this, 5 worst that and I'm a happy guy. Here is a list of lists I've been enjoying of late:

1. CHUD.com's 50 Biggest Disappoinments
A list of movies that could have been great, but ended up as letdowns.

2. The Onion's Inventory
A weekly list on numerous pop culture topics. A recent favorite was 13 Failed Attempts to Start Film Franchises.

3. TV Squad's TV Squad Lists
Various TV related lists, like Seven signs that it's time for your show to go, The top 10 TV pets, and The 10 biggest spin-off bombs in the history of the known universe.

I realize that items 2 and 3 are actually lists of lists, but I think that just underscores my love of lists...

Thursday, May 24, 2007

An Otter Disaster or 'Third time's a charm?'

Otter Disaster is my third attempt at writing a blog.
Previously I attempted a general blog about my life which lasted a couple of weeks. Next I tried to narrow my focus with a blog called 'Otter on Potter' which was an attempt at a Harry Potter blog, and which lasted a few weeks as well.

Otter Disaster will be an attempt to write on general topics once again, but will mainly focus on my garden, pop culture, some politics, and any other topic that gets under my skin.