YouTube Tuesday: TAG and Axe my back!

Part of the power of short-form online video, for better or worse, is to show how little the American online public needs the teevee networks.

Network execs can continue to put out more cheap un-reality shows, and writers can can continue to strike, and funny, talented independents will continue to put out interesting and satirical content like Chad Vader, or God Inc., or this week's edition of YouTube Tuesday.

So for those of you jonesing for more Laguna Beach, here's DouchebagBeach. Enjoy:



tagged: movie, YouTube, video, douchebag, Laguna, beach, New Jersey

Blogger shout out

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to all you bloggers who showed up at Cafe al Dente last night.

As usual, it was really fun hanging out with the cool kids for a change. I finally got to have some extended conversation with m.toast, who is every bit as interesting in person as she in in blog (FWIW, m.toast, I concur with you're thoughts about moving away from livejournal).

Also got to meet meesha, but didn't get to talk as much as I'd hoped. Maybe next time, comrade.

Then of course there was the highlight of the night for everyone, meeting the one, the only Chimpo live and in person (update your links, biotches!).

I'm always amazed when I go to these things how much talent this town has. But last night really blew me away when Chimpo got up on stage and showed off his acoustic chops with this rendition Straight Outta Compton.


tagged: Kansas City, blogger, Cafe al Dente, blog, meetup, River Market, Straight Outta Compto

Friday Blogthing: barcode hopping

I'm officially just a number.


What's your barcode? Barcode Yourself to find out.

tagged: Friday, test, barcode, meme, blog, number

Random photo IX: I hate myself for this

Uh! I feel so dirty posting something so... cute.

I'm not going to caption this. I'll just say it's a shot I took of a pair or evil kittens that my daughter loved to play with at her great-grandparents' house in north-central Kansas.

You can add your own LOLcat caption in the comments.

The best caption wins a MAJOR AWARD at tonight's blogger meetup.

tagged: kitties, kitten, LOLcat, cute, picture, photo

SAM I am (or, "Is that a shoulder-mounted rocket in your pocket?")

I want to take a moment to recognize three American small businesses for stepping up to the plate in the daunting task of ensuring the further safety of the traveling public.

Fledgling small businesses BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman and United Airlines have accepted a challenge by Charles McQueary, the Homeland Security Department's undersecretary for science and technology, to solve the pervasive threat of Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) fired at domestic passenger jets.

The companies, selected from a pool of 24 that sought the contracts, lead teams that will work on adapting defenses already used on military planes and Air Force One. All will test infrared jammers that redirect heat-seeking rockets away from aircraft engines.

The three companies face a difficult task. They have only six months and six million dollars between them to create a report for Congress on the feasibility of this kind of defense system. I'll repeat, only $6 million to do the study and create a report.

But I think we can all agree that this is something that must be done, no matter the cost, and sooner rather than later.

The threat of these weapons hangs like the Sword of Damocles on air travelers in this country, despite remarks made by Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security's undersecretary for border and transportation security, who said there is "no credible threat information involving shoulder-fired rockets."

This head-in-the-sand attitude may seem like prudence, but Mr. Hutchinson obviously isn't aware of the easy availability of shoulder-fired rockets, especially in the Midwest where so many of us use them to hunt game birds like doves, pheasant and wild turkeys.

Thankfully, we as voters had the presence of mind to elect Democrats to congress last year.

Democrats like Barbara Boxer and Steve Israel who, despite what the know-nothings in Homeland Security say, had the testicular fortitude to sponsor a bill requiring anti-missile defense on all domestic passenger jets as soon as possible.

"The threat is simply too severe to allow bureaucrats to set their own timetables to make use of those protections," said Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., who sponsored the House version of a bill by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Boxer said under the Bush administration's timetable, no planes will have the systems before 2006. "That is not good enough," she said.

Sure, it will cost at least $10 billion for that equipment, but again we all know that no price is too high for safety.

My only concern in this plan is that even the infrared laser SAM missile jammers won't be enough protection.

In fact I would like to propose to the congressional Democrats that ALL U.S. passenger jets should be equipped with radar-seeking guided bombs. I know, you're thinking that might be a bit expensive, but as Boxer and Israel both know we are at war with terrorists and everyone must pitch in if we're going to win.

Commercial aircraft are no exception. If a passenger jet is targeted by terrorists with a shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile, they must be given the weapons to fire back.

So write to Israel and Boxer and encourage them to expand their bill. It may cost another $40 billion, but freedom isn't free.

tagged: rocket, passenger jets, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, United Airlines, Charles McQueary, Barbara Boxer, Steve Israel, terrorists, surface-to-air missile

YouTube Tuesday: Post Nasal

I missed this when it originally aired on local TV (probably because I try to avoid the so-called local so-called news like it's a new Maroon 5 album), but I have to say there's a subtle comic genius in watching grown adults do with a straight face what we as 9-year-olds used to with milk in the lunchroom for laughs.



tagged: movie, YouTube, video, Kansas City, news, health, nasal rinse

Headlines: G.M.'s alternative fuel bet

General Motors is taking steps to make sure it maintains it's position on the cutting edge of automotive technology.

According to the New York Times, GM has invested heavily in a company that is developing a process to create alternative fuels out of waste products.

General Motors, eager to ensure a supply of fuel for the big fleet of flex-fuel ethanol-capable vehicles it is building, has joined the rush into alternative energy and invested in a company that intends to produce ethanol from crop wastes, wood chips, scrap plastic, rubber and even municipal garbage.

GM is investing in a company called Coskata, which is keeping it's fuel-generation process largely underwraps. But it has released an overview of it's technology.

Coskata is one of many companies ... in an emerging world of start-up firms that are making alternative fuels with a mix-and-match approach to existing technologies. In Coskata’s case it is a combination of gasification and bacterial action.

This overview is giving local economic development officials a lot of hope.

According to my many inside sources, officials with the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce have already contacted Coskata and notified them that Kansas City sits right on top of the largest source of gasified waste and municipal garbage in the Midwest.

He's on KMBZ each night at 6 and 10 p.m.

tagged: General Motors, ethanol, gasification, waste, Larry Moore, Kansas City, environmentalist

3A.M. Poll: Worst pickup lines for d00ds

These options came from one of those emails that keep getting forwarded around, so don't think I made these up because, honestly, I would never use a pick-up line in a bar... honestly... I'm tellin' you I would never do it!



tagged: poll, pick up lines, bar, dating, drink, armpit, screaming

Friday Blogthing: The Sounds of Sci-fi

Just to prove how much of a sci-fi nerd you are, I dare you to do better than me on this audio quiz.

	I received 71 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Guess the Sci-Fi Movie Sounds here

tagged: Friday, test, audio, scifi, knowledge, meme, blog, sound effects

Rule of Thumb

Since we returned home from our Christmas trips, life at the emawkc household has revolved around my Supermodel Wife's injured thumb.

A few days after the previous post on the topic, the general practitioner referred us to a plastic surgeon specializing in skin grafts due to a mild infection that had developed in what used to be the tip of my SMW's thumb.

The specialist cleaned out the wound with a scalpel, removing the cauterized tissue to encourage the new skin to grow more quickly. He took a culture to better diagnose the infection and prescribe an effective antibiotic (and, I presume, to make sure we're not at risk from the dreaded MRSA).

He also directed us to soak the healing thumb in the mornings and evenings in warm, soapy water and then redress. Unfortunately, the first night we did this, there was a lot of pain as the dressing had stuck to the wound. Pulling it off was excruciating.

Last night was much better. Much less pain. We scheduled to go back to the plastic surgeon's on Monday for a check up.

Oh, before I forget, here's the obligatory picture.

Have you had lunch yet?

tagged: thumb, cheese slicer, blood, bloody, cauterize, MRSA, skin