Thursday, October 27, 2005

Ancient Pyramid Discovered in the Balkans?


SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- A Sarajevo-born researcher said he has discovered an ancient pyramid in the hills of central Bosnia.

Semir Osmanagic said Visocica Hill, about 18 miles from Sarajevo, is actually a pyramid built by people who were the first inhabitants of the Balkans.

The researcher said the hill, which is about 2,300 feet high, is man-made.

The hill includes sandstone slabs 17 feet below the surface. Sandstone, he said, is not a naturally occurring rock in the area.

Osmanagic said he will use aerial and satellite imagery and underground radar studies of the area to prove his theory.
Here's the link but I just gave you the whole article since it was so short.

Monday, October 24, 2005

White House v. Onion

From the NY Times:
You might have thought that the White House had enough on its plate late last month, what with its search for a new Supreme Court nominee, the continuing war in Iraq and the C.I.A. leak investigation. But it found time to add another item to its agenda - stopping The Onion, the satirical newspaper, from using the presidential seal.

The newspaper regularly produces a parody of President Bush's weekly radio address on its Web site (www.theonion.com/content/node/40121), where it has a picture of President Bush and the official insignia.

"It has come to my attention that The Onion is using the presidential seal on its Web site," Grant M. Dixton, associate counsel to the president, wrote to The Onion on Sept. 28. (At the time, Mr. Dixton's office was also helping Mr. Bush find a Supreme Court nominee; days later his boss, Harriet E. Miers, was nominated.)

Citing the United States Code, Mr. Dixton wrote that the seal "is not to be used in connection with commercial ventures or products in any way that suggests presidential support or endorsement." Exceptions may be made, he noted, but The Onion had never applied for such an exception.

The Onion was amused. "I'm surprised the president deems it wise to spend taxpayer money for his lawyer to write letters to The Onion," Scott Dikkers, editor in chief, wrote to Mr. Dixton. He suggested the money be used instead for tax breaks for satirists.

More formally, The Onion's lawyers responded that the paper's readers - it prints about 500,000 copies weekly, and three million people read it online - are well aware that The Onion is a joke.

"It is inconceivable that anyone would think that, by using the seal, The Onion intends to 'convey... sponsorship or approval' by the president," wrote Rochelle H. Klaskin, the paper's lawyer, who went on to note that a headline in the current issue made the point: "Bush to Appoint Someone to Be in Charge of Country."

Moreover, she wrote, The Onion and its Web site are free, so the seal is not being used for commercial purposes. That said, The Onion asked that its letter be considered a formal application to use the seal.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Night Out in Boston (Remember the Red Bull Bombs!)

We don't get out much, on account of being all old and tiring easily, but last night we met up with a friend of the missus who'd flown in from San Francisco. We had dinner and some drinks at the Living Room. My dinner started with miniburgers (tasty), and chicken taquitos (not the best, but not bad), then had the grilled swordfish (very good). The martinis were excellent. I had two Up All Nights (Absolut Citron, Red Bull, Splash of Cranberry) and a White Cosmo (Absolute Citron, Cointreau, Lime juice and a splash of white cranberry juice with a twist). Pretty loaded at that point. I'd definitely go back.

We went to Ames Plow Tavern in Faneuil Hall after. Nice enough pub. Kitty O'Shea's after that. Corey introduced me to a new drink: the Red Bull Bomb (1 part Red Bull, two parts Jagermeister). Surprisingly, it was quite good.

That's enough drinking for a while. Feeling today like I do, I remember why I don't do that so much any more.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Something You (Probably) Don't See Every Day

The fella over at Bag of Nothing posted a clip of his wife removing her glass eye. It's not horrific or anything, just kind of unexpected. That's me, always trying to keep an eye out for interesting links. *badda-boom*

Friday, October 7, 2005

Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Serenity

The missus and I saw Serenity last night and we both thought it was brilliant. I'm not going to give it a full on review, so no spoilers, but I am strongly encouraging people who might be on the fence to see it. It's smart, funny, well-written, chock full o' action, and, while I think it stands alone just fine, it definitely has some big time pay-offs for fans of the show.

I guess it's not burning up the box office, so see it on big screen while you can.

Nitpicks? Yeah, a few. I liked the tv theme, the music in the film is OK, but I really would've preferred they'd stayed truer to the sound of the show. It's not until the very end of the credits that they break out the guitar and give you a full-on (no vocals) return to the original theme. Also, I felt the Book character got slighted, we were just getting to know him on the show and he's hardly in the movie at all: sad. Finally, Action Movie Cliche #177-B is in full effect: whenever a someone shoots somone else who is not shirtless in the chest, the shootee will be wearing body armor, making you groan and say to yourself "why don't they ever aim for the head?"

Sunday, October 2, 2005

Our Weekend on the Kancamagus Byway

The missus and I got a room up in the White Mountain region this weekend to celebrate our second anniversary (tomorrow). Neither of us had ever been up there, but now that we've been, we're eager to go back.

It's not yet peak foliage up there, probably a week or more early for that, but there were touches of red and yellow in the mix and it was still gorgeous. We stayed in Lincoln, the west end of the Kancamagus, and did the loop through Conway. En route, we hit several of the scenic areas off the road, stopped at Attitash to ride the ski lift up and take the Alpine Slide down (I cruised past Mrs. C-Dog and the two slowpokes that started in front of her - nearly putting my slide off the track at least once), watched the Sox at sports pub in Conway, did a little hiking in the woods, and basically just had a grand ol' time.

We loved our suite (solid recommendation for the InnSeason - Pollard Brook if you're thinking of taking a trip up that way) -- for a reasonable price we had a huge suite with a great view. We'd definitely stay there if we were going up for a ski trip ... the one bedroom suite comes with a murphy bed in the living room and the bathroom has two sinks in separate areas, so it would be very comfortable for four to share. Our dining out experiences were mixed ... the power went out on the main drag in North Conway, so we weren't able to eat at the Muddy Moose, which was the spot we'd scouted out in advance. Delaney's was fine but unremarkable. The service at brew pub we stopped in drove us out before we could even try the food. Can't remember the name of that one, it was in the town just north of North Conway. Wouldn't go back there.

We would've tried Fratello's, which came highly recommended, but ate lunch so late we didn't do dinner Saturday night. Next time. Breakfast at the Sunny Day Diner in Lincoln was outstanding though. Would definitely go back on a return trip.

More:
Some photos up at my Flickr page.
A few seconds of video of me exploring Stony Gorge at my vimeo page.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...