Watching a report on last night's GOP debate and I'm more convinced than ever that America doesn't need any more swaggering Texans in the White House. Fortunately it appears that the more that Rick Perry speaks, the more America agrees.
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All I can say is Ice Cream Sandwich looks amazingly tasty
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With what has been discovered in recent years about both social behavior and intelligence in a wide range of animal species anyone that continues to insist that humans are special or any better is simply deluded and ignorant. Crows in particular are remarkably intelligent. Their ability to both adapt to changing environments and use tools is startling. One segment shows a crow figuring out a sequence of actions to get one tool (a short stick) hanging from a string that it then uses to retrieve a longer stick from a cage. The second stick is used to get a piece of meat from a box. In Japan, jungle crows swipe wire hangers used to hang out laundry and then use their wings to reshape them to build nests. Amazing to watch. update: I added a link to the PBS page with the show.
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A Murder of Crows ~ Full Episode | Nature | PBS
Although cultures around the world may regard the crow as a scavenger, bad omen, or simply a nuisance, this bad reputation might overshadow what could be
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Max is in the living room right now watching the original Night of the Living Dead.
As it was starting +Julie Abuelsamid recalled reading a very critical article of the movie in Readers Digest when she was a child and asked me try and find it online. Of course the all-knowing GoogleBot found a scanned version of it as the first result.
Surprisingly it turns out that it was a condensed version of a story that Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times in January 1967. Ebert's piece was less a review of the movie, which he actually liked than a criticism of the hypocrisy of censorship and ratings systems. Even in January 1967, Ebert was believed censorship was a bad idea but was more troubled by the dichotomy in attitudes toward nudity and violence.
"Censorship isn't the answer to something like this. Censorship is never the answer. For that matter, "Night of the Living Dead" was passed for general audiences by the Chicago Police Censor Board. Since it had no nudity in it, it was all right for kids, I guess. This is another example, and there have been a lot of them, of the incompetence and stupidity of the censorship system that Chicago stubbornly maintains under political patronage."
Unfortunately, that same divergent sentiment continues to exist in the ratings to this day as the appearance of a penis or pubic hair can trigger an NC-17 while violence much more extreme than anything seen in George Romero's horror classic passes by with a PG-13.
Why is violence so much more acceptable than a hint of sexuality?
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The Night of the Living Dead :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews
Reviews; Great Movies; Answer Man; People; Commentary; Festivals; Oscars; Glossary; One-Minute Reviews; Letters; Roger Ebert's Journal; Scanners; Store. Chicago Sun-Times; News; Sports; Business; …
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The hens free ranging in the back yard
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10/16/11
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Guitarist +Rob Bourassa interviews luthier Gary Zimnicki in his workshop while picking up a new guitar. The instrument is a replica of a 1938 Gibson L-30
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Max is working on a major project for school right now on makers of wooden, stringed instruments known as luthiers. Part of the assignment includes researching his subject and conducting interviews with at least two experts, one of which has to be in person. For the past six months Max has been teaching himself to play the ukelele and learned about Gary Zimnicki on an online discussion forum.
Max contacted Gary who was gracious enough to meet and discuss his vocation. I drove Max over to Gary's home in Allen Park where he spent 90 minutes showing us his workshop and explain how he constructs guitars, mandolins, ukeleles and other instruments. Gary has been building instruments since he was in college in the mid-1970s and has produced some 300 units since then, each one uniquely hand-crafted to the needs of his clients. He produces about 12-15 instruments a year and they are absolutely gorgeous to look at and listen to.
After Max is done with his report, I'll share it here on G+. I want to thank Gary for taking the time to talk with Max. Check out the album from our visit and check out Gary's site http://www.zimnicki.com/index.html.
In album Gary Zimnicki, Luthier (20 photos)
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Molly Erdman does a fantastic Elizabeth Warren impersonation and finally shows the backbone that real politicians seem to completely lack. In 2 minutes and 27 seconds, she tells more truth than a typical politico does in an entire lifetime.
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Too cool! Remote-controlled octocopter + Red Epic for amazing footage you can't get any other way.
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German video effects company builds camera drone for the Red Epic
Engadget
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