8.8 Quake rocks Chile

Excellent photo essay from LA Times.

Livestream Hawaii tsunami

from Honolulu …

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Live stream of Hawaii tsunami coverage

Hotty Toddy, Go Ackbars, or something

Saw this the other day (hat-tip Robert D — Strong the Force is in this young padawan) …

from Wired.com

When the Ole Miss administration voted to chuck Colonel Reb as the school’s official mascot in 2003, chances are they didn’t have Admiral Ackbar in mind as a replacement.

However, it appears that long after concluding his illustrious military career in Star Wars‘ Rebel Alliance, Ackbar is indeed in the running to be the school’s new sporting symbol.

A group of four students, dubbed the Ole Miss Rebel Alliance, have started a grassroots campaign to re-enlist the legendary Mon Calamari admiral through Notatrap.org — obviously named in tribute to Ackbar’s most famous utterance:

It’s A Trap!

Update: You knew it would happen … the rest of the SEC as Star Wars Characters

Happy birthday Johnny Cash

It’s snowing. You’re Fired!

from AP

New claims for unemployment benefits jumped unexpectedly in the U.S. last week, mostly because state agencies processed a backlog of claims caused by snowstorms the previous week.

King of Swat

“STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP)—Jarvis Varnado broke the NCAA’s career record for blocks and had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead Mississippi State to a 20-win season with a 74-66 victory over Alabama on Wednesday night.

Varnado was two shy of his third triple-double with eight blocks for the Bulldogs (20-8, 8-5), who took a one-game lead in the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division with three games left. They also sent the Crimson Tide (14-13, 4-9) to its sixth straight road loss.

Dee Bost had 22 points, including consecutive 3-pointers late, to help Mississippi State win its fourth game in five contests.

Varnado broke Wojciech Mydra’s record of 535 career blocks, which the Louisiana-Monroe center set from 1998-2002. He now has 142 this season and 536 in his career.

With the crowd on its feet chanting Varnado’s nickname, “Swat,” much of the way, he had six second-half blocks and used his intimidating presence to help the Bulldogs pull away.

The 6-foot-9 center from Brownsville, Tenn., had blocks on consecutive Alabama possessions midway through the second half to turn the momentum. The second, on JaMychal Green, was pulled in by Ravern Johnson, who drove the length of the court and dunked to push the lead to 47-39 with 12:18 left.”

more at VZville

Close call

Imagine tons of explosives being stolen in Mexico and then transported by truck across the border into the United States. Could it happen?

Over the weekend, it did.

Almost.

WP woes

WordPress was down for a couple of hours yesterday.

First time I can ever remember WP being off-line for so long.

The official explanation: “it appears an unscheduled change to a core router by one of our datacenter providers messed up our network in a way we haven’t experienced before, and broke the site. It also broke all the mechanisms for failover between our locations in San Antonio and Chicago…”

There you go. So much for the conspiracy theories.

Page loads are still a little slow today, but I’m sure they’ll get it worked out before too much longer.

Hardcore Visa

How competitive is the credit card business getting?

If the new Visa Black commercial is any indication, the only thing left in the near future will be passing out free cocaine to new cardholders.

Here is the Video LINK

When cash is outlawed

Here is a very interesting comment by Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou at a press conference:

“From 1. Jan. 2011, every transaction above 1,500 euros between natural persons and businesses, or between businesses, will not be considered legal if it is done in cash. Transactions will have to be done through debit or credit cards”

more: The barrage continues

Could it happen here?

Never pick a fight with an old man

h/t rayra

Evan Bayh (D-IN) not seeking re-election

In a surprise announcement, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana has stated that he will not seek re-election.

His departure is a body-blow to Democrats.

The seat was considered safe for the Democrats, but is now in play.

story at Courier Press …

more at Ben Smith’s blog.

Huntsville killer shot her brother 24 years ago

from Boston.com

The University of Alabama biology professor accused of slaying three of her colleagues fatally shot her brother in an apparent accident in Massachusetts more than two decades ago, a local police chief said.

Braintree Police Chief Paul Frazier confirmed the 1986 shooting in his town and slated a news conference this afternoon to discuss the incident.

The Globe reported at the time that Amy Bishop had shot her 18-year-old brother, Seth M. Bishop, an accomplished violinist who had won a number of science awards.

John Polio, chief of police at the time, said Amy Bishop, who was 20 at the time, had asked her mother, Judith, in the presence of her brother how to unload a round from the chamber of a 12-gauge shotgun.

Polio told the Globe that while Amy Bishop was handling the weapon, it fired, wounding Seth Bishop in the abdomen. He was pronounced dead at a hospital 46 minutes after the Dec. 6, 1986 shooting.

“Every indication at this point in time leads us to believe it was an accidental shooting,” Polio said at the time.

Wacky winter continues

Winter Storm Warning for SW Mississippi. Second significant snowfall this winter season, plus a pipe-busting cold spell that went to 20 degrees below freezing …

“Dang,”

/he said, resisting the urge to make another global warming joke.

Tonight: Snow, possibly mixed with rain and sleet, becoming all snow after midnight. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 31. Northeast wind between 5 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow and sleet accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.

Friday: Snow, mainly before noon. High near 36. North wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 29. North wind between 5 and 10 mph. link

“Telling blow”

Anybody care to speculate on what the “telling blow” will be?

Last Word on SB XLIV

NTTAWWT

h/t sixpack

More:
Oscar’s thoughts

Nancy Pelosi Work-Out Video

h/t n2l

Peyton Manning: Last word on SB XLIV

Growing up in New Orleans, son of Archie, and all that …..

Peyton Manning’s childhood dream of throwing the game clenching TD pass for the Saints was achieved with about 3 minutes and 20 seconds to go in Super Bowl XLIV.

Atta boy Peyton.

Who Dat!

Worst Super Bowl Commercial Ever

The winner is ….. AUDI.

Whoever thought this was a good commercial needs their ass kicked.

I didn’t realize it was a car commercial until the very end. by that time, I was so appalled that I was ready to puke.

The sad part of it is that there are probably plenty of hopey-changers out there living in Al Gore’s fantasyworld that were sitting around having gaiaistic orgasms, screaming “oh my god, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have this kind of enforcement.”

Buy an Audi? Not.

SB Linkage: Life imitates the Audi commercial

BHO picks the Colts. So does Hot Air.

BWAAAAAHAHAHA! Who Dat?

Hurricane Who Dat!

With 3:24 left, Saints defensive back Tracy Porter returned a Peyton Manning pass for 76 yards to give the New Orleans Saints a two-touchdown margin in Super Bowl XLIV.

More from AP

Super Sunday at last

I’ve been a Saints fan since I was a kid.

This is great! Got the DVR set, Mrs. Nuke has the hot wings going. Waiting on kickoff.

(((GEAUX SAINTS!!!)))

Update:  It’s Amazing!  Saints beat Colts 31 – 17!!!

Wish my old man was still here to see this.  He loved ‘dem Saints through all the tough years.

This is just amazing!  I never thought I’d live to see this.

This One’s For You, Pops.  I miss you.

Sarah Palin keynote address at the TEA party convention

the full hour, hat tip to maxCUA

“This is about the people … and it’s a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter,”

Read more here

Old habits die hard

Borrowed from nicedeb

Hilary in a bikini!

No. Not THAT Hilary.

The Sports Illustrated swimsuit version.

>>LINK<<

Is it Rule 5 day already?

The Riddle

from bonz over at gcp …

Barack Obama met with the Queen of England. He asked her, “Your Majesty, how do you run such an efficient government? Are there any tips you can give to me?”

”Well,” said the Queen, “the most important thing is to surround yourself with intelligent people.”

Obama frowned, and then asked, “But how do I know the people around me are really intelligent?”

The Queen took a sip of tea. “Oh, that’s easy; you just ask them to answer an intelligent riddle.” The Queen pushed a button on her intercom. ”Please send Tony Blair in here, would you?”

Tony Blair walked into the room and said, “Yes, my Queen?”

The Queen smiled and said, “Answer me this please, Tony, your mother and father have a child. It is not your brother and it is not your sister. Who is it?”

Without pausing for a moment, Tony Blair answered, “That would be me.”

”Yes! Very good,” said the Queen.

Obama went back home to ask Joe Biden, his vice presidential choice the same question. “Joe, answer this for me. Your mother and your father have a child. It’s not your brother and it’s not your sister. Who is it?”

”I’m not sure,” said Biden. “Let me get back to you on that one.” He went to his advisors and asked every one, but none could give him an answer. Finally, he ended up in the men’s room and recognized Colin Powell’s shoes in the next stall.

Biden asked Powell, “Colin, can you answer this for me? Your mother and father have a child and it’s not your brother or your sister. Who is it?”

Colin Powell yelled back, “That’s easy, it’s me!”

Biden smiled, and said, “Thanks!”

Then, he went back to speak with Obama. “Say, I did some research and I have the answer to that riddle. It is Colin Powell!”

Obama got up, stomped over to Biden, and angrily yelled into his face,
”No! you idiot! It’s Tony Blair!”