Altair (pronounced with all three syllables–Al-ta-ir) is the protagonist of the video game Assassin’s Creed.  Both Noble Girl and Twilight Nija play it (have completed it also) on the Xbox-360.  Noble Girl thought it was interesting enough that she is going the extra mile.

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Via SmofBabe.

Just a warning to you all — It’s getting really scary out there.

Click the pic and you’ll see….

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(First draft, completely unedited.)

I laughed AND I was moved.

And, to give a reason, like the people in this video, I vote because I have daughters and I want their future to be viable.

So, if you aren’t familiar with the original (like Noble Girl and Twilight Ninja are) you won’t appreciate this as much, but I think it’s wonderful.  However, you can stop after the first repetition cause it repeats several times.

The title may give you an idea on where I stand on California’s Proposition 8.  I’ve previously pointed at a video but now I point at a thoughtful post by Steve Leigh on the topic.

Mad is encouraging everyone to:

Copy this sentence [the title of this post] into your livejournal if you’re in a heterosexual marriage/relationship (or if you think you might be someday), and you don’t want it “protected” by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

I agree with her.

Let’s be clear.  This is not a “defense of marriage.”  It’s an attack on a specific subset of the population.

I am doing occasional blog posts (and who isn’t?) over at Tor.Com. My first one went up on Monday afternoon, the first part of a four part series:

Behaving Badly As A Career Strategy

I am grateful for early voting.  No lines.  Paper ballot.  Clean paper trail.  I’m sure something evil could be done but not as transparently as with touch screens.

From the tone of discussion here at Eat Our Brains, you can probably guess we tend lefty.

It probably came as no surprise that I voted for the “Tiger Woods guy.”

Now I have to spend the entire next week with my flimbers krossed.

Makes for tricky typing that.

No, it’s not a fire-breathing human.  It’s a cough, caught on film through something called  “schlieren photography,” and discussed in today’s New York Times Science section.

Schlieren is German for “streaks”; in this case it refers to regions of different densities in a gas or a liquid, which can be photographed as shadows using a special technique.
The process involves a small, bright light source, precisely placed lenses, a curved mirror, a razor blade that blocks part of the light beam and other tools that make it possible to see and photograph disturbances in the air. In the world of gas dynamics, a cough is merely “a turbulent jet of air with density changes.”

What I find cool is how like art some of these images are: the black and white photo of a gun shot, the plume of a gas leak or the curl of heated air from a candle flame.  In these trying times I make an effort to remember that there’s, like, beauty all around us.  It’s an uphill climb some days, but The Times helped today.

Go here to view a video made in London at the turn of the 20th Century. It’s about a minute long and has several fascinating street scenes.

I have a couple of nifty items to share today. First, check out these NASA images of Saturn’s tiny inner moon, Enceladus.

Be sure to view all the images and read the captions — it’s the compilation of images that makes these Cassini images so striking. A couple of the close fly-bys show striking detail of the moon’s surface. (Via Patricia Rogers.)

I haven’t actually watched SNL since the Belushi-Ackroyd glory days. But, as we know, they’ve been experiencing a resurgence with their take on the upcoming election.

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This sketch is further evidence that something is badly broken inside my head.

I’ve watched Sarah Palin speak and she gives me the creeps. She’s such a blatantly obvious sociopath that I have the same instinctive, uncontrollable reaction to her that I’ve always had to GWB. I’m absolutely nonplussed that some people think that she’s a VPILF.

But I also instinctively react in exactly the oppposite way to Tina Fey. Dude, she is one hot, juicy babe.

And I can’t tell them apart visually.

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…you never know.

How to Live in Your Car – wikiHow

• Once you find a spot, try to arrive late at night, and leave before 7am. This will draw as little attention as possible to yourself.

How to Live on the Street – wikiHow

• Another place to sleep relatively safely at night are rooftops of public buildings.

How to Survive on the Streets of Manhattan – wikiHow

• Avoid bumping into the New Yorkers. They will bump you back. It isn’t pleasant.

How to Survive on the Streets – wikiHow

• Avoid wearing sandals or flip-flops, and high-hills. If, on your way there’s a rock, you may trip on it, fall or even die, hit by a car. USE TENNIS SHOES!

How to Be a Hobo with a Web Based Income – wikiHow

• Buy backup batteries for your laptop to continue working until you can reach civilization.

How to Urban Camp – wikiHow

• Showers!

How to Be a Street Musician – wikiHow

• Be prepared for requests. People who request songs can be annoying, especially if you play originals, but they also tend to pay you. It’s good to know some covers, and if you can’t play the exact song someone requests, offer a similar tune or one by the same artist.

How to Survive in Dangerous Parts of a City – wikiHow

• You might have to stop for directions. If you do, try to ask an elderly person, preferably a woman, because there is less of a chance an older person will try to rob or attack you.

How to Keep Chickens in a City – wikiHow

• Are they all there? Count your chickens every day, especially if you have more than ten.
  

How to Urinate Outside Discreetly – wikiHow

• If pants are equipped, carefully zip them once you are done. Careless zipper operation especially in males can cause great pain.

How to Survive a Super Comet Hitting Earth -wikiHow

• Your Government will likely set up “public shelters” for people to ride out the impact aftermath. Do Not go to these shelters. They are a perfect place for disease to spread and crime will be rampant in these places. If however, you cannot be evacuated from near the impact site, you will have to go into a nuclear bunker that you may have to share. If you are far away from the impact, making your own shelter out of a windowless room in your house or out of a cellar is the best option.

Just sayin’.

The Republican National Committee apparently spent one hundred and fifty thousand dollars on clothes for Sarah Palin and her family in the month of September.

John Edwards didn’t get a pass for his ‘spensive stylin’ but the RNC says that media attention on this is inappropriate.

“With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it’s remarkable that we’re spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses,” said Tracey Schmitt, a party spokeswoman.

(Laura remembered it as a $400 haircut but I checked. It was over $400 for TWO haircuts. Remember kids, shop in volume for big savings!)

Meanwhile, even Republicans are unhappy.

The Democrats are going to have a lot more fun with this than is prudent, but the heat for this story will come from Republicans who cannot understand how their party would do something this stupid … particularly (and, it must be said, viewed retroactively) during the collapse of the financial system and the probable beginning of a recession.

–The Atlantic

Paris Hilton was heard to say, “Ohmighod. In one month? What a bargain. She’s a shopping genius!” Steve (not a plumber and not a hockey mom) Gould was heard to comment, “This is twice my average annual income.”

The only thing I can say is the RNC doesn’t have to worry about zombies. They are the Coke Zero of brains.

AP INVESTIGATION: Alaska funded Palin kids’ travel

By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE, ADAM GOLDMAN and MATT APUZZO – 17 hours ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters’ 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

link

Laura pointed out that even if someone else is holding onto the credit cards, you can’t buy that many outfits without some idea what they cost.

A little ditty, penned by my friend, G. S. Cullinen –

Mr. Stockbroker:
Choose honor, not parachute.
Wall Street seppuku.