Category: Useless knowledge

Information you have no need for. Ever. Usually about me, but possibly about other trivial crap in the world.

NASA photo of the day – July 26, 2007

I think we can all guess where this came from. And no, the answer isn’t a sound studio where the government faked the moon landing.

NASA-potd-20060726.jpg

Lunar module pilot James Irwin works at the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the first Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity at the Hadley-Apennine landing site. The shadow of the Lunar Module “Falcon” is in the foreground. This view is looking northeast, with Mount Hadley in the background. This photograph was taken by mission commander David Scott.

Apollo 15 launched 35 years ago today on July 26, 1971, at 9:34 a.m. EDT from the Kennedy Space Center. Alfred Worden was the mission’s command module pilot.

Image credit: NASA

The full resolution view of the image can be found here.

[tags]NASA, Picture of the day, Moon landing[/tags]

Today in history – FBI founded

Man, I almost totally missed this. Here we are near the end of the day, and I’m just catching up on all my news. And given my interest in security, politics, and what the government is doing, I find this interesting. Today in history, 98 years ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was founded.

On July 26, 1908, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is born when U.S. Attorney General Charles Bonaparte orders a group of newly hired federal investigators to report to Chief Examiner Stanley W. Finch of the Department of Justice. One year later, the Office of the Chief Examiner was renamed the Bureau of Investigation, and in 1935 it became the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

When the Department of Justice was created in 1870 to enforce federal law and coordinate judicial policy, it had no permanent investigators on its staff. At first, it hired private detectives when it needed federal crimes investigated and later rented out investigators from other federal agencies, such as the Secret Service, which was created by the Department of the Treasury in 1865 to investigate counterfeiting. In the early part of the 20th century, the attorney general was authorized to hire a few permanent investigators, and the Office of the Chief Examiner, which consisted mostly of accountants, was created to review financial transactions of the federal courts.

Continue reading “Today in history – FBI founded”

Prepare to meet your next President

I’m not sure what to say about this. I think this guy would get my vote. He may be a bit unorthodox, but he does have a way of getting things done. From his campaign site:

zodportrait.jpgWhen I first came to your planet and demanded your homes, property and very lives, I didn’t know you were already doing so, willingly, with your own government. I can win no tribute from a bankrupted nation populated by feeble flag-waving plebians. In 2008 I shall restore your dignity and make you servants worthy of my rule. This new government shall become a tool of my oppression. Instead of hidden agendas and waffling policies, I offer you direct candor and brutal certainty. I only ask for your tribute, your lives, and your vote.

Thanks to an online gaming friend for pointing out this site to me. I doubt I ever would have stumbled on this on my own.

[tags]Zod for president, 2008 elections, Kneel before me[/tags]

More happy birthday wishes

Yes, we’ve already covered Sandra Bullock. But there are a number of other notables celebrating birthdays today. Enough that I wanted to point some of them out.

Of course, I highlight Shaw since I’ve recently returned from a trip to Ireland. The whole reason I went looking at other birthdays for today was because I heard recently that today is Huxley’s birthday. And the others I point out just because I figure plenty of folks will know who they are.

[tags]Happy Birthday, Kate Beckinsale, Brave New World[/tags]

Happy Birthday, Speed lady

Just because I know my oldest brother has a thing for her, I’m posting a reminder to everyone that today is Ms. Sandra Bullock’s 42nd birthday. Although she has done tons of movie work, she is probably best known for her role as Annie Porter in Speed (and again in the less successful Speed 2). Personally, I think Demolition Man and Ms. Congeniality are better movies for her.

First, let’s take a look via way-back technology at a much younger Ms. Bullock. And all you creepy people stop thinking those dirty thoughts over this picture.

sandra-young.jpg

Now, with that out of the way, let’s look at something more recent. Here’s a Eye Candy style picture from one of her magazine photo shoots some time back. My brother has a framed copy of this picture. I wish I could have found a clearer copy of it. And by the way, this is one of my favorite pictures of her.

sandra-in-plaid.jpg

So Happy Birthday to Ms. Sandra Bullock.

[tags]Happy Birthday, Eye Candy, Sandra Bullock[/tags]

Word of the day

This comes from nowhere in particular except the dark recesses of my mind.  Way back in my college days, my super-awesome friend Kara had a homemade sign in her dorm room that said:

Defenestration – the act by which the defenstrator defenstrates the defenstratee

which, of course, told you nothing about what the word means.  But I was always taken with the sign, especially after looking up defenestration and finding out what it actually means.

Now go out and put your new word to use (but not necessarily commit defenestration).

[tags]Defenestration, Windows, Word of the day[/tags]

Dear Chris – I concur

I must admit – I’m totally in agreement with Chris on this one.

Dear manufacturers who place objects in plastic containers that are impossible to open without accidentally slicing yourself: STOP IT, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, STOP IT, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, STOP IT, stop it, stop it, STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT! Thank you.

The only thing I would add is to suggest the Chris didn’t use enough of “STOP IT” or “stop it” in his complaint.

[tags]Chris Pirillo, Plastic packages suck, I hate packaging[/tags]

Assassin’s Creed 360 previewed

(via Joystiq)

Very recently I noted that Assassin’s Creed, once believed to be a PlayStation 3 exclusive, will be asscreed360.jpgcoming to at least the XBox360 as well. ComputerAndVideogames.com has the preview of the XBox360 version.

However, as Joystiq notes:

No release date, general or specific, was announced, nor was there talk of how the game controls (an indication the CVG team likely did not see a playable version). This is another PS3 title that was once thought exclusive but now confirmed multiplatform. It could still be a timed exclusive for Sony, but to what extent is the company’s PR line (i.e. not concerned with exclusives) reflective of internal opinion?

I’m really looking forward to this game. That is, assuming I can ever afford an XBox360. My gaming budget is a bit less than it used to be. Funny what a wife and 2 children does to your financial priorities…

[tags]Assassin’s Creed, XBox360, Joystiq[/tags]

New gaming comic I’m watching

While checking hooked-20060718-clip.jpgout a recent Joystiq’s weekly comic wrap-up, I saw a link I hadn’t seen (or at least hadn’t paid attention to) before – Hooked on Polygon. Based on the first comic I saw, concerning Peter Jackson and the Halo movie, I’m going to keep visiting. The why and wherefor of this comic:

Okay so today’s comic is inspired by last week’s Denzel Washington scare. Apparently someone somewhere saw Mr. Washington and Peter Jackson having a meeting. From that single sighting, it was obvious that Denzel MUST be cast as Master Chief in the HALO movie. I mean, what else could they be talking about, right?

After reading that, I starting thinking about other scenarios little Petey Jackson could be seen in, and possibly transformed into a HALO movie rumor nugget.

Then I picked the best ideas in my noggin and drew them. It’s funny, because the panels that you see above look EXACTLY like the scenes in my head as they played out, except cartoon-ized. It doesn’t always work that way.

And I think that’s a pretty accurate portrayal of much of the blogosphere.

[tags]Hooked on Polygon, Web comics, Peter Jackson, Halo movie[/tags]