Powell Says

I listen to alot of crap while coding at work, and I have been
looking for somehow to use this time to do something more than listen to some
ass yap on talkradio or a podcast. I found something cool,
Yale has some courses they put up on line for free.  
Currently they have aprox 20 courses online, you can download mp3's of the
lectures or watch videos of them.   Here is the list of course types the have
Astronomy
Biomedical Engineering
Classics
Economics
English
History
Philosophy
Physics
Political Science
Psychology
Religious Studies

I am checking this one Introduction to Ancient Greek History
I have been on a ancient history kick lately, people were more macho then :)
I am also going to check out the one on Game Theory.
Highly reccomended.   Open Yale Courses

 

Check this out.  What is so funny?  Why is this guy laughing at this camel?  
Why does he keep coughing?

This is my dog Lucy.  She is a minature daschund and she rules.
I have always been a cat guy, because cats are friggin minature
perfect killing machines.  We decided to get a dog to keep my
wife company when I am away.  Well, I friggin love this dog.
No matter what is happening, she is always glad to see me.

So I find the following clip art somewhere on the web, I can barely stop laughing.
It is a character study in evil. One can clearly see the darkness that humans are
capable of: mob thought, hatred of those with disabilities, taunting of the weak,
etc.   Notice that the guy with the red shirt has just pushed the yellow shirted guy
and has snatched his crutch from him, waving it just out of reach, taunting him
all the while smiling.  His friend in the green shirt is pointing at the poor guy
on the ground, laughing at the same time patting the guy in the red shirt on
the back, encouraging him to further torture the unfortunate individual on
the ground.

I find myself wondering what context would be a legitimate reason for using this
clip art?   Beyond a Nazi youth training guide (with a caption "Do this to people who
are handicapped!"), or some kinda of manual on how to be a good person
(with a caption "dont do this!"), I cannot think of one.

This picture could only be worse(better?) if the guy in the red shirt was actually hitting the guy
on the ground with his crutch.  Also what the hell is up with the red shirtted guy's shoe?
Check it out, he is wearing a white loafer?!?  This is probably why red shirt guy is
picking on the handicapped guy, he is compensating for his bad choice in footwear.

... off subject....
I just got on a conf call for work, there is a guy named Mehaboob on the line.  
Great name!
...back to original thought line....

End of the world anyone?
This is a picture from Friday of a volcano in Chile.
It was thought to be dormant ...  I am not convinced the photo is real, but even if it
is p-shopped, still is cool looking.  Original link

Sometimes you find something in life that is so strange, and
wonderful you must share it.   The following image haunts me.
I found it on the FARK.com, FARK is basically a giant
message board where people post mostly rude and snide comments
about current event stories etc.  Often people use images to punctuate
points, ie LOLcats, or pictures depicting someone Failing.
This image was posted with no explaination on a topic that had
nothing to do with the contents of the image.  There were no
responses to queries about the picture, evidently the person who
posted it felt the image speaks for it self.  The only clue is the name
of the file "saturday night.jpg"  I saw it, and decided to save it for later
examination. The colors, style of clothes, as well as the old style beer
can make me think it was taken in the 70's.  Behold:



"The Image", as it will be referred to from now on, sparks many questions.
-Where was it taken?
-When was it taken?
-Why is there a makeshift bar?

-Why does no one seem concerned about the eldery lady who is puking?
I mean they must know she is sick, someone provided her with a trash can
to puke in.

-Is the sick lady planning on drinking more? It looks like it, notice the beer can to
head stance. Does she think that will make her feel better?  

-Did the young man provide the elder woman with a beer, perhaps saying;
"Here, this will make you feel better."
-Was it a party, if so what were they celebrating?
-What has caused this woman to look back with that surprised/angry look?

-What is this guy's story?

-What is up with the old lady's arm?  Her wrist looks normal, but above that
it looks like plastic or wooden painted flesh colored, is she a cyborg? 

How can anybody not look at this picture and say "what the fuck is thist?"
If anyone has any theories of their own, I would very much like to hear them.