Big love

Absolutely chock-full of complete, utter, total WIN.

A free speech reminder

Your right of free speech is not a guarantee of a microphone or an audience.

A moment of sincerity

A surprisingly powerful speech.

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
Jon Stewart - Moment of Sincerity
www.comedycentral.com
Rally to Restore Sainty and/or Fear The Daily Show The Colbert Report

How many habitable planets?

Just in case you were wondering how many habitable planets there are in our galaxy, 2 and a half billion is one educated guess. Read more here.

Give to the American Tinnitus Association

Make now the most precious time

Words of wisdom from Captain Picard.

President Obama to gay teens facing bullying: "It gets better"

At the very edge of the visible universe

Just passing this along because I'm a space geek, and also because I believe the real universe is far more wondrous and awe-inspiring than anything imagined. And there's a LOT more at the link.

Record-breaking galaxy found at the edge of the Universe

from Bad Astronomy by Phil Plait

The record for the most distant object in the Universe ever seen has been smashed: a galaxy has been found at the staggering distance of 13.1 billion light years!

Here’s the Hubble image of this incredibly far-flung object:

Yeah, I know. Doesn’t look like much, does it? But oh, what it means…

That’s a galaxy, probably smaller and more compact than our Milky Way, but a galaxy. It’s so dim that the faintest star you can see with your unaided eye is 4 billion times brighter. Its distance is simply numbing; the Universe itself is only 13.7 billion years old, so the light from this object began its journey on its way to Earth just 600 million years after the Universe itself formed.

Yes, it can kill you

And yet, research into treatment continues to lag, especially in the United States.

A man who was tormented by tinnitus killed himself only hours after he talked to his doctor about committing suicide, an inquest heard.

Mark Hughff was found hanged in a wooded area west of a picnic site in Broompark, near Durham City, on March 31.

An inquest held at Chesterle- Street Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday how the Darlington man had visited the town’s Whinfield Surgery hours earlier.

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/8462355.Man_killed_himself_because_of_tinnitus/

Another gray misty morning

to shoot myself off into.

The grind

Back to the 7-day work week this weekend. But I don't complain too loudly -- 'tis better to work than not to work.

20 years

Funny, just a little thought here and a memory there, and 20 years washes off of me like it was nothing.

A gentle study on death

It is a quiet
slow motion film,
a frame by frame affair,
falling molecules of air.

There's only perfection
in its silence.
Only gentle prodding
in its violence.

Sometimes dry bones
and shallow breath,
a wasting away
to nothing left.

Sometimes sudden
and without warning,
to sleep in the night
and miss the morning.

It is a sword
not wanting to kill.
It does its work
against its will.

It is the road
out of town,
streetlamp-lit when
the sun goes down.

It is the wisdom
in regret,
dead leaves in autumn,
a way to forget.

It is a lonely man
walking between towns.
It is buried treasure
deep underground.

It is the spirit horse,
the leaving train,
the ship setting sail
in evening rain.

There is a gust of wind,
a rustle of leaves,
and I'm home again
in front of the tree
        I never climbed.

Shooting like a bullet into the gray misty morning

This distance is cruel, the silence heartless.

The Mist

Sorry to go on about this film yet again, but I recently broke down and bought the Blu-ray of it. Included in the package is Frank Darabont's "director's cut" black & white version. I must say, even spookier. This is such an underrated classic, scary because the real monsters are the ones we can all turn into given the right pressures and circumstances. And the ending will haunt you forever.

Now, all I need is a suitably scare-able woman to watch it with me.

Phone test

Ignore the sirens. This is just a test.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Dreaming about the past

It's been a long road. I get dizzy when I look back. Sometimes the way ahead feels like it's getting darker and more treacherous, while the way behind seems more brightly-lit.

I've been reconnecting with things in the past recently, and it's begun to seep into my dreams.

Last night I think I had a series of dreams where I was back in old haunts in central Florida and along the Treasure Coast. The weird thing was, everything was different than the way it really was. However, in my dream, I "knew" that it was right. Buildings were different, places had changed, but in my dream it all seemed right.

But some of the people were the same, and it seemed like the dream reality all centered on them, revolved around them somehow.

When I woke up it took me a few minutes to separate the real bits from the fake. And even now the buildings and places are fading, but the people remain.

Mad Men with a twist

Everyone knows I'm a huge Mad Men geek. I live vicariously through Don Draper. So this, I can't resist.

h/t Huffington Post

NBC anchor Brian Williams' daughter Allison — who graduated earlier this year from Yale and is pursuing a career as an actress and a singer — did this in one single take with live, un-dubbed sound, and set the lyrics from "Nature Boy" (made famous by Nat King Cole) to RJD2's "A Beautiful Mine," the instrumental theme from the hit AMC show.

Between Two Ferns with Bruce Willis

Zack Galifianakis is back with another one.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Bruce Willis from Bruce Willis

Surrender

Surrender. Let the river swallow you. Let the moment wall you up inside of it. Don't be afraid of the darkness inside, it's there where you'll find your freedom. And remember it all, as hard as you can. If the uncaring universe cares to give you any gift at all, it's the memory that imprisons the moment and never lets it go.

Loud

Radio friends, turn your headphones down. Trust me on this.

AC Hearing, Tinnitus & Balance Associates Helps Americans To Protect Their Hearing From Prolonged Exposure To Noise

AC Hearing, Tinnitus and Balance Associates and audiologists across the nation are encouraging Americans to protect their hearing during National Protect Your Hearing Month. Hearing loss not only affects your ability to understand speech but it also has a negative impact on your social and emotional well being.

12 million Americans have hearing loss as a result of exposure to noise, noise-induced hearing loss.

This October is National Protect Your Hearing Month. AC Hearing, Tinnitus & Balance Associates and audiologists across the nation are encouraging Americans to protect their hearing by:

• Wearing hearing protection when around sounds louder than 85dB for 30 minutes or more.

• Turning down the volume when listening to the radio, the TV, MP3 player, or anything through ear buds and headphones.

• Walking away from loud noise.

"Noise-induced hearing loss is caused by damage to the microscopic hair cells, or cilia, which are found in the inner ear. Cilia are small sensory cells that convert the sounds we hear (sound energy) into electrical signals that travel to the brain. Once damaged, our hair cells cannot be repaired or grow back, causing permanent hearing loss." explains Dr. Kimberly Stremmel, Doctor of Audiology.

The loudness of sound is measured in units called decibels (dB). Noise-induced hearing loss is caused by prolonged exposure to any loud noise over 85 (dB), such as concerts, sporting events, lawnmowers, fireworks, MP3 players at full volume, and more. A brief exposure to a very intense sound, such as a gun shot near the ear, can also damage your hearing.

An environment is too loud and considered dangerous if you:

• Have to shout over background noise to be heard.

• It is painful to your ears.

• It makes your ears ring during and after exposure.

If you have decreased or "muffled" hearing for several hours after exposure, that is a sign of temporary and possibly permanent hearing damage.

Hearing loss not only affects your ability to understand speech but it also has a negative impact on your social and emotional well-being. Noise-induced hearing loss can occur gradually over time, and people don't often realize they are changing the way they live to make up for the disability.

If you suspect you may have hearing loss, make an appointment to see an audiologist. He or she will perform a hearing test to determine the type and severity of hearing loss you may have.

Imagine

Today would have been John Lennon's 70th birthday.

John had just begun a comeback as the 80s dawned when he was cut down by an assassin. Just imagine if he had lived, and the 80s had been defined by John Lennon's resurgence as a musical force. What do you think the 80s would have been like, musically and culturally, if he had lived?

The Heretic Dies

Finished a new story. Here's a sneak peak.

The giant red sun began to rise over the Court of the Moon Dog. In a short time, it would fill a quarter of the sky. But its glow was pleasant, not harsh at all as it banished the few stars that dared to shine above the place of execution.

Already the early mourners were there, professional weepers practicing their wails and moans of sadness. The Magister had decreed that the Heretic, hated though he may be, was not to die in loneliness unmourned. Since no villager would dare mourn him for fear of sharing in the suspicion of heresy, the Magister had hired out the mourners, and hired the best. He ruled for a State that tempered its sometimes harsh justice with uncommon mercy.

Stayin' Alive in The Wall (Pink Floyd vs Bee Gees mashup)

This is so full of win I'm going to explode.

The particles of the future

The particles of the future
are in constant random motion
until we meet them.

The particles of the past
move in memories, refracting
when we look back.

Only the present
is deathly still.

The God Helmet

Video of scientists stimulating the temporal lobe of the brain to "see God."

Picnic

She laid back on the ground, looked up at the sky and suddenly let out a naughty giggle. "What?" I asked. "The clouds," she said. "They're all shaped like... you know..." She giggled again. "Hmm," I said, and handed her another beer.

House wins again

The producers of House took a big risk, having House and Cuddy enter a relationship. I feared a Moonlighting-sized creative meltdown would result, a massive jumping of the shark. I wasn't sure the first few episodes this season.

The producers haven't been afraid to shake up the show (or the cast) from season to season, and it looks like, after tonight's episode, it's paid off again. I like where this is going.

Kudos, producers. And congrats on the brilliance of recognizing that every episode does indeed follow a House formula... so the gimmick here is to shake up the settings and the characters instead. And it appears that for yet another season, they've managed to pull it off.

Plus, tonight's episode had Cynthia Watros. So perhaps I was distracted.

Homeless guy

Hunched-over old homeless guy shuffles through the crosswalk, shouting at no one, gesturing wildly at nothing, obviously mad at someone. I think to myself, "He's crazy--he should be mad at everyone."

The cats are up to something.

Odd cat behavior. My cat Cecil has taken to walking up and using his paw to pat at my foot. He'll spend five minutes doing this before walking off. And the neighbor cat who likes to hang out at my place has taken to grabbing my hand and licking it like a puppy. I think they're coordinating. Some kind of experiment maybe.