Tom McMahon

I just stumbled on this the other day. Quite useful, especially for those of us over 40! 

Stereoscopy.com, your one stop information source about the fascinating world of 3D ('stereoscopic') imaging, catering for 3D-aficionados around the world.  

"The Internet Research Toolbar. provides a built-in way for the Internet Explorer web browser to save and really manage the content of any web page that ever had value to you. It's like having an enhanced, Google-like search engine just for online information you've saved.

A single click saves a web page or a selection from a web page. Retrieving it is just as easy. Search for it by whole- or partial-words, project, category, record type, date-saved, or by combined search criteria, and do so without leaving the Internet Explorer web browser.

Internet Research Toolbar even creates bibliographic citations formatted specifically for online information! With 16 different MLA- and APA-compatible citation styles, based upon the COLUMBIA GUIDE TO ONLINE STYLE, Internet Research Toolbar greatly simplifies online research." 

For Just $25: "The Mind-Boggling Fractals program makes it as easy as possible for you to create the type of fractal images for which the program's author has become internationally known - fractal images with sharply defined elements having a rounded, 3D appearance. The program requires no knowledge of fractals or mathematics and is suitable for both fractal novices and fractal experts. Fractal novices will appreciate the easy-to-use user interface and tutorial. Fractal experts will appreciate having all of the author's fractal rendering methods and equations in one program and the ability to switch between them instantly. " 

I've been trying to brush up on my British History, and geez, it's a LOT more involved than learning American History. With American history you go back 250 years and you've got it, maybe adding a fact or two when Columbus discovered America (can I say that these days?) or about Squanto and the Pilgrims. Explain the Missouri Compromise and you're a show-off. But this British History goes back all the way to the Romans, and beyond. And to tell you the truth, I'm not really brushing up on my British History -- I never learned it in the first place. So I've been borrowing the Simon Schama DVD's from the library, and watching as many episodes in the two-week borrowing period as I can stand without popping. And I'll probably have to go over this a couple of times before it starts to sink in. On the other hand, British History is interesting in its own way. Makes our own Aaron Burr/Alexander Hamilton duel look positively antiseptic. 

. . . . as the pitchman for Blatz Beer !  

. . . that when I went to Paris 5 years ago, everyone I met was nice to me . In a way, I kinda felt cheated. Like going to New York City and nobody going "Psst. Buddy! Wanna buy a gen-u-wine Rolex?" Or worse yet, buying one and getting home and finding out it was genuine. I mean, if everyone's gonna treat ya nice, you might as well stay home! 

Tim Cuprisin: "Hope likely won't live on in public memory, beyond those with nostalgic recollections, thanks to the lack of a TV sitcom in his long resume.

That sounds silly, but think about it for a minute. It's in sitcoms that old stars are introduced to young viewers on places such as TV Land. Lucille Ball still works the candy assembly line, hawks Vitameatavegamin and stomps grapes. Jackie Gleason still sends Alice "to da moon!" in "The Honeymooners." The recently deceased Buddy Ebsen's Jed Clampett remains very much alive, while Dick Van Dyke and Andy Griffith are forever young in black-and-white half-hours.

So despite a legendary career that spanned the 20th century, it will be tough to keep Hope alive in the 21st." 

A Crash Course: Chicago, of course, is a Native American word for "stinky onion," or so Mrs. O'Leary used to tell the cow that provided the milk that suckled the infant Al Capone, who took crime to Cicero and made the city safe for the Daley Dynasties, which are not to be confused with the Bulls Dynasties, which were founded by Michael Jordan, who reversed the course of the river but couldn't do a thing about the Cubs.

Today is the 15th anniversary of lights in Wrigley Field (remember? 8/8/88, and all that?) 

Is James Lileks the only one who winced at this?: “God has once again brought an Easter out of Good Friday.' said Rev. Gene Robinson after his election as the first openly gay bishop. Good heavens, man, why don’t you just do the full James Cameron: hop up on the cross and shout I’m King of the Jews!

This story has irritated me from the start, and it has nothing to do with Rev. Robinson’s sexual orientation. The guy left his wife and kids to go do the hokey-pokey with someone else: that’s what it’s all about, at least for me." 

You'll snap right out of it resting your head on this pillow shaped like a Prozac capsule. Laura has taken tranquilizers, painkillers. anti-psychotics, and anti-depressants and hand latch-hooked and sculpted them into large, soft pillows. (via the really wunnerful, wunnerful thingsmagzine )
 

. . . and other Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey. Two of my favorites:

• It's well known that every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. But what's not as well known is that every time a mousetraps snaps, an angel gets set on fire.
• If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.

 

NATIONAL PRAYER DAY - PRAY FOR THE DEATH OF BILL O'REILLY. From Larry Flynt. Why is the Left so hateful? 

On his Links page, Anil has an entry for a "thorough debunking of the bush-hating left myth". But on that same entry, he uses the F-word to describe the President. So I think we're still a ways away from holding hands and singing "It's a Small World After All".
 

Redi-Line Generators convert 12 volt car power to regular 120 volt house current. Great for electric drills and other small tools. Used by the National Park Service to power the electric weed whackers at the White House (the gas ones are too noisy). I worked on this product on my first real job after college many years ago -- the guys and gals on the production line used to call me "Tommy Tech". If you need what it does, it's a great, rugged, proven technology. 

Midwest Pundits: "All roads lead back to the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts are criticized and pilloried because of their stance against permitting openly homosexual men from leading their groups. Yet, if the boys in their care have been molested and sexually abused, it is a story the press has seen fit not to print. The Catholic Church permitted homosexual men to become priests and ultimately an unknown number of these men used their positions of trust to prey upon young boys. Can you blame the Episcopal Church for not wanting to follow down the same path as the Catholic Church? " 

From Curtis S.D. Macdonald. (via GravityLens) 

The Evansville Shipyard: "During World War II, the Evansville river front was transformed into a 45 acre shipyard capable of producing LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks) whose ability to land men and material in various theaters of operation was indispensable to the war effort. This metamorphosis brought a peak work force of 19,200 workers to the Yard as Evansville became the largest producer of LSTs in the nation. Though the Navy had originally contracted Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron--the lead contractor--for twenty-four ships, 167 LSTs and 35 other craft were eventually built at the Evansville Shipyard. At peak production, two vessels were completed every week. " 

When I was growing up my Dad was a high school teacher, and then a high school principal. For 5 years in the 1960's he was principal of Pattonville High School in St. Ann, MO, right across from the Northwest Plaza Shopping Center. The building has long since been torn down , but I still have fond memories of going in to shoot baskets as a young kid in the high school gym every now and then on a Sunday, when my Dad had some paperwork to catch up on. That's about as far as the perks went, but to a grade school kid, it seemed pretty neat. When you're in grade school, the high school kids seem just like real adults to you. I remember seeing Alan Stewart play the Jimmy Stewart role in the play Harvey , and I was still young enough to have been disappointed that there wasn't a real rabbit. He used to take me to basketball games as well, but I had to stop going because the cigarette smoke hurt my eyes too much. No Bloomberg back then.

Before that job in St Louis, he was a teacher at Thorton High School in Harvey, Illinois, just south of Chicago. As a young teacher, he had a solid but easy way with all the kids, and they all respected him. Maybe that's why his boss, the principal, tapped him for a special assignment. It seems that there was a rash of hubcaps getting stolen off of cars, and he wanted my Dad to talk to the "juvenile delinquent" bunch to get them to stop. So my Dad prepared a talk about Civic Responsibility and Ethics, pointing out how property rights were the basis of society, and that even the "little thefts" of things like hubcaps eroded that foundation of our very American Way of Life. The kids all listened very intently, and they applauded and congratulated him on giving a very interesting talk. My Dad felt really great, being able to reach out and touch these kids in a special way, and was glad to do his part to set them upon the right path in life.

And as he was leaving, one of the kids he had helped offered to return the favor: "Mr. McMahon, did somebody steal your hubcaps? If they did, just tell me what kind of car you drive and I can get some for you." 

By Mary Ann Sullivan. Saarinen is best known as the architect of the Gateway Arch. 

The complete transcript to the famous Orson Welles War of the Worlds Broadcast. 

He comes from a Minneapolis family of high, if unusual, achievers. His father, a medical researcher, is considered a leading authority on intestinal gas. (He bills himself as ''The Man Who Gave Status to Flatus and Class to Gas.'') One of Levitt's great uncles, Robert May, wrote ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' -- the book, that is; another great uncle, Johnny Marks, later wrote the song.

At 36, Steven Levitt is a full professor in the University of Chicago's economics department, the most legendary program in the country. (He received tenure after only two years.) He is an editor of The Journal of Political Economy, a leading journal in the field. And the American Economic Association recently awarded him its John Bates Clark Medal, given biennially to the country's best economist under 40. 

A nice little screensaver builder for PC's from Leicester, England. Ryan and I think some of the nicest people you can find are from Leicester! 

From Jeff Jarvis : "John Gilmore -- the jerk who wore the "Suspected Terrorist" button on a BA flight, causing the crew to turn the jet around -- is still trying to dine out on his jerkiness (which he thinks is a brave political statement). ...Listen, I stood a few hundred yards below two jets as they slammed into the World Trade Center. The Nazis were the Islamofascists who took over those planes. We, as a civilization of laws and respect for the primary of human life, must do what we must do to protect ourselves from these murderers. You got a problem with that, jerk, then I repeat my advice: Walk."

Of course, John Gilmore is rich enough that he doesn't have to work like the rest of us. So if the plane has to turn around because of his actions, it's no skin off his nose. Meanwhile, the businessman trying to get to his next appointment, or the businesswoman trying to make it home to see her kids, have to wait. Nice.
 

From the Idle Type archives: 5 lbs of Silly Putty . . . old NBA logos . . . The Great Pop vs Soda Controversy . . . the good old inflatable church . . . and a lake frozen under two miles of ice

Blogskimming: The process of surfing the links from the archives of a newly-discovered webblog you've found. Pretty good, eh? I just made it up . . .  

From Joanne Jacobs: "If only black teachers are qualified to teach Black History, who will teach Latin?" . . . And do we really give enough credit to Branch Rickey for breaking the color line in baseball? . . . Bush Niece's Files Among Targets Of Alleged Princeton Snooping . . . Is Superman Jewish? . . . and Goodbye to San Francisco. 

Guilty White Liberal cheeseheads go in pursuit of ethnic harmony . . . cash-strapped Wisconsin pays $10,000 to try to come up with a new name for "food stamps" . . . Mark Belling and Charlie Sykes each weigh in on Jim Doyle's self-immersion in hot water for his veto of a property tax freeze. 

"Hunger, overcrowding, dying a horrible death -- these are understandable worries. Of course we love our food, our health, and having enough room on our side of the bed. But why are we so worried about nature's welfare? How did we get to be enamored of the outdoors? Just go out there for a minute, and no fair taking the indoors with you. Doff the little Donna Karan frock, that rumpus room for your torso. Shed those lacy Christian Dior knickers, gazebo for your butt. Eschew your Joan and David pumps, small personal floors for your feet. Enter nature as you, indeed, entered nature. Then get arrested. Police, we mustn't forget, are part of nature, too.

But let's say you're on your own land and properly secluded, and the kids are at camp, and the cleaning lady has gone home, and today isn't the day the boy comes to mow the lawn, and your husband's too busy watching ESPN to notice. Go outdoors and cavort. Scamper through the foundation plantings. Roll in the gladiolus. Vault the lawn furniture. Romp 'neath clothesline and bird-feeder. You'll learn about yourself. And what you'll learn is that you itch.

Ticks, lice, fleas, mites, poison ivy, poison oak, mosquioes, black flies, deerflies, horseflies, sunburn, prickly heat, allergies, rashes, and fungal infections . . . One thing that's certain about going outdoors: When you come back inside, you'll be scratching."

From All the Trouble in the World , by PJ O'Rourke . Available for audio download at Audible.com 

Via Right We Are! , the Midwest Pundits have the story about the United Way cutting off funding to the Boy Scouts due to "discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. "

As mentioned here before, the United Way is an antiquated organization with an obsolete reason for being. If your company can Direct Deposit your paycheck, and if they can do that for thousands of employees with thousands of different checking accounts, then why can't they also do a Direct Deposit for a few dollars every month to the bank account of the charity YOU choose? And bye-bye, United Way! 

A touching eulogy of Vince Lloyd, the Chicago Cubs radio announcer who passed away last month, from, of all places, the Yankton Press and Dakotan.  

Phil Lynott was born in Birmingham, England on August 20, 1949 the son of a Brazilian father and an Irish mother. The black South American, named Parris and nicknamed The Duke left Phil's mother Phyllis, just three weeks after the baby was born and headed back to Brazil. He left Phyllis with the task of bringing up a black baby in Catholic Ireland in the Fifties. 

Dover Publications to the rescue once again, offering:

• Gauguin Paintings: 24 Cards
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• Gauguin Fine Art Tattoos
• Gauguin Paintings Giftwrap Paper
• Gauguin's Tahitian Journal

 

A short tour with my iRider browser through the J-Walk Blog 2002 archives and I found:

• Bloody Finger Mail
• A Neat ASCII Text Generator
• The Where's George Dollar Bill Locator
• Things We Believed As Kids
• Kite Aerial Photography
• A Vintage Photo Gallery
• Popular Baby Names
• The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Site
• A Photo of North America at Night
• And Last and Yes, Least, Microsoft Bob

High-Impact Web Surfing at its Best!