The Coming Zombie Apocalypse

The next great threat?

The War Widow

She's a widow at age 20...

The Best Graduation Speech Ever

It's graduation time again, and I thought I would mark the occassion by posting David Foster Wallace's at Kenyon address from 2005. It's a poignant speech, all the more for me as I attempt to figure out what I am doing with my life.

"...The capital-T Truth is about life BEFORE death. It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over...It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out. Which means yet another grand cliché turns out to be true: your education really IS the job of a lifetime. And it commences: now."

Also, check out my good friend Scott Guenther's remarks from our graduation year ago last February.

Spread the Word...350.org

Mother Jones has this great article about the new grassroots climate change organization called 350.org. The org was founded by Environmentalist Bill McKibben and a small group of dedicated Middlebury Alums. Check them out. Join the movement.

Bert and Ernie for Obama

Say what?

So a friend forwarded me this Youtube video...I'll let you judge it for yourself.

DC Voted Most Improved Cycling City

When I was a middle school basketball player, we used to joke that the most improved award was really the, "you still suck, but you tried hard" award. Still, the fact that DC got the most improved award for cycling friendly cities is commendable. Now if only we could get bike lanes that don't abruptly stop and something besides road signs to lock our bikes to, we'd be on our way. Here's hoping...

Anyway, DCist has this post about which high-powered politicians in DC ride to work.

Screaming Across the Divide

At least some people are speaking out about America's blatant Islamophobia. The NY Times has this great piece today about muslims who are fighting back against America's Islamophobia. Ali Ardekani,33-year-old Web designer from LA created a video blog about the lives of ordinary Muslims, casting himself on his video blogs as, "Baba Ali, an outsize character with a serious religious message who both dissects and lampoons the lives of American Muslims."

America's Islamophobia

Matthew Yglesias recently posted this Youtube video of John McCain's "spiritual guide" Rod Parsley. He shouts to his audience, "Islam is an Anti-Christ religion" and "America was founded with the intention of destroying this FALSE religion." The vitriol he spouts is sad, scary, and completely denigrates the faith of BILLIONS of non-violent, people in this world. Putting aside for a moment the fact that no one has stood up and called these men and out for their unconscionable efforts to smear a venerable faith, how are these men any different from Reverend Wright? Why must Obama be called to task for the mad ravings of a crazy pastor, yet John McCain seems to get a free pass when his own supporters do the SAME thing? John McCain has said nothing to denounce Parsley or equally hate-mongering John Hagee. I wish for once that politicians on both sides would call this shit out for the blatent racism that it is.

Mike Gravel the Crackpot

The man is unbelievable. Although, maybe he can give Hillary a few pointers on how to run a doomed campaign.

Andrew Bird

Songs and blogs. He's a busy man these days.

Volcanic Craziness

Six days ago, the Chaitén volcano in Chile erupted causing nearly 8000 people to be evacuated from their homes. This amazing photo was taken when a thunderstorm collided with the volcanic plume.

Hat tip: MetaFilter

What a crazy creature...

Hillary Clinton's Five Mistakes

What Billary did wrong.

Israel's Arabs

A great report on Israel's Arab citizens and their lives sixty years since the founding of Israel.

Dr. Strings

This an amazing video of Andrew Bird (also here) making a guest appearance on a childrens show. If you haven't heard of Andrew Bird, you are missing out on one of the most unique and talented musicians of our times. I reccomend The Mysterious Production of Eggs and his latest, Armchair Apocrypha.

The Money Quote from the comments:

Although this video seems to teach that music is magical, this is deceiving, as the REAL message is that andrew bird is magical.

Enjoy!