The Verve. First single in eleven years...

Angry tortoise

http://view.break.com/293055 - Watch more free videos

Bush or Batman? Kapow! Who knew!

Blogging gets the girls..

It's why I blog too.. to get the twicks..

Gnarls gives great cover

More Gnarls..



Never has a tanktop contained so much soul.

SPF Factor Beagle

via kt

Comic-Con

Comic-Con

War?

"In a sense, the warriors are pessimists. In the old days they were scared that communists would destroy America. Today they rail that Al Qaeda and Iran threaten our way of life. In fact, America is an extremely powerful country, with a unique and extraordinary set of strengths. The only way that position can truly be eroded is by its own actions and overreactions—by unwise and imprudent leadership. A good way to start correcting the errors of the past would be to recognize that we are not at war."

One of the more intelligent things I have read in a while.. Do We Need a Wartime President?

Modern Navy

"Japan's Navy May Cancel Exercises on Fuel Costs, Nikkei Says"

Just like the French.. military.com

Broken Promises

"Or, to put it another way, CEOs don't matter: if the company is going down the toilet, neither John Thain nor anybody else is going to prevent it from doing so. You could have put a monkey in charge, and the outcome wouldn't have been materially different."

Ouch.

portfolio.com

The jist that it is too big a problem for one man to solve is fair across the industry.. those at the helm now are fighting fires they (mostly) did not start.. but don't help themselves being unclear about the real situation.. but the way the markets work doesn't allow complete clarity in these volatile times.

Singapore Seafood Republic for dinner

singapore seafood company dinner, originally uploaded by Knotty.

Like pantomime.. "Look behind You!!.."

via ag

A Day in the Life of Dylan

Dylan discovers a way to climb onto the dining room table..

He finds out there is a view from this vantage point and settles down to enjoy it..

After a busy morning, it is time for a nap..

We thought we got beagles, but I think they are both actually cats.

Mortgage Rescue

via bp, sadly amusing indeed.

Lions for Lambs

Great movie.. watch it.

just like ikura

just like ikura, originally uploaded by Knotty.

underworld - fuji rock 08

underworld - fuji rock 08, originally uploaded by Knotty.

ian brown - fuji rock 08

ian brown - fuji rock 08, originally uploaded by Knotty.

sayonara fuji rock

sayonara fuji rock, originally uploaded by Knotty.

big balloons!

big balloons!, originally uploaded by Knotty.

kasabian- fuji rock 08

kasabian- fuji rock 08, originally uploaded by Knotty.

bloc party - fuji rock 08

bloc party - fuji rock 08, originally uploaded by Knotty.

still bp, very good!

still bp, very good!, originally uploaded by Knotty.

iPhone 3G

Apple has 11 tips for increasing battery life on your iPhone.

• Turn off 3G
• Minimize use of location services
• Fetch new data less frequently
• Turn off push mail
• Auto-check fewer email accounts
• Minimize use of third-party applications
• Turn off Wi-Fi
• Turn off Bluetooth
• Use Airplane Mode in low- or no-coverage areas
• Adjust brightness
• Turn off EQ

In a nutshell? Use it as an iPod. But not too often.

via 43f

Still on the fence.

Leaving Baghdad

"If we pull out of Iraq before Iraq has a strong army and an economy and civil infrastructure to support that army we will regret the day we pull out to early."

Agreed.

via Comment #23, Leaving Baghdad: What Should the Americans Do? NYT

I hear the same question: “ What do you think about pulling our troops from Iraq?” I always answer with another question: “What should the Americans do before leaving Iraq? Iraq has been destroyed by your army, so what should you do before leaving? You broke it and you have to fix it.” cont'd

Fifty Billion Dollars

These bank notes are trading at above face value on Ebay. Amazing. There is a market for everything. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe introduced $100 billion bank notes on Monday in a vain attempt to keep up with the official inflation rate of 2.2 million percent. The new note is (was..) equal to about ONE US Dollar. Crikey.

Czech-tastic

Clicky for story and video

Tugging Tom

Tugg Speedman vs. Tom Cruise.

Parody-tastic. I do like Tom's films, but the Scientology cult stuff weirds me out big time.

Warning: May contain traces of beard

Chuck Norris Facts:

Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.

There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.

Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.

There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.

Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.

more facts

Wal-Mart

The growth of Wal-Mart, currently worth $220billion

Look out below

“June was a classic case of catching a falling knife,” he said. “Everything seemed cheap and people thought it was fantastic but unfortunately some things that seemed cheap got even cheaper.”

FT

Knowing the world you live in

The Norwegian diplomat Charung Gollar was asked to present the UN with a graphic showing the main problems in the world in 2004. He presented a set of 8 pictures entitled "The power of stars" and was applauded for the simplicity of his idea. In spite of having no pretension at all, his work was presented to participate in the Nobel Prize of Politic Marketing.









via the fil :)

Bravery

"She was there when he needed her most; she showed up and stood by him. That is more than many people will ever have in a marriage. It is something they will always share."

Ty and Renee

timesonline

Are you looking out for Didi the Devil?

Le Tour, via bigpicture

Hokkaido G8

"There are few more forlorn and pointless occupations in the world than that of the Japanese riot police. Consider their situation - plucked from the ranks for their intelligence and fitness, trained over several years in marksmanship, crowd control and the most lethal of the martial arts, then set loose in a country with the same level of civil unrest as Legoland.

The G8 summit went off without a single security hitch. On the other hand, the policing bill for the three days was 30 billion yen. That's £142 million."

timesonline

It is nice living in Legoland though..

An unviable short term solution

"A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest.

"What America needs right now is not more talk and long-term strategy, but a concrete way to create more imaginary wealth in the very immediate future," said Thomas Jenkins, CFO of the Boston-area Jenkins Financial Group, a bubble-based investment firm. "We are in a crisis, and that crisis demands an unviable short-term solution."

The current economic woes, brought on by the collapse of the so-called "housing bubble," are considered the worst to hit investors since the equally untenable dot-com bubble burst in 2001. According to investment experts, now that the option of making millions of dollars in a short time with imaginary profits from bad real-estate deals has disappeared, the need for another spontaneous make-believe source of wealth has never been more urgent."

the onion

A-Rod waiting to bat against the Toronto Blue Jays

Wildman

"If you're thinking that three thousand is a huge number of times to lift or pull or curl some heavy object, you are right. Which is why the Circuit has developed a reputation for causing some of these men to -- there's really no subtle way to put it -- projectile vomit. Its twenty multipart exercises are cycled through six times in a complicated sequence, but the Circuit's ground rules are simple: Once you start, you don't stop until it's done.

Wildman himself is a world-class athlete in several sports. In recent years, he has competed in the Ironman Triathlon nine times, the three-thousand-mile Race Across America bike race, the Aspen downhill ski race, and the New York and L.A. marathons. In the sailing world, Wildman made history by winning all three of the Chicago Yacht Club's famed Mackinac races in one season. He snowboards the Alaskan backcountry with Olympic downhill champion Tommy Moe. Two years ago, he paddled through the entire chain of Hawaiian islands on a surfboard.

Except that it doesn't make sense. Because Don Wildman is seventy-five years old.

One of the most consuming chapters in Wildman's competitive life began in 1982, when he caught the first televised Hawaiian Ironman triathlon. The race, composed of a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a marathon, was touted as the ultimate physical challenge. As if to illustrate this, the women's leader, twenty-three-year-old Julie Moss, collapsed two hundred yards from the finish and for ten minutes attempted to drag herself to the line, staggering and crawling. When she touched the finish line, she collapsed in a puddle of urine and her eyes rolled back in her head. It was one of the most horrifying moments ever documented in sports. Watching it, Wildman was impressed. "I told my wife, 'Hey, there's this new sport I want to try.'"

"Don dragged me and all my buddies into training for the thing. And then he beat us all," John Wildman says. "I did not do subsequent Ironmans." His father did. After being told he'd won his age group, Wildman was dismayed to learn that he'd actually come in second to a Canadian named Les McDonald. The following year, Wildman returned, seeking to claim the gold, only to lose to McDonald again. Ditto the third year. Over seven years, a pattern emerged: Wildman would lose to his rival, a superior runner, but he'd narrow the gap. The eighth year, Wildman won.

When most of us do something that could potentially result in severe injury, resistance intervenes in the form of terror. Like Hamilton, Wildman appears to be missing that gene. To them, getting hurt is simply an inconvenient by-product of doing what they love, nothing to get emotional about.

Wildman gets off his bike and helps me up, nodding his approval: "I always say, It's not a ride unless you get some blood." "

Esquire, via Duffy

McCain

"He said, ruefully, that he had not mastered how to use the Internet and relied on his wife and aides like Mark Salter, a senior adviser, and Brooke Buchanan, his press secretary, to get him online to read newspapers (though he prefers reading those the old-fashioned way) and political Web sites and blogs.

“They go on for me,” he said. “I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself. I don’t expect to be a great communicator, I don’t expect to set up my own blog, but I am becoming computer literate to the point where I can get the information that I need.”

As he answered questions, sipping a cup of coffee with his tie tight around his neck, his aides stared down at their BlackBerries.

As they tapped, Mr. McCain said he did not use a BlackBerry, though he regularly reads messages on those of his aides. “I don’t e-mail, I’ve never felt the particular need to e-mail,” Mr. McCain said."

nytimes

Nuff said.

Pole dancing

Fred..

Struck

Green Fatigue

"I'm sick of everyone from Al Gore to the guy who mows my grass telling me to "go green." I'm tired of sifting through the "eco-safe" claims of products as diverse as cleansers, cars and cookies: recycled, recyclable, reusable, organic, all-natural, environmentally friendly, environmentally preferable, environmentally safe, biodegradable, compostable, ozone-friendly, zero-carbon, carbon-neutral … the list is limited only by the imaginations of the marketing geniuses who developed it. We are drowning in so many vague, dubious or breathlessly hyped assertions that sometimes it's easier just to throw the sticky peanut-butter jar away.

I am not alone in my green fatigue. The Shelton Group's latest study, Energy Pulse 2007, revealed that between 2006 and 2007, Americans' enthusiasm for energy-efficient products and services fell across the board. "We are really seeing a backlash to the whole green thing," says Shelton. "We've tested environmental messaging for some clients lately, and we get a lot of eye rolls and deep sighs. We hear things like 'I'm so tired of the green label being slapped on everything,' 'I'm so tired of being guilted into being green'."

There isn't a diagnostic label [now] for green fatigue or eco-anxiety. At some point there probably will be."

"The discussion about changing our light bulbs, about washing our laundry on a lower setting, all seem to be very petty approaches to what is being described as a great climate catastrophe," says James Panton, cofounder of the Manifesto Club, which is committed to preventing ecological disaster without limiting human potential. "Changing a light bulb isn't the way forward."

"If there were stronger infrastructural changes, then you would have a clear lead from the political and economic leadership of our society, and you won't have that kind of fatigue," says Tim Baster, executive director of the U.K.'s Climate Outreach and Information Network. "It's individuals who get demoralized. There has to be collective action."

Newsweek

Sad, but true?

Last night's wine

sugoi, originally uploaded by Knotty.

Cos d'Estournel St Estephe 1986, Cotes Rotie B&B E Guigal 1991, Chateauneuf du Pape Rayas 1990 and very nice they were too..

McCain/Fiorina

"The best reason to vote against John McCain is this. His chief economic advisor is Carly Fiorina.

Fiorina's record as a businesswoman makes George W. Bush's stewardship of his office look slick by comparison.

Fiorina took one of the greatest companies in America, the crown jewel of Silicon Valley, the Hewlett-Packard Co., and within less than five years she brought it to its knees. She ignored its corporate culture, she made one of the dumbest deals in American business history (buying Compaq), she treated anyone who questioned her with contempt, and (worst of all) she lost money.

Then she blamed everyone but herself. Still does.

Sound familiar?

I don't care whether it does or not. What I care about is John McCain's judgment in thinking Carly Fiorina can run a lemonade stand, let alone the U.S. economy. Fiorina is the ultimate icon of the Forbes Myth, the idea that business is all great men (and women) who bestride the world like collossi, around whom all revolves.

Business isn't like that. Never was. Only in the fevered imagination of people whose view of life doesn't extend beyond the Hudson River. Business isn't just about strategy. It's about tackling. It's blocking-and-tackling, it's manufacturing and marketing, it's organization. It's hard work, the hardest work America offers, and the most potentially rewarding.

We love to say of American capitalism that it rewards success and punishes failure. Where is Carly Fiorina's punishment?

And again, what does it say about John McCain that he would choose this woman to represent him?"

blankenhorn

Harsh but fair? I don't rate her either, but is she really his economic advisor??



get your war on

Happy Birthday D-Man

One Year old today.. and still a great pup.

How long did it take you to drive down?

I am wondering if the lack of traffic on our recent return journeys from the beach has more to do with the price of petrol than the weather forecast. I have to be constantly reminded that even though it was over 30C and sunny all weekend that summer hasn't started yet. That's later this month.

Agreed

"I will feel a little sorry for Mr. Obama if he gets to the White House. He'll have to find a gentle way to tell the truth to the people who elected him, people who will be suffering mightily, and who will be very sore about their losses. He'll have to tell them that the previous "release" of the American Dream software is obsolete, and the new version will require a whole lot more of them in the way of earnest effort, delayed gratification, and revised expectations." clusternation

Fighting Fire

"While the few cities in this county have paid firefighters, in the small communities that dot this region, fires are fought mostly by trained volunteers. When the lightning fires struck in June, Mr. Acker said, “The entire governmental system broke down; we had to rely on ourselves and our neighbors.” nytimes California Wildfires 6Jun


"We're living in this beautiful space on the whim of Mother Nature," he said. "She comes along like this every once in a while. It teaches you humility." sfgate


images via boston.com/bigpicture

GT2

"Just yesterday, I pulled out to overtake four cars on a normal A road and by the time the manoeuvre was complete, I was doing 165mph. That is not a boast. That is a fact. And if anyone asks, I shall say I was on the Isle of Man. There’s a crest on a B road near where I live, and in most cars the traction control light flickers as you go over it. The GT2, however, slewed sideways. Suddenly. It was extremely alarming. I may even have wet myself a bit." clarkson

Dear Father Christmas.....

Spudly Knott

Head measurement, Spine, Humerus measurement, Heart and heartbeat, Stomach and circumference, Femur measurement gives weight estimate of 1362g, statistics show right in the middle of the curve with due date 16th Sep, but still no confirmation of sex. Being coy. :)

Republican warning

"The Republicans keep warning us that if we elect a Democratic president things will go in the
opposite direction.

When Bush took office in January 2001:

The unemployment rate was 4.2%, now it is 5.5%.

The inflation rate was 3.7%, now it is 4.1%.

Gasoline was around $1.45, now it is over $4.00.

The S&P 500 was 1,342 and now it is 1,261.

The trade weighted dollar was 122.7, now it is 96.0

I'm looking for a bumper stickers that says, Bin Laden still has his job, do you?"

angrybear

Memory

An amnesiac walked into a bar. He said, "Do I come here often?"

cash is king

cash is king, originally uploaded by Knotty.

In the land of no cheque books.

beer garden - the aftermath

beer garden - the aftermath, originally uploaded by Knotty.

You can't picture this

Know your rights. Exercise them. Before they are gone.

Buzzball - The One Person Rollercoaster

"At the heart of the Evento Buzzball is a dual motor configuration, enabling the pilot to control the motion and direction of travel via left and right control triggers, which provides power to the driving wheels. The amount of power applied to each wheel will determine the direction the Buzzball moves. Once the Buzzball is in motion the pod maintains an upright position until the pilot turns, causing the pod to rotate inside the ball against the direction of travel, which applies a braking force and the pod to lock with the ball. This causes the pod to rotate with the ball until the weight of the pilot and pod overcomes the inertia forces and causes the Buzzball to change direction. This is when the fun starts, as the speed will affect the degree of rotation of the pilot and pod from a partial barrel roll to complete and multiple rotations!"

OR

Get in ball. Strap in. Pull levers. Vomit violently. Good time!!

Baby Industrial Complex

We are to the baby company executives "first-time expectants".. it is a term given to their most unprepared, inexperienced, impressionable, wallet-emptying target customer.. marketing to us focuses solely on style and fashion (granted after an obligatory head tip toward safety and quality).. the mums play a primary role in the decision making process, would-be dads are only interested in strollers and maybe the tech stuff like baby monitors.. yep, true. linky

Lehman below 20 bucks

"The banks have been doing their death dance for an entire year now, pretending that their problems are those of mere "liquidity" (i.e. cash-on-hand) rather than insolvency (no cash either on hand or in the vault and nothing else to sell to raise cash except worthless "creative" securities that nobody would ever buy). But the destruction of money (resulting from loans not paid back) is now so intense that the game of pretend has reached its terminal point. The question for the moment is exactly who and what will be crushed as these institutions roll over and die."

kunstler