Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'Science'

Stephen Colbert on James Holsinger and His Weird Plumbing Analogies

June 15th, 2007 · Comments Off on Stephen Colbert on James Holsinger and His Weird Plumbing Analogies · Comedy, Culture, Health, LGBT, Politics, TV, Video

Stephen Colbert dedicates The Word to Bush’s gay-hating Surgeon General nominee, James Holsinger, and shares some of Holsinger’s amazing insights into what plumbing can teach us about human sexuality.   (h/t After Elton)

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Roundup: Magnum Opus Edition

June 4th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Magnum Opus Edition · Apple, Books, Comics, Culture, Food, Heroes, iTunes, Language, LGBT, Lit, Media, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Tech, TV, Vegetarian & Vegan

COMICS: For once I’m starting out with the comics section, in honor of the fact that Salon has added Opus by the mighty Berkeley Breathed (Bloom County, Outland) to their repertoire. Oh, happy day. Here’s the first installment. Along with my favorites This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow and Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben […]

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Cooking with Kate Bush, or The Man with the Bean Sprouts in His Eyes

May 30th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Food, Health, Journal, Music, New Wave, TV, Vegetarian & Vegan, Video

I’m embroiled in some serious end-of-the-month deadline drama this week, so posting will probably be lighter than usual for the next few days. Fortunately for us all, Kate Bush is here to share vegetarian cooking tips! (From a 1980 TV interview.) Here’s to putting nuts in everything!   I love the way Kate and the […]

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Roundup: Pottymouth Jar Edition

May 22nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Apple, Blogs, Business, Comics, Culture, Foreign Policy, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Macintosh, Music, News, Politics, Religion, Tech, Terrorism, Torture

It’s the foreign policy, stupid: This great post at Crooks and Liars takes apart the simplistic and unhelpful notion that terrorists “hate us for our freedoms.” As Michael Scheuer, former station chief of the CIA’s Osama Bin Laden task force, says: “The fundamental flaw in our thinking about Bin Laden is that ‘Muslims hate and […]

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The Colbert Report: Heated Debate

May 21st, 2007 · Comments Off on The Colbert Report: Heated Debate · Climate Change, Comedy, Culture, Education, Politics, Science, TV, Video

“Professors are forcing our kids to submit to their pro-glacier agenda!” Newsflash: Student traumatized when his university tries to make him learn things that don’t harmonize with his conservative worldview! Fortunately, Stephen Colbert is here to make sense of the situation.   Yeah, what Stephen said! Because you should never, ever have to be taught […]

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NYC Ferrets Against Giuliani

May 17th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Activism, Culture, LGBT, Nature, News, Pets, Politics, Video

Some ferrets talk smack about Rudy G:   There was a time when I used to buy the line that ferrets don’t make good pets, before I’d ever gotten to know any. But in recent years my sister has had a couple of ferrets and they’ve been wonderful companion animals — friendly, happy, gentle, and […]

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Roundup: Carrot Whittling Edition

May 15th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Blogs, Culture, Education, Energy, Film, Food, LGBT, Music, New Wave, News, Politics, Science, Science Fiction, Tech

White light, green heat: LEDS aren’t just for clock radios any more. In fact, LED lightbulbs may turn out to be the bulb of the future instead of compact fluorescents. Thanks to a breakthrough in the 90s, modern LEDs can emit white light instead of just red or green. They last up to five times […]

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Roundup: The Bitch Is Back Edition

May 11th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: The Bitch Is Back Edition · Apple, Comedy, Comics, Culture, Doctor Who, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Human Rights, LGBT, Media, Music, New Wave, News, Peace, Pet Food, Politics, Science Fiction, Tech, Torture, TV

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Converting the Local Sealife to Slurry

May 10th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Chicago, Energy, Nature, Science

Aaron administers a much-deserved rhetorical thrashing to Mr. Burns’ real-life analog at a certain local power company, who thinks lethally scalding the local fish (and other aquatic life) by expelling 100-degree water into the Chicago and Lower Des Plaines rivers is the most efficient way to cool the companies’ coal-fired power plants. This process, called […]

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Roundup: Kansas Twister Edition

May 9th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Comedy, Culture, Doctor Who, Education, Food, Health, HIV/AIDS, Journalism, LGBT, Media, Music, New Wave, News, Politics, Science Fiction, TV, Video

Kansas governor says it’s been harder to deal with the recent tornado disaster because the war in Iraq has put such a drain on the state’s National Guard. Both personnel and equipment that should have been available to the state are currently tied up in Iraq. “Here in Kansas, about 50 percent of our trucks […]

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Roundup: Sunday Potluck Edition

May 6th, 2007 · 9 Comments · Activism, Blogs, Comics, Culture, Education, Film, Foreign Policy, Hate Crimes, Health, LGBT, Lit, Music, News, Peace, Pet Food, Pets, Poetry, Politics, Tea

Sunday was always potluck day where I grew up, so I hereby present to you this glorious covered casserole of links I didn’t get around to posting this week. With a few fresh ones stirred in, just to keep you guessing. Retired general compares Bush to a deserter: “By vetoing this bill and failing to […]

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“Very Bad HIV Legislation in Illinois”

May 6th, 2007 · Comments Off on “Very Bad HIV Legislation in Illinois” · Activism, Chicago, Health, HIV/AIDS, LGBT, Music, Politics

I got an email this week from my friend Justin Hayford, who works at the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago when he’s not moonlighting as a cabaret crooner. Justin had a lot to say about a couple of pending bills in the Illinois House of Representatives. I could spend a bunch of time trying to […]

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Roundup: Giant Hourglass Edition

April 30th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Activism, Apple, Blogs, Books, Culture, Education, Fantasy, Foreign Policy, Health, Human Rights, Lit, Media, News, Politics, Science, Science Fiction, Tech, TV

As part of an international day of protest over the genocide in Darfur, campaigners in London displayed a giant hourglass filled with “blood” to symbolize time running out. The image at right is from a video featuring Hugh Grant tied to the campaign. More than 200,000 have died, with 2 million displaced and 4 million […]

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Roundup: Zero Gravity Friday Edition

April 27th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Zero Gravity Friday Edition · Apple, Climate Change, Comedy, Comics, Culture, Factory Farming, Film, Food, Guns, iTunes, LGBT, Macintosh, Media, Nature, News, Pet Food, Pets, Politics, Science

I have three days’ worth of links accumulated and only one Friday afternoon roundup post to squeeze them into! Help me with the zipper. As many as 6,000 hogs may have been fed melamine-tainted feed: “A USDA official said that so far states have quarantined one farm each in South Carolina, New York, North Carolina […]

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