This is how I learn Ground Zero is no longer a hole in the ground

I live a half mile away (across the Hudson) and the first way I learn that it's no longer a crab hole is that a Subway (no pun intended) is going up (literally) on site.

 

The Sanctity of Marriage

Divorced.

A security kludge I can get behind

Well... it's not like you can steal it until you've used it up...

Eager dandelions

It seems like the results of Slate's Write Like Sarah Palin contest are in (out?).  I didn't make the cut, but I still like my entry:

“As I looked out on the standing-room-only crowd at the state fair rally, their faces lit in the afternoon sun like eager dandelions, I thought of my common-sense ideas, wafting at them from the PA system like a gentle zephyr, blowing through their minds and spreading the seeds of small-government reform throughout our great land.”

But I have to take off my shoes to get on the plane, myself

The Olympic flame sits across six seats on a plane as it is separated into six different miners' lanterns before leaving Athens, Greece, bound for Canada, on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

(link goes to more-than-complete set of photos of the Flame being relayed....)

The 80s Are Alive And Well

(well, as well as it ever was).

Remember when all it took to make a crappy repetitive song a #1 chart hit was a mindblowingly inventive, game-changing video to go on deep-dish rotation on MTV?  You know, just before Reagan got re-elected?

LA ROUX 'BULLETPROOF' from soyo on Vimeo.

A set (real, and virtual) one pines for the talent to create, married to a song in true period piece form (with the synths, beat box etc)... Tetris.. Tron.. Rubik's (everything), checkerboard shoes.. plastic jacket... Annie Lennox over-gelled hair.. "3d Demo" show-off graphics.... And, for those whose minds tend to such things, the Pointer Sisters'1984 LA Olympics-inspired "Jump" video, with its tiled-background set.

But, whatever you do, don't miss the La Roux spelled out in the real wood scenery at the 0:35 mark.  Watch full-screen (click on the little "X" next to the Vimeo logo then hit Play) and enjoy.

And, just to make you feel old, the singer was born in 1988.... about four years after the specific time this video is based on...

What Would Jesus Do....

.... if he were a priggish bigot?

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

WashPo article

Dogs welcoming soldier home

Although to be fair, they used to react that way every time he'd come out of the bathroom before he left.

Where you might store gifts for people, such as a....

Original video

Not Exactly an Amber Alert

Seen in a Matamoros, PA Walmart (click to enlarge)