Fatal Coulrophobia

Two circus clowns have been shot dead during a performance in the eastern Colombian city of Cucuta, police say.

Looks like someone took their fear of clowns a little too far.

[BBC]

Meet the Press for Idiots

Hilarious clip from last Thursday’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Check it out.

ASU and the Peace Corps

As someone who plans to join the Peace Corps once I finally finish my B.A., I found this little tidbit of interest.

Thanks to alumni, recently ASU has risen to “No. 19 on the list of the top 25 large schools with graduates serving as volunteers.” While 19th out of 25 is no big deal, the fact that ASU has moved up 16 places from 35th to 19th is quite impressive in my mind. It is also worthy to note that ASU is the “No. 45 producer of volunteers of all time” with 757 alumni having joined the Peace Corps since its inception in 1961.

[ASU]

Virtual Console Monday

It’s Monday and that means that Nintendo has released a new batch of games for the Virtual Console service on the Wii. The last two Mondays have been great with Nintendo releasing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Mario World respectively. Today’s releases fail to disappoint with Nintendo releasing the following titles:

• Donkey Kong Country (SNES 800 Points)
• The Legend of Kage (NES 500 Points)
• New Adventure Island (TG16 600 Points)
• Streets of Rage (Genesis 800 Points)

[NoA]

Happy Presidents Day

Happy Presidents Day, a day to observe the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. George turns 275 this year and Abe turns 198. It might be a federal holiday but, school is still in session. Oh well, I only have one class this evening.

Pillars of Creation

Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is that of the Pillars of Creation and it is unreal. The pillars are huge, as in light years huge. I’ve seen this photograph plenty of times and it still amazes me that it’s a real photograph and not some painting thought up in the mind a brilliant artist.

Tortilla Flat Via Moto

No, not Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat but, Tortilla Flat, AZ. Today’s forecast was high 60’s and slightly overcast, which was perfect for an afternoon ride up to the premier motorcyclist destination in the Phoenix region. It’s always a bit crowded up there on the weekends and today was no exception. It didn’t matter to me though; it gave me a few opportunities to pull off and snap a few pictures while I waited for traffic to subside. It’s a lot more fun of a ride when you have room to play and aren’t stuck behind a Lincoln Towncar with grandma and grandpa rubbernecking it at 20 MPH.

The best part is the two or three miles after Tortilla Flat until the pavement ends; the majority of visitors stop at Tortilla Flat. It’s a shame the road isn’t paved all the way to Roosevelt Lake; dirt road + high performance motorcycle tires != a good time. I’ve made the drive in my car (I don’t think my suspension was too happy me afterwards) and it’s beautiful.

If you’re ever visiting the Phoenix area, I highly recommend a trip up the Apache Trail, at least to Tortilla Flat, if not all the way to Roosevelt Lake. Hit the picture below for the Flickr set of my trip.

On a side note, after owning my Monster for two years I finally came across another Monster owner today.

Stereo Eros

Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is a special one. Get out those red/blue glasses and check out asteroid 433 Eros in full stereo-tastic vision. This is the asteroid that NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touched down on, a few years back.

In other asteroid news, the UN has drafted a treaty in order to figure out what to do if a near-Earth object (NEO) were to to get a little too close for comfort. I say they build a spaceship capable of launching nuclear missiles and then hold a worldwide Asteroids tournament to see who is worthy of piloting said craft.

[BBC]

Xin nein kuai le!

Happy Chinese New Year! Not only is it the Year of the Pig, it’s the Year of Golden Pig, which only comes around once every 60 years. Pigs symbolize good luck but, they can also symbolize turbulence. Hopefully it’s good luck for me since my surname is Hams.

[BBC]

Forget Cartoons…

…It’s Saturday morning and the Senate is in session. Time for some C-SPAN lovin’, I love C-SPAN, it has drama, action, suspense, and comedy; this is my soap opera.

Hutchinson needs to brush up on her history. She claims that this is the first time we’ve fought an enemy that was willing to blow themselves up in order to harm U.S. soldiers. Hmm…I seem to remember in high school learning about Japanese kamikaze pilots and booby trapped Vietcong.

Schumer gave a good speech saying that this is not the end but, the beginning. If anyone from New York should be running for President, it’s Schumer. He was followed by Biden, who basically echoed his sentiments. I support Edwards for President but, I think Biden is dead-on when it comes to Iraq. The country needs to be split up into three states. It’s the only way that any magnitude of stability will ever be brought to that region. I’ll be in Heaven if the Democratic ticket for ’08 is Edwards/Biden.

Byrd was also fun to watch. He scares me when he gets fired up. I thought he was going have a heart-attack at one point. I used to think the people of West Virginia were a bit loony for keeping him in office but, he has a certain “je ne sais quoi” old schooliness to him. It’s a shame that age is getting the better of him.

I wish people would stop saying that this resolution will embolden the enemy and destroy the moral of U.S. troops. It’s simply not the case, in my mind. I don’t think Iraqi insurgents put that much stock into what the U.S. Congress does. If anything is going to embolden them, it’s plopping 20,000 additional targets down in front of them. As for the destroying the moral of U.S. troops, give me a break. Give the troops some credit here, they aren’t stupid, don’t treat them as such. Their moral won’t be decimated by a debate on the floor of Congress.

In case you missed it, the House yesterday passed their nonbinding resolution at 246-182. The Senate is currently voting on whether to move to vote. Hopefully they cut to the chase and get on with the vote.