First Looks category archive

Basic rule of communication. For example.

This column appeared in the local rag several weeks ago, but only recently became available on line.

The writer interviews two persons who participated in the real Cannonball Run. A nugget:

The cockpit of the Ferrari 308 is far from spacious, less so when equipped with two radar detectors – one in front, one in back – and a CB radio. Add the constant drone of engine and road noise, and you have some idea of its ambience.

“Things were getting bad,” Baker recalled. “We had scheduled where the gas stops were to be and I blew by it at 12 o’clock when nothing else is open, only because a state trooper is on me.”

Follow the link for the rest.

Via Feastingonroadkill.

CSI: Seoul version.

There will be a solar eclipse tonight, midnight, June 1, Norway daylight savings time, which is 6 p. m. US EDT. Norway is UMT +1.

You can watch it on line here.

H/T Susan for the link.

Addendum, Later That Same Day:

Screen captures tomorrow.

In the Boston Globe, Alex Poulos foresees the growth of surveillance, not by the government, but by business, not for “security,” but for “marketing purposes, to enhance your shopping experience” (not his words; my paraphrase of marketese).

He predicts a presence that is increasingly intrusive, invasive, horizontally integrated (so there’s no escaping it), and interactive (in the computer sense).

Here’s a snippet from his comments. Follow the link for the rest.

INTERACTIVE. In-person shopping will be a performance art. “Real life’’ will mean what you do online — work, socialize, train your virtual pet, and “grow’’ your avatar’s personality so it’s “more you’’ in networking with other avatars while you sleep. . .

Soon 3-D ads will be common. But later, we’ll have 4-D advertising — smell will be produced, to stimulate appetite.

Special wingnut edition.

By Gerardo Mena:

Via the Rude One.

Date: Saturday, May 28th.

Special Guest Speaker: LaDrew Bennis, Political Coordinator for Teamsters Local Unit 822.

Location: Bubba’s Deli & BBQ, 3600 Dam Neck Rd, Virginia Beach (Map).

Cost: Adults $10.00, Under 12 $6.00 for all-you-can-eat buffet (it’s a good value for the price).

More information here.

H/T Susan for the link.

Off to drink liberally.

From Andy Borowitz. A snippet:

Elsewhere, Harold Camping, the preacher who predicted that the world would end on May 21, issued the following brief statement: “”The world doesn’t end this week. Oprah does. My bad, sry.”

More at the link.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us.

When: Wednesday, May 25, 6 p

Where:
Kelly’s Tavern
1936 Laskin Rd, # 201
Virginia Beach, Va. (Map)

More here.

I’ve added several more old time radio links to the Old Time Radio item over there

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on the sidebar.

A ceremony yesterday commemorated an event from a century ago (long story at the link): Three slaves escaped from working on Confederate defenses and fled to Fort Monroe, Virginia.

Today, we would say that they sought asylum. The Union forces did not know what to do.

After meeting with the three men, (General Benjamin–ed.) Butler decided that he didn’t have to return them to their owner, reasoning that the fugitive slave law wouldn’t apply in secessionist Virginia. He considered them “contraband of war,” akin to enemy horses or cannon, and put them to work for wages.

In the weeks and months after Butler’s ruling, thousands of former slaves marched into Union hands.

Today, persons descended from those men and women celebrate their having been classified as “akin to enemy horses or cannon” and consider it to have been a step up from their previous status.

“Singing in the fields” my anatomy.

I had decided to lay off the rapture snark (I still have a couple of items waiting in the wings), but this was just too good to pass up (emphasis added):

The end of the world starts at 6pm on 21 May, according to one of the usual American suspects, so you may still have time to make arrangements for the Rapture – the fundamentalist Christian equivalent of the last helicopter out of Saigon.

The entire column is, in fact, quite the giggle.

Also, do the rapture math.

Warning: Questionable taste; language.

The UPS guys’ knees are in bloom.