First Looks category archive

Science 2.0 has some suggestions from the world of science. My favorite:

Christmas is about a birth but there’s a star that lets everyone know where it happens. So first go take a look at this astronomer’s explanation for the Star Of Bethlehem – planetary conjunction or Christmas miracle? Yes. Bonus: it’s sure to enrage all the left wing atheists you know.

Check out the links in the Old Time Radio section just added to the sidebar below the news feeds, over there.

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Andy Borowitz on Goldman’s sacks.
Follow the link for the full report.

In a rare press conference, the usually reclusive Prince of Darkness defended Goldman’s bonuses today, welcoming reporters at his apartment in New York’s Trump Tower.

“I don’t doubt for a minute that my friends at Goldman deserved those bonuses,” Satan said, adding that “buying their souls was the best investment I ever made.”

When I was a young ‘un, boys learned about cars. Now the only cars they learn about are in GTA. Cars are also much more complicated now; the era of the shade-tree mechanic has ended.

Jennifer Waters has column full of good car maintenance tips at MarketWatch. A nugget:

“Probably the most common cause of the check-engine light is that the gas cap is not on tight enough,” Reed said. The sensor has responded to the extra oxygen going through the gas line and it will go off once the cap has been tightened or the entire tank has been used.

Aside: When my check engine light came on, Donny replaced the gas cap. Problem solved.

Via Shaun Mullen, a gas of an article about the SR-71 Blackbird. A nugget:

One day, high above Arizona , we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. ‘Ninety knots,’ ATC replied. A twin Bonanza soon made the same request. ‘One-twenty on the ground,’ was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was ‘Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,’ ATC responded. The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walter’s mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walter startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, ‘ Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.’ We did not hear another transmis sion on that frequency all the way to the coast.

Via the Brad Blog.

They get to hit and keep on running:

District Court Judge Frederick Gannett accepted the plea bargain in the hit-and-run case against prominent Denver wealth manager Marty Erzinger Thursday, sentencing him to one year of probation and 90 days in jail for running down cyclist Dr. Steven Milo with his Mercedes and then leaving the scene last July.

(snip)

Haddon (the victim’s attorney–ed.) argued that the deal, which included two misdemeanor charges and no felony charges, wasn’t appropriate.

“I submit that in these kinds of instances, prosecutors can, should and do require felony pleas,” Haddon said.

Full Disclosure: I did not make the connection to this earlier post when I posted this Wednesday.

H/T Karen for the link.

Click the image for more Auth.

According to this news report, his tormentors actions “did not constitute a crime.”

Via Bart Blog.

Details here.

We seem to be getting sideswiped by the remains of the storm that had the temerity to interfere with the NFL. I hear it was penalized fifteen inches and ordered to sit out the next blizzard.

Time to hang the Christmas lights.

Joan Wickersham, writing in the Boston Globe, deconstructs the fashion for GLCBs (Greedy Little Christmas Books). A nugget:

6. Debase the English language. Do not use a verb without an adverb. “He asked curiously.’’ “She laughed merrily.’’ “She sobbed sadly.’’ “He yelled angrily.’’ Mix metaphors. Confuse “lie’’ and “lay.’’ Write sentences that sound like tricky SAT math problems. (“She had half a mind to call the police and half a mind to march across the street to give them a piece of her mind.’’)

7. Have your characters come to believe in something. It doesn’t matter what it is. The true meaning of this. The miracle and wonder of that.

8. Insist on the shallowness of materialism and the importance of treating other people with kindness, not contempt.

9. Undercut this insistence by writing the book.

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a fascinating article on John Heisman, the Penn alumnus for whom the Heisman trophy of college football is named. A nugget:

For all his sophisticated strategies, Heisman allegedly was the first to come up with the hidden-ball trick, telling his quarterback at Auburn to slip the pigskin under his jersey and pretend to tie his shoelaces. Vanderbilt fell for it.

Heisman also once used a hidden team trick, in 1902, when he coached Clemson to a victory over Georgia Tech, two years before he switched schools. Wilkinson wrote how Clemson got off the train the night before the game, “checked into a hotel and proceeded to party until dawn.” Tech fans saw all this and bet heavily on the home team. Except the Clemson partyers were decoy scrubs. The varsity showed up well-rested the next morning and annihilated Georgia Tech, 44-5.