neonvincent

Nablopomo for May 2012: Play Week 2

2012-05-19T16:47:30Z

Follow-up to Nablopomo for May 2012: Play

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Time for a default icon change

2012-05-17T14:49:19Z

Important voting information for UW-Madison students
May 10, 2012

Dean of Students Lori Berquam emailed the following information to UW-Madison students Thursday, May 10 in an effort to help students vote in the June 5 recall election:

Dear Students,

As you are aware, Wisconsin's recall election will be held on Tuesday, June 5.

As always, I strongly encourage you to be educated about the candidates and cast a ballot. Recent changes in voting laws, combined with the end of the semester, may require you to plan ahead.

Thank you, Dean Berquam. I have only one thing to add. May the UW's students do their part as important players in the following movie.

Above originally posted as part of Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Total Recall and Marriage Equality edition) on Daily Kos.

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Happy Mother's Day from Crazy Eddie's Motie News

2012-05-13T19:11:57Z

Video news coverage of Mother's Day, including the segments promoting consumption (not that this is necessarily a bad thing, as Mother's Day weekend is one of the busiest days for greenhouses and nurseries, which can mean a lot of sustainable gifts; besides, mom deserves recognition), over at Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

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Nablopomo for May 2012: Play

2012-05-11T19:28:44Z

I know I've been participating in Nablopomo for a long time when the monthly themes repeat themselves. Here was the theme from October 2010, when I was using my LiveJournal as my Nablopomo blog.

Greetings, NaBlo bloggers! The theme for October blogging is PLAY. It's a versatile word: you can play a game or a musical instrument; you can be in a play; and when you're steering wheel jiggles it's definitely got too much play. What does the word PLAY mean to you? It may take all month to find out.

Now, here's the theme for May 2012.

So what is the NaBloPoMo theme of the month?
PLAY
This month, because we're in a frisky mood, our theme for NaBloPoMo is PLAY. We'll be remembering your favourite games from childhood, talk about ways you still bring that spirit of playing into your life as an adult, and even look at whether you're a gracious or sore loser.

Make sure you head down to the storage room to reminisce about old toys. And you may even want to pull out the board games one night or create your own online game this month to play with your readers.
...
So start thinking about different ways you played this week.

If it weren't for LiveJournal being the target of DDoS attacks that take it offline from time to time, I'd be tempted to move my posts over there. Instead, I'll keep them here on Crazy Eddie's Motie News. As for what I'll do with it, I think I'll keep posting music, except that now I can also post instrumentals. I can also post videos, even if they don't have music. After all, don't videos "play?" Also, I'll be a good environmentalist and recycle the theme images from last time, which lack either month or year. I get bored with the typewriter logo that Nablopomo seems to have settled on once it moved over to BlogHer.

( A video of my favorite song about gaming plus a list of other posts with this theme behind the cut. )

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Nablopomo for April: Poem week 5

2012-05-08T23:50:38Z

Final two posts about the month.

Joni Mitchell singing "Big Yellow Taxi" in Kunstler in a Big Yellow Taxi.

Thomas Dolby performing "Wind Power" in Nuclear fusion; better news than flying cars.

I'm already a week into the next Nablopomo theme, Play. If that looks familiar, it's because I did it two years ago on my LiveJournal.

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May the Fourth be with you!

2012-05-04T12:28:33Z

Happy Star Wars Day! Entries on Wikipedia and Wookieepedia.

crossposted to star_wars .

ETA: More at May the Fourth be with you! on Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

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Nablopomo for April: Poem week 4

2012-04-29T18:04:11Z

Follow up to last week's post.

This week's songs and the posts that feature them are:

Two Penn State fight songs in Earth Day News from campuses on the 2012 campaign trail.
Kriscan's Peak Oil Song and "Running on Empty" in Showing my students "End of Suburbia" again tonight.
"Here It Goes Again" by OK Go in Blast from the past: Cartoon on oil dependence.
"Mercy Mercy Me" by Marvin Gaye.
The Eastern Michigan fight song in Two Examiner.com articles on taxes and science.
"Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles in The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 5 of several.
A filk version of the Game of Thrones theme in Game of Thrones: 2012 Campaign Edition.

Once again, the first post of this week is already up. This will be the last week of the Poem theme and the first week of the Play theme. Play will allow me to include instrumentals as the music. That's will be a relief!

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Nablopomo for April: Poem week 3

2012-04-22T20:41:34Z

Follow up to last week's post.

This week's songs and the posts that feature them are:

"Rollercoaster" by B*Witched in Riding the gas price rollercoaster
"First Full Moon" by Sufjan Stevens in The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 4 of several
"Tax Man" by The Beatles in Repost: A rant on an anti-tax meme
"Countdown" by Rush in Discovery makes final flight but to D.C. not space
"Bandstand Boogie" by Barry Manilow in Three urban farming stories and a funeral
"Stranglehold" by Ted Nugent in Ted Nugent, stochastic terrorist
"Black Water" by The Doobie Brothers in Deepwater Horizon damaged psyches, too

Finally, the first post of the next week is already up.

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Nablopomo for April: Poem week 2

2012-04-15T23:56:50Z

Follow up to last week's post.

This week's songs and the posts that feature them are:

"My Heart will go on" by Celine Dion in The Titanic 100 years later.
"Theme from The Jetsons" and "Faith of the Heart" in Where's my retro future?
"Kiss Him Good-bye" by Bananarama in Farewell, Frothy!
"Love Rollercoaster" by Red Hot Chili Peppers in Up like a rocket, down like a parachute.
"Changes" by David Bowie in Blog Recommendation: The Hipcrime Vocab.
"Freaky Friday" by Pink Slip in Paraskevidekatriaphobia and Happy Apophis Day!.
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Nouvelle Vague in Plan 999 from Outer Space.

Again, I've already posted my first entry for this week.

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Happy Yuri's Night 2012!

2012-04-13T00:03:38Z

Feeling down about spaceflight? Lift your spirits with Yuri's Night
By Alan Boyle

Yuri's Night has been celebrating space odysseys since 2001, on the 40th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's history-making launch into orbit — but it's much more challenging to find cause for celebration this year.

First of all, it's been just a year since the huge golden anniversary of the first human spaceflight, in 2011. To mark the occasion, Yuri's Night put on more than 600 events in 75 countries, and that's a hard act for anyone to follow. Perhaps more importantly, this year marks the first Yuri's Night since NASA retired the space shuttle fleet. For the next few years, there's no way to launch astronauts from U.S. soil.

"With the shuttle era coming to an end, there's going to be a lot of nostalgia this year," Veronica Ann Zabala-Aliberto, director of marketing for Yuri's Night 2012, told me this week. "It's going to be an interesting time to see how people bridge the gap."

For a schedule of events, see the Yuri's Night website.*

*Originally posted as the lead story in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Yuri's Night 2012 edition) on Daily Kos.

Above originally posted on Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

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Two of my fandoms collide again #starwars #swtor #scifi #music #drumcorps

2012-04-11T01:23:37Z

I present to you the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps playing a brief chorale arrangement of "Duel of the Fates" as a warm up.

That reminded me of a Star Wars/drum corps crossover "music bunny" that had been hopping around in my head the past month. A brief piece called "Mask of Revan" or "Darth Revan's Mask" from "Star Wars: The Old Republic" would also make for a good warmup. Here it is. Listen to it and hear how it might work in the same way that "Duel of the Fates" would. Just imagine the string parts played by trumpets and the harp played by bells.

On the one hand, I'll never be in a position to make this happen. On the other hand, that's a good thing for me. Drum corps is not good for my mental health. On the other hand, playing this video game with my wife is. Play together, stay together!

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Nablopomo for April: Poem

2012-04-08T20:33:23Z

I completely missed reposting any of my posts from Crazy Eddie's Motie News for March on the Nablopomo theme of Whether. Bad dog, no biscuits. I'll get around to organizing and posting linkspams from last month eventually. In the meantime, I'll resume my regular weekly summaries of the Nablopomo posts for April. This month, the theme is poetry. Here's what I wrote on April Fools Day.

From Nablopomo on BlogHer:
So what is the NaBloPoMo theme of the month?
POEM
In honour of National Poetry Month in April, we've made the theme POEM -- which can go in a multitude of directions. First and foremost, you can try your hand at writing some poetry. We'll be presenting a few fixed forms as well as prompts for free forms. Make a personal goal to write a haiku-a-day, write an entire post in rhymed couplets, or argue the merits of Pinterest... in sestina form.

We'll be writing about our reactions to poems -- which poems have come up at important moments in your life? Which poems do you return to again and again? Which poems have changed your mood, given you comfort, or made you want to be a poet yourself?

We'll spend the month looking at reflections of poetry in nature and social situations. And we'll be featuring YOUR poetry weekly. So get your poem on.
When I first read the theme and description, I considered not participating, as I'm not big on poetry. I especially had a hard time squaring the theme with a blog about sustainability, science, and politics, although "poetry in nature" might work. Then I realized that there were some forms of poetry that I liked, limericks and song verses. Most limericks wouldn't be fit for a family blog, but I can always find a good song for my posts. So, I'm participating again this month.

The songs that I've featured so far are:

"She Blinded Me with Science" by Thomas Dolby in Nablopomo for April: Poem
"Heat Wave" by Martha and the Vandellas in March was a heat wave for Detroit and other cities
"(Nothing but) Flowers" by The Talking Heads and performed by David Byrne and Thomas Dolby in Post 500: (Nothing but) Flowers at TED
"Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley and performed by CNN anchor Robin Meade in Olbermann on Letterman with bonus Dirty Laundry
"Let the Good Times Roll" by The Cars in Auto sales up and that's no April Fools
"Ignoreland" by R.E.M. in Rachel Maddow: Michigan is now Ignoreland
"Why" from the album "Mystery to Me" by Fleetwood Mac in The first year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News: Part 3 of several

There will be more next week, as I already have another post up.

Happy reading and happy listening!

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A quote about three of my favorite anime series

2012-03-17T23:25:01Z

"Shōnen has Neon Genesis Evangelion, shojo has Revolutionary Girl Utena, and seinen has Lain."

From TVTropes. Where else?

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Happy St. Patrick's Day--From Moscow!

2012-03-17T19:49:50Z

The saying is that everone is Irish on St. Patrick's day. Russia Today demonstrates the truth of that saying with St. Patrick's Day in Moscow.

More videos and links at Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

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Happy Pi Day!

2012-03-14T14:38:47Z

Huffington Post: Pi Day in America

Today, 4,000 years after people first discovered how useful pi could be, we are about to celebrate International Pi Day. The first time a day was dedicated to pi was on March 14, 1989 at the Exploratorium, a museum of science, art and human perception in San Francisco. The idea was the brainchild of Larry Shaw, a physicist at the center...

Since then, this museum and many others, as well as universities, schools and individuals have celebrated Pi Day by performing pi-related activities; some serious and some less so, such as creating pi puns; baking, throwing and eating pies; and singing pi songs. You can check out this year's bash at the Exploratorium here.

The date is derived from the first three digits of pi -- 3.14 -- using American dating order, just as September 11 is 9/11. And 2015 is going to be a big year for pi since we will celebrate 3.14 15 (correct to 4 places).

At first, Pi Day was a gimmick and a good joke, but now it is a big deal. Many North American and UK schools use it to spark interest in maths and science projects (for example, learning how the Greeks or Arabs did arithmetic; studying famous scientists like Gauss, Newton or Archimedes who worked on pi; or perhaps calculating the volumes of real pies before eating them).

Also, Mathematicians Pictures is having a pi drop at 1:59 PM EDT today (get it? 3.14159) here.

Above originally posted to Crazy Eddie's Motie News, where I made the following meta comment.

Don't expect a lot of serious posts for the next week. Tomorrow is the Ides of March. Two days after that is St. Patrick's Day. Finally, a week from today is this blog's first birthday. Party time!

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Final week of Relative posts at Crazy Eddie's Motie News

2012-03-08T04:57:08Z

Sustainability-related films at the 2012 Oscars
LOL, Foster Friess=Foster's Freeze
Newt Gingrich on Volts and gun racks
Romney wins and the elephants depart for Ohio
Examiner.com article on the Michigan primary

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Star Wars as drawn by Dr. Seuss

2012-03-02T22:34:31Z

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, I give the gift of crossover fan art.

What if Dr. Seuss had written and drawn Star Wars?

Originally posted at fandom_lounge on JournalFen.

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Examiner.com article on the #Michigan #primary

2012-03-01T03:58:58Z

Romney wins Michigan and Washtenaw County but splits delegates with Santorum
Washtenaw County Elections 2010 Examiner

For the order of finish of the top four Republican candidates, their vote percentages, and the splitting of the delegates between the top two candidates, Washtenaw County mirrored the results of the state of Michigan as a whole. On the other hand, the turnout, percentage of the vote cast in the Democratic primary, and order of the lower ranked candidates on the Republican ballot differed significantly from the rest of the state and displayed Washtenaw County's distinctive take on politics. Elsewhere in the state, Democrats crossing over to vote in the Republican primary may have had an effect on the result in at least one Congressional district.

For the rest of the article, surf over to Examiner.com. My blog here isn't monetized, but Examiner.com is.

As for anything I left out of the article, note that I assign part of the responsibility for Santorum's splitting the delegates between the Republicans in the Michigan legislature, who came up with the redistricting plan that moved Calhoun County out of the 7th District and replaced it with Monroe County. That worked to protect my former representative Tim Walberg from a challenge by my other former representative Mark Schauer, but it also made the district more friendly to Santorum. Without that slick move, Romney would have won that district and its two delegates. The rest I give to Democrats crossing over to vote in the Republican primary, although the clearest example involves Democrats voting for Ron Paul, not for Rick Santorum. Sorry, Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos, Operation Hilarity wasn't as effective as you thought it was, despite your bragging. Even so, the video is hilarious.

In other news, one of my New Year's resolutions was to resume writing for Examiner.com. As you can see, I finally got around to it.

Above originally posted to Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

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Fannish post #2: Michigan State University applauds viral video about Skyrim

2012-02-28T02:29:44Z

Second of two posts originally at fandom_lounge on JournalFen.

Michigan State University even made a video and a press release about it.

Justin Grosjean, media arts and technology major, and twin brother John produced the video Skyrim: 2012 that went viral receiving almost 2 million views since its release.

Michigan State University: Student video goes viral
Published: Feb. 15, 2012

The lives of twins Justin and John Grosjean changed when they released a video - "Skyrim: 2012" to their channel on YouTube.

Justin, a media arts and technology senior at Michigan State University, and his brother John, a student at Oakland University, have always loved the games produced by the company Bethesda Softworks. They began making videos about six months ago and it was only natural that they wanted to make a video out of one of the games they love - Skyrim.

( But they didn't expect it to be such a big hit. )

Here's the video itself.

Condensed version without video embeds here.

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Fannish post #1: J K Rowling to write book for grown ups

2012-02-28T02:20:49Z

First of two posts originally posted at fandom_lounge on JournalFen.

From Reuters: "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling writing adult novel
By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK | Thu Feb 23, 2012 1:59pm EST

(Reuters) - J.K. Rowling, whose "Harry Potter" fantasy book series became a global publishing phenomenon, is writing her first novel for adults but the title and plot are still a closely-guarded secret.

The British writer, 46, whose teenage boy wizard tales became international best-sellers and inspired a series of hit films, said on Thursday that her new novel would be "very different" to the "Harry Potter" books that made her a household name and turned her into a billionaire.

"Although I've enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series," Rowling said in a statement.

More at the link in the headline.

Original here. Excerpted from a comment on Overnight News Digest on Daily Kos.

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Last full week of Relative posts on Crazy Eddie's Motie News

2012-02-25T21:40:35Z

A tale of two macros

Recyclemania!

Happy Paczki Day!

More Paczki Day videos from WXYZ

Gas prices going up again

WOOD-TV on rising gas prices

Winter has returned

Lou Dobbs thinks "The Lorax" and "The Secret World of Arrietty" are liberal propaganda

Gingrich pledges $2.50 gas; President Obama hits back

Sustainability-related news from Reuters for 2/23

Yes, I'm on break. Why do you ask?

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My cat George says hello

2012-02-24T03:42:09Z

( And he didn't say 'Ma-ma' either. )

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A third week of Relative posts on Crazy Eddie's Motie News

2012-02-18T23:53:55Z

Happy Darwin Day!

Winter appears to be just visiting

Science for Valentines Day

New nuclear reactors in U.S. finally approved

The GOP Circus returns to town

Second day of WXYZ on the Michigan Republican Primary

Adding the macro to macroeconomics

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A second week of Relative posts

2012-02-11T22:26:20Z

I've been continuing my blogging for Nablopomo over at Crazy Eddie's Motie News this past week. The entries that conform to the "Relative" theme, in terms of comparison, finding the connection between two unrelated things, or just spouting my opinion, are:

A sustainable Super Bowl?

Newt Gingrich and the Republican National Committee demagoguing Agenda 21

A moment of science

Two Super Bowl ads about Michigan

Worth 1000 words on Santorum

Two Deep Forest fan videos

Halfway though winter, it finally looks like it

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Thoughts on Star Wars: The Old Republic 4

2012-02-11T00:43:52Z

Here's another piece of background music for Alderaan in addition to the one I posted yesterday, This one has the benefit of showing the lovely scenery in addition to playing the music. And to think this is the planet Moff Tarkin destroyed as a demonstration of the Death Star's power. Well, he certainly got what was coming to him!

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