The Dark Knight Rises

Submitted by sarajean on 12/08/12 12:37pm
Aside from the final thirty minutes, I could have taken a nap.

The first Batman movie from Christopher Nolan, Batman Begins, changed the way I felt about superhero movies. I always had huge crushes on titular characters (or sidekicks), but the very tone of the film was just as dark and moving as the comic—for the first time in my lifetime. Suddenly, the bar rose for every film to follow.

Like most people, I found The Dark Knight even more amazing and enjoyable—heavily dark yet moving, pushing the envelope for both dramatic and action film genres. I still wonder if we’ll ever have a villain as terrifying as Heath Ledger’s Joker. When The Dark Knight rises was announced, I wondered how Nolan would ever be able to top the previous to films.

Well, that’s an easy answer: he couldn’t.

The first part of the movie was okay as far as any previous superhero movie scales go—but placed next to the previous two, it was boring, unbelievable, and even stupid at times. The only enjoyable part was Catwoman’s fun one-liners and Hathaway’s development, albeit small scaled, in the movie. (Spoiler alert.) It is not until Batman’s capture that anything interesting really occurs.

The ending of the movie—not the very ending, which was predictable, but the last half hour of the film or so—was pretty delightful. Once the city’s thrown into marshal law, its destruction and saving is very moving and interesting to watch. There are even goose bump inducing moments. It’s still not as stellar as the previous two movies—and there were huge disappointments in the villain department—but it was enjoyable nonetheless. I just sort of wished I could have read a Cliffs Notes for the first half of the movie, and then watched the second.

Bane. Wow. What a letdown. I had heard such good things, so when we had every person exclaiming, “You’re so evil! What are you?” without even giving us half of the examples that the Joker had—without the unnecessary victim comments, mind you—it was incredibly disappointing. And I had already known about the “big twist” because of stupid IMDB, which lists characters’ first and last names as the ultimate spoiler in this scenario, so that wasn’t as big of an impact as it could have been, either. And what the hell was up with Scarecrow’s blasé judge position? He simply could have been used more interestingly—and more scarily. He was terrifying in the first film. Give us more of that!

Overall, it was a fine movie, but you don’t go to a Nolan movie looking for fine. You go looking for utterly brilliant. My husband and I are still wondering if we even want to purchase this last one to round out our collection. I guess we will once it’s in the previously viewed bin, but I really wish we could be more excited about it.

Seattle's time-traveling attorney

Submitted by erika on 12/08/12 12:23pm
Andrew Basiago and Project Pegasus

 

I had heard about Andrew Basiago before, but I had forgotten about him until watching a recent episode of Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory. Basiago claims that between the ages of 7 and 12, he participated in an ultra-top-secret military program called "Project Pegasus." This was (according to Basiago) a DARPA project involving time travel.
 
Basiago says that DARPA used Tesla technology to create a portal which - in his explanation - sounds quite a lot like the prop from the Stargate movies and television show. The subjects of the experiment, all children, leaped through the vortex and were sent back in time. 
 
According to Basiago's accounts, he was sent back primarily to the earliest years of United States history. He appeared once in George Washington's camp, and made several jumps related to Abraham Lincoln. In one of these, he claims to have been recorded in a famous photograph that Josephine Cogg took of president Lincoln. And indeed, the boy in the photograph does look somewhat like Basiago as a child. (But then again, so would a lot of kids.)
 
Perhaps the greatest refutation of Basiago's claims is the plain fact of the world as it is today. If the United States military truly had the ability to send people to different locations and eras in the past, surely they would have put it to better use by now. Why would the military take what is literally the most powerful weapon on the planet, and put it in mothballs? 
 
And then there is the question of why DARPA would use children in these experiments. The idea of the military performing experiments on American children sounds preposterous in any context, particularly one as dangerous and complicated as sending them back in time. And why would the kids' parents sign off on it? The concept of "informed consent" was first introduced in the late 1950s, and was well in place by the early 1970s, when Basiago claims to have been involved in these experiments.
 
Even if we take the extremely cynical view that the US military does whatever it wants, whenever it wants, why would DARPA use kids in the first place? Basiago's explanation is that children would be less alarming to the locals than the sight of a full-grown modern military recruit. But children are simply not as capable as adults, in any capacity. In fact, an unattended eight year old wandering around Gettysburg would probably attract more attention than a trained and appropriately-attired adult.
 
Jesse Ventura came to the conclusion that Project Pegasus may have been an experiment in hypnotic suggestion, a.k.a. mind control. That Basiago may be experiencing false, planted memories. That's still a stretch, but it's still more plausible than time travel.
 

Take action today to improve tomorrow

Submitted by sarajean on 12/08/12 12:02pm
Call upon our leaders to help us improve our nation and world.

Want to make a difference without leaving the house? Click to take action on issues you care about. For an even stronger impact, be sure to pass them along to friends and family if you think they’d like to make a difference, too.

Stop testing on marmoset monkeys.

Taxpayers have spent over half a million dollars on wasteful, cruel experiment to see how the brain processes sound. Click here to voice your opposition to these experiments or to learn more. You can also stand up against animal experimentation here.

Tell Fox that women aren’t responsible for their abusers’ attacks!

Fox News never ceases to amaze. A host recently said that women who are domestically abused simply need to “make better choices.” Way to go blaming the victim instead of the criminal, Fox. Click here to demand an apology.

Donate a net to prevent malaria.

Giving a holiday donation this year? Consider giving your gift to Nothing But Nets, an organization that provides nets and education to families to help prevent them from contracting malaria. Just $10 can save a family of four.  

Help prevent Medicaid cuts.

As negotiations over tax cuts and overall spending are underway, Medicaid is in a precarious position to be cut. To ask that Medicaid not be sacrificed to cover costs, click here.

End the Bush tax cuts.

Rather than take away the healthcare for the poor of the country, we can help ease the financial burden of our nation by stopping the tax cuts given to the biggest earners in the nation. Email your representative to ask that he or she vote to end the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% of the nation.

Ask for a national plan to fight Alzheimer’s here.

Urge the UN to take a strong, continued stance against honor killings here.

Ask Gap to improve their workshop safety conditions.

In the past six years, more than 600 workers have died in the garment industry alone due to hazardous, unsafe working conditions. Thankfully Gap promised to change their workshop conditions, but they have yet to fulfill this promise like Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein did. Click here to ask Gap to fulfill their promise and help protect their own workers.

Ask President Obama to deny Arctic drilling permits.

Even though Shell’s Arctic drilling resulted in heavy costs totaling $4.5 billion and many “mishaps,” they are campaigning to get another shot at it again in 2013. Click here to ask the president to deny them the chance to ruin the Arctic yet again.

Monster catfish now hunting on land

Submitted by erika on 12/08/12 11:59am
Stranding themselves to attack pigeons

 

Europe's largest freshwater fish, the Wels catfish, is nothing to sniff at. Unlike its smaller cousins on other continents (like the familiar Louisiana catfish of fried food fame), the Wels catfish is a true monster. This behemoth can grow up to 13 feet long and an average adult can weigh up to 400 pounds.
 
What does a Wels catfish eat? Anything it wants. Adults have been known to feast on worms, fish, snails, frogs, rats, and ducks. There are recorded cases of Wels catfish attacking humans, particularly children. A large Wels catfish has an astonishing bite strength and is a powerful swimmer, and could easily drag an adult human under the surface until they drowned. There are several cases of vanished swimmers in which the culprit was most likely a Wels catfish.
 
This massive beast prefers slow-moving bodies of water. It is an ambush predator, which typically lurks in a hollow until some food item passes by. Its range includes rivers and large lakes throughout Europe. 
 
In Southwestern France, this gigantic fish has learned a new trick: capturing pigeons on dry land. In the town of Albi, the River Tarn passes by a small rocky island which is beloved by pigeons. The birds gather on this outcropping to rest and bathe. 
 
The pigeons would be well advised to stay away from the water's edge, however. Wels catfish in this river have learned to cruise around the perimeter of the island, waiting for an unwary pigeon to stray too close to the water. When it spots a likely target, the Wels catfish will lunge out of the water onto the beach in order to grab its surprised prey. The catfish then wiggles and flops its way back into the water, where it eats its feast.
 
Local fishermen tipped off a researcher at the nearby Paul Sabatier University. He spent a summer watching the catfish from a nearby bridge, and recorded 54 attacks. 28% of these attacks were successful. 
 
So far, this behavior has only been recorded in this particular population of catfish, at this particular location. The researcher was able to determine that the catfish are specialized hunters, meaning that the local population has catfish which mainly eat fish, and catfish which mainly eat pigeons, as opposed to catfish which are actively hunting both sorts of prey. 
 
Could a new sub-species of bird-eating Wels catfish be evolving before our very eyes? If so, the shorebirds of Europe had better be wary!

Channing's Wife's Pants

Submitted by becksta on 12/08/12 11:41am
Pants only MC Hammer could admire

 

From People: Channing Tatum and his Wife Will be Dancing Off on the Xbox Kinect for   Christmas. 

The Good: Great idea and tons of fun.

The Bad: Tremendous amounts of concern about what the pair will wear. 

Channing Tatum, People’s Sexiest Man alive, has got to get going and give his hot wife, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, some fashion advice. She’s ok on the beauty front, but if she doesn’t get her style-game on, she’ll probably have some steep competition from all of the rest of the women in the world who would like to be Channing Tatum’s main squeeze.

 

I can’t be the only one who doesn’t think that this is a good look for Jenna Dewan-Tatum. I really, really can’t. 

 

Look at these Jenna Dewan-Tatum’s fricking pants. The fashionista, and I do use the term with a hint of sarcasm, is wearing pants that MC Hammer might have worn had he been into sickly peach colors favored by upper middle class women in their 80s. Did she get in a paint war before going out and get splattered in peach  and green paint? 

 

I don’t know which friend or stylist bought Mrs. Channing the pants, but they add 20 pounds to her petite frame (unless she’s knocked up, which would then make an incredible amount of sense.)

 

And the peach top is just peachy keen. I love how the perfectly peach top blouses out and isn’t even tucked in right. Mrs. Tatum’s gorgeous and I am highly doubtful that peach is her favorite color. Shouldn’t she get her colors done?

 

 

And what was People magazine thinking by publishing this picture? Didn’t they have a better picture of her? She’s going to feel embarrassed and humiliated. Her husband’s in a tacky gray suit and she’s in peach. Does Channing Tatum think he’s in the mob and does Jenna Dewan-Tatum think she’s auditioning for a role in Miami Vice? 

 

I wouldn’t be so hard on the beautiful couple if Channing Tatum hadn’t just been voted the Sexiest Man Alive. Fashion standards get harder for those with higher incomes. And the saddest thing about the whole debacle is the pair is supposedly going to have a dance-off with the Xbox Kinect 4 Dance Central 3 for Christmas. I happen to like Microsoft and hope that the couple does not wear that ensemble for their video-game dance off on Christmas. 

 

What do you think Channing and Jenna should wear for their Christmas Kinect dance-off? (Which is incidentally a great idea.)

 

 

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20654338,00.html

Amazon.com: 5 Free Songs Every 5 Days Throughout December

Submitted by sarajean on 12/08/12 11:11am
Get 25 songs total.

Amazon.com is offering a free download of 5 songs every 5 days throughout the month of December. Click here for a list of songs and updates on new songs offered.

Jets will travel to Jacksonville to try for a win

Submitted by USAsNewFavPASTIME on 12/08/12 10:47am

 

The New York Jets will continue their tumultuous season this week on the road in Jacksonville. The Jets have seen their share of awful play this season, but did see some success last week in a pitiful win against a poor Cardinals team. The Jets have fallen so far despite having a majority of the same players they had in seasons that saw them make runs to the playoffs. Technically, the Jets are not eliminated from the playoffs yet, but it would be more then a miracle if they made it in. First they would have to get past a Jaguars team that is playing much better behind new starter Chad Henne.

The Jets barely squeaked by the Cardinals last week in what may have been the most pathetic game the NFL has seen in recent memory. The game ended 7-6 in favor of the Jets who pulled Sanchez to “give the team a spark”. Backup quarterback Greg McElroy did just that as he drove the team down for a touchdown on his first drive in the game. He ended the contest 5-7 for 29 yards and a touchdown. This was after replacing Sanchez who threw 3 interceptions. Despite this poor performance by Sanchez, he may still get the start this upcoming week.

The Jaguars are coming off a tough 34-18 loss to the Buffalo Bills in New York last week. The Jaguars have been playing much better since Chad Henne has replaced an injured Blaine Gabbert though. The team has suffered injuries earlier in the season to Maurice Jones Drew and seems to have been cursed for the most part with a lot to address this offseason. At the same time, though, they could still easily beat a good Jet Team.

Bills will host Rams at 1PM Sunday

Submitted by USAsNewFavPASTIME on 12/08/12 10:45am

 

The 5-7 Buffalo Bills statistically are not out of the playoff hunt all-together at this point. They will, however, need to win out and get a lot of help if they dream of getting in. This week they will face the up and coming St. Louis Rams. The Rams are just 5-6-1, but have been playing great team football as of late and could easily get by Buffalo despite the Bills being at home. They just got an enormous win last week and seem to be headed in the right direction under new veteran coach Jeff Fisher. The game is set to kickoff at 1 PM ET at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Buffalo comes into the game after a big 34-18 win over the Jaguars last week at home. The win still was impressive given how great the Jaguars had played the two weeks prior to the game with Buffalo. Despite the Jaguars 2 wins, Blaine Gabbert had been out with an injury and Chad Henne has been replacing him. Henne has looked to be a much better option for the Jaguars, but did not give the bills much trouble last Sunday as they shut him down defensively to get the win.

The Rams too got a win last week at home, but against a much better opponent in the 49ers. The game ended 16-13 in overtime with just 30 seconds left in regulation. If the Rams would have missed their last minute field goal, the game could have ended in a tie, which is the same way the team’s first contest earlier this season ended. This week’s game in Buffalo could figure to see much more scoring then that seen in St. Louis last week.

Cowboys continue to make a run for playoffs

Submitted by USAsNewFavPASTIME on 12/08/12 10:41am

 

The Dallas Cowboys will try to continue a run at the playoffs this week on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Cowboys will need to basically win out the rest of the season if they hope to squeak in. Currently they are 6-6, but face a must win this week at Paul Brown Stadium. The win would be a big one though against a team that is fighting for a playoff spot of their own. The Bengals are 7-5 and will have the home field advantage for the game, which should really make things hard for the Cowboys.

Last week the Cowboys were able to rise up and get a 38-33 win against the Eagles last week in Dallas. The team finally looked to have it working offensively, but gave up way too much on the defensive side of the ball. This was disappointing to them as their defense has been what has been getting them by most of the time. This Sunday they will have to have all the pieces working together if they plan on escaping Cincinnati with a victory.

The Bengals currently sit in good shape to get a wildcard spot. Currently they are in a three team race for the wildcard. They too will need to nearly win out if they really hope to get into the post-season. This game is a game many would say they should win, and it could be a good step for them going into the home stretch of the 2012 NFL season.

What to buy a knitter for Christmas

Submitted by erika on 12/08/12 10:37am
Are you a non-knitter looking for gifts? Look no farther!

 

It can be difficult for a non-knitter to pick a gift for a knitter. Heck, sometimes it can be tricky for another knitter! But here are some sure-fire gifts for knitters of any skill level.
 
Ball Winder
This clever little gadget is something no knitter should be without. The main task of a ball winder is to take a skein of yarn and turn it into a lovely knittable center-pull ball But they are also incredibly handy for ripping back your knitting - something that every knitter has to do eventually. They can also be used to separate a single skein of sock yarn into two balls, which is great for toe-up sock knitters.
 
Umbrella Swift
A yarn swift can be a beautiful hand-turned piece of woodcraft costing several hundred dollars. Or you can buy one of the wire-and-plastic ones that clamp onto the side of a table. In either case, it is an invaluable tool for working with skeins of yarn. You can put the skein on the swift and then wind it off into a ball. You can also take loose yarn and skein it up by twirling the swift. 
 
Yarn Scale
A small scale that weighs in grams is ideal for knitters. It's one of those things that you don't realize how badly you need it until you have one. Yarn stores sell them, but you can also buy a small digital kitchen scale meant for dieters and bakers. (Make sure to emphasize it's for yarn, not because you think your knitter is fat!)
 
Set of Interchangeable Needles 
If your knitter doesn't have a Denise kit, then they surely want one! Even if it doesn't become their primary knitting needle set, it is really helpful to know that no matter what size needle you need from #5 to #15, you have one at hand.
 
Measuring Devices
On the "stocking stuffer" end of the gift scale, any measuring device is always welcome. Yarn stores sell special rulers that also help you calculate your gauge, and have holes so that you can tell what size needle you have. These are great! But regular tape measures are also handy, particularly the fabric kind that are used by seamstresses.
 
Stitch Markers
Seriously, no knitter can have too many of these. Look for them hanging on pegboard near the counter of the yarn store, or ask an employee to help you pick some out. Get an assortment of different sizes and shapes. You can't go wrong!
 

Pages