The Rosetta Stone, 2005

Pictures of the real thing, and video capture of the touchable facsimile, both housed in the British Museum.

(This was just in response to a post at The Austringer.)

Jersey Rocks

Contrary to the long held opinion of The Boy (who grew up in Philly), Jersey is currently the coolest state in the Union. It is now the only state where people of no sexual preference are treated the same as everyone else...

Via CNN


New Jersey court recognizes right to same-sex unions

POSTED: 3:49 p.m. EDT, October 25, 2006

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that same-sex couples are entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples.

But the court left it to the Legislature to determine whether the state will honor gay marriage or some other form of civil union.

Advocates on both sides of the issue believed the state posed the best chance for gay marriage to win approval since Massachusetts became the only state to do so in 2003 because the New Jersey Supreme Court has a history of extending civil rights protections.

Instead, the high court stopped short of fully approving gay marriage and gave lawmakers 180 days to rewrite marriage laws to either include gay couples or create new civil unions. (Opinion -- pdfexternal link)

"The issue is not about the transformation of the traditional definition of marriage, but about the unequal dispensation of benefits and privileges to one of two similarly situated classes of people," the court said in its 4-3 ruling.

New Jersey lawmakers voted to allow domestic partnerships in 2004, but they have been reluctant to delve into the sensitive issue of marriage.

Under domestic partnerships, gay couples have some benefits of marriage, such as the right to inherit possessions if there is no will and healthcare coverage for state workers.

The case was brought by seven gay couples who say the state constitution allows them to marry.

New Jersey is one of only five U.S. states with neither a law nor a state constitutional amendment blocking same-sex marriage. As a result, the state is more likely than others to allow gays to wed, said advocacy groups on both sides.

Only Massachusetts -- by virtue of a 2003 ruling from that state's top court -- allows gay marriages.

Proponents and opponents from across the country are watching the case closely.

"New Jersey is a stepping stone," said Matt Daniels, president of the Virginia-based Alliance for Marriage, a group pushing for an amendment to the federal Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage. "It's not about New Jersey."

From a practical standpoint, the Massachusetts court decision made little impact nationally because the state has a law barring out-of-state couples from wedding there if their marriages would not be recognized in their home states.

New Jersey has no such law.

People on both sides of the issue expect a victory for same-sex unions would make New Jersey a destination for gay couples from around the country who want to get married. Some of those couples could return home and sue to have their marriages recognized.

Daniels said gay-rights advocates are already looking ahead to such lawsuits. "Their game, of course, is they figure all they need to do is execute this maneuver in a half-dozen states and they'll have the momentum," he said.

David S. Buckel, the Lambda Legal lawyer who argued on behalf of the seven New Jersey couples, said he expects some couples would travel to the New Jersey to get married if his suit is successful. But, he said, "it won't be tidal."

Buckel said that there have been relatively few such lawsuits filed in the U.S. by couples who went to Canada to exchange vows.

And, he said, while many same-sex couples would prefer to be married, they are getting more legal protections for their relationships. Several states, including New Jersey, offer domestic partnerships or civil unions with some of the benefits of marriage. A growing number of employers are treating same-sex couples the same way they treat married couples.

Cases similar to New Jersey's are pending in California, Connecticut, Iowa and Maryland.

Conservatives watching the cases believe the best chance for gay marriage to be allowed would be in New Jersey, where the state Supreme Court has a history of extending civil rights protections.

Gay marriage supporters have had a two-year losing streak, striking out in state courts in New York and Washington state and in ballot boxes in 15 states where constitutions have been amended to ban same-sex unions.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

We still hate the Devils, though.

Bye Bye Bobby...

I know we were just bitching about Bobby Clarke. I know we were extremely unhappy about the personell changes lately. But remember too, that we mentioned we worship at the altar of Bobby. Fighting understandable tears, he stepped down as GM this morning, about a half hour ago.


Also caught in the crossfire, a casualty, collateral damage, was Ken Hitchcock. Hitch didn't deserve to be fired, it wasn't his fault, but there it is.

Paul Holmgren, also a former Flyer from way back, will be taking over as GM, and assistant coach (and former head coach of the Philadelphia Phantoms) John Stevens is taking over as coach.

Ed. Mr. Snyder. Sir. Make sure you make room for both of these men somewhere in the organization.

Tower of London, in Five Parts

All five parts below the fold.



Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at the Tower of London, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Part the First





Part the Second





Part the Third





Part the Fourth





Part the Last

Jack The Ripper Part Twelve

Part Twelve. The denoument...


Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at Ripping Yarns, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Jack The Ripper Part Eleven

Part Eleven. The penultimate piece of the puzzle....


Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at Ripping Yarns, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Jack The Ripper Part Ten

Part Ten. Dickie is awesome, ain't he?


Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at Ripping Yarns, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Jack The Ripper Part Nine

Part Nine. Well on your way to knowing who dunnit. (Hint: It weren't God.)


Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at Ripping Yarns, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Jack The Ripper Part Eight

Part Eight, Better Stay up Late.


Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at Ripping Yarns, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Jack The Ripper Part Seven

Part Seven.


Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at Ripping Yarns, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Jack The Ripper Part Six

Part Six, grab your crucifix...


Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at Ripping Yarns, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Jack The Ripper Part Five

Part Five, I know you've been dying to see it!


Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at Ripping Yarns, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Jack The Ripper Part Four

Better lock your door.


Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at Ripping Yarns, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Jack The Ripper Part Three

(Part Two would be the little clip about King George, a few posts ago... which was actually the third chapter, but I'm squeezing the little chapters together.... eh... never mind, this is the next part.)




Again, be sure to go take the tour with Dickie at Ripping Yarns, if ever you are in London. I promise you, you will NOT be disappointed.

Jack The Ripper Part One

Due to the ten minute limit on YouTube, I have to split this tour up into 12 parts.

Here's Part One....

Video For Lifewish

Way back in this thread before I went to London, I promised Lifewish I would see what I could do about some video for him....


Here it is:

Quick and rough, the ceiling of St. Paul's Cathedral, from the whispering gallery. Now this is just a few seconds of video, surreptitious, and is the inside of the dome. Sorry I couldn't do better.



[EDIT: Ok YouTube caught up...]

Madman King George

Ok, over at Amused Muse, I made a comment about Dickie the Beefeater who mentioned King George.

As it turns out, it was on our Jack the Ripper tour, which we took (Dickie is a real Beefeater but moonlights as a Ripper tour guide). [EDIT: Here's a link to Ripping Yarns, the company for which he gives tours]

Just so y'know.

Here's the clip from our video.



Dickie was an awesome guide, which is why we decided to take HIS Ripper tour instead of any other. If you ever get a chance to go, be sure to do both his tours.

9 to 1

We love our Flyboys, but damn. Just damn.



It got unbearably ugly, so we had to turn it off after the second intermission.

Now let me just say that the Broad Street Bullies were a team of history and destiny. Captain Bobby Clarke was probably one of the best players to ever strap on the skates. However. As a general manager, we have some reservations. This strategy of break up what could have been another great team is dumb. The team at the end of the season before the lockout could have been awesome given some time together. Even the team after the lockout could have been great.

Not to take anything away from Peter Forsberg, but this whole plan of give up damned near everyone just to get and keep Forsberg is not working.

The list of casualties since the lockout...

John LeClair
Jeremy Roenick
Mark Recchi
Michal Handzus
Justin Williams
Kim Johnsson
Donald Brashear
Danny Markov
Tony Amonte

Not to even mention the unfortunate retirement-by-concussion of Keith Primeau. Big, big loss there. We miss you, Keith.

Now, we've still got talent. Gagne, Umberger, Carter, Richards, Kapanen, Niittymaki, Esche, and of course Forsberg. But when the list of losses over the last year or two looks like the one above, you get games like last night.

9-1.

We loved you as a player, Bobby, but DAMN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?????

The Creation - Guest Post by Blipey!!!

The Beginning of the World: the true history of its design

In the beginning there was only a medium-beige: all-encompassing, but decidedly soft and comforting. Now the medium-beige was content in its existence, but lonely. One day—exact time still unknown, but certainly between 6,000 years and forever ago—It decided to design something to complement its beige-ness.



There were many things it could have designed in Its infinite understanding of not just the color wheel but many other things such as: buere blanc sauces, the baseball betting line (who the hell knows what KC : CWS 215 : 100 means?), and the bacterial flagellum (I know, It knew this thing and flagellum didn’t even exist yet, spooky huh?).

But, the thing it finally decided on was a many armed thing. Yes, for all its omniscience, the medium-beige was greatly lacking in arms. So, out of itself, came forth an eight-armed blob of cuddliness. It was slinky, it was sly, it was sexy, it was most definitely in charge.

Now, the medium-beige was very old (though exactly how old nobody could determine—see above). As with most old-timers, it decided to take a break from actual work, delegating more and more of the all-encompassing beige to the eight-armed thingy. While this did please the eight-armed thingy, it too became lonely as the years(?) went by.

To keep it company, the eight-armed thingy created a lovely being it called “Kristine”. At first glance this seemed a great thing, but after a mere year(?—who the hell knows, carbon dating is load of crap…I’ve written down every generation of my family since like 2 before my grandpa; I’m going with my data). It turned out that Kristine was not only lovely, but also had independent thought—oops.

After trying to contain Kristine for aeons, the eight-armed thingy retired to drink Citadel martinis (extra dry) with the medium-beige.

This is why the universe is no longer medium-beige, and incidently also why it is so cool. Luckily, Kristine still lets us drink Citadel martinis. So, remember to send your offerings to Kristine, the ruler of the universe. (Make checks payable to: Blipey, Treasure of Kristine, Ruler of the Universe.)

Habeas Corpus 1215 - 2006, RIP

As if the Patriot Act didn't go far enough toward turning this country into a Republican Christo-Fascist Police State, now we don't even have the right to question the government as to why you were arrested. Keith Olbermann dissects the effect of this new law on the Bill of Right. (No, I didn't forget the "s".)

(Hat Tip to Kristine at Amused Muse, and to Sabbah's Blog.)

ID wipes out in Michigan

Once again, science prevails and fundies go down swinging.

From LiveScience, a bit of reason for your day.

Full Story.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) ─ The State Board of Education on Tuesday approved public school curriculum guidelines that support the teaching of evolution in science classes ─ but not intelligent design.

Of course, the fundy lawyers whine....

Richard Thompson, leader of the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, said intelligent design should have a home in science classes. The center describes its mission as defending the religious freedom of Christians.

“It would make students more knowledgeable about science and more interested in science," he said in a phone interview. “Evolution is a theory. It's not a fact."

Umm... yeah. HELLO?

Exactly how does "Goddunit" make students more knowledgeable about ANYTHING?

For those of you in Michigan, be sure to vote this election...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, a conservative Christian, said last month that he approves of intelligent design being taught along with evolution in science classes, though he said the decision should be left up to local school districts.

Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who is Roman Catholic, said Michigan schools need to teach evolution in science classes and not include intelligent design. She said school districts can explore intelligent design in current events or comparative religions classes.

Reinstatement

Big News!!! Dr. Elsberry is much more forgiving than we would've been....


So The Boy learned by email that he can return to After the Bar Closes. That's very cool of Wes to allow him to return, but don't think that'll leave us out in the cold. His first responsibility is HERE now, and we won't let him forget it!

If we were Wes, we'd have left him banned, and only let US post. Hey, WE didn't break the rules, HE did.

Well, we kinda like the guy, so we're happy for him anyway.

Kisses

We Ain't Mothballed

Just on hiatus for a little bit. We've been rather busy, what with house repairs, Shakespeare, lots of hot sex... y'know.

We have a few little things to work out, then we'll be back. Promise. Pinky Swear.

Just so y'know.