This was a crazy week for news, but I'm super-glad that it's Friday. If our weather guy is correct, this is the very last super-cold day we'll have this winter. Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend, and with that will come a change to North America's weather patterns--finally.
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It seems like the stuff of science-fiction (and it has been), but it's not, perhaps, as impossible as it sounds. Take, for instance, the work of Russian transplant pioneer Vladimir Demikhov, who in the 1950s successfully transplanted dogs' heads onto the bodies of other dogs, creating living two-headed dogs (the linked video contains content that may be disturbing for some viewers). Or Doctor Robert White, who transplanted the head of one monkey on to the body of another in 1970 (the same warning applies)…
If the procedure [is] successful… the patient would possibly be able to walk again within a year -- with physiotherapy to help. However, the technique has yet to be tested…
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| From Superputin, courtesy of the greatest Wikipedia page of them all. |
The computer server that transmitted and received Hillary Clinton's emails -- on a private account she used exclusively for official business when she was secretary of state -- traced back to an Internet service registered to her family's home in Chappaqua, New York, according to Internet records reviewed by The Associated Press.
The highly unusual practice of a Cabinet-level official physically running her own email would have given Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, impressive control over limiting access to her message archives.
As the New York Times notes in an Op-Ed this week, the Clintons have weathered many scandals, some deserved, some not. At this point, however, their willingness to flout the law for their own personal and professional interests is becoming a pattern that’s hard for even liberals to ignore. This editorial ran on the Times’ editorial page, a page famous for championing liberal views!
Although they’ve long been cast as greedy — remember the china, flatware and furniture carted out of the White House? — they hit the speaking circuit in a way that only strengthened that impression. Audiences of Wall Street bankers, fees in the hundreds of thousands, extra coddling: They have demanded, received and inevitably been blasted for all of that.
And now, from Michael Schmidt’s story in The Times, we learn that Hillary’s response to her reputation for flouting rules and operating in secrecy was to put what could be construed as a cloak over her communications as secretary of state by using only a private email account.
You just don’t get to keep your professional communications secret as a public servant. That’s not the deal. It looks bad. It makes your look blatantly corrupt, and now, even if Clinton turns over the complete archives of her official correspondence, no one will believe it. Why hide your information if you have nothing to hide? Especially at such extreme lengths. It’s impressive, really. What conclusion can you draw but that she had some stuff in there that she never wanted to see the light of day.
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| The Clintons have come a long way from this 980 square foot house in Arkansas. |
3. Friday Hair Metal: Think About You
4. 27-Hour Marvel Movie Marathon Including 'Avengers: Age Of Ultron' Coming To A Theater Near You (Indiewire)
6:00pm IRON MAN
8:25pm THE INCREDIBLE HULK
10:35pm IRON MAN 2
1:00am THOR
3:10am CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
5:30am THE AVENGERS
8:48am IRON MAN 3
11:15am THOR: THE DARK WORLD
1:45pm CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
4:20pm GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
7:00pm AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (RealD® 3D)
I can’t believe how badly I want to do this. I’d watch the first Iron Man movie, skip the rest until 5:00 am, when I’d head back to catch the last bits of The First Avenger, break for breakfast after The Avengers, definitely watch The Winter Soldier, and then break again until Age of Ultron. I love the Guardians, but they have nothing whatsoever to do with this story, and food and beer are absolutely required heading into Ultron.
At $65 total, that’s $13 per movie. If they threw in a buffet in the lobby, that would be totally worth it.
And, in case you haven’t seen it, here’s the new Age of Ultron trailer:
5. Milestone: This blog has made $50!
I don’t take my career as a writer super-seriously, but when I—finally—get that check for my share of Google’s ad revenue from this here blog, it’s going to inspire some serious celebration. I already told Sally that we’re going to immediately head out and blow all the money in one place. That’s exactly what I intend to do.
At my current pace, it ought to take about another year.
I often think of my writing career in much the same terms that I think about my triathlon career. I know I’m a good writer—better even than some people who work at it a lot harder than I do—but I’m still not particularly close to being up with the elites. Just as Chris Lieto would smoke me in a triathlon, so too are guys like Richard K. Morgan and Brandon Sanderson on another plane as far as their writing is concerned. That’s okay. I enjoy writing, and it exercises the mind in much the same way that triathlon exercises the body. I’m satisfied that my kids and some of my friends like the stuff that I’ve written for them, and that the girls will carry that stuff on into the future. That’s all good.
And yet the business school graduate in me can’t keep himself from monetizing his hobbies, so there you have it. I’ve written professionally about triathlon, I continue to coach, and I continue to write. To the extent that even a very small payday awaits, I’m greatly looking forward to it.
How can you help? Keep reading! In fact, you should check in here every single day. There’s almost always something new, even if it’s not necessarily about one of your particular interests.
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Have a good weekend!
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