The end of Mad Men series 3 is _Fantastic_.

That is all.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501246-britain-investigating-fresh-iraq-abuse-claims

Iraqi civilians who were detained by British troops during the U.S.-led war have leveled some 33 allegations of rape and abuse against male and female soldiers, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Saturday.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501527-broadcast-pioneer-nbc-prepares-for-cable-takeover

Eight decades after pioneering the concept of broadcasting, NBC is on the verge of a startling move that illustrates broadcast television's decline.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501499-iran-artists-in-tug-of-war-with-government

Iran's greatest master of traditional music, Mohammad Reza Shajarian, always avoided open clashes with his country's ruling hard-line clerics.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501500-maltas-bishop-announces-pope-to-visit-april-17-18

The bishop of Malta says Pope Benedict XVI will visit the tiny Mediterranean island April 17-18 to mark the 1950th anniversary of St. Paul's shipwreck.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501530-key-dates-in-history-of-national-broadcasting-co

Some key dates in NBC's history:

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501461-authorities-3-dead-in-helicopter-crash-near-reno

Authorities in Lassen County, Calif., say a medical helicopter has crashed near the Nevada-California state line north of Reno, killing three crew members aboard.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3500885-some-fort-hood-victims-funerals-set-for-saturday

When Staff Sgt. Amy Krueger joined the U.S. Army Reserves after the 2001 terrorist attacks, she vowed to hunt down Osama bin Laden. When her mother said she couldn't do it alone, the soldier defiantly told her, "Watch me."

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501359-no-bars-no-mistresses-chinese-officials-warned

Chinese officials are being told to dump their mistresses, avoid hostess bars, and shun extravagances as part of the Communist party's efforts to clamp down on the corruption that is threatening its rule and sullying its reputation.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3500922-iran-forms-unit-to-go-after-opposition-on-internet

Iran has formed a special unit to monitor Web sites and fight Internet crimes, in a clear attack on an opposition that relies almost exclusively on online means to broadcast its message, local newspapers reported Saturday.

Every kiss begins with kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

True.

But I'm still not buying any of your jewelery.

Oh, and I'm not going to Jared either.

So, it seems that Miyamoto Musashi once fought a whale. With, like, a sword and shit.

I wouldn't shit you.

You know, I keep thinking that I've seen it all. I keep thinking nothing can shock me. You'd think after The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife there wouldn't be anymore surprises in store for me. But a samurai, surfing on a right whale, and getting ready to stick it in the back with his sword?

Yeah, sometimes stuff just sumps out and reminds me that the world is a seriously messed up place.

imafarmgirl is blogging in a blogathon to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind. I'm constantly impressed with the work her dog Fargo does for her every day.

Stop by the blogathon at gdhaw, say hi and show some love.

What else were you going to do on a Saturday morning?

Remember "The Fly"? Where through a teleportation experiment, a fly and a monster are combined into Jeff Goldblum? We obviously need a teleporter that only moves cells with human DNA, 46 chromosomes. That would work better!

But non-organic stuff wouldn't go. That's likely for the best, so that one doesn't get combined with their belt buckles. On the other hand, it means the belt buckle stays behind, along with your synthetic fiber clothing, your jewelry, and for that matter, your piercings. And more worryingly, any non-organic internal material stays in the original transporter, People with plates in their heads, artificial knees, or fillings will be startled when they get to the other side.

So, our test subject will appear in the receiving teleporter with sore teeth, missing joints, and missing clothes.

Amusingly, I think this means tattoos won't go over either. The ink is non-organic. So the original tube will have some of your clothes, your fillings, your tats, and maybe an artificial joint or two floating in the air for a moment before they all crash into a pile.

We're also not sending organic cells with anything other than the human 46 chromosomes. Your organic clothes have cotton or cow DNA. They'll stay behind. You'll be absolutely naked on the other side. Chilly! Also, have you ever seen a close-up view of your skin? There are zillions of little creatures wandering around on your skin. They won't come through. You'll be quite a clean naked person on the other end, and the original teleporter will have an outline of your body made up of suprised tiny mites, within your clothes, with your tats and piercings...before they all fall into a pile.

You've got a lot of intestinal critters. Nothing gross like tapeworms or anything (although they would stay behind too), but E coli and other beneficial bacteria that help you digest. They'll stay behind. As, come to think of it, anything you've eaten. And all the bacteria in your mouth. Within that outline of your skin left behind, there will be a distinct outline of your digestive system and the food you've eaten. Ew. On the other end, you'll be very hungry, and you'll likely have digestive issues for a while.

Oh. What about your sex organs? They'll come through. But the eggs and sperm wont, as they have 23 chromosomes. A woman can't make any more eggs, so she'd be sterile. A guy can make more sperm, although the sensation of having abruptly empty testicles might be an odd feeling. In the original transporter pod, we now have a few more cells floating in air before they join the increasingly large pile on the floor.

I'm coming to realize that our teleporter will need a large disposal unit. Also that what we think of us ourselves...isn't so much.

Oohh...mitochondria! You may recall that the cell organelles called mitochondria facilitate energy transfer in the human cells. They aren't human, though, and were originally a cell in it's own right. It does not have human DNA. They're not going with. On the one hand, this is good, because that way you won't end up with some sort of Jeff Goldblum/cell organelle hybrid, spewing adenosine triphosphate everywhere. On the other hand, without those cell organelles...you have no method for getting any energy into your cells.

So, the original teleporter pod will have your clothes, your jewelry, your tats, your skin cell mites, your intestinal flora, a small cloud of eggs or sperm, and a huge person-shaped cloud of mitochondria. The second teleporter will have everything that is indisputably YOU. Of course, you'll die pretty quickly and painfully with no energy, missing joints, and the runs.

Still a few bugs to work out of this system.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501442-population-of-historic-venice-totters-near-60000

Historic Venice is approaching the dread status of living museum, with a population now below 60,000 — a largely symbolic threshold considered by some to signal the end of the city's viability.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501431-riesch-edges-vonn-to-win-womens-world-cup-slalom?category=sports

Maria Riesch of Germany won the opening women's World Cup slalom Saturday, edging Lindsey Vonn of the United States by 0.08 seconds.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501406-saturday-time-schedule?category=sports

No. 1 Florida at South Carolina, 3:30 p.m.

http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/11/14/3501386-ugandan-official-suggests-caning-dead-bodies

A Ugandan government official says the bodies of those who die because of drinking a local illicit gin should be caned six times before burial as an example to the living.

This past Thursday was as strange a day as I've ever spent in my life...

After last January's humungous ice storm [see http://ozarque.livejournal.com/573430.html and http://ozarque.livejournal.com/573613.html ], we immediately bought a much bigger and more powerful generator than the little one we'd had before. George put in a lot of advance time doing sub-assemblies so that he could hook it up more quickly, and that was wise of him. But getting it done meant that he had to turn off all the electric power to our house, which in turn meant that Sheba and I would have been without lights, water, heat, and bathroom facilities while he worked.

In a city, we'd just have rented a motel room for the day, but where we live there are only two motels and both of them are permanently rented by local workers. So that was not a possibility. He could have taken us to my daughter's place in Fayetteville, but that would have added four hours of driving to an already-long task. That made no sense. The obvious thing to do was for Sheba and I to spend the day at Michael's mobile home, right there on our property, with all the necessary mod cons. Bathrooms. Furnace. Refrigerator. Running water. And that is what we did.

George started the job at about nine a.m., and finished at two p.m. And Sheba and I were very comfortable. We had our lunch in the refrigerator, I had plenty of stuff to read, plus my PDA with all its games. We took one of Sheba's little beds, and some of her blankets and toys, and bowls of dry dog food and water. All was well.

But it was so very strange. To be in Michael's house, surrounded by a lot of his things, made it so very hard to believe that he is gone forever. So many places where I'd seen him, so many times; I knew it was irrational, but I kept feeling as though I'd look up and he'd be there.

I had worried that Sheba might spend the day hunting for Michael, because his scent was everywhere; that would have been hard for me to watch. It didn't happen. I lay on the couch and read, and she lay curled up beside me the whole time, tucked in under one of her blankets. She wasn't any more interested in exploring and searching than I was, and I was grateful for that.

It was the adult thing to do, and it's wonderful that we now have a generator that will let us run all the electric stuff at our place if we get power outages again this year. It's wonderful that George, who wired our place himself when it was built, knows all about working with electricity and could do the job on his own.

But I am so glad that day is over.