Ross is love.

One last note on Thurgood Marshall.

Beating this into the ground ever so slightly, but you mess with my man Thurgood, you messin' with me (I've been to his grave, for cripe's sake). I suppose it gets my goat that this generation's crop of would-be statesmen couldn't hold a candle to a Thurgood Marshall on their best day, yet would gladly aggrandize themselves while rewriting history at his expense.

Stephanie J. Jones from the Washington Post has posted a brief piece on Marshall entitled: "Thurgood Marshall's legacy deserves cheers, not sneers". It's brief, and well worth a read. In part:

Without Marshall, the civil rights movement of the 1960s -- which relied heavily on the protections provided in a series of critical federal rulings based on the precedents he created -- could have gone another way. Marshall stood up for the rights of millions of ordinary Americans who, were it not for him, would have continued to be second-class citizens, unable to vote, attend state universities or share public accommodations by virtue of the color of their skin. This would have been a very different nation -- had it even survived.

Read it here.

Wonder Woman: Now with underwear on the inside.

Even Wonder Woman's wearing pants these days. And you, lady going into Wal-Mart, do not have the solid-yet-supple thighs of the princess of the Amazons. So cover it up, love. Your beauty is doubtless on the inside. Let's keep it there, shall we?

   

Wonder Woman's got a new outfit just in time for Comic-con, updating her classic satin tights and star-spangled panties with a leather (faux, presumably) jacket and honest-to-god pants.

Whaddaya think? A tough new Wonder-do or a major Wonder-don't?

Happy 90th birthday, Ray Harryhausen.

Cinema pioneer, stop-motion model animator extraordinaire, and (from what I hear) all around good guy Ray Harryhausen is 90 today. Mighty Joe Young, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Mysterious Island, Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years B.C., and Clash of the Titans (among many others, going back to World War II) all bear his inimitable animation style. He's been involved in all stages of production for most of his films, from concept to design to scripting and direction, so each of those films has been distinctively his. The larger-than-life, more-real-than-real style that he pioneered and that flourished in the 50s and 60s has inspired countless imitators. These young whippersnappers with their (too often) soulless and bland digital effects could learn a thing or two from Harryhausen's imagination.

He continues to work: producing, writing, designing, and producing art. He produced his first film in 1942.

Thurgood Marshall on trial at Kagan hearings.

Elena Kagan's first day of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the late Justice Thurgood Marshall (for whom she clerked) was very much present. If only as the whipping boy of several Republicans on the committee. Orrin Hatch, Jon Kyl, John Cornyn, and Jeff Sessions all took potshots at Marshall, the nation's first African-American Justice, with the word "activist" thrown around liberally. 

While I'm not Elena Kagan's biggest fan, it's a topsy-turvy, upside-down world when association with Thurgood Marshall -- legendary Supreme Court Justice, slave descendant, champion of individual rights, chief lawyer in Brown vs. Board of Education, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient -- could possibly be considered a negative. Aside from sound-byte-ready the lack of respect due to Marshall, I'd advise the GOP to tread carefully here: trashing one of the twentieth century's most respected and accomplished black Americans (whose reputation is based almost entirely on civil rights) may play well to certain audiences, but it's not going to help to expand a contracting base. I don't see much popular traction from the argument that Kagan should be declined because she clerked for Thomas, so the line of attack comes off as pointlessly petulent. Surely there are more instructive topics to raise.

Just a bit more on this from Salon's Steve Kornacki: a bit of historical context to do with Justice Marshall's confirmation hearings. Specifically, and in regard to Orrin Hatch's doubts about whether or not he would have voted for Marshall, Kornacki profiles the 11 senators who voted against Marshall in 1967.The small group is a hodgepodge of segregationists and lynching fans, along with more "moderate" Senators who were merely opposed to civil rights. In short, not the type of group with which one would generally choose to associate in 2010. Thurgood Marshall was a better American than all of them and Orrin Hatch combined.

Sarah Smart's First Post: Wait. Is this like Twitter?

Because I don't understand Twitter. No, really. I'm "following" 10 people (including Mr. Rosserford). And every day I log in and stare at the stream of posts: A lot of them are from Roger Ebert; some (Wil Wheaton's, especially) give me a chuckle; but most of them are just a series of symbols and hyperlinks with no coherent story. It's like I walked in on a group of cool kids talking entirely in inside jokes. And it's not fair! I want to be cool, too!

Oh, fine. You know what, Twitter? You can keep your cool: I'm totally comfortable with my level of coolness. I'll figure you out eventually. And when I do, I'll # your @@ until you can't RT yo momma!

Monday blahs? You're not the only one.

I kinda love this.

via AICN

The latest in Rochester transportation tech.

The new fast ferry?

NASA video of the gulf oil spill.

NASA's timelapse video, via their satellites Aqua and Terra, provides an entirely new view of the enormity of the disaster.

From: Daily Galaxy

The lady on the dresser.

  

The lady on the dresser keeps looking at me. It's as though she's trying to tell me something.

Joe Barton was right! (according to Joe Barton.)

This was the tweet on Joe Barton's twitter account this morning (he of the poorly received apology to British Petroleum). The link is to a sympathetic American Spectator article with the same name.

Shortly after the tweet was posted, it was deleted, and Barton's spokesman has taken the blame. Mistake or not, this puts Joe Barton's name back in the news, which is surely not what the House GOP (who forced him to retract his apology initially) was hoping for. For the record, the heavily energy-industry funded Congressman has retained his committee status throughout all this, and will, in fact, become the Chairperson of the House Energy & Commerce committee if the Republicans win big in the fall. Barton also believes using wind power will slow down the winds and aggravate global warming, and that CO2 is a good thing because we breathe it.

Here's Joe Barton taking immense pride in having 'stumped' energy secretary Dr. Steven Chu:

To recap--

The apology:

The retraction:

“I apologize for using the term ‘shakedown’ with regard to yesterday’s actions at the White House in my opening statement this morning, and I retract my apology to BP. As I told my colleagues yesterday and said again this morning, BP should bear the full financial responsibility for the accident on their lease in the Gulf of Mexico. BP should fully compensate those families and businesses that have been hurt by this accident."

And now, the almost unretraction. I come not to pile on to Joe Barton, but only to suggest that there might be reasons why the government of the most powerful, wealthy, and resourceful nation on earth is so colossally incapable of achievement these days. And that a powerful man like Joe Barton may be one of those reasons.