Lovecraftian stained glass art

This and more at Under Vhoorl's Shadow.

The Flaming Dragon

We worked on my son's pinewood derby racer today.

ADDENDUM: Since I was not in Scouts as a kid,* I didn't know anything about pinewood derby racing. I gave myself a crash course by studying everything available at Hobby Lobby and reading all the instructions and descriptions on the boxes and labels. It would have been cheaper to buy a everything-in-one-box kit, but I thought the car bodies were too "finished" looking. It was a little more work for him to have to construct it from several different packages. The whole shebang cost me about $21, and I could have spent a lot more than that if I really wanted to get fancy. Astounding.

*Someone tried to organize it one summer, and for a few months I was in Webelos. But whoever the organizer was, he/she didn't know what they were doing, and it kind of fell apart. But I still have my old Handbook.

Info bleg

Can anyone recommend a decent printer/scanner that has reliable cartridges that will work as they actually should and not constantly stop working for no good reason?

Also, it can't be an HP. I will never buy one of those worthless pieces of $#@! again.

P.S. Thanks for the link, James!

UPDATE: After adding the P.S. above...
Sometimes I think the internet is making fun of me.

Friday Night Video: Desoto Jones - "Giant Magnets"

Another track from an Amazon sampler of the past year that I like. The video isn't much, just some shots of them goofing around and doing a sound check or something. But the music is there.

The shadow

So at 10:40 this morning I came to a pause and noticed I was casting this rather stark shadow. I was still wearing my trench coat at the time.

Cthulhu: Venture Brothers variation

Just thought I'd post a couple screen caps from a recent Venture Brothers rerun. The flaming guy has opened a gate to Hell, and this thing comes through. Now of course, Cthulhu is not (as far as I know) a denizen of Hell, but the homage is clear.

The flaming guy is the first one to die. The one who opens the gate to Hell is always the first to die. It's basic Black Magic 101.

I needed that

Not Always Right | Funny & Stupid Customer Quotes » (Bra)ce Yourself.

Gave me a good laugh.

Impressive

Wired Science has a photoshopped picture demonstrating the size of the Tunguska asteroid crater in relation to the pyramids and the Sphinx. Yikes.

Assuming, of course, that it was an asteroid, and not...something else.

Bad news for the haggis black market

US to lift 21-year ban on haggis:

Smuggled and bootlegged, it has been the cause of transatlantic tensions for more than two decades. But after 21 years in exile, the haggis is to be allowed back into the United States.

I didn't even know importation was illegal.  But then, it's not the kind of topic that usually arises in everyday conversation.

It's a mystery, so far...

I am getting a lot of hits on my post about the Medieval Music album by The Jaye Consort, but none of them show a referring link. Most of the hits are from outside the U.S. Someone must have linked to it, but why no referring link on any of the hits? Weird.

It menas you're gonna die

Scorpions to retire

From their website:

While we were working on our album these past few months, we could literally feel how powerful and creative our work was – and how much fun we were still having, in the process. But there was also something else: We want to end the Scorpion’s extraordinary career on a high note. We are extremely grateful for the fact that we still have the same passion for music we’ve always had since the beginning. This is why, especially now, we agree we have reached the end of the road. We finish our career with an album we consider to be one of the best we have ever recorded and with a tour that will start in our home country Germany and take us to five different continents over the next few years.

We want you, our fans, to be the first to know about this. Thank you for your never-ending support throughout the years!

Although I didn''t follow them closely through the years, they are one of the first of the harder-rock groups that I began listening to way back when, and their Love at First Sting album was one of the first CDs I ever bought (I already had the LP at the time). Their "Still Loving You" is one of the greatest power ballads ever written, imho.

Thanks for the music, guys.

Garish

Well, it's her car so she can paint it any color she wants...


...but man, that is one ugly Mustang.

Surreptitiously photographed at the Valero at Castroville Rd. and Gen. McMullen.

More this and that and a video link

Rough day. I got jumped by a large politically incorrect dog that broke through a back fence and came at me while I was in an alley. Fortunately, it wasn't really that dedicated to a real attack and ran as soon as I took the fight to it. Still, I got a huge jolt of adrenalin and once it wore off I was shaky for quite some time afterwards. I'm pretty sure my invective outburst raised the ambient temperature at least 5 degrees in a 10-yard radius. On the more positive side, according to my notes (I keep a small notebook to help me remember) the first time I ever did that route it was raining and it took me well over 6 hours to do it. Egad, what a horrible day that was. Today I did it in only 3¼ hours. Unfortunately, the split route that I had with it was worse. My notes say that the one time I did the full route it took 4 hours. Today I did the first half and it took 2½ hours. Whoever got the last half today had it easy. It has way too much walking up and down West Commerce and Buena Vista. I guess this was karma getting even with me for having it exceptionally easy on Wednesday and Thursday.

I had to attend a 2-hour "confict resolution for field workers" class this week, also. What a waste of time.

In my opinion, January is far too early for 80-degree weather.

Sony are collectively a bunch of idiots. What do they gain by prohibiting "their" artists' videos from being embedded? Nothing. What do they lose? A truckload of free advertising when a video goes viral. Anyway, here's a cool video I checked out this week by a group called Lordi. This song was part of The End Records Free Sampler of various styles of "metal" which I downloaded some time ago but which is no longer available. It has become one of my favorite samplers and most of it is included in my construction-in-progress favorites list. Click to go to YouTube and view Would You Love a Monsterman by Lordi: a romantic horror story in 3¼ minutes.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm stealing BobG's shtick.

Yeah...

I think this is the best search hit I've ever had.

LOLworthy

Some weapons are not meant to be used at close range.

No, thanks, I prefer coffee that will DESTROY THE WORLD!!!

Taken last October while I was getting gas at a Valero. By the way, has anyone ever had a cup of convenience store coffee that was NOT completely horrible? Because I haven't.

Consummate snark

Make no mistake: I don't believe the system works anymore. It is broken beyond any semblance of repair. But Brown's win in MA just gives rise to too great an opportunity for blowing raspberries. So...pffffth!

via Samizdata

More inconsequential stuff

The kids went to an all-day birthday party today, or actual double-birthday party and I was alone for several hours, which these days feels quite strange and it seems I don't always know what to do with myself. I watched a few movies that I had recorded and wanted to catch up on and took a really long, heavy nap that must be the last of the weekend's "sickishness" wearing off.

Started trying to listen more critically to some of the recent downloads. I meant to post a video as is more or less usual last Friday but I think my weariness from working that day made me forget. So here it is. This is from a sampler of Australian rock that I recently downloaded, and was apparently produced by the Queensland government, which to me seems kind of odd, but there you go. Drawn From Bees call themselves progressive rock, though they don't really sound like the kind of prog-rock I'm more used to hearing (Rush, Yes, Marillion, etc.). Nice vocal harmonies, though, even though I have no idea what the song is about--if anything. The lead singer's hair style looks about 25 years out-of-date, but what the hey. I like the music.

Cats and dogs

I've seen several different links to the UT study about cats and dogs, which I haven't read in its entirety because I consider comparing humans to animals to be about as relevant as comparing humans to drinking glasses*; however, The Lovecraft News Network points out that in his 1926 essay Cats and Dogs, H.P. Lovecraft had already said almost exactly what the UT scientists have just confirmed through scientific tests(!).

Anyway, follow the link for the essay in case you need to add it to your "stuff Lovecraft wrote that probably isn't in very many books" collection.

*For the record, I like both cats and dogs, but for different purposes. I have a cat personality and am a glass tumbler.