Monday, June 11, 2012

Paw de Deux...

From Frankie T., this video of pure catness:

Castro's Daughter Endorses Obama...

Mary Anastasia O'Grady has a piece this morning in the Wall Street Journal, talking about Ms. Castro's endorsement of Obama (for reelection).  The Obama administration recently granted a visa to Ms. Castro so she could travel to San Francisco to make a speech about homosexual rights.  Given our current relations with Cuba, and their holding of American citizen Alan Gross, the Obama's administration's willingness to accommodate Ms. Castro seems pretty odd.  Ms. O'Grady concludes:
This is the kind of thing that makes U.S. presidents look weak in the eyes of tyrants and that seems to be the way Ms. Castro likes it. If Mr. Obama had more backing from Americans, she speculated in her CNN interview, U.S.-Cuba relations could be "as good or better than we had under President Carter." And isn't every American just pining for the good old days of Carter foreign policy?
That's a very nice touch of sarcasm, Ms. O'Grady.  Carter-style foreign policy...just what we need!

If I Ever Go Live Where It Snows...

...then I gotta get me some of these!

Transit of Venus...

A nice video compilation of observations of the recent transit of Venus, made by various scientific instruments operated by NASA.  More than anything I've seen recently, this video brings home just how much our solar observing capabilities have improved in just the past few years.  Most of the differences in the various views you'll see have to do with what wavelengths of light are being observed.  From APOD, of course – and when you click over there, don't miss the links to other photos of the transit.  Some of them are amazing!

OMG: Chinese Dogs...

I don't know what to say to this – the animals aren't actually being hurt, but still...this just seems wrong on some profound level.  Debbie likes to put funny hats and reindeer antlers, etc., on our dogs – funny-looking, to be sure, but I have the same basic reaction to both that and these Chinese dogs.  Via my mom, who for some reason thought I should see this.  Of course, now that I have...it can't be unseen...