Thanks to moonandserpent for the link that Kim Philby just got a plaque at the FSB headquarters. This tickles me.

...at least not yet. Instead, I provide you with some of the random things I've dug up on the Internets today:

• Via moonandserpent's grinding.be post, a fascinating Fortean Times article from last year on two crazy Italian kids from the '60s who listened in on the Soviet and American space programs,
• An interesting take on why Egypt is planning on killing all its ( Read more... )

It's April 1, so the Internet is broken. All sorts of stupid things are up all over the place. For instance:

• The Web Standards Project decided to troll people by saying that the purpose of the conflicker worm was uncovered,
• Trent Reznor appears to have decided to mock the music industry fairly explicitly,
• Wizards of the Coast have published a BS ( Read more... )

So I was browsing the Intarwebz, and I found this (WARNING: sound and slightly annoying tiled image), which made me smile, particularly when I realized about five seconds in that I'd heard this before. A little bit of googling later, I realized it was "Religion and Politics Ya-Ta-Ta! Ya-Ta-Ta!" by Scott Beach, and I likely heard it on the Dr. ( Read more... )

Apparently, writer and poet Thomas Disch committed suicide this weekend. I'd normally let this pass without comment, save for the fact that I'd corresponded with him a couple years ago in order to try to get his OK to republish a poem of his for the Strange Horizons series of articles on the Rhysling award, specifically this piece. (As a side ( Read more... )

First off, I'm not entirely dead. I've just been moving apartments. I'll be posting swan_tower and my new contact information under a custom friends lock for those I've actually met. If you don't see that post shortly after this one, feel free to comment here to be added to the filter and / or contacted.

Secondly, Jerry Falwell just died. This is quite ( Read more... )

There are the obligatory things to mention. Friends of mine are justly happy about the next Speaker of the House. Similarly, Massachusetts gets its first African-American governor, who just happens to be a Harvard man. (Any of you folks happen to know which House? swan_tower and I are curious.) The key Indiana races went Democratic (including District 9 ( Read more... )

I just found out that you can confirm that you are registered to vote at your present address at this site. I feel like a bit of a heel for not posting this earlier, as the deadline for registration is past, but at the very least, it helps to verify that you are registered. You can also find your polling place there. Absentee ballot applications ( Read more... )

telepresence just indicated that voice actor Len Maxwell has passed away. While he's not done much recently apart from some guest appearances on Family Guy, some of you might know him as the voice of Timer, who "hanker[ed] for a hunka cheese" during Saturday morning cartoons ( Read more... )

Mystery of Ben Nevis keyboard instrument solved.

The BBC report I was listening to on the ride to work was discussing how people have brought beds, gas canisters, beer kegs, and the like to the top of the mountain.