The spaghetti farms of Switzerland

Enjoy this fascinating 1957 BBC documentary online.

A rat is a pig is a dog is a Holocaust victim

It might be the only comment supporting animal rights which could possibly be more tasteless than "A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy."

I'm indebted to conservative Australian journalist and blogger Tim Blair for spotting this for us.

Mr. Blair reports that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (which is much like our CBC, for good or ill) recently profiled Australian animal rights activist Brian Sherman, which led local environmentalist Tim Flannery, director of the South Australian Museum, to opine:

"I think that Brian sees something akin to what went on in the Holocaust. You know, that this is a terrible tragedy unfolding before our eyes, and unless we act to do something about it, we’re complicit in this cruelty and this degradation."

Mr, Sherman, for his part, has had the grace to disassociate himself from this opinion. But one has to wonder when North American PETA activists will start to think this way.

Australia, land of Fisher-Price people

Tim Blair has posted a link to this fun collection of old newspaper photo morgue pictures.

I also thought the banner ad at the top of the page was interesting too. It's an ad for an online employment agency service, which shows cartoon people being dropped into the appropriate slots. They all look like Fisher Price play people. I was reminded of the Fisher Price airplane that I had as a child, where you put all the play people into the slots and then pretended to fly the plane.

Not featured on Club X Currently Playing lists, for some reason

I'm listening to the comedy record The Flying Saucer by Buchanan and Goodman. The 1956 record used snippets of current records to make people say funny things as Earth is invaded by Martians.

Here's a news story which explains why rappers owe Buchanan and Goodman thanks for inventing the concept of "sampling".

Next up, perfecting my Boris Karloff impression by listening to the "Monster Mash". By the way, you can still hire Bobby "Boris" Pickett to sing a "medley of his hit."

Wierd search engine referral of the day

"Your sister swims out to meet troop ships."

To the moon, Alice!

Google Moon uses maps of the Moon to help you imagine what it looked like to the astronauts on Apollo 11 as they came in for a landing 36 years ago.

What happens in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The Toronto Sun reveals the no longer secret plot of the new Harry Potter book. Thanks for the heads-up tip to Mike Jenkinson, who amazingly read the entire book in one day.

My mother, the biggest Harry Potter fan that I know, should not click on either of these links until she reads the book herself! Mom, resist the temptation! Nevertheless, I never would have guessed that the book would reveal that Hogwarts would have been been bought by Sam Walton and razed to build a Wal-Mart. That J.K. Rowling, what a kidder!

Mommy, we were playing house, and a portal to hell opened...

Thanks to Bidboy, I can refer you to an eBay auction for a haunted doll. Captain Howdy action figure not included.

After the scene where he walked on the water, Bela turned into a bat

In 1909, Bela Lugosi played Jesus in a Passion Play

Chuck Cadman dies

Now that Chuck Cadman has died, I will prefer to remember the principled MP who was very helpful for some stories that I did back in my journalist days.

It's too bad that most people will remember him for saving the Liberals this spring. Aside from that lapse of judgement, he did a lot of good work.

I wonder if any of the media speculation that the Liberals made him promises to reform youth crime laws (a pet passion of his) in return for his vote, was true. If so, will they be bound by their promises?

I know, I'll get a reference from Bill Vander Zalm :)

Somehow, I don't think that my career at B.C. Report would help me to get this job. Am I wrong? :)

I'll wake up the rooster on my way to work

While I am working early morning vacation relief, please check out Jordan Bateman's fun personal blog. I fear that my brain turning into Velveeta, due to fatigue, may hamper me from posting for a couple of days.

How dare they quote him!

Tim Blair notices when Australian politician Bob Carr's defense of religious freedom turns into "My dog ate my homework!" when other media outlets do follow-up stories. Unless he chickened out and changed the speech as he delivered it, flummoxing those reporters who didn't check against delivery.

The comments section for that post will explore the mystery.

Tonight, on a very special Star Trek: The Next Generation...

Wil Wheaton, writing on his favourite video games as a teenager, observes

....For the next few minutes, I was blown away. The game didn't just talk — it was cool! It was a combination of D&D and SciFi. It was like someone had reached into my dreams, found the two things I loved more than anything else in the world, and put the result in front of me. This perfect storm of passions wouldn't happen again until I visited Olympic Gardens when I was 22, but that's all you're ever going to hear about that story....

Reading this, I thought to myself, "I bet that the Olympic Gardens is either a strip bar or a whorehouse." And, as a Google search will show you, I was correct.

Perhaps it's good that Wil doesn't share. The bandwith requirements for a zillion hits on his blog would surely bankrupt him.

"Like a virgin... Girded with sackcloth for the very first time..."

A fan gives the Biblical book of Joel the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment.

Birthday

Many happy returns to my old colleagueThe Ambler, who has recently had a birthday.

Clashing plaids spotted in Question Period

The Meatrearch writes that Stephen Harper needs to start acting like Don Cherry in more ways than one.