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Christian bakery faces discrimination charge over pro-"gay marriage" Bert & Ernie cake
Ashers Baking Co, a Christian-owned chain of bakeries in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, has been sent a letter from the Equality Commission for refusing an order to make a cake featuring a picture of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street, the message "Support Gay Marriage," and the logo of an...
NOAA Administrator worried early tornado warnings will lead to video game-playing
Dr. Wendy Sullivan, acting administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the parent agency for the National Weather Service), questioned the value of earlier warnings for those in the path of a tornado, suggesting that the early warning might lull residents into a sense of complacency. Sullivan was testifying...
Happy St. David's Day
I had planned to post this first thing this morning, but computer problems prevented, and then grim news seemed more important. We all could use some music and laughter about now, I think. The four countries of the United Kingdom are of such great antiquity that they can't mark a...
Terry Gilliam's Christmas Card
A bit of fun from 1968 -- a short film by Terry Gilliam, who would become, in 1969, the animator for Monty Python's Flying Circus and the only American member of the cast. Here he works his cutout stop-motion magic on an assortment of Christmas cards....
Geographical Palin
Michael Palin, the incoming president of the Royal Geographical Society, spoke out in support of strengthening geography as an academic subject in the latest issue of Geographical, the society's magazine, according to a story in the Daily Mail: 'It's a subject that still seems to be neglected,' he said. 'It's...
Primary post-mortem: Some initial thoughts
A few thoughts before turning in: Thanks to news director Dan Potter and the KRMG news team for the chance to contribute to tonight's coverage of the primary election. It was a pleasure, and I look forward to the next opportunity. Many thanks to Chris and Cheryl Medlock for their...
"You're not one of them"
"Well... look, Eric, it's like this... There are some people in life who are interesting people. You know, they're good company, fun to be with. The kind of people who, when you meet them on the street, your heart lifts and you say to yourself, 'Ah! There's old So-and-So! Isn't...
Taking the Englishness out of the English language
There's no place for "plaice" in this dictionary. Words about Christianity (vicar, sin, parish), Christmas (carol, mistletoe), the monarchy (coronation, duke, monarch), seafood (lobster, mussel), pets (corgi, goldfish, hamster), fairy tales (elf, goblin), woodland flora (tulip, sycamore, pasture), and fauna (doe, starling, terrapin) are gone, too, from a popular children's...
Cosm-oasis
A week ago Saturday afternoon about 3:30, I had just finished attending the Oklahoma Republican State Convention at the Renaissance Hotel. I was hungry, parched, and in need of wi-fi. Cosmo Cafe, on the west side of Memorial at 68th Street, came to mind as a place nearby where I...
Something completely different: Monty Python on AM America, 1975
The cast of Monty Python's Flying Circus came to America in April 1975 to promote their new movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Here they are, co-hosting on ABC's AM America, the predecessor to Good Morning America. Even if you don't care for Python, this is worth watching just...
Iowa caucus notes
Some notes from tonight's Iowa coverage: Republican results are here on iowagop.net, which features an interactive map showing results by county. If their server is swamped, try the Washington Post site instead. You can find Democratic statewide results here at iowacaucusresults.com. The site also has precinct results by county for...
Brave new censorship
Imagine a world where opinions are censored without the censored being aware of it. You write passionately and publish your views and as far as you know, your opinions are out there for the world to consider. Except that they aren't. Nobody but you can read what you wrote. Such...
Tiptoe through the YouTube
Tiny Tim sings his signature tune on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In in 1968, as Dick Martin looks on in awe, or something like it: By the way, that was Judy Carnes taking away Tiny Tim's cape at the beginning of the clip, and Goldie Hawn walking off with him at...
Hypnotic Vision
This week I managed to lead off my Urban Tulsa Weekly column, about the urban design characteristics of the new downtown Tulsa arena, with a Monty Python reference. UPDATE: Charles G. Hill comments: "Oklahoma City's Ford Center isn't particularly iconic either, but it's intended to fit into an existing urban...
Squid use ink to cloud the waters and escape, too
The Tulsa Whirled had a front page story Sunday featuring comments from attorney Wilson Busby and former City Councilor Sam Roop, who is now an aide to Mayor Bill LaFortune. Busby was retained by the City Council for their investigation into the Tulsa Airport Authority, which also covered publicly-subsidized Great...
Howard Molson's got a new shovel!
Remembered this today, for no particular reason, and got a laugh out of it. It's from "The Testing of Eric Olthwaite," an episode of Ripping Yarns, a mid-70s British series written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python's Flying Circus. When Eric's family runs away from home, his...
Ev'ry tadpole is sacred
This time of year our backyard goldfish pond is teeming with tadpoles. It's also overgrown with stringy algae, so much so that the pond filter has to be rinsed out on a daily basis. I have a pool net I can use to scoop out the goop, but if my...
Go forth, Gruntfuttock, my child!
Today was the 40th anniversary of the first broadcast of "Round the Horne," one of the most enduringly popular radio shows of all time. As you might guess, any popular radio show that had its premiere only 40 years ago is obviously not American. In the '60s, the BBC still...
Go, go, Pogo!
Dawn Eden earlier today posted this interesting entry, reflecting on an essay about Catholicism and the empowerment of women. I'll get back to that thought, perhaps, but what caught my eye was her clever headline, "Churchy La Femme", which was hot-linked somewhere. Merely a pun on the French epigram, cherchez...
And now the weather... in <strike>plainsong</strike> Anglican chant
A bit of Internet serendipity: The news reached me that longtime BBC weatherman Michael Fish was being put out to pasture for the sin of being almost 60 and not at all telegenic. I remember watching his nightly forecasts during business trips to the UK. The article was an op-ed...
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