Tatanka-Iyotanka

… was killed on this date in 1890. Sitting Bull

Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota chief and holy man. He was born around 1831 on the Grand River in present-day South Dakota. He became a warrior in a battle with the Crow at age 14, subsequently becoming renowned for his courage in fights with the U.S. Army.

In 1874, an expedition led by George Armstrong Custer confirmed the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, an area that had been declared off-limits to white settlement by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. When efforts by the government to purchase the Black Hills failed, the Fort Laramie Treaty was abrogated. All Lakota not settled on reservations by January 31, 1876, would be considered hostile. Sitting Bull led his people in holding their ground.

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World’s tallest man saves dolphin

The world’s tallest man has saved two dolphins by using his long arms to reach into their stomachs and pull out dangerous plastic shards.

Mongolian herdsman Bao Xishun was called in after the dolphins swallowed plastic used around their pool at an aquarium in Fushun, north-east China.

Attempts to use instruments failed as the dolphins contracted their stomachs.

Guinness World Records list Mr Bao, 54, as the world’s tallest living man at 2.36m (7ft 8.95in).

BBC NEWS

But can he rebound and play some D?

Production Enhancement Thursday Continues

You didn’t want to work or study today anyway, right?

Drum Machine. It builds slowly!

Rotational illusion

Perception puzzles, Visual Perception, Optical illusions and Paradoxes

Online Etch a Sketch

Idiot Test

Calvin and Hobbes Snow Art Gallery

If you are at work and need a diversion, I suggest you leave the copy machine set to reduce 200%, extra dark, 17 inch paper, 99 copies.

List of Golden Globe Nominees

The New York Times has the complete list.

Here are the Golden Globe nominees for films:

Picture, Drama: “Babel,” “Bobby,” “The Departed,” “Little Children,” “The Queen”

Picture, Musical or Comedy: “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Dreamgirls,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Thank You for Smoking”

Librarian Discusses World Events

On MSNBC this morning, Norah O’Donnell asked Laura Bush about a new poll that found “only 2 in 10 Americans approve of the job that the president is doing on Iraq.”

Mrs. Bush placed the blame squarely on the media. She said, “I do know that there are a lot of good things that are happening that aren’t covered. And I think that the drum beat in the country from the media, from the only way people know what is happening…is discouraging.”

Think Progress

Regret the Error

Gather ’round for our annual collection of the funny, shocking, sad and disturbing media errors and corrections from the past year. From typos that celebrate Queen Elizabeth and her remarkable egg-laying abilities, to media hoaxes, unreliable sources, the Sago disaster and apologies for mistakes nearly 120 years ago, it was a good year for Regret. Though not a banner one for our media brethren.

The Year in Media Errors and Corrections

Link via kottke who has a quick list of highlights.

December 14th is the birthday

… of Don Hewitt. The producer of 60 Minutes is 84.

… of Patty Duke. The Oscar-winning actress is 60.

It’s the birthday of Veronica, official daughter-in-law of NewMexiKen and mother of one of The Sweeties®. Happy Birthday, Veronica.

Oscar nominee, for Days of Wine and Roses, Lee Remick was born on this date in 1935. Miss Remick died in 1991.

Congressional Medal of Honor winner Jimmy Doolittle was born on this date in 1896. Doolittle led the daring bombing raid on Tokyo in April 1942. Sixteen B-25s from the U.S.S. Hornet did little damage, but the attack on the Japanese homeland was a major public relations and morale-boosting effort for U.S. forces just five months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Nostradamus was born on this date in 1503.

George Washington died at his Mount Vernon home on this date in 1799 at the age of 67. According to the Library of Congress, his last words reportedly were: “I feel myself going. I thank you for your attentions; but I pray you to take no more trouble about me. Let me go off quietly. I cannot last long.”

Alabama was admitted to the Union as the 22nd state on this date in 1819.

Roald Amundsen and four others became the first to reach the South Pole on this date in the summer of 1911. See the NOAA South Pole Live Camera.

New rules outlaw melting pennies, nickels for profit

Damn, and I had plans to put The Sweeties® to work smelting.

People who melt pennies or nickels to profit from the jump in metals prices could face jail time and pay thousands of dollars in fines, according to new rules out Thursday.

Soaring metals prices mean that the value of the metal in pennies and nickels exceeds the face value of the coins. Based on current metals prices, the value of the metal in a nickel is now 6.99 cents, while the penny’s metal is worth 1.12 cents, according to the U.S. Mint.

USATODAY.com

Unfrigginbelievable

“How about that Heisman Trophy winner, Troy Smith, from Ohio State, huh? You know, he was taking his Heisman Trophy home with him and they wouldn’t let him through airport security. Yeah, we can’t get Bin Laden, but we’ve got the Heisman, by God.” — David Letterman

Sometimes NewMexiKen realizes just how screwed up everything is and I just want to cry. But, of course, I don’t cry because I’m a man, and even if I did go to the ballet I don’t want you to think I’ll be weeping over everything.

Vista Wins on Looks. As for Lacks…

David Pogue looks at Vista. A few key points.

Windows Vista is beautiful. Microsoft has never taken elegance so seriously before.

If the description so far makes Vista sound a lot like the Macintosh, well, you’re right. You get the feeling that Microsoft’s managers put Mac OS X on an easel and told the programmers, “Copy that.”

The visual and feature upgrades are nice, but for Microsoft, security was an even more important goal.

As a result, Vista has something of a multiple-personality disorder. Links for common tasks sometimes appear at the left side of a window, sometimes the right and sometimes across the top. In wizards (step-by-step “interview” screens), the Back button is sometimes at the lower-left corner of the dialog box, sometimes at the upper-left. Microsoft has hidden the traditional menu bar in some programs (you can summon it by tapping the Alt key), but not in others.

Pretty much precisely what NewMexiKen has noticed in my limited use of Vista (mostly on a Mac).