Category Archives: culture

6:00

Remember a few weeks ago when I told you about my encounters with Harold Camping’s Doomsday Cult? Those were the people who kept cheerfully enthusing to me that they were, “On a mission from God.”

Their mission? To let everyone know the world is ending on May 21st at 6:00.

The Washington Post finally ran a piece about them and got clarification on which 6:00 the world will end at. (I got up at 6 a.m., so I’m voting for that one, because that time of day just isn’t right for anything but sleeping, but that’s not specifically the problem with Camping’s assertion).

The end will come sometime around 6 p.m. on May 21 — not 6 p.m. California time or New York time or Hong Kong time. The world will end at 6 p.m. only when it is 6 p.m. locally, Camping said, citing his calculations. “People will see this coming to them from around the world,” he said. “It will follow the sun around.”

That clears everything up, doesn’t it?

Dave Petraeus, a singing orangutan & a dog who looks like Donald Trump walk into a bar….

The changes at the CIA are serious bizness. Consequently, it’s a little annoying that everytime I read something about David Petraeus I picture him dancing around dressed like an orangutan. It’s because of this:

Which over the years has combined with this Simpson’s sketch about Planet of the Apes, the musical:

I know, I know, I need to get out more. Or watch the news less.

Oh, the news, the news.

Did you watch any 24 hour cable news channels yesterday? I did. I watched them all.

What’s that you’re saying? You have a life?

Well, you’re in luck, because Hank Stuever tells you what you missed. And yesterday, you missed cable news in an episode of ADD that we haven’t seen in a long time. Stuever writes, in today’s Washington Post TV Review column:

It was like watching a crazy uncle — some still call him Sam — have another of his little episodes, what the nation’s overworked home health-care aides would call “an active day.” The country’s up outta the recliner and straight through the back screen door and over the fence. Again.

Good stuff. Stuever’s column, that is, not cable news.

Honestly, I didn’t watch that much TV yesterday because it was too ridiculous, even for me.

Even. For. Me.

Think about that for a minute, people.

I caught a little bit of Ben Bernanke’s press conference and then when they switched over to a segment on dogs who looked like the royal couple. Or maybe they were dressed like the royal couple. Or were going to watch the royal wedding while in costumes. Or preferred to pee on newspapers with articles about the royal wedding. Or maybe the dogs want to be on celebrity apprentice or something like that.

I don’t really know – I turned the TV off and picked up a book.

On an unrelated note, have you ever googled “dogs who look like Donald Trump?” I don’t recommend it. If you really want to see a dog who looks like Donald Trump, I’ll leave you with this link from Animal Planet, “Dog is Donald Trump Doppelganger.” As a bonus, it includes a picture of a chihuahua dressed like Sarah Palin.

Celebrate 50 years of manned space exploration

It’s Yuri’s Night, the annual celebration of the 1st manned space flight . This year marks the 50th anniversary of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s historic space flight.

You can learn more about Yuri Gagarin here. You can also find a local Yuri’s Night party – there are more than 400 official parties happening worldwide this year.

If you’re in the DC area, the party’s at Science Club this year instead of out at NASA.

There was a shindig at Artisphere on Saturday, but if you’re just reading about it here, you missed it. Producer Jared Davis described this year’s featured burlesque show as “Star Trek meets Love Boat. I missed it this year despite peer-pressure from many of the participants, so I can’t really comment on whether they succeeded in achieving that lofty goal.

NASA’s Starchild webpage about Yuri Gagarin is so filled with awesome 90s web-design wonder I just have to link to it. Fortunately, there’s an even swankier update still online.