Jenna’s Getting Hitched

There's lots of buzz around the water cooler today about the big event happening tomorrow. President Bush to attend daughter Jenna's wedding despite no pizza.

President Bush left the White House Thursday. Laura Bush was already in Texas. Virtually everyone in one of the most pervasive political clans in modern American times is gathering in Crawford at this hour for the very private wedding Saturday evening of Henry Hager and Jenna Bush (the blond one).

The couple haven't even announced their secret honeymoon location. So hundreds of photographers with long lenses and squadrons of rented helicopters have no idea where to hover.

On Monday, the newlyweds leave for military duty in Iraq. Oh wait... that's not right. The Bush family starts wars, they don't actually participate in them.

Digital SLR Gear Still For Sale

C'mon people. Buy my camera gear. Don't make me put it on eBay. This blog is my own personal classified ad page, so you're gonna keep seeing this stuff until it's all sold.

Here's what's available, along with the prices. This was all purchased in late 2003,and everything is in excellent condition. I even have the original boxes. The prices in parentheses indicate the price at B&H Photo (where you can find more details).

• Nikon D-100 Body - $350 ($450, used)
• Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 lens - $225 ($350)
• Nikon 50 mm f/1.8 lens - $60 ($110)
• Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR lens - $1,200 ($1,625)
• Nikon 12-24mm f/2.8 lens - $700 ($920)
• Bob Krist camera bog - $50 (no longer made, but it's the best bag I've ever seen)

These are all made in US (not grey market). The lenses are all black, and all have had clear filters on them for their entire life.

Note: If you're new to digital photography, a good starter package is the D-100 and the Tamron lens.

If you're interested, let me know.

The Unpardonable Sin

At Catholic Answers Forum, someone exhibits the two traits of a good Catholic: fear and guilt: I am worried about the unpardonable sin. Did I commit it?

I'm worried that I may have committed the unpardonable sin. I keep thinking I have accidentally said bad things about the Holy Spirit. When I heard about it being saying that the Holy Spirit is dem**ic, I started having bad thoughts.

That unspeakable word is either demonic or democratic.

Today, I think I kept thinking about what I would feel like if I said it and I had horrible thoughts imaginging it. I'm scrupulous and I always think I've said something blasphemous if I've just breathed while having a bad thought. I don't even know if I have said anything bad about the Holy Spirit today. I don't hate the Trinity and recently I have just been anxious and fearful.

Sprout Wings And Fly

Watch the first three minutes of a 1983 film called Sprout Wings and Fly.

It features Tommy Jarrell on fiddle, playing "Drunken Hiccups." For some reason, embedding is disabled, so the link above takes you to YouTube.

It's a 30-minute film, and Amazon has a used VHS copy for sale for $125.

Expecting No. 18

She's a baby machine: Mother with 17 children with names beginning with J is expecting again... but struggling to find a new name.

Having 18 children would be more than enough of a challenge for most women, but for U.S. mother Michelle Duggar it throws up an extra problem she has to come up with an 18th name beginning with J so it won't stand out among its siblings.

The seven sisters and 10 brothers are Joshua, 20; twins Jana and John-David, both 18; Jill, 16; Jessa, 15; Jinger, 14; Joseph, 13; Josiah, 11; Joy-Anna, 10; twins Jeremiah and Jedidiah, both nine; Jason, seven; James, six; Justin, five; Jackson, three; Johannah, two; and Jennifer, nine months old.

Mrs Duggar, 41, of Bible-belt state Arkansas, is expecting on New Year's Day.

Here's the Duggar Family Web Site.

Old Man McCain

And so it begins: McCain camp accuses Obama of making age an issue.

John McCain's campaign accused Barack Obama of making the presumptive Republican nominee's age an issue after his Thursday remark that the Arizona senator was "losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination."

"First, let us be clear about the nature of Senator Obama's attack today: He used the words 'losing his bearings' intentionally, a not particularly clever way of raising John McCain's age as an issue," said McCain adviser Mark Salter. "This is typical of the Obama style of campaigning.

First of all, "losing one's bearings" does not refer to age. And even if it did, age is certainly an issue. It's no secret that people's mental ability deteriorates with age, and McCain's age is fair game in this election. As one of the commenters noted:

Can McCain explain why AGE is not an issue at all?. Can McCain get a job any where else in the country at this age, realistically?

Accident Near Banjo Pier

Two days ago, I'd never even heard of Banjo Pier (which, as we all know is in Cornwall). Now it's in the news: Elderly man dead after cliff fall.

The body of the man, believed to be about 80-years-old, was spotted at the bottom of the 50ft cliff bordering the harbour area near the town centre.

A Looe lifeboat was today helping recover the body. The Cornwall Air Ambulance and coastguards were called to assist. Emergency services set up a base at Banjo Pier in East Looe, just across the river. The dead man is thought to be local to Looe.

Voting Against Mothers

Our government at work: Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, Kittens.

On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.

"Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced.

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.

What's going on?

Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: "Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother's Day."

Yes, Boehner's explanation makes no sense at all.

Chunky Monkey

Here's the fattest monkey you'll see all week.

He lives in a wildlife park in Japan. That's why they have "do not feed the animals." signs.

Banjo Pin

Tom McMahon is looking for some linkage. Why else would he make a blog post that features a Banjo Lapel Pin?

A great gift for the banjo lover/player in your life. But do banjo players ever wear clothes that have lapels?

For the record, I would never wear this pin. The banjo has only four strings.

Roofs That Need Mowing

Photos of houses with lawns on the roof.

(via Everlasting Blort)

When Superstitions Collide

I love these little religious feuds: Vatican letter directs bishops to keep parish records from Mormons.

In an effort to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah.

An April 5 letter from the Vatican Congregation for Clergy, obtained by Catholic News Service in late April, asks episcopal conferences to direct all bishops to keep the Latter-day Saints from microfilming and digitizing information contained in those registers.

Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the step was taken to prevent the Latter-day Saints from using records -- such as baptismal documentation -- to posthumously baptize by proxy the ancestors of church members.

You wouldn't want those Catholics to end up in Mormon heaven, would you?

Miss Russian Army

Photos from the Miss Russian Army beauty contest.

Impersonate Paris

Useful information for the ladies: How to be a Paris Hilton Impersonator.

There are seven steps. Here are the two that are most important:

• Buy a miniature dog. Carry it inside a small dog carrier wherever you go. Dress it up in frilly little outfits and give it a cute name. To be a true impersonator, name it Tinkerbell or Bambi.
• Say, "That's hot," about everything you like. This works for any situation. To be a convincing Paris Hilton impersonator, practice imitating her voice until you sound the same as her.

Keep practicing, and this will be you:

Illusions

An interesting blog by Psych professor Arthur Shapiro: Illusion Sciences.

Why are we surprised by only some of the things that we see?

The optical illusions are all very well done using Flash.

(via Eric Zorn)