Linkee-poo tries twice as hard and is half as liked, but here they come again to jack my style

It's just like have 25 things you should know about metaphor. OR ad D. Adams once said, "The universe is so hard to understand because there's nothing to compare it against."

Oooo, a new Harry Dresden novel. Yummie.

Space: 1999 is the next franchise to be rebooted, but this time in novel form. (Pointed to by John)

For your futuristic stories, a new type of robot. Soft robots could be very cool. (Pointed to by Dan)

And from the future, to the past. Just glue some gears on it and call it "Steampunk." Video is at the bottom of that page. Worth it.

Jim Wright reminds us everything we need to know about politics he learned in the sixth grade. Or something like that. Mmmm, cookies.

Watch light moving in slow motion. (Grokked from Doselle Young)

On the "we don't need no stinking government regulations", the story of the book Shadows of the Wall of Death. (Grokked from Mer Haskell)

On the rise of the totalitarian surveillance technology. It's mostly about the presence of cameras installed in public places that are ideal for use in facial recognition. "To acclimate their populations to this brave new world of invasive surveillance technologies, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and and his Canadian counterpart, Stephen Harper, both recently introduced 'snoop' bills. Meanwhile, in the US – 'the land of the free' – the onward march of the surveillers continues apace, without check or consultation." (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Eric fairly well expresses my own thoughts about the current story building on how negative the President and VP are being in this election. Also, Eric points to an excellent take down of this concept by Jon Stewart. Considering the hate and bile spewing from the Right for the past 12 years, the GOP is in no position to lecture anyone else on civility. The whole "wounded puppy" routine from the right is old. They roll this out overtime someone on the Left lands a good punch.

Good thing we now have anonymous money flowing into the campaign. What could possibly go wrong with that? (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Dr. Gage, who teaches 20th century history and political thought at Yale, wonders why there's not liberal Ayn Rand. And the answer is, "Gage says the conservative movement has been developing a common intellectual heritage, but liberals have been moving in the opposite direction, to an increasingly diversified, rather than a shared, set of ideas." Just in case someone tries to sell you on the idea of how progressives are ideologues. Speaking from inside the tent, not so much of that going on here.

Also, in case your conservative friends like to talk about how much the current Congress has done, try not to laugh to hard in their face. The current conservative run congress, with a large freshman class of TPers, have passed one tenth of the laws passed by the "Do Nothing" Congress Truman ran against in 48.

Juan Cole with why the Romney Income Tax Returns matter. Also, is it me or did Mitt Romney basically say yesterday ("But every year I've paid at least 13 percent, and if you add in addition the amount that goes to charity, why, the number gets well above 20 percent.") that his taxes were the same as his charity giving? Just another insight into his mindset. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

And Paul Ryan seems to have a problem remembering dates. Yep, he blames Obama for not saving an auto plant in his hometown… which closed in 2008. (Pointed to by Dan)

Alligator Quotient: Some of them are waking up to the new reality.