Potpourri LXIX

My friends have been productive with providing links, some useful, some moderately so. Let's just reach into the inbox grab bag and see what magic emerges, eh?

Stuff re: Europe from Melissa:

• http://www.exofficio.com/product_results.aspx?page=LIST&free_textdirect=underwear
• http://www.reidsguides.com/t_pa/t_pa_packing_list.html
• http://www.exofficio.com/default.aspx?cm_mmc=Google-_-Travel%20Terms-_-Travel%20Clothing-_-clothes%20for%20travel&gclid=CODittSIxJsCFRJexwodOkCj_w
• http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap06/packing.htm
• http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/subindex_pants_shorts.shtml
• http://www.travelsmith.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=251&path=1%2C2%2C251
• http://europeforvisitors.com/europe/articles/mens-travel-clothing.htm
• http://travelpete.com/lifestyle/bathrooms/
• http://www.irradiation.info/
• http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_home.htm
• http://www.eufic.org/
• http://books.google.com/books?=id=J1uwezgwuFQC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=if+you+get+sick+in+europe&source=bl&ots=GMXVuesrsp&sig=4eKYIkp6NPLsWPHiYADwPA4_g0&hl=en&ei=ue9TSviNFaPKtgeTkZykCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2
• http://www.hthworldwide.com/corp_news/NYTimes_07_17_07.pdf

And this one's also from Melissa. It's both practical and frickin' hilarious, which is utterly appropriate if you know Melissa. Here's a link to tell you when there are good times in movies to go take a pee if you're afraid you might miss something. Especially helpful for folks who have a lot of beer before entering the theater.

From Yohon, an excellent example of a well-written complaint letter. Alas, most complaints during my tenure at Walt Disney World were not nearly so entertaining or coherent.

This comes by way of the mystic gnomes at NeedCoffee.com: A movie made by Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí? Yes! This is just beautiful...from around 1946. I'd heard about this when I worked for the Maus, but never seen it until now. It's just...wow. Imagine combining Dalí's paintings, putting them into motion with an almost Beauty and the Beast visual sensibility, and combining music from a sad Paris café and maybe the background music from The Wizard of Oz or Cinderella, and you'll have some idea of the visual and audio ingredients intermixed here. Watch this, before the Disney lawyers take it away.

From Lin:

• A congressman says unpleasant things about Michael Jackson and tries to put him and the media in their place. No doubt the celebrity-worshipping media and the public will turn against him, come the next election.
• "More from the O-bots on climate change." http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,529953,00.html
• "Third World health care here we come."
  http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/ci.Obama%27s+5+Health+Care+Myths.opinionPrint

From my Google news feed, some more news about the alleged troubles facing the Constellation Program: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/07/constellation-top-risks-orion-loses-unmanned-capability/

New from Hu:

• Alabama Senator Shelby, concerned that support for the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program could hurt Ares jobs in Huntsville, is doing his best to divert funds from other centers. This is remarkably short-sighted, as there's still a chance SpaceX might get something up to the International Space Station before Constellation. And America needs redundant/backup capability to ISS. If you're an Alabama voter, call Shelby's office and 'splain it to him. Not that it'll change much, but it couldn't hurt.
• A report from India on why the next Moon walker will be Chinese.
• Obama seeks closer ties to Russia. You know: because they're so democratic and all.
• Huntsville is the fastest-growing city in Alabama.
• Would the Obama administration stop Israel from bombing Iran's nuclear facilities? VP Biden leaves the question open, but most likely any air strike would have to fly over Iraq, which still has a strong U.S. military presence. And Obama doesn't seem happy with Iran having nukes. Going to be an interesting term for Obama.
• Computers reading your thoughts? Maybe.

From Gwen, with the comment, "This man is bulletproof." Politically, at least, she might have a point. Marion Barry has been arrested again.

That's all for now. My Hotmail access appears to worsen as more neighbors use the internet. Stupid supply and demand...