Great News!

Forgive me for a moment, but I’m going to toot my own horn here.

This has been an excellent day here at Weather Station 1.

First off, veteran blogger and all-around fantastic character Admiral Marius gave me a couple of excellent reviews at his blog. He’s a big inspiration to me, so that meant a lot.

Also today, according to my stats page, my post called Today’s Moron: John McCain appears to have shown up in the Huffington Post blog feed, bringing new readers to The Weather Station. That’s pretty cool.

Then I learned that I am the featured member on this week’s Hardcore Nerdity podcast. I didn’t even know they did a podcast … It was a nice surprise.

I launched Weather Station 1 on a lark, unsure of whether I would stick with it for very long. My previous attempts at blogging, I should point out, failed, as I would quickly lose interest and move on.

But I’ve embraced my inner geek, and that’s fuelled my warp drive. I’m still figuring out exactly what the focus will be here, so for now I’m just exploring brave new worlds and that sort of thing. Forward we go — third star to the right and straight on ’til morning.

Thanks to everyone who’s visited, and stay tuned — I’m just getting warmed up.

Obama, McCain and Captain Kirk

Who’s more like Captain Kirk? John McCain? Or Barack Obama? On the surface, they’re exactly alike: bold Americans, leaders, famous, comfortable in velour. But if you dig deeper, you find differences. Plus I can assure you that at least one of them is imaginary. I’ve done the careful research.

Barack Obama vs. Captain Kirk

• 10. Obama is pretty young to be president. Kirk was pretty young to be a starship captain.
• 9. Obama is known for his compelling speeches and distinctive cadence. So … was … Captain … Kirk.
• 8. Obama was a community organizer in Chicago, helping the poor. Kirk interfered with the prime directive a few times and helped oppressed aliens beings.
• 7. Obama’s right-hand man is an older guy hailed as the voice of experience and reason. Kirk’s right-hand man was a Vulcan.
• 6. Obama is endorsed by Oprah. Kirk hit on Oprah. Well, he would have, and you know it.
• 5. Obama made a memorable appearance on Saturday Night Live. William Shatner skewered his fans on Saturday Night Live.
• 4. Obama takes his shirt off and runs around. Captain Kirk takes his shirt off and rolls around.
• 3. Obama lost a congressional primary to Bobby Rush. Captain Kirk fought a Gorn.
• 2. Obama was on the cover of Time, which helped introduce him to the nation. Captain Kirk travelled through time, where he stole two whales.
• 1. Obama is a man of honour, pride and strength. And Captain Kirk is a man of honour, pride and strength. Just ask him.

John McCain vs. Captain Kirk

• 10. McCain would be the oldest president. Captain Kirk was once artificially aged by radiation.
• 9. McCain really wanted to hang out with a grumpy old guy (Joe Lieberman). Kirk liked hanging out with a grumpy old guy (Dr. McCoy)
• 8. McCain says one thing one day, then forgets and says something else the next. When Kirk was artificially aged, he said one thing one day, then forgot and said it again.
• 7. McCain has difficulty with mobility. When Kirk was artificially aged, he had difficulty with mobility, and also once fell asleep in the command chair.
• 6. McCain left his first wife for an attractive younger woman, and has been forced of late to work with an attractive younger woman. When Kirk was artificially aged, he was surrounded by attractive younger women, and it didn’t matter how old he was, because he was still Kirk.
• 5. McCain was welcomed back from POW camp by President Richard Nixon. Kirk once met President Abraham Lincoln in space.
• 4. McCain has several children with parentage that takes some explaining. Kirk probably has children across the galaxy, which takes no explaining, because he’s Kirk.
• 3. McCain was shot down over Hanoi. Kirk was shot down by Carol Marcus.
• 2. McCain doesn’t remember how many houses he has. Kirk can’t remember how many planets he’s visited.
• 1. McCain has an interesting viewpoint on the state of the economy, so he paints himself as a fiscal crusader, hoping voters will follow him. Captain Kirk doesn’t use money, because he’s from the future, so he lets women buy him pizza and beer and they follow him everywhere.

Winner: Obama

But you knew that coming in.

“I think we should put the five-year mission on hold.
I have something else to do.”

The Library of Geek History

This turned up at Hardcore Nerdity last night. You should look at it.

It’s the ultimate collection of cool things, and it belongs to one guy. Wired did a big photo feature on it. I can’t really describe its power: The article is here. But hey, that’s a Sputnik hanging from the ceiling.