THIS IS HOW THE WORLD ENDS

With a 500-km meteor and a Pink Floyd instrumental.

[Via YesButNoButYes]

Good morning!

I’m impressed by things like this – probably because I am a child of the Cold War, so I think in terms of apocalypses. I’m a fun date, me.

But it’s good to know that there are things out there in the universe that can wipe out civilization in just under 24 hours. It’s also the best argument there is for getting a Mars colonization program together.

All week on TV here they’ve been doing profiles on the astronauts of Shenzhou VII, which blasts off this weekend for China’s third manned space mission. Watching all this running in parralel to the daily tragicomedy of “today’s list of dairy products laced with plastic additives that will kill you” updates, it’s easy to say, “Oh great, they can send a man into space but they can’t milk a f***ing cow safely without endangering everyone.”

Maybe. It’s a common argument that we should ignore space and concentrate on straightening out the mess we’ve made of the Earth. But a 500-km meteor would pretty much solve the milk problem overnight. It’d solve all of our problems, actually. Extinction will do that. So it’d be nice to have somewhere else to go.

I’d go on, but Warren Ellis makes a far better argument than me. (Except for the bit about the dogs, I mean.)

Space is the place,

This is dF

DUDE, WHERE’S MY CAR(S)?

Like most Americans, when there’s an election on and I have to make a choice between two candidates, I don’t worry about unimportant things like the issues. There’s only one way to truly gauge someone’s qualifications and character for the highest office in the land: what kind of car does he/she drive?

And seeing as how it’s the Year of the Car anyway, it’s only right and fair to take a look at what the Obamas and McCains use to get around.

The Obamamobile: 2008 Ford Escape hybrid



The McCainmobile: 2004 Cadillac CTS



The Cindy McCain fleet:



2006 Lexus
2005 Volkswagen
2001 Honda sedan
2007 half-ton Ford pickup truck
1960 Willys Jeep
2008 Jeep Wrangler
2000 Lincoln
2001 GMC SUV
Three 2000 NEV Gem electric vehicles

DISCLAIMER: Photos are for reference only and were Googled in something like five minutes.

PRODUCTION NOTE: Cindy McCain’s name is on all of the vehicles above except for the one she actually drives: the Lexus (top left), which is actually a Budweiser company car.

Note also that the above mosaic doesn’t include the Toyota Prius that Meghan McCain drives, as John McCain has backtracked on who actually bought it.

Note also that the Ford Escape is shared by both Barack and Michelle Obama.

FUN FACT: John McCain is a friend of the common man. Because everyone knows working-class people have at least nine or ten cars scattered around the country. What, you think they’re going to drive one car between the seven or eight houses they own? That’s preposterous. Not only is it hell on the transmission, do you have any idea how much it costs to fill a tank these days?

Who’s gonna drive you home,

This is dF

DEAD SET ON DESTRUCTION

Hagupit, she comes. Husker Du is playing over the headphones, because my iPod has a setting for "Heavy Weather".



Tue 23.09.2008 17.33 230920082178

UPDATE [a few hours later]: Hagupit was upgraded to Typhoon Signal 8 about half an hour after I took that (which is from the walkway connecting the IFC to my ferry pier – that's Victoria Harbour, and no, that's not storm damage to the skyscraper on the left). Going to be a noisy night. I picked a hell of a time to develop tinnitus.