John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

The decade in seven minutes, from Newsweek

A fast-moving retrospective of the last 10 years by Newsweek, so don't be surprised by the U.S. focus.

'You lie!' ... Already available on a mug

Urban Dictionary was quick off the mark with a response to last night's tempest involving Republican Joe Wilson's "You lie!" yell as Barack Obama denied in a Congress address that his plan would cover illegal immigrants. You can watch that part of the incident here (although it's hard to hear Wilson clearly.)

The incident is all over the news this morning, and I was surprised that Urban Dictionary picked up on the controversy quickly enough to pick the phrase for the word of the day feature, which appeared in my email box early this morning:

The classiest way to respond to anyone you disagree with.

Obama: There are also those who claim that our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. This too is false - the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.

Joe Wilson: You lie!

And, in keeping with Urban Dictionary's monetizing strategy, it's available on a mug.

Ways to remember the moon landing, from Gromit to Itchy & Scratchy

Today's anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 landing on the moon is all over the news today, which has sparked a few thoughts of how we can mark the occasion with our leisure time. Some things I've liked and loved over the years: 

A Grand Day Out: Twenty years after the landing, Nick Park brushed aside the geological evidence, and showed that the moon, indeed, is full of cheese. At least, that's why Wallace and Gromit built a rocket to go there. Still my favourite of the W&G shorts. 

This is the Way to the Moon: Miroslav Sasek wrote this children's book in the early years of the New Frontier. I understand it has been reissued to coincide with the 40th anniversary.

The Simpsons Movie: Just for the Itchy and Scratchy opening.

Moon Palace: I read Paul Auster's 1969-set novel, in which the moon landing is in the air, in 1989, when the buzz was about the 20th anniversary. Might dig it out; I recall it made for good reading in those summer nights.

Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon: I read these Tintin books well after the moon landing, but don't recall being troubled in the least by the fact the books are set well before the NASA era.

There are plenty of others that come to mind, because they're about space travels, astronauts, etc., from Silent Running to Terms of Endearment to, of course, Apollo 13, which made a captivating drama out of an event where we knew everyone survived.

Got any to add?

If the Apollo 11 moon landing happened today ...

... Slate figures it might look and sound something like this. (The image above is a screencap showing would-be messages on Twitter presented on the all-news networks.

Filthy rich? OK in Spain, except for filthy part

If you're rich and headed to Spain, intent on sharing your wealth, do take time to spruce yourself up first, lest you run afoul of the tramp-loathing authorities.

Know your financial crisis terminology!

Struggling to keep up with words like derivatives, writedowns and sub-prime, and the rest of the language of the ongoing financial meltdown? Here's a hyperlinked glossary from BBC's always-useful magazine.

 

Gas cramps, in cartoon form

The Christian Science Monitor cartoon above is just one about high gas prices, clipped here for your amusement and sighs.

Lebanon

It's hard to keep up with the rapidly changing developments in the conflict in Lebanon, but here are some. Truth Laid Bear is aggregating Palestinian, Israeli and Lebanese bloggers in one feed. Technorati's main tagging page may also be helpful; the hottest tags this hour are Israel and Lebanon. The Globe is collecting correspondents' views for its Witness page here. For some background, CBC.ca's Lebanon timeline is here.

News quiz

Been paying attention to the federal election campaign? Take this test on the CBC.ca site and see.

While we're testing our brain cells, here's this week's news quiz from the BBC site. The Newseum offers tests of current events of three different skill levels on a regularly updated basis.

Pop quiz

Know your news? A quiz of the week's news went online earlier today at cbc.ca.