Claude Debussy

For those of you who have just tuned in, Stephen is on vacation. He is not having Claude Debussy as his guest tonight.

The reason this post is about Claude Debussy is that today is the 151st birthday of composer Claude Debussy. There's a nice little Google Doodle today about him and his very famous composition, "Clair de Lune." Read about Claude Debussy here at Wikipedia. And for sure go over to Google and watch the animated celebration of his birthday. It's quite nice and incorporates what you would have seen in Paris at the time. Very clever and enjoyable. Give yourself a little break and go watch and listen. And Google around and read some more about him and the Google Doodle.

G gle - What Were They Thinking?

Silly me. Stephen said at the beginning of the show on April 1 that "This is not The Colbert Report." And so I turned off the TV machine. Only when I looked at TiVo and found that a whole half hour had been recorded did I figure it out. I watched the show and realized it was his April Fools joke. Guess that makes me his fool. Mea Culpa. What can I say?

Turns out that Easter was not as blessed as it could have been for Stephen. Fox and Friends were upset that Google honored Cesar Chavez as their Google Doodle on March 31. Cesar Chavez was born on March 31 and thus that is why the Google Doodle was there on March 31. Sometimes I think Google just loves putting things up for a Doodle that people don't know about. You know, kind of a, oh what do they call it? Oh, yeah, a teachable moment. I mean, well, did you know it was Cesar Chavez Day?

Anyway, Foxy is upset and wonders "What they were thinking?" Stephen echoed her sentiment, even getting her voice right. What indeed? Imagine honoring the founder of the United Farm Workers who said this, "The truest act of courage... is to sacrifice yourself for others." (March 10, 1968) It was even suggested by Gretchen Carlson that people might boycott Google. I would give you a link to "Google Boycott" but then it wouldn't be a boycott, so there's no way to find out.

After complaining that the new Pope, Pope Francis, was annoying him by acting too humble, Stephen started ripping into Obamacare.  Congressional Republicans are doing what they can, in fact,  they "have voted 39 times... to repeal 'Obamacare,'..."


We learned a lot about health care, specifically TennCare in Tennessee. Under Obamacare, 180,000 people would be added to TennCare which is what they call Medicaid there. Here's what Governor Bill Haslam of Tennessee said on March 13, 2013: "A lot of people say, 'hey, that's an easy call. Just expand three years 100 percent and then walk away at that point in time.' I don't think you can easily walk away." This points up the difference between telling people they are no longer getting health care versus telling them they are never getting health care. In Tennessee they do know a thing or two about health care because they have a health care lottery. Twice a year, residents who have high medical bills can call and ask for an application to the lottery. After about an hour, the lottery is over and if you didn't make it , you can try again in six months. If you don't win that lottery, Stephen suggested that you can call Nurse Brandy for $2.99 per minute.

About this point into the show, I was beginning to wonder if the whole show wasn't just one big April Fools Joke, but I will continue as if it was all sincere as any other day. Utah DNR is having an Earth Day Poster Contest. The theme is "Where Would WE Be Without Oil, Gas & Mining?" The contest is co-sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers." One of the rules is "Do Not Use Glitter." That's right. If you spill that stuff, it is impossible to clean up. Stephen would know. He still has a bad case of Disco Lung due to an accident at a craft fair in 1998. If you want more information about Earth Day, you can look here, or here or here.

Stephen's guest on April Fools Day was Sigourney Weaver. They are mutual enormous tall fans of each other. When Stephen asked her what she topped out at, she told him, "Seven Four in flats." So taller than I would have expected. No wait, she was fooling with him. She's only Five Eleven. Stephen mentioned some of her more famous movies, the Alien series, Avatar, Ghost Busters. Of those, only Ghostbusters brought cheers and applause from the audience!

Currently Sigourney Weaver is in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. If you look around a little bit at that link there, you will learn that Sigourney Weaver plays Masha whose interests include jetsetting, signing autographs, and humility. Stephen did actually go to see the play and enjoyed it and even had the Playbill to prove that he saw it. He asked her why she would do theater - wasn't it a stretch to play a movie star since she actually is one? She admitted that it was difficult to play such a deeply shallow person.

Trivia fact. Sigourney Weaver's dad, Pat Weaver, started the Tonight Show. They talked a bit about the old days and Sigourney told Stephen that probably Johnny Carson would be impressed with Stephen Colbert. They talked a bit more about Hollywood, movies, TV and political involvement. I wondered if her views didn't tend toward a more liberal side than those of Stephen, a conservative, but he never tried to put her in her place.

Perhaps you can guess where that interview was headed all along and eventually Stephen did get there. He needed to ask her a question. She was a bit concerned but she let him ask his final question. As a journalist, he had to ask it. It's was a tough one, but a good question to end the interview with, so... "Sigourney Weaver, who ya gonna call?"

Google Halloween

Time for a little diversion. Head over to Google for the scary Google Doodle. A cat, a crow, a dancing skeleton and something behind the noisy doors.

Last year I told you about this. If you haven't visited Ben & Jerry's Halloween pages recently, head over their now.

And just to mention in case you haven't been paying attention, Red Cross needs your donations for Hurricane Sandy assistance.

Winsor McCay

Just for fun, go over to Google. Neat animation. Hurry before it's gone.

Update: It's gone now, but it was about Winsor McCay and Little Nemo, so you can just Google those names and find out more.

The Trouble With Tribbles

I will get those posts up from the latest episodes soon, but in the meantime, you just have to go over to Google to see today's page. It is the 46th Anniversary of Star Trek and it's a lot of fun. A nice diversion for all of you on a sunny (or rainy, or cloudy) day when you have nothing to do (or are working hard).

So, head on over to Google quickly before it goes back to the plain old Google page.

If you miss it, you can catch it here on YouTube. Unfortunately, no one clicked the overhead compartment in the Transporter Room to see what comes tumbling out, so best head over to Google now!

Julia Child and Fritillary Butterfly

Take a break in your busy day and try to figure out what Julia Child and a Fritillary Butterfly have in common. Give up? Okay, it's a little bit far fetched. It's Search Engines! Today over at bing.com you can watch a Fritillary Butterfly flapping its wings. Just watch for a few seconds. Now, don't you feel calmer and more relaxed? And over at Google.com the google doodle is honoring Julia Child who would have been 100 years old today. Splurge on a delicious meal at a French restaurant tonight in her honor.

I can almost imagine what the interview might have been like if Stephen Colbert would have had Julia Child on as a guest. First there would have been the comparison of Emmys won. And I would bet there would have been a cooking competition that would have involved eggs dropping, oil splattering, and lots of whipped cream. Just use your imagination! Bon appétit!

First Drive-In Movie Theater

Did you see the Google search page tribute to the 79th Anniversary of the first drive-in theater? Google was written as a stylized sign in front of the cars. Waving in front were movie tickets to get in to the drive-in. The neat thing, did you notice it, was the number on the ticket - 600613 - in a boxy typeface? Pretty neat. Read more about it here at Christian Science Monitor.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope everyone is eating green food today. And if it's naturally green, you know broccoli, spinach, etc., that would even be healthy for you. There's a nice Google Doodle today and if you click on it, you can find out all sorts of things about St. Patrick's Day.

If you have no parades to go to and you aren't going out with your friends today, you can at least read a little bit here about Ireland and impress your friends with your knowledge about all things Irish. You could also watch this Irish Dance Group. Watch what they do and follow along. It doesn't look that difficult, does it? Just left foot, right foot, a little bit faster now.

Here's one more YouTube video of a bunch of people singing and dancing and having a really, really fun time: The Chieftains and Friends - Give the Fiddler a Dram.

Biggest Snowflake

The largest snowflake ever was seen on this day, January 28, 1887, in Fort Keogh, Montana.
To celebrate, there's a cute Google Doodle today.

* * * Update:
Darn. That Google Doodle is gone already. As soon as it shows up in Google Doodles finder, I'll put a new link here. You can find images at other websites, but so far I haven't seen one that shows the birds flying away.

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( Check back later for a good link.) Then hit refresh and watch again. Watch more closely. Did you see those two birds on top of the final "e" fly up when the snowflake started coming down? They are up there on that wire. Click on them and they will fly away.
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Then go over to Wikipedia to read the List of Weather Records. Down about 2/3 of the way you can see largest snowflake in the Precipitation section. Perhaps you would want to look at all the other records and maybe memorize them in case you wind up on some game show and need to know any of this trivia in order to win the million dollars.

Wikipedia Gone?

Readers may know that I often link to Wikipedia. Often, it is one of the first results when I Google something, so obviously other people also like Wikipedia.

Therefore, I was saddened to read that on January 18, Wikipedia will be blacked out. So, my links here to Wikipedia will probably be useless tomorrow. More importantly than that though, is the reason why this will happen.

SOPA and PIPA. That's why. SOPA is proposed legislation in the U.S. House - Stop Online Piracy Act. PIPA is the PROTECT IP Act in the Senate.

If you like the internet, you should be concerned. So, go read about it now, before January 18 if possible.

English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas is having a joyful time tonight. You know, Santa Claus is on his way to your house right now as I speak. If you are still awake and waiting for him, spend a little time with your friendly search engines. Both Bing and Google are festive on your behalf.

Google has animated Christmas icons and some music. Just click on each of those colored squares.

Bing has someone's house (not mine) with animated light show to show Santa the way to deliver toys.

Have a peaceful evening and day. Joy to all. Relax and enjoy your family and friends.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween. Here's my photo of a bunch of apples dressed up as pumpkins!

If you have nothing better to do today, I have a few ideas. Go look at Google for today's Google Doodle. You can read a little bit about how it was accomplished at the Los Angeles Times. (Watch for a cameo appearance by Pegman and other celebrities when you click on the Google Doodle.)

Next, Friends of the Show Ben and Jerry have a fun little interactive Halloween theme at their website. You can spend a lot of time mousing around there. It seems quite kid-friendly, too. You can even find some safety tips from the Red Cross if you click on the right link. Check out all the "entries" at the Flavor Graveyard. Let's hope Americone Dream never ends up there.

Colbert Bump for Salvatore Purpura?

I Googled Salvatore Purpura last night while Stephen was talking about him on The Colbert Report. I wish I would have paid closer attention because I think there were only about 70 or so hits on Google for Purpura. I'm not 100% positive, but there weren't many hits for Purpura. Today there are about 4,690. The only thing thing that has changed in the last 24 hours is that Stephen talked about Salvatore on his show. And yes, Stephen did mention that Politico had scooped him.

But still, I think Stephen did give Salvatore Purpura the Colbert Bump. And all Purpura had to do to get the Colbert Bump was to quit working for Stephen.

Google "Vote for Rick Parry"

Here's some fun if you like looking at Stephen Colbert's smiling face. Just Google "Vote for Rick Parry" and then click on Images. You will see so many Stephen Colberts that it will make your head spin. And many of those images will take you to various media sources, such as this one that goes to msnbc.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July.

If you aren't eating at a picnic or watching fireworks in your local town, you could check out these links related to today's celebration:

First, Google's page for today.

Fourth of July: Nine Myths Debunked

Watch the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular tonight. Check your local PBS listings.

Marshmallow Test

Well first of all, you need to go watch The Colbert Report over at Colbert Nation if you did not see tonight's Report. I could tell you all about the Marshmallow Test, but I can't do justice to Stephen's explanation and demonstration. It's funny and worth watching.

Some of the Republicans running for President for 2012 were at a debate Monday night, so Stephen talked about that. One of the first things they all did was brag about how many kids they have. One of the candidates figured out a very long time ago that she was going to need lots of kids. Michele Bachmann can't say three sentences to anybody before she brings up those 23 foster children that she raised. Perhaps Stephen could find out the details on that, because no one else seems to be able to find out any details. Did she raise them from cradle to graduation? Or did she have them for a weekend? Inquiring minds want to know.

Ah, but then Stephen got started on the subject of Tim Pawlenty. He called T Paw a Boiled Noodle! And then he said Pawlenty's campaign was soaring like a chicken tossed off a barn. You may have heard Pawlenty's made-up word - Obamneycare. Earlier Pawlenty had criticized Romney, but now when the guy was just a few feet away, Pawlenty backed off completely.

And this got Stephen going even more! "I want to know how the Minnesota health plan keeps Tim Pawlenty alive without a spine."

Anyway, Stephen also had a clip with Pawlenty talking about his plans to pay for his tax cuts. It's called the "Google Test". "If you can find a service or a good available on Google or the internet then the Federal Government probably doesn't need to be providing that good or service."

Here's the catch. (And I must admit that I have heard other people also say this, but Stephen was the first one to do so on The Colbert Report.) "I can Google Tim Pawlenty and if I can Google Tim Pawlenty that means he's absolutely unnecessary in government."

Wow. Wowie. Sounds like T Paw Googled himself right out of the Presidential Race. Oops.

Stephen had an interesting guest on tonight - Janny Scott. She is an author and wrote the book "A Singular Woman, the Untold Story of Barack Obama's mother." Go buy the book and read it.

Hiybbprqag

Surprisingly, Stephen did not have a Groundhog as a guest on his show last night. He did have Christiane Aman-Purr which was interesting. The interview did not go as well as he might have hoped, but what can you expect? It was live TV. (Note: Show was not actually live TV, it just seems that way because Stephen is so lively.)

Stephen Colbert did have a short segment about Bing. Unfortunately, it was not something as cute as Groundhog pictures. It seems Bing has been using Google results as if they were Bing results. Just Google the word "hiybbprqag" to see what the fuss is all about. To quote Stephen, "You got served."

Note: Picture is not of actual hiybbprqag.

the colbert breaking bad mad-temple grand-men glee-bert re-modern family port with jon stewart

Why such a long title? And why no capital letters? Well, I'm way too lazy to make capital letters when there are so many words in the title. And it's such a long title because that is what Stephen will call his show next year in hopes of winning an Emmy. I won't mention which News show on Comedy Central did win an Emmy. It is just too sad for Stephen to even think about. Some day, when the pain is not too intense, Stephen will be able to congratulate the winner of the Emmy.

Moving on.

We have all missed Stephen these past few days and it is great to have him back on the air. His studio was most likely enlarged while he was on vacation. He asked for a show of hands from his audience. I forget the question, but that's not important. What is important is how popular Stephen continues to be. There were about 57,000 people in his audience that agreed with him. That makes him an agreeable person. Interestingly enough, he also was the #1 search on Google today. That is an accomplishment. One might even think that would be enough to win him an Emmy!

Glenn Beck was mentioned on the show, but unfortunately, in a mocking tone. Glenn Beck said the geese that flew overhead at his rally by the Lincoln Memorial were a miracle sent by God. Or something similar.

Stephen mocked, yes mocked Glenn Beck by asking, "What are the odds of a flock of geese taking flight at the exact moment that tens of thousands of people start clapping their hands? And shortly thereafter, Geese Witherspoon visited the set and Stephen enjoyed the company of Grey Goose.

It is good to have him back where he belongs.

Opportunity Knocks

Opportunity Rifts or Opportunity Bumps might be a better title. There is a new ocean* forming in Ethiopia, a rift in the desert actually. Scientists have been paying attention to such things as tectonic plates, volcanic activity, magma injection and mega-dike intrusion.

All of this is, of course, important. But more important is the opportunity that is available now. We have the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and a few others. But what we don't have is the Colbert Ocean. Yes. You see now where this is heading, don't you?

Stephen needs to get the Colbert Nation mobilized and ready to call, write or email whatever agency or government obtains the rights to name this new ocean. The only name that should even be considered is Colbert Ocean, but there will be other suggestions. So, stay vigilant and wriststrong. Only you, all of you out there, can make this happen. Don't let Google snatch this away from you. Colbert Ocean Devotees (C.O.D) can make this happen. Colbert Ocean. Colbert Ocean. Colbert Ocean.

* Photo is not of actual ocean.

Bogusivity

So, I have found a few other websites with the word "bogusivity" on it. But I don't care. I'm going to claim the word as mine. Stephen, don't you dare steal the word from me. The only other reference I found on Google to bogusivity was about juggling and it was a very, very long time ago.

Bogusivity is basically the opposite of truthiness. But it is not just the opposite of truthiness, it is worse than the opposite of truthiness. You see, truthiness has a sort of ambiguity about it whereas bogusivity is absolute, sort of like negative 273.15 degrees Celsius.

Truthiness is a goal, something you want to always try to achieve, like Stephen does. Bogusivity is to be avoided at all times and in all circumstances.