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Obama is such a great orator, it’s stunning. I’ve seen him in debates and interviews when he’s speaking extemporaneously (or at least as extemporaneously as debates and interviews get when you’re running for president), and he seems weaker if only by comparison. I find myself wondering where is this great man that I’ve seen in the past. But, when he’s in front of a crowd delivering prepared remarks, he’s inspirational and motivating and so charismatic he makes me hope and believe that the US could really elevate itself to live up to its ideals and self-image.

Take a look at Obama’s December 27 speech. I really hope he wins the nomination. I really want a president who can inspire me and quench some of my natural cynicism. It would be so nice not to have to vote for the lessor of two evils, but to be able to vote for the candidate I’d really like to see leading the nation.

I was watching the Graham Norton Show, and they had this guy, John, in the audience. John had spent 50 hours tattooing his penis.

Let’s pause for a moment to let that sink in. The dude tattooed his wang. For 50 unimaginably painful hours. He says this was his first tattoo, which is, I have to say, not where I would have started.

Anyway, they didn’t show the tattoo, but they did pique my curiosity. So, being the digital kind of guy I am, I went searching for pictures. I think this is almost certainly the first time I ever went off in search of pictures of some guys junk.

Anyway, I found the pictures, and OH MY GOD! That is one crazy mother right there. If you’d like to see the pictures too, and believe me this is about as not safe for work as not safe for work can get, he has a site dedicated to his dragon penis tattoo. It is impressive looking work. I think the backside is even better if you can imagine that.

This is a surprisingly interesting and informative discussion of the recent Fed actions, and what it means for the various financial markets.

I need to make a String Tripod and see how that works. I’ve tried the trick where you loop your foot through the camera strap, but you have to bend down so much for that it’s almost never very convenient. This might be a better option.

Human Fecal Transplants, and the doctor’s name is Aas. Now, I’ve heard EVERYTHING!

I’m not really a “car” kind of guy. I don’t watch racing, and I was never very interested in working on or even looking at engines. I couldn’t care less what I drive so long as it reliably and economically gets me where I’m going. In almost every way, I feel that smaller is better with cars.

Despite that, when I was working on a list of 1,000 things to do before I die, I included “Drive a Car in Excess of 120 MPH”. So, I guess that even for me there’s some appeal to the thought of going fast every once in a while. That may be why I found this video of a Bugatti Veyron being pushed to its top speed of 253 MPH. I’d never even heard of a Bugatti Veyron before, but that’s faster than race cars drive, and this is a production car. It’s crazy. And, that track in Germany looks really sweet. I wonder what it takes to get permission to drive on something like that.

Scientific American: Ask the Experts: Astronomy: Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, yet there are only 24 hours in a day?

MacApper has a good breakdown of some of the free software you can use to establish a remote connection to a home Mac from another Mac.

There’s an art walk going in at some of the Chinatown galleries this Saturday. I might need to go check that out.

I haven’t personally confirmed this, but according to Slate, if Amazon drops their price on an item you’ve purchased within the past 30 days, they’ll refund you the difference. Provided of course that you ask (and know who to ask).