One of those things I just can’t bring myself to not write about…

In which a wholesome American icon teams up with two significantly less wholesome people (Snoop Dog and Soulja Boy) to produce a new hippity hop classic.

Proceeds from the iTunes sales of the song benefit Aldrin’s ShareSpace Foundation.

Also, Buzz has a new autobiography out. You can buy it here:

Update: AoSHQ points out this far more entertaining video of Aldrin decking one of those “we never landed on the moon” conspiracy theory nutcases. A true American hero indeed!

There was Pope John Paul I, of course.

John Paul I was notable for being the William Henry Harrison of Popes, dying only 33 days after he ascended to the papacy in 1978. (He lasted a whole day longer than WHH!)

John Paul I immediately preceded John Paul II.

There were implications of conspiracy in his death, and some believe that he died from drinking poisoned tea.

Source: The History Channel

Turns out having “Swine Flu Parties” is a bad idea. Or so the government would have you believe.

In much the same way as (demented) parents intentionally expose their kids to chicken pox (you know, because the pox are milder when you’re younger) people have begun organizing Swine Flu Parties.

The thought is that if they get infected now, while the flu is mild, then when the next wave hits, they’ll be immune.

But the CDC says it doesn’t work that way.

And I’m sure the CDC wouldn’t lie to you. They’re from the government.

Edgar D. Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon, feels that it is time for the US Government to finally release all the information they have on visits from Space Aliens.

Mitchell belongs to the Paradigm Research Group, which has given the Obama administration until May to release all classified documents relating to Alien encounters, or else they will “make it as difficult on them as possible” by releasing their own documents to the media.

But don’t think of that as a threat. As the founder of the PRG says “you don’t threaten the United States government, they’re heavily armed …“

I think in an new era of hope and change, the government should release the documents. I mean, we’re already releasing CIA memos- what possible damage could Alien memos do?

(Here’s hoping that President Pantywaist addresses this in his weekly prime time television address.)

The state that we know today as Texas was once part of Mexico.

After the Texas Revolution (or Texas War of Independence) in 1835-36, a large territory that was once part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas declared independence and became the Republic of Texas.

The Republic of Texas contained land that is now part of the US States Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming.

The Republic of Texas was a sovereign nation that had its own constitution and government. It was fully independent of both the United States and Mexico.

In 1845 Texas was annexed by the United States and became a US State. They skipped the step of being a territory and went directly to Statehood. The borders were set where they are today, and the additional land outside the borders was ceded to the Federal government. The land was later turned into more states, as listed above.

There is a bit of controversy surrounding the annexation of Texas. Some people believe that the US Government did not have the legal right to annex a sovereign foreign nation, and that a Constitutional Amendment would need to be passed to allow this action. An Amendment was not offered, and the annexation took place under an act of Congress. The people of the Republic of Texas did hold an internal referendum on whether or not to join the US, and the measure did pass.

Today there is a movement within Texas that claims that the Republic of Texas still legally exists. Their “official” website is here. Note to those guys: most people won’t take you seriously if you use phrases like “Man’s time cannot cure actions of unlawfulness or fraud. Only God can forgive them” in your argument.

Source: mostly wiki

The US Naval Observatory is a scientific agency that is part of the US Government.

It was established in the mid 1800′s, and focused on keeping the official time of the US, as well as calibrating chronometers for Navy ships. (A chronometer is an old navigation device that used stars + time to calculate global position.)

Today, the Naval Observatory still keeps the official time. You can get the time by calling 719-567-6742, 202-762-1069, or 202-762-1401. Or on the web at http://www.usno.navy.mil/.

The Naval Observatory is also the location of the official home of the Vice President, called Number One Observatory Circle.

The house located there was originally used as the residence for the superintendent of the Observatory.

In 1974, congress made the house the VP’s official residence. Before then, the VP had to provide their own house, or stay in hotels. The cost of security at private residences was becoming too expensive, so an official residence was proposed.

Source: wiki and this LA Times article, which predictably claims that Dick Cheney conspired to keep his house off of Google Earth (he didn’t).

Brought to us by the evil soft drink, beer, plastic, and glass companies. So says treehugger.com. No specific mention of Halliburton, but I’m sure they are involved.

I wasn’t going to write about this, but after the second article in as many days I feel compelled to.

Hot Air had a story yesterday (via the NY Times) about how the economic downturn has really hurt the recycling industry. It seems no one wants to buy the stuff anymore.

And I guess Penn and Teller have been on the case of debunking the recycling myth as well.

As for me, file this under things I don’t care about enough to get worked up over.

Recycling always made logical sense to me. If you can melt down aluminum or glass and use it again, the we don’t have to produce more. But if it’s BS, then it’s BS.

I’m just going to keep putting my glass, aluminum, and paper in the blue bin, and my trash in the brown bin until someone tells me differently.

First we’ll start with a definition of Emoluments. Basically it means compensation.

Next, the Emoluments clause of the Constitution. It’s in Article I, section 6:

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time.

Basically, it prohibits sitting members of congress from creating a sweet government job (or upping the pay for an existing job) and then stepping into it. Seeing as how this was included in the actual text of the Constitution, as opposed to being just a regular old law, I would guess that kind of shenanigan was commonplace under the old British system.

Now, why it matters (or actually doesn’t):

George Bush signed an executive order that upped the pay for the Secretary of State. This action happened while Hillary Clinton was a Senator.

So, a very literal reading of the Emoluments clause would find that because Ms. Clinton was a Senator, and during the time she was elected the emoluments of the civil office that she would be appointed to (SOS) increased (or encreased, if you will), then the appointment of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State would be unconstitutional.

Now, before you start getting huffy, I have not heard this case seriously argued, and I seriously doubt that any legitimate source would do so. The commentary I’ve seen has all been from a “hmmm, that’s interesting” perspective.

Obviously, the fact that Clinton herself did not vote to increase the SOS salary and the fact that the salary is not a major consideration in her decision whether or not to take the job makes clear that her appointment would not be in violation of the spirit of the law.

But, I find it interesting nonetheless.

Actually, I’m reasonably certain that George Bush knew how the election was going to turn out (because Halliburton told him), so he gave Condoleezza Rice a raise to prevent Hillary Clinton’s enevitable appointment. Obviously.

Source: The Volokh Conspiracy

In 1916, 5 people were attacked by sharks in New Jersey. 2 of the victims were swimming in the ocean. It’s the other 3 that are the real story.

They were swimming in a creek (Matawan Creek, to be exact) in a town (Matawan) that is 16 miles from the ocean. The shark entered the creek, swam the 16 miles, and then attacked three people from the town. First was a kid, who died. Then was a guy who jumped in to save the kid. He died too. The last was another kid who was swimming upstream from the other kid, and wasn’t aware that sharks were on the loose. He lost a leg, but survived.

Later that year a lion tamer from the Barnum and Bailey circus caught a great white shark off the New Jersey shore. When they cut the shark open they found human remains inside its stomach. Whether or not that was the “Jersey Man-Eater” was never definitively proven.

Theories for why there was so much shark activity in 1916 mostly center around WWI. Some people thought it was because sharks were trying to get away from all the German U-Boats in the Atlantic. Others thought it was because the sharks had gotten a taste for human after eating the 15,000 men women and children that were on the ships that the U-Boats sank.

You know me, I blame Halliburton and the Bush administration.

Source: History Channel Show on Man-Eating Sharks. This wiki article tells the story. This article from sharkattackphotos.com was surprisingly worthless.

The Earth’s Magnetic Field has weakened by 10% since monitoring began in the 1830′s. This has the effect of subjecting us Earthlings to more solar particles.

What’s behind the weakening? No one knows.

But a guy is building a 10 foot tall 30 ton model of earth (using molten sodium for the core) in an effort to find out.

But you know what I think. Halliburton… what did you do Halliburton?

Source: Nerdular Nerdance