And now, fireworks:

And what would Independence Day be without The Stars and Stripes Forever?

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Ten governors who resigned from office:

1. Eliot Spitzer (New York)
2. Meng Xuenong (Shanxi Province, China)
3. Jim McGreevey (New Jersey)
4. John Rowland (Connecticut)
5. Apirak Kosayodhin (Bangkok, Thailand)
6. Gillian Slater (University of East London, England)
7. Elie Saleeby (Central Bank of Liberia)
8. Boediono (Bank Indonesia)
9. Jonathan Ree (Middlesex University, England)
10. Nelson Rockefeller (New York)

Joining the list above as of July 25 will be the Honorable Sarah Palin, governor of the great state of Alaska. The reason for her resignation are not entirely clear at this point; see if you can figure it out:

Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck' status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,' something I campaigned against and will always oppose. It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.

She also said that by resigning, she would be saving the state "millions of dollars," which I assume means that Lt. Governor Sean Parnell will be serving pro bono once he is sworn in as governor later this month. Or that an indictment is looming.

Ten podcasts I listened to recently:

1. Kankakee Public Library: An Evening with Elizabeth Berg
2. The Kojo Nnamdi Show: Dr. Gridlock
3. Once Upon a Geek: Exclusive Interview with Creators of Blue Devil & Amethyst - Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn
4. The Landphair Report: Orthodox Jews Bring New Life to Iowa Farm Town
5. A.V. Talk: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
6. Catoctin Presbyterian Church: Rev. David Douthett - Cedars and Weeds
7. Lake Effect: Gems of the River
8. Word of Mouth: Biofuel Takes Flight
9. Two-Minute Time Lord: Extended "The Ten Doctors" Interview
10. The Diane Rehm Show: Sally Jenkins and John Stauffer - "The State of Jones" (Doubleday)

Number 2, 6, 7, 8, and 10 are shows I listen to regularly; the other ones I came across somehow or another, though for the life of me I can't remember what led me to the Kankakee Public Library's collection of podcasts, or what prompted me to visit the VOA web and find that one about Jews in Iowa. They were interesting to listen to, though, so I guess I don't really care.

Ten Canadian provincial symbols:

1. Hesperostipa comata (provincial grass of Saskatchewan)
2. Salmon fly designated "Picture Province" (provincial fishing fly of New Brunswick)
3. Labradorite (provincial mineral of Newfoundland and Labrador)
4. Yellow birch (provincial tree of Quebec)
5. Charlottetown soil (provincial soil of Prince Edward's Island)
6. White trillium (provincial flower of Ontario)
7. Bison (provincial animal of Manitoba)
8. Bull trout (provincial fish of Alberta)
9. Steller's jay (provincial bird of British Columbia)
10. Wild blueberry (provincial berry of Nova Scotia)

Ten CDs I own:

1. Beethoven: Mass C Major Op. 86 / Falcón Sanabria: Misa Gloriosa
   Ensemble of Tokyo, Wolfdieter Maurer, conductor; Orquesta Filamónica de Gran Canaria, Adrian Leaper, conductor
2. Abba: Gold
3. Dvorak: Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"
   Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti, conductor
4. Poulenc: Stabat Mater / Gloria / Litanie à la vierge noire
   Danielle Borst, soprano; Choeur Réegional Vittoria d'ile-de-France; Orchestre de la Cité, Michel Piquemal, conductor
5. Fiddler on the Roof Original Broadway Cast Recording
6. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown Broadway Original Cast Album
7. Dar Williams: The Beauty of the Rain
8. John Kovac and friends: His Harp's Desire: Traditional Hymns and Spirituals
9. Fleetwood Mac: Greatest Hits
10. Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 / Schoenberg: A Survivor from Warsaw
    Boston Symphony, Erich Leinsdorf, conductor

I didn't have anything beyond what was obvious to say about the decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to expand the Best Picture field from five to ten starting next year. The changes announced today are much more interesting. First, the Best Song rule changes:

The music branch annually conducts a "bake-off" in which voters see clips of eligible songs as they are used in each film. The voters then rate a song on a scale of 6 to 10. Under the new ruling, if no song earns 8.25, there will be no nominations. If at least one hits that magic number, it will be nominated, as will the second-highest scorer.

(Previous rules had specified three to five nominees, and the new rules say the category will still max out at five.)

I don't think that it's that good an idea to create a situation in which there could be no nominees at all in a given category. Even if all the songs in a given year are mediocre, that doesn't mean one of those is not better that the others. So what if it's not as good as some of the past winners? 1994 was a famously weak year for Best Actress, but they still managed to scrape up five nominees.

Also, I think they should have done away with the practice of seeing clips of the songs as they are used in the movie, since it puts songs that appear only in the credits at such a severe disadvantage, albeit not necessarily an insurmountable one, as Peter Gabriel proved just this year. (Though WALL-E did have an unusually entertaining credits roll, which probably gave it an advantage over, say, Bruce Springsteen's song for The Wrestler.)

The other rule change had to do with the presentation of honorary and special awards:

The other move was the board's decision to present the "testimonial" awards -- the Thalberg nod to filmmakers, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the honorary Oscars for career excellence -- at a black-tie event in November for 500 invited guests, rather than presenting them on the Oscarcast.

... [The] Acad press release pointed out that there will not be more than one Hersholt or Thalberg in any given year, and the maximum will be four tribute awards per year. However, there could be fewer than that.

The move frees up the Academy, which had limited the number of annual honorees due to Oscarcast time considerations. The Acad honorees will be selected and announced in September.

I have mixed feelings about this. As I've said many times before, I think anyone who has earned an Oscar statuette, whether competitive or honorary, should receive their awards during the awards broadcast. On the other hand, there are a good many people every year who receive Oscar statuettes but don't even get mentioned during the awards broadcast, namely the recipients of the Scientific and Technical Awards of Merit. (Not all winners of the Scientific and Technical Awards receive Oscar statuettes; some get plaques or certificates, and there's also also something called the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation, for "outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy," whatever that means.) The winner of the Gordon E. Sawyer Award also receives an Oscar statuette, but those usually are mentioned during the main awards broadcast by whatever starlet the Academy cajoled into hosting the S & T ceremony that year. So while my preference would be to present all the honorary awards during the awards broadcast, I guess presenting none of them is the next best thing. I imagine the Academy will allow this rule to fall by the wayside right around the same time they decide that Tom Cruise deserves an Irving Thalberg Award, but for now I'm not unhappy with the rule change.

This is an amazing video! Song's pretty good too.

Also of some interest, perhaps: Fallen Princesses. Quoting from the site:

"These works place Fairy Tale characters in modern day scenarios. In all of the images the Princess is placed in an environment that articulates her conflict. The '...happily ever after' is replaced with a realistic outcome and addresses current issues." My favorite is the Rapunzel one. And check out the comments to the Jasmine one. It will probably come as no surprise to anyone familiar with online fandom that people who post on the Internet about photography are no less inclined to fixate on irrelevant details than, say, Buffy fans or Whovians.

About the Teeth of Sharks

The thing about a shark is—teeth,
One row above, one row beneath.

Now take a close look. Do you find
It has another row behind?

Still closer—here, I’ll hold your hat:
Has it a third row behind that?

Now look in and… Look out! Oh my,
I’ll never know now! Well, goodbye.

John Ciardi (1916 – 1986)

Ten animals with tautonymous names:

1. Short-tailed chinchilla (Chinchilla chinchilla)
2. Amethyst gem clam (Gemma gemma)
3. Brazilian long-pedipalped harvestman (Sodreana sodreana)
4. Green iguana (Iguana iguana)
5. European fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina)
6. Garfish (Belone belone)
7. Milkfish (Chanos chanos)
8. Common swift (Apus apus)
9. European goat moth (Cossus cossus)
10. Sludge worm (Tubifex tubifex)

Tautonymous names are scientific names of species in which both parts of the name have the same spelling. For reasons that are not clear to me, such names are prohibited for flora but just fine for fauna.

Ten things Mark Sanford could have done in Buenos Aires if he hadn't been so busy cheating on his wife:

1. Attended a performance of Giselle at the Teatro Coliseo
2. Dined at one of the many cafés along Avenida de Mayo
3. Watched the match between Club Atlético Boca Juniors and Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata at La Bombonera
4. Strolled through the rose garden in the Parque Tres de Febrero
5. Toured the Catedral Metropolitana de Buenos Aires
6. Seen the exhibition of equine art by Luis F. Benedit at the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires
7. Enjoyed a tango show at Cafe Tortoni
8. Shopped for antiques at the Ferias de Antigüedades in historic Dorrego Square
9. Fed the elephants at the Buenos Aires Zoo
10. Taken a ferry across the Río de la Plata to meet a Uruguayan woman to be unfaithful with

If you've not been keeping up with the curious case of Mark Sanford, the fine folks at Talking Points Memo put together a detailed timeline that covers the high points. And yeah, he says he went to Buenos Aires to end the affair as part of an attempt to reconcile with his wife, but it's funnier my way.

Ten songs I posted the first lines of last week:

1. The Weepies - All That I Want
2. David Garza - Discoball World
3. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)
4. Sugar - If I Can't Change Your Mind
5. Bill Withers - Lovely Day
6. The Shins - New Slang
7. Juice Newton - Queen of Hearts
8. Canibus with Biz Markie - Shove This Jay-Oh-Bee
9. Tift Merritt - Virginia, No One Can Warn You
10. Chad and Jeremy - Yesterday's Gone

Only two of these songs were identified in the comments of last week's post: mrghoul recognized number 7, and imwaldegot no. 6. So that you all will be able to recognize them next time around, here they all are for your listening pleasure. Whee!

Ten Batman sound effects:

1. crraack
2. bang-eth
3. rip
4. kayo
5. sploosh
6. pow
7. swish
8. thwack
9. klonk
10. ouch-eth

I guess these technically aren't sound effects, but you know what I mean. For the record, my favorite Batman sound effect is this one:



which my brother and I refer to (far more frequently than you might think) as "sock with a star."

Ten Livery Companies and their rank in the order of precedence:

1. The Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights (68th in order of preference)
2. The Worshipful Company of Upholders (49th in order of preference)
3. The Worshipful Company of International Bankers (106th in order of preference)
4. The Worshipful Company of Glovers (62nd in order of preference)
5. The Worshipful Company of Leathersellers (15th in order of preference)
6. The Worshipful Company of Saddlers (25th in order of preference)
7. The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers (60th in order of preference)
8. The Worshipful Company of Musicians (50th in order of preference)
9. The Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors (85th in order of preference)
10. The Worshipful Company of Environmental Cleaners (97th in order of preference)

The City of London is home to 108 trade associations known as Livery Companies. Back in the day, they were had broad regulatory authority over their respective industries; they set wages and working conditions, trained apprentices, controlled imports, and performed quality control inspections. Nowadays they mostly exist as social clubs and charitable foundations, but a few still play a role in their industries, such as the Worshipful Company of Scriveners, which sets the standards and qualifications for notaries public. The order of precedence ranking represents the order in which the Livery Companies were chartered, but aside from bragging rights I have no clue why anyone bothers to keep track of it.