Links posted on July 08, 2009
Exasperated by the GD temperatures in Austin again today, I looked for some perspective on the web. I got all that and more with this well-constructed blog post charting the last decade of temperatures in Austin. They may be reading too much into only a decade of data (not long in a meteorological sense) but it does provide an immediate look at whether you can support an assertion that "this year has to be the worst in a while." (Of course anything could happen the rest of the summer but looking at the graph I think you can support the idea that it is hotter than usual).
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I don't even remember liking GI Joe that much as a kid (I was way more into Masters of the Universe and Transformers for sure) but the cartoon probably does rank as the most influential kids animation of the age. They certainly set the standard for improbably convoluted ways to prevent anyone from coming away with a single scratch as this video slideshow points out (via habcous). It's weird, though: despite not being that into the GI Joe TV cartoon, I did always love Buzz Lightyear's movies.