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This has been a test of the Emergency Blogcast System. In the event of an actual emergency, you should consult Drudge or Instapundit, where you would receive more timely information.

We now join our regularly scheduled blogging in progress.

Fantastic Four

My question remains "how many comic book movies can they make?!?", and the answer remains "one more."

I never really got into the whole comic-book-super-hero thing like many of my friends did. No big deal, it's just not my cup of tea. But I do have one question about the soon-to-be-released "Fantastic Four" movie:

The Invisible Woman will be played by Jessica Alba. Why bother casting such a pretty actress into a character no one will be able to see? Anybody could play the character, from Roseanne to Shaq...

or even nobody! Think of the cost savings on makeup and costume when nobody has to even show up for filming. Hey, Hollywood, next time you need an invisible character, CALL ME, I can not show up for half the cost.

I Predict

In the future, everyone will be Instalanched for 15 milliseconds.

Hmmm

So FrankJ & SarahK are engaged, Wordgirl at Molten Thought is engaged, JoyfulChristian is engaged, (I'm sure there are some others out there), plus two couples at work are engaged. So it's engagement season again, and I forgot my license... ;)

The odds of a T-shirt-babe contest resulting in an engagement twice are almost nil. So, does anybody have any suggestions for a guy like me, who could pass for the comic book guy but lacks his social grace and fashion sense? (I've been told it's important to be yourself...)

---

"I'm kidding of course" - Robert Segner

Thanks!

I tried to leave a comment at Molten Thought thanking them for the kind recommendation and the link, but Blogger was uncooperative, so I'll say it here...

Thanks!

Gifted Children

This hit me on several levels. If there are any gifted children in your life, it's a must-read.

UPDATE: The NFGCC site, which is linked to from that post, has a suprising mix of good and bad advice. View it with a critical eye.

what breakup, pt.2

Here are two related opinions by Dignan about a move back to smaller government.

Bloggers to Wed

Congratulations to FrankJ & SarahK on their engagement, and best wishes for a long and happy life together.

Now I wonder what they'll serve at the rehearsal dinner - gator & DP maybe? Maybe not...

He Has Risen!

LaShawn Barber's post about the Resurrection is much better than anything I could write.

ok, no more posts that start with the letter "g"... this month

Mish Mash has some funny stuff you should read:

Aliens: Friend or Foe?

The latest episode of "Osama bin Pappy". (UPDATE: links for previous episodes.)

Good Friday

TruePravda comments on the meaning of Good Friday more eloquently than I ever could. Of course, the quote he refers to is even more excellent.

go read 4

Michelle Malkin clearly explains why P2P (Peer-to-Peer filesharing) is so dangerous.

Vodkapundit found these WWI color photos, and a co-worker found these color photos of Imperial Russia.

what breakup?

(This post has been edited and expanded from a previous version.)

Powerline and Hugh Hewitt have been discussing the possibility of a breakup of the conservative coalition, where the religious right and the non-religious right (and possibly libertarians and other groups) would each go their separate ways. Instapundit seems to think this a likely scenario, while Hugh Hewitt seems to think such a split unlikely.

(As an aside, I'm sure that many of Moore's moonbats would like to part ways with the less radical democrats like Lieberman, and vice versa.)

I would suggest that if such a schism does come about, it would not really be about the Republican party, but in fact be a harbinger of the breakup of the two-party system - or at least a definite weakening of their stranglehold on the issues.

Not to be a blog triumphalist, but I think the blogging phenomenon will be a major factor in such a shakeup, since it allows a completely open forum of discussion (and argument, yelling, histrionic name-calling...) with the entire spectrum of voters. That would be a welcome alternative to the polarizing effect that the two party system has, and the old guard of beltway punditry yelling 'talking points' past each other.

What say ye?

and now for something completely different...

The Soviet aircraft industry has come up with some unusual designs over the years...

seven-engine giant

prop salesman's dream

twin body amphibian

twin engine amphibian

delta - a 19th century concept for a pulsejet !?!

five-plane

telescoping wing fighter

rutan's inspiration?

Judges Err on the Side of Death in the Schiavo Case

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - The U.S. Supreme Court turned down Terri Schiavo's parents Thursday, declining to intervene to keep the brain-damaged woman alive. Justices did not officially explain their decision, but did reveal some of their motivations as they left the courthouse today.

One judge, who wishes to remain anonymous, said "Look, we are so busy listening to interminable appeals by death row inmates, plus the numerous animal abuse cases filling our docket, we simply cannot hear a woman who won't testify on her own behalf." He also mentioned his colleagues' complaints about the large number of wetlands protection act violators and abortion protestors being prosecuted in their courtrooms.

Just before he sped away in his Fiat, a second judge was heard to say "We'll throw the book at Jeb if he tries to 'pull a Reno' to feed Terri, just like we threw the book at that kid who tried to do an end-run around our authority."

The ACLU, which was outraged that Terri's parents had the audacity to mention religious reasons for protecting their daughter, applauded the Ito-like wisdom of the court's decision. No members of the US Congress were available for comment, due to the lengthy hearings on the baseball steroid crisis.

---

See also:

Scrappleface has a much better series of these.

MamaMontezz sees the future if the death-to-innocents cult continues.

Terri Schiavo notes

Rightwingsparkle

Molten Thought

Hugh Hewitt

Evangelical Outpost

Blue Goldfish

---

...and the leftist "death-for-innocents" faction should agree totally with this screwtapian post.

funny ER dream

ER was a mainstay of the latter days of my TV addiction. At that time the local station was rerunning episodes from the first three or four seasons, at 10:30 every night of the week. It was rare for me to miss an episode, and after a while the show worked its way into a dream.

(Like all the other dreams, this is edited for clarity, but not for content.)


The dream starts like a typical episode of ER - without the opening credits. It's a slow afternoon, not too crowded, and most of the characters from the earliest seasons are there: Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle), Dr. Greene (Anthony Edwards), Nurse Hathaway (Julianna Margulies), Nurse Adams (Yvette Freeman), but not Doug Ross (George Clooney). However, I also work in the ER. I'm not a doctor, nurse, janitor, clerk, or receptionist; apparently I'm some sort of equipment technician or repairman, because I'm never directly involved in actually helping patients. Whenever an emergency comes in, I stay out of the way, except to move a piece of equipment in or out of a room.

After several hours of this, as I'm replacing a bulb in an X-ray lightbox, I begin to have chest pains and tingling in my left arm. I start to slump backwards off of a stepladder, but fortunately Nurse Adams is there to catch me. She and some other nurses pull me up onto a table and call doctors Carter and Greene, who begin to ask questions about my symptoms. Everyone around me seems pretty worried as they're hooking up the equipment, giving shots, etc. Eventually it gets fuzzy and dark...

...and then I'm watching my own open heart surgery from above. It's not a near-death thing, I'm just seeing what the TV camera sees, which surprisingly doesn't look very gory...

...and then I wake up back in the ER. There's an IV in my arm, and other monitors, but no oxygen mask or nose tubes. There's not much pain at all, but I feel a little groggy. Someone wheels me from the ICU to a different room, where I eat a couple of meals, watch TV for a bit, and generally make an extremely rapid recovery.

That evening, Dr. Greene comes in and tells me I'm okay to leave, but I should stay home and rest for a week or so. After he leaves, I get dressed and start walking down the hallway to the big sliding doors. But before I pass the desk, Nurse Hathaway walks up and sits me down in one of those double chairs along the wall. She compassionately takes both my hands in hers, and says, "We're all relieved that you're okay, and we are so glad that we could help you. But if you happen to get sick again, you should go see a real doctor at a real hospital. We're just actors and don't have any medical training. Okay?"

hmm

This looks like a premise for a cyberpunk novel. You don't suppose there's any side effects, do you?

HHGG

Re: the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide movie - Some changes are bound to be made in any movie adaptations of a book, but where in the galaxy is Zaphod's other head?

go read 3

Molten Thought on the Schiavo case.

Won't someone pleeease think of the mudskippers!!

Charles Krauthammer points out that "The left's patronizing, quasi-colonialist view of the benighted Arabs was not just analytically incorrect. It was morally bankrupt, too."

Won't someone pleeease think of the tadpoles!!

Poll: Politicians and car salespeople still struggling with honesty.

Won't someone pleeease think of the cobras!!

13 things that do not make sense

New Scientist magazine has a list of "13 things that do not make sense". Their titles include:

The placebo effect, Belfast homeopathy results, The horizon problem, Ultra-energetic cosmic rays, Not-so-constant constants, The Wow signal, The Kuiper cliff, The Pioneer anomaly, Viking's methane, Dark matter, Dark energy, Cold fusion, Tetraneutrons

As you read the article, notice how often words that indicate an expectation are used, such as:

should be, there must be, theory predicts, theoretical limit, not what we expected, etc.

There is an answer for all these mysteries, but it's probably not something the scientists want to hear...

Inane-Findgold pt.2

Patterico and many other bloggers aren't giving up the fight for free speech (despite the lame bureaucratic "reassurances" that blogs won't be targeted by the campaign finance reform laws...).

minutae

i try not to post about minor daily incidents, but...

i just got bait-and-switched at the wienerschnitzel.

i've only been to the location by my house maybe twice since i moved here, but as i was driving home saturday, i saw they had a sign for 59-cent chili dogs. i thought "hey, that sounds good, it's been a long time since i had a chili dog", and pulled in. i got out of the car, and just before i walked in the door, i saw the fine print on the sign that said the deal was only valid on tuesdays after 4pm. annoying, but it was too late - i was already out of the car and hungry for them, so i went ahead and got the chili dog combo, which was tasty, but a little overpriced for the amount of food provided.

considering the state of the world these days, if that's the worst thing that happens to me this week, it's been a really good week.

The Right Stuff

Burt Rutan has it, in his own way. I remember first hearing of him in an article (forgot if it was in Popular Mechanics, Private Pilot, or another aviation magazine) in the 70's which had a first look at the VariViggen, ancestor of the VariEze. This article says he should go down in the history books, and I tend to agree.

heavier, yet lighter

Forget the llamas, here come the camels!

As Urkel would say, "Did I do thaaat?"

go read 2

A Goldfish torpedoes a Fox.

Deep, but interesting ID debate.

More detail than I had ever heard about the Council at Nicaea.

Barbara Boxer accidentally tells the truth about Democratic obstructionism.

Yes Virginia, Islam should apologize.

go read...

The beginning of the end for judicial activism?

Compare and contrast. Also, read the comments for new democratic party slogans, and this related post.

If everybody says you're drunk, you ought to sit down. Also read this related post.

Hail Paykan, blocker of the sun!

Most Livable State

Livability is in the eye of the beholder, and Morgan Quitno is functionally blind.

Crushing of Dissent!

S1NSE CHIMPY MCHITLER STOLED THA LECTION, AMERKKKAN NAZI THUG$ R TRAMPLING THA 1ST M1NDMANT!!!

WAIT!!! ITZ THA MAFIA, N THEY HATE SHRUB 2, SO S'AIGHT!!!

(try as i might, i can't quite capture the 'flava' of a typical moveon moonbat rant. it takes a special kind of stupid to write that poorly.)

go read...

A personal take on the abortion issue.

An update on Boston's Big Dig Boondoggle.

For those who are not hyper-race-sensitive, a cautionary reading from tomorrow's NIV. (p.s. If there's such an uproar about the TNIV, why hasn't more been said about "The Message"? Check out the Ten Commandments in that version.)

he's baaack!

Mish Mash returns to give us a bewilderingly accurate news summary:

Islamist militants killed more people, courts made more stupid rulings, scientists discovered that some random thing may increase your lifespan, while some other random thing may decrease it, etc., etc...

He also reminds us that today is Badly Rounded Pi Day, so I'll add to the festivities by reminding everyone that "Pie Are Square"!

Castro's Paradise

Marvel at the technology and cleanliness of Fidel's vaunted public hospitals! (You may need El Bismol Pepito afterwards...)

Reminds me of a quote, "I've experienced public transportation and public housing, so I'm not interested in public health care."

euroweenies

Fabio has a new show. And in other news:

Jake Jackson, an American-born cowboy, hosts the new reality series "Mr. Man," debuting Monday on the Fox Network.

"We took about 12 wusses from the European Union and we taught them how to be real men, It was a huge challenge." Jackson told Fox News recently. "So, we teach them how to fix cars, how to shoot guns and drive tanks and eat salsa. And, at the same time be a real gentleman with women, which is what women really want."

According to Jackson, one important thing a man can give a woman is his sense of honor. So to that end, "Mr. Man" dispenses with the petty backstabbing so typical of other reality shows. "We had a lot of editing to do, because when you put 12 guys without any testosterone in one room, trust me, real people don't want to see that," Jackson said.

"We get working out with tools and driving and a real job," Jake said. "When you're doing real work, you don't have time to be self-absorbed and vain about your appearance." All that sweat could be worth it. The top prize is $100,000 and the opportunity to train as a SWAT Team member or Navy Seal.

Jackson's basic philosophy in life is, "Never take those euroweenies too seriously. Life is too short."

El filete es muy sabroso!

Yourish.com reminds us that March 15th is The Third Annual International Eat an Animal for PETA Day!

In a completely related question, which is your favorite between Hoffbrau, Outback, Texas Roadhouse, Texas Land & Cattle, and Logan's Roadhouse?

go read...

Bruce S. Thornton's realistic view of the progress of freedom.

V.D. Hanson's look back at the post 9/11 years.

Landmines

Charles Stanley has a good series of studies called "Landmines in the Path of the Believer". Topics include:

Pride
Jealousy
Insecurity
Sexual Sins
Compromise
Unforgiveness
Slothfulness
Discouragement
Covetousness
Fear

go read...

creation

I pity da foo' who pretends to know how creation happened better than the Creator...

new to me...

New link addition: Molten Thought.

last laugh

Click here to see a funny coincidental (?) ad placement that happened when I read a Reuters article about Dan Rather's departure...

(no photoshop was used, except for cropping and removing the row of tabs.)

CBS Apology

Powerline on Rather's retirement:

Our conclusion was that CBS owes President Bush an apology for the thorough-going falsity of its report attacking President Bush's Air National Guard service. In his eight-page statement responding to the report, the closest CBS President Les Moonves came to an apology was his statement that CBS "deeply regrets the disservice that this flawed 60 Minutes Wednesday report did to the American public..." Will CBS ever find the heart to say it's sorry to President Bush? Courage!

Good Idea in Spain

via Instapundit, Fatwa Issued Against Bin Laden.

Car Crazy

Have you seen any of the behind-the-scenes shows about hot rod car and bike builders on the TLC, Discovery, and Speed channels? I saw a couple of episodes with Boyd Coddington, and some with a couple of chopper builders.

It's really interesting to see the work and artistry that goes into those machines, but unfortunately there's very little actual work being shown. Each and every episode I've seen wastes most of the time showing juvenile bickering, drama-queen posturing, and petty office-politic backstabbing.

I can't stand that stuff in real life, and can't stand watching it on tv either. Those shows (and football) are best viewed with the audio muted.

P.C.W.E.I.

Go read Captain's Quarters' article about IKEA.

UPDATE: in reference to this news item, Lileks says "In the future, they will airbrush the cheeseburger from Elvis’ hand."

(a virtual gold star goes to the first commentor to correctly guess the acronym title of this post)

Blogrolling?

Has anybody else had problems with displays generated by Blogrolling.com? I see huge lags on all sites that have a list from them.

UPDATE: It seems to have improved since yesterday.

TV & Movie Reality

old posts are better than no posts...

1. All grocery shopping bags contain at least one stick of french bread.
2. You're very likely to survive any battle in any war, unless you make the mistake of showing someone a picture of your sweetheart back home.
3. If you need to reload your gun, you will always have more ammunition, even if you haven't been carrying any before then. If you find any ammunition lying around, it will be of the proper type and caliber for your weapon.
   
4. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.
5. Mountains are visible on the horizon from any location in North America.
6. It rains most nights in every city in the world. It rains every night in New York City.
   
7. The deadliest time to be a policeman is one week before retirement.
   
8. If your town is threatened by any disaster, the mayor's first concern will be the tourist trade or a forthcoming art exhibition.
9. A man will show no pain while taking the most ferocious beating but will wince when a woman tries to clean his wounds.
10. The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. You can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty, because all ducts are larger than a crouching human body. But beware - there is usually a giant fan at one end with razor sharp blades, no grate, and enough horsepower to shred a person without slowing down.
11. If a large pane of glass is visible, someone will be thrown through it before long.
12. Most dogs are immortal.
13. All cats are evil.
14. All telephone numbers in America begin with the digits 555.
15. If being chased through town, you can usually take cover in a passing St. Patrick's Day parade - no matter what time of year it is.
16. Kitchens don't have light switches. When entering a kitchen at night, you should open the refrigerator door and use that light instead.
    
17. Warehouses rarely have electricity. Factories only have power if there is dangerous machinery inside.
    
18. Mothers routinely cook eggs, bacon and waffles for their family every morning even though their husband and children never have time to eat it.
19. After midnight, parents are easily awakened by the sound of their visiting children pouring milk into a cereal bowl.
    
20. Medieval peasants had perfect teeth.
21. Any person waking from a nightmare will sit bolt upright and pant.
22. Even when driving down a perfectly straight road it is necessary to turn the steering wheel vigorously from left to right every few seconds.
23. It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.
24. All neighbors are either wacky and never knock before entering a room, or homicidal sociopaths who never go outside during daylight hours.
    
25. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you bump into will know all the steps.
26. It does not matter how heavily outnumbered you are in a fight involving martial arts - your enemies will wait patiently to attack you one by one by dancing around in a threatening manner until you have knocked out their predecessors.
27. Bad guys begin laughing strictly according to the hierarchy of their organization, and typically die in the reverse of that order.
28. Since the sixties, only dysfunctional families are allowed to celebrate holidays.
    
29. When a person is knocked unconscious by a blow to the head, they will never suffer a concussion or brain damage - except on Perry Mason where they almost always die.
30. When they are alone, all foreigners prefer to speak English to each other.
31. Space aliens typically differ from humans only by the shape of their forehead and ears - but should they become ill, medical technology will be unable to even recognize their internal organs.
    
32. Any lock can be picked by a credit card or a paper clip in seconds - unless it's the door to a burning building with someone trapped inside.
33. News bulletins that affect you personally are broadcast at the exact second you turn on the TV or radio.
34. Good guys have over 90% shooting accuracy, no matter the degree of difficulty. Bad guys have less than 5% shooting accuracy, no matter their technology level.
    
35. Cars can jump over any object in their path. Most will explode shortly after any collision because their entire structure is filled with gasoline.
    
36. Police Departments make sure all their officers are assigned a partner who is their total opposite. This may be because all police chiefs are perpetually angry caffeine junkies.
    
37. Car tires always squeal during acceleration, braking, or turning corners - even on snow, sand, or wet roads.
    
38. Even in the distant future and other galaxies, all bombs are fitted with large red LED readouts so you know exactly when they're going to go off. It is impossible to defuse any bomb with more than three seconds on that readout.
39. When paying for a taxi, don't look at your wallet as you take out a bill - just grab one at random and hand it over. It will always be the exact fare.
40. Only one person, if any, will be able to see that the girl with glasses is really beautiful.
    

Another 9/11 Reaction

This story of a 9/11 Republican is a must-read:

Growing up, I bought into the prevailing liberal wisdom of my surroundings because I didn't know anything else. I wrote off all Republicans as ignorant, intolerant yahoos. It didn't matter that I knew none personally; it was simply de rigueur to look down on such people. The fact that I was being a bigot never occurred to me...

Like many a political convert, I took it on myself to openly oppose the politics of those with which I once shared world views. Beyond writing, I put myself on the front lines of this ideological battle by taking part in counterprotests at the antiwar rallies leading up to the war in Iraq. This turned out to be a further wake-up call, because it was there that I encountered more intolerance than ever before in my life. Holding pro-Iraq-liberation signs and American flags, I was spat on, called names, intimidated, threatened, attacked, cursed and, on a good day, simply argued with. It was clear that any deviation from the prevailing leftist groupthink of the Bay Area was considered a threat to be eliminated as quickly as possible. It was at such protests that I also had my first real brushes with anti-Semitism...

9/11 prevented?

Political Correctness kills:

Michael Tuohey of Scarborough said he was suspicious of Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari when they rushed through the Portland International Jetport to make their flight to Boston that day.

Atta’s demeanor and the pair’s first-class, one-way tickets to Los Angeles made Tuohey think twice about them.

“I said to myself, ’If this guy doesn’t look like an Arab terrorist, then nothing does.’ Then I gave myself a mental slap, because in this day and age, it’s not nice to say things like this,” Tuohey told the Maine Sunday Telegram. “You’ve checked in hundreds of Arabs and Hindus and Sikhs, and you’ve never done that. I felt kind of embarrassed." (emphasis mine)

In Boston, Atta and Alomari joined three other hijackers on American Airlines Flight 11, which they crashed into one of the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York. Five other hijackers left Boston on another flight, which they crashed into the other tower.

Better a little embarrasment now than the blood of thousands on your hands for the rest of your life.

Inane/Findgold

Some bureaucratic idiots are forgetting the First Amendment - but Captain's Quarters isn't:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

new diseases?

Blue Goldfish has a new word for a malady, "blogache":

The feeling a blogger gets when he or she has blogged too much and needs a rest, yet still feels the urge to update his or her weblog.

Might I also suggest...

Blogosis: A reduction of the amount of actual writing content in a blog, where new posts are simply links. (ex: Hatless in Hattiesburg has frequent bouts of blogosis.)

Blogitis: An inflammation of the blog with ads, scripts, blogrolls, etc., resulting in load times of several minutes.

Blogectomy: The removal of a blog from its host. See USS Clueless, Rachel Lucas, etc.

and in other news

The Supreme Court has declared all surveillance cameras, including red-light traffic cameras, unconstitutional because they violate the right to privacy, which is the foundation of their argument in Roe v. Wade.

(let's hope...)

go read...

Some Gratuitous Advice about indecency control. Azure 1, Glenn 0.

Besides the Aqueduct?

What have the Americans ever done for us?

What If?

Vodkapundit (bring your i.d.) found this at some lefty site:

What do we do if President Bush was right? What do we do if the Mideastern dominoes start falling and President Bush goes down in history as Winston Churchill, while we go down as Neville Chamberlain, howling weakly that diplomacy works and military force is no longer necessary? What if our most conservative President goes down in history as a great contributor to the liberal ideals of freedom and tolerance, while we Democrats -- we liberals -- go down as cold-hearted and fearful, unconcerned about the suffering of our fellows while we sit contentedly in our affluence?

That ship has already sailed, Neville.

the glass is not half empty

So all the blogs are (rightly) abuzz about this blatantly wrong-headed, unconstitutional, proposed limitation on free speech.

How can the government place a value on a blog that praises some politician?
How do we measure that? Design fees, that sort of thing? The FEC did an advisory opinion in the late 1990s (in the Leo Smith case) that I don't think we'd hold to today, saying that if you owned a computer, you'd have to calculate what percentage of the computer cost and electricity went to political advocacy.

How about a hyperlink? Is it worth a penny, or a dollar, to a campaign?
I don't know. But I'll tell you this. One thing the commission has argued over, debated, wrestled with, is how to value assistance to a campaign.

Corporations aren't allowed to donate to campaigns. Suppose a corporation devotes 20 minutes of a secretary's time and $30 in postage to sending out letters for an executive. As a result, the campaign raises $35,000. Do we value the violation on the amount of corporate resources actually spent, maybe $40, or the $35,000 actually raised? The commission has usually taken the view that we value it by the amount raised. It's still going to be difficult to value the link, but the value of the link will go up very quickly.

But I see a loophole...

If we only say bad things about a candidate, we should receive money out of the deal, right?

his first thought was correct...

Mish Mash was under the impression that I made up the name "Hattiesburg" just for this blog, but then found out it is a real town. What he didn't know was that I actually did make up the name, started the blog, traveled back in time, founded the town, and came back to the present, simply to have a moderately absurd name for a blog.

It may be a temporal glitch that causes Mr. Mash includes an extra "h" at the end of the word. Perhaps I spelled it differently in the timestream he operates in. I have founded so many towns in so many alternate realities, sometimes I make a typo.

8^)>

p.s. Someday I'll write about how, during the Second Age of Middle Earth, I lost a battle with Saruman for the name "Instapundit"...

for a transcript, send an sase to wuzzadem

Hardball with Jed Clampett

O'Reilly Factor with Yoda

Forget all that, I wanna see a show called "Softball" with Tommy Chong. "Newt's not here, maaaan..."

big numbers

although correct, duotrigintillion probably wouldn't have caught on as a search engine name...

related: units of measurement page

international law

Iowahawk on international law (edited):

WASHINGTON, DC - In a far-reaching decision that will likely create complicated consequences for the American livestock and wedding-planning industries, the Supreme Court this morning ruled 5-4 that all US marriage dowries "must include three non-diseased oxen."...

Besides expanding the rights of male clanspeople in dowry disputes, the sweeping 600 page Supreme Court opinion clarified U.S. law across a broad spectrum of civil, economic and traffic codes. Among the highlights:

Citing EU and Belgian case law, the Court declared that signage on U.S. Interstate Highways must be translated to both French and Flemish by 2007.

The Court also reconciled a number of conflicting Japanese/US traffic standards, ruling that starting Friday, motorists may drive on either side of American roads.

In another civil finding, the Court noted prevailing Nepalese-Canadian-Yemeni standards in opening the way for legalized stonings at arranged gay marriages...

In a surprise finding, the Court ruled itself unconstitional; but, citing the tradition of international courts ignoring US court rulings, said that this ruling itself was unconstitutional.

In a related case, the Court is expected to rule sometime in late March whether Ashley Helverson and fiance Jason Garcia can be extradited to Saudi Arabia to face the death penalty for fornication.

--------------------

See also CadetHappy's photo of the story at IMAO.

today

Happy Birthday Sam Houston!

go read...

Party of Racism

Berlin Wall II Falls

...he survived

Christian Blogosphere Convention has moved to California - October 13-15

UPDATE: Mark Steyn, as usual

dating tip for women

The prettiest dress in your closet is always the first one.

Oh Danny Boy

Via the Drudge Report, Dan Rather admits he is a dangerous reporter:

In my heart, my marrow, I am a reporter. And one who doesn't play it safe.

He also says:

I believe in the dream, the magical mystical kingdom of CBS News. It may exist only in our minds, but that makes it no less real.

He then produces documents personally typed by the Easter Bunny, which cast doubt upon Karl Rove's attendance record as an ROTC student at Halliburton Junior High School in Camelot, Alaska.

Eminent Domain Abuse

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Kelo v. City of New London Connecticut regarding the abuse of eminent domain laws.

A Google News search shows several references to the case. Some of these cases are stronger than others. but it should be obvious that individual property rights need to be more vigorously defended, especially from greed-driven projects.

This page has one of the best summaries:

We have nothing against large corporations and wealthy developers, but they should get property the old-fashioned American way: through negotiating with willing sellers, rather than by convincing cities to use their police powers to take property from those who don’t want to sell it. We hope the Supreme Court puts the brakes on this abusive practice.

Maybe it should be decreed that the profits of any new development must be shared in perpetuity with those who were forced to leave?

Terry Schiavo Update

Via Blue Goldfish, LaShawn Barber says:

Liberals will hold vigils for murderous thugs on death row, thugs who are receiving the due penalty of their errors, but when an INNOCENT brain-damaged woman whose husband has two kids with another woman and may have put her in this state is facing death by starvation, they’ve got nothing to say. The greatest cause is protecting INNOCENT human life. Where are the feminists? Where are the Mumia Abu-Jamal clowns? (Visit the site of slain Officer Daniel Faulkner to clear the stench.)

shoulda linked to this earlier...

Just click right here
and you'll hear a tale,
the tale of a real long flight.

That started down
in Florida
aboard this pretty kite.

sensible nonsense

No Oil For Pacifists has a list of nonsense up with which he will not put!

surrealist update

the black dog has really been barking at the skylights lately, but at least there are no sentient donuts stalking my cat...

UPDATE: Lileks kicked out his black dog today.

Not bad for a quagmire.

In case you missed the headlines, Banner of Liberty has this Iraq update.

funny stuff

Viewpoint has a great punchline.

Rightwing Duck has no proof.

Lileks' mistake

As much as I like practically everything James Lileks writes (Bleats, Backfence, Newhouse, Joe Ohio, the list goes on...), he's mistaken in thinking that facts point to evolution. He makes a good conclusion, however, that "we could avoid conflict if teachers felt free to lead the class in philosophical speculations". That's all that we are asking for in the first place - the right to discuss rational alternatives to the cult of Darwinism.

UPDATE: Proverbs Daily says the debate is important.

random roundup

better late than never...?

Extreme Space Suits

Abbott and Costello Shop For Computers

Iowahawk manages to insult everyone (profanity)

Douglas Adams' Asteroid

(for an extremely limited audience - you know who you are:) The Start and End of US385. Apparently, I'm "into subtlety"...

Terri's Fight

In case you haven't followed any other links in the Terry Schiavo case, go read these two at TerrisFight.org:

The Timeline

Myth vs Fact

Also, it looks like anyone instrumental in removing the feeding tube would be breaking the law:

825.102 Abuse, aggravated abuse, and neglect of an elderly person or disabled adult; penalties.--

(1) "Abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult" means:

(a) Intentional infliction of physical or psychological injury upon an elderly person or disabled adult;

(b) An intentional act that could reasonably be expected to result in physical or psychological injury to an elderly person or disabled adult; or

(c) Active encouragement of any person to commit an act that results or could reasonably be expected to result in physical or psychological injury to an elderly person or disabled adult

...

(3)(a) "Neglect of an elderly person or disabled adult" means:

1. A caregiver's failure or omission to provide an elderly person or disabled adult with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the elderly person's or disabled adult's physical and mental health, including, but not limited to, food, nutrition, clothing, shelter, supervision, medicine, and medical services that a prudent person would consider essential for the well-being of the elderly person or disabled adult; or

2. A caregiver's failure to make a reasonable effort to protect an elderly person or disabled adult from abuse, neglect, or exploitation by another person.

Neglect of an elderly person or disabled adult may be based on repeated conduct or on a single incident or omission that results in, or could reasonably be expected to result in, serious physical or psychological injury, or a substantial risk of death, to an elderly person or disabled adult.

(b) A person who willfully or by culpable negligence neglects an elderly person or disabled adult and in so doing causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement to the elderly person or disabled adult commits a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084...

...and violating her rights:

744.3215 Rights of persons determined incapacitated.--

(1) A person who has been determined to be incapacitated retains the right:

(a) To have an annual review of the guardianship report and plan.

(b) To have continuing review of the need for restriction of his or her rights.

(c) To be restored to capacity at the earliest possible time.

(d) To be treated humanely, with dignity and respect, and to be protected against abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

(e) To have a qualified guardian.

(f) To remain as independent as possible, including having his or her preference as to place and standard of living honored, either as he or she expressed or demonstrated his or her preference prior to the determination of his or her incapacity or as he or she currently expresses his or her preference, insofar as such request is reasonable.

(g) To be properly educated.

(h) To receive prudent financial management for his or her property and to be informed how his or her property is being managed, if he or she has lost the right to manage property.

(i) To receive necessary services and rehabilitation.

(j) To be free from discrimination because of his or her incapacity.

(k) To have access to the courts.

(l) To counsel.

(m) To receive visitors and communicate with others.

(n) To notice of all proceedings related to determination of capacity and guardianship, unless the court finds the incapacitated person lacks the ability to comprehend the notice.

(o) To privacy.

oh no

Loonatics must be running WB these days - they're "re-imagining" the classic characters of Bugs Bunny, Road Runner, et al.

The truth behind the quote is: “We've all gone insane. Wow, what a horrible way to take the classic Looney Tunes franchise and stomp it into the mud. If anything, it’s a destruction of the legacy instead of an homage.”

---

p.s. This is obviously very unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but still...

looking forward to baseball?

Why Is Baseball So Much Better Than Football? by Thomas Boswell (1987)

FrankJ, the new EvilGlenn

Oh the humanity... er, the, um... bloganity of it all!

Looks like FrankJ has surpassed EvilGlenn on the evilosity scale. It's one thing to be a puppy blender, but FrankJ is now blending ducks, rabbits, monkeys, parrots, and gun-toting couples! Sick! (Look out iowahawk, you may be next.)

The chicken-fried alligator strips should have been a warning sign.

FrankJ, Zooblender.

Indeed.

Finally!

Updated HIH Free Desktop Wallpaper Image page, with two new designs.

go read...

The American Thinker skewers several left-wing dogmas in one post.

Viewpoint comments on Dennis Prager's five-part case for Judeo-Christian Values.

Vitamin Ban?

In the interest of "public health", EU to Ban 300 Vitamin & Mineral Supplements. Yet somehow, tobacco, alcohol, and escargot remain legal...

Mars

Scientists have found life on Mars!

The giveaway was high localized concentrations of methane. At first the scientists suspected a “chemical bioreactor in the subsurface – an underground microbial ecosystem of sorts" - such as they had previously found at Rio Tinto.

Turns out that the methane source was only Bin Laden.

scandal, scandal, who's got the scandal?

Rathergate: the gift that keeps on giving. C-BS scapegoats are no longer cooperating.

KofiPot Dome: No Oil for Pacifists has a roundup.

Opengates: Michelle Malkin's latest so far.

Easongate: One roundup at the Captain's Quarters.

UPGATE, er... I mean UPDATE: Mark Steyn on a scandal that should not be reduced to a catchy-gate name.

go read

Blogging for Terry Schiavo - LaShawn Barber has a roundup.

Some of the hippopotamus are two-sided squares... or something like that.

MishMash found some cool origami.

rock paper scissors

kinda cool, kinda weird

geek valentine

roses are #FF0000,
violets are #0000FF,
all my base are
belong to you.

- author unknown

fun at omniglot

"useful phrases"

"tongue twisters"

"my hovercraft is full of eels"

is micro$oft dying?

Let's hope...

quote from the third page:

But when was the last time you thought about Microsoft, except in frustration or anger?

NEVER!

promised land

After a few millenia, the walls of Jericho have been rebuilt, a stunning reversal of the Israeli victory led by Joshua. Reliable sources state that this is only a temporary setback.

Missing Los Alamos hard drives

Turns out the missing hard drives never existed...

The U.S. Energy Department admitted late Friday that two allegedly "missing" secret computer disks that had triggered a major purge at one of the nation's premier nuclear weapons laboratories never existed in the first place.

But Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the University of California that manages Los Alamos National Laboratory Latest News about Los Alamos National Laboratory will see its fiscal 2004 fee reduced by 5.8 million dollars as punishment for security Latest News about Security lapses discovered at the northern New Mexico facility that gave birth to the U.S. nuclear bomb.

"Although multiple investigations have confirmed that the 'missing' disks never existed, the major weaknesses in controlling classified material revealed by this incident are absolutely unacceptable, and the University of California must be held accountable for them," Brooks said in a statement.

And in related news, millions of traffic tickets will be sent out because drivers had the opportunity to speed, and thousands will be imprisoned for life because they might have shot someone, and "they must be held accountable for that..."

21st Century Reformation?

Blue Goldfish is on a roll against the problem of church-as-entertainment and related issues. Go read these three...

the sabbath day

the fruit of yesteryear

how, then, shall we worship?

...and keep checking in there - i suspect he has more to say on the matter.

wow

is this for real? printed skin...

Ben Stein's next to last post

I found this Ben Stein article just after I found the other one I just posted. I won't post the whole thing this time - just this top 20 list:

1. I am powerless over other people's anger and envy.
2. I have all the strength I need when I turn all of my problems over to God.
3. My life here and everywhere is unmanageable by me. But it is child's play to God.
4. One day at a time is the answer to everything.
5. There is only one real wealth: peace of mind.
6. My greatest power comes from my surrender to God's will every moment of every day.
7. Fear is the common human condition. The only solution that lasts is faith in God.
8. What happens to me is not terribly important.
9. I cannot control other people, and when I try, it leads to disaster.
10. Acceptance of God's will is my only option today. It is not a choice but a necessity.
11. The problem in our lives is powerlessness. The solution is also powerlessness.
12. What is health? Put your trust in God and go on with your day's work.
13. Self-pity is prison: I want out.
14. Envy is as bad for me as strychnine. I won't drink any of it.
15. My job today is to do a bit of work and stay calm and not hurt anyone, including myself. That's it.
16. Today, I am not going to judge. Not even myself.
17. Today, I will stay away from people who are foreseeably harmful.
18. Instead of trying to figure out the universe, I will think about what I am going to have for lunch.
19. I am not the director of the movie of my life. That is a far greater power than I will ever be.
20. What happens to me today is what is happening to one of eight billion people on this earth. That should give me an idea of how important I am.

newest scrappleface...

So the DNC is a protection racket? Sounds about right...

Ben Stein is a Star

...by realizing who the real stars are. copied in its entirety, in case it disappears...

How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?
by Ben Stein

As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I put a heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is "eonlineFINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started.

Lew Harris, who founded this great site, asked me to do it maybe seven or eight years ago, and I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end.

But again, all things must pass, and my column for E! Online must pass. In a way, it is actually the perfect time for it to pass. Lew, whom I have known forever, was impressed that I knew so many stars at Morton's on Monday nights.

He could not get over it, in fact. So, he said I should write a column about the stars I saw at Morton's and what they had to say.

It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars.

I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie.

But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again.

Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.

How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model?

Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails. They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer.

A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world.

A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him.

A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad.

The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.

We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die.

I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject.

There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament. The policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive. The orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery. The teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children. The kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards.

Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse.

Now you have my idea of a real hero.

Last column, I told you a few of the rules I had learned to keep my sanity. Well, here is a final one to help you keep your sanity and keep you in the running for stardom: We are puny, insignificant creatures.

We are not responsible for the operation of the universe, and what happens to us is not terribly important. God is real, not a fiction, and when we turn over our lives to Him, he takes far better care of us than we could ever do for ourselves.

In a word, we make ourselves sane when we fire ourselves as the directors of the movie of our lives and turn the power over to Him.

I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin--or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them.

But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life.

I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms.

This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human.

As so many of you know, I am an avid Bush fan and a Republican. But I think the best guidance I ever got was from the inauguration speech of Democrat John F. Kennedy in January of 1961.

On a very cold and bright day in D.C., he said, "With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth...asking His blessing and His help but knowing that here on Earth, God's work must surely be our own."

And then to paraphrase my favorite president, my boss and friend Richard Nixon, when he left the White House in August 1974, with me standing a few feet away, "This is not goodbye. The French have a word for it--au revoir. We'll see you again."

Au revoir, and thank you for reading me for so long. God bless every one of you. We'll see you again.

Desktop Design Update

In case you haven't noticed, I've not been adding new free Hatless in Hattiesburg desktop designs as I had planned to this year. The main reason is that I now plan to offer poster-sized prints of similar designs for sale, and have been focusing my efforts there. I will try to have at least two new desktop designs uploaded by the end of the month...

I will also post small samples of the poster designs when they are ready, in case anyone is interested in purchasing the prints.

go read...

Mark Steyn on the UN-government. One of many good quotes:

One of the reasons I'm in favour of small government is because big government tends to be remote government, and remote government is unaccountable, and, as a wannabe world government, the UN is the remotest and most unaccountable of all. If the sentimental utopian blather ever came true and we wound up with one "world government", from an accounting department point of view, the model will be Nigeria rather than New Hampshire.

RTWT.

ha-HA!

Search for squirrel kung fu yield 30 hits at The Onion! Even technophobe make better search - ha-HA!

Go Read...

Blue Goldfish on the 'intellect' of jihadists.

Eidos on gay marriage.

LaShawn Barber on Sullivan-scam.

Practical Penumbra on the follies playing at the theatre. And you thought you had problems at work...

Bad Example of a bad film.

Hugh Hewitt on Mattis v Jordan. Can't find the link, so I'll copy-paste Update 3 here:

Type "Mattis" into the search engines of the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times and you will find stories here, here, here, and here on United States Marine Corps General James Mattis' remarks on war fighting made this past Tuesday.

Type "Eason Jordan" into those same search engines and you will get nothing concerning Jordan's scandalous accusation at Davos on January 27 that the American military "targeted" and killed a dozen journalists in Iraq. Zip. Nothing.

The elite media instantly saddles up to ride to the condemnation of a speech given by a warrior much beloved and respected by his troops --a genuine hero and charismatic war-winner who believes in closing with and killing the enemy before they kill his troops and more civilians, and for whose ideology of fascism he has complete contempt.

But let the speech be given by a MSM big, and let the subject be a slander on the entire American military, and the result is total MSM silence.

windoze maintenance

highly recommended and appropriate debugging method...

word survey

How do people in your area typically pronounce these two words?:

OIL:
1 syllable, like 'awl' or 'oll',
2 syllables, like 'aw-ull' or 'oh-ill',
or 3 syllables, like 'aw-ee-ull' or 'oh-ee-ull'?

CRAYONS:
1 syllable, 'krahnz',
2 syllables, 'kray-onz',
or do they call them 'crayolas' or 'colors'?

Which term do people in your area prefer for each of these items?:

wide piece of furniture:
SOFA,
COUCH,
DIVAN,
or something else?

cold storage unit:
FRIDGE,
REFRIGERATOR,
FRIGDAIRE,
ICEBOX,
or something else?

carbonated beverage:
SODA,
POP,
SODA POP,
COKE,
COLA,
or something else?

i forgot...

...that if anyone asks how you are doing, the last thing they want to know is how you are doing.

book market

If you thought Hewitt's and Lileks' books did well, just wait 'til you see how well this one sells! Yes, FrankJ, there is a market - but don't quote me on that... ;)