double vision

two takes on google glass:

xkcd
vodkapundit

aka "it's not paranoia if everyone is out to get you"

imao: "worrying about government tyranny is the exact sort of thing that will get you audited."

as a sorbet

i've known a lot of people who were into sci-fi. some were almost to the trekkie stereotype, but never as momomaniacal in their tastes - star trek, star wars, blade runner, red dwarf, etc., were cool with them, as were monty python, (the first) highlander, princess bride, or whatever. about half of those friends were also into the early doctor who episodes. apparently the old series had been broadcast on kera in dfw for a while, but i never saw more than 3 or 4 episodes 'back in the day'.

much later, when bbc america revived the series with rose and the 9th doctor, i finally got to see enough episodes to understand the premise, liked it, and kept watching until just after the 10th left. then last month, bbc reran some of the oldest episodes, so i tried to watch a couple...

ugh...

other episodes might have been better, but the parts i watched were so stiff and staged that they made 'star trek original series' look like cinema verite.

let them eat cake

lots and lots of cake

what can you do in four-point-five parsecs?

if you're iowahawk, write a hilarious mashup

two faced

"won't somebody please think of the children?"

(via imao)

who can it be knocking at my door?

stay away, don't come round here no more.

"support and defend" - what a concept!

dustbury points out that an internet tax cannot be enacted...

"...without actually amending the Constitution*. Then again, relatively few members of Congress pay anything more than lip service to the Constitution, and then only when they need it to support their own positions."

* specifically Article 1 Section 9: No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

the ny beverage ban

he's back

iowahawk makes last week's news better, including these gems:

At the Boston Marathon, someone set us up the bomb...

Asia shakes, China quakes, nature on a bender
Ricin perpetrator is an Elvis imitator
He wrote, I quote, Return to Sender...

Terrorist on the loose, the Chechens have come home to roost
Inconvenient time to be for immigration amnesty...

twofers

visual aids for identifying hypocrisy
on rights
on religion

update 1: read a related report

update 2: on newsworthiness

update 3: also on newsworthiness

sheer speculation

the fbi is not searching for this guy in relation to the boston explosions:

time to ban knives, fists, and blunt objects

the statistics are frightening*

* no actual fright involved ;)

which hunt?

this story is both sillier and scarier than the old monty python bit.

yes, virginia, there were weapons of mass destruction in iraq

i wonder why* the media is not reporting this as widely as their decade of anti-bush propaganda...

(* by "i wonder why" i mean "i already know why"...  :P  )

truth in advertising

apparently that tiger woods ad was a step down from the one nike originally wanted to run...

sadly true

G.K.Chesterton in 1924:

"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of the Conservatives is to prevent the mistakes from being corrected."

the collectivist mindgame

read them all.
part 1
part 2
part 3

this summary appears in part 2

Most modern-day leftists in Western countries have abandoned the idea of a violent revolution, having replaced it with "the long march through the institutions" as part of the culture war to transform the society through cultural hegemony. Instead of commanding firing squads, they play mind games of manipulative illusions, in which the demonization of dissent plays a crucial role...

Maintain the perception of being constantly under attack. Don't examine the opponents' beliefs, nor answer their arguments. Discredit any media channels that offer them a platform. Enforce the following media template: the opposition is evil, treasonous, unfathomable, and psychotic. They can't be reasoned with. They are inspired by fascism and financed by a conspiracy of shady oligarchs. Defame their donors. Whatever the mischief you're planning to pull off, accuse them of doing it first; then proceed as planned, describing your actions as a necessary intervention. And ridicule, ridicule, ridicule!

This is what made it easy for Stalin to purge his opponents: by the time he charged them with treason, the orchestrated media coverage had already made them universally hated.

#ObamaSatan

imao sees that there's more to the controversy than just the pictures:

“Bow down and worship me and I will give you free health care.” #ObamaSatan

“Jump off this building and trust government programs to catch you.” #ObamaSatan

“Why go hungry? Can you not change these jobs into foodstamps?” #ObamaSatan

“The fall of man was the fault of the previous devil.” #ObamaSatan

“Not only should you eat the forbidden fruit, but you have a right to it and it should be subsidized.” #ObamaSatan

“If this is paradise that the Lord has made you, where is the free birth control?” #ObamaSatan

“Were you going to be in this desert awhile? I might play a couple rounds and tempt you later if that’s okay.” #ObamaSatan

“I promise the most transparent evil scheming ever.” #ObamaSatan

“God didn’t build that.” #ObamaSatan

“I’ve never once run a planet, but I’m still sure I can tell God how to run the universe better.” #ObamaSatan

update 1: i thought up a couple more

“Render unto Caesar, period.” #ObamaSatan

“We do not have an overheating problem down here.” #ObamaSatan

“I remember the good old days before we had Occupy Wall Street we had Occupy Swine Herd.” #ObamaSatan

“I hate those bitter clingers too.” #ObamaSatan

“I’ve now been in 665 states — I think one left to go.” #ObamaSatan

“I think when you spread the death around, it's good for everybody.” #ObamaSatan

“I can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.” #ObamaSatan

update 2: "momma, obama ain't de debbil!"

(slightly edited)

Satan is actually effective at his job.

He works very hard to achieve his aims.

He doesn’t take lavish vacations.

He supports his armed forces, (and) believes in their mission and their goals.

He does not vote “Present” on anything.

He does not say “Uh” or “Um.”

He understands economics on at least a grade-school level, and may have cracked open a textbook about it at one point.

He understands supply and demand.

He understands taxes and incentives.

He recognizes Ponzi schemes for what they are.

He would never refer to a terrorist as just “a guy who lives in my neighborhood.”

Satan... knows that if something is truly torture, people don’t volunteer to undergo it as a demonstration of how bad it is.

when in rome

Also sprach Vodkapundit:

"(the) Progressive Left is at war with religion, especially America’s many, many... churches. Progressivism is an orthodoxy unto itself, and cannot tolerate dissent — especially faith-based, First Amendment-protected dissent... For Progressivism is a jealous god, and shall have no gods before it."