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... ;)

SC968 updates

It looks like the event first known as GodBlogCon has been renamed. It is now called "THE CHRISTIAN BLOGOSPHERE CONVENTION", which is a welcome change.

They recommended reading Hugh Hewitt's Blog book and the Orangejack Blogging University before the event.

Also, a tentative date has been set for the first week of October, and a list of seminars is beginning to form.

Instapundit loves Big Brother

I generally like the posts at Instapundit, but this steaming pile of commentary deserves ridicule. Consider the opposite:

I've never understood the romanticization of the Union. It has lasted far too long, it is horribly run and governed, but it accomplished its goal of crushing independence; trading one form of slavery for another. I imagine it would anger Mr. Reynolds to suggest that Abraham Lincoln, however personally admirable he might have been in some ways, bore huge responsibility for the tyranny of federalism -- if he had honored the idea of independence, the war probably would never have been started, leaving everyone (and especially the South) better off.

One suspects that for a certain sort of infantile mind, pro-Union statements provide the same sort of reassuring sense of conformity that fascism has provided. This, I guess, explains the weird strain of pro-Union sympathy that one finds among a certain segment of fascists. Or, of course, there's always narcissism as an explanation.

(DISCLAIMER: I am not in any way defending the idiocy of the author he is commenting about, or the confederacy, or slavery - merely pointing out the bias of the post.)

UPDATE: Sgt. Stryker also takes exception to those "infantile pro-Union" statements.

UPDATE 2: Instapundit still doesn't get it. It's about States' Rights. The Founding Fathers gave us the Declaration of... anyone? anyone? Bueller? Reynolds? the Declaration of INDEPENDENCE. Now class, did Lincoln allow the states to remain INDEPENDENT? anyone? anyone? Frye? The answer is No, he declared war on the INDEPENDENT states, and forced them into DEPENDENCE on a more totalitarian regime, which would lead to the federal income tax, the Social Security Ponzi scheme, and Roe v Wade.

(again, for the hyperbole-challenged among you, I'm overstating the case to make a point)

rather helpful

Al-Jazeera produced an informative documentary to help first-time voters in Iraq, and invited Dan Rather to share his expertise in influencing elections.

Mr. Rather introduced his qualifications by saying "I dodged a lot of bullets in our most recent American elections. Although many of my colleagues didn't survive the onslaught, I came through smelling like Aunt Gertrude's roses." He reminds the voters that "although you have been waiting nearly five years for this opportunity, do not take time to double-check your registration. When you are ready, rush towards the polling place with myopic zeal." He then suggests that they "try to throw the ballot to the left" as they are exiting the polls.

Mr. Rather offers a last bit of advice, "Pretend you don't notice the snipers, even if they are wearing pajamas or riding a swift boat."

vocabulary

It's really hilarious when a troll tries to insult your intelligence, but knows only one adjective out of the entire lexicon of English, which has four letters and starts with "f". What an doltish vapid fop.

go read...

Mish Mash's essay about Intelligent Design, which objectively clarifies the benefits of I.D. without muddying the waters with a creation vs. evolution debate.

(Then for some fun at Osama's expense, read the previous post.)

UPDATE: Blue Goldfish reports a different "philosophical framework for understanding the universe" that I had not heard of before. I don't know enough about the theory to recommend it, but it does look fascinating.

fussin' fossils

(please read the original here first)

Beware the Mammals:
A velociraptor reports about the feud between a brontosaurus and those pesky new mammals that are so popular.

In Panngeapolis, one Mr. Brontosaurus is warning the other old reptiles to watch out for mammals. Are they the wave of the future? He goes on to say "This is just the beginning. Although it challenges our walnut sized brains, we gargantuans need to pay attention to those hot fuzzy punks."

"Extreme rodents are so un-bird-hipped and self-cooling they can make fun of the herbivorous while skittering across those **** glaciers." he says about the mammals, who he sometimes refers to as "reliable egg-stealers", little realizing that raptors are far better trained in that practice.

So is this the future of reptile-mammal relations in 2000000005 BC and beyond? According to Mr. Bronto, yes, and not in a good way. He says all dinosaurs should try to keep up with the little furballs and step on them, if they can. "Herbivores are very naive," he says, "The speed and the intellect of the mice are increasing." He also claims that the mammals are dangerous because they do not attack their prey with the same mindless ferocity as a tyrannosaur, but with their alleged speed and cunning. He contends "the reptile kingdom is under assault, and may go the way of the - um, hmm - the primordial soup."

One pterosaur asserts that she "has yet to find anywhere in the reptile kingdom anyone who really has a claw on these rodents. We are dealing with a relatively new phenomenon."

GodBlogCon ideas

SC968 - the post heard round the Kingdom!

If you haven't heard about the GodBlogCon slated for October in Arizona, go see what all the hubbub is about. Then go over and read some pretty good ideas that Blue Goldfish has about the event.

(UPDATED p.s.: Thanks SC for honoring my policy of web anonymity.)

I wanna fly like a old coot

(here's the updated link - read the comments)

Dadgum whippersnappers don't even know who Steve Miller is? Next thing you'll say is you don't know Peter Frampton either... helloooo, "Frampton Comes Alive" ring any bells? Wild Cherry? Gino Vanelli? Argent?

Well back in my day, we didn't have no seedys or empty threes to listen to, they made us listen to 8-tracks and AM radio, and we were grateful. And no, AM does not mean in the morning. I had to walk eight miles uphill in the snow just to get to Sound Warehouse, and trade them two goats for a Thin Lizzy album.

Now where were we? Oh yeah - the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time.

:)

excellent viewpoints

Where are the human shields when they are needed?

"Progressives must continually drive Leftward lest they cease to be Progressives and be absorbed into the status quo."

stunning

hope it's true...

Headlines from the Future!

February's news from Iraq:

"Overcrowded polling places in Iraq cause voters to stand in line for hours"

"Kerry, Boxer, and Kennedy blame President Bush for ballot shortages"

"Iranians volunteer to help with recounts"

---

Reuters, AP, Al-Jazeera, you can mail me a check now...

Blogdream 5

(edited for clarity, but not for content)

There is a theater has showed up in my dreams at least a dozen times, but to my knowledge does not exist in reality. It's rather large, with a slightly sloping floor, generally warm light colors, probably built in the late 60s. Two aisles run the length, extra room at the front and back, and one crossways aisle halfway down. Two doors at the back and one on the left side. Dusty pleated heavy cloth wall covering. Older style padded seats with the bottoms that bounce up when nobody's sitting in them. (In the first dream I can remember that was set there, I was waiting for a speech by Mikhail Gorbachev.)


In the dream, I'm sitting about a third of the way back in the middle back section near the left aisle. The lights are still up, and it's a long time until the next show. There's about 40 people sitting around, and two of them are seated one row back and a couple of seats over. Two young women, who I find are from some (unnamed) former Soviet Bloc country in eastern Europe. One of them reminds me of the younger woman on the space station in the movie 2001, and the other sort of looks like this photo of Risawn with the new haircut.

They strike up a conversation in English, which they speak fairly well but it's obviously not their first language. They ask several touristy questions about the town, state, and country, about other places I've lived, recommendations of other sights to see, etc. Eventually they steer the conversation to ask "What's this blog thing we've been hearing so much about?" As I explain the concept, they seem more and more interested, until they exclaim "We want one! Can you set it up for us? We can give you $1200!"

I agree to set one up, but did not want to take their money just for a few minutes of showing them how to use blogger.com. However, they pull out an odd looking purse, shove a wad of bills into my hands, and hurry out, saying they would meet me later in the lobby. Because other people are starting to look my way, I sit there for a couple of minutes and nonchalantly look around. In the back corner, there just happen to be some computer terminals sitting on tall wooden tables, and after a few minutes I walk over to them. They're about the quality you might find in an underfunded library - dusty 486s with a 13" monitor running Win3.1 - but just enough to log in and set up a blogger account.

After that, plus a little bit of surfing, I go out to meet the women in the lobby. It's sunset, and there's a golden glare from all the shiny surfaces in the room. They walk back in with someone, who they introduce to me as their "friend", exchanging surreptitious glances as they say that word. He launches into a spiel about how he is a native of Ghana, about his credentials in some international agency I've never heard of, and about what his authority is and what my legal responsibilities are, stemming from my acceptance of the terms of the contract, and payment for services... blah, blah, blah, he starts to sound like a MoveOn protestor yelling the text of a Nigerian email scam at me. The only point he makes clearly is that I am to relinquish ownership of any rights I have to the "Hatless in Hattiesburg" name.

I try to object to the few bits that I do understand, but he does not miss a beat. After a couple more minutes I realize that he is not really looking at me, but staring straight ahead, and not moving from where the women (who are no longer anywhere to be seen) placed him. I take two steps to his left - no reaction. Walk behind him - still yelling. Wave my hand in front of his face - no change. So I shrug, chuckle to myself, and walk out.

Just as I put my hand on the door handle, I take a look back. A six year old boy is walking around the lobby and looks up at the man(?) still yelling at nobody. The boy loudly asks his mom "What's that man doing?". His mom hurriedly pulls him back, protectively walks them both away, and whispers "Don't go up to strangers like that."

I leave, and begin to wonder if the $1200 is counterfeit.

color me relieved

We shouldn't let down our guard, but man says Boston attack plot was a hoax.

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Evangelical Outpost marvels at the blind faith of atheism.

hee hee

"Top Ten Reasons I Never Bathe" by Shanktified

GodBlogCon #1

GodBlogCon #1. The first convention for the Christian blogosphere, tentatively scheduled for October in Arizona. Be there or be... uh... just be there.

suggestion to the unknown neighbor:

If you are incapable of controlling yourself from dumping your numerous liquor bottles on my property, you should consider an alcoholic rehabilitation program. Please realize that littering is an illegal act in this city, especially for repeat offenders. I fear that your wanton disregard for property rights may lead to unwanted civil and/or criminal litigation. You may wish to consider that other residents on this block could be armed, and might mistake you for a burglar as you cowardly carry your rattling bags down the street.

If for some unknown reason this petty vandalism is directed specifically at me, you can rest assured that I have no intention of staying at this location one minute longer than necessary. If this arrangement is unsuitable, please feel free to relocate yourself another place of residence, where your drunken antics might perhaps be less offensive.

fossils...

From Yahoo News: Scientists Create Petrified Wood in Days.

Researchers at a national science laboratory in south-central Washington have found a way to achieve in days what takes Mother Nature millions of years — converting wood to mineral.

Or perhaps, it doesn't take "Mother Nature" that long either? (See also: Grand Canyon)

For instance, at the Ginkgo Petrified Forest... trees were believed to have been buried without oxygen beneath molten lava millions of years ago.

I thought science didn't require faith.

Easter Bunny, Mother Nature, Tooth Fairy, Evolution, Santa Claus...

From Diplomad

go read this.

and this.

p.s. is it pronounced 'DIP-low-mad' or 'di-PLO-mud'?

Election Fraud 2004

The Cassandra Page links to other pages discussing election fraud:

In Wisconsin
Tire-slashing in Milwaukee
Nationwide

Hugh Hewitt's claim that "If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat" is incorrect. Cheating, lying, and stealing are the only tactics the Demoncrats use anymore.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has more links on this topic.

Image at Lileks

Today's Bleat includes this image advertising a play. In case it becomes inaccessible, it reads:

A POWERFUL LEADER
FAILS TO SEE THAT HE
IS THE CAUSE OF HIS
COUNTRY'S DISTRESS

So they're finally producing a play about Slick Willie?

Public TV

Do you remember way back when public television didn't show any commercials? Nowadays, although there are no commercial interruptions, commercials are being shown at the beginning and end of each show. Hopefully this means that they will stop giving us the double-whammy of stealing our tax money and begging for donations every other month.

...but don't hold your breath.

ABC ghouls

Where there is a corpse, the vultures will gather, but these days it's with a camera crew and satellite uplink.

I'm late with the link, but the story is still worth reading if you missed it.

Pop Quiz

A modified version of a pop quiz about recent news items - copied rather than linked, just in case it disappears...

-------

In 1968, Robert Kennedy was assassinated by:
(a) Arlo Guthrie
(b) Tiny Tim
(c) Charles Manson
(d) A Muslim male extremist, between the ages of 17 and 41

In 1972, athletes at the Olympics in Munich were kidnapped and massacred by:
(a) Olga Korbut
(b) Sitting Bull
(c) Arnold Schwarzenegger
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by:
(a) Norwegian secretaries
(b) Elvis
(c) Dennis Hopper
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

During the 1980's, a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
(a) John Dillinger
(b) Fletch
(c) The Boy Scouts
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
(a) A Domino's pizza delivery boy
(b) Pee Wee Herman
(c) The Little Mermaid
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 1985, the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard by:
(a) The Smurfs
(b) Davy Jones
(c) Geraldo Rivera
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 1985, TWA flight 847 was hijacked in Athens and a U.S. Navy diver was murdered by:
(a) Captain Kidd
(b) Huey Lewis
(c) Mother Teresa
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
(a) Chuck Yeager
(b) Grandma Moses
(c) Michael Jordan
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
(a) Q*Bert
(b) The Tooth Fairy
(c) Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
(a) Mr. Rogers
(b) Jonas Salk
(c) The World Wrestling Federation
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 1999, The USS Cole was attacked and more than 15 American Sailors were killed by:
(a) David Letterman
(b) Shaquille O'Neil
(c) The Cookie Monster
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked and destroyed and thousands of people were killed by:
(a) The Cleveland Browns
(b) The Supreme Court of Florida
(c) Mr. Bean
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 2001, Phillipine Missionaries Gracia and Martin Burnham were kidnapped, held for over a year, and Martin subsequently killed by:
(a) Sinead O'Connor
(b) Scooby Doo & Shaggy
(c) Ronald Reagan
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 2002, the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
(a) killer bees
(b) The Lutheran Church
(c) The NFL
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
(a) Bonnie and Clyde
(b) Captain Kangaroo
(c) The Maytag Repairman
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

On July 4th 2002, 2 innocent airline passengers were killed, and 3 others injured at the ticket counter of El Al Airlines in the LAX International terminal by:
(a) Ted Kennedy
(b) Monty Python's Flying Circus
(c) my half-brother Luigi
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

On October 12th 2002, more than 200 innocent civilians (including 200 Australians and 5 Americans) were brutally murdered by:
(a) Andrew Lloyd Weber
(b) Pikachu
(c) Jenna Elfman
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

On October 29th 2002, more than 700 Moscow theatre goers were taken hostage and threatened with execution by:
(a) Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(b) Ferris Bueller
(c) Phil Donahue
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

In 2004, more than 300 children and adults were massacred at a school in Beslan by:
(a) Howard Stern
(b) Tony Danza
(c) Strong Bad & Marzipan
(d) Muslim male extremists, mostly between the ages of 17 and 41

-------

If you had any answers besides (d), please choose one of the following excuses:
(a) I am from another solar system
(b) I am a Hollywood actor
(c) I just recovered from a 50-year coma
(d) I listen to MSM
(e) Dave's not here maaaan...
(f) I am a Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 41, trying to shift blame

help!

I was going to cook a chicken pot pie for lunch, but the directions on the front of the box say "Keep Frozen. Cook Thoroughly." What should I do?!?

---

"I'm kidding of course" - Robert Segner

State of Fear

Go read Michael Crichton Can't Say That, Can He? by Varifrank.

You can make a movie or have a TV show about lawyers, it happens all the time. You can generate thousands of miles of footage about the evil “military industrial complex”, you can have all priests portrayed as pederasts, all cops as crooks and all ex-military types are Nutcase-Rambo-Time-Bombs, but you cannot under any circumstances make fun of “Hollywood Actors” as they go about making the world safe for us common people to live in.

whose right to choose?

David Kupelian at WorldNetDaily wrote "How lying marketers sold
Roe v. Wade to America". Read the whole thing.

In marketing wars, the party that frames the terms of the debate almost always wins. And the early abortion marketers brilliantly succeeded in doing exactly that – diverting attention away from the core issues of exactly what abortion does to both the unborn child and the mother, and focusing the debate instead on a newly created issue: "choice." No longer was the morality of killing the unborn at issue, but rather, "who decides."

"I remember laughing when we made those slogans up," recalls Bernard Nathanson, M.D., co-founder of pro-abortion vanguard group NARAL, reminiscing about the early days of the abortion-rights movement in the late '60s and early '70s. "We were looking for some sexy, catchy slogans to capture public opinion. They were very cynical slogans then, just as all of these slogans today are very, very cynical."

"Knowing that if a true poll were taken, we would be soundly defeated, we simply fabricated the results of fictional polls. We announced to the media that we had taken polls and that 60 percent of Americans were in favor of permissive abortion. This is the tactic of the self-fulfilling lie. Few people care to be in the minority... The actual figure was approaching 100,000, but the figure we gave to the media repeatedly was 1 million.

"Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public. The number of women dying from illegal abortions was around 200-250 annually. The figure we constantly fed to the media was 10,000. These false figures took root in the consciousness of Americans, convincing many that we needed to crack the abortion law."

2005: another IMDB oddity

A while back I wrote this (long-ish, for me) post about AI mistakes, which noted IMDB's odd movie recommendation for Night Train to Munich. Well, it's happened again. Viewing the page for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, for no apparent reason IMDB recommends Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill.

At least they're both comedies this time...

Is it just a default setting, or does IMDB have some financial interest in promoting Mr. Izzard?

It's not even junk science...

Non-news via the BBC: January 24 has been pinpointed as the worst day of the year. The (alleged) formula is:

1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA

Where:
W: Weather
D: Debt
d: Money due in January pay
T: Time since Christmas
Q: Time since failed quit attempt
M: General motivational levels
NA: The need to take action

So many errors...

1. "Weather", "motivational levels", and "need to take action" can not be reduced to a single number.
2. No units are mentioned.
3. The formula makes no sense mathematically.

...and those are just the most obvious problems.

The article goes on to say:

Foul weather, debt, fading Christmas memories, failed resolutions and a lack of motivation conspire to depress, Cliff Arnalls found... Yes, we do see lots of people with depression and anxiety in the winter months.

Granted, depression is a problem, and those are contributing factors, but we already knew this. Must we really keep researching the obvious? Maybe I could get a grant to research whether or not the ocean is wet.

Exercise and bibliotherapy - reading a number of books to allow people to understand their own symptoms and how to control them.

And by sheer coincidence, you just happen to have some books for sale, don't you?

The reader comment by Adam Thorn, Cambridge, England sums it up nicely though:

This is the biggest waste of mathematics I have ever had the misfortune to read, and is an embarrassment to anyone who is a member of a British university.

Absolutely.

Objective Journalism

The New York Times is run by the Zombie Leprechaun Enclave! I have unimpeachable sources.

As an uncle...

I totally agree with Lileks about Bratz dollz:

I cannot tell you how much I despise Bratz. Granted, I'm not the target market. They're aimed at tween girls who naturally gravitate toward grown-up things, like emulating the fashion sense of coke-addled trust-fund heiresses.

Bratz have exaggerated facial features, come-hither eyes, and lips that look as if they are attempting to throw up an exploded airbag... They have "a passion for fashion," which in this sense is defined as bling-spattered hoochie-suits you'd never see anyone wear on the street unless they were walking back and forth on a corner, waving at cars...

If you're listening, O Shapers of Popular Culture: Can we have perhaps a few years of merry innocence before the toy and clothing industry makes little girls feel like they must walk around bowlegged in Hello Kitty thongs?

(found at this subcription required strib link).

good quote

PseudoPolymath has a post of thoughts about judging whether or not a war is 'just', which included this quote:

While I may turn my "other cheek" it is a different thing entirely to turn my child's cheek.

pseudo-psoetic

The curtains
---are seldom open,
and the black dog
---circles the room.
But the skylights
---are less dusty now,
and that helps
---to silence the drumming
------of the cave trolls.

at the museum...

We were at the Dallas Museum of Art last Saturday. They do have quite a variety in their collections, including ancient Egyptian and Greek, Asian and African, Byzantine, Renaissance, etc. But the 'front and center' exhibit on the main floor was modern art. Some modern art is good, but a lot is bad, and a piece's artistic merit should be judged completely separate from its content. (Artists who use their work just to make a socio-political statement are usually trying to cover up their poor design skills.)

The first display was made up of mirrors set in dirt and rocks. A rectangular box of mirrors set on the floor, propped vertically in piles of red rocks. Nine piles of gray dirt with mirrors supported horizontally between their peaks. A long row of dirt with about a dozen mirrors set vertically along the length. A few more variations on that theme. And the doodles... er, "design plans" for them, whose drawing quality could easily be surpassed by most junior high schoolers.

Then there were some stacks of glass, which made interesting light patterns - similar to those found in any stack of glass panes at a Home Depot. Then, little collages of cut-up maps with doodles. And so on. Towards the end of this celebrated mediocrity, I remembered an Ayn Rand-ian line from 'The Incredibles', and thought of an apt adaptation of it for that context:

"If everything is Art, then nothing is Art"

You'll never guess

Pop quiz: How many temperature scales are there?

A Question of Faith

Which takes more faith - seeing an image of Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich, or seeing signs of evolution in the design of the human body?