Monthly Archives: February 2007

Hugh Hewitt talking to Andrew Roberts, author of History of the English Speaking Peoples since 1900.

The Helix Nebula. (warning: large pic)

Alien has been used as a legal description of someone from another country for what, hundreds of years?

“I personally find the word ‘alien’ offensive when applied to individuals, especially to children,” said Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. “An alien to me is someone from out of space.”

I’m sorry you are not particularly skilled with the English language, but should the rest of your state have to suffer because of this?

Notice, it’s for the children. Of course.

How handy to have all your remotes in one easy to reach place.

The Economist on Gore’s response to his massive monthly energy bill critics.

The electricity usage is what Mr Gore consumes after things like solar panels and CFLs are taken into account; it’s hardly comforting that he could be emitting even more carbon, since that is true of almost all of us, yet has not stopped Mr Gore from hectoring us to reduce our carbon output still further.

On the margin, it may make some difference, since demand for electricity is not perfectly elastic, but nowhere near the one-for-one equivalence that carbon offsets would seem to suggest. Especially since the worst offenders, big coal-fired plants, are not the ones that renewables will substitute for; solar and wind power are not good replacements for baseload power.

LOL.

The cabbie that tried to run over a couple of passengers after an argument about religion, Ibrahim Sheikh Ahmed, is of unknown religion. The cops did manage to find out that the victims were Catholic and Lutheran. How they failed to find out the perpetrator’s religion is beyond me.

Not unlike those of no appearance in Australia.

Kids are more narcissistic than ever before. I wonder why?

Narcissism can have benefits, said study co-author W. Keith Campbell of the University of Georgia, suggesting it could be useful in meeting new people “or auditioning on ‘American Idol.”‘

So they have that going for them. Until Simon tells them the truth and they have a complete breakdown on national television.

“Permissiveness seems to be a component,” he said. “A potential antidote would be more authoritative parenting. Less indulgence might be called for.”

It’s like no one saw the consequences of the last 20 years of conventional wisdom in parenting.

We don’t have enough time for 24, but Dave Barry does.

Where were these people when I need them. Not that I actually did any homework, but I could have done without the hit to my grades from not doing it.

Tim Blair further documents the Gore Effect.

It’s a little scary when the UPS guy recognizes your name and although a package is addressed to your house which is on a different route, grabs a package and delivers it to you at work. Yes, that’s how famous I am.

I do appreciate that the package is not going to sit outside on my porch all day.

The US is beating Europe at the global cooling game.

According to data from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, from 2000-2004–the most recent period for which we have good, comparative data–U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increased by 1.3 percent. This is an increase, but a very modest increase. The EU-25, on the other hand, increased collective emissions by 2.1 percent.

Read, as they say, the whole thing.

Those wacky polar bears.

Further explaination.

She genetically engineers cats to look like tigers the old-fashioned way.

Ordinary people with ordinary abilities.

Lileks has this North Korean cartoon. Sort of a GI Joe meets meets the Smurfs (if the Smurfs were animals) with brief musical numbers as interludes.

I can only assume that the raggedy animals underground are the Norks. Are we allowed to say that? I’m pretty sure we can.

Buzz Aldrin writing about the moon and the coming moon base.

On my last trip to the moon I didn’t get to stay the whole day and had to share my accommodations with another man. If I could go back, I would expect not only a larger room, but a longer moment to gaze at the stars and the cloudy blue ball that should only be mankind’s starter home.

Mugabe prepares for his birthday party.

The party has been deducting money from civil servants’ wages and bullying near-bankrupt businesses for donations to raise the 300 million Zimbabwean dollars (about £30,000 at real exchange rates) to pay for the celebration on Saturday

Tim Blair on the Great Australian Light Bulb Switch.

Australia’s output of greenhouse gases amounts to 1.6% of the global total. A reduction of 4 million tonnes in one year will cut that output to … 1.58%. Not a bad trade in exchange for becoming a half-illuminated nation of squinty mole-people.

Moving a church. Even without the choir it is a bit bizzare. Beautiful weather they’re having though. (via EO)

The horse that raced in some French bike race. The “oo la la” and “toot suite” from the commentators is the best.

Caturday III. The cats, they crack me up.

This just in, movies are not real. And now digital manipulation is making them even more not real, in a very realistic way, of course. Who knew?

Free pancakes at IHOP today. A late lunch perhaps?

Some saber-rattling going on in Eastern Europe over interceptor missiles that the US wants to put in Czech Republic and Poland as a deterrent against Iran, but Russia thinks is aimed at them. This will end well.

Bonus picture of a Russian general that looks surprisingly like the one in Stargate SG-1.

Motto: Making free market economies look good for 90 years now.

It’s all peace and love and really long bread lines in Venezuela.

via Right Wing News

Only Dave Barry today, seems Lileks is mired in writing “other”, more “important” things.

Not his normal sparkliness, but still good stuff.

The United States’s Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is all uptight about a Japanese ad.

I’ve told you this before, but I feel like sharing it again.

Little Debby Nutty Bars is the snack food of the gods. The wafery crispness, the creamy peanut butter, the chocolatey goodness, it’s the complete package.

Got To Do It – Andrew W.K.

Driving beat, massive sound to turn up, never give up lyrics, yeah.

Apparently there’s a new dollar coin out.

I know I needed more change laying around.

At least all the surveillance in our society gives us amazing footage like this accident, where no one got hurt by the way.

Senator Ted Stevens (Idiot- AK) wants to ban Wikipedia, amongst other “interactive” sites, in schools and libraries. And while I agree with the teachers that say it shouldn’t be used as an authoritative source, that doesn’t mean I think it should be banned. And if kids can’t add more sparkly, illegible, annoying plugins to their MySpace sites at school, well, I don’t think that’s something I can support.

P.S. The tube analogy is not a bad one. I have to give him that. It’s not like you can’t build more tubes though.

Now we’re getting down to brass tacks and I have a feeling that a lot of those who were all, “yeah global warming is bad and we should do something to stop it” are going to change their tune when they realize it’s going to cost them money. People are always for “the government” or “businesses” to do something about a problem until it hits them in the wallet. Then it’s “hmm, is it really that bad?” No matter who does the cleanup, the government, the businesses, the businesses forced to by the government, I will end up paying for it either through taxes, higher product prices, more expensive newer technologies (like those florescent bulbs that suck, motto: they cost more and they are less useful) or, oh joy, all of the above.

One congressman’s staff calls the cops to make another congressman stop smoking.

The fact that someone thinks this is a legitimate reason to call the police boggles my mind.

Attention The Aquabats fans: Yo Gabba Gabba!

I hope it’s tuna-safe dolphin.

So instead of collapsing the earth into a black hole at the Hadron collider, they think they may collapse it into a “black Saturn”*.

*available at your local dealer.

Also, the Black Saturns would be a great band name.

Sorry to go all People magazine on you but:

And daily he gets through an incredible 36 super-strength double espresso coffees, 60 Silk Cut cigarettes and around 20 cans of energy drink Red Bull.

How does that not just give him a heart attack?

If, by the time I’m looking for a new mp3 player they don’t have some sort of direct wireless tap to the brain, I think I’ll go with a waterproof Shuffle. I’m pretty sure the $100 for waterproof headphones is a ripoff, however. Unless those are e3s or something there.

Teen Girl Squad valumtimes!

HD-DVD and Blu-ray encryptions have been cracked.

Dave Barry.

James Lileks.

Dolphins with frickin’ lasers. Maybe if they were angry dolphins…

Medieval tech support.

Valentines Day is coming and you want to make something unique, special and chocolaty for your significant other.

I am here for you: Velveeta Fudge.

Emmett of the Unblinking Eye did the Top Ten Astronaut movies last Friday (audio here) but no one mentioned the very best astronaut movie ever made: Rocketman.

Clippy is dead. Long live Clippy.

An artist wants to float a giant banana balloon over Texas.

The Geostationary Banana Over Texas project seeks to lift the dirigible above Texas for no other reason than to express his apparent appreciation for the uniquities in life, as Mr. Saez himself simply stated that “Texas is as symbolic as the banana,” leaving us all to wonder what exactly that means.

I don’t get art.

There’s a whole line of amusing posts with Mark Steyn and the society of Ethnomusicologists position on torture, starting at about 3:08pm yesterday.

This came out as a sideline:

“There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious.”

– Ayatollah Khomeini

Another good one:

Mullah Abdul Rauf of the Herati Mosque in Kabul, said in April last year:

Music is not banned in Islam but to get enjoyment from music is banned.

So Barney the Dinosaur may, in fact, be very culturally appropriate.

Steyn talks about it with Hewitt.

John Podhoretz and Lileks on the Society of Ethnomusicologists. Oh, ouch.

Scientists have found that missing piece of lithosphere they were looking for.

It was under Tibet.

Harvard scientists stop and then restart light. Stuff like this trips me out.

Bipartisan cautioning.

FYI: Emoticons are verboten in Islam, according to this guy. 😥

Hillary proposes a profit tax on oil companies. Cause the evil companies are just making too darn much money.

Owning a house seems like an expensive pain in the butt, until you do you taxes and get those sweet, sweet deductions.

Be careful crossing streets. New York City, they know what’s good for you.

In the meantime, the internet wins this round.

A brief and amusing shot at EULAs that somehow slipped into the Bleat.

Some decent mashups.

Cilantro tastes like soap. There I said it.

YouTube superbowl ads.

In order of greatness, IMHO: the Coke ads; Moon Office; Robert Goulet/Emerald Nuts; Ricardo Montelban/steak taquitos; Rock, Paper, Scissors; One Finger; Garmin; the rest….

Meet the Robinsons made me lol, but it’s a movie, so it doesn’t really count.

Real life astronaut soap opera.

Lisa Marie Nowak, an astronaut that police say attacked a rival for another astronaut’s affection at Orlando International Airport on Monday, is being charged with attempted first-degree murder today.

It’s what we’ve all been waiting for: cheaper toner.

Let’s not bring up the rocketpacks.

It’s a blog-letting on the liberal side of the blogosphere.

I, of course, have no room to talk as a poor linker and even poorer updater of blogroll links.

Mark Steyn. It is pretty warm here today: 36. I didn’t even need a jacket this morning. I still wore it though, in case it gets cold later.

If it’s hot, that’s a sign of “climate change.” If it’s cold, that’s a sign of “climate change.” If it’s 53 with sunny periods and light showers, you need to grab an overnight bag and get outta there right now because “climate change” is accelerating out of control.

And, if you really don’t like the global weather, wait half-a-millennium. A thousand years ago, the Arctic was warmer than it is now. Circa 982, Erik the Red and a bunch of other Vikings landed in Greenland and thought, “Wow! This land really is green! Who knew?” So they started farming it, and were living it up for a couple of centuries. Then the Little Ice Age showed up, and they all died. A terrible warning to us all about “unsustainable development”

The New York Times on global warming, in 1932. (warning: pdf link. Not this one, but the next one.)

From the headline I sorta assumed that this was nutty Christians, and I was going to berate them for not helping. But it’s Muslims being nutty. So, guys, you’re not helping your cause.

The book features a photograph of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center with the caption: “Those who perpetuate terror in the world are in fact Darwinists. Darwinism is the only philosophy that values and incites conflict.”

The gene for the smell of the seaside has been isolated and can now be bottled for, um, bottling purposes.

The last paragraph of the article are the most important, however.

A more controversial figure from Siffkey’s past was its rector, Rev Harold Davidson, who was defrocked in 1932 after allegedly ‘cavorting with’ London prostitutes. He later joined a circus and died after being mauled to death by a lion in Skegness. The UEA scientists are hoping to avoid such a fate, said Prof Johnston!

That’s just awesome.

Vader Sessions. Starts and ends funny, lame in the middle. NSFW language.

How to build a home media server guide.

Engadget has some really cool technologically inclined photos in their competition.

Thank God I learned math the old-fashioned way. The new-fangled ways are longer and waaay more confusing. Just give me a mechanical method that works. I never understood the whys until I was in the next level of math. I would have done even less work if they confused me with the whys.

Pete starts a new “law” journal.

I think the books lost the magic at book three, but the publication date of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows is out.

We have a word for trilogies for a reason.

No doubt because of some obscure printing requirement from days of yore, but that’s not important right now.

Actually it is, but I still feel compelled to watch. The Republican contenda’s.