Not So Fast

They have the death penalty, don’t they?

There’s always a way around the restrictions. Heh.

Debunking myths about blogs.

I hope it’s good. And I hope there’s lightcycle toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals when it’s promo time.

via Slashdot

More on calling Michelle Malkin names. Make sure you follow the links.

Frank J.

No, wait; they didn’t have HDTV back then. I don’t think they had blogs back then either, but, if they did, it would just be the Glenn Reynolds quoting scripture and commenting “Forsooth.”

Parents name kid “Yahoo”. I see an acting career ahead of him.

USB nail polishing. Fantastic!

Mr Mercer argues that this “higher hurdle”, which the Crown would have to clear before starting a criminal prosecution, reflects the test used in the civil courts when burglars try to sue residents who injure them. (emphasis added)

I see the problem right off.

Private money. Leave them alone you bunch of whiners, and donate 40 million of your own if it bothers you so much.

While the partying is being paid for privately, there have been some mutterings about the scale of the celebrations at a time of war and natural disaster.

Now that’s a headline.

via Dave Barry’s Blog

Hey, if they don’t want us, leave them alone.

Speed limits and their flaws.

While he brings up some good points, what are the alternatives? Completely arbitrary tickets, it seems to me. At least now the cops have to come up with some reason for pulling you over.

Which part of “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” confuses this guy?

So wrong.

Should you happen to have a iPod and are wondering if you need an iShuffle, here’s some help.

Attacking a Satanist a hate crime?

“If the accusation was that he was black or Asian or Latino or Jewish, it’s one thing,” he said. “They see this as a religious practice. It’s a dispute between kids, the same way you have the nerds, the jocks, the artsy kids and the teacher’s pets. What’s next? Someone being accused of attacking a preppie, or a nerd?”

Why, yes, that will be next. It’s not like you can make hating certain classes of people illegal and not expect everyone to want in on the game.

via Drudge Report

An optimistic view. I certainly hope they are right.

The government, propaganda, and the media.

Cool, but no screen? I dunno. I wouldn’t turn down a free one though.

“They are trying to demonize me with negative attacks,” Mrs. Clinton continues

Ha. Like they need negative attacks. Is it demonizing if she actually is hellspawn?

Link

Okay, really guys, we mean it this time…

More than 50 internal UN audits of the Iraq oil-for-food programme show that millions of dollars were squandered in suspect overpayment to contractors, mismanagement of purchasing and assets and fraud by its employees.

Imagine if they had an external auditor.

Remember Sandy Berger and his overstuffed pants?

via Instapundit

Stalking “meeting” Frank J and sarahk. What a touching story!

FedEx has had my package in Coeur d’Alene since Friday. They didn’t deliver Friday because it was “not due for delivery”. Yesterday they left a little ticket thingy for me to sign—dated Friday—on my door. Just throw it on my doorstep and drive off already! UPS has them so beat in this department.

UPDATE: Door ticket thingy still on the door, no package…this could get ugly. Oh, and now they have Jan 7 listed as “customer not available”. Never mind, they just got here.

But cool!

via Slashdot

Lileks

I can’t say “get a Mac!” or “get Firefox!” because many of you are at work, and in the thrall to IT guys who have job security patching the shambling undead gibbering monsters belched out by Microsoft.

Go to Golden Palace. Make sure you have your speakers on. Hilarious.

Knoppix to the rescue. I’ve been using Knoppix at home since my hard drive fried in, um, a couple months ago. To be fixed this week, should FedEx deign to deliver my package.

I particularly like #7.

via Instapundit

Iraq, Mexio, Vietnam, and the War of 1812.

Your Rathergate update is here.

Why do we hate us?

Jeez, man, would it kill you once in a while just to send a box of chocolates and a card saying “Thank you, you infidel sons of whores and pigs”, and leave it at that?

Cox & Forkum on the Washington state election.

So, I left the gym, I go up 2nd to Wallace, turn left onto Wallace, and cruise toward Government. A Idaho State Police car turns down 1st behind me. I get to Government, turn right and then get into the left turn lane to go down Garden to Northwest. On Garden, facing Government was a sheriff. Coming down Government toward me was another sheriff. And the ISP had circled the block and was now sitting at the intersection also. What the heck? Were they all looking for good parking places or something? Combing the area so no one shoots the judges? Anyway, I continued on my merry way so as to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

Also, a note for Flying J. Your billboard on I-90 looks like you are advertising the Sars cafe. I’m not convinced that is the look you are going for.

Whoever it was that was wishing for snow, well, I wish they were here to help shovel the beauty out of my driveway.

And why, oh why, did I decide that I wanted to buy a house? What is throwing away money compared to not having to shovel?

Palestinians riled by Richard Gere’s recent ad.

Yes, it is a parody

via LGF

VDH

Meanwhile we await the arrival of the Charles De Gaulle and its massive fleet of life-saving choppers that can ferry ample amounts of Saudi, Chinese, and Cuban materiel to the dying — emissaries all of U.N. and EU multilateralism.

New York Times is thinking about charging for online content.

N.Y. Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. was quoted in the article as saying: “It gets to the issue of how comfortable are we training a generation of readers to get quality information for free. That is troubling.”

Yes, I can see where that would be troubling. Only crappy information should be free.

via Drudge Report

The annual Vaporware Awards.

…3D Realms, the (so-called) publisher of the long-awaited Duke Nukem Forever. After years of waiting, in 2003 we gave the company our Lifetime Achievement Award just to get it off the list.

Thudguard.

There’s all sorts of neato stuff over at Endgadget

They still make percolators. So wrong. Unless you are a cowboy of course.

One to two inches, my eye. We’ve already got three inches and it’s not stopping.

Natura’s Horchata is a better drink than Klass’s.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Up and coming TV technology. I won’t be able to afford it until it’s been on the market a few years, so I guess I won’t hold off my TV purchases until then.

If the mayor wants off the top of the list, he should just close down fast food places. Duh.

Top 11 geek break-up lines.

Microsoft unveils its new anti-spyware thingy. Personally, I use Firefox.

Yes, for those of you following closely, I have switched to Firefox from Opera.

via Slashdot

An orphaned baby hippo found a friend.

via Fark

The UN is ready to complicate take control of tsunami relief efforts.

Unusually for such a disaster, no one has suggested there is an immediate shortage of funds, and diplomats say the challenge over the next few months will be to coordinate the delivery of aid rather than to raise more money.

Louis Michel, the EU’s development Commissioner, who is touring the affected area, said there was too much emphasis on money and not enough on longer term projects.

Aren’t there non-Patriot Act laws to charge the guy under? Has it been legal to blind pilots with lasers until the Patriot Act was passed?

Stiffer Sentence For Cheese Sandwiches

via Fark

*title by Farker StrikitRich

I took “cheap” off the blacklist, so feel free to use it in your comments.

Unless the comment spam takes off and I have to squarsh it again.

The martian rover, Spirit, is one years old.

America sucks, there’s no other way to look at it.

“I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the U.N.,” she told the BBC. “Only really the U.N. can do that job. It is the only body that has the moral authority.”

Baloney.

I’m really trying to avoid buying new tires, but if I could get airless ones, I’d be more inclined to plunk down the cash.

The Fossil PDA watch is finally here.

Avista is installing service for the new marine storage place next door. There are 10 trucks there (2 are to the right of the photo). That’s a lot of electricty.

UPDATE: They brought in another truck and tractor.

It’s just a figure of speech.

Am I younger?

The Bush administration is focusing on a Social Security proposal that would allow younger workers to invest up to 4 percent of their payroll taxes in private accounts, with contributions limited to about $1,000 to $1,300 a year, an official said Tuesday.

Better yet, could they just let me keep my money?

That’s just funny.

I won’t ever win the lottery, there is a deafening silence inside my head.

I believe, but cannot prove…

“I believe that human consciousness is a conjuring trick, designed to fool us into thinking we are in the presence of an inexplicable mystery.” — NICHOLAS HUMPHREY, Psychologist

…

“Strangely, I believe that cockroaches are conscious.” — ALUN ANDERSON
Editor-in-Chief, New Scientist

“Your mind may arise not simply from your own brain, but in part from the brains of other people.” — STEPHEN KOSSLYN, Psychologist

Because when I play video games I want to learn something.

I didn’t learn this stuff until high school, in Oceanography. Now I’m worried the US is falling behind Europe in education.

Teh funnay.

“Well, even accepting your idiotic premise, the tsunami was caused by an earthquake, so…”

“You admit the Bush administration angered the earth gods then?” one reporter interjected.

“No! There is no relation between the White House policies and the tsunami!”

“Then why weren’t there tsunami during other presidencies, such as the revered Clinton administration?”

“Yeah,” another reporter followed up, “Why won’t Bush ever admit to a mistake and that he has angered the spirits of nature?”

I invested a whole semester of typing—yes, typing…on typewriters— class to learn the QWERTY layout. You’ll be hard-pressed to make me change.

Personally, I got a new wall calendar

What we could have learned last year.

This is the most handy:

19. The collective noun for rhinos is “crash”.

To whom it may concern:

I was off last week, and spent the entire time either sleeping or sitting in front of my television watching the Return of the King DVDs*. It won’t happen again. At least not until next Christmas. So, I’m back; rested, tanned**, and ready to face the new year.

Also, I have two weeks worth of work to get done this week, so posting may be spotty.

*This is only a slight exageration. I also watched The Terminal and something else that I can’t remember right now. Obviously not worth the late fee I have on it.

**not tanned. This is Idaho.

Because when you think world shaking, you think Boise.

Don’t call Americans stingy, okay? It upsets them.

The nerds are sending out a robot to trample the crowds and cause chaos. Ooo, pretty!

Quakes reaching a magnitude 8 are very rare. A quake registering magnitude 8 rocked Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Sept. 25, 2003, injuring nearly 600 people. An 8.4 magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Peru on June 23, 2001, killed 74.

Seems like they aren’t that rare at all. Wasn’t there one Thursday too?

In case you need a major award.

A fantastic idea.

Dropping its daily diet of stories on crime, corruption and evil wrongdoing, Germany’s top-selling Bild newspaper printed only good news in its Christmas issue.

via Fark

It’s the American way.

“I’m an American, I love my country,” said Mr Seidman. “But, no, we’re not always masters of subtlety and restrained good taste. We go all out sometimes.”

The Washington State governor election.

I don’t get it. How does it work exactly?

Does he realize that he can upload different music onto them? Then one of each color would be plenty.

DO NOT dishwasher flimsy plastic lids.

/I’m sure the plastic will eventually burn off

Harsh, but funny.

Jonah Goldberg on Christmas

If minorities want the majority to be tolerant of them, minorities in turn need to tolerate at least some of the norms of the majority. Simply because there are more Christians than Jews or Muslims or atheists, doesn’t mean that Christians should always get the shaft. That said, Christians — or at least the politically organized ones — don’t do themselves any favors when they start talking like just another identity-politics group. Christians seem to be complaining more this year than usual about the war on Christmas, even as they are finding more success. Arnold Schwarzenegger renamed the governor’s “holiday tree” a Christmas tree. George Bush is the first president ever to include a quote from scripture on his Christmas card. Besides, once “Merry Christmas” becomes a political statement, everyone loses.

And Simpson’s quotes.

On Rumsfeld.

Donald Rumsfeld is no Les Aspin or William Cohen, but a rare sort of secretary of the caliber of George Marshall. I wish he were more media-savvy and could ape Bill Clinton’s lip-biting and furrowed brow. He should, but, alas, cannot.

Rumsfeld is the only polititian I can stand listening to, because of his forthrightness.

It doesn’t matter.

A Christmas Carol revisited.

Jessica Simpson: Three ghosts haunt Ebeneezer Scrooge. They both teach him a valuable lesson about life.

via Instapundit

Someone is throwing rocks at us.

New York City comedians are upset about their pay and may strike. Oh no.

Three hundred comics cannot be ignored,” Meneve said.

On the radio this morning I heard that the Democratic leaders were asking Rossi to concede. Like, you know, they did when Rossi won the first two ballot counts.

Yes, we can all breath a sigh of relief. Enterprise will explain where the ridges came from.

Michelle Malkin on Christian persecution around the world. Here’s another place you can help out that I recommend.

So, not a lot happening in Alaska, eh?

H2G2 update, with video.

CBS gossip.

I saw something astounding this morning. A Coca-Cola truck! Yes, I know, I didn’t think they let them into Pepsi country either.

We’re offended when the heathens celebrate—a commercialized—Christmas and we’re offended when they don’t want to.

Jeff Jarvis says it well.

On Alexander Flew’s recent shift.

Indeed

via Instapundit

Because little kids have no imagination.

Nokia is here to help.

In keeping with my Catholic and Coffee theme. A coffee bar on the roof of St. Peter’s Basilica.

via Fark

Since it’s snack time let me tell you a little recipe I made this weekend. I’ll call it: Bleu Cheese Hamburger. If you don’t like bleu cheese, you won’t like this at all. It’s loosely based on Red Robin’s Bleu Ribbon Burger and Tako’s steak topping.

Ingredients:

hamburger
garlic powder
salt
pepper

crumbled bleu cheese
butter
salt
pepper

Preparation:

Take hamburger, however much you need to make enough to feed everyone. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, etc. to taste. Shape into patties. Cook on medium heat. Or medium high if you like a nice rare hamburger. Mmmm, rare hamburger. Make sure you flip the burgers once each.

Take (1) part butter to (3) parts bleu cheese. (One tablespoon butter and 3 tablespoons bleu cheese makes enough for 2 burgers. Three if you’re stingy. You’re going to have to do the math here if you are making more than two burgers.) Smoosh together using your favorite utensil or fingers. Add salt and pepper to taste. Smoosh more.

Remove burgers from pan when sufficiently heated. Apply topping. Cover loosely, let rest 5 minutes. Serve on crusty rolls with the usual suspects.

Nifty idea, but that’s some nasty “coffee”.

UPDATE: And not so much an update as a related thought that isn’t really deserving of a new post. Anyway, Earl Grey, hot, is teh nasty, but Stash Double Bergamot Earl Grey is darn tasty.

In an effort to help spread the pope’s message, I didn’t get you anything.

So, a huge percentage of the humvees already have been up-armored. Imagine my surprise. Way to take a non-issue and run with it guys.

I know a few guys who crochet, but they just make beanies, not models of mathmatical equations.

So, I can keep my SUV?

Wanna see some bad acting? Barney-cam.

It’s like a whole nother world.

But it’s my freaking money. Just stop taking it from me and let me save, spend, or invest it however I see fit.

Belarus is selling old Soviet junk.

via The Corner

Carl’s Jr. is here to help start your day right.

Carl’s Jr. on Wednesday introduced the Breakfast Burger, a hamburger topped with a fried egg, hash browns, bacon and cheese, that weighs in at 830 calories and 46 grams of fat.

Also,

“Obviously, the health of its customers is not one of Hardee’s top priorities,” said Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at New York University.

And why would it be?

COROLLARILY, there’s this story.

The Love Shack burned down.

Ursula K. Le Guin wants to clear something up about the Sci-Fi Channel adaptation of her books. (I vaguely remember reading the books decades ago, but I couldn’t wrap my head around them at the time.) But she says this,

I think it is possible that some readers never even notice what color the people in the story are. Don’t notice, don’t care. Whites of course have the privilege of not caring, of being “colorblind.” Nobody else does.

Is it true? I don’t know. Should I start caring what color your skin is?

In case you haven’t gotten my Christmas present yet, here’s an idea. I have the perfect place for it right in my basement.

Instapundit asks

WHAT’S FUNNIER THAN mass slaughter of Republicans?

Well, mass slaughter of Democrats, obviously. All those old hippies running around, with no guns to defend themselves. Hilarity ensues.

Oh, wait, that’s not funny. Sorry, my bad.

From The Corner

ANTI-COMBUSTION [John Derbyshire]
A reader tells me: “Yesterday NPR aired a piece in which the reporter set up a clip of someone by saying she was from an ‘anti-poverty’ organization. As contrasted with all those pro-poverty organizations?”

Yes, I believe it’s called “the Republican party”

/I keed, I keed

If I were, you know, giving gifts I would be hard pressed to wrap them better than Amazon.