Not So Fast

The Top Ten.

Read the whole thing.

How about a truce? The intolerant religious fanatics in the red states will continue not complaining about high taxes, secular education and gay-rights parades in the blue states, and the proponents of tolerance in the blue states will stop bothering everyone in the red states.

Advertising on your radio. No, on your radio. The glaring flaw I see in the whole plan is: I don’t look at my radio for more than a second when I’m driving. And when I do, it’s because I want to see what station I’m on, so I can switch it. Irritate me further by not letting me see what I want to know, and I might never switch back.

But consumer advocates like Ralph Nader said the potential for driver distraction, not to mention irritation, could make dashboard advertising more boondoggle than boon. “Anything that keeps the eye off the road increases the risk of a crash,” Mr. Nader said in a phone interview.

via DrudgeReport

Earth to Kucinich.

Democratic Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio U.S. Rep.who led a fight in the U.S. House against war in Iraq, visited a mosque Tuesday and told the congregation that he thought American Muslims were unfairly targeted by the U.S. government.

via LGF

It’s been an odd year in Florida.

Over-used words award. I nominate meme.

First they knock out our power. Now they send Mad Cow disease. I’m starting to think Canada is evil.

Woman has a heart attack on a plane. Luckily there were 15 heart specialists on board.

Well, it’s 7-11 coffee, but they have all that fun stuff to put in it. And it’s hot. With special added Fun Facts!

via Fark

Just stop cold-calling people in general. Who needs polls? Well, Bill Clinton, but who else.

I see great possiblities for this, but imagine the nightmare troubleshooting this thing. You’d have to be a Computer Science major to figure out what went wrong.

Here’s what it looks like outside my office right now:

Speech translator for the iPac. With some severe limitations, but c’mon, at least we’re making progress. Soon we’ll be talking with alien races and without that nasty dubbing effect.

via Slashdot

So, what’s up with this?

Could the Coeur d’Alene Starbucks hire whoever made that coffee? Somehow the CdA Starbucks usually serves it somewhere around 150-160. It sure doesn’t keep your hands warm, which is coffees second most important function.

He is Canadian! Listen here.

Tribbles were PUPPETS, not real animals, PUPPETS!

I feel I should clarify, Shatner is not singing in this clip. It’s safe.

via Slashdot

Lookee what I made with my new Kodak EasyShare cx6200 camera. Those guys at NASA or JPL or wherever have it tough making those composite images, let me tell you.

Yeah, I know, numerous flaws in the photoshopping, but I don’t really have a need to spend hours on it. Just admire the sheer amount of junk on the desk. And it is relatively clean.

We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.

They have a point, you know.

Mythic claims it asked Microsoft to change the name of the game, but Microsoft refused. Obviously that ‘a’ makes all the difference, as the ‘l’ in Lindows so clearly doesn’t.

I thought this was a joke when I saw it last week on Slashdot, but it seems everyone’s talking about it.

This woefully incomplete article leaves me with more questions than it answers. 50 trash bags is not a very accurate measure. What percentage was mail? Was it all junk mail? How did the guy move around his apartment? Did the the guy try to dig out? I need details.

via DrudgeReport

I got my first comment spam. Yeah! I’ve hit the big time. Of course, it was in a November entry, but at least they’re trying.

By Dave Barry.

Having recorded possibly the worst song ever, William Shatner seeks to top himself.

Maybe we should throw them a bone. I’d give them this one.

From The Corner. And Scrappleface.

50 foot snake. That’s not right.

DVD releases of the year.

The new Playstation. Part Tivo, part DVD burner, and it also actually plays games. Plus a look at PS3.

To the horror of some.

Yahoo! website picks of the year. Some are good, some are frightening.

Bulgaria, isn’t that some sort of wheat? Is it radioactive wheat?

“Manipulating the language and symbols of Kwanzaa, they will seek not only to sell corporation-generated Kwanzaa items, but also to introduce a full range of corporate products as necessary for the practice of Kwanzaa,” he said recently in a statement issued by the official Kwanzaa website..

Like he’s surprised by this? Like this hasn’t happened to Christmas and Hannukah and Easter and Valentines Day and the Fourth of July and Halloween and Thanksgiving? Welcome to a colorblind world.

Joyful Christians has this little dohickey about jury duty. The two times I’ve been called for jury duty, they knew I worked for a church and while I thought for sure it would get me out of it, it didn’t. It’s like they wanted people that had a sense of morals. Weird.

Even better, I can surf the web from the Sanctuary. No more listening to boring old sermons for me.

I’m kidding, just kidding. They aren’t boring. Plus that would surely get me canned. It’s nice to know I could if I wanted to though.

I’m posting wirelessly from my Zaurus. Isn’t technology great. Sure my computer is right in front of me and it would be faster, but it’s the principle of the thing.

For those that care, yes, this means I opened my Christmas presents early. It is Christmas Eve though.

What happens when you get greedy.

Everyone’s banning beef from the US.

The infamous Reindeer attacks Newsperson story

The least essential albums of the year. I’m happy to say I didn’t even know any of them existed.

Giving Christians a fair share.

This is a good one.

Astronomical pictures of the year.

Kirk and Spock together again.

Your own personal assistant is waiting. Will Smith?

UPDATE: Wait, it gets worse. It’s like they took three stories and mashed them together. From IMDB.

Set in a future Earth (2035 A.D.) where robots are common assistants and workers for their human owners, this is the story of “robotophobic” Chicago Police Detective Del Spooner’s (Smith) investigation into the murder of Dr. Miles Hogenmiller, who works at U.S. Robotics (run by Greenwood), in which a robot, Sonny (Tudyk), appears to be implicated, even though that would mean the robot had violated the Laws of Robotics, which is apparently impossible.

It’s sort of Caves of Steel, it’s sort of I, Robot, and it’s sort of nothing like anything Asimov ever wrote. So much for Peter Jackson’s example of sticking close to the intent of the writer.

The inventor of Sea Monkeys died.

irobotnow.com. I suspect they are going to hack the story, but the website is cool. And where is Susan?

Genetics vs. Virtue.

Warfare on the big screen.

These films, you may have noticed, all are built on old methods of warfare, back when the movies thought war was fun and heroic. No nukes, no M-16s, no RPGs, no complications of gender, ethnicity, creed or race, like our messy modern affairs. Also, no ambiguity, no peace marches, no talking heads or torrential blogs zigging this way and that ideologically. No sir. In those days, even if those days are set in an Oxford don’s fantasy life, war was war, war was man’s business, up was up, down was down, enemies were demons, and best of all, killing them was holy work about which no one had to be guilty. It’s nice to deal with a war that, though rendered in color, still plays in moral black-and-white.

It does finally settle down into a discussion of the more technical aspects of CG armies.

That’s a nice sized earthquake. Is this why we are at Orange Alert?

via Drudge Report

Either way, I like it.

Right Wing News interviews G. Gordon Liddy.

Mark Steyn, A Very British Christmas.

In North America, we eat our turkey at Thanksgiving, polishing off the whole bird in one day, which is easy for us as we all weigh 400 lb, of course. By late in the evening, if we’re peckish, we may chug down a second gobbler. That frees up Christmas for a goose, a ham, a shoulder of venison fresh from hunting season or some such.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics has been proven false. If I can’t rely on that, what can I rely on?

Scrappleface is on a freaking roll: Dean says Bush knew; Bin Laden found; Libya and the UN.

See Instapundit. If you want to see a model of Republican vs. Democrat fighting over it, check out the Fark forum (Warning: Farkers need their mouths washed out with soap) on it. I say Smookyfufustan.

History, Law, and Liberals.

Paradoxically, to enforce the law of good is to destroy it. Paradoxically, the freedom to do evil — as long as it does not violate the right — is required for the freedom to do good. The law of right is at its center the law of freedom, and is thus, paradoxically again, the only thing for which one can rightly resort to coercion and war. All of this is not to say that the law of good must bottle itself up within the individual and the closed community, and render itself impotent. Instead it means that the law of good must win the world the hard way, by the noncoercive means of persuasion, gifts, and the marketplace — must win the population one by one by one. And it can only do so under the wing of the law of right.

via Instapundit

Has anyone else noticed the rising use of the word “semiotics“? Or is it just me?

Bored with all those days off over the holidays? There’s tons of paper-folding fun on the internet: Cute animals/motorcycles; Star Trek models; BMWs; Dinosaurs; and the ever popular boulder. It’s stuff like this that convinces me the internet is the greatest invention ever.

via Slashdot

Guess who wins.

Europeans vs. Dumb Americans. Guess who wins.

Judges realize there’s a limit to their power and tell RIAA to talk to Congress.

I gotta dentist appointment. You’re on your own for the rest of the morning for insightful commentary on world politics and garden gnomes.

Scrappleface again.

I am completely against theft, but this is funny.

Only steal 4WD vehicles in the winter.

“Did he give any explanation?” she asked defence lawyer Jennifer Calderback.

“He advises the he was highly intoxicated,” Calderbank said.

via Fark

Truck of cookie dough (mmm….cookie dough) and FedEx plane (Relax, it’s FedEx) with your Christmas presents on it.

via Fark

Theodore Dalrymple.

I try to enthuse my patients with the glory of the world, with indifferent success, I must admit. It is almost as if they wanted the world to be boring, to justify their own lack of interest in it. To be bored and disabused is taken by many people nowadays as a sign of spiritual election or superiority, as if the world does not quite come up to their exacting standards.

Oops! I forgot the baby.

Actually, I did leave my jacket in the theatre last night, but I realized it as soon as I went outside.

The sun is going out. That’s why the days are so short lately, and cold.

Well, duh. Being a murderous dictator is not exactly normal behavior.

I must now go watch Return of the King.

Tickets to the space station are available. No word on if they are available on Ebay.

Earth is hurtling toward the sun according to the NOAA in Turney, MO.

via Fark

Micropolitics from Venus.

The Volokh Conspiracy explains the whole Wolverine thing to the Europeans.

via Instapundit

Hurray! Soon marketing will be even more intrusive.

Booth says that his team’s system is based on more than 20 sensors that evaluate where people are in relationship to a display. And, because the display is projected rather than on a fixed screen, it can be directed anywhere. More importantly, the system can sense how people are reacting to the messages by tracking whether they are approaching the product and continuing to watch the ad or turning away. That information then gets reported to managers.

Here.

6. Finish off every one of Elrond’s lines with “Mis..ter Ander-sonnn.”

7. When Aragorn is crowned king, stand up and at the top of your lungs sing, “And I did it…. MY way…!”

8. Talk like Gollum all through the movie. At the end, bite off someone’s finger and fall down the stairs.

This guy needs to get out of his office more.

Some have criticized my stance on triclavianism as being counterproductive, arguing that making a point of doctrinal contention over not making a point of doctrinal contention over adiaphora is itself non-salvific. However, my critics are overlooking the dangers of triclavianistic doctrines: allowing adiaphora to creep into our credenda — while possibly pushing the theologoumenic envelope and providing exciting new opportunities for supererogative works — will most often serve to muddy the soteriological foundation of Faith, leading in general to ultramontane excesses and, in extreme cases, ebaptization (which is unacceptable pastoral malpractice, however rare it may be.) Doctrinal integrity, and hence salvific effectiveness, is best served by working to end triclavianism and similar erroneous, or simply adiaphoric, doctrines.

What??? Way to reach out to the common man.

Good Lord, there are some terrible actors in the White House.

via The Corner

John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) on Western Civilization.

We learn nothing from history. John Derbyshire on the trial of Saddam.

For real. I didn’t read them though. I want to see the movie first.

via Instapundit

Uh, SPOILERS!, sort of.

The Socialist Review has an article on Iraqi bloggers.

via Jeff Jarvis

What? Like I’m supposed to read the local paper myself?

Microsoft is pulling support for Windows 98 next month. Thus alienating one-fifth of their users. Nice.

UPDATE: Don’t worry, Dave Barry is here to help.

Square watermelons. So they sit nicely inyour fridge. A bit pricey though.

via Slashdot

I don’t know how far I’d trust this, but it is interesting.

All I have to say is: 32,000 pounds of liver. See, nasty.

via Fark

Right Wing News has the best Victor Davis Hanson quotes of 2003.

He has this headline: “New Jersey may ‘permit human cloning'” right next to this one: ‘NJ nurse claims he killed 30 to 40 patients!’. Way to inspire confidence in the New Jersey medical field.

NASA blames Powerpoint (reg.req.) for troubles. Times manages to slam administration on WMD in the article.

Extracting DNA, you know, for kids.

I don’t want the billboards to check which radio station I’m listening to (reg.req.) and target ads at me.

via Slashdot

Hockey at its most basic.

In an effort to avoid duplication of efforts, I will point you now to NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, FoxNews, Drudge Report, The Command Post, Jeff Jarvis, and Instapundit. This will leave me the frivolous and silly news that always gets left behind in times like these. Stay tuned.

It is that villan Bush who is captured. We shall beat him with our shoes.

via Fark

The chair is against the wall. Weirdly enough, around 4am I had just turned on the TV because I couldn’t sleep and I was flipping through all 5 channels I get and Tom Brokaw was on. And I thought, “Tom Brokaw isn’t on in the mornings. What is going on?” So I stopped and it was right before they went to the live announcement in Iraq. So I got to see the whole thing. How great is this news? Naturally I will be in church when Bush makes his announcement, but I can’t wait to see what he says.

Probably the best place to keep up on the news is The Command Post.

New Yorkers will buy anything.

Weirdos in Missouri alert.

via Dave Barry’s Blog

A man was found shot in the head on the X that marks the spot JFK was killed. Sure, they say it’s suicide…

How come they never do this sort of thing in Idaho?

The new Windows may not be coming for a while.

Methanol fuel cell batteries for the PDA or cellphone. But how do you recharge them?

People that clearly felt they weren’t paying enough to the electric company.

via Dave Barry’s Blog

A dead whale in Colorado is stinking up the place.

Nerds arising.

Could it be that there are more nerds today than there were before? If so, shouldn’t we attempt to make friends with them sharp-ish, before they start bludgeoning us with plastic light-sabres or introducing viruses into our PCs? And then there is a further, more troubling possibility. Just what constitutes a nerd these days anyway? Might you conceivably qualify as one? Perish the thought, might I?

VDH and the tipping point.

Massive earthquake may hit Pacific Northwest. Well, duh. And they are right, the place will crumble. They use brick like it’s going out of style.

Phoenix school to get facial recognition equipment. Is this the same stuff that didn’t work in Florida?

SPOILER ALERT!

Whining about something about the end of ROTK. I didn’t read the whole thing, because it has spoilers.

More here. SPOILERS! So I didn’t read the whole thing, though the writer seemed to be in a better mood.

What is with everyone seeing this thing before I do?

Rifle? Check. Bullets? Check. Vet? Check.

A new EU proposal would force wild game hunters to haul some sort of inspector along with them when they go shoot a rabbit. Americans, let’s learn from this. This is what we want to avoid.

What the heck is up with Sitemeter?

The No. 8 ranked spammer was arrested in Virginia.

Jaynes faces four felony charges, each of which carries a penalty of one to five years in prison, a fine of up to $2,500, or both.

A couple got engaged on the Ask the White House chat session.

James Doohan (Scotty) is the only TOS Star Trek actor without a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

New largest prime number found.

How is this possible? If they have legitamate jobs that are actually paying taxes, they have to provide proof of US citizenship. I do whenever I get a job. A photo ID and a social security card. And if they aren’t legal, why are they paying in to Social Security?

You know, I’m sure China is pleased with Bush, right now. But he has a funny way of doing the right thing, even if it doesn’t look like it at the moment. Since he’s caught me out a couple of times I’m going to wait and see what happens before I start slamming him for the idiotic position he took on Taiwan.

via Drudge Report

Wired has a list of nerdy presents. But the Roomba is the coolest invention ever. I’m getting one, sooner or later.

I’d like to thank Right Wing News for featuring me as the Website of the Day. My plans to take over the world are continuing apace.

And I’d also like to thank all the little people who have made this possible. Al Gore, for inventing the internet, the gang over at Movable Type, my typing teacher in high school, the press of the free world. I’m sure I’m forgetting someone, oh, and my faithful readers. You guys are the coolest.