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Showing posts from February 5, 2006
Bush told to ‘shut up’ over cartoons. Well now. Someone's feeling emboldened in the face of weakness. It's no surprise that it didn't end with refraining from publishing the cartoons. The overall problem with this is that it becomes the "offendee" who determines where the line is drawn. This whole ordeal is no accident. These cartoons were published in Egypt months ago with no unrest, no rioting, no sackings of editors and publishers. Curious isn't it?
No Ma'am, this IS my job has a post about having children. He speaks of the societal pressure to do so as it is simply what people do. I used to be of the opinion that everyone should have children. Now, I think exactly the opposite. It's a big job. I didn't realize how big until I was one. Now I urge everyone considering kids to think very carefully. You trade much but (in my opinion) you gain much more. Your time is no longer your own but really, the payoff is something that I cannot express in words. I know this all sounds like claptrap to anyone reading it and with good reason. I go to pieces when my kids tell me they love me, or miss me, or tell me I'm their best friend. Whatever that makes me, I'm proud to wear the label. What galls me is the number of parents who act as if their kids are accessories. They are mere ornaments that only exist to reflect well on the parents. Some just want to be their friends. Disciplining them is not fun so anyth
In From the Cold , Delaware Watch and Tom Maguire (there's more, keep scrolling) are all talking about the Libby/Plame investigation. I think there's a clear line here and Dana isn't seeing the forest for the trees. I don't think he's a dishonest guy he's just salivating at anything that will damage the President and his administration. What's clear to me, is that Fitzgerald has an uphill battle at best in trying to get Libby on violation of IIPA. He cannot and will not produce substantive evidence that Plame was covert at the time of her "outing" (or in the 5 years prior), nor a damage assessment (which are required in such breaches). He flatly told Libby's counsel that they're not getting them and they're not germane to the case at hand. Spook86 makes an entirely different contention: The President and Vice President have the inherent authority to discuss any classified matter and make it unclassified. I was totatlly unawar
Bottled water is taxing the world's ecosystem . So, all you environmentalists, stop with the bottled water. I expect protests and boycotts. Drink local water.
Here's an update on a crazed journalist who became a paid informant for the Iraqi regime in the run-up to the war. This woman is, by all accounts, mentally ill and may not have fully understood what she was doing. She was widely derided for being a traitor and rightly so. If she is as ill as this article maintains, she deserves not our scorn but pity.
Sweden appears to be giving up on socialism. They have admitted they have big problems. The unemployment rate remains high, cost of living is hight and Swedes are poorer than below even the poorest of US states. "Household appliance giant Electrolux AB and security services group Securitas are further examples of large companies dominating the Swedish market. Existing large corporations now make up to 80% of Sweden's economy; none were started after 1970." Think about that. No large companies were started in the last 36 years. 36 YEARS! If that doesn't tell you you have problems, nothing will. If Sweden is ready to kill socialism, it is well and truly dead. Good riddance.
This is just odd. h/t Dappled Things
The Orange County Register has an interactive guide to Walt Disney's apartment at Disneyland. Worth a look. h/t BoingBoing
Reid aided Abramoff clients . Reid is up to this thing in his eyeballs. Democrats can spin this any way they want to but he's hip deep. The current spin is that he didn't take any money from Abramoff personally, he just took money from his clients. To me, there's no difference. The guy knew Abramoff and worked on behalf of his clients. If you're going to be honest about this, you have to paint all recipients with the same brush.
Stone Age tribe kills fishermen . This sounds like something out of Arthur Conan Doyle. I can't imagine that there aren't thousands of anthropologists waiting to study these people. It's a wonder they can't deploy some sort of remote monitoring equipment. Like a camera disguised as something else or go to the island at night to set something up before they are discovered.
Here's an image of unsea cables and how they connect around the world. Cool!
Roger Simon has the goods on Deacon from Powerline shelling Senator Durbin. Other bloggers are pointing to a hill staffer's email saying that this was groundbreaking because most journalists are lightweights and constrain themselves so as to not annoy Reps and Senators who can deny them access. Notice two things in the video: 1. As mentioned elsewhere, the "who are you with" question. I think this was not just a warning but he wanted to know b/c he's now going to do his homework on these guys. It's very likely that he will not answer any questions from anyone from Pajamas Media again. 2. The tone. Senator Durbin takes the tone of someone talking to a child. What he doesn't know is that the man he's talking to is a laywer, and by all accounts, a good one. He cannot simply say something means what he says it means and then move on. He gets solid followup questions not puffy ones that allow him to drone on and on. The downside of this is that
Boing Boing has a link to a blog post about the death of the blockbuster. The author points to some graphs detailing how there are fewer attendees subsidising larger profits from studios. This says (to me anyway) there are fewer people paying more to see the "big" (read: blockbuster) pictures. The rest of us are choosing other means of entertainment or other films. I suspect it's largely a combination of the two. I've written on the problems of movies/entertainment before and this is more fuel for the fire. The studios no longer control the entertainment channels. Direct to DVD release is closing the gap. Once upon a time, straight to video was for films that were very bad or with limited appeal. Now, much less so. Now you have Mark Cuban releasing a DVD mere days after a theatrical release. Likewise we're seeing more and more people willling to pay for online content and even direct to DVD release programs. If I had to guess, I think we're going
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What Your Face Says At first glance, people see you as down to earth and reliable. Overall, your true self is creative and expressive. With friends, you seem logical, detached, and a bit manipulative. In love, you seem gentle and sensitive. In stressful situations, you seem cheerful and optimistic. What Do People Think Of Your Face?
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Your Five Factor Personality Profile Extroversion: You have high extroversion. You are outgoing and engaging, with both strangers and friends. You truly enjoy being with people and bring energy into any situation. Enthusiastic and fun, you're the first to say "let's go!" Conscientiousness: You have low conscientiousness. Impulsive and off the wall, you don't take life too seriously. Unfortunately, you sometimes end up regretting your snap decisions. Overall, you tend to lack focus, and it's difficult for you to get important things done. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel
Now this is interesting. In yet another example of life imitating art, Experts Blame Cop Show For Educating Criminals . Over to you Captain: "They're actually educating these potential killers even more," said Capt. Ray Peavy, also of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and head of the homicide division. "Sometimes I believe it may even encourage them when they see how simple it is to get away with on television." I see the problem and agree it's a real one. Perhaps the producers should have changed some things to make it less realistic. Change bleach to laundry detergent or salt water. Something innocuous that would indicate the killer was attempting to cover his tracks. Added bonus for prosecutors, it shows intent. Captain Peavy, however is not content to let the matter rest there, he must gut his own arguement: "The more sophisticated the television story lines get, the better equipped criminals will be, Peavy said, adding that he
This post over at Delaware Watch talks about the growing insurgency and how Al-Qaeda is now something akin to the IRA in Northern Ireland. That they have popular support and are standing for elections and winning. This according to this article in The Telegraph . But this , and this , and this , and this , and this , and this , and this , and this , and this , and this this point to the opposite conclusion. NB: the last link is almost 3 years ago so it shows how far back the rift between Iraqis and Al Qaeda goes. Indeed the Telegraph article ends thusly: "Al-Qa'eda's decision to engage in the political process in Anbar is believed to reflect factors that have undermined its effectiveness in the region. The decision last autumn to establish permanent military bases in Qaim and Hit containing US and Iraqi forces has limited its ability to control the surrounding areas, while a series of operations by American marines disrupted its networks by destroying safe houses
Argh. Had to recover the post below. Was supposed to be posted first thing this morning: Happy 4th Birthday Connor! You are a light and a joy in my life. Brighter than anything I ever imagined.
I was watching Flight 93 , on A&E and I enjoyed it. It was not maudlin or exploitive. It did not cast any moral judgements and was very matter of fact. There was very little to no extrapolation beyond what is reasonable and possible. They left out character development in favor of keeping it as factual as possible. It's going to be aired a few more times. Check it out, it's worth your time. Kudos to A&E for making this film.
A quick summary of how some Danish cartoons started a war. See it here
How Americans view the world. I've seen this before but this one is good .
The Great Silence. See the trailer here .
This guy points to this article . I think the author is really reaching. To wit: A Fisking: The World Series simply rocks! 1: Babe Ruth's called shot. That was, what, 60 years ago? Not a strong start. 2: Hometown fans. You can do that b/c you have SEVEN FRIGGIN GAMES. 3: Classic games. "Bah. Most games are boring as hell. Two pitchers striking people out endlessly." 4: Yogi Berra leaping into Don Larsen's arms. Gotta love Yogi, this gets a pass from me. 5: Less hype. ...with good reason. 6: Commercials. Once again, 7 games X 3.5 hrs each = 24.5 hrs of programming. That's entirely too many commericials for the level of viewership. 7: Extra innings: ...because there is so little scoring in baseball. 8: Carlton Fisk waving his home run fair. No idea what he's talking about but this is double dipping. He's talking about classic moments again not separate reasons. 9: No halftime shows. He's got me here. However, they do have the 7th inning stretch