The Last Ephor

Ok, I know it's wrong but this one just made me laugh. Nothing like pegging the Irony Meter (TM) at 8:08 AM. I'd love to hear their explanation of how this happened. Two PETA Employees Arrested on Animal Cruelty Charges in N.C.

"Everything's bigger in Texas." Or so the saying goes. What about highways, you ask. Have no fear, the Trans-Texas Corridor is here. A zillion lanes wide with a pipeline to boot. Does it get any better? Pave the planet!

Arcosanti is proposing a "linear city". One that would be like a huge rail line/transportation vein in the center that would serve as the spine for a city. The city would not grow out as a circle with spoke and wheel (like Charlotte, NC) or a grid (Manhattan) but would continue ever along the central line. Think Vegas but much more linear. An interesting prospect. It reminds me of William Gibson's concept of The BAMA (Boston Atlanta Metropolitan Axis). A city that extends unbroken from Boston to Atlanta. Not a prospect anyone would relish but in open desert it is more feasible and palatable. Would be interesting to see if this takes off.

Well, that took longer than I thought. Apparently, Tom's plan it to convert the world one woman at a time. Based on his behavior of late, he's headed for a full on meltdown. He'll be naked, frothing at the mouth in the middle of an intersection in LA during rush hour waving a gun and ranting about Xenu. His publicist will cite "stress" and "dehydration".

So, I lost my yesterday. I was looking around my desk when my phone rang. It was the security desk person telling me someone had turned in my badge. I went down to collect it. Me: "Hi, I just got a call that someone turned in my ID. I'm here to pick it up." Him: "Can I see your driver's license?" Me: "What for?" Him (annoyed): "I need to confirm this is your ID" Me (stunned): "But, my ID has my photo on it. Look at the picture, it's me." Him: "I still need to see your license." At this point I thought he had to be kidding me. Me: "Seriously?" Him (very annoyed now): Yes. I was tempted to let this go on but I can only bang my head against the wall for so long. Me: "here you go." He looks at my license and hands it back to me along with my ID. He's also giving me that "I told you so" look. These are the people that are supposed to ...

The unimpeachable source of Truth has a list of songs that make you gay. I've listened to some of these and managed to stay straight. I wonder if you have to listen to the whole list or perhaps repeating the songs over and over are required before you finally break and switch teams.

Senate may expand FCC regulations beyond broadcast media—will Christians regret it? Herewith is a well-reasoned critique of religious groups using the power of government. The author correctly surmises that granting power to government agencies is a precarious thing and should be done sparingly. Read the whole thing.

This just in... people judge others by appearance. Wow! Simply an amazing discovery. /sarcasm.

The American Spectator points to a kid who scooped both Vanity Fair and WaPo on the correct identity of Deep Throat. Who would have thought that American journalisms greatest secret was known and spilled by an 8 year old kid at summer camp.

Yale grades portray Kerry as a lackluster student . *Yawn*. This is not really news. I don't think Kerry is dumb nor do I think good grades = smart. Rather, he and the Pres. are scions of wealth and privilidge. So they screwed around in college and got by anyway. Big deal. The funniest part of the article is the continued spin about how Bush's grades were nearly identical. They could not deal with the issue on its own, they had to put Bush in there to minimize the impact.

BROOKE SHIELDS - SHIELDS MOCKS CRUISE AND HOLMES ROMANCE Zing! I love it. I cannot abide Scientologist and their absurd notions of psychology as "pseudo-science". Can you name one thing more pseudo-scientific than Scientology?

My Way News : "'Cheney is hated as the most cruel monster and bloodthirsty beast, as he has drenched various parts of the world in blood,' " Sounds like jealousy to me. Kim would be a greater tyrant and monster than he imagines Cheney to be if only he had the means.

I love reading expat blogs. They capture the idiosyncrasies of living in Faraway and are often good for a laugh. Over to you Keefieboy: Adventures in Dubai : "One strange (and useful) by-product of the climate is that in summer everybody uses their hot taps to get cold water out of, and the cold taps deliver very hot water. All you do is switch off your water heaters. Your hot water tank is inside your air-conditioned dwelling where it cools down and stays cold, while your uninsulated cold water tank lives outside on the roof, where you do not need any special equipment to heat up the contents - the blazing sun does it all for you. At the beginning of every summer you can guarantee that a Dubai newbie (maybe that's a dewbie), will write to the Gulf News imploring the concerned authorities to do something about this state of affairs. Nobody has told them that they should just forget about using their water heaters, and enjoy the benefits of free hot water. "

Hilarious. Watch until after the bridge. I think I might be showing my age w/ this one....

Get Rich Slowly! An informative roundup of what the "get wealthy" books will tell you.

I have to give them credit for creativity. (h/t American Digest )

Liberals always point to Europe (not Switzerland mind you) as a model for gun control. "Look at the UK" they say. When I point out their dramatically rising crime rates they dismiss my concerns as ludicrous. Americans have long been concerned about the slippery slope of gun control. It's the preliminary steps to an outright ban. The misguided propenents of gun control say that's absurd and it's just a matter of keeping guns from criminals. Well, we all know how effective the drug laws have been. I mean, when was the last time a criminal had illegal drugs? England had a gun culture that was alive and vibrant until about 1950. Around that time the courts decided that self-defense was not an adequate reason to have a firearm. The "Queen's Peace" superceded that concern and besides, the Bobbies would be there to protect you. Fast forward about 40 years and some nutter goes on a rampage and kills a bunch of school kids. The result? An outrig...

Poop? Meet fan. Fan, this is poop. That about sums up my week. In addition to Eldest not sleeping later than 5:00 AM, I've now learned that my wife's grandfather and his girlfriend will not be staying just one day. They'll be staying FIVE DAYS . And when did they tell us you ask? They didn't. We found out from other family members. I'm ready to scream. I've had my fill of company. I'm done. Really. Top it off, these two are the worst houseguests. They've been known to poke around closets and basements when the residents are out. Not. Cool. They are also the most passively agressively demanding people. "Oh, you don't have to make dinner, that's ok. Just throw some rotten meat on the floor and I'll pick it up." Or worse they ask where a nearby restaurant is so we'll tell them not worry about it, we'll cook. They insist we don't cook. We get take-out. Do our guests even offer to pay? No. T...

I'm grumpy today. Why? Oh, I don't know. 4-5 hours of sleep a night for a fortnight might do it. One of the common problems autistic children have is sleep disorders. "Co-morbidity" it's called. I don't like the term because it sounds so, well, morbid. Eldest was awake and ready to play at the ungodly hour of 5:15 yesterday and 4:20 this morning. I had wisely gone to bed at 11:30 so as to minimize the harmful effects of sleep. I'm starting to think I'm some sort of sleep deprivation experiment. At this point, I'm ready to give up state secrets for a bit of shuteye. Yes, yes, much of this is my fault but I can't be expected to take responsibility now can I? That's just absurd. When you dream about scoring some Modafinil, you know your life has drastically changed from the halcyon days (not, not that halcion). I have that feeling I used to get after an exam in college. When you're strung out on caffene and too litt...

Cardinal Keeler has boycotted Loyola's latest graduation because the speaker recognizes that while he is personally opposed to abortion, it is the law of the land and he discharged his duties accordingly. Who was the speaker? Rudolph Guilani. According to the article , The Archdiocese sent a letter notifying of the boycott along with a shot across the bow as a warning they may lose their designation as a Catholic college. This distresses me greatly. One of the reasons I went to Loyola was because they were a Catholic school. This was, of course, not the first reason. Or even the second. Reason #1: they let me in. Reason #2: The women were stunning. Seriously. [/begin crochety old man voice] Why back in my day, we were known as "J. Crew U." [/end crochety old man voice] A badge we wore with pride and one that (sadly) disappeared shortly after I left and preppie was out. It was replaced by the "just fell out of bed" look which has probably chang...