The Accidental Jedi

2003-06-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

There will be no further posts to this site, because...drum roll here...

the new one is up and running

...even if it is a bit ragged around the edges. Having experienced the magic, I can delay no longer.

Follow

this link

to my new home.

I have joined The Blogmosis Family, and I couldn't be more thrilled. Thanks to Matt and Vicky, I can now blog in exquisite comfort, with a beautiful page to show for it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. They've got a great group of bloggers, and I'm honored to be part of the family.

2003-06-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

As long as I'm doing embarrassing things like telling Barry Manilow stories today, I may as well admit that I love Martha Stewart. They can indict her, they can jail her, they can do whatever they want. I don't have the knowledge to comment on whether there's a case here or not. But I'll still buy the damned magazine and dream of having enough free time to use yellow properly, or make a bed the Martha Stewart way.

2003-06-04T18:24:00.000-07:00

The Carnival of the Vanities is up at Drumwaster's Rants. No permalink, since the Blogger/BlogSpot syndrome is in effect, but the Carnival is always worth scrolling for. And kudos to the host for hosting under such rigorous conditions.

2003-06-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

Barry Manilow broke his nose.

Not only is this amusing to me in and of itself, but it gives me the opportunity to tell a Barry Manilow story and have it look like it's on-topic.

My mother loves Barry Manilow. Has for years and years and years. I get a warm fuzzy feeling every time I hear him, from some sort of early-childhood imprinting process that probably involved being fed and held simultaneously while Barry crooned in the background.

Fast-forward an undetermined number of years. I've just turned 17 and am on the way home for the holidays from my first semester of college. Barry Manilow gets on my plane. Really. I notice that he's being stalked by autograph seekers, feel sorry for him for a moment (how would you like somebody pretending they need to use the head so they can ambush you for an autograph on your way out?), and promptly go to sleep.

Several hours later we land in Fresno, and I find my parents. My mother is falling apart. But the tears in her eyes aren't just for her baby, finally home after so long away. She grabs my sleeve and says, "He touched me. Barry Manilow brushed right up against me as he walked through. Barry Manilow!"

I predict she will feel no differently now that his nose is, no doubt, even weirder looking than before.

Update: Ok, ok, maybe it was funnier at the time. What can you do?

(Link via Amish Tech Support)

2003-06-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

What he said.

2003-06-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

Lileks is fantastic today, as usual. All I can ever say is "read the whole thing."

One of the things that caught my eye was his lucid explanation of the comic strip "La Cucaracha," which is a piece of supposed humor which has puzzled me for quite some time.

Which isn't what caught Glenn's eye, but there's nothing I can add there. Especially not before I've had my coffee.

I used to wonder when the anti-war brigade would figure it out. But I don't expect them to anymore. Not if they're still complaining in the face of things like this.

Update: Emperor Misha I adds his Imperial thoughts.

Update: Meryl Yourish has more.

2003-06-04T18:12:00.000-07:00

My schedule luckily permitted me to put a few things together during the day, so the page won't be lonely while I'm tinkering with my templates this evening. Here's to the next few days being as kind.

2003-06-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

It's teach yourself CSS for real this time night here at The Accidental Jedi. See you again tomorrow.

2003-06-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

Some asshat just climbed my fence, walked up my roof, turned around, and walked down again...for no apparent reason. I love apartment living.

2003-06-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

Go visit Michele. The Church of the Blogosphere Bulletin #2 is up, and it will give you much joy.

2003-06-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

I've been setting up new blogrolls for the new site, and have been derailed for something like an hour now thinking about how to divide them up so that they're reasonably user-friendly. Folks who ping v. folks who don't? What I read most often? Give up and go alphabetical?

This is likely a sign that it's time to quit for the night.

Won't it be great when the thing is done (for the moment, anyway) and all of this navel-gazing can end?

No, wait, don't answer that...

2003-06-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

Seems the Democrats in the California legislature are embarrassed by their SUVs:

Fearful of being branded hypocrites on the environment, the Democratic- controlled Legislature is trying to lure its members into surrendering their gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles.

Uh, yeah. Dig this:

Nineteen of California's 40 senators drive SUVs, although none of the Bay Area delegation does.

Of the Assembly's 80 members, 36 drive SUVs. Twenty Assembly SUV drivers are Republicans. Of the 16 Democrats, nine SUV drivers voted for a landmark measure last year ordering the state air board to create new standards to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Bay Area Assembly members who drive SUVs and voted for the emissions bill are Democrats Wilma Chan of Oakland, Rebecca Cohn of Saratoga, Ellen Corbett of San Leandro and Manny Diaz of San Jose. Republican Guy Houston of San Ramon drives a $39,000 2003 Chevy Tahoe, which gets 18 miles per gallon on the highway, but was not a legislator when the emissions bill was passed.

Diaz sees no conflict between driving a $36,663 2001 Chevy Tahoe Truck and voting for a bill that automakers claim was a backdoor attempt to get SUVs off the road.

Cohn said that at the time she got her 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee with four- wheel drive, a hybrid car wasn't an option. The SUV's seats also ease a severe back condition, Cohn said.

Both Cohn and Corbett note that unlike Southern California legislators, flying home from Sacramento isn't an option. "I live out of my car," Cohn said.

Corbett said that when her current lease is up, she would switch in "a heartbeat" to a hybrid SUV, if one were available.

"My hope is that the emissions bill will create even more encouragement for automakers to put cleaner cars on the market," Corbett said.

I thought about doing the traditional honors on this, but I decided it is more than funny enough by itself. Especially if your sense of humor is a little sick.

2003-06-02T19:51:00.000-07:00

Only in California: a study linking cat feces and dead sea otters.

These guys bend over backwards to point out that getting rid of cats isn't a practical solution, and that toxoplasmosis accounts for a small percentage of sea otter deaths, and that the source is conjecture, not a proven link in the scientific sense. I can't wait, though, to see what the weirdos do with this one.

How'd you like to be PETA right about now?

2003-06-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

Posting will stay light, I'm afraid, for the next couple of days as I prepare to move this thing to a new home. Hopefully more later tonight...

2003-05-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

I had all of these wonderful plans to check my e-mail and maybe even put up a post or three tonight, but my travel plans for the weekend have been altered, and I must run out the door in approximately 30 seconds and head for L.A. Should be back Sunday. Have a great weekend!

2003-05-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

On the other hand, perhaps Venomous Kate has a good point. I have friends who don't know when to shut up, even when I've told them I don't want to hear about something. I can only imagine how crazy it must be to get that shit from people you don't even know. And I don't know about you, but I have a much more difficult time getting rid of people I don't know. I can tell a friend to shut the fuck up, and they'll generally laugh and change the subject. When confronted with, say, a salesperson I don't want to talk to, I can't seem to do it. It took me years to start hanging up the phone on telemarketers. A couple of credit cards and a charitable contribution or two later, it's starting to come naturally. Perhaps this is the Venomous One's way of saying that she wants you to put her on your "do not call" list if all you want is to sell her some crappy credit protection plan that will turn out not to cover you when you really need it.

That said, and perhaps because I have not yet been in those shoes, I'd love to hear from any reader who has the energy to type that ridiculous e-mail address into a To: line.

2003-05-28T23:10:00.000-07:00

The post immediately preceding this one was triggered by a lack of understanding by a Fresno native, but connectedness seems to be a theme that's going around the corner of the blogosphere I keep an eye on. First, there was the fire at Hosting Matters, which caused withdrawl symptoms across the blogosphere. Worst case award goes to Glenn Reynolds, who was blogging at InstaBackup.

And then there's the whole Venomous Kate doesn't want your e-mail thing, which I picked up on when Michele disagreed. All I can say is that I'd love to have VK's problems. I'm working hard toward someday having a readership big enough that they stand a chance of annoying me. I am, as you could no doubt predict, on Michele's side on this one. And she said much of what I was thinking much better than I could.

I'm blogging for the love of it, folks. This is highly unlikely to ever bring me fame or fortune. If it brings me in contact with some people who care enough about what I've written to respond in some way, that will be a reward in and of itself.

Actually, VK's advice reminds me a lot of the advice I got in a creative writing program once upon a time. The sum of it was that one should never attempt to get attention by doing anything that would attract attention, the theory apparently being that actually making contact with people would annoy them into making sure you would never succeed. As a result, most of us were too scared to even try.

I'm dying to write something pointed, like Ravenwood did, but I took out all my anger at work today. I wonder if Acidman gives anger maintenance lessons...

Maybe I should e-mail him and find out.

2003-05-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me today that I really, truly miss the South.

I was trying to explain to a friend of mine that I used to know all my neighbors. Not California style, where you might know what the person who lives next door to you looks like, but Southern style, where you know all about their family and friends, and where that scratch on the hood of their car came from. Some of them were a pain in the ass, true. But that's part of family, and we were a little family. One guy liked to talk religion until he was red in the face. He went to a Pentecostal church and would come over and smoke cigarettes with me afterward, and we'd talk about judgement. He wanted to find somewhere else to go. They wouldn't let him lead the youth group anymore because they found out he still smoked, even though he didn't do it in front of the kids. He had a habit of cleaning out his freezer at me, which I appreciated because I was dirt poor at the time, and because it was sweet. He moved back to Texas just before I moved back to Cali.

There was another guy who would come banging on my door when he got drunk, waking me up to try to persuade me to sit in his lap. Next door to me for a few months was a sweet young Navy wife from Michigan, whose husband was going through OCS. I would dog-sit for them every now and again. Two doors down was a couple who were polar opposites. He's one of the most talkative people I've ever met. She's very reserved. He loves to golf, and works as a juvenile detention officer. He gave me her old Christmas wrap to lay between the floor of my trailer and my bookcases when I moved, so they wouldn't get scratched up so badly. I protested that wrap is too expensive to use on something so mundane, and he said they'd buy new anyway, they always did no matter how much was left from the year before. The bookcases arrived in perfect condition.

We all got home about the same time, and we'd stop and chat almost every night, sometimes until the mosquitos got too thick for even our acclimated hides to stand.

Guy moved in next door to me a month or so before I left. He's a veteran, living on his disability money, and it took me a couple of weeks to meet him, since we kept opposite hours. We caught the edge of a hurricane about then, and when the power going out woke me up at 0430, I went out on my front porch to see what there was to see, since the wind wasn't too strong yet, and it was a beautiful cool morning, the relaltive calm before the storm. He was out on his porch, too, and we talked about the things he'd done in the service, and my job, and storms, and then I gave him my flashlight, since I was going to work and he couldn't find his. Maybe he still has it, wherever he is.

It's all those little connections that make a place a home, and I miss the hell out of it.

2003-05-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

See the things that blogging leads to? I was visiting the aforementioned Carnival and noted that Drumwaster would be hosting next week, and I went there to wander 'round the blog, just for the fun of it, you know? And I scrolled on down the sidebar and found a teeny little section titled "On-Line Games" and the next thing you know, 45 minutes have passed while I'm playing Acno's Energizer. And no, I won't give you the link...go there to get it. You don't need to be playing this anyway, trust me. Beautifully executed little logic puzzles, and the character so cute that you feel bad when you blow him up, especially when you do it on purpose. Almost as addictive as blogging itself.

2003-05-28T19:17:00.000-07:00

The Carnival of the Vanities is up at the newly resurrected Dean's World.

2003-05-28T17:17:00.000-07:00

Treacher's got new digs. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this.

2003-05-27T21:41:00.000-07:00

John Hawkins explains how news spreads through the blogosphere here.

(Via Arguing with signposts)

2003-05-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

I'm wandering around the net in circles, looking for something to get worked up about, but I'm not having much luck. I'm too mellow after the weekend, apparently. Someone else is working on the design for the new site, and I'm trying not to hold my breath waiting to see what it will look like to start. I can't wait to get off blogspot. I'm happy they are here...I may not have taken the plunge if I hadn't had them, but it's time to move on. Location to be announced when the thing is ready to roll.

Back to wandering...

2003-05-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

Speaking of aspartame, here's another must-read: the SECDEF has spoken. Need I say more? Go. Read. Now. Free registration may be required. If you let that stop you, you're acting French.

2003-05-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

Ravenwood found evidence that there are a few celebrities with class left. Bravo, Mr. Hoffman.

2003-05-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

Another unimpressive study that will immediately alter the behavior of thousands of doctors and affect the lives of millions of women based on a statistical extrapolation from a very small sample. This time, they're saying that hormone supplementation for post-menopausal women increases the risk of Alzheimer's and other dementias. If it doesn't kill you first.

Honestly, I don't worry too much about any study. Butter, Parkay, butter, Parkay, you know? I smoke, I eat red meat, I drink. I consume soft drinks made with aspartame. And one of the things on that short little list has already been declared good for you again.

As Dean Esmay has pointed out recently, in 50 years we'll all be smoking again anyway, since medical science will have solved the whole it kills you problem.

This is also why I avoid doctors. I see one once a year, as any smart woman does, and even then I'd probably be dumb if they weren't holding my prescription hostage. If I have something well defined and normally easy to fix, I'll go. Strep throat, a bad sinus infection, stuff like that, you know? Otherwise, no.

They're shooting in the dark on a lot of things, folks. That's why the studies are always being contradicted by other studies. The human animal is a damned complex creature, and they don't know as much as they'd have us believe they do.

Two and a half years now, and I'm finally losing the limp that proves my point.

2003-05-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

Must read: David Carr on the EU constitution and the comments following.

I have such a hard time believing that the man who stood beside us in defiance of the UN just a few months ago really still thinks that the EU is something Britain should be a part of. It would be a tragedy if they actually go through with this.

Go read. The best comment I could make is "what he said."

2003-05-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

One more thing: if you are lucky enough to have the day off today, as I do, stop for a moment and think about why. If you're working in a retail store and wish all of the sons of bitches who do have the day off would go home, remember why you're getting holiday pay today. And if you're still running around trying to convince people the President of the United States is one of the bad guys, remember those who died so that you could be an asshole without fear of government retribution.

That is all.

2003-05-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

I'm working on fixing up the house this weekend, trying to get the thing squared away a little more since I will be gone most of next weekend. I am also preparing to move this work in progress to a new site, hopefully sometime next week. Hence the very light posting.

To all of you looking for the link to the video of the poor kid doing his Jedi routine, it's in the sidebar. I'd love it if you'd stick around long enough to make me feel like you love me for more than that, but what the hell. It's your browser...browse as you see fit.

I'm fixing to go clean up the kitchen before I put the latest furniture additions together. Then it's laundry, groceries, fun fun fun.

2003-05-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

I know what they say about blogging about why you're not blogging. That will not, however, keep me from extending my apologies to those few loyal readers who may be visiting. Last week was a bad week. I went to bed at 1900 last night, and woke up with a perfect replica of a hangover at 0900 today. Don't ever go without drinking any water for 14 hours when it's hot enough to make your air conditioner run at night.

Heard on the radio yesterday: "You know you're in Fresno when you discover that asphalt has a liquid state."

Summer is here, and I, for one, am happy to see it come. But today, I'm going to turn down the air a little, like the decadent child I am, and crawl onto the couch with a book. And drink some water. I may be back around nightfall.

If you're here for the first time, scroll down. You'll find some semi-coherent ranting, some damn fine writing, and lots of links to funny stuff. Enjoy!

2003-05-22T23:10:00.000-07:00

A serving of humor from On the Fritz, to remove the flavor of the semi-coherent rants from your palate. It was one of those days.

2003-05-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

If you've never been to JunkScience.com, you're missing out. The media almost never gets science stories right. Or, perhaps, it is simply that they don't stop to do a common-sense check on a lot of them. After all, if somebody with "Dr." in front of his/her name says it, it must be true, right? Here are the souces, with a dash of Milloy-style fisking, for your reading pleasure.

2003-05-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

I can't resist one more story from SFGate. Amazingly enough, they've made the connection between tax rates and your paycheck.

2003-05-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

There's a kind of sick poetry in this story that I can't possibly improve upon.

2003-05-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

It is a truism around here that rain is always a good thing. It's a desert, right? Think again.

We could quit worrying about the water problem if the damned enviro-weenies would back off the fairy shrimp issue and let us build a reservoir or six, but it ain't gonna happen. Know why? Because obscure animals on the verge of extinction are always more important than people. After all, there are how many billion of us and how many dozen of them? Our very success proves that they must be entitled to life and we must stop showering, right?

I think this is actually an outgrowth of the mentality that says the less read a book is, the better it must be, and the fewer people buy a car, the cooler it must be. There is a vocal group of people in this place that think anything that is too popular must be bad. Lawns--gotta go. SUVs--gotta go. Why? The people who would have such things eat at McDonald's. That too must go.

Of course, their political opinions must be right, since so few people hold them.

There is some sort of confusion about the idea of scarcity here that isn't even worth sorting out. Which won't stop me from pointing out that something can't be scarce in an economic sense unless somebody wants it in the first place. Or, more specifically, more people want it than can have it, given availability. A small supply does not, in and of itself, make a thing valuable--there has to be demand for that supply, as well.

In any case, sometimes rain out of season is worse than no rain at all. Which is a nice metaphor, too.

Addendum: No, I'm not saying that we should kill in cold blood any species that gets in our way. I'm just pointing out that we have to work with the world we've got, not the one we wish we had. The attitude I'm talking about is the same one that says America deserved to be attacked because it's rich and arrogant. And it equates rich with arrogant. There is a subset of the population that is thoroughly convinced that if it is too successful, it must be wrong. Some of them extend this to include the entire human race. Now go back to the rain metaphor.

2003-05-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

I love The Fresno Bee. I love the bad reporting, I love the bad writing, and I love that I can get it online for free. To be fair, from time to time they do a really bang-up job on something. From time to time they import something worthwhile. For the most part, though, they're just as much a mess as any other newspaper in the country. That's why I love them so.

Where, you ask, am I going with this? Why, to an example of the kind of reporting that makes the Bee great, of course: "Investigators hunt for clues..."

Choice tidbits:

With all the hot spots extinguished and only a few traces of smoke remaining, a team of investigators Wednesday combed the site of the burned-out University Village apartment project to try to determine what caused the blaze.

As opposed to combing the site for the fun of it, then going out for a cold beer, I suppose.

Investigators sifted through the burnt rubble hoping to learn where the fire started and how it developed. Lead investigator Don MacAlpine of the Fresno Fire Department said it was too early to rule out anything.

Imagine that! Fire investigators sifting through burnt rubble. Somehow I thought that they stood in one place, very still, closed their eyes, and psychically divined the cause. Silly me!

It is not uncommon for local authorities to summon help from ATF experts, who are equipped with special equipment and a vast knowledge of different types of fires.

Experts who are experts...we got a deal there! I hate it when those experts with no special knowledge or equipment show up. Glad we avoided that.

While air quality has been ranked as unhealthy for selective groups, officials at the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District indicated that the fire was not a significant factor. The main problem is ozone, not particulates that are generated by a fire.

We here at the Bee have a strict policy of never letting a story go to press without some reference to the fact that it is all of the SUV-driving assholes who are causing our air quality problem. Never mind that it isn't a fact. And never mind that you could smell the smoke from this thing on the other end of town. We said it, so it must be true! Bwahahaha!

Pending further investigation, the burned site is being treated as a crime scene to protect any evidence. Yellow tape has been strung up around the complex, and Fresno police officers have been posted nearby.

I don't know about you, but I am terrified of that yellow tape. Hey, at least we know where all the cops are so we can go knock off a liquor store in West Fresno. Let's go!

Cadwallader said he is not only opposed to a three-story building next door, but he also is concerned about what the additional traffic from 400 people living in the complex will do to the neighborhood.

It would take a crack house for every one of them to make the neighborhood any worse than it already is.

Of course, this being Fresno, the place was most likely wired wrong. That would be consistent with the general quality of construction 'round these parts. But that's a whole other rant.

2003-05-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

A little California humor, to get the night started right. Or humor at California's expense, which is about right...seems to be the only kind we've got these days. But we'll make do, right, folks?

(Via Electric Venom)

2003-05-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

Roundup (read "too tired to write a post of my own, so I will stay afloat on the lifeboat of the blogosphere"):

Michele is now writing commencement speeches. Nobody should be surprised that she's good at it. "Mr. Rogers lied. You aren't special." is the basic message of boot camp, and it's true.

Glenn has the events at Yale Law here and here. He is the true king of the roundup post.

Dean got his very first hate mail. Congratulations, Dean! (Yes, I'm jealous.)

Jim Treacher is still broke. Go buy a t-shirt, or a mug, or a blogad. Or just give him some money. He's funny even when he's blegging.

Visit The Volokh Conspiracy for Mr. Volokh's latest Bushisms in context lesson. Scroll down one post to discover a really cool mousepad.

Laurence Simon is blogging on blogging again, inspired by Dawn Olsen.

And finish your tour with ScrappleFace.

You know it's been a tough day when I don't even make it off my own blogroll. Anyway, enjoy.

2003-05-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

One should never plan to blog...something is bound to get between you and your computer any time you do. Tonight it was the loan of my truck to my brother for some furniture-hauling duty...and myself stranded where I dropped it off to him. Service gladly rendered, but the post I was preparing on the air pollution control bills upcoming in the CA Assembly, and the Fresno City Council's support of them, will have to wait. I promise you, there's funny stuff there among the serious issues. It appears that I may have spoken too soon last night--it looks like they're preparing to go after the farm lobby after all.

Ah, but there is business to conduct tonight in the locating a new home for the blog category, and I must be to it, so that someday someone somewhere can actually link to this post, or one of its neighbors, or perhaps even one of its distant relatives. Quick roundup post will appear as soon as business is done.

2003-05-20T21:52:00.000-07:00

I just spent the obligatory 30 minutes battling Blogger, and that is prior to the part of the night where I try to get my archives straightened out. Excuse my new obession...I'm going to look for another home now.

I had a very clever post written around this little piece of completely unsurprising news, but since I was lazy and failed to put it in Notepad before entrusting it to Blogger, it has gone to that place where all good posts go. I'll leave it at "physics, people, physics."

If you're new to the site, scroll on down...there are some witty bits to be found in the last few days.

Thanks for reading, and goodnight.

2003-05-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

Putting the taxpayers' money where your mouth is: as much as I hate to ever, ever give these people credit for anything, they get points today for consistency. I was passed today by a vehicle from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, and it was a hybrid. Plus ten points for doing what you want us to do. You're still minus several thousand for refusing to take on the farm lobby, though.

2003-05-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

The Carnival of the Vanities is at cut on the bias this week.

2003-05-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

I have stayed the hell out of the discussion over the BBC report that the rescue of PFC Jessica Lynch was some kind of stage-directed wanna-be reality TV show. I can't afford to spike my blood pressure like that if I want to make it to my next birthday. Glenn Reynolds, however, has a superior roundup on the thing. This is probably why he gets 80,000 hits a day and I don't. To replace the quotes he did away with recently, how about this one: InstaPundit: Blogging it so you don't have to.

2003-05-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

I am not Ghyslain, nor do I know him. He is an Accidental Jedi, though. In any case, for anybody joining us via one of the search engines, there's your link to the thing. Seems to me like he's been a pretty good sport about it, which I admire him for. Or maybe I'm just jealous...my geekiness *still* hasn't resulted in fame. Sigh.

2003-05-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

This blog is officially an American Idol-free zone. Adjust your viewing accordingly. Thank you.

2003-05-19T22:27:00.000-07:00

Spent some time tonight trying to fix the archives again. The Blogger-folk say they have this fixed in the next release. If they don't, I suppose I'm going to have to scrape up the money and the energy to move.

Speaking of people who are broke, if I *did* have any money, I'd give it to Treacher before he has to design another thong.

2003-05-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Go read what Charles has to say about Michael J. Totten's elaboration on the term "anti-idiotarian," then follow his link and read Totten's piece. Folks who can think clearly give me hope, whether I agree with them or not. It is a thing of beauty to see one rational thought after another in support of a larger point. All too rare, as well.

2003-05-19T21:50:00.000-07:00

Bill Whittle has a new essay posted. He is well worth the time and trouble to read...you will feel cleansed by the river of rationality after spending some time with him. And besides, he's a hell of a writer.

Link via just about everyone. I am so behind sometimes.

2003-05-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

I am totally entranced by the Wal Mart vs. Target debate Michele has started over at A Small Victory. Follow-up posts here and here.

This is an issue I consider vitally important, having just come from a place where Wally World rules into a place where you're scared to go into one. It has had an emormous impact on my shopping habits. I am still bitching about not having any Super Wal Marts in town, despite knowing that before I moved here and having been here for eight months...and knowing that in this city, I wouldn't want to shop there anyway. It just seems so...hmmm...20th century...somehow, to have to go to one store to buy groceries and another one to buy a cheap pair of jeans. I'm holding out for a Super Target, myself, or even a Super Wally World well placed. 500,000+ people in this city, and we don't have either one. There's something wrong there.

There's a reason they call it FresNO.

Actually, there is a habit among retailers of underestimating this market. They look at the unemployment figures and build small, or something. We have, for example, one Borders and one Barnes and Noble. When I was a Grad student, I worked at the Borders. It's been open about 6 years now, and a year ago they had to replace all the bookshelves because they couldn't hold enough stock for the volume they were doing. But that they could fix with relative ease.

Picture this: you have a bookstore designed to encourage people to stay in it as long as possible. In support of this goal, you include a cafe. This cafe sells large amounts of various caffeinated beverages. Said bookstore also has a large and successful children's section, where various storytelling events are held.

But when you built the thing, you expected it to do maybe half of the volume it wound up with. And you sized the bathrooms accordingly.

I doubt I have to paint the rest of the picture, but I will anyway, at least to this extent: when I left there almost 3 years ago, employees were going to other stores to use the bathroom on their breaks. A break is only 15 minutes long. You literally could not pee within those 15 minutes if you joined the line immediately upon being turned loose on Friday or Saturday nights, Sunday afternoons, Tuesday or Thursday mornings, or any time between Thanksgiving and New Year's.

That's the kind of pathetic underbuilding I'm talking about here, folks.

And it afflicts the whole city. We have no Super Wal Marts. The area of Florida I moved out of had less than half the population, and they had six. And you could actually buy food there without wondering what misfortunes it may have met while waiting for you.

We have no Super Targets.

We have no Super anythings. We just got the first theater with stadium seating in the area 5 years ago, and it (and the additional one they built) is still sold out, sometimes hours before a show, most of the time.

If there is anybody out there thinking of expanding to Fresno anytime soon, let me tell you this: if you build it, they will come.

2003-05-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

Just as relevant to folks in Fresno, who have yet to master the city traffic they're now stuck with: Getting There: Maddening Merging in Minnesota.

(Via Steve Gigl)

2003-05-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

Wow. The weekend is always too damned short.

I started Friday physically exhausted, ended it emotionally exhausted but happy to be so. Even my brother, who makes the next Governor of California look like a wimp, admitted to getting choked up hearing...no, experiencing, Have You Forgotten live.

So here's the Sunday night roundup:

Go give money to Treacher before he embarrasses himself any further. Go check out Kevin Parrott's new digs. Go download Dr. Frank's latest, Institutionalized Misogyny. While you're at it, leave him a tip, too.

Also, Roger L. Simon criticizes the French as only he can do, Laurence Simon has some additional tips on "how not to sneak into America", and Scott Ott reveals Wal Mart's next strategic move.

As for me, I'm going to go back to reading this now.

2003-05-16T23:45:00.000-07:00

I had tonight the privilege and the pleasure of seeing Darryl Worley in concert. All I can say is that if you ever get the chance, I would highly recommend that you do the same. He is simply incredible.

2003-05-16T16:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a fresh red light camera story for you. Actually, it's a yellow light camera story. I'm ecstatic to see that the profiteering bastards got caught.

In the meantime, San Diego is turning its cameras back on.

My previous post about the damned things is here.

2003-05-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

Steve Milloy has got his teeth into the (lack of) science behind the now infamous Oreo cookie lawsuit.

Don't worry about transfats. If they don't kill you, your frying pan will.

/sarcasm

2003-05-15T21:49:00.000-07:00

OMG, I'm having Netcom flashbacks! (Yeah, yeah, I got into the game late. We were poor. Sue me.)

Spent the evening trying to convince my DSL that it wanted to work. Called support, finally, at the height of my frustration, and the problem resolved itself immediately without any help from me. The tech guy swears he did nothing but send it happy thoughts. As long as it worked.

I did add a new link on the sidebar. I found it somewhere in the course of my earlier surfing, and I don't have the faintest idea at this point where that was. I hadn't looked at the pictures since the morning after, and I'm glad I looked again. Never forgive, never forget.

2003-05-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

The anti-Oreo freak has dropped his stupid lawsuit:

The move to outlaw Oreo cookies in California crumbled Wednesday when the lawyer who tried to ban the tasty snack foods said he had decided to drop his suit.

San Francisco attorney Stephen Joseph told The Associated Press he would not pursue the action any further, and only wanted to get the word out about the dangers of unlabeled fats contained in the popular black and white cookies.

"We have received thousands of e-mails expressing support for what we have done in advising the public of this problem," Joseph said. "But it's no longer necessary to continue the lawsuit because at the time the lawsuit was filed nobody knew about trans fat. Now everybody knows about trans fat.

Pardon me but I don't think I have the words to describe exactly how moronic this really is.

I wish they really would secede.

2003-05-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

They probably realized where they were:

A dozen Holstein cows grazing near Skywalker Ranch in Marin County apparently got spooked and ran off a 50-foot cliff, according to authorities.

Death vs. life in Marin County? Is there really a choice here?

2003-05-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Since I've been reading The Volokh Conspiracy I have developed a whole new appreciation for appeals court decisions. Like this one, pointed out by Conspirator Orin Kerr.

2003-05-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since the last gratuitous InstaPundit post, which I provide for the benefit of the one regular reader I have whom I cannot convince to actually look at other blogs. So here it is. Glenn's victim? Chuck Schumer. Heh.

2003-05-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

Catchy slogan of the day: Hypertension--if you didn't have it before, you do now. Or you will, after you read this article on the new standard for diagnosing high blood pressure.

Brought to you courtesy of the US government, which also made you fat and gave you diabetes.

Tell you what...I'll take medication for the next 40 years on the off chance that it will do my kidneys less harm than a reading of 125/82 will. /sarcasm

Really, folks, this rings false to me. They say that they are not recommending meds for the "pre-hypertensive" phase of the thing, but that doesn't jibe with the rest of the story. I smell pill-pushing profit monkey poop.

They are all preying on the tendency the human creature tends to have to want to live forever. Personally, I'd just as soon have fun. I mean, if you're good enough to meet all of their guidelines, you won't have any stories to tell the grandkids. Except maybe about the the time you got E. coli from your organic broccoli.

None of this has to do, at its base, with rising health care costs. It's about the fact that nobody wants to die, and a lot of people don't mind making themselves miserable to try to stretch things out, and a large number of them want to make you miserable too to justify their own choice. (And an unhealthy percentage of folks with that sort of personality go into public "service".)

Of course, it makes perfect sense combined with the idea that I should weigh 110 pounds. My blood pressure would definitely be low enough then. Maybe I couldn't stand up without passing out, but so what?

I can't wait until Steve Milloy sinks his teeth into this one.

UPDATE: Here's another article that says 45 million Americans are estimated to have the new condition they've created.

2003-05-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

Damn. This is a neat distraction, especially since I have no idea what any of it means. Except as defined therein, and some of it makes no sense anyway. To me, at least...if I had any real computer skills, would I be on blogspot?

(Located via a link to the Godwin's Law entry in this post at Grouchy Old Cripple, via the aforementioned Inscrutable American)

2003-05-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

There is something for everyone at The Carnival of the Vanities, hosted this week at The Inscrutable American.

2003-05-14T19:05:00.000-07:00

Two things I noticed today that baffled me:

1. There's a concert being held at a local park over the weekend featuring some local guy who was on one of those music reality shows. The country one, whatever the hell it was called. My TV hasn't been turned on since the statue came down, so I wouldn't even know there was such a thing if not for the pop-country radio station that plays in my office 8 hours a day. It irritates me, but it's a lot cheaper than finding employees who can stand quiet. Not many can anymore.

But BOT...the DJ kept saying today that the concert would be "a smoke-free environment, so we're really looking forward to it." Yes, that was the way he phrased it, and yes, he used the same phrases multiple times. But what the hell do cigarettes have to do with the price of tea in China? You're looking forward to it because people won't be allowed to smoke? I can buy that smoke-free air might be a pleasant thing for some people, but why that has an impact on your level of anticipation I will never know. Would the station be boycotting him otherwise? I somehow doubt it. Would you hate the music if it was accompanied by the smell of burning tobacco?

Question: this is being held in a public park. Will the use of the grills also be prohibited during the concert?

Another question: has anybody checked the demographic correlation between country music fandom and smoking?

2. I took a call at work from a telemarketer type from AMEX, who wanted to talk to the Big Boss. I do not put nuisance calls through to said Big Boss, which is part of why he pays me as handsomely as he does. How, you ask, did I know it was a marketing call? The distinctive sound of the auto-dialer, my friend. (If you call me at home, start talking quickly. I hang up on pauses.) Not to mention the fact that he declined to leave a message.

What the crazy telemarketer type did say was, "That's ok. We'll call back Monday at one."

What am I supposed to do? Rearrange his schedule so he doesn't miss your "very important information?" Warn him that he should be there waiting, since you are so kind as to call him back? Confess that he was really in his office all this time and put you through, while dipping my chin in shame?

Listen up, asswipe sales types: you will never get past the keeper of the gate! Bwahahaha!!!

2003-05-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

Heard more than you ever want to about SARS? Then go check out its fellow epidemic, SADS.

2003-05-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

If you're in a position to do it, you probably know better, but I think it's worth noting again: don't park in San Francisco. Seems they're broke. Enough said, right?

Go read the article anyway, especially if you have ever wondered about the difference between goals and quotas. The thing practically fisks itself.

2003-05-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so now the iLoo isn't a hoax, but the project's been killed. This is almost as much fun as watching the rollout would have been.

2003-05-13T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ban drive-throughs?

You can relax, it's just the Fresno City Council, at it again:

The Fresno City Council vowed Tuesday to put a dent in pollution with a three-year plan that would cost nearly $18 million and possibly lead to free bus rides on smoggy days, four-day work weeks, and employees working from home.

The council voted 7-0 to direct staff to return within 90 days specifics on the plan, where the city could get the money, and when the plan could begin.

Council members also told City Manager Dan Hobbs's staff to return with land-use ideas, city policy changes and ordinances that would help clean the air. Those issues likely will include politically charged ideas such as banning gas-powered leaf blowers and drive-up windows at fast-food restaurants and banks. The council debated those issues in the late 1980s, only to let them fade away.

This in a county where it's still perfectly legal to burn ag waste. And people wonder why I want to move back to America.

2003-05-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

Eugene Volokh has a post today about those damned traffic cameras. Which reminded me that I had long ago promised a post on the subject. Back in April, both Orin Kerr and Glenn Reynolds noted this TalkLeft post about a DC anti-camera lawsuit, which led me to dig around in the personal archives a bit, becuase it is a subject I am fascinated by (in that sick sort of way that makes you watch the cosmetic surgery shows on TLC, or even crane your neck to get a better view of an accident...)

There was a heck of a series a while back in The Weekly Standard about the District's automated traffic enforcement. Part one is here. Read the whole thing, as they say. Then check out this article from Honolulu, and this one about a creative judge in San Diego ( if you want a clear picture of how creative, start here). Hell, go google it if you want to. There's a hell of a lot out there on the subject.

My take on the cursed things? I would trust the cops before I'd trust our mayor. That is, I'd rather take my chances with a local officer of the law than be convicted by a camera that is a revenue source for the city. And that is the real problem with these things, in my eyes...that it is, in most jurisdictions, impossible to protest one of these tickets. In California, this will cost you $281 the last time I checked, and even if the cameras aren't rigged, I have a basic terror of non-discretionary enforcement. I don't like the idea of being convicted automatically of something I most likely would not even remember doing...if I did it at all.

I searched the Fresno Bee online archives for this topic and didn't find a thing. Their archives may not go far enough back for it...Fresno is always the latecomer to any game. But they had a hell of a time getting the things to even work here. It's foggy for about 3 months solid in the winter, and the moisture played such havoc with the cameras that it took months before they could even write the first ticket. *It was so bad that they had to admit to the problem instead of ticketing people.*

I could go on all night about the statistics: the increase in rear-end accidents, the size of the problem in the first place, the niceties of highway design. But the folks I've cited above were kind enough to do it for me. Make up your own mind about the thing.

I deal with it by simply never going through a monitored intersection. Inconvenient sometimes, but I like to deprive the profit-seeking "safety" monkeys of their prey.

An oft-missed point to close: yes, cops are more expensive than cameras. But they're a hell of a lot more versatile, too. They can catch other sorts of traffic offenders, act as a better deterrent, since you never know where one will turn up, and rescue treed cats in the bargain. Or respond to other sorts of incidents...imagine a mobile unit with a brain that can generate revenue, too. Wow. I predict this will be the wave of the future...real cops responding in real time to real problems.

UPDATE: I wasn't trying to be this timely, but here's an article from earlier today about NHTSA and NHA skepticism about the value of cameras.

2003-05-13T17:47:00.000-07:00

Acidman takes on the NYC smoking ban here and here. He's a lot more, er, colorful than I am, and that's a good thing. He also takes on the issue of the validity of the whole second-hand-smoke-kills routine, which I just didn't have the strength to do last night.

And even if it did, the government does not choose your place of employment for you. You don't like it, go work somewhere else.

2003-05-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

We all thought there was nobody more hated than Mike Bloomberg--and we were wrong. Gray Davis now has an approval rating of 24% and is facing recall. Couldn't happen to a nicer idiot.

The sooner that Cali is rid of him, the better, but I have this sinking feeling that whenever he does get replaced, it will be by this man.

Sigh.

2003-05-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

OMG, the iLoo was a hoax? Say it isn't so!

2003-05-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Although I am nowhere near advanced enough to have added comments myself--I'm just a Wiggly Worm in the Blogosphere Ecosystem, after all--I love reading other people's comment threads. Right now, Dean Esmay has a particularly good conversation going, under the title Your Mom Wears Army Boots. Go check it out, and, if you're a woman, leave a comment. Hey, they're Dean's rules...and I like 'em!

UPDATE: This sort of thing is the reason I read Dean Esmay...he's so damned reasonable he shames me sometimes.

UPDATE: Dean asks a very practical question.

2003-05-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

Also via Ravenwood, Gene Simmons on Natalie Maines.

Oh hell, just go scroll.

2003-05-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

This news from Ravenwood about the effects of the NYC smoking ban on businesses does not surprise me in the least. Why? Because I live in California, where they've been doing this kind of thing for years.

Unfotunately, NYC establishments for the most part can't resort to the tactics that saved a couple of my favorite places: patios. The bars in my area that already had--or were able to spend the money to add--patios are mobbed. You can't get a seat at an outdoor table without a wait at the restaurants. I simply don't go anywhere I can't smoke, and I don't know any smokers who do on any kind of regular basis--not that that forms the basis for a scientific statement, but still.

Smokers spend money, too (in fact, I read somewhere that they spend more, because they are liable to hang around longer and thus are more vulnerable to add-on sales, but I have no idea where I read it, and I can't find it now, so take it with a grain of salt, but common sense and observation would seem to agree). Excluding up to 25% of your potential patrons must be a bad thing...if anyone really thought that the influx of non-smokers would make up for the revenue lost by excluding the smokers, the things would have become non-smoking without government interference. Seems awfully obvious, but these folks are in business to make money. If it was going to be better for business to kick the stinky cancer-spreading smoker monkeys out, they would have been kicked out, instead of just subjected to the long-suffering glares of people who bring their babies to the pub. (Yes, I actually used to know somebody...a college professor, no less...who started bringing her daughter to the brewpub with her when the kid was 6 months old. That was after the ban started, of course...)

Of course, plenty of places in Cali just ignore the law, and I give them my money as frequently as I can. Why? Because anybody who gives the finger to Gray-out is a friend of mine. Because business owners ought to have the right to do as they like on their own property, if it poses no danger to anybody off that property. Because the only effective vote I have is with my dollar.

And because I'm a stinky cancer-spreading smoker monkey.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I found Ravenwood via A Small Victory.

UPDATE: The California smoking ban has spawned a few good things--like The Center for Consumer Freedom, which keeps track of nannies of all types. Like the ones who want to steal cookies from children.

2003-05-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

I was planning to post on the "name of the blog" thing tonight, but I am just not feeling as funny as the topic deserves (and it is an amusing story), so go check out how the sign contest is coming along over at A Small Victory instead. My entries are there, too. Scroll, baby, scroll.

2003-05-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

I generally visit Samizdata for serious thoughts about serious things, but they can be funny, too. Check out this post by Perry de Havilland about the new Georgia state flag. And when you stop laughing, look at the comments for a dose of the serious. Very interesting stuff.

And thus, I suppose, ends funnies week. Next up, serious rants about serious things. Like this one, from the archives (such as they are).

Which reminds me, I've got to go republish. TTFN.

2003-05-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

Saw this at Dean's World and couldn't resist any longer: 404 error. And while you're at it, try Iraqi Explorer at StrategyPage.

2003-05-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

Michele has a new contest going on over at A Small Victory. I could spend your time telling you how funny this is, but I'll leave it at this: just go look. Do I ever steer you wrong?

2003-05-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

Captain Scott has a great post about "road phantoms," those folks you see while driving who just don't seem real, who make you think by their very improbability that they must never have existed at all. (Yes, the permalinks are bloggered...see post entitled "Large Marge Lives!" on 6 May.)

Kalifornia is besieged by folks who logically should have died in traffic accidents long ago. I was behind one yesterday, a woman who was apparently lost, which gets you no slack with me. If you have to go around the block to get to the right place, do it. It is a far better solution than stopping dead in the middle of the block, where nobody expects you to be stopped.

Every place has its traffic patterns and local ethics. 'Round these parts, red lights are optional if the green is short enough. There are intersections where the left lane winds up completely stopped for a block back because only 3 or 4 cars at a time can turn left. This means that it is more like 7 or 8 cars that actually turn, but that's not enough to save the traffic flow from poor engineering. (For the musings of a real-life highway design type, go here.)

The net result is a lot of red-light running, but everybody who drives here regularly knows that at least one car will turn after the light goes red, and everybody adjusts for it. You see similar things elsewhere. In Norfolk, VA, lines painted in a parking lot are to pretty it up, not to guide the flow of traffic. In Pensacola, FL, it is expected that you will come close to a complete stop before making a right turn.

Accidents happen when one driver's violation of the expected traffic pattern, legal or not, collides with the inattention of another driver. Which makes the lady who was ahead of me yesterday a lucky gal. I was paying attention, not yelling at my kids while they were playing video games in the backseat of my Expedition. Whether this woman made it home alive or not, I don't know.

This paragon of traffic irrationality stopped at a green light. I was puzzled by this behavior, as you can well imagine, and I stopped short and sat there staring at the back of her head through her rear window. All I could see was big dark hair--no kids, no cell phone--and before I had time to even wonder whether, just possibly, this individual was mentally impaired, or give the appropriate salute, the light turned yellow, and she took off.

Hmmm.

I've lived in Kalifornia a long damned time, and I don't think I have ever seen that particular combination before. I've been rear-ended for stopping at a red light, and I've seen people stop at greens, but I've never seen one stop at a green and go on a yellow.

The topper, and the reason this made me think of Scott's post, is that when I passed her a block or so later I looked over, wanting a better view of the loon (for what, I don't know), and there she was, driving along, happy and oblivious, with a cigar clamped between her teeth.

Not attractive.

Probably has a husband she beats and six kids.

Welcome to Kali.

2003-05-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

This is a must read I some how missed: an interview with Victor Davis Hanson in the Naval Institute Proceedings.

I am so proud that this man lives in Fresno. And I love what he has to say about the California State University system in this interview. As a Fresno State alumnus, all I can say is that I am so sorry I didn't take a class with him...he is one of the few sane people in the place, and it would have given me something to ease the pain. FSU is very, very lucky to have him.

(Via An Iowa Libertarian)

2003-05-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

I was going to observe all the fine advice I've been seeing about not blogging about why you're not blogging, but this is too cool...I got distracted by a friend calling me from the USS Enterprise. OMG, I miss the Navy.

2003-05-08T17:44:00.000-07:00

And now we proudly present The Lemon's History of the Internet.

(Via InstaPundit, you asshat!)

2003-05-08T17:43:00.000-07:00

This is for Wayne. Others share your pain, babe.

Of course, the rest of you can read it too. Otherwise I would have e-mailed it to him instead of posting it here, sillies. And next time you think you've been pigeonholed, remember the brave gay conservatives and draw strength from their example. Seriously.

2003-05-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

[Navel-gazing] I am an unrepentant linker. It has not brought me love, fame, or fortune, nor is it likely to. But I derive a psychic benefit from digging up neat goodies and posting them for others to find. I hope that the mix I have crafted will draw folks, entertain them, then keep them coming back. And I hope that what commentary I do provide will do the same.

I also try to put on my thinker cap once in a while, but I'll never be SDB, which suits me just fine. If it doesn't suit you, go read him instead.

That said, Venomous Kate has some awfully good tips for blogging, which Dean Esmay expands on. And yes, the navel gazing was prompted by a couple of VK's remarks here that hit close to home. I don't agree with everything she has to say, but it's interesting stuff, and it's made me thoughtful. [/Navel-gazing]

UPDATE: Laurence Simon chimes in.

2003-05-08T17:21:00.000-07:00

Check out the first edition of Frank Answers over at IMAO. Located via Amish Tech Support, where Mr. Simon seems to be developing an obsession with the question of whether or not there is a Doggy Heaven.

As far as I'm concerned, I don't give a damn as long as it's separate from People Heaven and I don't have to smell doggy breath for eternity or watch anybody kiss his poodle. Although it isn't likely I'll land in People Heaven, so I probably shouldn't be worrying about it. Once upon a time dogs were useful to people, so we kept them around. Sometimes even now, they are useful to people, and some folks keep them around for that purpose. But mostly, they are nasty-smelling parasites who leave squishy surprises where you least expect them and prop up the egos of their hapless human slaves with the slavering loyalty their owners are likely to mistake for intelligence.

And, apparently, they make nice coats. (Via InstaPundit)

This is clearly animal cruelty--bad enough to be killed and skinned, but to be shipped to Europe afterward? Ouch.

2003-05-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had planned to post the following about the iLoo, but the e-mail containing my link lost itself in cyberspace and I was too lazy to track the thing down again:

OMG, I think this may be taking 'net addiction too far. I mean, really...the iLoo?

Can you imagine what this will do to the lines? I mean, I have enough trouble breaking away from what I'm working on to go to the toilet...how would they ever get me off it once I'm there?

Now, via InstaPundit, we discover the real problem with this innovation.

2003-05-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

Quote of the day: Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right. -Igor Stravinsky, composer (1882-1971) (Via Wordsmith.org)

2003-05-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

It seems I have taken an accidental night off...I've been running around the blogosphere enjoying all the work so many other people put into their blogs today, and completely neglecting mine. Sigh.

2003-05-06T21:48:00.000-07:00

Speaking of beer...I am overdue to retire for the evening. I leave you in the capable hands of The Advice Bunny.

2003-05-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the classic weirdness of Fark. Even better when viewed with a cold beer in one's hand.

2003-05-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

Rand Simberg on German humor.

More funny Rand here.

2003-05-06T20:48:00.000-07:00

I don't believe I have heretofore linked to On the Fritz, so here it is.

2003-05-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

Laurence Simon on the blogfight that has broken out between Michele and Davezilla. Subject? "Book titles that didn't quite make it"

2003-05-06T20:28:00.000-07:00

I think the neighbors are going to call the management...I laughed obnoxiously at this. Of course, I've been told that I have an obnoxious laugh anyway. By more than one person. Recently. It makes me long for the ability to kill like samurai with the sword of my laughter.

Of course, when I was four years old, I laughed like Horshack. Didn't everyone? (Hey, Epstein's got his own web site. And it works...there is no note from his mother. Wow.)

(Via a : frustrated : artist)

2003-05-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

In case you hadn't guessed by now, we're in a news blackout zone here at this happy blog. (OK, it's not complete, I know, SARS reference, etc., but I'm trying...)

At least through tonight, we're doing funny stuff only. No serious news articles, although just plain silly ones are fair game. There will be plenty of stories and plenty of time to get to them, but I am feeling lighthearted, and you are my willing vicitms in the giggle-fest.

I say through tonight because I doubt I'll be able to last much longer than that...I am a news freak at heart...

Anyway, enjoy.

2003-05-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know who ever would have guessed this one, but it has been confirmed...flies can fly. (Via insignificant thoughts)

2003-05-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

Boycott Hollywood lives!

2003-05-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

OMG, I have the SARS chair of death...NOT.

I just assembled a brand new desk chair, and lo and behold, it was manufactured in China...and if I remember my provinces correctly, the bit of China hardest hit. It's too damn comfortable for me to care.

Onward blogging soldiers...

2003-05-06T17:45:00.000-07:00

This is hysterical...both the concept and the execution. Go listen to the smooth stylings of Comical Ali, AKA Baghdad Bob. (Via InstaPundit)

2003-05-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

Oh, and happy Cinco de Mayo. I so love it when anybody kicks the French.