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May 30, 2006
Pretending to be a real blogger, part VII
(In which I report my activites in quasi-realtime to build anticipation for a followup post)
It's vacation week, so Livia and I are heading out to see The DaVinci Code.
The New York Post says it's "every bit as brainy and irresistible as Dan Brown's controversial bestseller." And if that's not, uh, convincing enough, they insist You'll Louvre It!
Well heck, I'm all Louvre it. Wish us luck.
May 23, 2006
Things I didn't know #2: Snowflakes
Here's what I didn't know:
1. There's an International Commission on Snow and Ice.
2. Snowflakes have been classified into 80 categories.
3. Snowflakes are pretty.
Ok, I knew that snowflakes are pretty, but this page blew my mind and reminded me, after twenty years in California, that snowflakes are pretty, to say the least.
May 22, 2006
Gen in Bloom
(Photo credit: John Newton)
May 20, 2006
A New Outrage
So among the clutter on my desk is a Kleenex box that for some reason got turned upside-down. And there, on the bottom, is some back-of-the-box chatter: "Always within reach! KLEENEX Tissue is always there when you need it, etc". The usual stuff, y'know?
But then on the right side you find the same thing... written in French!! "Toujours à portée de la main! Le mouchoir KLEENEX est toujours..." What the hell?? And it even takes up more space than the English!
Damn, that pisses me off...
May 14, 2006
Colbert
I keep starting a post about Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Dinner, but I’ve got very mixed feelings about the performance.
For instance, when he says:
I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound -- with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.
I think that's a brilliant bit, bundling three major events from three different years of the Bush presidency together into the one theme that really ties them together -- shameless stagecraft -- and then making them seem even more ridiculous by saying "he stands on things".
Then there's this, addressed to the press:
Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!
If there's a funny way of telling the Washington Press Corps that they’re slackers, I don't think this is it. It’s not clever, just snide and bitter. (I'm reminded of Bill Hicks telling his audience how stupid they are until everyone gradually realizes that he's not talking about some other audience, and the laughs taper off and everyone sits there waiting for him to lighten up. Meanwhile, he seems to think that their response has proven his point.)
To be fair to Colbert, check out the Bush/Bush gag that preceded Colbert, which was mostly awful, but received a lot of laughs. So there's no accounting for taste.
But I do wish the lefty blogs weren't so self-pitying about it all, complaining about lack of laughs and reportage. If I were a reporter in the audience, I would have found him sporadically funny, then felt my goodwill drain away during the annoying Helen Thomas video. Then I would have decided to let Colbert's better work speak for itself on his nightly show.
May 14, 2006
Gibson on "Population"
Presented without comment, from Fox News pundit John Gibson.
(But first, please position something soft between your jaw and the floor.)
GIBSON: Now, it's time for "My Word." Do your duty. Make more babies. That's a lesson drawn out of two interesting stories over the last couple of days.
First, a story yesterday that half of the kids in this country under five years old are minorities. By far, the greatest number are Hispanic. You know what that means? Twenty-five years and the majority of the population is Hispanic. Why is that? Well, Hispanics are having more kids than others. Notably, the ones Hispanics call "gabachos" -- white people -- are having fewer.
Now, in this country, European ancestry people, white people, are having kids at the rate that does sustain the population. It grows a bit. That compares to Europe where the birth rate is in the negative zone. They are not having enough babies to sustain their population. Consequently, they are inviting in more and more immigrants every year to take care of things and those immigrants are having way more babies than the native population, hence Eurabia.
Why aren't they having babies? Because babies get in the way of a prosperous and comfortable modern life. Peanut butter fingerprints on the leather seats in the BMW. The Euros are particular -- in particular can't be bothered with kids. Underscore that second point.
A second story, today, reports that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is so concerned about the declining and imploding population of Russia, he is paying couples to have babies. Imagine, procreating for cash in Mother Russia. Putin has taken this step because at the rate things are going, Russia will lose close to 45 million in population in the next 45 years. Russia will be two thirds of today's population.
This is not a good trend for Russia and it won't be here either if that should happen. To put it bluntly, we need more babies. Forget about that zero population growth stuff that my poor generation was misled on. Why is this important? Because civilizations need population to survive. So far, we are doing our part here in America but Hispanics can't carry the whole load. The rest of you, get busy. Make babies, or put another way -- a slogan for our times: "procreation not recreation." That's "My Word."
May 5, 2006
Happy Birth Day
I want to wish a Happy Birthday (literally) to Josephine Stephens!
Josephine is the lucky daughter of Jake & Brandie, from my Friends list, and lucky little sister to beautiful Sophia.
By the way, Jake now and then tells a funny story about work or whatnot, and illustrates it with his "stunned" face. It looks exactly like the above picture of Josephine! Ok, ok, you want proof? Check it out!
For the story as it unfolds, go to Tiny E-ranch.
May 1, 2006
Blogroll change
Atrios gets me through my first cup of coffee every morning, and is my jumping off point for finding several other blogs daily, but lately he's like an old man waking up every half hour to swear at the TV set, with his "Wanker of the Day" stuff, etc. If you're not used to the funhouse mirror effect of hardcore political blogs, with everyone flinching and snarling as issues and enemies flash by in all directions, Atrios is too quick of an education.
A recent discovery, in the "long form" style of blogger, is Glenn Greenwald. Unbelievably prolific, he's written more words since last Saturday than I have since last June. He's thorough and thoughtful, and is a good place to go when you've taken in the short-form blog chatter of the day.
Go take a visit.