"Sexy Java"? I think I need a re-booting: RA:S/L,WM:S/L, lyrics.posted by Kai Carver 12:05 PM
posted by Kai Carver 12:05 PM
Quit misunderestimatin': I get a little tired of trying to talk people into considering that Bush might not be a total idiot. Apparently, if one thing is certain in this uncertain world, it's that George W. Bush is a spoiled rich kid, a quasi-illiterate Texan, and a big oil puppet who can barely read his handlers' cue-cards. Outside America, this fits in with that other too-obvious-to-question belief that Americans themselves are spoiled, illiterate, etc. idiots (who nevertheless mysteriously succeed in ruling the world and micro-managing every evil occurrence within it). Don't get me started on that near-universal pearl of wisdom or its relation to the common belief that Westerners are godless devils who force their women to pose naked in magazines when they're not helping Jews drink babies' blood... Stop!
Anyway, on the narrower subject of W., here's a good review by Andrew Sullivan (an admitted Bush fan for some time) of an intimate account of Bush's presidential campaign by a New York Times reporter ("Panchito"). It might help someone out there leave open the possibility that the guy could be usefully distinguished from a talking cucumber.
Then again, here's some more evidence for the idiot theory. Bush caught himself waving hello at Stevie Wonder at a concert. Austin Powers is one of his favorite movies. He likes to imitate Dr. Evil (another idiot). As (dare I admit it?) an occasional (if not full time) idiot, I have sympathy for this. So it all makes sense! I, as an idiot, think Bush, an idiot idiotically elected by an entire idiot people, isn't so dumb. Quid Error Demonstrandibum!
posted by Kai Carver 6:39 AM
OK. This is one of those scare the heck out of you thingies. Don't click if you have a weak heart. I'm warning you because it still scares me every time I see it.
posted by Kai Carver 5:27 AM
Well, I took the "Matrix" questionnaire, and I turned out to be Neo (how original). But now it looks like it's off-line.
posted by Kai Carver 8:45 AM
Erik's post on quasi-European coinage left me wondering what the coins look like, how they compare with other Euro coins, and what the difference is between San Marino and the Vatican (foolishly I thought they were the same).
In my free time (and prey to a slight fever), I was able to answer these essential questions. My favorite coin designs are from the extremes of Europe: Portugal and Finland. Netherlands did the best job of hiding the obligatory 12 stars, and Greece deserves the chutzpah award for a design which probably won't go over real well in Brittany.
I also made some "interesting" side trips in the weird world of
vexillology in search of nice flag images. Some people love flags. I used to be into them, but some day decided they were just so much pre-globalization kitsch. I nevertheless enjoyed verifying my ignorance with this European flag test. And I was surprised to find that flags, in sufficient quantities and with the proper perspective, could make me laugh uncontrollably ("Do not attempt to disprove the four-colour theorem on your flag!" Start on the A-grade flags and move down from there). Found in MeFi here and here.
posted by Kai Carver 7:24 AM
I often use bookmarklets to get rid of annoying ads.
posted by Kai Carver 5:42 AM
Religious constraints: much to the delight of members of the Oulipo list, religious teachers in Malaysia are attempting to limit the use of the letter "t" due to its resemblance to the Christian cross.
In related news, a Polish archbishop liked to express forbidden love by giving a young man a shirt labeled "ROMA" and asking him to read it backwards. An inversion if not a perversion. Surely there's a limerick lurking here.
posted by Kai Carver 3:18 PM
Scary movie.
posted by Kai Carver 2:24 PM
Télérama découvre à son tour les blogs. L'article n'est pas mal et on y trouve notamment des adresses de blogs tenus par des journalistes de Libé. Est également citée une journaliste free-lance française basée à L.A. qui se trouve être l'épouse d'un des bloggueurs américains les plus en vue dans le petit monde des blogs américains. Elle mentionne sur son blog un autre site, consacré exclusivement à la France mais, comme son nom l'indique, pas exactement francophile.
posted by Kai Carver 6:54 PM
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Roumania.
I like reading John Derbyshire, a cranky conservative critic, for the incidentals: he's a good story-teller, likes poetry, history and China, made me read Dorothy Parker and taught me the word uxorious.
posted by Kai Carver 1:29 PM
Scary words: New Jersey, Wisconsin, Snickers, Mars.
posted by Kai Carver 6:15 AM
Childhood Pet May Be World's Oldest Turtle
posted by Kai Carver 5:36 PM
Puff away, Tracy : Vigo should be safe from asthma. Clean living may be tied to asthma.
And... "another study shows kids with dogs in the house get less asthma".
posted by Kai Carver 4:41 PM
