Entries from May 2010
Happy Memorial Day
I keep running into things, these past few weeks, which make me feel guilty to be an American. There was that book about Zimbabwe, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun. And, I mean, imagine living in a country like that, where everything disintegrates around you into corruption and violence and death, everywhere. And last night [...]
Categories: War and Peace
Political Correctness and New Age Mumbo Jumbo: How the North Koreans Totally Play Us
National Post – Pressure to bolster North Korean leader makes war inevitable, analyst says
“It’s actually a racist worldview that should be seen on the far right of the ideological spectrum and which is actually completely incompatible with the basic ideas of Marx and Lenin,” said Mr. Meyers [professor of international studies at Dongseo [...]
Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs
Spork and Foon Jokes
Cultural Crisis Unfolding in Oz!
Telegraph – Australians ‘don’t give a XXXX’ as they abandon beer for wine
Beer consumption in Australia has dropped to a 60-year-low as the younger generation abandons the “amber nectar” in favour of wine.
Oh noes!
Categories: Food
On Using “Pimp” As a Verb
I cautioned a guy at work the other day (who’s first language isn’t English (not that you’d notice, it’s so good)) against using “pimp” as a verb, as in “pimp my ride” (except “ride” was something more relevant to where I work). I said it was a bit …negative. I’m feeling very righteous (and relieved) [...]
Categories: Entertainment
And Today, the Metric System
Well, that was fast. Just yesterday I started fominating about ending the French Revolutionary tyranny of measurements, and today I see this:
TLS – Before London went metric A tribute to the city’s lost architectural dignity, and its unregarded lives Lindsay Duguid
The story of Lost London is straightforward: a largely Georgian city with medieval survivals was [...]
Categories: History
Broke AND Stupid
Today’s Steyn:
Macleans – Mark Steyn: We’re too broke to be this stupid Beleaguered taxpayers may finally put a stop to the sheer waste of government spending
Read the whole thing. Best line:
You know how it is when you’re at the mall and someone rattles a collection box under your nose and you’re not sure where [...]
Categories: Politics
Time For Top Hats in Poland
Telegraph – Beavers responsible for Poland’s flooding
Beavers are partly to blame for the devastating floods that have swept Poland killing 15 people because the animals tunnel through vital defences protecting the cities, the interior minister has said.
Hah!
Categories: Science and Nature
Today, the Départements! Tomorrow, the Metric System!
Telegraph – France considers plan to abolish French Revolution département legacy
France’s parliament is considering a plan that could stealthily abolish the country’s historic “départements”, created after the French Revolution to unite the nation and break with the country’s aristocratic past.
Hurrah!
Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs
“Well, You Know What Then, You Don’t Have to Do It”
Governor Christie working the audience again:
Categories: Politics
Oona King Rises Again
Huh:
Telegraph – Oona King launches bid to become Labour’s candidate for London mayor
Oona King, the former Labour MP, has become the first candidate to announce the wish to run against Boris Johnson in the 2012 London mayoral election.
Categories: Politics
May 17th in Norway, Later In the Day
Awwww.
A house around the corner (not a pun) had a big Norwegian Flag in their yard last week. This is The House in the neighborhood that does itself up for all the big holidays, but I’m thinking Norwegian Constitution Day isn’t one of them.
Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs
Today Was Mostly Spent Trying to Read Lost Recaps
…and failing.
I also got into another fight with a little twerp at work. God what an ass he is. More house hunting duties. And my mother’s been visiting.
And lo, my Google Reader gets more and more backed up.
/sigh
Categories: Wildcard
We Flirted With Buying a Project House Today
Built in 1927, it’s been owned for over 50 years by only the second owners ever in its history, named Gertrude and Abel. How cute is that?
It could have been Peter’s Dream House, and I could have been Myrna Loy.
Categories: Wildcard
From a Couple of Years’ Retirement Age in Greece to a Nuked-Up Fourth Reich in a Couple of Sentences
Liberals should like this argument tho. It’s all about interconnectedness:
PJM – VDH: The New Old German Problem
[W]hat will happen with Germany, when it is lectured by the French, insulted by its debtor dependencies in southern Europe, and starting to become angry that only its own work ethic and productivity—not some grandiose platitudes about [...]
Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs
