ninme

As I understand it, the Book of Esther is one of only two books in the Hebrew Bible that does not mention God. It is the straightforward story of how Jews were threatened with genocide but were able to turn the tables and kill those who would kill them.

via Powerline. Happy Purim!

I read [...]

Categories: History

This is amazing:

How to print a book, with type setters, wax, copper plates, lots of blades and glue and people. Also, why don’t they seem to make videos like this anymore? I love any car ad that shows the robots on the factory floor. Why not make videos showing how cars are made, or [...]

Categories: Art and Literature

I’ve never thought of it this way:

NY Daily News – Palin vs. Edwards, a case study in media bias

When in 2004 John Kerry picked Edwards, whose entire resume in public life at that point consisted of six years in the U.S. Senate, to be his vice-presidential nominee, few questioned whether Edwards was qualified [...]

Categories: Politics

Telegraph – Woman used rare poison in curry to kill ex-lover A woman found guilty of murdering her ex-lover used a rare poison which has not featured in a British court case since 1882.

Lakhvir Kaur Singh slipped aconite into Lakhvinder Cheema’s curry in January last year in revenge for his engagement to a younger [...]

Categories: People and Current Events

Slate – A Nation of Racist Dwarfs Kim Jong-il’s regime is even weirder and more despicable than you thought. By Christopher Hitchens

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Here’s a book I, or one of you who then report back to us on your findings, need to read: The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children’s Future – And Why They Should Give it Back

From here:

The Guardian – The Tory frontbencher deserves to be cherished as a rare politician who injects rigour [...]

Categories: History

Citizens United (Hillary: the Movie) v. Federal Election Commission

I liked this video. I liked this Supreme Court ruling because it’s made my liberal acquaintances heads explode about eeeevil corporations. Apparently the thought is that if you can’t be thrown in jail, you shouldn’t be able to donate money to political parties. No word on whether [...]

Categories: Politics

I have about a hundred things in Google Reader set aside for myself to get to here but I can’t be bothered with any of it. The big worry I have is “What will my first post be of the year?” Well this just rolled by, “Charts galore”:

BBC – Entertainment review of the decade

Cinema! Music! [...]

Categories: Entertainment

Honestly, I despair sometimes:

Telegraph Blogs – Ceri Radford: Cambridge dons resist commercialisation

Could Cambridge University Library henceforth be known as Cambridge Tesco University Library? This is the concern of worried dons, who have apparently reacted angrily to proposals that the library should accept sponsorship and even flog its name to the highest bidder.

I hear [...]

Categories: Art and Literature

I have an Amazon order whizzing its way towards me at the speed of UPS Ground! (I’m going to do little ads to do this cuz it’s easier than text links with all the cuttin’ and pastin’):

For the baby! Someday I’ll do a page of all the books we’ve bought her. She has some [...]

Categories: Art and Literature

<img src=”http://www.ninme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/natrustcookbook.jpg” alt=”Complete Traditional Recipe Book” title=”Complete Traditional Recipe Book” width=”177″ height=”230″ size-full wp-image-11706″ align=”left” style=”margin-right:10px” />This will be mine.

This sumptuous collection of over 300 of the best traditional British recipes from the National Trust provides the tastiest food that has stood the test of time. Choose from favourites such as Bread and [...]

Categories: Food

Time magazine, in a 1966 obituary, summarised his oeuvre by claiming that Waugh had “developed a wickedly hilarious yet fundamentally religious assault on a century that, in his opinion, had ripped up the nourishing taproot of tradition and let wither all the dear things of the world.”[5]

From the Wikipedia article on Evelyn Waugh. [...]

Categories: Art and Literature

io9 – Did Ralph Nader Write The Weirdest Science Fiction Story Of The Year?

The story begins in 2005, not long after Hurricane Katrina. A secret gathering is convened by Buffett at a Maui mountain retreat, where 17 very wealthy people agree to take back the country they think has [...]

Categories: Art and Literature

Telegraph – The Lost Symbol and The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown’s 20 worst sentences<br/> The Lost Symbol, the latest novel by The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown, has gone on sale. We pick 20 of the clumsiest phrases from it and from his earlier works.

I think this is the best one:

17. [...]

Categories: Art and Literature

Apropos of absolutely nothing at all, this just amused me, from Giles Coren, currently in France, in The Times, third item:

There’s a bit of an unseemly pool-bagging system here, which you wouldn’t have expected at such a pukka joint, whereby these idle millionaires go scuttling to the pool on their way to breakfast, [...]

Categories: Art and Literature