Completely Crazy

Die for the fatherland!

"I also read three Shakespeares."

Me too. The first one was good, the second one not so good, but man, that third one. Man. Had to clear me some brush I got so worked up.

(Shakespeare in Arabic's a pretty good-looking word, and would make a nice shirt: شكسبیر )

WorldNut

Brown people will rape our women.

Living in Bizarro World

Thoughts on repression from Daniel Larison:

Speaking of impolitic thoughts, a more interesting counterfactual scenario for me would be whether the CSA, had the Confederacy successfully broken away, would have felt obliged someday to intervene to deliver the miserable Yankees from the yoke of consolidation, wage slavery [!!!!!!!] and corporate corruption.

Exclamation points added.

Nostalgia

It's this sort of thing that makes me miss Altmouse so much. Not being one of the cool ones I dunno who was responsible, but Thers catches that starry-eyed amazement that Althouse manifests when confronted with the commonplace. Should I be more jealous of Althouse's blissful wonderment or Thers and his ability to put sentences together?

Sorry for Calling You Nigger

Even the Indians have heard about George Allen.

WASHINGTON,DC: Twenty-year-old University of Virginia engineering student SR Sidarth was video-taping incumbent Republican Senator George Allen’s campaign speech when the politician singled him out of a crowd of over 100 and called him “macaca”, a veiled reference to a Macaque, a type of monkey found in Asia. He has since apologized saying he did not know the meaning of the word “macaca”.

That's a pretty shitty apology, but Allen appears to be a pretty shitty man.

The Return of Melinda Barton

Melinda Barton is using Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins as examples of extremist atheists. Sam Harris had the temerity to assert that there was no God.

While Sam's making a claim he can't really back up, big deal. It's a safe and irrefutable bet.

Nobel Laureate's Books Rendered Bad

Günter Grass was a Nazi. The bad kind. His books are therefore impossible to tolerate, or so goes the current theory.

Ned Lamont, Doomsday Weapon

If I was Pat Buchanan I'd fire Ned Lamont at the Chinese.

Enough Time for a Drink

Comment of the Night

Then debate me, mike hunt!

Sadly, the Teen Was Not Quoted

That's That Taken Care Of

Alternate History

If the West hadn't kept poking its nose in after WWII, the Middle East would be a giant Arab Nazi empire!

It's like The Man in the Lowbrow Castle or something.

Opera

Opera is nifty in comparison to IE6. That's about it though, as Firefox has so many different extensions that a reasonably savvy user can make it better than any one existing package.

Opera might be good to put on your mom's machine.

Wal-Mart Leaves Germany

Another blow to incivility.

Why the failure?

One example of that might be that Wal-Mart's American managers pressured German executives to enforce American-style management practices in the workplace. Employees were forbidden, for instance, from dating colleagues in positions of influence. Workers were also told not to flirt with one another.

A German court ruled last year against the company's attempt to introduce a telephone hotline for employees to inform on their colleagues.

High labor costs may have been a big hurdle for Wal-Mart Germany, as well as workers who tried to resist management's demands which they felt were unjust.

One Wal-Mart employee told the newsmagazine Der Spiegel that management had threatened to close certain stores if staff did not agree to work to working longer hours than their contracts foresaw and did not permit video surveillance of their work.

Wal-Mart Germany has had several run-ins with the trade union ver.di, which represents retail store workers.

It'd be nice to think it was all due to the recognition that they're shitty to their workers, but in fairness the article says they seem to have been the shits at selling stuff there.

We're Wild!

Sad.

Killer Art

'People fell out' as wind took blow-up sculpture
Monday July 24, 2006

Witnesses today described how a giant inflatable sculpture was picked up in a mild wind and collapsed over a park in County Durham, killing two and leaving 13 injured.

Classic Rock Forward

'Imitation IPod' Invades Radio

By Dave Demerjian

In the two years since Jack FM radio made its debut in the United States, the majority of U.S. radio stations programming the "imitation iPod" format have seen healthy, sustained gains in listeners. The format is a rare bright spot for the major radio broadcast chains, which are fast hemorrhaging listeners to real iPods and satellite radio.

Defined by wide-ranging playlists and unusual combinations of songs from different genres and eras, Jack has been likened to an iPod set on shuffle.

Dear god. Has nobody noticed that it's "extended" classic rock? Just a minor era shuffle?

I really miss unrestrained Top 40 radio, in which some stupid metal band could face off against twangy yokels or lounge singers. I suppose college playlists come close to that kind of range, but it's mostly anemic white boys, which I like, but you know...

Anyhoo I suppose I have to post some song list which will prove I'm old and unhip. A random set of highly-rated iTunes:

She Watch Channel Zero ?! - Public Enemy
Everything Is Everything - Lauryn Hill
Names - Cat Power
Cold Ethyl - Alice Cooper
Tea Party - Stephin Merritt
Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
Ain't That A Shame - Fats Domino
Swimming Ground - Meat Puppets
Under the Anheuser Busch - Billy Murray
Goin' Out West - Tom Waits

Nice to Find a Snotty Sentence Here and There

"The civilized world has asked little of Mississippi since William Faulkner's passing, but signs of a pulse in the state legislature would be refreshing."

Alan Contreras, AACRAO's Guide to Bogus Institutions and Documents