Created Things

War on Christmas vs. the war on H1N1

2009-12-16T13:45:00.002-05:00

Taunton, Massachusetts's town website announces that, in order to combat hospital infections, children under the age of 18 aren't allowed to visit people at Morton Hospital anymore. No exceptions, "including siblings and children of patients."

So if your mom is dying and you want to see her one last time before Christmas then tough luck, kid. And if that bothers you, leave. Taunton is no place for cry-babies.

War on Christmas gets nastier

2009-12-16T11:23:00.000-05:00

In Taunton Massachusetts, some second-grade children were drawing holiday pictures. One little boy drew a picture of Jesus on the cross. His father says that this was probably the picture:

It seems that his principal asked "why did you use x's for his eyes?" The little boy replied "because he's dead." So naturally the principal consulted with the school psychiatrist and refused to let the 8-year old return to school unless his family got a letter from a psychiatrist certifying that he wasn't a threat to the school.

The rest of the story is predictable. The kid's dad was angry, the school superintendent wrote a smarmy response, and the traumatized kid was transfered to a new school (which is probably traumatic in itself for most 8-year-olds.)

Want to fight back for this little boy? Tell someone "Merry Christmas" today, and mean it.

War on Christmas gets weirder

2009-12-16T10:48:00.003-05:00

The War on Christmas is getting weirder: the Obama White House has moved the White House creche to a less prominent spot, to try to make Christmas "more inclusive".

Actually, according to the New York Times they were going to get rid of the creche altogether, but then decided that that was too provocative, and then finally changed their mind again and moved it into a dark corner. I would be remiss if I failed to point out that this is a repeat in miniature of the President's Afghanistan policies over the last year. Let's hope that bin Laden is less competent at defending himself than the baby Jesus.

Quote of the day

2009-12-15T15:40:00.001-05:00

All around me people cough. I particularly object to bronchitis as a substitute for incidental music.

- Alexander Wolcott, Mr. W's Little Game

Quote of the day

2009-12-11T14:07:00.000-05:00

Before nominating her for U.S. Attorney General for Montana, Senator Max Baucus gave the staffer he was bonking a $14,000 raise and took her along with him on a taxpayer-paid junket to Asia. At least Tiger Woods pays his prostitutes from his own pocket.

- Christopher Fountain, For What It's Worth

Help wanted in Santa Cruz

2009-12-02T22:49:00.001-05:00

A job ad: (via Minding the Campus)

The University Library of the University of California, Santa Cruz, seeks an enterprising, creative, and service-oriented archivist to join the staff of Special Collections & Archives (SC&A) as Archivist for the Grateful Dead Archive. This is a potential career status position. The Archivist will be part of a dynamic, collegial, and highly motivated department dedicated to building, preserving, promoting, and providing maximum access both physically and virtually to one of the Library's most exciting and unique collections, The Grateful Dead Archive. Appointment Range: Associate Librarian III - Librarian I, with an approximate salary range of $52,860 - $68,892, commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Things to be afraid of (3)

2009-11-30T10:15:00.002-05:00

Your government is out to help you.

When a small church comes to the Bowery Mission bearing fried chicken with trans fat, unwittingly breaking the law, they’re told “thank you.” Then workers quietly chuck the food, mission director Tom Bastile said.
“It’s always hard for us to do,” Basile said. “We know we have to do it.”
(from Metro International.)

Things to be afraid of (2)

2009-11-30T10:08:00.003-05:00

Things to be afraid of

2009-11-27T13:29:00.000-05:00

Miss Arab World 2009.

God bless Russia

2009-11-19T13:19:00.002-05:00

According to Interfax (via Religion Clause), the Russian Communist party wants to change the Russian national anthem. Its second verse refers to Russia as "Our native land kept safe by God" (Хранимая Богом родная земля.)

The communists want to change this to "Our native land kept safe by ourselves". Of course, when the communists ruled Russia their unspoken motto was "Everything in this land belongs to us".

God bless America

2009-11-15T00:33:00.002-05:00

According to the Kansas City Star, a 21-year old Milwaukee college student was walking home

when he was pulled into an alley and told to lay face down with a gun to his neck. Four men took his wallet, $16, keys and his cell phone.
But the reservist said that when one of the men saw an Army ID in the wallet, he told the others to return the items. He also apologized and thanked the reservist for serving.
The reservist said one robber gave him a quick fist bump before walking away.
The victim asked not to be identified because the robbers still have his keys.

Fort Hood shooter attended mosque with 9/11 hijackers

2009-11-08T15:45:00.002-05:00

Nidal Hasan, the Army major who murdered at least 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, attended mosque with three of the 9/11 hijackers.

Some people, who clearly have never served in the military, are asking why Major Hasan was allowed to be in the Army. (The government even paid for his medical school.) After all, he openly proclaimed his sympathy for other Islamic terrorists and he was even disciplined for trying to convert his patients to Islam. These are probably the same people who think that Heller's Catch-22 was an over-the-wall satire instead of a piercing social commentary.

But Michelle Malkin asks the next obvious question: "Why is it that we have to read British papers to get the unvarnished truths about the Ft. Hood Muslim mass murderer?"

There'll always be an England

2009-11-08T15:41:00.002-05:00

The reigning Miss England, Rachel Christie, has been de-crowned. (I almost typed "de-missed", but stopped myself just in time.) It seems that she had gotten into a bar fight and punched Miss Manchester in the face several times.

"Parents not politicians" storms Norwalk Board of Ed

2009-11-04T11:11:00.003-05:00

~~Bwaha-ha-ha-ha fools now you have to serve on the Board of Education~~ My congratulations to Steve Colarossi, Artie Kassimis, Erin McNeil Halsey and Sue Haynie for their heroic election to the Norwalk Board of Education. Yeah, team!

Quote of the day

2009-11-02T11:18:00.002-05:00

If a beginning graduate student sought my advice about, say, studying Africa I would first ask about his or her politics. If they were even slightly "conservative," I'd suggest switching fields, perhaps taking up mathematical modeling since PC faculty hate that stuff and can't read it anyhow.

- Robert Weissberg, "Rescuing the University"

First they came for Rupert Murdoch ...

2009-11-01T08:26:00.003-05:00

... and then they came for edmunds.com. (Note to President Obama: we like you. You're our chief executive. "Dignity of the office" isn't just a campaign catchphrase. It's a noble goal to live for when you hold a public trust.)

Halloween creepiness

2009-10-31T11:51:00.004-04:00

Here's the official word from the Democratic Party about what sort of place they want America to be:

One of the 20 finalists in health care video contest run by Barack Obama’s campaign arm features a mural of an America flag splattered with health care graffiti until it’s covered completely by black paint.

In the video – which is accompanied by the sound of a heart monitor pumping and then flat-lining – words such as “pre-existing conditions,” “homeless” and “death panel” ultimately obliterate the flag, which reappears on screen seconds later with the words “Health Will Bring Our Country Back to Life” on the blue field where the 50 stars usually are.

The finalists were chosen by a panel of Democratic National Committee “employee judges.”

It's not surprising that some of the Democratic filmmakers who lost out to this hymn of hate don't think choosing it was a good idea.

“They should never pick that,” said the contestant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “It makes the Democrats look really, really bad.”

Gee, doesn't the fact that a committed Democratic activist only feels comfortable dissenting under condition of anonymity show the Democrats in an even worse light?

On the scale of totalitarian creepiness, I find this video scarier than this one, but not nearly as creepy as this one. Happy Halloween!

Love laughs at locksmiths

2009-10-21T06:28:00.002-04:00

From The Hill, via Volokh:

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) locked Republicans out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee room to keep them from meeting when Democrats aren’t present.

Towns’ action came after repeated public ridicule from the leading Republican on the committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), over Towns’s failure to launch an investigation into Countrywide Mortgage’s reported sweetheart deals to VIPs.

For months Towns has refused Republican requests to subpoena records in the case. Last Thursday Committee Republicans, led by Issa, were poised to force an open vote on the subpoenas at a Committee mark-up meeting. The mark-up was abruptly canceled. Only Republicans showed up while Democrats chairs remained empty.

The Democrats kept those pesky Republicans from holding hearings by the simple expedient of locking the committee room's door. My favorite quote from the story:

Towns’s office said in a statement the locks were changed on Republicans "because they don't know how to behave."

I'd like to use this as an example of the Democratic party turning our country into a kleptocracy, but really this illustrates something even worse: there are too many lawyers in Congress. If only one of the committee members was a locksmith instead of a lawyer, we'd be halfway to investigating Countrywide's lending practices by now!

Henry Kissinger and Yassar Arafat, eat your hearts out

2009-10-09T21:18:00.002-04:00

The president is to be awarded the Nobel prize. Details are here.

Oops, I meant to say that the details are here. I can't imagine what I was thinking.

Salvador Polanksi

2009-09-29T12:32:00.002-04:00

Writing about the reaction to Roman Polanksi's extradition, Jim Lindgren quotes George Orwell's discussion of Salvador Dali's autobiography. I hope I'll have time to read Orwell's essay tonight.

James Thurber wrote a wonderful autobiographical review of Dali's autobiography. It had the memorable line:

Let me be the first to admit that the naked truth about me is to the naked truth about Salvador Dali as an old ukulele in the attic is to a piano in a tree, and I mean a piano with breasts.

I read that line in a paperback collection hidden behind a textbook during French class in the seventh grade. The teacher was very annoyed at my giggling.

Today is the 400th anniversary of Gallileo's telescope

2009-08-25T10:17:00.002-04:00

Sonnet -- To Science

by Edgar Allan Poe

Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
  Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart,
  Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise?
  Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in the jeweled skies,
  Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?
  And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
  Has thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?

A very Colorado story

2009-08-22T06:18:00.004-04:00

According to the Colorado Daily, Justin Chentnik

a sous chef at a retirement home, says he was completely naked in bed about 4 a.m. Friday when Skip, the mini goldendoodle he was watching for friends, started barking up a storm. His friend and roommate, Laura Nelson, swore someone was in the house, but he told her to go back to bed.

Miss Nelson, who I think we can safely say is a force to be reckoned with, threw a glass of water in Justin's face and told him to go out and investigate the noise. Justin, still naked, went outside and saw someone attempting to steal Miss Nelson's car. Justin seemed to be less afraid of tackling a car thief in the buff than reporting failure to his roommate: he jumped into the passenger side of the moving car and wrestled the thief to the ground.

In the struggle, the thief hit Justin with a bottle of Louis Jadot Pinot Noir that he happened to be holding, but Justin managed to subdue him in the end. (I should pause and note that the thief, confronted by a naked man jumping into a moving car and wrestling him to the ground, had the presence of mind to grab a bottle of cheap wine as he was being dragged from the car. Could a fondness for alcohol explain why he took up a life of crime?)

The police arrived to find Justin still straddling the car thief's chest. Skip, the mini snickerdoodle, brought Justin his underwear so that the police didn't have to get a statement from a naked witness. The Daily's reporter, regretably, didn't follow up on this angle of the story. Is Skip trained to fetch Justin's underwear? Is this a common chore in their household? For that matter, why didn't Laura Nelson bring Justin's underwear out? It seems that, having given the dog Skip some underwear and instructing Skip to bring it to Justin, she had full confidence that her instructions would be carried out and saw no need to go herself. I suppose this gives us yet another brief insight into her masterful and enigmatic personality.

Quote of the day

2009-08-22T06:15:00.000-04:00

The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

- Tom Waits

Photography

2009-08-01T06:39:00.001-04:00

Ellen van Deelen has too much time on her hands.

To the moon

2009-07-31T08:31:00.003-04:00

A real gee-whiz moment: the Virtual AGC and AGS project has put the source code for the Apollo 11 lander and orbiter computers online, together with an emulator for running them. (The comments on Lambda the Ultimate are more interesting than the source code itself.)

Now, about that planet Mars ...