It's green and it folds

Glenn Reynolds has turned Instapundit over to guest bloggers this week. They're doing a pretty good job. Of course they're not Glenn Reynolds, but that's not necessarily a bad thing (I like nanotech as much as the next guy, but I can live without it for a week or two - but ask me again in 40 years whether I can live without it).

Megan McArdle, who runs Asymmetrical Information under the irony-free pseudonym "Jane Galt," is fond of using the phrase "it's green and it folds," in reference to money. Well, she's used it twice today. I don't know if it's a pathological condition.

In other news: BUSH GIVES "THE FINGER!" That video clip is about 10 years old and pretty amusing. I'd like to see him pull that at the UN sometime...

Also: Lileks today is worth your time:

Imagine FDR running a war with a press composed of cynical snickerers who derided the president as a rich old cripple who thought the best way to defeat Tojo was a war in North Africa and preached defeat every day through the hard slog of the Pacific theater. Imagine running a war with an entertainment industry that declined to make a single movie about the conflict - why, imagine a "Casablanca" where Rick and Sam argue about whether America started it all because they didn’t support the League of Nations.

That is all.

 

¶ 10:15 PM 0 comments

 

Are you lacking convictions, or full of passionate intensity?

When did Belmont Club turn into a poetry blog? Or did I just not notice the poetry before? Whatever the case, Belmont Club is worth checking out regularly...and not just for the poetry.

The Second Coming - W. B. Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?  

¶ 1:40 AM 0 comments

 

An Atlas Shrugged Moment...

In this case, the role of Hank Reardon is being played by a Catholic Bishop, oddly enough...

The Money(tm) Quote:

"I got the impression that he expected me to cave in, profess my guilt and do public penance and I refused," said Henry, who added that the bureaucrat said he was going to write a report to his superior about Henry.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Calgary/Licia_Corbella/2004/10/21/678342.html

Thanks to Polspy: this entry pretty much sums up all the BS that's been happening in Canada over the last month (at least all the BS that's caught the attention of the Canadian Right blogosphere).
 

¶ 2:47 PM 0 comments

 

Greatest...movie...ever

I couldn't quite get a read on what Reg thought of it, but for my part, I thought Team America: World Police may be the finest film ever made. America...f*ck yeah! I noticed that the laughs were uproarious during the parts ridiculing the over-the-top Bruckheimer style rah-rah USA! USA! stuff, but a stunned hush fell over the crowd when Michael Moore and Sean Penn were mocked. Well, this is Canada and St. Michael sits at the right hand of God. I thought the whole thing was funny from beginning to end...as Reg pointed out, "You just never tire of hearing marionettes say 'f*ck'!" No, I don't.

Also speaking of the greatest: How 'bout CBC's Greatest Canadian http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/?

Apparently a local radio host made the list, but CBC has declined to include him. From the Shotgun:

"Update: Hal Anderson of Winnipeg's Power 97 got out the vote and made the list. A CBC talking head sneered that this is an example of the failure of direct democracy. The sneer was right but only because the CBC chose to say no more about Mr. Anderson despite people having voted for him. A failure of democracy indeed. At least Mr. Dressup (an American) made the list."

We should really get my "smoking hole in the ground" plan for the CBC rolling...

There was a lot of good stuff posted over the weekend at the Shotgun...another CBC story about MotherCorp's hypocracy...Nova Scotia's vote to "continue on their path of economic self-destruction." Check it out if you've got a few minutes.
 

¶ 11:18 AM 0 comments

 

Google Desktop

It's pretty cool. Searches local Outlook/Outlook Express emails, text files, visited HTML pages and the typical Word/Powerpoint/Excel trinity. You can turn off whatever you don't want it to index...for example, say for some reason you didn't want your HTML history indexed, you can tell Google to ignore it.

http://www.desktop.google.com/

Thanks: Canadians are Smug.
 

¶ 6:46 PM 0 comments

 

I've got nothing against Chinese folks, but...

...what exactly do you think would normally follow that "but?" If someone were to start off a sentence like that in a conversation with me, I'd instinctively cringe for the derogatory conclusion. You wouldn't finish off with "boy are they making strides in their economy," or "I hope they follow through with their moon-landing plan." No, a more logical ending would be something like "they sure are short," or perhaps "they sure are short, except for Yao Ming."

So when John Kerry says:

"I'll never give a veto to any country over our security. But . . ."

"I believe in being strong and resolute and determined. And I will hunt down and kill the terrorists, wherever they are. But . . ."

"I have nothing but respect for the British, Tony Blair, and for what they've been willing to do. But . . ."

"I couldn't agree more that the Iraqis want to be free and that they could be free. But . . ."

I agree with some of what he's saying, but not all of it...

(Thanks to Best of the Web Today for the fodder)
 

¶ 6:04 PM 0 comments

 

Hiatus

Haven't posted in a few days...9 to be exact. Here's what happened:

Last Wednesday night I started coming down with another cold. What's that? My 10th since Labour Day? Anyway, this was like all the other colds rolled into one, plus a touch of flu-like aches and pains. I wasn't particularly hungry either, but I wasn't nauseaous. Thursday I just lay around the house. Friday, I dragged myself into work to pull Communications' ass out of the fire (again) in the morning and went home at lunch to sleep all afternoon. Saturday I loaded up the family for a trip to the lake - Thanksgiving weekend is shutdown time. I spent Sunday enjoying the weather and getting a start on the shutdown procedure. We went for dinner at the Landing at West Hawk - very nice Thanksgiving spread there (I had a steak sandwich - I'm not much of a turkey fan). Monday, the shutdown began in earnest. I kicked the rest of the family out so I could work in peace and got everything winched, drained and winterized. Tuesday, I didn't feel like blogging. Sorry. Yesterday I felt like blogging but I kept it to email (I'll repost the links here so if you're ever looking for that list of bizarre sex laws, you'll have a quick reference).

Anyway, I'm back for at least a post today. As always, gird your whatevers...
 

¶ 11:08 AM 0 comments

 

Linking, not thinking

It's been kinda quiet here for the last few days. I'm sure that's concerning all 0 of you closely following developments on this blog. Well, the drought has ended...behold:

Paul Wells on the nature of news (more specifically, speculation reported as news).

Fred Reed on the decline of education and the new dark ages. (Thanks to Trudeaupia).

Finally, a review of "Team America: World Police" - the best synthesis of Trey Parker and Matt Stone Southpark zeitgeist with Thunderbirds-style marionettes you'll see this fall. (Thanks to Kate McMillan at the Shotgun).

Maybe I should have broken this up into three posts. You know, pad the stats a little?
 

¶ 11:38 AM 0 comments

 

Death to the CRTC!

This could definitely put the CRTC out of business. Can't happen soon enough!

Via Canadians are Smug and Colby Cosh. 

¶ 10:46 PM 1 comments