The Children of Hurin came out today. It was “reconstructed” by Christopher Tolkien from his fathers notes and writings. I loved the LOTR, thought The Hobbit was a childrens book, and got through about 5 pages of the Silmarillion before having to put it down. Hurin is supposed to be readable like [...]
Instapundit is enjoying shaving with a brush and good cream.
I switched over to shaving with a brush about 10 years ago, and in the last 2 have been using a safety razor. Being a cheap bastard, I just wanted to point out that one does not have to spend $72 plus shipping to get a [...]
Good article about over-protecting children. One section that amused me:
I had to laugh when an Australian study recently found that playground injuries continue to rise despite safety improvements. One of the suspected reasons: the safe new play structures are so boring that kids are taking more risks in order to have fun.
I went to [...]
The Air Force got to shoot an AP reporter with it’s “pain gun.”
Defense department spokesman announces “In the interest of developing strong relationships with the media, we will continue with daily press demonstrations of the pain gun.” Just kidding.
On March 29, 1949 flogging was abolished as a form of punishment in the Royal Navy.
Hundreds of English public school lads started looking for other careers.
We are paying a non-resident alien for services at my company. The general rule is that you must withhold 30% to make sure the IRS gets their share. However, the 30% withholding can be overruled by tax treaty, which was the case in this instance. Luckily we caught it in time, because [...]
I decided I wanted a desktop PC to backup my laptop. It was delivered yesterday- HP Pavillion s7600n refurb. from Tiger Direct. AMD 64, 512mb, 200gb HD, wireless lan, etc, etc. Cost: $379. My main criteria for selection- no Windows Vista. Sorry MicroSoft.
$30 to upgrade the memory to 1gb.
Just got back from a business trip to Germany where I also managed to add a few days skiing in Switzerland. I’ll be posting random pics over the next week as I feel like it.
I was driving to my niece’s 5th birthday party Saturday, and drove into a rotary where about 5 people were “protesting.” They were carrying “Impeach Bush” and similar signs, and were exuding the righteous indignation that one only sees in people protesting in an area where no one disagrees with them. This is [...]
Trailers, Cheap.
I keep thinking of the donut scene in Full Metal Jacket -
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Open your mouth!
[shoves jelly doughnut into GOMER PYLE's mouth]
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: They’re payin’ for it; YOU eat it!
If there is one thing that I am sick of it’s the pathetic mobile phone fanboys who want the latest and greatest cell phones for $.01, but then bitch, moan and whine about how they are stuck in a contract for 2 years. Thank god for the assholes at Consumerist, who seem to write [...]
On this day in 1862, the CSS Virginia sailed out of Norfolk, VA and sank the two Union frigates USS Cumberland and Congress. It marked the beginning of the end for wood hulled warships. The next day the Virginia and the USS Monitor fought to a draw in the first iron vs. iron armored sea [...]
Today in 1946 the UN General Assembly met for the first time in London. It is also the anniversary of the founding of the League of Nations. Will they never learn?
On the plus side, its also the anniversary of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.
Some Common Sense money quotes:
Some writers have so confounded society with [...]
The new Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston will welcome visitors with a mural of a woman breaking wind:
The Divine Gas, Aoshima’s work for the ICA, depicts a giant girl lying in a lush landscape. The setting seems idyllic and serene-butterflies flutter, a deer nestles near her foot, a couple frolics hand-in-hand. Meanwhile, a [...]
The Sec. Ed. is an idiot. Blah blah blah- tell me something I don’t know. On to the good stuff:
Bonus fun fact for all the Spinal Tap fans out there: yes, there was a category devoted to Stonehenge; yes, the answer to the $1,000 question was “the Druids”; and yes, Michael McKean was [...]
I signed up for the online list for my hometown when I was living abroad . It got old fast.
The town used to be filled with Irish and Italians (and a few Greeks), a nice mix of blue and white collar. It has since been invaded and captured by socialist (pseudo)intellectual failures who can’t afford [...]
I was over a friend’s house this weekend. We were shootin’ the shit watching TV, catching up on various events that had happened since we last got together. I wanted to watch the Ultimate Fighter 4 final - I had been watching the series, and was looking forward to the final. [...]
WARNING - I have been a bit under the weather for the last three days, and am more crabby than usual.
I was driving to work this morning and was almost driven off the road by one of those giant vans with the fiberglass roofs to give people in wheelchairs headroom. After muttering a few [...]