Link Aggregator

• Fun for the family! Check out Gangadham, the Hindu version of Disneyland!
  
• Just when I thought I had seen everything, Instapundit notes corset piercing.
  
• CQ is worried Canada may be a "failed state".
  
• Apparently the BBC sent some hecklers equipped with microphones in to a Tory meeting. Glad to see the bias of the BBC exposed.
  
• Jacque Chirac has increased the non vote in a TV apearance where he showed he did not get the concerns of young french people.
  (hat tip Spear Shaker)
  
• A good (but long) article about the breakdown of multiculturalism in the Netherlands at the London Times
  
• CQ looks at a speech by judicial nominee Janice Rogers Brown wherein she posits that people of faith face punishment from secularists for their beliefs. I noted in the Times today this speech was getting attacked by Democrats, thus proving her point.
  
• Penguins going through airport security. The arctic bird kind.
  
• An article by Althouse on a Camille Paglia book tour stop in Madison generated a quote, which this fellow turned into an amusing poem:
  
  
  Surviving a Tornado with a Post-Structuralist
  
  "Il n ya pas d hors tornado"
  he said,
  his fingers forming quotation marks
  in sync with "tornado,"
  his black clad back to the window,
  his form refusing to brace itself
  against the chaos
  of defenestrating wind.
  Retreating to the cellar
  I wondered
  on what far field his form would fall
  and whether he would finally find himself
  outside the text.
  

• Mark Steyn has a good commentary on what John Bolton is all about.
  
• Chrenkoff gives three cheers for one of our best allies in Europe: Albania.
  
• Winds of Change has a good article on the new international order after the Iraq war, which basically consists of "oppose the US at your own peril." (via Chrenkoff)
  
• CQ examines a Washington Post interview with SecState Rice where she says the status quo in the Middle East is doomed.
  
• Chrenkoff has an overview of Pope John Paul II, which has a very personal sound, as he is from Poland.
  
• Interesting. I did not know there have been three black popes before (via Belmont Club's look at the Papacy).
  
• If Islamofascism is on the wane in Pakistan, as CQ contends, then will we see Musharraf having room to be more accomodating towards the US?
  
• LGF takes a look at a New York Times look at Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Muslim lady who has received death threats and fatwas against her.
  
• Al Qaeda has a plan to destroy the US by blowing up the Canary Islands, thus creating a tsunami. Idiots. (via lgf).
  
• LGF reports on depressed French winemakers bombing government offices while CQ looks at a Christian Science Monitor article about how France may kill off the EU, or at least the proposed EU constitution, because:
  
  
  "Once, Europe was France writ large in the French imagination, and it was a comfortable idea," he adds. "Now the French don't think Europe looks like France at all."
  
  
• Martin Peretz at the lefty New Republic writes prose heretical on the Left (via cq):
  
  
  If George W. Bush were to discover a cure for cancer, his critics would denounce him for having done it unilaterally, without adequate consultation, with a crude disregard for the sensibilities of others. He pursued his goal obstinately, they would say, without filtering his thoughts through the medical research establishment. And he didn't share his research with competing labs and thus caused resentment among other scientists who didn't have the resources or the bold--perhaps even somewhat reckless--instincts to pursue the task as he did. And he completely ignored the World Health Organization, showing his contempt for international institutions. Anyway, a cure for cancer is all fine and nice, but what about AIDS? ... Most American liberals, alas, enjoy no similar gladness. They are not exactly pleased by the positive results of Bush's campaign in the Middle East. They deny and resent and begrudge and snipe. They are trapped in the politics of churlishness.
  
  

• So now selling girl scout cookies is illegal...
  
• and IKEA is in trouble, being accused of gender bias for showing only male figures in their assembly instructions, which they did so as not to offend Muslims (via Malkin).
  
• I am surprised that it didn't become a case of canine profiling, but one of their witnesses is a small dog, which they didn't pick up on until he got to court.
  
• And the Easter Bunny is in trouble too, a victim of political correctness (again, Malkin).
  
• Also, a historic cross is being torn down in San Diego because it offended an atheist (Malkin).
  

• By it's own admission, a graphical representation of the dream of modern muslims. Check out the inset in the lower right.
  
• The LA Times gets taken in by a North Korean agent (hat tip: lgf).
  
• New Sisyphus has a good article noting the arguments pro and con for American exceptionalism in law, which is a hot topic because of the Roper v. Simmons decision by the Supreme Court.
  
• Althouse reports that a lot of Wisconsin kids are opting for a virtual high school. Heck of an argument for school choice.
  
• Cool Site: Watching America, which collects news about America from foreign news services.
  
• Some idiots want to "de-gender rest rooms. Great idea, having men expose themselves around women, all the time.
  
• Cinemocracy explains why the guy who won Best Original Song at the Oscars sung his song when he accepted the award: Oscars offend the entire nation of Uruguay.
  

• A guy looks for Bigfoot in Dinwiddie County, VA. Those of us who know Dinwiddie know that the population there looks like it has a lot of paternity from Big... ok, must stop hyperventilating ... they aren't all half-Sasquatch there, it was just a speeding ticket ... must let go ... er, anyway.
  
• A holy wishing-tree in China is either really tired or is indicating China is going to have a baaaad year.
  
• When Gorillas can talk, can they also get sued for sexual harassment? (source: Althouse)
  
• Althouse has a good article on the value of languages dying out. Fascinating.
  
• New Sisyphus has a good round up of the President's speech in Brussels here. It's a long read, but worth it for those interested in a broad overview of international affairs as they are right now.
  

• From this month's mental_floss:
  • In honor of the Simpsons, when Albuquerque got a professional baseball team, they named them the Isotopes
    
  • I found an ad for Book Crossing, and it looks like a neat idea.
    
  • For $205 (or $325 for a family) you can be flown to the hospital of your choice if you're more than 150 miles from home when you need the hospital. Interesting.
    
• Are they really looking into taking drivers by the mile? The NTU also has article.
  
• Randomness about a McDonalds bathroom.
  
• A strange story about a seemingly-unhinged Texas man who wanted to fly to Syria to claim the bounty on Osama bin Laden (hat tip: Malkin).
  
• I'd love to try some of the recipes over at Carnival of the Recipes.
  
• Cool Texas bridge.
  
• The NTU also has a request for jokes on the comissioning of the attack sub Jimmy Carter.
  

• I can't believe this exists, but while reading Mental Floss magazine, I saw an advertisement for Imaginary Girlfriends. Makes me wonder about some people I know...
  
• Lawyers acting for J K Rowling are heading for a legal battle with the US army over a training manual that features characters similar to those in the Harry Potter books and films.
  
• A man found, and returned, $850,000. Wow. Hat tip: Malkin.
  
• A history of the word "shit" in Supreme Couty jurisprudence from Volokh.
  
• What is the world coming to? A nine-months' pregnant woman
  fought off and killed a knife-wielding woman who may have been trying to steal the baby (hat tip Malkin).
  
• The 25 Most Inappropriate Things An Objectivist Can Say During Sex.
  
• Want to $200 on a hair curler? Now, curl your hair with the power of Tourmaline! People will buy anything.
  
• Volokh talks about libel insurance as a function of homeowner's insurance for bloggers.
  
• Daily Demarche has a survey of anti americanism. It's an interesting read.
  
• It's pretty funny reading the random Law and Order plot generator.
  
• I hope John has a pre-nup.
  
• Check out this interesting article, which discusses Churchill's role in psyching Britain back from the brink in 1940-41 the she stood alone.
  
• Analysis of the Iraqi election results, with a cool map.
  

• I highly reccomend Bug me Not to everyone who needs to read news on registration-required sites.
  
• Check out this Instapundit article on Xbox and the military.
  
• Check out these weird Google ads in the Jerusalem Post's online site.
  
• Some jackass sold their cereal, and a bigger jackass bought it (hat tip: Commonwealth Conservative).
  
• And we thought Philadelphia's fans are crazy... (hat tip: Shaking Spears)
  
• The guy who shot the Pope sends his best to his victim, so that the Pope can play his appointed role in the End Times. Weird. (hat tip: Chrenkoff)
  
• Australia loves Desparate Housewives, and Chrenkoff talks about it.
  
• Ralph Kinney Bennett has an article looking at the interesting history of car naming in TCS.
  
• The Raelians have made the professor that called victims of 9/11 "little Eichmanns" an honorary priest (hat tip: LGF).
  
• A further article about about Kiefer Sullivan warning us not to hate Muslims in the middle of "24" (hat tip: LGF).
  

• A women's magazine for suicide bombers (hat tip: lgf).
  
• A good article about the connections between Martin Luther King, Denise McNair, Condoleeza Rice, and the city of Birmingham, Alabama (hat tip: instapundit).
  
• A good article sussing out what Zarqawi's chances are now (instapundit again).
  
• A good article about tsunami has changed international politics.
  
• The French are depressed (another kudo: lgf).
  
• A liberal writer, for the liberal New Republic, was assigned to cover a meeting of Socialists. And it got so bad he started thinking like Newt Gingrich! (lgf)
  
• Bill Moyers is a total nutjob. I guess I stopped paying attention to him a long time ago.
  
• Ted Turner is making a jackass out of himself again. Poor Ted. Good comeback by Fox, though.
  
• University of Iowa is showing palestinian propoganda.
  

In random stuff

• My new officemate wants to get one of these for the office. Heather had a better idea - get one for the nursery to keep the cats out!
  
• On the Drew Carey show, the main character was running a beer company out of his home, Buzz Beer. Looks like someone finally stole the idea .
  
• Nazis on road cleanup sponsorship in Oregon. Gives me the willies.
  
• Man pees way out of avalanche. Ew.
  
• A court decision that is actually a fun read. A decision by the Ohio Court of Appeals that reviews the continuing effects of the Norman invasion in Ohio.
  
• German government is forcing women into prostitution. Moral bankrupcy is so terrible to see.
  
• The people at Google are more geeky than I had imagined.
  
• Massive pile of crap burns.
  
• Another interesting opinion on the gender-differences-in-math-and-science debate at SISU.

• MY DAUGHTER WILL NEVER WEAR ANY OF THESE THINGS!!! Nor will she be allowed to read the pot is OK for kids book.
  
• Monkeys pay to see monkey porn (hat tip: Instapundit).
  
• Some fun math problems.
  
• I recall Denis Leary's monologue about how many ways there are to die in New York City, as I read this account of accidentally electrified sidewalks in New York.
  
• I have often wondered about the apparent cognitive dissonance about newspapers offering a free version on the web that essentially replaces the print version they subsist off of. There's a good set of reflections on this topic on Boing Boing.
  
• I have always enjoyed the idea of alternate histories, and here's a hum-dinger: King Henry VII liked Columbus's exploration idea, but his note to Columbus was intercepted by pirates. (hat tip: Brad Delong).
  

• Most Appalling Item of the day: The French are living it up as they deploy to he tsunami-ridden area.
  
• The reason I read Michelle Malkin: an exclusive on a person who died on September 11 just got his green card from DHS.
  
• Shohreh Aghdashloo, the actress who plays the terrorist wife on this season of 24 speaks the un-PC truth: "Although not all Muslims are terrorists, unfortunately, in today's world, most of the terrorists are Muslim". Another Malkin item.
  
• Arabs are mesmerized by the Iraqi election.
  
• The administration is pushing to replace the Civil Service general Schedule at DHS, with the rest of the government to follow.
  
• An interesting article on the social security reform debate (hat tip: NTU).
  
• Political correctness on college campuses, a read reccomended by Todd Zywicki over at Volokh.
  

• Tomorrow is the worst day of the year, mathematically proven by a Welshman.
  
• Costco is selling Picassos now.
  
• Remember that comic book guide to immigrants? The Mexican government is reprinting it, despite complaints from the US. Further commentary here.
  
• "Conservatives in the Mist" - a WaPo adventure on Mars, that part of the US that voted for Bush. (hat tip: RedState, and Jonah Goldberg for the phrase)
  
• People are talking about this guy as a conservative answer to Michael Moore. Michael Moore had just the right reaction to the guy, which I have to respect. I hate what he has done to political discourse, but he didn't create the soul of the Democratic Party, just gave it voice. Quoth Mr. Moore:
  
  
  He calmly told Mr. Maloney that documentary filmmaking "should be open to all people of all political persuasions." "It should not just be people who are liberal, or left-of-center, or whatever," the Oscar-winner said. "Make your movies, and then the people will respond or not respond to them."
  
  
• No, the Volkswagen suicide boomber ad is not real. (Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin)
  
• I wonder, given how widespread use of this hand-sign is in heavy metal, why Norway is being singled out as having misinterpreted the President's U of Texas hand-sign?
  

• Bill Gates posing for teen beat photos... the pictures are real!
  
• Also from Microsoft, watch out when using MapPoint to get places in Norway
  
• Paul Graham, dot-com millionaire, wrote down things he wishes people had told him when he was in High School.
  
• Cringley writes on the real plan behind the Mac Mini
  
• BusinessWeek has an article on Linux and it's evolution.
  
• A guy lost 18 years of work when someone forgot to turn an experiment on on the Huygens space probe.
  
• How do we escape the end of our own universe?
  
• Some guy has isolated the seven things he believes cause humans to die of old age, and thinks that they are all solvable.
  
• Google, MSN, and Yahoo have teamed up to prevent comment spam, thich is where spammers go to sites where people can add content (like article comments on this one) and insert ads, to drive up where they land on search results.
  
• The music business has abdicated choosing artists to a computer program.
  

• Here is the President's inaugural speech, and here are some random items from yesterday: a witty sign and a fed-up blogger (hat tip: Stranded on Blue Islands, whose real-time blog of the inauguration is a good read.)
  
• A discussion over on Brad Delong's weblog brought links to a review of The Lord of The Rings that has some intersting criticism, as well as David Brin's take.
  
• A survey of right-wing bloggers reviews potential Republican presidential candidates for '08.
  
• Carnivore is dead.
  
• Some jack is suing his school district over summer homework.
  
• An interesting review of Will & Grace, a show I have watched before. Money quote:
  
  
  Will & Grace has gone from being the story of two best friends to the story of two people so appallingly self-involved that nobody else would want to know them.
  
  
• I was reading the text of an interesting speech, when I saw this line, which struck me as particularly true, and worth remembering:
  
  
  Presidential electors are about the only officials known to man who have not magnified their offices and reached for more power than the law gives them. They should be preserved if only for this example of self-denial.
  
  
• An article from a military person on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, worth a read.
  
• Warning: do not click on if squeamish! Ouch!
  
• This precis on the Austrian theory of business cycles in case you worry about the same things this guy does.

• Commonwealth Conservative reviews an article in the Washington Post arguing that Virginia has taxed it's residents too much. Coming from the source, it's nothing short of amazing.
  
• France is humiliated on the TV channel France-2 by the inadequacy of their response to the Boxing Day Tsunami compared to the USA.
  
• Carnival of the Commies is up, sampling the liberal side of the blogosphere so conservatives don't have to.
  
• The contradictions of criticism on the Iraq war and reconstruction are considered.
  
• Michelle Malkin reviews a talk by Harvard Dean Larry Summers, where he talk about how innate differences between men and women play into how many women are in academics.
  
• A pointer to an essay and a follow-up by Norman Podhoretz that I hope to have time to read sometime soon.
  

• Apple's DRM is bring fought in the trenches, predictably.
  
• Astronomers spot a solar system in formation.
  
• And a Gizmodo roundup...
  
  
  • Hello Kitty Ferrari
    
  • Personal Sand Crawler
    
  • Aboveground bunker
    
  • Coming soon: in-dash Mac Mini
    
  • USB-powered nail buffer
    
  • Sewing machines: Bernina Artista 200E, and Brother Innov-is 4000d
    
  • Truvia Luxury Computers
    
  • James Bond's Celica
    

• A good post on Blockbuster's claim to the end of late fees
  
• Bloggers blur journalistic privelige
  
• Word of the Year 2004 voting from the Linguistic Society of America (and a good linguistics blog
  
• History Carnival, a roundup of history links
  
• An interview with a guy behind the scenes in Hollywood
  
• Oxford University is torturing people and showing them the Virgin Mary to investigate brain chemistry. "Researchers believe the study may improve understanding of faith, how robust it is and how easily it can be dislodged." Is anyone else worried about scientists methodically researching how easily faith can be dislodged?
  
• Amateur analysis of images from the Huygens mission to Titan far exceeds the government agency that is mastering the processing.
  
• A disturbing story about foiled plots involving box-cutters. How could they not have caught these guys?
  

• A Norfolk delegate to the Virginia House of Delegates has proposed a bill to make wearing visible undrewear punishable by a $50 fine. (Thanks to Commonwealth Conservative)
  
• The March of Dimes helps prevent birth defects by advocating abortion? Blogicus reports, you decide.
  
• Jeff Bezos of Amazon wants to build a spaceport in southwest Texas, as reported by Andrew Cohill.
  
• Best comment on