Letterman on Girl Names
> Hurricane Ophelia and the one in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina. Maybe if we
didn't name these things with cute girl names people would take them more
seriously.
Eric Scheske
I Just Don't Get It
I don't object to the nudity. I object to the absolute stupidity and vacuity of
it all:
> Almost 1,500 men and women stripped naked in the name of art in the French city
of Lyon.
> They gathered before dawn to join the latest nude photo
March of the Penguins
March of the Penguins has appealed to conservatives, according to the New York
Times this morning. Link
[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/science/13peng.html?pagewanted=1&8hpib].
Excerpt:
> [C]onservative groups have turned its stirring depiction of the mating ordeals
of emperor penguins into an
Debit Cards
I've heard the stories of people using Red Cross debit cards to shop at luxury
stores like Neiman Marcus. Now, WSJ's James Tarano has re-produced an interview
with one of the recipients. I love the man's reference to deserving a debit
card. That
Sixties to Superdome
John McWhorter at Times Online
[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-524-1774271-524,00.html] draws
connections from the 1960s to the Superdome Scandal.
> In 1966, however, a group of white academics in New York developed a plan to
bring as many people onto the welfare
Go Get Yourself . . .
. . . some cheap sunglasses.
Historical miniature on the origin of tough guys with dark glasses:
> This association is of relatively recent origin. Once worn only by the blind,
dark glasses first appeared in the context of dangerous sports such as auto
racing and mountaineering around 1930. A generalized connection with
A More Fitting Tribute
Thomas DiLorenzo at the Lew Rockwell blog has provided a pretty good tribute to
Mencken: a gaggle of great quotes. Sample:
> Politicians "are seldom if ever moved by anything rationally describable as
public spirit; there is actually no more public spirit among them than among so
many burglars
I'm Feeling a Bit Nauseous
> Brokeback Mountain stars Jake Gyllenhaal and an amazing Heath Ledger as cowboys
who discover they are gay while falling in love during a summer of shepherding
and spend the next 20 years wishing they could be together instead of in
loveless marriages.
Link [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/
Happy Birthday, Mencken
Today is the great writer's birthday. I found the tribute at Lew Rockwell
[http://www.lewrockwell.com/taylor/taylor111.html] disappointing, but I've
excerpted the one decent passage in appreciation for bringing this important day
to my attention:
> I read that Mencken [http://www.mencken.
Placating the Implacable
> Advisors appointed by Tony Blair after the London bombings are proposing to
scrap the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day because it is regarded as offensive to
Muslims.
> They want to replace it with a Genocide Day that would recognise the mass murder
of Muslims in Palestine, Chechnya and Bosnia