bag end it ain’t

It had to happen eventually… the world’s first “Hobbit motel”:http://www.woodlynpark.co.nz/thehobbitmotel.html has opened in New Zealand. They got the turf roof and round windows right, but somehow I don’t think Bilbo would like the interior so… white.

Coulter: “We have the media now!”

What? The media is not liberal? My own little brother (he’s 32, okay, and over 6 feet tall, but he’s my little brother) heard Ann Coulter make this interesting proclamation on the Sean Hannity show. He posted about it on Democratic Underground, and his post was eventually picked up by Crooks and Liars! And [...]

‘no good reason’ is apparently enough

So, how does our favorite administration top the quagmire in Iraq? Start another quagmire in Iran, of course. And make sure there’s a handy terrorism trigger to justify it in the American collective mind.

I Shelly Hope This is a Yolk

My friend Laura sent this to me. I’m not sure why. Or where it’s from. Or why.
ETA: Okay, I rewatched it and the very end disturbs me a bit…

Forget Hybrids

Gotta get one of these, baby!

Facial Feminization Surgery

aka Facial Feminizing Surgery. I was watching a Discovery Health Channel documentary last night on sex changes and found out for the first time that hormone therapy, breast augmentation, etc. can be supplemented by actual surgery to the transsexual person’s skull (at least in male to female cases). Get rid of the brow ridge, [...]

this just in: rights still inalienable

The House of Representatives, after deliberation and careful consideration, has decided that “civil liberties just aren’t that important anymore”:http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-07-21T165437Z_01_N21540320_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-USA-CONGRESS-PATRIOT-DC.XML . Sigh.

consider XML namespaces deprecated

The adage goes: “XML is like violence: if it doesn’t solve your problem, you aren’t using enough of it.” “Parand Darugar”:http://www.parand.com/say/index.php/2005/07/21/abolish-xml-namespaces/ has challenged that idea (or validated the sarcasm) with a compelling case for “abolishing XML namespaces”:http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-abolns.html.
I never did warm to namespaces, personally. The idea looks good on paper: provide infinitely-extensible support [...]

Happy Armstrong Day

36 years ago today, men landed on the Moon. That makes this Armstrong Day 36 on the “Tranquility Calendar”:http://www.mithrandir.com/Tranquility/tranquility.html. Google has put together a “fitting tribute”:http://moon.google.com/ based on Google Maps.
They went “in peace, for all mankind”:http://www.alanbeangallery.com/WeCameInPeace.html. Let’s hope we go back soon.

Not Your Daddy’s GOP

“Other than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest,
educate our children and, now, die, I think the Republicans have
done a fine job of getting government out of our personal lives.”
— Sunday Portland Oregonian