Uniqueness

My blog is unique. I'm being paid (or at least I'd like to be) to tell you this.

Here's how.

1) Who else has random pictures of me gracing a website?
2) My blog lift heavy weights. It doesn't grunt, though.
3) My blog feeds the cats whenever the bowl runs dry.
4) My blog uses words like Boggle. That rhymes with my last name. You don't do that - do you?
5) My blog would like to use this opportunity to act as a public service announcement for the 80's television spots TV Pow and Bowling for Dollars (but not Columbine).

Thank you. That is all.

hln

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Updating the Blogroll

Updating the Blogroll

This is long, long overdue (like many of my library books, likely). Please welcome these fine folks to a parked spot on the left-hand side of my humble blog.

• Ryan Stephenson, to whom I alluded yesterday.
• Blackfive - been meaning to do this since the wonderful Music to Blog to post.
• Wince and Nod - again, been in the Blogs to Review favorites pile for a while.
• The Blogger Alliance (of which I am part). Perhaps not the best timing to seek the Instanlanche, but, hey, all's fair in politics.

hln

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In Search of the Instalanche

Okay, strangely enough, calling Instapundit "the Puppy Blender" actually seems to work for Frank J.

I think I'll have to resort to something with a different tack.

I challenge Glenn Reynolds to a game of Boggle, Master Boggle (which sometimes masquerades as Big Boggle). No, silly, not that little grid that's four by four. That's so...lame. I mean the five by five - four letter words and higher.

I'm nearly unbeatable. Get the word out, people.

hln

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Senioritis - Takin' It To Court

Yes, really. Our friends at Overlawyered have a doozy this evening.

Almost full text:

"Senioritis" victim sues for college admission

Hillsborough, N.C.: "A Guilford County high school graduate who recorded a perfect SAT score is suing UNC Chapel Hill, alleging the school refused to admit him after his grade point average dropped. Mark Edmonson, a National Merit Scholarship finalist, scored a perfect 1,600 on his SAT last year, but his grade point average fell from 3.8 to 3.5 in his senior year at Northwest Guilford High School. ... 'His senior year grades are C's, D's and F's,' Ziko said [Thomas Ziko, a lawyer for the state]." ("Student who aced SAT sues UNC for denying entry", Charlotte Observer, Aug. 20). An earlier acceptance letter from UNC had said, "We expect you to continue to achieve at the same level that enabled us to provide this offer of admission". Edmonson's family is beginning to talk about how the university didn't sufficiently take into account the consequences of his having a disability, attention-deficit disorder (Eric Ferreri, "UNC admission rescission sparks suit", Durham Herald-Sun, Aug. 19) (via "Begging to Differ", Aug. 21; Kimberly Swygert at No. 2 Pencil also comments (Aug. 21)).

I want more. You? Here's the Charlotte Observer link Walter at Overlawyered mentions.

Edmonson said in an affidavit filed in Orange County that university officials backed out of an April letter promising that as long as Edmonson graduated from Northwest, he would be admitted.

Eek - this one could get ugly.

hln

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Ryan's Posting!

Ryan's Posting!

My coworker Ryan is updating his weblog regularly. You should check him out.

Now, if only Bryce would do the same? I just might link to him

hln

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Responsibility

I'm usually not one of the Bill Whittle raving mad fans; often I won't read a published essay for a few weeks, but this one was a must-read on the day it came out.

It's called Responsibility.

It's also my favorite topic. Bill does it justice.

hln

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Because He Says it Better Than I Could

I shall defer to Michael Williams of Master of None who talks about the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Iraq.

This was, of course, not the only bombing today.

This saddens me. I cannot explain it, and I cannot talk rationally about it, so I will simply shake my head, mutter innate depravity, and fail to understand.

hln

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Is There a Circle of Hell for Stupidity?

No words. Sorry. Story says it all.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- A Marine received 14 months in a military brig for using a military credit card for an unauthorized six-figure shopping spree that included a car, a motorcycle and breast enhancement surgery.

No, wait. I break my vow of silence. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

hln

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% Geek

% Geek

I've seen references to this test on so many blogs that I've forgotten where I most recently saw it. At any rate, I'm 23.4714% - Geek. Just enough to allow me to carry on geek conversations. Phew.

hln

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Friendster

Just when you thought you've heard of everything, along comes Friendster.

Thanks, Hans. I always wanted to see a 28-point Arial revelation stating "Hans Is Your Friend"

All doubts erased.

Now there's this little problem of the fact that Hans is my ONLY friend. Hook me up, people.

hln

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I'm Back (and Where I Went)

I'm Back (and Where I Went)

I've been gone. You may have noticed. I am back.

I returned last night. I'll replay the dramatic part for you in reverse order. The interesting part began shortly after my plane touched down last evening at Lambert Airport in St. Louis. I got my bags, got to my car, and my cell phone rang while I was driving to my house.

The caller was my mother. She said something to the effect of "Hi, are you all right" or "Hi, where are you?" I said, St. Louis, just leaving the airport. And then she gave me news of the blackout.

I was returning from a business trip in Detroit. I escaped the blackout by, we suspect, about 30 minutes. Phew.

Not so lucky for a European colleague I met at the conference, who was slated to not leave Detroit until today. I hope he made it home to his family.

I was in Detroit for the OAGi's quarterly meeting. It was decided that I would attend on Thursday of last week, so I spent the bulk of the time between then and Monday when I left for Detroit preparing for said conference.

Oh, yeah, and I did that Atari party, drinking, and bike riding thing over last weekend, too. Just not all at once.

So, I have been and gone. I will probably be and go some other times in the future.

Now I just have to get caught up on my reading; the writing part's easy.

hln

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Brian in Pure Form

I won't say much - just point you to the link.

Note: if "the link" isn't working, it's probably blogger having issues with its permalinks. You can still reach the article of note by hitting Brian directly - probably near the top - named Experiment Success: The Magazine Rack at APIV.

hln

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DDT vs DEET

This is one of the funnier things I've read in weeks. John Cole from Balloon Juice hands this woman her entrails in a small, brown paper bag and says "EAT!" due to her ill-informed letter to the editor about mosquito control - known here in St. Louis as vector control (encompasses the rats, too).

Here's a sample. Go read the whole thing. It's funny enough to read twice.

One of the main reasons the government is as inefficient and ineffetive as it is might be because they have to deal with morons and cretins all day long- in other words, taxpayers are stupid. I offer Ms. Desmond as exhibit A. This letter to the editor is so stupid on so many levels that it made my head hurt.

1.) DDT was banned in the United States on June 14, 1972. No one sprayed DDT on your tomatoes, your cat, or you. What happened to you was part of a Mosquito abatement program, and you probably (I don't know for sure, but you might ask your local authorities- just a thought) got fogged with a synthetic pyrethroid, perhaps Peremethrin, Sumithrin, or Resmethrin. If you click the link, the EPA has deemed these to be safe (and this was done under the Clinton EPA, so even Democrats can feel safe).

Cretins!

hln

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From the Readers

I've had three reader e-mails this week; yay! One asked my why I have no comments section. I answered that I'm too busy to code one or find one to incorporate. I've seen some blogger blogs with comments - anybody have recommendations? I'll look into this in September, likely.

Two, Mike Courtney wrote to inform me that blogger was hogging my permalinks. Bad blogger. Blog hog, blogger. My permalinks are STILL not properly rendering, which, given that this is a weekend, is not shocking. Perhaps all will be well tomorrow.

Three, Hans "Is the Party" Gerwitz, whirling dervish bicycle and software geek, wrote thus:

Thought for the day: how is ifeminism, well, feminism? Isn't is oxymoronic to use a gender-loaded term to describe a position that dismisses gender as the basis for rights?

Yes, and no; more soon. Dictionary.com:

Feminism
1) Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.
2) The movement organized around this belief.

If you take definition one, it doesn't say anything about the collective female voice rallying for acceptance of women as equal to men; rather, this is a blanket statement that, once accepted, hopefully leads one to view people as individuals rather than collectives of men and women (and never the twain shall meet).

But, of course, the word "feminism" elicits a much different view - often with the encouragement of the feminists. If you know me personally, you've probably heard the story of the female realtor at the party who adamantly insisted that ALL women are oppressed. I said, really, I don't FEEL oppressed. I don't see any evidence of oppression; how can I be oppressed? THESE women (those whom I have labelled with the negative connotation of feminism) probably give the movement a bad name, even in my eyes. I don't see any need to band together with other members of my gender to assert the need for something that I believe, in this day and age, at least as far as my life goes, ALREADY EXISTS.

But I digress. Hans, I stand firm on the "social, political, and economic equality of the sexes" (en masse). What's unstated, of course, is that this is typically from a female perspective (as are my thoughts - no escaping that). I'll state the text from the ifeminism post again, just for ease of reading. From the site ifeminism.com:

What is ifeminism?

Individualist feminism, or ifeminism, advocates the equal treatment of men and women as individuals under just law. The core principle of individualist feminism is that all human beings have a moral and legal claim to their own persons and property. It is sometimes called libertarian feminism.

ifeminism: literal, libertarian feminism.

hln

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Yo Quiero Tac...I'm HIT!

Rat dogs unite! Stave off the airborne oppressors.

hln

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Stay Out of My Cone, by Tresa McBee and ifeminists.com

I read the article entitled "Stay Out of My Cone" today - can't remember where I found it. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it pointed back to this little website called ifeminists.com. This is really a .net, not a .com, and so I am thoroughly confused about that point, but no matter.

I read these words. I decided to read more.

What is ifeminism?

Individualist feminism, or ifeminism, advocates the equal treatment of men and women as individuals under just law. The core principle of individualist feminism is that all human beings have a moral and legal claim to their own persons and property. It is sometimes called libertarian feminism.

You mean, it might actually apply to me?

Sometimes the inequality works to women's advantage, as in affirmative action laws. Do you oppose them as well?

Absolutely. Equality means neither privilege nor oppression. Besides which, it hardly benefits women to have a paternalistic state treat them as children or "lesser" human beings who need state assistance to become equal.

...

Opposing affirmative action and defending property rights is generally associated with conservatives. Isn't ifeminism just conservative feminism?

Many conservatives are uncomfortable with the way ifeminism embraces radical civil liberties. For example, ifeminism calls for the decriminalization of prostitution and pornography. To an ifeminist, there is no schism between economic and civil liberties. They are both expressions of an individual's right to use her own body and property in any peaceful manner she chooses.

Yeah, I'll stick around. I never thought I'd be willing and/or eager to review feminist thought. I'm generally a pretty strong individualist with objectivist leanings and a Christian background (yeah, somebody reconcile THAT into a sane human). Still, expect more posts and commentary with thought originating from this site.

hln

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Don't Not Sleep and Drive?

Everyone loves a good double negative. How's this for you: Down with the drowsy driver menace to society

Now, there is a point, I'd suppose, to making note of the dangers of driving while sleepy. But a LAW? Furthermore, this is a LAW that will be quite difficult to test - no breathalyzer here.

Might I refer you lawmakers to a more relevant sanction against drowsy drivers - careless and imprudent driving charge, mayhap?

Coming soon - driving while appearing intoxicated.

hln

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Thanks, Mom, for the Dark Room

I meant to get this up here yesterday, but I tried to balance my reading and my writing, so I had to read more (this is usually the opposite scenario).

CNN reported thus:

HUNTINGDON, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A woman who locked her 3-year-old daughter in the trunk of a car while she visited her husband in prison has been charged with endangerment.

Tammy Denise Swittenburg-Edwards, 31, was arrested Saturday at a state prison about 95 miles east of Pittsburgh after prison guards heard crying and yelling from the vehicle and found the girl in the trunk, state police said.

Swittenburg-Edwards apparently locked her in after prison officials refused the child's entry because she wasn't on a visitor's list, state police said.

The girl was in the trunk for about 40 minutes while Swittenburg-Edwards visited her husband, state police said. The child wasn't injured.

Wow - poor kid. Dad's in prison, and mom's obviously missing a few brain cells. Hope you got all the good genes.

hln

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Aging, Anyone?

Aging, Anyone?

I'd say news is slow today at CNN, but I'll disprove that here with numerous postings (as time allows).

I frequent the CNN Health section; probably doesn't surprise anyone. Today, there's an article proclaiming the effort of da Boomers to stave off the outward appearance of getting older.

Me, I'm an Xer. So I can poke fun at the Boomers.

Doctors say boomers, who range from 38 to 56 years of age, increasingly ask for procedures to reduce other telltale signs of aging such as spider and varicose veins on the legs, brown spots on the hands and chest and wrinkled necks. As boomers stay in the work force longer, and many find themselves dating again, they want every part of their body to project an image of vitality.

"I think boomers have a basic dread of aging. They just want to be young forever," said Dr. Robert Weiss, an assistant professor of dermatology at Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine.

Vitality! Image!

"These procedures can really help how people feel about themselves," Weiss said.

Ah, there it is. Take a big bite outta the "how you look is who you are" cookie. And fork over that 20 grand for the face lift. All better now?

Beverly Ross, another patient, agrees that the procedures are worth the cost although she might have to skimp on other areas such as vacations. The 50-year-old, who works for the city of San Diego, has two incentives for looking her best -- her job requires her to be in and out of meetings, and she's single and dating. She has augmented work done on her face with procedures such as liposuction and spider vein removal on other parts of her body.

Ross says in a perfect world, looks wouldn't matter, but "the real world doesn't work that way." She adds, "You have to be happy in your own skin so it is worth the money I spend."

<mystique>Sure, plastic surgery has its place. (I have to mention this lest I be called a hypocrite).</mystique> But, I can't imagine a world in one's own head where happiness comes ONLY from the way he/she looks.

Still, thank you for stimulating the economy. You may have to troll a while, though, Beverly, for the proper 24 year-old boyfriend.

hln

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What I Learned/Did This Weekend

1) I did NOT blog. Sorry.

2) I learned the lychees are to be feared. I had never heard of lychees, but, after dinner at Adam's House of Grillin' last evening, my friend Paul made it his personal mission for me to try his canned lychees (in heavy syrup!). Uh, no thanks. They were white and looked like pear entrails.

3) I need a new computer. It's sad to finally recognize this because this computer has served me very well for a very long time. Perhaps around Christmas I can get the parts together and make it happen. (It's so bad my clock is losing time).

4) Columbia, MO is hilly. I should have noticed that when I lived there, but, no. I am certain I will notice it when I am riding around it for the MS 150.

5) Frank J. of IMAO has updated his Peace Gallery. Brian and I are both modeling the famous Nuke the Moon t-shirt.

6) I spent 91.75 miles on the bike this weekend - 25.5 yesterday and 66.25 today - so that's where I've been. The new sleeveless jersey (of which I now own two) should help even out the crazy "tan."

7) Michael Williams of Master of None has a good post about language.

So much time on the bike leaves one tired enough to be in bed by 9 p.m. on a Sunday.

9) News and commentary will wait until tomorrow because of said tiredness.

hln

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