Recently, I happened to refer to my followers on Twitter as "tweeple," which, for those of you who don't know, is what one calls Twitter people.
It turns out that my wife, the Lovely Mrs. byoolin's trebuchet, is one of those who didn't know that, and asked me, "Did you just make that up?"
"No," I said. "That word is as old as Twitter itself."
July 31, 2009
July 30, 2009
Idle Thought Occasioned By A Single Line On "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart."
Jon Stewart quoted that old saw, "Nature abhors a vacuum." He repeated the word for emphasis: "ABHORS."
Then it occurred to me that the Universe, i.e., all of Nature, is mostly vacuum. Another old cliché debunked.
You're welcome.
Then it occurred to me that the Universe, i.e., all of Nature, is mostly vacuum. Another old cliché debunked.
You're welcome.
July 29, 2009
Movie Review: "Orphan"
"Orphan"
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabel Fuhrman, Aryana Engineer, Daniel Coleman and CCH Pounder (as the Poundee).
You know it's a bad movie when... you come out of it annoyed at the person who suggested seeing it.
...you take a pee break in the middle and wash your hands... TWICE.
...you step out to ask someone at the concession for the nutritional information for your bag of popcorn.
...you start composing a snotty letter to Roger Ebert during a lull in the scary music.
...you ask yourself, "How would Michael Bay have improved on this film?"
...the heroine's nipples are showing through her t-shirt and you think, "Nope. Too late."
...you realize you're missing a re-run of "I Survived A Japanese Game Show" on ABC.
[Please, feel free to suggest your own.]
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Isabel Fuhrman, Aryana Engineer, Daniel Coleman and CCH Pounder (as the Poundee).
You know it's a bad movie when... you come out of it annoyed at the person who suggested seeing it.
...you take a pee break in the middle and wash your hands... TWICE.
...you step out to ask someone at the concession for the nutritional information for your bag of popcorn.
...you start composing a snotty letter to Roger Ebert during a lull in the scary music.
...you ask yourself, "How would Michael Bay have improved on this film?"
...the heroine's nipples are showing through her t-shirt and you think, "Nope. Too late."
...you realize you're missing a re-run of "I Survived A Japanese Game Show" on ABC.
[Please, feel free to suggest your own.]
Another small victory for the terrorists.
Thousands of people were evacuated from a JPMorgan Chase office building in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday after an employee spotted "a black, boxlike device with lights, wires and a timer in a first-floor conference room" and called authorities.
Employees were evacuated to the parking lot, where some were overcome by the day's heat and had to be treated by paramedics.
Later, Chase spokesman Jeff Lyttle explained to the Columbus Post-Dispatch what the terror device was: "It has lights on it and sits in front of you, and when you have two minutes left, it prompts you; and when you have one minute left, it prompts you."
And when it's just sitting there on a desk, it scares some people shitless.
Employees were evacuated to the parking lot, where some were overcome by the day's heat and had to be treated by paramedics.
Later, Chase spokesman Jeff Lyttle explained to the Columbus Post-Dispatch what the terror device was: "It has lights on it and sits in front of you, and when you have two minutes left, it prompts you; and when you have one minute left, it prompts you."
And when it's just sitting there on a desk, it scares some people shitless.
July 28, 2009
On the bright side: no use of truncheons.
In his Washington Post chat earlier today, Gene Weingarten opined that the Henry Louis Gates arrest and was less about race and more about "the casual arrogance of a police officer who expects compliance and has the power of arrest."
Another fine example: the Mobile, Alabama Press-Register reports that police got called to a department store because a man had been in the store's bathroom for an hour. When the cops couldn't get him to come out, they fired pepper spray under the door, pried it open and then tasered him. It was then that they found out he was deaf. And *then* they arrested him for disorderly conduct and held him for six hours until a magistrate refused to uphold the charges.
They dropped him off in his driveway.
From the Press-Register story: "'When he walked in, his shirt was ripped, and he was just in a daze.' his brother, Brodrick Love, said. 'When I went outside, they (the police) took off. They stamped on that pedal.'"
The story doesn't make it clear when the cops knew that in addition to being deaf, Antonio Love is mentally challenged, having the faculties of a ten-year-old.
A Mobile police department spokesperson told the Press-Register that "Use of the Taser and the pepper spray appear to be justified according to the department's policy."
What kind of "policy" says it's okay to taser and pepper spray an ill, deaf, mentally retarded person?
Another fine example: the Mobile, Alabama Press-Register reports that police got called to a department store because a man had been in the store's bathroom for an hour. When the cops couldn't get him to come out, they fired pepper spray under the door, pried it open and then tasered him. It was then that they found out he was deaf. And *then* they arrested him for disorderly conduct and held him for six hours until a magistrate refused to uphold the charges.
They dropped him off in his driveway.
From the Press-Register story: "'When he walked in, his shirt was ripped, and he was just in a daze.' his brother, Brodrick Love, said. 'When I went outside, they (the police) took off. They stamped on that pedal.'"
The story doesn't make it clear when the cops knew that in addition to being deaf, Antonio Love is mentally challenged, having the faculties of a ten-year-old.
A Mobile police department spokesperson told the Press-Register that "Use of the Taser and the pepper spray appear to be justified according to the department's policy."
What kind of "policy" says it's okay to taser and pepper spray an ill, deaf, mentally retarded person?
Birther Control.
It strikes me as ironic that the very people so certain that Barack Obama is not fit to be President because he's not American are the very people you'd think would be most likely to understand his situation. The Birthers, as they're called, seem to be unanimous in their conviction that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, and they all seem to be Christians.
What does one have to do with the other?
Well, I don't know anybody who's ever seen Jesus Christ's original birth certificate, either. And the same people who dismiss Obama's birth anouncement recorded in The Honolulu Advertiser two weeks after the event and unearthed a couple of months ago seem to be somewhat more credulous about Jesus' birth anouncement, which recorded on scrolls written centuries after the event and unearthed several centuries after that.
These people who seem to think that Obama can't be President because, they think, he was really born in Kenya or Indonesia or Hawaii are the same people who are perfectly comfortable with the King of Kings being from Israel. Is there some kind of continuum where being a foreigner is acceptable for some jobs, then unacceptable, and then acceptable? Not exactly. In fact, it gets confusing in a hurry.
If Jesus were here today He'd be able to join the military, but he couldn't process your passport application. He could be a dogcatcher, but not the guy making you take off your shoes at the airport. He could be Secretary of State, but not the Vice President or the President, but He could be, apparently, the President's boss. (It might even be a requirement that the President report to a foreigner: most Americans say they wouldn't vote for an atheist. And the last President was pretty clear that he reported to Jesus, even if it seemed to many of us that it was really Dick Cheney.)
All I know is that the next time you people have an election, then for Christ's sake you'd better have your paperwork in order.
What does one have to do with the other?
Well, I don't know anybody who's ever seen Jesus Christ's original birth certificate, either. And the same people who dismiss Obama's birth anouncement recorded in The Honolulu Advertiser two weeks after the event and unearthed a couple of months ago seem to be somewhat more credulous about Jesus' birth anouncement, which recorded on scrolls written centuries after the event and unearthed several centuries after that.
These people who seem to think that Obama can't be President because, they think, he was really born in Kenya or Indonesia or Hawaii are the same people who are perfectly comfortable with the King of Kings being from Israel. Is there some kind of continuum where being a foreigner is acceptable for some jobs, then unacceptable, and then acceptable? Not exactly. In fact, it gets confusing in a hurry.
If Jesus were here today He'd be able to join the military, but he couldn't process your passport application. He could be a dogcatcher, but not the guy making you take off your shoes at the airport. He could be Secretary of State, but not the Vice President or the President, but He could be, apparently, the President's boss. (It might even be a requirement that the President report to a foreigner: most Americans say they wouldn't vote for an atheist. And the last President was pretty clear that he reported to Jesus, even if it seemed to many of us that it was really Dick Cheney.)
All I know is that the next time you people have an election, then for Christ's sake you'd better have your paperwork in order.
July 27, 2009
I probably should stop calling it "the local fishwrap." I wouldn't dream of wrapping fish in it.
Like many other newspapers' websites, my town's local fishwrap, Wheeling's Intelligencer & News-Register, allows its readers to comment on many articles on its website. The site's Terms of Service say that the comment feature is “provided to give users an interesting and stimulating forum to express their opinions and share ideas and information.”
“It is a condition of your use of these Services,” say the Terms, that people don't, among other things, use “vulgar, profane, abusive, hateful or racist language or expressions” or make “attacks of a personal, racial or religious nature” or “post any material that is threatening, false, defamatory, misleading, fraudulent, unfair, and inaccurate... [or] is unreasonably harmful or offensive to any individual, community, association, business or group.”
It's a system that works, except when it doesn't, which is usually. You know that old saying that opinions are like assholes – everybody's got one? The News-Register's comments section seems to be on a single-minded quest to tip that balance. Now, a lot of news (and other) websites have comments sections that seem to be populated mostly by people who have checked their good manners at the door. But the News-Register's comments are different. The comments on nearly every story seem to rapidly and rabidly devolve into demonstrations of who can be the most puerile and juvenile. How juvenile, you ask?
Well, here's user “EllisWyatt” implying that “GymJones” is a homosexual voyeur in response to GymJones calling him gay and “a little whiny c-u-n-t” (the hyphens are there to defeat the Dirty Word Filter) during an interesting and stimulating discussion of some local steelworkers being recalled from layoffs.
Elsewhere, “AlexanderShulgin” adds a non-journalist's perspective to a story about poor weather during the local Jamboree In The Hills music festival: “Tit bit nipply,” he remarks, expanding upon his own earlier comment - “Let’s see some t i t i e s [sic]” - on another story about the Jamboree.
“WVUGator2” agrees with EllisWyatt that a fire at a local country club “is a classic example of Jewish Lighning [sic],” - arson as an implement of insurance fraud - in part because “we all know Moondog could not get his bike up Route 88.” Moondog, a bit of a local celebrity, is known for riding a bicycle that flies a very large flag. Were it not for the difficulty in riding that bike up the very steep hill, Moondog, an African-American, would seem to be high on WVUGator2's list of suspects.
On the healthcare issue, “conservsquatch” says GymJones is both incestuous and a pedophile: “Gymjones does his mother. He also still touches little boys,” while “Truthseeker” believes many of the commenters “enjoy kicking puppies and kittens.”
Commenting on another healthcare story, “Highland” postulated that “[President] Obama will shut down any hospital that refuses to perform abortions,” prompting “acousticportal” to riposte in customary fashion, “Highland...are you really that ignorant? f-n blind follower.”
When a nearby school board announced the appointment of a principal to a new position after allegations of harrassment had been made against him, EllisWyatt suggested that county voters were “morons,” prompting shastacooper to call him “truly, truly the VILLAGE IDIOT.” Then, when “All4One” lamented the lack of civility in the comments to that point, COACH1 seemed to imply that All4One was a corrupt crony of the former principal, which in turn prompted Honeybun to speculate that COACH1 “may have been getting some special favors from” said former principal.
So, the News-Register's comment pages are home to a pretty sad-sack bunch of intemperate, insulting, homophobic, vitriolic, foul-mouthed, xenophobic, intolerant, petty, vindictive, rude and libelous people, and the Wheeling Intelligencer & News-Register seems unable or unwilling to do anything about it. Maybe its editors just have a different definition of “an interesting and stimulating forum.”
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“It is a condition of your use of these Services,” say the Terms, that people don't, among other things, use “vulgar, profane, abusive, hateful or racist language or expressions” or make “attacks of a personal, racial or religious nature” or “post any material that is threatening, false, defamatory, misleading, fraudulent, unfair, and inaccurate... [or] is unreasonably harmful or offensive to any individual, community, association, business or group.”
It's a system that works, except when it doesn't, which is usually. You know that old saying that opinions are like assholes – everybody's got one? The News-Register's comments section seems to be on a single-minded quest to tip that balance. Now, a lot of news (and other) websites have comments sections that seem to be populated mostly by people who have checked their good manners at the door. But the News-Register's comments are different. The comments on nearly every story seem to rapidly and rabidly devolve into demonstrations of who can be the most puerile and juvenile. How juvenile, you ask?
Well, here's user “EllisWyatt” implying that “GymJones” is a homosexual voyeur in response to GymJones calling him gay and “a little whiny c-u-n-t” (the hyphens are there to defeat the Dirty Word Filter) during an interesting and stimulating discussion of some local steelworkers being recalled from layoffs.
Elsewhere, “AlexanderShulgin” adds a non-journalist's perspective to a story about poor weather during the local Jamboree In The Hills music festival: “Tit bit nipply,” he remarks, expanding upon his own earlier comment - “Let’s see some t i t i e s [sic]” - on another story about the Jamboree.
“WVUGator2” agrees with EllisWyatt that a fire at a local country club “is a classic example of Jewish Lighning [sic],” - arson as an implement of insurance fraud - in part because “we all know Moondog could not get his bike up Route 88.” Moondog, a bit of a local celebrity, is known for riding a bicycle that flies a very large flag. Were it not for the difficulty in riding that bike up the very steep hill, Moondog, an African-American, would seem to be high on WVUGator2's list of suspects.
On the healthcare issue, “conservsquatch” says GymJones is both incestuous and a pedophile: “Gymjones does his mother. He also still touches little boys,” while “Truthseeker” believes many of the commenters “enjoy kicking puppies and kittens.”
Commenting on another healthcare story, “Highland” postulated that “[President] Obama will shut down any hospital that refuses to perform abortions,” prompting “acousticportal” to riposte in customary fashion, “Highland...are you really that ignorant? f-n blind follower.”
When a nearby school board announced the appointment of a principal to a new position after allegations of harrassment had been made against him, EllisWyatt suggested that county voters were “morons,” prompting shastacooper to call him “truly, truly the VILLAGE IDIOT.” Then, when “All4One” lamented the lack of civility in the comments to that point, COACH1 seemed to imply that All4One was a corrupt crony of the former principal, which in turn prompted Honeybun to speculate that COACH1 “may have been getting some special favors from” said former principal.
So, the News-Register's comment pages are home to a pretty sad-sack bunch of intemperate, insulting, homophobic, vitriolic, foul-mouthed, xenophobic, intolerant, petty, vindictive, rude and libelous people, and the Wheeling Intelligencer & News-Register seems unable or unwilling to do anything about it. Maybe its editors just have a different definition of “an interesting and stimulating forum.”
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July 26, 2009
byoolin's got a brand new trebuchet.
I'm moving my stuff here from the old place. There will be a short period of adjustment as I attempt to figure out why the "import XML" function seems to be hanging.
Restez-vous tranquille.
In the meantime, please enjoy one of my recent photographs: Great White Egrets on a pier near Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
(Click on the image to launch a larger version in a new window.)
Restez-vous tranquille.
In the meantime, please enjoy one of my recent photographs: Great White Egrets on a pier near Pawleys Island, South Carolina.
(Click on the image to launch a larger version in a new window.)
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