February 28, 2005
What I'm Drinking Tonight
How could I resist a wine named "Ball Buster"? Especially when it's from the Barossa Valley, is 60% Shiraz, 19% Merlot and 21% Cabernet Sauvignon? I couldn't. And neither should you. For the modest outlay of $15 you get a full bodied, spicy smooth cedary fruity wine that is just yum yum yum. Plus, it's Australian. What's not to love? I'm eating a big plate full of chicken anduille sausages right now with some rice and black beans, and this wine is shouting out "laissez roulez les bon temps" which I think translates as "Damn I'm thirsty! Lemme' fill up that glass again!"
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:14 PM | Comments (8)
Give It A Rest?
I was sitting watching Nickelodeon with my 11 year old daughter the other day, Friday, I think it was, and a particularly sloth-like day at that, and every half hour there'd be one of those "Kids Today!" or "Kids Can Make A Difference!" or "Buy Transformers Cereal You Little Bastards!" or some such named little vignette that would appear. You know the type: a 'special' 2 minute long or so "Kidumentary" between the end of one show and the start of another which the networks point to when the FCC comes sniffing around and say "Look! We're doing edumacational public interest stuff! Really!"
I do feel sorry for today's youth, however. We got Conjunction Junction; they get stuck with Linda Ellerbee.
Anyhow, after the third or fourth of these (did I mention that I was exceedingly lazy on Friday night?) my daughter turned to me and said "Hrumph. I guess only black kids are special. There's never anything about us normal kids."
Now, my girl is the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful 11 year old you'll ever encounter. But this bothered her a lot. She then said "I don't judge kids by their skin color; it's what's inside that makes you special." I know I certainly could not have expressed such sentiments at her age. But her frustration I guess I'd call it hit me like a bolt of lightning, because she was right. Now, I know that February is Black History Month, but every single one was only black kids talking about being 'special' and 'wonderful' and how they were in effect demanding to be recognized as such. It struck me that there is a real danger that the guilt-laden or perhaps willfully guilt inducing/dispensing network executives were going a bit overboard and are perhaps even running the very reak risk of creating the very conditions that they claim to be seeking to overcome.
As NJ Sue notes in the post below the "ethnic grievance industry" is a very profitable enterprise that needs to keep fomenting crises to justify its existence. When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s racism was a real, widespread and more importantly socially acceptable problem. But that is simply not the case anymore. Is there still racism? Of course, but the important thing is that in our society today it is no longer socially acceptable to make racist jokes and innuendos, it is no longer acceptable to make jokes at the office. Our mindset has changed, and it is clearly reflected in our youth.
We were down in North Carolina over last weekend, and I've never seen so many mixed-race couples. Frankly, you see a hell of a lot more of them in "racist hick red state" North Carolina than you do in the New York Times' backyard. And the best part of it is that no one cares. As a kid I never saw any, but by my college days in the early 80s in Virginia it was uncommon but not unheard of; and now it's no big deal.
Our society has changed; we have gotten better to the point where it seems to me racism is no longer a major issue in our society. This is an issue that the left has won, and they need to see that or they run the risk of creating a whole new generation of people who see things in racial terms, which I thought was what we were trying to get away from.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:50 PM | Comments (21)
The Lebanese Government Has Resigned
The Bush Freedom Train just keeps a rollin' along. As a world famous Muslim once sang, in a most satisfying and ironic fashion:
"I been happy lately, thinkin' about the good things to come..."
However, MSM, in their own peculiar fashion, are celebrating in a more subdued manner. Witness this MSNBCdotCOM front page.
Michaelloveslittleboys Jackson?
Front and ugly-disintegrating-mug center, along with a story about insurgents blowing up some more Iraqis and Chris Rock at the Oscars.
Momentous events in Lebanon?
Tucked under the "Also in the News" banner.
How refreshing would it be to see people power trumpeted across the top of the page? Kinda like it was when the Ukraine put the people pedal to the metal. Remember that? I guess the difference was it couldn't be connected in any way to W's Middle East policies, whereas today's little gem has his fingerprints all over it. The Bush Freedom Train can become the Peace Train. Freedom and self determination bring that kinda good stuff with it.
*Update: They've moved it up into the "More Top Stories" section. God, that had to hurt!
*Update to the Update: It's finally the headline. Ye gods and little fishes, it's taken what? Ten hours or so? I've killed the link. They don't deserve the traffic.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:48 PM
The Real Ward Churchill Scandal
So now there are reports the CU is going to buy-out Ward Churchill's contract in hopes that he'll just go away. Typical. Spend several million dollars of taxpayer money to get out of the mess that the faculty at CU created instead of addressing the real problem here. No, it's not what he said about September 11th that's the problem. No, it's not that it seems he may have lied about his Vietnam experience, evidently claiming to have been a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne when he may have in fact been a truck driver...and what the hell is it with all these guys of his generation who feel this need to claim they were John Wayne? Geesh. (And I'll ignore the fact that several other tenured faculty members of late who have embellished their war-time resumes have resigned) No, it's not even that he may very well have lied about his ethnicity (though if this fraud is true than it should be enough to get him fired).
No, the real scandal for CU, and for Academe in general, is that he was rushed through the tenure process, a guy who doesn't even have a Phd for God's sake, solely because of his claimed ethnicity, with little to no peer review of his scholarship or teaching. Some committee at CU said "Oh, we need a Native American" as opposed to "We need a teacher and/or scholar". Every tenure-track position that opens up at any college or university is flooded with hundreds of cvs from people with Phds and years of teaching experience; hell, even any instructorship at these schools attracts a boat load of Phds because the jobs simply are not there for the thousands of Phds that get churned out every year. And CU saw fit to rush this guy with only a MA from some whacko 'alternative' university ("Sangamon", whose name he misspells as "Sangaman" on his own CU faculty page, for crying out loud) through because he fit a racial category that they wanted.
CU's reputation is in tatters, as it should be (and I'm not even considering the problems in their Athletic Department). The question is how will they respond.
And how many other Ward Churchills are out there at other universities?
*update: I see VodkaPundit had a post up on this yesterday. That'll teach me to spend the day using the scanner and not surfing...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:30 AM | Comments (7)
February 26, 2005
Swill Stuff
If you'd like to order your very own Sod Off Swampy T Shirt, here's your chance to. $20 each and the shipping's included.(as long as you live in CONUS-foreign rates negotiable {8^P)
Are we sports or what??!
Gotta Order Me One!!
They're quite generously sized, soft as a baby's butt and what every well dressed swiller will be wearing this spring. I have beaten Bingley senseless, so all four sizes ~ small, medium, large & extra large ~ are available.
Ebola was kind enough to don one for this photo, until he can hook up one of his babe friends for a properly cheesy shot. He doesn't work cheap either ~ that's my last Old Peculier in his mitt.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:54 PM | Comments (4)
February 25, 2005
Man Bites Dog
The Bastard! I wish the dog had led him into the intersection and left him...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:44 AM | Comments (2)
February 24, 2005
Hemingway ~ Garden of Eden
As far as the Hunter Thompson/Hemingway brouhaha (ala Andrea), I've only read this one of his books and it was a doozey. (I won't claim to be an academic of Bingley's ilk and am not even worthy to consider wiping the shoes of the family scholar nj sue.) In Papa's defence, I offer...
Garden of Eden
"A sensational bestseller when it appeared in 1986, The Garden of Eden is the last uncompleted novel of Ernest Hemingway, which he worked on intermittently from 1946 until his death in 1961. Set on the Côte d'Azur in the 1920s, it is the story of a young American writer, David Bourne, his glamorous wife, Catherine, and the dangerous, erotic game they play when they fall in love with the same woman*. "A lean, sensuous narrative...taut, chic, and strangely contemporary..."(*emphasis mine, for Ken's sake.)
I will admit to actually rereading...ahem..once...or twice. But purely for the descriptions of life on the Mediterranean. Not for any of the other...stuff.
Yow...gotta go take a cold shower..
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:42 AM | Comments (4)
Today's 'Here's Yer Sign' Story
Dateline:Late Saturday Night, Local Hotspot, Pensacola, FL
An employee was taking out the trash when he noticed a fellow moving swiftly away from the dumpsters area. Once there, he was horrified to discover a badly beaten 22 year old woman, lying unconscious in pools of blood. 911 called, EMT's/Pensacola's finest arrived, description of assailant issued, standard 'catch the rat bastard' stuff.
Our nod to Bill Engvald ?
In this day and age of narcissistic, technologically saavy twentysomethings and camera phones,
never EVER pose for a picture.
Especially when you're sitting at a table with the very same girl you will shortly be causing egregious and most heinous harm to.
If this all works out as it should, he will be rapidly identified. Pensacola's finest can then proceed to TAZER the dogshit out of him (as they are wont to do and their fascist tendencies forgiven in this instance), hopefully with the leads attached to his cajones.
Here's yer sign.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:52 AM | Comments (3)
February 23, 2005
T-Shirt Update
The first batch of the Sod Off Swampy t-shirts are getting printed this week. They will be only available in Large and Extra-Large*, as none of us are emaciated vegans. They will be printed using the finest carcinogenic inks on genetically-modified cotton (I wanted to use a swank Rayon/Polyester Blend, but THS put her foot down) grown in devastated wetlands; I'm sure you'll love them. The price is $20 US which includes domestic postage to US addresses; overseas stuff we'll figure something out. To pre-order please send me an email with quantity, size and your address and I'll get back to you with payment details, etc: mr_bingley AT mac.com
*THS adds: Bingley's a thoughtless bastard.All we need is a head's up before we order them (we're supporting a local business in town as opposed to Cafe Press ~ every $ kept here after Ivan is a good thing) and we'll have you small and medium sized folks covered.
Greetings Tim Blair and Tech Central readers!
*Update*A quick explanation of the artwork, done for fun and protest:
Coffee leaves, symbolizing the 'green' aspect', sprouted by Bingley, nurtured to 10 foot trees by THS
~ KYOTO; well, duh ~
Handslashed red 'no' symbol with Solidarnosk/everyman protest typefont, sans punctuation.
You Can Get Your Very Own Right Here!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:15 PM | Comments (17)
Ward Churchill: "I'm No Indian"
Gosh, I wonder what his Tenure Committee thinks? Seems like he represented himself in a fraudulent manner to them.
*Update: Now the paper is saying they misquoted him.
Stay tuned...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:19 PM | Comments (3)
Never NEVER Be TedI'mNothinButtaAsshole Rall...
...and say something mean about Captain Ed. He will hurt you.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:07 AM | Comments (3)
The Stench From New Jersey Has Nothing To Do With The Refineries
Once again New Jersey politicians show how corrupt they are. Passing cash in little brown paper bags outside diners. Codenames like "munchkins." Just disgusting. And the rot is evenly spread amongst Democrats and Republicans. New Jersey desperately needs an independant Governor who is free from the county party machine politics that corrode the state, someone who will clean house. And John Corzine, that ain't you.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:10 AM | Comments (6)
I Propose a Writing Exercise
The ninehundredpound brains at Powerline have linked to aDrowning in Cambodia
By Thomas Lipscomb
It has been a rough ten days for Senator John Kerry. First Democratic Party moneybags George Soros said Kerry’s name on the Presidential ballot was a dead loser. Then Teresa Heinz Kerry decided to borrow a dead winner’s
rather than a live loser’s last name, reverting to “Teresa Heinz” for public appearances. But the worst day Kerry had was a Sunday answering Tim Russert’s questions on Meet the Press on --- (what else?) ----Vietnam.
Asked about his Christmas Eve in Cambodia “seared, seared” in Kerry’s memory, according to one of his Senate speech transcripts, Kerry tried a half-baked variation on the theme: “Was it on that night? No, it was not on that night. But we were right on the Cambodian border that night. We were ambushed there, as a matter of fact. And that is a matter of record, and we went into the rec-- you know, it's part of the Navy records.”
To ambush or not to ambush.
Alas “as a matter of fact,” at least according to Kerry’s own journal, supplied to his biographer Douglas Brinkley for inclusion in TOUR OF DUTY, “that night” Kerry was in Sa Dec in Viet Nam, south of Saigon and fifty miles from Cambodia, writing his parents about “visions of sugar plums.” And it isn’t “part of the Navy records” either. An “ambush” would require an official after action report like the ones Kerry exhibits on his “complete” website. So either Kerry doesn’t include one on this because there isn’t one, or Kerry’s website isn’t complete, or both. It gets worse. Under Russert’s questioning Kerry has a burst of sudden recall. “But we did go five miles into Cambodia. It was on another day. I jumbled the two together, but we were five miles into Cambodia. We went up on a mission with CIA agents--I believe they were CIA agents--CIA Special Ops guys. I even have some photographs of it, and I can document it. And it has been documented.”
Please read the assigned piece in it's entirety at your leisure. Mr. Lipscomb is a master and loud, rude guffaws will ensue.
Now, for My Proposal and it's rules of engagement:
1) We are writing a draft screenplay called 'Smoke on the Water:A Cambodian Christmas'. (His life being so full of epic moments, I felt the prudent move is to limit it to just this one.)
2) Please keep your narrative/yarn to at most short paragraph. Pick up the action where the previous poster left off and contribute your own flights of fancy for this riveting saga.
3) Use all of your imagination. And as little foul language as possible, a challenge considering the subject matter. Decorative and artful cursing in the course of conversation between players is not expressly prohibited.
Pencils and legal pads at the ready? Grand!
Now have at it and remember, it's a (Cambodian) jungle out there.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:09 AM | Comments (32)
February 22, 2005
Gosh, Europeans Are So Civilized
It seems those charming Belgians have got a new fad: peeing on Bush' face. And it seems the stickers were created at the Foreign Ministry. Nice.
This is the "Euro-Style" of diplomacy, eh?
*Correction: they were created in the Prime Minister's office. My bad.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:05 PM | Comments (8)
When Online Poker Attacks
Turds. Got hit a little bit over night, so I banned a bunch of ip addresses and closed all the comments on posts over 2 weeks old.
And thank goodness I was smart enough not to give Paris my number.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:35 AM | Comments (4)
February 19, 2005
60 Years Ago Today
Uncommon valor was a common virtue.
Admiral Chester Nimitz...
...referring to the victories in World War II, especially at Iwo Jima, the largest all-Marine battle in history. Admiral Nimitz's ringing epitome of Marine fighting on Iwo Jima was applied to the entire Marine Corps in World War II. (Wonderful links at Powerline for more reading.)
To all those brave jarheads who were there ~ like my late, much adored father-in-law ~ bless you, Dad.
Bless you guys.
Semper Fidelis
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:55 AM | Comments (3)
February 18, 2005
T-Shirts Coming Soon
Tree Hugging Sister* has done it again!
Coffee leaves, symbolizing the 'green' aspect', sprouted by Bingley, nurtured to 10 foot trees by THS
~ KYOTO; well, duh ~
Handslashed red 'no' symbol with Solidarnosk/everyman protest typefont, sans punctuation.
You Can Get Your Very Own Right Here!
*Copyright Beege Welborn/Coalition of the Swilling 2005
Almost forgot that artist sh!t, you know? {8^P
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:29 PM | Comments (20)
Does the company own you off the clock?
Interesting post/comments on the idea. I have mixed feelings, as I see the Companies rights, but also see the potential problems. I do wonder if this is just not another attempt to demonize smokers, as they seem to be the butt (sorry, couldn't resist) of most of these things the last decade or so. Being a type 1 diabetic, I could be in trouble if these things expand, but the lover of liberty in me is not easy with more government intervention. I just wish common sense would make a comeback, but I am not holding my breath....
As I state in my last comment on QandO, if these folks took the job knowing this was coming, they are SOL, as they knew the rules going in. But if it was after the fact, then it seems a bit extreme.
Also part of my question is would the public stand for this if it was other groups that were being affected. Would the public be screaming bloody murder then? I bet they would, if this affected gays, overweight people, etc. and other groups with higher costs (for the company) associated with them.
Posted by Crusader at 11:46 AM | Comments (8)
While I like Senator Santorum...
I had to ask myself WTF was he thinking in backing Specter? Strategy, I suppose, but he must have known that Specter is anything but loved on the conservative side of the Republican Party.Is it coming home to roost? I would hate to see Santorum booted out, but at what point are the R's going to stop taking the conservatives for granted? We need moderates in the Party, no doubt, but I don't see Specter as a worthy cause for a conservative R to stake his seat on.
Posted by Crusader at 09:51 AM | Comments (6)
February 17, 2005
Self Esteem Chickens Come Home to Roost
A very worthy post by those scalpel-wielding Clemson graduates at MUSC Tiger on just how infantile the cult of self-esteem has made today's generation of youth. Quite a bunch of milque-toasts we've raised. Go read it. I see this all the time in parents rushing to protect their little dears from every boo-boo life has to offer.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:59 PM | Comments (2)
Attention Safari Users
For some reason Gorezilla and the Blogroll (which is a bitchin' name for a band) is not showing up in Safari. It does show up in Firefox under OS10. I'll try to figure out the problem, and any html hints will be most happily received!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:17 PM | Comments (11)
More Jimmy Carter
The folks at Powerline have got a blistering post up on Jimmy Carter that raises some very serious allegations. I'd like to see some of the source material and read the book before commenting further, because frankly I give very little credence to anything involving Armand Hammer and his masters in the Kremlin.
But would I be shocked? Saddened, hell yes, but shocked? No, not really, because the Left (with exceptions, of course) have never seen the fight against global communism as anything other than part of the chess game of domestic politics; they never believed in the peril we and the world faced, to them it was just superstitious nonsense.
Some things just don't change.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:44 PM | Comments (3)
Oh, beloved fairness....
Sorry, did not realize that it required registration.
Are Victory Christian girls 'too good'?After complaints, 5-time champs drop out of N.C. playoffs
With some of the meat being:
When the N.C. Independent Schools playoffs begin next week, five-time defending state champion Victory Christian won't be playing.Not because the girls' basketball team didn't qualify.
Some 1A private schools complained to Victory and to the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association that the Kings were simply too good and other schools didn't have a chance to win a championship.
So when the state tournament comes to Charlotte next week, the state's best girls' team -- perhaps in any classification -- will be watching.
Posted by Crusader at 12:19 PM | Comments (3)
"Sod Off, Swampy"
Tim has a wonderful post up about some Greenpeace morons who invaded the oil trading ring in London and tried to shut it down...only to get the bejeebus beat out of them by the traders. God, it's wonderful.
Listen to this one poor dear:
“We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs,” one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. “I’ve never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view.”
Lest there be any confusion on the issue, here's the reasonable and rational manner in which the Greenpeace Civilized Debating Union presented their "point of view:"
They made their way to the trading floor, blowing whistles and sounding fog horns, encountering little resistance from security guards. Rape alarms were tied to helium balloons to float to the ceiling and create noise out of reach. The IPE conducts “open outcry” trading where deals are shouted across the pit. By making so much noise, the protesters hoped to paralyse trading.
Heh. The best part is they made their foray onto the floor after lunch, and the London boys always have a few pints with lunch so they were ready to rumble.
God, I wish they'd come to New York and try this on the Coffee Floor...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:49 AM | Comments (13)
February 16, 2005
Conservative Blogs Foster Climate of Terror
Well, okay...at least fear then. I offer as proof this illuminating reality check from the oppressed masses. Come see the violence inherent in the system! (and all emphasis is mine):
CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan discovered this the hard way when he was reprimanded -- and ultimately privately pressured to resign -- for comments made Jan. 27 in Switzerland regarding the alarming number of journalists killed in Iraq and his purported implication that American troops had purposely targeted them. The 23-year CNN veteran was roasted on conservative blogs and finally abruptly stepped down Friday.
Chris Rock knows how Jordan feels. He has been having fun taking shots at the Academy Awards and its status as an untouchable pillar of entertainment culture. But he should know that this is no time to speak freely. Those days are history. Sticks and stones no longer are required to inflict pain everywhere you turn.
Blogs, therefore, are the masters of pain and suffering, slings and arrows, sticks and stones.
Apparently NOT to blame is the alarming propensity to open one's big mouth without accounting for what will be tumbling exhuberantly out of it. ('purported implication' !!??) And why do I think it will be a great deal easier to prove that gay men do indeed enjoy the Oscars, as opposed to knowing a CNN reporter in the field is worthy of calling in an airstrike? Granted, I am the Marine, I am not the holder of a sheepskin (so could technically be considered challenged in the academic/empathetic category), but hey! Wuhdoo I know!?
I believe that answer would be 'bullshit when I see it' for $200, Alex.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:58 PM | Comments (5)
We Need More People Like This
They buried Mr. Hariri in Beirut.
All sects join in mourning
In a sign of Hariri’s popularity and his ability to reach across Lebanon’s often-volatile divisions, Sunni Muslim clerics, Druse leaders in white turbans and ordinary Lebanese Shiites and Christians all marched in the funeral. Hariri, credited with rebuilding post-civil war Lebanon, was a Sunni Arab.
Breaking with Islamic tradition, hundreds of weeping women waving white handkerchiefs joined men in the march.(emphasis mine)
In my humble opinion, there can never be enough 'breaking with Islamic tradition...'
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:22 PM
February 15, 2005
What am I missing here?
The headline states "Gays Debate Radical Steps to Curb Unsafe Sex." The article says these radical steps center on...condom use.
I'm sorry, but how fucking stupid (and "stupid fucking," obviously) are these people? Using a condom during gay sex (or any non-monogamous relationship frankly) is radical? As the Man says, read the rest of the article for examples of asinine thought and behavior.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:42 PM | Comments (2)
Ken Summers, Get Thee A
Minivan for some of that extreme driving action!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:08 PM | Comments (6)
Ambulance Chasers in Boats
Bastards, but you knew it was coming. Funny how they don't give a poo about the asian victims, though; only the Europeans.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:23 AM | Comments (2)
It's Time to Come Clean
In the interest of full disclosure and to spare my loved ones public humiliation, I need to be honest with The Public:
1) I have no friends named "Darcy"
2) I have never rented a home called "Netherfield"
3) I did not have sex with that Bennett woman.
I deeply regret any confusion I may have caused.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:21 AM | Comments (7)
February 14, 2005
My Valentine's Day Story
We all can point to one moment in our lives when the world comes crashing down, all of our sugar plum illusions are dashed, and flaming embers are placed in our bowels. Generally this is a good thing, the earlier it happens, as it's all part of 'growing up' and maturing.
And if you happen to be in High School at the time, it can also lead to the writing of some awfully bad poetry...
None of which I'm going to reproduce here, by the way, unless my wife gets me really really really drunk.
Anyhow, there our hero was, in the prime of his youthful vigor, during the winter of 81/82 (goodgawdallmighty I'm getting old) in the midst of his senior year in High School. Ah, life was good. Cross country season had ended successfully, we were in the midst of an enjoyable winter track schedule, college essays were all mailed off, I had a small core of friends that I spent every free minute with...and I had HER. The girlfriend, the love of my life. Not any mere girlfriend, mind you but THE ONE (let's ignore for a moment, if you please, the minor fact that she was also my first girlfriend, and I was but 18, so my powers of discernment were, shall we say, somewhat less than precise), the GIRL I WAS FATED FOR. Ah, the tender spark of teenaged romance that had been lovingly nurtered for several months had grown to a roaring furnace of impassioned desire and there, there looming on the calendar was February 14th, the One True Day of Love. Dare I hope? Dare I dream? Hell, dare I que up the Rod Stewart?
Valentine's Day arrives...we have dinner...we're walking alone in the hallway after dinner...she turns to me...and breaks up with me. I looked at the floor, sure in the knowledge that having my heart ripped right out like that must have made one hell of a mess on the linoleum...where's the blood? Hell, where's my breath? I'm dying...dying...the gaping maw of the Abyss is staring at me, the Gnarly Pit that my guts have now become is tearing...shredding...churning. My life was over. Done.
Hindsight shows that I'm very glad she did dump me. There's no way that had I ended up with her that I would be anywhere near as happy as I am now, none. But whoa nelly was that a tough thing to go through at the time, but it helped me grow immensely, and I'm over it.
I hope that somewhere in the deep depths of that salt mine that she's toiling in she can hear my "thanks."
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 02:31 PM | Comments (16)
The Westminster Dog Show
MacKinley
will be wearing his finest and watching the Black Labs get dissed yet again. He's hoping his cousin Claude handles the disappointment with grace and good humor. It's so hard on the young and idealistic.
On the other hand, Miss Boo (the Scottish Terror) could give a rat's ass about any of it.
"Dog shows are for cupcakes" she says.
UPDATE
A real dog won, Praise Jesus.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:28 AM | Comments (7)
September 11th Fantasies Rebuffed
Tim Blair has a link up to an important Popular Mechanics article which puts the lie to many of the September 11th Fantasy lies that abound on the internet; well, it does at least if one is a thinking creature. Go read it, and remind yourself again why we fight.
Personal note: I work in Manhattan, just a few blocks fron the WTC. I saw both planes. I saw everything (except, thank God, I was not close enough to see people jump...but I know of at least one friend of mine who was a jumper) and I have no patience for people who indulge in these thoughts. None.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:35 AM | Comments (2)
February 10, 2005
Great read from Varifrank...
that I agree with. And I agree that it is a culture problem, as the business I work in does much telecommuting, but they are still leery of having you out of their sight/grip/reach, at least on the service side, which I am. They allow our sales (to an degree) and our IT (also, to a degree) people to telecommute, but I would love to see it happen. Shoot, with what I saved in gas, I could afford that 635csi I have been wanting....
Posted by Crusader at 11:11 AM | Comments (9)
Well, Duh!
Like this is any surprise. The real question is, why are they now all of a sudden coming clean? I suspect, that things in Pyongyang may be worse than what we have seen signs of, and this is a warning to stay out. A wounded rattler is still deadly, but I suspect that ol’ Kim is losing the reigns of power, if he has any left. I mean shoot, his mistresses can’t even be protected by him. I am not sure how soundly I would be sleeping in Seoul these days.
Posted by Crusader at 08:49 AM
Reformation or Enlightenment?
Arthur Chrenkoff has a very interesting article on what the Islamic world needs to join the modern world. The big question is can they do it? I don't really know, but I do fear that regardless of the outcome it will be a bloody process.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:45 AM
February 09, 2005
If you must dress as a Star Wars character...
for gosh sakes ban the cameras.
Some of the photo captions are priceless.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:56 AM | Comments (2)
NJ to Tax 401k?
This is outrageous. As my wife so clearly said this morning, "They are taxing our retirement savings to support their profligacy."
Exactly.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:29 AM | Comments (10)
February 08, 2005
More Ward Churchill
Marc Cooper has an excellent post up in which he quotes, hell, reproduces an essay from Swarthmore history professor Timothy Burke. Go read it. While I'm pretty sure I don't agree with their politics I do agree with their analysis (aside from the pathetic shots at Glenn Reynolds) of the problem that Churchill represents for academe.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:56 PM | Comments (5)
Ward Update 2
Powerline is all over this like a cheap corduroy blazer...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:44 PM
Hmm, how'd the Patriots' fans celebrate?
"A local was reported as saying that the man was on medication and should not have been drinking."
Gee, y'think?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:58 PM | Comments (3)
Chair of the Department
There is one common misconception on this whole Ward Churchill brouhaha that I'd like to clear up: being chair of the department is not "the pinnacle of the faculty" as Horowitz alleges. In fact, in many departments no one wants to be chair because the Chair has to deal with all the bureaucratic issues, scheduling issues and faculty issues that arise. To the layman it sounds impressive, but to the academic, the serious academic, it is a lot more work that only succeeds in getting folks (i.e. your colleagues, generally) mad at you.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:48 PM | Comments (6)
Scam Reply Hall of Fame
As promised below, the Watchful Babbler was kind enough to send me his scam-reply-to-end-all-scam replies:
From: worldlotto@os.dk
Received: from localhost.localdomain ([195.41.46.162]) by fepY.post.tele.dk
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION !!!!!!!!!!
World Email Lottery
BURDENSTRAAT 21B,
2053 DS AMSTERDAM,
THE NETHERLANDS
GOVERNMENT ACCREDITED LICENSED LOTTERY PROMOTERS.
Sir / Madam
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Webmasters Global Email Lottery programs held on the 30th June, 2003. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 025-1146-1992-750 with Serial Number 2113-05 Drew lucky numbers 13-15-22-37-39-43 which consequently Won in the 1st category with another lucky winner, you both have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay of US$1,000,000.00 (One Million United States Dollars). US$500,000.00 (Five hundred thousand United States Dollars) for each Lucky winner.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money paid out to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants.
All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 200,000 companies and 30,000,000 individual email addresses and names from all over the world. This promotional program takes place every three-year.
To file for your claims, please contact our FIDUCIAL AGENT in The Netherlands for your Winning claims and Processing E-mail: transatlanticbv@netscape.net. (Contact Officer- PETER OVERMASS) Please, be aware that our Paying Bank will effect Payment Swiftly upon satisfactory report, Verifications and validations provided by our processing Agent that would be designated to your file.
Remember, all winning must be CLAIMED not later than 30th of September 2003. After this date all unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake.
Please note that in other to avoid unnecessary delays and complications remember to quote your reference information in all correspondence. Furthermore, should there be any eventual change of information please inform our Agent as quickly as possible.
Yours truly,
Mr HARRISON VAN DAMME.
Games / Lottery Coordinator.
World Email Lottery
Central Europe Zone.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Van Damme:
I was absolutely overjoyed to find that I had been selected as a winner in your online lottery, and deeply appreciate the "five hundred thousand United States Dollars" I've won. The unsolicited nature of this offer, coming as it does from a company whose address exists in no map of Amsterdam that I can find, leaves me utterly stunned -- all the more so since I do not live in any "Central Europe Zone."
Your timing is exceptionally fortituous, since I have recently agreed to help one MR. AUGUST OSAGIE, the managing director of ALL STATE TRUST BANK OF NIGERIA in a financial matter he is handling.
MR. OSAGIE has graciously decided to list me as next of kin of the late MR. WAHAB DANIEL, whose fortune of SIX MILLION, TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS has gone unclaimed since his tragic death in an auto accident.
All MR. OSAGIE requires is a nominal cash investment for preprocessing fees and the cost of the legal transactions. Following that, I expect to have MR. DANIEL'S fortune transferred to my account shortly, of which I will keep 20%, or $1,246,000. (ONE MILLION TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS U.S.)
Because I believe that idle funds are the tax man's playground, I have decided to put the monies received from MR. OSAGIE to work. To these ends, I have also been in contact with DR. IBRAHIM GEORGE QUATTARA of the FEDERAL MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES in COTE D'IVOIRE.
DR. QUATTARA has accumulated, through the manipulation of OVER INFLATED CONTRACTS, the princely sum of ELEVEN MILLION; FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS (US$11,500,000.00). Because these are not recognized as legitimate funds by his government, DR. QUATTARA needs help moving the money to another country. Of course, there will be a small cash investment needed to cover processing fees, legal transactions, and necessary bribes.
70% will be retained for future claim by DR. QUATTARA AND HIS COLLEAGUES, while I will receive 30% for my aid in this matter. or $3,450,000. (THREE MILLION FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS U.S.)
In a remarkable coincidence, MR. KENNEDY MUYANGA of SIERRA LEONE has appealed for my help. MR. MUYANGA'S FATHER was SPECIAL ADVISOR TO MAJOR JOHNNY PAUL KOROMAH, and MR. MUYANGA now holds a great deal of money from FOREIGN EXCHANGE DIAMOND EARNINGS in a BANK IN DUBAI.
MR. MUYANGA received my name from the United States Trade Mission in that country, my acumen as a businessperson evidently spreading far beyond my nation's borders, and has requested my aid in remitting his earnings to a United States bank.
The BANK IN DUBAI requires a small amount of money as collateral during the funds transfer period. In exchange for helping MR. MUYANGA move US$35MILLION (THIRTY FIVE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS) from DUBAI, I am promised 50% of total holdings, or $17,500,000 (SEVENTEEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS U.S.).
As you can see, your lottery could not have come along at a better time. Using only the winnings from your online lottery, I will make a total profit of SEVENTEEN MILLION DOLLARS U.S.
I invite you to join this exciting business opportunity, which all my prospective business partners assure me is 100% RISK FREE. In exchange for your aid in this matter, I offer 20% of our final holdings, which will amount to $3,500,000 (THREE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS U.S.)
All that you will have to do is contact MR. AUGUST OSAGIE (august_osagie@thepostmaster.net) and provide him with the bank account codes of your World Email Lottery so he can withdraw the five hundred thousand dollars that I have won.
Please ask MR. OSAGIE to contact DR. QUATTARA at (dr_georgequattara@indiatimes.com) or his direct telephone number (008821621127953) to provide direct payment of any necessary monies; then have DR. QUATTARA contact MR. KENNEDY MUYANGA at his e-mail address, (kennedymuyanga7@netscape.net) with his bank codes. Of course, both DR. QUATTARA and MR. MUYANGA will need your financial and banking information so they can transfer the required funds to and from your accounts.
Once the seventeen million dollars has been received from MR. MUYANGA, please contact me to arrange transfer and payment of your portion.
To ensure that all relevant excise, value-added, income, and capital gains taxes are handled properly, I will forward your e-mail to the American Treasury Department and the German government. I believe that they will find your offer as compelling as I do.
Please e-mail me to confirm your interest in this exciting offer. I await your reply.
Yours truly,
The Watchful Babbler
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:53 AM | Comments (3)
Ward Update
Insta has an important update on the Ward Churchill mess, and to me it really cuts to the heart of the issue that I discussed below: should this guy ever have gotten tenure in the first place? If universities, and the folks that work there, want to be taken seriously on 'issues' by the public at large then they really need to take seriously whom they hire. Do they want serious scholars/excellent teachers or do they want to hire folks that satisfy preconceived political notions that they have?
In other words, colleges need to decide what their purpose is. If they want be known where students learn, then they need to tenure good scholars who are excellent teachers. If they want to be known as places where knowledge is pursued, then they need to tenure excellent scholars who are good teachers. Either of these in my mind is the road they should travel, and they are not mutually exclusive, obviously. If they want to be known as politicized, irrelevant institutions they can tenure folks like whom Ward Churchill seems to be.
And let's see where the parents decide to spend their dollars.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:03 AM | Comments (5)
China's New Reactors
But why do I keep hearing in my mind Paging Steve McQueen! Paging Steve McQueen!?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:20 AM | Comments (1)
Why I love that girl
Andrea Harris nails another one.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:49 AM
Hope in Persia?
I have a feeling this is how we are going to see real and lasting change in Iran. Just as much of it was the students the first time around, these brave folks are who are really going to make the theocrats get a few more long grey hairs, and hopefully in the end, stretched necks.
Best line:
-Compatriots may dye their right index finger with blue ink in the now well-known sign of "Right of self-determination."
Posted by Crusader at 08:37 AM | Comments (1)
Currently in my glass 2
Bowmore's 12 year old Islay
(sorry, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it last night)
If you want to find out what Islay is about, this may be a good place to start. A full bodied, peaty whisky that has a nice sweet character. While the peat is strong the sweetness keeps it from being overpowering.
Yum.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:35 AM | Comments (2)
February 07, 2005
Why does Bush like Tootsie rolls? And what this tells us about how Evul he is
This kind of crap shows how low and desperate the MSM has become. Sadly, this sort of phsycobabble rumor mongering is all too common these days.
The fact that Bush is able to read a Hamilton biography, the Bible and a racy novel and enjoy all of them means that, well, he's just like me. When the writer says things like
Bush, who was the hard-drinking, hard-partying president of the jock fraternity at Yale, Delta Kappa Epsilon, is also the father of two partying twins
you know you're in political slanderslam land.
Absolutely disgusting.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 10:26 AM | Comments (13)
Vietpundit
Next time you think things are tough, read his story.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:43 AM
February 06, 2005
Well, at least they have some convictions
Unlike many Hollywood types, I have to at least credit these folks with following through.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:34 PM | Comments (17)
The more I know about people...
the more I love my dog:
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:28 PM | Comments (3)
Academic Freedom
Eugene Volokh has a post up in the midst of all this Ward Churchill hoopla where he defends academic freedom. He defines it as follows:
By academic freedom principles, I mean First Amendment protection for those of us at state-run schools, but also contractual protection and the protection provided by the profession's social norms.
Firstly, it seems to me, everyone has First Amendment protection and that's not even an issue here; there is no talk of jailing Churchill or of throwing him into one of Ashcroft's gulags in North Dakota. One of the cherished tactics of the left is that whenever some non-academic has the temerity to challenge things they've said is to wrap themselves in the Constitution and proclaim that their First Amendment rights are under attack (mind you, these are the very same people who have taken away our First Amendment rights by getting "Hate Speech" legislation passed). Nonsense. Let's review the First Amendment, shall we?
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
It says Congress. There's nothing in there that can possibly be construed as to mean "my boss can't fire me if I act like a walking talking rectum." You have the right to say whatever you like without fear of retribution from the government, no doubt, and that's how it should be. However, your fellow citizens also have that right, and the things they can say include "you're fired."
So in no way, shape or form is this a First Amendment issue.
So why do I agree that Churchill should not lose his job over what he wrote?
Let's look again at what Eugene wrote:
By academic freedom principles, I mean First Amendment protection for those of us at state-run schools, but also contractual protection and the protection provided by the profession's social norms.
He makes a distinction between state-run and private schools, and it's an important one: someone at North Jersey State College should not be fired for saying "Religion is a bunch of hooey" but clearly if that person taught at North Jersey Seminary the school would be perfectly justified in canning them.
As I said, professors already have the 1stA (I'm getting tired of typing "First Amendment") protection we all have, in fact they have more; well, actually we, the people, have less 1stA protection, for while as far as professors are concerned
...(i)f it weren't for academic freedom, we might face serious retaliation for speech — even outside-the-classroom, on-blog speech — that our colleagues claims creates a "hostile learning environment" for students, supposedly constitutes "hate speech" (a vague and broad category), supposedly discredits the institution in the eyes of this or that group, and so on.
Those of us in the 'general' population are quite liable to a number of criminal statutes for any of the above (And I think that that is an affront to our liberty and a gross violation of our freedom which should be corrected immediately...but that's a topic for another time).
So it's really an issue of contractual protection, not 1stA, and "the protection provided by the profession's social norms." Earlier, Eugene makes his most compelling case for Academic Freedom, which I agree with:
But university professors are supposed to do a good job by saying what they think is right, even when that's offensive or alienating to people. Such an ability to express highly controversial views, even views that many people find deeply offensive, is critical for the effective functioning of universities as institutions. If university professors know that expressing controversial views about the war effort, about racial differences, about sex or sexual orientation, and so on will get them fired, then effective scholarship and public debate about these issues would be very much stifled. A "don't offend the customers" or "if it's controversial, don't say it" approach may be perfectly sensible for many kinds of businesses or even government agencies. But it would be awful for universities.
No, simply for what he said Churchill should not lose his job, and nor should we refrain from roundly criticizing him, for our rights are every bit as deserving as his. He may very well end up losing his job if it turns out that he mis-represented his ethnicity during his hiring; if this leads universities to think long and hard about what criteria they use to grant tenure all the better, especially if it leads universities to curb rewarding weak candidates for their ancestry instead of their teaching abilities and/or scholarship. But for right now they deserve to be stuck with him.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:13 PM | Comments (17)
February 05, 2005
Continuing with our "Fun Named Hootch" theme
Just a wee dram before dinner
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:05 PM | Comments (7)
Currently in my glass
I'm finishing off a bottle of "Casa Lapostolle" 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon Raphael Valley, Chile which was given to us by some friends. While I admit that part of this wine's appeal to me is the name (I said to my bride "Honey, I'm going postal!") as I pulled the bottle out of the cabinet, it has a lot of structure and fruit. It may in fact be too tannic for some folks. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it contains some cabernet franc, although the label makes no mention of it. All in all, perfectly decent if you like a full-bodied red, and while mine was *ahem* free, Chilean wines are always good values.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 04:40 PM
Boy, if there's one thing I'm a sucker for...
It's a "100 present risk free transaction"
Quote
From: xxxxxx.com
Subject: FROM MAMI REPLY
Date: February 5, 2005 12:28:12 PM EST
To: mrbingley.com
Reply-To: xxxxxxx@gmail.com
Hello Drea,
I know that Strange thing happen this day from internet world but I believe there are still good ones around,I hope you belong to the group of real ones willing to look at feelings and render assistance where necessary
I got your contact through a reliable source in my search for a foreign partner to assist me
in my business, my father was the chairman of sierra leonine Mining Corporation, who was
massacred by president Tijuana kebab force in their struggle to reinstate him back power.I
will be so glad if you can allow me and lead me to the right channel towards your assistance
to my situation now.I will make my proposal well known if I am given the opportunity.
I would like to use this opportunity to introduce myself to you. Well I am Mami Ngom
from sierra leonine the Daughter of Col Kagame Ngom.
My brother and I are presently in Senegal dakar, since the death of our father, and the
misery behind his death. Before the death of my father some years ago he disclosed to me
where he deposited some consignment in a neighboring country in Senegal West Africa. And my
father handed over the document regarding this consignment to me. He keeps this consignment
under a security company concealed in a trunk box as diamond in their vault is $10.5 million
[USA]. But only declared to the company as diamond and due to previous transaction of
depositing diamonds in the past by my late father it was accepted without any check up.
This consignment has been successfully moved to a safe fiduciary in Europe. I am seeking
your assistance because my father has declare the record with the company stating that his
foreign partner shall be the authorized person to make claim on this consignment on my
behalf, because of the position in the government on witch no name was given by my father as
his foreign partner.
To this effect, I request to make the beneficiary of his consignment in your name as foreign
partiner to claim this consignment.
For your assistance, room is open for negotiations. This is 100 present risk free
transaction as my father deposited this valuable as a personal belonging .in this situation
every process to completely move this valuable may not exceed [5] working days, if your
co-operation to asset is sortie shall be very grateful to hear from you, all documents
concerning this are intact with me, I decided to trust you because I am at a crossroad and
have this feeling we could work this out for our mutual benefit. Reach me via my aemail
xxxxxxxx@gmail.com
Best regard
Mami
Unquote
Dang...what was his "aemail" address again?
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:39 PM | Comments (13)
As I Was Saying...
Justin Katz provides yet another excellent example of what I was refering to below, the self-created cult of the 'expert', the all-consuming fervent belief that your knowledge equates to your Right and Goodness.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 01:10 PM
Halo
Rachel has a post on the lure of Halo over the SOTU speech. I agree with her except for one point: I prefer Halo to Halo2. Sure, the levels got repetitive after a while, but it was so darn exciting, a feeling that is missing in all the hype about Halo2; it seems to me to be more Halo 1.2 rather than a great leap forward.
Still fun though; my daughter gleefully enjoys sticking plasma grenades to my back when we're playing coöperative..."Oops! Sorry Daddy!" (snicker-snicker)
heh.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:19 AM | Comments (1)
February 04, 2005
Sorry
I'm playing around with the code. I'm just pasting things in and seeing what pops up...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 11:22 PM | Comments (3)
yum
That about covers tonight
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:56 PM | Comments (16)
Academedia
A little while ago Sheila started a wonderful discussion on Robert Conquest's book The Great Terror: A Reassessment (yeah, yeah, I know; big shock there, Sheila starting a great discussion. Work with me here.). My lovely bride, after only the slightest of hints on my part, was kind enough to get me the book for my birthday, and I took it with me to Brazil to read on the flight and during the various amounts of 'downtime' that one always has on business trips, especially when one is travelling alone.
Brief aside: find the geek in the following scene...Rio de Janeiro, middle of the summer. You're poolside at the swankest hotel in Copacabana. Your eyes drink in the tanned twenty-something ladies frollicking in their tangas (not that, technically speaking, there's all that much that can accurately be described as being in a tanga), the corpulent sixty-year-old men with their tanned twenty-something ladies purring about in their tangas, the tanned slim men lounging together in their tangas, and the pasty white fellow sitting in his LL Bean swim trunks under a large umbrella with a caipirinha in one hand and The Great Terror in the other...
Sigh.
One point that Conquest brings out again and again is how completely ill equiped the intellectuals are to deal with the real world, with Stalin's world. Oh, in realms of theory he is hopelessly outclassed, and both he and they know it, and they revel in rubbing his nose in the fact, they, the political scientists who study the science of history, and debate the science of marxism and the science of economics. Towering intellects who can look back and make brilliant predictions about things in the past, who can expound dense, complicated treatises on matters of arcane yore with such confidence and total conviction of right...by god they know!
But in the realm of...the realm, it is he, Stalin, that theological school dropout from Tbilsi, who brilliantly plays their egos off against one another until he can quite literally liquidate every last one of them.
And how often have we seen this tale repeated? These extremely intelligent people, who can spin brilliant theories that dazzle the mind with their webs of intricacies; people with enormous egos who constantly deride those of less intelligence...ah, they are constantly consumed by their "lessers," and it drives them to new heights of foam-flecked hyperbole.
Look at the pages of the NYT, at 60 Minutes, at Teryy MacAuliffe and his merry band at the DNC, at the BBC; look at the Ivory Tower of Theory's latest wunderkind Ward Churchill. Completely out of touch and unable to cope with, let alone understand, the real world that the rest of us live in; full of immense bile and venom that the 'stupid' people do not immediately recognize the divine and perfect nature of their intellects and instantly ascribe all power and authority unto them.
And completely unable to fathom how a fella who espouses no multi-syllabic ideas, who doesn't subscribe to the cult of obfuscation (let alone Newsweek), is able to eat them for lunch.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:00 PM | Comments (5)
Blech. Just Blech.
This is just so ick.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 12:48 PM | Comments (8)
First Ossie, then Max and now...
It's almost all too much to bear.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 12:19 PM | Comments (3)
Of Iraq, Athens, and US
So died these men as became Athenians. You, their survivors, must determine to have as unfaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray that it may have a happier issue. And not contented with ideas derived only from words of the advantages which are bound up with the defence of your country, though these would furnish a valuable text to a speaker even before an audience so alive to them as the present, you must yourselves realize the power of Athens, and feed your eyes upon her from day to day, till love of her fills your hearts; and then, when all her greatness shall break upon you, you must reflect that it was by courage, sense of duty, and a keen feeling of honour in action that men were enabled to win all this, and that no personal failure in an enterprise could make them consent to deprive their country of their valour, but they laid it at her feet as the most glorious contribution that they could offer.
Posted by Crusader at 09:02 AM
Martha's Apprentice
Should I wear my striped pantsuit to the interview?
*THS informed me that in my ignorance I originally wrote "stripped" as opposed to the correct "striped". Frankly, I think a compelling argument can be made for either...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 08:15 AM | Comments (7)
February 03, 2005
Flyin' Down to Rio
So I'm in Rio last week, waiting in the lobby of the Copacabana Palace Hotel to be picked up by my friend (of Tylenol fame). We were going out to dinner at Gero in Ipanema, which is currently 'the' italian restaurant in Rio (gawd, I love business trips and expense accounts!). Anyhow, as I'm waiting there, I notice two slightly dumpy, paunch-endowed guys in their late 50s/early 60s waiting for a cab. Let's call them Shorty and his best bud Tubby. You know the type. The ones with the neon signs floating in the air above their heads flashing "GRINGO! GRINGO!"
Hell, I'm a gringo, but when you're overseas you sometimes run into folks who make all those stereotypes true. My friend picked me up and we went off to Ipanema to eat. We get to the restaurant and decide to sit at the bar for awhile and await the other fellow who was supposed to meet us. We have a few drinks and a lot of laughs, and who should walk in but my two gringos. The maitre d' seats them at a table for four, and makes a comment about the two long stemmed roses one of them (Shorty) is carrying. "They're for the two beautiful ladies who will be joining us" says Shorty, and my heart sinks, for I know that I am soon to be mortified by my, and it pains me to say it, fellow gringos.
My friend and I have another drink, decide the fellow we were waiting for wasn't coming, and we get seated a few tables away from THEM. I'm facing the door, and he's facing THEM. He soon gives me a strange look because my jaw has dropped open, as, since I'm looking at the door I can see that their hookers have arrived. We're talking top-dollar here folks. A blonde and a brunette; the blonde shorter and amply proportioned, the brunette tall, striking, and wearing a mini-skirt that extended all the way down to...well, I guess it went below her waist, but not by much. There was an audible 'crack' in the restaurant as every head snapped to take the scene in...the gringos...the hookers.
I just thought, you know, well, ick. Here we are in the swankest place in Rio, and you're doing this. I really wished I had a camera to record all the boozing and carousing that proceeded to occur; the hookers were no dummies, they were getting these guys sloshed to make the rest of their night more enjoyable...
You ever have one of those moments in your life where you really really REALLY wished that you had the requisite-sized cajones to say something? I had one of those moments the next night, when I got on the plane in Rio to fly back home, and there sat Shorty and Tubby. Lordy-lordy how I wanted to go up to them and ask in a loud voice "So! How was dinner?"
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:50 PM | Comments (6)
Pssst! Hey little girl...want some Bayer?
My lovely and talented bride is a university professor (and no, none of her brilliance has rubbed off on me). One of her cardinal rules is that a student's cell phone is only allowed to ring if someone has died; a reasonable prohibition given the complete breakdown of any semblence of decorum in their use these days.
So it was a bit of an attention grabber the other day in "Sixteenth Century Sonnet Writers, And The STDs They Died Of" (ENGLIT208) when her phone rang...
It was the middle school nurse, calling about our daughter who evidently wasn't feeling well. Nothing at all life-threatening, mind you, but the kind of thing that a couple of aspirin (or 60 Tylenol Flu Caplets) would most likely have made tolerable.
Except the nurse is not allowed to give them to her. Not at all. Not without prior written consent. Please note that the nurse speaking to my wife on the phone does not constitute prior written consent.
Oh, and the school system has a name for kids whose parents think they're smart and give the kids a couple Anacin to keep in their pockets and take if they don't feel good. These kids are called "pushers."
Yes, the only way for a kid to get an aspirin in school these days is for the parents to give a bottle (hermetically sealed against all known forms of nuclear attack) of them to the nurse, along with a notarized document stating the specific instances where under the afore mentioned nurse of the first part may, subject to the relative lunar positionings of the second part, dispense such controlled and dangerous substances to the party of the parents' parts.
Amazing, really.
Especially when one considers that, in the State of New Jersey, while my daughter may need my written permission to have an aspirin, she, as a well-under 18 year old person, may get an abortion at any time without any notification to her parents at all.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 05:25 PM | Comments (15)
Tylenol...that evil controlled substance
I recently went down to Brazil for a business trip. A friend there asked me to bring him some Tylenol Flu capsules, which for some odd reason he couldn't find there. Please note that one can buy Codeine over-the-counter in Brazil (and believe me, I have), but evidently not Tylenol...
Anyhow, I mosied to the local chain pharmacy to pick up a few boxes, and was confronted by "Daytime" and "Nighttime" formulas. Argh. So I took 2 boxes of Day and 1 of Night, just to cover all the bases. When I handed them to the clerk, she told me that she wasn't allowed to sell me three boxes...
"Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry, but we're not allowed to sell more than two boxes, because you might OD on it."
"Ma'am, there are a helluva lot of things I'm gonna OD on long before I get desperate enough to pop 30 Tylenols."
"I know; I think it's retarded, but I have to get the manager to override the resgister to let me ring it up."
So over came the pasty-faced manager, who mumbled something about it being "the law" as he put his VERY SPECIAL KEY OF GREAT IMPORTANCE into the register, but I doubt that even a "retarded" (if I may quote the clerk) state like New Jersey would have such a rule; I'm more inclined to think it's some Nervous Nelly corporate policy.
Mind you, NJ did outlaw over-easy eggs for awhile...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 09:10 AM | Comments (46)
Eeeek! Let a feller get dressed before you peek!
Yes, well we seem to be up and running, don't we? Well, once we get some content we'll let you know.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:32 AM | Comments (8)