Thursday, November 29, 2007

JJ's favorite Birkenstocker

In a Burkean mood, Alan Alda will wax poetic on the mysteries of Math.

AI's Compatriot Opines on Youthful Fountain of Timeless Europa


AI and the rest: this pretty damned good. Check out the audio.
~mft

Ted Turner's 26,300-acre purchase, and the Paranoia that follows...

...yet another one. It has the Nebraskans and ranchers across the plains a bit concerned (even paranoid): why does Turner need 2 million acres?

Ranchers have a lot of time to think (not much to watching cattle graze).

Interesting conspiracy theories (keep in mind, they are conspiracy theories).

Note: the Ogalala Aquifer (mentioned in the article) -- stretching from southern South Dakota through to Texas -- is one of the reasons Americans have such an abundance of food.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

JJ bites dog

go back to russia?

Birkenstocked Burkeans

Great title for a book -- sounds like a new Grand Unified Theory. The author is a "crunchy con" from environs of Baton Rouge, and a convert to the true blue Eastern Orthodoxy. Way to go, man!

Where is Budapest?

Click on the video button to find out.

Duhhh...

Coanda rulz!!

Hey, JJ, was it you who posted that last comment there?

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

How others see us/FCP planets in conjunction


Pepe sent me this email as a surrogate post:


If there ever was a perfect fcp story, this is it: terrorists and transvestites -the dream right-wing nut straw man.


I thought it funny enough, but going to my Taranto fix today, I see the sorry story gets a nice treatment (in color):



Same-sex marriage has come to Iraq, CNN reports:

Soldiers manning a checkpoint near Baghdad stopped a wedding convoy to find that the purported bride and groom were wanted terror suspects, an Iraqi Defense Ministry official said Monday. . . .

The soldiers became suspicious of the convoy because its members--save the "bride"--were all male and because one of the cars in the convoy did not heed orders to stop, the official said.


But the bride was male as well:

Upon inspecting the convoy, soldiers found a stubbly-faced man, Haider al-Bahadli, decked out in a white bride's dress and veil.

Bahadli was wanted on terror-related charges, as was his groom, Abbas al-Dobbi, the official said.



This is only an anecdote, though; it would be irresponsible and homophobic to conclude that there is a link between same-sex marriage and terrorism.



So Pepe could have been feeding Taranto all this time!

And now the punchline: Look down at Taranto's thanks...

[I put a pic of FCPers in (imaginary) action, meant to give the vapors to Pepe. Powww! AI]

Ten Little Native-Americans

Would this title pass muster with GPH (the "diversity training company")?

Why Orwell Will Always Matter

An MFT response below to this piece by John Dolan on Orwell and Hitchens entitled, "Big Brothers" (it's probably better to first read the Dolan piece and then my response below):

Why Orwell Will Always Matter

Dolan descends into the pit-fall that so many American Conservatives and Liberals continuously argue over: is Hitchens a Liberal or a Conservative? Of course, only a smart person would stay out of THAT debate, and choose to chat with those who think before speaking.

Dolan bemoans Hitchens and Orwell for their lack of empathy, and accuses Orwell of being an "Imperialist apologizer," and then lambasts Hitchens for being upset -- and hence un-empathetic -- towards those that kill in the name of god. (Using this model -- a sort of feigned anthropological study -- one might accuse Dolan of being un-empathetic towards Hitchens and Orwell.) Dolan's notion of Hate isn't very self-reflective, though. He incorrectly accuses Hitchens and Orwell as having hate-driven motives, but what does he mean by "hate." It's these, to use the cliche, broad brush-strokes and generalizations that contribute to Dolan's un-scholarly interpretation of Orwell.

He doesn't acknowledge Orwell's intellectual honesty about who writers actually are. At the outset of Why I Write, Orwell is all-too upfront about writers (himself included) as being lazy, at least when it comes to physical labor. Of course, a philologist or even an average writer needs to be thinking about what words they are using instead of moving bricks -- or doing whatever it is physical laborers do. Who wants to read lazy, un-focused, un-guided writing? Aren't there enough problems in the world already? Why compound them further with bad prose.

Orwell correctly pointed out the problem with many Intellectuals who continued to support the Pacifist/Passive cause (Ghandi included) during the Second World War, even as the Luftwaffe continued to drop Nazi bombs on Britain -- both military and civilian targets (TOTAL WAR, Baby!). What Dolan might be alluding to is suspiciously tainted with the Bill Maher-isms of our day: if it isn't Liberal, then it's George W. Bush! Using this same "theoretical" model (moreso a bad political polemic), Dolan could make a case that David Hume was both a Catholic Tory, and/or the next week, a Protestant Whig (Hume was despised by both). It would be determined by the particular political fevor of the day rather than what Hume actually contributed to Empiricism, History, and Philosophy.

In addition to all of this, when are we going to be able to stop reading about the "Imperialist European Colonizers!" thesis? For some reason it's still trendy, but it's also so beaten to death. It started at least as early as the beginning of the 20th-century (for more understandable reasons), and was furthered by graduate students in the 1960s and '70s. Today it's just an incantation ladened with too much political baggage to even begin deconstructing. Could Dolan think of something else to say, perhaps something a bit more original, or even nuanced?

And an explanation as to why Orwell may have chosen the name "O'Brien" (Dolan uses this as evidence of Orwell's "anti-Irishness") as the apparatchik-interrogator in 1984 could have had something to do with the Irish revolutionaries who were seeking "Independence," and willing to recieve funding from Moscow back in the day, and up through the 1980s. Think of that paradox when some Middle American starts talking about "Irish Independence!" during St. Patrick's Day -- the same Americas who tell people from Ireland, "Oh, I'm Irish too!" True Hibernians (meaning, they are actually from Ireland) typically respond to that statement with, "What a right wanker..."

It'd be interesting to read a Hitchens or a Jeffrey Meyers response to this Dolan piece.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Sarko's nouvelle esquisse



Pas mal, mousieur le president...
[C'mon, JJ, this really requires a pic! --AI]
[We are zee famlee blogue, mon ami. We need zee leetle chat.]

Koppel on the Chinese

Since Pat told us America is collapsing, this story or blog probably isn't that important anymore. Nonetheless, Ted Koppel says Washington D.C. needs to take a more stern approach when dealing with the Chinese.

"Satisficing," as in "satisfying" enough to "suffice"

JJ, according to this theoretical extension of the Max Planck Intellectual Tradition, Pat Buchanan should stay off his meds and listen to the voices.

Of course, I'll probably be in Mongolia when America implodes. Any last words you guys want me to take with and preserve?

Jihaaaaaaddd!!

...and meanwhile, famous liar Tawana Brawley has changed her surname. Guess what it is now!

Appetizing Article

...here's a sample of the first course: Fearnley-Whittingstall’s occasional efforts to explain butchery, like boning a leg of lamb (encouraging his readers not to bother with a professional but to do the “hatchet job yourself—it’s quite easy to improvise”), reveal a tolerance for chaos (“It’s a bit tricky to explain”) that may be without precedent among people who make a living from preparing food.

And since I've started a bit of dialog on Mongolia, here's the latest report regarding how they prepare steaks (taken direct from a friend who e-mailed me from Ulaan Bataar):

"Steak... has never been part of the Mongol diet. They learned from the Germans or some other fascists, who cook it beyond well-done to badly-done - the steak comes out on a burning hot skillet and continues to cook and stiffen in front of your outraged eyes. Like a Jew. I was recently treated to beers and one of these "steaks." ...She [Mongol friend] asked me if it was good. I lied. It took me 45 minutes to eat. The fillet of beef is readily available here - the WHOLE long fillet, none of that diminutive mignon. You go to the market and pick out your fillet, they cut to size by the weight you specify, you take it home and you cut it up yourself into nice, plump medallions. In Mongol the filet's called "golnii mah"
meaning "central meat" or "important meat". It is grass-fed. It could be aged. We can cook some steaks when you come - buy the fillet, dry-age the bugger, cut it into mignons, and fry it up. The reason I don't suggest a T-bone or other cut is because I wouldn't know how to find it and cut it out. I'll give this a try before you come. I often crave a good bloody steak."

The Dismal Science and the Invisible Hand

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Another long, hot winter in the land of egalité

Fire and brimstone from Pat


Has he gone off his meds, again? "To avert a second Cold War, the United States should “get out of Russia’s space and get out of Russia’s face,” and shut down all U.S. bases on the soil of the former Soviet Union." Hmmm.... This guy used to write for Nixon & Reagan?

And AA wanted us to vote for Ted's Butt-boy Kerry

mft's travel request from FCP'ers...




You gentlemen and saucy bastards travel a bit more than I do, or have traveled a bit more than I. With that said, if you have any pointers for guiding myself through the chaos of Beijing (PEK) or Seoul (ICN) or Ulaan Bataar (ULN) inter-national ports of air, give it up.

I leave LAX for Beijing on 01/09/2008, and arrive in Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia, on 01/10/08, just before midnight. I should be there almost a month before my return on 02/03/08.

Much obliged for any info.

~mft

Culinary Contradictions...

...or, just eat what you enjoy and mind your own business, damnit.

Get this: Clay Jenkinson, a man who on the upper Plains is considered a Liberal, defends what a Parisian Pepe despises: French dressing (I don't mind French dressing, but they might consider altering the name).


Yet to counter this defense of the red sweet and sour, Clay returns to his senses and also defends the right of Hooters to exist. Of course, after giving the obligatory, "The exploitation of women in this Capitalist culture is horrible!"

(Note: to counter this, mft posted some photos of nice Hooters girls to let FCP'ers decide who's being exploited in this situation.)

Fire and Brimstone from a Fruity Anglican

Becks and Croats still together!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Another linguistic note!


Tasty, both!

Linguistic note

In Russian, the word chess translates to shakhmaty (in Persian). Literally this means "kill the king." I wonder why Putin has a problem with Kasparov...

Heartwarming Story

I'll also add Aviation Week to the sidebar. That was my favorite magazine while I was in high school, when AA was reading Wittgenstein, AI was reading LeRay, MFT was reading Rousseau, and Pepe was reading Verlaine.

Good Triumphs over Evil


OK, you boys, figger out which blue fruit county Austin's in and which deep red one College Station is in.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Audi Nuntios Latinos per interrete

New to the sidebar.

Sobering appraisal of the BBC and its readership

A gleeful NYTimes titler

Dem Aristos (and their Serfs) contra the Rep(rehensible) Bourgeoisie



The same old Euro story finds a New Land. Here are two early '70s photos of Aristo Asses contra a Bourgie Elephant.

Mountain Serenade boffs Beckham



"Tony Henry belted out a version of the Croat anthem before the 80,000 crowd, but made a blunder at the end.

He should have sung 'Mila kuda si planina' (which roughly means 'You know my dear how we love your mountains').

But he instead sang 'Mila kura si planina' which can be interpreted as 'My dear, my penis is a mountain.' "

The Anthropic Principle Gone Wild



The Devil's Dictionary should use this article as an illustration of "Astroporn"

Get back to work!

Girls Gone Wild!

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Stupid Americans Imposing their "Culture"


Happy Thanksgiving, indeed.
[This requires a pic of Pepe, skulking in his tent. -- AI]

Call Sven-Goran Ericsson back...

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Gendered Coffee in Boston?


Abstract:

...We provide evidence from a field study of wait times in Boston-area coffee shops that suggests that female customers wait an average of 20 seconds longer for their orders than do male customers even when controlling for gender differences in orders. We find that this differential in wait times is inverse to the proportion of employees whore are female and directly related to how busy the coffee shop is at the time of the order. The supports the conclusion that the observed differential is driven at least in part by employee animus and/or statistical discrimination rather than unobserved heterogeneity in the purchasing behavior of female customers."


Or, MFT's 1st suggestion: maybe the male coffee shop baristas are mostly gay, and perhaps are likely to snub women over men.

Or, MFT's 2nd suggestion: maybe the male coffee shop baristas are hetero, and simply keeping the women around for another 20 seconds -- you know, to make sure they are properly serviced.
[This requires a pic & extra tags -- AI]

A lot of nontrivial Bocksteins in SO(12)


But there's a problem with the Poincare' duality. What gives, AI?

The Ripper does a Lubos Job. Lisi Garrotted




The Pot gets Cracked

The beat goes on

Is this kerfuffle gonna ever end?

Lubos Classifies Lisi: Surfer Dude Einstein meets The Ripper


First, the Pot

Monday, November 19, 2007

JJ See AI Run. AI Run Good. MFT Laugh and Chase AA With a Carving Knife....




Komrads, the critics who rant have got us pegged. It was, after all, Elementary, my dear Watson.

Shuddup ringtone


If he can stick to it, will it make people stop using their #@#@%!! cell phones so much?

mft's McDonald's breakfast burrito


Developments at McDonald's, on Main St., Bismarck, November 19, 2007: this morning I stopped at McDonald's. I wanted almost an entire #10 (Number Ten), but told the gray haired lady behind the till that I just wanted one breakfast burrito, not two. She gave a constipated look, slightly frustrated, and then while shaking her head said, "I can't do that unless I ring it up separate..." Her look almost suggested, "I can't serve you here, son." I said, "Okay. Ring it up separate." Once punched in, the damn meal came out to be $.20 more than if I would have gotten the original meal with two burritos. I retracted and said, "Okay, I'll just get the meal as it appears." She again was unimpressed. I told her I didn't mean to mess up the social order so drastically. Her raised eyebrow suggested that she was aware of the smart-ass she was serving.

Just yesterday I told an acquaintance that humans get pissed when there is deviation from the norm. Consistency equals expectations, and when expectations aren't met, there is disorder: it's mathematics. We get pissed when we see 2 + 2 = 5. We need fours. There was much disorder at McDonald's today: there were fives rather than fours. I quickly returned to standard algebra, to the equation: 2 + 2 = 4.

Once at the office I unfurled the wrapper, devoured one breakfast burrito, and threw the other away. Back to standard math, a loss of twenty cents, but now I know how to pull another important social lever so as to avoid constipated looks from blue-haired women working the till at McDonald's.

[This requires a pic; you guys may add a caption. -- AI
Classic pic, AI. I knew it needed something.]

Dennis the Menace


Wants to close down Ft. Benning. But he supports the troops!

Nontrivial Bocksteins in SO(7)


Pretty, huh? All done in Mathematica. Can go to big SO(n)s whenever you want, boys.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Zebra-Mussel Cappucino! Hurray!

And much more to be thankful for, I'm sure. When it is found, I'll tell ya.

Natalie Portman on Ethics


"I'm not convinced about marriage. Divorce is so easy, and that fact that gay people are not allowed to marry takes much of the meaning out of it. Committing yourself to one person is sacred."

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Outstanding Fake Ad

Gibbon and Football

But the superior merit of Agricola soon occasioned his
removal from the government of Britain; and forever disappointed
this rational, though extensive scheme of conquest. Before his
departure, the prudent general had provided for security as well
as for dominion. He had observed, that the island is almost
divided into two unequal parts by the opposite gulfs, or, as they
are now called, the Friths
[sic] of Scotland. Across the narrow
interval of about forty miles, he had drawn a line of military
stations, which was afterwards fortified, in the reign of
Antoninus Pius, by a turf rampart, erected on foundations of
stone. This wall of Antoninus, at a small distance beyond the
modern cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, was fixed as the limit of
the Roman province. The native Caledonians preserved, in the
northern extremity of the island, their wild independence, for
which they were not less indebted to their poverty than to their
valor. Their incursions were frequently repelled and chastised;
but their country was never subdued. The masters of the
fairest and most wealthy climates of the globe turned with
contempt from gloomy hills, assailed by the winter tempest, from
lakes concealed in a blue mist, and from cold and lonely heaths,
over which the deer of the forest were chased by a troop of naked
barbarians.


It's all here.

Israel doing our work for us again?

Reminds me of the Blues Brothers quote by the "Illinois Nazis," but backwards, of course.

If they'd been collecting lip-balm for cocksuckers...

Wonderful Ads

ACLU! Where are you when the World needs you?

Dakota War on Deer...


Yup, deer hunting season opened about 8 days ago. I was out in the countryside when it did. A group of hunters drove up to where a co-worker and I were sitting, and my first instinct when they approached was to throw my hands in the air and say, "We're friendlies!" And I just had some venison sausage last night. Pretty good stuff.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Neocon alert!

Planet Pepe is not amused when one of the faithful deviates even by an inch from the Party Line. How do you say fatwah in San Francisco?

Mullahs nix Garcia Marquez

Planet Pepe is not amused. Let them spend 100 years in solitude.

PRAISE BE TO HOOTERS!


Now they have to try and get beyond the Right Reverends of Bismarck. It shouldn't be *hard*, though: afterall, it's a family restaurant...

Note: check the blog responses below this article. I posted.

~mft

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Jimi Hendrix special

At $1,500, it's a steal.

post-mortem: Pint-sized Jewish fireplug, "Nobody calls my dog a faggot!"

Family tree?

That's a new one -- yet another step down the slippery slope greased by the Grinches of this world.

...the latest from FCP's friend, Cpt. Sam Cook...

It's nice to contextualize these singular troop updates with the broader themes that are being reported by the Press Establishment. Even nicer when they are folks we know. In Sam's words, within the first post.


Crazy Horse Troop FCP link.

Rudy gets a NoDak, "Oh-Yeah, You Betcha!"

I know Rudy is no McCain, AI, but at least still a Republican, eh?

Note the pic as The Meeting of the Mayors: Rudy of NYC, and Warford of Bismarck, N.D. I've met the latter a time or two, when I was a young and impressionable highschool student who volunteered from time to time at the North Dakota Republican Party HQ. Reality kicked in, though, and I got myself away from all that political racket. Go Rudy.

Canuckian policemen

Get tough on Polack peons. I guess they can't do much about anyone else, except perhaps give huge tickets to AA for expired subway tickets. So may as well zap disoriented travellers, right?

AA's Heartthrob

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Babes from Planet Pepe

All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

Got Humanities?

Harold Bloom on the Western Canon...

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Japan on the Real Meaning of Christmas...

...a Christmas tree with 400 diamonds for a cool 1.8 million dollars...

If you really love your family, you'll get two.

Pretty decent stuff, fellahs... (an mft recommend)

Kind of Interesting Note...


Just a quick note: here's my bro-in-law getting his promotion to 1st Sgt., just this past week or so. Nice work. Another reason for FCP'ers (sans Pepe) to raise a pint. Here's to the Sarge, America's MP's, and the other fine men and women bringing the hurt to religious fanatics the world over.

~mft

always the brightest and best...

Monday, November 12, 2007

Hillary's New NSC Chief

A Question for the AI, JJ Cabal


Hey, guys, when are you going to grace us with detailed and factually correct reports on Steyn's talk? It wasn't at a Masonic Lodge, was it? If you don't, then I'm gonna have to trust reliable Hubbo news-sources, especially the kind that get reborn of fire. It'll make a Pepe out of me. [This calls for a pic of JJ, the way he would look if he were to wear a coat, and have mucho dinero. -- AI]

Sioux City Stalinist Earns His Radiant Future



To win a Putin Prize you know that, unlike the Nobel, it's guaranteed you actually deserved it.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

A Syrian [of all people} Speaks Truth to Clerical Power. Clerical Power Strikes Back.

Wow. Never did I think to hear a Syrian on Al Jazeera daring to speak that way. Long may he Live.
That smile on the Cleric's face when he asked "just who do you mean by those Bedouins?", only the leftist cadres here in Cascadia would not immediately get the menace in that.

They blow themselves up too!

automatically in front of the synagogue.

Paduan Wags at it Again

The local mosque needs replacement so the locals 'blessed' the site on which it is planned by walking a leashed pig on it for awhile yesterday. I must say that I am not so fervently opposed...

Flanders fields

On Armistice Day, here's a little poem, by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Eat your heart out, Pepe


The surge is working, says the Beeb. There is no joy left in the Big Easy.

NH survey

Questions: (1) How about Iran, and (2) How about "wot"? Here are the answers we get from the Land of Pepe: (1) No nukes, no threat, (2) Build relationships to Muslim states. Lovely, just lovely.

Friday, November 09, 2007

Steynesque Sweden

The multiculti Gettysburg Address

Anyone wants to take a whack at what it would sound like, if, say, Pepe were to rewrite it?

Crazy Horse Troop...


Captain Sam Cook (West Point graduate and younger brother to a mutual friend of AA and MFT) has a blog for his C Troop, 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (I believe that was Patton's outfit, too).

So far as I know, upon his return from this upcoming tour in Iraq (his 4th or 5th I believe), Sam plans on pursuing his Ph.D in history, perhaps at AI's alma matter. Just passing along the blog. Here's to C Troop (thanks for the excuse to raise yet another pint, Sam).

One too many Stone IPAs?

Thursday, November 08, 2007

The Chinese are coming!

On Russian carriers. Don't worry, be happy, says JJ.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

It was all a misunderstanding

Mr. Sarkozy, calling France’s opposition to the American-led war in Iraq “a disagreement,” said: “I never quite understood why we had to fight with the United States. I never quite got it.”

Monday, November 05, 2007

Britney and Paris Wannabes: Trickle Down or Up?

I can't put words to it, but there's just something about this photo that says, ah, what? Tolstoy would grope for the Truth of it with words.

Another question: are these women emulating Britney, Paris and Lindsey Lohan? Or is the Hollywood Ho-Bag trio merely emulating these drunken women?

These are the important questions of our time...

Sidenote: I don't know when I'll be around a computer within the next week and a half, but JJ and AI have to pony up and give us a report on The Steyn Lectures.

Saving Robin's Wood...


Saving the forest and myth of that renowned economic redistributionist...

Yeah, right

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Where's the punkabilly?

Draft Kucinich!

The MSM caught the Prince of Darkness in a typo.

Coanda rulz!

SriLankan Airlines insisted there was no danger in flying without a [5 ft] wing tip. It added: "They are purely for aerodynamics and to keep fuel costs to a minimum. There is no impact on safety at all. Safety is our absolute priority."

Hey, Coanda said that after the very first flight with a jet engine. Who cares about a little chunck of fuselage missing? Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

Fruity Theatre Critic on board wiith Iran


Talk about an Uncle Tom.

Mag Anomaly and the Gap


Meli claimed to see a correlation between a geomag survey and TPM Barnett's zones. We sent him the letter I put in as comment 1. We'll see if he's a good sport about it. He got into a really vicious spit fight with Steyn a while back as you recall. BTW, I think the Mag chart looks like a van Gogh.