Wednesday, July 13, 2005British wit
Some absolutely brilliant reactions to the London bombings rounded up in this BBC article: Blogs on the bombs:
"They did their worst, and they managed to disrupt our transport network and get fatalities in the low double figures. That happens on a fairly regular basis anyway, you twits. What's your next trick - a fiendish weather control device which makes it rain on a bank holiday weekend?" (barrysarll)
"A funny thing happened to me on the way to work this morning. My tube blew up." (Triforce)
"Silence descended on the carriage apart from people choking and coughing, then someone near me quipped, 'Well, at least we got the Olympics!'" (weaselbitch)
"I'm at home about 200m from the Aldgate East explosion, the first I knew of it was an email from Brisbane. In Australia. Bloody internet." (Sal)
Via Tim Worstall.
- Posted by Richard Chlopan - 9:31:31 PM -
Sarah Vowell op-ed in NY Times.
The only possible presidential speech fantasy in my wildest of daydreams, my oratorical castle in the air, is that one day, for just one measly speech, the president - the man of "mission accomplished," the man who was once asked at a press conference to discuss one of his mistakes and couldn't think of any, the man who is surely the sunniest looker-on-the-bright-side east of Drew Barrymore - would sit behind his Oval Office desk, stare into a TV camera and say: "My fellow Americans, good evening. As if that's possible."
Link to Vowell's The Speech the President Should Give, a response to John Kerry's June 28th Op-Ed, The Speech the President Should Give.
- Posted by Richard Chlopan - 9:30:09 PM -
Best line of the day, so far
"Numbers became so important that if the SecDef went to a briefing and we had reported that we had captured 14 Al Qaeda and it really turned out to be 12 or 16, then it would be easier to let two go or go back and capture two more rather than to try to change the OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense] number."
— A deputy commanding general in Afghanistan quoted in Sean Naylor's Not A Good Day to Die via INTEL DUMP
- Posted by Richard Chlopan - 9:07:20 PM -
Good liars make well-controlled youth
Although honesty is generally taught as the best policy, around a child's birthday and holidays, the little white lie goes a long way. After all, kids are expected to grin and giggle at an itchy wool sweater as if it were the toy-of-the-moment they had been begging for. After a few years of awkward laughter and whispered scolding from parents, children tend to learn that a forced exclamation of joy earns them more smiles and hugs than the truth does. Research now shows a strong connection between a preschool child's reaction to an unwanted present and their ability to control other reactive behavior.
See also: Is Your Boss a Psychopath?
- Posted by Richard Chlopan - 9:06:34 PM -
With minor changes, this 1980 piece by movie critic Pauline Kael on "Why Are Movies So Bad?" could have been written last week
- Posted by Richard Chlopan - 9:05:35 PM -
