Moe Lane

That’s… a really good question, xkcd.

And check out the alt-text at the link.  He’s right about the Rice speech – although xkcd’s middle alternative sounds like a pretty reasonable thing to do, for given values of ‘reasonable.’

If this checks out – big if; there’s no guarantee that the reality will live up to preliminary reports – then I agree with Hot Air Headlines: whoa.

The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.

The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

(more…)

I get the feeling that this is a Message Song…

Electric Avenue, Eddy Grant

…only, I can’t quite make myself care enough to figure out what the Message actually is.

From George Ryan juror Leslie Losacco, who had all sorts of… interesting experiences from being on the George Ryan jury, on the likelihood of similar attacks on Rod Blagojevich jurors:

“Rod is not an insider, so I don’t see as much of a motivation to bother this jury,” Losacco said. “No one likes him. His strategy seems to be, ‘I’m going down and I’m taking all of you with me.’”

Burn it all, Blago.  Down to the bedrock.  To semi-quote Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman, give your enemies a fate that mothers will whisper in dark places to frighten their young take them to the bloody cleaners, pal.  What else do you have to do with your time right now, anyway?

The Manolo, he has the picture of the oldest shoe in the world.

He also has proof of National Geographic’s EPIC WIN in their article.  Which is pretty epic an EPIC WIN, in its way.  Then again, if I was writing for National Geographic I’d shamelessly use that to get high-end quotes, too.

…we have this:

The million mummy question: Why are there a million mummies buried near Snefu’s Seila pyramid?

Fark’s holding out for Zombie Apocalypse, but I ain’t grooving to it.  For one thing, it’d be a Mummy Apocalypse; and when you think about it, mummies are some of the most laid-back undead out there.  I’m not saying that they’re the best of neighbors; but leave them the hell alone and they’ll usually return the favor. Besides, if there was going to be a Mummy Apocalypse it would have happened nine centuries ago, when we started using them as medical supplies.

No.  Really.

Why then, this is Hell: nor are they out of it (Via Hot Air Headlines).

“We’re originally from Canada,” the hostess, Danielle Crittenden Frum, declared, throwing her slender arms up in the air. “We still haven’t quite realized that in D.C., garden parties are meant for September, not June.”

That’s from a New York Times article (rather impolitely, and quite wrongly, titled “The Party In Exile”) – and it’s got a guest list that one would expect from a dinner party thrown by the Frums: bitter, elitist opinion-writers and former politicians. Oh, not all of them.  To be fair, I’d happily meet Ayaan Hirsi Ali: she’s brave in a context alien to most of the oh-so-persecuted Frum cocktail party attendees.  And I’d also happily meet Chris Hitchens: he’s crazy, and shows all the signs of being an excellent drinking companion.  But as for the rest of them… well, to quote either Bob Heinlein or Mark Twain: I’d trade most of them for a dog, and then shoot the dog. (more…)

Tim is the front-runner in the GOP primary runoff for SC-01, and he took the time to talk with us about the state of the race and why he’s running.

Tim’s site is here: he’s a state representative and former Charleston County official. The runoff is June 22nd. There’s been a good deal of interest among RedState’s readers about this race thus far, and I expect that said interest will continue…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Yeah, I know: I’m a sucker for these.  I saw Android Karenina in the bookstore today, and it’s been good for the first few chapters, at least. This is going to be the first one in the Quirk Classic series where I haven’t read the original; I’m curious to see if that makes a difference.

And so, farewell to Small Gods.

Long a favorite curse word among such diverse groups as anti-EU agitators and the science fiction community, the days of Belgium may be coming to a close:

Belgians were voting Sunday in general elections that are widely seen as a vote on an orderly breakup of this country where 6.5 million Dutch- and 4 million French-speakers are locked in a quarrelsome union.

Polls predicted a solid showing for a mainstream Flemish party whose leader wants Dutch-speaking Flanders to sever its unhappy ties with Francophone Wallonia and, in time, join the European Union as a separate country.

Via @jstrevino. I don’t know: between the Congo Free State, World War II (not WWI), and of course the entire ‘HQ for the EU’ thing, should we just concede that Belgium had its chance, flubbed it, and break it down for scrap parts?

Moe Lane

Silent All These Years, Tori Amos

It was a day.

AoSHQ (and Sarah Palin) reminds me of this:

Not the event itself: but the details behind it. It’s a little jarring to realize that there are people who can vote (and soon, drink legally) in this country who don’t have personal memories of the Berlin Wall; or what it represented.  I was seventeen when this speech took place; and like the AoSHQ writer I considered Ronnie Raygun to be a fool.  Because, you know, maybe the Commies weren’t as powerful as we thought in 1980, but they weren’t going anywhere.  Right?

Yeah, seventeen and stupid. (more…)