…brought to you be @jeffemanuel and @girlonmission:

THAT is reportedly a fifteen foot long, 170 diamondback rattlesnake.  I hold out hopes for it actually being a photoshopped python or something, because as it stands that’s about one arcane ritual away from being something that you’d have to call in a professional to handle.  As it is, you’d get XP for that one.

Yes.  It’s one of those nights.

Pachelbel’s Canon in D, The London Symphony Orchestra

SERENITY NOW.

…to the big screen!

This is really cool: I’ve always been a fan of Bob Heinlein’s original book – and I liked both X-Men: First Class and Thor*, so I have some faint hope that getting the writers of those two movies’ screenplays to do the adaptation for this one might mean that Hollywood won’t totally mess this up.  Admittedly, it’s going to be hard; which is probably why they’ve never done a Starship Troopers movie before now.

What?  Oh, no, there’s never been a Starship Troopers movie.

Perhaps I was unclear.

THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A STARSHIP TROOPERS MOVIE.

Glad that we’ve cleared that up.

Moe Lane

*Would have been better as a miniseries, though.

Despite what the bakers in Malawi might think.

Naming a product after the world’s most notorious terrorist may not seem like a surefire route to commercial success.

For bakers in the Malawian city of Blantyre, however, this marketing ploy is helping to reel in customers while ensuring that their produce has an unmistakeable identity.

“We make bin Laden buns,” said Mahomed Hanif Valimamade, co-owner of a patisserie within the city named the Portuguese Bakery.

How do I know this?  Simple: if they were TRUE bin Laden buns, they would each have two holes in one end and be covered in sea salt.

(Via Hot Air Headlines)

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: You could probably make a decent  BLT out of one of these, though.

(Via AoSHQ): Here’s what we in the business call a pro-tip for SF Weekly Blog gun-grabber Joe Eskenazi: if you want to write a post that can be summed up as Owner of legal firearms plans to sue pig-ignorant Californian law enforcement officials for false arrests and temporary confiscation of said legal firearms, go right ahead.

But, for the love of God: if you’re going to try to scare your readers by showing them a chart of those terrifying devil boom-sticks known as ‘assault weapons’…

…use real ones, dumb[expletive deleted].  I don’t even play Halo and I recognized it as being from a game on sight.

Moe Lane

*I don’t know whether to brag about that headline, or apologize for it.

To formally convert to the GOP, that is.  Partially because Artur Davis probably wants the time anyway; and partially because (and here I speak from personal experience) it takes time to reconfigure one’s basic partisan identification.  While your principles shouldn’t change when you switch political parties – and neither should your worldview – there is usually a whole list of damfool notions that you no longer have to grit your teeth, smile, and nod about; and it takes time to go through that list and cheerfully discard them all*.

But that’s OK: It’s going to be a couple of years before the next statewide elections in Alabama anyway.  Plenty of time for a proper realignment.

Moe Lane

*Unkind people will mutter that you instead have to memorize a whole new list of damfool notions to grit their teeth, smile, and nod about.  But I’m sure that I have no idea what those people are talking about…

…is the possibility that this White House will read no further than the reduction of the U-3 rate down to 8.6%, and conclude that they’ve done something right.  When what instead happened here, based on general observations of people on my Twitter feed who know more about unemployment statistics than I do*, is that we’re seeing a combination of reduction in workforce, seasonal hiring, and revision of past numbers finally catching up with us.  If none of that sounds particularly great, well, it’s not.  The AP ‘s college-try spin to the contrary.

But enough negativity: if the White House would like to give the economy a real shot in the arm, there’s actually an easy way to do that.  TURN THE KEYSTONE PIPELINE PROJECT BACK ON.  And energy production generally.

Moe Lane

*There are quite a few people out there who qualify.

Order it now, get it by Christmas.

Which I have done.  Also bought a membership in the HPL Historical Society, because, well, it was about time for that.

There’s just something pathetic about Amnesty International, these days:

Amnesty International is calling for the arrest of former President George W. Bush while he is traveling overseas in Africa.

[snip]

Bush is traveling overseas in Africa to raise awareness for HIV/AIDS, cervical and breast cancer across the continent.

(more…)

Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana

I’ve watched the Weird Al parody so many times that it’s this song that seems like the parody.

Well, maybe not hate America.  But this is… affirming stuff. (more…)

This is a one-night one from the Perry campaign, specific to Iowa.

Meanwhile, the knives are out between Romney & Gingrich.  Should be interesting to watch; God knows that both campaigns are not exactly lacking in material to work with.