So wrong...

...and yet so amusing. The cat piano.
(ok, only funny in sketch; pretty grim in reality. but still.)

(via boing boing)

Right on!

Apparently Hummer would like to appeal to hipsters, but no Indie-rock bands will lend their songs to Hummer ads. If only that would affect the ridiculous popularity of those bloated idiocies...

(via Rebecca's Pocket)

Antidote

That last post (and my general grogginess) needs a little lift. Here's some hilarity provided by Pasha, caught mid-chew/attack on a toy, with tongue hanging out... (She's 15 weeks old here)


We're thinking about renaming her Trinket. How does that sound to anybody else?
(see more recent photos below...)


Previous appearances of Pasha (reverse chronological):
9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, arrival, teaser3, teaser2, teaser1, homepage

How heartening...

It turns out that Gitmo is neither the most secretive nor the most brutal of our detainment facilities...

The National Security Counsel, as of September 14 of last year, has stopped sending prisoners to Guantánamo, and they did so because they were getting bad publicity on the facility, and because they were trying to avoid court review of the prisoner's cases. In other words, prisoners remain at Bagram -- which was never intended to permanently house prisoners -- not because it makes any sense from a military or intelligence point of view, but because Bagram keeps secrets.

Again, many many innocents appear to have been swept up and trapped in perpetual holding facilities...

Unlikely to make headlines

Another proud showing for the American Presidency -- Bush to visit Ghandi's grave among protests by Indians who consider it disrepectful of Mahatma's nonviolent ideals. They can barely find an audience for him to address...

Holy hat-tossers, Bat Man!

A conservative mag reports that Cheney is expected to retire after the midterm elections! Just too much bad press (and legal entanglements), or have the Neocons already picked out their next Golden Calf and want a couple of years of burnish on him before they officially start worshipping in 2008? The mind reels. This can't be good for the Loyal (semi-)Opposition...

(via Huffington Post)

Ridiculous

A kitty pile gone artificially symmetrical -- and unbelievably cute!

cat stack

(see also cat cheerleading pyramid)
(via Josh!)

Parallels (17th?)

This Modern World (via a guest poster) points out not only a ridiculous quote about Iraq, but its hard-to-miss analogue in that Quagmire-which-shall-not-be-named...

Watching the money

Medley is thinking about financial planning, and shares the gleanings of her efforts with a run-down of the books she's read and some of their top take-home points. Some of these thoughts were mentioned here last year, but I find Medley's boiling-down of the book characteristics very cogent and useful, and it might be a spur to some who are currently doing a dance of avoidance around this issue.

Have I mentioned...

...Kingdom of Loathing? Oh, yes, I did. Ok then, nevermind. (fun, silly silly fun.)


A Knob-goblin barbeque!

The tide must really be turning

...if Bill O'Reilly thinks we'd better run away from Iraq! Isn't he programmed every morning by Karl Rove?

(via kos)

Update: add to that that Bill Buckley says we've lost in Iraq, and the cracks are becoming hard to ignore. (I note also the tragedy that a conservative acknowledgement of the obvious has become cause for shock and rejoicing!)

Hard times

The average American household income fell over the last three years, with the lower half of the populace taking more than their fair share of the loss. In fact, food bank use is up, and many of those relying on such aid are families with working adults. Um, anybody think it's time for some Democratic values?

Quote of the day

Let us face a pluralistic world in which there are no universal churches, no single remedy for all diseases, no one way to teach or write or sing, no magic diet, no world poets, and no chosen races, but only the wretched and wonderfully diversified human race.

- Jacques Barzun,
professor and writer (1907- )

(via A.W.A.D.)

Thursday Josh-blogging

Dissatisfied with all my kitten shots today, and I'm long overdue for new Sid pictures, so decided it was a good time for a little shot of Josh The Adventurer, complete with staff and pack. (Hobbit henchmen are just outside the frame...)


Nice knees!


Previous appearances of two-legged pets: 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Retro-futuristic

A camera made from a spam can -- a spamera!!

(via Rebecca's Pocket)

Puncture those assumptions!

The New York Times provides a little quiz on marriage-related data, and the answers might surprise you. Best is the deflating of certain oft-repeated hysteria-promoters like "smart women never get married" and "one man-one woman is the historic norm" . . .

(via Bitch, PhD)

[Is this thing on?]

Sorry, short day, little reading or blogging until evening (if then). The two big stories of this week, from my viewpoint, are

• The attempt to sell control of US ports to a company run by the government of the United Arab Emirates. Reasons why this is ludicrious (and not only to racists) listed here, amazement that Bush might pull out the veto power on this one (for the first time) here, likely misjudgement on how it plays with the base here.
  
  
• Ciro Rodriguez, genuine progressive, hot on the tail of primary rival Henry Cuellar, DINO (and protegee of crazy Club for Growth rightwingers): backstory here, current status with two weeks to go here. This is a race for a Texas seat in the US House.

More on other rant-fodder a bit later...

Oh, the cuteness!

It's almost too much . . .
Don't say you weren't warned!

Correct me if I'm wrong...

...but I think that Obsidian Wings doesn't think too much of the prospect of health-care savings plans.

And that's what Bush is offering us: the chance to have the shopping experience of a lifetime, and to have it under the most deliciously grueling conditions: with our own dollars on the line, when we're desperately ill. It's a vision as bold and rugged as America herself; and that's why we love our President.

Comes with a double dose of snark...

(via Alas)

You can walk me home (but I was a boy too)

Longish but fantastic post on street safety and the societal norm that women need to be accompanied after dark, complete with a range of personal anecdotes that will ring familiar to many women and men.

... a well-meaning male friend recently expressed guilt for “letting” Laura walk home alone. All too often, women’s decisions about their own safety are not respected. Laura also criticizes the flip side of this -- the injustice to the man of having to feel that he is still responsible for a woman’s safety even when she has turned down his help.

There are real safety issues here, but they aren't as clean as the social norms seem to imply, and the solutions aren't always an improvement...

(link via Alas a Blog; title via Dar Williams)