It’s been interesting tracking citations of the Ron Suskind article; that paragraph about how reporters and other people who think about the issues are part of the “reality-based community” has been making the rounds. And now Joey, soon to be known as Engaged Guy, has created a handy graphic. I can’t wait to see this mutate into buttons, shirts, web banners, and so on. So far, it’s showed up in a bunch of articles gathered at The Smirking Chimp (natch), plus lots of other commentators at major news sites, plus blogs, yadda yadda. Apparently we’re all shocked and awed that…
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In the absence of Rance, who is either off being a fabbleous movie sleb or starting fall semester after moving out of his parents’ basement, his readers have been writing a round-robin mystery story. This has been going on for about a month now, with submissions going up about every other day – sometimes, every day. It’s very organized, and there’s a list of people, so you know when you’re “on deck.” Also, when you’re writing your submission, you get an advance copy of the previous one, which doesn’t get posted until you submit your own. It seems to be…
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Gus Openshaw’s Whale-Killing Journal is getting interesting. Everyone ended up in the hospital after the big battle with the fanatical whale-worshiping Conchians, except for Thesaurus the 2nd harpooner, who is MIA and presumed dead. Sybil, the rebellious iconoclastic Princess of Conch, is also MIA, status unknown. The Lucky Sue went down with all hands during the battle (less the one hand Nelson had already lost back in the first installment) and Nelson suffered a head injury. Which means, of course, that he’s fine but not conscious at the moment, which is a positive development. Otherwise, he’d be literally horning in…
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As my chum Bard Sinister points out, the comment feature is acting up again. It’ll time out after you click Post, and seemingly nothing happens. However, in actuality the tiny virtual hamsters that run this site are still running in their wheels, and the post gets updated with the new comment. So if you hit “Post” a second time, as I did earlier today, you get 2 posts for the price of one. Argh. I’ll look into why that may be happening – might have been a temporary glitch. Also, due to a strange conversational convergence, comments were going up…
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ginmar grouses about wartime strictures on shopping for items a female soldier finds to be personal, essential, and almost unobtainable (not even accessible via the Web). I can’t get to Victoria’s Secret any more. That means that Pat Robertson is, in fact, in charge of what we can see and read. And you know, I’m a girl, which means they’re censoring me from looking at halfway decent underwear! Jesus Fucking Christ, if I can be trusted with a fucking weapon, can’t I be trusted with a fucking thong? Because I’m really trying to see what kind of danger this could…
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Rance pops up after a long, no doubt busy silence to offer a little more in the “piss ‘n vinegar” line. I’m pretty sure that whatever he’s doing in politics just now, it’s not just “diddling.” And yeah, if he was working for the other side I probably wouldn’t read him as much. It’s easier to hang out with people you mostly agree with than otherwise. Never liked that word “diddling”, by the way. It has unpleasant assocations for me. But it’s nice that Rance took the time to vent, no matter the subject. I’m starting to think there’s a…
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On the subject of “the war on terror” and how our country seems bent on mindless revenge, Tim Bishop had this to say: The difficulty of dealing with terrorism is that all successful strategies are long-term, and they involve penetration of the terrorist network, the intelligent and ruthless application of force against a very small group of people, the cadre of the terrorists, and ameliorating the grievances of the people that the terrorists spring from, so as to separate the two (emphasis mine – Blogula Rasa). This takes a lot of patience, a lot of intelligence work, and the willingness…
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Sars, a big shot at TWOP and the person behind Tomato Nation and other ventures is looking for Don, a “disaster buddy” she met the morning of September 11th in New York. He helped her get through the first hours and is “everything good and friendly about the world.” Yes, that September 11th. His birthday is today, he lives in or near Jersey City, he’s African-American and probably in his mid-thirties, She’d like to thank him for hanging out with her tthat day and helping her keep it together. And maybe get him a nice cold one to help him…
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What’s all the fuss about blogging? Sometimes they record the really important shit in a person’s life and worldview, rather than just the trivial ephemera. My stuff is in the latter category – ginmar‘s, on the other hand, is definitely the former. I can see snapping in this heat, how having to be out in it would sap you of all your energy, how pushing someone in this weather would make them weak. And yet the IPs we saw were pleasant, if relaxed, while the INGs looked like they were trying to make the best of it. They toss up…
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ginmar wonders if her service in Iraq for this country matters, if the people in her life at home can’t be bothered to take care of things for her and keep her pets safe while she’s off getting shot at in a hot distant country in a post titled ” O. Henry and me.” Would someone please publish her blog as a book? Please? It matters.