November 29, 2008
— Ace One-stop shopping for all that ails you, plus barbarism, primitivism, and murder free of charge.
Now how much would you pay?
He also suggests that the financial meltdown is partly due to 9/11 -- which, of course, it is. Greenspan increased the money supply an awful lot after 9/11 to avert a meltdown; then he kept money very loose to avert recessions. He seems to have delayed, not prevented, a meltdown, as a lot of that money wound up fundng bad mortgages and being invested in bad mortgage derivatives.
Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader appeared in a new video posted Friday calling on Americans to embrace Islam to overcome the financial meltdown, which he said was a consequence of the Sept. 11 attacks and militant strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan.Ayman al-Zawahri, whose 80-minute recording touched on a number of subjects, also lashed out at Afghanistan's government and said any U.S. gains in Iraq will be temporary.
Zawahri's new recording came in the form of a question-and-answer session with an off-camera interviewer.
Appearing in a white turban and robe, Zawahri discussed the roots of the U.S. economic crisis. He said it was a repercussion of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, and that the crisis would continue "as long as the foolish American policy of wading in Muslim blood continues."
"The American economy was afflicted by a downturn and loss of investor confidence in the market following the events of Sept. 11," he said.
"The modern economy has been destroyed by the strikes of the mujahedeen (in Iraq and Afghanistan) and usury," he said, using the Arabic term for holy warriors.
Under Islamic Sharia law, usury, like drinking alcohol, is among the grand sins.
Zawahri then called on the American people to "embrace Islam to live a life free of greed, exploitation and forbidden wealth."
We could only but dream of matching the innovation, vibrancy, and prosperity of the Islamic world economy. The same economy, incidentally, we are frequently told produces terrorism in the first place.
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— Ace Just to update a dumb story from earlier this week. It gets dumber.
In a highly controversial new storyline Bruce, who first appeared in 1939, is killed by Simon Hurt – the leader of the shady Black Glove organisation.Simon claims he is really Dr Thomas Wayne, saying he faked his own passing when Bruce was a child.
The superhero dies when he tries to stop his foe escaping by helicopter in the new comic Batman R.I.P.
Writer Grant Morrison said: “This is so much better than death. People have killed characters in the past but to me, that kind of ends the story!
"I like to keep the story twisting and turning. So what I am doing is a fate worse than death. Things that no one would expect to happen to these guys at all.
"This is the end of Bruce Wayne as Batman."
Batman will live on though, with another character filling his Batsuit.
"So much better." In Cockney rhyming slang, "better" means "more retarded" for some retarded reason.
Thanks to jdub.
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11:15 AM
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— Dave in Texas That will certainly take your mind off a pulled hamstring.
Seems to be a lot of this going around. Ohio Police Chief shoots himself in the leg after giving his daughter a firearms safety lesson.
Unorthodox perhaps, but very effective.
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10:14 AM
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— Gabriel Malor Battlestar Galactica returns in January. Here's the new promo:
Looks "meh." Not BSG's best half-season promo.
Also, two recurring characters will come out of the closet in the webisodes available online in December and on the SciFi channel in January. No word on whether their relationship will be seen during actual episodes of the show. Find out who likes to smoke cock here. I never liked those characters.
From the Comments:
Season 1 - fantastic
Season 2 - fantastic
Season 3 - first few episodes and last few episodes were fantastic (the assault on New Caprica alone makes this season worth owning), everything in between was crap. I believe they were trying to draw in new viewers by sticking in more episodic fare rather than stick with the serialized storytelling that hooked people like me at the beginning of the series. Big mistake.
Season 4 - so far, fantastic.
I agree with J Foster. Despite the occasional misstep, this remains my favorite current TV series and I'd recommend it for those who haven't seen it.
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09:48 AM
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— Gabriel Malor Bumped: So what's all this Bedlam stuff about? It all started years ago, right about the time Dave in Texas was born, in fact:
In 1900, in Oklahoma Territory, Oklahoma A&M (later Oklahoma State) veterinary medicine professor Dr. L.L. Lewis assembled a group of A&M students to participate in the first territorial Track and Field Meet. Held on May 4, 1900, the event included Alva Normal College, Central Normal of Edmond, Kingfisher College and the University of Oklahoma, along with OAMC. The prize of the tournament was a silver cup donated by a local jeweler named Douglas. Surprisingly, A&M won the meet and returned to Stillwater with the traveling trophy.In 1901, A&M won again, and a third consecutive win would mean permanent retirement of the Douglas Cup in Stillwater. The meet was held on May 23, 1902, with the Aggies amassing the most points. Oklahoma filed a protest based on the pole vault competition not having been completed due to darkness, however, Oklahoma A&M claimed the Douglas cup. [They were whiners even then.]
The next day the Sooners held their own vault competition and declared themselves the victor. Several weeks later, the Douglas Cup was missing from its place in a glass case at the Oklahoma A&M chemistry lab. Suspecting that OU students had stolen the Cup, a group of A&M students retrieved the Cup from Norman, supposedly burying it under Old Central for safekeeping.
Ten years later, when excavation was being done for A&M's Gundersen Hall [where I actually had classes a few years ago], the trophy was found. Today it resides in OSU's Heritage Hall.
Ever since, the criminals cheaters Sooners have been grouchy about it.
Game starts in just a few minutes. Stick around to see me taunt the Normanite commenters or start arbitrarily banning them when the Cowboys start to lose!
Original Post:
I guess Dave's not around. Some games have already started today, but there's only one I care about:
I can't even describe to you how awesome things are in Stillwater right now. Fortunately, they are televising the game out here in California, now that the outcome is important for OU's fate. The game starts at 7pm CST.
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03:58 PM
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— Open Blog A shocking report out of Papua New Guinea claims that for ten years, the women of two villages have systematically killed all male babies in order to prevent them from growing up to become warriors and engaging in war.
"Babies grow into men and men turn into warriors,' said Rona Luke, a village wife ... It's because of the terrible fights that have brought death and destruction to our villages for the past 20 years that all the womenfolk have agreed to have all new-born male babies killed,' said Mrs Luke.
A resident of Agibu village, Mrs Luke said she did not know how many male babies were killed by being smothered, but it had happened to all males over a 10 year period - and she suggested it was still happening.
'The women have really being forced into it as it's the only means available to them as women to bring an end to tribal fights.'
The report sympathetically portrays these women as desperate hut wives who, faced with tribal extinction, are forced to take extreme measures in order to survive. One wonders how sympathetic the writers of this story would be if the men of the tribe killed all of the female babies to prevent them from growing up and committing male infanticide.
HT to the always interesting neatorama
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04:47 AM
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— Open Blog A toy story.
Tragedy: Betty James, co-founder of the Slinky Company passed away last week. ItÂ’s old news by now, being last week and all.
The story has a kind of a weird twist though. Seems her husband, co-inventor of the Slinky, ran off to join a religious cult in Bolivia at some point in time, leaving Betty to run the Slinky empire.
Some niblets:
”HOLLIDAYSBURG, Pa. - Betty James, who co-founded the company that made the Slinky and beat the odds as a single mother in the late 1950s to become a successful executive, has died. She was 90.”“In 1945, James and her husband at the time, Richard, founded the company that would later make Slinky, the toy for which she was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 2001.”
“Hundreds of millions of Slinkys have been sold worldwide. James explained the classic toy's success in a 1995 interview with The Associated Press.”
"I think really it's the simplicity of it," she said. "There's nothing to wind up; it doesn't take batteries. I think also the price helps. More children can play with it than a $40 or $60 toy."
Of course, there was always the matter of two specific problems. 1) The Slinky had a bad habit of getting all tangled up, particularly when you threw it at someone. Say, for example, your younger brother. And 2) It had limited entertainment value if you lived in a single story house with no stairs. Watching the Slinky go over a 6 inch curb in the front yard was entertaining for exactly Â…never.
But RIP to Mrs. James anyway. The article doesnÂ’t really tell us about the fate of Mr. James, except that he died in 1974. Probably due to cannibalism.
More toys below the fold.
more...
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03:35 AM
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November 28, 2008
— Open Blog Anyone seen this commercial, yet?
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07:33 PM
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— Open Blog Bill Roggio offers up a heaping helping of excellent analysis.
h/t to Wolverine in the headline comments, which I didn't read, but he deserves it anyway thanks to Methos in the comments.
Update: The American Traitor reaction to the attack.
Update: Taj Mahal hotel finally retaken.
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03:54 PM
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— Open Blog So what, if anything, did/will all you morons see at the movie theater this weekend? Comment away.
Last night, on the recommendation of some moron commenter, I caught Role Models, which is now almost out of theaters. Good stupid movie, and actually prime AoS Lifestyle material: regrettable intoxicated behavior, glam rock, the pathetic pursuit of women, and a big LARPing finale (not kidding!). Plus, I may have imagined it, but I think I caught one character making an out-of-nowhere reference to hobos... Is director/writer David Wain a stealth AoSHQ reader?
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01:19 PM
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