DYSPEPSIA GENERATION

We have seen the future, and it sucks.

Archive for December, 2008

Today’s bad word: Partner

8th December 2008

The FatBigot has a bone to pick.

So what is a partner? In popular usage it covers those who engage in bodily coupling, those who live together without benefit of clergy (whether or not there is much bodily coupling involved) and those who are in business together. Many a prostitute falls into all three categories. When a government minister uses the term the reality is usually that someone is being (ahem) penetrated by the government although they pretend to be working with their victim.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Today’s bad word: Partner

Management without Responsibility

8th December 2008

Bitter? Not Arnold Kling.

One of the most frustrating experiences you can have is dealing with a bureaucracy where no one has a sense of responsibility. Have you ever tried to deal with an organization in which no one can solve your problem? In which everyone says, “Sorry, that’s the way it is. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Management without Responsibility

Energizer to debut new, longer-lived Zinc Air Prismatic battery at CES 2009

8th December 2008

Read it.

Energizer’s set to unleash a new battery — dubbed the Zinc Air Prismatic — at CES in January, which they say will offer three times the juice of similar alkaline and lithium-ion batteries.

We have the technology.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Energizer to debut new, longer-lived Zinc Air Prismatic battery at CES 2009

Mayors Ask Congress for Money — But Please Don’t Call It a ‘Bailout’

8th December 2008

Read it.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Mayors Ask Congress for Money — But Please Don’t Call It a ‘Bailout’

Pilot lands on iceberg and jumps to safety before plane sinks

8th December 2008

Read it.

Imagine the insurance claim form.

Posted in You can't make this stuff up. | Comments Off on Pilot lands on iceberg and jumps to safety before plane sinks

Gurkhas win award making sculpture from lard

8th December 2008

Read it.

We have the technology.

Posted in You can't make this stuff up. | Comments Off on Gurkhas win award making sculpture from lard

Schoolboy gang jailed over punishment rape attack on 14-year-old girl

8th December 2008

Read it.

Not your grandfather’s Britain.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Schoolboy gang jailed over punishment rape attack on 14-year-old girl

Needy? No, greedy.

8th December 2008

Read it.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Needy? No, greedy.

A hot drink ‘can alleviate the symptoms of a common cold’

8th December 2008

Read it.

Who doesn’t know that? Tea with honey and lemon, for preference.

The study found that “a simple hot drink of fruit cordial can provide immediate and sustained relief from symptoms of runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, chilliness and tiredness”, the researchers report in the journal Rhinology.

Yeah, that works too.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on A hot drink ‘can alleviate the symptoms of a common cold’

Cole Dad Sues for Anti-Muslim Decal

8th December 2008

Read it.

In November, Nieto filed a federal lawsuit contending that base officials violated his free speech and equal protection rights. If decals of Confederate flags and silhouettes of busty ladies are permitted on private vehicles at the base, the suit reasons, Nieto’s political sentiments should be, too.

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on Cole Dad Sues for Anti-Muslim Decal

Sticker Shock Sets In for Leftists

8th December 2008

Read it.

Let us have a pity party….

OpenLeft blogger Chris Bowers went so far as to issue this plaintive plea: “Isn’t there ever a point when we can get an actual Democratic administration?”

Pardon me while I snicker. Dude, we’ve had Democratic administrations since Reagan left the White House. Where have you been? I guess he must be holding out for a statue of Lenin in the Rotunda.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | 1 Comment »

Policewoman in court over £100-an-hour escort girl allegations

8th December 2008

Read it.

Pretty bad when a Labour government comes down on a working girl….

On the other hand, I have yet to see a policewoman that was worth £100 an hour.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Policewoman in court over £100-an-hour escort girl allegations

How many hundreds of billions of dollars does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

8th December 2008

Steve Sailer is always worth reading.

I think Obama should pledge to have all of his personal television and video appearances lit solely by Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs. And he should get all the Democratic movie stars in Hollywood to pledge that their next movies will be lit only by CFLs.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on How many hundreds of billions of dollars does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

History and geography lessons in primary schools should be scrapped, says report

8th December 2008

Read it.

  1. Thank God you don’t live in Britain.
  2. Without eternal vigilance, it could happen here. Probably in California.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on History and geography lessons in primary schools should be scrapped, says report

Chinese man ruptures girlfriend’s ear with passionate kiss

8th December 2008

Read it.

Let that be a lesson to us all.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Chinese man ruptures girlfriend’s ear with passionate kiss

Woman born with no arms becomes first pilot to fly plane using only feet

8th December 2008

Read it.

American, of course. I’m impressed.

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on Woman born with no arms becomes first pilot to fly plane using only feet

New Ridership Record Shows U.S. Still Lured to Mass Transit

8th December 2008

Read it.

C’mon, do you seriously think you’d see a headline in the Washington Post saying, “Ridership Down Because People Think Mass Transit Sucks”?

But economically, this is no surprise — who wouldn’t prefer taxpayer subsidized mass transit to pay-for-your-own transportation, especially when local government are spending the money that they ought to be spending on repairing and enlarging roads on their favorite create-more-union-jobs projects like mass transit?

Posted in Your tax dollars at work - and play. | Comments Off on New Ridership Record Shows U.S. Still Lured to Mass Transit

In Gaza, No Cash for Holiday

8th December 2008

Read it.

Well, they could always, you know, stop firing rockets at Israel. The Israelis are showing a lot of restraint by not going into Gaza and cleaning it out like a nest of termines. Not that they get any credit for it, of course.

Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on In Gaza, No Cash for Holiday

Liquidity, Default, Risk

8th December 2008

Brad DeLong of the Cato Institute takes a realistic look at the crisis du jour.

Thus we have an impulse — a $2 trillion increase in the default discount from the problems in the mortgage market — but the thing deserving attention is the extraordinary financial accelerator that amplified $2 trillion in actual on-the-ground losses in terms of mortgage payments that will not be made into an extra $17 trillion of lost value because global investors now want to hold less risky portfolios than they wanted two years ago.

Our current financial crisis remains largely a mystery: a $2 trillion impulse in lost value of securitized mortgages has set in motion a financial accelerator that we do not understand at any deep level that has led to ten times the total losses in financial wealth of the impulse.

Posted in Think about it. | 2 Comments »

Mobiado frightens and offends with Professional 105GMT Gold handset

8th December 2008

Read it.

Actually, it kinda sorta looks like a SteamPunk version of a cellphone. I guess there’s no accouting for tastes.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Mobiado frightens and offends with Professional 105GMT Gold handset

French scientists ask why children won’t eat greens

8th December 2008

Read it.

Just in case you were wondering. I know I was.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on French scientists ask why children won’t eat greens

Smothers Brothers: The Missing Story

8th December 2008

Read it.

Mom always liked them best.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Smothers Brothers: The Missing Story

Revealed: home of Mumbai’s gunman in Pakistan village

7th December 2008

Read it.

Since the terrorist attacks in Mumbai 10 days ago, speculation has been rife about the birthplace of the lone surviving gunman, Ajmal Amir Kasab. India and Pakistan have clashed over reports that he came from the Punjab. Saeed Shah, after spending days travelling throughout the region, tracked down the killer’s home – and his grandfather – and found conclusive proof of his identity.

Not really news, but a useful reminder.

Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on Revealed: home of Mumbai’s gunman in Pakistan village

The Regional Recession

7th December 2008

Steve Sailer is always worth reading.

One of the oddities of the standard narrative of the Housing Bubble is how it glosses over just how regional it was. In large expanses of America, there wasn’t much of a Bubble at all. The New York Times reports on the economy in North Dakota, where there was no Housing Bubble, no subsequent Mortgage Meltdown, and no Financial Catastrophe … so far.

Texas is doing just fine, thank you. Look at the places that are having the most trouble, and you’ll find their governments, state and city, are run by Democrats. Take whatever action you think is appropriate.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The Regional Recession

Pearl Harbor Day

7th December 2008

See any mention of it in the news? No, neither have I.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Pearl Harbor Day

Obama Assembles an Ivy-Tinged League

7th December 2008

Read it.

My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | 1 Comment »

Subsidies Spur Crops on Fragile Habitat

7th December 2008

Read it, and watch a “journalist” discover just what “progressive” policies do to leftoids like him.

Feel the love.

Posted in Axis of Drivel -- Adventures in Narrative Media | Comments Off on Subsidies Spur Crops on Fragile Habitat

Insanely Great: What if Steve Jobs ran one of the Big Three auto companies?

7th December 2008

Cringely lets his dreams take shape.

And dream it is:

But what would happen if just one of those companies — say Chrysler — decided that two years from now it would no longer actually assemble ANY of its own vehicles? Instead they’d put out an RFQ to every company in the world for 300,000 Chrysler Town & Country minivans as an example. Now THAT would be a dramatic move. And a good one, frankly, because with a single pen stroke most of the overcapacity would be removed from the U.S. car market. Chrysler would have to shut down all those plants and lay off all those people, true, but doing it all the way all at once would change the nature of the company’s labor agreements such that there wouldn’t be a whimper.

Whimper? No. Nuclear explosion. UAW -> Congressional Democrats -> Chrysler: “No you won’t. The law to make sure that you don’t will be on the President’s desk within fifteen minutes, and Our Boy Barack will sign it if he knows what’s good for him.”

But keep dreamin’. It makes for entertaining reading.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Insanely Great: What if Steve Jobs ran one of the Big Three auto companies?

Illegal Activism: Moving Homeless People Into Foreclosed Houses in Miami

7th December 2008

Read it.

Hey, they’re just doing what “activists” do.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Illegal Activism: Moving Homeless People Into Foreclosed Houses in Miami

Jew-Hatred in Norway, Part 2

7th December 2008

Read it.

Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on Jew-Hatred in Norway, Part 2

Carter Scheduled to Hug Another Dictator

7th December 2008

Read it.

The Democrats keep putting up Presidential candidates designed to ensure that Jimmy Carter isn’t remembered as the worst President in the nation’s history. Clinton came close but managed to fall short. Will Obama succeed?

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Carter Scheduled to Hug Another Dictator

Give your tiny alien the space to be itself

7th December 2008

Read it.

Sometimes, the cleverest people are also the silliest. You only need to glance at Sally Adams to see that she is an academic: the Frida Kahlo eyebrows, the socks and sandals, the determinedly shapeless mound of clothes topped by an ethnic hat. You have to be very clever indeed to look this dowdy.

This time, she has a clearer idea of what she wants: a baby with brains. Although she lives in Hampstead, north London, she has placed newspaper adverts in Oxford and Cambridge, in the hopes of attracting a donor of the highest scholastic calibre. “I’m looking for someone who is educated, intellectual and possibly with connections to the colleges,” she says. “Oxford is a very good possible catchment area. I studied at Oxford University.”

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Give your tiny alien the space to be itself

Lectures on Macroeconomics, No. 9

7th December 2008

Arnold Kling is doing a lecture series. They’re all good.

The nonfinancial sector wants to hold risk-free short-term assets and issue risky long-term liabilities. To accommodate this, the financial sector does the opposite. If the financial sector suddenly contracts, the nonfinancial sector gets stuck with an asset mix that is riskier and more long-term than it wants and a liability mix that is less risky and shorter term than it wants. The reaction to this unwanted mix can cause a recession. That is how the financial sector affects the real economy.

And that’s the best brief explanation of the subject that I’ve ever seen.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Lectures on Macroeconomics, No. 9

Victory at Sea: Navy routs Army in 109th meeting

7th December 2008

Of course.

Navy has won 13 straight times against Air Force and Army since 2002, outscoring the programs 441-205 during the streak. The Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy remains docked with Navy.

Quality tells.

Posted in Is this a great country, or what? | Comments Off on Victory at Sea: Navy routs Army in 109th meeting

The Trouble with Canadian Healthcare

7th December 2008

Read it.

Many people assume that Canadians enjoy universal healthcare coverage while receiving the same quality and quantity of medical goods and services as Americans. But the alleged superiority of single-payer health care is not consistent with the evidence. The reality is that, on average, Americans spend more of their income on healthcare than Canadians do but get faster access to more and better medical resources.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on The Trouble with Canadian Healthcare

Memory eternal, Patriarch Aleksy II

7th December 2008

Read it.

The closest comparable experience to what Russia went through when the Communists took over, I think, was the last serious attempt to eradicate Christianity under Diocletian — except that in Russia they government knew who all of the Christian clergy were. Things got pretty grim for a while.

It’s crucial to remember that all of this was taking place only a few generations after the Communists closed 98 percent of Russia’s churches and, in one brief period, killed 200,000 bishops, priests and nuns and then sent another 500,000 believers to die in labor camps. Millions later died in Stalinist purges. KGB records indicate that most clergy were simply shot or hanged. But others were crucified on church doors, slaughtered on their altars or stripped naked, doused with water and left outdoors in winter.

Look up “ROCOR” in Wikipedia for a brief discussion of the issues.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Memory eternal, Patriarch Aleksy II

Carbon fiber door boasts biometric scanner, $15,000 sticker

7th December 2008

Read it.

Be the first on your block….

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Carbon fiber door boasts biometric scanner, $15,000 sticker

What is New Trade Theory?

6th December 2008

Alex Tabarrok tries to explain how in the world Krugman got a Nobel Prize.

Just in case you were wondering. I know I was.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on What is New Trade Theory?

The Dangerous Straits

6th December 2008

Read it.

A lot of the world’s commerce goes past backward Islamic countries, and Muslims have no respect for the property rights of non-Muslims (and sometimes not even those of Muslims who get in the way). And, of course, non-Muslims are too wussy these days to do anything about it.

Posted in Living with Islam: The world's most intolerant—and intolerable—religion | Comments Off on The Dangerous Straits

‘Moses project’ to secure future of Venice

6th December 2008

Read it.

We have the technology.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on ‘Moses project’ to secure future of Venice

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg opposes euthanasia and loses power

6th December 2008

Read it.

Makes you wonder why they bother.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg opposes euthanasia and loses power

Don’t Speak Your Mind In British Columbia — Even At Home

6th December 2008

Read it.

This is of a piece with the bogus prosecutions of Mark Steyn and his publishers. Fascism advances in the Great White North.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Don’t Speak Your Mind In British Columbia — Even At Home

Fears mistletoe will die out because of modern farming methods

5th December 2008

Read it.

Baldur, for one, will be glad to hear it.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Fears mistletoe will die out because of modern farming methods

Fighting bear advert voted funniest of all time

5th December 2008

Watch it.

Bear’s got a mean side kick.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Fighting bear advert voted funniest of all time

Man dies from picking his nose

5th December 2008

Read it.

Let that be a lesson to us all.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Man dies from picking his nose

Danish Warship Sinks Pirate Vessel

5th December 2008

Read it.

Buy Havarti cheese. It’s a moral imperative.

Posted in News You Can Use. | Comments Off on Danish Warship Sinks Pirate Vessel

Pensioner flipped car in garage

5th December 2008

Read it.

Raw talent will out.

Posted in You can't make this stuff up. | Comments Off on Pensioner flipped car in garage

Is hunting/fishing a good way to feed your family?

5th December 2008

Read it.

Posted in Think about it. | Comments Off on Is hunting/fishing a good way to feed your family?

Zimbabwe’s Cholera Crosses Borders

5th December 2008

Read it.

Boy, those Zimbabweans are sure lucky they’re no longer under the boot of that oppressive white regime.

Thank God for the U.N. and the international community, or who knows what sort of hell they’d be living in now.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Zimbabwe’s Cholera Crosses Borders

Teen killed by car while wearing iPod

5th December 2008

Read it.

Of course the obvious next step is to sue Steve Jobs.

Posted in Dystopia Watch | Comments Off on Teen killed by car while wearing iPod