Can the weather have a sense of humor?

Has anyone seen Al Gore lately?




The headline of the day is: "Snow blankets London for Global Warming debate."

It was the first October snowfall in London in over 70 years.

UPDATE: Zombie JFK urges you to fight global warming. Obviously, Oswald was in with Big Carbon.

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Sunday morning mini-linkfest

I was going to leave you a mini-linkfest on my way out of town for the weekend, but it happened too fast. So with your indulgence, I'm going to give it to you a little late.

1. 1. S.Weasel has discovered Abraham Lincoln's YouTube account. It's actually a Joe Biden joke.

2. Out of concern for the sensibilities of certain very quiet and unassuming people, the Brits are installing toilets at the 2012 Olympics that face away from Mecca. (via HotAir) You can't face Mecca when you're doing your business. Brits have previously dealt with this in their prisons. As the article notes: "Muslim prisoners complained of having to sit sideways on toilets so as to not break code." They're in prison and they're worried about breaking the law? I've always complained about Jewish prisoner who commit crimes and then demand to keep kosher in prison. Same thing there.

3. Maybe we should check with Muslim prisoners first, but PETA wants Ben & Jerry's to use breast milk for its ice cream, instead of cows' milk. (also via HotAir)

4. An article that actually exists: 5 Insane Devices From Kids Cartoons (That Actually Exist) (via Ace)

Click here to read more . . .

Fourth of July linkfest

For the Fourth of July, instead of re-posting old July 4 posts, I'm going to bring you a linkfest. OK, I'll re-post one old post, too, but here's the linkfest.

1. While we're appreciating our independence and our freedom, some of our fellow Americans are not. Two years ago, I wrote about one such individual. And this week, a peculiarly repellent column out of the City of Brudderly Lub by a dude named Chris Satullo, who wants to cancel the celebration because "we have sinned." (via Stop the ACLU, via Ace) You already know the rest. No reason to read the column.

2. From last week: At the Seattle Mariners' ballpark, love is dead. (via Baseball Crank)

3. Mars, Saturn, and Regulus are converging in the evening sky.

4. "Police suspect giraffe in circus breakout."

5. Drink to Obama's victory? The tee-shirt.

6. Speaking of Obama, Jennifer Rubin explains his problem with Jewish voters in a single word, er, number: 1973.

7. If you're a white dude in England, whatever you do, don't call a white security guard "Honky!" (via HotAir)

8. Finally: A definition of torture.

9. It's hard to believe, but Maryland is only the 19th most corrupt state in the union. Should be higher.

10. David Wissing says you are what you Google. Anyone who's read my "Visitor of the day" series would have to agree.

11. New York dude moves to Atlanta and finds that "New York style" pizza in the South exemplifies major suckitude, so he returns to New York to "reverse engineer" real New York pizza. (via Fark)

12. Last but not least, for the woman concerned about "pelvic fitness," your own spa. (via HotAir) In case you don't understand, the New York Times article explains: "And now comes the first medi spa in Manhattan wholly dedicated to strengthening and grooming a woman’s genital area."

Click here to read more . . .

Wednesday linkfest

I've been pretty busy, so the best I can do for you is another linkfest. I would apologize, but that would presume there's anyone actually reading this to whom I can express my regrets.

That said now, let me catch you up on some interesting articles. There are a bunch of unrelated topics here, so stay with me until the end.

1. The science is settled, but the facts are apparently unaware what the science is. "All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA's GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously." Supposedly, the one-year temperature drop has nearly wiped out the past century of temperature increase. Look, I'm not a scientist; I don't even play one on TV. And maybe this is a temporary drop in a long-term rise. At the very least, though, it tells us we shouldn't be as certain as we seem to be.

2. If the fourteen Starbuckses on your block were all closed at the same time last night, that was deliberate. Memo to Starbucks: The word "re-education" has some horrible connotations. And it wasn't a coincidence that a billion newspapers used the term; check this from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. In case you missed the three-hour closing yesterday, I hope these two old posts will make up for it: Mr. Smith goes to Starbucks (photo comic); O.J. Simpson goes to Starbucks.

3. An article (via MetsBlog) discusses great brawls in Mets history, including my all-time favorite, a duel between Ray Knight of the Mets and Eric Davis of Cincinnati in 1986. There were so many ejections that when the game went deep into extra innings, the Mets had to use one of their relief pitchers in the outfield -- well, actually, two of them. Relievers Jesse Orosco (a lefty) and Roger McDowell (a righty) alternated on the mound, depending on whether the batter was righty or lefty. The pitcher who wasn't on the mound would then take his position in the outfield, in the position opposite from the batter's side, to reduce the chances he'd somehow have to field a ball that was hit out there. So Orosco and McDowell kept trotting back and forth from the mound to the outfield. It doesn't get any better than that. (Note: The article says that Cinci manager Pete Rose "furiously tried to find a rule that prevented the Mets from rotating pitchers, to no avail. The Mets won the five-hour, 14-inning marathon on a three-run Howard Johnson bomb.")

4. Scary toilet alert: "Don't Sit on That Toilet!" (via BOTWT) "An employee of an Auburn nursing home called firefighters for help on Tuesday because the toilets were exploding with steam." A boiler explosion set off a sprinkler system, which led to flooding of the nursing home.

5. Always looking for ways to support this country, Hollywood has developed (with the able help of the ACLU) the orange ribbon and wristband, to protest our treatment of Al Qaeda detainees at Guantanamo. See this, too. (both via HotAir) And if that were not enough, we get the "Torture Playlist" of music allegedly used by the military "to induce sleep deprivation, 'prolong capture shock,' disorient detainees during interrogations—and also drown out screams." (via BOTWT) I'm sure I'd confess to anything if I had to listen to that dreck.

6. While Hollywood is blaming us for detaining Al Qaeda members and fellow travelers, the British are showing us what happens when you follow Hollywood's advice: "Terror trial exposes network of terror camps in picturesque rural England." (via LGF) The trial described in this article "exposed a network of alleged British terrorism training camps with a serious intent to prepare recruits for mass murder."

Click here to read more . . .

Super Tuesday linkfest

It's Super Tuesday today. So if you've come here to get informed political commentary, you'd better find another site right away.

But if you want a few interesting political links, try these:

1. Sean Hannity gets Frank Luntz to ask his focus group of Obama fans to name one specific accomplishment of Barack Obama. As the Fark line goes, hilarity ensues. Watch the video here. I swear one guy says Obama's a "great oratator."

2. In all the numerous bills of particulars that conservatives are posting against John McCain, the one I haven't seen yet is that, in the days when Cindy Sheehan was a big deal in the media, McCain met with her as if she were a respectable person. I did a photo comic at the time, which I think caught the essence of the encounter: "Cindy and John: He said, she said."

3. A Weekly Standard review (subscribers only) of a couple of books about the United States from Spain is illustrated with a photo of protesters in Madrid in 2001 when Bush visited the city. Sadly, it's not in the web version of the review. Take a look at the photo. Notice what the signs at the lower left and in the middle say? I'm famous. Sort of.



4. This amusing story of voting in the Republican primary in Brooklyn has the ring of truth to it.

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OK, that concludes the political part of the linkfest. On to other topics. First, sports.

5. You may have heard that the Super Bowl was played on Sunday. But have you heard of the Puppy Bowl? (hat tip: Mrs. Attila)

6. I know that more people read this site than Instapundit, Ace of Spades HQ, and Best of the Web Today combined, so I doubt you'll have seen this one before. First they came for dodgeball and I said nothing. Then they came for Intentional Flatulence, which by all rights should be an Olympic sport. This is nuts: If you force them to hold it in, they'll explode. (hat tip: Soccer Dad, but don't mention that to his kids) [UPDATE 2/6: Story is an exaggeration, apparently taken from a gag sheet prepared by eighth-grade girls. The true school newsletter says: "I just want to make sure parents know this actually is not an official ban or new school rule. Some eighth grade teachers did tell eighth graders that if they continue to disrupt class by intentionally farting, they will get a detention. There is truth to that. Intentional flatulence can be a disruption to class, and we already have rules addressing disruptive behavior." Is that clear?]

And now, other bodily functions.

7. Remote control to undo vasectomy? Surely, you jest:

A man would then use the handset, or fob, to open it around the time of having sex if he and his partner wanted to conceive.

Once the handset is pressed, it sends a coded radio signal through the skin to the implant, which contains a tiny antenna. The antenna picks up the signal and converts it into sound waves that "ripple" through the valve.

Since the valve itself is soft and flexible, the sound waves make it flap open - allowing sperm to pass through. As with cars, each device would have its own unique code so it could not be opened by anyone else.

"It's based on a radio signal, like the device on your key ring, which is coded so that you cannot open someone else's car," Professor Abbott says.

This was a "Dude" headline at HotAir. With good reason.

8. Today's headline of the day (via Fark): "Booze bra gives women a wine rack."

9. Leave it to the Brits: "THE minefield of lingerie shopping for lovers can be avoided this Valentine's Day with a new website which lets you visit a virtual dressing room and ask models to try on underwear." Nearly as good as the Tower of Boobel I wrote about two years ago.

Click here to read more . . .

Mugged by monkeys

This week's burning question is answered at Slate: "What should you do if you're surrounded by angry macaques?" No George Allen jokes, please! Those monkeys killed an Indian government official the other day.

Slate's answer, in its short version, is: "It's like Mom said about muggers: Just give 'em what they want." In other words, "Act French." Surrender! Be a cheese-eating surrender monkey to a bunch of monkeys. Got it?

And speaking of eating cheese, eating cheese apparently leads to sleepwalking, sometimes in the nude in public places. (hat tip: Soccer Dad)

A surge in naked sleepwalking among guests has led one of Britain's largest budget hotel groups to re-train staff to handle late-night nudity.

According to the article, "Studies have found that sleepwalking can be brought on by stress, alcohol, eating cheese or consuming too much caffeine."

So the moral is: If you stay in a budget hotel in England, don't be surprised to see naked cheese-eating somnabulist monkeys wandering around late at night.

My advice would be that you might want to invest a few more dollars in a better hotel.

Click here to read more . . .

Trends in science in the U.K.

The good news: "Patrick Mallucci spent many hours poring over photos of topless models in lads magazines and tabloid newspapers to formulate his theory."

The conclusion: "In his opinion, the celebrity with the best pair is Caprice - and the woman with the worst is Posh Spice."

The bad news: "Mr Mallucci will prevent his findings at the first international conference on breast enlargement, to be held in London this week." [UPDATE: Just noticed the article says "prevent" his findings, not "present." Hmmmmmm.]

Here's the link, with semi-NSFW photos of the winner and loser. Click at your own risk.

(via HotAir)

Click here to read more . . .

Sunday linkfest

1. "[F]or 40 days and 40 nights, there has been no showering, no hair washing, no teeth cleaning and no deodorant."

Noah's Ark? No, just some moronic British chick who's decided to ditch all her toiletries, lotions, etc., to do "the first scientific experiment of its kind, designed to find out how she will look and feel without the aid of the avalanche of expensive modern beauty products."

Sure, people can overdo the make-up and "beauty products," but whatever happened to Aristotelian moderation? Is it always all or nothing? Extremism in the defense of poor hygiene is a vice in my book.

And from the "Way Too Much Information" Department: "Before starting her experiment, Nicky called in scientists from the Skin Research Centre at the University of Leeds. They took swabs from her armpits, mouth and groin to test levels of bacteria and yeasts, the results of which would be compared with identical swabs taken at the end of the six weeks." (via HotAir)

2. Normally, given my compulsion to write about the death penalty, this would have received its own post: "Private eye gets five years for fake documents in death row cases." But I'm afraid I'll have to leave the analysis to you. It's pretty self-evident, anyway. Oh, by the way, the fake documents were in aid of the murderer, just in case that wasn't clear. I wonder how many "innocent death-row defendants" are not so innocent, after all.

Bonus: Ken Starr makes an appearance.

(via Patterico, and check out some of the comments there)

3. A few weeks ago, my wife and I, who rarely watch TV, decided to watch a couple of cooking shows, including one with the famous Emeril character. We missed this one, which was mentioned in the N.Y. Times:

Ingrid Hoffmann, the latest arrival on the Food Network — her show "Simply Delicioso" is shown on Saturday mornings — seems to be quickly staking her claim as the country's pre-eminent cleavage cook.

I'm struggling to avoid asking how you cook cleavage -- bake it, roast it, or simply warm it gently.

Anyway, I still haven't seen the show, but I did check the Food Network page about it. If you're really interested, go here and check out some of the short videos.

This is how I knew the Times article was written by a woman, without even checking the byline:

Ms. Hoffmann cooks with her whole body, as if every occasion to chop some cilantro were also an opportunity to show how well she might fare as a backup dancer for Rod Stewart. She appears less covered up to marinate a chicken than Ms. De Laurentiis does to go jet-skiing.

And if you think I'm being mean, consider this and tell me I couldn't tell:

It is a hallmark of the contemporary cooking show, of course, that no failures are acknowledged. "Wow, I must have overdone this pork loin because it tastes like an old Volkswagen": that is the sort of comment we never hear emanating from TV kitchens. But even in this context, Ms. Hoffmann's self-regard is annoyingly hardy. It isn't simply that she finds fault with nothing. She finds everything she makes uniquely amazing, "yummy" and "delicioso." And yet it appears to the viewer as mediocre takeout.

No man would ever write that about a woman. Am I right?

4. I thought this N.Y. Post headline about the Lisa Nowak case would be the best: "Space Gals in a Close Encouter," but Court TV's headline definitely had it beat: "Astronaut's lawyers want diapers, weapons in her car kept from jury."

Here's a description of the action in court. More: The detective who searched Nowak's car came under attack by her lawyer:

Detective Becton stood by his methods and said he had fully informed Captain Nowak of her rights. He called his hours with her the hardest interview of his career.

“I realized I was dealing with someone who was more intelligent than I was, and more educated,” he said, and added, “I felt like I was playing a game of chess” with an opponent who answered his questions with questions and tried just as hard to extract information from him.

Answering questions with questions, eh? Now I know why I've had visitors based on searches for "Lisa Nowak Jewish."

Click here to read more . . .

London Olympics logo

This is the official logo for the London Olympics, 2012, about which Bryan Preston at Hot Air reasonably opined: "It might be the ugliest Olympic logo ever." I think it's supposed to represent "2012."

It's so bad that the Beeb has links to alternatives supplied by readers. More here.

It's so bad that one Hot Air commenter wrote, "Is it supposed to look like 2 dudes having sex?"

So, despite my lack of imagination and my even greater lack of time, I've decided to add my two cents, which is approximately equal to one British pence. Here is my work in progress. I think Abu Hamza should be carrying a sign of some sort in his craw, or possibly be holding the Olympic rings there. This'll have to do for now.


A couple of Hot Air commenters used "Londonistan," which is not bad, but I'm going to stick with London.

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Another "Bolty" award

When John Bolton was originally nominated to serve as our UN ambassador, I gave out what I called the "Bolty awards," a series of awards for some highly amusing and pungent comments by or about him.

If you have ten minutes to spare, you will have one of the most enjoyable ten minutes of your week if you listen to this interview with Bolton. (via HotAir) The interviewer is an unctuous, left-wing, snot-nosed member of the BBC crew, named Jon Humphrys. And boy, does Bolton have a good time with him!

My personal favorite exchange is described by EU Referendum. Humphrys, the interviewer, invokes George Soros to refute something Bolton has said. Courtesy of EU Referendum:

"Are you kidding me!", responded Bolton. "This is a man of the extreme left. I am sure you will find a great deal in common with him, as would many others on the continent."

A sniffy Humphrys was not going to take that lying down though. On the attack, he demanded: "Do you make the assumption then that because one asks questions – perfectly valid questions about the conduct of American policy - one is on the extreme left?"

Bolton was unfazed: "I can see it from the content of your questions and the perspective from which you're coming and from the direction that your questions are taking. If you tell me you're a conservative, I would be happy to accept it."

That really got Humphrys going: "I would tell you that I'm neither conservative, nor left wing not right wing, nor middle wing, because…"

A laughing Bolton took that in his stride: "You have no views at all. Your brain is empty, you have no views at all…"

This interview has already caused a Bolton-for-President boomlet in the comments section at HotAir.

Click here to read more . . .

Queen

Leave it to the Washington Post to give some really useful etiquette tips for the Queen's visit, including (and I swear I'm not making this up): "Along the same lines, do not ask her to pull your finger. This will give you away as a rube from the Colonies." Yeah, I know it's supposed to be a joke. At the same link, the Post also offers letters from Americans -- what they would say if they had a few seconds with the Queen. Really pathetic. The only decent one is this: "I loved you as Helen Mirren."

Meanwhile, Marc Fisher is absolutely indignant about the deference Americans are showing to the Queen. He's got a point, especially with the editorialist who wrote, "We are Elizabeth's subjects and she our monarch for a day," although I would call most of what he cites simple adoration of celebrity. (Note the letter writer's comment above about the movie.) Besides which, at least she's got a lot more dignity than Diana.

Bonus: One of my all time favorite Beatles songs is Her Majesty:

Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl
But she doesn't have a lot to say
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl
But she changes from day to day

I want to tell her that I love her a lot
But I gotta get a bellyful of wine
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl
Someday I'm going to make her mine, oh yeah
Someday I'm going to make her mine

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Privatizing the police

There are quite a few government agencies that could be privatized (if they weren't going to be abolished), but one of the very last on the list would be the police.

Apparently, however, the Brits have begun privatizing (or in their case, "privatising") the police. According to the Sunday Times, the police now charge 105 pounds (roughly $200) to recover a stolen vehicle and investigate its theft. (via Fark) As an alternative, if the police find the vehicle, they'll tell you where it is and you can pick it up yourself. "That's free, sir."

Now, the government simply has to cut the taxes that are being paid to have the police do their job in the first place. Otherwise, Brits pay twice.

Remember the Beatles' song Taxman?

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