What Would Brian Boitano Do?

Bin Laden’s Secret Weapon: Sound Advice on Climate Change

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Osama bin Laden is speaking out against climate change: "The effects of global warming have touched every continent. Drought and deserts are spreading, while from the other floods and hurricanes unseen before the previous decades have now become frequent," bin Laden said in the audiotape, aired on the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera. … Read more

Contrarian Double-Ex Hires Sociopath as Friendship Guru

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By Lindsay Beyerstein The self-proclaimed feminist website Double-X shrewdly hired noted sociopath Lucinda Rosenfeld to write its friendship advice column. This is precisely the kind of fresh, contrarian perspective we’ve come to expect from the Slate/Double-X brand. Double-X racks up a lot of hits by hiring anti-feminists to diagnose the ills of contemporary feminism. Retaining … Read more

Right 16 out of the last 17

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link When the Redskins win their final home game before the presidential election, the incumbent party stays in office. When the Redskins lose their final home game before the election the incumbent party loses, except in 2004. Pretty simple, right? Steve Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau discovered it’s happened precisely that way 16 of … Read more

Now That’s Surprising

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by hilzoy Julia Child was a spy. Seriously. From the AP: “Famed chef Julia Child shared a secret with Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and Chicago White Sox catcher Moe Berg at a time when the Nazis threatened the world. They served in an international spy ring managed by the Office of Strategic Services, an … Read more

Unclear on the Concept

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by von Yes, back again, with a reminder.  This is a blog.  Ernest G. Gygax died on March 4.  There was no entry. Frankly, that’s unacceptable.  Why?  Well, how about, "Moe said so."  Or, if you’re a purist, "Gary sent us."  (To which the orc responds, "Huh?") (You got the references, right?) Here’s your open … Read more

A More Appropriate Thread

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by hilzoy Jeff, in comments to a previous thread, wrote: “Note: there are things in comments that I’d like to reply to, and in a few days, when there’s a new thread available for such things, I probably will. But how difficult is it to say to yourself “This precious gem of a idea can … Read more

Farewell To A Giant

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by hilzoy I note with chagrin that Thomas at RedState has decided to retire from RedState, and that he has chosen to thank us as he leaves: “Fifth, I want to take a moment to thank Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, Duncan Black, Oliver Willis, the whole crew at Obsidian Wings, and the writers of any other … Read more

Pretty Bird Woman House

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by G’Kar I hate to ask for money, but I am willing to make an exception for particularly good causes. And I think that Pretty Bird Woman House, a women’s shelter on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, qualifies. Some fine example of humanity burned down the shelter, and they need some $70,000 to buy a … Read more

Military Musings

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by G’Kar

Inspired by some recent reading, both here and elsewhere, I wanted to address some matters military. Since this post is somewhat meandering and since I’m just a guest here, I’ll put the post below the fold so readers can skip past to the more important stuff.

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Miles Deep, Inches Wide

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by G’Kar I just wanted to express a quick note regarding my location (occupied Narn) and how it affects my assessment of the situation on the ground there. While I see a lot here, I hardly see everything even in my relatively small slice of the pie. Therefore, while I can provide some useful on-site … Read more

Anti-Althousiana, Hooray!

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by von I DON’T GENERALLY READ Ann Althouse; I find her shtick — and a lot of it is shtick — to be kinda boring.  Indeed, that Professor Althouse attempts treat blogging as performance art doesn’t mean that all of her performances are art (or particularly good).  But curiousity got the better of me, and … Read more

File Under …. General Idiocy

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by von

JACK TRUDEAU, former QB for the Indianapolis Colts, faces three years in prison for hosting a high school graduation party.  The crime?  Alcohol was served:

Hosting a party for Park Tudor graduates at his Zionsville residence, former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jack Trudeau collected car keys and listed names on a clipboard — but denied that he supplied any of the alcohol that authorities found there early Saturday, according to Boone County court documents released Monday.
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Authorities filed a felony charge of obstruction of justice Monday against Trudeau, who could face up to three years in prison. Police say he failed to provide the list of the young people attending the party.
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Trudeau was charged after police found students from Park Tudor, a private school on the Far Northside of Indianapolis, celebrating their graduation with alcoholic beverages in his home. According to the police report, when officers arrived, Trudeau was at the front of his home with a clipboard in his hand. He told officers that he was taking everybody’s names and keys so no one could leave the party. According to the court documents, he said that if underage drinking were going on, he didn’t supply the alcohol — but added that he wasn’t checking people’s coolers or bags as they entered the party.
Authorities said Trudeau had told his guests that he didn’t want them to wind up like Jon Pavey, a star receiver on the Zionsville Community High School football team who was critically injured in a one-car accident May 25.
This is ridiculous.  Granted, Trudeau may have broken the law and, granted, he might have been a bit of a prick.  But is there nothing better for these officers and Boone county’s prosecutor to do than put a guy in jail for having, at worst, a misguided sense of what’s in the best interests of these kids?  (I say "at worst" because it’s not at all clear to me that 18-year olds, eligible to both vote and die for this country, shouldn’t also be permitted a beer in a private residence.)  There is, after all, an honest-to-God crime wave occuring in Indianapolis.  Although I realize that it hasn’t affected tony Zionsville, couldn’t the Zionsville police at least make a stab at giving a damn?*

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A Distant Episode

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by von WE BREAK FROM POLITICS* to reconsider our relative youth.  And one of the better tunes from the late 1990s: You’re such a willing stick to beckon that wanting knife and you’ve been looking for it the right blade, all your life saying: "who’s gonna cut me down to a size that suits me? … Read more

Closing Time

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by Andrew

I believe that when we leave a place a part of it goes with us and a part of us remains. Go anywhere in these halls, when it is quiet, and just listen. After a while you will hear the echoes of all of our conversations, every thought and word we’ve exchanged. Long after we are gone, our voices will linger in these walls for as long as this place remains. But I will admit that the part of me that going will very much miss the part of you that is staying.

G’Kar, Babylon 5

This will be my last post at Obsidian Wings. Not, as has noted, that anyone is likely to notice I’m gone, since I’ve done a lousy job of keeping up of late anyhow. <g> I have no desire to leave, but given my personal circumstances, it appears to be the best of my available options.

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Bring Back Fat Apollo!

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by von If you want politics, go here (Andrew on the Fairness Doctrine) or here (Hilzoy on Hillary).  If you want to bs about today’s games, go here.  If you want to gamble on the Cornerites, Publius is your man.  By popular demand, however, this is your Battlestar Galactica Open Thread.  Use it wisely. Because … Read more

Dreams Go To Die

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by von 5:34 left in the 4th, and it looks like New Orleans is about to fall to the Chicago Bears (currently it’s 32-14, with Chicago driving at the NO 20).  I never bought NO as a legitimate contender, and, having lived in Chicago for a number of years, I still have some residual love … Read more

You Can’t Take the Sky From Me

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by Andrew If memory serves, when my taste for Babylon 5 was first revealed here at ObWings, there was some discussion of another sci-fi show called Firefly. As luck would have it, I received both Firefly and Serenity as Christmas gifts, and Amanda and I had time to watch the full series and the film … Read more

A Christmas Story

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–by Sebastian Personal anecdote open thread. I went to Denver for Christmas to visit my family.  As you may have heard, there was a bit of snow in Denver around that time.  Fortunately I was traveling on Saturday–two days after the Denver airport reopened.  There was a warming trend while I was there.  It got … Read more

Blah Blah Blah

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by hilzoy As far as I can tell, the entire world is doing one of three things: (a) dying (b) attending a funeral (c) waiting for something. I tuned in CNN over the weekend, and felt like a refugee from Sixth Sense: “I see dead people!” All the time, over and over. I flipped to … Read more

A Modest Proposal

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by von Don’t know whether it’s something Brian Boitano would do, but Erick Erickson (of RedState) reveals a surefire way to deter future visits  from Jehovah’s Witnesses. UPDATE, AND ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SUBJECT:  Just don’t forget the little people, Jonathan, when you go on Nancy Grace.  (Jonathan Polak, Goldman’s attorney in the most recent … Read more

Open Thread

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by hilzoy William Arkin, the Washington Post’s normally sober military/security blogger, has written a Rumsfeld Christmas song: “Snowflakes roasting on an open fire, Rummy’s in his final throes, Useless memos being fed to the pyre, Hosannas sung by GI Joes. Everybody knows the voters said you have to go, Iraq has got to be made … Read more

Not About Torture!

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by hilzoy The BBC has this wonderful story: “A German art student briefly fooled police by posing as one of China’s terracotta warriors at the heritage site in the ancient capital, Xian. Pablo Wendel, made up like an ancient warrior, jumped into a pit showcasing the 2,200-year-old pottery soldiers and stood motionless for several minutes. … Read more

Hej Från Sverige! (Öppen Tråd)

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av hilzoy The Swedish is beginning to come back… Birdwatching in other countries is lots of fun: even the most ordinary birds are completely new, so everything is wonderful. Plus, as done by me, birding is basically an excuse to take very long walks while paying attention to my surroundings, and long walks here means … Read more

Geek-Fu

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Because someone noted we haven’t had an open thread in some time, and because I wanted to point out that someone stole my post title. The ObWings legal team is busy examining our options. Please remain calm. Because this isn’t just another deep space [blog] franchise. We stand for something.

Whoops

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I’m sorry if you saw my post Asymmetric Warfare and now see that it has vanished.  I was working on it in draft (it should be done later today) but it isn’t finished yet.  I think I pulled it back before there were any comments.  Until then I offer this cartoon, which may or may … Read more

The Smell of Better Vision

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by Slartibartfast That’s supposed to be how you think of that burning-hair smell resulting from a UV laser burning multiple layers of cells from the surface of your cornea.  I really didn’t notice much of a smell; hope that doesn’t mean anything bad in terms of improved visual acuity. That part, actually, didn’t hurt.  Nor … Read more

Not Dead.

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by von Not yet, at least.   I hope to be back by next week, dishing out my unique brand of von-justice to all comers.  Moreover, it’ll be a new and improved von, finally in sync with the Administration.  But I can’t be the only center-righty ready to come home to roost.  I mean, who could … Read more