Rodeo Perspective

I was grabbing a free newspaper from a rack today downtown and a number of slick colored pamphlet-sized sheets came out and surrounded my feet.

They were anti-rodeo messages. From PETA.

Gotta love this:

"I keep 30 head of cattle around for practice, at $200 a head. You can cripple three or four in an afternoon... it gets to be a pretty expensive hobby."

Dr. "J.K." Hardy, a Texas veternarian and sometimes steer roper.

What is the problem here? Just because a steer is crippled, it doesn't mean it won't be great for steaks and hamburgers.

Then there is some additional irony: Don't support cruelty to animals! Patronize only non-animal events like festivals and sporting events.

Let's all go down to the NFL game and see the humans cripple each other!

On top of all of this PETA causes litter. So there.

Smoke It If Ya Got It

Heard on NPR yesterday about a vending machine that dispenses medical marijuana in California. Read all about it here. Whatever, make weed available to those poor suffering people afterhours if they just can't stand the pain, etc.

But this just takes the cake, or should I say brownies? This was the money shot from the article for me:

Miko is taking marijuana instead of pharmaceuticals to help him with anger management, he says. Without it, he says he's surly and violent. With it, "I'm friendlier, I'm compassionate, I'm not angry, I love people. I look at life and I love life."

Whatever happened to all the cancer patients, the terminally ill, that were going to benefit from Medical Mary Jane? But anger management? It would appear that the critics of MM were right. Give them an inch. Is it a camel with its nose under the tent and all that?

This really pisses me off. It's stuff like this that makes me gonzo apoplectic. I can't seem to control my emotions and reactions about this. Makes me want to hit someone. Anyone.

Maybe I should seek help.

If Our Thugo Had A Facebook Page

A very clever cleaver put this together.

HT: Daniel, a Venezuelan.

Cool Jukebox Sight

Playa Cofi Jukebox.

Pix OfThe Week

Came from an email today from Louisiana. She, I'm certain, did not take the shot. They say Northerners would not find this surprising.

We're my son to stumble upon this scenario, he would not think, "sweet scene," but "what a target!"

Cool "Little Gadget" for Photographers

Found at Lifehacker.

Stay still.

Book cover generator.

Psychological Gang Rape

The victim: Hillary Clinton

Says who?: President of New York State, National Organization for Women (NOW)

With friends like these...

HT: Vox Day

Mini-Mart Hero

An alternate way of handling intimidation here.

You go girl!

HT: Maggie's Farm

Handling Intimidation

Good advice from Lifehacker and its readers.

David Bowie, Prophet

What these nimrods fail to understand is that people, in general, HATE change. Except we love to hear about, and talk about how things need to change.

This is a hoot!

Via: Little Green Footballs via Dr. Sanity

Most Diversity Training Ineffective, Study Finds

Ya think?

Very interesting article from the WaPo last week.

I came to the conclusion a number of years ago that "diversity" should go way deeper than mere color, nationality, sex, etc. That is too simplistic and simply wrongheaded PCness. Personalities, strengths and weaknesses, ages, creativity and many more factors should be included in the mix of what make a truly diverse workplace.

At about 4:15, take a look at your To Do list. Anything on it that can be put off until tomorrow? Hold on! Can’t, like 80% of it be put off until tomorrow? Or even the day after tomorrow? That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. It’s called procrastination. It’s divided into three parts: PRE-crastination is all the things you do before you start your serious PRO-crastination which comes right before a good session of POST-crastination. Then you can do whatever it is. Or not.

There are 9 other things that Stanley Bing suggests we do if we are too busy. Here.

The Great Un-Banked

"an unbanked worker will spend more than $40,000 just to turn his or her salary into cash."

-- "[T]he number of check cashers, payday lenders and pawnshops is more than double the number of McDonald's franchises in the United States."

(Source: WSJ op-ed, 1/24/08)

HT: Dan Pink's Blog

Long live credit unions. There is one in my locale that allows anyone to join. There is no excuse for people to be taken like this.

Guidoism Is Alive and Well

And living in New Jersey. For Monday Morning Sociologists, get a load of this counter-culture:

New Jersey Freak Show.

HT: Fred

237 Reasons (At Least)

To have sex. Well researched. Some of my favorites:

"My hormones were out of control."

"I wanted to get the most out of life."

"I knew the person was usually 'out of my league'"

"The person was a good dancer."

"Because of a bet."

And that's not all!

HT: Reality Carnival

The Heartbreak of ED in America

Electile dysfunction: "The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for president put forth by either party in the 2008 election year."

Politics doesn't arouse me but keeps my funny bone working well.

HT: Maggie's Farm

Muffler Men

We had one in my home town growing up. Unubiquitous these days though.

They're still out there! (And some are disguising themselves.)

HT: Fred

You Simply Must Listen To This

You simply must.


Have some fun here.

HT: The Other Eclecticity

Billary!

From the Formerly Great New York Times today:

The Clintons have come full circle: They are truly two-for-the-price-of-one in this presidential race. Mr. Clinton used that phrase when he first ran in 1992, only to back off after voters raised eyebrows, but now the Clintons are all but openly running together as a power couple ready to take office in 2009. Mrs. Clinton views him as a full partner, her advisers say, relying on him over the last few weeks to salvage and steer her campaign.

... On Thursday, it was Mr. Clinton’s voice that appeared in a new radio advertisement here arguing for another Clinton presidency.

Entire article here.

They are so bad they are good.

Well I Declare

Thugo is back in the news. Looking out for the little guy no doubt. He knows best what the price of milk should be in his (imploding???) economy.

Chavez is focusing on practical issues like food supply and crime after losing a December referendum that would have let him run for re-election indefinitely and expand his self-styled revolution.

He announced an increase of more than 30% in the retail price of milk in an effort to ease shortages that have created headaches for consumers of all social classes.

He also threatened to expropriate companies selling food above regulated prices.

"Anyone who is distributing food ... and is speculating, we must intervene and we must expropriate (the business) and put it in the hands of the state and the communities," Chavez said during the inauguration of a new state-run market in Caracas.

Article here: Thugo's Troop Seize Food

HT: Drudge

Google Logo Maker

Tried and true for some of you non-readers I'm certain. Remains cool.

Google Logo Maker.

Rate My Turban

1163 Turbans.

Billary

From the Wall Street Journal today. They play ball hard.

HT: Drudge

Might As Well Laugh...

As all our paper gains go down the tubes. And then some.

This video is hilarious and worth the price of admission. Focuses on funny money and the foundation of the sub-prime mortgage "crisis."

HT: Roger's Rules (Bonus: Learn all about Ms. Clinton's stern desire to get the government all up in financial markets were she to be crowned.)

Bonding Against Bears

Montgomery Gentry - Speed

From their My Town Album, (2002).

Joan Armatrading - Love and Affection

From her debut 1976 self-titled album.

The best concert I have ever experienced was Joan in New York City in the later 80's. No way to describe. She was just magnificent and those who were there were all true fans. Joe Jackson, (see below) made a short appearance and did a couple of numbers completely unexpected. They must be buds.

Nimrods Lining Up

I took this picture downtown today. The fella that owned the building was an equal opportunity yard sign junky. Hillary!'s was off to the left of Mitt's.

Anyway, our vote is tomorrow and I'm voting for this guy.

Some might call this a protest vote, snowball in hell and all that.

Ya think?

Antony - If It Be Your Will

A special friend sent me a Leonard Cohen tribute concert DVD for my birthday last year. She introduced me to Field Commander Cohen several years ago.

When Antony came on to perform this song of Cohen's, I was completely drawn into him and his rendition. Having never heard of him nor seen him before, Antony appeared to me at first to be some kind of shy shy wounded soul. He sings from a very special place in his soul. Pathos comes to mind. Tell me what you think, dear non-readers. Share the love with others. You can search for this on YouTube and will find the comments from viewers revealing.

Hate Crime Report Form

If you ever happen to be on UCLA's campus and are the victim of, perpetrate, or just stumble upon a hate crime, use this handy form to report it. Luckily you can report these things anonymously - especially if you would like to falsely accuse someone.

HT: Instapundit

Steely Dan - The Royal Scam

Can it really be that it was 19 Frigg'n 76?

The Girly-Man Wears Prada

(Neither are smiling but they did get paid)

The latest from Milan, and some well deserved blowback from the Formerly Great New York Times.

You simply must view the slideshow darling.

It is no stretch to suggest that the Prada collection read like the manifesto of a gender revanchist. The man in Ms. Prada’s current vision was domesticated and so passive as to be a neuter. One notes this not merely because the models looked abnormally robotic and were given nothing to wear outside the house.

Like a flipped version of the Unwomen in Margaret Atwood’s feminist parable “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the Prada Unman was gotten up in humiliating tutu belts, severe high-collar shirts that buttoned up the back and odd cummerbunds that disappeared in a chevron down the front of trousers conspicuously lacking a fly.

As usual with this designer, there were things to admire: a lean clerical silhouette, the severity of a nearly monochrome palette, the way color and its absence were used to mark out the torso in floating zones. But when designers stop conceding to biological function, they move away from the realm of fashion and into that of social engineering. It is one thing to nudge men toward exploring their girly sides and quite another to suggest they sit to urinate.

Note to my non-readers: I just added a new label to supplement this post: "Call Me Homophobic." !!!!

HT: Ann Althouse

Amazing!

Scroll down slowly and take a little trip.

HT: Your Monkey Called

The Internet Wayback Machine

As if you aren't surfing enough. Check this out. Go and look for what Yahoo! and Google (and whatever) looked like at their inception and how they have evolved. Somebody just may be archiving your pages too!

The Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

OK, After This I'll Stop

Submitted by me today.

(In the tradition of St. Francis who supposedly rolled in the snow to allay his lust.)

New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest

Was unaware of this until just now. No doubt it's my lack of urbane sophistication.

Plenty of wit out there in them thar hills!

A Choice

HT: Professor Crow

Indexed

Lots more of Ms. Hagy's genius here.