Hey Nancy, over here!

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 20:19:49 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Kill that LiveJournal Snap popup

Add these entries to your HOSTS file:

For more details, see How to kill that Snap popup - dead!

Elsewhere:

Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:19:26 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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RIP, Caramon

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 14:41:15 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yale Fail, cont’d.

Bill Quick noticed this (which I’d scanned past and missed) in the Times story:

Ms. Klausen [the author] said she was also disturbed by Yale’s insistence that she could read a 14-page summary of the consultants’ recommendations only if she signed a confidentiality agreement that forbade her from talking about them.  “I perceive it to be a gag order,” she said, after declining to sign.  While she could understand why some of the individuals consulted might prefer to remain unidentified, she said, she did not see why she should be precluded from talking about their conclusions.

Bill comments:

The Acadame’s Star Chamber has ruled.  Who are you to question them?  Or their identities?

And ain’t it interesting how all the academy’s fine talk about open, objective scholarship means absolutely nothing when you throw a bit of good old-fashioned fear into the mix?

Previously.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:19:28 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Associated Press’ “Tracking Beacon”

Via: Romenesko

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 22:11:39 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yale University = wuss central

The New York Times:

Yale University and Yale University Press consulted two dozen authorities, including diplomats and experts on Islam and counterterrorism, and the recommendation was unanimous:  The book, “The Cartoons That Shook the World,” should not include the 12 Danish drawings that originally appeared in September 2005.  What’s more, they suggested that the Yale press also refrain from publishing any other illustrations of the prophet that were to be included, specifically, a drawing for a children’s book; an Ottoman print; and a sketch by the 19th-century artist Gustave Doré of Muhammad being tormented in Hell, an episode from Dante’s “Inferno” that has been depicted by Botticelli, Blake, Rodin and Dalí…

John Donatich, the director of Yale University Press chief wuss, said by telephone that the decision was difficult, but the recommendation to withdraw the images, including the historical ones of Muhammad, was “overwhelming and unanimous.”  The cartoons are freely available on the Internet and can be accurately described in words, Mr. Donatich said, so reprinting them could be interpreted easily as gratuitous.

I can’t imagine any “respectable academic institution” seeking similar prior-to-publication “diplomatic and expert” input on a book about, oh... say... satirical depictions of Jesus Christ.  Let alone paying attention to it.  But then I’m no policially-correct liberal academic, so what do I know?

Disgraceful.  Yale should change its school color to yellow. And its mascot from the bulldog to the pussycat.


Elsewhere (added 18:38, updated 090814 17:25):

Related:  Gateway Pundit notes that the Times report linked above (again) fails to tell the whole truth about the cartoon controversy.

Via:  Hot Air

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:44:31 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Attention English readers

(all two of you?)

Two orphaned cats:

My name is Skippy…..

…..I am a six year old, black and white ‘Felix cat’. I am a loving, cuddly, homey type, neutered male cat. I love talking to peeps, cuddles, food, snuggles, blankets, cushions, more snuggles and my Mum, who I think is on holiday. She hasn’t been home for three weeks and although I miss her I hope she is enjoying her holiday. Lucky for me MummyLongLegs has been around to give me my loves. Oh bugger, here comes my brother…….

…..Hi there, My name is Kit Kit…you can call me ‘Fuck the bastard bit my fucking hand again’ for short…..

…..I am a six year old, black and white ‘Felix cat’. I am also an evil, rat catching, mouse killing, take it or leave it type, neutered male cat. I love attacking anything that doesn’t obey my orders, especially my Mum, who appears to be on holiday (well she hasn’t attended my every whim for the last three weeks). Luckily enough for MummyLongLegs, I have kindly allowed her to dispose of the dead mice/rats/squirrels I have bought home and have also allowed her to give to me a quick head scratch whilst feeding me. How lucky is she.

“Mum” has passed on; these guys urgently need a home.  Oh, yes, there’s a legacy.


(Loosely, via Blackpool, via DG and ain’t the web amazin’?)

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 14:34:50 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Before you get that tat...

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 17:00:29 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well there’s dis-sent, and there’s dat-sent

Spotted at The Other McCain’s:

Meanwhile, the Left is accusing the Right of organizing dissent at congressional town-hall meetings.

I dunno, seems to me they should thank their lucky stars that the “dissent” isn’t any better “organized.”


Elsewhere:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 22:10:13 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hold on, maybe we’re wrong about Congressional Airlines...

RollCall had the early report:

Last year, lawmakers excoriated the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for traveling to Washington, D.C., by private jet to attend a hearing about a possible bailout of their companies.

But apparently Congress is not philosophically averse to private air travel:  At the end of July, the House approved nearly $200 million for the Air Force to buy three elite Gulfstream jets for ferrying top government officials and Members of Congress.

The Air Force had asked for one Gulfstream 550 jet (price tag: about $65 million) as part of an ongoing upgrade of its passenger air service.

But the House Appropriations Committee, at its own initiative, added to the 2010 Defense appropriations bill another $132 million for two more airplanes and specified that they be assigned to the D.C.-area units that carry Members of Congress, military brass and top government officials.

So the story is: “Three private jets (two extra): $200 million,” right?

Well, no.  There’s more...

The Wall Street Journal digs further:

Congress plans to spend $550 million^[1] to buy eight new jets...

The Pentagon [had originally] sought to buy one Gulfstream V and one business-class equivalent of a Boeing 737 to replace aging planes.  The Defense Department also asked to buy two additional 737s that were being leased.

Lawmakers in the House... added funds to buy a total of three Gulfstream planes and two additional 737s on top of the Pentagon’s request...

In summary:

	Pentagon	$	House	$
Gulfstreams ($66m each)	1	$66m	3	$99m
737s ($70m each)	3	$210m	5	$350m
	4	$276m	8	$449m[1]

Demonstrating that, despite record deficits and economic crisis, the members of Congress still have their priorities in order:  Protecting their phoney-baloney perks.  To the tune of half-a-billion dollars.

Ellis Brachman, a spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, said the changes were part of “Congress’s normal oversight responsibility” to make sure “the troops have everything they need,” upon which his nose sprouted to six feet long, and was promptly struck by lightning.

Oh, I added that last bit.


Elsewhere:
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Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 17:06:05 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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