Ghost of a flea

Two sides of perversion

While readership for Slavoj Žižek's twisty Lacanian take on The Matrix may be limited his opening paragraph is much more enjoyable than the average academic paper.

Iron Maiden: The Trooper

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance to something suitably grim.

Grow

Grow is a pleasant diversion from a troubled world.

Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page

The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual web search engine.

I hope his mom sees it

Quick-thinking commuter, Thao Nguyen was flashed by a creep on the New York Subway. He escaped but not before she used her camera phone to get a full face photo of the culprit.

Blind Lemon Jefferson

Max Haymes discusses hoodoo roots in the lyrics of Blind Lemon Jefferson.

Levee Camp Holler

Sylviane Diouf is right to think her audience will be skeptical at her assertion of the Muslim roots of the blues. While Levee Camp Holler may call to mind the call to prayer it seems to me that one song does not the blues make. If there is a relationship here, it seems rather more likely the call to prayer was influenced by the musical traditions of west Africa than the other way round.

New Orleans Poem

By Brenda Harrison Bell.

Stockfleth's Prayer

By Charles Hobson.

The Mitchell Brothers: Excuse My Brother

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

K9

I like Rose. But K9 kicks ass.

Now I need to know how he makes it back from E-Space. With Romana II, please.

TARDIS

The TARDIS, a brief overview.

Voodoo doll

New Orleans based, Poppy Z. Brite had decided to weather the hurricane by preference to abandoning twenty-eight critters and a house full of junk food. It was only motherly intervention that convinced her to bug out. This voodoo doll, or at least its proceeds, might have come in handy.

Saffir-Simpson

A Category Five storm is described via the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

Athlete: Tourist

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance. And cross our fingers.

Hurricane prayer

A prayer for the hurricane season.

Young in New Orleans

By Charles Bukowski.

The Ballad of the Crescent City

From Harper's Weekly, June 14, 1862.

St. Charles & Napoleon

This New Orleans webcam at the corner of St. Charles & Napoleon was still functioning at the time I write this (EST 6:19 a.m.) (via Instapundit).

Hurricane names

People have been naming hurricanes for some time. Given the choice, I would much rather be swamped by Hurricane Hotlips.

Burlesque

Former S Club 7 member, Rachel Stevens posed for some slightly racey photos for Arena Magazine (warning: churlish remarks!) and, presumably after being prompted by someone's corset and garters mental association, said she would like to work with Marilyn Manson.

Well the cad was reportedly quite dismissive of the idea. But given the difference between the two artists one is forced to observe the choice between listening to an edgy, controversial act or listening to mass-produced, commodified pop music like Marilyn Manson. Just don't get him started on Harry Potter. What was that about Dita Von Teese again?

The Eva Stones: L'autel

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Balloon Bowl

Once you have seen someone skateboard through balloons to that satisfying popping sound you have to wonder why nobody thought of doing it before.

Wang Xingwei

I enjoy the unsettling quality of these paintings by Wang Xingwei. "Death of a Panda" and "Untitled (Penguin)" have a special creepiness (possibly nsfw due to art).

More Wang Xingwei here. I particularly like "X-Ray".

Hinterland University

Anyone teaching in the United States need only look north to understand what a true Hinterland University looks like. And anyone who can buy an "a beautiful old Italianate with 10-foot ceilings on the National Historic Register" on an adjunct's salary is obviously married to someone doing something better paid.

Agent Smith

The Flea School for Wayward Expats continues a series in rhetoric and oratory. Today's speaker is Agent Smith offering a disturbing insight into the logic of the Death Eaters both foreign and domestic. Though he does have a perverse charm. As James Lileks observed, "The director wants us to fear him – but who wouldn’t want to knock back some cold ones with Agent Smith?"

Paul Van Dyk: Crush

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The joys of parenthood.

Haunted airplane

Chosun Ilbo reports some chilling tales from a haunted airplane.

Living doll

Steve Erhardt has transformed himself into a "living Ken doll" and thus achieved another step toward our somewhat alarming shared transhuman future. Though I cannot fathom the point of bicep implants. Not likely to prevent anyone from kicking sand in your face at the beach. Via the divine SondraK whose post has comments better than anything I could come up with.

London Zoo

The London Zoo is reportedly to include humans in an exhibit "to highlight the spread of man as a plague species." Ace of Base HQ comments.

The problem with the London Zoo is that apparently their biologists do not understand they themselves are animals. But that would not be their real point: humans who are not clever enough to agree with their enlightented views are the plague animals.

The problem with The Matrix, while a fun movie, is the problem with a ruinous strain of gnostic belief systems, a fundamental hatred of all human life (the linked article takes a more specific view). Agent Smith is only repeating what any Earth Firster is proud to call a political philosophy.

The Stone Age of instant messaging

Being anti-instant messaging in the first place, I am not certain what to make of Ken Fisher's review of the Google Talk beta.

I will have a better idea what I think of the product once I have tried to get my mic to work with Google Talk's VOIP capability. My feeling is the product and its competitors are only going to hook people like me once different IM systems are capable of talking to each other.

Love for Nana

PS2 have understood their target market well. Instead of playing one of the two punk girls from the popular Cookie magazine comic Nana, you get to play their neighbour. Or rather, you do if you are in Japan where this gem is going to be marketed.

The Love for Nana live adaptation tribute film may be available thanks to the byways of "the internet". Mainichi Daily News is on the case with crucial film details.

Raymi and Paris

I wonder if Raymi's dream looked anything like this Paris Hilton ad. Maybe there was a German voice-over and a delivery guy she failed to mention.

Armand Van Helden: Hear my name

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance (caution: spanking!). And watch My my my again. You know you want to.

Gothic Victorian Cocktail Bar

Flea Mansions will have one of these installed just as soon as that massive blog revenue starts rolling in.

Hello, Francesca

Hot goth women, including Shim Hye-JinJung from Acacia and Jung Ryeo-Won of Chakra K-pop fame, a luckless otaku type and a gay vampire. Korean television is kicking Canadian tv ass. Now, see, I would give rubies for a subtitled version of Hello, Francesca to be broadcast in this country. But is Canada's commitment to the cultural mosaic going to allow that? I think not.

Comment fisking

I have not written anything about Cindy Sheehan and I do not aim to. For those who want a good dust up I suggest a post over at Gay Orbit. I think Michael is on to a blogosphere first: comment fisking! An idea whose time has come ("Clicky the linky!").

Update: Dean's World has more on the travails of hosting comments (via INDC Journal).

Update: Scrappleface offers commentary by way of an imagined response to Casey Sheehan's mother.

Get-hits-quick

Iowahawk offers tips for starting bloggers (via Ace of Base HQ).

Al-Tajdeed Radio

William Joyce was tried and hanged, not deported. And at least he had the common sense to broadcast from Berlin. Imagine if Lord Haw-Haw had been calling for Nazi victory from a radio station based in London. These days he would probably qualify for a grant.

G Pumidius Dipilus fuit hic

I am pleased to find that, despite two-thousand years and the invention of cable television, plenty of this graffiti from Roman Pompeii is not remotely worksafe.

Careful with that line. It's an antique.

Goldfrapp: Pilots

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance as we get ready to board AirFlea.

Puzzlebox case mod

Now I want my own Hellraiser Puzzlebox case mod. Vexed again!

Kelsey Museum

This Kelsey Museum site should come in handy for all your protective magic needs. Don't miss the Babylonian demon bowl display! Some aggressive magic might also prove useful if your demon bowl is on the blink.

Junichiro Koizumi

Visions of a skeletal metal foot crushing a human skull may not keep you up at night. But then you are probably not the Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi. Though as robot attacks go, Tmsuk's effort is a bit lame.

The Yancy Street Memo

Spare a thought for Victor Von Doom, PhD, deposed president and spiritual leader of the Latverian people.

On The Line

Locked out CBC denizens have produced an on-line magazine. For what it is worth, I do not cross picket lines and reserve most of my hostility toward the Corporation* for its management. But seriously folks, as a former CUPE 3903 member I am telling you gratis that you are going to have to up your rhetorical game. If you plan to win this one, "Lockout stills CBC's Inuktitut voice" is not going to do the business.

In related news, Adrienne Arsenault can stick her solipsistic little note up her nose.

Because your labour dispute is even remotely comparable to the situation in Gaza. Or that Canadians can be anything but the wiser for want of Arsenault's skewed intervention in the matter. Talk about a "heartbreaking situation".

*So, like, if a corporation is a legal person then could the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation be a clinical psychopath? Yeah. Think about that one. High time for a paper-thin polemical documentary on the subject. I could get a grant or something. Just remember I get a creative producer credit.

Odd Einar Dørum

Norwegian Minister of Justice and Police, Odd Einar Dørum is getting into the spirit of things by attending a Tolkien parade. In costume. As a hobbit.

Atom Egoyan

Director, Atom Egoyan blames "the very conservative climate in America" for the likely reception of his latest effort, Where the Truth Lies. His concern is that an NC-17 rating would limit its box-office. Though I do wonder whether he imagines a film with "some tough violence, nudity, lesbian encounters and drug-taking" and "a sex scene involving stars Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon and the film's female lead, 29-year-old Rachel Blanchard" would have merited a PG rating under the Clinton administration. Apparently, the critical difficulty is the number of "Bacon thrusts"*.

*The Flea... soon to be number one on Google for "bacon thrusts"!

Lajos Polgar

Former senior Arrow Cross party official, Lajos Polgar is not helping his defense against accusations of war crimes. A fascinating aspect of the mind of such people is an apparent failure to understand the implication of their own clearly stated beliefs.

Perhaps someone can explain to me how this man managed to claim sanctuary from justice in Australia for all these years. And why we civilized peoples should shy from hanging him now for the sole reason he has got away with it so long.

And the high heels would not trouble me in the slightest

Oh for pity's sake. I have sent smoke signals. I have stood on the shed and waved my arms about the place making ham-fisted attempts at semaphore. I have tried astral projection. And none of it. None of it has communicated my intentions toward Nicole Kidman. Perhaps posting to the blog will do the trick.

Wedding belle

Kylie Minogue is to marry Olivier Martinez next year. The Flea congratulates the happy couple and expresses profound relief at the good news of Kylie's continued recovery.

Groove Armada: Superstylin'

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

What is Scientology™?

I am not Katie anymore!
I am a galactic ambassador!

Elf Girl Sim Date RPG

At last something practical from "the internet".

Loser auction

Look, while I am reasonably certain a charity auction for the First Amendment Project is a good idea, I cannot imagine bidding for a chance to have my name appear in a novel. Why not just write my own novel and name everyone in it? This bloggy world we live in should have eliminated such pathetic scrambles to be "immortalized" as a bit player buried in someone else's work. That said, I would still give rubies for a cameo on Stargate: Atlantis. That's different. That's television.

Otaku

The high otaku content of the Flea may make me a hottie in Japan. Sadly, the effect seems to be lost on Canadians (via Ace of Spades SQ).

Ladytron: Playgirl

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance with the most awesome woman in the world. I don't know how corporate the site I am linking to might be so don't want to be a bandwidth bandit. So please proceed to Video Vision for the wonder that is Ladytron.

Girls of Comic-Con

So how about these guys here... you like these comic nerds? And more excellent questions (warning: Canadian content).

Saturn's rings

Saturn's rings have their own atmosphere. Who knew? It is said to resemble that of Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede.

Rent-a-cow

Asahi Shimbun
poetic rent-a-cow scheme
haikuist network.

Cow's innocent stare
calls to mind my favourite
bacon cheeseburger.

Mini Bet On Soldier

This first person shooter may proove cathartic for people who like enjoy shooting people on a weekend away from the office.

Ashford v. Thornton

The BBC seems to think the case of Ashford v. Thornton is remarkable mainly for its establishing the principle of double-jeopardy. I think it more remarkable for putting a finish to trial by combat. While in this instance it appears to have allowed a man guilty of an horrendous crime to go free it still somehow seems a pity to have done away with the practice.

Shazia Mirza

Shazia Mirza offers useful perspective on the merits of not dying a virgin. What should just be a joke is, in these interesting times, also an act of bravery (via the Jawa Report).

Monstrous visions

Visitors to Toronto from now through September 28 can stop by the Japan Foundation in scenic Yorkville for an exhibition of Japanese movie posters. "Monstrous Visions: Horror and Destruction in Japanese Films" offers a roomful of Godzilla posters collected alongside more contemporary offerings such as Battle Royale and Hellevator which I need to make time to see (hat tip to the Neighbour of the Flea).

Huckapoo: Crash the Party

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance as part of some terrifying tween brand loyalty rite.

Coober Pedy

Coober Pedy, Australia looks like an excellent bolt-hole once the Flea has to flee Annexia. Nice opals.

Droogle

Droogle is an innovative drinks search engine.

Trackbacks again...

My trackbacks have been wonky for some time now. It looks as though blogs receive my outgoing trackback pings but the Flea does not register incoming pings. If anyone could tell where to look under the hood it would great if I could get the engine running properly again.

Advertisers boned by the CBC

Canadians, yearning for public broadcasting and finding only the CBC, struggle on as the management riot reaches a sordid fifth day. Defying all logic, doubling the public's ration of Coronation Street and substituting CBC news gruel for BBC news great has somehow contrived to reduce audience numbers. Mandarins at the space fortress reply by throwing a bone to increasingly fidgety ad-buyers.

As Sun Tzu observed, best not to let media buyers remember their ad dollars are limited to the tax-payer subsidized "public" broadcaster or "private" broadcasters sheltered by regulations ostensibly meant to safe-guard state culture. The mandate of heaven smiles upon British and American reruns but for how long in a nation bereft of Wendy Mesley?

Jumping the gun

The Telegraph provides some important points to be getting on with in the shooting death of an apparently innocent man on the London Underground. But the most that can be said about any of the new revelations, if this is in fact what they prove to be, is that eye-witness accounts offer conflicting views of an awful mistake. There should be little surprise to anybody that this should be the case.

None of which makes any early pronouncements on the part of some supposed progressives, or indeed Mark Steyn, to the effect that a "public execution" had taken place any less wrongheaded or reprehensible. And none of which means those now deciding to pass the judgement of Solomon on the basis of further leaked stories any more sensible. There is an unfortunate habit in the blogosphere that parallels too much of the mainstream media. There is not only a tendency toward partisan interpretation of events but a more troubling willingness to ascribe meaning to events on partial, and often biased or unreliable, information.

We have a justice system for a reason. That reason is to prevent the logic of the lynch mob from dictating our course of action whether in a specific case or in terms of public policy. This fact should be equally evident whether it is in deciding not to leap to conclude Canada's Victoria-class submarines are "duds", irresponsibly defying a publication ban on potentially prejudicial testimony at the Gomery inquiry or ascribing guilt to what is to all appearances an appalling mistake on the part of the Metropolitan Police. In all three of these instances I have noticed a marked tendency among all too many on the right-hand side of the blogosphere to rush to judgement. I am certain I could find just as many on the left. But it is strange to me that people describing themselves as "conservative" should be so unwilling to allow the police and the courts to do their duty and for justice to take its course.

Fez

One vacant dog blanket equals one happy cat. Just don't tell Misty.

Morcheeba: Wonders Never Cease

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

What you do is easy. What I do is hard.

As parkour migrates to the States so do American stunt ninjas find their way onto "the internet".

Alternative Intelligent Design theory

Concerned citizen, Bobby Henderson writes an open letter to the Kansas School Board requesting alternate theories of Intelligent Design be included in science classes.

Binary translator

Adcott's Binary Translator has already come in handy for my binary translation needs.

Fargate SG-1

The Flea is thoroughly enjoying Stargate SG-1 season 9 (now with blog). That said, I wish someone had thought to mention fans would effectively be dealing with a new show. Perhaps eight was enough for the SG-1 team we knew and, following an sf Peter's Principle, all the characters were promoted beyond their ability to function as a team. Ben Browder and Claudia Black have made an effortless transition from the hallowed fan limbo of Farscape and, on a personal note, every time Vala speaks I am reminded of ten years of my life I will never have back. So that's a good thing. It is a pleasure to see, I mean seriously a pleasure to see, Lexa Doig (ever so slightly nsfw) make the transition from Andromeda to medical officer at Stargate Command. I expect there is payback coming for all the heartache Michael Shanks' left her with as the Balance Of Judgment.

Asians love brands

The CEO for fashion at LVMH says "Asians are 'brand-picking people.' So they are a big and important market for us." Chosun Ilbo asks why Asians love brands.

And quite right too. An interesting suggestion is that Asian cultures emphasize a "we" orientation while Western cultures emphasize an "I" orientation. Consequently, "Europeans will buy something because no one else has it, but Asians will buy something because someone else also did." Though I have seen enough brand and fashion subculture conformity from the Breakfast Club onward to doubt the distinction between East and West is as great as some might believe.

Mint Royale: Singin' in the Rain

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Da Vinci code revisioned

While the language of this article suggests a certain bias I am also alarmed at the thought of revisions to the plot of the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code. Not only would this serve to bowdlerize an already thin plot but it seems to me that any Christians likely to be offended by the film will be offended regardless (spoiler warning). I suppose the producers might wish to broaden their audience as widely as possible but "the culture" has made enough concessions to the fragile sensibilities of religious minded folk without diluting the fun bits of a best-seller.

The murder of history

Solomonia writes about the destruction of archaeological evidence by the Palestinian Authority. Too many archaeologists, eager to pretend a defense of the antiquities of what is now called Iraq, if not contemporary Iraqis, are predictably silent. Except, that is, when they are applauding.

Helter skelter

Cathy Seipp says lots I have been meaning to say about pleas for "understanding" the jihadi point of view vis a vis the massacres of September 11, 2001. The final paragraph stands out.

CBC strikes: a nation suffers, the third wave

Three days into the triple plus ungood CBC lock out of its own employees. The CBC, or Mother CBC as we should call it, has abandoned us to a "management riot" of unfamiliar faces easing our way into BBC World Service news and Nature of Things reruns.

CUPE spokes-being, Paul Moist had this to say.

I knew there was an absence in my life these last few days. An aching, nameless pain. Oh, Canada's cultural discourse, when will you come back to me? You are such a bargain at one billion dollars a year!

Suspension of disbelief

Zacht Ei finds a critical rhetorical difficulty in Michael Bay's The Island.

The Scrolls of Pythia

Roslin: ... Who is Pythia?
Elosha: One of the oracles, in the sacred scrolls. 3,600 years ago, Pythia wrote about the exile and the rebirth of a human race. And the lords anointed a leader to guide the caravan of the heavens to their new homeland and unto the leader they gave a vision of serpents, numbering two and ten, as a sign of things to come.
Roslin: Pythia wrote that?
Elosha: She also wrote that the leader suffered a wasting disease and would not live to enter the new land. But you're not dying... are you?
- "The Hand of God", Season I, Episode 10

I was having a chat about Battlestar Galactica with the Neighbour of the Flea regarding the end of the show's first season (spoilers follow). The whole adventure has struck me as mind-numbing, fantastic. Visually flawless, internally coherent, faithful to the camp original series and yet the only speculative fiction, arguably the only television drama, to adequately respond to the moral challenges that have become more obvious since September 1, 2001.

And yet I was not happy with the season finale. I could not understand, let alone agree with, Commander Adama's decision to remove President Roslin from power let alone her imprisonment in the brig. The act struck me as unconstitutional, unjustifiable and unwise. Now, the Neighbour of the Flea thought Adama's decision was entirely sound given the President had interfered with a military command decision, was terminally ill, acting under the influence a psychotropic medication and believed herself to be an instrument of prophecy. Given what we know at the end of Season One, or even what may have been revealed in Season Two on the Sci-Fi channel (no spoilers for us foreigners, please), I have only one reply to make.

I affirm my belief in the literal truth of the Scrolls of Pythia.

Season Two, Episode Three spoiler on the following link: Political Space would call me a "scroll-thumper". So say we all.

The Eva Stones: Behind

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Banlieue 13

More fun with parkour in a chase scene from Banlieue 13. I love this stuff but find it difficult to watch due to terror.

Letter from Annexia

Letter from Annexia: A Play in One Act.

All about us

A second tATu album, "Dangerous & Moving" is due this September. The anticipation! Shots from the James Cox ("Wonderland") directed video and, I hesitate to report, the first single itself are floating about "the internet". If I had heard a ripped copy of "All about us" I would say it was everything I was hoping for and then some. One. Big. Hook. Meantime, a ringtone clip from the single has been released in Japan. Because the future has always already happened there.

Alcazar: Crying at the Discotheque

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance. As always, Alcazar come alarmingly close to the actual Flea dance. Here is a clip from the Chic related orginal for those who thought this sounded familiar. Their Human League cover is also inspired.

Avoider

Avoider is simple yet far from easy. Keep the little guy from grabbing your cursor.

CBC 0 : CBC union 0

The CBC has locked out 5000 workers of the Canadian Media Guild. This was a source of some excitement to me at 8 a.m. when I realized Newsworld was broadcasting BBC World Service instead of their usual mouthy Atlantic weather harpy. My happiness at having blah CBC socialist bias replaced with high-production values BBC socialist bias was short lived when 9 a.m.* rolled around and instead of news we were offered a nature documentary.

The Flea is a bit torn on this one. On the one hand I am sympathetic with the union's case against creeping contractualization of what had been full-time positions (even if describing the lock-out as "un-Canadian" is over the top). On the other hand, I think everyone at CBC television, media guild and their managers alike, should be fired and the space fortress production facilities on Front Street converted to something more useful. More condos, say. Because Toronto does not have enough of those. We'll keep CBC radio, thanks.

*Yes, this was published with a pre-9 a.m. time stamp. I only use the clock on this thing to organize posts in the order I like! Usually a little less blatant about it though.

Submarine blockade

A small quibble with the Belmont Club and an interesting discussion of IEDs and asymmetric warfare.

Wretchard is forgetting the Falklands.

JN-25

Australian mathematics lecturer, Peter Donovan has revealed the weakness in Japan's wartime operational code the Allies designated "Japanese Navy 25" or JN-25. Apparently, the system was based on multiples of three or some such thing.

Sorry for the inconvenience

The last time I was inside the Hogwarts-ish Stables up the way from Flea Mansions they were done out as the interior of Isengard. Fun. While the long passage between the Stables and Casa Loma does not quite count as underground Toronto it is still fascinating to learn what the WWII military was up to in the space they had rented from the Kiwanis. Casa Loma was and remains a well known tourist attraction. Just the spot Nazi spies would never suspect as a production site for the anti-submarine sonar ASDIC device (hat tip to the Neighbour of the Flea).

Transylvania

When I started in cinema in the 1970s, I didn’t think I would make films about my past, or about my people. I only wanted to get close to beautiful women.
- Tony Gatlif

Gypsy film-maker and winner of the best director Palme d'Or for Exils, Tony Gatlif clearly had a better understanding of the full ramifications of those high school career counselling sessions than I did. Gatlif is set to direct super-goddess Asia Argento in Transylvania. Few details on the project as of yet but any combination of words including "Argento" and "Transylvania" sounds promising.

Khia: My neck, my back

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Warning: bikini carwash objectification! Here at the Flea these links are all about the artistic merit. Best to minimize your window and just listen to this one.

Miller Lite: Catfight

The Flea's continuing series, Object Lessons in Objectification™, uhh, continues. I seem to remember posting a link to the alternate ending Miller Lite ad featuring the Pamela Anderson pillow fight but do not believe I have linked to the uncensored original catfight ad. I find it shocking to imagine how these advertisers think bikini mud wrestling is an appropriate context in which to vend beer. After all, everyone knows "lite" beer is an abomination in the eyes of all that is sacred.

Sleestak

Ideofact comments on Deep Impact, the Book of Mormon and the fall of the Sleestaks. At first he thought NASA's comet expedition was a cool thing...

Trump University

The Donald Trump blog. It has a certain gnomic appeal.

Australian International University

Opportunities for more better education in Australia. I especially enjoyed the AIU's bullying policy toward Subcontracted Service Providers. My only quibble is to point out the fate of contract-academic staff everywhere is much the same whether your university is public or private or indeed fictional or non-fictional (via Silent Running).

Eco-puritans

President Bush's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% has been agreed to by the governments of China, India, Japan, South Korea and Australia. But the green lobby is still disgruntled because the plan calls for a technological solution saying such an approach is like "a peace plan that allows guns to be fired."* For greens, the answer is not to do things better or more efficiently but not to do them in the first place.

Because greenhouse gas emissions, the phantom of "global warming" and all the rest has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with puritanism in rationalist clothing. For too many environmentalists, human interaction with the environment is not an economic or technological challenge but a moral one.

*Peace plans often require that guns be fired, btw.

Poisoning the well

The new Battlestar Galactica is probably the greatest science fiction television ever made. The show is worth watching for Starbuck's ass-kickery alone. But Stargate: Atlantis is like crack for me. I am love it. This snippet from season one, episode seven, "Poisoning the Well" seems timely (spoiler warning on that last link).

This is a Sci-Fi channel show produced in Canada, starring Canadians and featuring a cranky, sympathetic Canadian character in a lead role. But thanks to Canadian trade-barriers it has yet to air on Canadian television. Remind me again what original programming Canada's CRTC sheltered Space: the Imagination Station has produced? How many times can we be expected to watch decade old repeats of Seaquest DSV in defense of "Canadian culture"? If they had the wisdom to rebroadcast Starlost or some such epic crap I could almost see the point but as it stands CanCon rules, and the businesses they shelter, are a joke.

I tried making this case to a left-leaning friend. She said, half-joking, "I know you are speaking Canadian but I can't understand any of the words." I am reminded every day of my former communication studies undergrads who would argue for Canadian content rules (I am told these represent "regulation" and not "censorship") and, with no change of expression, cheerfully explain they never watch Canadian television because it is uniformly awful. Such is the naked truth of ideology.

Once upon a time

Once upon a time there was a little girl who was forgotten by absolutely everyone (even the postman). Just goth enough for a rainy Friday. Lovely.

Banarama: Move in my direction

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Just a gigalo

Your Friday Yoda. Crank those speakers.

Defence of Britain

The Defence of Britain Project involved 600 volunteers who documented nearly twenty-thousand 20th-century military sites around the United Kingdom.

Robin Cook

I confess I was struggling to find the right words to express my feeling at the passing of Robin Cook. It is the same feeling I always have in those times when a common courtesy is to say pleasant things about public figures we have never met and with whom we disagreed while they were still on the scene. Fortunately, Harry Hutton found the words I could not.

And from the comments is a gem of a Clarence Darrow quote. Better yet a link to his obituary.

"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure."

Cry havoc

John Hockenberry writes a respectful, informative account of milblogging. Hockenberry appeared on The Daily Show last night where Jon Stewart expressed how impressed he was by the writing of active-duty bloggers, singling out the style of 365 and A Wake-Up for its beauty. Quite right. A sample, quoted from the article.

Blackfive, featured prominently by the Hockenberry article, offers a list of his favourite milbloggers. I would be grateful if anyone could point me to an on-line clip of the Hockenberry interview. It would be good to have something to send out of the folks who might not have Comedy Central on tap in Baghdad or Kabul.

Update: Comedy Central hosts the John Hockenberry interview.

Gorillaz: Feel Good Inc.

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Musco Morpha

Musco Morpha is a maggot in distress. Strangely evocative of office life of a Thursday morning.

Marlin 1 : Sport fishing guy 0

Fishing is not always a relaxing way to spend the day.

PowerPoint

I loathe PowerPoint. The technology is rather more likely to be the cause of suicide than to make sense of one (via Silent Running).

J.D. Fortune

Canadian and boring do not have to rhyme. It is a slightly tipsy, off-kilter but compelling day as the Flea Presents Great Canadians™ recognizes the achievements of J.D. Fortune on Mark Burnett's Rock Star INXS. Tattoos! Kick ass!

I am getting my own wings. Seriously. I need to start a Flea tattoo fund-raiser.

Subyou

At last, powdered alcohol! But they had to call it Subyou.

Geri Halliwell: Desire

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

American popular culture

The American History Center hosts a number of fascinating snippets of Americana. I found the site in a search for music of the 1920s only to find a recording by an eyewitness to Gettysburg. Recordings of interviews with former slaves are moving and surreal, almost impossible. Astonishing stuff.

The Sandbox of God

The Sandbox of God is difficult to disguise at work unless you can claim you are running an historical simulation or possibly researching intelligent design. More important, I have not come anywhere near to developing nuclear weapons (hat tip to Bound by Gravity).

When standing for anything is standing for nothing

Irshad Manji questions the limits of tolerance for the absolutely intolerant (via KiP).

Update: Michael Barone argues a backlash against "multiculturalism" has begun. I am never certain what people mean by this term but offer his article for those arguments which parallel Manji's.

The toilet seat thing is an evolutionary quirk too if you think about it

I hesitate to link to this post at ABC News story for reasons which will become obvious. But if it is true that men have a good reason for having difficulty listening to women I believe the truth should out no matter the consequences (via Ace of Spades HQ).

Scenes of Atlantean life

An entirely innocent quest for information about ancient Egypt's origins in Atlantis/alien colonialists lead me to these scenes from Altantean life.

I gather Atlantis was big on naked tai chi. Also, I quite like the sound of an Atlantean Folk Song linked through the Pyramid Initiations information (warning: naked people!). I gather it celebrates the Atlantean virtues of "High Desire, Pure Love, Flow and Transparency", all of which are celebrated each and every day here at the Flea. More music from the event is thoughtfully provided at soundsliketree.

Tou Tou: Hoshi Uranai no Uta

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance to the Gacha Gachapon! end-theme. I gather the lyrics are astrology related. In related news, I want that Tou Tou studio diorama.

Donuts TV

Beyond my Shogun-acquired vocabulary I do not speak a word of Japanese. I still think I should be some kind of correspondent for Donuts TV.

Boredoom

A young man in his 20s dropped dead from an exhaustion-induced heart attack after playing Starcraft and the like for fifty hours straight at an "internet café" in Bokhyeon-dong, Buk-gu. I imagine I would have expired from boredom well before that point.

Suicide Girls

Frightfully sorry to do this to all you chaps (and so inclined chapettes) at work on a Monday morning but this Suicide Girls: The First Tour dvd trailer cannot wait. Not to worry, it should still be here later. My only worry is that I somehow missed their burlesque tour. Must do something about that.

Ladytron: Destroy Everything You Touch

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance with the perfection that is Ladytron.

Steve Robinson

Astronaut Steve Robinson took some time out from removing gap-fillers to take a self-portrait. The high-resolution image linked further down the page is something to see. Nice Canadarm, btw.

Deep-level shelters

At the end of October 1939, the British government decided to build a system of deep-level air-raid shelters under London linked to existing London Underground stations. Ten were planned and eight were built with five opened to the public in 1944 as Nazi air-raids intensified. The original plan allowed for their conversion into east-west and north-south high-speed Underground lines following the War though they have thus far met with varied fates. The Chancery Lane shelter, used as a communications centre during the war, was taken over as the now largely defunct Kingsway telephone exchange.

Military citidels under London

In September, 1940, it was decided that "the cabinet would remain in Whitehall until it was bombed out or communications broke down." The Flea's curiousity about all things in underground London leaves me with a burning desire to visit various military citidels and air raid shelters built under London in response to this decision.

By 1943, ten thousand civil servants could be housed in "citadels" (purpose built bunkers) and "fortresses" (steel framed buildings) under Crossbow Conditions. I have, of course, taken the opportunity to visit the Cabinet War Rooms. It was a foggy late-autumn night outside and I had the place entirely to myself. Spooky. Spookier yet would be a view from one of the loopholes at the Admiralty Citadel. All too easy to imagine the sight had things gone differently and with the Hun rampaging through London. It is a reasonably obvious building despite its ivy facade though I had never noticed the air vent placed by a public loo. It is a bit hillarious and disconcerting think this is all situated under the ICA.

Q-Whitehall is an unofficial name for another part of what seems to be a vast, interconnected underground complex though I prefer the more sinister "Post Office scheme 2845", a new contender name for the Flea's hypothetical electroclash band of the future. I assume "post office scheme" was a nice cover given the rest of the Royal Mail's activity under London. The Flea's crime-fighting technology could usefully be supplemented by a Flea-portable mail rail device especially since the cads shut it down. An engineer offers another excellent idea for a rail-line that is far too much fun to mothball.

Despite (too much) time in Marcham Street I had somehow never noticed the Rotundas lost in the Brazil-like shadow of those now (thankfully) vanished DoE towers. One would think the Rotundas would be hard to miss given they were designed to withstand a hit by a 500lb bomb while housing "several thousand Government officials in complete safety from enemy attack for up to three months." Other yet more obscure facilities include the No. 4 Central Buildings in Matthew Parker Street, the Faraday Citadel Building (the "citadel of the City") and Curzon Street House reportedly in use today by MI5. There are also various suburban bunkers including the PADDOCK facility at Dollis Hill (the "other Cabinet War Room") the Admiralty Citidel Oxgate, now used to store carpets, while the Air Ministry had Station Z in Harrow, reportedly still in use as a communications centre. The Army Citadel at Kneller Hall in Twickenham was never built.

Outside London, but of interest, is the UK Government Emergency War Headquarters bunker facility at Corsham, Wiltshire built in a WWII-era underground factory. "This is the bunker where the UK Prime Minister would have issued the order for nuclear retaliation."

It is thought to have been replaced by a definite Flea-destination, the Montague House bunker, known as PINDAR. As the reported home of the Defence Communications Centre the facility is not open to the public so I am unlikely to visit any time soon no matter how nosey I may be. I would settle for learning what the acronym stands for... in my past (and future) life as loose brains for British ministries the clever-acronym-which-nobody-could-remember-what-it-stood-for (CAWNCRWISF) was a favourite bugaboo.

More underground goodness in Manchester. Just remember: no tresspassing!

An hour and a half sounds an optimistic figure to me but then I have not been taking my vitamin supplements

Jessica Simpson has announced her commitment to fluffy film roles as part of her mission to make people happy. Bless.

Mirror Mask

The trailer for Dave McKean and Neil Gaimen's Mirror Mask is now on-line (hat tip to Varenius).

Massive Attack: Atta Boy

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance with Jet Li.

Fear, War and The Scream

The Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery hosts images from future ex-wife of the Flea, Tracey Emin's Fear, War and The Scream collection of 2004. I consider these artworks and am possessed with an urge to market my collected doodles for lots of money and retire to a home in the Cotswolds. I could keep one or two pieces to frame and hang in the kitchen where people would marvel at them and wonder how many I had to sell to pay for the place. Also, I would have wellies.

Gothic bathing suit

I would be all in favour of this gothic bathing suit if I thought it was appropriate for goths to be anywhere near the beach (hat tip to SondraK).

That said, I did see a rather fetching young women yesterday whose gothic lolita response to our oppressively warm weather was a hot pants and parasol combination. The garter may have been an afterthought but I felt it demonstrated a generous disposition.

Denial

"Maybe this time, denial can be made to work" is one of the most moving posts I have read in ages. You can find it at Classical Values. And Ray Kurzweil writes the utter nonsense, btw.

The rules of the game

Tony Blair announces the rules of the game have changed. And not a moment too soon.

I fail to see how anyone, let alone someone who claims to flee torture and death, has the right to celebrate the enslavement of women, the stoning death of adulterers and gay people or the massacre of British commuters on the London Underground. It seems obvious to me that the right to live free from the threats of wall-eyed Death Eaters is greater than some phantom right to say whatever you please in the name of a purported religious ideology. That is double for members of Parliament who advocate war and insurrection against Her Majesty's government. Deportation is the very least of it.

Barbarella politics

This Mark Goldblatt article for the NRO is interesting not so much for its rehearsal of Iraq war rationales but for pointing to the utter lack of seriousness of argument generated by so much of the left since 2001. In all the carping and conspiracy thinking I often wonder what alternatives the left might have to propose. But I suppose this does not present the same problem for grad student revolutionary fantasists as it does for people whose duty involves the creation or implementation of policy.

Take our new problem in deterrence, for example. Given the utter failure of even those few criminal prosecutions mustered since the massacre of September 11, 2001, I fail to see what hope any solution, short of complete surrender to the UFO cultists, war opponents have in mind. But then these were the same people who raised three kinds of hell at the deployment of Pershing and cruise missiles and not a peep at the SS20s they were meant to deter. Truly, they could not have a better exponent than Barbarella.

And let us not forget the outrage even the words "dead or alive" generated among the usual suspects no matter what post-facto supporters of the ouster of the Taliban now claim to have meant by their marching in the streets. For so much of the left, representation has trumped reality. Karl Marx is spinning in his grave.

Torri Higginson

It is a canconorama at Stargate: Atlantis as the Flea Presents Great Canadians™ honours the hotness that is Torri Higginson as Dr. Elizabeth Weir.

Flea-readers wondering just where the Pegasus galaxy might be when it is at home should consult a useful map of our galactic neighbourhood.* In related Canadian spelling are the words colour and centre!

*Sorry to hotlink that image. I could not find a link to it from B.J.'s Stuff except from the directory. It really is an extraordinarily useful visualization of where we are in the Milky Way in relation to the rest of the locals.

Nerd phone sex

I don't know which is more sad: that I can't remember if I have already posted this or that I like it so much I am posting it again anyway. Lawful neutral druidic monks really do it for me. Paris Hilton explains (she would make an excellent Who companion, btw). I want to do something logical to you, baby!

Zlad!: I am the Antipope

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance. More on Molvania's Eurovision 2005 entry!

Blue Security

Does anyone have thoughts about the Blue Security anti-spam community? It seems like a reasonable approach but there is always the concern about sending anyeone an email address only to be added to more spam lists.

My Freshman Year

Anthropologist, "Rebekah Nathan" went back to school for a year to understand her undergrad students. Poor soul.

Sub judice

Scotland Yard says that despite the recurring unsanctioned release of security information shared with American police forces it continues "to liaise closely with the Americans." Perhaps it is time they do not.

Japan as victim

Fifty years after the end of the war the democratically elected and representative government of Japan still refused to assist in war crimes proceedings regarding biological warfare. In addition to the tens of thousands killed by Japanese germ warfare, Unit 731, Unit 100, Unit 516, Unit 1855 and other research facilities were directly responsible for the deaths of ten thousand people in the course of medical experimentation. Live un-anesthetized vivisection was a common practice.

This is to say nothing of the remaining grotesquerie of Japanese war crimes. Hundreds of thousands raped and forced into sexual slavery, the mass torture, abuse and murder of prisoners of war and atrocities such as the Nanjing Massacre that manage to exemplify the actions of imperial Japan's people while being entirely unexeptional.

I have little patience for much of what is going to be said about Hiroshima on August 6 or Nagasaki on August 9. More particularly, with everything people will choose not to say.

I am no admirer of mainland China's government but the continuing unrepentant attitude of much of the Japanese government and all too many Japanese people explains much of the alarm felt by those who were among the worst victims of Japanese militarism. I can only imagine what the Koreans must feel. Worse yet than this abuse of the memory of the Holocaust is the story told by the museum at the Yasukuni Shrine, home to Class-A war criminals among the "honoured dead".

Update: White Peril has sensible things to say about the revisionist history textbook controversy. Also, about the use of the atomic bomb.

Happy to be aboard

In September 1944, then 20-year old Lt. George Bush was shot down off Chichi Jima, an island 700 miles south of Tokyo. As he was rescued by the USS Finback, he said he was "Happy to be aboard." The man who was to become President of the United States was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross having evaded capture by the Japanese.

Eight other airmen who escaped their doomed aircraft but landed closer to the island did not.

They were tortured, beaten and murdered. Half of them were eaten.

Lady Miss Kier

How to you say deee-groovy? Some might dismiss Deee-Lite as a one hit wonder, but I would would never dismiss the appeal of Lady Miss Kier. Sadly, I see no forthcoming Toronto tour date. Lickerish Radio will have to do me until I am living in the right city.

British Whale: This Town Aint Big Enough

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Trackbacks again

Yay, trackbacks! They have been on the blink since my hosting provider did some tinkering to address wonky space-eating rebuilds of the site last month. I would appreciate any advice on where to look under the hood to get them working again.

Extreme Farm Simulator

I found defending cattle from aliens to be too stress inducing. The aliens seem to have no interest in abducting the skunks or racoons of Annexia so it is difficult to relate.

Pallid Fingers

When I talk to myself at Flea Towers I sound just like Scribblyhead and Oddface in this Pallid Fingers short. I can't explain Red Robin.

Divination

If you ask me, divination is a very woolly discipline. Ancient runes: now there is a fascinating subject. Even so, Gay Orbit still asks an excellent astrology question. Use your inner eye to see the future!

I should confess I always add an astrology component to my introductory lectures on Marx. The latter is a subject most students know nothing and care even less about but know is to be taken seriously while the former is something with which they are all familiar but know does not count as proper knowledge. I have always found this to be a peculiar distinction.

Melon's scented panties

While the Flea is all in favour of equal-opportunity marketing I cannot say I have much use for either of these product ideas.

News Bunny

What with everything going on in London it is high time someone brough the L!VE TV News Bunny out of retirement. In fact, time to bring back L!VE. I imagine it would do much better now more people have cable (reruns of the news in Norwegian hardly count).

7 July 2005 London bombings

The first 923 edits to the Wikipedia entry for 7 July 2005 London bombings are animated by The Last Minute. It is a fascinating look at distributed editing.

One moment stands out in particular. Someone added a general death threat against British Muslims into the entry which was quickly edited away. I hope that for all the efforts to understand how young men could be brainwashed into the murder of as many unarmed commuters as their warrior souls can muster, ending their own feeble existence in the process, that effort is also being directed into understanding the rage such attacks inevitably provoke. Reports of an increase in hate crimes following the July 7 massacre suggests the "cycle of violence" of which people speak is not limited to state power acting in the defense of our representative government to which so many take exception. Peace-loving souls offering pearls of sage advice to we in the benighted throng should spend rather more time considering the violence as an al-Qaeda sponsored recruiting campaign for the British National Party and rather less on criticism of the police and security services charged with the uneviable task of protecting everyone's right to offer ill-informed, self-serving complaint.

For every apologia for the massacre we need a corresponding, sane effort to redirect the urge for revenge from a generalized, purposeless hatred into a focussed, targeted and implacable will to stop the men responsible for the atrocity. This last bit of understanding is lost in the rush to empathize with the feelings, or worse yet the supposed political causes, of people with some tangentially related grievance to those claimed by the jihadists. I can only imagine the consequences when words, and more importantly the feelings behind them, cannot simply be edited off the screen. The word "crusade" has come to mean a philanthropic campaign that results from an inner spiritual struggle. It did not always mean something so benign. While we can only pray the world never sees what a nuclear-armed crusade looks like it is precisely this spectacle al-Qaeda is trying to provoke.

Lady Rachel Cawdor

The United States of America is gone. Welcome to Deathlands.

I have endured some horrendous viewing in my ongoing devotion to the speculative fiction career of Traci Elizabeth Lords. Deathlands: Homeward Bound, based on fifth in the voluminous Deathlands series, was the most extreme. Though it is true her portrayal of Lady Rachel Cawdor did not disappoint. Within sixty seconds of her screen appearance Lords' character had a drug induced orgasm, pronounced it to be "better than sex" and proceeded to make out with her son in front of the court of the Ville. Well pardon my fromage but that's what I call television.

Zombies

They call it zombie larping. I called it high school.

Lemon Jelly: Shouty Track

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Off License

This Off License game tests your shopping skills. It is just disturbing enough to be inappropriate for most work contexts.

Iron Chef America

Iron Chef has totally ripped off my traditional family pizza recipe.

Doing the apocalypso

The Left Behind apocalypse-as-entertainment machine grinds on with the forthcoming introduction of a video game based on the series.

Considering how many folks claim to believe this snuff porn is based on Scripture I imagine we can expect a further bastardization of our culture's most sacred texts with games based on the drowning of the world, the massacre of the firstborn of Egypt and the conquest of Canaan. Because, hey, it's fun to think about those countless billions you (claim to) believe will suffer and die as you are taken to your just reward. Rapture me aboard, Scotty!

Update: I have been reading through the Slacktivist take on Left Behind. This passage stood out.

True equality

Writing for the Spectator, Miriam Gross discusses "romentic" fiction quoting Paul Rudnick to the effect that "true equality demands equal trash".

Deferred success

Everybody wins, and all must have prizes! Another reason it is less and less possible to actually teach people anything (via SondraK).

Fire at Pearson

CBC Newsworld is reporting an Air France A-340 has crashed at the end of the runway at Pearson International Airport in Toronto. The aircraft is reported to have as many as 200 people aboard. The plane had difficulty on landing and is said to have skidded off the end of the runway into a ravine (the Etobicoke Creek). Heavy lightning storms in Toronto today may be a contributing factor.

Newsworld cameras show black smoke billowing from the aircraft in the background while in the foreground is the 401, a busy highway during peak traffic times. Emergency vehicles are said to have been spraying the aircraft for five to ten minutes. The ravine may have been the only obstacle between the aircraft and a collision with the highway.

Update: 16:56 EST Newsworld has not released flight details. The Air France (Canada) website lists an arrival from Paris (AF358) scheduled for 15H35, the approximate reported time of the incident. Please note: I am only making a conjecture based on website flight information. Air France may have many flights arriving this afternoon and thunderstorms may have introduced a delay.

Update: 17:03 EST A Newsworld guest is saying this is an arrival from Paris. Still no specific details on the flight number are available. I see no updates on either the home or Canadian Air France websites and the Pearson website is having difficulties. BBC News reports the aircraft could carry between 250 and 305 passengers.

Update: 17:06 EST NBC is reporting this is flight number 358. This is consistent with my earlier conjecture based on Air France flight information. Newsworld is now reporting several lightning strikes were sighted by a CBC reporter at the airport immediately before the crash.

Map image quoted from: Airport Hotel Guide. The blue line intersecting the orange band of the 401 in the lower left indicates the ravine and the site of the crash. CBC is now belatedly showing the same map. And has just corrected its potential passenger numbers. Advantage: blogosphere...

Update: 17:16 EST A Newsworld guest is now suggesting a pilot has been taken to hospital. While difficult for the pilot this may suggest the plane was evacuated at least in part.

Update: 17:27 EST Planespotters.net shows 21 Airbus A-340 aircraft in the Air France fleet. A Wikipedia entry shows the July 25, 2000 Concorde crash as the last serious incident for an Air France flight. AirSafe.com claims that, until today, the A-340 had been involved in no fatal events. A Now Magazine article says the flight path under the accident location, Runway 24 (two-four) Left on Airport Road is a popular trainspotting location.

Update: 17:42 EST Newsworld is now interviewing a man (Mr. B......, I missed the first name. Update 18:34 EST: Mr. B...... who shall remain nameless, and having told the CBC he was shaken and just wanted to get home, is now on CNN calling Wolf Blitzer "Wolf" because he watches him at home all the time. And once again he does not mention the fate of the friend with whom he had just travelled from France. But I imagine a plane crash would addle a number of senses.) who was a passenger who claims to have been the second to have escaped the aircraft. He is describing a landing he describes as "feeling" too fast. The plane failed to break successfully and came to an "abrupt stop" in the ravine. He says he saw flame but has a limited description as he was "running like crazy" to get away from plane. He reports seeing lighting and that cabin lights went out as soon as the aircraft stopped (it is not clear if he means a power failure on landing or as the plane came to a stop).

CTV interviews a passenger.

Given these interesting times it is a relief to learn there is no report of an explosion on board. Reuters is reporting confirmation of the flight number.

Update: 18:11 EST A press conference by the airport authority indicates of 297 passengers and 12 crew there were only reported 14 injuries and no fatalities. This seems remarkable given the appearance of the crash site from television images and from an alarming description of the incident from an eye-witness on the ground. CNN eyewitness reports indicate swift action on the part of flight attendants in evacuating the plane as soon as it come to a stop. This suggests both Airbus A-340 safety features and Air France training have managed to do exactly what they needed to do in a potentially catastrophic situation.

So, props to Air France on the evacuation if not on the landing. On a non disaster related note is news of new Christian Lacroix outfits for the airline's flight attendants. There is a stupid pun in here somewhere... Thunder-clouds with a fashionable lining? French fashion is running away in style? Sorry, it's not coming to me. Still a relief to learn everyone has escaped something so awful.

Potterheads

I suppose Harry Potter conventions were always going to be an inevitable byproduct of the success of the series. First, the American Nimbus Convention, then Canada's Convention Alley and now the Potterheads make their way to Accio! in Reading. Quidditch sans flying brooms is a sad prospect. Sadder still is the idea this might be a great way to meet that hypothetical nerd goddess I keep writing about. But I digress.

Goldfrapp: Ooh La La

Now is the time at the Flea when we dance.

Stella

While I do not enjoy Stella Artois I do love their ads.

Dan-D-Pak wasabi cashews

So much. Wasabi. Tongue. Burning. Dan-D-Pak. So. Good.

Mars-Oz

Mars Society Australia has released plans for a "Mars-Oz" research station to be built in the Flinders Ranges.

Iceland Defense Force

There is talk of a change in command of the Iceland Defense Force from the US Navy to the US Air Force. In related news, the Flea had no concept that the Iceland Defense Force was under the command of the US Navy. That must have lead to some awkwardness during the Cod Wars.

If it's not love then it's the bomb that will bring us together

I could name a dozen writers two clicks away from my blogroll who could have written the following paragraph. Or, for that matter, point to the editorial pages of a dozen newspapers.

Harry's Place offers a sensible comparison of the British National Party, from whence the quote, to Hizb'ut Tahrir. Fantasies of domination, anti-semitism and bonehead fear of gay sex are common themes. These shared views of the world are less alarming to me that the fact a botched suicide-bomber, once captured, should offer explanations and excuses indistinguishable from those of his "progressive" activist sympathizers or that a quick look at the British National Party website reveals anti-multiculturalism rhetoric reading like the comments section of a well known right-wing Canadian group blog. I cannot say with confidence that this is the result of extremists moderating their line for public consumption or whether all too many mainstream views of the left and right are dangerously close to the nailbombers.

Warren G. Harding lied! People died!

Al Qaeda's clearly stated goals are grounded in a view of the world so different from, and based on assumptions so unfamiliar to, a secularized West they sound like hallunicatory nonsense. It is for this reason so many on the left mistake them for a rhetorical flourish masking sensible, economic goals that must be about peace-agreements or globalization or something. They are mistaken.

In fact, bin Laden's worldview is entirely internally coherent. It is based on a yearning for lost empire. This is a vision of a Caliphate where where impotent half-wits no longer need feel threatened by independent women or the perilous temptations of McDonald's, Disney and Britney Spears.

Too sexy for this avatar

When I found this Watch Me Change virtual stripper program I did what any normal person would do. I made a virtual me and took it all off, baby! My only quibble is that in any actual striptease I would, of course, remove my socks before my trousers.

Cumming: the fragrance

Now there is no point in introducing that Flea cologne I was planning. Alan Cumming has kicked my ass on my hypothetical marketing strategy.

Getting Dressed

Lynx offers another ad with a peculiar, intense insight into life (SondraK feels the lurv too!).

Setesdal Handknitted

How annoying this this guy? A pox on study Norwegian traditional sweater models! Not that I have anything against Norwegian knitted goods. Time to work on my stubble before winter comes again.

Never say never again, again

Barring an offer he can't refuse, Sean Connery has retired citing "idiots" in Hollywood. One counterfactual Connery career highlight stands out.

Chaos Theory

Chaos Theory is a compulsive time-waster. But then it's Monday.

The Emperor

This comparison of different Star Wars releases compares the old-look and new-look Emperors from The Empire Strikes Back. I had wondered about the eyes. Think of the Star Wars themed cocktail party conversation this knowledge will provide!

Potterianerin

While the official translation will take ten weeks to appear, a wiki-ish group translation (that last link regards the book five translation) of the new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince novel into German only took a day or so with each volunteer tranlations taking responsibility for a page.

Harry Potter's German publisher is not pleased.

Harry Potter and the Half-Wit Prigs

Tim Worstall offers a suggestion that has often crossed my mind. Too bad it will remain forever a fantasy. But then I think business majors could usefully be asked to take a cultural studies course (via Instapundit).

Blog depression

The sooner we learn about blog depression the sooner we can take action (via INDC Journal).