Listen, My Children...

Lunch with divas

Some people have all the fun.

Triumph of the Goth

I knew it!  Goths will take over the world.  I am not alone!

Something goes wrong? Ban it!

Gotta love the Floridian's response to The Sun's story of drug tests gone horribly wrong:

These drug trials should be abolished. Mr Modi is very lucky to be alive and this should be a lesson to the drug companies and their representatives.

Yes, that's it!  Something might go wrong, so it's better not to make any new drugs, ever!  (I assume she's not suggesting that they simply don't test the drugs they release.)  Much more sensible are the people who point out that it's thanks to animal testing that this sort of thing doesn't happen more often.  But hey, Ms. Florida would probably protest animal testing as well.  It's the American Way.

Traveling accents

Patrick Belton writes:

The received pronunciation that is my travelling accent...

To which I say: Yes!  Finally someone who understands! 

So many people used only to American tourists who think that shouting in exceedingly ungrammatical English is the best way to communicate with people who likely study English grammar and have difficulty only with understanding the accent....  Finally, someone else who speaks "received" when abroad!  Huzzah!

In Defense of ... well, not the French system!

I like this article, from WaPo: French Take to the Streets to Preserve Their Economic Fantasy.  It's full of delightful statements like this one:

What's so galling about the French is that, in the name of equality and solidarity, they are well on their way to creating not only one of the least vibrant economies in the industrialized world, but also one of the least equitable.

An article that makes fun of the French while having a valid economic argument -- what more could you ask?

The Appeal of the West

So saith a cleric in the Rahman case:

"If he is allowed to live in the West, then others will claim to be Christian so they can, too," he said. "We must set an example. ... He must be hanged."

Huh -- living in the West is so appealing that people will deny their religion in order to get that privilege.  So the solution?  Kill them all!  Not, say, work to make staying in-country more appealing or anything...

Internet -- a private forum?

There are so many totally foolish people.  Sororities look online to see if potential rushies have publicized actions with which the sorority would not like to be associated.  A local teacher gets fired after publicizing private school details online, and gets divorced after typing out and publishing fantasies about an affair with another teacher.  Those people can't get it through their heads that the internet is open and public.  Education's no help -- when employers check online to see what kind of behavior prospective employees see fit to describe in public (and may well continue to describe in public once they are functioning as a representative of their company), Ivy League students describe it as an "invasion of privacy" and whine that "employers should not have access to that."  Fools.  Don't want people to know who you're sleeping with and how much you drank last weekend?  Then don't scrawl it on walls and billboards, phone it in to the newspapers, or otherwise broadcast it to the interested public, idiot!

Over-criticism

OxBlog (now in color!) points out a review of Mao that, while justifiably criticizing him, criticizes him poorly:

Here's how: the issue isn't so much that their sum total judgment of Mao is unfair, but rather that they distort or neglect important aspects of both Mao's life and modern Chinese history by describing everything that happens as the result of Mao's evil intentions (and the stupidiy of others who didn't perceive them).

For example, Kristof hits on this point quite well when he observes that

[Mao] is presented as such a bumbling psychopath that it's hard to comprehend how he bested all his rivals to lead China.

Although you'd think that Chang & Halliday would present most other Communists as being almost as evil as Mao, they actually present them as surprisingly naive or even well-intentioned. Even those such as Chang Kuo-t'ao, whom they describe as savvy and ruthless, ultimately wind up making incredibly stupid and suicidal mistakes during their confrontations with Mao.

It's the same thing I once told a flock of bloodthirsty militants over at the Hinduunity.org message boards (ahh, haven't been there in a while...) -- once it starts to sound irrational, your criticism, however justified, will be discarded, ignored, or taken as altogether unjustified and incorrect, which really isn't what you're going for.

(Eh, who blogs on spring break?)

Remedial Courses

Interesting discussion over at Joanne Jacobs.

As for me, I'm tired, ill, and going out of town.  See you later.

Grammar

Microsoft Word's grammar checker is so odd.  I wonder how it works -- because it sure doesn't!  It is unable to realize that there are some valid uses of "it's"; furthermore, it just told me that the correct sentence should be, "it are too difficult for me."  Meh.  Maybe I'm just grouchy.

Hope y'all are having a better day!