2012 archive
Stray Thought 0
God forbid I should ever feel so weak as to have to pack heat to feel strong.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Politeness spreads in the schools.
Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley said Tuesday that the boy, a sixth-grader at West Kearns Elementary School, continued to insist he only brought the pistol to “protect himself and his friends from a Connecticut-style incident.”
Facebook Frolics 0
You can’t make this stuff up.
Authorities had been looking for the man, identified as Korry Martinson, 19, since Friday about 7:20 p.m., after he allegedly posted the threat on his Facebook page, police said.
Some folks aren’t bright enough to wield firearms.
Sadly, they are the ones who do.
Facebook Frolics: Take the Money and Run Dept. 0
Morgan-Stanley’s three-card monte with the the Zuckerboard’s IPO:
A senior Morgan Stanley banker wrote a script that Facebook’s then-treasurer used to update research analysts on the company’s revenue outlook before the IPO, according to a settlement document with Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin. He faulted Morgan Stanley for dishonesty, ethics violations and failing to supervise employees — the first regulatory claims to stem from the bank’s handling of the deal.
More on how the banksters master the universe at the link.
Facebook Frolics 0
Schleswig-Holstein doesn’t like Facebook’s lack of privacy policies.
In response to the social media site’s refusal to allow pseudonyms, the Independent State Center for Data Privacy (ULD) in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein issued an ultimatum to the company’s California headquarters on Monday.
Should Facebook Inc., which operates in the United States, and its Irish subsidiary Facebook Ltd., which runs European operations, refuse to comply within two weeks, they each face a fine of €20,000 ($26,000), ULD said.
Facebook plans to resist.
Special Holiday Drinking Liberally Chesapeake Tomorrow 0
Relax and discuss politics and everything else in a liberal atmosphere.
When: Wednesday, December 19, 6:00 p.
Where:
Greene Turtle
Greenbrier Mall (between Sears and Macy’s)
1401 Greenbrier Pkwy, #2260
Chesapeake, VA (map)
It’s safe to attend. I have to go to Williamsburg.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Stand your ground in the pizza joint, politely.
Another man in line, Michael Jock, 52, of St. Petersburg admonished White.
That “prompted them to exchange words and it became a shoving match,” said police spokesman Mike Puetz.
White raised a fist. Jock, a concealed-weapons permit holder, pulled out a .38 Taurus Ultralight Special Revolver.
He fired one round, hitting White in the lower torso. The men grappled and the gun fired again, hitting White in roughly the same spot, police said.
The sociopath’s dream: Every city, Dodge City; every hill, Boot Hill.
Facebook Frolics 0
A sense of timing:
Kyle Bangayan, 24, of Pomona was booked into the downtown jail Sunday for investigation of making criminal threats, police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said. He remained in jail with bail set at $500,000.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 4
We went to see The Hobbit yesterday.
It’s a fun flick.
Here are some random observations; if you aren’t familiar with the story, many of them may be meaningless to you:
We saw the 3D version. I don’t expect 3D to change the world of movies; it seems to me that the persons most interested in pushing 3D are those who want to push everyone to buy new 3D televisions.
That said, the 3D was quite well-done–after a while you didn’t really notice it, but just watched the show. There were a couple of gimmicky effects, such as a butterfly and bird flying out and away, but they were done tastefully; on the whole, Peter Jackson restrained himself from Disneyesque gimmicks, such as spears flying into the audience, to force the 3D on you.
The movie started slowly. In trying to stretch one slim book into three movies, Jackson built scenes based on the planning of Bilbo’s birthday party (which takes place in the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring) into the beginning of this movie and added unnecessary, and unnecessarily silly, Three Stooges-like slapstick to the arrival of the Dwarves at Bag End.
Once the quest started, though, it was non-stop action with some nice touches of comedy. It’s been a long time since I read the book (I’ve read The Hobbit only once; I’ve read The Lord of the Rings five times, not to mention Bored of the Rings three times), but there were battle scenes that seemed much more elaborate and complex than I remember from the book. I got a sense that this was another symptom of stretching a little story into a big trilogy.
At times, the CGI was overbuilt, but it was overbuilt quite skillfully. The whole thing’s a fantasy anyway, for Pete’s sake. Lighten up!
All in all, Hamlet it’s not, but the film was whacking good fun. Of our group, I think I was the most deeply read in Tolkien’s fantasy world of Middle Earth, but all of four of us enjoyed the movie.
Providing some continuity with Jackson’s Lord of the Rings cycle, Ian McKellar returns as Gandalf the Grey; Cate Blanchett, as Galadriel; Christopher Lee, always sinister, as Saruman; Hugo Weaving, as Elrond; and Elijah Wood, as Frodo in the opening scenes.
Addendum:
The scene with Bilbo and Gollum at the underground river was quite well done, though it might have been improved by being about three minutes shorter.
A Picture Is Worth 0
Kohenari comments:
That war against tyranny you’re so worried about being armed so you can win? You lost a long, long time ago.
The government is not trying to kill you; if it was, you’d already be dead. Take off your tinfoil hats and stop stockpiling handguns.
Via Political Prof.
Ripped from the Ticker 0
This one is particularly good.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
When at the movies, be considerate of your fellow attendees:
Bexar (bayr) County sheriff’s spokesman Louis Antu says the incident started about 9:30 p.m. Sunday when the man fired shots inside a nearby restaurant. It’s not clear what led to the shooting.
It’s not going to end, is it?
