Dear Santa. I was a good boy. Please, can I have one?!

At the #OccupyWallStreet protests today, one of the 700-or-so entrapped and arrested protestors was a 13-years-old girl, wearing a green GIR hat in the video below. Really, NY Police?! Really?!

This guy takes the Second Amendment to a whole new level: Stephen Forthman shoots first and asks questions later. He wears a shirt proudly displaying the words “I don’t dial 911″ next to a picture of a hand gripping a sixshooter. When it comes time to contact local emergency services for assistance, he’d rather just [...]

I am completely shocked by today’s news of the attacks on Oslo and on Norway. I hope that the perpetrators will be caught and brought to justice. I have fond memories of spending the better part of a summer in Norway once, many years ago. I have had the fortune of experiencing the fantastic Norwegian hospitality and of [...]

So I knew that the Dodge Cummins Internet fori (better get my latin right) have a different modus operandus than the ole Ford bulletin board, but this is silly: I tried to sign up for a Dodge Cummins forum and had to pass a latin test!? Of course I failed promptly and now I am [...]

Today, around 10:30 AM, the building where I work suddenly was swarming with cops and security guys who were telling people to get out of the building. In a locked mail room at  Duke Press, someone had found a package wrapped in electrical tape, no return address, no postage. So they called the police, and [...]

This week was not difficult enough with both kids at home with the flu … no, today this guy calls and explains he’s trying to collect on a $250 loan someone using my name and SSN  took out last year somewhere in California. Great … another one! I explained politely that 1) I have never [...]

Today I went to the Durham Police Department to file an identity theft report because someone took out a payday loan using my name. When you research ID theft, most advice emphasizes the importance of filing a  police report. However, the officer I spoke with said he cannot do a report because the crime did [...]

Yesterday I got a call from a collection agency attempting to collect a loan a payday lending company had given to someone using my name.  A while ago I had received a letter from them to that same effect, but none of it made any sense, and so I filed it in the “whatever” bin. [...]

Google has long ago ceased to be the little search engine that could. The Mountainview Chocolate Factory has turned into a massive data-slurping behemoth with growth aspirations that make me think of Skynet: Last fall, Google released a brief video of a data center it built in 2005. The facility held 45 shipping containers, each [...]

The North Carolina constitution actually bars atheists from public office – in Article VI, Section 8: Sec. 8.  Disqualifications for office. The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God. (…) NC Constitution, Article VI, Section 8 This, and all other religious tests for public [...]

It was bad enough when the convoy of  Togo’s national football team was machine-gunned by a rebel army in Angola’s Cabinda Province as the team was traveling to the Cup of African Nations. Two staff members and the Angolan driver died. Several are still in the hospital and it seems clear that the whole team [...]

On January 21, the Supreme Court of the United States produced a ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that removes any regulation of what corporations can say, and when they can “say” it to influence elections in the United States. Corporations are now free to pump as much cash into the political process [...]

… this year has been a bit of a pisser! Most of all in Haiti, of course. Please contribute what you can afford to relief organizations who work in Haiti. My favorite is Doctors without Borders; they seem quite efficient, appropriately god-less, and they were helping in Haiti before the earthquake. And also reach out [...]

Not sure if this is funny or just sad … a middle school in Goldsboro, NC had the brilliant idea to try selling grades as a school fundraiser. Yes – $20 gets you 20 point on your next test. That can turn a B into an A or an F(ail) into a D (=pass). Jay [...]

At Dain’s place, one of the most popular items can only be ordered if you know the secret password: the chilly-cheese-burger-dog. It’s a hamburger with your choice of cheese (or cheese-whizz) topped by a beef hot dog that’s smothered in chilly.  And if you slip Gloria an extra tip, she’ll even top this off with [...]

Oh boy – there’s nothing like catching up on the news after a few days at the beach. As the credit crisis is in the process of turning the global economy into a lump of coal, the divisive language of the election here is stoking emotions in each political camp. This is a dangerous brew, [...]

For quite a while the biodieselers in our area have been wondering what will happen to our cosy little niche when diesel and biodiesel hit price parity at $3.50. Well, here we are – for well over a week now the price of diesel has been well over $3.50 per gallon and since last weekend [...]

Rassismus in Deutschland? Das gibt’s doch gar nich … Wir wissen um die Vorfälle in Mügeln augenblicklich noch zu wenig, um solche weitreichenden Schlussfolgerungen zu ziehen. Das war die Reaktion Sachsen’s Ministerpräsident Georg Milbradt auf die Frage ob er einen “ausländerfeindlichen oder gar rechtsradikalen Hintergrund” sehe wenn ein Mob von 50 Bleichgesichtern 8 Inder verprügelt [...]

Yesterday, like every day, my daughter on the way home from afterschool told me about her day at school. She was upset because one of her teachers had told her to throw away one of her favorite books, “The Marvelous Land of Oz” because it contains “witchcraft and superstition.” Julia said she felt humiliated and [...]