Auf DEUTSCH hier … Last week was crazy cold here … this morning RDU recorded 3 deg F and it was 6 Deg F at the house at 7 AM. Almost the entire week, temperatures stayed well below freezing, and the on the only slightly warmer day we got snow! Taking care of all the […]

Stay strong, Berlin. Stay crazy.

Oh, America. Seriously?! Mr. Cheetoface Tinyhands gets to move into the White House? OK, so maybe the other option was not all that appealing, either … the Wall-Street-pandering, email-deleting Mrs. Pinchface. So this is it, now – right? It’s all over. The Endoftheworldasweknowit. If you are considering packing your bags and moving to Canada – […]

Diese Grassdackel schwätzet ein Blech daher! Da fällt mir nix mehr dazu ei. Aber Spässle muss scho sei. Maultasche, gell!

Jan 23 NC was hit by a “blizzard” and we had 2-3 inches (10 cm ) of icy snow. Here are some shots from my quadcopter the day after.

Yeah. That’s funny. That’s BMW’s idea of an April Fools joke (in 2011). An M3 pickup “Ute” style with a 420Hp V8. In 2013, Top Gear sent their Aussie correspondent to Bavaria to test drive this joke. He had a good laugh! And a bit of a scare, too.

Breaking News from the Telegraph’s Alan Tyers: Hell will host the 2026 football World Cup after a Fifa report found “no reason” to overturn the controversial underworld destination’s successful bid. A 666-page report seen by The Telegraph concluded that Fifa had acted ethically in awarding its showpiece tournament, and suggested Lucifer be compensated with “a […]

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 […]