My Commentary on Current Events

Yes, this about sums it all up, from domestic politics to foreign policy:

Just Another Day's Work For the US Coast Guard

Check out the photo!

Quirky Asia Files: Selling Peaches In China

I don't even know what to say.

"Icelanders Grieve for the Peculiar Lake Balls"

You know you just have to click on a headline like that.

In Russia, Beach Hits You!

Just another day in paradise as the temperature suddenly plummets 40 degrees and the sky hurls golfball-sized hailstones at fleeing vacationers.

Going Ape in Tenerife

What happens when the zoo veterinarian mistakes you for a runaway gorilla?

Meanwhile the different branches of the zoo staff might want to get on the same page finally, y'think?  Communicate, people!

UPDATE: The zoo has denied that the guy was wearing a gorilla suit.

Quirky Asia Files: A Doll Village in Japan

I hate dolls like I hate clowns.  This is totally creeping me out.

Only In Australia

The new prime minister can't move into his official residence because the place is infested with possums.  No, really.

Can You Handle Philosophical Arguments in Russia?

You probably Kant.

Molasses Morasses

I knew this headline from Honolulu reminded me of something.  A similar sticky mess happened in Boston in 1919.  Yuck!

Life Imitates Satire: Putin in the New York Times

Wait a minute: Did Putin seriously write an op-ed ...  in the New York Times ... on the anniversary of 9/11 ... mocking American exceptionalism?  Putin who famously runs around shooting tigers and wrestling polar bears and doing all that "look at me" macho-man BS to make himself look exceptional?  (While also persecuting gay people and girl punk bands?)  Is this real life or is this fantasy?  Caught in a landslide ... no escape from reality ... Whaaaaaaaaaaat? 

This is, I think, only the beginning of the fallout from the Syria-Russia fiasco.  I repost the image I made on that day.  Thanks to the Obama Administration's utterly incompetent handling of Syria that has made the president an international laughingstock, I think we'll all be getting a lot more use out of it in days to come.

Troll.

I Would Have Totally Named Him "Higgs." Or "Hadron."

I'm not even kidding.  Here's a snapshot of the proud papa.  Congrats!

Quote of the Day: Linguistic Lunacy

Indeed:

"So farcical have the linguistic games become that we have reached a point at which Congress is being instructed that, Assad having crossed a red line that the executive branch didn’t set, it must accord the executive branch the permission that it doesn’t need to start a war that isn’t a war."

Quirky Asia Files: Getting From Point A To Point B

It all just makes me want to stay home, ha!

Taiwan: Driving In The Rain

This happened yesterday in the Old Country in Keelung. Wait for it ...

Only Ben Affleck Can Bring This Riven Nation Together

GOOD LORD, PEOPLE.  Warner Brothers announces that it cast Ben Affleck as Batman for the Superman sequel, and the Internet explodes with the rage of a thousand suns.  Apparently Ben Affleck is the only thing that can bring this deeply divided nation together ... by uniting almost everyone in their conviction that This Is The Worst Casting Decision EVAR.

OK, this is kind of funny in a way, but it's also kind of ridiculous.  (Let's look at two explosions of rage about casting, shall we?  Example of the first and the current howling.)  AFFLECK HASN'T EVEN FILMED A SINGLE FRAME AS BATMAN.  EVERYBODY CALM DOWN ALREADY, GEEZ.

I thought Man of Steel with Henry Cavill was pretty good, and as far as I'm concerned, Affleck's well and truly resurrected himself with Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and - lest we all forget - Argo. OK, so he's a better director than he is an actor, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  And if I'm wrong, I'll just root for Superman to kick his butt all over Gotham.

But if you want to have fun hating Affleck today, go ahead.  I've linked to an old but still hilarious skit from Jimmy Kimmel.

The Iowa State Fair 1, Your Diet 0

Yum?

Nerd Fun: 12 Weird Student Clubs in the UK

Extracurricular.

Nerd News: The Psychology of Murder

Looking into the psychology of murderers can be interesting ... unless it's your psychology professor who's the murderer.  Good grief.  Also distressing: the college is standing by him so he will keep on teaching.  What?  The guy slaughtered his entire family in 1967.  This is not some feel-good comeback story about how he got rehabbed or whatever!  Do you want a murderer teaching your kids?

In Vino Veritas ... and Explosive Devices

Via Dignified Rant, "wine militants" versus the Socialist Party in Carcassone, France.