Not what we wanted to hear

"Nations must fight climate change like terrorism, Rice says" (CNN)

Oy. You mean, by blaming some country we don't happen to like for climate change, and then invading that country based on trumped up allegations? And then there's the opportunistic expansion of presidential power and curtailment of civil liberties. Is that in the voluntary climate change plan, too?

On ducks

I spotted a bunch of wood ducks swimming in Rock Creek near the zoo this morning--a type of duck I have never seen in DC before.

In other duck news, some asshole government employee from Denver is being charged with felony animal cruelty after ripping the head off a live duck at a Minnesota hotel for no reason whatsoever. Well, I guess he did present a reason:

According to witnesses, Scott cornered a duck near an atrium pond at the hotel and ripped its head off. Announcing, "I'm hungry. I'm gonna eat it," Clark got on an elevator with the headless bird and took it up to the fifth floor. (FedBlog via Wonkette)

People who torture animals scare the crap out of me. Guy probably wets the bed and sets fires too. Put him away before he starts tearing the heads off of hobos instead.

This is what I love about the Left

Comment posted on Grist regarding the naked Alicia Silverstone PETA ad:

"Combatting Speciesism Using Sexism?

As a woman and a vegan, I am continually amazed and offended that PETA uses sexism to combat speciesism. Though exploiting women to underscore the exploitation of nonhuman animals may be richly ironic, its net effect is to set women back and disrespect us."

Dude, you are no Borat

The wit and wisdom of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at Columbia University yesterday.

"In Iran, we don't have homosexuals like in your country...In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have it."

Ha! HAHAHAHA! Hilarious.

"Let me tell a joke here....I think the politicians who are after atomic bombs, or testing them, making them, politically they are backward, retarded."

Seriously. Somebody stop this guy!

Invasion of the nomurai

Nomurai are these enormous jellyfish that live off the coast of Japan and weigh up to 440 pounds (!!!). Taken individually, they are awesome. I think the photo below (from Wikipedia) speaks for itself.
They are not so awesome, though, as part of an out-of-control, over-reproducing cast of thousands, clogging fishermen's nets and poisoning their catch with deadly venom (Sydney Morning Herald). Again, the photo speaks for itself.

It is thought that human-caused nutrient overload off the coast is a factor in the nomura population explosion. See what happens when you mess with Mother Nature? Especially when you mess with Mother Nature in the vicinity of Japan. That's just asking for an invasion of giant monsters of some type.

Tourons, go home

The defeat of the DC voting rights bill (AP via WP) has made me less inclined than ever to suffer the DC tourist hordes gladly. They stand on our escalators when they should walk; they get in the way of our jogs on the Mall; they are oblivious to the fact that some of us live and work here and need to get where we're going now; and then, their members of Congress deny us fair representation. A lot of them, anyway.

Tourons. (Tourist + Moron = Touron). I like it, Eavesdrop DC.

Re: "No hablan"

Debate No-Shows Worry GOP Leaders
Candidates Are Urged to Attend Forums Sponsored by Minorities

Key Republican leaders are encouraging the party's presidential candidates to rethink their decision to skip presidential debates focusing on issues important to minorities, fearing a backlash that could further erode the party's standing with black and Latino voters....

We sound like we don't want immigration; we sound like we don't want black people to vote for us," said former congressman Jack Kemp (N.Y.), who was the GOP vice presidential nominee in 1996. "What are we going to do -- meet in a country club in the suburbs one day? If we're going to be competitive with people of color, we've got to ask them for their vote." (WP)

Jack Kemp is right on, folks--grow a pair and face the issues.

The Washlet

I'm sure these guys have done their research, but somehow I think that marketing bidets to Americans just won't work. Especially bidets with "five cleansing modes, adjustable wand [?--ed.], and warm air dry."

We think it's weird and gross that anyone uses them; the French think it's weird and gross that we don't; and that's just the way it's gonna be.

Oregon pics

Some pictures of our trip to Hood River and Janine and Greg's wedding are posted on the photolog.

Sensitive critters can live in the Holston River?

The Fish and Wildlife Service is fixing to reintroduce a number of threatened and endangered freshwater mussel species to the Holston and French Broad Rivers, in East Tennessee. (Federal Register)

Amazing. When I was a kid, young swimmers were cautioned to avoid the Holston--not that it stopped them--and for good reason. The Tennessee division of Eastman Chemical (now Eastman Kodak) has a plant in Kingsport, TN which "dumped more reproductive toxins into the nation's waters than any other facility, 286,000 pounds, according to [EPA] records for 1990 through 1994." And all of this went into the Holston. (Environmental Working Group) From what I hear, though, things are looking up for the river.

So rock on, little mussels--hope it works out for you, and for us.

Your ad here

Conservationists have started auctioning off naming rights for newly-discovered species to help fund efforts to protect those species. (WP)

But why stop there? Slap some logos on those fish!

Survival in the Maryland outback

This is kind of a crazy story:

A Bowie State student disappeared a few days ago after driving off to meet his girlfriend. Now it turns out he had a car wreck and survived, trapped in his car at the bottom of a valley, for 8 days.

"To survive, he ate a fish he caught with his hands and used his high-top sneaker to drink water from the creek...When he finally was able to muster the strength, he cut his seat belt using a small knife he had in his car, forced his door open and then dragged himself by his elbows, his body racked with pain, 30 feet up to the shoulder of the road hoping that someone would see him and rescue him." (WP)

Pretty awesome. Doesn't compare to the guy who amputated his own arm, but pretty awesome, for our landscape.

The coolest thing about a troop surge...

...is that later on, you get to talk up your planned troop drawdown [to pre-surge levels...] (WP)

So, there you go, Gen. Petraeus! You still win the prize for neatest military name ever--with a name like that, you should be fighting in the Punic Wars, not the Gulf Wars.

No hablan

All the Democratic candidates, except Biden, appeared last night for a debate on Univision, the nationwide Spanish-language TV channel. (NYT)

The Republican presidential candidates, interestingly, all declined Univision's offer of a GOP candidate debate. You've gotta have a pretty good reason to blow off the nation's largest Latino TV audience when you're running for president of the United States. (A reason that begins with "I" and rhymes with "schmimmigration"?) Doesn't bode well for the R candidates long-term if they all made this choice.

No more Wire

Sadly, the best show on television (tied with Battlestar Galactica, I think), is wrapping up after five seasons.

"For the past two years, a good chunk of "The Wire," the HBO show that critics have praised for the grittiness of its inner-city verite, has been filmed in an anonymous soundstage in the burbs -- a soundstage that reportedly will be turned into a massive Wegmans Food Market." (WP)

So now Wire fans will have to make pilgrimages to this new Wegmans--leave memorial wreathes and pour out bottles in the produce section, or something.