Rants of a Fuzzy Curmudgeon

Garry Trudeau hasn’t really had anything to say since he took his long hiatus years ago and aged all the characters. Today’s comic is case in point. (Link via the Professor)
My wife is beginning to think I’m nuts because every Sunday I’ve been scratching out Trudeau’s name and writing in something like “Assface Motherfucker” before I’ll read his Sunday panels. Naturally this is done in public 🙂

Steven Den Beste notes the Aussie response to a nutcase campus gunman.
Makes me think of that case in West Virginia…except of course that the Aussie students wouldn’t have been allowed to carry weapons.

Tom Daschle’s at it again.
And this guy wants to be President? Not in a million years. Not if people with any sense have anything to say about it.

As a student of the interwar period and more particulary its diplomacy, I find Jeff Jacoby’s column today compelling reading.

Rachel’s got a story about a guy in Texas who tried to jack a hunter’s car…when the hunter arrived back at the car with his bow and arrow in hand.
It didn’t end well for the would-be car thief. At least as far as he was concerned.

Most people who know me, know I can’t stand Macs. So it should come as no surprise that I read Steven Den Beste’s latest comments in regard to the future of the Mac with quite a lot of engineering glee.

but we spent most of the day cleaning out our tiny storage locker and moving into a bigger one, and cleaning out my Mom’s garage so she can get the car into it for the winter. So this is pretty much the first time I’ve sat down at the computer all day. If I see anything interesting in the next 45m I’ll blog a bit, but it’s bedtime at 10.

…analysed here.
However, I’m not so sure he’s right to worry. A friend who works at a local airport who is in a position to know what he’s talking about says that two of the major airlines are taking seats out of their (currently idled) planes and flying cargo to and from Asia. Naturally you can’t fly a container-ship-load of containers that way, but you sure can take a bite out of maritime trade. And when the airlines have planes sitting around idle because of the passenger slump, why not get them back in the air flying cargo?

Victor Davis Hanson has the scoop.
Now if Bush would just spit those pebbles out of his mouth, and put that damn lamp down, and fight the bloody war.

A good Junk Science report on Fox today.

[A]n October 2001 report by California state ballistics experts — hushed up by the California attorney general’s office — concludes that ballistic fingerprinting isn’t feasible right now.

It gets better:

Maryland and New York already require ballistic fingerprinting. So far it hasn’t helped convict a single criminal in Maryland despite “fingerprinting” 17,000 guns sold since January 2000. New York hasn’t had success either.

Read the whole thing.