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A lighter and more fuel-efficient way to protect astronauts from cosmic radiation. Presumably the work on fending off Klingon disruptor blasts is still ongoing.

[Editor’s Note: This was the last

Greens Concede Kyoto Will Not Impact ‘Global Warming’

Marc Morano, CNSNews.com

Buenos Aires, Argentina (CNSNews.com) - After a relentless attack on the United States for opposing the Kyoto Protocol,

Audit Blasts Shelley

Gary Delsohn, Sacramento Bee

The state’s chief auditor issued a blistering report Thursday about Secretary of State Kevin Shelley’s use of federal election funds, documenting

I just renovated the templates for my wife’s blog, cats. iz. perverse.—and while I wouldn’t want to use the color scheme here, I do think it looks better than what I got had.

UPDATE: So naturally I

I finally figured out what the Bowdlerized words in the title of this post are. Look for something dated Dec. 16, 2004 at 5:56 p.m.

Call it Bush Derangement Syndrome, or Post-Election Selection Trauma (I think Patient Zero of P.E.S.T. may be Garry Trudeau, by the way, who shut down his comic strip shortly after Reagan’s 1984

Thank God!

Via Jerry at ResurrectionSong, a heartwarming (and hilarious, in a “South Park” kind of way) Christmas message from Foamy the Foulmouthed Squirrel.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

UPDATE: For those

Ever wonder how the annual tradition of NORAD tracking Santa’s sleigh began? Me either.

No, the CXT is a TRUCK, not an SUV.

Then again, if Ashton Kutcher drives it…

According to the TTLB Ecosystem, blogoSFERICS at this URL is a slithering reptile. After years and years as a large mammal but never breaking into the playful primates, any change of scenery is

Endangered Species Act Eyed for Change

Fox News

LOS ANGELES — Opponents of the Endangered Species Act say the federal legislation protecting the sucker fish, the spotted owl and hundreds of other

He Who Isn’t Dale Gribble™ offers the short course in what makes somebody Christian.

I would perhaps add only that anyone who blames others (e.g., “da Jooz”) for the death of Christ, rather than

Wizbang readers are sounding off about Jay Tea’s adventure with an in-law’s spyware riddled computer. Endorsements of Firefox, Unix, and even the Mac are flying fast and furious (note: I use

Abbas Calls for No Arms Against Israel Paul Martin, The Washington Times

LONDON — Mahmoud Abbas, the prohibitive favorite to succeed Yasser Arafat as president of the Palestinian Authority, called

White Christmas? Snow May Arrive Early Next Week Mike Morris, AJC

Okay, so you’ve been dreaming of a white Christmas. Would you settle for a white beginning to the holiday week?

The National Weather

Poll Shows GOP on the Move: More Ink to Follow? Editor & Publisher

NEW YORK A new Gallup poll shows that the public values “values” less than November exit polls suggested, but another survey from

Hello. So you found us again. Next time I’ll pick a better hiding place.

Since the smooth way of doing this didn’t seem to be working, I just up and renamed the directory from “blogoSFERICS” to

I’m checking out something different as an alternative to all that @#$! in the “Never Mind” post. If you’re seeing this message at the usual (officially incorrect) URL, it probably means it didn’t

UPDATE, 11 October 2005: Robert and I have buried the hatchet, as a result of his having seen or heard about this entry.

UPDATE: Commenting will be broken (probably) for a little while as someone from pMachine tries to figure out why my attempt to use the subdomain URL discussed below the fold, made comments not work.

Ford to Dump Aviator, Excursion Amy Wilson, Automotive News

DETROIT—Ford Motor Co. will kill two of its priciest SUVs after the 2005 model year.

Production of the Ford Excursion, the automaker’s

Via Transterrestrial Musings:

Hip-Hop Flops Suzanne Kapner, New York Post

A shakeout is afoot in the world of urban apparel, as sales of once red-hot labels begin to cool, analysts and industry

Bush Photo at Farmers’ Market Causes Row AP

LANCASTER - A Democratic city councilman has demanded that a baker remove photos of President Bush from his stand in Lancaster’s venerable farmers’

Executions aren’t televised, but this guy became such a celebrity that I wouldn’t be surprised if they made it a prime-time special, complete with production numbers and e-mail messages scrolling

The question mark in this category is there because, well, just because I think something’s funny doesn’t mean it is. Well, it does mean it is, but other people are entitled to their

Which is why the photo at top left of the main blog page will not be run through the UGO hero creator thingie.

However, two individuals who post comments in various places using my e-mail address

A jihadi demonstrates a corollary of the old maxim, “Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.”

Which, by the way, isn’t exactly true. You can bring a knife to a gunfight—as long as you also bring a gun.

Paul at Wizbang has a nearly humorous encounter at the checkout line, but decides not to speak for fear the cashier wouldn’t get it. At least, that would have been why I wouldn’t have said it. If

Maybe that’ll be a show-triable offense.

[Originally posted Nov. 29]

What’s Bucky Katt doing in the Ukraine?

So I’m thinking, why not make a caption contest out of it? And so I’m thinking, post your entries in comments.

UPDATE: We have a

I’m using Firefox 1.0 on Windows 2000 Professional. When I open the homepage at AJC.com the page doesn’t load right the first time. I have to click to another page and back before it’s readable.

Can

This isn’t my thousandth post, because I’ve posted on other platforms—with Movable Type I racked up over 2,000, and there were a few when I was using Blogger—and it isn’t even my thousandth post on

Falwell Invigorated by 2004 Election Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, Fox News

WASHINGTON — Invigorated by what he calls the “greatest victory” in the history of the religious right, Rev. Jerry Falwell says

MoveOn to Democratic Party: ‘We Own It’ Sam Hananel, AP

WASHINGTON - Liberal powerhouse MoveOn has a message for the “professional election losers” who run the Democratic Party: “We bought it, we

Editor Backs Embed in Rumsfeld Incident, but Criticizes Aftermath Joe Strupp, Editor & Publisher

NEW YORK The editor/publisher of the Chattanooga [Tenn.] Times Free Press offered support late

Yesterday Dan Rather. Tomorrow, Norm Mineta!

A tip of the turban to Transterrestrial Musings.

Plastered with three—count ‘em, three Kerry-Edwards bumper stickers, the back of this car also sported multiple stickers proclaiming the driver the proud parent of some yappy sort of dog that would

Famous Atheist Now Believes in God AP

NEW YORK Dec 9, 2004 — A British philosophy professor who has been a leading champion of atheism for more than a half-century has changed his mind. He now

Via Zombyboy (and you need to actually click through and read the post):

Yippee-ki-yea.

‘Cause I actually won an award from Rightwingsparkle.

I’m just going to assume she likes her brothers. ‘Tis not the season to restart any old family fights.

Report: More Gas Line Incentives Necessary Sam Bishop, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

WASHINGTON—A national panel of energy experts says in a new report that Alaska’s natural gas line may need more

Searching for Google Walter Woods, AJC

Google, the search engine that helps you find just about anything on the Internet, does not want to be found — at least not here.

Almost without notice, the

Via Outside the Beltway:

An Open Letter to Pablo Paredes Scott “Smash” Koenig

Pablo,

I hope you don’t mind if I dispense with the military BS and address you informally. After all, you just took off

He Who Doesn’t Need the Linkage catches some BDS sufferers in LSM’s punditocrisy (yes, I meant to spell it like that; read on) slamming George W. Bush for something that’s been around for over 40

Unmarried Gay Couples Lose Health Benefits

Kimberly Blanton, Boston Globe

Many of the state’s largest employers are dropping health benefits for unmarried gay couples, seven months after

‘Swing County’ Politics

Cameron Jahn, Sacramento Bee

For twelve years, Democrats have ruled the roost in Sacramento County when it comes to the race for the White House.

Former President Clinton won

See also related post here.

Mayor Calls Meeting on Animal Shelter Diana Campbell, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker has called a special public meeting with the Fairbanks North

Some people will post about just anything, no matter who told them about it. But this time he’s lucky because his source got it from somebody reliable.

UPDATE: And now I’ll post about just anything,

Via Zombyboy, some recently discovered Christmas artifacts.

Vote for Protein Wisdom for best humor blog.

No solid gold Porsches, but you may get something from Best Buy for your vote.

I wonder if James Joyner would endorse PW?

After blogging for two and a half years as blogoSFERICS, I have found myself contemplating what new name, if any, I would adopt if I decided to change the name. One name that suggested itself—along

Activists Dominate Content Complaints

Todd Shields, MediaWeek

In an appearance before Congress in February, when the controversy over Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl moment was at its height, Federal

Well, the solution I described here—for listening to CDs in a truck that doesn’t have a CD player—works well enough, but changing discs every 12 to 16 songs gets to be a hassle when you’re not in

Or you might miss this eeeeeeeeeeeevil assault weapon committing a violent crime.

Read the site, and the FAQ.

Honestly, I think the Internet needs a V-chip.

UN-Inspired

Page Six, New York Post

desperately in need of some positive spin — is considering a ploy to steal some of the Norwegian Nobel thunder by launching its own annual peace prize. It doesn’t

Two Set for Civil Rights Panel

Steve Miller, The Washington Times

President Bush will appoint two new members to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights this week, possibly as early as today, and

If you were expecting the Senate Democrats to be less obstinate just because Daschle is gone, think again.

Dems’ New Senate Leader Criticizes Justice Thomas CNN

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry

I mean, they could be putting the effort into something worthwhile, like automatically earning hundreds of solid gold Porsches per hour helping me win in my category.

Less snarky commentary can be

That’s about the only argument I can think of for a general legalization of marijuana.

Police: Dealers Report Stolen Marijuana To Authorities AP

Help, police, someone stole my pot!

A Panhandle

Wife-a-SFERICS e-mailed me this morning a link to a CNN.com report about yet another radio talk host getting in trouble for inappropriate language. Neither that host, nor the one who earlier called

He’s Caught in a Crime Wave

Art Campos, Sacramento Bee

The all-points-bulletin would sound a little strange:

Victim is described as absorbent, yellow and porous. Last known address: Pineapple under

That’s the name of the newest addition to my blogroll. As the title suggests, it’s a catblog. As the URL suggests, it’s hosted right here at McGeheeZone.com.

As the byline on the first real post

A national campaign that a Democrat might actually win.

DNC Showtime The Prowler

It is expected that most if not all of the nine identified candidates vying for DNC chairperson will travel to

200 Pledge Willingness to Carry Out Suicide Attacks Against Americans, Israelis Nasser Karimi, AP

Some 200 masked young men and women gathered at a Tehran cemetery Thursday to pledge their

I mean, I practically asked to be nominated the last time I was in contention. This time I ignored the whole thing, and there I am, next to last as of the timestamp on this post.

Dodd does the

More Bad News for Dems David Hogberg

While the mainstream media has grudgingly conceded that the GOP had the better turnout operation in this year’s election, no one in the MSM has bothered to

Borough Investigating Animal Shelter Manager Amanda Bohman, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

The manager of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Animal Shelter is on administrative leave pending an

From Rain to Snow to Downright Cold Tim Mowry, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

Dig out the extension cords and union suit.

A winter that so far has been custom-made for Fairbanksans is expected to take a

Comrade Commissar stages yet another show trial, but the next one will be sabotaged by capitalist speculators if I have anything to say about it.

Homeland Absurdity The Prowler

With Tom Ridge exiting stage left from the troubled Homeland Security Department, another round of guessing who will fill the slot will continue. Even before Ridge

Welcome back, Chris!

BTW—that’s the best likeness of Dan Rather I’ve seen yet.

Read this…

Rather Deserves Respect Ray Richmond, Hollywood Reporter

There was a telling moment in a telephone interview I conducted with Dan Rather a little more than a year ago in conjunction with

He Who Doesn’t Need the Linkage (nor the credit, but, well, he’s a law professor, so, you know…) passes along a great tagline for the blogosphere:

[T]he Internet is a no-weenie zone.

Lynn Westmoreland will be taking office as my new congressman the first Monday in January.

Tax, Transportation Issues Drive Westmoreland Tom Baxter, AJC

As minority leader in the Georgia House of

Recount Madness rolls on. In Ohio, in Alaska…

Group Seeks Senate Recount Sam Bishop, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

A group of Fairbanks residents is trying to raise enough money to pay for a statewide

You’re bringing back Day By Day!

Purty day out thar. See ya.

Treasury This Moment The Prowler

The Bush Administration has never liked its Cabinet secretaries to be the flashy, spotlight-seeking type, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell aside. Most agency leaders

Rice Confirmation Hearings Postponed until January AP

At the White House’s request, confirmation hearings for Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state will not begin until Congress reconvenes in

Woman’s Mom Clubs Attacker, Holds Him for Police AP

A Savannah woman used a blunt, wooden object to beat a man who was attacking her daughter and subdued him until police arrived.

Police were called

Poll: Most Oppose High Court Life Tenure Will Lester, AP

Six in 10 Americans say there should be a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices, according to an Associated Press poll.

The

For Democrats in Red States, 2006 Daunting Amy Fagan, The Washington Times

Democratic senators in the states that President Bush won will face a tough road to re-election in 2006, Republicans say,

Beautiful day outside. Yesterday I didn’t even leave the house until after dark, and that wasn’t entirely because of bad weather. Today will be different. Except perhaps in terms of posting, which

Iraqi Official: Elections to Be Held On Time AP

Iraq’s deputy prime minister on Sunday said that holding elections in January will be “a serious challenge” but insisted they must go ahead as

Via Ipse Dixit, comes this page at Target.com touting an “entertainment” product complete with an offer of free shipping.

And if the page is removed, I have a partial screenshot here, and one that

Elk Grove Up in Arms over Rifle Loretta Kalb, Sacramento Bee

For gun collectors, the firearm is downright pretty. The gunstock of the Ruger 10/22 is engraved with a stagecoach led by four horses.

He Who Doesn’t Need the Linkage excerpts a passage from James Bennett’s The Anglosphere Challenge, from which I wish to respond to the following:

By strict Marxist definitions, capitalism ended

Turns out the Internetting where we’re spending Thanksgiving isn’t as convenient as I had expected. Blogging will be light to non-existent until after the first sandwiches have been made and eaten.

Whenever you change the clocks and replace the batteries in your smoke detectors, you should also wipe that feathery gunk off the inside of your toilet bowls and—this is extremely important—flush

Although, it does always seem to run out of yellow ink first…

Government Uses Color Laser Printer Technology to Track Documents Jason Tuohey, Medill News Service

Next time you make a printout from

Originally posted Saturday, November 13

Vilsack Throws Name Into DNC Chief Ring Fox News

As the Washington guessing game continues over who may take over the reins of the Democratic National

Seems somehow or other I got Acidman’s blog included in this week’s “Carnival of the Cats.”

Well, it’s not like I didn’t warn him.

DeLay Appears To Be Off The Hook

David Paul Kuhn, CBS News

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, appears to have dodged a bullet.

The powerful GOP chieftain is unlikely to be indicted by a state

An unusual type of storm nicknamed an “insider slider” blanketed Southern California mountains with up to 3 feet of snow and even coated desert areas with white.

Children built snowmen and had

For reasons I haven’t been able to work out, two of my categories—Boreblogger Nirvana and The Lowest Form of Comedy—would not load when I tried to view their archives. I tried splitting some of BN‘s

And I’m damn proud of it.

Hat tip to Blogs for Bush.

But you’ll have to go here to read what I’ve posted about it.

Don’t worry—I once again failed to follow the Gut Rumbles Board of Standards & Practices rule prescribing a minimum amount of foul

There’s been another show trial in the Land of the Commissar.

We interrupt this balmy west Georgia weekend to show you the weather in Fairbanks.

Now turn down that damned furnace, you wuss.

I’d be surprised if I was the only one to riff off the Notorious B.I.G. Dick Cheney photo for the caption contest here using the photo that’s below the fold (my submitted caption is also there).

I will not gloat, I will not gloat!

Zombyboy has been getting slammed by comment spammers and has had to disable comments for the weekend. Why, you might ask.

Because he still uses Movable Type.

Dammit.

Here and Know Rachel Leibrock, Sacramento Bee

Do you know the difference between El Dorado and El Dorado Hills? Do you know your Sutter Creek from your Sutter’s Landing? We challenge you to

Disabled Dolphin Jumping Again with World’s First Artificial Fin

AFP

Fuji, a mother dolphin that lost 75 percent of her tail due to a mysterious disease, is jumping once again with the help of what

(Cross-posted to Cat Rambles Gut Rumbles)

As noted here, we have another cat. This makes three. Plus Lucy the dog. It’s a freaking menagerie.

Mickie has turned out to be quite the big bully. She

Ted Rall’s dissent just got crushed. A tip of the spiked helmet to Rand Simberg for passing the news. Jackboots will dance tonight!

Wife-a-SFERICS and I are currently customers of AT&T Wireless, which was recently acquired by Cingular. So today we dropped by our nearest Cingular store to look into the ups and downs of possibly

Russia Developing New Nuclear Missile

AP

Russia is developing a new nuclear missile system unlike any weapon held by other countries, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday, a move that could

North Pole Ups Sales Tax 1 Percent

Amanda Bohman, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

NORTH POLE—The city raised its sales tax by a penny earlier this week to solve a budget shortfall, according to Mayor

Woman Steals Car Back From Thief

Fox News

An Idaho woman did a car thief one better — she stole her own car back.

Cheryl Otero and her husband heard her 1996 Eagle Talon start up in their Pocatello

Due to a certain newspaper photograph that you’ve undoubtedly seen or heard about, this blog—out of a desire to show proper respect—will no longer refer to the current Vice President of the United

My traffic is way down since the election (average daily visits < 400, after being > 600 for weeks), yet my ranking in the Ecosystem continues to climb. Which tells me that blogreading is probably

Wizbanger Kevin brings us news of the burger that ate Cleveland: Hardee’s new Monster Thickburger—a regular 2/3-pound Thickburger with four strips of bacon and three slices of cheese.

And, of

“It” being recount madness, and “where” being on the fringes. Where this crap should have been during the last four years.

Ohio to Go Through Statewide Vote Recount After All AP

A statewide recount

Kerry: Don’t Count Me Out Yet

AP

Sen. John Kerry, who has $45 million left from his record-breaking Democratic campaign, hinted on Tuesday that he may try again for the presidency.

On his first

Charles Hill’s take on this is simply priceless:

I’m thinking that Mr Friedrich’s insistence on the intelligence of fish is based entirely upon the fact that they are occasionally found in schools.

Kmart, Sears Announce $11 Billion Merger

AP

The discount retailer Kmart Holding Corp. is combining with one of the most venerable names in U.S. retailing, Sears, Roebuck & Co., in an $11 billion

Bryan Preston and Chris Regan over at JYB examine the question of CIA reform in the context of the last few years’ political mischief against the GWOT and President Bush by, apparently, a handful of

A letter to the editor in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:

Must Work Together

Andrew Gray

This is in response to a recent letter telling a “few folks” to get over the election.

First of all, 49

Because bad ideas always outnumber good ones.

Powell and Three Others Leaving Cabinet George Gedda and Deb Riechmann, AP

Secretary of State Colin Powell and three other Cabinet members have

eBay scam e-mails are the new big thing, it seems. If you get an e-mail purportedly from eBay, with a link that says it’s an ebay.com URL, but which takes you to some other URL (such as, say,

Just for the heck of it, I’ve restored the space for giving your location when leaving a comment, and since I’ve always thought asking for that info was silly if it wasn’t going to be displayed,

Via Transterrestrial Musings:

U.S. Bombs Gut Insurgent Bunker Complex Anne Barnard and Farah Stockman, Boston Globe

US forces dropped a pair of 2,000-pound bombs early yesterday morning on a bunker

It could be a redux of Florida 2000.

Early Runoff Voting Begins AJC

Advance voting begins today in a Nov. 23 runoff for a seat on the state Court of Appeals.

Neither Debra Bernes nor Howard Mead was

I got a big shipment of ®‘s today and I just don’t know how I’m going to get rid of them all.

French Consider Naming Streets after Arafat Michel Zlotowski, Jerusalem Post

Several French

Tiny Antennas to Keep Tabs on U.S. Drugs

Gardiner Harris, New York Times

The Food and Drug Administration and several major drug makers are expected to announce initiatives today that will put tiny

A lullaby written for chain saw and firecrackers.

Dow Jones to Buy MarketWatch for $520M

CBS MarketWatch

MarketWatch, Inc., which owns the CBS.MarketWatch.com Web site, agreed to be bought by Dow Jones & Co. for $520 million on Sunday, ending a

NASA Aims to Bust New Speed Barriers in Test Flight Monday

AFP

NASA will conduct the final and fastest test flight of its pilotless X-43A hypersonic research aircraft, aiming to send it zooming

Fallujah Assault Quicker Than Expected

AP

The U.S. military’s ground and air assault of Fallujah has gone quicker than expected, with the entire city occupied after six days of fighting, the Marine

Frist: Specter Must Prove Himself for Post

Jim Abrams, AP

Sen. Arlen Specter must prove to his Republican colleagues that he is the right man to head the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next

If it works, don’t knock it.

More Democrats Hitch a Ride on Republican Tide

Nancy Badertscher, AJC

After an Election Day red tide that placed the state government fully in Republican hands, many Georgia Democrats are

Some trial I never cared much about has finally ended, and there’s a verdict.

Referral stats are fascinating sometimes. Like when you discover you’re on the blogroll at a blog that’s written in a language you can’t read.

In my fulminations against Arlen Specter—such as they’ve been—I’ve never referred to his views on abortion (which happen to be extremely different from mine). That’s because my complaints about

I lost the last strip that revealed this unsettling fact…

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