Sam Wollaston in The Guardian
I hate JK Rowling. I think any honest person who writes for a living hates JK Rowling. Yes, of course, it's jealousy. But are her words, and the order in which she puts them down, really so much better than the rest of ours? Is it right that it takes her exactly 1.7 seconds to earn my entire annual salary?
Reminds me of this internet chestnut.
Ho, ho, ho. Merry New Year's Eve!
Bye bye, 2007.
Woke up this morning, looked out the window and discovered that someone had tied a giant air-filled Homer to one of our patio seats, and plugged his air pump into one of the outlets on the side of our garage. We're not sure who put him there, though we have our suspicions.
Later, I went for a walk around the neighborhood, while Mrs C was relaxing... when I got back, I saw a big male ring-necked pheasant walking around the alley in back of our house. I walked up to it to get a better look and it walked up to meet me, fearlessly. It looked me over a bit, then walked on by. It was close enough I could've reached down and grabbed it. In fact, I backed up to get out of its way. Beautiful thing. It didn't look sick or injured, but I assume pheasants aren't usually glad to see people - do people keep pheasants as pets? Anyway, I ran back to my house to get a camera, but it had wandered into someone's back yard by the time I returned, and I didn't want to pursue.
A letter to the editor in my (former) hometown newspaper:
First of all, I must admit that I am a male chauvinist and that there are, thankfully, differences between men and women. There are many occupations suitable for women and their physical attributes. Carrying a weapon while serving in the Armed Forces and firefighting are not suitable lines of work for women to prove that they are physically equal to men. How many male police officers feel comfortable with a 100 pound female backup?
And now, I have to add serving in the U.S. House and Senate as an occupation that may not be suitable for women.
...
By comparison to upstate New York, my new home of central North Carolina often feels downright enlightened. It's odd that the stereotype says the reverse.
That's your modern conservative thinker for you, though, especially of the Bush/Bennett variety. As soon as the immediate past that everyone knows about becomes inconvenient -- pretend it never happened. This is what they call "personal responsibility."
Matt's reaction is exactly what I expected from the left. Since the history cannot be denied they will sweep it under the rug as old news--and boring news at that. But considering the recent flap about Reagan's Philadelphia, Mississippi speech in 1980, I don't think liberals can dismiss my argument without also dismissing their own efforts to use 27 year old speeches to damn the Republican Party for racism. They can't have it both ways. Either history matters or it doesn't.
Merry Christmas, all. And remember, to be partisan is to be human, but overgeneralization is just sloppy.
On this, the first official day of vacation, iTunes leaves in my manger:
Myrrh!
Come on, no pictures. Gimme a frikkin break.