Moe Lane

Blatantly stolen from Ace of Spades HQ, but oh so worth it.  It will make you smile, I hope.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is apparently an interesting kind of band.  I’ll have to check them out more fully at some point.

I’ve noted this before, but damn but this is still one of the most inspired extra bits in a video game that I’ve seen in a while.

Because danged if Bethesda isn’t trying to not-very-subtly convince me (via the medium of various Lore tomes) that I want to play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, too. Will the difference in game play drive me nuts?

Now that it’s official that John Boehner has won the Speakership again – which, by the way, was a foregone conclusion, given that nobody wanted to go on the record as being an opposition candidate – let us note very quickly this little bit of profane drama from last week:

House Speaker John Boehner couldn’t hold back when he spotted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the White House lobby last Friday.

It was only a few days before the nation would go over the fiscal cliff, no bipartisan agreement was in sight, and Reid had just publicly accused Boehner of running a “dictatorship” in the House and caring more about holding onto his gavel than striking a deal.

“Go f— yourself,” Boehner sniped as he pointed his finger at Reid, according to multiple sources present.

Reid, a bit startled, replied: “What are you talking about?”

Boehner repeated: “Go f— yourself.”

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Could be, could be: “The White House is expected to name a new U.S. attorney for Chicago soon from among four finalists. Whoever it is will be an insider compared to the man he or she will replace, Patrick Fitzgerald.”  Basically, Fitzgerald is leaving the position after over ten years of putting governors (note plural) and other corrupt Illinois state officials (yes, I know, redundant) behind bars.  And it’s… interesting… that this tradition is not scheduled to continue: all four possible replacements are fully integrated into the Chicago power structure.  As ABC News noted, this is not likely to be accidental:

Appointing someone with Chicago ties may convey confidence that Chicago is no longer as corrupt as it was, said Gal Pissetzky, another Chicago attorney. He said it could signal a desire to shift focus away from corruption and on to other persistent Chicago crime, such as drug trafficking or gang-related murders.

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Reportedly by the end of the month, no matter WHAT happens.  The Mayan apocalypse could occur* and Timothy Geithner would still be (allegedly) gone.  More importantly, the fiscal situation could be triggering an epic governmental meltdown and Geithner would still be leaving vapor trails.  Ach, the lack of loyalty from this administration’s Cabinet-level appointees!

…Well, as above: so below.

Anyway, now for the big question.  Actually, now to the two big questions.  The first question is, What completely unacceptable and dangerously incompetent apparatchik will Barack Obama try to foist off on us?  And the second question is, Who will we actually end up with, once enough people gently explain to Barack Obama that he can’t have whoever his first choice is? (more…)

Now this is just dumb.

Five police officers were kicked out of a Denny’s restaurant for carrying their guns.

It happened in downstate Belleville.

Needless to say, the national chain is kind of freaking out over one of their soon-to-be-former manager’s decision to encourage off-duty police officers to eat their crime-preventing breakfasts/dinners elsewhere.  Because there’s a reason why Denny’s restaurants don’t get robbed more often, and it’s because criminals are generally smart enough to avoid the places where cops eat.

Sheesh.

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I note this, in lieu of pounding on every door in my townhouse complex and generally being unpleasant about the situation.

Magic Carpet Ride, Steppenwolf

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Lost States is a book of Strange Maps; specifically, it’s a collection of some of the almost-states that have been proposed in American history, with maps of how they might have looked.  I liked reading it, being a sucker for Strange Maps, and there were a bunch of Lost States in there that I never heard of.  Fair warning, though: the author demonstrates from time to time a mild (and increasingly dated) irritation towards George W Bush.  Never enough to make me stop reading, but I was rolling my eyes from time to time.

Still, check it out. The cover unfolds out to a suitable-for-framing wall map!

OK, maybe I need to explain this one a little:

Think Progress calls for the repeal of Section V of the Voting Rights Act: bit.ly/1357fHp #racism #dogwhistle #racists

— Moe Lane (@moelane) January 3, 2013

Short version is, ThinkProgress is whining about gerrymandering again: specifically, they added up all the votes for Democratic House candidates, all of the votes for Republican ones, cried “A-HA!” at the way that the one was marginally higher than the other, and decided that it was all due to gerrymandering, GERRYMANDERING, I SAY!!!!!
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You may now breathe again.

Moe Lane

PS: Basically, OOTS is one of the greatest webcomics ever made, and its artist/writer seriously hurt his drawing hand several months ago. I mean, really, REALLY hurt his hand. We were very worried…