Merry Mayhem!

This won't come as a shock to anyone who knows me, but I mostly loathe Christmas. Or, more aptly, I loathe the hyper-politicized, spiritually bankrupt consumerist orgy that eats its way further backwards in the calendar every friggin' year. (Silver lining: I actually look forward to New Years' now, a holiday that I found pointless as a kid.)

That being said, here's one of the handful of indulgences I do look forward to this time of year: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/snowglobe Keep your eye on the snowman--that's all I'm sayin'.

The other stuff:

1.) The Ref
2.) John Denver and the Muppets
3.) Elf Bowling v.1
4.) George C. Scott as Ebeneezer Scrooge

A grateful shout-out to Les Jenkins at Stupid Evil Bastard for finding that needle in the internet's haystack--"the Google" and I came up skunked the other day when we went trolling for it.

A farewell (sort of) and thanks

One of the regular stops on my morning news-cruise is the blog "Managing Globalization," which is mostly the handiwork of Daniel Altman. Yesterday was its last day, as Mr. Altman will focus on other ventures, including another book, which I very much hope will hit the shelves no later than 2010.

In a world where economics is much less science than religion--with nearly as many schisms, jihads, and Kool-Aid-swilling cultishness than the real thing--Dr. Altman's clear-eyed, evenhanded approach combined with his humane outlook elevate him to statesman status in my opinion.

So I didn't want to let the week run out without a hat-tip and a thanks for his insights. I will be looking forward to Dr. Altman's future work, and wish him all success in those ventures.

Revolution behind schedule?

It's about friggin' time... "Chicago workers sit-in becomes rallying point"

I don't care if the Soviets and Chinese and various Third World thugocracies gave Marxism a bad name. Labor is NOT a commodity, and employees ARE stakeholders, d--it. Far more so than overpaid gits pushing imaginary money back and forth between spreadsheet columns at an investment banking firm. Or the significantly more overpaid gits who set up the giant Monopoly game.

So viva la revolución. Granted, the firing squad's gonna run short of bullets eventually, but it'll at least thin the ranks of the cheeseburger-binging b@$+@rds--I'm looking at you, Mr. "Contract with America"--who put us in this mess. It certainly won't do much tangible short-term good, but if a few pike-mounted heads convince today's business/finance majors to go into useful occupations, I think the world will be a better place for it.

Stupid Friday humor

From from The Onion archives to you: Zombie Nutritionist Recommends All-Brain Diet. Better stale than compost: Bon appetit, mes amis.

Guerilla capitalism

So if the Orwellian "conscience clause" almost certain to be enacted by our Baptist Taliban is disproportionally detrimental to women, shouldn't I be getting a discount on my next medical bill? After all, if I'm getting WalMart service, I shouldn't have to pay Tiffany's prices.

Crikey. At this rate, will anyone be surprised if Bush and Cheney set fire to the White House on their way out?

New lunchbox hero?

The web comic "Do You Work Here?" laces my Mondays and Thursdays with a lovely note of cynicism, and today there was a bonus: A link to this comic, in the wake of Friday's WalMart trampling death. (Disclaimer: I did do some shopping Friday, but it was purely a grocery run. Mama may have raised a fool, but not that kind of fool...)

Uh-oh

Malware specifically targeted at U.S. Military computers, reported by the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cyberattack28-2008nov28,0,6441140.story

[snark] Yep, let's keep off-shoring those "knowledge worker" jobs to the lowest bidder. I, for one, can soooo not wait for the spectacle of a U.S. soldier waiting (on hold) for a Filipino call center worker to read the troubleshooting scripts for Indian software on Chinese hardware while the red buttons flash and the blue screens stare back. [/snark]