Isaac Schrödinger

Weirder Than Shaolin Soccer

Kids Prefer Cheese:

If you think the 2010 FIBA world cup is whacky, you haven't seen anything!

The relevant soccer game is quite funny. I bet there were a lot of confused spectators during the whole drama.

Link via Samizdata.

G20 Trashing

Lots of shattered glass in Toronto over the weekend.

The Wages of Decadence

Code Monkey Ramblings:

Society exists now entirely in the context of greatness, prosperity and liberty. The bondage of the past is in the mists of time. Those who came before and spiritually evolved to the point where society could become great, prosperous and liberal are dead and cannot act as teachers to those who now know those times only as "the past."

So very true.

Why did the Roman Empire fall apart? One important reason is that the people who built and forged the institution had long been dead by the end. Men like Scipio couldn't reach out and teach the later offspring about life and how to wage war.

Take a simple example at the micro level: At my high school, I once saw a kid sitting with his African parents. The kid wasn't doing well in his courses. The parents spoke perfect English, were sharply dressed and exuded class. This made an ugly contrast with the boy: shirt half-out, slumped in the chair on to his right side, mumbling on how he'll really do better this time.

His parents just couldn't understand. They had sacrificed so much for him. They both worked full-time. They understood how hard life is. They had provided him with so many comforts and opportunities. They had enrolled him in a school in the West. But what was the result? He regularly skipped classes, cheated on assignments and was failing two out of four courses.

Why! How! It didn't make sense. This kid was living a life of luxury better than what 99.99% of humanity could dream of. Why was he pissing over every chance he was given?

Upon learning history, the question answers itself.

Focusing on the Important Stuff

Hardocp:

Pakistan says it is going to monitor Google for blasphemous material from here on out. Wow, that will be quite the undertaking don’t you think?

Yeah, and it'll be curious when anti-government websites just happen to get labeled as blasphemous.

Just checked and realized that even now when one searches for "Muhammed" in Google Images, a totally awesome blog comes up first. Iz Good!

So Pretty

I wish I had a photo bunny.

The expression in photo #6 in the first comment is perfect.

Crazy Lights

Check out the capture of a castle here.

You'll need to scroll down a bit to pass the, er, Crazy Header.

Turkey Rising

Why is Turkey flipping the bird to modernity?

I don't know. But I do know how it started.

Not Yet Finished

The Frisky:

The only thing worse than a cute, funny, smart, nice, emotionally stable and totally taken man is one who’s single and just wants to play the field. What. A. Waste.

Dr. Helen on the topic:

Perhaps if she spent a little more time asking "What the hell is in marriage for 30-something year old guys with self-indulgent types like me, she might come up with an answer for why so many guys in their thirties are single.

No, no, it's always the fault of men for refusing to see the oh-so-obvious angelic, and need I mention superior, nature of such women.

Fear The Wrath of Khan

I burst out laughing when I scrolled down and saw this photo.

Then, I was stunned upon reading the text under the photo.

An Afridi Special

Cricinfo:

A new-look Pakistan, led by a new-look Shahid Afridi, bowed out of the Asia Cup with little to boast about but with their reputations enhanced, while Bangladesh ended their campaign by reaffirming the gulf between them and the top-flight teams. Afridi unleashed the kind of fury he is famous for to launch Pakistan to their highest ODI score, and subsequently their first victory in 2010.

This was utterly brutal. Bangladesh didn't even bother chasing the target. The match will be remembered for Afridi's assault. He now owns three of the six fastest ODI centuries. He takes too many risks but when they pay off it's damn fun to watch.

People See The Big Zero

Mort Zuckerman: World Sees Obama as Incompetent and Amateur.

I'm shocked!

America right now appears to be unreliable to traditional friends, compliant to rivals, and weak to enemies. One renowned Asian leader stated recently at a private dinner in the United States, "We in Asia are convinced that Obama is not strong enough to confront his opponents, but we fear that he is not strong enough to support his friends."

That's well put. Obama is simply ignorant about how to maintain peace. His philosophy of being soft to American enemies will backfire.

Link via Instapundit.

Saying No To The Matriarchy

Vox Popoli:

Despite being groomed for a career in "the office", I left that environment at 22 and never once looked back. But this makes me think that there is a seventh option that Roissy hasn't considered, which is more male self-employment and virtual offices. Self-employment will become increasingly important as female-dominated HR departments institute credentialism that will favor female hires and corporate regulations that men aren't willing to accept. And technology makes the virtual office not only possible, but more effective than the traditional office.

Yes! No need to wear a tie everyday.

Slight Rotation

And it makes the image a bit interesting.

It Has Only Begun

Code Monkey Ramblings:

Many American college students are finding themselves in the same situation. Steeped in debt, several years of exposure to the job market lost and all they got was a lousy degree that was no more difficult than a typical high school diploma to acquire.

I know quite a few people here in Canada who regret their college / university education. They've piled up debt with no employment in sight. Unfortunately, it'll get worse next year.

Understanding War II

Classical Liberal asks:

Out of curiosity, what do you see as JFK's foolishness (I don't necessarily disagree, I'm just curious).

JFK was 43 when he was elected president. His view towards the Soviet Union was to not piss them off.

When he came into office, plans were being made for the invasion of Cuba. Kennedy watered those down. For example, he refused air support during the Bay of Pigs. Such a move puzzled Eisenhower who later asked Kennedy for an explanation. He replied that he didn't want to give the Soviet Union a reason to assault Berlin.

When, in fact, the Soviets were pumped up to see the weak initiative of the Americans in taking on Cuba. The Soviets, upon learning of the Bay of Pigs, thought that it would take the Americans easily under a week to defeat that tiny, difficult-to-defend island. They were stunned when America lost in a few days. Kennedy had just showcased to everyone that the leader of the free world was an indecisive buffoon.

Later in the year, Kennedy had meetings with Krushchev where again he displayed weakness. He mentioned how his ambition was to secure peace. He, also, spectacularly admitted that the Soviets had little to fear from the US because US and Soviet-Chinese arsenals were at a parity. This statement was truly remarkable: It was false! The US was far more powerful but Krushchev didn't mind the silly, desperate president's commentary.

The correct strategy would have been to make the Soviets fear the US. The Soviets should have been afraid to piss off the US not the other way around. Kennedy with his actions had taken the edge off deterrence. Kennedy created conditions which made a conflict more, rather than less, likely.

Obama is making similar mistakes. Today, the thugs in the world don't fear the US as much. The US spends billions of dollars on high-tech weaponry. A great example is stealthy submarines which carry missiles with multiple nuclear warheads. Their purpose is to maintain peace -- not to annihilate civilizations. Their purpose is make the thugs think twice, thrice.... before messing with the US and her friends.

Obama thinks that weapons of this nature are obsolete. He thinks that thugs can be reasoned with and told that they have little to fear from America. This is precisely the opposite of a good strategy. It has been tried before multiple times. The payment in blood is always great.

Understanding War

Michael J. Totten:

I recently spoke with military historian and former classics professor Victor Davis Hanson in his office at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University. He is the author of more than a dozen works of history, and his new book The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern was just released by Bloomsbury Press.

We discussed military history, Peace Studies programs, warfare in the ancient and modern Mediterranean, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Iran's push for hegemony in the Middle East, and the Obama Administration's foreign policy.

The ignorance of Obama shines through in this interview. Simple peace requires a constant and precise effort; something that the American president doesn't seem to comprehend. He might think that his actions will result in lasting peace but in that regard he's as foolish and historically ignorant as JFK.

Read the whole thing.

So Soft

A silly lily.

The Life Force Crusher

Comedy gold from The Onion.

Useful Infidels

Jihad Watch:

Pat Condell ably articulates everything that's wrong about the mosque at Ground Zero.

Condell's suggestion, at the end, for the location of the mosque is perfect.

Moderate Evil

Lawrence Auster:

One of the key features of the clueless Western discussion that goes on year after year is that Westerners refuse to take Muslims seriously, on their own terms. In the name of tolerance, we show a profound lack of respect for Muslims, because we are refusing to see their reality and we keep fitting it into a false scheme which would make Islam acceptable to us. This leads the Muslims to feel both indignant at us for our blindness to them and contemptuous of us for the same reason.

I see this a lot. The gender apartheid, Jew-hatred and wet dreams of global dominance that is at the core of Islam is wrongly thought of as part of the belief structure of extremist Muslims by Westerners. Yet, it is the majority, mainstream Muslims who passionately espouse this nonsense.

How The World Ends

The missing link in the anti-life equation.

Crazy Cricket

The cricketing philosophy in Pakistan is condensed:

Just as taxation is theft, Pakistani cricketers see fielding for the good of the team at large as an unfair infringement on their individual rights. Just as it's the faceless monsters we call governments that send us to war to kill each other, Pakistani cricketers recognise the philosophical integrity of never following orders. The state has no right to tell us what to do; neither does Ijaz Butt. Or, for that matter, the team captain. Or even the batting partner at the other end screaming "Yes, yes, dammit, RUN. I said YES! RUN!" How dare he, the fascist.

Right.

Since Imran Khan retired in 1992, Pakistan have had 14 different Test captains, a clear case of power-sharing and true people power, as is only possible under our anarcho-syndicalist model. Australia, by comparison, have had just four Test captains since Allan Border retired in 1994. The power-hungry, undemocratic capitalist pigs.

The only time and context in history when Pakistan is judged to be more, er, democratic than Australia.

So Sinful

Poor daisy.

Indifference Alloyed With Stupidity

Hartford Police officials issued a press release on Tuesday announcing they had asked Vermont State Police to investigate whether their response to a 911 call of a “burglary in progress” last Saturday afternoon in Wilder was appropriate.

According to the one-paragraph statement, Hartford police found an “unknown male subject on the third floor” of a Stony Creek townhome who was taken into “temporary custody” before paramedics treated him for a known medical condition.

Click here for the rest of the story.

Link via Code Monkey Ramblings.

Overlord -- 66 Years Later

Blackfive:

One of the greatest speeches ever given, in my humble opinion, commemorating the D-Day invasion, was that made by Ronald Reagan on this day in 1984.

Go there and read it all. An excerpt:

We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here, in Normandy, the rescue began. Here, the Allies stood and fought against tyranny, in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.

Mmm, Spring

It tastes good.

Friday Scare

A very creepy photo.

King of the World

Reminds me of the silly scene in Titanic.

Overdose of Colors

But somehow it enhances the image.

What!?

That's all that came to mind upon viewing this.