This morning at roughly 7:15 am, Americans on the East Coast awakened to the surprising phenomenon of the sun rising in the east. I mean, holy Ace’s flaming skull! Stores Plying Shoppers With Discounts

You know when you’re a little toad in huge ocean and someone notices that you exist and wants to reward your tireless, if relatively inconsequential work, you get excited about it. So, yeah, being nominated for the first time ever for a Blog award is a sort of validation. But, if you’re Glenn Reynolds and you’re the Great Whale of the blogosphere, these silly little contests mean nothing. You’re above

Well folks, we’re in the final run down to departure and have now officially entered headless-chicken-sprint mode.  Before we all head on out, I wanted to say thank you so very much to all of you for all your generous financial and moral support.  It really warms my heart to know that you folks here are pulling for us.  In any case, there is now a blog for the effort. 

I question the timing.  I was in Costco today, buying food for the Monsterlings and my latest installment of Christmas loot for which the fat guy will get credit, when I came across the DVD of An Inconvenient Truth, at, I seem to recall, something like $18.50, which made my left eyelid twitch, just thinking about how a) I could get 3 DVDs of classic movies that I actually like

Let us be the last to refer to the story published in the UK’s Observer that on the night she died Princess Diana’s phone conversations were being monitored by US intelligence and that the report that’s partially based on those intercepts will shatter a lot of conspiracy theories regarding her death. The reality-based community doesn’t draw the same conclusions from that that I, and perhaps you, do.  Exhibit, Susie at

Why do so many servicemen and women want to go back to a losing battle? Via Gina (remember to vote for her, too): Maybe this is why: I don’t know if my delicate psyche can take the specter of a Vietnam-like denouement to Iraq or Afghanistan. When I think of Vietnam, I am ashamed. I’m not alone: U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin futilely pleaded for $700 million in emergency aid, so

So, your post won’t be buried in dreck, by me.

By those who knew her: Megan was a friend of mine from the Naval Academy. She was a neat person and a great triathlete. I am sure she would appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Posted by Kara | permalink on 12/09 at 01:15 PM I met Megan McClung back in 2004 when we were both here in Baghdad in different civilian capacities. She ran into a friend from the Naval

From Wikipedia: Mise en abyme has several meanings in the realms of creative arts and literary theory. The term is originally from the French and means, “placing into infinity” or “placing into the abyss”. In Western art “mise en abyme” is a formal technique in which an image contains a smaller copy of itself, the sequence appearing to recur infinitely. The term originated in heraldry, describing a coat of arms

Wondering how to characterize something or somebody in the news?  APco’s Real Journalist Cheat Sheet can help you characterize like the Pros! h/t LGF (they don’t need the freaking link)