No, it's not the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the forces of Imperial Japan back in 1941 that makes it that kind of day. Rather, it's the 47th anniversary of the birth of my dear brother, John, founder of Weekend Pundit.
You see, the attack on Pearl Harbor wasn't predicated upon Japan's ambitions in the Pacific. Rather it was motivated by the predictions of a Japanese oracle, a pre-emptive strike to prevent the birth of my dear brother, someone this sooth-sayer feared above all others. Call it a mid-20th Century version of The Terminator. Obviously they failed. And so history was changed.
Happy Birthday, John! May all your enemies flee in fear and tremble upon hearing your name!
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Like some in Michael Malone's piece about going Microsoft free, I have been shifting computer operations here at The Manse away from Windows and towards Linux.
A few commenters to Malone's post had less than kind words about Linux and specifically the Open Office suite, a competitor to Microsoft Office, but I haven't had any problems with it (with one exception) and use it on every computer here, including the Linux laptop I'm using to write this. Microsoft Office does not reside on any of the Weekend Pundit machines.
The one exception mentioned above: I had a large MS Word document from work I imported so I could work on it over a long weekend. Once completed, I saved it back into the .doc format. When I opened it with MS Word at work, the formatting was all screwed up. However, when I've generated equally large documents in OO and then saved it into MS Word .doc format, it looked just fine when I opened it at work. It looks like the conversion to and from OO's Open Document Format still has some issues to deal with.
(H/T Instapundit)
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This seems like a good idea: emergency power for all cell tower sites. However, the White House is against it as proposed by the FCC. Most of the cell companies are against it as well, citing the prohibitive costs. But it is something that should be looked into in light of disasters like Katrina. When power failed in the areas hit hard by the hurricane cell phones became nothing but pretty bricks even though the cell sites themselves were undamaged. In most cases the only communications available into and out of those areas were amateur radio and satellite phones. Those limited means of communications hampered rescue and recovery efforts because the destruction was so widespread.
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Neo-neocon asks the question “Suppose they gave a victory and nobody noticed?”
It certainly seems to be the case with Iraq.
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Christmas is still over two weeks away and it looks like Mother Nature is trying her best to ensure it will be a white one here in New England. We had snow here in New Hampshire earlier in the week and a lot of it is still here. It was snowing this morning, but left only a dusting. The temps have been cold enough for snow, so the conditions have been right for it. My only wish is that any serious snowfall holds off until I can get the snow tires mounted on the trusty Intrepid.
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Why is it many retailers here in the US are afraid to use the 'C' word? You know, Christmas? Glenn Reynolds has certainly noticed the trend, and one of his readers commented about even the mighty Amazon using “Happy Holidays” rather than Merry Christmas, but only in the US. “Merry Christmas” is still being seen on Amazon in Canada, France, Germany, and the UK.
This politically correct BS has got to stop, particularly when it comes to something as important as Christmas.
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The New England Patriots played the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle. The 7-5 Patriots struggled all throughout the game against the 2-10 Seahawks, suffering from too many first and second string players on the injured list. The Patriots went so far as calling back retired veteran Junior Seau for help in the defense.
After Tom Brady and Lawrence Maroney went out for the year due to injuries, I thought the Patriots might still have a chance to at least make the playoffs. But that hope has dimmed as more Patriots have gone onto the Injured Reserve list. They can't seem to catch the breaks.
Yet despite their problems, the managed to beat the Seahawks 24-21.
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Paul Ibrahim gives us his opinion of a CNN poll showing Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin at the head of the pack of GOP hopefuls for 2012.
Isn't it just a little premature to start polling for the 2012 race? The present President-Elect hasn't even been sworn in yet. The last thing we need is yet another multi-year campaign season. We're still recovering from the last one.
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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where temps are dropping, the woodpile is getting smaller, and where winter weather will soon be the norm.
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