It's New Year's Eve!Everyone seems to be doing end-of-year, start-of-year retrospectives and predictions, so I won't bother doing my own, really. I'm just going to point you, gentle reader, to the stuff I like best at other places:~Cox and Forkum has

Well, Beijing's been bullying Japan over this. But now that former Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui is actually in Japan enjoying his vacation, the rhetoric from Ge-Ge is heating up.That bastion of free journalism, Xinhua, predictably reports that Beiji

I try to make distinctions between "Democrats," some of whom do have good ideas, and "liberals," the far-left extremists on whom I ladle plenty of scorn. This election cycle, I've been appalled to see liberal lunacy almost comple

Good news for Italy's colorful Silvio Berlusconi, as Italy's 2005 budget has just passed -- complete with his tax cuts.The tax cuts are aimed at boosting the Italian economy, and they amount to over $8 billion in mainly income tax cuts.  Still more

The pan-blues' second lawsuit to nullify the election has been rejected today by the Taiwan High Court. The Court has upheld Chen's victory again.Give it up, Lien Chan and James Soong, and get over it. You got a not-inconsiderable consolation prize

Remarkable story of survival. She did it by clinging to a coconut tree in Thailand for a day and night. Here's the tale.Here's a screen capture of the TV news report.

First heard about this on CNN, and found a print source (another at Yahoo! news) for the AP report:Hong Kong, Dec. 29 (AP): Hollywood stars Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-fat, are headlining a string of Hong Kong celebrity donations to earthquake and tsuna

Taiwan has already pledged some $5 million in aid and currently has tons of relief aid already en route. Taiwan has also sent two search-and-rescue/recovery teams, and has just promised still more aid. A 100-member medical team is also heading to the

Chinese action film star Jet Li (one of my favorites!) was on vacation with his family in the Maldives when the South Asian earthquake and tsunamis struck.Li was reported missing in the chaos, but he has just resurfaced -- his agent in Hong Kong repo

ROAD TRIP!Well, I did tell you that the Sibling and I were beginning to go stir crazy in the house, so a couple days ago we finally just took off.  Here's the photo evidence of our road trip.  Enjoy!Yeah! Out of the house and on the road on a gorge

That's right! On January 1, 2005, Texas will be the first to offer free wireless Internet service at its state parks!Yeeeee-HAH!

You know, I'd thought that over Christmas break I wouldn't have much to blog about the loony Ivy League -- after all, everyone's off for the holidays. What a fool I was.Check out this tale about Hahvahd's proposal to give ecstasy to cancer patients.

The numbers keep getting worse. This morning's update puts the number of casualties at 44,000. I had to turn off the news. It is all too horrible to contemplate. Now it's time to do something.See what the US is doing to help. It will be a massive eff

The cold snap's finally over. It is currently -- get this! -- 66 degrees with sunny skies!I'm in short sleeves and shorts, I've got a big glass of sweet iced tea, and we've opened all the windows. It is NICE outside! There's only a hint of a warm b

OK, I'll go ahead and say it. I'm sick and tired of kung fu flicks. And anime. And Asian pop music. I've had waaaaaaaaay too much lately. Especially of the kung fu fightin' (NOT the song!) -- the Sibling and the Dad both loooooooooooove that stuff, s

2005 is right around the corner, and that means at least one big thing: the latest Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, CA!(Plus the Rose Bowl -- this year it's Michigan versus Texas, aw yeah!)But here's something that should make the Rose Parade

Why is the font orange for this post? Because it's a great day for Ukrainian democracy!With nearly all the votes counted in the third round of presidential elections, Yushchenko owns a majority of the votes; AP reports he is ahead 52.4% to Yanukovyc

Completely exhausted.  And working on a cold. Pass the Kleenex. In the happy-shiny-vomitously-cute Christmas box. "Serious" blogging later. Really, I don't suppose there will be much of that until the holidays are over and I'm back at scho

Well, it's been a busy day! We're heading into the homestretch of it now, folks! (*Whew,* I think to myself.)The living room's finally been cleaned up -- it was a mess of wrapping paper and boxes this morning, while the kitchen was recuperating from

Absolutely HILARIOUS.HOUSTON - The kids were naughty, Dad put the presents on eBay instead of under the tree — and Mom’s been crying ever since.Now, even the tree’s down.Saturday morning was sure not to be very jolly for three brothers — 9, 1

Merry Christmas to all, especially to the good folks serving overseas. Here's a great little story on Christmas in Iraq:CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq - With shouts of “Merry Christmas, devil dogs,” Navy corpsmen clad in elf caps and antlers brought some ch

Nope, I didn't get a White Christmas this year, despite all the colder-than-usual days. I got a normal brown Christmas, typically central Texan. But down on the Gulf Coast, Victoria, TX, got its first white Christmas in 86 years. You know, the though

What's Christmas Eve without that classic poem by Clement Clark Moore?Ah, but there are lots of unofficial versions by now, but my favorite has to be . . . You guessed it. The Texas version. Here it is!'Twas the night before Christmas, in Texas, you

One thing I love about being back here is local color mixed with plenty of friendly folks and sometimes-unexpected diversity. Check this out!I was just at the post office with the familly; we were delivering a big box of homemade Christmas cookies to

Probably the last post of the day -- I've got holiday things to do!But I couldn't resist giving you this link to a fine old tradition:The Official NORAD Santa Tracking Website Follow NORAD and Santa Claus all night long on Christmas Eve!(And check o