Why is this story even in the news?  Why????

Was there hype and hysteria over Hurricane Rita that departed just a teensy bit from reality?  Here's photo evidence straight from Houston for your bemusement.I also heard from the House of Il Barista that there was some serious hype going on in cen

SHINY! "Serenity" is finally in the theaters and "Firefly" fans are over the moon with joy.  The reviews have been very good indeed -- as in 80% on the Tomatometer as of right now.I've been watching my "Firefly" DVDs

I. Kid. You. Not.I can't make this stuff up, as more lunacy gushes from academia:LONDON (AFP) - A British university has launched a three-year degree course in the hunt for life beyond the planet Earth. The University of Glamorgan this week launched

The annual numbers and rankings are out from he Global Competitiveness Report (2005-2006) of the World Economic Forum (WEF), and here they are, gentle reader, the top 10 competitive economies in the world:FinlandUnited StatesSwedenDenmarkTaiwan Singa

I'm in a terrible rush today -- dissertation deadlines (got a chapter due Tuesday!), dontcha know -- but felt the following is too interesting/important/disturbing to pass up.In brief:The US Navy's Seventh Fleet in the Pacific is the dominant sea po

Gentle reader, one of my favorite professors to read has just written an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal.Check out Victor Davis Hanson's take on campus silliness, tagged, more than accurately enough, "Academentia." (If it were me,

I just came across this quote in the 2003 book The Empire of Tea and simply had to pass it along."It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs.  We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so.  It

Here is a hilarious comparison of Monty Python's "Life of Brian" and some of the goofier fringe pro-independence groups (link xie-xie to Jujuflop).Definitely giggle-worthy, which is just fine by me, as I've a lot of meetings with Nerd Lords

I just love finding things to put into the Quirky Asia Files.  It's way more fun than poring over my endless piles of dissertation notes.Today's goofy news hails from Tokyo, where some enterprising folks are running a tavern on a double-decker bus.

Hey, check out this bit of news about some feisty, outspoken Hong Kong lawmakers:GUANGZHOU, China - Lawmakers in China rarely yell "Long live democracy!" in crowded hotel lobbies. They don't wear T-shirts condemning the bloody crackdown on

Did I just see a pig fly past my window?  By golly, yes, I did!An editorial in a Berkeley paper just advocated staying the course in Iraq:In fact, the biggest problem that the "anti-war" movement has right now is the illusion that somehow

Am I the only one fed up with constant pan-blue obstructionism over the arms budget in the Legislative Yuan?Apparently not, thank goodness.  Yesterday some 10,000 Taiwanese held a rally in Taipei to support the defense of Taiwan.  Holding signs r

One of the favorite things for Bush/America-haters to say hereabouts is that Bush/America is evil, wicked, selfish, and destructive because they won't commit to the Kyoto Protocol, that Holy Grail of environmentalists the world over.  Here is the te

Why am I suddenly thinking of Optimus Prime or the Terminator?Check out the latest in "life imitates Transformers" technological initiatives in Asia and get ready for armed, six-legged South Korean battle-bots:SEOUL (Reuters) - Armed, six-l

Wow, this reinforces the stereotype that you don't mess with the Aussies.  Not even if you're a big toothy shark.  Because the targeted surfer turned right 'round and punched the shark's lights out.Remember, Australia's the nation where last year a

More from the Kremlin-on-the-Charles, gentle reader!Hm, Harvard had to be pressured into spending a day celebrating the United States Constitution. It should come as no surprise that it likewise had to be pressured into cooperating with the ROTC (lin

Gentle reader, here's a special treat for some Friday fun; today we have a guest blogger who writes from Germany.  I give you his humorous rendition on the difference between the U.S. and Germany when natural disasters strike (danke for the the tri

Last time it was a pink Hello Kitty laptop.This time, it's Hello Kitty noodles, found via an odd website in the Netherlands, for a band apparently calling itself "The Ramen"!.  *Sigh.*  Here are the noodles:I love ramen noodles.  I do. 

Back in August, I'd amused myself and others by posting on the Ramen-in-space phenomenon, which involved Japanese PM Koizumi and Discovery shuttle astronaut Soichi Noguchi.Space noodles are back in the news, gentle reader, as one Japanese noodle make

Hey, I thought Satan Coffee was all about slick marketing and pretty artsy posturing.Well, I guess even its phalanxes of mindlessly marching marketing minions get it wrong sometimes.  This time around, they really, REALLY got it wrong:Coffee cups wi

It's not just grad students who are seen as a big fat waste of campus time and money.  At Oxford, even the undergrads are getting the axe.What's the trouble on the campus of the Dreaming Spires?  Money, gentle reader, mammon, filthy lucre, all £2

Here's a story that made me laugh.  Apparently the French are worried that they've lost their competitive edge in the garlic market."The situation is catastrophic,” the Section Nationale Ail, which groups France’s 2,200 growers, said. The i

Right now everyone's talking about the gory aftermath of the German election.  (If you want to catch up on the hoopla, go straight to the election coverage at the good German blog Davids Medienkritik -- yes, it's in English.)Some of the editorials

Mike Adams is a professor of criminology at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.  He's also darn funny.Check out his column about students asking dumb inquiries, as Adams takes apart the feel-good myth that "there are no stupid que