One of my favorite libertarian bloggers, Stephen Green, is back. He took an extended vacation from blogging over the holidays.

I wouldn't have posted much, either, if I had been assembling an Imperial Star Destroyer out of more than 3000 LEGOs.

He fisks Krugman a new one, too.

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I don't always announce changes to my blogroll, but I've [re]-discovered a great and relatively new blogger, whom I first noticed as a commenter at the currently-but-hopefully-only-temporarily-dormant Vodkapundit.

His name is Frank Martin (blog name: Varifrank) and just scanning through his website I immediately found a couple of great posts:

In this one, a bully gets his comeuppance.

In this one, some Euroweenies get their comeuppance. (Note: my kids know of Gail Halvorsen thanks to Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot).

Go check him out.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:56 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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One of the first challenges facing us in this new year is to help those suffering in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Head over to the Command Post to find out what you can do to help.

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I hope that the year 2005 is as blessed and prosperous for you as 2004 has been for my family.

Happy New Year.

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I suppose that with more important things going on in the world, my SF Babe and Aircraft Cheesecake postings might seem at worst, insensitive; at best, frivolous.

I have not really been plugged into many media as I have been enjoying time off with my family during the holidays. I have tried to post an item at least every other day, and these regular features write themselves, although each one reflects at least 30 minutes of work finding the right pictures and links. So, long story short, if you want the best links to these current stories, go to the main news sites like CNN and Fox, then surf through the blogosphere, where you'll find the latest at Instapundit and the Command Post.

I am gratified that several people still drop by every day, so I must be doing something right. I do hope to add a few more regular features that will keep me posting on a regular basis in the new year without burning out.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:42 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 Personally, I need a break sometimes, especially in the middle of reporting a disaster like the Indian Ocean Tsunami. Your site provides a valuable service, please continue.

Posted by: Alan E Brain at December 28, 2004 10:15 PM (dQ3Wr)

2 Alan, Thanks for the encouragement. I'm glad to see that your post "Save Them All And Let God Sort Them Out" got a well-deserved Instalanche. Keep up the good work on your end of the globe.

Posted by: JohnL at December 29, 2004 12:03 AM (gplif)

3 Dude, you can't slow down. How are you going to hit superstar levels of fame unless you're posting twice as often as Instapundit? I guess you could quit your day job and start a band.

Posted by: owlish at December 29, 2004 03:06 PM (KP3t9)

4 You post, we read. That was in this oral contract I signed. Besides, where else can we get Babes, Aircraft, and random SF tidbits?

Posted by: Lysander at December 29, 2004 10:16 PM (ht9UE)

5 I look forward to whatever you post, whenever you post it...your schedule, not ours. [Oh, no, now I can't get that Billy Joel song out of my head ("Don't go changin'...").] Dare I hold out hope for a Dr. Who edition of the SFBabe poll? Cheers and Happy New Year!

Posted by: Chan S. at December 30, 2004 12:06 PM (7kycG)

6 Even though I wasn't fishing for the compliments, I really appreciate them. Thanks for finding something of value here. Chan, Doctor Who is a great idea, but I'm afraid it would be no contest, with Leela the Barbarian the likely winner.

Posted by: JohnL at December 30, 2004 11:34 PM (gplif)

7 I'll second (third? fourth?) the comments above. And Chan is on to something with a Doctor Who contest. There may be grounds here for yet another one of our babe disagreements. Happy New Year and best wishes for 2005. Keep up the great work.

Posted by: Robert the Llama Butcher at December 31, 2004 09:35 AM (ywZa8)

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My first ever posting of the contents of my referrer logs: the last ten Google searches that led to a site visit here:

rush intermission video
battlestar galactica babes
babes posted
Michelle B
plastic surgery horrors
flying lawnmower
lovely babes
diy railgun
meaning of kommissar
chontosh

Rush, babes, Battlestar Galactica, the Michelle B (an X-prize entrant) -- yeah, that's a pretty fair sampling of my site content...

Posted by: JohnL at 08:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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More from Ted:

"It's not a fetish if 100 percent of men like it - it's a law of nature."

Sounds right to me.

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Comrade Rob!

Do not subject rug rats to Disney Kingdom of Kapitalist Kitsch, take them to real khorosho People's Park! Learn glorious peoples' history of Uncle Joe! Admire gardens of party-approved workers' art!

Arise ye butcher from your slumber!

(Apologies to Kommissar for nationalizing his schtick).

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The Country Pundit provides an interesting history of the Virginian Railway.

I only have so much time to become consumed with a hobby, and SF, music, gaming, writing, and the Internet already completely consume my non-committed free time. But if I could score some Provigil and take on an extra hobby, it would be trains.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:26 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Today's Drudge Report has a wonderful, wacky variety of news.

First up, Dan Ra^ther talks to ghosts.

Next, life imitates art, or at least a Van Halen song. (I don't remember any of my teachers looking like that!)

Interesting: Pat Sajak speaks truth to Hollywood about the Van Gogh murder.

And finally, it appears that ABC's housewives might pull the network into second place for this "sweeps" period, likely bumping NBC into third.

(I have to share a guilty confession, like J.T. at Wizbang: I enjoy watching that trashy show with the missus). Why? Two good reasons under the fold:
more...

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Timothy Sandefur has kindly extended an invitation for me to be his guest-blogger at Freespace this week. I am looking forward to working on a few "think pieces," since the tone of dialogue on his blog is a bit more serious than what I usually offer up here. Who knows, maybe the change of setting will help me elevate the tone of my blog a bit, too.

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Good news from Alan at Strengthen the Good: the organization is now a 503(c) non-profit organization so that donors who go through STG may obtain a tax deduction.

Alan has identified a new cause this time: an English-language library in Slovakia needs some books and has identified a wish list with many worthy titles. You can send books directly to the school identified in Alan's article, or you can send money to STG and they will purchase books for the school. As always, follow the link, read Alan's summary of the cause, and determine whether you can do anything to help.

Posted by: JohnL at 11:19 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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From the Llama Butchers (who pinched it from Mixolydian Don) a list of the "top" cult films with the ones I've seen in bold, the ones I plan to see for the first time or would see again in italics:

1. This Is Spinal Tap
2. The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Really. I've never seen this. Not sure I will ever see it.
3. Freaks
4. Harold And Maude
5. Pink Flamingos - The. Grossest. Movie. Ever. I was never much of a John Waters fan, but I let a friend talk me into seeing this in college after I had pulled an all-nighter writing a history seminar paper. After being awake for about 40 hours straight and having imbibed about 4 liters of Mountain Dew and a beer, I was in a pretty strange state of mind, but quite well-suited for this film.
6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
7. Repo Man
8. Scarface
9. Blade Runner
10. The Shawshank Redemption

(remainder in extended entry)
more...

Posted by: JohnL at 09:40 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Last night I beat Halo 2 on the Normal setting, but I won't consider it truly "beaten" until I've completed Heroic and Legendary each in solo mode, a process that took me several months with the first Halo.

Once I've done that, I plan to venture online and try some of the XBox Live matches. One thing I've read that makes me really look forward to playing online is Bungie's matching of players with similar skills, and tracking their experience, so that they move up as they become better players.

My first experiences with online play (with the Halo for PC demo) were less-than-satisfactory due to the mismatch in skills that often left me lying in a pool of blood for the entire game as snot-nosed teenagers typed insults at me on the chat channel.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:14 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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First the macroeconomic story. Halo 2 cleared $125 million in its first 24 hours of sales. For comparison's sake, the all-time record for a movie's opening weekend was set by Spider Man in 2002, with a gross of $115 million.

Now for the microeconomics. I remember when we first bought the Xbox that I thought the $50-a-game price for the newest titles was outrageous. (And it usually is -- we typically wait for sales or special bundles, and almost always rent a game before purchasing it, to make sure it's worth owning).

While standing in line Monday night, pondering the opportunity costs of the $60 I was about to drop on a new game, I got to thinking about other forms of family entertainment. One that immediatlely leapt to mind was the few Texas Rangers baseball games I've taken my sons to see. In each case we easily dropped close to $100 on tickets, food, and parking per game in exchange for 3 hours of -- frankly -- lousy entertainment.

On the other hand, we have spent innumerable (10s, 100s?) of hours in the past 14 months playing Xbox cooperatively, and having a great time doing it. (Please note that we are not a couch-potato family, as each of my three kids is involved in sports and Scouts, we camp and bike together, and I coach two of the three soccer teams).

I've already had some fun playing the first few levels with my sons as spectators and have let them replay some of the ground I've already covered in Halo 2. I know we'll definitely be getting our money's worth out of this.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:22 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Is Osama's latest video a surrender proposal?

A threat to President Bush? An endorsement of Senator Kerry?

I don't know, but watching it I kept wondering whether Ron Howard's half-naked little brother would invite us back to drink some Tranya:

Update: Looks like Rusty had a similar idea.

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I got back safely last night, but lacked the time and energy to post my usual humble brilliance.

I had given Rob the Llamabutcher the key to the place for about a day, but unfortunately Munuviana crashed during his window of opportunity to leave Llama droppings here. Look back later today for the new SF Babe poll, along with the final results of the Leia/Padme contest.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:23 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I find myself out of town in Chicago for the next few days for a continuing legal education conference. Unfortunately, I only have dialup access and find it frustrating to surf or blog, so expect limited-to-no posting until Wednesday evening.

I'll have a belated aircraft cheesecake posting ready by then. I got some ideas at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry yesterday.

As additional away-from-home sightseeing, I caught Team America: World Police at the theater last night. This is a must-see, especially for the supposedly "open-minded" leftists who like cutting-edge humor. It is the antidote to Fahrenheit 911: rather than taking down Fahrenheit 911's lies point-by-point, it undermines the whole self-loathing, defeatist premise of that movie and the laughable self-importance of the media elite. America! F*** Yeah!

Update: Instapundit is traveling, too. I wish I could call on some quality writing talent (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) to fill in the blanks here while I'm gone.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:54 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Donzilla is traveling in Africa.

The world being what it is, I'm more likely to pay to go to space than to Africa during my lifetime. Thank goodness someone else can travel there and allow me to travel vicariously with them.

Don has some nice pics up. Check it out.

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Tovarisch Kommissar holds show trial number 13.

Links post exploiting TexasBestGrok content, but refuses to recognize TexasBestGrok.

Makes Kommissar running-dog exploiter, nyet? All talkski no walkski.

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