tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:42:27 +0000insights you can't ignore...http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (ScotchZombie)Blogger2148125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-1835747536093871452Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:30:00 +00002009-11-09T12:36:49.514-05:00So the first two decisions they announce by press release are:(1) 'We're going to stop construction on a school already on the path to construction, and thereby ensure that millions of dollars will have been wasted."and(2) "We're going to reverse the Wednesday early release policy a few weeks after new school zone signs just went up all over Raleigh." Why? So they can be different from the http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-guard-wants-to-shake-things-up.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DrFrankLives)13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-6886291520934243001Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:41:00 +00002009-10-28T15:44:05.761-04:00"The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." Albert Einstein (attr.)Case in point, John Fox, "coach" of the freaking Carolina Panthers.DelHomme has thrown 13 interceptions in 7 games. Matt Moore must really suck.http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/10/insanity.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DrFrankLives)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-3521646757707296851Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:37:00 +00002009-10-28T15:37:55.071-04:00No. I don't think so. Accessories. Conspirators. Let's hope "codefendants."http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/10/bystanders.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DrFrankLives)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-7367189242979514534Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:10:00 +00002009-10-20T11:15:39.985-04:00GET WITH THE FREAKIN' PROGRAM.Washington Post: Clear Majority Now Backs Plan.Public option support at 57 percent of all Americans (70% of Democrats and 52% of Independents).When the question states asks the respondents if they would support the plan if the "public plan were run by the states and available only to those who lack affordable private options" support jumps to 76 Percent of all http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/10/attention-senators-conrad-carper-nelson.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DrFrankLives)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-4703808844325227628Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:05:00 +00002009-10-20T11:07:55.497-04:00I don't usually find these people to be worth the time to comment, but I do worry about the kids, which is why this headline struck me as a "DUH" moment. Kate: My Kids are Struggling. Gee, you think that might be because their narcissistic parents paraded them in front a TV camera for a year and are now acting like spoiled brats?http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/10/gee-you-think.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DrFrankLives)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-1842545282026896723Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:29:00 +00002009-10-11T20:33:30.951-04:00To the incomparable T. Keung Hui of the News & Observer, who felt it necessary last week to call my post below "angry" and overly emotional, but today wrote this gem:The newcomers will also have to decide quickly whether to start on the promised neighborhood schools plan for North Carolina's largest school district. Such far-reaching change would sharply overhaul the way Wake's 140,000 students http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/10/first-place-in-category-of-things-you.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DrFrankLives)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-8507117024836218869Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:15:00 +00002009-10-09T11:19:34.102-04:00The person least happy to get that phone call at this point in the political world was probably sitting in the Oval Office. I think maybe the Nobel Committee did the President no favors.Is he supposed to announce a deployment of 40,000 more troops to a war zone the week after winning the Nobel Peace Prize?Congratulations to the President. According to the Committee, you won this award based http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/10/nobel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DrFrankLives)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-5089389077676894144Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:59:00 +00002009-10-08T11:10:39.074-04:00Reports of the death of this blog are exaggerated.In fact, greatly so. Sure, we've been gone a while. Sharpedo has been travelling and generally fulfilling whatever duties an officer in a mega corporation aimed at the world's impressionable youngsters has, and I have been busting my rear. When you do bankruptcy and commercial creditor's rights law, a recession is plate-spinning time.Plus, http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/10/forward-to-1948.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DrFrankLives)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-3938663398600493657Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:18:00 +00002009-08-16T20:22:46.769-04:00In response to an op-ed written in the WSJ by the CEO of Whole Foods in which he suggests that single-payer health care is a bad idea, Daily Kos readers are now talking of boycotting Whole Foods, which is leading conservatives to talk about supporting Whole Foods by shopping there.I think my head is exploding.To promote their health care views, progressives are going to start buying http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/08/heads-across-america-are-exploding-as.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-2165857076084522301Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:48:00 +00002009-08-10T16:49:59.989-04:00In my continuing saga to provide The News You Need(TM), I present a Brazilian public service announcement urging you to save water by peeing in the shower.Pee in the shower. Save the Atlantic rainforest. Of course that's how you'd do it.http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/08/save-water-however-you-can.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-399583907252064804Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:40:00 +00002009-08-07T13:46:56.606-04:00One of my favorite things to do is to hike to a waterfall. North Carolina's mountains are chock full of beautiful waterfalls, and one of the most impressive (and most fun to hike to) is Linville Falls at the head of the Linville Gorge.Here's Linville Falls on a typical day at a normal flow:Gorgeous, huh? You fall in, you're dead, but still, gorgeous.I had heard that Linville Gorge was not http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/08/wow.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DrFrankLives)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-3460089855973507364Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:25:00 +00002009-08-05T10:27:55.356-04:00. . . if you can't get something done . . .. . . get your husband to do it.http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/08/once-again-its-proven.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (DrFrankLives)13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-3136346563208108814Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:56:00 +00002009-08-03T15:58:24.919-04:00Commenting on the rumor that Sarah and Todd Palin were divorcing, from Sarah herself: "Divorce Todd? Have you seen Todd? I may be just a renegade hockey mom, but I'm not blind!"If only she were smarter... and not a quitter... a politician who speaks her mind is rare indeed.http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/08/gone-but-not-forgotten-and-never-boring.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-7524923447886737167Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:52:00 +00002009-07-31T20:07:04.759-04:00From Politico. Look for Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). Quality. Austan Goolsbee comes a close second.http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/birthday-gifts-for-president-obama.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-213643568528662519Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:41:00 +00002009-07-29T16:46:11.162-04:00I usually like Andrew Sullivan. But he goes a bit OCD on certain topics. Sarah Palin's baby was one of them. Obama's birth certificate is another.To recap:- The Hawaii governmental authorities have explained that they do electronic recordkeeping. Sullivan asks why they can't release the paper document.- Now the Hawaii governmental authorities have released the paper document and the Obama people http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/andrew-sullivan-should-stfu.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-3121309269477486021Mon, 27 Jul 2009 03:26:00 +00002009-07-26T23:45:36.512-04:00It's been done to death, but since I pontificate randomly here I'm thinking I'll give my 2c on the Henry Louis Gates situation.Am I the only person in America who sees both sides of this?Gates: He lost his keys and so had to jimmy his lock. How racist/paranoid are *his neighbors* that they would see their own neighbor at his door and call the cops to say he's breaking in (and why hasn't anyone http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/thoughts-on-henry-louis-gates.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-5180815788449492064Sat, 18 Jul 2009 15:16:00 +00002009-07-18T11:18:59.633-04:00A version of this goes around from time to time but it's so awesome that I can't let this one go unmentioned here. I had never seen the one with the epic works of Peter Nguyen, which are at the end of this one. Jimmy McPerson's battles shall never again go unlauded.http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/awesome-exam-questions.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-6466140775816420019Sat, 18 Jul 2009 09:27:00 +00002009-07-18T05:28:20.218-04:00I'm not quite sure what this video is. But the Canadian accents are awesome.http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/canadians-can-be-dangerous.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)70tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-4957459244830297172Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:09:00 +00002009-07-16T20:11:44.771-04:00I am currently in London. The Fortune magazine in my hotel room contains a special advertising section on Japan. It contains the following text."Meanwhile, engineering professor Toshiyuki Sankai... has developed a robot suit, HAL... [that] can lift heavy objects and with practice the wearer can walk with a reasonably normal gait. Sankai's company, Cyberdyne, has started to manufacture HALs and http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/view-from-future.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-3431866564789501210Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:24:00 +00002009-07-13T13:27:51.723-04:00And now we see the reply. Truth: I've known this was coming for a while, so long that I thought they had given up on it (vaporware, who'd have thunk it...). But it's a good way to hit back at Google. You give away a free OS and leverage your web-based tools to get there? Okay, we'll give away a web-based version of our industry-leading tools in return.Unlike Google's OS I can see the incentive http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/riposte-microsoft-to-release-free-web.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-6068429833346965117Sun, 12 Jul 2009 05:28:00 +00002009-07-12T01:36:13.089-04:00It's official, anything that's a remake can get financing. For those of you who never saw the Fred Ward - Joel Grey - Kate Mulgrew star vehicle that was Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, you missed out on one of the finer bad 80s movies/set of over 100 pulp novels. I think I had about 50 of them that I stole from my old man who thought they were awesome. They were horrible. And the movie was, http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/remo-williams-adventure-begins-again.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-3465278438671524043Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:40:00 +00002009-07-10T11:42:46.644-04:00Stealing Peggy Noonan's title for her piece today on Sarah Palin. The money quote: "In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool."As those of you who were around during the election know, I thought Palin might be an authentic contender for the future. She's shown herself not to be. I think she still thinks she is, but she's not. Noonan gives numerous reasons why she http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/farewell-to-harms.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-4129996154210396909Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:58:00 +00002009-07-09T14:59:46.715-04:00Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant are working on a new movie called Cemetery Junction. It's a comedy starring Ralph Fiennes. Maybe not the first name you'd think of. Not Ricky's first choice either, apparently. See trailer below.http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/cemetery-junction-trailer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-1060255477953040851Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:10:00 +00002009-07-08T12:52:34.207-04:00[Long post, I had a lot to say. Also EDIT: I accidentally linked to my wife's alumni magazine for some reason before, so fixed by pointing to Slashdot]Google has just announced plans for an open-source computer operating system based on the Linux kernel and its Chrome browser for personal netbook computers.Two men enter, one man leaves... Google has decided to take the fight to Microsoft's http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/thunderdome-or-hubris-either-way-its-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447393.post-2079242067142251849Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:57:00 +00002009-07-07T15:58:26.732-04:00"Staff at Nepal's main international airport are to be issued with trousers without pockets, in an attempt to wipe out rampant bribe-taking."http://stinging-nettle.blogspot.com/2009/07/well-thats-one-way-to-avoid-government.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Sharpedo)2