Friday, December 09, 2005
Friday Random
From the gigglesome to the intellectually splendid, a collection of links for you to savour each by each:
Toys for pitiable children, and toys for older boys and girls. No context required.
A funny montage which requires a little bit of context. And a hilarious video (WMP, QT) which requires a little bit more. Note Olbermann's valiant attempt to keep a straight face... "and they all look like Dame Edna."
Once you pick yourself up off the floor and are ready for sterner stuff, here's a column about someone rightfully handing the anti-abortion crowd their collective moral and intellectual asses. Full text of speech here for those who've managed to preserve an attention span of more than thirty seconds.
How exactly would you define "capitalism"? From the always-incisive left libertarian Kevin Carson comes a piece with a very strong resonance for those who might find themselves needing to debunk the shrill madness of Ayn Rand or the placid assertions of someone like the Fraser Institute. I wish I could afford to send both Phil Eklund and my eggplant-in-law copies of Kevin's book.
Then here's a speech which is simply searing. Playwright Harold Pinter's acceptance speech of the Nobel Prize for Literature this year. The RealAudio streams at that link are inundated with traffic, and the full text is available in various places, but don't let either one dissuade you from coming at this methodical polemic straight on... it's 46 minutes exceedingly well spent. If you simply can't wait or can't take my word for it, there's a review/summary here which should whet your appetite. But don't just go read the text instead; just don't. This is a long post - Read the rest.
Toys for pitiable children, and toys for older boys and girls. No context required.
A funny montage which requires a little bit of context. And a hilarious video (WMP, QT) which requires a little bit more. Note Olbermann's valiant attempt to keep a straight face... "and they all look like Dame Edna."
Once you pick yourself up off the floor and are ready for sterner stuff, here's a column about someone rightfully handing the anti-abortion crowd their collective moral and intellectual asses. Full text of speech here for those who've managed to preserve an attention span of more than thirty seconds.
How exactly would you define "capitalism"? From the always-incisive left libertarian Kevin Carson comes a piece with a very strong resonance for those who might find themselves needing to debunk the shrill madness of Ayn Rand or the placid assertions of someone like the Fraser Institute. I wish I could afford to send both Phil Eklund and my eggplant-in-law copies of Kevin's book.
Then here's a speech which is simply searing. Playwright Harold Pinter's acceptance speech of the Nobel Prize for Literature this year. The RealAudio streams at that link are inundated with traffic, and the full text is available in various places, but don't let either one dissuade you from coming at this methodical polemic straight on... it's 46 minutes exceedingly well spent. If you simply can't wait or can't take my word for it, there's a review/summary here which should whet your appetite. But don't just go read the text instead; just don't. This is a long post - Read the rest.
