Pot-shots

>>> The real reason the BBC and other establishment media outlets feel free to hate on Christianity but largely leave Judaism and Islam alone? Fear, pure and simple. Oh sure, Jews and some Christians will bitch, whine, kvetch, and complain about being dissed, but offended Muslims will riot, set off car-bombs,  kidnap and/or behead you (and do it on video and post it on the web to boot!) if you dare disrespect Islam (in their opinion) in any way at all. And they never forgive or forget either. (Just ask Salmon Rushdie). But not Jews or Christians though. They just embrace the suck and try to shrug it off.

>>> The final answer to the nervous nannies: If a riot or natural disaster hits your part of the world you will find out for positively sure the answer to the Sarah Brady's of this world question as to "what do you need an assault rifle for?" Hint: It wont' be for fending off imaginary threats like vampires or zombies, or survival hunting for rabbits and squirrels, nor for driving off coyotes or feral dogs although it can be used for that too.

>>> Money spent on real estate is consumption not investment: See What $890,000 Buys In A Housing Bubble And After The Bubble Pops The homes featured in the Business Insider article linked above are in Vancouver, B.C., Canada a former hotbed of real estate speculation that has cooled down some and are priced in Canadian dollars as well, but even so the prices are just off the wall nuts.

The long, strange trip of the Village Corner party store

Village Corner circa 1970

What a long, strange trip it's been for the Village Corner party store over the last couple of decades. I used to buy cigarette papers and screens for my bong there back in the early '70s when it was located on the corner of South University and Forrest Avenue. It kinda had a charming sleaziness to it back then. I was living on Walnut Street right down the block at the time. Now all these decades later VC  has morphed into a high end wine shop and relocated to a Plymouth Road mall. "Nothing is constant but change" it is said. This is especially so when high value real estate is involved, eh?

weblog

Top 13 worst fictional corporations from sci-fi movies. - Topless Robot blog

Slumurbia - the newest trend in California real estate. - NY Times
"Come see: this is what happens when money and market, alone, guide the way we live." Live blogging the Great Recession.
Illinois senator to D.C. residents: It was a snow storm not "a nuclear attack." - The Hill
Black & Decker MSW100 Ready Wrench - Amazon.com/
"...This all-in-one wrench puts 16 of the most popular standard and metric socket sizes at your fingertips--just spin either of the tool's two rotating heads to find the right size. With no socket set to store or organize.." Maybe.
Olympic boondoggles -iSteve blog
"You would think it would be easy to make money on a sporting event where you don't pay the athletes in anything except glory, but after the 1984 LA Olympics, which made a fortune by using old stadia, it hasn't worked out like that."
Google's Buzz a big fat privacy invader - LA Times
Malcolm X's daughters talk about him. - New Yorker
Andy Warhol actually had signed it, dedicated it, and dated it, but it's still a fake. - NY Review of Books
A sci-fi podcast on how the world could end - Escape Pod
EP229: Little Blossom Makes A Deal With The Devil