Quick Roundup 280

My Time Crunch and Blogger's Comment Delays

My time crunch continues and may extend through the weekend, which would be good for me in the long run, but a big pain in the ... mean time.

And then, on top of that, I noticed this morning that my Blogger comments queue had something like six comments from yesterday in it awaiting moderation. These should have shown up in the Gmail account I normally monitor for blog business, but they did not for some reason. (Google has been tinkering with Gmail quite a bit lately.)

In any event, if you tried leaving a comment yesterday and wondered why I didn't post it, that's why.

Christmas Shopping?

Via email, I received the following ad.

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Everyone has at least one thinking man or woman on his gift list. Be the only one not to give a that person a bookstore gift card this year! Give something really distinctive.

In this context, the following turn of phrase is very funny, but it still fits: This one's a no-brainer.

What's Spanish for "Meltdown"?

Hugo Chavez continues to reel from his electoral defeat. Those of you who know Spanish may enjoy the below video even more than the rest of us, who merely get to enjoy the facial expressions:

According to Caracas Chronicles:

This afternoon, Chavez turned up unannounced at the Military High Command's press conference and totally freaked out. Less than 72 hours after his "graceful" election night concession speech, the all too predictable Narcissistic Rage response began. He called the opposition's referendum win "a triumph made of shit," using the word "mierda" four times in two sentences on national TV. I mean, you know things have come to a head when Reuter's has to put the journalistic equivalent of a parental advisory at the start of its write up.

Hot Air quotes said write up:

President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday called the Venezuelan opposition's unprecedented victory in the weekend's referendum "shit," signaling the firebrand former soldier was back on the offensive after initially humbly accepting his loss.

The self-styled socialist revolutionary was angry at a local newspaper report saying he had conceded victory in the narrow vote on expanding his powers only after the military pressured him. He called the report "shit," too.

It's calm, so keep it calm," Chavez said at a news conference in a message to the opposition. "I wish you knew how to manage your victory. But you are already covering it with shit. It's a shit victory and it's yours."

Adds The Devil's Excrement, "[S]aying that word [i.e., "shit"] is against his own muzzle law, which bans the use of such language on TV and radio." So much for Chavez's professed concern for children and his claims of reverence for the "will of the people". (HT: Dismuke)

Moving?

A decade ago, I lived in a crime-infested apartment complex where muggings, break-ins, vandalism, and car thefts occurred like clockwork. Ever since then, I have been extremely careful to gather all the crime information I can (e.g., from police reports) before relocating to a new area.

But what about annoying neighbors? The next complex I lived in was safer, but after a time, someone moved in who, for whatever reason, tended to take visitors during the wee hours. They'd drive up and blare their horns at two or three in the morning. And then, after I'd already decided to leave, a large family moved in next door and continually occupied the porch my unit shared with theirs. Every day, coming home from work, I felt like I was walking through someone else's living room on my way to the front door.

Complaining about the car horn did no good, and the big family wasn't really doing anything I had legal grounds to complain about. But still, if only there were a good way to warn others (and be warned) of annoying or intrusive neighbors as I wanted to when I was preparing to leave....

Now, there is a way! The Houston Chronicle reports that a web site, RottenNeighbor.com allows users to post their rotten neighbor stories to the web for the edification of others. The address of the offending neighbor is shown on a Google map of the area in question.

The article goes on to note some of the obvious legal issues such a site raises, but as someone who has had my share of real winners over the years, I plan to stop by there the next time I move. Why not have some quiet to go along with my peace of mind?

"As Quoted by Slate"

As some of you know, I was quoted by Slate the other day! (HT: Diana Hsieh and Gideon Reich)

-- CAV