If Google had some balls it would drop those commies like a hot kumara and undertake a massive campaign to subvert China's state firewall.

Story.

Check out page two, Stuff You Really Need To Know.

It would be an honor to eat at this place.

Many times the victim of government regulatory action, Microsoft has learned to stopping worrying and love the state.

Maybe a Greek island?

Brown on the defensive.

Christopher Hitchens on North Korea.

The final sentence is interesting.

A wealthy woman was being shown around the hospital. During her tour she passed a room where a male patient was masturbating furiously.

If I've got any control over the playlist, these three always get played at a get-together.

Behold.

Manhattan from the north, looking over Central Park, across Midtown.

The East River is at left, the Hudson at right.

Man made this.

If there are any Blues fans here--and I'm sure there are--you'll appreciate this clip.

Lindsay and I have been discussing the way in which SOLO functions in practical terms.

After 30 years on the run, it looks increasingly likely that Roman Polanski will finally be extradited back to the US to answer for his molestation--the drugging and sodomising--of a 13 year-old girl.

SOLO Chat is up and running.

Please report any problems to the webmaster.

Come on in, the water's fine.

The title track from EST's 1999 album, From Gagarin's Point Of View.

Karl Rove, on The O'Reilly Factor.

"Ahmadinejad is a nut. That's a technical term."

I implore you to watch it. You'll need a stiff drink, and maybe a vomit bag, but watch it. It's only 20 minutes—and it may well shave three hours off your life—but watch it.

In Time's current cover story, David Von Drehle is not drawing a long bow when he compares Beck with Network's Beale.

"[Network's writer] Chayefsky imagines cynical television executives who create a ratings sensation out of the nightly rants and ravings of Beale. The host energizes the nation with his cry, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" It's hard to find a film that better captures the rotten vibe of the early 1970s, when America found itself suffering through one downer after another: failing companies, tense foreign relations, high unemployment, rampant incivility, spiraling deficits, corruption in high places, a seemingly endless war. Sound familiar? "

SOLO-NZ Press Release: A Message from the Prime Minister

Kia Ora, Taxpayer Bastards

Today I'd like to announce that with the support of the Maori Party, we have reached a compromise on the Emissions Trading Scheme. This will enable the government to withdraw from Labour's proposed full-shaft without so much as a kiss and a cuddle, substituting a far less arduous half-shaft with an optional reach-around.

Phineas could roll like Oscar Peterson but had far greater nuance. This is Billy Strayhorn's Lush Life from A World of Piano.

Lovely Dinah, from her 1954 "live" studio album, Dinah Jams. A must for any jazz fan.

Lindsay has referred to TVNZ as braindead, and so too goes it's recently launched news channel, TVNZ 7.

[Edit: Americans here really should take the time to watch this clip. Instructive.]

Plunging eye slits

Politics Daily

Fool Britannia does it again.

Anti-social behavior orders????

As a late developer--that is, a NZ male--in my early 20s, I was besotted with the works of John Hughes.

For those not in the know, in NZ we currently have this referendum before us:

Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?

And important as it is, there are other issues at, ahem, hand...

Any other chileheads out there?

I'll be germinating my seeds near the end of August and nursing the little plants through early spring in the sunroom until they are big enough to go outside. They live outdoors in big pots, in sunny sheltered spots as the summer nights can be cool in Canterbury.

NZ All Blacks man-up against the Australian Wallabies in a much-needed 22-16 stoush-cum-atonement at Eden Park.

After nearly eight years since it was closed on Sept. 11, 2001, on July 4 the Statue of Liberty's crown was reopened to the public.

My turn to add to the surfeit of music links.

Irish tenor Ronan Tynan sings Ride On, on Fox & Friends.

Lovely stuff.