Anyone have feedback on how well those little motorized toothbrushes run? I almost bought myself a Braun-Oral-B power toothbrush at the drugstore today, but I was unnerved by the price tag and settled for a traditional CVS medium-bristle diamond-head with an extended plaque-fighting tip. I like it. The plaque-fighting tip works quite well.
Vanilla Coke
Vanilla Coke, anyone? For now, I’ll stick with my favorites, if you please: Cherry Coke and Dr. Pepper.
Gunmen Carousing in Bethlehem
Compare and contrast behavior of Palestinian civilians and gunmen while they were holed up in the Church of the Nativity. (Of course, one must consider the question of conservative bias on the link-source’s part.)
Gaydar
Since I live and work in the area of Dupont Circle — the “Castro District” of Washington, DC — it’s necessary at all times to have a working Gaydar. (This one doesn’t seem to work too well, though. Now my Palm tells me everyone is gay. Including myself. A faerie queen, to be specific.)
The $20 Bill Code
Want to see something creepy? Get a $20 bill and do this.
Middle East – Conservative Views
Why They Fight, and Why Israel’s War on Terror is Working. Two interesting articles from a politically conservative secular viewpoint on the real motivations behind Palestinian terrorism and the reason that Israel’s current course of action may actually be working.
Is it really a simplistic liberal fallacy to think that if Israel were to move for concessions and peace, then Palestinian victims of oppression would not resort to extremism? Is it indeed true that terrorism actually rises as movements are made towards greater peace? If so, that would definitely cause me to rethink my sympathy and support for the Palestinian underdog. Yet at the same time, outside of the more warlike Islamic factions who foment terror and suicide bombings, there are far more innocent Palestinian refugees and Israeli civilians who are perfectly willing to live and let live so long as they can go about their daily lives in peace, happiness, and harmony.
Of course, I, like many Americans, am grossly uninformed about the whole historical and political context of the region, and studying it only confuses me further, from having to deal with the maze of political and religious bias surrounding these issues. That’s when I get tempted to just advocate isolationism.
Episode II: The McLaughlin Group
Lucas has previously taken his talking points from the great storytellers and story thinkers of the species: from Joseph Campbell, from Homer, from Thomas Malory, from Akira Kurosawa, from John Ford, from 4,000 years of tradition of epic voyages and grand adventures. But the mythic source he seems to have based this episode on is … “The McLaughlin Group.”
– From yet another unforgiving review of Episode II. Actually, I sort of enjoy The McLaughlin Group. Maybe this next Star Wars movie won’t be so bad after all. ;)
Verisign eats CMMM
It seems Verisign has claimed yet another domain for its hapless victim: ClickMoMukhaMo.com. CMMM’s weblog is in transit right now, over here, but I think I speak for the entire Filipino weblogging community in the hope that, whether this is the fault of Verisign or not, he can soon return to his rightful domain. Read more on these Verisign/NetSol domain woes at NSI Horror Stories.
Good news! The Bereans, a growing Filipino Christian apologetics ministry for whom I recently did some webmastering, now have their own forum, thanks to the kindness and skill of other fellow brothers in the field.
NYT fires Sulllivan
Andrew Sullivan, weblogger and columnist, fired from the New York Times. It only reinforces how “out of it” I am that I only knew Sullivan from browsing his weblog, and had no idea he was such a prominent writer for the mainstream press.
Bagong gupit!
In the Philippines, whenever I walked into the office with a new haircut, the first thing out of most anyone’s mouth was usually, “Hey, new haircut!” (Or, “Uy, bagong gupit!”) Here, however, no one in office or in church has made any comment. Is it a cultural thing?