I just broke my iron, and it's a nifty cordless one, too.

Wonder if I can get it fixed.

Wonder how much it would cost to replace.

But for the next week or two or ten—until I figure it out—I'm a free woman. How cool is that?

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I'm not sure which version of this story I like better—the one at Beautiful Atrocities, which has pictures, or the one Photon Courier put together, which has more details.

It's the story of a 20-century heroine, Noor Inayat Khat, whom I find inspiring. We should weep for her, but in a hopeful sort of way. I think that's what she would have wanted.

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. . . has the story on the Yushchenko poisoning case. Doctors have finally been able to prove that it was oral ingestion of dioxin and not a bad case of sunburn, or whatever the Ukranian establishment was claiming it was.

She's also got the most dramatic pictures yet of his disfigurement, some of which we are told will subside as his skin heals. (Some, of course, will not.)

I've been told this is a classic KGB tactic, but it's utterly horrifying to see it.

Special thanks to Kate,, who first brought this issue to my attention while she was guest-blogging at OTB.

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on the parade of nuttiness that is the Bay Area. In a way that is beautiful, if not atrocious.

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. . . has the real story on this "armor scandal." Viva Power Line.

UPDATE: Link fixed, I think.

UPDATE 2: Power Line is apparently Time's "Blog of the Year," which means two things to me:

1) there is some justice in the world, and
2) Time may keep this tradition going. Next year, of course, the "Blog of the Year" should be me, based on something brilliant I'll be writing in, oh, July of '05.

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Photon Courier gives us the word from a Spanish writer who's watching this insanity develop. Head on over there (and be sure to browse the Courier's site while you're there: he may be The Most Underrated Blogger on the Internet).

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The Watchers Council has some new winners this week:

First, Council Members The Education Wonks won for "Fixing Our Broken Borders."

On the non-council side, Jeff Jarvis gives us his winning entry, "Juan Cole is Pond Scum."

Last week, while I was in Arizona, the following Council posts scored highest:

King of Fools won for "Sex and Disease."

E-Claire scored high for "Everything Feels Like the Ocean to a Sponge."

And The Sundries Shack was also a runner-up, with "If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Sue ‘Em."

The highest-scoring non-council entries were: How Far WeÂ’ve Come, by Victor Davis Hanson, followed by My Rose-colored Contacts,
from Intermittent Stream.

Thought-provoking entries, all.

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Cassandra has a nice little summary of the Social Security debate, with a few links to various schools of thought on the subject.

Bob Brinker was discussing this today on the radio, and he appears to feel strongly that increasing the cap on the Social Security tax is a terrible idea. He points out that people in places like California and New York are already taxed at a very high rate, and the self-employed would be disproportionatly hit by something like that (they pay both taxes—the employee side and the employer side—and for them this tax is effectively double what the official rate is).

Of course, it's the self-employed whom we want to be successful, because when that happens they start hiring other people, and it's small businesses that really drive the economy. Any proposal that brings the effective tax rate up to 60% in California is not a good thing.

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. . . has a joke about OBL she'd like to share with the rest of the class.

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. . . riffs off the Wall Street Journal, discussing the religious aspects of the Ukranian situation.

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I was really sorry I wore wool slacks and fuzzy socks.

What was I thinking? I nearly roasted to death.

What?

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. . . the standoff continued at the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County. I continued to wonder how much glass got broken when the gunman fired a few shots.

And how long it will take to fix the damage.

And whether they will be able to "make up" the Christmas presentation that was supposed to happen tonight.

Please be careful, boys and girls: people get a lot less sunlight this time of year (even here in SoCal), and it messes with your mind. I also think the Santa Anas are blowing again, which never helps.

Take a deep breath, and remember our "Christmas mantra": people are much more important than things.

And put the fucking gun down.

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1 I kept thinking "Jesus loves the little children" *POW* *POW*

Posted by: Laurence Simon at December 17, 2004 07:00 AM (uBCxH)

2 But then, you're bad.

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 17, 2004 11:06 AM (SuJa4)

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Laurence's Dead Pool is open, and accepting rosters of prospective 2005 demisees until the ball drops in Times Square this New Year's Eve. A full roster of names is 15, and there are provisions for non-bloggers to join in (I believe there is a small charge to do so).

Act now, or you'll be out in the cold all year next year.

It's ghoulish, but fun. And there are classic Laurence-style animations on the page, as an added bonus.

Also, the whole process is simple enough for non-sports people to join in on. (I had thought years of skipping the office football pools would make this hard, but how difficult is it to comprehend "if I guess right Lair gives me free prizes"?)

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Check out its expose on life at the North Pole.

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Shaking Spears discusses Jerry Brown's evolution, post-Linda.

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. . . is getting tuckered out. And cold.

Iraq next year.

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Christopher Cross explains why he's 37 times more interesting than Instapundit.

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is—at long last—exposed at Beautiful Atrocities.

(Go for the jokes; stay for the serious discussion about gays/women in the military.)

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Attila the Hub and I are back in L.A. after an early Christmas celebration in Phoenix, Arizona; we were the surprise for our niece, who is visiting from Chicago with her best friend.

I'm just catching up on things right now, however. Back to regular posting tomorrow, unless my sore throat gets the better of me.

It's very gratifying that I can get 260 hits a day without posting anything for days on end. Very nice indeed.

Sorry: turns out my sister-in-law doesn't use her wireless internet connection much, and wasn't aware that it doesn't work. Just as well: there's nothing better than returning to a serious, hard-core addiction after several days' absence. It's sweeter that way.

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Rusty has renamed his site Hot Lesbo Star Wars Chick Pundit, under the (doubtless coreect) impression that this will increase his traffic. He is blogging under the name "Princess Brittney Spears."

Get him while he's, um, hot. Hurry! He says he's changing his name back tomorrow.

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