Making a long story longer

Since it's been a long time

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:50:55 PDT

I think I will check to see if the blog still works.

I'm big in Canada

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:03:01 PDT

Via the Trailer Park Boys, it's hilarious, for me anyway. Apparently I like weed and Enchiladas.

Check it out

The GOP biological problem

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:43:59 PDT

There has been much hubub about Arlen Specter's switch to the democrats, saying they're losing the "Moderate" wing. My theory: The GOP's primary impediment is not ideological, it's biological. They're stuck with their corrupt deadwood, made even more rotted by their brief period in control of the legislative and executive branch. They have no credible voice on the current spending orgy because they haven't been in the credibility business in any form for quite some time.

By getting rid of the old guard (albeit not intentionally) they would seem to be solving the problem.

Keeping the blog alive....

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:36:41 PDT

Sorry, I've been busy lately. Here is a random assortment

Velvet Underground on YouTube
Justice, War, Etc from David Friedman
Interesting article about Crime in Atlanta
A nice profile about a former client of mine.
The Agitator puts it very well with "we’ve reached the point where even jaded libertarian cliches present an inaccurately optimistic picture of what’s going on"
A very good explanatory video by Tim Hartford.

Yet another belated tab clearing post

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:03:43 PDT

Sparse posting and random thoughts

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:45:46 PST

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, a happy development has taken up a my free time.

And the random thought - Obama's new "Smarter government, somehow!" push could serve to keep the nags, parasites, and do-gooders busy and let creative people create things, instead of having them filter into the general population as seems to have been the case over the past several years.

An interesting thought

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 07:23:59 PST

Via Megan McArdle - I'm not for this, but it would solve the problem.

My lunatic proposal for the day: why not make it easier to move homeowners out of homes they can't afford? Set up a streamlined foreclosure proceeding where a current or mildly delinquent homeowner can simply give the house to the bank and walk away. Do this with two legal provisos:

1. No tax on the forgiven loan

2. No black mark on the credit record. The bank marks the loan as fully satisfied.

Of course, if we decide to actually "fix" the problem we should loosen immigration and get people actually in the vacant houses.

Skank vs Skank

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:31:03 PST

These two are awesome. Not safe for work

Jargon Database in the google rankings

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 16:31:21 PST

I just went and checked Google Analytics for one of my sites, JargonDatabase.com - and much to my surprise, I rank #1 for

and many others, and #2 for

"Military Jargon"."
Normal Good

And many others. Wow.

Line of the day

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 15:06:56 PST

Via Megan McArdle "History may not repeat itself, but it stutters like hell."

The funniest thing I read today

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:55:27 PST

Was this Construction signs warn of zombies - via Scarbrough via Facebook.

Swooning, raptures and Barack Jong Il

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:40:17 PST

CNN headline - "Cheers greet Obamas on parade route"

What is this, North Korea? It's like the fans of Survivor, American Idol and Sean Hannity all got together and gave each other Eskimo kisses.

I stand by my Bush III/IPod comparison - now more than ever.

The table goes to table heaven

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:33:53 PST

Where it will listen to different music I'm sure. I finally finished it today after about ten weeks of slow construction - I've been finishing it for the past 3 weeks in fact.

The majority of the time was spent creating and joining all of the pieces of the top together (about 50 or so). You can't quite tell in the below photos but the top is all end grain oak, cherry and walnut. The stain melds the colors a bit.

The wisdom of white people

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:12:54 PST

From Stuff White People Like

Along with Jazz, white people have also taken quite a shine to The Blues, an art form that captured the pain of the black experience in America. Then, in the 1960s, a bunch of British bands started to play their own version of the music and white people have been loving it ever since. It makes sense considering that the British were the ones who created The Blues in the 17th Century.

Worth reading - Gaza edition

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:11:11 PST

From Col. Lang - a very interesting post on the structure of the IDF.

Also, lost in all of the moral analysis of the current mess (why must San Diego always get bombed by Tijuana in analogies?) is how Israel benefits from it's current engagement. The rocket attacks were bearable for quite some time - and no one goes to war out of principle anymore. The explanation of doing it while Bush is still in office doesn't seem to be that credible, Obama hasn't said anything different than Bush 43, and he has something to prove, so I imagine he would be even more agreeable to Israeli action than Bush (and as a reminder, Bush stopped the Israelis from bombing Iran a few months ago).

I suppose the War Nerd's explanation of the attacks being used to weaken Hamas so Fatah could eventually win their civil war has the most credence, but that has problems too.

The funniest thing I read today

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 09:23:34 PST

Was the War Nerd defining crystal meth as the "Redneck Work Ethic".

Movies everyone should see - Holiday edition

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 05:58:37 PST

Since I've been unswayed by the holidays this year, I've watched quite a few movies this year - here's a partial list

Anatomy of a murder - Jimmy Stewart at his best
Dead Reckoning - A Bogart movie I had never seen before - another classic film noir
Touch of Evil - Charlton Heston as a Mexican Fed (which he pulls off well), and Orson Welles as a fat, sweaty hard drinking cop, which he played well, but wasn't that much of a jump.
El Mariachi - a bit dated, but watchable

Happy new year and all that

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:45:15 PST

I'm a bit underwhelmed by everything this year.

So very true

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:10:17 PST

Via Megan

More galling is the phony outrage from politicians about how the banks are actually spending the money.

Tuesday rapid fire

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 13:47:46 PST

Inventor's 2020 vision: to help 1bn of the world's poorest see better
Bleeding Heart Tightwads - the right gives more to charity than the left
Burger King launches beef-scented body spray
The neurotypicals conspire against us with homeopathic remedies

The line of last night...

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:57:18 PST

(Woman I was talking to referring to band on stage)

"The singer sounds like he's hitting a baby with a cat"

Dry Fit!

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 16:44:29 PST

Here is the current state of the woodworking project. I went with SYP for the sides and shelves (with a gel stain, it looks very nice). On to finishing!

Listen and mellow

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:52:30 PST

Best Dentist Ever

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:58:09 PST

That would be the good folks at AtlantaDentalArts.com - not cheap but there were able to work me in and do a lot of emergency work nearly painlessly. Highly recommended and quite worth it. Nice, non-judgmental folks too

All the King's Men

moodyloner@gmail.com (Steve French) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:47:37 PST

I recently saw All The King's Men, and was quite impressed. It joins the ranks of old movies everyone should see. Basically it's the story of Huey Long, the populist and crooked governor of Louisiana.