Omorka's Lair

Wow, two great "I quit" stories and it's only Tuesday: a would-be broker, by e-mail, with surprise revelations about the boss, and a flight attendant, by the emergency chute, with beer.

I should have been asleep an hour ago, but I was distracted by Jay Smooth's and Chris Rock's takes on the Polanski incident.

Man, I like Jay Smooth more every time he posts something.

Some fool shot 9 people (2 fatally) at a UU church in Knoxville, TN.

This is almost enough to get me going back to church, just to defy evil cowards like this.

I am confused as to whether Kathy Lee thought the Egyptians were Christians here. I mean, seriously, even if this is some weird sort of joke, if you substitute "Jews" for "Pagans" in that line, she'd be up to her neck in angry phone calls.

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At Apollocon for mst of the weekend. May update later today, may not.

Ping: Whatever is making the crop circles can do the math. That's really quite lovely. Clearly whatever is making these things is intelligent, whether the fae/greys or college students with an A-level in maths.

Blargh: the fear that any adult male who shows any interest in children's well-being is a pedophile strikes again. Never mind that the vast majority of children who are abused are targeted by members of their own families, or that a criminal background check will only catch abusers who have already been caught at least once before. No, any 40-year-old guy who helps a six-year-old neighbor girl cross the street is clearly a creepy stalker who needs his prints taken. Uh, what was the line again? (Relevant one is at 0:26.)

Mostly from dark_christian:

In West Palm Beach, a mother wants two high schools to ban about 80 books. Fortunately, so far the principals and the superintendent have resisted; now she's appealing the decision to the whole school board. She does not appear to have read the books in question (typical). Interestingly to me, she's aiming for both nonfiction and fiction in the same batch; usually these sort of school-library challenges involve only one category, more often fiction.

In fact, Florida's just not doing so hot today - a state rep just got busted for solicitation. Naturally, it's a conservative male Republican, which means my response is to go to Schadenfreude City rather than complain about prostitution being illegal. Here's some of his previous legislation; probably a good thing for him that one didn't pass. I'd ask if this reminded anyone of anybody, but at least the cop appeared to be an adult. (Why do dudes like this invariably want to tighten the laws that will bust them?)

In Washington D.C., AFA members disrupt the Senate's opening prayer because it was delivered by a Hindu rather than a Christian minister. Fortunately, it appears to have only been three people. I'm tempted to blame Cheney for lowering the standard of behavior in the Senate chamber in general, but oddly enough I can't imagine him getting all excited about who delivers the opening prayer.

Liviu Librescu was born in Romania. He survived the Holocaust as a late child and adolescent. He got a doctorate in Romania, lived in Israel, came to America to teach aeronautical engineering. He died yesterday morning in his classroom at Virginia Tech; his son says he was told by the students that Dr. Librescu blocked the door himself to give his students time to climb out the windows and run. Shot in the line of duty, protecting his students; that is a Teacher who brings honor to the calling.

Zach Petkewicz dove for cover when he heard the gunshots, but realized after he hid behind the podium that it wouldn't help. He told the other students to barricade the door, and he and the others got the table up against the door just in time to block the shooter's entry. He fired through the door twice - thankfully missing the students, who were holding the ends of the table, not the middle. And then he moved on, leaving the eleven of them frightened but alive and unharmed.

There are preliminary reports that Ryan "Stack" Clark, an RA who died in the initial dorm shooting, may have died trying to rush the shooter and stop him.


The list of the publicly identified dead is telling. No ethnicity, no gender, no nationality, no social class in common. A professor from Romania, one from India; a Peruvian undergrad, a Puerto Rican grad student, a freshman of Lebanese descent. Black, white, and blood red. Where else in the world would they all be living, working, and learning together? This is a melting-pot massacre, a quintessentially American tragedy.

Aw, man.

Now this kid has no hope of persuading anyone he wasn't really a threat.

Maybe instead of blaming video games or guns, they'll blame zombies . . .

*puke*

Not again . . .