The Race

I've heard a lot of people talking about how excited they are about the possibility of having the first African-American president (a term that's been oddly transplanted and politically-correctified, I think - I hear people here using the term "African-American" to describe people who have never even been to the US). And I have to admit... as a guy who has a lot of human-rights activist friends, but still falls a little right of center, even I find Obama pretty compelling.

The funny thing to me is that I have yet to hear one Caucasian refer to Obama as "our" candidate in quite the same way (with the possible exception of Josh). But his mother is white, right? I kind of think that if people of African ethnicity can embrace him as representing them, then a few more people of European descent should be willing to do the same. Why is it that someone who is half-African can be African enough to satisfy people who share that, but half-Caucasian isn't enough for the white folks?

In any case, I'm not voting. But I will be watching.

As In, Dirty Little

I think it's time for a new insult.

Those who know me (which, I guess, is a pretty substantial portion of people who read this) know that I'm not much of a science fiction guy. I liked Lord of the Rings (and before someone with a "Live Long & Prosper" tee shirt tells me that's not science fiction, I know... I just have a tendency to group all things where people dress in costumes to see the movie into one super-category), but that's about as far as it goes.

Still, I've had an idea for a long time, and to celebrate the release of the new X-Files movie, I think it's time to bring it up again.

Scullymulder, as in, "why, you dirty little scullymulder!"

The problem, I guess, is that I've never actually invented an insult before. Honestly, I try not to make insults a very regular part of my speech. But this one, I think, could be different. I plan to try it out at work tomorrow to see how it goes over in French - I've been practicing the accent tonight, and I think it's almost ready.

So, feel free to propagate. And if you're Katie, I expect a link back to the source...

;-)

A Bit Off

So, the potato gets a year.

Child labor gets a day.


I think we may have missed something.

Compliment of the Week

Actual compliment: "You wear pants well"

Likely translation: "thanks, despite your infrequent but ominous threats, for not streaking".

Horse Fair

We went to a horse fair today with some friends in France. It had everything you could want in a fair: line dancing, plenty of facial hair and.... uh, horses.

I took a couple of pictures. I thought maybe you would like these ones:

You can see the others here.