waka waka waka

Fabulous surfing video, here.

Here’s a fantastic shot: lightning strikes the Grand Canyon.

Writing at PJ Media, clacissist Victor Davis Hanson urges us to read old books. This alone should be enough, I think: Most classical literature, let us admit it, is anti-democratic, moralistic in a reactionary sense, and deeply pessimistic — and therefore if not a corrective, at least a balance to today’s trajectory. Read the whole [...]

My, how beautiful it was in New York today! Not a cloud in the clear blue sky, a cool dry breeze, warm spring sunshine, and the trees and flowers all in bloom. Just absolutely perfect. As good as it ever gets. I hear that Occupy and sundry political groups clogged up the streets of Manhattan [...]

Today at about 1:09 PM the stock market, which had been having a bullish, happy day, suddenly fell sharply. Why? Because the Associated Press had issued a Tweet saying that the White House had been bombed and the President injured. It immediately became obvious that the AP’s Twitter account had been hacked, and so the [...]

Nothing for tonight. I had a couple of things I wanted to post, but in the wake of the news from Boston neither politics nor blithe general-interest material seems appropriate. I was working today, and watching Twitter out of the corner of my eye; one got the sense that a great many people were just [...]

I’m very sad to report the death of comedic genius Jonathan Winters, quite possibly the funniest man who ever lived. Here he was in 1964, with a stick.

Having just got back from our trip, I’m still getting caught up on work, current events, email, and so on. It does seem that rather a lot has happened here in the States and around the world while we were gone, none of it particularly encouraging. Meanwhile, here are three pictures from China (click on [...]

Having found a little free time and a stable Internet connection, I thought I’d give a little update: I’m sitting on the rooftop of an inn at the foot of the famous Moon Hill, a limestone arch just a few kilometers from the town of Yangshuo, in Guangxi province, China. Here’s the view from our [...]

Things will be quiet around here for the next two weeks or so: the lovely Nina and I are off to fabled Cathay, where our brilliant and beautiful daughter is teaching science at an international high school in Guangzhou. We’ll all be spending a few days in scenic Yangshuo, and the memsahib and I will [...]

I was wondering when this was going to happen. One Twitterer remarked: If Silicon Valley is a meritocracy (or aspires to be) why not let everyone see company hiring stats for women and people of color. Here’s a guess: It’s because Silicon Valley (which is really just a proxy for companies that make their money [...]

After a round of too-long-put-off periodontal surgery today at the hands of the gifted healer Louis Franzetti, I am in a deep post-operative torpor. Back soon.

Mencius Moldbug comments on the approaching death of Lawrence Auster, here. Auster himself is puzzled, and I think his puzzlement illustrates rather well exactly the points Moldbug makes about him: Auster’s specialty is order and clarity, while Moldbug’s piece, as always, is long, discursive, and sesquipedalian. But I thought it was quite a nice tribute, [...]

Sad news from Lawrence Auster today: the pancreatic cancer he’s been fighting so stoically has now metastasized to his brain. It’s hard to imagine that he has much time left. It’s also hard to imagine VFR silenced.

If you live in Santo Antônio da Platina, Brazil, you might want to buy an umbrella. Or, better yet, a new home, somewhere else.

This just in: the largest known prime number is now 257,885,161 – 1. More here.

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.” – Leonardo do Vinci

Ed Koch died today. He was a good mayor (not perfect, but who is?), a hell of a character, and a real New Yorker. We Gothamites will miss him. R.I.P., Ed. You did just fine.

Here’s an interesting little item: a collection of maps, from 1932, showing how long it took to travel in the U.S., in days of yore. (From New York, of course.)

For the Consideration of the General Publick: The Safety of its elected Magistrates being of the highest Concern to a free Society, and the presence of Fire-arms being, as we are continually assured, a Catalyst for mortal Peril, there can be little Doubt that the surest Measure for the Protection and Defense of our Chief [...]

Well, the Oscar nominations are out, and the nation is abuzz as always. Tell you what, though: ever since this groundbreaking film didn’t make the cut a couple of years ago, I’ve kind of lost interest.

Boy, you can say that again. Here’s a glimpse from the year of my birth: cars, kitchens, and kitsch, in an unforgettable nine-minute movie. Hat tip to Iowahawk.

Well, all that rain turned to snow last night. Here’s the view out the front window, looking west across a mile of woodland to the bay.     The little camera in my phone is not the best, but that new-fangled HDR software makes everything look pretty.

To all of you, with my thanks as always for reading and commenting. I’ll make up for my own laziness at the keyboard today by pointing you to this delightful Christmas meditation by our friend Kevin Kim.

There was an eruption of unspeakable horror, of pure Evil, today in Newtown, Connecticut. From what I understand many small children — 18, according to the latest report — have been shot to death. There will be bitter political debate in the days to come — such as we have never seen before, I think [...]