Halfway through the half day

[wombat_socho]

I'm knocking off at 12:30 today for my annual physical, and it's unbelievably slow this morning, so I might as well post.

The leg infection is pretty much over. (Keflex FTW!) No pain, no swelling, no heat, and a complete absence of squamous rugosity. The other leg is still draining and healing; at this rate it should be completely squared away by the time the convention rolls around in a couple of weeks. Weehu.

jiawen invited me to do some programming at Minicon this year, and it was srsly tempting since it was all about anime and manga and what's going on/will be going on with the PRC. (According to the New York Times, they're amping up their military budget. {Captain Ed}) Unfortunately, MNSTF wants $65 at the door, and I need to hang onto my cash for the Drang Nach Osten in July/August. Especially since I can't abuse the bar in consuite to compensate for the high cost of registration.

I finished Charles Stross' Glasshouse last night while fighting with the interbutts, but I'm not done mulling over what I think about it. So have an open letter to the sponsors of CPAC calling for Ann Coulter to be given the boot. Maybe she can buy her way out of trouble a la Al Gore by purchasing homophobia offsets. (Instapundit)
UPDATE: Via Cobb, Patterico lists high-profile conservative pundits who are kicking Ann to the curb. Add her to the long list of people who have a ton of book smarts but no common sense - which is odd, because she used to be whip-smart in that regard. Stick a fork in her.

Last but not least, today's Bleat is very much to my taste. James Lileks once again takes up the cudgels against well-meaning idiots who spent too much time studying urban design and architecture while not spending nearly enough time studying American history and sociology.

Obligatory EVE-related comment: not a lot of music in recent posts because I spent a good part of the weekend with my headphones on listening to goons remind me how inept most people are at sharing a frequency, whether on the radio or the Interbutt. So I'm keeping my headphones off and enjoying the relative quiet background noise of the cube farm.

Comments

[luned.livejournal.com]

I couldn't finish Glasshouse. I'm trying to word this in an efficient manner, but perhaps more time was spent on the "criticizing 20th century Western culture" rather than anything else. If I wanted a critique, there's plenty of nonfiction I can read. I want a novel.

Still dithering on Minicon myself, especially due to my lack of an off Friday.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

My eyes pretty much slid over that part, since it was stated that the experimenters didn't really have a good grip on what 20th century Anglosphere culture was like. I had other problems with the novel and will probably get around to posting about them today.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Interesting stuff re: Coulter. I actually feel a bit sorry for her, and I also think what's going on is pretty understandable. Give someone enough of an audience & adulation and eventually they'll hang themselves with hubris.

(The eeeeevil part of me has always enjoyed the fact that she shares the same last name as one of my favourite gay porn star, but then a man with the last name "Cummer" shouldn't throw stones...)

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

Give someone enough of an audience & adulation and eventually they'll hang themselves with hubris.
I think this is a big part of it, yes. One of Patterico's commenters noted that part of her problem may be that her bomb-throwing stand-up comedy style goes over great on college campuses where she does most of her speaking gigs, but it's completely wrong for CPAC and similar serious political venues. OTOH, she's a smart enough woman to understand this - under the surface layer of snark, there's a Great White Shark of a legal mind.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

Oh, I dunno... From what I've read of Godless I don't see much evidence of a keen legal mind. Having said that I don't think G is the best book by which to judge Coulter. When I'm done with it I wanna read some of her earlier funnier movies stuff.

I want to amplify on why I feel sorta sorry for Coulter. It seems to me that she was the extreme that made (for want of a much better word) mainstream conservatism more palatable to some, much as ACT-UP did the same for other gay/AIDS organizations. Now that she's no longer "useful" she's getting dropped like a hot rock.

[wombat-socho.livejournal.com]

I have a copy of High Crimes and Misdemeanors, her book on why President Clinton deserved impeachment. While I haven't read her later books (like Godless) all the reviews I've seen indicate that they're an extension of her bomb-throwing act...and her columns fall somewhere in the middle. You know that "broad brush" expression I used in replying to your post today? Coulter seems to use one of those paint sprayer thingies, only without a nozzle - just a hose. 'Cause she's not too interested in the fine details or who gets splattered.