There is a lesson here

But the resistance of the garrison informed the Barbarians, that in the attack of regular fortifications, the efforts of unskillful courage are seldom effectual. Their general acknowledged his error, raised the siege, declared that "he was at peace with stone walls," and revenged his disappointment on the adjacent country.

-- History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol 2, Chapter XXVI, Edward Gibbon

This has to be real

OK, I don't really want to make a habit of posting articles from The Onion, but I couldn't resist.

Bush Grants Self Permission To Grant More Power To Self

(via Mark Shea)

Respect

"I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect."
--Edward Gibbon

The importance of, punctuation

Rogers Communications loses $2 million because of a misplaced comma in a contract.  (via Mirabilis)

Too much going on

all of it not good.  Check out this map of recent planned terrorist attacks, related arrests and other suspicious activities (Sticky Notes).

Music

Want some free sheet music?  Check out the Mutopia project.  There are sample MIDI files too (so you can hear what you're getting the sheet music for.)

OK this had better be a joke

A few weeks ago I was pointing out that you can print your own Monopoly money.

Turns out that the folks at Parker Brothers are keeping one step ahead of us.

Parker Brothers is phasing out the cash-based version's funmoney and replacing it with an "Electronic Banking" flavor that could leave Mr. Moneybags turning his pockets inside out as his stash is replaced by a magnetic strip. New kits are completely devoid of the famous multi-colored bills; instead, you'll find phoney Visa debit cards and a calculator / reader which keeps a running tabulation of your riches -- or lack thereof.

That ain't right.

(via The Cranky Professor)

It's a hot summer everywhere

I can think of a couple of parrots living here who would like this.

In the Swiss city of Zurich, zookeepers said they had been serving the animals ice creams made of berries, meat and bones to cool them down.

(BBC, via Cronaca)

See

The reason that's "funny" is that on July 2 I crashed my bike. So I've been at home recuperating since then, and haven't been typing a lot in here.

But starting to feel a lot better now. It's just going to take weeks for things to mend. This is the first day I've gotten to sit at my real desk where I can feel a little bit more comfortable doing some typing.

Sooo...

Anything exciting going on?