Newmark's Door

James Cameron's new movie Avatar . . .

. . . is supposed to be mega-cool.

"The AHT Guide to Hamburger and Cheeseburger Style"

Everything you ever wanted to know about hamburger and cheeseburger "styles".

Comprehensive. Trust me.

At the very limits of the known universe . . .

 . . ."A huge swath of galactic clusters seem to be heading to a cosmic hotspot and nobody knows why."

Make your own joke.

One of the many reasons I couldn't have been a fashion designer

"The 2009 International Best-Dressed List". With an exception or two I think most of these get-ups are at best unattactive and at worse downright hideous. Mme. Sarkozy looks good.

"I Was Dying Way Before Every Other Celebrity Started Doing It"

By Kurt Cobain.

(The Onion, of course.)

"Nickeled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich"

In case you missed it, Justin Wolfers refutes--intellectually eviscerates?--a recent piece by Barbara Ehrenreich.

(That would be the same Barbara Ehrenreich who wrote this unintentionally hilarious piece about how the rich are buying up everything. Why you can't get a decent sleeveless cotton shirt in Sun Valley for less than $100! Can you imagine??)

Another fine P. J. O'Rourke piece

P. J. reviews a new book about Pete Seeger. He notes that Mr. Seeger is ". . .  a modest, unassuming, cheerful, and kind-natured man." And then P. J. asks:

Thus is raised a momentous question, maybe the most momentous question of the modern era: How is it that legions of modest, unassuming, cheerful, and kind-natured people pledge their troth to political systems that burn continents and bury innocents by the hundred million? 

Excellent question. 

Duke men's basketball FAIL

My younger daughter, a Duke graduate and Duke basketball mega-fan, thinks this year's men's basketball poster reflects severely poor judgment.

I agree 100%.

Disappointing but not surprising

Popular Mechanics discusses the water problem in California, "one of the biggest water crises this nation has ever seen". In particular, it relates six "prescient" proposals to deal with the crisis from a task force that studied the issue.

Not one of those six proposals includes allowing the frickin' price to rise. See, for example, this.

"25 Passive Aggressive Office Kitchen Notes"

My jaw dropped with this one: "Please clear any unused time off the microwave when you are finished. Some of us have O.C.D. and leftover time drives us crazy."

As my mom used to say, "It takes all kinds."

Link via reader Chris C.