january freeze

It's very cold here. Shoreline did not close, which I can handle, but what annoys the fuck out of me is taking an extra 45 minutes to get there only to find that the teacher of your only class today couldn't make it in and class was cancelled.

The 331, by the way, goes in some really random directions for its snow route, and on the way back, the driver just hit the "next" button and skipped the entire Shoreline half of its run when we found the jack-knifed tanker truck in the middle, left, and right of the road, with bits off to either side.


Looking North and West

( My favourite picture in this set is Blue World, which is too big for above the cut. Clickie through, you'll like it, I think. )

it's all in the crazy today

Meanwhile, in the rest of the world - all the non-frozen bits - we have a cavalcade of zomg and wtf. Here, have a bunch of links.

The Daily NK, a North Korean defector-run site, says the idolisation programme in North Korea consumes 40% of the NK budget;

North Korea importing giant rabbits from German giant-rabbit breeder to try to address some of their chronic starvation problems; cue Night of the Lepus theme music, and see if you can't get a state composer to weave in a Food of the Gods leitmotif, can't you;

Crazy-ass Fox News Chorus Line member Sean Hannity has a new schtick: declaring people Enemies of the State;

The Sunday Times reports Robert Mugabe's policies have created 1.3 million orphans;

From The Independent, a much-belated story about how Dick Cheney was talking about oil production peaking - as a Halliburton director - back in 1999. "Lest there be any doubt about what was at stake, the man who was to become one of the most powerful proponents of the invasion of Iraq went on: 'Oil is unique because it is so strategic in nature. We are not talking about soapflakes or leisurewear ... The Gulf War was a reflection of that reality.'" Neat, huh?

Electronic Freedom Foundation trying to get the TSA to publish its regulations for travelers - particularly the one where they make people show IDs before boarding airplanes. The TSA has refused, repeatedly, and the Supreme Court has now let that stand, meaning we effectively have secret, or at least unpublished, law;

And rumours are flying that the Chief Executive has has declared war on Iran. As far as I know, it's hard to argue that a consulate raid isn't an act of war, so they pretty much have a point. Fun!