ampdead

A new hope

New Line has hit another snag on the road to Hobbiton.  They've settled their despute with Peter Jackson, but now Tolkien's estate is suing New Line for, get this, promises the studio didn't see fit to keep.

Part of the lawsuit seeks the right to terminate any future New Line production of Tolkien's works - including The Hobbit and its, er, "sequel."  I hope this wins.  There's been enough trashing of the material already.

h/t Libertas

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Yep, amazing

It is amazing more hockey players don't get this sort of injury - being slashed in the neck by a skate.  All kinds of stuff can happen in hockey though. 

Back when I played (as a kid) in the no-checking age-range, I slid into the boards with another kid and broke his leg.  I gave myself a mild concussion another time because my helmet was on too loose, was looking only at the puck and slammed, helmet-to-helmet, into another kid doing the same.  Looked like a crazed barbarian with dried blood all over my face for the rest of the game.  Now I have a scar right between my eyes.

Not to make light of Zednick's injury, but it's more amazing stuff like this isn't more common.  You don't really except people's feet to come at your head, rising shots going 80 to 100 mph are a different matter.



But it's also hockey, and they've got themselves some batshit crazy to live up to.

h/t Moron of the Year HQ

Posted by: Jason at 04:07 PM in System | No Comments | Add Comment
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The larger point

Ed Driscoll points to this piece by Tony Campolo:  The real danger in Darwin is not evolution, but racism.  I'll forego a look at Campolo's background as it's irrelevant to this - read the Wikipedia entry if you're interested.

Campolo ends his piece with something that begins to get at the most salient point:

Regardless of how we got here, we should recognize that there is an infinite qualitative difference between the most highly developed ape and each and every human being. Darwin never recognized this disjuncture.

Darwin's failure to "recognize this disjuncture" isn't what makes Darwin dangerous.  What makes Darwin dangerous - the same thing that makes anything dangerous - is how people choose to use Darwin.  The fact that Darwin chose to use his findings to promote "the elimination of 'the negro and Australian peoples,' which he considered savage races whose continued survival was hindering the progress of civilization" does not make the idea of evolution intrinsically racist, and it certainly does not make the theory of evolution wrong.  It makes Darwin's application of the theory absurd.

In other words:  "Guns don't kill people.  People kill people."

Posted by: Jason at 03:39 PM in System | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Daily Dose

He calls it The Bleat.  He's wrong.  It's sweet, sweet heroine.  Today's dose fits the mood Romney's speech set earlier.  I don't know if Lileks was trying to pull a Henninger without once mentioning the Great Rift.  I don't care.  He's my pusher, and I'll take my fix.

Love of country must always be qualified these days, lest anyone think you are unaware of slavery, insufficiently regulated railroad stock offerings, Lester Maddox or the attempt by Philip Morris to conceal the addictive nature of cigarettes.

(Side note: the existence of stupid people in America is a touchy subject, and not easily explained away. It would seem to suggest that some people are smarter than other people, which could conceivably have an impact on their ability to succeed – but there are so many stupid people living in comfort that this almost implies that the bounty and opportunity of the country are sufficient to lift the leakiest dinghies if the occupants bail and plug, and that can’t be true. It is also unacceptable to suggest that some people do not succeed because they aren’t smart, since that suggests that merit is rewarded, and that can’t be true. Merit has nothing to do with America; it’s all about white male privilege. Do not be fooled by the rise of Hillary and Obama; put them together, and what do you have? White. Male.)

Posted by: Jason at 04:23 PM in System | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ecumenical II

The HotAir headlines had a link to Daniel Henninger's piece, McCain or the Wilderness, and it exemplifies in reverse my previous post. 

I have always thought nose plugs would be necessary come November.  None of the GOP candidates offered a well-rounded Conservative perspective, but I and others would have happily pulled the lever for the apparently "pure" Giuliani.  He turned out to be a dud.  Next.  Thompson.  Dead on arrival.  OK, then.  Romney, the used car salesman who, though a flip-flopper, managed to flip and flop his way to my views.  Personally, I like it when someone, especially someone vying for my vote comes around to my way of thinking.  Call me crazy. 

Right.  You already have and, frankly, it isn't a persuasive argument.  You'll have to do better, and you will have to do it because McCain simply hasn't been able to.  Henninger apparently understands that - perhaps Roger L. Simon should take notes.

Posted by: Jason at 01:01 AM in Conservoluted | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ecumenical

Telling people they have a syndrome because they have principled positions that don't mesh with a particular candidate is not a workable means for getting people to ignore those disagreements and vote for your candidate.  It's called condescension, and coming from a magazine like The Weekly Standard does not make it any less irritating.

Posted by: Jason at 02:35 PM in Conservoluted | No Comments | Add Comment
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Red Wings vs. Super Tuesday

The Wings won most of my attention tonight.  Franzen scored first then gave up two goals.  Then, with 1:20 left in the third, Cleary made a lucky goal from an absurd angle to tie the game.  1:37 into overtime Lebda slammed his third goal of the season home to win a game the Wings should have lost.  Should have lost?  Let's put it this way:  Datsyuk came into this game with 6 penalty minutes on the season - he left with 10.  They couldn't catch a break, and wouldn't have taken advantage of a break anyway.  Just a bad game.  Happens.  Still, they won.

Some pundits are now saying McCain has to make a deal with Conservatives.  The dubiousness of either McCain coming to us or us taking him seriously is obvious (wish I could be at CPAC though).  But here's a deal I'd agree to:  Whenever McCain gives a speech, Mark Levin does simultaneous color commentary.

Posted by: Jason at 12:52 AM in Conservoluted | No Comments | Add Comment
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