Hereza look at the map of France voting "no" (red) and "yes" (blue) on the Euro constitution.
Look familiar? Sea of red with bits of blue on the extreme left and right of the map?
Just know I’ve seen that somewhere before.
Month: May 2005
Will On The European Constitution
I’ve said it before: EUROPE NEEDS TO REJECT THE CONSTITUTION IT’S NOW CONSIDERING.
UPDATE: My apologies for the lack of the link to the George Will piece! Didn’t realize it wasn’t there. Let’s hope the French vote totally derails this constitution. As Will makes clear, it’s got a lot of really nutty stuff in it.
A-Ha!
Y’all may remember that a piece back I was complaining about some really Evil web advertising by the ringtone company Jamster, which has been under investigation for its marketing practices.
The advertising featured what I described at the time as "a repulsive and depraved looking photo-art fishman (with a figleaf over
his genitals and a pair of aviators’ goggles) who zoomed jerkily and
frenetically back and forth across the ad space in a nauseating fashion."
I never visited Jamster’s page–even to complain–but I recently turned up information on what the evil fish character is all about. It turns out that the character was not created by Jamster but buy some Swedish guy, and it (the character, not the guy so far as I know) is named "The Annoying Thing." (Big surprise.)
It was inspired by a popular sound on the Internet by another Swede imitating the noise made by a particular kind of moped engine.
The evil Jamster then licensed The Annoying Thing as an advertising mascot and used the sound as the basis for a ringtone.
The ringtone is called Crazy Frog (warning: some crude content), and it has been extensively marketed in the UK, causing folks there excruciating anguish.
People are acting all surprised about this–"How could a ringtone get to the top of the charts?" they are wondering–but it’s not much of a mystery when one listens to the thing and realizes that despite the presence of a sputtering Swede in it, "Crazy Frog Axel F" is really just a remix of "Axel F," the smash-hit themesong to the 1984 movie Beverly Hills Cop (about a guy named Axel Foley, you may recall).
LISTEN HERE IF YOU NEED A REFRESHER ON WHAT AXEL F SOUNDS LIKE: WMP | REAL
Since virtually none of the young people driving the British music charts today were alive in 1984 (and even fewer capable of remembering Beverly Hills Cop), it is hardly surprising that one of the biggest songs of the day could be brought back, introduced to the new audience, and do well on the radio.
What we really have here is the Crazy Frog sound hijacking an existing popular song. If you just played the engine-sputtering Swede on the radio, it wouldn’t do nearly as well. It’s because a well-written song has been infested with the Crazy Frog sound that it’s able to get that far.
And of course that’s even assuming the British charts are honest and the whole thing isn’t just a publicity stunt cooked up by evil executives at Jamster in league with evil chart cookers and the Easter Bunny (and the Annoying Thing).
The Fall Of Constantinople
Today in 1453 Constantinople fell to attacking Muslim forces, ending the Byzantine Empire.
That this happened was a great tragedy and yet another instance of jihad being successfully waged against Christendom.
The tragedy could have been prevented had European Christians worked together, and both western and eastern Christians are responsible for the fact that they didn’t.
The fall of Constantinople also comes as a salutary warning for Europe today, whose demographic trends are dooming them to cultural extinction in the face of Muslim demographic jihad.
Saturday Photo Caption
STARTING CAPTIONS:
- Man Commands Conquering Legion Of Hats Into Action
- Man Flees In Terror From Hatswarm
- Liberating Hats Cheered By Crowd Upon Returning Home
A Day At The Brain Spa
Psychoactive or performance-enhancing medicines? We’re getting better at them than you might think.
I’m still waiting for an over-the-counter learning aid, though. Man, I’d love to be able to go to the pharmacy and pick up a safe, effective, no-prescription thingie to help me better learn Aramaic . . . or canon law . . . or calculus . . . or linguistic theory . . . or history . . . or . . .
Thomas Sowell Analyzes The Senate Compromise
Friday Photo Caption
STARTING CAPTIONS:
- "Okay. We Quit. We’re Chalmeleons, But ‘Clear’ Is Just Too Much To Ask."
- New Organic Fashion Accessories!
- "I Know They Look Strage, But They Really Keep The Flies Away From My Face."
- "When I Wore These, The Other Kids Called Me ‘Eight Eyes.’"
From Stomach-Flu, Deliver Us, O Lord
Catholic writer Danielle Bean composed a mother’s version of St. Francis of Assisi’s Prayer for Peace during the eye of a storm of childhood stomach-flu:
A MOTHER’S PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS
(STOMACH FLU VERSION)Lord,
Make me an instrument of Your healing love;
Where there is vomit let me bring Lysol;
Where there are boogers, Kleenex;
Where there is fever, Tylenol;
Where there is boredom, library books;
Where there are chills, warm blankets;
And where there is whininess, Scooby Doo.O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be well-rested as to provide clean sheets,
To be appreciated as to disinfect the house,
To be showered as to give warm baths,
For it is in scrubbing out the bathroom that we are cleansed,
It is in sharing laps that we find comfort,
And it is after resting that we will return
To a normal life.
(Nod to the Curt Jester for the link.)
Christianity Today Explains Why Evangelicals Should Be Happy About Pope Benedict
EXCERPTS:
1. He takes truth seriously. Born in Bavaria in 1927, on the eve of the Nazi seizure of power in Germany, young Joseph Ratzinger saw firsthand the brutality and terror of the Nazi way of life. Behind totalitarian violence was utter contempt for the truth claims of the historic Christian faith. As a schoolboy, Ratzinger once witnessed his Nazi teacher replace the cross in the center of his village with a Maypole, a neo-pagan symbol of Teutonic native religion.
Despite the defeat of Hitler and Stalin, the de-Christianization of Europe and, to a lesser extent, of North America continues to pose a great challenge to the church today. This is why Cardinal Ratzinger spoke, on the eve of his papal election, of the "dictatorship of relativism."
On his episcopal coat of arms are the Latin words "cooperatores veritatis," a phrase taken from 3 John 1:8, "That we may be fellow workers for the truth." The Christian faith stands or falls with the imperious claim that the almighty Creator of all that is has acted in space and time to reveal himself in nature and history and to redeem the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is a statement about the way things are, not merely about what is "true for me."
(CHT to the reader who e-mailed!)