Here you go. A Frappr map, courtesy of Aaron.

Stick a pin in it, folks.

If your fingers are on the wrong keys, “boolean” turns into “biikean,” thus bringing a whole new datatype into the world.

Aaron has once again been censored by Cafe Press, only this time, it’s, well, just plain dumb. Go take a look at what they found offensive.

I thought it was pretty damned funny, myself.

Thanks to the Palestinians, the Kurds have learned that the only thing the world pays attention to is blowing yourself up in a crowd:

A bomb set off by a suspected Kurdish suicide bomber Thursday killed two people and injured 19 in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated southeast, local officials said.

Police Chief Tacettin Kurt said a police officer, a civilian and an unidentified man were killed, and seven of the injured were in serious condition.

Mustafa Yavuz, the deputy governor of Van, where the attack took place, said the body of the unidentified man was torn apart, leading police to suspect he was a suicide bomber.

“It is 99 percent likely to be a suicide attack,” Yavuz said.

As much as I’d like to see Woodrow Wilson’s dream of an independent Kurdistan come to life (and Winston Churchill’s perfidy vanquished) at the expense of their Turkish, Syrian, Iraqi, and Iranian tormentors, shifting to suicide bombing attacks against civilian targets isn’t going to generate sympathy and help fund-raising efforts.

Unless, of course, they target Turkish synagogues. That’ll get the UN, EU, and Arab League falling over themselves with their checkbooks out when the cameras are off.

Khaled Mashaal, one of the leaders of Hamas, made these moderate remarks about Ehud Olmert’s announcement that Israel will unilaterally set her own borders by 2010:

“Unilateral Israeli disengagement from Palestinian territories is a declaration of war against the Palestinian people,” Mashaal said.

Yep. Sounds like Hamas is moderating to me.

“Olmert’s plan is not a plan of peace, but rather, a declaration of war that would allow Israel to remain in most of the West Bank, maintain the wall of separation and the settlements, refuse any concessions in Jerusalem, and reject the Palestinian right of return,” Mashaal said.

Gee, why would Israel need a barrier? It wouldn’t be to, say, keep out suicide bombers, would it?

This one is the most telling quote, though:

“We are not sort of settlement in our land,” al-Zahar said. “We cannot recognize any sort of these borders, especially the borders created by the wall … separating between our land and our land.”

Let me remind you that Hamas considers all of Israel to be “their” land.

The Islamic Resistance Movement maintains that the land of Palestine is Waqf land given as endowment for all generations of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection. One should not neglect it or [even] a part of it, nor should one relinquish it or [even] a part of it. No Arab state, or [even] all of the Arab states [together], have [the right] to do this; no king or president has this right nor all the kings and presidents together; no organization, or all the organizations together - be they Palestinian or Arab - [have the right to do this] because Palestine is Islamic Waqf land given to all generations of Muslims until the Day of Resurrection.

Here’s something that I almost agree with him on, though:

“This is a unilateral Israeli move for the sake of its security interests and not for the sake of peace,” the Hamas leader added. “Olmert is making the same mistakes towards the Palestinians (ailing Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon made,” Mashaal added.

I think it is a mistake, because it encourages Hamas. It will allow them to claim victory, and move their rockets closer to Israeli territory. The Gaza pullout was necessary, but it should have been a negotiated pullout, instead of looking like Israel turned tail and ran.

There is also the fact that no matter what Israel sets as her borders, the palestinians will continue to insist that Israel have no borders, and no existence. They don’t want peace. They want Israel.

And, oh yeah: Count on the UN to come across with resolutions condemning Israel for not giving back Jerusalem and other territories. Of course, the UN doesn’t have an anti-Israel agenda every day. Only on days with a “y” in them.

Penning (keyboarding would be more apt) that little piece on NRO article about the one-sidedness in the latest Hollywood output, I did not expect that Meryl will see a need to “counterpunch” it. Moreover, I have even remarked on NRO as “the distillery of the rightwing voice”, far from identifying myself with NRO. Indeed, while having quite a few talented people on the roster, they are not to my personal taste. It would be hard to classify me as a rightwinger, especially in USA, where a card-carrying Democrat is somewhere to the right of the typical European rightist. I am quite left of center, and would blush if forced to tell you what that insidious Political Compass says about me.

But enough with generalizations, that are usually wide off the mark in any case, and back to Shmollywood. And I completely agree with Meryl that the prime motivating drive of this place is to make money, and the money is made in one way only - producing stuff that attracts customers.

Still, the question is: why is that none of the subjects raised by Mark Goldblatt in the linked article found its way not only in the list of nominees, but in any new movie made by a serious producer? And I do not count the endless thrillers with Muslims playing the role of modern Injuns and indomitable Schwartzy doing his stuff.

The headline of today’s Guardian on-line edition really screams at you:

Islamophobia worse in America now than after 9/11, survey finds

Drop your groceries, people, stop the machines! Islamophobia is rearing its ugly face, and all people of good will must mobilize for the good war on the side of righteous! With the tireless knights of freedom, equality and justice from Guardian leading us, of course.

Er… well… maybe we should read the article first? Let’s see what these American Islamophobs are up to.

More than half of Americans believe there are more violent extremists within Islam than in any other religion and that the faith encourages violence against non-Muslims, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll yesterday.

These Yanks are purely impossible, I say. Where could this stupid notion of the violent extremism within Islam come from? From this?

Or, maybe, from this?

Hard to tell…

A majority, 58%, of those interviewed now believe that Islam has more violent followers than any other religion.

Where do these stupid Americans get such a backward idea, beats Suzanne Goldenberg and the usual Guarding flock of faithful readers. It is widely known that the most violent and bloody religion is Buddhism, after all.

I have a humble request to Miz Goldenberg: please explain how this hysterical headline meshes with the perception of these backward Americans that there is more than just a dollop of violence in Islam and why, for crying out loud, do you call this perception ISLAMOPHOBIA?

Cross-posted on SimplyJews

P.S. And apologies for inventing that ugly Amerophobia word, and yes, I know that America is not all USA.

Somehow, I managed to miss this missive from someone who apparently found my previous International Eat an Animal for PETA (now renamed Eat A TASTY Animal for PETA) Day. Presented, for your edification, a typical letter from a PETA fanatic, Bob from New Zealand:

You are a f–king sicko!

I just read your International Eat an Animal for PETA Day How dare u offend PETA like that I don’t give a sh-t if they offended some Holocaust Survivors. The slaughters of billions of animals for human consumption far surpasses the people that died in the gas chambers. You are just a sick meat loving sicko one of the millions, who hasn’t evolved pass man’s barbaric caveman ways. Animals are not ours to eat and as a Vegan I shall protect there rights where they cannot. What makes u think humans have the right to butcher and eat animals as they choose they are intelligent and wonderful creatures and have the right to live full lives as we do. U are SCUM and maybe another million years your kind will have evolved past the Stone Age and will become Vegans and love and respect all Creatures not just yourselves.

Until Then I hope you choke on your steak you sick Bitch!!!

Chew on that.

As always, the educated, refined, and thoughtful response of the typical outraged vegan (although he did capitalize it, so maybe he really is from Vega) to International Eat A Tasty Animal for PETA Day.

EATAPETA folks. Do it for Bob.