Daily Archives: October 22, 2012

11 posts

Presidential Debate Liveblog: Around the World in 90 Minutes

We live in a world where new threats constantly emerge, power structures are frequently in flux and diplomacy is increasingly important to those who hold power. As leader of the free world (in theory) the President of the United States must posses a nuanced and thoughtful world view.

The best way for candidates to display that worldview is in a series of soundbites spread out over 90 minutes to an audience of folks who would have a hard time finding the Middle East on a map. Fortunately, we’ll hear nothing of the President’s secret war, nor of Mitt Romney’s dis-interest in putting a stop to it. Nor will we hear about the vast powers to make war that the Executive branch has accumulated in the last 30 years, because acknowledging it might mean giving some of them back.

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QOTD: What’s in Your Car?

My house is usually reasonably clean and tidy, but my car is a pigsty.

It’s not utterly gross, there’re no food remains anywhere. But there is Stuff. I throw stuff in it, and it’s never seen again.  Donations for charity have spent an entire summer in the back seat, except for a week when it was moved to the trunk because people were visiting and I needed the seat for them.

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Buildups and Holdbacks: The World of Sneezing Fetishists

Whenever I see someone request their freaky, ultra-specific fetish on Craigslist, I immediately fear for human civilization, then take solace in the fact that these people are pretty much the only ones on the planet looking for a partner who will “fart all over the place before making it too the toilet” or whatever. But somehow Crasstalk’s own SusanBAwesome and I stumbled upon a sprawling world of widespread freakiness that defies all logical explanation.

Did you know that YouTube fetish videos of girls (and a few guys) sneezing routinely get thousands and thousands of views? Oh, you didn’t know that and would have been perfectly content to someday die without ever realizing that insane nutballs get their jollies from watching girls sneeze? WELL TOO BAD.  Continue reading

President McGovern is Dead

Former President George McGovern died Sunday morning at the age of ninety, at his home in Sioux Falls, S.D. A two-term senator from South Dakota, McGovern served as vice-president under Robert Kennedy from 1969 to 1977. After a contentious primary battle, McGovern narrowly lost the presidential election of 1976 to the Republican ticket of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. He was elected President in 1980, and re-elected in 1984. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982, and the American Society of Historians ranked President McGovern ninth in their list of Ten Greatest Presidents in 2004. Continue reading

The Road to Karakul Lake

We are heading south. A surprisingly well-paved, two lane road connects us from Kashgar all the way to our final destination. Ever since 9/11, China has made a point of making sure its borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, all within a few hours’ drive from here, are secure. To that end, this road has been paved and regularly cleared of falling rocks. On the way to Karakul, I see about a half dozen army trucks filled to the brim with stone faced, young People’s Liberation Army soldiers.

A few minutes out of Kashgar, the landscape opens up. Near the horizon stands the Pamir range, my destination. The road is lined with pencil thin poplar trees on either side. Parallel to the southbound lane is a narrow canal used for irrigation. It runs for miles. Continue reading