http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTRTiOZji6g
Sideshows are common in Oakland, but they are not common during daylight hours and they are not common on a major freeway. This scene happened this past Saturday near the Oakland Colosseum. It should be noted that traffic coming to a complete stop for entirely stupid reasons on 880 is a common occurrence. One more video after the jump. Continue reading
1. Stay to your right. It’s like driving. Stay to the right half of your sidewalk, and the extreme right at that unless you are passing. There are exceptions: sometimes you have to cross over because of eddies of tourists, construction obstacles, busy building entrances etc. The most flagrant violation of this rule is walking to your extreme left, forcing people coming the other way to concede you the outside edge. It works, but total dick move.
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Downton Abbey which has quickly become one of the most beloved series on television, decided to up the ante last night. It was a risky undertaking, but will it eventually pay off? SPOILERS UPCOMING! Continue reading
On May 20th, 2010 police officers in West Memphis, Arkansas pulled over a white minivan during a drug interdiction patrol. The police pulled 45 year-old Jerry Kane from the minivan. A scuffle ensued and Kane’s 16 year-old son Joe emerged from the vehicle with an AK-47. He hit the officers with 25 bullets, killing both of them. Ninety minutes later both of the Kanes were killed in a Walmart parking lot in a standoff with the police. Why did Joe Kane kill two police officers (and wound two others in the second altercation)? Because Joe and Jerry Kane were Sovereign Citizens, people who believe that courts and cops have no authority over them, and who believe they have the right to defend themselves from them, by force if necessary. Continue reading
Over the weekend, Politico published an update from the RNC conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. Over the course of the article, the various Republican party members and leaders interviewed insisted that the 2012 elections weren’t a rejection of the GOP’s policy platform; rather, it was simply that the GOP’s messaging was poor and that no policy changes were needed.
You know, for a second I was concerned that the GOP might actually figure it out. Continue reading
From the ages of three to eight (1978-1983), I lived in that gray house in Taipei, Taiwan. It wasn’t until 2006 that I would see this house again. Join me for a tour of the house and my memories.
My maternal grandparents raised me in this house. My grandfather was a legislator, a scholar, and all around raconteur. Born to a well-to-do family, he graduated from Peking University, and was elected to China’s National Assembly in the 1940s. He, my grandmother, and their adopted one year old daughter (my mom) fled to Taiwan along with the rest of Chiang Kai-Shek’s government in 1949. Because the government no longer had control of Mainland China (where the electorate resided), National Assembly members got to hold onto their seats until the Communist rebellion was quashed. Because that quashing never happened, my grandfather became a legislator-for-life. Continue reading
Here we go again. Continue reading