A New Meme

Via Ipse Dixit comes this new meme:

1. Grab the nearest book.

2. Open the book to page 23.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

The nearest book is New York Central Railroad by Brian Solomon with Mike Schafer in the "Railroad Color History" series. The fifth sentence of page 23 is, "Vanderbilt had the sense and resources to improve his property, which clearly set him apart from many of his contemporaries in the financial world."

In keeping with Dodd Harris' example, the context is a discussion of the effects of Cornelius ("The Commodore") Vanderbilt's creation and control of several New York State railroads under the banner of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. This particular 'road was created in 1869 by Vanderbilt's merger of the New York Central Railroad and the Hudson River Railroad, along with the lease of the New York & Harlem to the NYC&HRR.

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to Ipse Dixit, who got it from Long Story, Short Pier.

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Let Your Fingers Do The Surfing

Those hard-working chaps at the Politburo Diktat have come up with a new product for the weekend, part of the continuing Communist plot to dominate the blogosphere. (As an aside, are there any Communist blogs? I've been absent the daily infusion of Marxist humor-posing-as-political-thought for the last several years.)

Comes now the War Bloggers' Yellow Pages, from uh, Soverizon. Or something.

Due to the Commissar's good graces, this blog has been included in the listings as one of the "Thinkers", and with some pretty lofty company:

Andrew Sullivan

Belmont Club

BuzzMachine

Captain's Quarters

Daniel Drezner

HobbsOnline

Hugh Hewitt

Insults Unpunished

Michael J. Totten

The Country Pundit

USS Clueless

You Big Mouth, You!

To be honest, I'm humbled and flattered. Much thanks to Comrade Commissar.

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Canadian Blogs, Please

Recently, Jonah Goldberg or someone at the The Corner wrote a post noting that Canadians were starting to flock to the political blogosphere. Since I've got more than a passing interest in the Dominion, can anyone point me in the direction of some Canadian Alliance-influenced blogs?

Yes, I know Harper united the right, but I was distinctly uncomfortable with the whole "Progressive Conservative" platform, and so I'd rather read some stuff from one of the two chunks of Canada that I'd like to have in the United States. Hee hee.

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Friday Five - 21 September 2001

We are told in today's entry to pick one from the past and go for it. Thus, the first Friday Five:

1. Where were you born (city or state or just country)?

American by fate, Southern by birth, and Virginian by the grace of God.

2. What is your favorite number?

Uh, 42?

3. Vanilla or chocolate?

Vanilla.

4. What section of a bookstore would I find you in?

The transportation or history section, trying to decide what to buy.

5. What kind of mattress do you have on your bed? soft? firm? water?

Er, a softish firm one that's just right. The only problem with is that Nicole Kidman's not there right now. Ha! I kill me. Meanwhile, the adventures of Gordon Shumway continue...

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The Newest Bloggerist Manifesto

Comrade Commissar has, under the aegis of the Politburo's diktat, released the latest component of the bloggerist manifesto. It's a simple seven-point plan for continued progress against the ancien régime of the big-name "professional" bloggers.

If those of us who blog in obscurity are ever to be prominent, then we must stop sending the vital capital of blogging (i.e. traffic) up to the people who get more traffic in one day than some blogs have had in their lifetimes. Allow me to suggest a corollary: When you find a story suggested by that fellow in Knoxville, go to another blogger, one of the little guys, and link to them instead. Tennessee's chief blogger doesn't need any additional traffic.

To the blogosphere barricade, comrades! Peace, land, and voluptuous former tennis stars named Anna to all participating comrades, eh.

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Friday Five - 09 April 2004

1. What do you do for a living?

I while away the hours in law school. Peh.

2. What do you like most about your job?

That I get to perhaps do some good in the world, which is one of the things that folks who sign up with Christ have to do.

3. What do you like least about your job?

It will be long hours with low pay and zero respect from the community. Good thing I'm an arrogant-in-my-own-way type that's largely immune to public opinion.

4. When you have a bad day at work it's usually because _____...

Because someone else screwed up, and I get blamed along with being told to fix it.

5. What other career(s) are you interested in?

High-level executive operations at a Class I railroad in the United States or something aboard a cruise liner; I'd kind of like to be involved with transportation somehow. Failing that, I'd like to be a historian or a writer in general. Makes sense, from the work done here at the blog.'

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Friday Five 26 March 2004

Er, they don't have one for today. This stinks. At the same time, I'm off to the NASCAR races at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, so the postings will be somewhat backlogged.

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Friday Five 12 March 2004

1. What was the last song you heard?

Hrrm. It may have been Fleetwood Mac's "Nightbird" or whatever it's called, where Stevie Nicks croaks "just like a white wing dove" or something. I despise Fleetwood Mac so I'm not looking the lyrics up.

2. What were the last two movies you saw?

Hrrm. Er. Uh...huh huh huh...hey Beavis. I think it would have been High Plains Drifter and The Godfather. Can't be sure.

3. What were the last three things you purchased?

Lisa Gerrard's new album, Immortal Memory, with Patrick Cassidy. Comments later. Prior to that, it was pencils. Going back one last step, The Amtrak Story by Frank N. Wilner. Mr. Wilner has an extensive background in railroad subjects and writes well. I recommend his works to those who support rail as a means of passenger and freight transportation, and also to those who oppose those goals.

4. What four things do you need to do this weekend?

Take the MPRE, recover from spring break---no, not a wild one, just one where I traveled and had to do some nagging things---clean the apartment, and report the SOB who lives beneath me for smoking like a poorly-maintained smelter. Carbonize your lungs but not mine, pal!

5. Who are the last five people you talked to?

The folks and friends from college. Got to keep up the undergraduate network.

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Friday Five 05 March 2004

Yes, this one's late as well. Today'll be a two-fer, catching up.

What was...

1. ...your first grade teacher's name?

[REDACTED]

2. ...your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?

The Transformers, without a doubt. I was ready to kill when it would get pre-empted for local advertising or something.

3. ...the name of your very first best friend?

Jonathan.

4. ...your favorite breakfast cereal?

Gee, I don't know. I used to eat a lot of Trix.

5. ...your favorite thing to do after school?

Come home and watch cartoons on the local UHF station that would show, variously, G.I. Joe, Transformers, or whatever else the programming guys could scrounge up. At one point, the station had drawings for G.I. Joe toys, and I was desperate to get a Skystriker. Never happened, until Santa and the free enterprise system intervened later.

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VDH Blog

Victor Davis Hanson, who most of the Internet knows from his columns at National Review Online, now has a blog. Visit it at The Official Website of Victor Davis Hanson.

I got this, somehow, from the RSS feed at The Politburo Diktat, who got it from Horsefeathers. Tips of the Wisconsin hat to all involved.

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The Revolutionary will be Guffawed At...

When I first started this blog, I resolved never to mention a certain supposed right-of-center blogger who happens to practice a form of intimacy that I find repulsive. He doesn't need the extra talking-up, and I've never trusted the man.

Since the debut of the firestorm over an amendment to the Federal Constitution on the question of marriage, his writings had reaffirmed my decision not to trust him. That being said, I found this recently about The Purple Pundit Who Must Not Be Named:

Andrew Sullivan has always been a fundamentally shrill and emotional creature. He's got all the emotional control and intellectual consistency of a mid-pubescent eighth-grade schoolgirl. -- Ace of Spades HQ

It's a good thing that I have a heavy wooden chair with arms on it at my desk, or I would have fallen out of it laughing. It's true! It's true! It's all true, I deny none of it! I couldn't have summed up my reaction to his recent ravings more perfectly than that.

Tip of the Wisconsin hat to Jack Sparks of burn rate for this marvelous gem.

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Friday Five 13 February 2004

Uh, this isn't the blog entry you're looking for. There was collateral damage in the war on spam.

1. Are you superstitious?

Yes.

2. What extremes have you heard of someone going to in the name of superstition?

I...er...don't recall, Senator.

3. Believer or not, what's your favorite superstition?

Standardized repetition of pre-event procedure, whether it be pre-race or pre-test, or pre-speech.

4. Do you believe in luck? If yes, do you have a lucky number/article of clothing/ritual?

Yep. In high school cross-country/track and in college cross-country, I had a lucky necklace that I almost always had stashed on me somewhere. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. It was there for all the victories, be they on the course, on the track, or on the road.

5. Do you believe in astrology? Why or why not?

No, I don't. Too easy to inject a lot of pagan hoo-ha into it. I also have this vague memory of the witch at Endor or something, and bad things happening as a result.

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Friday Five 20 February 2004

When was the last time you...

1. ...went to the doctor?

Er, some time late last year to get some antibiotics, I think.

2. ...went to the dentist?

December for the regularly-scheduled six month checkup.

3. ...filled your gas tank?

That would have been Sunday, for the long-range commute.

4. ...got enough sleep?

Last weekend. Beds are good things. Humans are meant to sleep; that's why our eyes close.

5. ...backed up your computer?

At some point in the past. I'm not entirely sure when.

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Thou Hast Been Weighed and Found Wanting

So there's a bit of buzz on the 'net about some new-ish blog named "Wonkette". Having gone there and read it, I'm not impressed. Billed as "a guide to DC politics and culture", it reads as if it's some sort of gossip rag or Tina Brown-esque puff piece.

Enh. And yet it is popular.

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Much Thanks to Comrade Commissar

It seems that the Politburo, realizing its oversight in not naming your humble correspondent to the DEMCOM Deck of Dangerous Bloggers, has seen fit to award Kountrypundsk with the following:

-Mention in The Bloggers' Bestiary as one of the Commissar's favorite blogs.

Thank you, Comrade Commissar! The Party and people of Kountrypundsk appreciate the munificence of the Central Committee and look forward to the fraternal blogospherist revolution. Someone schedule a spontaneous mass outpouring of thanksgiving and have a parade.

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Friday Five 06 February 2004

1. What's the most daring thing you've ever done?

Running under a moving tractor and trailer, or asking this certain girl to the prom. Both successful.

2. What one thing would you like to try that your mother/friend/significant other would never approve of?

Probably street racing, eh.

3. On a scale of 1-10, what's your risk factor? (1=never take risks, 10=it's a lifestyle)

A 6. Calculated risks are standard operating procedure, but I'm not stupid, either.

4. What's the best thing that's ever happened to you as a result of being bold/risky?

That I got exactly what I wanted with no collateral damage to persons, property, or psyche.

5. ... and what's the worst?

5. That I didn't get what I wanted and there was collateral damage.

UPDATE: Bugger, somebody named Bec beat me to first.

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The Commissar's Cards

Massive crowds have gathered throughout Kountrypundsk in reaction to the latest production from The Politburo Diktat.

Comrade Commissar has followed in the footsteps of Brigardier General Vincent Brooks, USA, and has issued a deck of customized playing cards "to identify dangerous bloggers, regime holdouts, and hardcore Blaa-blaah-ists."

It's an amusing thing, and it is enjoyed, just like every other thing that the Commissar's produced in this vein. As with those other products, CC's put Glenn Reynolds at the top of the heap, as the Ace of Spades. Hrrm. Instahussein?

Unfortunately, the Country Pundit found that this production was not included. It's like being a gangster who finds out that the FBI just doesn't care about you. Might have to go and do something rash, in the words of C-3P0.

Oh well. There's always the hope that I'm scheduled for inclusion in the upcoming collectible card game as an ultra-rare card. If not that, the crowds will definitely march on the local offices of the Diktat, and exact the revenge of the people.

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Friday Five 30 January 2004

Yes, this is a day late. I forgot to do it.

You have just won one million dollars:

1. Who do you call first?

I'd definitely call my parents first. Probably not a good idea, but I'd do it anyways.

2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself?

Independence from my bloody academic loans, that's what!

3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else?

Er, I'd buy the restoration of my father's old 1960s muscle car.

4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom?

Ten percent to my Methodist church of choice, for use in the local programs where I will have control in the disbursement of the money. I'll not have my money wasted on left-wing social experiments at the hands of the national Methodist establishment.

I'd also try to find someone who I could trust to administer another ten percent in donation to local charitable organizations.

I'd also endow a scholarship at my alma mater, along with putting the cross-country team on a strong financial footing. Perhaps an annuity?

5. Do you invest any? If so, how?

Buy stock in the Norfolk Southern Railway (NYSE: NSC) along with CSX Transportation (NYSE: CSX), and put some money in Lockheed-Martin (NYSE: LMT) & Boeing (NYSE: BA).

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The Difference Between Liberals, Conservatives, and Southerners

Recently, from Right Wing News: The Difference Between Liberals, Conservatives, and Southerners.

I disagree distinctly with the stereotype of Southerners in terms of grammar and speech, but I'm still laughing at the rest of the content.

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Friday Five 16 January 2004

1. What does it say in the signature line of your emails?

Nothing, unfortunately.

2. Did you have a senior quote in your high school yearbook? What was it? If you haven't graduated yet, what would you like your quote to be?

My high school was too cheap to give us senior quotes. I'd hate to have to try and think back through a fog of bad memories and multiple years---gah, coming up on too many---to figure out my mindset as of the time and come up with one.

3. If you had vanity plates on your car, what would they read? If you already have them, what do they say?

At one point in time, I was going to try and figure out some variant of "Liz Phair", just for the heck of it. There was a time when Miz Liz was my favorite singer/song-writer. Heck, I'm still quite fond of her.

The real answer to this is, I'm afraid, not for publication.

4. Have you received any gifts with messages engraved upon them? What did the inscription say?

Yes, it was from an uncle of mine. I had to throw the bloody thing in the fire, and it said, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them...

Just kidding. I can't recall any engraved gifts like that.

5. What would you like your epitaph to be?

Virginian.

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