Music for empty rooms, spooling loops, and palindromes that don't quite work.

Vacancy  (00:39)

While going through my server logs a week back, I noticed some odd traffic. The site was getting hits from keywords like "Viagra" and "Cialis." This is strange, considering that I've never really had much interest in, ahem, male enhancement products. When I checked my site in Google, I found this bit of oddness:

I did some research, and the diagnosis seemed to be that the site had been hacked.

Except it hadn't. I went through and checked for all of the usual symptoms, but found none. File permissions and timestamps were unchanged. There was no unusual FTP traffic. My database was clean. I followed Chris Pearson's advice and checked for rogue files. There were none. I ran Cotton Rohrscheib's scripts against everything, but I found no base64_decode functions other than where they should be. My theme files are hand-coded, so it was a trivial matter to rule out tampering.

WordPress wasn't the problem. My server wasn't the problem. Foreigners and hippies weren't the problem.

That leaves Google.

We know now that the ATF sat by and let straw purchases of weapons happen in Phoenix.  We know they reassured dealers that the weapons would be tracked.  We know that didn't happen, and that those weapons have been used in dozens of homicides.

As of today, we also know that the ATF themselves purchased weapons and sold them to criminals.  Apparently, John Dodson was given authorization and ordered by Supervisor Voth to pick up a few Draco pistols and deliver them to suspects.

I'm not sure why Dodson didn't bring this up during his testimony to Congress back …

News comes that politicians in Boston are looking to curb violent crime by restricting the sale of knives.

There's some precedent for this across the Atlantic. In the United Kingdom, they responded to a high homicide rate by banning guns. Something had to be done.

Then they saw an epidemic of knife crime, so they banned many types of knives. Something had to be done.

Then folks started assaulting each other with pint beer glasses, and something had to be done. They considered mandating plastic glasses.  I am not kidding.

When folks start beating each other with tire irons, rolling pins, …

By now, you've likely heard of Attack Watch, a site on which loyal citizens can report their friends, neighbors, politicians, boss, or gardener for spreading "misinformation" about the President and his agenda.  The site is registered to Obama for America, an underdog organization with only about $140,629,243 in capital.  It's not quite the Ministry of Love, but it'll have to do.

I got to thinking, and I've been pretty hard on the guy myself.  In fact, I'm positively wracked with guilt.  As such, I've turned myself in to the site.  I advise anyone else who's disagreed with the administration to do so as well.  Consider it a gesture of purgation and reconciliation.  Really, isn't it time we started healing as a country?

I've also taken the proactive step of reporting anyone I suspect of not having the moral character to do so themselves.  A short list follows.

John Crewdson has an article on Bloomberg in which he laments the progress of H.R. 822.  One implication of the bill is that a New York resident could bypass his own state's requirements by simply getting a non-resident concealed weapon license from Florida, which New York would have to honor.

Apparently, this represents such an existential crisis for Mr. Crewdson that he applied for a Florida license. He details the process in the article, along with the fact that he lied on the application:

I’ve never touched a handgun and I haven’t been to Florida in decades, yet

…

Oh, this is just lovely. A company called StarvingEyes Advergaming is hosting a Flash game called Tea Party Zombies Must Die. It's a first-person shooter that allows the player to kill zombiefied versions of Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and other Tea Party celebrities.

What's that again about conservatives being hate mongers?

This is one of the most unique works of fiction I've read in awhile.  A summary doesn't do it justice, but I'd recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in science fiction or fantasy.

Spoilers ahead.  If you don't want the good bits given away, go read the book, then come back.

On second thought, that would make reading this article pointless.  Oh well.   Do what you want.  Free country and all.

For someone claiming unalloyed fealty to the Constitution, Rick Perry sure does want to tinker with it. He's called for repeal of the 16th and 17th Amendments, and he wants new ones to outlaw abortion and gay marriage.

This guy wants to take our founding document and tailor it to fit his personal whims. That should scare the living daylights out of any American.

Equally strange are his plans for the Supreme Court. He wants rolling term limits for Justices, and he wants to give Congress the power to overrule verdicts by a 2/3 vote. Both ideas are wretched, and both have been tried before.

We were pretty slow at work this weekend. Apparently, Atlanta is not only hosting a football game, but Dragon*Con and Black Gay Pride as well. It's hard to compete with a lineup that covers that many bases.

Given this unprecedented confluence of diversity, one must inevitably wonder: is Lando Calrissian getting the respect he deserves? He could be a major influence for cultural integration and acceptance.

Seriously, look at the guy. He's all kinds of fabulous.

Now, I'm not implying anything here.  Lando does seem to prefer the company of …