Overnight Open Thread

I just got back into town late last night and have been utterly swamped all day so I had zero time to prepare the ONT. So tonight you get the SUCK ONT made out of the detritus of lesser, failed ONTs.

How About Some Focus?

Because rock music really needs more yodeling. And scat singing. And maybe more Dutch bands.

European Countries Start Nationalizing Private Pension Funds
What happens when welfare states go bankrupt? Well they start doing things like this:

The most striking example is Hungary, where last month the government made the citizens an offer they could not refuse. They could either remit their individual retirement savings to the state, or lose the right to the basic state pension (but still have an obligation to pay contributions for it). In this extortionate way, the government wants to gain control over $14bn of individual retirement savings.

How Words Are Invented
Well by people who aren't named Palin:

Why are prolific neologists like Milton, Chaucer, and Shakespeare praised for coining new words while Sarah Palin is mocked for inventing a term like “refudiate”? Gene Veith, the Provost and Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, explains how words are (legitimately) invented.

Miniskirts Still Popular in Japan
Even when it's very cold. A trait I might add that is shared by the Geordie girls of England.

The Gathering Korean Storm
Is North Korea going to sell a nuclear device to Iran?

Besides, there are more troubling scenarios on the horizon. There may be a new wrinkle in Pyongyang's plans for its next nuclear test. Reza Khalili, a former Iranian Revolutionary Guards officer (and CIA operative) believes North Korea is preparing to test a device for Iran

With regional tensions at the highest levels in decades, the U.S. needs to enhance its military posture in the region. With the Washington, Vinson and the Reagan on station, U.S. commanders will have more than 150 additional fighter aircraft at their disposal. Those assets would be useful in conducting potential strikes against DPRK targets, protecting our recce assets over the Sea of Japan, or enforcing an aerial quarantine of North Korea.

Kitteh Wants Off The Trampoline
Or does he?

5 Reasons Women Are As Shallow As Men (According to Science)

In Memoriam: 10 Cars We Lost in 2010
Well I won't be missing the Honda Element much. My father has one and the few times I've driven it I've been unimpressed. It doesn't have much power and has a quirky interior layout and poor ergonomics. I've driven a lot of cars over the years and this is one of the few whose layout 'logic' completely baffled me.

The Yahoo AoSHQ group. You know the way.

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posted by Maetenloch at 10:23 PM

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