Quick political question

Why is the head of Shin Bet an anti-Semite?

Israel 'may rue Saddam overthrow'
Yuval Diskin is concerned Iraq's instability could spread west

The head of Israel's domestic security agency, Shin Bet, has said his country may come to regret the overthrow of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. . . .

(Not a real question at all, actually, but an attack on a rhetorical flourish which was very much in fashion about, oh, two years ago, where anyone who questioned whether the policies du jour of Israel and the US were in the long-term interests of Israel was automatically branded an anti-Semite.)

So take that, Rule 11!

YOU ARE RULE 20(a)!

You are Rule 20, an important part of the Federal Rules' policy of permissive joinder. You are designed specifically to allow as many parties in an action as can be tried efficiently, and you'll include someone as long as there is some factual overlap between a claim involving them and the rest of the case at hand. You are popular, out-going, and are never far from friends. However, your overly gregarious nature and magnanimous approach do make things a bit crowded--you're the reason that lawsuits are often cluttered with innumerable parties and even more numberous claims for relief. Still, despite the crowds that you attract, you can't argue with the efficiency of getting everything done at once!


Which Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Are You?
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Five Unique Things meme

I got this from a friends-locked post.

I live with two people who are on my friendslist and we pretty much consider our property shared, but these are things that I consider "mine" that I'm pretty sure neither of my spice consider "theirs".

A CD that you own that you think no-one else on your friendslist does.
Mojo Nixon and Jello Biafra, Prarie Home Invasion claimed by sturgeonslawyer
The Song Retains the Name II (a very odd Led Zepplin tribute album by very un-Zepplin musicians)

A book that you own that you think no-one else on your friendslist does.
Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front, the editors of Aberjona Press

A movie that you own on DVD/VHS/whatever that you think no-one else on your friendslist does.
The Spirit of '76 by Lucan Reiner

A place that you have visited that you think no-one else on your friendslist has.
Sid Sackson's basement.
Limiting this to semi-public places, the steam tunnels under Duke Medical Center. (Hmm. Maybe paleogrrl has been there or possibly sarah_ovenall. nellorat has been in part of the tunnels, but not under the hospital.)

A piece of technology or any sort of tool that you own that you think no-one else on your friendslist does.
Technology: A FIX (Financial Information eXchange Protocol) engine. Tool: an IDE/USB adaptor kit (so cool).

Idiot's Delight tonight

If I spend Saturday evening at home, I try to listen to Vin Sclesa's Idiot's Delight, a four-hour freeform show combining chat with interesting people with music from Vin's exhaustive rock-and-jazz library.

Tonight, he has had two guests. The first was singer Syd Straw (formerly of the Golden Palaminos, etc.). A fun interview, and a lovely voice.

The other is Ken Emerson, whose most recent book, Always Magic in the Air, was recently recommended by supergee. This is a history of the "Brill Building" songwriters, who created a large percentage of the interesting pop music during the period between the first flourishing of rock'n'roll (1954-58) and the British Invasion (1963-on); a longer review appeared in The New York Review of Books late last year.

Emerson also wrote a book about Stephen Foster (Doo-Dah!: Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture), and the crossover is that Straw sang what Emerson considered to be the definitive version of one of Foster's songs, "Hard Times".

Anyway, the vast majority of the show has been an exploration of Always Magic in the Air, and has been an utter delight. It should show up in WFUV's Idiot's Delight archives sometime in the next few days, and I recommend it to anyone interested in the less-explored portions of the early history of rock-and-roll--the parts that fell between the cracks.