THANKS FOR NOTHING, MR SIZZLYPANTS

Those of you living in the US or UK will be hearing a lot about the Nigerian al Qaeda wannabe who was foiled in his attempt to do a Richard Reid. A lot of what you’ll hear will likely be wild hysterical speculation devoid of facts. As usual. And that’s just the TSA.

I know the last thing anyone wants to hear at a time like this is reasoned discussion and rational measures. But when the local news reported that the TSA responded by imposing new rules banning people from using electronics or leaving their seat for the last hour of a flight or having anything in their laps, the bridal unit looked at me and said:

“So if the terrorist already has a bomb on the plane, he has one less hour to set it off. Why is that safer again?”

Which is funny because security expert Bruce Schneier said more or less the same thing:

What sort of magical thinking is behind the rumored TSA rule about keeping passengers seated during the last hour of flight? Do we really think the terrorist won't think of blowing up their improvised explosive devices during the first hour of flight? ...

... Only one carry on? No electronics for the first hour of flight? I wish that, just once, some terrorist would try something that you can only foil by upgrading the passengers to first glass and giving them free drinks.

See also: Xeni Jardin’s take on the new rules.

Pants on fire,

This is dF

JULIE NEWMAR DRIVES MONKEYS WILD

Julie Newmar IS April Conquest.



She’s also Catwoman, yes. But you knew that.

Oh all right, here’s a couple of Catwoman pics.



And an unembeddable tribute video set to a Tom Jones song.

Good morning.

Meow,

This is dF

GENTLEMEN WEAR TOP HATS

The Interwub: they have everything there, you know.



Never steal a panda’s hat,

This is dF

MANCHMAL GLAUBE ICH, DASS ICH WEG LAUFEN MUSS

I’ve talked before in this space about “Tainted Love”, and how it’s been covered by a surprising amount of people, most of whom take a cover version (Soft Cell) rather than the original (Gloria Jones) as a reference point.

Apparently, the same applies to 1920s German music hall revivalists.

"The Budos Band "Aphasia"" (Watch on YouTube)

[Glommed via drhoz ]

That’s Max Raabe , who has been making a living out of this sort of thing for awhile now. For me, it’s like Hayseed Dixie doing bluegrass AC/DC covers – it doesn’t always work, but when it does, it’s dead on.

Which is the case with Raabe’s take on “Tainted Love”. Even though it takes its cue from the Soft Cell version, it still works as a 1920s pastiche. That’s a compliment to both the original song and Almond/Ball’s arrangement.

Talent borrows, genius steals,

This is dF