Linkage XXI

Tipping Point? A guy out in Westlake Village heard a rumor that Hummer sales are going so badly that the local dealer was having to stash his bloated inventory off the lot just to keep from freaking out his sales staff and the buyers. So he did a little detective work and found 300 Hummers stashed away, and posted pictures on his blog. (Via LA Observed)

Ehud - tov, Omri - ra From The Revealer, an article on a list developed by Israeli rabbis of approved and disapproved names. Bad kings, like Omri, are out, along with goy-ish names - No Jennifers here! - and any theophoric names, ruling out not only names with the "yh" (from YHWH - the divine name) but also any with "el", the more generic word for God (or G-d, as these folks would prefer).

Note: I link to this not because I think what the rabbis are doing is silly. I don't, and I think, given the evidence, that quite a few people could have used some guidance before they named their kids. No, the real reason I linked to this is because I have dying to use the word "theophoric" in a sentence for some time. And now I have.

Shocking, Just Shocking Sometimes, there are good reasons for national stereotypes. Americans are fat, and Norwegians are polite. Now comes a study which confirms that Australians like to drink. Fifty-eight percent of Australians surveyed agreed with the statement that having too much to drink is "simply part of the Australian way of life". (via Crooked Timber)

Wow! Now That's a Bad Visual President Bush recently made a visit to some students at Howard University, a historically black college in D.C. The planning for the event did not go well, and students were surprised to know they were locked out of the cafeteria because it was in the same building the President was in. Later, campus security told angry students that because of the security need brought on by the visit "...if they wanted to eat they'd have to come back when the president and first lady were gone, then go to a service door at the rear of the dining hall and ask for a chicken plate to go." Wow! I mean, wow!

56.07 cups That's how much coffee I would have to drink in the 12oz cups I use at home to die from all the caffeine according to this nifty calculator. You plug in your weight and your favorite beverage and you get your red line. I've got a little more slack with Diet Coke - it would take 329.12 cans for me to peg out, but only 205.7 cans of Jolt cola and 185.13 cans of Red Bull. (via BoingBoing)