If You Were Pulled Over, at 2:30am, in Malibu, with a .12 Blood Alcohol, Who Would You Blame the World's Ill's On?

The Belgians, for obvious reasons.

The Slow Life

Ugh. While I have long been an advocate for not doing anything useful, this does seem a sad picture of late middle age...

The missing men are also more likely to live alone. Nearly 60 percent are divorced, separated, widowed or never married, up from 50 percent a decade earlier, the Census Bureau reports. Sometimes women who are working throw out men who are not, says Kathryn Edin, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania. In any case, without a household to support, there is less pressure to work, and for men who fall behind on support payments, an incentive exists to work off the books — hiding employment — so that wages cannot be garnisheed.

"What happens to a lot of guys who become unmoored from family life, they become unmoored from everything," Ms. Edin said. "They are just living without attachments and by the time they are 40 or 50 years old, the things that kept these men from falling away — family and community life — are gone."

But, then, perhaps this is one of the few vestiges of Protestant work ethic that I've yet to purge; the idea that working, just to work, is better than hanging out at home and doing something that you want to do.

I think that the specter of social disconnect bothers me the most...

... the young Klein has more substantive commentary.

Chronicler of the Hyborian Age

The Wizard has passed.

Man Law

When men instant message one another, they shall begin with the word "Yo."

Fantasy Dictator?

This is an awful, socially reprehensible game. I highly recommend it.

Soccer Blows

Let's be frank: Soccer, or "football" sucks and blows.

I know that the world loves it. I watched the final, just because a billion other people were watching it (let no one tell you that peer pressure is a bad thing). But it's one hell of a crappy sport. I really, really don't understand why all those foreigners run back and forth across the field for no apparent reason. It's not like they ever score any goals.

This is why Lord Vega has chosen the United States as the foundation for his new Empire. Say what you will about Americans, they don't care for soccer.

Thursday Deposed Monarch Blogging: Savoy

The House of Savoy is one of the oldest royal families in Europe. First rising to power in the 11th century, the family ruled an area covering parts of modern France, Switzerland, and Italy for nearly a thousand years. In 1730 they became Kings of Sardinia, and in 1861 the rule of all of Italy fell to the House of Savoy.

The penultimate King of Italy was Vittorio Emanuele III. He was a bit overfond of Mussolini, and was driven from the throne after World War II. Power briefly passed to his brother, Umberto II, before the monarchy was abolished and the royal family exiled. After the death of Umberto II in 1983, leadership of the House passed to Vittorio Emanuele, who would become Vittorio Emanuele IV if he ever manages to regain the throne.

Sadly, the latest Vittorio Emanuele is no prize. In 1978 he killed a guy. In 2002 he formally renounced the crown of Italy, which led monarchists to start favoring the Duke of Aosta. Apparently irritated by this turn of events, Vittorio Emanuel punched the Duke in the face at the wedding of King Juan Carlos' son. Since his return to Italy, Vittorio Emanuel has apparently spent his time recruiting prostitutes and making friends in the Mafia. This has not, strangely, endeared him to the Italian public.