(no subject)

There's a nice ends-vs-means discussion over at Halfway down the Danube regarding police actions during a kidnapping case in Germany. If you like moral dilemma stuff and aren't adverse to using real-life examples for discussion, you might go take a look.

Personally, I wonder why on earth so many interesting things come out of Germany... and this without even discussing their porn. I'm sure you all recall that Germany was the country who brought us the kill-cook-and-eat-someone-with-permission case. Is that murder? Can the guy actually give consent? Where is the line between sick fantasy and totally librarian-poo? Oh, it was delighful on several fronts... and now we have "Is it okay to threaten to torture a kidnapper for information on the kidnappee?" The fun just never stops over there in Germany. What a country!

(no subject)

Sometimes, you can go through life for thirty-odd years and not know what it is you need. Sometimes, needs go from not existing at all to burning like one of those strike-anywhere lucifer matches. I have a box of lucifer matches for the woodstove. I am continually amazed by their strike-anywhere flame... and reminded, every time I use one, of the way they used to make my cigarettes taste like the fumes of hell. Welcome to the Salvadore Dali painting that is my life. Anyway, here I have this need that's flaming up like a lucifer match that's been struck against a brick wall and is snarling to unrepentant life. Until ten minutes ago, I could have gone happily through life without ever needing to look at nekkid french rugby players. But that was oh-so-ten-minutes-ago. Now, I need this calendar.

As you might reasonably expect from the buildup, the calendar in question contains pictures of nekkid french rugby players. It contains classy pictures of very hot nekkid french rugby players, though to be fair the distinction classy is not particularly a requirement for my enjoyment. (The distinction very hot is, indeed, a requirement.) Now, I have an excess, it could be said, of discretionary income. I could well afford to buy a calendar of nekkid french rugby players, even an expensive one. The Euro is running at about 1 Euro to $1.33, so this would cost me thirty bucks, plus shipping. Would I get thirty dollars of enjoyment out of this? I think maybe. How about if I pawed through it and then also loaned it out to interested friends to paw through it? I think I could get thirty dollars of entertainment out of it then.

How do I feel about ordering from amazon.co.fr? Ah thin ah kin hannel it. I've bought stuff from amazon.co.jp and stuff from amazon.co.uk -- I'm practically an expert at using foreign-language amazons.

Nekkid french rugby players. Who knew?

Update: Amazon.co.fr KNOWS WHO I AM. The username and password that get me into regular amazon.com work okay for amazon.co.fr *and* they have all my addresses on file and everything. Now *that* is using your database for the forces of good. Way to go, assorted amazons!

Also, I presume Un e-mail de confirmation vient de vous être envoyé. means "We've sent you an email confirmation of your purchases" or something along those general lines. Nekkid french rugby players, indeed.