January 10th, 2004
Posted by fad at 4:47pm
So Bay Area Indymedia is fracturing (forking? purging?). Some are gleeful; others show resignation. Mainly I'm just disturbed that they continually refer to themselves as "the collective".
Posted by fad at 1:29pm
A little over a week ago, North Korea announced it was going to let a US delegation into its main nuclear facility. Some chose to see this as a thaw and further proof of the cascading victories of the Bush administration's policies. I was less sure specifically writing, "Either that or they want to use the trip as an opportunity to drop just enough evidence to keep everyone guessing or off guard." Today comes this report on the visit.
North Korea's official KCNA news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying: "As everybody knows, the United States compelled the DPRK to build a nuclear deterrent. We showed this to Lewis and his party this time."Goddamn I'm smart. Oh wait. I'm not supposed to say that outright. According to the blogger template, I'm supposed to say "Advantage Rodya" when I really mean "Goddamn I'm smart".
It is important to note the phrasing North Korea uses. "[T]he United States compelled". First rule with batshit regimes is that all problems, crackdowns, and negative actions are always blamed on some external. This is how it has always been. Luckily for such regimes, 20th century academics and their descendents created whole schemes and realities to confirm this. Some did so in sympathy to the Soviet Union to explain away its crimes, others in antipathy to the United States because they could not stand such a power not ruled by philosopher kings, and still others because they got caught up in the disengaged world of academia.
As the North Korean government well knows, since they are the appearingly weaker partner, theories of colonialism, post-colonialism and power structures excuse all its behaviors. You, as the weaker partner, have no choice in your actions because of the physical and psychological pressures applied by the dominate power. In such a situation, any action, no matter how damaging, destructive or murderous, is allowable as long as it is part of the struggle against the stronger power.
This is why the digusting murder of suicide bombing is excused. This is why murderers and thieves are celebrated because their actions were merely reactions to the oppressions of societal structures. And this is why such useful fools will excuse North Korea's nuclear program as being a reaction to the Axis of Evil designation. Since "facts" are just creations and illusions of whatever the dominate structure wants, it will be ignored that North Korea felt this compulsion ever since 1994 when they signed the Jimmy Carter brokered agreement.
But I digress.
Posted by fad at 11:36am
January 9th, 2004
Posted by fad at 4:09pm
And here I thought I was paying attention. Turns out Canada wants to play along with Missile Defense.
Canada will intensify discussions with Washington in coming days on its possible participation in a proposed U.S. missile shield, Canada's Minister of Defense said Thursday.Well, maybe. Lots of weasel diplo speak in there, but still interesting. At least to me.
Canada has been talking with the Americans for months about the proposed missile shield and intends to exchange letters "in the next little while" on future discussions, Defense Minister David Pratt said.
Posted by fad at 2:40pm
Wanna own a piece of crazy? Now's your chance!
The writings and personal photographs of Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski should be sold, with the earnings given to his victims, or they should be donated to a university, a federal judge ruled.Sweet!
"Lurking in the background is the United States' seeming implicit desire to remove Kaczynski's ideas from public view, in whole or in part," Hollows wrote.Well, as long as he doesn't specifically mention any candidate within 60 days of an election, that is.
But, Hollows said, "The court will not permit Kaczynski's ideas to be censored, or otherwise kept from public view, no matter how bogus they may appear to the undersigned or others. That some may find an idea offensive does not shield the idea from First Amendment protection."
Posted by fad at 1:15pm
Via Slashdot comes one of the best takes on postmodernism/lit-crit I've read in a while.
What you have is rather like birds on the Galapagos islands -- an isolated population with unique selective pressures resulting in evolutionary divergence from the mainland population. There's no reason you should be able to understand what these academics are saying because, for several generations, comprehensibility to outsiders has not been one of the selective criteria to which they've been subjected. What's more, it's not particularly important that they even be terribly comprehensible to each other, since the quality of academic work, particularly in the humanities, is judged primarily on the basis of politics and cleverness. In fact, one of the beliefs that seems to be characteristic of the postmodernist mind set is the idea that politics and cleverness are the basis for all judgments about quality or truth, regardless of the subject matter or who is making the judgment. A work need not be right, clear, original, or connected to anything outside the group. Indeed, it looks to me like the vast bulk of literary criticism that is published has other works of literary criticism as its principal subject, with the occasional reference to the odd work of actual literature tossed in for flavoring from time to time.As I am not one of the many Instapundit suck-ups, I will not use the now cliched phrase that usually follows such a linking.
Posted by fad at 1:01pm
The glorious St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the interest of balance had op-eds about mad cow. One by Stephen Milloy, thin-skinned Cato adjunct who specializes in going after politicized science. He actually cites studies and reports. The other by PETA. Yes, PETA. They are a reasoned voice in a point-counterpoint as far as the P-D is concerned. Here is a healthy sample of the arguments used. After going on about the evils of mass production of meat, we find the true cost of this practice.
As a consequence, billions of animals have lived and died in misery, without even a few minutes of joy, ever. A dust bath for a roosting hen, a pig's cooling mud bath and a cow's few weeks with her calf have become luxuries that cut into profit.But so many humans have had tasty, cheap steaks!
Now it has come back to haunt us. Cheap-and-easy meat at the grocery store has sent heart disease rates soaring.Where are her facts that this is the exact cause of soaring heart disease? Where are her stats showing that heart disease is indeed soaring beyond controls such as better detection and longer lifespans and other lifestyle changes?
Children whose parents took them to a fast-food restaurant died in agony after eating hamburgers contaminated with E. coli.That was well over a decade ago, if I remember. She neglects the E. coli breakout in Milwaukee due to a tainted water supply. Water ain't meat. She neglects to mention the hepatitis break out due to green onions. Green onions ain't meat.
If the farmed animal industry can't feel true compassion in their hearts for animals, perhaps the deadly consequences of their practices will persuade the rest of us to demand change.That's a nicer echo of the statement by Ingrid Newkirk, co-founder of PETA who said in 2001, "I openly hope it [mad cow] comes here."* There are probably many arguments against the treatment of many of the animals that show up as meat, however they aren't found in here.
*Unfortunately I can't find any of the news articles with this quote, but search on the phrase. You'll find quite bit of commentary on it, including from some of your favorite bloggers.
Posted by fad at 12:39pm
GODDAMMIT! I fucking hate being such an idiot.
Posted by fad at 12:03pm
This, my friends. Can I call you 'my friends'? No? Well, fuck you. Anyway, this is destined to be a Lifetime movie any week now. Or maybe HBO if they want to show tits.
Two San Diego County women arrested with a bag of the deadly poison ricin are suspected of plotting to kill a Camp Pendleton Marine married to one of them, federal authorities said.Maybe Maureen Dowd can write a column about them. She seems to have this thing for randomly tossing in stuff about lesbians since she got back from her vacation. It also has another of her favorite themes: what appears to be a very stupid man.
[...]
Authorities said Tepatti and Wood were lovers who plotted to kill Tepatti's husband for insurance money.
Navy investigators believe Tepatti shot at her husband early Sunday morning, using a potato as a silencer, but missed. She also is suspected of luring him last year to an Oceanside beach, where he was stabbed in the neck, Caldwell said.How the hell is she not in jail, and how the hell does he keep letting her get that close? I know that the abused will often go back to their abusers even as things escalate, but this sounds more like he was just generally clueless. I'm sure there are details that make him appear better, but they ain't in any report I read.
Posted by fad at 11:51am
"Bush to Welcome Foreign Leaders"
Ok, this immigration plan has gone too far. Now Bush is going to let foreigners take good, well-paying US leader jobs? This is where I draw the line!
Posted by fad at 11:08am
You want crimes against humanity? I got 'em right here.
HALF the pubs checked by trading standards officers in Edinburgh have been caught selling short measures.Fuckers. Looks like needs for another nude protest on my part.
Ten out of 20 bars visited by undercover officers were found flouting the law after serving a glass of whisky.
Posted by fad at 10:00am
This is just depressing. A religious studies professor at wacky Macalester College (where kids go to be hairy, patchouli soaked indoctrinates for large amounts of their parents' cash or credit) wrote a toss off book about a Hindu hero. Statements in the last chapter are misrepresented causing action by nutballs.
According to a report in the Chronicle of Higher Education, more than 150 people armed with bats and chains forced their way into the well-known institute, tearing pages from rare Sanskrit manuscripts, smashing a statue, breaking windows and destroying ancient writings on palm leaves. Officials said at least 25 rare old manuscripts were stolen.That is more damage and worse looting than anything that happened in Baghdad, yet this is the first I've heard of it. Where are the guardians of world culture who claim they weep at every loss? But I should avoid such comparatives. That's not the point. The point is the loss of these artifacts. Yeah, I get all gooey about old manuscripts and such.
UPDATE: Now with a link, or "linkage" as some seem to prefer calling it.
Posted by fad at 9:46am
Send in the peacekeepers!
Officials in the popular ski resort area of Killington want the town to secede from Vermont and join neighboring New Hampshire in a dispute over taxes.The ISM better send some Eager Young People to protest the crushing of their dissent and support their right to self-determination. As for myself, I shall strut around nude to express my solidarity.
[...]
Killington's Select Board wants to put the secession idea before voters on Town Meeting Day in March.
Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz said Killington has little chance of secession "absent an armed insurrection type of thing. ... A town is a construction of the state and exists at the pleasure of the Legislature."
Posted by fad at 9:21am
One great thing about a political campaign is that you can see outright the utter contempt activists have for the other gender. An article headlined "Seeking Women's Votes, Clark Changes His Style" begins with this.
Gen. Wesley K. Clark has begun to show a softer side.They seriously think women are looking to vote for someone who puts on a sweater and duck boots. The whole "wardrobe" thing is insulting to women as citizens, voters and thinking human beings. After the fuzzy clothing change comes the "sisterhood" parade. I knew a few women in college who usually didn't pay attention to politics but always voted a slate they were told to vote for otherwise they weren't good women helping the sisterhood. In this case teachers insulted these women by not treating them as individuals but as an amorphous block to be exploited. (For guys who didn't pay attention, they generally voted how their dads told them to or in what manner was most likely to gain them womanly sympathy.)
Gone are his navy blue suit, red tie and loafers, replaced by argyle sweaters, corduroys and duck boots.
At many campaign events recently, a woman has accompanied the general, who is retired, to introduce him. Earlier this week it was the lieutenant governor of Wisconsin. On Thursday General Clark was accompanied by Sherron Watkins, the Enron whistle-blower, who endorsed him here at a center for the elderly.CNN broke in the other day to announce about Ms. Watkins' endorsement. It wasn't that she had endorsed him. No, the big news was that she was going to endorse him. Yes, this was such big news to them it required a pre-announcement. Sorry to let them all know this, but Ms. Watkins is no more or less qualified on the endorsement front than I am. It's just another minor celebrity endorsement, like Madonna's.
And it is sending out fund-raising letters from Madonna announcing her support "not only as a celebrity but as an American citizen and a mother."Does this mean she's using her American accent again, or is she still on that creepy pureed transatlantic thing? Imagine all the inborn comedy of listening in on a conversation with a late 90s Madonna and Elijah Wood using his Frodo accent.
So how is this working out with some individual women?
Women in the general's audiences are divided. "My sense is that he is not the person I would vote for," said Lynn Gallin, one of about 400 residents of Bedford, N.H., who came on Tuesday to a Clark gathering. "I didn't think a military background is what the country needs right now. He just didn't sell me."I'm going to guess Ms. Gallin is very much against any aspect of the war. I'm also going to guess Ms. Gallin believes if there is a war, the US started it and can end it at any time. Just guesses though.
Other women say the military experience is part of the general's appeal. "I'm a Kucinich fan, but I think Clark is the most electable," said Shilo Porter-Elliott of Peterborough, who attended a "Conversation with Clark" in Peterborough, N.H.How one can easily go from Kucinich to Clark is rather confusing to me, but what the hey, maybe we'll see a Clark/Kucinich ticket in fall! It'd be dueling conspiracies.
| Dennis: | "We must bring down the mind control satellites orbiting above us at 40,000 miles!" |
| Wesley: | "Dennis, don't be ridiculous. As a Rhodes Scholar I know they are in geosynchronous orbit of about 23,000 miles. That's Rhodes Scholar. Wesley Clark. Right here." |
"When I met him, I wanted to know what happens if you interrupt and challenge a general," said Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton of Wisconsin, who was traveling with the general this week. "I didn't want to be party to the election of one more defensive, arrogant male. What I found was that it's part of his nature to understand the lives of women."See? Not all the insults are for the women. Men are well hated here as well. This is not saying there aren't arrogant, defensive male (btw, ever notice that someone who refers to a person by the terms "female" or "male" instead of "woman" or "man" generally has contempt for anyone of that gender?), but for this woman, that is her default setting for all men.
Politicos are lovely people.
Posted by fad at 8:07am
Too bad Bleeding Gums Murphy is dead.
The last pieces of a legendary collection, the nine Imperial Fabergé Easter eggs from Czarist Russia acquired over a lifetime by Malcolm Forbes, the publishing magnate, are to be sold at Sotheby's in New York in April, the auction house announced yesterday.But I hope the date with Billie Holiday went well.
Posted by fad at 7:41am
Finally, the perfect gift to give that overly-freaky Lord Of The Rings movie fan in your life.
Posted by fad at 5:35am
January 8th, 2004
I took the Classic Movie one too and got "Wuthering Heights" of which I know nothing except that Monty Python semafore version. Both these results are rather, uh, inaccurate.
(Inspired to take tests by reading results at A Small Victory and Redheaded Ramblings)
Posted by fad at 5:24pm
Posted by fad at 3:46pm
I'm sure many of you saw this story about the guy trying to sue the cable company for all his woes.
Cable TV made a West Bend man addicted to TV, caused his wife to be overweight and his kids to be lazy, he says.There's one really amazing fact about this story, though. One more quote from the story for emphasis.
And he’s threatening to sue the cable company.
Timothy Dumouchel wants $5,000 or three computers, and a lifetime supply of free Internet service from Charter Communications to settle what he says will be a small claims suit.
Dumouchel blames Charter for his TV addiction, his wife’s 50-pound weight gainWhat man is stupid enough to state in a court of law that his wife has gone all fat?
Posted by fad at 3:21pm
So that woman who claimed she lost the winning lottery ticket admitted that she lied. Don't worry; she had a good reason.
"I wanted to win," Battle said.Well, ok then!
"The numbers were so overwhelming. I did buy a ticket and I lost it. I wanted to win so bad for my kids and my family. I apologize."Hey, she's apologized. She deserves another chance. Let's let her be governor of Connecticut.
Posted by fad at 2:11pm
Show and tell was never this interesting when I was in school.
A PARENT brought a human cadaver arm to a US school and opened it up during a discussion about surgery, causing a fifth grade student to faint.Beats the hell out of Milhouse's stupid toy horse.
[...]
During the discussion, Horowitz opened the cadaver arm to show students the nerves and other parts.
Horowitz said he was surprised by the complaints, saying he has visited the school in the past with cadaver ears, eyes and a brain.Halloween must kick ass at this guy's house.
The boy who fainted had passed out for about 10 to 20 seconds, Berzonski told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.That poor kid is going to get teased for months. Bet it ends up turning him into a cannibal. Or an oboist.
Posted by fad at 2:08pm
The elevator smells like Crunchberries.
No, that's not code for anything. It really smelled of Crunchberries. Yes, you need to know this.
Posted by fad at 12:36pm
Another terrible AP report about what appear to be money and control motivated conclusions drawn from a study. Here's the headline:
"Study: Obesity raising disability rate"
Pretty definite sounding, ain't they? So what are the actual facts of the study?
For those 30- to 39-years-old, the number reporting disabilities increased from 118 per 10,000 people to 182 per 10,000 people from 1984 to 1996. Among those 40- to 49-years-old, the number rose from 212 per 10,000 to 278 per 10,000 in the same period.So what does obesity have to do with all this? Let me quote two other bits from the article.
[...]
The number of cases stemming from musculoskeletal problems and diabetes grew more rapidly than those from other problems during the length of the study. The proportion that were diabetes-related doubled.
Disability rates rose sharply in the last two decades among those under 60, and obesity appears to be the main reason, according to a study released Thursday.Bold tags added by me because the "b" reminds me of a big, fat belly. Notice there is no direct link. They merely saw conditions which obesity could cause or make worse and decided obesity must be the main culprit for all of it. Real scientific. Of all of them, I'll give them the increase in diabetes which has the strongest causation to obesity. Otherwise, it's really not as definite as the headline or the introduction would make you think. It gets a lot more indefinite as you read more.
[...]
The leading causes of disability are mental illness and musculoskeletal problems - such as chronic back pain - which are linked to obesity.
The ballooning obesity problem isn't the only culprit, the study said.So it could be many things; they don't know. They just picked obesity. Why? Gee, I hope it has nothing to do with the fact that the "Do something! Anything!" cries of the moment all involve obesity. I'd hate to think they made weak links seem strong just to get some political clout or pork. Even worse would be to make me continue using these annoyingly sarcastic sentences.
The growth in disability could be the result of increased incentives to report disability and could be linked to advancing medical technology, the report said. Medical advances have saved people who normally would have died, but many end up needing help and going on disability.
Posted by fad at 12:23pm
That goody-two-shoes aspirin has had too much good press. It's about time we chopped it in the knees.
Regular aspirin use for 20 years or more may be associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer in women, say researchers analyzing data from a long-standing study.Ha! Take that! Now if I can just find out where exactly the knees are on aspirin. Then again:
Past studies in human pancreatic cells and in laboratory animals have also suggested that aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may inhibit the development of pancreatic cancer.So I guess the lesson here is to take aspirin, then puke it up. That way you get the best results of both studies.
Posted by fad at 11:30am
Yesterday Crazy Russian drove me to work. Now, as I said in the introduction, I'm quite used to his crazy, angry driving. Firing down the road to a red light at about 60mph, Crazy Russian was more interested in something in the passenger seat to notice a) red light, and b) car which actually had stopped at said red light. We've come up quickly on cars before, and, let's just say I'm happy for seatbelts. I've always managed to keep quiet, but when we got within a few dozen yards, I admit I snapped, "B-B-BRAKES!" He, slammed his brakes and managed to stop just before hitting the other car.
"What? I stop. I have two eyes. One here; one there."
"Uh. Sorry. I won't say anything again."
"Two eyes. Relax. All is good. Relax."
Posted by fad at 10:56am
Since it's my site, and, well, no one reads it, I decided to add a little feature called "Cabbie Tales". I do not have a car right now. I take cabs to work pretty much every morning and home when the weather is unpleasant (otherwise I walk the 4 miles). Because the route is the same, and the times relatively the same, there is a group of cab drivers who most often take the far. As an introduction to this feature, here is a brief listing of the typical characters.
- Chatty Cabbie
- Chatty Cabbie drives the afternoons. He is approaching 70 years old, served in the military, has been a cab driver for over 20 years, has a heavy interest in computers though he doesn't understand them in the least, and loves to talk about all these things. He talks a million miles a minute in short, clipped, nonsensical phrases that leap from topic to topic. It takes 5 minutes upon reaching a destination to finally break free of him. Every trip ends, amazingly, with him attempting to bring closure to the topic with which he started the trip. Often, after mentioning a problem with his computer, then discussing for the next 10 minutes some strange story from his military days, he will end with, "And what this all means is that computers are difficult." or something like that.
- Crazy Russian
- Crazy Russian, who may be Ukrainian for all I know, drives like a maniac. Every time I get into his cab, I am convinced I am going to die, but at least it'll be a hell of a ride. Crazy Russian hates everyone else on the road and frequently expresses his displeasure vocally. You haven't lived until you've heard a man with a thick Russian accent attempting to do a redneck accent because the car in front of him has Kentucky plates. Bonus was the constant yelling of, "Look at this. Kentucky fried fucking chicken. Move you fucking Kentucky fried fucking chicken."
- Greasy Cabbie
- Actually a couple drivers fall into this category. They acted the exact same, so I lump them together as one character. Greasy Cabbie is an unpleasant guy in his 40s with a bad mustache, greasy unkempt hair, bad teeth and a habit for talking about stuff you don't want to hear. On the way to work is a high school. First time in Greasy Cabbie's cab, as we passed the high school, he suddenly said, "Boy, you shoulda seen the titties on this little 15 year old I drove yesterday!" Then he explained to me that his girlfriend wouldn't want him to talk like that. It was very important for him to let me know he had a girlfriend and that she was 24 years old. Now I've never successfully gotten a date, and it's been years since I've had anything resembling a girlfriend, but I have to admit, this didn't impress me. Greasy Cabbie also has a habit of short-changing you via a very obvious "air-grab" maneuver on the bills.
- Efficient Whiny Cabbie
- This guy is a great driver, nice guy, always efficient and fair, but every trip involves tales of woe. Business is terrible. The company is screwing him. The state is screwing him. Some guy he knew 30 years ago is cheating him. Basically, if the drive were any longer, you'd fear he was about to drive into a crowd for vengeance shall be his.
That pretty much covers the regulars. As new stories are created, I'll add them here whether you want them or not.
Posted by fad at 10:44am
I am on record somewhere in the archives as stating I thought the war to remove Saddam was illtimed and that the administration overhyped the potential WMD threat that Iraq posed. That said, I think only a morally blind fool can think that Iraq without Saddam is a bad thing. Also, being the attention paying monkey that I am, I also remember that WMD threat was not the only reason given, just the most hyped. The biggest thing with the lack of WMDs is that there were known quantities in the early 90s. Now those known quantities are nowhere to be found, nor is there any evidence of their destruction. Until evidence either way is found, the most logical conclusion is that they were moved. Either way, from the evidence found, Iraq was in clear violation of the UN resolutions.
However, this does not change the fact that US intelligence made strong claims even before the hype for well over a decade (that includes multiple administrations just to be clear) that have not panned out. US intelligence has a string of pretty damning failures, and not one person has been removed for it. The same people who were running things when this intelligence was collected during the 90s are still running things now. Therefore I largely agree with this report that intense investigations are needed of both the intelligence community and how the administration chose to use this intelligence. How this can be done without extreme politicalism, I do not know. In fact, I doubt it can be done which means, I guess, that any investigation will be uselessly bogged down in partisan attacks and protectionism.
However, I must disagree strongly with how the report I linked above is introduced.
Iraqi weapons programs threatened regional and global security in the long run, but they weren't an immediate danger to the United States - a key reason the Bush administration gave for going to war, says a report being released Thursday.That is completely false. In fact the opposite is true. The Bush administration never gave reason that there was an "immediate danger". Idiots who weren't paying attention (*cough*the media*cough*antis*cough) said that, but it was not a reason given. The administration actually said its reason was that "Iraqi weapons programs threatened regional and global security in the long run".
It is very hard to take seriously any report or study that is immediately introduced with an absolute falsehood.
Posted by fad at 8:34am
January 7th, 2004
Members of Congress can attend fund-raisers for the Republican Governors Association where corporate and union donations are solicited, but cannot urge donors to give such contributions, election officials said Wednesday.One assumes there will be FEC monitors at each of these events to make sure none of the Members of Congress, ah hell, Congressmen does a little *wink-wink* whilst there. I can see the accusations flying now. "He was winking!" "That's just the way Ted is! Be happy he left his pants on!"
Posted by fad at 3:55pm
Ok, raise your hand if two days ago you even considered the idea of Joe Gibbs returning to coach the Redskins. Now lower your hands. This ain't radio. I can't see you.
Wow. I wonder how the old boy will do.
Posted by fad at 12:56pm
Time for one of my favorite games! This is where I take the headline from an article, and then rewrite it to be more accurate.
Ok, here's the original headline:
"Global Warming Threatens Mass Extinctions -Study"
And here's the more accurate rewrite:
"Activists Looking At Remote Worst Case Scenarios Report Worst Case Scenario"
Posted by fad at 12:52pm
Ladies. Turns out that was a geiger counter in the pocket of that guy you beer-goggled on New Year's Eve.
The U.S. government secretly dispatched scores of casually dressed nuclear scientists with hidden radiation equipment to scour five major American cities for dirty bombs days before New Year's Eve celebrations, Fox News has confirmed.Though he may also have been happy to see you. We can neither confirm nor deny that at this time.
Experts were sent to Washington, D.C., New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Baltimore to make sure none of the radiological devices were planted.
Posted by fad at 11:01am
I've worked with many systems that could have used this.
Posted by fad at 10:35am
Since trackbacks from anyone other than my own tests don't work, I removed the related link on the posts that was taunting all your dreams.
Posted by fad at 9:38am
It's high time Australia finally built that wormhole to their far off, exotic land.
"The U.S. Transport Security Administration are now requiring that passengers on flights to the U.S. are not to congregate in groups in any areas of the aircraft, especially around the lavatories," a Qantas spokeswoman said.Looks like I'll have to fast for 4 days before I ever travel to Australia. Either that, or finally test the effectiveness of adult diapers.
Posted by fad at 9:34am
You know you can look forward to a pleasant day of work when the office begins to smell like a reststop on a humid day.
Posted by fad at 9:06am
Please ignore the below post. I just started writing, and appear to have been seized by Azhgon, Demon Lord of Boring Writing. I tried to shake him off, but he's a clever minor-devil. My only choice was to let him have his way.
Posted by fad at 8:52am
I was going to attempt my first fisk on this column by Helen Thomas. She employs her usual tactic. She picks the person she agress with, in this case Howard Dean, and then uses whatever that person has said as the unquestioned truth. Dean says that it is wrong to compare his secret energy commission to Cheney's secret energy commission. Since he said it, that's good enough for her. Nice to see that objective, skeptical journalist's mind at work there, ain't it?
But with all that, I decided not to bother. She is irrelevant. Interestingly enough, she has become fully irrelevant because Ari Fleischer moved on. You don't hear anything about her since Scott McClellan took over. Fun as it might have been, her words just aren't worth my time.
I wish the same were true of Maureen Dowd. While she employs a witty template to all her writing, that template prevents any real ideas or critical thoughts from entering in. Her writing is light, leaving the agreeable reader with a smug sense of how sophisticated and intelligent they are even though not the slightest bit of sophisticated intelligence appears in her columns. She was perfect for the 90s world in which we thought the grand motions of history were done, and the future was nothing more than celebrity watching with the occasional international barfight.
Unfortunately this is not our world, and she is left writing on weighty subjects. Her writing is still light, but is imbued with artificial weight because it appears on the op-ed pages of the New York Times. Many who substitute self-satisfaction for thought will take their information from her and think, "How clever I am to be reading the Times' editorial page!" On its own, her writing should have no merit and should be of no concern. The problem is less her than that the New York Times considers her babble to be worthy which, in turn, causes others to assume the same.
Paul Krugman is a special case. I really don't know how many of his readers care about the substance of what he is writing; casual readers on either side of the center can see he's shrill and over the top. I think most of them just get an adolescent thrill that someone on the pages of the New York Times is out there week after week essentially calling the President a doo-dee head.
Posted by fad at 8:27am
Hey, did you know that artists use sex to sell...er..express themselves?
While erotic art has been around for tens of thousands of years, editors of ARTNews, the largest circulation fine-art magazine in the world, report that the market is, well, heating up. So much so, said executive editor Robin Cembalest, the magazine decided to devote its January issue to Sex in Art. (The issue comes in plastic wrap to prevent newsstand peeping.)And since it's art we're talking about, they created that issue solely for aesthetic and artistic reasons, never for crass commercial ones. It's not their fault if the papers pay more attention giving free advertising which causes sales to go up. Maybe Eugene and Rusty will learn to appreciate art once the pages unstick.
The increase in erotic imagery in modern art reflects the more open sexuality of our times, said Cembalest. The depictions are changing, though: penises or phallic symbols are outnumbering female nudes, she said. Over history, male artists painted nude women, then, the feminist movement led female artists to paint themselves. Now men are increasingly making "confessional, autobiographical'' art, said Cembalest.I knew all those photocopies of my dick had artistic merit! But, oh no, trying to share them by posting them in the stalls of the women's bathrooms here was considered wrong. Philistines. Here I am being confessional, and they go and burn them. Unappreciated in my own time, I am.
Posted by fad at 8:01am
Sometimes it is just amazing the cruelty and stupidity out there.
Three men are accused of throwing an acquaintance's puppy from a speeding car and then kicking it after it survived.Why the hell would anyone do that to a puppy? I mean, especially considering there are so many cats in this world.
The puppy was found several days later in the area and reunited with its owner.I guess I had to include the happy ending.
Posted by fad at 7:50am
Clearly this article was intentionally timed to match my hankerin' of late for really, really spicy food.
At least, I thought it was horrifying until I later stumbled upon the curious "Mr. Chilehead: Adventures in the Taste of Pain" (ECW Press, 2003, $15.95) by James D. Campbell.Hold on there, Cap'n Mysticalpants. It is true that good hot stuff will provide a really nice high, there's no need to roll it in religiousity sauce too. Though I knew a guy back in college who probably could outdo Campbell. This guy was a heat freak. When we'd go for hot wings, he'd order the hottest ones (and the tastiest super hot wings I've ever had) and then go stand outside the kitchen berating the cook so that he'd make them extra hot. His snack food of choice was dried habanero. Once he made what he called Sunshine Burgers. This involved about 1.5lbs of beef mixed with some dried habanero flakes and about a tablespoon or so of Dave's Insanity Sauce. He made about 4 burgers from that which we were going to split. Halfway through the first burger, I started floating; halfway through the second, I had to roll over and take a nap. I never take naps.
Reading Campbell's oddly fascinating account of his love of hot chili peppers is equal parts disturbing (it starts with the words "Pain has a taste") and educational.
[...]
"The pain is very definitely integral to the experience," he said during a telephone interview from his home in Montreal. "Many people find the pain purifying. It cleanses the organism and exalts the spirit and therefore is a very fine thing indeed."
For a taste of the pain so-called chiliheads crave, try Campbell's intriguing Jalapeño Brownies. Though much hotter than I care for, the contrast of sweet and spicy was surprisingly good. Unless you want a mouth of fire, dice the peppers well.Ah, brownies. The universal "Dude, let's bake our shit in that!" food item. Recipe follows at the end of the article....I might have to hit the store tonight.
Posted by fad at 7:38am
January 6th, 2004
Posted by fad at 5:11pm
One thing you can always count on from an idiot is to say something idiotic.
A village judge has resigned after being accused of saying most women enjoy abuse and that domestic violence cases are a waste of the court's time.With ideas like those, he's almost qualified to be a basketball coach with Texas Tech.
[...]
Hamley was accused of telling a victim of domestic violence that such cases are "dragged out" and a "waste of the court's time." He also allegedly told a state trooper that most women enjoy being abused and they asked to get "smacked around," the commission said.
Posted by fad at 3:25pm
Please, somebody, anybody, tell Hillary! that humor just isn't her thing.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton apologized for joking that Mahatma Gandhi used to run a gas station in St. Louis, saying it was "a lame attempt at humor."She did get someone upset enough that she had to "regret" it, but gets an easy pass on this. As she should, because, even though it's a terrible joke, it's a pretty harmless one I'd think.
The New York Democrat made the remark at a fund-raiser Saturday. During an event here for Senate candidate Nancy Farmer, Clinton introduced a quote from Gandhi by saying, "He ran a gas station down in St. Louis."
Posted by fad at 1:49pm
So some nut shitters in Italy are sending letter bombs to the EU. Here's my really stupid question: I know it's batshitism either way, but does this count as international terrorism, or domestic terrorism?
Yes, this is one of those things that just gets wrapped up in my mind like hair in a vacuum cleaner.
Posted by fad at 12:53pm
Hmmmm.... Looks like the US thinking about folding some European bases.
The U.S. Air Force in western Europe is likely to shift to bases farther east and south where pilots can train with fewer air traffic constraints, a top Air Force commander in Europe said Tuesday.They even have a good non-political reason.
Most U.S. air forces in Europe are based in Germany, which was the focal point of U.S. and allied defenses against a potential Soviet attack during the Cold War. But the skies over European cities now tend to be crowded with commercial air traffic.Makes sense. Though I wonder if the costs of building new bases fully outweighs the costs of staying put.
[...]
"We have incredible air space constraints in the western part of Europe now, so the eastern part of Europe is more advantageous to us from that perspective as well," he said.
Posted by fad at 12:10pm
Whoops...When submitting code for review, it is wise to remove things used to entertain when working on something so boring such as a filename of "boogernaut".
Posted by fad at 11:22am
Important announcement! I have removed the "About Me" page as the joke had served its purpose.
You may now continue with your lives.
Posted by fad at 10:45am
Need to kill a little time at work? Take the Holocausts of Communism Test and help chip a bit at that whitewash.
(Test found at Ipse Dixit.)
Posted by fad at 8:40am
Hey, them Iranian leader fellers really are trying to modernize.
The Iranian capital has renamed a street that bore the name of the assassin of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, paving the way for a restoration of diplomatic ties between the nations, the official Iranian news agency reported Tuesday.I wonder what they renamed it to? Fluffy Bunny CT? Peace And Puppies Blvd? We Are One In Humanity ST?
The Tehran City Council renamed Khaled Islambouli Street at a meeting Tuesday. Islambouli was the Egyptian army lieutenant who shot Sadat at a military parade in 1981.
The street's new name is Intefadeh - after the Palestinian uprising against Israeli forces, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.Oh.
Posted by fad at 8:23am
One more P-D editorial. This one is about the desperate need for full public financing of campaigns. You know, I'll take papers like the P-D seriously on campaign finance once I see them endorse a bill that requires all newspapers with unsigned editorials that mention or endorse candidates and issues to operate with no more than a $100,000 annual budget. After all, money is not speech. Money is not the wise words these elder councils type out. The press is not money, and money is not the press. Sure, limiting money is effectively limiting speech, but the papers never had trouble with that when it involved me as a citizen pooling my money with others in order to advocate issues or candidates. Why should it bother them now?
Anyway, on to the Homer Simpson logic of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Regrettably, fewer taxpayers are choosing the tax form check-off - anemic as it is - even though more Americans than ever are complaining about the corrupting effect money has on politics and public policy.Really? "[M]ore Americans than ever are complaining"? Where is there basis for this? Oh, I know, like Homer said, people can make up stats for anything. 40% of all people, or "more Americans than ever", know that.
Then again, there are more American citizens than ever, just in pure population, so as a raw number, even if the percentage stayed the same or even decreased, they could claim that's an accurate statement. It's an intellectually dishonest one, though. But welcome to the only major newspaper in St. Louis!
Posted by fad at 8:03am
I would almost consider trying to start a "watch" on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, but it's clear the paper doesn't care, so why should I? After yesterday's "evil Halliburton, formerly run by evil Dick Cheney, was accused of doing evil things which evil Dick Cheney claims he didn't know even though he's evil and so is Halliburton. It appears to be innocent of these charges. Have we mentioned Halliburton is evil and that Dick Cheney used to run it evilly?" editorial, handled by Charles Austin here, comes this silly editorial.
On the surface, the editorial seems innocent. The topic of belated pardons for Swiss citizens who defied their government to rescue Jews from the Holocaust is admirable if a bit curious for the top editorial of the only major newspaper in a town just visited by the President of the United States. However, this editorial displays the consistent characteristics of P-D editorials. They are ham-handed and clumsy.
For clumsiness, today's editorial, discussing something that happened last week across the world, is clearly supposed to be subtly timed with the new US policy of fingerprinting and photographing those from selected countries as they enter. It is a ham-handed attempt to juuuusssst tinge the policy, and US immigration policy, with the brush of Nazism. The unsaid is there. Whereas the Swiss government closed up its borders necessitating brave citizens to defy it in order to save Jews from certain torture and death, today the US government is also working to close its borders. See how clever they are to bring this up like this?
For ham-handedness comes the conclusion.
Indeed, even as the country took its small step toward admitting its past failures, it was taking a larger step toward repeating them. The same day the pardons went into effect, Christopher Blocher, a far-right nationalist and anti-immigration zealot, took over as Minister of Justice. He immediately began drafting a plan to expel anyone without Swiss citizenship. Mr. Blocher's opponents can look forward to being pardoned in 2069.I know nothing of Mr. Blocher. He may indeed be a disgusting individual. But is the Post-Dispatch claiming that those in Switzerland who are not citizens are under the same threat as Jews during the holocaust? They must be since they have straight out made the two situations equal.
Oh well. At least somebody in their offices got to go home feeling all smug and stuff.
Posted by fad at 7:55am
This morning (well, morning here) Tim Blair pointed out an exciting new columnist the Guardian has engaged. One Osama bin Laden. However, Kathy Kinsley noticed the Guardian version appears to be a radio edit.
UPDATE: The comparison only works if you go to the On The Third Hand main page. It's the 7:59am post. You know, the one that is actually about all this.
Posted by fad at 7:21am
North Korea. Where being "bold" means "same crap as last time".
Pyongyang has called its offer "one more bold concession" aimed at resolving the standoff over its nuclear weapons programs.Wow. Fantastic! Oh wait a minute. They have some conditions. Well, I'm sure they are reasonable and fair.
North Korea would stop testing and producing nuclear weapons, as well as cease operating its nuclear power industry, the official North Korean state news service (KCNA) reported Tuesday.
• Take Pyongyang off its terrorism listIn other words the same things they've been demanding all along as reward for their blackmail. Though I don't see listed the non-aggression pact demand, but that could be included in military sanctions part. Doesn't matter anyway. Someone from the US delegation will sneeze or the dear leader's favorite for American Idol will be voted off causing North Korea to say it has been highly insulted and withdraws all offers.
• Lift political, economic and military sanctions
• Supply heavy oil, power and other energy resources
Posted by fad at 6:24am
January 5th, 2004
Posted by fad at 6:04pm
The management would like to apologize for the previous joke. The author, thinking he was on a roll today, got overconfident and decided to go for a lame "booty" joke. While the management cannot promise that jokes of such low quality will not happen in the future, it does promise they won't involve the word "booty".
Posted by fad at 4:00pm
Arrrggghhhhh, matey!.
Former Philadelphia 76ers president Pat Croce plans to open a pirate museum in this island city, once a base for seafaring outlaws.After the museum, you can go to the beach to look at all the booty.
Croce, known for his daredevil personality, bought a building in Key West's (search) downtown for $3 million last week. He hopes to open Pirate Soul in the fall.
Posted by fad at 3:57pm
Balloon powered space launches?
The system would use a 175-foot-long balloon to lift a small satellite 25 miles above the surface of the planet. At 120,000 feet, a small rocket would drive the satellite into orbit.Boy, once the courts cleared the way to photograph Barbra Streisand's house from the air, the floodgates just burst.
[...]
A balloon also could be launched on much shorter notice than a rocket. J.P. hopes to be able to put a satellite into space by balloon in about 90 minutes.
The disadvantage of the system is that micro-satellites will stay aloft only for about three weeks before burning in the Earth's atmosphere.Three weeks is all I need, baby. Plus they clean up after themselves.
Posted by fad at 3:27pm
President Bush is finally in town. The primary focus, other than fundraising, for the trip is education and to tout the No Child Left Behind Act. Perhaps they could educate some people at the Post-Dispatch how to use a spell-checker.
He said he hoped to tell Bush that the effort needs more federal money, and he particularly wants federal money to replace state money that is no longber going to school districts that take part in the city-county voluntary desegregation plan.I added that emphasis. Me. The emphasis that was added was added by me and no one else. Now I misspell all the time here. While there are many reasons, there are no excuses. There are certainly no excuses for a newspaper, especially the only major newspaper in town, to have such obvious errors. Or maybe monopoly is the excuse.
Posted by fad at 3:10pm
I was at lunch today with a number of people who firmly believe that Republicans are Nazis. Lots of jokes about Goebbels being too left-wing for most modern Republicans and such. The topic that today began the policy of fingerprinting and photographing foreign visitors to the US came up. This crew found the idea absolutely disgusting and even more proof of the Nazification of America. One of them mentioned about that Brazilian judge who had retaliated by requiring the same of US visitors (and, wow, talk about judicial, non-democratic power that a single judge could do so). They thought that was hilarious. I mentioned that the judge had called the US policy equal to any Nazi abuse, something they totally agreed with, but that the judge had then imposed the exact same policy he found so repugnant meaning he, therefore, felt it proper to answer what he saw as Nazism with those same policies.
They didn't see the connection. I decided to shift the conversation back to work.
Posted by fad at 2:32pm
FIRE!
Hundreds of witnesses reported seeing fireballs cross the skies of northern Spain on Sunday in what authorities said may have been a disintegrating meteorite, Spanish radio said.See? If Kyoto were implemented, the atmosphere wouldn't be strong enough to repel space rocks being space launched at us by our space enemies!
[...]
Jose Angel Docobo, director of the University of Santiago's observatory, said the phenomenon could have been caused by a rock orbiting the sun which had collided with Earth.
Posted by fad at 1:54pm
Since the local store didn't have my usual contact solution, I had to try another brand. Results have been mixed. Here is a brief review written up in the ISO90006 standard PRO/CON format.
- CONS:
- After a few hours, a film starts to form over the lenses.
Every morning I wake up with my eyes cemented with large crusties.
Wearing the lenses beyond 5 hours becomes quite impossible.
Various worshippers keep following me around assuming the bleeding from my eyes is stigmata related. - PROS:
- The crusties are actually quite tasty.
The constant, low-grade burning sensation is very effective at keeping me awake.
Extreme bloodshotness really brings out the green in my eyes.
Posted by fad at 11:39am
I'm sure everyone has seen that column (first noticed by me at Tim Blair's) about how Bush and war supporters are so because they are so stupid. If you haven't seen it, well, then you're stupid!
Anyway, I'm guessing this column is going to get exactly what it was aiming for: a bunch of neanderthal, angry letters from right-wingers. It will also get many well thought out, funny emails from right-wingers too, but guess which ones the Seattle P-I will most likely or prominently print?
Posted by fad at 11:26am
As usual, the wrong lessons are learned from this study. Probably because the wrong lessons were those that were sought.
Every day, nearly one-third of U.S. children aged 4 to 19 eat fast food,Wow. One-third. Everyday. Now, though, comes the wiggle. Is this one-third made up of kids who actually eat fast food every day, or does one-third mean "on any given day one-third of The Children™ eat fast food". Is that a static group eating all that grease, or a fluid group? Makes a difference. Anyhoo, it's all bad and stuff, and we know who to blame.
The numbers, though alarming, are not surprising since billions of dollars are spent each year on fast-food advertising directed at kids, said lead author Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston.That's right! The fast-food companies and the evils of advertising! I mean, who else could be to blame?
This is yet another article about the chunkification of American children that never once references parents. I guess, unawares to me, a generation was hatched in secret labratories around the country and then given an unlimited supply of disposable income.
Posted by fad at 9:55am
Per my design complaint here, I'm trying something new to break apart the individual posts a bit. Let me know what you think!
Posted by fad at 9:22am
It's a Reuters "Oddly Enough" story that I found funny for a couple reasons beyond what was intended.
A Saudi Arabian man who called his son Saddam Hussein 14 years ago is now desperately trying to have the name changed.And what is making this so difficult?
But the boy's file was destroyed by an Iraqi missile attack on the civil status department in the Saudi capital Riyadh in the 1991 war to liberate Kuwait.That's right. A missile attack by Saddam Hussein destroyed the paperwork required to change Saddam Hussein's name. Quite the coincidence.
The newspaper did not say how the man planned to change his son's name without paperwork.What an amazing demonstration of bureaucratic nature. "The paperwork doesn't exist.....wait...then you do not exist! Begone, spirit! Haunt not my stacks and files!"
Posted by fad at 9:09am
Good weekend for NASA. They got pictures back of Comet Wild 2 from the Stardust space-exploring-thingy. Well, just one right now, but more on Saturday.
Posted by fad at 7:54am
Note to self: Find way to combine Kabbala mumbo-jumbo with Scientology ching-ching.
Britney Spears's study of the Kabbala, a Jewish mystical practice, may explain her surprise wedding to Jason Alexander in Las Vegas Saturday, claim sources close to the star.The combination of Kabbala and Scientology would give me an army of dead-eyed celebrities. Oh the things I'd have them do. Starting with giving me money.
I've always wanted to start a cult. A couple friends and I briefly started one in college complete with rituals, a shadowy controlling council of elders (us) and an enforcing goon squad, but our spiritual leader/figurehead abandoned us for the use of an umbrella. Since a cult without a spiritual leader is just two robes short of a live action D&D game, we decided to shut down.
Posted by fad at 7:51am
President Bush comes into town again today. Activist plan to raise a statue of a bloody, plastic turkey, and then topple it. Ok, I made that up. For a town with several universities, it doesn't seem to be all that good at showy protest. At least that I've noticed. Which is sad because there are such evil empires as Monsanto and various pharmaceutical companies that need wall dashers. I guess the left here has always been a bit more labor than looney.
When word got out that President George W. Bush would visit a St. Louis school today, it was not hard to guess his destination would be Laclede Elementary.Where there will be a bunch of very bored children wondering why the heck are they being kept late at school the first day back from vacation. Photo-ops: They're For The Children™. I'd best apply a spot of tinfoil to me gulliver, o my brothers. They won't be scrambling my brain with the mind control! I have defenses they cannot even imagine. Like this carrot for instance.
Posted by fad at 7:40am
I hate studies like this. Or maybe it's more that I hate the way they are reported.
Injuries to adults and children playing paintball have tripled in recent years, including eye damage causing lasting vision loss, a study found.The report does list the researcher, but at no time mentions at whose behest the research was done. If it was a total self-starter research project, that should be mentioned as well (but, really, how many of those are there that get in the news?). The other major complaint is that at no time is there mention of by what ratio paintball participation increased if at all? That would seem to be important information. If I say that use of the phrase, "Oh, Good God no!" towards me tripled over the last 3 years, that would make more sense if I also included the information that the number of unfortunate young ladies I had approached had also tripled.
From 1997 to 2000, paintball-related injuries nationwide climbed from 926 to 2,780, with up to a third occurring in children younger than 15, according to the study, which analyzed injury data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Posted by fad at 7:24am
Seattle P-I columnist Robert L. Jamieson, Jr. is a predictably anti-Bush, anti-war columnist. You can tell because he uses the term "Bush & Co." all the time. That's supposed to be a clever way of letting you know Bush is owned by corporate interests. Hence the Co. Don't you wish you were so clever? He was even one of the few who said it was brave of Jim McDermott (D - I Can Eat Your Children And Still Get Elected) to go to Baghdad and criticize the idea of removing Saddam. Not just brave to criticize the war, but brave to actually do it in Baghdad. So when even he thought McDermott went too far in saying the capture of Saddam was purposely timed, he was a bit surprised to be taken to task.
When I pointed out that McDermott pulled a "McDuhmott" for suggesting that President Bush timed the capture of Saddam Hussein for political gain, it touched off a firestorm among my fellow Democrats.To his credit, he sticks with his criticism of McDermott especially for his lack of facts on the charge (not that the charge itself is rather unbelievable, just that he didn't back it up). But then he has to make sure he gets his anti-Bush authenticity out there.
Add on Bush's shifting justifications for why we went to war in the first place. Saddam? Terrorism? To plant the seeds of democracy? To find curiously elusive weapons of mass destruction?Hey, ever consider that it could be all of 'em? Another really stupid thing about arguments about whether or not to remove Saddam, mostly on the anti, but also found on the pro, was the need to have just one reason. Only one. It was impossible in these minds to have multiple reasons of varying weight. But even worse, in a column insisting that there be facts to back up accusations, about the polarizing effect of random charges, he includes this:
Who could forget the Thanksgiving photo op -- complete with faux turkey -- when Bush dropped in to surprise the troops in Baghdad?Well, everyone can forget since that never happened. The turkey was not fake no matter how many times you write that. It was a roasted turkey that is typically placed as a show piece. Yes, the troops did not eat from that one, but it was real; it was not "plastic".
But in times so precarious and charged as these, the voices of dissidence must be resolute and grounded in facts if they are to be taken seriously. These voices should not become megaphones for hollow rhetoric, half-baked suspicions and inflammatory hot air that only serve to pull the country further apart.Including, Mr. Jamieson, the repitition of faux facts about supposedly faux turkeys.
Posted by fad at 7:17am
January 4th, 2004
Posted by fad at 7:31pm
Ever get the feeling that Franco Harris' beard, if allowed to, could take over the world or at least provide a significant missile defense?
Probably just me.
Posted by fad at 4:58pm
Phew! Yeah, total luck. For once Al Harris, who always sits wwaaaaayyyyy too far back (they need 10 yards, he backs off 15.) finally sat on a route just right. But, still, WOOOOOOO!!!
Posted by fad at 3:44pm
Finally another successful Mars explorer, at least so far.
The first images NASA's Spirit rover sent from Mars showed a landscape scattered with small rocks that brought cheers from scientists when they caught sight of the black-and-white photos.Of course those photos were all faked by the CIA to distract from the administrations failures in Iraq and with the economy. How can I say this? Because my local paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, as of 10:30am, makes no mention of this event on its website. You'd think such a thing would appear were it to have actually happened.
Posted by fad at 10:35am