March 13th, 2004
I could have gone a few more years without it too.
Posted by fad at 2:38pm
March 12th, 2004
Have a good weekend everyone. Annoy a terrorist and enjoy your life.
Posted by fad at 5:14pm
Reuters hates humanity.
Chanting "Cowards" and "Killers," millions of protestors packed rainswept streets across Spain Friday condemning the country's worst ever guerrilla attack which killed at least 199 people.Really, do they have a full time committee on 24 hour alert to come up with these monstrously inaccurate terms that attempt to legitimize murderers and terrorists? They have a large presence not too far from here. In fact, my work used to share a campus with them. Almost makes me want to go shit in their lobby the way they constantly try to shit on the victims of these things by showing more sympathy for the other side in a false pursuit of "objectivity".
Posted by fad at 3:32pm
A programming note for the next few days. I'll be gone from Sunday evening until Thursday evening next week. Internet connectivity will likely be nil during that time, so there will probably be no new posts most of next week.
Posted by fad at 3:15pm
Millions march in Spain. Instapundit is posting pictures and accounts sent in of the gathering in Washington D.C..
UPDATE: Dodd has a picture of another kind.
Posted by fad at 1:48pm
Might as well throw a Friday Five into the middle of the day.
1. What was the last song you heard?
Drunken Chorus -- Trashcan Sinatras.
2. What were the last two movies you saw?
Overall, "Spy-Kids 3D" and "Lost in Translation". In the theater it was "Return of the King" and "The Two Towers".
3. What were the last three things you purchased?
Lunch. Futurama DVDs. Haircut.
4. What four things do you need to do this weekend?
Buy a new suitcase( so I don't leave little black flecks everywhere I stay. Something has decayed in my current one so these little bits of black plastic just get everywhere).
Pack that suitcase.
Make sure the damn report runs before I leave.
Not miss my flight.
5. Who are the last five people you talked to?
A coworker ("I thought I said do this." "I did." "Oh.")
My boss
Another coworker
My soon-to-be boss
An answering machine
Posted by fad at 1:10pm
I bet we see this guy being paraded around soon.
A state maintenance worker was suspended after he displayed a sign with the word "traitor" on a snowplow while helping provide security for President Bush's motorcade, the Ohio Department of Transportation said.I wonder how that will turn out. Either way, he'll be a hero and finally some proof of dissent being crushed for some, I'm sure..
Posted by fad at 12:06pm
PETA, PETA, PETA. How I wish I had founded you as a scam.
Representatives from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, including a person dressed in an 8-foot-tall chicken costume, passed out "Chicken Chumps" trading cards to Lincoln Elementary School students Thursday. The cards showed unhappy-looking children with names such as "Cruel Kyle," eating chicken.But PETA isn't the focus of why I linked this article.
"I think it's pathetic that they're aiming a political message at 8-, 9-, 10-, 11-year-olds," [Secretary Jon Olinger] said. "It's a professional terrorist organization as far as I'm concerned."And now you know why I used this category. I'm sure there's some ELF and ALF overlap with PETA, but, like with my Nazis, I like to reserve "terrorist" for those that really deserve it.
Posted by fad at 10:39am
A long post at Tim Blair's by those of HispaLibertas (Spanish bloggers) includes this detail.
[D]ozens of people inside black plastic bags whose mobile phones kept ringing all the time.
Posted by fad at 10:16am
Quote of the day, sports edition. From a list of 16 things to hate about March Madness written by John Walters, which just so happens to be my 'bar name' when certain people remember to use it:
"The annual 'Nobody believed in us!' rant from a member of the championship team. Nobody? Really? Millions of people believe in Scientology, and you think nobody believed in you?"
Posted by fad at 9:53am
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the UN.
[T]he United Nations said Thursday it has discovered a black box sent from Rwanda after a 1994 plane crash that unleashed a genocide in the east African nation.On board that plane were the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi. Apparently the cause of the crash was never determined. So where had this black box been?
The device was found Wednesday in a locked filing cabinet in the U.N. Peacekeeping Department's Air Safety Unit.Few things are more bureaucratic in your fuckups than that.
Posted by fad at 9:37am
Personally, I have a theory that all cops are fake.
Leibas, 18, has been charged with impersonating the police, a misdemeanor.Unfortunately, the state disagrees with me.
Leibas allegedly used oscillating headlights on the grill of his 2000 Ford Crown Victoria on Wednesday evening to stop the off-duty officer in the 4300 block of West 55th, Camden said.
The officer produced his identification and asked for Leibas', Camden said.
With that, Leibas turned and ran back to his car.
Posted by fad at 9:24am
Looks like the Big Book of British Smiles won't go obsolete after all.
Posted by fad at 8:33am
The usual pattern. Wake up, check email, see if the world is still there. That last used to be a joke. Poor, yes, but we all have our standard lines to punch up the routines of our lives. Over the last two and a half years it literally is hoping that some part of the world has not been destroyed and all is still there.
It was nice, that brief period, when it seemed History was behind us. The great events that reshape the world and call on the resolve of good people to hold back an enemy whilst maintaining all that had been gained weren't supposed to happen anymore. The Soviet threat was gone; the economy would boom forever. Sure there would be a blip now and again. Genocide in Rwanda? Oh well, doesn't affect us. A few bombings here and there? Yeah, shitheads will be shitheads, but they keep attacking over there. Starving millions in North Korea? Hey, if they didn't like it, they'd revolt. We'll work everything out eventually because we have plenty of time. Certain parts of the world will always be trouble. Just write them off as the usual. Back then we had the luxury to choose leaders whose main goal was to nod their head at the right time and follow the standard script. We no longer needed decisive people because no more big decisions about the world needed to be made. It was all settled.
Then comes New York, Washington D.C., Flight 93, and we realize History never stopped, we were just willfully ignoring it. The string goes back. Tehran, Lebanon, Lockerbie, New York in 1993, The USS Cole, a Sbarro's in Israel (to name just one), Khobar Towers and too many others in too many places. Sadly it still goes. We added Bali, and now we add Madrid.
Some, hell, I'd venture most, don't want to let go of that fiction. Go back to ignoring History. We'll just absorb the hits as they come. To them, that's fine. Sure they'll be terrible, but it's not like they'll get any worse. It's a static thing, in their mind, because History is done. Plus we're awfully good at forgetting such things. Light a few candles, put a few teddy bears at makeshift memorials, mumble a few meaningless but sincere sounding stock phrases, and we're set. The networks will protect us from the images. We'll use words like "incident", "catastrophe" or "tragedy" to deflect away the concept of a stalking, hungry enemy.
This attitude is what the sorts like John Kerry are exploiting. We're not in a war; we're just facing random, spaced-out incidents that we'll deal with as they come. It's not Isolationism; it's Reactivism. Calm those fears. Forget about any threats. Ok, so you'll be stunned and shocked when the next one happens, but we'll put that behind us and all will be good again.
But History is never done. Those who choose to ignore it aren't doomed to repeat it. They are doomed to be swallowed by it.
Posted by fad at 7:58am
Nothing like getting in at 6am to find the network completely down for two hours.
Posted by fad at 7:57am
March 11th, 2004
Posted by fad at 6:00pm
And, even more reminding of September 11th and Bali, the families search for their loved ones.
Parking outside the dour, gray seven-story building, they followed makeshift signs saying "Families" pointing around the back. Some came out looking relieved. Others wept as they got back into their cars and headed across Madrid to a makeshift morgue at a trade fair building outside the city.I don't know worse, that many in the world are filled with glee at this, or that so many have just shrugged this off. Obviously it's the glee, since that is the force driving the murder. But the shrugs make it easier for things like this to happen.
Posted by fad at 5:54pm
The message claiming responsibility for today's murder also references yesterday's murders in Turkey.
"All the Masons would have been killed but there was a technical fault. So because God wished it, only three were killed," the statement said.Notice, they didn't make a mistake. God wished it. They are still perfect in their minds in their mission. It also once again makes clear that our enemies do not believe in civilians (which is related to what I wrote this morning). This is obvious too by the fact that they will hide amongst civilians and not worry if any are killed during attempts to stop them.
Of course the usual response is "If we just left them alone they'd stop killing us!" and cycle of violence nonsense. Yeah, appeasement works. Does a child who gets what he wants after throwing a tantrum never throw another one? No, he sees that it works and throws more. Same with terrorists. You appease them, they decide you are weak and go for the next level. Remember, their goal is our total destruction. If Israel were pushed to the sea, they'd still come for us. If we gave them 50% of our wealth, they'd still come for us. There is no compromise when someone wants you dead. Appeasement is just encouragement.
Instapundit has the address and contact information for the Spanish embassy. Consulant information in the comments.
Posted by fad at 5:31pm
Heard at work: "Hey, what the hell happened today? The market is way down."
Hey, buddy, add a damn news ticker to that stock ticker you have running.
Posted by fad at 5:14pm
I've never heard of something like this happening.
"The sea lion was just swimming around the boat like they do always when the boats are delivering fish," Ray Sr. said. And then one of the sea lions — estimated about 12 feet long and between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds — leaped a half dozen or more feet out of the water and grabbed his son.I wish there was video of that.
Posted by fad at 5:00pm
March 11th. Six months to the day after September 11th.
Here's the New York Times story. Look at the picture. Look at all the differing heights and sizes of the bags. Don't let the uniform color fool you into making them a wash. Notice the individualness of each. Remember not that there are dead; remember more that there were lives.
Posted by fad at 2:50pm
The investigation into today's massacre gets twisty.
Spanish Interior Ministry officials said Thursday they are investigating the new angle in the deadly series of Madrid blasts after the discovery of a van containing eight detonators and an Arabic tape with Koranic teachings.While it wouldn't surprise me in the least to know Islamicist terrorists were behind this (Spain being a specifically mentioned pain of theirs...from 500 fucking years ago), this seems so red herringish, like a deliberately left clue. But now I'm seeing that al-Queda is claiming the slaughter -- no, animals are slaughtered. This is massacre. Either way, the fuckers will be found and punished.
A citizen's tip Thursday led to the van found near the commuter line.
The BBC has some pictures.
Posted by fad at 2:41pm
I think this is a picture of Earth taken from the surface of Mars.
Posted by fad at 1:26pm
To this post, Dawnzerleelight.com is available if anyone wants it.
Posted by fad at 11:16am
Alleged spy indicted in Maryland.
An American citizen was arrested Thursday on charges she acted as an Iraqi spy before and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, accepting $10,000 for her work, prosecutors said Thursday.$10,000? It'd cost a lot more to get me to spy for you. On you is free of charge. It's not stalking; it's love!
The indictment also said she met on two occasions in Baltimore in June and July 2003 with an undercover FBI agent who posed as a Libyan intelligence representative who was seeking to support resistance groups in post-war Iraq. It said she discussed the need for plans and foreign resources to support these groups.That's the worst part, there. Just spying is bad enough, but then seeking to fund and support groups that exist purely to kill our soldiers and Iraqi civilians is, to be mild, quite bad.
Posted by fad at 10:28am
Horrifying news out of Spain to wake up to.
At least 173 people were killed and nearly 600 injured in a series of explosions on Madrid's railway network at the height of morning rush hour, Spain's interior ministry says.That's 42 more dead then when I first saw this story. This all just before elections this Sunday. In a selfish moment, I am extremely grateful that, at least for now, the worst we face in our elections is candidates saying really mean things about each other.
What bugs me is knowing that there are people, including friends of mine, who will see this headline and think, "That's just awful. But the US has killed more than that in Iraq and Afghanistan." or "How terrible, but more died in that earthquake in Iran." It's not just the moral equivalence of that; it's that people like this turn human lives into a ledger sheet. When people become just a numbers, how many dead on either side or in either event, all humanity is stripped away.
Some would argue against that. They say that each death is a loss of father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, friend. This is true. Each death is a tragedy to someone. Again, though, this is dehumanizing. Why? Because it ignores the total of a person. A man may be a great father, and yet a murdering terrorist. One does not cancel out the other; each completes the man. Stripping a person down to just their positives creates a faery tale imitation of a man. It also makes the murderer who blows up the bus and himself equal to the child he has ripped apart by his actions.
The killing of a human being is always terrible. Always. It is not, however, always wrong. Now some may say that the killings, for example, of Uday and Qusay weren't all that terrible. But they were. Again, the context around everything is very important. The killing of those men was terrible because of why they had to be killed. This is where the difference between "terrible" and "wrong" comes in. That Uday and Qusay were such horrible men who had done horrible things who refused to give up so that they could continue to do such things, made killing them not wrong. But it was still terrible that things had happened that required it.
This morning we see the opposite. Again, the terrible killing of human beings, but now made worse because of the intentions and context. At this time 173 dead, not because of anything they did, but because they were. Sucks to use the past tense, there. They were deliberately killed for no other reason than to make a point.
And maybe some simply don't want to deal with the idea that people choose evil, so they try to play this numbers game instead. They want to create this false sense that being human only involves the good while ignoring the fact that part of being human is the capacity to choose evil.
This morning saw, yet again, a terrible act of violence and murder. This was not an inhuman act; it was an action of humanity which must constantly be fought.
Posted by fad at 8:01am
March 10th, 2004
Well, of late, I've found myself doing the same thing, except this time with Blog Names. "Say, that would make a great name for a blog." On this musing, I have to say that if I was starting this site today, I would name it:
The Dawnzer Lee Light
There is a prize for knowing where that's from without benefit of an internet search.
Posted by fad at 4:26pm
I was taught in college that all violence is caused by men. So I'm pretty sure this must be men's fault.
A 12-year-old girl was beaten into a coma by a group of other girls and women after she kissed the boyfriend of another girl on a dare, police said.Sounds like a bit of the old ultraviolence. That's just horrifying.
[...]
The attack happened after an unidentified boy, also 12, was dared to kiss Nicole. After the kiss, his 14-year-old girlfriend attacked Nicole, and others joined in, beating the girl for at least 30 minutes.
Posted by fad at 3:22pm
I've heard about the new guy being sent through a conveyor dishwasher, but never this.
Two fast-food restaurant employees who bathed in a dishwashing sink took cleanliness a bit too far, but didn't pose a health threat, the county's health director said.Thank God for the bathing suits detail. This story includes a healthy reminder.
The caper came to light because of photographs of the men taking turns posing, in bathing suits, in a large sink full of bubbles, said Barry Bass, director of the Davie County Health Department.
A CVS pharmacy employee in Advance who was developing the photographs reported them to the Davie County Sheriff's office last week.Go digital, learn to develop your own, or find a shop with privacy agreements, if such shops exist. It's the only way you'll be able to photograph your public bathing exploits in peace.
Posted by fad at 2:49pm
I'll spare you the picture of the tickets, this time. It's less than a week now to the TCS show. Checking the site for news, I saw there will be an opener. Following the link to his site, I listen to a few sound samples. Poor guy's voice sounds like a young Dylan after he'd been kicked in the face by some hippie for going electric.
Posted by fad at 2:11pm
This is so sad. Just imagine all the shit flinging parties that won't be had now! Say....that does sound like a good time. Who's with me?
Posted by fad at 1:19pm
So a guy is refusing to sell his house for the development of a mall.
A man who lives in a modest cape-style home that's part of a quiet neighborhood on a dead-end street may soon find his house in the middle of a big shopping center's parking lot.But that isn't the surprising thing. What's surprising is that the community didn't just condemn everything and kick the owners off their property anyway.
Posted by fad at 12:44pm
Man, the Masons just can't buy good press lately.
Two suicide attackers stormed a Masonic lodge Tuesday, opening fire with automatic weapons and setting off explosions that killed one person and wounded five.I know terrorists want us all dead, but specifically targeting the Masons?
UPDATE: Oh, I should point out that attack was in Turkey, not in the US.
Posted by fad at 10:44am
Everybody loves stupid and/or outdated laws. Chicago is trying to eliminate some of its. Here are a couple favorites.
[T]he Chicago Police Department has a right to dispose of confiscated weapons by dumping them in Lake Michigan at least five miles from the shoreline.Where some legitimate business men may have been casually "fishing".
There's also an ordinance prohibiting ''the removal or movement of a dead body on a public conveyance'' like the CTA, ''unless the body is that of a child under the age of eight.''That's just disturbing.
Posted by fad at 10:41am
Reading this story gives me an idea of a fun game to play on my flight to LA (with a stop in Memphis first to supersize the flight time) Sunday.
Flying to Washington on Monday, the Glencoe man allegedly sized up each first-class passenger as a potential federal air marshal.It's more fun than the "who's the terrorist" game.
According to the complaint, Silverman asked a flight attendant before his flight took off to tell him who the air marshals were. The attendant declined.Unsatisfied curiosity could be unhealthy. I support his actions.
About 45 minutes before landing, Silverman then allegedly stood up at the front of the plane and started pointing at the passengers.
Asked why he did it, he allegedly told the FBI, "I'm just an a------. What can I tell you? I behaved badly and I am sorry if I caused any trouble.''Both he and the FBI deny he was drunk, so, I guess, that is the next best explanation.
Posted by fad at 10:26am
So Haiti has an interim leader.
The new prime minister, Gerard Latortue, a former U.N. official and foreign minister, faces the difficult task of helping to restore peace in this troubled Caribbean nation following a monthlong insurgency that helped drive Aristide from power on Feb. 29.I originally read his name as "LatortuRe" and thought that was an unfortunate name. Luckily the only unfortunate thing here is my ability to read and control my spittle.
Posted by fad at 9:49am
It just struck me. And since I couldn't just sit here and take it lest it start thinking I'm a doormat it can smack around whenever it wants, I struck it back. Then after an epic battle that plumbed the seas and clumbed the mountains, bringing low many unfortunate villages and hidden, now lost, cultures, I came back to type this post.
I saw this headline, "Rehnquist, nearing 80, thinking of retirement", and remembered that many people, myself included, expected the more conservative members of the Court to retire very soon into George Bush's first term. I guess the September 11th attacks and, more importantly, the Senate's shennanigans over court appointments delayed those plans.
Oops. I hope this hasn't blown my superhero identity as Cap'n Obvious.
Posted by fad at 9:28am
Art is very subjective. I cannot discuss art intelligently, though I very much enjoy it. To use the tired term, I know what I like and what I don't. I know, usually, why I do and why I don't, so won't be bothered by someone telling me I shouldn't.
Having said that, I present The Museum of Bad Art.
Posted by fad at 9:13am
Now this is cool.
Nasa's Mars rover Opportunity has begun recording eclipses on the Red Planet, the first time the phenomenon has been witnessed on another world.And I shall create voiceovers expressing the expressive thoughts of the moons as the twirl in their cosmic dance of the cosmos. Or maybe I'll just have a coke.
[...]
Nasa will create animations of the phenomena by combining multiple still pictures taken at different stages during the eclipses.
Posted by fad at 8:37am
You gotta love how the long tradition of gerrymandering is cast in the very first sentence of this AP article.
A freshman Democrat forced to run in a new district failed to win his primary, becoming a casualty of a Republican strategy to increase GOP-held seats in Congress.I don't like gerrymandering, but to make it sound like it was just invented by the Republicans? Nice and subtle there.
Posted by fad at 8:28am
And today's winner of the prestigious I Have Way Too Much Time On My Hands, So Give Me A Grant Of Tax Money For A Stupid Study, yes, the coveted IHWTMTOMHSGMAGOTMFASSs, goes to this guy.
Nearly 80 percent of movies rated PG-13 feature some form of tobacco use, while 50 percent of G and PG rated films depict smoking, said Stanton Glantz, co-author of the study, which examined 775 U.S. movies over the past five years.At least he has a for everyone's good (FEG) purpose behind his study.
"No one is saying there should never be any smoking in the movies," Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said Tuesday at a press conference at Hollywood High School. "What we're simply asking for is that smoking be treated by Hollywood as seriously as it treats offensive language."And as obesity hysteria climbs, shall we give R ratings to any movie showing a character consuming more than 500 calories at a sitting? Makes sense using his logic. From now on, all sub-R movies can only show people eating celery sticks. Either that, or the nice healthy purge after every binge.
The proposal includes an exception for historical figures who actually smoked as part of their public life, Glantz added. "For example, if they wanted to make a movie about Winston Churchill, they could show him with a cigar without triggering an R-rating, but the number of movies where that actually happens is very small."Isn't that sweet of him? He's so open minded. I think most people know I'm no fan of smoking. Thankfully my smoking friends are considerate of this. However I've dealt with far too many smokers with a whiny, overdeveloped persecution complex to be all that sympathetic to them. However, stupid is just stupid. This idea, and wasting money on the study, certainly qualifies as stupid.
Posted by fad at 8:13am
March 9th, 2004
Posted by fad at 6:56pm
Impressive. The Onion AV Club interviews Viggo Mortensen and war, Iraq and oil don't come up once.
Posted by fad at 4:02pm
Hmm...maybe I won't join the Masons.
A man was killed during a Masonic initiation ceremony when another member fired a gun loaded with real bullets instead of the expected blanks and shot him in the face, police said Tuesday.Well, at least for a few years yet.
Posted by fad at 3:37pm
Yeah, I'm feeling better and better about these new electronic voting methods.
Posted by fad at 10:28am
I admire, in a way, people willing to try something so brazen.
A woman was caught trying to use a fake $1 million bill to buy $1,675 worth of merchandise at a Wal-Mart, and was later found with two more of the bills in her purse, police said.We can't be polluting that supply of real $1 million bills.
A clerk at the store immediately noticed the bill was fake when 35-year-old Alice Regina Pike handed it to her on Friday, Cotton said.Once again, a quick-eyed Wal-Mart employee saves the day.
Posted by fad at 10:24am
Another journalist caught possibly making up sources.
An editor working on one of Ripp's columns several weeks ago was unable to verify the existence of five people quoted in the story, said News Tribune Editor Dave Zeeck.Five potentially made up sources in a single story? That's impressive. I was going to write up a whole long thing with six fake sources, but realized quickly that was way too much effort for so little payoff.
Posted by fad at 9:33am
I hate quiet keyboards. The first memories I have of writing - not so much the creative act, but putting words to paper - are from when I was 3. My mom volunteered to organize a small school library. This was in the day when books had that pouch on the inside cover with an indexed card of due dates and past checker-outers. Of course I was hauled along while she typed up the title and author information for all the cards. For my cooperation in not being destructive, I got to page through or have read to me "Are You My Mother?" and that one whose name I cannot remember about the goldfish that was overfed and grew to gigantic, destructive size. Same two books, every time.
To fill out the cards, mom used her old college typewriter. It was an electric typewriter, what brand I do not know. Soon after this time it was loaned to a friend, never to be seen again. It was beige, that much I remember. Most importantly, though, it made the most wonderful sound when the keys were pressed. Each letter solidly put to page. When you type with one of these, you mean it.
And it was magic. Here were words in the books I looked over, and there were words being created on paper by mom. I couldn't really read them, yet, but I had an understanding of their importance and how they worked. The typing, with that solid sound, was now linked to these books. I'm sure mom was teaching me letters and such at that time, but those weren't linked as strongly to books because they didn't look the same.
Of course I'm quite happy to be typing with computers now. The ability to correct so easily, while it makes for a lazy, lazy speller, is a time saver and freedom that cannot be set aside. I just wish that the typing didn't sound like such a mush. I miss that strong clack, the metallic rapid fire of rhythm when writing. They had a sense of industry and creation. Even the clacky-keyboards that are almost impossible to find now, while preferable to typing on marshmallows, couldn't fully substitute.
Though, I bet there already is a product out there that plays a .wav of the old mechanical sound as keys are pressed. I wouldn't want one. There's nostalgia, and then there's creepy substitution like a robotic version of an old girlfriend or something.
Ok, I'm done. Sorry for wasting your time.
Posted by fad at 9:03am
I'm sure most of you have heard of "comfort food". Usually it's meatloaf, mashed potatoes, pot roast, lasagna, etc. These are the foods considered to make up a good ole fashioned homemade dinner. They bring up feelings of being comfortable (if bloated), home and a bit of security.
In this same way, Paul Winfield was a "comfort actor". I didn't see everything he was in, nor did I seek them out just because he was in them. But whenever he showed up in a tv show or a movie, I felt comfortable. This was going to be something I was going to enjoy.
Reading of his death from a heart attack at 62, brought sadness that he died so relatively young. But, remembering those things I saw him in brings memories of happy and well enjoyed times. My sympathies to his family, but also my thanks.
Posted by fad at 8:16am
Finally a Kerry flip I can agree with.
John Kerry says he no longer considers Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to be a statesman, but rather "an outlaw to the peace process" in the Middle East who has been rightly shuffled aside.That is a rather unilateral opinion, though. And frankly, rather surprising coming out of Kerry's dipswitch.
[...]
"He blew his opportunity in 1999, 2000," Kerry said. "As far as I'm concerned, he's an outlaw to the peace process."
Posted by fad at 7:37am
Some schools in Texas are employing the brilliant Negation Theory of Nutrition.
Old favorites like breakfast tacos with bacon and nacho cheese are injected with oil taken from a small, herringlike fish. The oil contains omega-3 fatty acids, which research has linked to positive health effects, including decreased risk of heart attacks.See, it works just like how having a Diet Coke negates your 3 cheeseburgers and fries, walking to the Dairy Queen negates the tasty treat, or eating the celery that comes with your mound of hot wings negates all that butter.
But critics are skeptical of the benefits from adding a healthy fat to unhealthy foods. They say the quantity of omega-3 added to foods is too small to have any health benefit.
Advocates of fish oil say it's a way to make lunchtime healthier without getting rid of children's favorite foods.
Posted by fad at 7:28am
I am so sick of this damn phrase.
Chinese officials escalated their attack on a top Hong Kong pro-democracy figure, with a state-run newspaper on Tuesday accusing him of "treacherous acts" that help the United States treat Hong Kong as a "51st state."Let's bring an end to this "51st state" crap by finally getting one officially. I don't care if we split Michigan or California or sieze Ontario. Ok, we don't want Ontario. Alberta, maybe. Either way, let's get it done and over with.
Posted by fad at 7:01am
March 8th, 2004
"Capitalism needs consumerism to survive," she said. "If we get rid of advertising, we get rid of consumerism and that will get rid of capitalism."Consider the system smashed!
Posted by fad at 4:52pm
There is so much in this story.
"My mates and I were talking about construction site accidents and taking your eye out with a nail gun, and I foolishly put the gun to my head and pulled the trigger," Shorten told the Sunday Herald Sun newspaper.Hmmm...something's missing. There's a unspoken detail here crying to get out...
"I did a very stupid thing," he said.
Brad Shorten, a father of three from Victoria state, was enjoying a few beers with friends...Say no more!
Royal Melbourne Hospital neurosurgeons removed the nail in a delicate four-hour operation even though Shorten, who was expected to make a full recovery, had offered to take the nail out with a pair of pliers.Doctors, smocters. All a man needs is his toolbox!
Posted by fad at 2:18pm
You get the feeling North Korea finds this whole nuke standoff fun.
Deepening its nuclear standoff with the United States, North Korea said today that it may insist on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea as part of a nuclear disarmament deal.Next I expect them to demand that from here on out, the President of the United States must sing "Misty" from the top of Devil's Tower whilst performing an interpretive dance (which must be different each year) every August 13th.
Posted by fad at 1:36pm
Americans: Did you know you are captivated by Diana? There's even proof!
At Nathan's Bar in Washington, patrons took a break from watching sport to hear what Princess Diana had told her confidante.I cannot imagine a single bar where patrons regularily gather to watch sports that would choose to have the channel on the Diana broadcast. At least the story gives us the nominee for today's Scary Lady To Be Avoided At All Costs.
She added, "I remember her as being a great lady." She was so upset by Princess Diana's death that she immediately flew to Paris to see where she had been killed.Emphasis by me to emphasize the batshitness there. I'll bet there's no slamming of doors at her place for fear of all the commemorative plates crashing to the floor. It probably looks like Christine Sullivan's apartment from Night Court.
She objected to the airing of the tapes, saying: "I think we should leave her beautiful memory alone."
Posted by fad at 12:49pm
I don't know if I have any regular readers in southern California or not, but figured I'd pass this on anyway. I will be in LA from the evening of the 14th (that's this Sunday) through the morning of the 18th (Thursday). As of now, outside the evening of the 16th, I have absolutely no plans. This is largely a "get the hell away from here" trip.
Anyway, if anyone out there is interested in saying "Howdy" while I'm in the area, let me know.
Posted by fad at 11:06am
"The Exorcist" in 30 seconds as re-enacted by bunnies. After watching that, read up on the Official Rules of Calvinball for tonight's match.
Posted by fad at 9:05am
The IAEA stops just short of its most powerful weapon, the Frowning of a Lifetime, in regards to Iran's nuke program.
"I am seriously concerned that Iran's October declaration did not include any reference to its possession of P2 centrifuge designs and related R&D (research and development), which in my view was a setback to Iran's stated policy of transparency," ElBaradei said.But Iran says, hey, what's with all the fussin and feudin?
A senior Iranian official said Sunday that the IAEA should remove Iran from its agenda and confirm its innocence.What a fun game.
"The case concerning Iran's peaceful nuclear activities should be completely closed at the IAEA Board of Governors and removed from its agenda," Supreme National Security Council secretary Hassan Rohani said on state television.
"We have nothing you should concern yourselves over."
"What about those enrichment devices over there?"
"Those? Nothing, nothing at all. Just my kid's science project. Absolutely harmless."
Don't you love how all these guys have "Supreme" in their title? I need that. If they're going to move me out of my job, at least give me a bitchin title for these last few months.
Posted by fad at 8:17am
Let me quote some viewpoints and see if they feel familiar.
...known for anti-Jewish slurs and friendship with Saddam Hussein.Let's see. Anti-Semitic comments, didn't want Saddam to be removed, moral equivalence of Bush to Saddam, and compares Bush to Hitler. Sounds like a large portion of the worldwide anti-war and anti-Bush movements. Let's see who this friend of peace and puppies is.
[...]
More recently, he has obliquely compared President Bush to Saddam and Adolf Hitler.
Confounding pundits, Joerg Haider led his party to a stunning victory in his home provinceYes, I know one could just as easily smear anti-immigration folk on the right with other quotes from Haider. He's a handy reference that batshitism runs left to right. He's also a handy reference that all this loose anti-Israel, anti-George Bush talk may be roosting in some places.
Posted by fad at 7:55am
A protest in Syria?
Syrian police have broken up a rare protest by human rights activists demanding political and civil reforms.This protest timed for the anniversary of the coup which brought the Baath party to power. The state was ready for this mob of 20, though.
At least seven of a small group staging a peaceful sit-in in front of the parliament in Damascus were arrested.
Monday saw riot police standing guard and the demonstrators were outnumbered intelligence officers in civilian clothes and black leather jackets.All the intelligence officers wore the same jackets? Sneaky! Sounds like the game of Spot The Security Guard we'd play at Disneyland. They'd be in costume or trying to blend in with the crowds, but were easily spottable due to the giant freakin earphone (like TV news anchors wear) in their ear.
Posted by fad at 7:38am
I guess the studio heard enough from people claiming they would resist the theatrical version DVD of Return of the King since it'd just be a couple months until the fancy-lad version came out. Welp, they've decided to make the temptation stronger.
The film, which won 11 Oscars last month, will be released on 25 May, producers New Line said.The fancy-lad version will still wait until the end of the year, so it will be harder to resist knowing there is a version available for 6 months before that comes out.
The date is three months ahead of the time the first two films were released in 2002 and 2001.
Posted by fad at 6:14am
March 7th, 2004
I just finished The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It was enjoyable, though much more about the White City (the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago) than the Devil (the man known mostly as H.H. Holmes). It's rather typical in how it focuses on the top levels of society and then a particular "dreg" as it were as involved or surrounding a major event. This is a favorite theme of popular histories, theorhetically, I guess, giving a sort of balance to the event. Though in this case the "dreg" is a bit more fascinating and less sympathetic than most times this trick is employed. The book does suffer from the usual problems that popular histories often have.
The first is that it is, like others in the genre, extremely superficial. This is to be understood, at least, in the case of H.H. Holmes. There simply isn't that much primary information about him. His trial and execution were very quick.
This superficiality and lack of sources leads to the other great problem of these books, and particularly this one. I prefer that with my history, there be a greater wall between what is known and what can safely be assumed from what is known to what is intelligent speculation. That last has its place, but in this book it is blended far too much. Simon Schama is another who tends to do a bit much of this. I understand the desire to keep a narrative, but I'd prefer the authors be more clear which they are engaging in at each moment.
About my only other complaint is that in an effort to bring the events alive, Larson engages in a bit too much vocabulary masturbation. I don't want to sound like a complete anti-bigwordianite, but words such as "refulgent" are trying too hard. They draw attention to themselves and the person using them, rather than effectively conveying a necessary thing to the reader. This may be more my preference that words be distilled as much as possible. I prefer settings be more impressionistic so that the reader can fill in the rest. Too much setting distracts.
Overall I'd recommend it, especially to fans of The Fountainhead. Some of the battles on the sidelines find their echo in the battles of Roark. The one that stands out particularly is the despair of Louis Sullivan (a destructive, alcoholic who once fired then befriended Frank Lloyd Wright) over the decision to use derivative neo-classical designs in the architecture instead of the new forms (always following function).
The book also presents the most complete introduction to the life of H.H. Holmes I've read. The name didn't seem familiar, but as soon as descriptions of his house started in the book, I knew who it was. Fans of macabre murders of that era will surely recognize it as well. There are a couple other books on the man from which Larson quotes and uses extensively as sources. I consider this an embellished survey of the man and his crimes. Those other books may be better, but this was still a good introduction. As with any writing of history, you can always tell at which point in the narrative the author's sources are strongest (this being the investigation portion).
It also serves as a fascinating look, through quotes and events, at a psychopath at work. He constructed the perfect human facade to facilitate the evil within him in order to control. It shows how psychopaths can get away with so much because one wants to believe more in the human warmness they are seeing than the evil that might on occasion crack through. You see the same in abusive relationships when the abuse is excused away because he or she is so sweet the next day or always feels so awful afterwards. People want to believe it is the sweetness and the kindness that is real and the rest aberration. In fact, the abusive part is the truth and the kindness merely artifice for the control.
Oh, I'm feeling kind right now and might be open to loaning the book to anyone interested.
UPDATE: "Expedition" changed to "Exposition" thanks to a proof reader's catch. I bet I didn't make that mistake in the first version that was lost.
Posted by fad at 7:11pm
Let me tell you a little something about my company. When they want to eliminate someone, they can't just fire them or let them go. Over the last couple years they've developed this whole procedure passive agressive enough to make Initech blush. It usually lasts about 3 months or so.
Some managers aren't willing or able to go through with it all, so one of the first steps in this procedure is often to suddenly move this person to a new department. The next step is to change the nature of the job to make it absolutely clear once and for all that there is no chance for advancement from this position. After that is made clear, the employee is shunted aside, and their work situation made as unpleasant as possible.
The goal of all this is to get the employee to quit first instead of having to be fired. If the employee doesn't quit, then he is given a few tasks in which he is set up to fail. When this happens, they then put him on a "Productivity Improvement Plan". This is a list of things the employee must accomplish within 30 days or be terminated. By amazing coincidence, no one ever put on this program has ever successfully completed those tasks to satisfaction. All are fired in 30 days.
So Friday I was suddenly transferred to a new department under a very strict and unforgiving supervisor. It's all pretty clear. Yeah, I hate the job and it makes me miserable, but I also hate myself and don't think I deserve a job that doesn't make me miserable. However, I don't hate myself enough to go through another long bout of unemployment again.
I still have a few months, but the fishing trip is set. I'm just waiting for Connie to call Anthony away to see his father in Reno.
Posted by fad at 2:28pm