a great update from Joel:
Every once in a while the Internet coughs up something so fucked up I have to spend all night reading about it. This is one of those things
I give you the First Earth Battalion. A project the military REALLY
attempted. It is one of the most unbelievable things I have ever heard of our government ever doing. The attached articles are really short.
The gist of all this is that the government put elite special forces troops through a crazy new age training program. The guy who started it refers to himself as a shaman and worked to build a military force whose mission statement includes the following statements.
" Earthkind has grown from pack to village. and then from village to tribe, then from tribe to territory. and from territory to nation. It is time to go from nation to planet. The First Earth Battalion hereby declares its primary allegiance to the planet."
" Chinese monks were often attacked by robbers. They developed a new fighting system based on using the force of the attacker against him. Likewise the soldiers of the First Earth will learn martial arts with the same ethical basis. No Earth soldier shall be denied the kingdom of heaven because he or she is used as an instrument of indiscriminate war. The conscience will be developed together with the ability to neutralize the opponent. "
This article is a disturbing look at various insane government projects, including the FEB. I read this and then found the rest.
Mentioned here.
This is their field manual with introduction:
This is their founder's web site.
This is the founder's bio on his website.
A project he worked on.
This is an article about the application of the ideas of founder in the military.
This is an article about their founders post military career:
This is another article about the founder's post military career:
Associated artwork.
BONUS INSANITY: a declassified film of one of those briefcase sized atomic
bombs we've all read so much about.
Thanks, Joel.
Double Flee A
Sunday
Jesus Christ. Downtown's deader than a doornail. Some Glasgowegian (not the irritating fake Mike Myers as Shrek, FAKE kind of Glasgowegian, which reminds me, when are we, as a culture, going to decide that it's time for Mike Myers to go the way of Robin Williams and Michael Jackson, people that we hate maybe because we used to like them but were so wrong in liking, how's that for a discombobulated parenthetical aside?) guy at the bar assured my friend and I that LAST night, there were hotties dressed like total sluts coming out of the woodwork. He elaborated. It was awful. We left, did another place, and crept to our respective homes.
Last night wasn't bad, don't get me wrong. I was getting twelve hours of the deepest shuteye, and sleep that good doesn't take a back seat to much of anything. However, a squillion hotties dressed like total sluts does call for a point of order.
Just because I feel like complaining, today I stabbed myself with a needle. Shocker.
And now, the big complaint of the day:
Every day I eat the same thing for lunch. An eighteen ounce can of Progresso Lentil soup. I buy it from Target at $1.52 apiece, and with a roll or biscuit or scone or whatever, it makes a decent lunch. It's predictable, never has any fatty mystery animal parts in it, and I know exactly how it's going to taste. In short, I love it and the daily ritual of which it is a component. I have been eating a can of this stuff, every day, literally, for months. Not broke and don't need fixin'.
Try to imagine, then, my shock and horror at opening a can of the old trusty today to find that it had been replaced by something else, something which by its nature as different automatically assumed a sinister character. Upon inspection, I discovered that when I was grocery shopping two days ago, I bought sixteen cans of the wrong stuff. Fuck. This is DIET lentil soup. At first I thought Progresso had done this cruel thing to me, but I checked their website and they haven't changed the existing product, I just bought the wrong one. A lot of the wrong one. After lunch today I felt as if I'd had a cup of warm water. I'll perish on this stuff.
Last night wasn't bad, don't get me wrong. I was getting twelve hours of the deepest shuteye, and sleep that good doesn't take a back seat to much of anything. However, a squillion hotties dressed like total sluts does call for a point of order.
Just because I feel like complaining, today I stabbed myself with a needle. Shocker.
And now, the big complaint of the day:
Every day I eat the same thing for lunch. An eighteen ounce can of Progresso Lentil soup. I buy it from Target at $1.52 apiece, and with a roll or biscuit or scone or whatever, it makes a decent lunch. It's predictable, never has any fatty mystery animal parts in it, and I know exactly how it's going to taste. In short, I love it and the daily ritual of which it is a component. I have been eating a can of this stuff, every day, literally, for months. Not broke and don't need fixin'.
Try to imagine, then, my shock and horror at opening a can of the old trusty today to find that it had been replaced by something else, something which by its nature as different automatically assumed a sinister character. Upon inspection, I discovered that when I was grocery shopping two days ago, I bought sixteen cans of the wrong stuff. Fuck. This is DIET lentil soup. At first I thought Progresso had done this cruel thing to me, but I checked their website and they haven't changed the existing product, I just bought the wrong one. A lot of the wrong one. After lunch today I felt as if I'd had a cup of warm water. I'll perish on this stuff.
Happy halloween!
What are you going as, and where?
I'm going as a pharmacy technician, to work!
Don't eat any razor blades.
What are you going as, and where?
I'm going as a pharmacy technician, to work!
Don't eat any razor blades.
watch later: frontline: rumsfeld's war | PBS
shameless move of the day
local6.com - News - Judge Orders Heinz Lawsuit Records Unsealed; Family Challenges
local6.com - News - Judge Orders Heinz Lawsuit Records Unsealed; Family Challenges
Saturday
An email I got today:
DR.JOHN KUKU
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT
CREDIT BANK BENIN
COTONOU-BENIN REPUBLIC
WEST AFRICA.
My dear,
I am Dr.John Kuku, the director in charge of auditing and accounting
section of Credit Bank Benin republic in West Africa with due respect and
regard. I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that
will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction.
During our investigation and auditing in this bank, my department came
across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased person who died
on 30th January 2000 on Kenya Airways with aircraft Airbus 310-304 at
location Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with registration number 5Y-BEN while
traveling with his entire family, his wife, two children and a maid on a
festive visit to Abidjan and since his untimely death the funds has been
dormant in his account with this Bank without any claim of the fund in
our custody either from his family or relation before our discovery to
this development.
Although personally, I kept this information secret within myself and
partners to enable the whole plans and idea be Profitable and successful
during the time of execution. The said amount was USD$16.4M
(16.4)Sixteen Million Four Hundred Thousand united states dollars).
As it may interest you to know, I got your impressive information
through my very good friend who works in the computer department of the
federal ministry of information and tourism here in Cotonou-Benin Republic
during my search for a foreign partner to execute this transaction. She
is the one who recommended your person to me to be viable and capable
to champion a business of such magnitude without any problem.
Meanwhile the whole arrangement to put claim over this fund as the bona
fide next of kin to the deceased and get the required approval and
transfer this money to a foreign account has been put in place, all
directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as you
indicate your interest and willingness to assist us and also benefit yourself
to this great business opportunity.
In fact i could have done this deal alone but because of my position in
this country as a civil servant, we are not allowed to operate a
foreign account and would eventually raise an eye brow on my side during the
time of transfer because i work in this bank.
This is the actual reason why it will require a second party or fellow
who will forward claims as the next of kin to the Bank and also present
a foreign account where he will need the money to be re-transferred
into on his request as it may be after due verification and clarification
by the correspondent branch of the bank where the whole money will be
remitted from to your own designated bank account.
May i at this point emphasize that this transaction is 100% risk free
as i have made all arrangements for a successful transaction as an
insider of the bank before contacting you.
On a smooth conclusion of this transaction, you will be entitled to 30%
of the total sum as gratification, while 10% will be set aside to take
care of any expenses that may arise during the time of transfer like
telephone bills, fax and our travel tickets to come over to your country
for the sharing of the fund while 60% will be for me and my partners.
Please you have been advised to keep this a top secret as we are still
in service and intend to retire from service after we conclude this
deal with you.
I will be monitoring the whole situation here in this bank until you
confirm the money in your account and ask us to come down to your country
for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentages previously
indicated and further investment either in your country or any country
you will advice us to invest in.
All other necessary information will be sent to you on your acceptance
to champion this transaction with me.
I suggest you get back to me as soon as possible stating your wish in
this deal.
Yours Faithfully,
Dr.John Kuku
ALTERNATIVE EMAIL: dr_johnkuku@zwallet.com
DR.JOHN KUKU
AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT
CREDIT BANK BENIN
COTONOU-BENIN REPUBLIC
WEST AFRICA.
My dear,
I am Dr.John Kuku, the director in charge of auditing and accounting
section of Credit Bank Benin republic in West Africa with due respect and
regard. I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that
will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction.
During our investigation and auditing in this bank, my department came
across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased person who died
on 30th January 2000 on Kenya Airways with aircraft Airbus 310-304 at
location Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with registration number 5Y-BEN while
traveling with his entire family, his wife, two children and a maid on a
festive visit to Abidjan and since his untimely death the funds has been
dormant in his account with this Bank without any claim of the fund in
our custody either from his family or relation before our discovery to
this development.
Although personally, I kept this information secret within myself and
partners to enable the whole plans and idea be Profitable and successful
during the time of execution. The said amount was USD$16.4M
(16.4)Sixteen Million Four Hundred Thousand united states dollars).
As it may interest you to know, I got your impressive information
through my very good friend who works in the computer department of the
federal ministry of information and tourism here in Cotonou-Benin Republic
during my search for a foreign partner to execute this transaction. She
is the one who recommended your person to me to be viable and capable
to champion a business of such magnitude without any problem.
Meanwhile the whole arrangement to put claim over this fund as the bona
fide next of kin to the deceased and get the required approval and
transfer this money to a foreign account has been put in place, all
directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as you
indicate your interest and willingness to assist us and also benefit yourself
to this great business opportunity.
In fact i could have done this deal alone but because of my position in
this country as a civil servant, we are not allowed to operate a
foreign account and would eventually raise an eye brow on my side during the
time of transfer because i work in this bank.
This is the actual reason why it will require a second party or fellow
who will forward claims as the next of kin to the Bank and also present
a foreign account where he will need the money to be re-transferred
into on his request as it may be after due verification and clarification
by the correspondent branch of the bank where the whole money will be
remitted from to your own designated bank account.
May i at this point emphasize that this transaction is 100% risk free
as i have made all arrangements for a successful transaction as an
insider of the bank before contacting you.
On a smooth conclusion of this transaction, you will be entitled to 30%
of the total sum as gratification, while 10% will be set aside to take
care of any expenses that may arise during the time of transfer like
telephone bills, fax and our travel tickets to come over to your country
for the sharing of the fund while 60% will be for me and my partners.
Please you have been advised to keep this a top secret as we are still
in service and intend to retire from service after we conclude this
deal with you.
I will be monitoring the whole situation here in this bank until you
confirm the money in your account and ask us to come down to your country
for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentages previously
indicated and further investment either in your country or any country
you will advice us to invest in.
All other necessary information will be sent to you on your acceptance
to champion this transaction with me.
I suggest you get back to me as soon as possible stating your wish in
this deal.
Yours Faithfully,
Dr.John Kuku
ALTERNATIVE EMAIL: dr_johnkuku@zwallet.com
The Blue Lemur - Progressive Politics and Media News:
"In final hours, Bush mailings display images of burning World Trade Center"
At this site are scans of the mailings.
And, uh, if you ever wanted to know what propaganda looked like, this is undeniably it.
Throw the bums out.
"In final hours, Bush mailings display images of burning World Trade Center"
At this site are scans of the mailings.
And, uh, if you ever wanted to know what propaganda looked like, this is undeniably it.
Throw the bums out.
Boston.com / News / Nation : "White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card said yesterday that President Bush views America as a ''10-year-old child' in need of the sort of protection provided by a parent."
Friday
Addictive videos at AtomFilms > spotlight > series
I have a rare disease that causes me to forget what amnesia is.
If Steven Wright had said that instead of me typing it on this blog, people would hav laughed. Steven Wright has an awesome voice. I wish I had a deep, awesome voice like that.
If Steven Wright had said that instead of me typing it on this blog, people would hav laughed. Steven Wright has an awesome voice. I wish I had a deep, awesome voice like that.
Don't click here unless you want to see some really big boobies.
Not safe for work, but safe for babies.
Not safe for work, but safe for babies.
Thursday
By DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON
Armageddon came early for George Bush this year, and he was not ready for it. His long-awaited showdowns with my man John Kerry turned into a series of horrible embarrassments that cracked his nerve and demoralized his closest campaign advisers. They knew he would never recover, no matter how many votes they could steal for him in Florida, where the presidential debates were closely watched and widely celebrated by millions of Kerry supporters who suddenly had reason to feel like winners. Kerry came into October as a five-point underdog with almost no chance of winning three out of three rigged confrontations with a treacherous little freak like George Bush. But the debates are over now, and the victor was clearly John Kerry every time. He steamrollered Bush and left him for roadkill. Did you see Bush on TV, trying to debate? Jesus, he talked like a donkey with no brains at all. The tide turned early, in Coral Gables, when Bush went belly up less than halfway through his first bout with Kerry, who hammered poor George into jelly. It was pitiful. . . . I almost felt sorry for him, until I heard someone call him "Mister President," and then I felt ashamed. Karl Rove, the president's political wizard, felt even worse. There is angst in the heart of Texas today, and panic in the bowels of the White House. Rove has a nasty little problem, and its name is George Bush. The president failed miserably from the instant he got onstage with John Kerry. He looked weak and dumb. Kerry beat him like a gong in Coral Gables, then again in St. Louis and Tempe -- and that is Rove's problem: His candidate is a weak-minded frat boy who cracks under pressure in front of 60 million voters. That is an unacceptable failure for hardballers like Rove and Dick Cheney. On the undercard in Cleveland against John Edwards, Cheney came across as the cruel and sinister uberboss of Halliburton. In his only honest moment during the entire debate, he vowed, "We have to make America the best place in the world to do business." Bush signed his own death warrant in the opening round, when he finally had to speak without his TelePrompTer. It was a Cinderella story brought up to date in Florida that night -- except this time the false prince turned back into a frog. Immediately after the first debate ended I called Muhammad Ali at his home in Michigan, but whoever answered said the champ was laughing so hard that he couldn't come to the phone. "The debate really cracked him up," he chuckled. "The champ loves a good ass-whuppin'. He says Bush looked so scared to fight, he finally just quit and laid down." Ali has seen that look before. Almost three months to the day after John Fitzgerald Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, the "Louisville Lip" -- then Cassius Clay -- made a permanent enemy of every "boxing expert" in the Western world by beating World Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston so badly that he refused to come out of his corner for the seventh round. This year's first presidential debate was such a disaster for George Bush that his handlers had to be crazy to let him get in the ring with John Kerry again. Yet Karl Rove let it happen, and we can only wonder why. But there is no doubt that the president has lost his nerve, and his career in the White House is finished. NO MAS. * Presidential politics is a vicious business, even for rich white men, and anybody who gets into it should be prepared to grapple with the meanest of the mean. The White House has never been seized by timid warriors. There are no rules, and the roadside is littered with wreckage. That is why they call it the passing lane. Just ask any candidate who ever ran against George Bush -- Al Gore, Ann Richards, John McCain -- all of them ambushed and vanquished by lies and dirty tricks. And all of them still whining about it. That is why George W. Bush is President of the United States, and Al Gore is not. Bush simply wanted it more, and he was willing to demolish anything that got in his way, including the U.S. Supreme Court. It is not by accident that the Bush White House (read: Dick Cheney & Halliburton Inc.) controls all three branches of our federal government today. They are powerful thugs who would far rather die than lose the election in November. The Republican establishment is haunted by painful memories of what happened to Old Man Bush in 1992. He peaked too early, and he had no response to "It's the economy, stupid." Which has always been the case. Every GOP administration since 1952 has let the Military-Industrial Complex loot the Treasury and plunge the nation into debt on the excuse of a wartime economic emergency. Richard Nixon comes quickly to mind, along with Ronald Reagan and his ridiculous "trickle-down" theory of U.S. economic policy. If the Rich get Richer, the theory goes, before long their pots will overflow and somehow "trickle down" to the poor, who would rather eat scraps off the Bush family plates than eat nothing at all. Republicans have never approved of democracy, and they never will. It goes back to preindustrial America, when only white male property owners could vote. Things haven't changed all that much where George W. Bush comes from. Houston is a cruel and crazy town on a filthy river in East Texas with no zoning laws and a culture of sex, money and violence. It's a shabby sprawling metropolis ruled by brazen women, crooked cops and super-rich pansexual cowboys who live by the code of the West -- which can mean just about anything you need it to mean, in a pinch. Houston is also the unnatural home of two out of the last three presidents of the United States of America, for good or ill. The other one was a handsome, sex-crazed boy from next-door Arkansas, which has no laws against oral sex or any other deviant practice not specifically forbidden in the New Testament, including anal incest and public cunnilingus with farm animals. Back in 1948, during his first race for the U.S. Senate, Lyndon Johnson was running about ten points behind, with only nine days to go. He was sunk in despair. He was desperate. And it was just before noon on a Monday, they say, when he called his equally depressed campaign manager and instructed him to call a press conference for just before lunch on a slow news day and accuse his high-riding opponent, a pig farmer, of having routine carnal knowledge of his barnyard sows, despite the pleas of his wife and children. His campaign manager was shocked. "We can't say that, Lyndon," he supposedly said. "You know it's not true." "Of course it's not true!" Johnson barked at him. "But let's make the bastard deny it!" Johnson -- a Democrat, like Bill Clinton -- won that election by fewer than a hundred votes, and after that he was home free. He went on to rule Texas and the U.S. Senate for twenty years and to be the most powerful vice president in the history of the United States. Until now. * The genetically vicious nature of presidential campaigns in America is too obvious to argue with, but some people call it fun, and I am one of them. Election Day -- especially a presidential election -- is always a wild and terrifying time for politics junkies, and I am one of those, too. We look forward to major election days like sex addicts look forward to orgies. We are slaves to it. Which is not a bad thing, all in all, for the winners. They are not the ones who bitch and whine about slavery when the votes are finally counted and the losers are forced to get down on their knees. No. The slaves who emerge victorious from these drastic public decisions go crazy with joy and plunge each other into deep tubs of chilled Cristal champagne with naked strangers who want to be close to a winner. That is how it works in the victory business. You see it every time. The Weak will suck up to the Strong, for fear of losing their jobs and their money and all the fickle power they wielded only twenty-four hours ago. It is like suddenly losing your wife and your home in a vagrant poker game, then having to go on the road with whoremongers and beg for your dinner in public. Nobody wants to hire a loser. Right? They stink of doom and defeat. "What is that horrible smell in the office, Tex? It's making me sick." "That is the smell of a Loser, Senator. He came in to apply for a job, but we tossed him out immediately. Sgt. Sloat took him down to the parking lot and taught him a lesson he will never forget." "Good work, Tex. And how are you coming with my new Enemies List? I want them all locked up. They are scum." "We will punish them brutally. They are terrorist sympathizers, and most of them voted against you anyway. I hate those bastards." "Thank you, Sloat. You are a faithful servant. Come over here and kneel down. I want to reward you." That is the nature of high-risk politics. Veni Vidi Vici, especially among Republicans. It's like the ancient Bedouin saying: As the camel falls to its knees, more knives are drawn. * Indeed. the numbers are weird today, and so is this dangerous election. The time has come to rumble, to inject a bit of fun into politics. That's exactly what the debates did. John Kerry looked like a winner, and it energized his troops. Voting for Kerry is beginning to look like very serious fun for everybody except poor George, who now suddenly looks like a loser. That is fatal in a presidential election. I look at elections with the cool and dispassionate gaze of a professional gambler, especially when I'm betting real money on the outcome. Contrary to most conventional wisdom, I see Kerry with five points as a recommended risk. Kerry will win this election, if it happens, by a bigger margin than Bush finally gouged out of Florida in 2000. That was about forty-six percent, plus five points for owning the U.S. Supreme Court -- which seemed to equal fifty-one percent. Nobody really believed that, but George W. Bush moved into the White House anyway. It was the most brutal seizure of power since Hitler burned the German Reichstag in 1933 and declared himself the new Boss of Germany. Karl Rove is no stranger to Nazi strategy, if only because it worked, for a while, and it was sure as hell fun for Hitler. But not for long. He ran out of oil, the whole world hated him, and he liked to gobble pure crystal biphetamine and stay awake for eight or nine days in a row with his maps & his bombers & his dope-addled general staff. They all loved the whiff. It is the perfect drug for War -- as long as you are winning -- and Hitler thought he was King of the Hill forever. He had created a new master race, and every one of them worshipped him. The new Hitler youth loved to march and sing songs in unison and dance naked at night for the generals. They were fanatics. That was sixty-six years ago, far back in ancient history, and things are not much different today. We still love War. George Bush certainly does. In four short years he has turned our country from a prosperous nation at peace into a desperately indebted nation at war. But so what? He is the President of the United States, and you're not. Love it or leave it. * War is an option whose time has passed. Peace is the only option for the future. At present we occupy a treacherous no-man's-land between peace and war, a time of growing fear that our military might has expanded beyond our capacity to control it and our political differences widened beyond our ability to bridge them. . . . Short of changing human nature, therefore, the only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.--RICHARD M. NIXON, "REAL PEACE" (1983) Richard Nixon looks like a flaming liberal today, compared to a golem like George Bush. Indeed. Where is Richard Nixon now that we finally need him? If Nixon were running for president today, he would be seen as a "liberal" candidate, and he would probably win. He was a crook and a bungler, but what the hell? Nixon was a barrel of laughs compared to this gang of thugs from the Halliburton petroleum organization who are running the White House today -- and who will be running it this time next year, if we (the once-proud, once-loved and widely respected "American people") don't rise up like wounded warriors and whack those lying petroleum pimps out of the White House on November 2nd. Nixon hated running for president during football season, but he did it anyway. Nixon was a professional politician, and I despised everything he stood for -- but if he were running for president this year against the evil Bush-Cheney gang, I would happily vote for him. You bet. Richard Nixon would be my Man. He was a crook and a creep and a gin-sot, but on some nights, when he would get hammered and wander around in the streets, he was fun to hang out with. He would wear a silk sweat suit and pull a stocking down over his face so nobody could recognize him. Then we would get in a cab and cruise down to the Watergate Hotel, just for laughs. * Even the Fun-hog vote has started to swing for John Kerry, and that is a hard bloc to move. Only a fool would try to run for president without the enthusiastic support of the Fun-hog vote. It is huge, and always available, but they will never be lured into a voting booth unless voting carries a promise of Fun. At least thirty-three percent of all eligible voters in this country are confessed Fun-hogs, who will cave into any temptation they stumble on. They have always hated George Bush, but until now they had never made the connection between hating George Bush and voting for John Kerry. The Fun-hogs are starving for anything they can laugh with, instead of at. But George Bush is not funny. Nobody except fellow members of the Petroleum Club in Houston will laugh at his silly barnyard jokes unless it's for money. When young Bush was at Yale in the Sixties, he told the same joke over and over again for two years, according to some of his classmates. One of them still remembers it: There was a young man named GreenWho invented a jack-off machineOn the twenty-third strokeThe damn thing brokeAnd churned his nuts into cream. "It was horrible to hear him tell it," said the classmate, who spoke only on condition of anonymity. He lifted his shirt and showed me a scar on his back put there by young George. "He burned this into my flesh with a red-hot poker," he said solemnly, "and I have hated him ever since. That jackass was born cruel. He burned me in the back while I was blindfolded. This scar will be with me forever." There is nothing new or secret about that story. It ran on the front page of the Yale Daily News and caused a nasty scandal for a few weeks, but nobody was ever expelled for it. George did his first cover-up job. And he liked it. * I watch three or four frantic network-news bulletins about Iraq every day, and it is all just fraudulent Pentagon propaganda, the absolute opposite of what it says: u.s. transfers sovereignty to iraqi interim "government." Hot damn! Iraq is finally Free, and just in time for the election! It is a deliberate cowardly lie. We are no more giving power back to the Iraqi people than we are about to stop killing them. Your neighbor's grandchildren will be fighting this stupid, greed-crazed Bush-family "war" against the whole Islamic world for the rest of their lives, if John Kerry is not elected to be the new President of the United States in November. The question this year is not whether President Bush is acting more and more like the head of a fascist government but if the American people want it that way. That is what this election is all about. We are down to nut-cutting time, and millions of people are angry. They want a Regime Change. Some people say that George Bush should be run down and sacrificed to the Rat gods. But not me. No. I say it would be a lot easier to just vote the bastard out of office on November 2nd. * BULLETINKERRY WINS GONZO ENDORSMENT; DR. THOMPSON JOINS DEMOCRAT IN CALLING BUSH "THE SYPHILLIS PRESIDENT""Four more years of George Bush will be like four more years of syphilis," the famed author said yesterday at a hastily called press conference near his home in Woody Creek, Colorado. "Only a fool or a sucker would vote for a dangerous loser like Bush," Dr. Thompson warned. "He hates everything we stand for, and he knows we will vote against him in November." Thompson, long known for the eerie accuracy of his political instincts, went on to denounce Ralph Nader as "a worthless Judas Goat with no moral compass." "I endorsed John Kerry a long time ago," he said, "and I will do everything in my power, short of roaming the streets with a meat hammer, to help him be the next President of the United States." * Which is true. I said all those things, and I will say them again. Of course I will vote for John Kerry. I have known him for thirty years as a good man with a brave heart -- which is more than even the president's friends will tell you about George W. Bush, who is also an old acquaintance from the white-knuckle days of yesteryear. He is hated all over the world, including large parts of Texas, and he is taking us all down with him. Bush is a natural-born loser with a filthy-rich daddy who pimped his son out to rich oil-mongers. He hates music, football and sex, in no particular order, and he is no fun at all. I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000, but I will not make that mistake again. The joke is over for Nader. He was funny once, but now he belongs to the dead. There is nothing funny about helping George Bush win Florida again. Nader is a fool, and so is anybody who votes for him in November -- with the obvious exception of professional Republicans who have paid big money to turn poor Ralph into a world-famous Judas Goat. Nader has become so desperate and crazed that he's stooped to paying homeless people to gather signatures to get him on the ballot. In Pennsylvania, the petitions he submitted contained tens of thousands of phony signatures, including Fred Flintstone, Mickey Mouse and John Kerry. A judge dumped Ralph from the ballot there, saying the forms were "rife with forgeries" and calling it "the most deceitful and fraudulent exercise ever perpetrated upon this court." But they will keep his name on the ballot in the long-suffering Hurricane State, which is ruled by the President's younger brother, Jeb, who also wants to be the next President of the United States. In 2000, when they sent Jim Baker down to Florida, I knew it was all over. The fix was in. In that election, 97,488 people voted for Nader in Florida, and Gore lost the state by 537 votes. You don't have to be from Texas to understand the moral of that story. It's like being out-coached in the Super Bowl. There are no rules in the passing lane. Only losers play fair, and all winners have blood on their hands. * Back in June, when John Kerry was beginning to feel like a winner, I had a quick little rendezvous with him on a rain-soaked runway in Aspen, Colorado, where he was scheduled to meet with a harem of wealthy campaign contributors. As we rode to the event, I told him that Bush's vicious goons in the White House are perfectly capable of assassinating Nader and blaming it on him. His staff laughed, but the Secret Service men didn't. Kerry quickly suggested that I might make a good running mate, and we reminisced about trying to end the Vietnam War in 1972. That was the year I first met him, at a riot on that elegant little street in front of the White House. He was yelling into a bullhorn and I was trying to throw a dead, bleeding rat over a black-spike fence and onto the president's lawn. We were angry and righteous in those days, and there were millions of us. We kicked two chief executives out of the White House because they were stupid warmongers. We conquered Lyndon Johnson and we stomped on Richard Nixon -- which wise people said was impossible, but so what? It was fun. We were warriors then, and our tribe was strong like a river. That river is still running. All we have to do is get out and vote, while it's still legal, and we will wash those crooked warmongers out of the White House.
Armageddon came early for George Bush this year, and he was not ready for it. His long-awaited showdowns with my man John Kerry turned into a series of horrible embarrassments that cracked his nerve and demoralized his closest campaign advisers. They knew he would never recover, no matter how many votes they could steal for him in Florida, where the presidential debates were closely watched and widely celebrated by millions of Kerry supporters who suddenly had reason to feel like winners. Kerry came into October as a five-point underdog with almost no chance of winning three out of three rigged confrontations with a treacherous little freak like George Bush. But the debates are over now, and the victor was clearly John Kerry every time. He steamrollered Bush and left him for roadkill. Did you see Bush on TV, trying to debate? Jesus, he talked like a donkey with no brains at all. The tide turned early, in Coral Gables, when Bush went belly up less than halfway through his first bout with Kerry, who hammered poor George into jelly. It was pitiful. . . . I almost felt sorry for him, until I heard someone call him "Mister President," and then I felt ashamed. Karl Rove, the president's political wizard, felt even worse. There is angst in the heart of Texas today, and panic in the bowels of the White House. Rove has a nasty little problem, and its name is George Bush. The president failed miserably from the instant he got onstage with John Kerry. He looked weak and dumb. Kerry beat him like a gong in Coral Gables, then again in St. Louis and Tempe -- and that is Rove's problem: His candidate is a weak-minded frat boy who cracks under pressure in front of 60 million voters. That is an unacceptable failure for hardballers like Rove and Dick Cheney. On the undercard in Cleveland against John Edwards, Cheney came across as the cruel and sinister uberboss of Halliburton. In his only honest moment during the entire debate, he vowed, "We have to make America the best place in the world to do business." Bush signed his own death warrant in the opening round, when he finally had to speak without his TelePrompTer. It was a Cinderella story brought up to date in Florida that night -- except this time the false prince turned back into a frog. Immediately after the first debate ended I called Muhammad Ali at his home in Michigan, but whoever answered said the champ was laughing so hard that he couldn't come to the phone. "The debate really cracked him up," he chuckled. "The champ loves a good ass-whuppin'. He says Bush looked so scared to fight, he finally just quit and laid down." Ali has seen that look before. Almost three months to the day after John Fitzgerald Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, the "Louisville Lip" -- then Cassius Clay -- made a permanent enemy of every "boxing expert" in the Western world by beating World Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston so badly that he refused to come out of his corner for the seventh round. This year's first presidential debate was such a disaster for George Bush that his handlers had to be crazy to let him get in the ring with John Kerry again. Yet Karl Rove let it happen, and we can only wonder why. But there is no doubt that the president has lost his nerve, and his career in the White House is finished. NO MAS. * Presidential politics is a vicious business, even for rich white men, and anybody who gets into it should be prepared to grapple with the meanest of the mean. The White House has never been seized by timid warriors. There are no rules, and the roadside is littered with wreckage. That is why they call it the passing lane. Just ask any candidate who ever ran against George Bush -- Al Gore, Ann Richards, John McCain -- all of them ambushed and vanquished by lies and dirty tricks. And all of them still whining about it. That is why George W. Bush is President of the United States, and Al Gore is not. Bush simply wanted it more, and he was willing to demolish anything that got in his way, including the U.S. Supreme Court. It is not by accident that the Bush White House (read: Dick Cheney & Halliburton Inc.) controls all three branches of our federal government today. They are powerful thugs who would far rather die than lose the election in November. The Republican establishment is haunted by painful memories of what happened to Old Man Bush in 1992. He peaked too early, and he had no response to "It's the economy, stupid." Which has always been the case. Every GOP administration since 1952 has let the Military-Industrial Complex loot the Treasury and plunge the nation into debt on the excuse of a wartime economic emergency. Richard Nixon comes quickly to mind, along with Ronald Reagan and his ridiculous "trickle-down" theory of U.S. economic policy. If the Rich get Richer, the theory goes, before long their pots will overflow and somehow "trickle down" to the poor, who would rather eat scraps off the Bush family plates than eat nothing at all. Republicans have never approved of democracy, and they never will. It goes back to preindustrial America, when only white male property owners could vote. Things haven't changed all that much where George W. Bush comes from. Houston is a cruel and crazy town on a filthy river in East Texas with no zoning laws and a culture of sex, money and violence. It's a shabby sprawling metropolis ruled by brazen women, crooked cops and super-rich pansexual cowboys who live by the code of the West -- which can mean just about anything you need it to mean, in a pinch. Houston is also the unnatural home of two out of the last three presidents of the United States of America, for good or ill. The other one was a handsome, sex-crazed boy from next-door Arkansas, which has no laws against oral sex or any other deviant practice not specifically forbidden in the New Testament, including anal incest and public cunnilingus with farm animals. Back in 1948, during his first race for the U.S. Senate, Lyndon Johnson was running about ten points behind, with only nine days to go. He was sunk in despair. He was desperate. And it was just before noon on a Monday, they say, when he called his equally depressed campaign manager and instructed him to call a press conference for just before lunch on a slow news day and accuse his high-riding opponent, a pig farmer, of having routine carnal knowledge of his barnyard sows, despite the pleas of his wife and children. His campaign manager was shocked. "We can't say that, Lyndon," he supposedly said. "You know it's not true." "Of course it's not true!" Johnson barked at him. "But let's make the bastard deny it!" Johnson -- a Democrat, like Bill Clinton -- won that election by fewer than a hundred votes, and after that he was home free. He went on to rule Texas and the U.S. Senate for twenty years and to be the most powerful vice president in the history of the United States. Until now. * The genetically vicious nature of presidential campaigns in America is too obvious to argue with, but some people call it fun, and I am one of them. Election Day -- especially a presidential election -- is always a wild and terrifying time for politics junkies, and I am one of those, too. We look forward to major election days like sex addicts look forward to orgies. We are slaves to it. Which is not a bad thing, all in all, for the winners. They are not the ones who bitch and whine about slavery when the votes are finally counted and the losers are forced to get down on their knees. No. The slaves who emerge victorious from these drastic public decisions go crazy with joy and plunge each other into deep tubs of chilled Cristal champagne with naked strangers who want to be close to a winner. That is how it works in the victory business. You see it every time. The Weak will suck up to the Strong, for fear of losing their jobs and their money and all the fickle power they wielded only twenty-four hours ago. It is like suddenly losing your wife and your home in a vagrant poker game, then having to go on the road with whoremongers and beg for your dinner in public. Nobody wants to hire a loser. Right? They stink of doom and defeat. "What is that horrible smell in the office, Tex? It's making me sick." "That is the smell of a Loser, Senator. He came in to apply for a job, but we tossed him out immediately. Sgt. Sloat took him down to the parking lot and taught him a lesson he will never forget." "Good work, Tex. And how are you coming with my new Enemies List? I want them all locked up. They are scum." "We will punish them brutally. They are terrorist sympathizers, and most of them voted against you anyway. I hate those bastards." "Thank you, Sloat. You are a faithful servant. Come over here and kneel down. I want to reward you." That is the nature of high-risk politics. Veni Vidi Vici, especially among Republicans. It's like the ancient Bedouin saying: As the camel falls to its knees, more knives are drawn. * Indeed. the numbers are weird today, and so is this dangerous election. The time has come to rumble, to inject a bit of fun into politics. That's exactly what the debates did. John Kerry looked like a winner, and it energized his troops. Voting for Kerry is beginning to look like very serious fun for everybody except poor George, who now suddenly looks like a loser. That is fatal in a presidential election. I look at elections with the cool and dispassionate gaze of a professional gambler, especially when I'm betting real money on the outcome. Contrary to most conventional wisdom, I see Kerry with five points as a recommended risk. Kerry will win this election, if it happens, by a bigger margin than Bush finally gouged out of Florida in 2000. That was about forty-six percent, plus five points for owning the U.S. Supreme Court -- which seemed to equal fifty-one percent. Nobody really believed that, but George W. Bush moved into the White House anyway. It was the most brutal seizure of power since Hitler burned the German Reichstag in 1933 and declared himself the new Boss of Germany. Karl Rove is no stranger to Nazi strategy, if only because it worked, for a while, and it was sure as hell fun for Hitler. But not for long. He ran out of oil, the whole world hated him, and he liked to gobble pure crystal biphetamine and stay awake for eight or nine days in a row with his maps & his bombers & his dope-addled general staff. They all loved the whiff. It is the perfect drug for War -- as long as you are winning -- and Hitler thought he was King of the Hill forever. He had created a new master race, and every one of them worshipped him. The new Hitler youth loved to march and sing songs in unison and dance naked at night for the generals. They were fanatics. That was sixty-six years ago, far back in ancient history, and things are not much different today. We still love War. George Bush certainly does. In four short years he has turned our country from a prosperous nation at peace into a desperately indebted nation at war. But so what? He is the President of the United States, and you're not. Love it or leave it. * War is an option whose time has passed. Peace is the only option for the future. At present we occupy a treacherous no-man's-land between peace and war, a time of growing fear that our military might has expanded beyond our capacity to control it and our political differences widened beyond our ability to bridge them. . . . Short of changing human nature, therefore, the only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.--RICHARD M. NIXON, "REAL PEACE" (1983) Richard Nixon looks like a flaming liberal today, compared to a golem like George Bush. Indeed. Where is Richard Nixon now that we finally need him? If Nixon were running for president today, he would be seen as a "liberal" candidate, and he would probably win. He was a crook and a bungler, but what the hell? Nixon was a barrel of laughs compared to this gang of thugs from the Halliburton petroleum organization who are running the White House today -- and who will be running it this time next year, if we (the once-proud, once-loved and widely respected "American people") don't rise up like wounded warriors and whack those lying petroleum pimps out of the White House on November 2nd. Nixon hated running for president during football season, but he did it anyway. Nixon was a professional politician, and I despised everything he stood for -- but if he were running for president this year against the evil Bush-Cheney gang, I would happily vote for him. You bet. Richard Nixon would be my Man. He was a crook and a creep and a gin-sot, but on some nights, when he would get hammered and wander around in the streets, he was fun to hang out with. He would wear a silk sweat suit and pull a stocking down over his face so nobody could recognize him. Then we would get in a cab and cruise down to the Watergate Hotel, just for laughs. * Even the Fun-hog vote has started to swing for John Kerry, and that is a hard bloc to move. Only a fool would try to run for president without the enthusiastic support of the Fun-hog vote. It is huge, and always available, but they will never be lured into a voting booth unless voting carries a promise of Fun. At least thirty-three percent of all eligible voters in this country are confessed Fun-hogs, who will cave into any temptation they stumble on. They have always hated George Bush, but until now they had never made the connection between hating George Bush and voting for John Kerry. The Fun-hogs are starving for anything they can laugh with, instead of at. But George Bush is not funny. Nobody except fellow members of the Petroleum Club in Houston will laugh at his silly barnyard jokes unless it's for money. When young Bush was at Yale in the Sixties, he told the same joke over and over again for two years, according to some of his classmates. One of them still remembers it: There was a young man named GreenWho invented a jack-off machineOn the twenty-third strokeThe damn thing brokeAnd churned his nuts into cream. "It was horrible to hear him tell it," said the classmate, who spoke only on condition of anonymity. He lifted his shirt and showed me a scar on his back put there by young George. "He burned this into my flesh with a red-hot poker," he said solemnly, "and I have hated him ever since. That jackass was born cruel. He burned me in the back while I was blindfolded. This scar will be with me forever." There is nothing new or secret about that story. It ran on the front page of the Yale Daily News and caused a nasty scandal for a few weeks, but nobody was ever expelled for it. George did his first cover-up job. And he liked it. * I watch three or four frantic network-news bulletins about Iraq every day, and it is all just fraudulent Pentagon propaganda, the absolute opposite of what it says: u.s. transfers sovereignty to iraqi interim "government." Hot damn! Iraq is finally Free, and just in time for the election! It is a deliberate cowardly lie. We are no more giving power back to the Iraqi people than we are about to stop killing them. Your neighbor's grandchildren will be fighting this stupid, greed-crazed Bush-family "war" against the whole Islamic world for the rest of their lives, if John Kerry is not elected to be the new President of the United States in November. The question this year is not whether President Bush is acting more and more like the head of a fascist government but if the American people want it that way. That is what this election is all about. We are down to nut-cutting time, and millions of people are angry. They want a Regime Change. Some people say that George Bush should be run down and sacrificed to the Rat gods. But not me. No. I say it would be a lot easier to just vote the bastard out of office on November 2nd. * BULLETINKERRY WINS GONZO ENDORSMENT; DR. THOMPSON JOINS DEMOCRAT IN CALLING BUSH "THE SYPHILLIS PRESIDENT""Four more years of George Bush will be like four more years of syphilis," the famed author said yesterday at a hastily called press conference near his home in Woody Creek, Colorado. "Only a fool or a sucker would vote for a dangerous loser like Bush," Dr. Thompson warned. "He hates everything we stand for, and he knows we will vote against him in November." Thompson, long known for the eerie accuracy of his political instincts, went on to denounce Ralph Nader as "a worthless Judas Goat with no moral compass." "I endorsed John Kerry a long time ago," he said, "and I will do everything in my power, short of roaming the streets with a meat hammer, to help him be the next President of the United States." * Which is true. I said all those things, and I will say them again. Of course I will vote for John Kerry. I have known him for thirty years as a good man with a brave heart -- which is more than even the president's friends will tell you about George W. Bush, who is also an old acquaintance from the white-knuckle days of yesteryear. He is hated all over the world, including large parts of Texas, and he is taking us all down with him. Bush is a natural-born loser with a filthy-rich daddy who pimped his son out to rich oil-mongers. He hates music, football and sex, in no particular order, and he is no fun at all. I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000, but I will not make that mistake again. The joke is over for Nader. He was funny once, but now he belongs to the dead. There is nothing funny about helping George Bush win Florida again. Nader is a fool, and so is anybody who votes for him in November -- with the obvious exception of professional Republicans who have paid big money to turn poor Ralph into a world-famous Judas Goat. Nader has become so desperate and crazed that he's stooped to paying homeless people to gather signatures to get him on the ballot. In Pennsylvania, the petitions he submitted contained tens of thousands of phony signatures, including Fred Flintstone, Mickey Mouse and John Kerry. A judge dumped Ralph from the ballot there, saying the forms were "rife with forgeries" and calling it "the most deceitful and fraudulent exercise ever perpetrated upon this court." But they will keep his name on the ballot in the long-suffering Hurricane State, which is ruled by the President's younger brother, Jeb, who also wants to be the next President of the United States. In 2000, when they sent Jim Baker down to Florida, I knew it was all over. The fix was in. In that election, 97,488 people voted for Nader in Florida, and Gore lost the state by 537 votes. You don't have to be from Texas to understand the moral of that story. It's like being out-coached in the Super Bowl. There are no rules in the passing lane. Only losers play fair, and all winners have blood on their hands. * Back in June, when John Kerry was beginning to feel like a winner, I had a quick little rendezvous with him on a rain-soaked runway in Aspen, Colorado, where he was scheduled to meet with a harem of wealthy campaign contributors. As we rode to the event, I told him that Bush's vicious goons in the White House are perfectly capable of assassinating Nader and blaming it on him. His staff laughed, but the Secret Service men didn't. Kerry quickly suggested that I might make a good running mate, and we reminisced about trying to end the Vietnam War in 1972. That was the year I first met him, at a riot on that elegant little street in front of the White House. He was yelling into a bullhorn and I was trying to throw a dead, bleeding rat over a black-spike fence and onto the president's lawn. We were angry and righteous in those days, and there were millions of us. We kicked two chief executives out of the White House because they were stupid warmongers. We conquered Lyndon Johnson and we stomped on Richard Nixon -- which wise people said was impossible, but so what? It was fun. We were warriors then, and our tribe was strong like a river. That river is still running. All we have to do is get out and vote, while it's still legal, and we will wash those crooked warmongers out of the White House.
So I'm borrowing an audio compressor. You know, so my voice will sound like honeyed butter over the webcast. What do you know, but the damn thing requires a ten volt AC power. No problem, right?
Wrong.
Wrong.
Wrong.
Somebody please bring me a ten volt ac adaptor. I don't care where you get it.
Wrong.
Wrong.
Wrong.
Somebody please bring me a ten volt ac adaptor. I don't care where you get it.
Wednesday
Things that get blamed for that noise and good comebacks:
creaky floorboard -- Nu-uh!
stepped on a duck -- What duck?
barking spider -- There's no such thing!
the dog -- We don't have a dog!
creaky floorboard -- Nu-uh!
stepped on a duck -- What duck?
barking spider -- There's no such thing!
the dog -- We don't have a dog!
Thinking Machine 4
Play chess against the program and watch it think about the moves it's going to make.
Play chess against the program and watch it think about the moves it's going to make.
Tuesday
WINAMP.COMThis is the coolest thing of the day, winamp now has streaming video and will automatically populate its "media library" with streams that you select you want to be included based on rating. Of course, to get all the options you have to select that you want "adult" included and whatnot, but it's pretty cool. There are 61 people right now watching a guy play a video game.
They have a radiohead channel. They have a ween channel. Yeah.
No news in the webcast department, I'll look forward to being able to establish some sort of regular schedule.
They have a radiohead channel. They have a ween channel. Yeah.
No news in the webcast department, I'll look forward to being able to establish some sort of regular schedule.
FYI, in case you didn't have time to read this,
Douglas Feith, the Pentagon undersecretary for policy and a prominent representative of the generation of neoconservatives now installed in Washington, was recently described by General Tommy Franks (who had to deal with him in Iraq) as "the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth."
Douglas Feith, the Pentagon undersecretary for policy and a prominent representative of the generation of neoconservatives now installed in Washington, was recently described by General Tommy Franks (who had to deal with him in Iraq) as "the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth."
Dan Rather on media self-censorship:
It is an obscene comparison—you know I am not sure I like it—but you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck.... Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions.
It starts with a feeling of patriotism within oneself. It carries through with a certain knowledge that the country as a whole—and for all the right reasons—felt and continues to feel this surge of patriotism within themselves. And one finds oneself saying, "I know the right question, but you know what? This is not exactly the right time to ask it."
It is an obscene comparison—you know I am not sure I like it—but you know there was a time in South Africa that people would put flaming tires around people's necks if they dissented. And in some ways the fear is that you will be necklaced here, you will have a flaming tire of lack of patriotism put around your neck.... Now it is that fear that keeps journalists from asking the toughest of the tough questions.
It starts with a feeling of patriotism within oneself. It carries through with a certain knowledge that the country as a whole—and for all the right reasons—felt and continues to feel this surge of patriotism within themselves. And one finds oneself saying, "I know the right question, but you know what? This is not exactly the right time to ask it."
Monday
If you didn't read this: Peak Oil? Include Me Out, you missed a good article.
Excerpt:
Let's suppose you are president of the United States, you're well aware of Peak Oil, and you're responsible for the national security of the country, and the well being of its people. Oh, and for the well being of the boards of directors of its major corporations.
For democratic purposes—that is, to ensure that people keep re-electing you and your friends and colleagues—you need to make sure that American citizens—at least those that vote, who tend to be older, whiter and better off financially—can continue to enjoy their current lifestyle, excesses and all.
Basically, you have two options. Both lead to maintaining the current lifestyle of the voter—as long as possible.
1. You appear in a televised talk before the country and inform its citizens about Peak Oil. You announce a dramatic new project to create not only a sustainable country, but sustainable cities, neighborhoods and homes. Crash programs are to be initiated with massive funding and tax-incentives to provide all homes, offices and factories with alternative, sustainable sources of energy. Automobile production will be stopped, and not allowed to proceed until vehicles meet stringent gas economy standards. Energy conservation will be mandated and all possible efforts will be made to reduce the oil, natural gas and electricity requirements of the country. You announce also that energy is a worldwide problem, not just an American one, and that you will work closely with all governments of the world to ensure that all peoples of the world have sufficient energy resources. While you're at it, you throw in programs for clean air and water as well.
OR
2. You use your military forces to attack countries with large oil reserves, under whichever pretext seems to work at the moment, in order to gain and maintain control of those reserves to ensure that their priority customer is the United States. This includes using false threats (Weapons of mass destruction, Al Qaeda connection, nuclear weapons) as an initial cover. (When those later don't work, you can switch to the "cover within a cover", i.e., bringing The Magic of Democracy, Freedom and Free Enterprise to the Downtrodden [fill in the blank] People. This is helped by the efforts of neo-conservatives, who know nothing about Peak Oil, but think they're using you for their purposes but are in fact being used by you as cover for your own oily purposes).
Excerpt:
Let's suppose you are president of the United States, you're well aware of Peak Oil, and you're responsible for the national security of the country, and the well being of its people. Oh, and for the well being of the boards of directors of its major corporations.
For democratic purposes—that is, to ensure that people keep re-electing you and your friends and colleagues—you need to make sure that American citizens—at least those that vote, who tend to be older, whiter and better off financially—can continue to enjoy their current lifestyle, excesses and all.
Basically, you have two options. Both lead to maintaining the current lifestyle of the voter—as long as possible.
1. You appear in a televised talk before the country and inform its citizens about Peak Oil. You announce a dramatic new project to create not only a sustainable country, but sustainable cities, neighborhoods and homes. Crash programs are to be initiated with massive funding and tax-incentives to provide all homes, offices and factories with alternative, sustainable sources of energy. Automobile production will be stopped, and not allowed to proceed until vehicles meet stringent gas economy standards. Energy conservation will be mandated and all possible efforts will be made to reduce the oil, natural gas and electricity requirements of the country. You announce also that energy is a worldwide problem, not just an American one, and that you will work closely with all governments of the world to ensure that all peoples of the world have sufficient energy resources. While you're at it, you throw in programs for clean air and water as well.
OR
2. You use your military forces to attack countries with large oil reserves, under whichever pretext seems to work at the moment, in order to gain and maintain control of those reserves to ensure that their priority customer is the United States. This includes using false threats (Weapons of mass destruction, Al Qaeda connection, nuclear weapons) as an initial cover. (When those later don't work, you can switch to the "cover within a cover", i.e., bringing The Magic of Democracy, Freedom and Free Enterprise to the Downtrodden [fill in the blank] People. This is helped by the efforts of neo-conservatives, who know nothing about Peak Oil, but think they're using you for their purposes but are in fact being used by you as cover for your own oily purposes).
Errol Morris: Election '04: "Listen to Real People who voted for George Bush in 2000, but will be voting for Kerry in 2004"
Sunday
From foreign policy dot com, 21 Rationales for War, with convenient color coding!
A great japanese weblog
masamania.com: "Could you please bring me the person who seriously regard to show pussy as criminal action. and then I can show you the person who enjoy his job to see pussy every day to censor it and get high sallery paid by our tax! Fuck you !"
And don't miss this post about tired japanese businessmen.
masamania.com: "Could you please bring me the person who seriously regard to show pussy as criminal action. and then I can show you the person who enjoy his job to see pussy every day to censor it and get high sallery paid by our tax! Fuck you !"
And don't miss this post about tired japanese businessmen.
Saturday
Latin Language Swear Words and their English Translation: "How to swear, insult, cuss and curse in Latin!"
Marriage is very similar to communism. Let me explain.
Communism is based on a text. If you follow the rules, it works like a charm. But there's a problem, which is that the government doesn't know how much stuff I need. I might really like soap, and using it, or burning it as art, or anything, which means that the machine of the preplanned political economy breaks down, and it is all a failure, see the soviet union for details. Lesson: nobody can predict the free market of ideas by which the human experiance is essentially informed, nor what by-products will emerge.
Marriage is the same way. Marriage doesn't know how much pussy I need, and therefore, it won't work. The bible says it works, but it doesn't. Ever see the books that help people in marriages work it out? They're everywhere, and they're everywhere because marriages don't fucking work. Marriage isn't natural. It's really nice to fantasize, to imagine that a person can see the rest of his or her life and plot a course for romance to last till keeling over in the nursing home, but be serious.
The deal is this: people have to have sex to make new people. Therefore, they have to get along intersexually long enough to bump uglies. After that, all bets are off. They can be the kind of couple that later trash-talks about how terrible the other one is, or they can like each other, or some other thing can happen, but evolutionarily speaking, it doesn't make a bit of difference.
Human nature is governed by whims. These whims must be allowed to manifest for a person to act in a manner befitting his nature. Some mornings he wants coffee and a honey-colored beach babe, and some mornings he wants tea and a scandinavian. You just never know, and neither does he, the poor bastard. That's about as simple as it can be, and the fact that it's unacceptable as hell doesn't make me believe it any less.
Marriage, like communism, is doomed. Q.E.D.
Communism is based on a text. If you follow the rules, it works like a charm. But there's a problem, which is that the government doesn't know how much stuff I need. I might really like soap, and using it, or burning it as art, or anything, which means that the machine of the preplanned political economy breaks down, and it is all a failure, see the soviet union for details. Lesson: nobody can predict the free market of ideas by which the human experiance is essentially informed, nor what by-products will emerge.
Marriage is the same way. Marriage doesn't know how much pussy I need, and therefore, it won't work. The bible says it works, but it doesn't. Ever see the books that help people in marriages work it out? They're everywhere, and they're everywhere because marriages don't fucking work. Marriage isn't natural. It's really nice to fantasize, to imagine that a person can see the rest of his or her life and plot a course for romance to last till keeling over in the nursing home, but be serious.
The deal is this: people have to have sex to make new people. Therefore, they have to get along intersexually long enough to bump uglies. After that, all bets are off. They can be the kind of couple that later trash-talks about how terrible the other one is, or they can like each other, or some other thing can happen, but evolutionarily speaking, it doesn't make a bit of difference.
Human nature is governed by whims. These whims must be allowed to manifest for a person to act in a manner befitting his nature. Some mornings he wants coffee and a honey-colored beach babe, and some mornings he wants tea and a scandinavian. You just never know, and neither does he, the poor bastard. That's about as simple as it can be, and the fact that it's unacceptable as hell doesn't make me believe it any less.
Marriage, like communism, is doomed. Q.E.D.
Double Flee A loves sleepbot, the best post-RIAA purge station on shoutcast (RIP DJ Dusty's afternoon nap), so we're relaying it over the weekend instead of downloading the ninety gigs of shit it would take to get next to it. Dig.
Friday
Wow.
This guy is fearless.
Hank Makes It Flat
But these guys are really fearless: video of bicycle dudes who are trying to get killed in new york city.
This guy is fearless.
Hank Makes It Flat
But these guys are really fearless: video of bicycle dudes who are trying to get killed in new york city.
A University of Florida scientist has grown a living “brain” that can fly a simulated plane, giving scientists a novel way to observe how brain cells function as a network.
Obnoxious login on the page, so here's the story, from Mercury news:
Posted on Thu, Oct. 21, 2004
Poll finds reality gap among Bush supporters
By FRANK DAVIES
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - A large majority of President Bush's supporters continue to believe that Iraq either had weapons of mass destruction (47 percent) or a major program to develop them (25 percent), contrary to official findings, a survey taken this month found.
And three out of four Bush backers believe Saddam Hussein provided substantial support to al-Qaeda or was involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, while 56 percent said the Sept. 11 Commission found such ties.
In reality, the commission found "no collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al-Qaeda.
The survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, released Thursday, shows that the supporters of Bush and Sen. John Kerry have stark differences and see "separate realities" about Iraq and other foreign policy issues.
The poll, conducted by Knowledge Networks, was taken of 968 people during Oct. 12-18, after the final report by Charles Duelfer concluded that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 to 4 percent.
Earlier samples of 798 and 959 people were taken in September.
Steven Kull, program director, said that Bush supporters' "resistance to information" on several fronts reflected a powerful bond with the president formed after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the perception - shared by Kerry supporters - that Bush still asserts that Iraq had WMD.
In recent months, Bush has said he was "disappointed" that such weapons were not found, that the search continued and that it was important to "disarm" Hussein.
There may be another reason, Kull said. Asked whether U.S. forces should have invaded Iraq if U.S. intelligence had concluded that Iraq was not making WMD or providing support to al-Qaeda, 58 percent of Bush supporters said no.
"To support the president and to accept that he took the United States to war based on mistaken assumptions is difficult to bear, especially in light of the continuing costs in terms of lives and money," Kull said.
"Apparently, to avoid this cognitive dissonance, Bush supporters suppress awareness of unsettling information."
A spokesman for the Bush campaign, Reed Dickens, said the perceptions on weapons were understandable "given that it's only in the last few weeks we've had this definitive finding" of the Duelfer report.
The survey also found that Bush supporters have "numerous misperceptions" about the president's positions. Majorities incorrectly believe that Bush backs the Kyoto global-warming treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the International Criminal Court, and the treaty banning land mines.
A majority of Bush backers (57 percent) also believe most people in the world favor Bush's re-election, contrary to the findings of several polls.
Kerry supporters have a more accurate perception of their candidate's positions, and the gulf between Kerry and Bush supporters is large, the survey found.
While 85 percent of Bush backers think the United States made the right decision to go to war against Iraq, only 8 percent of Kerry backers agree.
If Bush had known about the lack of WMD and substantial ties to al-Qaeda, 83 percent of Kerry supporters say Bush would have gone to war for other reasons. Only 34 percent of Bush backers agree.
Thomas Mann, an author and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the findings are "consistent with a pattern of results that demonstrate how partisan lenses shape perceptions of reality.
"On Iraq, Republicans want to believe the best of Bush, Democrats the worst," Mann said.
Posted on Thu, Oct. 21, 2004
Poll finds reality gap among Bush supporters
By FRANK DAVIES
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - A large majority of President Bush's supporters continue to believe that Iraq either had weapons of mass destruction (47 percent) or a major program to develop them (25 percent), contrary to official findings, a survey taken this month found.
And three out of four Bush backers believe Saddam Hussein provided substantial support to al-Qaeda or was involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, while 56 percent said the Sept. 11 Commission found such ties.
In reality, the commission found "no collaborative relationship" between Iraq and al-Qaeda.
The survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes, released Thursday, shows that the supporters of Bush and Sen. John Kerry have stark differences and see "separate realities" about Iraq and other foreign policy issues.
The poll, conducted by Knowledge Networks, was taken of 968 people during Oct. 12-18, after the final report by Charles Duelfer concluded that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.2 to 4 percent.
Earlier samples of 798 and 959 people were taken in September.
Steven Kull, program director, said that Bush supporters' "resistance to information" on several fronts reflected a powerful bond with the president formed after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the perception - shared by Kerry supporters - that Bush still asserts that Iraq had WMD.
In recent months, Bush has said he was "disappointed" that such weapons were not found, that the search continued and that it was important to "disarm" Hussein.
There may be another reason, Kull said. Asked whether U.S. forces should have invaded Iraq if U.S. intelligence had concluded that Iraq was not making WMD or providing support to al-Qaeda, 58 percent of Bush supporters said no.
"To support the president and to accept that he took the United States to war based on mistaken assumptions is difficult to bear, especially in light of the continuing costs in terms of lives and money," Kull said.
"Apparently, to avoid this cognitive dissonance, Bush supporters suppress awareness of unsettling information."
A spokesman for the Bush campaign, Reed Dickens, said the perceptions on weapons were understandable "given that it's only in the last few weeks we've had this definitive finding" of the Duelfer report.
The survey also found that Bush supporters have "numerous misperceptions" about the president's positions. Majorities incorrectly believe that Bush backs the Kyoto global-warming treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the International Criminal Court, and the treaty banning land mines.
A majority of Bush backers (57 percent) also believe most people in the world favor Bush's re-election, contrary to the findings of several polls.
Kerry supporters have a more accurate perception of their candidate's positions, and the gulf between Kerry and Bush supporters is large, the survey found.
While 85 percent of Bush backers think the United States made the right decision to go to war against Iraq, only 8 percent of Kerry backers agree.
If Bush had known about the lack of WMD and substantial ties to al-Qaeda, 83 percent of Kerry supporters say Bush would have gone to war for other reasons. Only 34 percent of Bush backers agree.
Thomas Mann, an author and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the findings are "consistent with a pattern of results that demonstrate how partisan lenses shape perceptions of reality.
"On Iraq, Republicans want to believe the best of Bush, Democrats the worst," Mann said.
Somebody should do a hidden camera video in an elevator that goes into total freefall. It would rumble around, then shoot up really fast for no reason, then just fly straight down. That would be awesome to watch. And the prank could be hosted by some celebrity, like Ashton Kutcher. When the people got off the elevator, Ashton Kutcher is standing there and the people from the elevator kick his ass for doing that to them. That would be even better. And then the cops show up and there's a big gunfight where everybody dies. Whatever.
I'm working with a woman who says "If I couldn't laugh I would go crazy working here", and that's true for everyone working everywhere, I think.
Somewhat related is that smart people are funnier than stupid people. Stupid people just don't make the connections that make humor.
So if somebody you work with is really funny, I propose that they are either really smart or really miserable working there, or maybe both.
Of course, being smart is a curse in itself, because it makes you miserable automatically, much in the same way that prison makes people miserable who don't like fighting, raping, and shitty food. It's that everybody around a smart person seems like a moron. The thing that makes me craziest is the amount of sheer redundancy, but that's not all. They ask rhetorical questions to themselves out loud, etc., I mean, the list of things I hate about people is far too long to go into here. It would sound like comedy anyway; a lot of stand-up comedians make their acts about "don't you hate it when people _____?" I'm looking forward to being a watchmaker, because then, there's not going to be anyone else there to fuck it up. When you work alone, there's no hapless, bumbling partner to send you back to square one.
Somewhat related is that smart people are funnier than stupid people. Stupid people just don't make the connections that make humor.
So if somebody you work with is really funny, I propose that they are either really smart or really miserable working there, or maybe both.
Of course, being smart is a curse in itself, because it makes you miserable automatically, much in the same way that prison makes people miserable who don't like fighting, raping, and shitty food. It's that everybody around a smart person seems like a moron. The thing that makes me craziest is the amount of sheer redundancy, but that's not all. They ask rhetorical questions to themselves out loud, etc., I mean, the list of things I hate about people is far too long to go into here. It would sound like comedy anyway; a lot of stand-up comedians make their acts about "don't you hate it when people _____?" I'm looking forward to being a watchmaker, because then, there's not going to be anyone else there to fuck it up. When you work alone, there's no hapless, bumbling partner to send you back to square one.
Waking up far in advance of the usual time is bad. Things don't seem to be where they should, and so much warm, coma-like sleep remains tragically unslumbered within.
But then you remember your awesome sex dream and things improve. This isn't going to be such a bad day after all. Thanks, awesome sex dream.
But then you remember your awesome sex dream and things improve. This isn't going to be such a bad day after all. Thanks, awesome sex dream.
Thursday
I got this book yesterday, and it's a good one. A big coffee table book, or if there's a table in your bathroom, a perfect, um, sitting book.
USATODAY.com - Behind the robes, Stewart finds controversy
USATODAY.com - Behind the robes, Stewart finds controversy
I just spent a little time with a guy I lived with when I was 20. He looks back on how much I used to drink in a kind of trance, clearly in awe. He tell me things I don't know if I believe, stories about pint glasses full of whiskey with three ice cubes. It sounds vaguely familiar, but is it possible?
Yes. I have a few drinks now, and it's a few, meaning three. Back then I drank like I had a death wish. In drinking,, I was a marvel without peer. I stood alone. I'd do this segment on the webcast, I mean, I'd tell the story out loud, but if my liver overheard, it might jump ut of my body and then I'd have a mess on my hands.
Anyway, this guy's mom just bought him a house, outright. Here you go, sort of thing. That not being enough, she also took him shopping for everything that would go into the house. Not just big plates and small plates, but charger plates, salad plates, pasta plates, fucking sterling silver napkin holders, that kind of thing. And the guy's having a hard time dealing with it. He feels guilty. Well, since he doesn't read this, boo fucking hoo.
Yes. I have a few drinks now, and it's a few, meaning three. Back then I drank like I had a death wish. In drinking,, I was a marvel without peer. I stood alone. I'd do this segment on the webcast, I mean, I'd tell the story out loud, but if my liver overheard, it might jump ut of my body and then I'd have a mess on my hands.
Anyway, this guy's mom just bought him a house, outright. Here you go, sort of thing. That not being enough, she also took him shopping for everything that would go into the house. Not just big plates and small plates, but charger plates, salad plates, pasta plates, fucking sterling silver napkin holders, that kind of thing. And the guy's having a hard time dealing with it. He feels guilty. Well, since he doesn't read this, boo fucking hoo.
I've talked about the Bush 'Faith-Based' Agenda Spreading In Federal Government, but I wasn't prepared for this silliness. Ready?
H.R. 3799 Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 is a bill that would put god in charge of the law:
"`Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review, by appeal, writ of certiorari, or otherwise, any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an element of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official personal capacity), by reason of that element's or officer's acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.'.
It is in keeping with the plan of the great commission, which is to convert everyone in the world to christianity.
That's as crazy as when Sun Myung Moon was declared the messiah: The Rev. Moon Honored at Hill Reception (washingtonpost.com)
H.R. 3799 Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 is a bill that would put god in charge of the law:
"`Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review, by appeal, writ of certiorari, or otherwise, any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an element of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official personal capacity), by reason of that element's or officer's acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.'.
It is in keeping with the plan of the great commission, which is to convert everyone in the world to christianity.
That's as crazy as when Sun Myung Moon was declared the messiah: The Rev. Moon Honored at Hill Reception (washingtonpost.com)
I saw a guy on a street corner today holding a sign that said god didn't vote, but if he did, he wouldn't vote democrat. Yikes.
Why would anyone want to look at a bunch of girls kissing? Front page safe for work
Wednesday
Don't know who's familiar with ther curse of the bambino, but it's a thing of the past here in mere moments, when the sox/yankees game draws to a close. Get ready for real sports excitement and some serious looting. Now let's hope this is foreshadowing for the election.
Cool sites via Joel:
BitPress
and this is awesome:
Did you ever wonder what it would be like to pop a water balloon in space?
BitPress
and this is awesome:
Did you ever wonder what it would be like to pop a water balloon in space?
Review: Star Wars Episode II, Attack of the Clones
CORUSCANT -- Presiding over a memorial service commemorating the victims of the attack on the Death Star, the Emperor declared that while recent victories over the Rebel Alliance were "encouraging, the War on Terror is not over yet."
"We will continue to fight these terrorists, and the rogue governments who harbor them, until the universe is safe, once and for all, and the security of the Neo-New Cosmik Order ensured."
It was one year ago today that the Death Star, perhaps the greatest symbol of the Empire's might, was destroyed in an attack by fanatic Rebels, who used small, single-person crafts to infiltrate seemingly impenetrable defenses. Thousands of mourners were on hand to remember and pay tribute to the victims and their families.
"We lost our innocence that day," reflected one mourner. "I guess we thought we were immune from the kind of violence that happens in other galaxies. We were wrong."
"I lost hundreds of buddies that day," said one teary-eyed Stormtrooper. "Guys whose only crime was trying make the Universe a safer place."
Although the day was colored by sadness, the mourners found some relief in the news of a decisive victory over the Rebels.
In an attack led by Darth Vader, Empire forces were able to rout hundreds of Rebels from a network of caves underneath the surface of the planet Hoth. "We're not sure we got them all," says a Vader spokesman. "There are a lot of places to hide in those caves. But we've delivered powerful blow to the terrorist's infrastructure, that's for sure. Today, the Empire has struck back."
Initial reports are unclear as to the fate of Luke Skywalker, a hero among the Rebels, who is rumored to have delivered the fatal blow to the Death Star. Skywalker, a former desert-dweller from the planet Tattooine, became a part of the Rebellion after family members were killed. Skywalker was trained by a militant wing of the Rebels, known as "Jedi Knights." Fanatical in their religious beliefs, the Jedi Knights claim to derive their power from the mystical "Force."
It's believed that Skywalker was specifically trained by infamous terrorist O bin Wankanobi. Wankanobi, occasionally called "Ben" and easily recognized by his bearded visage and long, flowing robes, achieved near-martyr status among the Rebels after his death last year during a spy mission. His more fervent followers believe that Wankanobi lives on within them today, some even claiming to hear his voice during times of duress.
The attack on the Death Star came shortly after the Empire's destruction of Alderstaan, a planet whose government was known to harbor terrorists. Responding to criticism over the total annihilation of the planet, Vader stated, "There is no middle ground in the War on Terror. Those who harbor terrorists are terrorists themselves. Alderaan was issued ample warning. The fight for continuing Freedom is often burdened by terrible cost."
The cost of this war can still be seen today in the continuing efforts to build a coalition government on Tattooine. Longstanding animosities among the planets various ethnic groups, including the Jawas, Tusken Raiders and scattered human settlers, have been an impediment to the peace process. The Empire continues to maintain a small peace keeping force until a provisional government is finally in place.
Much of the difficulty in fighting the Rebel forces stems from their lack of a central organizing structure. "They don't play by the traditional rules of war," complained one spokesman. "They come in all shapes and sizes, united only by their single-minded desire to destroy the Empire before it destroys them."
The Emperor closed his comments today by stating that "the cowardly attack on the Death Star left a deep scar on the Empire. However, we will not stop fighting until every last evildoer has been brought to justice." He paused for several moments, wiping away a tear and then added with determination, "We will never forget."
"I wish we could all just get along," said one of the mourners. "But it's hard to offer an olive branch to a cult of religious fanatics whose main tool is violence and who insist on calling us the Dark Side."
CORUSCANT -- Presiding over a memorial service commemorating the victims of the attack on the Death Star, the Emperor declared that while recent victories over the Rebel Alliance were "encouraging, the War on Terror is not over yet."
"We will continue to fight these terrorists, and the rogue governments who harbor them, until the universe is safe, once and for all, and the security of the Neo-New Cosmik Order ensured."
It was one year ago today that the Death Star, perhaps the greatest symbol of the Empire's might, was destroyed in an attack by fanatic Rebels, who used small, single-person crafts to infiltrate seemingly impenetrable defenses. Thousands of mourners were on hand to remember and pay tribute to the victims and their families.
"We lost our innocence that day," reflected one mourner. "I guess we thought we were immune from the kind of violence that happens in other galaxies. We were wrong."
"I lost hundreds of buddies that day," said one teary-eyed Stormtrooper. "Guys whose only crime was trying make the Universe a safer place."
Although the day was colored by sadness, the mourners found some relief in the news of a decisive victory over the Rebels.
In an attack led by Darth Vader, Empire forces were able to rout hundreds of Rebels from a network of caves underneath the surface of the planet Hoth. "We're not sure we got them all," says a Vader spokesman. "There are a lot of places to hide in those caves. But we've delivered powerful blow to the terrorist's infrastructure, that's for sure. Today, the Empire has struck back."
Initial reports are unclear as to the fate of Luke Skywalker, a hero among the Rebels, who is rumored to have delivered the fatal blow to the Death Star. Skywalker, a former desert-dweller from the planet Tattooine, became a part of the Rebellion after family members were killed. Skywalker was trained by a militant wing of the Rebels, known as "Jedi Knights." Fanatical in their religious beliefs, the Jedi Knights claim to derive their power from the mystical "Force."
It's believed that Skywalker was specifically trained by infamous terrorist O bin Wankanobi. Wankanobi, occasionally called "Ben" and easily recognized by his bearded visage and long, flowing robes, achieved near-martyr status among the Rebels after his death last year during a spy mission. His more fervent followers believe that Wankanobi lives on within them today, some even claiming to hear his voice during times of duress.
The attack on the Death Star came shortly after the Empire's destruction of Alderstaan, a planet whose government was known to harbor terrorists. Responding to criticism over the total annihilation of the planet, Vader stated, "There is no middle ground in the War on Terror. Those who harbor terrorists are terrorists themselves. Alderaan was issued ample warning. The fight for continuing Freedom is often burdened by terrible cost."
The cost of this war can still be seen today in the continuing efforts to build a coalition government on Tattooine. Longstanding animosities among the planets various ethnic groups, including the Jawas, Tusken Raiders and scattered human settlers, have been an impediment to the peace process. The Empire continues to maintain a small peace keeping force until a provisional government is finally in place.
Much of the difficulty in fighting the Rebel forces stems from their lack of a central organizing structure. "They don't play by the traditional rules of war," complained one spokesman. "They come in all shapes and sizes, united only by their single-minded desire to destroy the Empire before it destroys them."
The Emperor closed his comments today by stating that "the cowardly attack on the Death Star left a deep scar on the Empire. However, we will not stop fighting until every last evildoer has been brought to justice." He paused for several moments, wiping away a tear and then added with determination, "We will never forget."
"I wish we could all just get along," said one of the mourners. "But it's hard to offer an olive branch to a cult of religious fanatics whose main tool is violence and who insist on calling us the Dark Side."
We're not the only ones whose educational systems are failng. It's the same way in England: sundaymirror.co.uk.co.uk - WE DON'T KNOW OUR A*** FROM OUR ELBOW
I was raised in the deep south, where the primary understanding of the British is that they go around saying "Crikey!" for no reason. These days my grasp of the language is more nuanced, full of words like "bally, cove, corker, and topping", and expressions like "knee-deep in the bisque". Whereas I once regarded everything English with good old American xenophobia and contempt, I now have seen all. It is my advice that you get your hind end to a bookseller and pick up a Jeeves and Wooster volume, so that you, too, will know how pleasant the English tongue can be.
McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Some Lists, Grouped Together.
"DISSERTATION TITLES
THAT SUGGEST THE AUTHOR
WAS PREOCCUPIED WITH OTHER ISSUES
AT THE TIME OF WRITING.
By Zhubin Parang
From Anaphase to Telophase: The Complex Steps of Cell Separation, None of Which, Incidentally, Involve Divorce Lawyers
Various Expressions of Human Cognitive Ability: Why There Are Many Ways to Measure Intelligence Besides LSAT Scores, Stanford
The Birth of Jury Trials: A Complete Translation of Lord Mansfield's Trial Notes, for Which I Will Finally Earn My Father's Respect
Bond Rates as a Function of Market Equilibrium: Please, God, Don't Let Me Be Pregnant
Multiracial Community Development at a Crossroads: The Effect of—Aw, Fuck, What's the Point?
Experiential Deviations in Quantum—SWEET JESUS, THE KITCHEN IS ON FIRE!"
"DISSERTATION TITLES
THAT SUGGEST THE AUTHOR
WAS PREOCCUPIED WITH OTHER ISSUES
AT THE TIME OF WRITING.
By Zhubin Parang
From Anaphase to Telophase: The Complex Steps of Cell Separation, None of Which, Incidentally, Involve Divorce Lawyers
Various Expressions of Human Cognitive Ability: Why There Are Many Ways to Measure Intelligence Besides LSAT Scores, Stanford
The Birth of Jury Trials: A Complete Translation of Lord Mansfield's Trial Notes, for Which I Will Finally Earn My Father's Respect
Bond Rates as a Function of Market Equilibrium: Please, God, Don't Let Me Be Pregnant
Multiracial Community Development at a Crossroads: The Effect of—Aw, Fuck, What's the Point?
Experiential Deviations in Quantum—SWEET JESUS, THE KITCHEN IS ON FIRE!"
Even though I already link there, I'm doing it again, because she makes me laugh.
mimi smartypants
From a while back: "You all know that travel game where you put the word "anal" in front of every make of car you see, right? It works great with SUVs: Anal Navigators, Anal Explorers, Anal Troopers, Anal Expedition. And my absolute favorite, the Anal Fiesta. Arriba arriba!"
mimi smartypants
From a while back: "You all know that travel game where you put the word "anal" in front of every make of car you see, right? It works great with SUVs: Anal Navigators, Anal Explorers, Anal Troopers, Anal Expedition. And my absolute favorite, the Anal Fiesta. Arriba arriba!"
Park Service Sticks With Biblical Explanation For Grand Canyon:
"The Bush Administration has decided that it will stand by its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah’s flood rather than by geologic forces, according to internal documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)"
The Grand Canyon, ok, I can grasp that. A geological formation.
And it was created by Noah's Flood. Ok, my mind is trying to connect the two. Just drag this a little over to the left, and... nope.
This is insanity. It is pure, total, insanity. Furthermore, there is no way to deny that it is insanity. There is no fair and balanced on this one, guys. There is scientific fact, and there is superstitious hocus-pocus, and those are the only two choices. That's the end of it.
And people want four more years of this. I wonder what god will have created by the end of four more years. [Shudder.]
This administration has gone TOO FAR in attempting to placate its base. Granted, its base is a bunch of rabidly religious holy rollers who believe what they're told. What other explanation can there be but their guillibility, that they swallow that conservatism now means record budget deficits, unilateral foreign policy, huge, more powerful government, and the invasion of privacy rights? The people who want Bush elected for the first time legitimately are willing to abnegate reason completely, and that is something that the left cannot hope to reproduce.
Karl Rove is the one that orchestrated this, by the way. The original dirty trickster himself, also known as the puppet master, saw a political opportunity and went for it. The machine is already in place for frightening people (churches), so it makes sense to all but the least suspicious people of all, the bible-thumpers. If somebody says magic words to these people, they jump. It's amazing! If I say that the liberals are a bunch of satanists, how does that make you feel? It makes you feel mothing, because it means nothing. But to the bible people, it does mean something! To these people, the value of words, repeated over and over, is more than the value of the truth! Makes me sick, sick, sick.
Also: I think the Noah's flood story, out of all the bible stories, is by far the most hilariously ridiculous.
"The Bush Administration has decided that it will stand by its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah’s flood rather than by geologic forces, according to internal documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)"
The Grand Canyon, ok, I can grasp that. A geological formation.
And it was created by Noah's Flood. Ok, my mind is trying to connect the two. Just drag this a little over to the left, and... nope.
This is insanity. It is pure, total, insanity. Furthermore, there is no way to deny that it is insanity. There is no fair and balanced on this one, guys. There is scientific fact, and there is superstitious hocus-pocus, and those are the only two choices. That's the end of it.
And people want four more years of this. I wonder what god will have created by the end of four more years. [Shudder.]
This administration has gone TOO FAR in attempting to placate its base. Granted, its base is a bunch of rabidly religious holy rollers who believe what they're told. What other explanation can there be but their guillibility, that they swallow that conservatism now means record budget deficits, unilateral foreign policy, huge, more powerful government, and the invasion of privacy rights? The people who want Bush elected for the first time legitimately are willing to abnegate reason completely, and that is something that the left cannot hope to reproduce.
Karl Rove is the one that orchestrated this, by the way. The original dirty trickster himself, also known as the puppet master, saw a political opportunity and went for it. The machine is already in place for frightening people (churches), so it makes sense to all but the least suspicious people of all, the bible-thumpers. If somebody says magic words to these people, they jump. It's amazing! If I say that the liberals are a bunch of satanists, how does that make you feel? It makes you feel mothing, because it means nothing. But to the bible people, it does mean something! To these people, the value of words, repeated over and over, is more than the value of the truth! Makes me sick, sick, sick.
Also: I think the Noah's flood story, out of all the bible stories, is by far the most hilariously ridiculous.
Well, I settled on 48 kbps stereo for the webcast. 24 was more accessible but most people have broadband. Till I get complaints I'm going to leave it at that. You can find me on the shoutcast directory, too, operating under the until-I-find-a-better-name (read: not likely) "Something Dale".
I'm just going to leave it on all the time for now, for it's a shame to let bandwidth go to waste.
I'm just going to leave it on all the time for now, for it's a shame to let bandwidth go to waste.
IFILM - Television: Jon Stewart On His Crossfire Appearance
obligatorily, I present crossfire's reply. What a bunch of tools. Jon Stewart was on the money.
obligatorily, I present crossfire's reply. What a bunch of tools. Jon Stewart was on the money.
Tuesday
I want this.
Wired News: Inventor Rejoices as TVs Go Dark
"the TV-B-Gone is all about freeing people from the attention-sapping hold of omnipresent television programming"
Wired News: Inventor Rejoices as TVs Go Dark
"the TV-B-Gone is all about freeing people from the attention-sapping hold of omnipresent television programming"
"Bush's Big Joke"
Where are those darn weapons of mass destruction? Ha, ha, ha. Those people laughing would have been nazis in germany, and they'll be the first ones against the wall when the revolution comes.
Where are those darn weapons of mass destruction? Ha, ha, ha. Those people laughing would have been nazis in germany, and they'll be the first ones against the wall when the revolution comes.
Dracula flash movie
Sometimes I think that art, isn't.
Amazon.com: Music: Milk-Eyed Mender
Check out the samples. Peach, plum, pear is pretty putrid.
Amazon.com: Music: Milk-Eyed Mender
Check out the samples. Peach, plum, pear is pretty putrid.
At how many kbps should I broadcast? How much can dial-up accomodate? I'm at 80 right now with max 5 listeners.
Well, I finally got the webcast going. You can find it at the bottom of the streams list over there on your right --->
How much fun is that? I'm not running it 24 hours, just when I'm at home for now. Check in, for music that doesn't suck (according to me).
Possible format change when I get a good microphone. I'll try to find a way to indicate when it's on the air, but for now I'd try in the evenings.
How much fun is that? I'm not running it 24 hours, just when I'm at home for now. Check in, for music that doesn't suck (according to me).
Possible format change when I get a good microphone. I'll try to find a way to indicate when it's on the air, but for now I'd try in the evenings.
Monday
Jon Stewart's crossfire appearance took the internet by storm. It's insane the amount of attention that thing has gotten. Go watch it if you still haven't, over at Ifilm.
Important update!
I've just found a rare recording of C.S. Lewis, patrotic country singer, performing a patriotic country song about the bombing of Pearl Harbor!
I don't know how to host audio, so I'll just post the words:
Well they came to our harbor and blew up all our boats,
If I was there I'd have seen the American flag flying high above the smoke...
Those kamikaze pilots were all going straight to hell
'Cause the lord don't flip-flop when it comes to freedom!
I thank my Uncle Sam for living in this great nation
And if you don't like Franklin D. go to back to the land of the rising....gun!
And don't forget, there ain't no rice in my truck!
Me and Joe Stalin and that good ol' boy Churchill, we're gonna round up all the WOPs till we get this fightin' sorted out!
Get your spaghetti, and your sushi, and your sour kraut, 'cause we're gonna turn Dresden and Hiroshima and Nagasaki into a down home American style barbecue!
Get back in your camp, you silly lil jap!
Cause our friends from Russia and their big red flag are gonna come-a stompin and snortin' on your fascist rag!
Cause that good old Joe Stalin knows whose side he's on when it comes to fightin' oppression!
If I would have been there, it would have made me mad as hell!
Fat man and little boy are paying a visit, if I would have been there it would have been Tokyo!
Because you know how it would have made me feel, to watch them boats blow up and the American flag!
'Cause I love America, where all men are free to use one of two water fountains.
I've just found a rare recording of C.S. Lewis, patrotic country singer, performing a patriotic country song about the bombing of Pearl Harbor!
I don't know how to host audio, so I'll just post the words:
Well they came to our harbor and blew up all our boats,
If I was there I'd have seen the American flag flying high above the smoke...
Those kamikaze pilots were all going straight to hell
'Cause the lord don't flip-flop when it comes to freedom!
I thank my Uncle Sam for living in this great nation
And if you don't like Franklin D. go to back to the land of the rising....gun!
And don't forget, there ain't no rice in my truck!
Me and Joe Stalin and that good ol' boy Churchill, we're gonna round up all the WOPs till we get this fightin' sorted out!
Get your spaghetti, and your sushi, and your sour kraut, 'cause we're gonna turn Dresden and Hiroshima and Nagasaki into a down home American style barbecue!
Get back in your camp, you silly lil jap!
Cause our friends from Russia and their big red flag are gonna come-a stompin and snortin' on your fascist rag!
Cause that good old Joe Stalin knows whose side he's on when it comes to fightin' oppression!
If I would have been there, it would have made me mad as hell!
Fat man and little boy are paying a visit, if I would have been there it would have been Tokyo!
Because you know how it would have made me feel, to watch them boats blow up and the American flag!
'Cause I love America, where all men are free to use one of two water fountains.
The taxidermy show at Creative Electric Studios was awesome. The art was good and well displayed. Isn't that what people are looking for in a good art opening? I know I am.
I always feel bad for not buying the art at these, but try to make up for it by buying beer from Dave. Good beer selection, Dave. There was a peeled and pickled squirrel head in a jar for sale, and all sorts of other preserved bits of animals.
Marianne Combs was there with her tape recorder to see what people thought of all the dead animals. I told her they weren't nearly as bad as all the dead troops coming back from Iraq. No, I didn't, but I wish I did.
Don, one of the three cool people I work with, came out to the show, also. Thanks for coming, Don. Your last name still sounds to me like the name of a monster truck.
I always feel bad for not buying the art at these, but try to make up for it by buying beer from Dave. Good beer selection, Dave. There was a peeled and pickled squirrel head in a jar for sale, and all sorts of other preserved bits of animals.
Marianne Combs was there with her tape recorder to see what people thought of all the dead animals. I told her they weren't nearly as bad as all the dead troops coming back from Iraq. No, I didn't, but I wish I did.
Don, one of the three cool people I work with, came out to the show, also. Thanks for coming, Don. Your last name still sounds to me like the name of a monster truck.
I read a lot, don't I? Between the two essays and the Wodehouse I'm guessing I crested 24,000 words today.
Funny.
Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | Reaction from the US to the Guardian's Clark County project
Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | Reaction from the US to the Guardian's Clark County project
CNN.com - Halloween on Sunday troubles some Southerners - Oct 15, 2004
"It's a day for the good lord, not for the devil", said some lady.
"It's a day for the good lord, not for the devil", said some lady.
Webcamplaza.net - Live Streaming Webcam portal
There are a lot of webcams here. I wonder if you could watch live sunsets all day. That would be nice.
There are a lot of webcams here. I wonder if you could watch live sunsets all day. That would be nice.
Sunday
propaganda slogan, anyone?
GeorgeWBush.com :: Agenda for America
print at work:
The Hannah Arendt Papers: Totalitarianism: The Inversion of Politics - Part 1
GeorgeWBush.com :: Agenda for America
print at work:
The Hannah Arendt Papers: Totalitarianism: The Inversion of Politics - Part 1
Teachers' T-Shirts Bring Bush Speech Ouster
CENTRAL POINT, Ore. -- Three Medford school teachers were threatened with arrest and thrown out of the President Bush rally at the Jackson County Fairgrounds Thursday night, after they showed up wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Protect our civil liberties."
CENTRAL POINT, Ore. -- Three Medford school teachers were threatened with arrest and thrown out of the President Bush rally at the Jackson County Fairgrounds Thursday night, after they showed up wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Protect our civil liberties."
This video makes me hate all politicians.
Not only should we never forget about nine-eleven, we shouldn't stop thinking about it. That's why I'm having a siren, some air horns, and some flashing red lights installed in my home. Every five minutes it's going to be total mayhem. Because that's how much I want to never, ever, ever forget.
Saturday
I tried to visit a website my brother sent me a link to today, but it was blocked by network security. It was blocked because it fell under the "Humor" category. Most of the time when I'm blocked from something it's because it falls under the "Sex" category.
That's the two things that make people as cool as they are, their humor, their most precious way of coping with pretty much, oh, EVERYTHING, and their physical pleasure, their means to reproduce.
If plants had an internet, downloading pictures of pollination would get them fired. Think about that.
You wonder why people are so isolated, so lonely in a crowd, so mistrustful of each other, why they're republicans, why they're no-sermon-on-the-mount christians? The fact that they will tolerate their working lives turning them into robotic, humorless, asexual drones isn't helping. It isn't helping us, anyway. It's helping somebody else.
Here's what he sent me:
Another portrait of George Bush praying, this time with Jesus, and fathery goodness! The symbolism is so powerful... it's... crushing my will to resist!
The first "godstuff", an absolute must-see.
My favorite part of the website is the multimedia section. The crazies sometimes have to be seen to be believed.
That's the two things that make people as cool as they are, their humor, their most precious way of coping with pretty much, oh, EVERYTHING, and their physical pleasure, their means to reproduce.
If plants had an internet, downloading pictures of pollination would get them fired. Think about that.
You wonder why people are so isolated, so lonely in a crowd, so mistrustful of each other, why they're republicans, why they're no-sermon-on-the-mount christians? The fact that they will tolerate their working lives turning them into robotic, humorless, asexual drones isn't helping. It isn't helping us, anyway. It's helping somebody else.
Here's what he sent me:
Another portrait of George Bush praying, this time with Jesus, and fathery goodness! The symbolism is so powerful... it's... crushing my will to resist!
The first "godstuff", an absolute must-see.
My favorite part of the website is the multimedia section. The crazies sometimes have to be seen to be believed.
Looks like we're in a wee bit of debt here. Is it "partisan" to notice?
Treasury takings steps to avoid hitting debt limit
Treasury takings steps to avoid hitting debt limit
This is awesome. Jon Stewart goes on Crossfire.
IFILM - Short Films: Jon Stewart's Brutal Exchange with CNN Host
IFILM - Short Films: Jon Stewart's Brutal Exchange with CNN Host
There was just an overhead page that said "Wonga Wonga, please return to the transplant clinic... Wonga Wonga, please return to the transplant clinic."
I could only hear one department, but I think the whole hospital laughed at the same time.
I could only hear one department, but I think the whole hospital laughed at the same time.
I have no time this morning to look at anything, but I read this article at work yesterday and was debating putting the whole thing up here, but it's kind of long. You should read it.
the apocalyptic one-party state
the apocalyptic one-party state
Friday
Something I've always wanted to do is have an internet talk show. It's done by following the steps on the following page: SHOUTcast - DOWNLOAD
Now, if somebody else will do this, I won't have to, and I'll be most grateful.
Now, if somebody else will do this, I won't have to, and I'll be most grateful.
Hardcore Porno Puppets Safe for work, right? Because they're made of cloth?
I looked for a limerick I'd read in a book, only when I searched or it all I got were stupid profane versions. I looked it up in the book, and here it is, courtesy of "Plum" Wodehouse.
There was a young lady from Natchez
Whose clothes werea ll tatters and patches
In alluding to which
She would say, "Well I itch,
and wherever I itches I scratches".
There was a young lady from Natchez
Whose clothes werea ll tatters and patches
In alluding to which
She would say, "Well I itch,
and wherever I itches I scratches".
McSweeney's Internet Tendency: The Search Continues: Places Where O.J. Simpson Has Not Found the Killer.
Thursday
Yahoo! News - Eighty-Five Nations Back Population Agenda: "The United States has refused to join 85 other heads of state and government in signing a statement that endorsed a 10-year-old U.N. plan to ensure every woman's right to education"
print at work:
PhysicsWeb - Physics World - Let the quantum games begin (October 2002): "The combination of quantum mechanics and game theory promises to improve the odds of winning and may provide new insight into novel physics"
PhysicsWeb - Physics World - Let the quantum games begin (October 2002): "The combination of quantum mechanics and game theory promises to improve the odds of winning and may provide new insight into novel physics"
Wired News: New Tack Wins Prisoner's Dilemma
I can think of only one person besides me who would know what that sentence means.
I can think of only one person besides me who would know what that sentence means.
O'Reilly slapped with sexual harassment suit: The Smoking Gun is there.
Well, I got into the watchmaking program in Saint Paul, and am nothing short of exhilarated. I thought I screwed that interview up pretty bad, but I think thinking that was a defense mechanism in case it turned out bad, so I wouldn't be crushed into oblivion were things not to work out. It's pretty complicated being Dale, you're always having to trick yourself.
Thanks to everyone for your support.
And now, an open letter to David O. Russell, maker of I heart Huckabees.
Dear David O. Russell,
Why have you made this vile excrescence and not hidden it under your bed, or set it on fire, or maybe strapped it to a missile that was subsequently shot into the mouth of an active volcano? This "existential comedy" isn't funny AT ALL. Is that somehow, circuitously, your point? Is this supposed to make me think about something other than how much I hate you for making this hunk of shit? Well, I'm not in the mood for abstruse, convoluted, interwoven layers of poorly researched coffeeshop philosophy. Any grade-school dropout can write this kind of dogshit, but it takes a real sociopath to actually do it. Please, take up macrame, go to the shaolin temple, do anything, but stop making movies.
Thanks,
Dale
Thanks to everyone for your support.
And now, an open letter to David O. Russell, maker of I heart Huckabees.
Dear David O. Russell,
Why have you made this vile excrescence and not hidden it under your bed, or set it on fire, or maybe strapped it to a missile that was subsequently shot into the mouth of an active volcano? This "existential comedy" isn't funny AT ALL. Is that somehow, circuitously, your point? Is this supposed to make me think about something other than how much I hate you for making this hunk of shit? Well, I'm not in the mood for abstruse, convoluted, interwoven layers of poorly researched coffeeshop philosophy. Any grade-school dropout can write this kind of dogshit, but it takes a real sociopath to actually do it. Please, take up macrame, go to the shaolin temple, do anything, but stop making movies.
Thanks,
Dale
Vogon poetry:
Oh freddled gruntbuggly,
Thy micturations are to me
As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee.
Groop, I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes
And hooptiously drangle me with crinkly bindlewurdles,
Otherwise I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon
See if I don't.
Oh freddled gruntbuggly,
Thy micturations are to me
As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee.
Groop, I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes
And hooptiously drangle me with crinkly bindlewurdles,
Otherwise I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon
See if I don't.
"i think rappers are the funniest "musicians" around. waving their hands at the camera like monkeys, talking about shooting people like its cool, wearing stupid white outfits and walking around like they have a limp. its even more laughable that people try to imitate this ridiculous charade. the world is funny." --
group hug // anonymous online confessions
group hug // anonymous online confessions
From mefi:
During the Wednesday night debate, Senator Kerry questioned why the President said that he "was not concerned" with Osama Bin Laden. In response, Bush said, “Gosh, I don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama Bin Laden. That’s kinda one of those exaggerations." The video proof is here showing that he indeed say exactly that.
During the Wednesday night debate, Senator Kerry questioned why the President said that he "was not concerned" with Osama Bin Laden. In response, Bush said, “Gosh, I don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama Bin Laden. That’s kinda one of those exaggerations." The video proof is here showing that he indeed say exactly that.
Wednesday
MPR: Campaign 2004: Select A Candidate
My results:
Ralph Nader 72.0
John Kerry 45.0
George Bush 18.0
My results:
Ralph Nader 72.0
John Kerry 45.0
George Bush 18.0
Realistic Internet Simulator, if you use internet explorer.
When this election cycle is over, I'll be glad I don't have to see any more wondering if the unpresident is going to "find" bin Laden at an opportune time, in articles like this one:
Focus English News
Focus English News
Exposed: The Carlyle Group: Shocking documentary uncovers the subversion of Americas democracy.
realmedia
realmedia
I'll be at Creative Electric Studios for the taxidermy show Friday. It looks like fun.
I had my interview with the industry watchmakers today. I get the feelng it could have gone better. They just weren't ready for my irrevent high jinks. Just kidding, but seriously, I think about sixty per cent of the time it went like I wanted. For the other forty per cent, Dr. Worm ate my brain. I am coping well with the help of my hardworking friends at the Bombay Gin company. Cheers, mates, here's to what could have been.
I put a pay phone in my bathroom today on the wall in front of the toilet. It was converted so you don't have to put quarters in to use it. The lovely Joyce stopped by to help me hang it. Now if you call me you won't know for sure...
You know who you are, thanks for all the support and well-wishing where the interviewing and whatnot was concerned. If all your positive thoughts had done that interview instead of me, I'd have the watchmaking business in a headlock by now instead of breaking my knee trying to kick myself. It isn't all that bad until I hear an official no.
There's a manual dexterity segment that's required of all people trying to get into these programs, and it consists of problem-solving and of taking a foot-long screw and filing it down till it stands on end. I know this now, too late, that the key is to use long, sweeping strokes to file. That way the shape will be flat, which it won't be if you do it the way you otherwise would, without knowing any better. Another thing, those little puzzles that you learn at the bar, where you rearrange matchsticks and things of that nature, those come in very handy in the problem-solving segment. I can console myself with that I got finished with that before anyone else, and with total certainty that everything was correct. That was cool, it was like I wrote the thing.
I put a pay phone in my bathroom today on the wall in front of the toilet. It was converted so you don't have to put quarters in to use it. The lovely Joyce stopped by to help me hang it. Now if you call me you won't know for sure...
You know who you are, thanks for all the support and well-wishing where the interviewing and whatnot was concerned. If all your positive thoughts had done that interview instead of me, I'd have the watchmaking business in a headlock by now instead of breaking my knee trying to kick myself. It isn't all that bad until I hear an official no.
There's a manual dexterity segment that's required of all people trying to get into these programs, and it consists of problem-solving and of taking a foot-long screw and filing it down till it stands on end. I know this now, too late, that the key is to use long, sweeping strokes to file. That way the shape will be flat, which it won't be if you do it the way you otherwise would, without knowing any better. Another thing, those little puzzles that you learn at the bar, where you rearrange matchsticks and things of that nature, those come in very handy in the problem-solving segment. I can console myself with that I got finished with that before anyone else, and with total certainty that everything was correct. That was cool, it was like I wrote the thing.
Yahoo! News - Fox Disagrees With FCC Indecency Finding
That damn FCC is obviously partisan and should be eliminated.
That damn FCC is obviously partisan and should be eliminated.
Tuesday
print at work: Part 4: The Apocalyptic One-Party State
Monday
silly. NSFW
Another kink in the god's-image worldview: Wired News: People Are Human-Bacteria Hybrid
I finished reading "The Inimitable Jeeves" today, and it was terriffic.
It comprised the first third or so of this book. I'd say it isn't as good as cocktail time, but that may just be because Cocktail time was only my second exposure to the genius of Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (pronounced "wood-house"), and the suitably high expectations weren't yet in place. This was my first time reading one of the Jeeves books, for which Wodehouse is most widely celebrated.
Coincidence! Just as I was looking it up so I wouldn't have to type the whole thing, only a moment ago, I found my favorite excerpt from the book over at bbc hhg2g, a Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy page, and what the author of that page said was that this was also his favorite excerpt. Wouldn't that just have to happen, to make it look like I am the lowest form of thief, the idea-thief. At any rate, here, lifted from that page, is the passage:
If you haven't had the pleasure of reading Wodehouse, you should avail yourself his work. You can find some of it at blackmask online library, and print off a book at work.
It comprised the first third or so of this book. I'd say it isn't as good as cocktail time, but that may just be because Cocktail time was only my second exposure to the genius of Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (pronounced "wood-house"), and the suitably high expectations weren't yet in place. This was my first time reading one of the Jeeves books, for which Wodehouse is most widely celebrated.
Coincidence! Just as I was looking it up so I wouldn't have to type the whole thing, only a moment ago, I found my favorite excerpt from the book over at bbc hhg2g, a Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy page, and what the author of that page said was that this was also his favorite excerpt. Wouldn't that just have to happen, to make it look like I am the lowest form of thief, the idea-thief. At any rate, here, lifted from that page, is the passage:
After breakfast I lit a cigarette and went to the open window to inspect the day. It certainly was one of the best and brightest.
'Jeeves,' I said.
'Sir?' said Jeeves. He had been clearing away the breakfast things, but at the sound of the young master's voice cheesed it courteously.
'You were absolutely right about the weather. It is a juicy morning.'
'Decidedly, sir.'
'Spring and all that.'
'Yes, sir.'
'In the spring, Jeeves, a livelier iris gleams upon the burnished dove.'
'So I have been informed, sir.'
'Right ho! Then bring me my whangee, my yellowest shoes, and the old green Homburg. I'm going into the Park to do pastoral dances.'
If you haven't had the pleasure of reading Wodehouse, you should avail yourself his work. You can find some of it at blackmask online library, and print off a book at work.
BBC NEWS | Americas | Bush's bulge stirs media rumours
Is that a wireless transmitter on your back or are you a cyborg from the future sent to destroy the planet?
Is that a wireless transmitter on your back or are you a cyborg from the future sent to destroy the planet?
Sunday
Check out all the tiny portraits at Flip Flop Flyin'
You may not want to write comic books, but this is a way to get to all kinds of information. Scroll down and you'll see what I'm talking about.
The Comic Book Writer's Info Page
The Comic Book Writer's Info Page
The supermarket was full of people in love today. They were holding hands, bumping into each other, and at the meat counter, there was a couple in full-on make-out mode. The butcher was cutting them up some fish, and they were absolutely going to town on each other's dentistry.
I didn't see the first debate, but here's a video of "how Bush did".
Dad's home, amusing flash movie
Saturday
Things I didn't know about Nena - 99 Luftballons / 99 Red Balloons
great site, be sure to check out the photo section: CapedMaskedandArmed: Join the Rebellion
I miss Bob Edwards so I'm listening to him read old news stories.
Friday
Wired 12.10: Hot Wheels: "'Can we hug your car?'"
It's a new mercedes, four feet shorter than a mini. Hummers can't even see that thing.
It's a new mercedes, four feet shorter than a mini. Hummers can't even see that thing.
retroCRUSH: The worst halloween costumes of all time
Harvard Gazette: No dieting needed
"Last year, David Sinclair and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School extended the lives of yeast cells by feeding them a protein known as Sir2. This year, he fed a closely related protein to tiny worms and fruit flies. The worms lived as much as 14 percent longer, the flies as much as 23 percent. If it works in humans, that would extend our roughly 83-year lives to about 95 or 102."
"Last year, David Sinclair and his colleagues at Harvard Medical School extended the lives of yeast cells by feeding them a protein known as Sir2. This year, he fed a closely related protein to tiny worms and fruit flies. The worms lived as much as 14 percent longer, the flies as much as 23 percent. If it works in humans, that would extend our roughly 83-year lives to about 95 or 102."
Independent Media Center | www.indymedia.org | ((( i ))): "Thursday morning, US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace ordering them to hand over Indymedia web servers to the requesting agency."
"Rapture ready".
"Accountable".
Oh boy.
This is a page by people who want to stop masturbating, help from other christian people. Read, as they invoke the power of Jesus.
It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. And it is real, not a joke. Enjoy, and thanks a million Joel for the link.
Rapture Ready Message Board - Hold Me Accountable
"Accountable".
Oh boy.
This is a page by people who want to stop masturbating, help from other christian people. Read, as they invoke the power of Jesus.
It is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. And it is real, not a joke. Enjoy, and thanks a million Joel for the link.
Rapture Ready Message Board - Hold Me Accountable
Thursday
donate your unused cpu cycles to cancer research at grid.org
In the name of research, Killer flu recreated in the lab
Now if they could just kill it so I can go outside.
Now if they could just kill it so I can go outside.
1200 year old penny
Wednesday
Classic
isometric screenshots
"The subject of each drawing is the image, or images, that created a popular cultural event. Historical events (like the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel) are used interchangeably with fictionalized events (like the picnic scene from The Sound of Music)."
isometric screenshots
"The subject of each drawing is the image, or images, that created a popular cultural event. Historical events (like the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel) are used interchangeably with fictionalized events (like the picnic scene from The Sound of Music)."
spiderman outfit, NSFW
print at work: F*ck Big Media: Rolling Your Own Network
Anything that starts with this:
"The worldwide consolidation of media industries has led to a consequent closure of the public airwaves with respect to matters of public interest. As control of this public resource becomes more centralized, the messages transmitted by global media purveyors become progressively less relevant, less diverse, and less reflective of ground truth."
is awesome.
Anything that starts with this:
"The worldwide consolidation of media industries has led to a consequent closure of the public airwaves with respect to matters of public interest. As control of this public resource becomes more centralized, the messages transmitted by global media purveyors become progressively less relevant, less diverse, and less reflective of ground truth."
is awesome.
funny video. masters of lebowski
Who's spilling the beans over at the air force? Second story in two days about secret weaponry.
MSNBC - Air Force looks at new microwave weapon
MSNBC - Air Force looks at new microwave weapon
Tuesday
I'm considering undertaking a reading of three works simultaneously:
Berlin Diary by William Shirer, The rise and fall of the third reich by same, and The history of the second world war by Churchill. I want to go through them as they trace the same days, and maybe while I'm at it a fourth. Any suggestions? Should I be replacing one of these books with a different one? It just hit me as I was reading Berlin Diary that I'd much rather have other books to refer to as I did it.
Berlin Diary by William Shirer, The rise and fall of the third reich by same, and The history of the second world war by Churchill. I want to go through them as they trace the same days, and maybe while I'm at it a fourth. Any suggestions? Should I be replacing one of these books with a different one? It just hit me as I was reading Berlin Diary that I'd much rather have other books to refer to as I did it.
This just shouldn't happen.
I got my schedule for next Wednesday's interview with the Rolex people! It's going to be an early morning. Days of high expectations always have me drinking orange juice and coffee, which makes me a little queasy. Maybe I'll try to establish a new "achievement-morning" dietary ritual.
I finished "the stranger" by Albert Camus last night; if I'd have known how much I'd love it, I'd have read it a long time ago. No one's borrowing it, though. My days of loaning out books to people are over. Mainly because I've done that so much I don't even remember what books I've read any more. It helps having them around to refer to.
Starting Berlin Diary by William Shirer, a reading copy of which I got from my mom for my birthday.
In light of what happened next, this is riveting, and couldn't be any more ominous.
Starting Berlin Diary by William Shirer, a reading copy of which I got from my mom for my birthday.
August 2, 1934
Hindenburg died this morning. Who can be president now? What will Hitler do?
August 3, 1934
Hitler did what no one expected. He made himself both President and Chancellor. Any doubts about the loyalty of the army were done away with before the old field-marshal's body was hardly cold. Hitler had the army swear an oath of unconditional obedience to him personally. The man is resourceful.
In light of what happened next, this is riveting, and couldn't be any more ominous.
bowling green sewing machine
retina barbecue
- learn something
- popurls
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