Huh-- Just got a message offering to help me "Quit smoking in 7 days guaranteed!" How could I go wrong? I don't smoke!

Trying to think of what other thing would be ok to put in your mouth while it's burning.....

Oh well-- like Finjan, a favorite Klezmer band of mine (and many others have) said, Das leiden ist un schpass. Life's a joke!

And the Minnesotans seem to agree with me.

Oy-- Anybody out there have a spare raison d'etre? I could certainly use one.

I've been looking for a suitable job for a long time, but need to get things out of neutral. Any ideas on how to jumpstart things? (other than a fork in the outlet?)

*toast*

I did have a good time meeting people at the last Blogger meetup-- I'll be sending all of you an e-mail with the info y'all put down on the napkin. But here's a list of links that I've got for others' enjoyment.

Glome.org and Argmax.com were submitted for our consideration by Trevor Hill.

Our friend from the World Bank, Vikram, can be reached here.

Tony, aka Quasipundit, comes from the great state of California.

Tim, the lawyer originally from Worcester (did I spell that right, Tim?) can be found at Answerguy-- though don't miss "Jukebox from Hell," linkable from his page.

And, of course, there's little old me (Justin) from the middle of the Mojave Desert in California. I have some strange habit of putting my random thoughts and observations on this theater of the absurd at Hradcany.

There are surely others, but those are only the people I have on this napkin-- drop me a comment if I missed you.
And please-- if you know of some better archive setup for this blog-- let me know!! So far, it's led to my slighting an extremely friendly and virtuous bibliophile (for which I am deeply sorry) and lost (I think) a good portion of my archived posts.

And for a topical reference: I've been extremely surprised lately how chummy W and others in the Cabinet/administration have gotten with Sudan, the country where Osama bin Laden lived for several years between the Embassy bombings in Dar and Nairobi. Read Ahmed Rashid's book, The Taliban to realize that it's more than just that......

From yesterday's (052203) Post:

Powell, Sudanese Official Confer on War on Terrorism

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail and discussed ways that Sudan could be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

With the exception of Syrian officials, it has been extremely rare for secretaries of state to meet with top diplomats from countries on the terrorism list. But the Bush administration has been pleased with steps Sudan has taken in the war on terrorism and in efforts to end a war with rebels.

-- Eh-- Whoever said that things should make sense?

Another one just jumped:

Christie Todd Whitman Resigns Post of EPA Chief

And congrats to 14-year old James Williams (Vancouver, WA) for winning the 2003 National Geography Bee, though it's unfortunate that all of the reports ignore the information and focus on the fact that he is homeschooled. Realize, folks that they had to go through two tiebreakers.
And with the overwhelming number of public schooled Geo Bee winners, does that mean that public school is inherently better?

More rats fleeing a sinking ship:

Ari Fleischer Resigns!!!

He's discovered that he needs to spend some time with his wife (of 6 months) and actually be able to look at himself in the mirror every morning. I'm sure we'll all be looking forward to seeing him on the speaking (standup) circuit.

And if you want to find out how exiting life really gets in the desert, follow this link!

Though some of us enjoy the intricacies of international policy. (Brought to you by the Spongebob Squarepants Foundation)

Three cheers for free trade!

ExxonMobil and other leading oil companies are to face an investigation into how up to $500 million came to be paid into a private U.S. bank account, said to be solely controlled by the President of Equatorial Guinea, reports The Independent (U.K.). Global Witness, a London-based anti-corruption campaign group, has written to John Ashcroft, the U.S. Attorney General, asking him to look into allegations that Equatorial Guinea's ruler, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, has between $300 million and $500 million deposited in the Dupont Circle branch of Riggs Bank in Washington, DC. (Global Development Briefing 051503)

And I thought Dupont real estate rents were high!

Happy Everest Day!

50 years ago, Tenzig Norgay and Edmund Hilary tried what they thought was the stairway to heaven-- and discovered that, when they reached the top, they were cold, tired, hungry, and couldn't breathe.

At Everest base camp, yes the base camp, the air contains only half the amount of oxygen as at sea level. And yet some crazies are actually running a marathon there! And paying for it!

Everest is the only place I can think of where there are two simultaneous reasons to turn blue.

But, hey, this is a desert rat talking.

Speaking of which-- Somebody snuck onto a 5 acre spread about 15 miles from home (Sky Valley, CA, if anyone cares) and stole about 45 oleander plants. Yahoo News seems to have dropped the link, but even stranger than waking up with big holes where windbreaks used to be is how common it is, and how much a lot of our neghbors can't seem to get rid of theirs!

More to come....