Blargh-- The cold I was hoping Ny/DayQuil would kick is back with a vengeance. Let's see how active those "active ingredients" really are...
My trip up to Princeton was enjoyable-- I see my mother and grandmother all too infrequently, so that was nice. With the health problems they are having, though, it was another reminder of human mortality.
Oh yeah-- Princeton sucks (as do MIT and Virginia)!
In the meantime, I wanted to put up some things that have flown under the radar.
Earlier this month, Condoleeza Rice made a speech about US involvement in Africa but a section in that speech signaled a major policy shift in the administration. Gone is the narrowly-defined sense of national interest. The administration is now talking about taking on situations that might breed terrorism which might not pose a direct threat to "Homeland Security." Here's the passage in question:
The national security advisor defended the president's consideration of sending troops to Liberia, despite the president's 2000 campaign rhetoric against nation building. She said, "I think that we've also recognized since 9-11 that one wants to be careful about permitting conditions of failed states to create conditions in which there's so much instability that you begin to see greater sources of terrorism."
(Quoted from the GOP USA news service)
Not that such a shift to a more holistic view of foreign policy is necessarily a bad thing. But the route the administration is taking is not encouraging.
And here's a particularly eloquent commentary by someone who should know.
Squandering Capital
By Madeleine K. Albright
Washington Post
Sunday, July 20, 2003; Page B07
Now would not be a bad time to start worrying. Tens of thousands of American troops will be in Iraq, perhaps for years, surrounded by Iraqis with guns. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says this is not a quagmire; I pray he is right. But the practical problems faced by the talented American administrator, L. Paul Bremer, and by U.S. soldiers trying to maintain order without a clear way of separating enemies from friends are daunting.
It would help greatly if we had more assistance from the international community, but in fairness, the war was an Anglo-American production; it's unlikely we will get substantial help without yielding significant authority, something the administration is loath to do. Meanwhile, U.S. credibility has been undermined by the failure to find weapons of mass destruction and by the inclusion of dubious information in the president's State of the Union address.
Among other things, the war in Iraq was supposed to reduce the dangers posed by al Qaeda terrorists and prompt resumed progress toward peace in the Middle East.
Time will tell whether the former was achieved, but reports of a rush of new al Qaeda recruits are not encouraging. As for the latter, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has indeed made progress in negotiations -- with Chairman Yasser Arafat. Despite a welcome cooling in rhetoric and upcoming visits to Washington by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the Middle East road map has yet to be unfolded.
In the Far East, the North Koreans may be building nuclear weapons or may not; we don't know. They could have a half-dozen by the end of the year. If the administration has a strategy for responding, it is not telling, but it seems to be relying on China to pressure North Korea effectively. Relying simply on China? As I say, it is a worrisome time.
Overall, the outlook for preventing the spread of potentially destabilizing weapons systems is bleak. The administration, openly allergic to treaties and arms control, has made no effort to promote restraint in developing arms as a normative ethic to which all nations have an interest in adhering. Instead, it has decided to fight proliferation primarily through military means and threats. Is this adequate?
Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, testified recently that "new alliances" are pooling resources "to deter or offset U.S. military superiority." Globalization has made the technology and resources necessary to develop sophisticated weapons more widely available. "Some 25 countries," Jacoby warns, "possess or are actively pursuing WMD or missile programs. The threat to U.S. and allied interests will grow during the next decade."
While in Africa this month, the president raised expectations that the United States will help stabilize Liberia, a noble mission that would help repair the administration's thoroughly battered image overseas. At the same time, there is a risk that the Pentagon -- already stretched thin -- will try to get by in Liberia on the cheap, investing American prestige but insufficient clout. We have seen this movie before -- in Somalia. If we do go into Liberia, we must be prepared to do the job right.
I am an optimist with immense faith in the ability of U.S. leadership to mobilize world opinion on behalf of democracy, justice and peace.
Leadership is not possible, however, without resources. It takes money to secure borders, defeat terrorists, safeguard nuclear materials, build democratic institutions, create educational systems in which tolerance is valued, and help nations recover from conflict. So when I see that the combined federal budget deficit this year and next will approach $1 trillion, I have to wonder. The president has made a lot of promises about "draining the swamp" in which terrorists thrive, combating AIDS, promoting development and meeting commitments to nations such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Liberia. Will the White House and Congress be able to meet those commitments when police, firefighters and schoolteachers must be laid off at home on account of budget cutbacks? If we do renege on the president's promises, what further damage to U.S. credibility will result?
Three years ago, America had vast diplomatic capital based on the goodwill we enjoyed around the world, and vast financial capital based on our international economic leadership and a record budget surplus. Now our capital of all kinds has been dissipated and we are left with more intractable dilemmas than resources or friends.
As someone who has served in positions of responsibility, I know it is much harder to devise practical solutions from the inside than to offer theoretical solutions from the outside. The nature of today's world, not the Bush administration, is responsible for the majority of problems we face. I would be less concerned, however, if I thought the administration was learning as it went along -- learning how to attract broader international support for its policies, make better use of neglected diplomatic tools, share responsibility, be more careful with the truth, finish what it starts and devise economic policies consonant with America's global role.
The quickest way to a more effective national security policy is to acknowledge the need for improvement; until that happens, we will continue to slide backward toward ever more dangerous ground.
The writer was secretary of state from 1997 to 2001.
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Been in the netherworld known as migraine for the last day or two-- and taking a quick break from work since I'm feeling a bit tired and disconnected. Yes-- I know, even more spaced than usual :-)
I've been meaning to post this for a while:
As many of you know, my mother is a first grade teacher. See "The Wonder Readers" link in the Beyond the Pale section of my blog. To reward the student who has worked the hardest and been the best behaved, Sparky (a stuffed dalmatian in fireman regalia) whispers into my mother's ear and tells her who he wants to go home with for the week. That child then brings Sparky back, tells the class what s/he did with Sparky and writes about it in their daily journal. Here's a wonderful story my mother sent me that I just had to post:
Last Wednesday Sparky couldn’t decide who to choose, until his glance fell on Edon, the sweetest, smallest, squeakiest, specialest child in the class. When Edon heard his name, he almost exploded to his feet with an enormous grin on his tiny face. After Sparky had made his choice, we remembered that Edon would be absent the next day for Yom Kippur, so I asked Edon to teach Sparky about how his family celebrates that holiday, and then to tell us about it on Friday.
When Edon returned, his brother brought him to the classroom door before class, and told me, “Sparky got something.” Edon pulled Sparky out of his bag, but instead of his fire hat, he was wearing a yarmulke!!! On Sparky, it covered his whole head and came down over his eyebrows, but still, it looked quite authentic. Edon and his brother were very proud.
When the class came in, they immediately noticed, and shrieked, “Sparky has a new hat! Sparky has a new hat!” When Edon told the class about Sparky’s adventures, he told about buckling Sparky in the seatbelt to go to Temple (they didn’t take him in) and that the ‘hat’ is called a “kipa” and is worn only by men or boys and is worn when praying. Then Edon told us that Sparky had learned a new word in Hebrew: “Shalom.” I asked him what it meant and he said, “Well… it means ‘hi.’” The children were totally fascinated and easily related to the unfamiliar religion. What an opportunity!
For what it's worth, this is just one of millions of examples of how public education is working despite the strident chorus claiming otherwise.
I've been meaning to post this for a while:
As many of you know, my mother is a first grade teacher. See "The Wonder Readers" link in the Beyond the Pale section of my blog. To reward the student who has worked the hardest and been the best behaved, Sparky (a stuffed dalmatian in fireman regalia) whispers into my mother's ear and tells her who he wants to go home with for the week. That child then brings Sparky back, tells the class what s/he did with Sparky and writes about it in their daily journal. Here's a wonderful story my mother sent me that I just had to post:
Last Wednesday Sparky couldn’t decide who to choose, until his glance fell on Edon, the sweetest, smallest, squeakiest, specialest child in the class. When Edon heard his name, he almost exploded to his feet with an enormous grin on his tiny face. After Sparky had made his choice, we remembered that Edon would be absent the next day for Yom Kippur, so I asked Edon to teach Sparky about how his family celebrates that holiday, and then to tell us about it on Friday.
When Edon returned, his brother brought him to the classroom door before class, and told me, “Sparky got something.” Edon pulled Sparky out of his bag, but instead of his fire hat, he was wearing a yarmulke!!! On Sparky, it covered his whole head and came down over his eyebrows, but still, it looked quite authentic. Edon and his brother were very proud.
When the class came in, they immediately noticed, and shrieked, “Sparky has a new hat! Sparky has a new hat!” When Edon told the class about Sparky’s adventures, he told about buckling Sparky in the seatbelt to go to Temple (they didn’t take him in) and that the ‘hat’ is called a “kipa” and is worn only by men or boys and is worn when praying. Then Edon told us that Sparky had learned a new word in Hebrew: “Shalom.” I asked him what it meant and he said, “Well… it means ‘hi.’” The children were totally fascinated and easily related to the unfamiliar religion. What an opportunity!
For what it's worth, this is just one of millions of examples of how public education is working despite the strident chorus claiming otherwise.
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Happy Hamster! And twins to boot! :-)
You are a Siberian Dwarf Hamster!
What Breed of Hamster Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
You are a Siberian Dwarf Hamster!
What Breed of Hamster Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
And now for something completely different: A serious post (!).
W Is His Own Worst Enemy
Two of Bush's main foreign policy drives turn out to be (surprise!) directly incompatible.
Whatever your feeling about the 'coalition of the willing,' it seemed this spring that W was bent on rewarding those countries who pleased him and vice versa, if only in the most infantile ways. A free trade treaty with Chile (who spoke out about the US' position on Iraq) was delayed for months because of supposed difficulty in translating it from Spanish, for example. But even the countries that are supposedly on the US' 'good list' are finding out that W is less than serious about their relationship even without the help of Haliburton.
Enter the International Criminal Court. The US has for years been working with the international community to set this kind of thing up, being one of the main negotiators for the Rome Statute (the ICC's founding agreement), responsible for its underpinnings being almost identical to the US Bill of Rights, and signed by President Clinton in 2000. W changed all this in going back on the US signature of the Rome Statute. His ongoing tantrum against the ICC is driving a dagger into the back of the US' supposed 'coalition of the willing' and other 'friends' by yanking military assistance from nearly all parties to the ICC (like the majority of the states coming in to NATO; Colombia, our 'partner' in the drug war; regional powers like South Africa, etc.). There are only a few 'waivers' for huge countries like the UK and Germany.
Before the ICC, there was no established way to legally hold individuals accountable for causing genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity (which have all been specifically defined and agreed upon by all countries in international law). The International Court of Justice (an original part of the United Nations) is set up only to hear cases between national governments (border disputes, problems with the control of international resources, etc.) The only way the world could deal with individual criminals like the Nazis, Slobodan Milosevic, and Rwandan genocidaires was to create entire court structures from scratch, supremely expensive, logistically nightmarish, and only really possible after a massive tragedy (political will, etc).
When the Allies set up the Nuremburg tribunal, they assumed that the proceedings would only need to be temporary and limited to crimes committed in relation to the war since the world would surely not allow anything like that to happen again. Oops. In only a few special cases, there was enough political momentum to reinvent the wheel (an entire legal system) only after a huge conflagration and without any established material or financial support. This is basically what happened after the Yugoslav and Rwandan genocides, whose tribunals have come under strong criticism, largely because of the restrictions I just mentioned.
Some conservatives see the court as a threat to truth, justice and the American way but others just think it will sap their precious bodily fluids. In the last Congress, a provision was tacked on to one of the omnibus foreign relations bills that took a very critical view of the court. Called The American Servicemembers Protection Act (ASPA) by its supporters and The Hague Invasion Act by its detractors, the amendment (now law) refuses to recognize the ICC (which has entered into force with well over the 60 necessary countries ratifying it), takes punitive action against member countries. It also authorizes the president to prevent, by force if necessary ("all means necessary and appropriate"), the investigation of any American, or person the government takes an interest in ("covered allied persons"), by the International Criminal Court. Picture W taking "all means necessary" in the middle of The Hague (where the court is based) in the Netherlands (which is incidentally a member of the 'coalition of the willing').
Any individual even gathering information for the ICC in the United States is subject to arrest. Nobody can use US funds to speak with the court or meet with other countries to address the ICC. According to provisions in this "Hague Invasion Act," the US can't even share information with any other government or body that might conceivably, in any way and at any time, be made available to the court.
Floor debate on the issue included a detailed and sarcastic description of how US forces might carry out this "Hague Invasion Act" should a 'US or allied person' create enough evidence of their involvement in premeditated genocide, war crimes, and/or crimes against humanity to convince a three-judge panel (with each judge from a different region) first that there's a compelling case and second that the US is unwilling or unable to mount a good faith investigation into that evidence. The court can only act on those three crimes, on crimes that occur after its formal establishment on July 1, 2002 (that means that Kissinger is safe folks), and after all good faith domestic legal options have been exhausted.
Not only has W done his best to ruin an important means of bringing future individuals like Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden et al to justice, his misplaced hysteria condemns a body that has been tailor made by US negotiators to be both as similar to the US justice system and as narrowly defined as possible.
But even as the current US administration is lunging at shadows, it is doing real damage to the coalition and its standing in the world that they say they want to protect. Countries thinking they could stand with the US against terrorism and other horrendous crimes that seemed ever more likely after September 11th now find the basis of their preparedness kicked out from under them and bilateral relations even worse than before. All this because they agreed that there needed to be a way to address three equally terrible crimes while still maintaining the rule of law. Even countries that haven't even touched the Rome Statute are getting shoved around. Washington is leaning hard on any country it can (including Micronesia, Nepal and Bolivia) to force them to sign bilateral Article 98 agreements (a US-negotiated back door to the Rome Statute) and force the country to ignore the Rome Statute when the US is involved. So much for compassionate conservatism.
So let's see. W is yanking from ICC countries in ASPA the very assistance that he is counting on in the 'coalition of the willing.' All the other countries in the ICC are getting kicked in the teeth and left with the equivalent of a third-grader-drawn happy face on notebook paper. Countries that don't fall under ASPA are treated even worse than usual.
Wow, Bush and company is talented! They've got themselves in a no-win situation pretty much singlehandedly.
It's a pity Jean de Brunhoff couldn't talk directly to Bush about the world. "This is not a toy, Mr. Elephant."
W Is His Own Worst Enemy
Two of Bush's main foreign policy drives turn out to be (surprise!) directly incompatible.
Whatever your feeling about the 'coalition of the willing,' it seemed this spring that W was bent on rewarding those countries who pleased him and vice versa, if only in the most infantile ways. A free trade treaty with Chile (who spoke out about the US' position on Iraq) was delayed for months because of supposed difficulty in translating it from Spanish, for example. But even the countries that are supposedly on the US' 'good list' are finding out that W is less than serious about their relationship even without the help of Haliburton.
Enter the International Criminal Court. The US has for years been working with the international community to set this kind of thing up, being one of the main negotiators for the Rome Statute (the ICC's founding agreement), responsible for its underpinnings being almost identical to the US Bill of Rights, and signed by President Clinton in 2000. W changed all this in going back on the US signature of the Rome Statute. His ongoing tantrum against the ICC is driving a dagger into the back of the US' supposed 'coalition of the willing' and other 'friends' by yanking military assistance from nearly all parties to the ICC (like the majority of the states coming in to NATO; Colombia, our 'partner' in the drug war; regional powers like South Africa, etc.). There are only a few 'waivers' for huge countries like the UK and Germany.
Before the ICC, there was no established way to legally hold individuals accountable for causing genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity (which have all been specifically defined and agreed upon by all countries in international law). The International Court of Justice (an original part of the United Nations) is set up only to hear cases between national governments (border disputes, problems with the control of international resources, etc.) The only way the world could deal with individual criminals like the Nazis, Slobodan Milosevic, and Rwandan genocidaires was to create entire court structures from scratch, supremely expensive, logistically nightmarish, and only really possible after a massive tragedy (political will, etc).
When the Allies set up the Nuremburg tribunal, they assumed that the proceedings would only need to be temporary and limited to crimes committed in relation to the war since the world would surely not allow anything like that to happen again. Oops. In only a few special cases, there was enough political momentum to reinvent the wheel (an entire legal system) only after a huge conflagration and without any established material or financial support. This is basically what happened after the Yugoslav and Rwandan genocides, whose tribunals have come under strong criticism, largely because of the restrictions I just mentioned.
Some conservatives see the court as a threat to truth, justice and the American way but others just think it will sap their precious bodily fluids. In the last Congress, a provision was tacked on to one of the omnibus foreign relations bills that took a very critical view of the court. Called The American Servicemembers Protection Act (ASPA) by its supporters and The Hague Invasion Act by its detractors, the amendment (now law) refuses to recognize the ICC (which has entered into force with well over the 60 necessary countries ratifying it), takes punitive action against member countries. It also authorizes the president to prevent, by force if necessary ("all means necessary and appropriate"), the investigation of any American, or person the government takes an interest in ("covered allied persons"), by the International Criminal Court. Picture W taking "all means necessary" in the middle of The Hague (where the court is based) in the Netherlands (which is incidentally a member of the 'coalition of the willing').
Any individual even gathering information for the ICC in the United States is subject to arrest. Nobody can use US funds to speak with the court or meet with other countries to address the ICC. According to provisions in this "Hague Invasion Act," the US can't even share information with any other government or body that might conceivably, in any way and at any time, be made available to the court.
Floor debate on the issue included a detailed and sarcastic description of how US forces might carry out this "Hague Invasion Act" should a 'US or allied person' create enough evidence of their involvement in premeditated genocide, war crimes, and/or crimes against humanity to convince a three-judge panel (with each judge from a different region) first that there's a compelling case and second that the US is unwilling or unable to mount a good faith investigation into that evidence. The court can only act on those three crimes, on crimes that occur after its formal establishment on July 1, 2002 (that means that Kissinger is safe folks), and after all good faith domestic legal options have been exhausted.
Not only has W done his best to ruin an important means of bringing future individuals like Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden et al to justice, his misplaced hysteria condemns a body that has been tailor made by US negotiators to be both as similar to the US justice system and as narrowly defined as possible.
But even as the current US administration is lunging at shadows, it is doing real damage to the coalition and its standing in the world that they say they want to protect. Countries thinking they could stand with the US against terrorism and other horrendous crimes that seemed ever more likely after September 11th now find the basis of their preparedness kicked out from under them and bilateral relations even worse than before. All this because they agreed that there needed to be a way to address three equally terrible crimes while still maintaining the rule of law. Even countries that haven't even touched the Rome Statute are getting shoved around. Washington is leaning hard on any country it can (including Micronesia, Nepal and Bolivia) to force them to sign bilateral Article 98 agreements (a US-negotiated back door to the Rome Statute) and force the country to ignore the Rome Statute when the US is involved. So much for compassionate conservatism.
So let's see. W is yanking from ICC countries in ASPA the very assistance that he is counting on in the 'coalition of the willing.' All the other countries in the ICC are getting kicked in the teeth and left with the equivalent of a third-grader-drawn happy face on notebook paper. Countries that don't fall under ASPA are treated even worse than usual.
Wow, Bush and company is talented! They've got themselves in a no-win situation pretty much singlehandedly.
It's a pity Jean de Brunhoff couldn't talk directly to Bush about the world. "This is not a toy, Mr. Elephant."
Thursday, July 03, 2003
I've been looking into setting up a new blog where young Dartmouth alums in the DC area could submit and have access to posts about housing, job, networking and other opportunities or events.
The few people I've talked to about it think it's a good idea, but I wanted to put it up here to reach whatever Dartmouth refugees I might not have talked to. (and that don't care that I ended that sentence with a preposition)
Drop me a comment or email with your thoughts.
The few people I've talked to about it think it's a good idea, but I wanted to put it up here to reach whatever Dartmouth refugees I might not have talked to. (and that don't care that I ended that sentence with a preposition)
Drop me a comment or email with your thoughts.
A bunch of random thoughts and links--
Some great things to know if you have young kids, from our friends Tom and Ray Maggliozzi (Highly Recommended) (Real Audio link)
----
Just because nobody understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
----
How is 'speculative fiction' different from 'science fiction?' Hear this Real Audio link of Margaret Atwood responding that in 'speculative fiction,' "there's no talking squid." The link is an interview on Minnesota Public Radio about Atwood's books The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake.
----
There's a controversy back home about a trail that goes through a mountain nature preserve and how open to the public it should be. Pretty normal, no? Think of a very conservative and dogmatic area fighting over the rights to...... wait for it....... the Bump and Grind Trail. The best comment is at the end of the article by a leading pro-access hiker: "I know people that hike it for their health. I know people that hike it for spiritual reasons. I know people that get up at four in the morning to get up there."
Priceless
----
I've been looking through Congressional Directories and found that legislators can get together to address some important issues:
Congressional Fatherhood Task Force
Congressional Manufactured Housing Caucus
Congressional Wine Caucus
Congressional Fire Services Caucus
Congressional Prevention Coalition
Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus
Congressional Privacy Caucus
Congressional Automotive Performance and Motor Sports Caucus
Senate Sweetener Caucus
Senate Beef Caucus
The Prevention Caucus is about infectious disease prevention, but there's one, the Congressional Bearing Caucus, that's puzzling me. It's most likely ball bearings, but its description is suspiciously vague:
Purpose: The mission of the Congressional Bearing Caucus is to support the domestic bearing industry, which plays a critical role in preserving national security and our industrial base.
Outside maybe the wine caucus, it paints a pretty compelling picture of our legislature, doesn't it?
-----
How easy is it to differentiate between dictators and sit-com characters? Find out here. (Thanks Josh)
-----
A while ago, I was bored so I actually read one of the disclaimer for one of the virus programs I was installing on my new computer. It read, in part:
You hereby acknowledge that the software may not be available due to any number of factors including, without limitation, periodic system maintenance, scheduled or unscheduled, acts of god, technical failure of the software, telecommunications infrastructure, or delay or disruption attributable to viruses, denial of service attacks, increased or fluctuating demand, actions and admissions of third parties, or any other cause reasonably outside the control of the company.
"Acts of god" aside, notice that the antivirus company specifically rules out any responsibility for virus or denial of service attacks (which by definition are, at least initially, out of the control of the company).
-----
A great definition that I heard most recently from Tim:
Suburbia: Where they cut down the trees and name the streets after them.
----
On our way out to Cleveland, the group of us (Trish, Tim, Edmund, and me) started playing "Titles" in which you name the titles of works/shows/movies that are somehow connected by actors and the like. Along the way, we somehow ended up with a Terminator movie, raising the spectre of connecting to one of his stinkers. The conversation went like this:
Tricia: There's still plenty of Arnold Schwarzenegger to go around.
Edmund: Actually, with the amount of steroids he's taken, there probably isn't all that much of him to go around.
Tim: God! His nuts must be the size of lima beans!
(pause)
Did I mention how much I hate lima beans?
----
And with that, I'll leave you vegans to your thoughts.
Some great things to know if you have young kids, from our friends Tom and Ray Maggliozzi (Highly Recommended) (Real Audio link)
----
Just because nobody understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
----
How is 'speculative fiction' different from 'science fiction?' Hear this Real Audio link of Margaret Atwood responding that in 'speculative fiction,' "there's no talking squid." The link is an interview on Minnesota Public Radio about Atwood's books The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake.
----
There's a controversy back home about a trail that goes through a mountain nature preserve and how open to the public it should be. Pretty normal, no? Think of a very conservative and dogmatic area fighting over the rights to...... wait for it....... the Bump and Grind Trail. The best comment is at the end of the article by a leading pro-access hiker: "I know people that hike it for their health. I know people that hike it for spiritual reasons. I know people that get up at four in the morning to get up there."
Priceless
----
I've been looking through Congressional Directories and found that legislators can get together to address some important issues:
Congressional Fatherhood Task Force
Congressional Manufactured Housing Caucus
Congressional Wine Caucus
Congressional Fire Services Caucus
Congressional Prevention Coalition
Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus
Congressional Privacy Caucus
Congressional Automotive Performance and Motor Sports Caucus
Senate Sweetener Caucus
Senate Beef Caucus
The Prevention Caucus is about infectious disease prevention, but there's one, the Congressional Bearing Caucus, that's puzzling me. It's most likely ball bearings, but its description is suspiciously vague:
Purpose: The mission of the Congressional Bearing Caucus is to support the domestic bearing industry, which plays a critical role in preserving national security and our industrial base.
Outside maybe the wine caucus, it paints a pretty compelling picture of our legislature, doesn't it?
-----
How easy is it to differentiate between dictators and sit-com characters? Find out here. (Thanks Josh)
-----
A while ago, I was bored so I actually read one of the disclaimer for one of the virus programs I was installing on my new computer. It read, in part:
You hereby acknowledge that the software may not be available due to any number of factors including, without limitation, periodic system maintenance, scheduled or unscheduled, acts of god, technical failure of the software, telecommunications infrastructure, or delay or disruption attributable to viruses, denial of service attacks, increased or fluctuating demand, actions and admissions of third parties, or any other cause reasonably outside the control of the company.
"Acts of god" aside, notice that the antivirus company specifically rules out any responsibility for virus or denial of service attacks (which by definition are, at least initially, out of the control of the company).
-----
A great definition that I heard most recently from Tim:
Suburbia: Where they cut down the trees and name the streets after them.
----
On our way out to Cleveland, the group of us (Trish, Tim, Edmund, and me) started playing "Titles" in which you name the titles of works/shows/movies that are somehow connected by actors and the like. Along the way, we somehow ended up with a Terminator movie, raising the spectre of connecting to one of his stinkers. The conversation went like this:
Tricia: There's still plenty of Arnold Schwarzenegger to go around.
Edmund: Actually, with the amount of steroids he's taken, there probably isn't all that much of him to go around.
Tim: God! His nuts must be the size of lima beans!
(pause)
Did I mention how much I hate lima beans?
----
And with that, I'll leave you vegans to your thoughts.
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
*** Warning! This comment could disturb some people. ***
Has anybody else noticed a new innovation in bathroom sanitation?
It's a little device mounted on the wall about the size of a phone book that encloses a little device that sprays a puff of deodorizer every hour or so.
It's not bad in itself, but I wonder if the people who haven't noticed them consider themselves aware about the possibility of a bio or chemical weapons attack.
This post is designed to make the point that it's ridiculous to try to get rid of all 'threats' however much they might be trumped up.
Has anybody else noticed a new innovation in bathroom sanitation?
It's a little device mounted on the wall about the size of a phone book that encloses a little device that sprays a puff of deodorizer every hour or so.
It's not bad in itself, but I wonder if the people who haven't noticed them consider themselves aware about the possibility of a bio or chemical weapons attack.
This post is designed to make the point that it's ridiculous to try to get rid of all 'threats' however much they might be trumped up.
Lots to catch up on:
Two weekends ago, I went out to Cleveland with assorted loons to help out with running PACE nationals and see a bunch of impressive highschoolers play on a very nice set of packets. Some of the players could actually have been pretty good on the college circuit. And the people running the thing weren't all that bad either :-) The ringleaders deserve more kudos than I can give...
There was the issue the protest in the finals that really shouldn't have been accepted: Cape Verde (the Lusophone country) for Cap Vert (the peninsula in Francophone Senegal). Especially since the lead in was very specific about the impact of French imperialism. That's like accepting the Black Hills (South Dakota) for Montenegro. Ah, well. It's a small point and didn't end up making any difference, but it still has been bothering me (as a geography person) to no end......
As for Cleveland, I had never really been there before (changing planes at the airport doesn't count) and can say it is a unique experience. It can generally be summed up in a conversation I had with my brother afterwards:
Him: What did you do last weekend? I'm sure DC was more exciting than here.
Me: I wasn't in DC. I went to Ohio.
Him: (long, shocked pause) WHY??!
It actually wasn't all that bad-- the company, food, accomodations, and work were all good. It just takes some talent to emulate the Boston street system in a relatively flat and modern setting. It was also kinda disconcerting to see street after street of mansions in rather questionable architectural taste (in my humble opinion) in which a small village or neighborhood from a developing country could make themselves quite comfortable. And yes, it was strange and vague.
And afterwards, I got to come back to the wonders of DC. WooHoo! Back to being underemployed and networking with all the ease of a chess player. Shah Mat!
I've been working on the continuation of a project I managed when I was at the Campaign for UN Reform; a questionnaire sent to candidates (in 2002 just for the US Congress, but now including the presidential race) to gauge their standing on foreign policy issues. We've revamped it a lot for our present draft, but I'd be interested to hear your reaction to the previous one posted here.
I should actually get back to doing work-- I've got a lot more stuff to put up, but it'll have to wait until the end of the workday...
Until then......
Two weekends ago, I went out to Cleveland with assorted loons to help out with running PACE nationals and see a bunch of impressive highschoolers play on a very nice set of packets. Some of the players could actually have been pretty good on the college circuit. And the people running the thing weren't all that bad either :-) The ringleaders deserve more kudos than I can give...
There was the issue the protest in the finals that really shouldn't have been accepted: Cape Verde (the Lusophone country) for Cap Vert (the peninsula in Francophone Senegal). Especially since the lead in was very specific about the impact of French imperialism. That's like accepting the Black Hills (South Dakota) for Montenegro. Ah, well. It's a small point and didn't end up making any difference, but it still has been bothering me (as a geography person) to no end......
As for Cleveland, I had never really been there before (changing planes at the airport doesn't count) and can say it is a unique experience. It can generally be summed up in a conversation I had with my brother afterwards:
Him: What did you do last weekend? I'm sure DC was more exciting than here.
Me: I wasn't in DC. I went to Ohio.
Him: (long, shocked pause) WHY??!
It actually wasn't all that bad-- the company, food, accomodations, and work were all good. It just takes some talent to emulate the Boston street system in a relatively flat and modern setting. It was also kinda disconcerting to see street after street of mansions in rather questionable architectural taste (in my humble opinion) in which a small village or neighborhood from a developing country could make themselves quite comfortable. And yes, it was strange and vague.
And afterwards, I got to come back to the wonders of DC. WooHoo! Back to being underemployed and networking with all the ease of a chess player. Shah Mat!
I've been working on the continuation of a project I managed when I was at the Campaign for UN Reform; a questionnaire sent to candidates (in 2002 just for the US Congress, but now including the presidential race) to gauge their standing on foreign policy issues. We've revamped it a lot for our present draft, but I'd be interested to hear your reaction to the previous one posted here.
I should actually get back to doing work-- I've got a lot more stuff to put up, but it'll have to wait until the end of the workday...
Until then......
Wednesday, June 18, 2003
As I was coming back from the Hill this afternoon I saw a oddly perfect scene for both a Washington DC postcard and a reminder of how security-happy the government has become.
From the taxi I saw a huge linebacker type with reflective aviator sunglasses, olive uniform and crisp tan ranger hat under the main arch of a huge federal building just below the capitol. He was completely alone and motionless, but I'm sure his unblinking eyes took everything in. Not a thing was out of place; uniform perfectly creased, military haircut, black skin and dark uniform clearly distinct from the surrounding white marble. He had that peculiar exaggerated unreality of a blueprint in an art gallery, standing there tense and watchful as the world thought better of approaching and continued along Pennsylvania Avenue.
I found myself wondering whether this was a good or a bad thing-- whether the adornment of the US government with these unflinching living gargoyles separates it from their popular basis or if human pit bulls like this one remind those who would challenge their authority and the administration's profound dedication to avenge any wrong done to it.
From the taxi I saw a huge linebacker type with reflective aviator sunglasses, olive uniform and crisp tan ranger hat under the main arch of a huge federal building just below the capitol. He was completely alone and motionless, but I'm sure his unblinking eyes took everything in. Not a thing was out of place; uniform perfectly creased, military haircut, black skin and dark uniform clearly distinct from the surrounding white marble. He had that peculiar exaggerated unreality of a blueprint in an art gallery, standing there tense and watchful as the world thought better of approaching and continued along Pennsylvania Avenue.
I found myself wondering whether this was a good or a bad thing-- whether the adornment of the US government with these unflinching living gargoyles separates it from their popular basis or if human pit bulls like this one remind those who would challenge their authority and the administration's profound dedication to avenge any wrong done to it.
Wow-- it never rains but it pours! At least all the rain has kept things cool, though extremely humid, for me to deal with the tidal wave of things coming up recently.
I've not heard back from the Kennan Institute after my interview there in the first week of June. I'm worried that I came off as over-qualified, not because I'm arrogant, but since they seemed to expect to spend most of the interview explaining what they do (sponsor research and speakers on Russian and Post-Soviet affairs, prepare policy backgrounders, coordinate interaction between the policy and academic worlds, etc.). They were obviously flustered to find out that I not only knew what they did in general, but knew a bunch of the individuals that were at the Institute both from their research and hearing them speak. Later on, one of the interviewers asked me what languages I know. I went down my list, mentioning that I knew Russian, but wasn't fluent. "But," she wanted to know, "can you figure out what the letters in the Cyrillic alphabet correspond to?" When I told her that I could read Russian newspaper articles, there was another awkward pause.
I'd rather have that than another thing to worry about, but still......
Maybe they were worried that Literacy is the Path to Communism like this great Soviet poster claims. People often don't realize how effective Moscow was in promoting literacy and similar development projects especially in the first years of the USSR. The ideas behind and ways of doing so were incredibly brutal and counterproductive, but it jumped the country from early Medieval throwback to massive industrial power in only a decade or so....
Speaking of heavy-handed government leaders, I spent last week running around for a series of meetings in the Capitol for work.... The fact that there is a framed street sign above the Senate Appropriations Committee conference room that reads TED STEVENS WAY is quite telling. I was impressed, though, with Senator Inouye who showed that he was both extremely intelligent and well-spoken and very interested in doing the right, instead of the most politically expedient, thing.
Got to go back to work.... I'll have more time to post later today.
I've not heard back from the Kennan Institute after my interview there in the first week of June. I'm worried that I came off as over-qualified, not because I'm arrogant, but since they seemed to expect to spend most of the interview explaining what they do (sponsor research and speakers on Russian and Post-Soviet affairs, prepare policy backgrounders, coordinate interaction between the policy and academic worlds, etc.). They were obviously flustered to find out that I not only knew what they did in general, but knew a bunch of the individuals that were at the Institute both from their research and hearing them speak. Later on, one of the interviewers asked me what languages I know. I went down my list, mentioning that I knew Russian, but wasn't fluent. "But," she wanted to know, "can you figure out what the letters in the Cyrillic alphabet correspond to?" When I told her that I could read Russian newspaper articles, there was another awkward pause.
I'd rather have that than another thing to worry about, but still......
Maybe they were worried that Literacy is the Path to Communism like this great Soviet poster claims. People often don't realize how effective Moscow was in promoting literacy and similar development projects especially in the first years of the USSR. The ideas behind and ways of doing so were incredibly brutal and counterproductive, but it jumped the country from early Medieval throwback to massive industrial power in only a decade or so....
Speaking of heavy-handed government leaders, I spent last week running around for a series of meetings in the Capitol for work.... The fact that there is a framed street sign above the Senate Appropriations Committee conference room that reads TED STEVENS WAY is quite telling. I was impressed, though, with Senator Inouye who showed that he was both extremely intelligent and well-spoken and very interested in doing the right, instead of the most politically expedient, thing.
Got to go back to work.... I'll have more time to post later today.
Monday, June 09, 2003
I've been reading recently about how a 13 year-old who is going to graduate school in math at the University of Virginia after getting his undergraduate degree this spring.
This is great-- more power to him, especially for a person who was "solving math problems at 14 months," but it has gotten me thinking.
We occasionally hear about the meteoric rise of some children through the education system by superior achievement in math or, in fewer cases, in the sciences (a la Doogie Howser, MD). But how many examples have there been of similar young prodigies doing the same thing (like going to grad school on their 14th birthday) in the social sciences or humanities?
I have my own theories about this, but I just wanted you to think about it.
This is great-- more power to him, especially for a person who was "solving math problems at 14 months," but it has gotten me thinking.
We occasionally hear about the meteoric rise of some children through the education system by superior achievement in math or, in fewer cases, in the sciences (a la Doogie Howser, MD). But how many examples have there been of similar young prodigies doing the same thing (like going to grad school on their 14th birthday) in the social sciences or humanities?
I have my own theories about this, but I just wanted you to think about it.
Sunday, June 08, 2003
I think it's a good thing whenever equestrian anything gets into the news, personally, but damn-- you know it's a slow news day when two of the seven possible headlines on Yahoo's main page are about a gelding not winning a race. (please, no more bad jokes about that!)
I just saw Adaptation (thanks Tim, Stuart, et al) and have been doing a little thinking-- the character Charlie Kaufman is pretty much meant to be the general personification of Americans' foibles and awkwardness. The film was obviously directed at a large audience and the character was casted and played to fulfill that role for the maximum number of people (and hence sell that many tickets).
Charlie Kaufman is what they came up for the whole audience. But what about the individuals? Who or what do you think would be the personification of that part of yourself?
I haven't decided what it would be for me yet.....
I just saw Adaptation (thanks Tim, Stuart, et al) and have been doing a little thinking-- the character Charlie Kaufman is pretty much meant to be the general personification of Americans' foibles and awkwardness. The film was obviously directed at a large audience and the character was casted and played to fulfill that role for the maximum number of people (and hence sell that many tickets).
Charlie Kaufman is what they came up for the whole audience. But what about the individuals? Who or what do you think would be the personification of that part of yourself?
I haven't decided what it would be for me yet.....
Friday, June 06, 2003
I wonder when Alan "bad brother" Greenspan will be testifying again.....
Helping Kids Understand Money
It's not every day that Al Broaddus gets introduced as a "cool dude" or Alan Greenspan as a "bad brother." But there they were yesterday, both in standard issue blue suit and tassel loafers, in the library of the District's John Philip Sousa Middle School, riffing about money, careers and life.
Broaddus, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, recalled the snazzy '55 Plymouth Fury he bought for $735 just before it broke down and he had to sell it for scrap at $35.
Fedmeister Greenspan told of his youthful disappointments in coming to the realization that he wasn't going to be a professional baseball player or keep up with his pal, saxophonist Stan Getz, on the clarinet. It turned out, however, Greenspan was pretty good at keeping the books for the jazz band and the rest, as they say, is history.
Read the whole Washington Post article (060603)
Helping Kids Understand Money
It's not every day that Al Broaddus gets introduced as a "cool dude" or Alan Greenspan as a "bad brother." But there they were yesterday, both in standard issue blue suit and tassel loafers, in the library of the District's John Philip Sousa Middle School, riffing about money, careers and life.
Broaddus, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, recalled the snazzy '55 Plymouth Fury he bought for $735 just before it broke down and he had to sell it for scrap at $35.
Fedmeister Greenspan told of his youthful disappointments in coming to the realization that he wasn't going to be a professional baseball player or keep up with his pal, saxophonist Stan Getz, on the clarinet. It turned out, however, Greenspan was pretty good at keeping the books for the jazz band and the rest, as they say, is history.
Read the whole Washington Post article (060603)
Rumors of my disappearance have been (largely) exaggerated-- I've just been insanely busy with work, meetings, job search, very interesting research, and the bizarre chess game that is networking in this fair city.....
My interview went well, though strangely. Will explain later. Thanks to all your encouragement!
The world is also still turning in its furious apathy-- The Pentagon pulling back from the Korean DMZ and being both petulant and heavy-handed in its plans to shift a large portion of its European deployments to bases in the Eastern European countries where they have a huge amount of leverage and away from those pariahs, France and Germany, who had the temerity to question Rumsfeld, W, Wolfowitz and Perle in their headlong and colossally stupid rush to war.
Oh, and rampaging thugs killing and looting throughout Aceh (Indonesia), wholesale slaughter in the villages of the Congo, and the sinister "disappearing" of innocents in Belarus don't even get near the front pages.
We all need a bit of a diversion, like this scintillating piece of news:
Early-morning break-in: An Old Town Alexandria couple was awakened about 2:15 a.m. yesterday in their upstairs bedroom by a man wielding their Calphalon wok. The male resident confronted the intruder and was struck on the head with the pan, which the intruder had taken from the kitchen after breaking into the home on North St. Asaph Street, police said.
The two men continued to fight, and the resident, who managed to gain control of the intruder, walked him out the front door, police said. The suspect fled, but police were alerted and made an arrest nearby. Martin D. Lorton, 39, of the 300 block of Colonial Avenue, was charged with unlawful wounding, burglary and destruction of property. The resident sustained minor injuries but declined treatment.
(Washington Post Metro Section 060503)
The whole thing is absolutely horrible-- I've been attacked myself-- but with a wok?
And he couldn't have just appeared in the second-floor bedroom.... He had to have climbed the stairs with it!
My interview went well, though strangely. Will explain later. Thanks to all your encouragement!
The world is also still turning in its furious apathy-- The Pentagon pulling back from the Korean DMZ and being both petulant and heavy-handed in its plans to shift a large portion of its European deployments to bases in the Eastern European countries where they have a huge amount of leverage and away from those pariahs, France and Germany, who had the temerity to question Rumsfeld, W, Wolfowitz and Perle in their headlong and colossally stupid rush to war.
Oh, and rampaging thugs killing and looting throughout Aceh (Indonesia), wholesale slaughter in the villages of the Congo, and the sinister "disappearing" of innocents in Belarus don't even get near the front pages.
We all need a bit of a diversion, like this scintillating piece of news:
Early-morning break-in: An Old Town Alexandria couple was awakened about 2:15 a.m. yesterday in their upstairs bedroom by a man wielding their Calphalon wok. The male resident confronted the intruder and was struck on the head with the pan, which the intruder had taken from the kitchen after breaking into the home on North St. Asaph Street, police said.
The two men continued to fight, and the resident, who managed to gain control of the intruder, walked him out the front door, police said. The suspect fled, but police were alerted and made an arrest nearby. Martin D. Lorton, 39, of the 300 block of Colonial Avenue, was charged with unlawful wounding, burglary and destruction of property. The resident sustained minor injuries but declined treatment.
(Washington Post Metro Section 060503)
The whole thing is absolutely horrible-- I've been attacked myself-- but with a wok?
And he couldn't have just appeared in the second-floor bedroom.... He had to have climbed the stairs with it!
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
Woah!
You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.
What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
(Thanks, Tricia)
You are Neo, from "The Matrix." You
display a perfect fusion of heroism and
compassion.
What Matrix Persona Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
(Thanks, Tricia)
I also heard a truly great answer to the question "What was the colonial power of Angola?"
Answer: Cuba!!!
Their only downfall was using Ukrainian planes.....
And something to think about when you crazy coffee drinkers make your next cup:
Coffee historians have recounted a story in which coffee was "brought to earth by the Angel Gabriel in order to revive Mohammed's flagging energies. Mohammed himself was suppose to have declared that, when he had drunk this magic potion, he felt strong enough to unhorse forty men and to posses forty women."
(As told by Sir Thomas Herbert in the early 1600s; reprinted in The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug, page 9)
(Blogger hit a strange server error so I couldn't post this until now-- It's actually designed to follow the last post directly)
Answer: Cuba!!!
Their only downfall was using Ukrainian planes.....
And something to think about when you crazy coffee drinkers make your next cup:
Coffee historians have recounted a story in which coffee was "brought to earth by the Angel Gabriel in order to revive Mohammed's flagging energies. Mohammed himself was suppose to have declared that, when he had drunk this magic potion, he felt strong enough to unhorse forty men and to posses forty women."
(As told by Sir Thomas Herbert in the early 1600s; reprinted in The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug, page 9)
(Blogger hit a strange server error so I couldn't post this until now-- It's actually designed to follow the last post directly)
D'oh! Can we get someone who can identify Al Capone by sight? We (mostly Tim and Edmund) wiped the floor with the other people in pub quiz but for our lousy score of 2 on the picture round.
And damn House Office Building security goons and their inflated egos--
This isn't Amman for heaven's sake!
Journalist With Bomb Sentenced in Jordan
AMMAN, Jordan -- A Japanese photographer was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison after a bomb he took from Iraq as a souvenir exploded and killed an airport security guard in Jordan.
Hiroki Gomi was passing through a security checkpoint at the Amman airport on May 1 when an X-ray machine detected the cluster bomb. The explosive detonated as a guard searched the bag, killing the man and wounding three people.
Gomi, of Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, said he did not know the bomb was live. He was talking on his cell phone several feet away when it exploded.
"We take this verdict seriously and would like to express again our condolences to the relatives of the deceased and our apologies to those who were injured," the newspaper said in a statement.
(World Wire reports in the Washington Post 060203)
And damn House Office Building security goons and their inflated egos--
This isn't Amman for heaven's sake!
Journalist With Bomb Sentenced in Jordan
AMMAN, Jordan -- A Japanese photographer was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison after a bomb he took from Iraq as a souvenir exploded and killed an airport security guard in Jordan.
Hiroki Gomi was passing through a security checkpoint at the Amman airport on May 1 when an X-ray machine detected the cluster bomb. The explosive detonated as a guard searched the bag, killing the man and wounding three people.
Gomi, of Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, said he did not know the bomb was live. He was talking on his cell phone several feet away when it exploded.
"We take this verdict seriously and would like to express again our condolences to the relatives of the deceased and our apologies to those who were injured," the newspaper said in a statement.
(World Wire reports in the Washington Post 060203)
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
The US is tilting towards Kafka more and more.
I was going home on the Red Line tonight (~10:30) when the metro operator came on the PA- "Passengers be advised that we will be holding at this station" (Van Ness). OK-- usually that's a sign that either it's the last train or there's something mechanical amiss somewhere. Fine.
But after about a minute, a string of police descend upon the train, hustling from car to car apparently looking for someone. I heard "he's wearing a blue jacket" as crew-cut heads popped into every doorway and made a less than cursory scan of the passengers. After about 5 minutes, a cop (decked out in neon orange reflective gear) came to the doorway nearest to me and snapped, "would you step out of the car, please" with a very quick hand gesture. None of us (people in the general direction in which he was talking) could figure out who he was talking to. It could have been any one of at least 20 ppl. The cop appeared a minute later and more exasperatedly indicated that the guy sitting next to me (a well-dressed black man with headphones who was not, by the way, wearing a blue jacket) come out of the car with him. He was out for maybe 30 seconds, and then sat back down, pointedly listening to his headphones.
After about 3 more minutes, there was activity in the other end of the car (hard to see through the moderate crowd). But a large black man in a suit started loudly asking, "Is he under arrest?"
-- Inaudible --
"Then you can't take him off ...."
-- Inaudible --
"Then arrest me! I have a lawyer..."
They apparently backed down, because we were moving about a minute afterwards.
About 30 seconds after that, there was another announcement on the PA: "Passengers be advised that the intercoms at the ends of the cars are for emergency use only."
So it sounds like someone bumped an intercom button or thought they would be funny-- but to prompt a search of the whole train? And to have such a detailed description of the guy they were looking for? And picking people from the middle of various cars? I'm not so sure.
Whatever happened-- that was a pretty poor police reaction to an incident, especially in DC and given (all) the circumstances. They stopped the train in a station where innocents were waiting, calling out descriptions of the person they were trying to find (OK, they might have been talking about someone else), and not being able to pinpoint in which car any misuse of the intercom system had occurred.
I'd recommend any new funding to go to training, or at least mini copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Then they might be able to know what the rules for search and holding (or arresting) people instead of (at the very least) shying away when questioned....
And if there's going to be an actual stated shift in procedure-- the writings of Beria, or Fidel's internal security services.
Any official/news information people find would be greatly appreciated.
The slogan "Uncle Sam Wants You" has an entirely new meaning for me now.
I was going home on the Red Line tonight (~10:30) when the metro operator came on the PA- "Passengers be advised that we will be holding at this station" (Van Ness). OK-- usually that's a sign that either it's the last train or there's something mechanical amiss somewhere. Fine.
But after about a minute, a string of police descend upon the train, hustling from car to car apparently looking for someone. I heard "he's wearing a blue jacket" as crew-cut heads popped into every doorway and made a less than cursory scan of the passengers. After about 5 minutes, a cop (decked out in neon orange reflective gear) came to the doorway nearest to me and snapped, "would you step out of the car, please" with a very quick hand gesture. None of us (people in the general direction in which he was talking) could figure out who he was talking to. It could have been any one of at least 20 ppl. The cop appeared a minute later and more exasperatedly indicated that the guy sitting next to me (a well-dressed black man with headphones who was not, by the way, wearing a blue jacket) come out of the car with him. He was out for maybe 30 seconds, and then sat back down, pointedly listening to his headphones.
After about 3 more minutes, there was activity in the other end of the car (hard to see through the moderate crowd). But a large black man in a suit started loudly asking, "Is he under arrest?"
-- Inaudible --
"Then you can't take him off ...."
-- Inaudible --
"Then arrest me! I have a lawyer..."
They apparently backed down, because we were moving about a minute afterwards.
About 30 seconds after that, there was another announcement on the PA: "Passengers be advised that the intercoms at the ends of the cars are for emergency use only."
So it sounds like someone bumped an intercom button or thought they would be funny-- but to prompt a search of the whole train? And to have such a detailed description of the guy they were looking for? And picking people from the middle of various cars? I'm not so sure.
Whatever happened-- that was a pretty poor police reaction to an incident, especially in DC and given (all) the circumstances. They stopped the train in a station where innocents were waiting, calling out descriptions of the person they were trying to find (OK, they might have been talking about someone else), and not being able to pinpoint in which car any misuse of the intercom system had occurred.
I'd recommend any new funding to go to training, or at least mini copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Then they might be able to know what the rules for search and holding (or arresting) people instead of (at the very least) shying away when questioned....
And if there's going to be an actual stated shift in procedure-- the writings of Beria, or Fidel's internal security services.
Any official/news information people find would be greatly appreciated.
The slogan "Uncle Sam Wants You" has an entirely new meaning for me now.
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
You know, for all the logical gaps and crises attributable to W's foreign policy, I've actually been able to detect an amazingly clear central vision. It is truly stunning in its simplicity and elegance.
The bad guy is always the one with the black hat or facial hair.
Just look at the Axis of Evil-- Saddam's moustache was legendary and so is Khatami's long salt and pepper beard. As for black hats--- Kim Jong Il's huge black pompadour, of course!
And we all know the French wear those devious black berets......
The bad guy is always the one with the black hat or facial hair.
Just look at the Axis of Evil-- Saddam's moustache was legendary and so is Khatami's long salt and pepper beard. As for black hats--- Kim Jong Il's huge black pompadour, of course!
And we all know the French wear those devious black berets......
Sunday, May 25, 2003
Thanks, Tricia, for letting me know about this surprisingly insightful quiz. While it's not necessarily 100% true, it fits nicely.
WHAT TYPE OF WILD CREATURE ARE YOU? (New Pictures!)
brought to you by Quizilla
WHAT TYPE OF WILD CREATURE ARE YOU? (New Pictures!)
brought to you by Quizilla
Saturday, May 24, 2003
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.
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.
Friday, May 23, 2003
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?
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?
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
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?
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?
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
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)
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)
Monday, May 19, 2003
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!
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....
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....
Friday, May 16, 2003
Buried on pg. A14 of the Post:
Unless order is restored [in Iraq, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) warned], "there is a real chance that the victory we claim is not a victory at all."
While dismissing universal observations of "anarchy," the administration is still trying to deal with Iraq by shipping soldiers in:
Rumsfeld said steps were underway to beef up the American military presence in Iraq by "plus or minus 15,000 additional US forces" in the next seven to 20 days.
-- All under the innocuous banner of Iraq Disorder Worries Senators (Washington Post 051503)
But how many people are going to read into that with front page headlines like Hussein Loyalists Blamed for Chaos and a frontpage teaser to read that Iran Said to Have Anthrax Ready? And even those stories bury little tidbits like that those alleging an Iranian bioweapons program, "the Mujaheddin-e Kalq, also known as the People's Muhajedin, is listed by the State Department as a terrorist group." And these "looters" and "criminals" turned "Hussein Loyalists?" Maj. Gen. Buford Blount III admits in the article's A23 extension, "They're not neccessarily centrally organized, but they pose a danger.."
It wouldn't surprise me if the newspapers were in cahoots with orthopedic surgeons in the hope that all this knee jerking would pay off for them in the long run.....
On a lighter note-- Here's a nice passage from a review of Lost in a Good Book, the most recent absurdist novel (a la Douglas Adams) by Jasper Fforde:
[Protagonist Thursday Next] is aided, in an unreliable sort of way, by her uncle Mycroft, a dotty inventor. It was Mycroft's prose portal that enabled all the text-tripping in The Eyre Affair-- something to do with altering the DNA of bookworms. Mycroft himself once took a trip into the Sherlock Holmes stories and somehow ended up as a character, mistaken for an older brother that, previously, Sherlock hadn't had.
As for Thursday's father.... well, perhaps he's best illustrated by the exchange with his daughter in which he explains that scientific thought is like a boy band"
"Every now and then a boy band comes along. We like it, buy the records, posters, parade them on TV, idolize them until--"
"-- the next boy band?" I suggested.
"Precisely. Aristotle was a boy band. A very good one, but only number six or seven. He was the best boy band until Isaac Newton, but even Newton was transplanted by an even newer boy band. Same haircuts-- but different moves."
"Einstein, right?"
"Right. Do you see what I'm saying?"
"That the way we think is no more than a passing fad?"
"Exactly. Hard to visualize a new way of thinking? Try this. Go thirty or forty boy bands past Einstein. Where we would regard Einstein as someone who glimpsed the truth, played one good chord in seven forgettable albums."
A very good point. If you have an hour or two, either Fforde's books are good, light reading (although a bit saccharine for my taste).
(The review was by Lloyd Rose in WP Book World 040603)
More soon.
Unless order is restored [in Iraq, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) warned], "there is a real chance that the victory we claim is not a victory at all."
While dismissing universal observations of "anarchy," the administration is still trying to deal with Iraq by shipping soldiers in:
Rumsfeld said steps were underway to beef up the American military presence in Iraq by "plus or minus 15,000 additional US forces" in the next seven to 20 days.
-- All under the innocuous banner of Iraq Disorder Worries Senators (Washington Post 051503)
But how many people are going to read into that with front page headlines like Hussein Loyalists Blamed for Chaos and a frontpage teaser to read that Iran Said to Have Anthrax Ready? And even those stories bury little tidbits like that those alleging an Iranian bioweapons program, "the Mujaheddin-e Kalq, also known as the People's Muhajedin, is listed by the State Department as a terrorist group." And these "looters" and "criminals" turned "Hussein Loyalists?" Maj. Gen. Buford Blount III admits in the article's A23 extension, "They're not neccessarily centrally organized, but they pose a danger.."
It wouldn't surprise me if the newspapers were in cahoots with orthopedic surgeons in the hope that all this knee jerking would pay off for them in the long run.....
On a lighter note-- Here's a nice passage from a review of Lost in a Good Book, the most recent absurdist novel (a la Douglas Adams) by Jasper Fforde:
[Protagonist Thursday Next] is aided, in an unreliable sort of way, by her uncle Mycroft, a dotty inventor. It was Mycroft's prose portal that enabled all the text-tripping in The Eyre Affair-- something to do with altering the DNA of bookworms. Mycroft himself once took a trip into the Sherlock Holmes stories and somehow ended up as a character, mistaken for an older brother that, previously, Sherlock hadn't had.
As for Thursday's father.... well, perhaps he's best illustrated by the exchange with his daughter in which he explains that scientific thought is like a boy band"
"Every now and then a boy band comes along. We like it, buy the records, posters, parade them on TV, idolize them until--"
"-- the next boy band?" I suggested.
"Precisely. Aristotle was a boy band. A very good one, but only number six or seven. He was the best boy band until Isaac Newton, but even Newton was transplanted by an even newer boy band. Same haircuts-- but different moves."
"Einstein, right?"
"Right. Do you see what I'm saying?"
"That the way we think is no more than a passing fad?"
"Exactly. Hard to visualize a new way of thinking? Try this. Go thirty or forty boy bands past Einstein. Where we would regard Einstein as someone who glimpsed the truth, played one good chord in seven forgettable albums."
A very good point. If you have an hour or two, either Fforde's books are good, light reading (although a bit saccharine for my taste).
(The review was by Lloyd Rose in WP Book World 040603)
More soon.
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Leave it to W to use Abraham Lincoln as a stage.
And I was starting to doubt the Republicans' crowing that theirs was "the party of Lincoln."
And I was starting to doubt the Republicans' crowing that theirs was "the party of Lincoln."
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Forgot to mention that I got my second brain (computer) yesterday. WooHoo!
I'm letting its battery get good and charged today and I'll see what I've been missing.
Now that I've come to this particular bridge, does anybody have the stuff to transfer data between the two computers? Help would be warmly appreciated :-)
On a completely unrelated note, a quote from a US official on the military in Iraq:
"They are going to start shooting a few looters so that the word gets around."
-- A U.S. official on a new security policy for Iraq discussed among top U.S. officials in the country yesterday.
Today's "Quote of the Day" from the UN Wire
I'm letting its battery get good and charged today and I'll see what I've been missing.
Now that I've come to this particular bridge, does anybody have the stuff to transfer data between the two computers? Help would be warmly appreciated :-)
On a completely unrelated note, a quote from a US official on the military in Iraq:
"They are going to start shooting a few looters so that the word gets around."
-- A U.S. official on a new security policy for Iraq discussed among top U.S. officials in the country yesterday.
Today's "Quote of the Day" from the UN Wire
Random musings:
How can you evaluate prevention?
One hundred percent of people want to be above average.
I've tried an experiment a couple of times: In the process of working at my desk (or some other flat surface), I end up with a bunch of stuff (usually papers and clippings) scattered around me at different angles. When another person comes in and sees it, they comment on my having a "mess," or some such thing, around me. When they leave, I go through the things around me, arranging them so they all are at right angles to each other (text and paper edges)-- but not altering the overall placement of things-- the people invariably come back and comment on how I've "cleaned up" even though the overall arrangement hasn't changed. Interesting to see how visual ppl are, their rational assumptions of "clean" and "dirty" (hence value judgements) and how their cognition works.
I've also tried the following: Given an area with things (in my case, papers, books, boxes, laundry, etc) distributed across the floor of a room/office. Second person comes in and comments that I should "get rid of some of this stuff." After person 2 has left, I pick up the papers (et al), put them in stacks and otherwise arrange them to minimize their horizontal distribution without changing the amount of "stuff" there. The person then returns and remarks: "good, you took my advice," and "got rid" of the needed "stuff."
The moral of this story: If you want to impress someone, be vertically, as opposed to horizontally, messy and try to square off all the corners therein. :-)
Wow, I feel like a nerd now! But wait, there's more!
Is there a study of the meaning behind the word "nature" or "natural"? (especially when used in the phrases "human nature" and "natural extension")
And of the following:
"community"
"foreign"
"homeland"
----
What role do memorials (like the Washington Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, etc) play in your thinking about America? Their role in the US as a whole?
How important are lyrics in the music you listen to? as opposed to the melody/instrumentation?
What needs to happen for the "War on Terrorism" is successfully completed?
How do you know if someone is part of Al Qaeda? Connections through Osama bin Laden? Do they carry membership cards? How do you differentiate Al Qaeda members from members of other terrorist organizations? Seems to be a lot more amorphous than most ppl assume.
Do people know of studies on the significance of resignation (of posts) in American politics?
Also of suicide on the American psyche? Domestically, Internationally-- Why is it seen that "suicide bombings" are somehow more terrible than "regular" bombings? Relationship to American individualism? Mental illness?
Why does the government seem to think only "Seniors" need relief from exorbitant drug prices? Especially when individual pills of some can cost upward of $50? Is it just because of AARP? I understand the whole "fixed income" thing and drug companies' R&D costs-- but seniors are not the only ones with fixed income and at least as much of the medication cost comes from marketing as it comes from R&D. Ok-- I'm biased. Without massive financial help from my parents and almost daily battles with my medical insurance provider, I wouldn't have been able to get the meds and attention I needed for various health problems I've had in the last 5 yrs. (including three herniated discs in my lower spine and associated nerve problems). It is nice to walk normally again.
Meh-- wondering how many people who are outraged at what Bush is doing (especially in those "Anti-War" rallies) will actually vote.
And how did it turn into the "Anti-War" movement (with heavy emphasis on pacifism even beyond Iraq)? From the (admittedly biased and non-representative) sense of American opinion I've gotten, there are a lot of people who are against the current and recent US actions in Iraq, but aren't against war in general. It's a pity that the opposition to Bush seems to be rallying around a pretty simplistic point (not that it's right or wrong by any stretch of the imagination).
Anyhow, I should probably get back to work.....
How can you evaluate prevention?
One hundred percent of people want to be above average.
I've tried an experiment a couple of times: In the process of working at my desk (or some other flat surface), I end up with a bunch of stuff (usually papers and clippings) scattered around me at different angles. When another person comes in and sees it, they comment on my having a "mess," or some such thing, around me. When they leave, I go through the things around me, arranging them so they all are at right angles to each other (text and paper edges)-- but not altering the overall placement of things-- the people invariably come back and comment on how I've "cleaned up" even though the overall arrangement hasn't changed. Interesting to see how visual ppl are, their rational assumptions of "clean" and "dirty" (hence value judgements) and how their cognition works.
I've also tried the following: Given an area with things (in my case, papers, books, boxes, laundry, etc) distributed across the floor of a room/office. Second person comes in and comments that I should "get rid of some of this stuff." After person 2 has left, I pick up the papers (et al), put them in stacks and otherwise arrange them to minimize their horizontal distribution without changing the amount of "stuff" there. The person then returns and remarks: "good, you took my advice," and "got rid" of the needed "stuff."
The moral of this story: If you want to impress someone, be vertically, as opposed to horizontally, messy and try to square off all the corners therein. :-)
Wow, I feel like a nerd now! But wait, there's more!
Is there a study of the meaning behind the word "nature" or "natural"? (especially when used in the phrases "human nature" and "natural extension")
And of the following:
"community"
"foreign"
"homeland"
----
What role do memorials (like the Washington Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, etc) play in your thinking about America? Their role in the US as a whole?
How important are lyrics in the music you listen to? as opposed to the melody/instrumentation?
What needs to happen for the "War on Terrorism" is successfully completed?
How do you know if someone is part of Al Qaeda? Connections through Osama bin Laden? Do they carry membership cards? How do you differentiate Al Qaeda members from members of other terrorist organizations? Seems to be a lot more amorphous than most ppl assume.
Do people know of studies on the significance of resignation (of posts) in American politics?
Also of suicide on the American psyche? Domestically, Internationally-- Why is it seen that "suicide bombings" are somehow more terrible than "regular" bombings? Relationship to American individualism? Mental illness?
Why does the government seem to think only "Seniors" need relief from exorbitant drug prices? Especially when individual pills of some can cost upward of $50? Is it just because of AARP? I understand the whole "fixed income" thing and drug companies' R&D costs-- but seniors are not the only ones with fixed income and at least as much of the medication cost comes from marketing as it comes from R&D. Ok-- I'm biased. Without massive financial help from my parents and almost daily battles with my medical insurance provider, I wouldn't have been able to get the meds and attention I needed for various health problems I've had in the last 5 yrs. (including three herniated discs in my lower spine and associated nerve problems). It is nice to walk normally again.
Meh-- wondering how many people who are outraged at what Bush is doing (especially in those "Anti-War" rallies) will actually vote.
And how did it turn into the "Anti-War" movement (with heavy emphasis on pacifism even beyond Iraq)? From the (admittedly biased and non-representative) sense of American opinion I've gotten, there are a lot of people who are against the current and recent US actions in Iraq, but aren't against war in general. It's a pity that the opposition to Bush seems to be rallying around a pretty simplistic point (not that it's right or wrong by any stretch of the imagination).
Anyhow, I should probably get back to work.....
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
I've been debating whether to post something on the troubles at Case. Let me just say that I'm keeping you in my thoughts-- both my friends and others.
And on a lighter note,
Here are two books that I'd love to read, though not at the same time. (or perhaps consciously at the same time):
I'll read this one when I get around to it:
The Importance of Being Lazy: In Praise of Play, Leisure, and Vacation.
It even has a (pompous) Dartmouth reviewer-- though I like the Chicago Tribune review better.
Look Mom! I have Caffeine!! :-)
The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug
And on a lighter note,
Here are two books that I'd love to read, though not at the same time. (or perhaps consciously at the same time):
I'll read this one when I get around to it:
The Importance of Being Lazy: In Praise of Play, Leisure, and Vacation.
It even has a (pompous) Dartmouth reviewer-- though I like the Chicago Tribune review better.
Look Mom! I have Caffeine!! :-)
The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug
How much of our ways thinking about good and bad derives from gravity? Good and virtue are generally seen as "high," "light" (both bright and facile), "greater," "raise," "airy," and other seeming metaphors for the movement away from gravity. Bad and evil seem to be the opposite-- "low" "dark" "heavy" "base" "dirty" etcetera. Does this make sense? Perhaps a confusion of the chicken with the egg?
Monday, May 12, 2003
I was thinking about calling my computer the Hindenburg, but I thought this might be more fitting.
Still, the world continues on with its insanity and inanity, so I guess I'll just have to make do.
First, there are a couple of very important pieces that got buried in the newspaper that I feel need to be highlighted:
1. The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to end its ban on nuclear weapons research, opening a huge can of worms even if it doesn't get any further than this.
I was particularly struck by this quote:
Low-yield nuclear weapons have warheads of less than five kilotons, or about a third of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II. Combined with precision missiles, low-yield weapons could be used to hit a target without causing as much damage to surrounding areas as other nuclear weapons would.
Can you say dirty bomb? And green light to international nuclear research and proliferation? Are we even listening to the rhetoric that is supposed to be winning over the Middle East? Not to mention Russia, France, and the rest of the sane world.
(The agreement would also force the Pentagon to "create ethics standards" after Richard Perle, as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board, reportedly counseled investors on how to profit from US military action on Iraq and North Korea. Oh, and it would also exempt the DOD from key provisions of the Endangered Species Act.)
2. The state legislatures of Texas and Colorado are rocking the Constitution at its foundations and trying to redraw (after two years) their Congressional Districts to (surprise!) favor Republicans in the next election. According to the Constitution, The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. (Article I, Section 2, Clause 3) While it doesn't speak specifically to the rearranging of a constant number of Representatives, Judicial precedent is pretty clear that reapportionment and redistricting go hand-in-hand. This brings the whole interpretation of the Constitution into question-- at the very least, this is a thorny case for the Supreme Court.
Oh no, they said-- A Bush/Republican administration wouldn't be so bad....
Still, the world continues on with its insanity and inanity, so I guess I'll just have to make do.
First, there are a couple of very important pieces that got buried in the newspaper that I feel need to be highlighted:
1. The Senate Armed Services Committee has voted to end its ban on nuclear weapons research, opening a huge can of worms even if it doesn't get any further than this.
I was particularly struck by this quote:
Low-yield nuclear weapons have warheads of less than five kilotons, or about a third of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II. Combined with precision missiles, low-yield weapons could be used to hit a target without causing as much damage to surrounding areas as other nuclear weapons would.
Can you say dirty bomb? And green light to international nuclear research and proliferation? Are we even listening to the rhetoric that is supposed to be winning over the Middle East? Not to mention Russia, France, and the rest of the sane world.
(The agreement would also force the Pentagon to "create ethics standards" after Richard Perle, as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board, reportedly counseled investors on how to profit from US military action on Iraq and North Korea. Oh, and it would also exempt the DOD from key provisions of the Endangered Species Act.)
2. The state legislatures of Texas and Colorado are rocking the Constitution at its foundations and trying to redraw (after two years) their Congressional Districts to (surprise!) favor Republicans in the next election. According to the Constitution, The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. (Article I, Section 2, Clause 3) While it doesn't speak specifically to the rearranging of a constant number of Representatives, Judicial precedent is pretty clear that reapportionment and redistricting go hand-in-hand. This brings the whole interpretation of the Constitution into question-- at the very least, this is a thorny case for the Supreme Court.
Oh no, they said-- A Bush/Republican administration wouldn't be so bad....
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
Wheee...
I've been getting this message when I try to sign in on AIM:
"Your buddy list cannot been found, but has not been lost."
which should read
"Hope cannot be found, but has not been lost." -- Well, not quite.
Ah-- (it's finally working now that I've rebooted) --at least it won't be long before I'll be able to have simple programs work and not have to reload webpages and map layers for 5 minutes (literally) to get everything to work. :-)
I've been going through some old clippings and just had to post something before I had to toss it due to space concerns. A piece from the April 8, 2003 Washington Post mentions the 87th birthday party for former Minnesota Senator and 1968 presidential candidate Gene McCarthy (no-- not Joe "Red Scare" McCarthy). I haven't checked if WP still has the article archived, but here's a Guardian article about the same event. The best part of both is what the anti-Vietnam War candidate is quoted as saying (remember, this is before the US went into Iraq):
"The Vietnam thing lasted 20 years before it became a real war. This [Iraq] just sort of developed from young Bush's plans. My feeling is it won't last long. It's a bit like one of those Roman wars where a general got an army together and went to Africa......
.....I don't hold him responsible. I don't think Bush understands what he's saying. He just keeps talking, hoping inspiration will occur somewhere along the way.....
......[He is especially appalled by Bush's constant invocation of religion,] "but you forgive him because you don't think he understands it, anyway.....
......You know, the worst person to elect as president is a state governor. They've inflicted capital punishment so they're not afraid of death, They've sent out the National Guard. Clinton ran the presidency as though it was a governorship, and so did Jimmy Carter. Former vice-presidents are almost as bad, because they've been destroyed by their old job. I'd only elect senators and college professors. And newspaper men."
McCarthy was all three (Senator, college professor, and newspaper man), so these quotes need to be taken with a grain (?) of salt. But I urge you to look at the Guardian article that puts them in much better perspective than I can. (That was also where the second bracketed phrase is from)
Whether or not they are accurate, it still is refreshing to hear a strong and candid statement from this side of the debate.
I've been getting this message when I try to sign in on AIM:
"Your buddy list cannot been found, but has not been lost."
which should read
"Hope cannot be found, but has not been lost." -- Well, not quite.
Ah-- (it's finally working now that I've rebooted) --at least it won't be long before I'll be able to have simple programs work and not have to reload webpages and map layers for 5 minutes (literally) to get everything to work. :-)
I've been going through some old clippings and just had to post something before I had to toss it due to space concerns. A piece from the April 8, 2003 Washington Post mentions the 87th birthday party for former Minnesota Senator and 1968 presidential candidate Gene McCarthy (no-- not Joe "Red Scare" McCarthy). I haven't checked if WP still has the article archived, but here's a Guardian article about the same event. The best part of both is what the anti-Vietnam War candidate is quoted as saying (remember, this is before the US went into Iraq):
"The Vietnam thing lasted 20 years before it became a real war. This [Iraq] just sort of developed from young Bush's plans. My feeling is it won't last long. It's a bit like one of those Roman wars where a general got an army together and went to Africa......
.....I don't hold him responsible. I don't think Bush understands what he's saying. He just keeps talking, hoping inspiration will occur somewhere along the way.....
......[He is especially appalled by Bush's constant invocation of religion,] "but you forgive him because you don't think he understands it, anyway.....
......You know, the worst person to elect as president is a state governor. They've inflicted capital punishment so they're not afraid of death, They've sent out the National Guard. Clinton ran the presidency as though it was a governorship, and so did Jimmy Carter. Former vice-presidents are almost as bad, because they've been destroyed by their old job. I'd only elect senators and college professors. And newspaper men."
McCarthy was all three (Senator, college professor, and newspaper man), so these quotes need to be taken with a grain (?) of salt. But I urge you to look at the Guardian article that puts them in much better perspective than I can. (That was also where the second bracketed phrase is from)
Whether or not they are accurate, it still is refreshing to hear a strong and candid statement from this side of the debate.
From the AP Wire:
Hobe Sound, Florida
Motorcyclist Christopher Jude Doyle, 44, died after striking a cow that had wandered onto Interstate 95 through a hole cut in a fence. The cow also died. Florida fences on grazing land have been cut in recent years by people trying to reach psychedelic mushrooms that grow around cow manure.
(Washington Post summaries 050603)
It speaks for itself.
I saw this on the back of a WMATA truck involved in construction at the Tenleytown Metro:
WMATA EMERGENGY VEHICLE
DO NOT TICKET
oops.
Hobe Sound, Florida
Motorcyclist Christopher Jude Doyle, 44, died after striking a cow that had wandered onto Interstate 95 through a hole cut in a fence. The cow also died. Florida fences on grazing land have been cut in recent years by people trying to reach psychedelic mushrooms that grow around cow manure.
(Washington Post summaries 050603)
It speaks for itself.
I saw this on the back of a WMATA truck involved in construction at the Tenleytown Metro:
WMATA EMERGENGY VEHICLE
DO NOT TICKET
oops.
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
Interesting quote:
There are only two kinds of politics. They are not radical and reactionary or conservative and liberal. Or even Democratic and Republican. There are only the politics of fear and the politics of trust. One says, You are encircled by monstrous dangers. Give us power over your freedom so we may protect you. The other says: The world is a baffling and hazardous place, but it can be shaped to the will of men.
-- Edmund S. Muskie, November 2, 1970 (Senator from Maine)
From the Edmund S. Muskie Foundation website
There are only two kinds of politics. They are not radical and reactionary or conservative and liberal. Or even Democratic and Republican. There are only the politics of fear and the politics of trust. One says, You are encircled by monstrous dangers. Give us power over your freedom so we may protect you. The other says: The world is a baffling and hazardous place, but it can be shaped to the will of men.
-- Edmund S. Muskie, November 2, 1970 (Senator from Maine)
From the Edmund S. Muskie Foundation website
One of my mother's (first grade) students was so proud of himself last week....
His parents had recently bought a portion of a local restaurant and had let him help out the night before.
"What did you do?" my mother asked.
He stood up very tall and declared, "I was busting tables!"
I just love 6 year-olds.....
His parents had recently bought a portion of a local restaurant and had let him help out the night before.
"What did you do?" my mother asked.
He stood up very tall and declared, "I was busting tables!"
I just love 6 year-olds.....
Friday, May 02, 2003
Hm--
Bush read a speech in Santa Clara (Silicon Valley, CA) that has been referenced by all the major news outlets, but they all take the same snippets and use them as sound bytes-- as Yahoo News does here.
Strangely, though, I can't seem to find a copy of the actual speech outside the White House Website, which surprises me (negatively), to say the least. I'm probably being a (paranoid) curmudgeon but I thought the information age would lead to more sources and more varied honest interpretations of content. Eh--I'd better just get my head out of the clouds and start cheering whenever my President "stare[s] at the smoldering wreck on his screen."
Though I guess I have no right to complain-- the information age also gives free rein to people to "manage" information in whatever way they choose. The era started by Kennedy and Nixon's TV debates continues in spades through the present, as Tom Shales points out nicely (Washington Post 050203). Yes-- I know I've cited him before.
Bush read a speech in Santa Clara (Silicon Valley, CA) that has been referenced by all the major news outlets, but they all take the same snippets and use them as sound bytes-- as Yahoo News does here.
Strangely, though, I can't seem to find a copy of the actual speech outside the White House Website, which surprises me (negatively), to say the least. I'm probably being a (paranoid) curmudgeon but I thought the information age would lead to more sources and more varied honest interpretations of content. Eh--I'd better just get my head out of the clouds and start cheering whenever my President "stare[s] at the smoldering wreck on his screen."
Though I guess I have no right to complain-- the information age also gives free rein to people to "manage" information in whatever way they choose. The era started by Kennedy and Nixon's TV debates continues in spades through the present, as Tom Shales points out nicely (Washington Post 050203). Yes-- I know I've cited him before.
I wonder how he got involved in politics and law:
The meeting will be chaired by the Legal Adviser of the Department of State, William H. Taft, IV, and will be open to the public up to the capacity of the meeting room.
(From a DOS press release on the Meeting of the Advisory Committee on International Law Friday, May 16, 2003) And no, I am not taking potshots at him individually, but am justifiably peeved about the overarching phenomenon of "legacies" skating into positions of power. But by all rights, State particularly needs people who are both shrewd and have that kind of political clout.
In other news, I was wondering what people think of memorials and monuments.in general:
Possible clarifying questions: How do you think about and interact with memorials and monuments? The general public? What actually is a monument or memorial? Is there something about the general idea that those two words don't include? Any other thoughts?
Thanks :-)
The meeting will be chaired by the Legal Adviser of the Department of State, William H. Taft, IV, and will be open to the public up to the capacity of the meeting room.
(From a DOS press release on the Meeting of the Advisory Committee on International Law Friday, May 16, 2003) And no, I am not taking potshots at him individually, but am justifiably peeved about the overarching phenomenon of "legacies" skating into positions of power. But by all rights, State particularly needs people who are both shrewd and have that kind of political clout.
In other news, I was wondering what people think of memorials and monuments.in general:
Possible clarifying questions: How do you think about and interact with memorials and monuments? The general public? What actually is a monument or memorial? Is there something about the general idea that those two words don't include? Any other thoughts?
Thanks :-)
What did I write to get "Buy Poppycock here" added to my Blogger ad rotation? Not sure if the "hundreds of candy items for sale" subscript is a good or bad sign either.
Another interesting thing-- this time quoted from Wednesday's (043003) Washington Post Style section's article "Hall Pass to the Voting Booth" about a Pew Charitable Trusts program that is trying to figure out how to connect with younger voters (18-25-yr olds):
" 'I would have to be involved with what the candidates are saying to vote, says Roderick Stewart, a high school varsity basketball player who turns 18 this spring. "I don't want to have to dig deep into their platform.'"
OK-- nothing new there, but what got me is how it is implied that _this guy's statement is somehow different from the vast majority of American voters_. Ask almost anyone in the US and you'll get nearly identical answers whether they were 18 or 45. You'd probably get at least 20 or so percent of people who say exactly that.
And from the "what the hell did he just say?!?" department:
Tom Shales reviewing the TV show Jiminy Glick:
"Glick is an acquired taste, but when you think about it, so is everything but breast milk."
Yes, this is also in the Style section of the Washington Post.
Another interesting thing-- this time quoted from Wednesday's (043003) Washington Post Style section's article "Hall Pass to the Voting Booth" about a Pew Charitable Trusts program that is trying to figure out how to connect with younger voters (18-25-yr olds):
" 'I would have to be involved with what the candidates are saying to vote, says Roderick Stewart, a high school varsity basketball player who turns 18 this spring. "I don't want to have to dig deep into their platform.'"
OK-- nothing new there, but what got me is how it is implied that _this guy's statement is somehow different from the vast majority of American voters_. Ask almost anyone in the US and you'll get nearly identical answers whether they were 18 or 45. You'd probably get at least 20 or so percent of people who say exactly that.
And from the "what the hell did he just say?!?" department:
Tom Shales reviewing the TV show Jiminy Glick:
"Glick is an acquired taste, but when you think about it, so is everything but breast milk."
Yes, this is also in the Style section of the Washington Post.
Thursday, May 01, 2003
Oy-- I hate office politics. If the meeting were a sea, no craft of any sort could have survived on or within it. People going off half cocked and looking to push blame for the flimsiness of their arguments on others. "Well, if _you're_ going to take ownership of this....." kinds of things.
DC has a height restriction on buildings, but certainly not on egos. Sheesh!
Time to go home :-)
DC has a height restriction on buildings, but certainly not on egos. Sheesh!
Time to go home :-)
Hmmm-- is there any significance to the fact that my download of Oingo Boingo's "Wild Sex" has stalled with only 666 bytes received?
I also wanted to post an extremely good quote by Nade Proeva, History Professor at the University of Skopje, Macedonia:
"Whatever you write, understand that every nation has its own truth. In the Balkans we only speak through myths."
From the National Geographic article entitled Macedonia: Caught in the Middle by Priit J. Vesilind
I would go further and make the point that we all speak through myths (nations, states, individuals, other groups, etc), but it is much more overt in the Balkans.
I don't have a date on the article, but it was late 1990s. I might be able to dig more information out of my "archives." Ah, the glory of being a pack rat :-)
And for all you Greeks out there, it is the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"-- no claim has been made on Thessaloniki (Salonika/Solon/Solun)-- at least officially.
I also wanted to post an extremely good quote by Nade Proeva, History Professor at the University of Skopje, Macedonia:
"Whatever you write, understand that every nation has its own truth. In the Balkans we only speak through myths."
From the National Geographic article entitled Macedonia: Caught in the Middle by Priit J. Vesilind
I would go further and make the point that we all speak through myths (nations, states, individuals, other groups, etc), but it is much more overt in the Balkans.
I don't have a date on the article, but it was late 1990s. I might be able to dig more information out of my "archives." Ah, the glory of being a pack rat :-)
And for all you Greeks out there, it is the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"-- no claim has been made on Thessaloniki (Salonika/Solon/Solun)-- at least officially.
Lots of things going on and still a lot to do before tomorrow, though I wanted to put a couple of things up before I went over and started working in bed....
Got in late tonight after being invited to a joint Wellsley-Harvard event-- basically a hard-core proponent of "shock therapy" for the liberalization of the Soviet economy in the late '80s and early '90s who sincerely believes that somehow bad influences (apparatchiki and the mafiya) pushed ("piratized") the Russian economy off the tracks onto which it was "shocked" (Marshall Goldman-- a close friend and buddy of Jeffrey Sachs). Of course, without such "criminal" influence, the Russian economy would be reaping all the rewards the West ever promised them. But, he and Sachs claim, "shock therapy" shouldn't be judged on Russia alone-- just look at (the poverty-stricken and hugely unstable) case of Bolivia and Poland (where private business had been operating over 20 years before, without even mentioning the huge differences in the privatization structure and political situation). And, no, the former Soviet Union was not "a total void" after Gorbachev went on TV in December 1989 and declared the end of the Soviet Union.
Meh--
Possible addition to Tricia's link to Murphy's Law according to Librarians-- "The amount of influence and attention an academic attracts is inversely proportional to how solid (and/or thorough) her/his research is" Some major exceptions, especially if you're only talking about attention within an academic field. But at least it's generally true. (Vigorously attracting attention to myself)
I also love the new moniker Tricia has given me :-) You have no idea how fitting "Straight outta Indio" is.
Miles to go before I sleep......
Got in late tonight after being invited to a joint Wellsley-Harvard event-- basically a hard-core proponent of "shock therapy" for the liberalization of the Soviet economy in the late '80s and early '90s who sincerely believes that somehow bad influences (apparatchiki and the mafiya) pushed ("piratized") the Russian economy off the tracks onto which it was "shocked" (Marshall Goldman-- a close friend and buddy of Jeffrey Sachs). Of course, without such "criminal" influence, the Russian economy would be reaping all the rewards the West ever promised them. But, he and Sachs claim, "shock therapy" shouldn't be judged on Russia alone-- just look at (the poverty-stricken and hugely unstable) case of Bolivia and Poland (where private business had been operating over 20 years before, without even mentioning the huge differences in the privatization structure and political situation). And, no, the former Soviet Union was not "a total void" after Gorbachev went on TV in December 1989 and declared the end of the Soviet Union.
Meh--
Possible addition to Tricia's link to Murphy's Law according to Librarians-- "The amount of influence and attention an academic attracts is inversely proportional to how solid (and/or thorough) her/his research is" Some major exceptions, especially if you're only talking about attention within an academic field. But at least it's generally true. (Vigorously attracting attention to myself)
I also love the new moniker Tricia has given me :-) You have no idea how fitting "Straight outta Indio" is.
Miles to go before I sleep......
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
I wish rent and food (and the possible lack thereof) didn't loom so large for me. If I could, I would certainly do something to support this proof that "special education" students are more than capable of complex learning processes and must not be written off by local and national policymakers. Please, help if you can and distribute it far and wide!
Thanks to a good friend for alerting me last week when President Aliev (of Azerbaijan) collapsed several times during a televised speech. Given where Azerbaijan is, politically and geographically (one of the more stable and pro western business, though authoritarian and corrupt, former Soviet republics just north of Iran and Iraq), a change in leadership (and/or power struggle) would have a huge impact on Russia, the Middle East, oil markets and much, much more.
Thanks to a good friend for alerting me last week when President Aliev (of Azerbaijan) collapsed several times during a televised speech. Given where Azerbaijan is, politically and geographically (one of the more stable and pro western business, though authoritarian and corrupt, former Soviet republics just north of Iran and Iraq), a change in leadership (and/or power struggle) would have a huge impact on Russia, the Middle East, oil markets and much, much more.
Hmmm.....
I'm curious: What does everyone think of when they hear the phrase "public service?" Is it mainly in a certain sphere (government, private sector, academia, etc)? A certain scale (local, state, national, international, etc)? Other things?
Been thinking about this for work and otherwise. Comments/e-mails would be great :-)
Also have an old Garrison Keillor song verse stuck in my head:
Mr. Reagan is a popular man
His ratings are real high
But he's done some things as president
We'll pay for, you and I.
The National Debt is above our heads
The government is immense
We don't feel safe with the millions spent
on national defense.
And I say Stop! Danger! Read the directions!
America I love you!
In the dawn's early light, oh say can you see?
The management assumes no responsibility.
I haven't found a link for the whole thing, but I have a cassette recording of it and will play it for anyone interested.
But isn't it interesting how easily it might be updated to the current administration.
I'm curious: What does everyone think of when they hear the phrase "public service?" Is it mainly in a certain sphere (government, private sector, academia, etc)? A certain scale (local, state, national, international, etc)? Other things?
Been thinking about this for work and otherwise. Comments/e-mails would be great :-)
Also have an old Garrison Keillor song verse stuck in my head:
Mr. Reagan is a popular man
His ratings are real high
But he's done some things as president
We'll pay for, you and I.
The National Debt is above our heads
The government is immense
We don't feel safe with the millions spent
on national defense.
And I say Stop! Danger! Read the directions!
America I love you!
In the dawn's early light, oh say can you see?
The management assumes no responsibility.
I haven't found a link for the whole thing, but I have a cassette recording of it and will play it for anyone interested.
But isn't it interesting how easily it might be updated to the current administration.
From the "Conflict Jobs" North American Scholarship Listserv (right below the Department of Homeland Security's Fellowship program):
3. Ben And Jerry's Free Ice Cream Day
April 29, 2003
Join us noon - 8:00.
It all began in 1978 in a dilapidated former gas station in Burlington, Vermont. Ben & Jerry renovated it themselves with a lot of help from their friends. The first year was a wild one. On the shop’s first year anniversary, in May of 1979, Ben & Jerry held the first Free Cone Day. They scooped free ice cream, all day, to everyone who stopped by. It was their way of celebrating having survived their first year in business as much as it was their way of thanking their customers for eating all the stuff they made that year.
Location: US Stores
Deadline: April 29, 2003 (12-8)
Website: http://www.benjerry.com/scoop_shops/free_cone_day/index.cfm
WooHoo!!
I'm consciously avoiding the "Chex Morning Mix" with their "better before" date (as opposed to "best before" or "sell by") and adding to my research clippings file.
One subtitle in yesterday's paper struck me: "Iraqi Challenged US Authority" (on the front-page story entitled "Self-Styled Mayor of Baghdad Detained")
How dare the Iraqis challenge US authority!
3. Ben And Jerry's Free Ice Cream Day
April 29, 2003
Join us noon - 8:00.
It all began in 1978 in a dilapidated former gas station in Burlington, Vermont. Ben & Jerry renovated it themselves with a lot of help from their friends. The first year was a wild one. On the shop’s first year anniversary, in May of 1979, Ben & Jerry held the first Free Cone Day. They scooped free ice cream, all day, to everyone who stopped by. It was their way of celebrating having survived their first year in business as much as it was their way of thanking their customers for eating all the stuff they made that year.
Location: US Stores
Deadline: April 29, 2003 (12-8)
Website: http://www.benjerry.com/scoop_shops/free_cone_day/index.cfm
WooHoo!!
I'm consciously avoiding the "Chex Morning Mix" with their "better before" date (as opposed to "best before" or "sell by") and adding to my research clippings file.
One subtitle in yesterday's paper struck me: "Iraqi Challenged US Authority" (on the front-page story entitled "Self-Styled Mayor of Baghdad Detained")
How dare the Iraqis challenge US authority!
Saturday, April 26, 2003
Wow-- I'm overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I've come across over the last few days that deserves to be posted. I'll start slowly and see where we end up:
Another example of how much farther ahead the UN is of the United States:
UNOPS Says Job Creation Can Improve Security
OK- so the article is about Afghanistan, but Bush still hasn't figured that out in the US-- if you don't count nepotism, that is.
Eh-- It's gray and rainy here in DC, but at least I had the opportunity to sleep in and avoid this town's crazy politics (from internicene office brawling to the insanity of US "foreign policy")
Oh, well, at least I'm not at home and having the opportunity to go backstage and talk to the Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers among others....
And it would have been just across the street from home too! D'oh!
Going to drown my sorrows in Radegast--
Another example of how much farther ahead the UN is of the United States:
UNOPS Says Job Creation Can Improve Security
OK- so the article is about Afghanistan, but Bush still hasn't figured that out in the US-- if you don't count nepotism, that is.
Eh-- It's gray and rainy here in DC, but at least I had the opportunity to sleep in and avoid this town's crazy politics (from internicene office brawling to the insanity of US "foreign policy")
Oh, well, at least I'm not at home and having the opportunity to go backstage and talk to the Beastie Boys and Red Hot Chili Peppers among others....
And it would have been just across the street from home too! D'oh!
Going to drown my sorrows in Radegast--
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
Argh!
My computer is on its last legs and am most likely in the market for a new laptop (unless I find a sweetheart deal to fix this one). Do any of you all have recommendations on what I should be looking for and where I should get it?
My primary needs are internet connectivity (a _lot_ of web research and file downloads, some rather large), data storage (though I have an external Zip Drive), graphic processing (cartographic editing, image display), and audio (I like to listen to mp3s and CDs while I work).
While I am more careful than many people, I also need durability since it's going to be doing a lot of traveling. Affordability is important too-- if job opportunities work out, I might have some more to spend, but not now.
If you know of good deals on printers and scanners, I would also be interested. But that is a much lower priority.
You can e-mail me or drop a comment-- while I need to do this relatively soon, I'd be grateful for any and all recommendations.
Thanks.
My computer is on its last legs and am most likely in the market for a new laptop (unless I find a sweetheart deal to fix this one). Do any of you all have recommendations on what I should be looking for and where I should get it?
My primary needs are internet connectivity (a _lot_ of web research and file downloads, some rather large), data storage (though I have an external Zip Drive), graphic processing (cartographic editing, image display), and audio (I like to listen to mp3s and CDs while I work).
While I am more careful than many people, I also need durability since it's going to be doing a lot of traveling. Affordability is important too-- if job opportunities work out, I might have some more to spend, but not now.
If you know of good deals on printers and scanners, I would also be interested. But that is a much lower priority.
You can e-mail me or drop a comment-- while I need to do this relatively soon, I'd be grateful for any and all recommendations.
Thanks.
Tuesday, April 22, 2003
It's late (or early) and I feel like I need to post something to get my mind off the track of Russia's impending demographic implosion.
First, I want to give a shout-out to Tim who is not only joining the bleary-eyed commuting crowd tomorrow morning, but looks as though he will get one of his creations accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary in the spirit of "D'Oh!" and others. His lexicographic prowess has already prompted several variations, such as meta-scary and meta-comedy. Who knows what heights this phenomenon will go?
Other random thoughts:
News outlets should translate all Arabic names to English-- I wonder what the public would think if they knew that they were going nuts to guard against groups like "Of the Base" (al-Qaeda). [You have a better translation? Also check out this site to get tips on general Arabic naming conventions.]
Please GaTech and other ACF Nationals organizers, don't post a game-by-game, team-by-team tabbed breakdown of the scores on the Yahoo group. It's for information, but not like that. All you have to do is snag a bit of web space. Hell, you could even start a Blog!
It's disturbing that ...."if Feshbach [big-name demographer] is right-- and he usually is-- Russia's population in a couple of decades will be lower than it was in 1917, and its workforce will be half of what the nation needs to fuel its economy." (Laurie Garrett, preface to Russia's Health and Demographic Crises)
That's about it-- Time to hit the proverbial hay. And quit complaining-- I'll put links up in the morning.
First, I want to give a shout-out to Tim who is not only joining the bleary-eyed commuting crowd tomorrow morning, but looks as though he will get one of his creations accepted by the Oxford English Dictionary in the spirit of "D'Oh!" and others. His lexicographic prowess has already prompted several variations, such as meta-scary and meta-comedy. Who knows what heights this phenomenon will go?
Other random thoughts:
News outlets should translate all Arabic names to English-- I wonder what the public would think if they knew that they were going nuts to guard against groups like "Of the Base" (al-Qaeda). [You have a better translation? Also check out this site to get tips on general Arabic naming conventions.]
Please GaTech and other ACF Nationals organizers, don't post a game-by-game, team-by-team tabbed breakdown of the scores on the Yahoo group. It's for information, but not like that. All you have to do is snag a bit of web space. Hell, you could even start a Blog!
It's disturbing that ...."if Feshbach [big-name demographer] is right-- and he usually is-- Russia's population in a couple of decades will be lower than it was in 1917, and its workforce will be half of what the nation needs to fuel its economy." (Laurie Garrett, preface to Russia's Health and Demographic Crises)
That's about it-- Time to hit the proverbial hay. And quit complaining-- I'll put links up in the morning.
Monday, April 21, 2003
I still don't understand Americans' (and the current administration's) tendency to write off entire areas of the world as irrelevant and/or ignorable. This was never true, but I would have thought that 9/11 would have made at least a few people take stock. Still, just about every media outlet (not necessarily only American) carry banner stories (and some buried on page A56) screaming variations on the theme of "There are bad things out there!!" Or, in the case of Fox News: “What you don’t know will kill you!” As if these things magically appeared out of nowhere-- metaphorically and literally. Wake up, people!
Perhaps it's racism, cynicism, or good old apathy, but the one thing the world needs to wake up to is that it can't just say "Oh, the Rabbani regime is about to topple to a bunch of students (Talibs), but that doesn't matter to me here in the West." We did that when the French were fighting (and losing) in Indochina, when a certain Serb politician made a speech in Pristina, when the value of the Bhat took a nose-dive, and countless other instances.
It’s also important that people realize there are more crises going on in the world than Iraq and (if you’re really a policy wonk) North Korea. Check out what’s going on in Sierra Leone, the Ukraine, Sudan, Belarus, Indonesia, Argentina, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Georgia (links to come)-- each of these are potentially explosive and have the potential to severely impact American, indeed global, interests. And there are countless trans- supra- and sub-national issues I haven't even touched on.
I'm not saying we need to rush in and get involved in each of them like we did to Iraq and Afghanistan or even provide material support-- some of them might require only the world's interest or diplomacy to make a significant difference. The international outcry and subsequent (relative) restraint shown by the PRC during and after the Tian’anmin Square demonstrations was closely watched by anti-communist groups in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
What we really need is awareness—I know it’s wishy-washy to declare that apathy is bad and not come out with a definitive solution (though I will be posting some of my ideas later), but it seems the American public has moved even closer to that pole. With questions like “Why do they hate us?” and “Isn’t it terrible that their ideas of the world are shaped by all that propaganda and anti-Americanism?” In my experience, very few of the people who ask that question have even sought out international news sources (like The World Radio Network and “The Ultimate Collection of News Links”) and seriously questioned their assumption that what they saw on prime-time American news is the “truth.” And what about talking to people from different countries (and I don’t mean trying to talk to the next non-white person that passes you on the street). The Internet has made this even easier, but for whatever reason, many don’t take advantage of it.
There’s so much to this, but I’ve got to get back to work—I’d be interested to hear people’s thoughts on this topic in general as well as my posting. I guess that’s what the comment option is for….
Perhaps it's racism, cynicism, or good old apathy, but the one thing the world needs to wake up to is that it can't just say "Oh, the Rabbani regime is about to topple to a bunch of students (Talibs), but that doesn't matter to me here in the West." We did that when the French were fighting (and losing) in Indochina, when a certain Serb politician made a speech in Pristina, when the value of the Bhat took a nose-dive, and countless other instances.
It’s also important that people realize there are more crises going on in the world than Iraq and (if you’re really a policy wonk) North Korea. Check out what’s going on in Sierra Leone, the Ukraine, Sudan, Belarus, Indonesia, Argentina, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Georgia (links to come)-- each of these are potentially explosive and have the potential to severely impact American, indeed global, interests. And there are countless trans- supra- and sub-national issues I haven't even touched on.
I'm not saying we need to rush in and get involved in each of them like we did to Iraq and Afghanistan or even provide material support-- some of them might require only the world's interest or diplomacy to make a significant difference. The international outcry and subsequent (relative) restraint shown by the PRC during and after the Tian’anmin Square demonstrations was closely watched by anti-communist groups in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
What we really need is awareness—I know it’s wishy-washy to declare that apathy is bad and not come out with a definitive solution (though I will be posting some of my ideas later), but it seems the American public has moved even closer to that pole. With questions like “Why do they hate us?” and “Isn’t it terrible that their ideas of the world are shaped by all that propaganda and anti-Americanism?” In my experience, very few of the people who ask that question have even sought out international news sources (like The World Radio Network and “The Ultimate Collection of News Links”) and seriously questioned their assumption that what they saw on prime-time American news is the “truth.” And what about talking to people from different countries (and I don’t mean trying to talk to the next non-white person that passes you on the street). The Internet has made this even easier, but for whatever reason, many don’t take advantage of it.
There’s so much to this, but I’ve got to get back to work—I’d be interested to hear people’s thoughts on this topic in general as well as my posting. I guess that’s what the comment option is for….
This is one of the major reasons I don't like piercings or tattoos.
For all you sports fans out there (excerpts from conference announcement):
The manifestations of violence by sports fans and supporters are increasingly taking over the positive side of fan clubs and supporter activities. In some cases this violence is shown through aggressive expressions of racism and nationalism, representing a real threat to the universal values of sport and human rights.
In the good practice of youth work, the work with fans often requires an ‘immersion’ with the groups of young people, an understanding of the sub-cultures involved and a readiness to question the stereotypes and the prejudice regarding sports fans. Many youth organisations are competent to work with fan clubs and are making an invaluable contribution to the entire sector in preventing and combating violence.
The seminar “Youth work with fan clubs as a means to prevent violence in and around sports arenas” aims to bring this theme closer to the youth work in Europe.
Very interesting.
For all you sports fans out there (excerpts from conference announcement):
The manifestations of violence by sports fans and supporters are increasingly taking over the positive side of fan clubs and supporter activities. In some cases this violence is shown through aggressive expressions of racism and nationalism, representing a real threat to the universal values of sport and human rights.
In the good practice of youth work, the work with fans often requires an ‘immersion’ with the groups of young people, an understanding of the sub-cultures involved and a readiness to question the stereotypes and the prejudice regarding sports fans. Many youth organisations are competent to work with fan clubs and are making an invaluable contribution to the entire sector in preventing and combating violence.
The seminar “Youth work with fan clubs as a means to prevent violence in and around sports arenas” aims to bring this theme closer to the youth work in Europe.
Very interesting.
Catching up with a couple of things:
"If President Bush had been president, he would have won" the war in Vietnam.
--Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, the administration's pick to run post-war Iraq
(As reported in the New York Times and Washington Post 041603)
Excerpts from a story on Virginia Military Institute's exchange program with the Ecole Polytechnique (Paris):
"...the e-mail sent to each cadet by VMI's director of international programs, which stated: 'Do not allow your personal feelings regarding recent political differences between the United States and France to cloud your judgement.'.......
'The conversations have been interesting,' said VMI spokesman Chuck Steenburgh. 'VMI cadets aren't shrinking violets. They're polite but inclined to ask difficult questions.'
Several times, observers said, discussions got tense, such as one Ecole student voiced her opinion that deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction. But the conversation never veered out of control, a student said, possibly because the discussions were not widely attended by VMI cadets.
The visiting students said they mostly avoided discussion of the war in favor of learning about American culture. Music, video games, and 'admiration' (among the men) for actress Jennifer Aniston seem to top that list........"
(Washington Post 041803)
Excerpts from White House Officials to Conduct Web Chats
".... Questions will be discarded if they include 'inappropriate messages' said Jimmy Orr, the White House internet media director. After that, [W's Chief of Staff Andrew] Card gets to choose which of the questions he will answer......
...As one press corps wag noted yesterday morning when the discussions were announced, it will allow the White House to give the same message to a 12-year-old in the Midwest that it has long given the press corps: 'When we have something to announce, we'll announce it.' ....
....Orr said the White House has high hopes for its entry into interactivity-- mentioning the web chats in the same breath as its web site's blockbuster hit, 'Barney Cam,' which features a camera that follows the president's Scottish terrier, Barney.....
....on Earth Day, April 22, EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman will hold a discussion."
(Washington Post 041603)
Sign in window:
"Alterations of any kind for men and women"
-Dry cleaning or plastic surgery?
Gathering background on some other things that will be posted soon.....
"If President Bush had been president, he would have won" the war in Vietnam.
--Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, the administration's pick to run post-war Iraq
(As reported in the New York Times and Washington Post 041603)
Excerpts from a story on Virginia Military Institute's exchange program with the Ecole Polytechnique (Paris):
"...the e-mail sent to each cadet by VMI's director of international programs, which stated: 'Do not allow your personal feelings regarding recent political differences between the United States and France to cloud your judgement.'.......
'The conversations have been interesting,' said VMI spokesman Chuck Steenburgh. 'VMI cadets aren't shrinking violets. They're polite but inclined to ask difficult questions.'
Several times, observers said, discussions got tense, such as one Ecole student voiced her opinion that deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein did not possess weapons of mass destruction. But the conversation never veered out of control, a student said, possibly because the discussions were not widely attended by VMI cadets.
The visiting students said they mostly avoided discussion of the war in favor of learning about American culture. Music, video games, and 'admiration' (among the men) for actress Jennifer Aniston seem to top that list........"
(Washington Post 041803)
Excerpts from White House Officials to Conduct Web Chats
".... Questions will be discarded if they include 'inappropriate messages' said Jimmy Orr, the White House internet media director. After that, [W's Chief of Staff Andrew] Card gets to choose which of the questions he will answer......
...As one press corps wag noted yesterday morning when the discussions were announced, it will allow the White House to give the same message to a 12-year-old in the Midwest that it has long given the press corps: 'When we have something to announce, we'll announce it.' ....
....Orr said the White House has high hopes for its entry into interactivity-- mentioning the web chats in the same breath as its web site's blockbuster hit, 'Barney Cam,' which features a camera that follows the president's Scottish terrier, Barney.....
....on Earth Day, April 22, EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman will hold a discussion."
(Washington Post 041603)
Sign in window:
"Alterations of any kind for men and women"
-Dry cleaning or plastic surgery?
Gathering background on some other things that will be posted soon.....
Friday, April 18, 2003
My landlords' cat is evil-- when the dog is in, he sits on the second floor stairs just out of the arthritic retriever's reach and stares down at him. I've often had to physically shoo each other away from their face-off. When I let him (the dog) outside, the cat comes up to the french doors and bats at the window, driving poor dog crazy.
And did I mention that he does everything he can to get at your dinner (sometimes jumping up onto the table) and complains vociferously if he doesn't get his extra treat of tuna and half and half when he wants it.
I'm tempted to not intervene one of these days--
Ah well, he's a _lot_ better behaved than some humans I have known.
On a completely different note, shock therapy in Poland has opened up a market for all those out of work Russian spies out there who still want to listen to the Polish news in Esperanto.
More to come...
And did I mention that he does everything he can to get at your dinner (sometimes jumping up onto the table) and complains vociferously if he doesn't get his extra treat of tuna and half and half when he wants it.
I'm tempted to not intervene one of these days--
Ah well, he's a _lot_ better behaved than some humans I have known.
On a completely different note, shock therapy in Poland has opened up a market for all those out of work Russian spies out there who still want to listen to the Polish news in Esperanto.
More to come...
Thursday, April 17, 2003
I spent a few hours yesterday with an interesting guy and a few lawyers :-)
Actually, I had a good time-- even if it was switching from proscecutor to referee to who knows what.
Lesson of the day: Never leave home without a copy of Ginsburg's Howl. You never know when it might come in handy.
Oh, and keep a file on a certain author.
Seriously, I have been intrigued by the nature of the few Blog meetups I have experienced. I could also use some computer troubleshooting advice from someone who is neither cat nor computer.
In other news, life has gone back to imitating satire. I just have to get past Doc Daneeka....
We even have an updated version of war profiteering....
The Financial Times (U.K.) reports that
perhaps the surest sign that the campaign in Iraq has shifted from a
military to a commercial footing is a conference to be held in Washington
next month. Participants from business, government and the non-profit
sector are to gather on May 5 for the first Iraqi reconstruction
conference.
"You are invited to participate in the most important reconstruction
event of the year," the invitation reads. "The Iraqi Reconstruction
Conference will provide the latest information on reconstruction programs
and funding." For $595 (there is a $100 discount for early
registration), corporate executives are promised "networking opportunities with top
government officials" and an "exclusive directory" of agencies and
organizations involved in the process.
Excerpted from Today's (041703) Global Development Briefing.
US policies has also given other countries' economies a boost-- Take the furniture business in Colombia.
New York Police stumbled onto one of the most inventive methods of smuggling heroin I've ever seen. Mary Lou Finlay (of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's news magazine As It Happens) did a very good interview with Lt. William Waters of the Queens Narcotics Unit.
Late last week, NYPD busted a suspected drug lab only to find--- furniture. Apparently, some Colombian craftsman mixed the pure heroin with resin, making a malleable substance that was then molded to look like ornamental woodwork on the various pieces of a bedroom set. Apparently, it was very difficult to differentiate them from actual headboards and dressers. That is, when it was solid. The smugglers had the furniture delivered to the apartment in question, where they proceeded to grind down each piece of furniture to a pile of sawdust and chemically extract the heroin.
It appears invention might actually be a bastard child.
More soon.
Actually, I had a good time-- even if it was switching from proscecutor to referee to who knows what.
Lesson of the day: Never leave home without a copy of Ginsburg's Howl. You never know when it might come in handy.
Oh, and keep a file on a certain author.
Seriously, I have been intrigued by the nature of the few Blog meetups I have experienced. I could also use some computer troubleshooting advice from someone who is neither cat nor computer.
In other news, life has gone back to imitating satire. I just have to get past Doc Daneeka....
We even have an updated version of war profiteering....
The Financial Times (U.K.) reports that
perhaps the surest sign that the campaign in Iraq has shifted from a
military to a commercial footing is a conference to be held in Washington
next month. Participants from business, government and the non-profit
sector are to gather on May 5 for the first Iraqi reconstruction
conference.
"You are invited to participate in the most important reconstruction
event of the year," the invitation reads. "The Iraqi Reconstruction
Conference will provide the latest information on reconstruction programs
and funding." For $595 (there is a $100 discount for early
registration), corporate executives are promised "networking opportunities with top
government officials" and an "exclusive directory" of agencies and
organizations involved in the process.
Excerpted from Today's (041703) Global Development Briefing.
US policies has also given other countries' economies a boost-- Take the furniture business in Colombia.
New York Police stumbled onto one of the most inventive methods of smuggling heroin I've ever seen. Mary Lou Finlay (of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's news magazine As It Happens) did a very good interview with Lt. William Waters of the Queens Narcotics Unit.
Late last week, NYPD busted a suspected drug lab only to find--- furniture. Apparently, some Colombian craftsman mixed the pure heroin with resin, making a malleable substance that was then molded to look like ornamental woodwork on the various pieces of a bedroom set. Apparently, it was very difficult to differentiate them from actual headboards and dressers. That is, when it was solid. The smugglers had the furniture delivered to the apartment in question, where they proceeded to grind down each piece of furniture to a pile of sawdust and chemically extract the heroin.
It appears invention might actually be a bastard child.
More soon.
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
Since many government orgs and private firms are under public disclosure regulations, I make it a point to scan the Washington Post Want Ads a couple times a week. I've occasionally found some interesting stuff, but this time I came across a listing that I thought y'all should see:
Crime Pays It's alarming that 14% have it and 100% want it. We have the highest closing percentage of any home product. Proven Manager-Closer needed to ignite our sales force. Salary, bonus, benfits, 401k, vacation, and more. Mr. Stevens 1-800-321-HOME.
Talk about gibberish. Though it would be interesting to ignite the sales staff.
Crime Pays It's alarming that 14% have it and 100% want it. We have the highest closing percentage of any home product. Proven Manager-Closer needed to ignite our sales force. Salary, bonus, benfits, 401k, vacation, and more. Mr. Stevens 1-800-321-HOME.
Talk about gibberish. Though it would be interesting to ignite the sales staff.
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
So many conservative talking heads complain that people are always criticizing or "sniping" at them, apparently for no reason but their (liberals') own malevolence. It never occurs to them that they may do things that merit that treatment.
The Unfunny Factor Washington Post 041503 (excerpts)
While Emceeing a gala for "Best Friends," a charity benefiting inner-city schoolchildren, O'Reilly had to fill time during a delay.
Members of the "Best Men," as the sixth-to-eighth-grade boys in the program are called, were delayed getting onstage to perform a lip-synced rendition of the Four Tops' standard "Reach Out (I'll be There)." O'Reilly ad-libbed: "Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps."
Best Friends founder Elayne Bennett.... told [the columnist] "I didn't hear it, but it was absolutely a throwaway line."
That's pretty egregious.
The Unfunny Factor Washington Post 041503 (excerpts)
While Emceeing a gala for "Best Friends," a charity benefiting inner-city schoolchildren, O'Reilly had to fill time during a delay.
Members of the "Best Men," as the sixth-to-eighth-grade boys in the program are called, were delayed getting onstage to perform a lip-synced rendition of the Four Tops' standard "Reach Out (I'll be There)." O'Reilly ad-libbed: "Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps."
Best Friends founder Elayne Bennett.... told [the columnist] "I didn't hear it, but it was absolutely a throwaway line."
That's pretty egregious.
Monday, April 14, 2003
I'm happy I chose to go to TRASHIONALS instead of setting myself up for being both at the dealing and receiving ends of the Bush administration's dangerous and confused policies. Not only would I be buffeted by the stuff coming down the bureaucratic pike, I would also have to deal with the world's (often angry) reaction to each of them on a very personal level.
Instead I had fun at a trash tournament where I actually had a shot at answering questions. Thank you whoever wrote those packets and avoided the mire of obscure '70s sitcom pilots and lists of the 1995 Sul Ross State baseball team. Though, I was disappointed with the incredible amount of questions on very minor hockey leagues. I was half expecting questions on the Newfoundland Hockey League's Carribean expansion teams. But there was enough of a normal-person to savant questions.
As I like to determine a person's temperament by blending the contents of their refrigerators, I wonder how that would work on my answers over the weekend. A jackelope, Kim Jong Il, Inuit Cinema, potato chips, and tongue forking would come out to be pretty strange but then I'm hardly normal.
Thanks to Edmund, Tricia, Drew, Tim and everyone else who let me come along for the ride. It was nice to see Allison, Josh, the assembled Dartmouth undergrad team, and other College Bowl luminaries. But even beyond that, it was great to see my good friends (and Dartmouth grads) Brian and Michael!!! It has been a long time and it was great to connect with them and see that they were doing well. Four of us oddball Dartmouth alums in one place! I guess we could have formed a team if we wanted to, but there was more than enough talent and competition out there.
The mostly GWU team "So Much for Shock and Awe" tolerated Mr. "Gin Rummy" Rumsfeld's only occasional contributions to our score. In the end, we got packets of British royalty trading cards as champions of the O'Leary bracket. I haven't opened them since I don't want to lose the papparazzi (sp?). Tricia also got a special award. Talk to her if you want to know what it was, but make sure you ask about the King of Hearts ;-)
More importantly, I want to publicly congratulate Tricia and Drew for their incredible skill and nerves of steel driving around Kafkaville (I mean greater Boston). I owe them a sizeable debt of gratitude--especially Tricia since she had to be squished in the back of our rollerskate car made worse by my occasional creaking and groaning. Not to mention the angle that I was wedged into the seat.
OK-- I'm still recovering from the weekend but I'll mention a few quick things:
Having never read the Wheel of Time series, I haven't the faintest idea what an Ajah is. But I've come out as at least three different colors all with equally accurate answers: brown (caring absent-minded professor), white (hyperlogical sarcastic vulcan) and blue (expert political manipulator). Though I wonder about the people who truthfully come out as green (passionate nymphomaniac with superhuman stamina). There are also a couple of small blind spots in how the questions come out.....Maybe some of you out there might be able to shed some light on this? Thanks to Tricia for pointing me in this direction.
What's your Ajah?
brought to you by Quizilla
I have also set up an appropriately messed-up country in the QB Alliance of the world of Nation States . Check outDezzar, where the forests are really deserts, the people breed faster than rabbits, and a war is raging across the Tavril Sea. Don't let our friendly exterior fool you, I'm going to shake things up pretty soon.
I've been taking part in Tim's Jukebox from Hell (shudder!!) to come up with the truly worst song put out by the often masochistic music industry. Tim's New England State test has also told me that my character is best embodied by the state of Vermont. Emphasis on education, socially liberal, and pro-agriculture. Who'd a thunk it?
It's time to head home.
Instead I had fun at a trash tournament where I actually had a shot at answering questions. Thank you whoever wrote those packets and avoided the mire of obscure '70s sitcom pilots and lists of the 1995 Sul Ross State baseball team. Though, I was disappointed with the incredible amount of questions on very minor hockey leagues. I was half expecting questions on the Newfoundland Hockey League's Carribean expansion teams. But there was enough of a normal-person to savant questions.
As I like to determine a person's temperament by blending the contents of their refrigerators, I wonder how that would work on my answers over the weekend. A jackelope, Kim Jong Il, Inuit Cinema, potato chips, and tongue forking would come out to be pretty strange but then I'm hardly normal.
Thanks to Edmund, Tricia, Drew, Tim and everyone else who let me come along for the ride. It was nice to see Allison, Josh, the assembled Dartmouth undergrad team, and other College Bowl luminaries. But even beyond that, it was great to see my good friends (and Dartmouth grads) Brian and Michael!!! It has been a long time and it was great to connect with them and see that they were doing well. Four of us oddball Dartmouth alums in one place! I guess we could have formed a team if we wanted to, but there was more than enough talent and competition out there.
The mostly GWU team "So Much for Shock and Awe" tolerated Mr. "Gin Rummy" Rumsfeld's only occasional contributions to our score. In the end, we got packets of British royalty trading cards as champions of the O'Leary bracket. I haven't opened them since I don't want to lose the papparazzi (sp?). Tricia also got a special award. Talk to her if you want to know what it was, but make sure you ask about the King of Hearts ;-)
More importantly, I want to publicly congratulate Tricia and Drew for their incredible skill and nerves of steel driving around Kafkaville (I mean greater Boston). I owe them a sizeable debt of gratitude--especially Tricia since she had to be squished in the back of our rollerskate car made worse by my occasional creaking and groaning. Not to mention the angle that I was wedged into the seat.
OK-- I'm still recovering from the weekend but I'll mention a few quick things:
Having never read the Wheel of Time series, I haven't the faintest idea what an Ajah is. But I've come out as at least three different colors all with equally accurate answers: brown (caring absent-minded professor), white (hyperlogical sarcastic vulcan) and blue (expert political manipulator). Though I wonder about the people who truthfully come out as green (passionate nymphomaniac with superhuman stamina). There are also a couple of small blind spots in how the questions come out.....Maybe some of you out there might be able to shed some light on this? Thanks to Tricia for pointing me in this direction.
What's your Ajah?
brought to you by Quizilla
I have also set up an appropriately messed-up country in the QB Alliance of the world of Nation States . Check outDezzar, where the forests are really deserts, the people breed faster than rabbits, and a war is raging across the Tavril Sea. Don't let our friendly exterior fool you, I'm going to shake things up pretty soon.
I've been taking part in Tim's Jukebox from Hell (shudder!!) to come up with the truly worst song put out by the often masochistic music industry. Tim's New England State test has also told me that my character is best embodied by the state of Vermont. Emphasis on education, socially liberal, and pro-agriculture. Who'd a thunk it?
It's time to head home.
Thursday, April 10, 2003
Eh--
I always thought the devil and angel on your shoulders was only in cartoons-- badly torn between the idea of taking the Foreign Service Exam and probably having to tow the Bush administration line and going to TRASHIONALS.
One, Bush is evil. But I would be working for Colin Powell. But he's going to get out as soon as he tactfully can.But at least I'd have a real job.
Argh....
I always thought the devil and angel on your shoulders was only in cartoons-- badly torn between the idea of taking the Foreign Service Exam and probably having to tow the Bush administration line and going to TRASHIONALS.
One, Bush is evil. But I would be working for Colin Powell. But he's going to get out as soon as he tactfully can.But at least I'd have a real job.
Argh....
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
I have a little time to post things, so here it goes:
"DC Department of Motor Vehicles Director Sherryl Hobbs Newman is leaving the job this month to become secretary of the District, administration officials said. The largely ceremonial position is in the mayor's office."
Washington Post 040803
There isn't any symbolism here at all. No sir!
From the same page:
Fire Companies to Raffle a Gun a Day
Four volunteer fire companies in Frederick County plan to raffle off a gun a day next year as prizes in a calendar-based fundraiser.
The 366 winning numbers-- 2004 is a leap year-- will be drawn nightly in the Maryland State Lottery's Pick 4 game.
"If this thing goes over well, the four fire companies involved plan on continuing doing this thing on an annual basis," Roy Lipscomb, chief of the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Co. said yesterday. The other volunteer fire companies involved in the effort are those of Emmitsburg, Jefferson, and Wolfsville.
The raffle meets legal requirements. The fire companies have obtained a permit from the Frederick County Permits and Inspections Office, which doesn't stipulate the prizes allowed in raffles. And the lottery numbers are in the public domain.
Remember when the Fire Department was supposed to keep people safe?
oop-- got to go. Much more later.
"DC Department of Motor Vehicles Director Sherryl Hobbs Newman is leaving the job this month to become secretary of the District, administration officials said. The largely ceremonial position is in the mayor's office."
Washington Post 040803
There isn't any symbolism here at all. No sir!
From the same page:
Fire Companies to Raffle a Gun a Day
Four volunteer fire companies in Frederick County plan to raffle off a gun a day next year as prizes in a calendar-based fundraiser.
The 366 winning numbers-- 2004 is a leap year-- will be drawn nightly in the Maryland State Lottery's Pick 4 game.
"If this thing goes over well, the four fire companies involved plan on continuing doing this thing on an annual basis," Roy Lipscomb, chief of the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Co. said yesterday. The other volunteer fire companies involved in the effort are those of Emmitsburg, Jefferson, and Wolfsville.
The raffle meets legal requirements. The fire companies have obtained a permit from the Frederick County Permits and Inspections Office, which doesn't stipulate the prizes allowed in raffles. And the lottery numbers are in the public domain.
Remember when the Fire Department was supposed to keep people safe?
oop-- got to go. Much more later.
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