[kiyote23]
 dorky.radiofreepirate.org

life on the dork farm

Sunday, January 30, 2005 :::
 

DenverPost.com - Joanne Ostrow: "Spellings has set her radical agenda. The incoming education secretary warned PBS: 'You can be assured that in the future the department will be more clear as to its expectations for any future programming that it funds.'

Postcard from Spellings: no underwriting of gay themes."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/30/2005 01:05:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Friday, January 28, 2005 :::
 

Hamas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "On January 26, 2004, senior Hamas official Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi offered a 10-year truce, or hudna, in return for a complete withdrawal by Israel from the territories captured in the Six Day War, and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin stated that the group could accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Rantissi confirmed that Hamas had come to the conclusion that it was 'difficult to liberate all our land at this stage, so we accept a phased liberation.' He said the truce could last 10 years, though 'not more than 10 years.' [3] (See Hudna)

On March 22, 2004, Yassin was assassinated in an Israeli missile strike. Rantissi replaced him as the leader of Hamas. On March 28, Rantissi stated in a speech given at the Islamic University of Gaza City that 'America declared war against God. Sharon declared war against God, and God declared war against America, Bush and Sharon.'

On April 17, 2004, Rantissi was also assassinated in an airstrike by the Israel Defense Forces, five hours after a fatal suicide bombing by Hamas. Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas in Syria, said Hamas should not disclose the name of its next leader in Gaza. [4]

On April 18, 2004, Hamas secretly selected a new leader in the Gaza Strip, fearing he will be killed if his identity is made public. (NYT). However, Israel believes that the new leader is Mahmoud A-Zahar; the second-in-command, Ismail Haniya; and third-in-command, Sa'id A-Siyam. [5]"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2005 11:26:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "According to some historians, Polish sailor John of Kolno, serving for Denmark reached the shores of America before Columbus. However, it is not clear, whether this really happened and whether John was really Polish."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2005 05:28:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Wired News: My IPod, My Self: "Giesler said that instead of trading individual songs, users are starting to trade entire hard drives: giant libraries of music or movies. When interviewees are asked how they dip into these libraries, picking items at random is the most common answer.

'Shuffle mode used to be a gimmick. Now it is the most viable strategy to access information that would otherwise be lost,' he said. 'It reduces the complexity of consumption. It's a cyborg consumption strategy.'"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2005 12:47:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Salon.com News | Third columnist caught with hand in the Bush till: "One day after President Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring commentators to help promote administration initiatives, and one day after the second high-profile conservative pundit was found to be on the federal payroll, a third embarrassing hire has emerged. Salon has confirmed that Michael McManus, a marriage advocate whose syndicated column, 'Ethics & Religion,' appears in 50 newspapers, was hired as a subcontractor by the Department of Health and Human Services to foster a Bush-approved marriage initiative. McManus championed the plan in his columns without disclosing to readers he was being paid to help it succeed."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2005 12:44:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

SEYMOUR HERSH: About what's going on in terms of the President is that as virtuous as I feel, you know, at The New Yorker, writing an alternative history more or less of what's been going on in the last three years, George Bush feels just as virtuous in what he is doing. He is absolutely committed -- I don't know whether he thinks he’s doing God's will or what his father didn't do, or whether it's some mandate from -- you know, I just don’t know, but George Bush thinks this is the right thing. He is going to continue doing what he has been doing in Iraq. He's going to expand it, I think, if he can. I think that the number of body bags that come back will make no difference to him. The body bags are rolling in. It makes no difference to him, because he will see it as a price he has to pay to put America where he thinks it should be. So, he's inured in a very strange way to people like me, to the politicians, most of them who are too cowardly anyway to do much. So, the day-to-day anxiety that all of us have, and believe me, though he got 58 million votes, many of people who voted for him weren’t voting for continued warfare, but I think that's what we're going to have.

It's hard to predict the future. And it's sort of silly to, but the question is: How do you go to him? How do you get at him? What can you do to maybe move him off the course that he sees as virtuous and he sees as absolutely appropriate? All of us -- you have to -- I can’t begin to exaggerate how frightening the position is -- we're in right now, because most of you don't understand, because the press has not done a very good job. The Senate Intelligence Committee, the new bill that was just passed, provoked by the 9/11 committee actually, is a little bit of a kabuki dance, I guess is what I want to say, in that what it really does is it consolidates an awful lot of power in the Pentagon -- by statute now. It gives Rumsfeld the right to do an awful lot of things he has been wanting to do, and that is basically manhunting and killing them before they kill us, as Peter said. “They did it to us. We’ve got to do it to them.” That is the attitude that -- at the very top of our government exists. And so, I'll just tell you a couple of things that drive me nuts. We can -- you know, there's not much more to go on with.

I think there's a way out of it, maybe. I can tell you one thing. Let's all forget this word “insurgency”. It's one of the most misleading words of all. Insurgency assumes that we had gone to Iraq and won the war and a group of disgruntled people began to operate against us and we then had to do counter-action against them. That would be an insurgency. We are fighting the people we started the war against. We are fighting the Ba'athists plus nationalists. We are fighting the very people that started -- they only choose to fight in different time spans than we want them to, in different places. We took Baghdad easily. It wasn't because be won. We took Baghdad because they pulled back and let us take it and decided to fight a war that had been pre-planned that they're very actively fighting. The frightening thing about it is, we have no intelligence. Maybe it's -- it's -- it is frightening, we have no intelligence about what they're doing. A year-and-a-half ago, we're up against two and three-man teams. We estimated the cells operating against us were two and three people, that we could not penetrate. As of now, we still don't know what's coming next. There are 10, 15-man groups. They have terrific communications. Somebody told me, it's -- somebody in the system, an officer -- and by the way, the good part of it is, more and more people are available to somebody like me.

There's a lot of anxiety inside the -- you know, our professional military and our intelligence people. Many of them respect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as much as anybody here, and individual freedom. So, they do -- there's a tremendous sense of fear. These are punitive people. One of the ways -- one of the things that you could say is, the amazing thing is we are been taken over basically by a cult, eight or nine neo-conservatives have somehow grabbed the government. Just how and why and how they did it so efficiently, will have to wait for much later historians and better documentation than we have now, but they managed to overcome the bureaucracy and the Congress, and the press, with the greatest of ease. It does say something about how fragile our Democracy is. You do have to wonder what a Democracy is when it comes down to a few men in the Pentagon and a few men in the White House having their way. What they have done is neutralize the C.I.A. because there were people there inside -- the real goal of what Goss has done was not attack the operational people, but the intelligence people. There were people -- serious senior analysts who disagree with the White House, with Cheney, basically, that's what I mean by White House, and Rumsfeld on a lot of issues, as somebody said, the goal in the last month has been to separate the apostates from the true believers. That's what's happening. The real target has been “diminish the agency.” I'm writing about all of this soon, so I don't want to overdo it, but there's been a tremendous sea change in the government. A concentration of power.

On the other hand, the facts -- there are some facts. We can’t win this war. We can do what he's doing. We can bomb them into the stone ages. Here's the other horrifying, sort of spectacular fact that we don't really appreciate. Since we installed our puppet government, this man, Allawi, who was a member of the Mukabarat, the secret police of Saddam, long before he became a critic, and is basically Saddam-lite. Before we installed him, since we have installed him on June 28, July, August, September, October, November, every month, one thing happened: the number of sorties, bombing raids by one plane, and the number of tonnage dropped has grown exponentially each month. We are systematically bombing that country. There are no embedded journalists at Doha, the Air Force base I think we’re operating out of. No embedded journalists at the aircraft carrier, Harry Truman. That's the aircraft carrier that I think is doing many of the operational fights. There’s no air defense, It's simply a turkey shoot. They come and hit what they want. We know nothing. We don't ask. We're not told. We know nothing about the extent of bombing. So if they're going to carry out an election and if they're going to succeed, bombing is going to be key to it, which means that what happened in Fallujah, essentially Iraq -- some of you remember Vietnam -- Iraq is being turn into a “free-fire zone” right in front of us. Hit everything, kill everything. I have a friend in the Air Force, a Colonel, who had the awful task of being an urban bombing planner, planning urban bombing, to make urban bombing be as unobtrusive as possible. I think it was three weeks ago today, three weeks ago Sunday after Fallujah I called him at home. I'm one of the people -- I don't call people at work. I call them at home, and he has one of those caller I.D.’s, and he picked up the phone and he said, “Welcome to Stalingrad.” We know what we're doing. This is deliberate. It's being done. They're not telling us. They're not talking about it.

We have a President that -- and a Secretary of State that, when a trooper -- when a reporter or journalist asked -- actually a trooper, a soldier, asked about lack of equipment, stumbled through an answer and the President then gets up and says, “Yes, they should all have good equipment and we're going to do it,” as if somehow he wasn't involved in the process. Words mean nothing -- nothing to George Bush. They are just utterances. They have no meaning. Bush can say again and again, “well, we don't do torture.” We know what happened. We know about Abu Ghraib. We know, we see anecdotally. We all understand in some profound way because so much has come out in the last few weeks, the I.C.R.C. The ACLU put out more papers, this is not an isolated incident what’s happened with the seven kids and the horrible photographs, Lynndie England. That's into the not the issue is. They're fall guys. Of course, they did wrong. But you know, when we send kids to fight, one of the things that we do when we send our children to war is the officers become in loco parentis. That means their job in the military is to protect these kids, not only from getting bullets and being blown up, but also there is nothing as stupid as a 20 or 22-year-old kid with a weapon in a war zone. Protect them from themselves. The spectacle of these people doing those antics night after night, for three and a half months only stopped when one of their own soldiers turned them in tells you all you need to know, how many officers knew. I can just give you a timeline that will tell you all you need to know. Abu Ghraib was reported in January of 2004 this year. In May, I and CBS earlier also wrote an awful lot about what was going on there. At that point, between January and May, our government did nothing. Although Rumsfeld later acknowledged that he was briefed by the middle of January on it and told the President. In those three-and-a-half months before it became public, was there any systematic effort to do anything other than to prosecute seven “bad seeds”, enlisted kids, reservists from West Virginia and the unit they were in, by the way, Military Police. The answer is, Ha! They were basically a bunch of kids who were taught on traffic control, sent to Iraq, put in charge of a prison. They knew nothing. It doesn't excuse them from doing dumb things. But there is another framework. We're not seeing it. They’ve gotten away with it.

So here's the upside of the horrible story, if there is an upside. I can tell you the upside in a funny way, in an indirect way. It comes from a Washington Post piece this week. A young boy, a Marine, 25-year-old from somewhere in Maryland died. There was a funeral in the Post, a funeral in Washington, and the Post did a little story about it. They quoted -- his name was Hodak. His father was quoted. He had written to a letter in the local newspaper in Southern Virginia. He had said about his son, he wrote a letter just describing what it was like after his son died. He said, “Today everything seems strange. Laundry is getting done. I walked my dog. I ate breakfast. Somehow I'm still breathing and my heart is still beating. My son lies in a casket half a world away.” There's going to be -- you know, when I did My Lai -- I tell this story a lot. When I did the My Lai story, more than a generation ago, it was 35 years ago, so almost two. When I did My Lai, one of the things that I discovered was that they had -- for some of you, most of you remember, but basically a group of American soldiers -- the analogy is so much like today. Then as now, our soldiers don't see enemies in a battlefield, they just walk on mines or they get shot by snipers, because It's always hidden. There's inevitable anger and rage and you dehumanize the people. We have done that with enormous success in Iraq. They're “rag-heads”. They're less than human. The casualty count -- as in Sudan, equally as bad. Staggering numbers that we're killing. In any case, you know, it's -- in this case, these -- a group of soldiers in 1968 went into a village. They had been in Vietnam for three months and lost about 10% of their people, maybe 10 or 15 to accidents, killings and bombings, and they ended up -- they thought they would meet the enemy and there were 550 women, children and old men and they executed them all. It took a day. They stopped in the middle and they had lunch. One of the kids who had done a lot of shooting. The Black and Hispanic soldiers, about 40 of them, there were about 90 men in the unit -- the Blacks and Hispanics shot in the air. They wouldn't shoot into the ditch. They collected people in three ditches and just began to shoot them. The Blacks and Hispanics shot up in the air, but the mostly White, lower middle class, the kids who join the Army Reserve today and National Guard looking for extra dollars, those kind of kids did the killing. One of them was a man named Paul Medlow, who did an awful lot of shooting. The next day, there was a moment -- one of the things that everybody remembered, the kids who were there, one of the mothers at the bottom of a ditch had taken a child, a boy, about two, and got him under her stomach in such a way that he wasn't killed. When they were sitting having the K rations -- that’s what they called them -- MRE’s now -- the kid somehow crawled up through the [inaudible] screaming louder and he began -- and Calley, the famous Lieutenant Calley, the Lynndie England of that tragedy, told Medlow: Kill him, “Plug him,” he said. And Medlow somehow, who had done an awful lot as I say, 200 bullets, couldn't do it so Calley ran up as everybody watched, with his carbine. Officers had a smaller weapon, a rifle, and shot him in the back of the head. The next morning, Medlow stepped on a mine and he had his foot blown off. He was being medevac’d out. As he was being medevac’d out, he cursed and everybody remembered, one of the chilling lines, he said, “God has punished me, and he's going to punish you, too.”

So a year-and-a-half later, I'm doing this story. And I hear about Medlow. I called his mother up. He lived in New Goshen, Indiana. I said, “I’m coming to see you. I don’t remember where I was, I think it was Washington State. I flew over there and to get there, you had to go to – I think Indianapolis and then to Terre Haute, rent a car and drive down into the Southern Indiana, this little farm. It was a scene out of Norman Rockwell's. Some of you remember the Norman Rockwell paintings. It's a chicken farm. The mother is 50, but she looks 80. Gristled, old. Way old – hard scrabble life, no man around. I said I'm here to see your son, and she said, okay. He's in there. He knows you're coming. Then she said, one of these great -- she said to me, “I gave them a good boy. And they sent me back a murderer.” So you go on 35 years. I'm doing in The New Yorker, the Abu Ghraib stories. I think I did three in three weeks. If some of you know about The New Yorker, that's unbelievable. But in the middle of all of this, I get a call from a mother in the East coast, Northeast, working class, lower middle class, very religious, Catholic family. She said, I have to talk to you. I go see her. I drive somewhere, fly somewhere, and her story is simply this. She had a daughter that was in the military police unit that was at Abu Ghraib. And the whole unit had come back in March, of -- The sequence is: they get there in the fall of 2003. Their reported after doing their games in the January of 2004. In March she is sent home. Nothing is public yet. The daughter is sent home. The whole unit is sent home. She comes home a different person. She had been married. She was young. She went into the Reserves, I think it was the Army Reserves to get money, not for college or for -- you know, these -- some of these people worked as night clerks in pizza shops in West Virginia. This not -- this is not very sophisticated. She came back and she left her husband. She just had been married before. She left her husband, moved out of the house, moved out of the city, moved out to another home, another apartment in another city and began working a different job. And moved away from everybody. Then over -- as the spring went on, she would go every weekend, this daughter, and every weekend she would go to a tattoo shop and get large black tattoos put on her, over increasingly -- over her body, the back, the arms, the legs, and her mother was frantic. What's going on? Comes Abu Ghraib, and she reads the stories, and she sees it. And she says to her daughter, “Were you there?” She goes to the apartment. The daughter slams the door. The mother then goes -- the daughter had come home -- before she had gone to Iraq, the mother had given her a portable computer. One of the computers that had a DVD in it, with the idea being that when she was there, she could watch movies, you know, while she was overseas, sort of a -- I hadn't thought about it, a great idea. Turns out a lot of people do it. She had given her a portable computer, and when the kid came back she had returned it, one of the things, and the mother then said I went and looked at the computer. She knows -- she doesn't know about depression. She doesn’t know about Freud. She just said, I was just -- I was just going to clean it up, she said. I had decided to use it again. She wouldn't say anything more why she went to look at it after Abu Ghraib. She opened it up, and sure enough there was a file marked “Iraq”. She hit the button. Out came 100 photographs. They were photographs that became -- one of them was published. We published one, just one in The New Yorker. It was about an Arab. This is something no mother should see and daughter should see too. It was the Arab man leaning against bars, the prisoner naked, two dogs, two shepherds, remember, on each side of him. The New Yorker published it, a pretty large photograph. What we didn’t publish was the sequence showed the dogs did bite the man -- pretty hard. A lot of blood. So she saw that and she called me, and away we go. There's another story.

For me, it's just another story, but out of this comes a core of -- you know, we all deal in “macro” in Washington. On the macro, we're hopeless. We're nowhere. The press is nowhere. The congress is nowhere. The military is nowhere. Every four-star General I know is saying, “Who is going to tell them we have no clothes?” Nobody is going to do it. Everybody is afraid to tell Rumsfeld anything. That's just the way it is. It's a system built on fear. It's not lack of integrity, it's more profound than that. Because there is individual integrity. It's a system that's completely been taken over -- by cultists. Anyway, what's going to happen, I think, as the casualties mount and these stories get around, and the mothers see the cost and the fathers see the cost, as the kids come home. And the wounded ones come back, and there's wards that you will never hear about. That's wards -- you know about the terrible catastrophic injuries, but you don't know about the vegetables. There's ward after ward of vegetables because the brain injuries are so enormous. As you maybe read last week, there was a new study in one of the medical journals that the number of survivors are greater with catastrophic injuries because of their better medical treatment and the better armor they have. So you get more extreme injuries to extremities. We're going to learn more and I think you're going to see, it's going to -- it's -- I'm trying to be optimistic. We're going to see a bottom swelling from inside the ranks. You're beginning to see it. What happened with the soldiers asking those questions, you may see more of that. I'm not suggesting we're going to have mutinies, but I'm going to suggest you're going to see more dissatisfaction being expressed. Maybe that will do it. Another salvation may be the economy. It's going to go very bad, folks. You know, if you have not sold your stocks and bought property in Italy, you better do it quick. And the third thing is Europe -- Europe is not going to tolerate us much longer. The rage there is enormous. I'm talking about our old-fashioned allies. We could see something there, collective action against us. Certainly, nobody -- it's going to be an awful lot of dancing on our graves as the dollar goes bad and everybody stops buying our bonds, our credit -- our -- we're spending $2 billion a day to float the debt, and one of these days, the Japanese and the Russians, everybody is going to start buying oil in Euros instead of dollars. We're going to see enormous panic here. But he could get through that. That will be another year, and the damage he’s going to do between then and now is enormous. We’re going to have some very bad months ahead.


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2005 10:55:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Thursday, January 27, 2005 :::
 

MSNBC - Man declared dead found breathing in morgue : "RALEIGH, N.C. - A medical examiner studying a body in a morgue was startled when the man took a shallow breath.
Emergency medical technicians had declared 29-year-old Larry D. Green dead almost two hours earlier, after he was hit by a car.

Medical examiner J.B. Perdue was called to the accident scene Monday but did not examine Green then. Later, he was documenting Green’s injuries when he noticed the man was breathing.

“I had to look twice myself just to make sure it was there, that’s how subtle it was,” Perdue said.

Green, 29, was taken to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, where he was in critical condition Wednesday.

Several members of the Franklin County emergency medical service have been suspended pending an investigation, said Darnell Batton, the county attorney."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 07:09:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Today, Some Lists.:
"THINGS I'D PROBABLY SAY
IF THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION WERE JUST
A WEEKLY TV SHOW AND I WERE
A REGULAR VIEWER.
By Eric Maierson


'Now, see, you can't just go and do something like that. That would be illegal.'

'Boy, someone's gonna get fired for that.'

'Wasn't that the one who made all the mistakes? Why is she getting promoted?'

'Come on, in real life you'd never get away with something like that.'

'They really expect us to believe that?'

'Am I the only one confused here?'

'Does this make any sense to you?'

'Why is this still on?'"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 07:04:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

religious right accuses democrat senators of 'prejudice' - news from ekklesia: "In a nine-hour debate in the Senate a number of Democratic senators castigated Dr Rice for her failure to be truthful during questioning by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and for being an architect of the failed American policy on Iraq. Sen Mark Dayton said President Bush’s top aides had been 'lying to Congress, lying to our committees and lying to the American people.”

He said the administration must be stopped from promoting officials “who have been instrumental in deceiving Congress and the American people,” adding “and that includes Dr Rice.” Sen Evan Bayh said the nominee “has been a principal architect of policy errors that have tragically undermined our prospects for success” in Iraq. He added, “This is no ordinary incompetence. Men and women are dying as a result of these mistakes.”

Sen Edward M Kennedy said, “We now know that Saddam had no nuclear weapons programme of any kind.” The war, he pointed out, has made Iraq a “breeding ground for terrorism that previously did not exist.

But the President of the Christian Coalition, Roberta Combs, said 'President Bush should be highly commended for his appointment of minorities to Cabinet positions and other high- level positions in his Administration. In fact, no president in American history has reached out to minorities as much as has President Bush.'

It is not believed that in talking of 'minorities' she was referring to gay men and women. "


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 06:54:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Before Mideast Peace: Trust | csmonitor.com: "In an unusual step, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has declared he's 'very satisfied' with Palestinian efforts. If all goes well, he's expected to meet with Mr. Abbas in about two weeks."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 06:51:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Russia-Raid: "Smoke billowed from the building in Nalchik, the regional capital of the province of Kabardino-Balkariya, near Chechnya, as police and Interior Ministry troops fired automatic weapons and hurled grenades. The gunmen returned fire, wounding two police officers, the Interior Ministry said.

After a five-hour shootout, authorities found seven bodies, Interior Ministry spokesman Alexei Polyansky said.

The ITAR-Tass news agency said the wife of one of the militants and their eight-month-old child were among those killed. Some police officials said up to four of the dead were women. Nikolai Shepel, Russia's deputy prosecutor general, denied that a child's body had been found.

Security officials said the militants were believed to belong to Yarmuk, a radical Islamic group affiliated with Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev and the target of previous law-enforcement efforts in Kabardino-Balkariya. Nikolai Shepel, Russia's deputy prosecutor general, said one of the dead was the leader of Yarmuk, Muslim Atayev."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 06:50:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Sci-Tech Today - Science - Unexplained Spot Found on ISS: "The two-man crew of the International Space Station (ISS) detected a black spot of unexplained origin on the outside of the station during a space walk they conducted Wednesday, Interfax news agency said.

The report quoted an unnamed expert as saying that the mark could have been caused by oil expelled through a vent from a piece of equipment on the space station and said Russian experts were investigating the origin of the spot.

The spot of unknown origin posed no danger to the crew or the space station, the expert told Interfax."

This sounds like the start of a great sci-fi/horror movie


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 06:47:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

FT.com / World / US - Relief after Pentagon official resigns: "While Mr Rumsfeld praised Mr Feith, saying he had “earned the respect of civilian and military leaders across the government”, current and former administration officials said there was widespread relief at the news of his resignation.

A former senior administration official said the White House had been pushing for Mr Feith's departure for several months. He had developed a contentious relationship with other members of the administration, including the White House and the State Department, where one official said there was a “sigh of relief” at the news.

The official said Mr Feith's departure did not represent a change in policy, given that Mr Bush had reaffirmed many of the neoconservatives' views in his inaugural speech last week. He said that instead it was an effort to remove some officials who were lightning rods in the first administration.

Mr Feith drew criticism early in Mr Bush's first term by creating the Office of Strategic Influence, which he wanted to plant news stories with foreign media to influence policymakers. Mr Rumsfeld closed the office after details of its methods emerged in the press.

Mr Feith also had a difficult relationship with the State Department, battling with officials over pre-war intelligence estimates and reconstruction plans for Iraq. The former senior official said relations had deteriorated to the extent that some State Department officials refused to sit in the same room with Mr Feith.

Through the Office of Special Plans, which he created to gather and analyse intelligence independent of the Central Intelligence Agency, Mr Feith was instrumental in pushing intelligence reports that Saddam Hussein was linked to the terror attacks of September 11 2001. Mr Bush was later forced to admit that the administration had no evidence of any such links.

Mr Feith's relations with the uniformed military were equally strained. Retired General Tommy Franks, who commanded US forces during the invasion of Iraq, wrote disparagingly about Mr Feith in his autobiography American Soldier.

“I wasn't convinced that [Mr Rumsfeld] was always well served by his advice,” Gen Franks wrote. “Feith was a theorist whose ideas were often impractical. . . . He had a reputation for confusing abstract memoranda with results in the field.”

Scott Horton, president of the International League for Human Rights, said the Pentagon policy position was so important to the neoconservatives that they would push hard to make sure one of their members replaced Mr Feith.

But he said the White House would probably pick someone who attracted less criticism.

Mr Feith's office attracted attention last year after details were published of a Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into whether Lawrence Franklin, who worked for Mr Feith, passed classified information to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and an Israeli diplomat. Some neoconservatives speculated yesterday that Scooter Libby, chief of staff to vice-president Dick Cheney and protégé of Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defence secretary, could replace Mr Feith at the Pentagon."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 06:44:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: The Man in Front of the Curtain: "Your Nebraskan pragmatism - and knowledge of the magician's tricks - tilted you toward the sciences, especially astronomy. (Maybe this is why the occultists, future predictors, spoon-benders or mind readers on your show never left without having been challenged.) You knew how to treat everyone, from the pompous actor to the nervous actress, and which to give the appropriate kindness. You enjoyed the unflappable grannies who knitted log-cabin quilts, as well as the Vegas pros who machine-gunned the audience into hysterical fits. You were host to writers, children, intellectuals and nitwits and served them all well, and served the audience by your curiosity and tolerance. You gave each guest the benefit of the doubt, and in this way you exemplified an American ideal: you're nuts but you're welcome here."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 02:53:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy: "Scientists have begun blurring the line between human and animal by producing chimeras—a hybrid creature that's part human, part animal.

Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University in 2003 successfully fused human cells with rabbit eggs. The embryos were reportedly the first human-animal chimeras successfully created. They were allowed to develop for several days in a laboratory dish before the scientists destroyed the embryos to harvest their stem cells.

In Minnesota last year researchers at the Mayo Clinic created pigs with human blood flowing through their bodies.

And at Stanford University in California an experiment might be done later this year to create mice with human brains."

What are we going to do tonight, Brain? You know it.


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 12:50:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Hundred killed in Darfur air raid: "'The planes were flying very low just south of El-Fasher and then the explosions were heard from that direction,' one aid worker told Reuters news agency.

'The majority of the victims were women and children. We are extremely concerned,' a spokeswoman for the UN envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, told the BBC."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 12:48:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Yahoo! News - Senator Wants Boxing Gloves on Chickens: "OKLAHOMA CITY - A state senator has a plan for saving Oklahoma's gamefowl industry now that cockfighters are legally prohibited from pitting birds fitted with razor-like spurs.

State Sen. Frank Shurden, a longtime defender of cockfighting, is suggesting that roosters be given little boxing gloves so they can fight without bloodshed. The proposal is in a bill the Democrat has introduced for the legislative session that begins Feb. 7.

'Who's going to object to chickens fighting like humans do? Everybody wins,' Sen. Frank Shurden said.

Oklahoma voters banned cockfighting in 2002. The practice is still legal in Louisiana and New Mexico.

Removing the blood from the sport takes away the main argument animal rights groups have against cockfighting, Shurden said.

'Let the roosters do what they love to do without getting injured,' Shurden said."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 12:45:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Yahoo! News - President Calls For End to Tax-Funded PR for His Policies: "Earlier this month, published reports disclosed that the Education Department, under former Secretary Rod Paige, had paid conservative commentator Armstrong Williams $240,000 to promote the president's education policies.

During a White House news conference, Bush denied that he and his staff knew about such contracts, which Democrats denounced as 'covert propaganda' directed at the American people and paid for by their tax dollars.

'I expect my Cabinet secretaries to make sure that that practice doesn't go forward,' Bush told reporters. 'We didn't know about this in the White House, and there needs to be a nice, independent relationship between the White House and the press, the administration and the press.'

According to a report by Democrats on the House Committee on Government Reform, the administration spent at least $88 million on public relations contracts in 2004, more than twice the $37 million the Clinton administration spent in 2000, its last year in office.

The report also said that 41% of such contracts last year were awarded on a no-bid basis, while in 2000 under Clinton only 16% were noncompetitive. The report said the numbers were preliminary and likely to increase because some government agencies had yet to disclose their 2004 public relations expenditures."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 12:44:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

press-citizen.com | Local News: "Seconds after the image of an unmistakable yellow diner sign flashed before 'The West Wing' viewers nationwide, it generated a burst of applause and whoops from a crowd gathered Wednesday inside the actual Hamburg Inn No. 2 restaurant.

'It was really neat to hear them say Hamburg Inn and Coffee Bean Caucus,' owner Dave Panther said.

A crowd of about 50 people gathered at the Iowa City landmark for a viewing party to see how writers for 'The West Wing' would portray their beloved 1950s-style diner. Writers chose to portray the Hamburg in an episode after actor Martin Sheen, who plays fictional president Jed Bartlet, visited the restaurant during the 2004 Iowa Caucuses, Panther said before passing out red, white and blue balloons.

The episode, named 'King Corn,' placed the show's fictional presidential candidates in the caucuses. The camera twice panned seven glass jars filled with beans to re-create the Coffee Bean Caucus that the Hamburg held in 2004. In real life, and on the show, participants use coffee beans to cast a mock vote for their favorite candidate."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 12:42:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

John Deeth Blog: "But of course the Republican Party has only one solution to every problem, whether that solution is relevant or not.

What a sad, sad commentary on the state of our state: it's so unattractive for twentysomethings that we need to bribe them into staying."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 12:38:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Mind Hacks: On orgasms, epilepsy and the lack of sexual neuroscience: "One of their 41 year-old female patients, diagnosed with epilepsy, had a seizure every time she brushed her teeth. Seizures in response to external stimulation are not unusual - flashing lights are a well known source - and other sorts of stimulation are not uncommon triggers. A recent case-report even involved seizures induced by vacuum cleaner use.

So the unusual aspect for the Tiawanese case was not the trigger, but the effect of the seizure. The woman had seizures when she brushed her teeth, and had an orgasm every time she had a seizure, shortly before losing consciousness.

Although probably doing wonders for her dental health, the condition has left neurologists rather puzzled. Because so little is known about sex and the brain, her doctors had very little to go on when they tried to explain what was happening."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 12:29:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Who does the most voices on "The Simpsons"?: "By counting up the attributions, we discovered that Hank Azaria has voiced over 160 characters on The Simpsons. Best-known as the voice of Moe the bartender, Apu the Kwik-E-Mart owner, and Police Chief Wiggum, Azaria also has a slew of movie and TV credits ranging from a magazine editor in Shattered Glass to an amateur superhero in Mystery Men.

Close on Azaria's heels in the voice-talent race is Dan Castellaneta, the man behind Homer Simpson's 'd'oh!' and Krusty the Clown's crustiness. He's portrayed at least 118 denizens of Springfield. Castellaneta is also famous for his voice work in many other cartoon features and series.

Coming in third is Harry Shearer, who has given life to about 116 Simpsons characters. He regularly plays Homer's sinister boss, Mr. Burns, and the Simpsons' ultra-nice neighbor, Ned Flanders. Shearer even voiced the cartoon version of his own This Is Spinal Tap character, heavy-metal bassist Derek Smalls, when the band guest starred on The Simpsons."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 12:28:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

DesMoinesRegister.com: "Eighth-grader Travis Patton, who only recently regained his ability to play music after a bicycle accident last fall left him with two fractured and splinted wrists, put together the tsunami benefit program.

Travis, a violinist and percussionist, uses his hands to make music. Teachers call him a gifted musician and said the accident left him unable to hold and play his violin or beat the drum.

Teachers also said it was Travis' persistence and diligence that allowed him to overcome his injury and play in splints. He will perform a violin solo and harp/violin duet at Monday night's concert.

'He's taken this project on entirely by himself and did the lion's share of the work,' said orchestra teacher Curtis Barr, who helped with concert rehearsals. 'He picked a diverse musical selection that has wide audience appeal.'

The 90-minute concert, an ensemble of classical and jazz music played by string quartets, harp and violin, is open to the public. Donations from the event will be sent to the American Red Cross tsunami relief fund."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 10:41:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

DesMoinesRegister.com: "Several interviewed said the fight at Hoover High School involving Roosevelt students was an isolated incident that could have happened anywhere. They said the fight could not have been predicted by officials.

Others blame popular culture and bad parenting, and called the fight a wake-up call that requires a community solution.

'I'm still shell-shocked, basically, from what happened,' said Des Moines Police Sgt. Mark Buzynski, who was at the scene of the brawl. 'I'm not sure we'll ever understand it.'

Buzynski said the students were 'vicious' and showed no remorse.

'I don't know where kids are getting the sense that this is OK,' he said.

Roosevelt sophomore John Kennedy was at the basketball game but left during the third quarter because he said it can get 'a little crazy' after games. He said there often is friction among female students arguing mostly over males.

'I'm boggled by how they can just be so disrespectful,' he said of students both at school and at athletic events.

Kennedy said some students are disrespectful in school hallways and don't take responsibility for their actions.

'I hear, 'You can't tell me what to do. Who do you think you are?,' ' he said of students' comments.

Des Moines Police Sgt. Cindy Donahue was left with a broken nose by the fight. Five Roosevelt students have been charged with crimes in the incident, and police said 50 to 75 others could be charged if they could be identified. Those charged include Mike Chilongo, 17; Erica Barnes, 15; and sisters Amber Ward, 17, and Shawnta Ward, 16. The Ward sisters were charged with willful injury, a felony, and face trial in adult court."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 10:38:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

DesMoinesRegister.com: "Money from recycling cans paid for Tony Johnston's trip Wednesday from Burlington to the Capitol.

The unemployed man had a message for lawmakers: 'The grocery stores and grocers association are thumbing their noses' at the state.

Johnston is mad that some grocery stores temporarily stopped taking empty cans and bottles even though they lacked state-approved alternate redemption sites. The stores relented under pressure from the attorney general, but Johnston fears the deposit law is under assault.

Johnston wants lawmakers to increase the deposit to 10 cents per container from 5 cents. He wants grocery stores to remain recycling locations but also wants them to get more money for doing so. He also is pushing for tax incentives to encourage use of better processing equipment.

Some lawmakers seemed impressed with Johnston's effort.

'I am one of those people who prefer to hear from the grass roots . . . rather than the hired guns,' said Rep. Sandy Greiner, a Keota Republican.

Johnston, 42, gets by on the soda cans Iowans throw away, he said. 'Twenty-two cans will buy a sandwich,' he said.

Johnston said he collects cans two or three nights a week, making about $500 a month. He has been showing lawmakers pictures of his old Oldsmobile Cutlass filled with cans from a recent recycling trip. In one picture, there is hardly room for him in the car.

'Yes, I am doing it for the money,' Johnston said, 'but, good Lord, what impact I have had' on the environment."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 10:34:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

ThisisLondon: "The number of Harold Shipman's known victims rose today to 250 as it emerged that he began murdering when he was a junior hospital doctor.

Until now it was thought he murdered 215 patients, mainly elderly women, while a GP between 1975 and 1998.

It is now feared that he started killing in 1971. Among his earliest victims is thought to be a four-year-old girl. An official inquiry has already found that Shipman murdered patients with lethal morphine injections while working at a oneman GP practice in Hyde near Manchester.

He was jailed for life in January 2000 after being convicted at Preston Crown Court. The 57-year-old was found hanged in his cell in Wakefield Prison in January last year."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 10:31:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

RTE.ie Entertainment - Ringo Starr to become animated superhero: "'This is going to be one of the most exciting adventures I've had all day' said Ringo in a statement. 'What a terrific opportunity to meet and work with the great Stan Lee. I'm so excited to become a 'reluctant superhero.'
 
'We're in the first stages of creating this soon to be masterpiece. Adding music to this adventure is something I am also looking forward to. See you in animation land.'"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 10:26:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

HoustonChronicle.com - Fewer shuttle trips planned to finish space station: "While the partnership says using two Soyuz capsules provides the best lifeboat capability for a six-person crew, the United States can't buy the spacecraft from Russia because of provisions in the Iran Non-Proliferation Act.

Legislation passed by Congress in 2000 sanctioned Russia for exporting nuclear technology to Iran, but the United States and Russia are trying to work around the issue, said Debra Rahn, a spokeswoman for NASA's international division."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 10:24:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

TheStar.com - Plea for `courage' on day of carnage: "For most of his 48-minute encounter with the White House press corps in the press briefing room, a much more informal setting than usual for a presidential news conference, Bush was relentlessly upbeat.

He pointed to recent elections in Afghanistan and Ukraine, the Palestinian elections and the vote in Iraq as proof progress is being made toward freedom, even mimicking the planting of a U.S. flag to make his point.

'I firmly planted the flag of liberty, for all to see that the United States of America hears their concerns and believes in their aspirations,' he said."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 10:21:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Bloomberg.com:U.S.: "The Marine died and four others were injured in operations south of Baghdad, the military said in an e-mailed statement. The Iraqi soldier was killed in a car bombing that injured five civilians and two policemen near Baqubah, northeast of Baghdad, at about 11:35 a.m. local time, said U.S. Army spokesman Captain Bill Coppernoll in a telephone interview from Tikrit.

The attacks come three days before Iraq's elections, which interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi pledged will go ahead, defying the insurgency. The U.S. yesterday suffered its deadliest day since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, with 37 members of the military killed, 31 of them in a helicopter crash.

Three Iraqis were killed in a house in Samarra, north of Baghdad, when a car bomb detonated nearby, AP said. Police there also said armed men blew up a school that was to be used as a polling station, the agency reported. South of Baghdad, three Iraqis were killed by a roadside bomb, and three others died in incidents elsewhere in the country, AP said."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 10:16:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Auschwitz-Birkenau: Take a moment to remember: "Even for many of us who simply cannot comprehend the suffering these survivors of Auschwitz faced, seeing images and archive footage of the camp sends shivers down the spine. It should effect us much more than this as today is a special day when we should remember to all take a moment to think of those who endured misery, pain, torture and death at the hands of the Nazis as well as recognise the more than occasional deficiencies in human nature.

Approximately 1,350,000 Jews were murdered at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp from a total of 1,500,000 lives, which the camp claimed as part of the 'final solution' by Hitler and the Nazi party to eliminate the Jewish race throughout Europe.
"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 10:13:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

CNN.com - Man accused in train crash faces murder charges - Jan 27, 2005: "On Wednesday, Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee on railroad tracks in Glendale as a commuter train approached shortly after 6 a.m., police said.

Initially, Alvarez intended to commit suicide, police said, but he changed his mind. He exited his sport utility vehicle and watched as the Metrolink train hit it, derailed, ran into a northbound Metrolink commuter train and crashed into a parked Union Pacific train, police said.

Alvarez, whose last known address was in Compton, was taken into custody near the scene, Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams said Wednesday.

Before his arrested and placed on suicide watch, Alvarez was treated for superficial wounds -- cuts to his wrist and chest --that were self-inflicted and not caused by the train wreck, Adams said.

'I think he was intent at that time of taking his own life but changed his mind prior to the train actually striking his vehicle,' Adams said."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2005 10:09:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Wednesday, January 26, 2005 :::
 

ScrappleFace: Rumsfeld Sorry for 'Axis of Weasels' Remark: "(2003-01-22) -- U.S. Secretary Defense Donald Rumsfeld apologized today for referring to France and Germany as an 'Axis of Weasels.'

'I'm sorry about that Axis of Weasels remark,' said Mr. Rumsfeld. 'I didn't mean to dredge up the history France and Germany share of pathetic compliance with ruthless dictators.'

The Defense Secretary said he was 'way out of bounds' with the comments.

'I should have known better than to remind people that these two nations--which live in freedom thanks only to the righteous might of America, Britain and their allies--that these nations are morally and politically bankrupt, and have failed to learn the lessons of history,' he said. 'It really was an inappropriate thing to say--you know, the Axis of Weasels thing. I really should not have called them the Axis of Weasels. I think it's the 'Weasels' part that was most offensive...you know, when I said that France and Germany form an Axis of Weasels. Of course, I'm so sorry.'"

thanks, K!


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/26/2005 11:24:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Man, do I love the Wikipedia. It's hypertext at it's best. You start reading an article, and it'll lead you to another item. Combine it with tabbed browsing, and you'll find gems like:

Bozo the Clown -- Many stories have arisen about misbehavior on the show making it onto the air, although it is often difficult to know whether they are true or not, particularly because relatively few of the local Bozo episodes were preserved on tape. The most famous alleged incident involves Bozo attempting to manage the behavior of an outspoken child in the audience by making the comment: "That's a Bozo no-no," which elicited the response from the kid: "Cram it, clownie!"

The Indian Head Test Pattern:


Robotech -- That said, Robotech is also extremely polarizing. Some critics consider the show to be an abomination that runs rough-shod over its original sources by westernizing character names, making some censor-appeasing edits, and changing the stories of three wholly unrelated series to pass them off as a cohesive whole. (Some compare it to Woody Allen's camp Japanese movie re-dub What's Up Tiger Lily?). In an effort to combine the three storylines, certain characters underwent drastic role changes with little explicit character development or plot exposition. Notably Rick Hunter (one of the main characters of the Macross segment) was changed—by a few lines of dialogue in the last third of Robotech—from an ordinary yet pivotal fighter unit commander into an unseen admiral who orders his fleet "to obliterate the planet" Earth under the controversial rationale of saving it from the enemy, after spending decades in deep space liberating other systems form the same enemy found on earth.

Speed Racer -- Speed Racer had a younger brother named Spritle (Kurio Mifune, 三船くりお Mifune Kurio) who along with his pet chimpanzee Chim-Chim (Senpei) constantly got into mischief and hid together in the trunk of the car. Other regular characters included Sparky (Sabu サブ), the company mechanic; Speed's father, Pops (Daisuke Mifune, 三船大介 Mifune Daisuke); and his mother, Mom (Aya Mifune, 三船アヤ Mifune Aya); and also Speed's girlfriend Trixie (Michi Shimura, 志村ミチ Shimura Michi). Trixie has legs that seem to be about 6 feet long and frequently wears pink. She flies around in a helicopter during each race and advises Speed Racer via a radio link to the Mach 5.

Joss Whedon -- Years after having his script for the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer filmed (the interpretation by director Fran Rubel Kuzui was poorly received by critics and audiences), he revived the concept as a television series of the same name. Buffy the Vampire Slayer went on to become a critical and cult hit, with the episode Hush receiving an Emmy Award nomination for outstanding writing in a drama series in 2000. Whedon wrote and directed the musical episode "Once More, With Feeling" (also Emmy-nominated), which featured the show's original cast in singing and dancing roles. The show ran for five seasons on The WB Network before transferring to UPN for its final two seasons. Though it premiered on Mondays at 9pm, Buffy ran for most of its seven seasons on Tuesdays at 8pm.

Public access television -- Public access is one of the main types of local origination services from cable TV providers. Related to public access are government and educational access, and also leased access television, which allows for programming of a more commercial nature.

The most famous public access program is an entirely fictitious one, Wayne's World, which was a sketch on Saturday Night Live that later became a movie. Some public access channels carry nationally-distributed programs. A good example of this would be Free Speech TV's Democracy Now!, which airs in many places across the United States.

Occasionally, public access shows gain enough of a following for local broadcasters to take notice, and some shows have ended up going over the airwaves their communities. A PBS program called Mental Engineering claims to be the first American show to originate on public access TV, find its way to a local station, and finally end up being broadcast nationally over the air. It started at the public access channel of Saint Paul, Minnesota, was picked up by KTCA, and had an episode broadcast across the U.S. after Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002.


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/26/2005 11:07:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

So, it's a little wierd, surfing the net, surfing your hard drive, listening to music on your laptop, and R.E.M.'s "World Leader Pretend" comes on:

Reach out for me and hold me tight. Hold that memory
Let my machine talk to me, let my machine talk to me

It reminded me of about ten years ago, when the web was young, and I'd spend hours surfing listening to Bush's "Machine Head":

Got a machinehead better than the rest
Green to red machinehead
And I walk from my machine
I walk from my machine

Except I always heard it as "I work for my machine." At the time, I got more social interaction through the 'net than I did with actual people. I would go for days without actually needing to speak, except for talking to the clerk at the corner store when I bought cigarettes, but I would spend hour after hour interacting with people on IRC chats and MUDs. Oh, and Quake. Quake II. Rocket Arena.

Here I am, ten years later, much more social, yet with a much nicer machine, except that I'm holed up in my room being anti-social while I write this, which is ironic, I guess.


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/26/2005 08:53:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Tuesday, January 25, 2005 :::
 

Yahoo! News - Democrats Call Rice Liar, Bush Apologist: "Byrd, the longest-serving Democratic senator and a student of the Constitution, insisted that his party is merely doing its duty.

'I am particularly dismayed by criticism I have read that Senate Democrats by insisting on having the opportunity to debate this nomination have somehow been engaged in nothing more substantial than petty politics or partisan delaying tactics,' Byrd said, his voice rising in anger."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2005 04:27:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

press-citizen.com | Local News: "Iowa native Jim Kelly has been chosen to pilot the first U.S. space shuttle mission since the Columbia shuttle broke apart in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

This spring, Kelly, a Burlington native and NASA astronaut since 1996, will pilot the shuttle Discovery on its 'Return to Flight' mission. The shuttle will ferry supplies to the International Space Station and at least three space walks are planned.

'It takes a real determination to turn around from a disaster the magnitude of Columbia and go fly into space again,' he told The Des Moines Register. 'There are people who put their whole professional life into Columbia, and the emotional damage done to these folks was very high, as well, for them, even though there was a lot of attention on us.

'That's where the determination comes in. It's about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, marching back down and saying we are going to fly in space again and do everything in our power to make sure this one is safer than the last one.'
"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2005 04:24:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Weekly Review (Harpers.org): "George W. Bush was sworn in again as president, and threatened to bring 'the untamed fire of freedom' to the world. In his 20-minute speech the president used the words 'free,' 'freedom,' and 'liberty' 49 times, but never said 'war' or 'Iraq.' Protesters threw snowballs. Norwegians were shocked to see the president and his family repeatedly give the University of Texas 'hook 'em, 'horns' sign, which they interpreted as a salute to Satan, during the festivities, and sign-language users pointed out that the sign means 'bullshit.' A reverse-speech expert played Bush's inaugural address backwards and heard the messages 'Hero's gonna shell Iran' and 'Bombs will make laws.' A poll of thousands of people in 21 countries revealed that just 26 percent consider Bush a positive global force. Three quarters of respondents in France and Germany and 64 percent of Britons felt that U.S. actions would have a negative impact on the world, and for the first time it appeared that an international dislike of Bush is metamorphosing into a dislike of Americans in general. The three countries that approved of Bush's reelection were the Philippines, Poland, and India. German police were searching for the those responsible for sticking miniature American flags into thousands of piles of dog excrement in public parks over the last year."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2005 04:20:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Monday, January 24, 2005 :::
 

Yahoo! News - San Francisco May Charge for Grocery Bags: "The city's Commission on the Environment is expected to ask the mayor and board of supervisors Tuesday to consider a 17-cent per bag charge on paper and plastic grocery bags. While the goal is reducing plastic bag pollution, paper was added so as not to discriminate.

'The whole point is to encourage the elimination of waste, not to make people pay more for groceries,' said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste.

Environmentalists argue that plastic bags jam machinery, pollute waterways and often end up in trees. In addition to large supermarkets, other outfits that regularly use plastic bags, including smaller grocery stores, dry cleaners and takeout restaurants, could eventually be targeted.

Officials calculate that the city spends 5.2 cents per bag annually for street litter pickup and 1.4 cents per bag for extra recycling costs.

Grocers and bag manufacturers argue that many people already reuse their plastic bags, and that the use of plastic won't go down because people will purchase plastic trash bags to use instead. Other opponents call the plan an unfair and regressive tax on shoppers."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2005 01:16:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | US 'terminates' Iranian website: "The agency said it had sent repeated e-mails to the server, and then telephoned, but no satisfactory reason was given for the breach of contract.

A senior official in the Iranian ministry of Islamic guidance, which handles the media, accused the US government of breaching human rights by allegedly ordering the move.

He said it was a sign that Iran could not trust the US or Europe.

The BBC's Francis Harrison in Tehran says the incident has prompted renewed pressure on Iran and other Islamic nations to build up their own satellite communications technology.

This means they would no longer be dependent on the US or European countries.

Other official Iranian websites which also use American servers are braced for similar action against them, our correspondent adds.

Iran was last week cited as a 'centre of tyranny' by the new US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, and labelled the world's chief potential trouble-spot by Vice-President Dick Cheney.
"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2005 01:15:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

press-citizen.com | Local News: "Race after race, each carefully designed car zooms down the track toward dozens of Scouts waiting to see who wins. Kieran made it through each race with enough wins to advance to the final race. He and two others, Drew Orr, 8, and Zach Swanson, 10, eagerly await the final outcome.



As all three cars speed toward the finish line, Kieran tensely stands next to his friends hoping his car is fast enough. As they all cross the line, it's too close to call. The judges call out the places for each car. Zach finishes third, and Drew is second, giving Kieran the fastest car"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2005 01:12:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Wired News: Many Faces of the Mac Mini: "In Sloatsburg, New York, Melvin Benzaquen sees the mini as the perfect 'brain' for a high-end in-car entertainment system.

Benzaquen is president of Classic Restorations, which has shoehorned several laptops and computers into customers' cars, but sees great opportunity with the mini.

'When I saw the mini -- the dimensions and the specs -- I thought, this is perfect for the car,' said Benzaquen. 'I'd be surprised if Apple didn't think of installing it in a car, it's so perfect.... You don't have to do anything except mount it and plug it in. It even has voice-recognition built in. It's almost too easy.'

Benzaquen said the mini is the ideal size for a standard car stereo compartment, and it's 18-volt power supply is easily fed with standard 12-volt auto power. And because Mac OS X has voice recognition built in, the mini can be controlled hands free.

Benzaquen said the Mac mini could be a high-end stereo, storing as many as 16,000 songs on an 80-GB drive. Add an LCD screen, and passengers can watch DVDs or play games.

The mini supports Bluetooth, allowing it to be paired with wireless keyboards or cell phones. And if Wi-Fi enabled, it will wirelessly download new music and other files from home networks, or be able to surf the web drive-in style at locations like McDonalds or Starbucks. (Bluetooth cell phones can also act as wireless modems on the road).

Benzaquen said he's had lots of e-mail inquiries and traffic to his website, but so far few paying customers.

Though the base mini costs $500, by the time it is beefed up and extras like LCD screens are added, the total can be $2,000 to $3,000.

'It's a neat thing, but how many people are going to step up with that kind of coin remains to be seen,' he said."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2005 01:10:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Boston.com / Sports / Football / Patriots / It's back to the Super Bowl: "Last night, the Patriots earned their third trip to the Super Bowl in four years with a 41-27 win over the 16-1 Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game. Ever-prepared and thoroughly dominant, the obedient sons of Bill Belichick silenced the Heinz Field crowd early, bolting to a 24-3 lead in the first half. With a chance to earn modern dynasty status, the Patriots will play the championship-starved Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Fla., Feb. 6."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2005 01:06:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Yahoo! News - Torture Becomes a Matter of Definition: "The back-to-back confirmation flare-ups spotlight a problem the Bush administration faces in its policies for detaining and interrogating terrorism suspects.

In the months since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, the administration has insisted that America does not and will not use torture. At the same time, the government has tried to preserve maximum leeway in the interrogation of terrorism suspects by not drawing a clear line between where rough treatment ends and torture begins.

'What the administration is saying is we're not going to torture people,' said John C. Yoo, a UC Berkeley law professor who, as a deputy assistant attorney general during Bush's first term, worked on torture policies.

'What the administration does not want to say, and I think for good reasons too, is what methods the United States might or might not use short of torture.'

Opponents say it is a moral, political and tactical mistake for the United States to blur that line. They charge that the administration, while condemning outright torture, deliberately has sought loopholes in laws and treaties that would allow U.S. intelligence officers to use extreme interrogation methods on terrorism suspects held abroad."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2005 12:48:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 


Yahoo! News - Secret Unit Expands Rumsfeld's Domain: "Pentagon officials said they established the Strategic Support Branch using 'reprogrammed' funds, without explicit congressional authority or appropriation. Defense intelligence missions, they said, are subject to less stringent congressional oversight than comparable operations by the CIA. Rumsfeld's dissatisfaction with the CIA's operations directorate, and his determination to build what amounts in some respects to a rival service, follows struggles with then-CIA Director George J. Tenet over intelligence collection priorities in Afghanistan and Iraq. Pentagon officials said the CIA naturally has interests that differ from those of military commanders, but they also criticized its operations directorate as understaffed, slow-moving and risk-averse. A recurring phrase in internal Pentagon documents is the requirement for a human intelligence branch 'directly responsive to tasking from SecDef,' or Rumsfeld."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2005 12:40:00 AM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Sunday, January 23, 2005 :::
 

Top News Article | Reuters.com: "LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Johnny Carson, the king of U.S. late-night television as host of NBC's 'The Tonight Show' for nearly 30 years -- and the last face millions of Americans saw before drifting off to sleep -- died on Sunday at age 79 after a long battle with emphysema.

Carson's topical opening monologues and on-air banter with sidekick Ed McMahon and bandleader Doc Severinsen made his show a cultural touchstone, and his death saddened many in Hollywood who got their first big break on the program.

'Mr. Carson passed away peacefully early Sunday morning' surrounded by family members, nephew Jeff Sotzing said in a statement.

Carson hosted 'The Tonight Show' from the fall of 1962 to the spring of 1992, dominating late-night TV and helping launch the careers of dozens of entertainers, including Joan Rivers, David Letterman, Robin Williams, George Carlin and Carson's successor, Jay Leno.

'No single individual has had as great an impact on television as Johnny. He was the gold standard,' Leno said in a statement. 'This is a tremendous loss for everyone who Johnny made laugh for so many years.'

Aspiring comedians knew that being motioned over to the guest couch by Carson after performing their stand-up routine could instantly transform them from virtual unknowns to stars.

'This is the end of an era,' Rivers, a frequent guest host on the show, told Reuters. 'With Carson you went on once. You had his blessing, and the world knew you were funny.'

Talent booked on Carson's show spanned generations. His very first guest in 1962 was Groucho Marx. Seven years later, some 45 million viewers tuned in to the on-air wedding of the falsetto-singing Tiny Tim to flower-child bride Miss Vicki."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/23/2005 06:40:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Saturday, January 22, 2005 :::
 

Yahoo! News - Army Prepares 'Robo-Soldier' for Iraq: "'The only difference is that his weapon is not at his shoulder, it's up to half a mile a way,' said Bob Quinn, general manager of Talon robots for Foster-Miller Inc., the Waltham, Mass., company that makes the SWORDS. As one Marine fresh out of boot camp told Quinn upon seeing the robot: 'This is my invisibility cloak.'

Quinn said it was a 'bootstrap development process' to convert a Talon robot, which has been in military service since 2000, from its main mission — defusing roadside bombs in Iraq_ into the gunslinging SWORDS.

It was a joint development process between the Army and Foster-Miller, a robotics firm bought in November by QinetiQ Group PLC, which is a partnership between the British Ministry of Defence and the Washington holding company The Carlyle Group.

Army officials and employees of the robotics firm heard from soldiers 'who said 'My brothers are being killed out here. We love the EOD (explosive ordnance disposal), but let's put some weapons on it,'' said Quinn.

Working with soldiers and engineers at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, it took just six months and only about $2 million in development money to outfit a Talon with weapons, according to Quinn and Anthony Sebasto, a technology manager at Picatinny.

The Talon had already proven itself to be pretty rugged. One was blown off the roof of a Humvee and into a nearby river by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Soldiers simply opened its shrapnel-pocked control unit and drove the robot out of the river, according to Quinn.

The $200,000, armed version will carry standard-issue Squad Automatic Weapons, either the M249, which fires 5.56-millimeter rounds at a rate of 750 per minute, or the M240, which can fire about 700 to 1,000 7.62-millimeter rounds per minute. The SWORDS can fire about 300 rounds using the M240 and about 350 rounds using the M249 before needing to reload.

All its optics equipment — the four cameras, night vision and zoom lenses — were already in the Army's inventory.

'It's important to stress that not everything has to be super high tech,' said Sebasto. 'You can integrate existing componentry and create a revolutionary capability.'

The SWORDS in the parking lot at the headquarters of the cable news station CNBC had just finished showing off for the cameras, climbing stairs, scooting between cubicles, even broadcasting some of its video on the air.

Its developers say its tracks, like those on a tank, can overcome rock piles and barbed wire, though it needs a ride to travel faster than 4 mph.

Running on lithium ion batteries, it can operate for 1 to 4 hours at a time, depending on the mission. Operators work the robot using a 30-pound control unit which has two joysticks, a handful of buttons and a video screen. Quinn says that may eventually be replaced by a 'Gameboy' type of controller hooked up to virtual reality goggles."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/22/2005 07:13:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Hubble rescue 'will be scrapped': "It was designed to be visited periodically by astronauts who would perform repairs and install new equipment.

Astronauts have made servicing visits to the telescope several times, with a final servicing mission - now cancelled - due for 2006.

Despite the funding cut, the telescope is not yet being shut down - just allowed to operate normally until wear and tear take their toll.

Its original mission was supposed to last 15 years, and was extended to 20 years, with a projected end date of 2010."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/22/2005 07:05:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 


Yahoo! News - Huge Iceberg Runs Aground: "'This berg has wedged itself between two shallow areas,' Peterson said Thursday. 'It's kind of shimmying back and forth now … so I don't know whether it's ever going to get to the Drygalski or not.'

B15A has blocked wind and water currents that break up ice floes in McMurdo Sound during the Antarctic summer, causing a buildup of ice behind it. McMurdo Station and New Zealand's Scott Base are located on the sound, and Italy's Terra Nova base is nearby.

The iceberg and the ice buildup are in the path of ships expected to arrive in Antarctica soon with fuel and food for the stations. Officials say the bases are not immediately in danger of running out of supplies.

The ice blockage also threatens penguin breeding colonies, with tens of thousands of Adele penguin chicks facing starvation as parent birds are forced to trudge up to 110 miles to open sea to gather food.

Scientists had hoped a collision between the iceberg and glacier would cause the iceberg to drift away from the coast and out to sea, clearing the blocked routes."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/22/2005 07:04:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

New Scientist Breaking News - Mystery compound in beer fights cancer: "Some cancers are caused by heterocyclic amines, DNA-damaging chemicals found in cooked meat and fish. When Sakae Arimoto-Kobayashi's team at Okayama University in Japan fed these chemicals to mice, the DNA damage to their liver, lungs and kidneys was reduced by up to 85% if the mice drank non-alcoholic beer instead of water.

Arimoto-Kobayashi thinks as-yet unidentified compounds in lager and stout prevent the amines binding to and damaging DNA. If these compounds can be identified, brewers might be able to produce beers particularly rich in them, or they could be added to foods.

Heavy alcohol consumption is blamed for around 6% of all cancers in western countries (New Scientist print edition, 18 December 2004), though moderate consumption reduces the risk of heart disease. Since the mice drank non-alcoholic beer, the findings do not show whether moderate consumption of normal beer has any anti-cancer benefits. 'The total benefits and risks of beer with alcohol are still under consideration,' says Arimoto-Kobayashi."

Yes! Yes! Whoo-hoo!


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/22/2005 06:56:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Friday, January 21, 2005 :::
 

Do You Speak American . Words That Shouldn't Be? . Sez Who? .
Buffy | PBS: "Slayer, witch, werewolf, vampire, commando, contractor, vengeance demon, supernatural force incarnate – in other words, they are all average kids, in average relationships, battling the forces of adolescent evil, personified, in Sunnydale at least, by vampires, demons, and monsters. They are also particularly adept speakers of American English, especially of slang. After her self-sacrifice, Buffy is buried under a headstone that reads “She Saved the World. A Lot.” What does it mean for American English that the world’s protector, its thoroughly contemporary American savior, is a rapid-fire quipster, a hip teen who knows the language of her place and time, but who, by virtue of her role as Slayer, however hesitantly accepted, is necessarily an unacknowledged hero, an essentially normal person whose destiny casts her out of the mainstream, whose status paradoxically erases her status in the conventional world? Buffy needs slang, as a means of shrugging off millennial expectations, as a weapon, and as an expression of personality officially denied her by her role: in a sense, she IS slang, as are those who associate with her."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/21/2005 08:39:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Democrats defiant over Bush term: "Outgoing Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe sent a defiant message to members as Republicans celebrated Mr Bush's inauguration.

'Today... Republicans are hoping that we'll fade into the background,' he wrote. 'They're hoping that for the next two years we'll sit on the sidelines, and let them ram their agenda through.

'But we Democrats will never step aside. While Bush tries to build his legacy on a series of attacks against working families, the middle class and seniors, Democrats will be there to stand up.'"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/21/2005 08:35:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

press-citizen.com | Local News: "Andrew Eckhardt pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge after initially pleading not guilty to a much more seri-ous charge of vehicular homicide. Eckhardt and prosecutors reached a plea bargain on Nov. 23. The state said it was willing to accept the lesser charge because of Eckhardt’s age, lack of prior felony convictions, and problems with evidence in the case.

Judge Douglas Russell approved the plea deal. Eckhardt was sentenced to five years in prison but will be eligible for parole. The judge also ordered that Eckhardt pay $150,000 in restitution to the estate of the victim, Dean Carson.

It was Dec. 14, 2002 — when Eckhardt was 15 years old — that he pulled his 2001 Chevy Malibu in front of a 1987 Buick LeSabre driven by Carson at the intersection of Highway 1 and Kitty Lee Road. Carson died five days later of head injuries caused by the accident, doctors concluded.

The crash also injured one of two passengers in Eckhardt’s car.

Eckhardt admitted to sheriff’s deputies to smoking marijuana at his house shortly before the accident, court records state. He also admitted to possessing two baggies of marijuana found by deputies at the hospital and a urine test showed marijuana in Eckhardt’s system."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/21/2005 08:27:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Yahoo! News - Abducted Wal-Mart Clerk's Body Found: "TYLER, Texas - A woman who was abducted from a parking lot while leaving work at a Wal-Mart was found shot to death Friday, police said. A suspect was in custody in Arizona.

Tyler Police Chief Gary Swindle confirmed the body of Megan Leann Holden, a 19-year-old college student from Henderson whose kidnapping was captured on videotape late Wednesday, was found.

'It is apparent that she has died of a gunshot wound,' he said, declining to give details.

A surveillance videotape 'shows Megan getting into her truck and the (man) running up behind her and either hitting her or pushing her,' police spokesman Don Martin said earlier. 'Then the vehicle drives off.'

The body was found in Martin County in West Texas, Martin said.

Said Swindle: 'At this point in time there's no doubt this was a total stranger abduction.'"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/21/2005 08:23:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

A Cartoon (Harpers.org)


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/21/2005 08:19:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Heavy metal umlaut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "A heavy metal umlaut is an umlaut over letters in the name of a heavy metal band. Umlauts and other diacritics with a blackletter style typeface are a form of foreign branding intended to give a band's logo a tough Germanic feel. They are also called röckdöts. The heavy metal umlaut is never referred to by the term diaeresis in this usage, nor does it affect the pronunciation of the band's name.

In 2002, Spin magazine referred to the heavy metal umlaut as 'the diacritical mark of the beast.'

Heavy metal umlauts have been parodied in film and fiction. David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) in the film This Is Spinal Tap opined, 'It's like a pair of eyes. You're looking at the umlaut, and it's looking at you.'"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/21/2005 08:08:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

CNN.com - Christians issue gay warning on SpongeBob video - Jan 21, 2005: "LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Conservative Christian groups accuse the makers of a video starring SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney and a host of other cartoon characters of promoting homosexuality to children.

The wacky square yellow SpongeBob is one of the stars of a music video due to be sent to 61,000 U.S. schools in March. The makers -- the nonprofit We Are Family Foundation -- say the video is designed to encourage tolerance and diversity.

But at least two Christian activist groups say the innocent cartoon characters are being exploited to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.

'A short step beneath the surface reveals that one of the differences being celebrated is homosexuality,' wrote Ed Vitagliano in an article for the American Family Association.

The video is a remake of the 1979 hit song 'We Are Family' using the voices and images of SpongeBob, Barney, Winnie the Pooh, Bob the Builder, the Rugrats and other TV cartoon characters. It was made by a foundation set up by songwriter Nile Rodgers after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in an effort to promote healing.

Christian groups however have taken exception to the tolerance pledge on the foundation's Web site, which asks people to respect the sexual identity of others along with their abilities, beliefs, culture and race.

'Their inclusion of the reference to 'sexual identity' within their 'tolerance pledge' is not only unnecessary, but it crosses a moral line,' James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said in a statement released Thursday.

Rodgers said he was astounded by the attack.

'That is so myopic and harsh,' he told Reuters. 'You have really got to look hard to find anything in this that is offensive to anyone. The last thing I am going to do is taint these characters.'

Dobson was quoted by the New York Times on Thursday as having singled out the wildly popular SpongeBob during remarks about the video at dinner this week in Washington, D.C.

SpongeBob, who lives in a pineapple under the sea, was 'outed' by the U.S. media in 2002 after reports that the TV show and its merchandise are popular with gays. His creator, Stephen Hillenburg, said at the time that though SpongeBob was an oddball, he thought of all the characters in the show as asexual."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/21/2005 04:35:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Victim in beating files for injunction against attacker: An Iowa City woman is asking for an injunction against the man she is accusing of trying to kill her.

Viola Comer is asking the court to file an injunction against Michael Ridenour to prevent him from getting access to any of his financial accounts. Ridenour is being held in the Johnson County Jail on the attempted murder charge with bail set at $1 million cash.

It was on Feb. 28 that the then-85-year-old Comer alleges Ridenour, then 63, tried to kill her by beating her with a hammer. The two were sharing a house at the time.

According to authorities, on Feb. 28 Ridenour called 911 and told firefighters when they arrived that he had tried to kill Comer. He told police he did so because he wanted to kill himself, but Comer would not let him.

Ridenour told police he was planning to kill himself by venting the furnace into their house. He had dis-abled the smoke alarms.

Ridenour pleaded not guilty to attempted murder on March 26.

In court documents requesting the injunction, Comer said she wants to court to stop Ridenour from ac-cessing his bank accounts to prevent him from hiding his assets from authorities.


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/21/2005 04:32:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

My Day Off (so far): I started the day off chatting with Josh and starting to make birthday plans. Then it was the dishes while listening to French jazz over iTunes. Once the dishes were done, I started making bread following the basic recipe in the Tassajara Bread Book. I got the sponge mixed, and set it to rise in the oven. I swept and swiffered the kitchen, the dining room, the hall and the bathroom, and then started mopping while I waited for the sponge to rise. Once the sponge was ready, I started mixing the in the flour, and here my troubles began.

I thought I had just enough flour. The problem was that the sponge called for dry milk, which I didn't have, so I mixed in actual milk. So the sponge was too wet, and started sucking up all of the flour I could throw at it. I thought the dough was ready for kneading, but, boy, was I wrong. I ended up covered in a sticky, goopey, gluey mess. I'd used up all of the flour by this point, so I frantic looked around the kitchen with my glue covered hands to find some sort of substitute. I spotted a bag of corn meal up on a shelf, and thought, aha! A solid! I scooped the goop back into the mixer, got the bag of corn meal and started mixing it in. That's when I discovered the bugs in the corn meal.

So, now I've got a garbage can full of buggy bread goo. Dejected, I decided to mop the kitchen while I wait for K to get home so that I can run to the Co-op and get more flour (and dry milk!) and start over.

Because I will make bread today. Oh yes, I will.


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/21/2005 01:24:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Tuesday, January 18, 2005 :::
 

Weekly Review (Harpers.org): "Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr. was sentenced to ten years in military prison for his role in torturing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison. Graner threatened to rape prisoners and made them eat pork, and made one prisoner eat from a toilet. He insisted that he was only following orders. “There's a war on,” he said. “Bad things happen.” More reports surfaced detailing torture in Iraq, this time with Navy SEALs and the CIA as the instigators, and the Pentagon was considering whether to fund special, El Salvador-style Iraqi death squads. Sixty Afghans were released from Guantanamo Bay and returned home, and detainees from other nations were released without being charged. Further allegations of torture at Guantanamo Bay were made by the FBI. Iraqi insurgents were killing at least one hundred people each week, and the Bush administration announced that the hunt for weapons of mass destruction had been a total failure. Iraqi polling places were bombed, and Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced that $2 billion would be spent to add 50,000 troops to the Iraqi army. Ukraine pulled its troops out of Iraq. A soldier who sued the Army for requiring him to return to Iraq was sent back to serve another tour of duty, and in Mosul, a Syrian archbishop was kidnapped. The Army was planning to deploy knee-high robots equipped with machine guns to fight Iraqi insurgents, and Osama bin Laden was rumored to have returned to Afghanistan."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/18/2005 11:26:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

CNN.com - Bush hit for linking Iraq to vote - Jan 16, 2005: "In an interview with the Washington Post on Sunday, Bush was asked why no one in his administration had been held accountable for perceived missteps on Iraq policy, including being wrong about weapons of mass destruction.

'We had an accountability moment, and that's called the 2004 election,' he was reported as saying.

'The American people listened to different assessments made about what was taking place in Iraq, and they looked at the two candidates and chose me, for which I'm grateful.'

Some Democrats have flatly dismissed that claim.

'The policy is ridiculous,' Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts said."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/18/2005 11:21:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

CNN.com - Attorney meets the 'jury pool from hell' - Jan 18, 2005: "Defense attorney Leslie Ballin called it the 'jury pool from hell.'

The group of prospective jurors was summoned to listen to a case of Tennessee trailer park violence.

Right after jury selection began last week, one man got up and left, announcing, 'I'm on morphine and I'm higher than a kite.'

When the prosecutor asked if anyone had been convicted of a crime, a prospective juror said that he had been arrested and taken to a mental hospital after he almost shot his nephew. He said he was provoked because his nephew just would not come out from under the bed.

Another would-be juror said he had had alcohol problems and was arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover officer. 'I should have known something was up,' he said. 'She had all her teeth.'

Another prospect volunteered he probably should not be on the jury: 'In my neighborhood, everyone knows that if you get Mr. Ballin (as your lawyer), you're probably guilty.' He was not chosen.

The case involved a woman accused of hitting her brother's girlfriend in the face with a brick. Ballin's client was found not guilty."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/18/2005 11:19:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Scotsman.com News - Latest News - Largest Passenger Plane Unveiled: "Virgin Atlantic chairman Sir Richard Branson, who will be taking the first of six A380s in 2008, said the model represented a “giant step” for aircraft manufacturing.

He plans to fly the A380 to New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Johannesburg and Sydney as well as possibly to the Florida Disney resort of Orlando.

Extras planned by Virgin include larger stand-up bars than on their current flights, a beauty parlour, a gaming area and private double bedrooms and a work-out area.

Sir Richard said the Virgin A380’s double beds would provide privacy for passengers and “lots of room to innovate”.

The extra space would enable couples to join the Mile High Club and get intimate in the skies, he told BBC Radio Five Live.

All A380 passengers, not just those on Virgin flights, will be able to benefit from the most sophisticated in-flight entertainment systems yet.
"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/18/2005 01:10:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Monday, January 17, 2005 :::
 

The Observer | International | Abu Ghraib abuse firms are rewarded: "Three employees of CACI International and Titan - working at Abu Ghraib as civilian contractors - were separately accused of abusive behaviour.

The report on the Abu Ghraib scandal implicated three civilian contractors in the abuses: Steven Stefanowicz from CACI International and John Israel and Adel Nakhla from Titan.

Stefanowicz was charged with giving orders that 'equated to physical abuse', Israel of lying under oath and Naklha of raping an Iraqi boy.

It was also alleged that CACI interrogators used dogs to scare prisoners, placed detainees in unauthorised 'stress positions' and encouraged soldiers to abuse prisoners. Titan employees, it has been alleged, hit detainees and stood by while soldiers physically abused prisoners.

Investigators also discovered systemic problems of management and training - including the fact that a third of CACI International's staff at Abu Ghraib had never received formal military interrogation training.

Despite demands by human rights groups in the US that the two companies be barred from further contracts in Iraq - where CACI alone employed almost half of all interrogators and analysts at Abu Ghraib - CACI International has been awarded a $16 million renewal of its contract. Titan, meanwhile, has been awarded a new contract worth $164m."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/17/2005 12:45:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 

Yahoo! News - Pentagon Spurned Plan to Initiate Enemy Homosexuality: "The idea of fostering homosexuality among the enemy figured in a declassified six-year, $7.5 million request from a laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for funding of non-lethal chemical weapon research.

The proposal, disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request, called for developing chemicals affecting human behavior 'so that discipline and morale in enemy units is adversely affected.'

'One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior,' said the document, obtained by the Sunshine Project. The watchdog group posted the partly blacked-out, three-page document on its Web site."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/17/2005 12:43:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

 


I spent most of my time with the old computer trying to figure out how to do stuff rather than actually doing it.

God bless Apple.

Last night, in a very few minutes, I downloaded some pictures of my kids. Then I downloaded Janis Joplin's greatest hits. Then I then set up a slide show, watching my beautiful munchkins fading on and off the screen to 'A Little Piece of my Heart.'

I cried -- not out of sentimentality but because at long last, a computer finally had listened to me.

The first few months I had the old computer, the hard drive froze three times. I lost everything each time.

Last month the Word program crashed, apparently due to the 97 spyware programs sent over by the guys in Singapore.

My computer had become something to loathe and fear. Apple is the most reliable computer on the market, according to Consumer Reports.

I buy everything Consumer Reports tells me to buy.

Except Old Milwaukee."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/17/2005 12:35:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments

Friday, January 14, 2005 :::
 

ESA - Cassini-Huygens - Europe reaches new frontier – Huygens lands on Titan: "Following its release from the Cassini mothership on 25 December, Huygens reached Titan’s outer atmosphere after 20 days and a 4 million km cruise. The probe started its descent through Titan’s hazy cloud layers from an altitude of about 1270 km at 11:13 CET. During the following three minutes Huygens had to decelerate from 18 000 to 1400 km per hour.

A sequence of parachutes then slowed it down to less than 300 km per hour. At a height of about 160 km the probe’s scientific instruments were exposed to Titan’s atmosphere. At about 120 km, the main parachute was replaced by a smaller one to complete the descent, with an expected touchdown at 13:34 CET. Preliminary data indicate that the probe landed safely, likely on a solid surface.

The probe began transmitting data to Cassini four minutes into its descent and continued to transmit data after landing at least as long as Cassini was above Titan’s horizon. The certainty that Huygens was alive came already at 11:25 CET today, when the Green Bank radio telescope in West Virginia, USA, picked up a faint but unmistakable radio signal from the probe. Radio telescopes on Earth continued to receive this signal well past the expected lifetime of Huygens."


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/14/2005 07:12:00 PM
::: Comments: Post a Comment
| (0) comments