[kiyote23]
 dorky.radiofreepirate.org

life on the dork farm

Wednesday, January 31, 2007 :::
 

From the NewtonTalk mailing list digest today:

From: Edward Johnson <********@aol.com>
Subject: [NTLK] Newton Goes to Wage Peace.
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:04:11 -0800

Looks like Newton is going to get it's chance to participate in the
Global War On Terror. I am planning on taking two newton 2100's to Iraq
with to serve in Civil Affairs. My job will be to assist in the
economic planning and development of one of the provinces over there.
(spend $$$$$) I plan to use newton to take copious notes that I can
archive and use on my Mac
Powerbook G4. I plan to use a serial connection for most things but
also to set up an wireless ethernet connection AND a wired ethernet
connection. While I can still use OS-9 on this laptop, I am looking
forward to experimenting with OS-X sync'ing software. I have read some
posts about problems, and am willing to wait until software matures
some, before risking any critical data.


Ed Johnson
MSgt, USMC (Reserve)
[posted while listening to Democracy Now! - Tuesday, January 30, 2007 from the album "Democracy Now!" by Democracy Now!]

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::: Newton Goes to Wage Peace posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/31/2007 09:04:00 AM
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Tuesday, January 30, 2007 :::
 


Cassady's Library
Originally uploaded by Kiyote23.
Well, what else is a bookcase for?


::: Cassady's Library posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/30/2007 10:34:00 AM
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Monday, January 29, 2007 :::
 

ARTICLE: Mossberg Review: Vista best for Microsoft crop, but it's no Apple ( - HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com):
After months of testing Vista on multiple computers, new and old, I believe it is the best version of Windows that Microsoft has produced. However, while navigation has been improved, Vista isn’t a breakthrough in ease of use. Overall, it works pretty much the same way as Windows XP. Windows hasn’t been given nearly as radical an overhaul as Microsoft just applied to its other big product, Office.

Nearly all of the major, visible new features in Vista are already available in Apple’s operating system, called Mac OS X, which came out in 2001 and received its last major upgrade in 2005. And Apple is about to leap ahead again with a new version of OS X, called Leopard, due this spring.

There are some big downsides to this new version of Windows. To get the full benefits of Vista, especially the new look and user interface, which is called Aero, you will need a hefty new computer, or a hefty one that you purchased fairly recently. The vast majority of existing Windows PCs won’t be able to use all of Vista’s features without major hardware upgrades. They will be able to run only a stripped-down version, and even then may run very slowly.

In fact, in my tests, some elements of Vista could be maddeningly slow even on new, well-configured computers.

Also, despite Vista’s claimed security improvements, you will still have to run, and keep updating, security programs, which can be annoying and burdensome. Microsoft has thrown in one such program free, but you will have to buy at least one more. That means that, while Vista has eased some of the burden on users imposed by the Windows security crisis, it will still force you to spend more time managing the computer than I believe people should have to devote.
[posted while listening to Women Without Whiskey from the album "Southern Rock Opera - Act II" by Drive By Truckers]

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::: ARTICLE: Mossberg Review: Vista best for Microsoft crop, but it's no Apple ( - HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com) posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/29/2007 08:39:00 AM
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The Daily Star - Politics - Israel faces mild rebuke over violation of US arms rules:
The New York Times reported on Saturday that the findings will confirm that Israel breached the Arms Control Act, which requires governments that receive weapons from the United Stated to use them only for legitimate self-defense.

The preliminary findings, based on an investigation launched in August, have sparked a contentious debate in Washington over whether the United States should penalize Israel for its use of cluster munitions in civilian areas during the summer war, the Times added.

Any sanctions against Israel would be an unexpected move by the Bush administration, a strong supporter of Israel, and several officials said they expected little further action, if any, on the matter.

Sanctions would be only be a symbolic condemnation of the Jewish state, as Israel has the ability to produce its own cluster bombs. Former US President Ronald Reagan imposed a ban on cluster bombs for Israel for six years after the Jewish state used them in its 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
[posted while listening to Refugee from the album "Greatest Hits" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers]

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::: The Daily Star - Politics - Israel faces mild rebuke over violation of US arms rules posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/29/2007 12:30:00 AM
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Iraqi Forces in Fierce Battle With Gunmen - New York Times:
Two senior Shiite clerics said, however, that the gunmen were part of a Shiite splinter group that Saddam Hussein helped build in the 1990s to compete with followers of the venerated religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. They said the group, calling itself the Mehwadiya, was loyal to Ahmad bin al-Hassan al-Basri, an Iraqi cleric who had a falling out with Muhammad Bakr al-Sadr — father-in-law of the Shiite leader Moktada al-Sadr — in Hawza, a revered Shiite seminary in Najaf.

The clerics spoke on condition of anonymity because they said they had been ordered not to discuss Shiite divisions.
[posted while listening to Adeline from the album "Where You Are" by Mike & Amy Finders Band]

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::: Iraqi Forces in Fierce Battle With Gunmen - New York Times posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/29/2007 12:25:00 AM
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Democrat & Chronicle: Bob Matthews:
It is good for any pro sports league when the best team is the most entertaining team. The Suns entered this weekend with a league-best 35-8 record (34-3 since a 1-5 start), a league-high 111.5 points per game and a league-best plus-9.1 scoring differential.

The Suns are revolutionizing the NBA brand of basketball, or at least bringing back the up-tempo style that was in vogue two decades ago, when every team in the league averaged at least 100 points per game.

As recently as the 1998-99 season, coaches dominated the game by milking the clock, isolation plays were popular, fast breaks were frowned upon, and only one of the NBA's 29 teams topped 100 points per game.

The Suns have an old-fashioned game plan — run-and-gun and outscore the opposition — and they usually do.

A perfect offensive play for Phoenix is to shoot and score within seven seconds of a possession. A fast-break basket is the first option. If that fails, the Suns whip the ball around the perimeter for a 3-point shot or hit Amare Stoudemire or Shawn Marion for an easy bucket inside.

The Suns don't play great defense but they don't have to. They're so good at what they do that they nearly always control the tempo of the game.
[posted while listening to Looking For Another Pure Love from the album "Talking Book" by Stevie Wonder]

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::: Democrat & Chronicle: Bob Matthews posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/29/2007 12:22:00 AM
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Between A.F.C. and N.F.C., Parity Is Only a Six-Letter Word - New York Times:
No matter which N.F.C. team won last week, the A.F.C. was bound to be the favorite in Super Bowl XLI. And even if the Bears win next Sunday, the N.F.C. will probably be the inferior conference next season — as it will be in the season after that, and as it has been for most of the past 35 years.
[posted while listening to Two Hearts (live) from the album "Bruce Springsteen Live/1975-85" by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band]

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::: Between A.F.C. and N.F.C., Parity Is Only a Six-Letter Word - New York Times posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/29/2007 12:13:00 AM
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Mr. Cushions:
Strangely, given the day’s events, it was on this day in 1976 that Denis Champlain began his infamous three-day killing spree across Mexico. On the fourth day, Federales shot him dead at a whorehouse in Juarez, also killing Concetta López Covas, who was underneath him at the time.

Covas, a distant relative of Frida Calo, had been working in Juarez as a prostitute as a background exercise for a new novel. After her death, the unfinished manuscript laid gathering dust in a drawer in the room in which she was killed. In 1988, screenwriter J. Lawton found the manuscript after the prostitute that he was with was suddenly struck by food poisoning, and, realizing the quality of what he had discovered, slipped the pages into his backpack and exited the room.

Two years later, Pretty Woman debuted in theaters.


::: Mr. Cushions posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/29/2007 12:04:00 AM
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Sunday, January 28, 2007 :::
 

Churlish Figure: It Must Have Been Good, but I Lost it Somehow:
Dorky wrote about switching to firefox on his blog a few days ago too and helpfully detailed some of the ins and outs of the process.
I'm helping.

The switch has gone pretty well. I'm almost fully Googlized, though there are still a few rough patches. I'm also having trouble finding a decent weather forecast RSS feed, but I haven't been looking too hard. I'm very happy with FireFox 2-- it does what I need it to do and seems to be pretty compatible with every site I've hit.

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::: Churlish Figure: It Must Have Been Good, but I Lost it Somehow posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2007 10:31:00 AM
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matthewgood.org:
America is like Oscar. Oscar used to live next door to me when I was growing up and he used to cheat on his wife all the time with this girl that went to Marionsville High. She was 17 or something crazy and he was in his 30’s. Everyone in the neighborhood knew about it because she used to come over to his house when his wife went to work and lay around on his front lawn in a bikini. His wife was a stewardess for TWA so she was away a lot. It went on for two years before his wife finally found out, but no one in the neighborhood had the guts to tell her. The whole time he just kept lying and acting like everything was okay.

And that’s what America’s like.

Parker and I were watching the news about some interrogators flushing the Koran down the toilet and how Newsweek ran a story about it but later said that they made it all up because people were getting angry. Some people even died in riots and stuff, so it made them look like they were responsible instead of the government. But then this guy came on and said that lots of people that had been held prisoner by the Americans said that they had seen interrogators pissing on the Koran and that Newsweek was changing their story because the government was mad that people were finding out the truth.

Parker said that sometimes it’s better not to have cable. I said the same thing could be said about Oscar.

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::: MATTHEWGOOD.ORG THE COOPERATION posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2007 10:27:00 AM
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press-citizen.com | Local News:
Bruce Heppner-Elgin, founder of the Iowa Digital Filmmakers Guild and a Washington resident, knows of dozens of filmmakers across the state who will be lobbying for the bill to pass.
"The film incentives are very important in that they first off give a level playing field so we can compete with states around us," Heppner-Elgin said. "There is money out there that Iowa is missing."
Speaking of films, my buddy Jared showed me his Oscar Ballot last night, and how he had highlighted the films he had seen, which was all but five. Looking over the list, I realized I hadn't seen a single film on it.

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::: press-citizen.com | Local News posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2007 10:24:00 AM
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press-citizen.com | Local News:
Stout also said that even though the Old Capital Valley District is one of the few scout district to hold the Winter Camporee, this year's likely will be the last one, due to a district council decision.
When I was in Scouts, our council still held the Winter Camporee, euphemistically called the Klondike Derby. Each patrol had to built a wooden sled to pull all the gear around in, and you went from station to station competing in different events, like building a fire with two matches, something involving throwing a rope to someone stranded on the "ice," and our favorite, the isotope containment.

I guess this really shows the 50s roots of modern scouting. The isotope containment involved a piece of metal on the ground that represented a radioactive isotope. Surrounding the isotope was a twenty foot circle that you couldn't enter because the radiation would get you. Near the isotope was a coffee can with that triangular radioactive symbol painted on it. You were given a giant rubber band that had three 25 foot ropes attached to it, which you were supposed to use to pick up the coffee can and place it over the isotope. You were timed on speed in this event.

The first year I was a patrol leader, I was elected a month before the Klondike Derby, and we came in last place. The following year, we spent the month of December practicing. We came in first place.

A lot of people, including myself, have a lot of problems with modern Scouting. But in its defense, I was a geeky 13 year old without a lot of friends, yet I managed to lead and direct a team of other geeky 13 year olds effectively enough that we reversed a trend our Troop was setting (we were kinda the Bad News Bears of our council). It was an experience that I don't think I'm ever going to forget.

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::: press-citizen.com | Local News posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2007 10:21:00 AM
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In first Iowa foray, Clinton vows to be tough - Newsday.com:
Such was the challenge Clinton faced during her first foray to Iowa as a presidential contestant, a two-day statewide tour with stops in the state capital, Cedar Rapids and Davenport. She steered mostly clear of Iraq -- addressing the issue for less than a minute during her 90-minute high school forum -- instead couching a populist economic message in some pugilistic language.

Clinton said she was the best Democrat to take on "bellicose" GOP opponents, such as Arizona Sen. John McCain and Rudolph Giuliani.

"When you are attacked, you have to deck your opponent," she told Democratic state committee members earlier in the day. "I have been through the political wars longer than some of you have been alive. We've got to be prepared to hold our ground and fight back."

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::: In first Iowa foray, Clinton vows to be tough - Newsday.com posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2007 10:07:00 AM
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Al Jazeera English - Americas:
Bush's approval ratings stand at one the lowest points of his presidency and polls show a majority of Americans disapprove Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq.

More than 3,000 US troops have been killed since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, according to the US Department of Defense.

It has not provided estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths.

The Iraqi health ministry estimates up to 150,000 Iraqis have been killed in the war, based on records from hospitals and morgues.

The Lancet, the UK-based medical journal, has estimated about 655,000 Iraqis have died as a consequence of the war.

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::: Al Jazeera English - Americas posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2007 10:05:00 AM
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Judge Puts Settlement on Katrina in Question - New York Times:
The dispute with State Farm and other insurance companies centered on the insurers’ refusal, as stated in their policies, to pay for damage from the heavy flooding — driven by the high winds of Hurricane Katrina — that swept over the Mississippi coast on Aug. 29, 2005. Some insurers refused not only to pay for flood damage, but declined to pay for harm to houses that had been battered by wind and waters.

Even so, the insurers paid $5.3 billion for wind damage to more than 330,000 homes in Mississippi and $10.3 billion for nearly a million homes in Louisiana. The rejected settlement did not include homeowners in Louisiana.

The settlement, which was announced on Tuesday, was twofold. One part settled 640 lawsuits arising from the hurricane for $80 million; the other required State Farm to reopen up to 35,000 damage claims that state officials and trial lawyers said had been underpaid. In that part, State Farm had agreed to pay at least $50 million.

Judge Senter’s order dealt exclusively with the second part, the reopening of the damage claims. It was not clear whether the settlement of the 640 lawsuits would proceed. But during the negotiations, participants said that State Farm had refused to settle unless both the lawsuits and the 35,000 damage claims were parts of one agreement.

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::: Judge Puts Settlement on Katrina in Question - New York Times posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/28/2007 09:52:00 AM
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Saturday, January 27, 2007 :::
 

Gates: Iraq resolution 'emboldens' enemy | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:
With his showdown with Congress drawing near, the president challenged those who favor a legislative rebuke of the troop buildup to put forward an alternative.

"I know there is skepticism and pessimism and that some are condemning a plan before it's even had a chance to work," he said. "They have an obligation and a serious responsibility therefore to put up their own plan as to what would work."

House Republicans are proposing an advisory committee to report regularly on the progress of Bush's plan in an effort to measure how well it is — or isn't — working to quell sectarian violence in Iraq.

Democrats showed little sign of backing down. Emphasizing Congress' intention to play a major role in Iraq, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., led a group of lawmakers there, where they met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and senior U.S. commanders.

"American forces should quickly begin to transition from a combat role to one focused on training, counterterrorism, force protection, and controlling Iraq's borders," the delegation said in a written statement, espousing a policy embraced by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group but not the administration.
[posted while listening to The Rain Song from the album "Houses of the Holy" by Led Zeppelin]

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::: Gates: Iraq resolution 'emboldens' enemy | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2007 10:46:00 AM
::: Comments:
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Reuters AlertNet - Bush accepts Republican House resolution on Iraq:
Conferring with lawmakers from his party, which lost control of the House of Representatives last November, Bush was confronted with their plan to hold him accountable for the revised strategy, which has been widely criticized by Democrats and some Republicans.

"He deferred to the leadership," Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia said after a closed-door, question-and-answer session with Bush, who has denounced other congressional efforts to oppose his plan to send 21,500 more troops into Iraq.

"He said, 'I have faith in the leaders to craft a proposal, because I know in their hearts they want this country to succeed,'" said Cantor, House Republican chief deputy whip.
[posted while listening to The Rain Song from the album "Houses of the Holy" by Led Zeppelin]

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::: Reuters AlertNet - Bush accepts Republican House resolution on Iraq posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2007 10:43:00 AM
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Middle East Online:
This response to imminent or future “terrorist danger” can take place now during the surge, or perhaps it can wait until the surge fails. The preparation for a substantive preemptive strike against Iran appears to have been made, such need articulated by the administration’s two mouthpieces-extraordinaire: Cheney and Rice. The question of attacking Iran seems to have made the transition from the conditional if to the resolute when. Just as Saddam Hussein was a “done deal” four years ago, GPS-destinations are now being stamped on hundreds, or thousands of smart bombs and cruise missiles.

Perhaps there are those in Iran, certainly those in political opposition to Ahmadinejad, who feel the current government’s confrontational style is not serving their nation well. And they probably have a point in the diplomatic scheme of things. However, Iran’s predicament as to where it is in America’s gun sight has little to do with Mahmoud’s tirades about the holocaust; the country’s declared or undeclared nuclear intentions; or Dr. Ahmadinejad’s preference for dealing with Russia’s Vladimir Putin rather than with America’s George W. Bush. As with real estate, this Iran affair has everything to do with location… and also with timing.

Unfortunately, Iran’s geo-strategic location in Eurasia places that nation at odds with any superpower that may wish to exert undue influence in the region, for whatever reasons, as in the case of the United States. And the timing, after Bush’s failure in Iraq, couldn’t be any more propitious for placing Iran as a scapegoat for this president. It’s ironic that the US can consider any action by a nation half-a-globe away, and weapons-shy as a threat to its security, particularly when that nation is land-bordered by seven countries, with another seven just across the Persian Gulf, now a Mare Nostrum for the US Navy and a depot for American WMD.
[posted while listening to Love-Building On Fire from the album "Sand In The Vaseline" by Talking Heads]

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::: Middle East Online posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2007 10:38:00 AM
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U.N. condemns denials of Holocaust; Iran demurs | International News | Reuters.com:
The measure, co-sponsored by more than 100 countries, including all Western nations as well as Rwanda, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, was approved by consensus, without a vote. Iran disassociated itself from the action, calling the resolution a political exercise Israel would exploit against Palestinians.

But at least 22 nations left their seats empty in the assembly hall, including Bolivia, Chile and Columbia, who were also co-sponsors. Others not attending or sponsoring included Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, and even Cambodia, itself a victim of genocide, U.S. officials said.
[written while listening to Dark Was The Night from the album "Paris, Texas" by Ry Cooder]

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::: U.N. condemns denials of Holocaust; Iran demurs | International News | Reuters.com posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/27/2007 10:32:00 AM
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Friday, January 26, 2007 :::
 

Santorini - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Pipes with running water and water closets found on Thera are the oldest such utilities discovered. The pipes run in twin systems, indicating that the Therans used both hot and cold water supplies. The hot water's origin was probably geothermic, given the volcano's proximity. The dual pipe system suggesting hot and cold running water, the advanced architecture, and the apparent layout of the Akrotiri find resembles Plato's description of the fictional lost city of Atlantis, further indicating the Minoans as the culture which primarily inspired the Atlantis legend.
[written while listening to NPR: News Summary for Friday, Jan 26 2007 at 7:00 AM EST from the album "NPR: 7AM ET News Summary" by NPR]


::: Santorini - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/26/2007 10:05:00 AM
::: Comments:
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History of saffron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Ancient Chinese Buddhist accounts from the Mula-sarvastivadin monastic order (or vinaya) present yet another account of saffron's arrival in India. According to legend, an arhat Indian Buddhist missionary by the name of Madhyântika (or Majjhantika) was sent to Kashmir in the 5th century BC. When he got there, he reportedly sowed Kashmir's first saffron crop. From there, saffron use spread throughout the Indian subcontinent. In addition to use in foods, saffron stigmas were also soaked in water to yield a golden-yellow solution that was used as a fabric dye. Such was the love of the resulting fabric that, immediately after the Buddha Siddhartha Guatama's death, his attendant monks decreed saffron as the official colour for Buddhist robes and mantles.
[written while listening to Brighton Rock from the album "Sheer Heart Attack" by Queen]

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::: History of saffron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/26/2007 08:23:00 AM
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Thursday, January 25, 2007 :::
 

Obama's Appeal to Blacks Remains an Open Question - washingtonpost.com:
In Chicago's storied Bronzeville neighborhood, African Americans asked about his candidacy mainly expressed excitement. Browsing through Afrocentric Book Store, Nathan Unger, 63, stopped to say that he wants Obama to run although he harbors few illusions about how much Obama would be able to focus on the concerns of black voters.

"Even if we get 30 percent from Obama, we're not going to get that from anybody else," Unger said. "From white folks, we might get 10 percent. What I worry about is that we might want too much from him. It's not just about us out here; it's about everybody."
[written while listening to Concerto For Piano And Orchestra In G, 2nd Movement from the album "Gershwin's World" by Herbie Hancock]

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::: Obama's Appeal to Blacks Remains an Open Question - washingtonpost.com posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 10:15:00 PM
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The Blog | Dave Johnson and James Boyce: How Long DID The Right Let Us Love Obama? | The Huffington Post:
Sadly, exactly as we predicted, the rise of Senator Obama and the media attention paid to him has led directly to a rise in attacks. As the most dynamic young politician of either party to burst on the national scene since John Kennedy captured the attention of the country over forty-five years, Senator Obama is a real threat to the right. Of course, as is usually the case, the attacks were not on his record or his career - in fact their pettiness and immaturity speak for themselves.
[written while listening to rolling by Soul Coughing]

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::: The Blog | Dave Johnson and James Boyce: How Long DID The Right Let Us Love Obama? | The Huffington Post posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 10:08:00 PM
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Obama certain of his appeal to black voters | Chicago Tribune:
"Rev. Sharpton emphasized his hope that any presidential candidate is speaking to the issues of the dispossessed, and that his number one priority is making sure that we get those on the agenda," Obama said.

"I think he's right to do that and I assured him that I not only want to hear his views, … but that publicly any of us who step into this fight for the nomination have to be held accountable and speak to these issues. "
[written while listening to That's Not The Issue from the album "A.M." by Wilco]

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::: Obama certain of his appeal to black voters | Chicago Tribune posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 10:04:00 PM
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Obama Adopts Universal Health Care as Policy Theme - New York Times:
“In the 2008 campaign, affordable, universal health care for every single American must not be a question of whether, it must be a question of how,” he said in a speech at a Washington, D.C., conference on health care issues staged by the nonprofit advocacy organization Families USA.

“We have the ideas, we have the resources, and we must find the will to pass a plan by the end of the next president’s first term,” continued Obama, who railed against what he called the “smallness of our politics — the idea that there isn’t much we can agree on or do about the major challenges facing our country.”

“We can’t afford another disappointing charade in 2008,” he said in prepared remarks. “It’s not only tiresome, it’s wrong.”
[written while listening to Dime Store Mystery from the album "New York" by Lou Reed]


::: Obama Adopts Universal Health Care as Policy Theme - New York Times posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 10:01:00 PM
::: Comments:
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Contract questions spoil Bears' day off | IndyStar.com:
Smith's contract status isn't a new topic for the Chicago media, and so to prevent distraction, Phillips said both sides agreed to postpone talks until after the Super Bowl on Feb. 4. But the saga took an intriguing turn when Dallas coach Bill Parcells retired Monday.

Smith grew up in Big Sandy, Texas, and loved the Cowboys. What's more, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who has shelled out big money for coaches in the past, recently told Sports Illustrated and NBC commentator Peter King that if Parcells retired, Smith would be one of his top replacement choices.

Phillips became agitated when asked if there was any circumstance in which he would release Smith from the last year of his contract.

"Absolutely not," he said. "Lovie Smith is our coach. Reading all that, frankly, rankles me. If there's any truth to any of those rumors, we'll deal with that at a league level.

"He's our coach. He's under contract to us. Whether it's Dallas or any other club that comes sniffing around, that's not right and we're not going to let that happen."

Phillips defended his position not to give Smith an extension after an 11-5 run in 2005 that ended with a home playoff loss to Carolina. He said he wanted to see how Smith and his staff handled this season.

Phillips also thought the four-year deal initially given Smith was consistent with what other coaches without any NFL head coaching experience had received. However, Atlanta recently hired Bobby Petrino from the college ranks and paid him an average of $4.5 million a year.

Colts coach Tony Dungy, who like Smith is making his first Super Bowl trip as a coach, received a three-year extension in 2005 estimated at a total of $15 million. He's set through 2009 and is one of the NFL's highest-paid coaches.

Smith, who has a 31-19 record, has downplayed the contract issue.

"I would like to be the head coach of the Chicago Bears forever," the low-key coach told Chicago media in late December.
[written while listening to Out of Habit/Pulse (live) by Ani DiFranco]

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::: Contract questions spoil Bears' day off | IndyStar.com posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 03:47:00 PM
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Last night we went out for dinner at Aeoshe, a really nice Chinese/Japanese/Korean restaurant here in Iowa City, and then went to a performance at the Clapp Recital Hall that The Wife had scored tickets for at work, Time for Three. The trio put on a very intriguing performance, combining classical elegance with bluegrass rambunctiousness. It was a nice evening to get out and remember why we love living in Iowa City.

[written while listening to Song Sung Blue from the album "Hot August Night" by Neil Diamond]

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::: Dinner and Time for Three posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 03:10:00 PM
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More violence in Beirut with 3 killed and 35 wounded - International Herald Tribune:
At least three people were shot and killed and 35 were wounded in street fighting Thursday that began with a scuffle inside the student cafeteria of the Beirut Arab University in the Sunni neighborhood of Tariq Jadideh. It spilled over into street violence in the surrounding area.

As the violence worsened, opposition supporters appeared by the van-load at the school, smashing cars, setting them on fire and burning tires. The air filled with thick black smoke as young men hurled stones at one another.

Opposition supporters could be seen carrying and firing rifles, while members of the Sunni party called the Future Movement were observed firing pistols. Hezbollah men carrying the group's trademark walkie-talkies could be seen mingling among the rioters and managing the crowds.

Some witnesses reported seeing shots fired from rooftops in the area, The Associated Press reported.

Lebanese soldiers arriving on the scene fired into the air to try to disperse the crowds, with little success. Members of the March 14 opposition movement accused the soldiers of allowing the Shiite protesters into the neighborhood.

Hezbollah issued a statement urging its supporters to leave the streets around the university. The Future Movement urged its own supporters to show self-restraint and calm.
[written while listening to Miracle Man from the album "My Aim Is True" by Elvis Costello]

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::: More violence in Beirut with 3 killed and 35 wounded - International Herald Tribune posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 03:00:00 PM
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US senators feel weight of Iraq vote | csmonitor.com:
Even Republican senators on the foreign relations panel who did not vote for the resolution expressed serious doubts about the way the president is waging the war. But these were not enough to overcome their worries that their words could have unintended consequences – from undermining US troops to further isolating a commander in chief determined to go his own way.

"The president is deeply invested in this plan, and the deployments opposed by the resolution have already begun," warned Sen. Richard Lugar (R) of Indiana, the committee's ranking Republican, before the vote on Wednesday. "This resolution will increase the divide between the executive and legislative branches that is already unacceptably wide," he added, cautioning his colleagues not to give in to frustration with a White House that has not listened to the Congress in the past.

Those concerns are at the center of intense negotiations, as senators grapple with how to find words that will bring enough Republicans on board to get the attention of the White House, but not send a message of defeat to the troops.

The White House and its supporters on Capitol Hill want to avoid any language that will undercut the troops or undermine the mission of Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, whom the Senate on Wednesday unanimously confirmed to command US and multinational forces in Iraq.

"The goal is to try to salvage this thing and not send additional troops over with a message of disapproval from the Congress," says Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona, who supports the president on sending more troops to Iraq.
[written while listening to Shakin' All Over from the album "Live At Leeds Deluxe Edition (Disc 1)" by The Who]

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::: US senators feel weight of Iraq vote | csmonitor.com posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 02:57:00 PM
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Beirut Burns:
Anti-government supporters moved into Tarik Jedideh, a largely pro-government area, they carried sticks, threw stones, burned cars, & blocked streets. My cousin lives in Tarik Jedideh, I called her and she was telling me how the army surrounded the area and how the anti-government supporters keep on burning tires and cars. She was imprisoned in her home while other friends of mine that live in the area were not able to return home. Reports of civilian checkpoints all over Beirut, a reminder of the civil war era when people were stopped, asked for their IDs to find out their backgrounds and were killed or let go based on what sect they belonged to.

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::: Beirut Burns posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 02:35:00 PM
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Little Brother sent along this:

Wired 15.02: Posts:
It’s hard to imagine what freshmen think when they wander into Professor Banzai’s lecture hall. Weller reports that he loses a lot of students after the first class. “They thought they were going to get the easy A from old RoboCop,” he says with a laugh. The 450-page course reader tells them otherwise. Those who stay get a view into Weller’s two worlds. For example, his class at Syracuse on Hollywood and the Roman Empire requires watching toga-and-sandal epics (Ben Hur and The Last Temptation of Christ among them) and reading primary-source Roman authors in an attempt to reconcile big-screen Rome with the real thing. “The Romans were an unbelievably complex people, and we are an unbelievably complex people,” Weller says. “We can learn so much about why things are the way they are by looking at what they did.” He goes on to explain how the absence of the concept of zero in Greek antiquity laid the foundation for Western philosophical thought.
[written while listening to John Finns' Wife from the album "Henry's Dream" by Nick Cave ]

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::: Wired 15.02: Posts posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 01:58:00 PM
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Dralasite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
These aliens first appeared as part of the Star Frontiers science fiction role-playing game (RPG) published in 1982 by TSR, Inc.

In the 1990s, Dralasites were introduced as part of that same company's Spelljammer game setting, a somewhat steampunk fantasy approach to space exploration for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

In 2004, Dralasites were included in d20 Future, a science fiction supplement to the d20 Modern RPG published by Wizards of the Coast (a successor company to TSR).

[written while listening to Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles]

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::: Dralasite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 01:31:00 PM
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Scott over at randomchaos sent me this link concerning .Mac vs Google:

MacDevCenter.com -- Making a Smooth Move from .Mac to Google:
This article doesn't even attempt to try and make the hard decision of whether or not you should allow your .Mac account to expire. Actually, this article assumes you've already made that choice and presents a practical approach you can follow to get yourself on track for a smooth move to a Google-centric web experience. Getting your mail, address book, calendar, online storage, online photos, and blog squared away are among the topics we'll investigate.
It's a really nice step-by-step discussion on how to switch over, and even addresses the iDisk issue I mentioned earlier. It talks about how to use gMail and Mail.app together, which is something I would like to continue doing. I'm also thinking about dropping Yahoo! Mail, after an unfortunate glitch where Mail.app downloaded my entire Yahoo! Mailbox again. Apparently it saw all the messages there as new. I still don't know whether this was Yahoo!'s fault or Mail.app's, but it was intensely annoying and created 2500 duplicate messages in my mail archive.

Also, I have never been able to get Spotlight to work properly in Mail.app. It just refuses to search. Using Spotlight from the menu bar searches Mail.app just fine, but within Mail.app, nothing.

The primary reason I would like to keep Mail.app is to have a local copy of my email for situation where I'd be without web access. That and the fact that I've got Mail.appetizer working really well.

[written while listening to Atlantic City from the album "Nebraska" by Bruce Springsteen]

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::: MacDevCenter.com -- Making a Smooth Move from .Mac to Google posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 12:42:00 PM
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Don’t Shoot the Messenger:
Criticism of games is merely the latest example of a tendency ot demonise new and unfamiliar forms of entertainment. In 1816 waltzing was condemned as a “fatal contagion” that encouraged promiscuity; in 1910 films were denounced as “an evil pure and simple, destructive of social interchange”; in the 1950s rock ‘n’ roll was said to turn young people into “devil worshipper” and comic books were accused of turning children into drug addicts and criminals. In each case the pattern is the same: young people adopt a new form of entertainment, older people are spooked by its unfamiliarity and condemn it; but eventually the young grow up and the new medium becomes accepted — at which point another example appears and the cycle begins again.
[written while listening to Straight To Hell from the album "Live: From Here to Eternity" by The Clash]

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::: Don’t Shoot the Messenger posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 12:04:00 PM
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Strict Vegan Ethics, Frosted With Hedonism - New York Times:
“I learned knife skills by cooking for Food not Bombs,” she said, referring to the activist group that protests corporate and government food policy. “But I also learned to love Julia Child and Martha Stewart. Vegan food can and must be pretty,” she said, pounding a fist on the butcher-block counter.
[written while listening to Wishful Thinking from the album "A Ghost is Born" by Wilco]

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::: Strict Vegan Ethics, Frosted With Hedonism - New York Times posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 11:50:00 AM
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I finally decided to switch over to Firefox. I've been plodding along with Safari for years now, occasionally using Firefox when a website got uppity with Safari. I like Safari-- it's solid, dependable, and does what it needs to do.

Really, though, the problem started with Blogger. Blogger recently switched out of beta into its new 2.0 system. Again, I like Blogger. I've been using it since it was in beta originally, and I really don't plan to switch any time soon. So, when Blogger 2.0 started throwing me curveballs, I started adjusting to it.

I've been using MarsEdit as my external blog poster because I got it in a package deal with NetNewsReader. I liked NetNewsReader, though it seemed a little over complicated for a news reader, and it took a while to tweak it out to act the way I wanted it. When I went to install NetNewsReader on Lucinda, the newer desktop Mac we got last fall, however, I ran into all sorts of hassles because NetNewsReader is now part of NewsGator, and even though I had purchased a NetNewsReader license, I had to sign up for a NewsGator account, which I didn't want, and somehow that made it really difficult to install the full version of NNR on Lucinda. As with most things like this, when it got to be too much of a headache, I simply dropped it.

So, when MarsEdit started balking at the new Blogger, I decided to drop both it and NNR and try something different. After browsing around for a bit, here's what I've come up with:

1. For a external blog editor, I've switched to ecto. The difference between MarsEdit and ecto is like the difference between Textedit and Word. ecto is brimming with features that I've barely even begun to tap yet. The interface is nice and elegant, and I can create a new post from the Dock, similar to creating a new mail message. I've only had it for a day, but I'm pretty happy with it.

2. For a news reader, I switched to Dave Watanabe's Newsfire. I'm already a big fan of Dave's Acquisition, his limewire client that I've been using for years, and Newsfire has the same simple elegance to it. Right off the bat, Newsfire was setup the way I want my news reader, with all of the new posts in one window. I haven't tried yet, but I think it's going to be fairly simple to setup Newsfire on Lucinda as well.

Now, since I was switching everything around, I decided to switch from Safari to Firefox as well. This is not going as smoothly.

Actually, it's going fairly well. I like Firefox's interface, and the way it handles tabs, pop-ups, images, downloads, etc. I've already installed a new theme which I really like, and gmail and Google Calendar are much smoother through Firefox than through Safari, which has trouble with some of these advanced web-based features.

But the one thing that I can't get Firefox to do that Safari had no trouble doing is send rss feeds to an external newsreader. It's really kind of a baffling omission, as Firefox is so flexible in nearly every other aspect. I just started digging today, and probably I will find an extension that will allow me to do this, but for right now, I'm loading up pages in Safari just to drop the feed into Newsfire, which seems backwards.

I'm anticipating transitioning over to Google's services, simply because most of what I use .Mac for I can do on Google for free (though the iDisk is really nice and pretty seemless), so I think I'll be using Firefox more and more. Once I solve this external newsreader problem, I think I'll be pretty happy with it.

Update: Updating from Firefox 1.5 to Firefox 2.0 fixed this problem. Firefox now plays with Newsfire just fine. ecto is a dream to work with, making creating more complicated posts much easier. I'm having a lot of fun ringing all of the bells and whistles.

[written while listening to Democracy Now! - Thursday, January 25, 2007 from the album "Democracy Now!" by Democracy Now!]

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::: A Tale of Two Browsers posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/25/2007 11:23:00 AM
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007 :::
 

It's one of those days where you turn the corner, stand blinking in the sun for a while, and then feel like everything's going to be alright. It's one of those days where you can feel the ground underneath your feet after treading water for so long. It's one of those days when for some reasons things seem to change, to shift and adjust, and the picture seems much clearer than it did before.



::: A Good Day posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2007 05:26:00 PM
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If I were in a CCG
Originally uploaded by Kiyote23.
Thanks to newrambler for turning me onto this toy.

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.


::: If I were in a CCG posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2007 03:54:00 PM
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Cassady in a museum
Originally uploaded by Kiyote23.
I may not know art, but I know cats.

Created with www.dumpr.net -- fun with your photos


::: Cassady in a museum posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2007 03:48:00 PM
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So, here's what happened. At the start of the year, I had a job that I really liked, running the Front End and the Grocery Departments at small, independent natural and organic grocery store that just opened last spring in downtown Iowa City. Then, January 5th, the boss tells me that we're going out of business. By January 12th, I was out of a job for the first time in years.

I spent six years working in the natural and organic wing of retail grocery, working my way up from cashier to management. I probably haven't ever worked as hard, or as long on anything in my life, short of spending my twenties being a writer. So, this is a weird place to find myself.

I had hesitated on taking the job at the new store because I was concerned about what would happen if it went under, but once I was there, I was so glad I had. Due to politics at the Co-op, I had voluntarily stepped down from my management position and took a position as a grocery clerk out at the Coralville store. I was miserable out there, bored out of my ever-loving skull, feeling like I was frittering and wasting my hours in a completely off-hand way. Once I was at the new store, I got to use skills and training that had grown rusty in the lay-over.

I told my boss the last time I spoke to him, when I was trying to get at least some of the paycheck he owed me, that I was grateful to him for giving me the chance to prove to myself that I could do this, that I could manage a department.

So, now I need to regroup and figure out what I want to do, what I can do. But things are different this time, I'm different this time. I have a much better sense of myself now, and I think I've earned a little time to do what I want.


[written while listening to Go It Alone from the album "Guero" by Beck]

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::: Do What You Want posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2007 12:51:00 PM
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Under Known Issues for the New Blogger, we'll find the fact that Blogger now generates a Post Page for each post, whether you ask for it or not. They're working on a way to disable this. It's wrecking havok for us here at dorky headquarters though, because we're still hosted on good old Avalon, our local ISP that I've been working with since we moved to Iowa City, and good old Avalon has a limit of how many files you can have on your server space, and since I've got over 1700 posts, I'm over that limit when Blogger goes and republishes my entire blog.

After a frustrating couple of days, now at least I know what's going on.


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2007 11:58:00 AM

 

Last night was the first new Veronica Mars episode in a while, since the fall finale. I haven't made any secret of the fact that I think the third season is tanking, hard. Most of my friends have stopped watching already, in fact the wife was giving me a hard time for wanting to watch last night. But I wanted to give it one more chance before I gave up.

** Spoiler Warning **

The monkey mystery started out to be promising, but then it got bogged down with "Let's get Mac hooked up." Keith's investigation of the Dean's murder got interesting, but then it disappeared. Keith thought that it was weird that the Dean didn't drink his favorite scotch before blowing his brains out. We got most of an episode of Logan bumbling about looking sad.

Dick had the best lines in the episode, and that's saying something, because I find Dick to easily be the dumbest character on the show. If Veronica had spent less time trying to hook Mac up with Animal Rights Dude, I'm willing to bet they could have made the monkey mystery more complicated. As it was, the solution felt hackneyed and cliched. Keith's attempt in the bar to get the Professor to confess was downright embarrassing. And Veronica going back to Logan, well, that seems to be what the show is about now.

Piz summed it up best when he came bounding into the food court the morning after he had what he thought was a deep connection with our miss Mars, only to find her breaking fast with Logan. Logan asks, "What's new, Piz?"

"Not a lot, apparently."

I think this is the point where I walk away from the table as well.

Sorry, V. If you somehow get back to season 1 form, drop me a line.


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/24/2007 11:47:00 AM

Monday, January 15, 2007 :::
 

The Swamp - Chicago Tribune - Blogs.: "'As two single women,' she shouted as the two were about to walk out of the room, 'Do you think that being without children in any way hinders your ability to understand the sacrifices of American families losing their children in war?'

Rice paused, heaved a sigh and turned back to the cameras, a pained expression on her face.

'No,' she said adamantly. 'And I also think that being a single woman does not in any way make me incapable of understanding not just those sacrifices, but that nothing of value is ever won without sacrifice.'

Livni also rallied to her counterpart's defense. 'In our not formal conversation we discussed also the situation in Iraq, and you cannot imagine the feelings that the Secretary Rice showed on a personal basis during these conversations.'"


::: The Swamp - Chicago Tribune - Blogs. posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/15/2007 10:06:00 AM
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Saturday, January 13, 2007 :::
 

The Capital Times: "In a defense of Carter penned for the mass-circulation Israeli newspaper Yediot Acharonot, the woman who served as former Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin's education minister wrote, 'Indeed apartheid does exist here.'

'The U.S. Jewish establishment's onslaught on former President Jimmy Carter is based on him daring to tell the truth which is known to all: Through its army, the government of Israel practices a brutal form of apartheid in the territory it occupies,' explains Aloni. 'Its army has turned every Palestinian village and town into a fenced-in, or blocked-in, detention camp. All this is done in order to keep an eye on the population's movements and to make its life difficult. Israel even imposes a total curfew whenever the settlers, who have illegally usurped the Palestinians' land, celebrate their holidays or conduct their parades.'"


::: posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/13/2007 11:11:00 AM
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Monday, January 08, 2007 :::
 

Operation Auca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Operation Auca was an attempt by five Evangelical Christian missionaries from the United States to make contact with the Huaorani people of the rainforest of Ecuador. The Huaorani, also known as the Aucas (the Quechua word for 'savage'), were an isolated tribe known for their violence, both against their own people and outsiders who entered their territory. With the intention of being the first Christians to evangelize the Huaorani, the missionaries began making regular flights over Huaorani settlements in September 1955, dropping gifts. After several months of exchanging gifts, on January 2, 1956, the missionaries established a camp at 'Palm Beach', a sandbar along the Curaray River, a few miles from Huaorani settlements. Their efforts culminated on January 8, 1956, when all five-- Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian-- were attacked and speared by a group of Huaorani warriors. The news of their deaths was broadcast around the world, and Life magazine covered the event with a photo essay.

The deaths of the men galvanized the missionary effort in the United States, sparking an outpouring of funding for evangelization efforts around the world. Their work is still frequently remembered in evangelical publications, and in 2006, was the subject of the film production End of the Spear."


::: Operation Auca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia posted by kiyote23
::: at 1/08/2007 08:50:00 AM
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