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589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | urlLink click me and be amused |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | neal is our man on the inside for this one... what's the word, silentwalker? have you met these Jedi by any chance? 'Talk about a short honeymoon. Over the weekend, players of Star Wars Galaxies, the film-inspired massive-multiplayer online role-playing game, learned that two players had achieved Jedi Initiate status. The pair were the first in the game's four-and-a-half month history to do so. Today, the MMORPG site Allakhazam's Magical Realm is reporting that a massive bounty--150,000 credits--is being offered for the newly hatched Jedi's heads. As of press time, they had not been killed.' urlLink First Galaxies Jedi confirmed, hunted |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | more news on the possible urlLink sequel . disturbing realization: in the original film, the pirate whose map the goonies find was essentially named after a penis. and that's funny, i guess... unless you're him, stuck with 'penis' for a nickname... or if you're one of the kids searching for his hidden 'booty'. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | urlLink http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0346/otis.php excerpt - ALEC's model legislation, drawn up by its 'Homeland Security Working Group,' is called the Animal and Ecological Terrorist Act, and it ostensibly focuses solely on groups like Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, which have attacked homes and development projects that threatened the habitat of several species. But more mainstream groups, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), are also targeted by ALEC as a 'threat,' and the bill would back that up with severe action. For activists, the danger lies in how A4884 defines 'terrorist' organizations, as 'any association, organization, entity, coalition, or combination of two or more persons with the primary or incidental purpose of supporting any politically motivated activity through intimidation, coercion, fear, or other means.' Activist groups fear that lawful dissent, such as demonstrations, letter-writing campaigns, and leafleting, might fall into any one of those categories, particularly the catchall phrase 'other means.' The bill also seeks to prohibit people from gathering photographic or videotaped evidence of illegal or harmful activities, effectively shutting down the camcorders and other tools used by 21st-century protesters. Additionally, the bill calls for the creation of a state-run website where people convicted of 'eco-terrorism or animal-rights terrorism' would be identified with photographs and stigmatized, much as states do with child molesters. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | our fallen comrades in the orange reflective uniforms will finally get their own urlLink memorial . |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | From a recent USN&WR: Think gas is steep at $1.50 a gallon? Look at it this way: That $1.50 buys almost 100 tons of ancient plants, ecologist Jeffrey Dukes says in this months Climatic Change. Todays oil fields formed as microscopic plants living in ancient seas died and sank, then were buried deeply enough for heat and pressure to cook the organic matter into oil. At each step, much of the original material decayed or escaped. Dukes, then at the University of Utah, used published figures to calculate that every day, humanity burns up oil equivalent to nearly a years worth of plant growth across the entire planet.' |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | urlLink http://www.triumphtheinsultcomicdog.com/ |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | I propose a film entitled 'The Mueslix Evacuations,' in which our heroes use massive amounts of fiber to liberate humanity from a state perpetual constipation. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | how was the matrix ? |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | and we need a picture of you nick. perhaps one with the lovely eva. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | martices? and couldn't you do an autopsy on the brains of people who supposedly had this disease to see if it was present and if so in what amounts? there must be a way to scientifically prove that my cat made me into the evil bitch i am today. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | BTW, the toxoplasma stuff comes out in the news every few years with the intention of shocking pet owners. 'Oh, it's not my fault for being a slut...my cat has infected me with promiscuous disease.' If rats are infected, it causes slight behavioural changes, thought to increase the chance of transmission. Well, it causes no behavioural changes in infected cats. In humans also, there has been no conclusive evidence to show that behaviour is directly affected by the parasite. They 'evaluate' people's personalities, and then test if they have the disease. Well, that ends up being a correlational study. How do you know that people who like cats don't have certain behavioural characteristics already? Or that people who are more likely to clean litter boxes don't have a certain personality? Or maybe people who don't clean their houses are more likely to get it since they would be the most likely candidates for rat infestation. There is no ethical way to show if there is any truth behind the claims that it supposedly has mind-altering effects on humans. The only way to test for the personality change would be to test their personality before and after infection. Comparative studies are the only ones that would be scientifically worth anything. For now, the claims are total bollocks... Off the subject, did anyone else think that the 'Matrices' were absolute shite? Yuck! |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Yay...Dubya's coming to visit England. Huge amounts of people will be coming out to give the great leader a urlLink warm welcome. Can't wait til he gets urlLink here! |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Oops, good point, Ben - I never said who I was. Hello, everyone, I'm Nick. My connection is via Eva - she wickedly seduced me one stormy night in Wales and has come to the UK (my homeland) to haunt my every waking hour - and the occasional one when I'm asleep, too. I'm a stand-up comic by trade (that's what I was doing in Wales. Eva has far less excuse.). Don't have a website, I'm afraid, but there's a British comedy website called chortle and I'm reviewed/listed urlLink there . Just so as not to be completely disregarding recent topics, the situation here in the UK with regards to elections is that you can take time off work to vote - not the whole day, but half a morning or something - and your employer has to let you. I think that only applies in general elections, though (the big ones where you're voting in a new government [actually it doesn't quite work like that here, but a full explanation would take me too far from the point]). I don't think it applies for small, local elections - which is a shame, in a way, since those are the ones where your vote counts most and you have more of a chance to really change things. It seems to me that most of our big elections (in both countries) really only afford the public the chance to ratify elite decisions; they keep the population distanced from actual policy formation whilst providing the comforting illusion that our leaders are answerable to us. On one level they are, of course, since we can vote them out (when we're allowed to every few years) - but really those changes are pretty cosmetic. I think the limits of the system are shown up in the following hypothesis: Let's say you introduce mandatory voting, so that there's a 95% turnout. The elected government can claim quite a legitimacy with the mandate of a genuine majority of the population. Or it would, if not for the fact that the people are effectively coerced into making the choice. So to avoid this, a 'None of the above' option is introduced. So far, so democratic. Now, here's the dilemma: What happens if a majority of the voting population goes with the 'None of the above' choice? Nobody running for power can legitimately take office, since the people have expressed definitely that they don't want the candidates, but you can't just leave the government empty. What do you do? As far as I can see the system fails at this point. The powers that be can't really allow the electorate a full and comprehensive democratic choice, since there's the risk that people might use it, and that's not really what the electoral system is for. Of course, there's already the option of not voting, or spoiling your vote, but that's fine provided those choices don't HAVE to be interpreted as 'None of the above'. And to be honest, often a more realistic interpretation of not voting might be, 'Mmmmm... My bed's comfy.' Oops. A bit of a rant. Did Eva warn you about my tendency to do that? To recap: 1. Hello, everybody, nice to meet you. and 2. I read too much Chomsky. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | John, did the kids have a good Christmas? The card photo was quite adorable. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | urlLink 'Home Improvement' actor dies at 61 Couldn't they at least have put a head shot in the article? |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Fun, as long as everyone realizes the historical details -- or their veracity -- are inconsequential; only the meaning matters. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | from urlLink The Straight Dope : Dear Cecil: I hear Jesus wasn't really a Capricorn but that he was either a Pisces or a Leo instead--that his birthday is observed in December because the Catholic Church took over the ancient Saturnalia debauch. What's the lowdown? --Jerry M., Los Angeles urlLink Dear Jerry: History records no observation of Christmas before 354, and by that time there was no one around who remembered exactly when Jesus was born. Today, historians have all but given up trying to figure it out. They give his birth date as 6-8 BC (good trick, but this was no ordinary dude) and leave it at that. Nobody knows exactly why Christ's birthday is celebrated on December 25. One theory holds that this is the right date, postulating that Zachary was high priest and that the Day of Atonement fell on September 24, ergo, John the Baptist was born on June 24 and Christ dropped in exactly six months later on December 25. Modern scholars use this theory to get laughs at cocktail parties. Another guess works backward from the supposed date of the crucifixion (March 25), figuring that Christ was conceived exactly 33 years before he died, True Believers having no use for fractional numbers. According to the most tenable hypothesis, Christ's birthday was assigned to the winter solstice (December 25 in the Julian calendar, January 6 in the Egyptian) because the date had a ready-made pagan holiday, the 'Birthday of the Invincible Sun' (or 'ancient Saturnalia debauch,' as you put it). The idea that Jesus was a Pisces probably comes from the characterization of that sign as one of spiritualism, humility, compassion, sacrifice, etc. Students of astrology will tell you it's not kosher to work the formula backwards that way. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | urlLink booked |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | works for me. i got my new zen desk calendar today ! i'm feeling enlightened already. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | If I adopted a new creed every time some idiot grossly misinterpreted the one to which I ascribe, I would never believe in anything for more than a day. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | from the aforementioned bibleman series: 'After the prideful Prince zaps Bibleman with a mega-volt ego-enhancing ray, our hero finds his modesty put to its greatest test. Stephen Phillips, the comic strip's talented young artist, is also hit with the evil ego whammy, thus feeling a bit too talented. Could Stephen's selfishness bring about the end of the comic strip-and of Bibleman? Or does God have a plan for Shattering the Prince of Pride?' and 'With his scheme thwarted by the Bibleman Adventure team, Primordious Drool retires to the sewer from which he came and is replaced by another hopeful villain, The Wacky Protestor. With plans to drench the world in a hopeless cloud of despair and darkness, the Wacky Protestor uses his Spasmodic, Meteoronic, Wacksonic Cloud of Darkness and Despair to discourage youth group member Corey Standridge and give him deep feelings of isolation and despair.' be sure to check out urlLink images from the 'bibleman live tour', which looks for all the world like a combination of 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' and 'Logan's Run'. if i were a christian, i'd seriously consider adopting another creed, just to distance myself as far as possible from this sort of foolishness. what maddening, utter drivel! |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | urlLink bibleman cometh |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | The Red Planet Twirls Its Mustache and Laughs '...But Mars is a formidable foe. Of the previous 11 probes dropped on to the planet's surface, only three have survived.' |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | can't say that i miss life in urlLink cubeville . happy holly-days, all... |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | urlLink hope he liked the bruschetta |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | i'm not really a big fan of radio head either - merry christmas eve! |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | The Bends(?) and OK Computer |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | JLS: which radiohead albums have you listened to? |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Alas, if it places Radiohead in the top 5, it's not likely that I'll be interested in the other 49. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | pitchfork's urlLink top 50 albums of 2003 . the urlLink blog of jeremy botter, a soldier stationed in iraq who was part of the team that captured saddam hussein. some have tried to discredit him, but apparently he's the real deal... charting the usage of brandnames in pop music: urlLink american brandstand 2003 . (most invoked product name: Mercedes-Benz) |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Get yourself hooked up with a role model willing to teach you to drive around, hide in a modified trunk, and randomly kill easy targets! What's the worst that could happen? A lifetime of free food, shelter, and notoriety! Sure, you'll be in prison, and you might get raped like they say -- but what the hell! After a few years, you'll grow numb to the environment, and you just might live to a ripe old age knowing that for a while you had the TIME OF YOUR LIFE! So get a car, grab a rifle, find a Big Brother and GET SNIPIN'! |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Pentagon Holding Terror Drill: 'Top Pentagon officials are preparing to move to secret locations today in a drill to practice responses to a terror attack on the Defense Department. Officials said the 'continuity-of-government' exercise was scheduled after the U.S. moved to 'Code Orange,' the nation's second highest terror alert.' |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Much humor herein, for those who care to poke around. The icons list is also recommended. urlLink advertising age top 100 |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | 'Judge: Pentagon cannot force anthrax shots' ...but it may attempt a grapple, which in some cases may provoke an attack of opportunity. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Ben, my friend, you have too much time on your hands with some of the websites and articles you find. That 'Crappy Gifts' website was a hoot if for no other reason than the expressions on her face. Gee, I only have to wait 4 or 5 more years to see those on Katherine's face. As for the Orgasmatron, don't count on it replacing us. It can't mow the grass. Also, what happens if she loses the remote control with the device turned on? |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | CDs make urlLink bad gifts for kids |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | urlLink Aggregate mood of Livejournal users over time |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | New Zealand director Andrew Adamson, the man behind Shrek, will bring to life the C.S Lewis classic 'The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe', with a budget of more than $150 million. see article urlLink here . |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | well, we had a good run, gentlemen, but the end is coming. first urlLink human asexual reproduction , and now urlLink this . the one-two punch to the end of the need for Men. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | sorry neb, i'm not fly-curious. hahahahhahahahhaha. hee hee. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | an interesting urlLink essay on the Wright Brothers, patent law and the birth of modern aviation. i didn't know half of this stuff; a good 15 minute read for the curious. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Once I'm through with you, you'll explain why. Count on it. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | yeah, george w. is lying scum. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | harmony, for some reason your frustration made me think of 'Peanuts.' Can't really explain why. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Please note that my previous post condones neither the attack, nor the reason; nor does it categorically reject the administration's response; it is only a voicing of frustration at the public's inexplicable insistence on clinging to a completely incorrect reason for the act. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | WHITE HOUSE COVERS TRACKS BY REMOVING INFORMATION In a high-tech cover-up, the Washington Post this morning reports the White House is actively scrubbing government websites clean of any of its own previous statements that have now proven to be untrue. Specifically, on April 23, 2003, the president sent his top international aid official on national television to reassure the public that the cost of war and reconstruction in Iraq would be modest. USAID Director Andrew Natsios, echoing other Administration officials, told Nightline that, 'In terms of the American taxpayers contribution, [$1.7 billion] is it for the US. The American part of this will be $1.7 billion. We have no plans for any further-on funding for this.' The president has requested more than $166 billion in funding for the war and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan this year. But instead of admitting that he misled the nation about the cost of war, the president has allowed the State Department 'to purge the comments by Natsios from the State department's Web site. The transcript, and links to it, have vanished.' (The link where the transcript existed until it caused embarrassment was urlLink www.usaid.gov/iraq/nightline ). When confronted with the dishonest whitewash, the administration decided to lie. A Bush spokesman said the administration was forced to remove the statements because, 'there was going to be a cost' charged by ABC for keeping the transcript on the government's site. But as the Post notes, 'other government Web sites, including the State and Defense departments, routinely post interview transcripts, even from 'Nightline,'' and according to ABC News, 'there is no cost.' This story is not the first time the President has tried to hide critical information from the American public. For instance, the president opposed the creation of the independent 9/11 investigative commission, and has refused to provide the commission with critical information, even under threat of subpoena. Similarly, after making substantial budget cuts, the president ordered the government to stop publishing its regular report detailing those cuts to states. And when confronted with a continuing unemployment crisis, the president ordered the Department of Labor to stop publishing its regular mass layoff report. It is also not the first time the administration has sought to revise history and public records when those records become incriminating. As the Post reports 'After the insurrection in Iraq proved more stubborn than expected, the White House edited the original headline on its Web site of President Bush's May 1 speech, 'President Bush Announces Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended,' to insert the word 'Major' before combat.' And the 'Justice Department recently redacted criticism of the department in a consultant's report that had been posted on its Web site.' Read the urlLink Mis-Lead . |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | So I see a WTC monument/design has been chosen, and it will be named The Freedom Tower. (pause) FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, THEY WEREN'T ATTACKING *FREEDOM,* YOU DIMWITTED MORONS! AAAAAAAAAH |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | I enjoyed it, mainly because I'm a fan of the book. I think I'll have to reserve my judgment until the longer DVD release. It has been established now with LOTR that what appears in the theater is not the film, but a conscious abridgement. It is not the finished work. Take a moment and think about that: the artist first publishes/presents a conscious abridgement of the actual work, agreed upon by all parties involved, who know and accept that what was really completed will be released in a different format in a few months. Not a Director's Cut, not Lost Chapters, not a reassessment now that time has passed. A conscious, fully intended abridgement. Released first. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | just saw return of the king. incredible. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | from a urlLink transcript of the interview with Diane Sawyer that JLS mentioned earlier: Bush also defended the intelligence that he used in citing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq as a main reason for going to war. Asked about the emphasis now on alleged weapons 'programs' instead on possession of weapons themselves, Bush remained firm about his prewar assessment of the threat Saddam posed and insisted the world and America are safer because of the war that toppled him. ' What's the difference? ' he said. 'If he were to acquire weapons, he would be the danger. That's what I'm trying to explain to you. A gathering threat, after 9-11, is a threat that needed to be dealt with.' ...i guess the difference that immediately comes to mind would be the one between 1) telling the truth and 2) lying. what the fuck, bush? is that the administration's answer to why we haven't found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? that you figured we'd understand that when you urlLink said right before the war, 'The dictator of Iraq and his weapons of mass destruction are a threat to the security of free nations', what you *meant* was, 'The dictator of Iraq is planning on producing weapons of mass destruction at some point in future, which at that time will be a threat to the security of free nations?' added bonus: he managed to drop a 9-11 reference into a discussion about the justification for invading Iraq. dammit to hell; enough of this. i never expected to agree with the bush administration's policies, but the very least they could do is be straightforward with the people who pay their salaries. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Try pouring lemon juice in your eye. Now *there's* a distraction. Oh yeah. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | now i'm listening to dr. phil. he's exploiting a family. it's something to distract me. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | I caught the last 15 minutes of the Diane Sawyer interview with George and Laura earlier this week. They have some of the most vacant eyes I've ever seen. Scared the hell out of me. I just don't get it. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | playing 80s music in office today WHEN YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES Night Ranger What do you do When it's falling apart And you know it was going From the very start Do you close your eyes And dream about me A girl in love With a gleam in her eye I was a yonger boy All dressed in white We're older now Do you still think about me I remember we learned about love In the back of a Chevrolet Well it felt so good to be young Feels like yesterday When you close your eyes Do you dream about me When you close your eyes Do you dream about me I guess I don't know what I'm thinking Coming off a hard night of drinking Angel come closer to me I need a soul to bleed on It could'a been done In a different kinda way But that ain't you You play tough when you play It's over now I bet you still think about me I remember I held you so tight And we danced the night away With the moves of two wide eyed kids I need you so much today When you close your eyes Do you dream about me When you close your eyes Do you dream about me (repeat) I remember we learned about love In the back of a Chevrolet No good for an old memory To mean so much today |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | From CNN...that M.R.I. is a lively girl indeed! Quite giving. 'Bush visits troops, has MRI on knees' |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | So it begins. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | welcome home, my sister. see you at the tree ritual. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | yay eva! |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | We just arrived back in the States! Yay! |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | funee for jay el ess: urlLink dokaka and urlLink gi joe? |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | and that memo was so poorly worded. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Corporate Email: 'May we ask, if you happen to have a holiday decoration or two that you can contribute for the day tomorrow, to please bring it in. A reminder that if you would like to bring in a decoration or two, please ensure it is fairly nondenominational. Thanks!!' ...because we all know a Methodist tree and a Presbyterian tree look NOTHING alike. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | DUDE. Just checked out the t-shirts, and I'm TOTALLY saving up to get the one that says 'I'm not handicapped...I'm just lazy!' I'd like to wear it to acting on the first day of class. Word. What a great website! I wish I had money... *sigh* *shrug* Eat THAT, Ben! |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Perspective: From an MSNBC review of Return of the King.... '...In the final analysis, a purist for Tolkien's novels might do well to remember what mystery writer Raymond Chandler supposedly once said when asked if he felt his books had been mangled by Hollywood. No, he said, nothing happened to my books. There they are, up on the shelf where they've always been.' |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | good news! urlLink Iraqi WMDs found . record your life on your palm pilot with a urlLink memory prosthesis . check out the urlLink new toilets at google , and then take a gander at some of the urlLink new google features . for your pseudo-amusement, there's urlLink t-shirt hell ; wageslaves, skim at your own risk. and finally, a urlLink harpsicord made out of lego . be sure to check out the accompanying photos. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | The current administration provides the following bread and circus package for various large demographics: wealth, a thrilling invasion, moral superiority, and fear. There is no real connection between the two, but the general media also provides its own bread and circus package, mostly in the form of fear-sex-bling bling. Wealth, sex, invasions, moral superiority, and constant fear. No stump speech can beat that. Four more years on the way. Time will tell if it's good or bad. For myself, I always hope for good. I'll take being wrong and everything turning out ok over being right and it all going to hell any day. It would be nice if the various candidates took the same attitude. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Spel chek is four teh week. Besides, it would not have caught largest error in my post. I forgot a 'not' in my second to last sentence. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Johnathan - I don't understand the first part of the response. I do agree that it is totally on the fickle citizenry and not a measure of the actual politician's skill. Really, how much skill does it take to talk out of both sides of your mouth like most politicians do? To quote James Carville (Clinton's attack dog), 'It's the economy, stupid.' If people are feeling confident in their wallets, the incumbent generally has no problems. Ben - So we should not have tracked him down, left the country, and let him resume control? Reports on the news are that most of the attacks are being carried out by Hussein loyalists, Al Queda, or jihadists, not the normal citizens who were brutalized by Hussein. I have not seen any smug comments for the Republicans, only satisfaction from the military commanders. That's not to say there won't be, but I have not seen any yet. As far as WMD, at this point I don't think anyone thinks they will be found. We can debate from here to eternity about whether or not they ever existed, whether they were smuggled out of the country before the invasion, and whether we were intentionally misled by the President, or if he was misinformed by the intelligence aparatus. We don't know and probably never will know the certain truth. You'll believe what you want and I'll believe what I want. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | john: use the built-in spellcheck, fool! |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | urlLink chaos reigns in iraq (just like last week). saddam's capture changes little. it will make for some smug sound bites from the repubs for a time, but hussein was not the Terminator, and he wasn't calling the shots from some high-tech fortress, his hand poised over a giant red button. where are the weapons of mass destruction he supposedly had at his command? when is this conflict supposed to end - are we waiting for the populace to enjoy being occcupied by a foreign power? aren't we at a point where we're just shooting people who want us off their land? |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | It's not hard to be Teflon if one provides bread and circuses. If Hitler had not opened a second front and had focused a little more on atomic science, we would have had a Teflon fuehrer. Getting through/around political trouble is not a measure of skill; it's a measure of the citizenry's contentment. That said, the American citizenry seem very content. As long as this doesn't change, a president can do whatever he or she wants. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | First the economy starts to recover, and nwo Hussein. I think it wil be fun to watch the 8(?) of them go at each other now as they try to find a sticking campaign point. It has already started this morning with Lieberman calling out Dean on Meet the Press concerning the course of action Dean wanted to take with regards to Iraq. Does anyone else that Bush is starting to resemble Reagan with his ability to get through/around political trouble? Remember the Teflon President? I'm asking whether you agree with either's politics, as I know most of you don't. Just whether you see any similarity. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Legal pot AND P2P downloads??? And I'm not living there yet why? |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | hats for clowns. cats four pounds. chaps in gowns. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Canada urlLink deems P2P downloading legal |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | stop shrugging ben or i will be forced to shave you |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | because the government has the most resources to make something happen. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Eva - Perhaps you could explain to me why a single cent of the $20 billion dollars the US is paying for reconstruction should go to any country that opposed the _____ (insert your preferred term for the action taken). If France, Germany, or Russia wish to pony up their own money to reconstruct things and get their contractor's to do so, then let them. But, as I understand the basis of their arguements, they are upset that we won't let their contractor's bid on projects being paid for with US (and maybe UK?) money. Mir - Some? Yes. Enough to do the job in the near future? Doubtful. In my dealing with Contractor's, I have found most of them to be so tight that they squeak and that they claim not to have two pennies to rub together. So, odds are, except for management and certain ultraskilled positions, they will probably hire Iraqi's to do alot of the work as a cost savings method. If you bring over your American crews, you need to pay much more (travel and housing) versus using someone local. I hope and think that most contractor's will do that (see, greed is not always bad) As far as the medical question goes, your conservative comment seems to imply that you think only conservatives are rich and powerful. I recall a survey, several years old now, that was looking at the net worth of U.S. Senators. You might be surprised to learn that there were more Democratic millionaires than Republican. I honestly don't remember if was a 45 to 40 thing or a 10 to 5, but that is not my point. There are quite a few rich powerful liberals that aren't champoining these causes either. Also, do you think that no research is being done on either of the two diseases you specifically mentioned? Angie can correct me here if I am wrong, but I think that fibro was only recently (last 3-5 years) actually classified as a disease. I don't think you can expect too much research on a disease most doctors don't know even exists. I would expect that research is underway now. As for autisim, I know that research is being done. There has been some recent finding that some medium used to prepare or administer childhood vaccinations has a mercury compound in it. There appears to be some connection between the that and autism. It must be a recent finding, because in 2000, nothing was said about this to us when Katherine got her immunizations, but everytime we get a shot for the twins, it is included in the information given to us. It does make me ask the question, what is worse - losing your child to mumps, rubella, or polio or having them permanenetly disabled by the prevention? That's not a choice I really want to make. Keep in mind that there is only one pot of money for medical research, currently provided by both the public and private sector. That money has to be divided up amongst AIDS, cancer, MS, heart disease, paralysis and a myriad of other diseases/conditions that I did not mention. I have much more faith in the private sector to get the most out of this finite pot of money than I do the government. I have worked for the government and currently work with government programs. The bureaucratic BS and innefficiencies are maddening. Money is held up because a form was not filled out 100% correctly or because some Congressman has not had his chance to make a press release about getting the money for his district. At least with the private sector, they want to get breakthroughs so they can get the return on their investment. It really is sad that someone is going to benefit from someone else's suffering, but I can't think of a better motivator, since there are very few people in this world who are solely devoted to the relief of suffering (like Mother Teresa was). |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | now it is i who am an ass! wheeee |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Sometimes Ben TORI AMOS gets a TORI AMOS thing stuck in TORI his AMOS head and it TORI AMOS kind of TORITORITORITORITORI consumes AMOSAMOSAMOS him. Perhaps it will TORI TORI OH MY GOD IT'S FUCKING TORI AMOS OH MY FUCKING GOD THE LIGHT THE HOLY SEARING LIGHT HER BEAUTY AND INTELLECT BURN MY EYES THEY ARE MELTING DOWN MY CHEEKS MY HEART IT MUST BURST WIDE OPEN MY CHEST IT HEAVES NO BREATH NO BREATH OH GOD OH GOD I CANNOT GET A BIG ENOUGH POSTER OR ENOUGH PICTURES OR ENOUGH MUSIC GIVE ME GIVE ME I MUST FIND OH GOD FIND TORI IT IS TORI THE ONE TORI THE ONE TORI THE THE THE TORI OH GOD OH GOD I CANNOT I CANNOT IF ONLY PLEASE IF IT JUST COULD TORI THEN OH OH OH OH OH OH OH OH AAAAAAAH fade with time. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | All I've got to say is this: Bush is a fucking moron! He has just claimed Iraq as property of the US. What fucking right does the US have to not allow countries that didn't support the invasion of Iraq to help in the reconstruction effort. Sorry for the profanity...I'm very angry today. grrrr! Okay...on to happy things...I'm coming home on the 17th and I'm bringing Nick with me! Unfortunately, I have to stay and Nick gets to go back to England. I been here for nearly 6 months, so I've got stay in the US for a while. Stupid England. Wait...that makes me angry again. grrr! Damn this bipolar disorder. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | and as far as socialized medicine is concerned, the best way to get funding for an ailment is to have a conservative have something horrible befall his family. i bet if a powerful conservative had a relative with fibromalygia or autism or whatever that a lot more funding would go that way. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | what is up with you and shrugging ben? and john, i think there's got to be some professionals (engineers and the like) in iraq who could be used in this process. if they were able to develop weapons of mass destruction (cough, cough) then they must have scientists and an educated segment of society. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | i think that *shrugs* only those countries who *shrugs* helped destroy iraq's infrastructure *shrugs* should be allowed *shrugs* to help rebuild it; there's a terrible *shrugs* symmetry to it, *shrugs* the irony of which is probably lost *shrugs* to those in power. as for dean, *shrugs* i think his best bet is to *shrugs* pick up clark *shrugs* as his VP *shrugs* to help pull in centrists *shrugs* and moderate repubs *shrugs* who are unhappy with bush. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Johnathan - I agree with the similarities between 2004 and 1996 with regards to the motivations of the political parties. One difference I see is what happened in the 1994 and 2002 mid-tem elections. Historically, the party out of power gains seats in Congress in the mid-terms. In 1994, that paragon of virtue (tic) Newt Gingrich managed to energize the Republicans on a national level to take back the House for the first time in 40 or so years. He then of course proceeded to blow his momentum and hand Clinton the White House in 1996 through a number of missteps. Fast forward to 2002, and Gephardt (sp?) was banking on retaking control of the House and firming control of the Senate. Instead, the House remainined in Republican control and the Senate went back to the Republicans. What does that mean for the upcoming election? Probably not a damn thing, but it is a difference. I do have to laugh at the Democrats first harping on the fact the Iraq was going to be a military disaster, which it was not. Then they latched on to the economy being terrible, but now it is recovering very nicely. So now they are back to Iraq and the post 'war' efforts and saying we need to get things under control. But, I am not hearing many solutions, just pointing out the problems, which I fully agree are there. Angie - Thanks, that makes me much less afraid of Dean. I did not know he is a doctor. I have not heard any of Dean's details on the medical front and will not pay attention to them unless and until he becomes the actual nominee. But, one concern I have of government mandates on things like insurance and medicine, is that it smacks of socialism. Canada has socialized medicine. Everyone is covered and the quality of care is good from what I have witnessed. The problem is with availability of some forms of treatment. My mother, who handles the insurance for her doctor's office and has many chronic ailments (lupus, arthritis), told me the waiting list for heart catheterization is about 18 months in Canada. The problem is, when someone needs that procedure, they need it pretty much imediately. Most people don't survive 18 months, so they travel to the US and pony up the cash to have it done here. I guess my point is, for right or wrong, profit is what drives most things in this country. The insurance companies and doctors have to be able to profit from their work or they will do something else, creating a shortage. I will be curious to see how he addressed this in Vermont. If the government steps in much further, I am afraid that our medical system will be hurt severly. Case in point of the profit driven results is Viagra. I'm sure that there were many other diseases/conditions that Pfizer could have researched besides male impotence. But, look at the original target 'audience' - Middle Aged White Males. They knew that they would be able to make a proverbial killing from the general affluence of that market. In the meantime, research into chronic illnesses go underfunded or totally unresearched. Mir - I would hope that we will utilize Iraqis as much as possible. However, given the magnitude of the problems that need to be addressed, I doubt that they have the numbers and/or specialties necessary to do it all. If we are talking road and bridge work, I would assume that the Iraqis have the ability to do those. But, if we are talking about updating the electrical system nationwide, they probably don't. Heck, given what happened here over the summer, you could say that neither the US or Canada do either. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | i think that most of the work to build up iraq should be given to iraqi companies or/and as many iraqis as possible should be employed for these projects. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Answer from Ever-so-slightly-left-of-the-middle: Though Dean's stance is to be as anti-Bush as possible, if you actually listen to him in his speeches and campaigning, he's really not that leftist. He is about Bush (but not necessarily Iraq), and he is about health care (because he's a doctor). But in terms of gun control, abortion, the environment, blah blah blah, he's really no more left that the other candidates, if not leaning a little more towards moderate in such areas. And I think he's a fiscal conservative as well. He just likes to talk Bush-smack to get people all fired up, even if some of their non-foreign policy political ideologies are not so deeply divided. That's just what I gleaned from watching him the few times that I have...I just like him because of his health care reform. Being that I'm a non-senior-citizen with a disability, there aren't a lot of options for people like me, and I like his ideas on how to fix that. *shrugs* Bush-smack sounds...dirty. Sorry. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Answer from the Middle: Dean's status in the polls is founded entirely on an anti-Bush movement. Ironically, the Left's motivation for this election -- we hate Bush, we gotta get rid of this man -- is very reminiscent of the Right's motivation in the Clinton era. Both sides -- the Right, then, and the Left, now -- lacked, and lack, a vision, a plan, a drive to execution. At 9/11, the Right reacted quickly with a vision and a plan, while the Left sputtered and blew the moment. Now the Left can only play catch-up, and the only thesis on the table is getting rid of Bush. The Left needs a vision, a plan, and a reliable leader to initiate the march -- one who won't throw it all away on a cigar and a beret. Until that happens, they will flail about in vague, yet honest, frustration and anger. For now, the Right has the money and the product: Fear sells, and everybody's buying. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Thanks for the response. It clears up some things. And don't forget -- as long as an open seat remains, you're always welcome to return to RTG! |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Yesterday (or Tuesday), Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean to receive the Democratic Presidential nomination. What caught my attention was the press reporting of it. They said that Al Gore was a centrist Democrat and that Dean was much further left of him. Do you agree with this? If so, I am terrified to think that Dean might win the White House, as I have always considered Gore to be a fringe left wing loonie. If Dean truly is left of Gore.... On a funny note, Dean is aparently raising most of his money via the internet. If that is the case, he owes Al Gore two thank yous. First for the endorsement. But most importantly for the internet, because we all know that Al Gore invented the internet. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Well, since I am the only one on the right remaining on the blog, I'll give you my opinion. As with most things, if you want to get a good idea of an entities reasoning for taking an action, follow the money. I saw many pieces of infomration back in January and February listing the reasons behind France's, Germany's, and to a lesser extent Russia's opposition to the then proposed military actions against Iraq. They were the top three countries in oil exploration and refining in Iraq, violating many of the UN sanctions against Iraq. They knew that any change in the government of Iraq would likely cost them those lucrative contracts, rights, and infrastructure. So they opposed it. I'll try to locate the information I saw back then and post it here. Now they are complaining that we won't let them benefit again on the backs of the Iraqi's. Additionally, I would bet, but don't know for sure, that the money for this work is coming from the US and maybe the UK. Why would either country want to give this money to someone else who opposed the action to begin with? Childish? Most definitely, but it is reality. Now, if you can show me some work that a) will not be done in a timely fashion because there are not enough companies to do the work or b) only a company from one of those countries is qualified to do, I will have a problem with it. Otherwise, you reap what you sow. As an add on to b), the only thing that I comes to mind right off hand is nuclear material clean up. France would be good at this since they provide a large percentage of their power through nuclear power, and are pretty good at dealing with the waste. But, since Iraq does not have a nuclear program, I guess that rules that possibility out. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | ben likes talking meat. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Will someone on the right explain for what we are doing in Iraq? I learned this morning that companies native to any country that did not support the invasion are not allowed to help the reconstruction. I'm having trouble figuring out why this is a good idea. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | i thought the earthquake was coolio. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | here you go: urlLink 4.5 earthquake there was a mini-evacuation downtown where i work; lots of curious and confused folk outside their respective buildings, wondering what happened. apparently it was felt as far as petersburg; the link below suggests it was felt much further than that. here's a urlLink graph showing reports from around our area and beyond. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Hm? My building's floor shook a while ago. But it does that on occasion, usually caused by passing trucks or some such. Strange if it was the same shake. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Who else felt that? I thought someone ran into our building. |
589,736 | male | 35 | Technology | Aries | 05,August,2004 | Hmm. I did not consider the multiple images of Neo to be the previous One. I considered that they were merely images of what reaction the Matirx/Architect determined to be likely responses from Neo. |
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