Intellectual Poison

..go and think about it in the hot tub.
Tags: hot tub

Do you hate phone tree mazes when you call into a company for customer service? So did a guy named Paul English, so he put together a nice little IVR Cheat Sheet to help speed you through the phone maze.

The Discover one worked for me perfectly and got me right through their bullshit (here's a hint, the requirement to punch your account number in is useless and only there as a stalling tactic).

And anything to cut down on the hassle factor of getting a live person on the phone is good for me and my blood pressure. And, oh yes, Discover Card sucks ass, I would highly recommend not getting one.
Tags: phone tree, phone maze, cheat sheet

I've been very bad lately, bad at writing good blog posts, bad at keeping up on all the blogs on my lists, very bad at keeping up with the flood of photos from my Flickr contacts and terrible at writing back to friends who emailed weeks ago (sorry EB!, I haven't forgotten, just highly distracted). And then there is the long foundered Cheddar X that sits there with a sad look on its face awaiting some attention.

I would like to say that I can see some light at the end of the tunnel, that things will return to what passes for normal soon. But that would be lying. I don't see any light, I don't see any tunnel coming to an end. More than that, I see the tunnel getting narrower and more confining, I see the journey having to be ever re-focused to remove more distractions and allow me to concentrate.

But, as this mid morning post ably demonstrates, I'm not there yet. I still need to whittle out my distractions so that I can get my work done.

I'm working on achieving a balance but its rather difficult to get to and, even if you do balance your life out, it stays balanced just long enough to be recognized as balanced and then the car blows its transmission or the sink explodes.

Some good things to concentrate on:
- We're going to have another baby in the new year, late May most likely and we're both leaning towards it being another boy without any evidence one way or the other.
- We will also be moving in the next year, hopefully to a location where we can allow our roots to penetrate deep into the earth so that we can feel well and truly grounded. I can't begin to relay just how wearying it is to go to what passes for home now.

I'm sure there are more things that are good but those two are the first to come to mind and my brain's not really cooperating beyond them now.
Tags: update

Boy there is nothing like a full night's sleep with just a touch of Nyquil to help propel the sleeping part and a distinct lack of a toddler with a penchant for kicking my kidneys.

It makes even a crappy and rainy morning like this one bearable. Now if traffic works with me to then I might have a reasonably good start to the day. Until I get into the office and have to face the joys there.

Three and a half months, three and a half months and then I can really kick my career relocation into gear.
Tags: sleep

My brother out pulling the two older boys in a semi-surprise snowstorm that gave us a fun 6 inch dusting of snow to play in.

One of the boys was laying down with his feet towards my brother, the other was sitting on the seat.

As you might guess, hauling a kayak around on the snow is fairly tiring work so he asked for some help. I went out and helped him pull the kayak some.

As happens, on the last pull we botched the release and the kayak was launched at an unwieldy angle which resulted in the kayak doing an Eskimo roll about fifteen feet down the short hill. The boy sitting on the seat stayed in the kayak until it came back up and then was tossed out. He was okay but understandably a little shaken up. The boy who'd been laying down got thwacked in the eye a bit and ended up with a tough looking little bruise.

Both were done for the day, which was fine for me. The cold air and the unexpected running had sapped whatever energy I had when I stepped outside.
Tags: snow, kayak, sledding, Eskimo roll

I read an article in BusinessWeek last week about the rise of alternate belief systems in the US. People looking for something more than what Christianity offers, there are many that have explored Buddhism and found a more harmonious way of living.

There was one quote that really stuck out to me and I've been mentally reminding myself to post it when I got the chance.

"It is the illusion of separateness that is the cause of suffering."

And I may not have gotten it perfectly but I think I caught the main gist of it. The quote was in conjunction with a senior level executive who took a three day mission as a homeless person to break through the division. He said it was a very humbling experience to go from the center of attention to one of the unseen.

Its also a good reminder to look at those things that you may not normally notice, you might be surprised at what you see.
Tags: separateness, suffering, Buddhism

Hi, my name's Johnny and I have an addiction that I'd like to confess.

I love HotWheels. I love playing with mini cars and I love playing with the tracks and now they've got this line of cars with oversized and superfast wheels. I just can't help myself and I have to buy them. At least they don't cost much and I can pretend that they're for Graydon to play with.

And I have no plans to arrest my addiction. No sir. In fact, I plan to let it blossom and flourish all the more and am already planning on how to make better use of the tracks than laying them out on the floor. I'm thinking about a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood prepped, primed and painted and made ready for use as a car park.

I have an addiction and I have already succumbed.
Tags: hotwheels, addiction

You may get a email with a link to this very slick looking (but fake so don't enter your information there) Process your Refund page that is intended to collect your social security number and credit card and billing address as I just did. Its almost certainly a scam.

It is quite well done but backtrack the link and remove everything after the porterfam.org and you get a page of stats. Pretty good indication that its a phishing scheme.

It was nice that they had a link to the IRS home page because I went there and reported them. Shame about internet snitching is you can't hide out on the corner and watch them get busted. Not that I expect anyone to get busted but its a nice thought.
Tags: phishing, IRS, scam

So ugly he was beautiful, Sam the world's ugliest dog for three years running (and who could compete with that mug?) has passed on at the grand old age of 14.

Which leaves the throne vacant for another hound to ascend to. I can only wait and hope that the new dog king of ugly carries the mantle with as much dignity and gnarlish hideousity as Sam.
Tags: Sam, ugly, ugliest, dog, beautiful

So I had to do a few in-flight adjustments on my pie making plans for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Instead of the Pineapple Rhubarb and the Brandied Date and Walnut pie, I reloaded and went for traditional with a little twist.

The rhubarb had to be scratched because fresh rhubarb is hard to come by in November in New England and the Date pie had to be scrapped because my lovely wife thought it sounded gross.

So I made an Caramel-Apple Pie. Its in its ten minute cool down right now and then it will get drizzled with the remaining caramel over the crumbled topping. It smells pretty damned awesome though and I'm excited to dig into it tomorrow night after the feast.

And no, you cannot pronounce car-a-mel, car-mel because Carmel is a pretty little seaside down in California that used to have Clint Eastwood as its mayor.
Tags: thanksgiving, caramel, apple pie

"Don't just do something. Sit there!"
- Thich Nhat Hahn
Tags: quote

Connections will be minimal over the next few days, nothing like a return to the dial up world to remind one of how lucky they are to have a sweet juicy broadband pipe.

But its okay, the company here at my Mom's in New Hampshire more than makes up for the lack of wicked fast downloads and rhubarb.

I was intending to try a new pie for Thanksgiving this year, Pineapple Rhubarb, but I will apparently have to scrap that plan and go another way as there is no rhubarb available in New England from what I've been told. I've got another pie recipe to try, Brandied Date and Walnut Pie, so that'll be good fun.

The flight was pretty decent overall and made ten times better by not having a person sitting in the third seat in our little row so we could give Grady some space to crash. Which he did do after some effort and some milk but boy was he testing the limits before he went down. But once he was down, he was down and done for the duration of the flight. And I can say that JetBlue has done plenty to warrant my continued business. From the curb to the de-planing in Boston, they do it right and with the right attitude. Plus, I liked having the tv screen to occupy my non-sleeping body.

Tonight is a smaller gathering, probably no more than 30 people. Tomorrow will be bigger as its the traditional lasagna dinner, the estimates are 50 adults plus another 19 munchkins.

Would you believe that tomorrow is just a warmup for the main event on Thursday? I don't have a final count yet but I'm expecting we'll break 150 for Thanksgiving dinner this year as it the 100 Year Anniversary of our Family Thanksgiving (no, not the working title and we'll just leave it at that, okay? good). Yes, that's 150 friends and family for dinner. The table of pies should be EPIC!

It was snowing after raining all morning and now the ground's lightly covered with snow. Very pretty until you go outside and realize that its butt-ass cold here. Then its nice to go back inside and just look outside.

Lots and lots of pictures pending but they'll have to wait until Saturday because I'm travelling almost blind, no laptop. Scary, huh? Don't worry though, I still have my Clie so I can get access if I really, really, really need it.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, eat some turkey, gobble some pie and then plunk down and watch some football with your family and friends. That's what its all about (I know its not really but it works for me).
Tags: Thanksgiving, JetBlue

I wish I could say I snapped this while motoring along at speed on the highway but I didn't. I just liked the title and figure that I'm allowed a little artistic license.

What's that? I'm not allowed any artistic license?

Oh well then, pisser that.

At least Jesus loves me, kind of nice of him seeing as I don't believe in his pops.
Tags: jesus loves me

Celebrity Maps, the easiest way to stalk your favorite celebrity. Funny, they don't seem to have Yahoo Serious, I wonder why. Strange, I didn't know Kim Cattrall and Halle Berry lived together. Do the tabloids know about this?
Tags: celebrity maps, stalking, Halle Berry, Kim Cattrall

Heisted from Rambling Rhodes who stole it from Steve and maybe, if I'm lucky, someone will steal from me and keep the heisting going.

1. What is your occupation? Public relations.
2. What color is your underwear? Right now or when I first put them on?
3. What are you listening to now? Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin
4. What was the last thing you ate? Chinese Chicken Salad from Trader Joe's.
5. Do you wish on stars? I wish some stars would fall down and go boom, does that count?
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? The one with all the teethmarks in it.
7. How is the weather right now? Too damned nice to be stuck inside looking out.
8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? John about poker and football.
9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I stole it.
10. How old are you today? 36 and change.
11. Favorite drink? Non-alcholic would be Ovaltine. Alcoholic drink would have to be a mojito on a hot day, Long Island Iced Tea any other day.
12. Favorite sport to watch? On TV? Live? Baseball, baseball, baseball.
13. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yep, used to go blond in the summers.
14. Do you wear contacts or glasses? Not anymore.
15. Pets? Yep, dog and fish now.
16. Favorite month? July, I guess, its hot and perfect beach weather.
17. Favorite food? Grilled teriyaki skirt steak with grilled fresh sliced pineapple on top.
18. What was the last movie you watched? Constantine from NetFlix after it sat for three weeks.
19. Favorite day of the year? Thanksgiving Day
20. What do you do to vent anger? Scream, shout, throw things, throw people, throw cars, throw small convenience stores.
21. What was your favorite toy as a child? Micronauts
22. Fall or Spring? Spring, falling hurts.
23. Hugs or kisses? Sure.
24. Cherry or Blueberry? Blueberry, makes better stains.
25. Do you want your friends to email you back? For the ones that have email, yeah, that'd be nice.
26. Who is most likely to respond? Jay.
27. Who is least likely to respond? Haytham.
28. Living arrangements? Um, share my house with my wife, son and loopy hound.
29. When was the last time you really cried? At my father's wake several years ago.
30. What is on the floor of your closet? Clothes, shoes,
31. Who is the friend you have had the longest? On the list of people from the email?
32. What did you do last night? Watched football, coughed up phlegm and
34. What inspires you? Elegant beauty, something that's both beautiful and functional. Also people who aren't afraid to fail.
35. What are you afraid of? Getting caught.
36. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? What is a spicy hamburger? I'm all for cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and some mustard and ketchup.
37. Favorite car? Ford GT40 but its not very practical.
38. Favorite dog breed? Rhodesian Ridgeback.
39. Number of keys on your key ring? Four on the "big" one, two on the smaller ones.
40. How many years at your current job? Coming up on 4 now.
41. Favorite day of the week? Friday
42. How many states have you lived in? Nine.
43. How many cities have you lived in? Six but not all are in the US.

There now, that only took me, what, a little over two weeks to complete. I should get a bonus for speed.
Tags: memetag

Yes, I'm a fanboy sometimes, not often but I do have a few shows that I get into and enjoy. The main one right now is Survivor Guatemala and, last night they voted off the second member of the jury in Jamie. Jamie's a burly southern guy with some pretty warped logic about the world and a rather large chip on his shoulder too.

And, as the survivors worked through their fourth week of the game, the guy was pretty clearly losing his grip on sanity. He'd devolved into a nagging paranoiac and bully and argumentarian to the point where his fear of being blindsided and voted out of the game game true because he kept pushing people not to.

Just stupid really. I'm glad he's gone though because he was a seriously annoying personality. I hate people who pretend to be all about logic and reason but have no problem backing it up with "Or I'll kick your sorry ass" which he used on numerous occasions.

And, just like the pretty boy Blake who dogged it around camp only to shine during challenges and wouldn't shut up ever, Jamie didn't get it either. He didn't see why or how he got tossed.

Right now, my money's on Gary because I like how he's carried himself with the exception of being stupid and lying about being an NFL quarterback back in the day because he thought people would assume he was rich. But beyond that, he's been a stand up guy. And I can definitely say that Lydia doesn't deserve to win, Rafe's starting to show some stones by winning two of three individual immunities, Steph's just trying to stay under the radar for as long as possible and has a chance of winning but not if she doesn't get to choose who she goes against in the final two. Judd's not going to win but he's certainly cooled his temper down. I go from liking to disliking him in almost the same breath which generally means I think he's kind of an ass.

And please, would someone send Danni something to eat, her emaciation is starting to border on kind of gross. Like she's trying to be Mary Kate or Ashley or something.
Tags: Survivor, fanboy

On this day in history: November 18, 1978 Mass Suicide in Jonestown where Jim Jones leads his followers in the drinking of a poisoned cocktail in Guyana, East Africa.

In all, 913 people died and 276 of them were children. The re-enactments I've seen were not gentle, they had armed guards ready to shoot anyone who tried to not drink the poison cocktail so I'm sure how it can really be called a mass suicide. It would be more appropriate, I think, to call it a mass murder by brainwashing and then by force. Also, from the Wiki link, they had dry runs where everyone was given what they thought was poisoned Flavor-Aid. Those that didn't drink it were engaged in a debate and usually complied quickly. Only after everyone had drunk the fake poison would they be told that it was just a test of loyalty to Jim Jones.

Friends don't let friends get brainwashed into being culties. And real friends will tie you up to keep you from being sucked into a cult if you're prone to that sort of thing. Really, really good friends will even break into a cult to get you out but its just best to stay out of them to begin with. Any group of people that requires you to subordinate your own desires for some false prophet's desires is no place you want to be. Of course, I'm reminded of David Koresh and his Branch Davidians and the colossal clusterfuck that was the taking of their compound in Waco. There are cults everywhere, heck Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are part of a cult, just a really big and well organized and thoroughly scary cult.
Tags: Jonestown, cult, suicide, Waco

This is gold, this is an AskMetaFilter post by a guy who is trying to appear as if he was scammed when, in reality, he was simply trying to refine his scamming techniques by querying the intelligentsia at Ask MetaFilter.

It is totally worth the read and is getting better and better. The short story is this guy asked whether it was ever possible to get money back from an eBay scammer. But it pretty quickly becomes apparent that he's the scammer and the person he scammed joined MetaFilter to post in the thread and now the Bakersfield police are involved and the USPS mail fraud division.

This might be the first time someone got arrested directly because of MetaFilter. Someone needs to write this up! The human interest angle alone is just incredibly fascinating and then there are the dumb, dumb mistakes the scammer made. This is just begging for widespread media coverage.
Tags: MetaFilter, eBay, AskMetaFilter,scam

Sony's new USB device is NSFW (that's not safe for work) but is a pretty damned funny hack nonetheless.
Tags: sony, hack, usb

Pat Robertson Warns Pa. Town of Disaster because they've removed every school board member who advocated the teaching of the farcical theory of Intelligent Design in schools when ID is a faith based theory that has absolutely no business in a science classroom.

Sure, it can be discussed in an ethics class and used an example of religious nutfucks trying to stupid up America with their nonsense theories (and it should be noted the chasm between the validity of a widely held scientific theory and Joe Blow's theory about why girls wear thongs, a scientific theory is much more concrete and provable than some guy's pet theory). From the Wiki link above: In scientific usage, theory is not the opposite of fact. Theories are typically ways of explaining why things happen, usually after the fact that they happen is no longer in scientific dispute. In referring to the "theory of global warming", for example, there is no implication that global warming is not occurring; world temperatures have been measured and are increasing. The "theory of global warming" refers instead to scientific work that explains how and why this has been happening.

So, the theory of evolution isn't open to dispute about its validity as a method of explaining how life came to be in the current state it is on this planet. Its intellectually dishonest to try and dismantly evolution as false because its called a theory, scientific theories are already held as true and the theory refers to explaining the mechanisms by which the phenemenon function, not that there is room to dispute the underlying science.

And lastly, Pat Robertson, shut up. Just shut your stupid-making pie-hole up. Quit talking about assassinations, quit talking about Intelligent Design like it has any business being mentioned in the same frame as evolution. Just shut up. Or go back to your 700 Club echo chamber.
Tags: evolution, science, theory, intelligent design is a lie, religiouscience, STFU Pat Robertson

I don't normally write about my ride home from work but last night's was strange not once or twice but in four separate incidents.

The first was a camper parked on the side of the road with black smoke coming from it and bright flames growing underneath.

The second, a scant quarter mile from the burning camper, was a motorcycle in the middle of the lane, the rider propped up against the barrier between the north and south routes, his helmet was off and the paramedics were attending to him. He looked like he would probably be alright but was gonna feel like utter hell this morning.

The third was a biker I was following for a good portion of the ride. He had a super skinny back tire and a suicide shifter behind his left leg, this means that, instead of a normal lever at the left foot to shift, he had a gear shift like you find in a car. That wasn't the unusual part though. Bear in mind that it gets dark early now, it was almost 5:30 and it was dark out on the highway. At one point he was duffing along and there was an opening and, since I tend to ride alot faster than most cruiser style bikers, I passed him. Once I was riding in front of him, he disappeared and I couldn't find him in my mirrors. Until he happened to get shined up from behind by a car's headlights. This guy was riding his motorcycle through traffic at night without a headlight. Without a headlight and a suicide shifter and a skinny little backtire and an engine that sounded like a turbocharged chainsaw. I can't imagine how he was able to sit on that bike with such enormous balls.

The fourth wasn't so unusual but it hasn't happened in a long time and makes me laugh. People in cars that have been lowered generally hate bikers because our headlights sit above their trunks and basically light up their cars like a hundred watt bulb. Well, last night, four teenagers in a Celica took umbrage at my low beam in their car and started flipping me off because, I assume, they thought my low beam was my high beam. So I showed them what my high beam looked like and they went fucking ballistic in the car. Or, if you can call really aggresive middle fingering of people at 75 miles an hour on the highway ballistic, they did go ballistic. And when I pulled in front of them, they immediately set on their high beams and tried to pace me.

Which is really stupid in a car with four kids against a pretty new motorcycle with a sport engine. Good luck, idiots. I dusted them pretty easily and got the rest of the way home without major incident.

Of course, on my way back out, there was another accident in the middle of the street that turned a 6 pm reverse commute drive into a crawl.

But it was all made up by pulling a 6 on the river in some No Limit Poker last night and completing a six through ten straight the hard way to scoop in a decent little pot and end up positive on the night. And then knocked back down because somehow the bank got badly screwed up and I had to give up some winnings. Oh well, still fun. Even if I'm beat and burnt today.

Tags: commute, motorcycle, poker

Colored Soap Bubbles

Look, pretty!

If you're interested in the pretty serious science behind suspending dye in a soap bubble, you might want to read the accompanying article, The 11-Year Quest to Create Disappearing Colored Bubbles. I love a good story and this is a good one. The kind my father would have absolutely loved reading. The only bummer thing about these cool new vivid soap bubbles is that they aren't commercially available yet. But they will be and then the technology can and will spread into a whole passle of other applications, think of where you'd like to be able to see if you've wiped or applied a cream or something and then have that dye slowly fade to nothing. Sunscreen, disinfectant towels, paintballs, the list is nearly endless and that's what makes it so cool. A scientific breakthrough while searching for a way to make a better bubble.
via
Tags: colored, soap bubbles

So I finally got around to shoving a blog into the Wal-Mart is Pure Evil page which had been sort of adrift for a while. Now I've got an easy place to put the Wal-Mart stories that I'd like to post and comment on. Like the memo which I haven't forgotten about, its just gotten buried in front page drafts. Now I can pull it back and put it over there. Oooh man, the organizational possibilities are exceptional.

Anyway.

And the first real post is for Wal-Mart the Movie. There's going to be a free screening in Pajaro on Saturday.
Tags: Walmart, Wal-Mart

Because I utterly loathe websites that refuse to publish customer service numbers on their site I am going to republish Yahoo's Customer Care number here in the hopes that other people find it and use it to get straight to Yahoo and not wait days and days and days for their slow ass email replies with no help contained in them.

And how did I find this number, you ask? Well, after searching through their useless help pages, I went to Yahoo's main page and scrolled down to the bottom. There was a link to Yahoo Company Information with a further link to their Media Relations page. That page has a phone number on it so I called it and never did speak to a human but the computer voice told me the number below. Also the Media Relations page has handy directions if you feel the need to register your ire in person.

So, if Yahoo is screwing you over, call (408) 349-1572 and be prepared to wait and wait and wait. I've been on hold for twenty minutes now (thanks speakerphone for saving my ear and neck) but I'm not going to give up now. And try not to scream at the idiotic voice telling you to seek help on the incredibly unhelpful help pages.

And yes, once I finally got someone live on the phone, it was a pretty straight forward password resetting without the dire warnings and drama. Why couldn't they just send an email saying call this number and we can sort it out in fifteen minutes? Just stupid and short-sighted.
Tags: unlisted number, customer service, Yahoo, hidden contact info

There are some nice aspects to having a little bit of a commute, not many, mind you but there are some. Like the ability to take alternate routes in to work, routes that can include rather long detours through the Santa Cruz mountains.

Its important to sometimes go out of your way to take the long way. You never know what you might see if you do.

So I'm going to try and do a little back country moto this morning and enjoy the ride.

PS Did you know that Sesame Street comes on at 6 in the morning? I didn't until Graydon decided that 6:20 was wakeup time this morning and we weren't quite ready to shake and wake. So now I've got the theme song to Elmo's World playing on endless loop in my brain. It could be worse, it could be the Journey to Ernie themesong.
Tags: commute, enjoy the ride

Via SlickDeals - eBay has coupon codes for regular and buy it now auctions when paying with paypal. It only works for one item. And the codes expire on 11/30/05 but saving money's almost never a bad thing, is it?

* 10% off ($25max) coupon code: C1-Holiday2005
* $5 off coupon code: C2-Holiday2005
* $15 off coupon code: C3-Holiday2005
Tags: eBay, coupon, slickdeals,
PayPal, Buy it Now

Well, I'm not sure how long I'm supposed to wait for Yahoo to try to restore access to my account after I've faxed them their demanded information.

I have little doubt that I didn't get the information exactly exact as they commanded so I'm resigned to the fact that I've lost my figan8 at yahoo dot com email address. Which is really pretty sad actually as I've had that address for a very long time and there are a huge number of emails from family and friends in there that are gone. If you're trying to get ahold of me, use jh at intellectualpoison dot com for now until I get things sorted out.

Not to mention my fantasy teams that are pretty well screwed now and I think I'll be demanding my money back for the Statracker add-on now that the account is broken.

Its pretty damned galling really to me that Yahoo can treat people's accounts so wantonly. Sure, they're trying to help me get back into my account but they aren't trying very hard and they love, love, love to put in the dire warnings about what happens if this doesn't work.

Here's the final line from their email to me:
For security reasons, if you are unable to supply us with the correct information in your next request, we will not be able to offer assistance with this account.

Which I take to mean, nice work screwing up your account, moron, unless you have every little bit of random information we're going to ask for now, you are fucked but thanks for giving us all that money for so long.

Which basically means that, if they don't get this shit straightened out, I will sever all contact with Yahoo and never use any aspect of Yahoo again, save Flickr. How's that work for you, Yahoo? Do you want a fully disgruntled and angry ex-customer ready to counter-evangelize Yahoo? That is, are you ready to have me thoroughly pissed off and happy to relate the details to anyone who'll listen in order to help them avoid doing business with you?

Good because that's pretty much exactly what I'm going to do once you come back and regretfully inform me that the account is broken and cannot be fixed even though that's an utter and complete load of bullshit.
Tags: Yahoo, lost password

Here's some pain that someone else can hopefully avoid. If you use Yahoo, make sure you've got access to your alternate email address in case something happens with your password. I didn't and had my password inadvertantly reset and now have to send in a fax with all kinds of info to Yahoo to give them the power to go in and repair the stupid account.

A wee bit of a pain in the ass. Well, more than a wee bit since I get all of my email through my Yahoo account. But its prompted me to get my alternate emails in order and I think I'm going to actually start to migrate to a new Yahoo address in any case. The old one has some legacy issues.

Be careful not to accidentally reset your password and not have access to your alternate email, unless you wanted to have no access to your email or homepage or fantasy teams all weekend. If that's the case then go right ahead and delete your password. Loads of fun await.

In other news, Graydon thinks its funny to try and get hurt.
Tags: password

As usual, the internets will offer up something that kind of just makes you sigh and feel bad for humanity in a sort of lonely and depressing way. Its with this mindset that I offer, House With Bride.

The house costs $600,000 and comes with a free bride who, unless the photos are massively photoshopped, is quite a looker and reasonably successful. Even more so knowing she's nearly 50! Which makes me wonder why she's had such a hard time finding someone to be with and really the only conclusion I can come to is that she's completely batshitinsane. And by batshitinsane I mean that she's got a bar of standards set so high that God himself (or herself if you prefer) wouldn't pass muster.

And oh yes, God is part of the equation. I suppose I shouldn't really knock her effort to find someone as I'm a product of an unusual coupling. However you find that special someone (presuming you're not surfing death row looking for your perfect mate) is valid in my book. Its just that these sorts of plaintive pleas are sort of sad really. I wonder if she thinks it her or the rest of the world that's messed up?
via
Tags: house with bride, matchmaking, batshitinsane

I'm listening to a new track called "Rubber Glove Seduction" by PTP and I've gotta just say that its one of the best names for a song I've heard in a long, long time. The song's alright too, heavy bassline and sort of a tribal feel.
Tags: great song title

The fine folks at Comfort Stand have a couple of nice mellow lounge albums available, Various Artists - Two Zombies Later. Some decent tunes so far, I'm always in the market for music to have on in the office and the ambient/lounge/groove genres work nicely for that.

Other good background music: Lemon Jelly, some Morcheeba, some of the mellower Thievery Corporation stuff, Lovage and some Portishead (which gets old to me quickly as alot of it sounds very similar and starts to sound like a whiny person after a little bit).

But the lounge stuff is good.
Tags: mp3, lounge

Today's going to be a fairly low-key day. Graydon's been sick since yesterday afternoon, including several rounds of vomiting. He's a little shaky now but seems to be feeling better and appears to be keeping some electrolytes in him.

This is the first time he's gotten sick sick and its actually pretty scary. So much so that I slept in his room for a while last night just because I wanted to stay close to him.

I think he'll be fine but he'll be staying home today. And its pretty heartbreaking when you know he feels so poorly and there's almost nothing that we can do to help him out.
Tags: sick baby

So, a quick post before I get on with getting on with my day.

I visited Tuckle this morning and noticed she'd added a couple of new links to her sidebar, Roe v. Wade and abortion as well as a link to Geekery Today where the idea of a new Google Bomb project is explored.

I am very much pro-choice and have not the slightest hesitation in jumping aboard this bandwagon. Prop 73 was defeated in California but I would highly doubt that its the last attempt by the Republicans to legislate abortion into the annals of history. Actually, here's a nice summation from the World Socialis Web Site:

Proposition 73, which would have required parental notification before a minor could receive an abortion and would have changed the California Constitution to define abortion as the “killing of an unborn child,” was defeated by a vote of 53 percent to 47 percent. Proposition 73 was a favorite of the Christian right, which attempted to manipulate the genuine concern of parents in order to attack a women’s rights.

So I am joining the Google Bomb: Project Abortion Education. Stand with people who desire choice or stand with the people who want to dictate what you and everyone else can do with your body because of their religious fervor. Seems pretty straightforward to me.

Okay, back to the millstone.
Tags: abortion, Roe v. Wade, google bomb

So its pretty much the end of the day and, overall, I did pretty decently in unplugging myself. A few times I found myself following links from my Yahoo page but stopped before they loaded. I read my email (and synched it to my Clie, which was cool), took notes on things that happened today and actually ended up getting a fair amount of work done. And that's kind of what I was afraid of, not that its any leap of logic or anything, its just easier to deny without empirical evidence.

So the end result is that I'm going to be trying to make more of an effort to unplug during the day as I can. At least for now, things have taken a turn at work and I'm going to be substantially busier for the foreseeable future. And I need to be able to concentrate on that.

Which means I'll have to be catching up in morning and evening posts or maybe I'll just do the mini Blog This posts during the day. Or something, who knows. By no means does this signal the end of IP, just a necessary shift in priorities until things settle back down or I convince my bosses that I need a monkey to run my errands for me.
Tags: paradigm shift, prioritization

I've decided to take a break from the web universe for the day. No blog posts, no chats, no MetaFilter, no MeCha, no reading blogs, an unplug of sorts. Part experiment, part something else.

Wish me luck.

Tags: siesta

Congress may probe leaks in CIA prisons story, not that they'll look into whether there are secret CIA prisons being run in foreign countries. Nope, that's not the issue to this government, the fact that the information was leaked is more important than the news that the CIA may be running covert prisons overseas. Think about that for a moment, they are unconcerned with the news being leaked and far more concerned with the fact that the news got out. The same thing for the escape of Omar al-Farouq, what's Alberto Gonzales saying about the escape? "....Gonzales described the apparent breakdown in communication as a 'serious problem' and told CNN in an interview that it would be investigated." Not that he shouldn't have escaped or been able to or anything like that, no, its about the leak.

This administration should, if there's any justice in the world, choke on its own vomit one of these mornings. And don't forget, the US doesn't torture people but Dick Cheney wants the CIA omitted from that agreement. So the correct statement is "We do not torture but the CIA can and does and is". Can you say "warped priorities"? Yeah, I knew you could.

I had this thought on the way from work the other day, if you have found some way to rationalize the torture and abuse of prisoners of war then you are a flawed human being. If you have found a way to justify the beating to death of inmates then you are a flawed human being. If you think the USA is above the law and can stomp all over human rights and never have to pay the piper, as it were, then you are a flawed human being. Behaving as if the law does not apply to you is the most sure way I know of to learn the hard way that the law of the land does, in fact, apply to you. And if you call yourself a Christian and you're advocating more torture then you are a fundamentally flawed and hypocritical human being.

Torture is not acceptable. Torture is not a viable means to any ends worth arriving at. Torture debases America and its interests. Torture is what the bad guys do, not the good guys and the US is supposed to be the good guys. Its painful to know that we're not, that we are acting like the global bully with a religious zealot at the controls.
Tags: gall, torture, hypocrite, wrong thinking, warped priorities

You know, I find it pretty amazing that gas prices can fluctuate so quickly. Gas prices have been up and down so much they should be taking motion sickness pills.

Public outcry, some media spotlights and, whoops, prices are dropping all over the country. Two weeks ago, gas at the local station was hovering at around $2.97 a gallon. This morning its down to $2.67.

Why? Have they brought all that capacity back online in the Gulf after Katrina and Wilma? Has some huge untapped reserve been found?

Or have the oil barons realized that they were about to get angry mobs storming their offices with ironically oil-soaked torches looking for some fat cats to hang?

I'm leaning pretty strongly towards that last one.
[Update: Libertine notes he got gas for $2.17 this evening and I saw it for as low as $2.49. I'm not really complaining (unless my neighbor gets his Hummer back) but it's kind of amazing, isn't it?]
Tags: oil company, profits, liars, crooks, oil barons

So tomorrow Californians are going to go to the polls and hand Governer Asshat defeat after defeat. But there are more than just the Asshatinator's four pet propositions intended to reform California in Tom DeLay's Texas image (the anti-Prop 77 commercial with the redistricting of California ending up looking like Texas was powerful and well done, I thought).

So I thought it would be a good idea to take a quick run down through the propositions on the ballot tomorrow just to make sure we're all on the same page. Okay? Along with a short explanation of the proposition. Longer explanations and links to more info can be found on the Wiki: California Special Election pages. But a pretty decent guideline is to look at who is supporting these propositions. If its a Governor Asshat propelled proposition then you can pretty well be guaranteed that its not in your best interests to vote for it.

Prop 73: The No-abortion without 48 hours to notify parents proposition.
No.
Prop 74: School teacher tenure.
No.
Prop 75: Union Dues.
This is an attempt to weaken unions in California by adding another layer of bureaucracy where its un-needed. Big No!
Prop 76: State Spending Limits
Do you want Governor Asshat to have the final authority on school budgets? I sure as hell don't and this is exactly what Prop 76 does. Vote No on this ridiculous and brazen powergrab.
Prop 77: Redistricting.
NO NO NO NO NO NO. California isn't Texas, don't try to pretend that it is.
Prop 78: Drug Discounts (Industry Backed)
Um yeah, this is being pushed by Governor Asshat and the Pharmco's. Do you think its in your best interest or their's? Vote No on 78
Prop 79: Drug Dicounts (Consumer Groups Backed)
If Governor Asshat doesn't want it then you can probably bet that its a reasonably good thing for real Californians. Vote Yes on 79.
Prop 80: Electricity Regulation
Do you want the government to make it more difficult to shop for better electricity prices? No, neither do I. No on 80.

So it looks like this will be easy. No on everything but Prop 79. Okay then, off to the voting place.

Warren Beatty said it best during an interview yesterday morning when he asked why the governor needs to two special elections. One to get elected and another one now when the regular election is just over 6 months away in June. He needs the special election because he's counting on people blowing it off and his powerbase not blowing it off and getting some of these draconian asshole measures passed that will fundamentally change the powerstructure of this state. Vote against Governor Asshat and vote for California!

Tags: special election, Governor Asshaat, California is not Texas, Prop 73, Prop 74, Prop 75, Prop 76, Prop 77, Prop 78, Prop 79, Prop 80

More new words I've invented to add to my growing Fictionary. Particular favorites this time around are shambolic, porking lot, colasshole and shunshine.

Adversation - when you're talking with someone and you realize they don't really care what you're saying, they're just trying to get you interested in their product or service (the street vendor who tries to tell you a joke to get you to stop and look at his schlock he's selling).
Colasshole - a really, really, really big asshole.
Idiocity - a city populated by morons.
Incist or Insest - when a sibling insists on having sex with you, insistent incest. Nice, huh? Yeah, sorry.
Juddy - someone you're forced to be "friends" with due to circumstance and by friends I mean he's a physical threat to you so you just play nice. Came up with the term after watching a recent episode of Survivor Guatemala where Judd, the big loud-mouthed New York doorman, has basically bullied his tribe into doing things his way. He used to be a good guy but its pretty apparent that he's really a pretty rampant asshole and I hope he gets tossed off the show soon.
Mailias - using a fake name to send email or snail mail.
Maleias - when a girl pretends to be a guy and makes up a fake name, her male-ias.
Porking lot - where "Johns" park their cars when they go to the brothel.
Shambolic - false or falsified symbolism, sham symbolism. Think GWB's landing on the aircraft carrier with the "Mission Accomplished" sign in the background. Or the scads of people who sport magnetic ribbons on their cars saying "Support the Troops" when they're just supporting the makers of the magnetic ribbons.
Shipping weasel - Someone who sells on Ebay but always charges waaaaay too much for shipping because that's how they make their profits without having to pay Ebay so much. I nearly bought a replacement Ipod on Ebay the other day but the shipping weasel wanted $45 to send it.
Shunshine - what goths and other heliophobes do.
Spamvesting - investments based on tips recieved in spams. It doesn't end well.

And some new blog or band names that I've come up with.
The Doom and Gloom Room - teen angst blog, maybe with a Marilyn Manson feel to it.

Sir Real - as in surreal, sort of. I just thought it was kind of cool. No, you shut up. Moooooooom!

Tags: fictionary, FBN, new words

I nearly laughed at the customer service rep a moment ago when she assured me that getting me my replacement camera was Sony's top priority right now.

Sony's top priority right now is damage control, not replacing my broken camera. Though I did appreciate the lip service, Sony's got way bigger issues to deal with. Like this "rootkit" issue in which they are installing extremely nasty spyware on their customer's computers. Spyware that's invisible and extraordinarily adept at hiding itself. So much so that the only solution I've yet heard is a full system re-install.

I first read about it over at Rick's and its definitely gained legs since then. PC Mag does a good write up of the issue and why it opens the door to some really malicious assholes gaining access to your computer thanks to Sony and their outrageously stupid and shortsighted DRM efforts.

The new technology, which Sony has dubbed "sterile burning," manipulates the Windows core processing center, or "kernel," to make the DRM almost totally undetectable on Windows systems.

These DRM files are almost impossible to remove without fouling Windows systems and could be used by malicious hackers to hide their own programs, according to Mark Russinovich, chief software architect at Winternals Software Inc.

Hey Sony, think you'll save enough money this way to pay for all the lawsuits? I highly doubt it. Didn't you idiots learn anything from the Napster sue your customers stupidity? Apparently not. I'd imagine old Sony Music's stock is getting beaten around the markets like a drunk kid toucher at a PTA meeting (hey, that's not bad!).

And I've never been so damned happy to not be running a freakin' PC as I am today. My Mac sneers at Sony's stupid ass DRM garbage, for now. I'm sure they're working on a delicious fully cross platform ass-plowing DRM use software package that'll munge computers all over the world. I hope and expect that Sony (and the other music morons) will have realized how incredibly stupid it is to attack your customers rather than try to work with them. You attack us, then all bets are off and there's no need for us to treat you with even the tiniest hint of respect because you haven't done the same for the consumer.

Sony, take heed, back off the pitbull aggression for music sharing. Its the way of the future, embrace it and figure out a way to turn it into revenue. Fight it and you open yourselves up to massive litigation for illegally installing malicious and incredibly invasive software that you have no right to install on any computer.

By purchasing music, we are purchasing the right to listen to that music by any means we choose. If that's on my iPod then that's my right, if I want to listen to that CD recorded onto a cassette tape, then that is also my right. Trying to dictate how people enjoy their music just means that people will be buying their music elsewhere, without the tyranny of your software or DRM.

And its now been two and a half months since Sony shipped my camera to the wrong address and I'm still waiting for a replacement as Sony and UPS negotiate who fucked up more. I don't really care who fucked up, I just want the damned camera back. Everyday they have it is another day where its value depreciates that much more. So I'm going to call them every other day until they get their thumbs removed from their backsides and get me my damned camera back.
Tags: Sony, DRM, rootkit, hacker, music, camera, DSC-P200, customer service

Do you believe it when liars tell you something that you know to be completely false? Oh you know, something like our president saying "We do not torture" POW's.

And yet the Bush Administration is trying to get the CIA exempted from legislation pertaining to the care of prisoners.

Now, why would the vice president be trying to get the CIA exempted if they don't torture prisoners? Why would they need the exemption unless they are either torturing POWs now or are planning on torturing some soon.

How can George Bush say ridiculous shit like "We do not torture" when there have been scandal after scandal of prisoner abuse. When Lynndie England was just convicted of abuse. When the US government has still refused lawful orders to release all of the photos from Abu Ghraib? When your own Attorney General has written public documents advocating the torture of prisoners? Do they honestly believe that the American people are this stupid? Or do they just not care because they know that they'll have made their billions by the time they actually get charged with crimes?

The asshats have no credibility and yet they keep behaving as if they are riding a tidal wave of public approval when they should really be busting their damned asses to regain some mote of public trust. Not engaging in further overt and idiotic lies like this.
Tags: torture, lies, crooks, Bush, Cheney, Gonzales

MEH!
Tags: prince charles, camilla

Its everybody's favorite gameshow, Fishing for Lawsuits! In which people try to sue someone, anyone, for some perceived slight against them, no matter how trivial or how stupid.

Our first contestant is Cynthia Rhouni of Madison, Wisconsin who tried to sue the Department of Corrections because they made her remove her headscarf before they would allow her into the prison to visit her husband.

Sorry Cynthia, no $200,000 payout for you for having to remove your headwear to gain elective access to a protected area. Why? Because you didn't have to go in and you choose (or elected) to remove your headscarf so you could go in.

Rhouni claimed her constitutional right to practice religion was violated when she took her son to visit his father at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage. A security measure that took effect months earlier banned visitors from wearing headgear inside state prisons.

The rule has since been changed because of Rhouni's complaints and lawsuit. But, at the time, the rule stood and she really has no legal ground to stand on. If she absolutely didn't want to remove the headscarf and still wanted her son to see his father, then have someone else take him. Or wait until he's released. Rhouni and her lawyers want people to see this as a one or the other case, she had no other option but that's just not true. If her beliefs were that strong then she could have and should have found another means of getting her son in to see his father, one that didn't require her to remove her headgear. But then, she wouldn't have had the pretext for the lawsuit.

Why do people think that any slight against them is grounds for a lawsuit? What's next, someone's going to sue Major League Baseball for getting hit by a foul ball at the ballpark? Another lawsuit about hot coffee? Religious freedom does not mean that your religious beliefs trump standing law, religious freedom only means that you are free to practice your religion without undue restraint. Not that you can snub the law when it suits you and call it religious expression.

If that were the case then I'd start the Church of the Leadfoot right now and never get another speeding ticket as its part of my religious beliefs to drive really fast.

This guy, who was somehow glued to a toilet seat in a Home Depot store and ignored by the staff, might have a legitimate case though. Who plays stupid pranks like that? Putting glue down on a toilet seat? Lame. It was only for 20 minutes but still, an employee went into the bathroom, he asked for help, the employee didn't believe the man and he waited until another employee came in before he could get some help. That's just stupid, even if you think its a joke, don't treat it as such or you could find yourself getting sued and rightly so.
Tags: fishing for lawsuits, headscarf, elective visit

Poignant, no?

I appreciate the power of a political cartoon, its says so much without saying anything at all. This one image, from one of my contacts, HabitForming, does an excellent job of expressing how I've been feeling about the war on terror in Iraq. Of course, its oversimplistic but that's part of its appeal, it is immediately graspable and you either agree or disagree with very little space for anything else.

And, in local politics, every single one of Governor Asshat's propositions is set to fail, which is good. Maybe it'll make him realize that his "starpower" isn't quite enough to get an entire state to sell their future and hand over nearly total control to him. Sorry, Arnold, you're a prick, a liar and a cheat. It will not be soon enough before you are shown the door and we can get someone who actually knows what they are doing in the governor's office.
Tags: house of cards, Iraq, 2000 soldiers, california special election

Why do they even bother with entering a plea in cases like this? Just on the off chance that the accussed has had an attack of conscience and would like to skip right to the sentencing?

Yeah, Scooter pleads innocent of all charges not including rampant cronyism, massive asshatery, grade-school style grudges and payback and basically treating the US Government, along with the rest of the Crony Patrol, like their own private sandbox/litterbox that they can play in and shit all over it if they so choose.

But it's not your government, Scooter. It's not your government, Dicky. It's not your government, Karl. It's not your government, George. It's ours and we want it back.

And, oh yes, by the way, Clinton's first 57 months in office saw a 235% increase in the NASDAQ, want to take a small guess as to Bush's first 57 months in office's effect on the NASDAQ? Down 13%. Sure, its not his fault though, it never is.
Tags: crony, Scooter, Libby, plea, innocent, guilty, Bush, Cheney, corruption

Via an AskMeFi question, I was directed to a member's site called Folded Space where he'd implemented David Allen's Getting Things Done and written about his experiences with it. I found this nice Getting Things Done Workflow Chart that will help me get back on top of all my projects both at work and at home. So far its really helped me get back on top of the ever-shifting pile of priorities at work. I've still got a ways to go with it but its working nicely so far and several co-workers have expressed some interest in the program as well.

Now I just need a day at home to get the process underway as it'll be some grinding to get things in place there. But I'm down with it. Anything to help get a better grip on what needs to be done.

One of the really good things I've implemented from the program has been the Touch-It-Once philosophy. Don't leaf through your mail, put it back and then have to sort it again later, sort it the first time you pick it up and discard as much as you can right out of the gate.

I am planning on getting myself a copy of the book but not through Amazon. I don't really plan on getting anything through Amazon anymore since they're, well, idiots. And I generally don't like to do business with companies that have rather idiotic practices.
Tags: Getting Things Done, organization, prioritization

Shot for trick or treating seems a little extreme but doing the door to door thing trick or treating is new in Italy and I'm sure there are more than a few folks who didn't get the memo.

So when a pair of demons comes a'knocking, you start a'blasting. Makes sense to me really. Sort of.

Actually, the idea of just opening fire on people at your front door never occurs to me. With the exception of the abrasive missionaries who really, really want to share their personal journey to God with you. Um yeah, share it with the door, I ain't innerested.
Halloween. fright, shoot first, don't ask questions

If the scary prognostications in this article at TechWeb are to be believed, Your Next IM Could Be Your Network's Last.

Apparently there are some seriously lame-ass punks in the world who want to munge up your IM and use it as a means of turning your computer into one of their slave machines for their attacks. Or just delete important files or just make it so you have to stop what you were doing and repair the damage they caused.

"The scary part is that the IM worms are becoming very smart on how they use buddy lists," said [Art] Gilliland, [vp of product management at IMlogic]. "You could see infection happening relatively instantaneously."
In 2004, Symantec ran simulations that showed an IM worm could spread to s many as 500,000 machines in under 30 seconds.
"An automated, network-style IM worm would be orders of magnitude faster than that," claimed Gilliland.

Looks like its time people stepped up to more secure IM apps but then how many people are using email apps with encrypted address books? Yeah, almost no one. I guess we'll just have to learn the hard way then.
Tags: instant messenger, virus, very bad news

I heard about Search the Vault on the news last week and was looking forward to checking it out. The premise is pretty straight forward, there are lots of bank accounts, safe deposit boxes and other monies that have been separated from their rightful owners or heirs, Search the Vault aims to connect people back up with thier lost possessions. I came up empty but I would guess that some readers will find some money that they'd totally forgotten about, which is always nice!

There's no hurry because they never clean out the vault, they will hold your money or stuff for as long as it takes to find you or one of your heirs.
Tags: unclaimed, california, money

I forgot my password to my Amazon account and tried to recover it through their online system. In the end, you have to fill out a bunch of information and they'll get back to you.

They got back to me today and the response was pretty ridiculous: "We're sorry that you've had trouble re-setting your password online. We've found that in the majority of cases, the quickest solution is to simply create a new account at Amazon.com."

Don't bother trying to get back to your old account that's got your wishlists, preferences, purchasing history and everything else. Just start a new account. Note, not the easiest solution, the quickest. They just want into my wallet some more.

Thanks but no thanks, Amazon. I'll be taking my business elsewhere if that's your pathetically stupid idea of customer service.
Tags: Amazon, customer service, password recovery

So it was bound to happen eventually. And yesterday it happened, I got my first ever payment for blogging. Not for a post or Intellectual Poison (though according to this blog, IP is worth almost $34,000).

Nothing huge, not enough to retire on but you know what, it certainly beats a kick in the teeth. The check was a many, many months accumulation from the Google Adsense ads across the IP Universe. The nice thing is that, at current rates, I should end up getting two or three of these checks a year. Not megabucks but, again, better than a kick in the teeth (as most things are).
Tags: Google, Adsense, getting paid for blogging

Not rushing water, not whistles, not other dogs, nothing. When Nande is on her game, she is like a laser beam on her target and absolutely nothing can pull her attention away. It's pretty funny when another dog comes up and wants to play or say hi or anything and she won't even glance at them.

Which is, of course, one of her greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses all in one.

One of the cool things about this photo is that it was picked up by the Flickrati as part of the October 31st Interesting Photos (no promises on the link as it seems to move around some)!
Tags: beach, dog , water, splash, beach, beach

Raw Story has a transcript of Harry Reid's speech as he forced the Senate into a closed door session to address the failings of the administration and the checks and balances in Iraq, in New Orleans and everywhere else.

Read the transcript here: Reid takes Senate into closed session over Iraq intelligence but here's an excellent excerpt that should be repeated again and again until the goddamned Republicans actually answer the questions being asked.

What has been the response of this Republican-controlled Congress to the Administration’s manipulation of intelligence that led to this protracted war in Iraq? Basically nothing. Did the Republican-controlled Congress carry out its constitutional obligations to conduct oversight? No. Did it support our troops and their families by providing them the answers to many important questions? No. Did it even attempt to force this Administration to answer the most basic questions about its behavior? No.

Unfortunately the unwillingness of the Republican-controlled Congress to exercise its oversight responsibilities is not limited to just Iraq. We see it with respect to the prisoner abuse scandal. We see it with respect to Katrina. And we see it with respect to the cronyism and corruption that permeates this Administration.

... There is also another disturbing pattern here, namely about how the Administration responded to those who challenged its assertions. Time and again this Administration has actively sought to attack and undercut those who dared to raise questions about its preferred course.

For example, when General Shinseki indicated several hundred thousand troops would be needed in Iraq, his military career came to an end. When then OMB Director Larry Lindsay suggested the cost of this war would approach $200 billion, his career in the Administration came to an end. When U.N. Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix challenged conclusions about Saddam’s WMD capabilities, the Administration pulled out his inspectors. When Nobel Prize winner and IAEA head Mohammed el-Baridei raised questions about the Administration’s claims of Saddam’s nuclear capabilities, the Administration attempted to remove him from his post. When Joe Wilson stated that there was no attempt by Saddam to acquire uranium from Niger, the Administration launched a vicious and coordinated campaign to demean and discredit him, going so far as to expose the fact that his wife worked as a CIA agent.

Good on ya, Harry. Press forward and make the bastards answer for their actions and crimes. Definitely not the last of this we will hear and nor should it be. This is what happens when one party is given too much power, the checks and balances magically disappear and we end up with an intractable war, incompetent emergency agencies and the relentless shut-up dogs that do nothing but shout down dissent, fire whistleblowers and attempt to completely shut out any voice not in complete agreement.

Go get 'em, Harry, give 'em hell!

In other news, the rioting in Paris continues after the electrocution deaths of two boys. I'd not heard about it at all until I read MetaFilter today, thanks American Media, for completely overlooking important events taking place in Europe.
Tags: Senate, Harry Reid, Iraq, demanding answers, Paris, riot

Yep, today's the start of the National Novel Writing Month, write 50,000 words in 30 days.

Not me, not this year, not with everything else going on and already many, many places ahead of NaNoWriMo in line. Sorry NaNoWriMo but you'll just have to wait until I don't have a million things to do all the time.

Oh yeah,I'd also be happy if Blogger stopped choking on itself and actually published my posts today rather than spinning and doing nothing. (Nice touch on the Blogger Status page to say nothing's wrong, nothing's ever wrong, is it?).
Tags: NaNoWriMo

Today has got to unofficially be called Forgetful Day. How else can you explain all those candy wrappers all over the ground that the children forgot to pick up last night?

Or the dude who parked his little BMW and headed off to work without noticing that his parking brake wasn't on and his car dribbled forward from its parking space to come to a stop right in the middle of the parking garage aisle?

Or the kids who thought it would be a good prank to pull a bag of trash out down in the slough and set it on fire before they realized that the bag of trash was about 80% wet, stinky dog poop and that ain't burning anytime soon?

Or the husband working to do a little emergency cleanup this morning as the drain pipe under the sink had come loose and filled the space under the sink with water. So I, I mean the husband, got out the wet/dry vac and sucked it all up. And then, after dumping the water, forgetting to grab the filter and closing the garage door on it.

Yeah, Happy Forgetful Day! I hope everyone else had a great happy and safe Halloween!

But at least we had a bitchin' smoke machine last night and an awful lot of trick or treaters!
Tags: Halloween, Forgetful Day, candy, water leak

So Governor Asshat is at it again. On the news that all of his pet powergrab propositions are trailing so now he's saying that if his proposals aren't passed then California will pay higher taxes.

I'm not sure but that sounds an awful lot like extortion.

And you know how you can tell a lame duck Governor? When people are quoted on the news as saying they'd vote against any initiative supported by the Governor. That's a really good sign you're just occupying the office.

Enjoy the rest of your term, Governor Asshat, and then please just go away. People have realized that you're are a serious part of the problem, not any solution.

So, again, No on 74, No on 75, No on 76 and No on 77! More on the other propositions later.
Tags: california, politics, governor, No on 74, No on 75, No on 76, No on 77,