10

1. 2004-10-01t22:08:46Z. RE: 2D, Images, Photos . Cyber Life, Email, Surfing . Healthcare, Medicine . Linux, Open Source . Local . Terror, War .
2. 2004-10-02 Rapier Weekly Class. RE: Martial Arts . Practice Notes . Falling . Rapier .
3. 2004-10-08t20:52:07Z. RE: 2D, Images, Photos . 2D+text, Comics, Sequential Art . 2D+time, Activities, Animation, Video . 3D, Architecture, Sculpture . Computers, Networking, ProgrammingDrink, Food . Economy, Finances, Money . Engineering, Function, Technology . Entertainment, Movies, Radio, Show Biz, TV . Environment, Fauna, Flora, Green . Fun, Games, Play . Humanity, Psychology, Sociology . Linux, Open Source . Local . Love, Relationships, Sex . Martial Arts . Math, Science, Science Fiction, Space . Terror, War . US . US Elections .
4. 2004-10-25t14:56:31Z. RE: aaBlog . 2D+time, Activities, Animation, Video . Clothes, Fashion . Computers, Networking, Programming . Engineering, Function, Technology . Environment, Fauna, Flora, Green . Humanity, Psychology, Sociology . Interesting, Jokes, Odd, Weird . Obituaries . Math, Science, Science Fiction, Space . Stories, Words, Writing . Terror, War . US Elections . Working . World .
5. 2004-10-28t17:18:39Z. RE: Blogging . Cars, Transportation . Computers, Networking, Programming . Economy, Finances, Market, Money . Engineering, Function, Technology . Entertainment, Movies, Radio, Show Biz, TV . Environment, Fauna, Flora, Green . Fun, Games, Play . Math, Science, Science Fiction, Space . Political Science . Terror, War . US Elections .

2004-10-01t22:08:46Z | RE: 2D, Images, Photos . Cyber Life, Email, Surfing . Healthcare, Medicine . Linux, Open Source . Local . Terror, War .
2004-10-01t22:08:46Z

• JPEG exploit could beat antivirus software. They give several reason:
  • AV does not check JPGs by default.
  • JPEGs have 10+ possible extensions including .jpg, .jpeg, .icon, .jpg2.
  • 'Internet Explorer processes JPEGs before it caches them. That could also mean that desktops may become infected before antivirus software has a chance to work.'
• Adobe proposes new format for images [/.]
  • 'Most consumer digital cameras today capture images in the JPEG format, but a higher-quality raw photo format is gaining in popularity among higher-end camera models. A major frustration among photographers, however, has been how different digital camera makers use different, proprietary versions of the so-called raw format, industry analysts say.'
    • Yes, there is a real need for a non-lossy version of JPEG that is standardized and broadly accepted.
  • 'Now, Adobe, which dominates the photo editing market with its Photoshop products, is proposing that its new Digital Negative Specification, or DNG, becomes a universal standard for the raw format. The San Jose-based company is also launching a free software tool that will allow users to convert the raw formats from more than 65 cameras into the DNG format. Raw photo files contain all the original information captured by a digital camera sensor before any in-camera processing occurs and thus gives users truer images and more flexibility when editing. By comparison, JPEG photo files are compressed images that suffer some data loss.'
  • Related:
    • Store.Adobe.com/products/DNG/
    • News.DeviantArt.com/article/16150/ 

Cyber Life, Email, Surfing

• IE--embraced, extended, extinct?
  • 'Redmond rejects that notion, saying instead that the long wait for an IE update is an indication of the work it's putting into the next incarnation of the browser. If Microsoft's plans pan out, it will unveil dramatic new features that will take Web browsing to an entirely new level--in many ways stepping beyond the browser completely. Because those features will be available only to people who also use the next version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, currently dubbed Longhorn, browser functions are expected to create a powerful reason for customers to upgrade.'
    • I dunno. So far all I've heard is that you get to search your HD and network as well as the Web. I'm sure that people will upgrade but it will take a lot of convincing to justify the bloat.
  • 'Microsoft's new Avalon graphics engine and XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) programming schema allow companies to write Windows applications that easily interact with data over the Internet. Such applications also can run on their own, or within a browser--though only on a Windows-based machine.'
    • The new tech has to have some way of handling the growing market that isn't on Window or it will just drive even more people away from Windows.
  • ' "Still, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me," O'Grady said. "If Microsoft just added a few new features like tabbed browsing, it would automatically eliminate a lot of the basis for criticism that it is taking right now. I don't know technically what is involved. But I can't see why an organization the size of Microsoft can't do that. The only conclusion I can come to is that the browser is not the important platform to them that it once was." '

Healthcare, Medicine

• Health-care firms on lookout for Michael Moore. ' Some of the nation's biggest drug manufacturers and health insurance plans confirm they have issued warnings to their sales representatives and other employees in recent weeks, telling them to be on the lookout for the shaggy filmmaker in his trademark baseball cap. And, under no circumstances, are they to talk to Moore. The industry's red alert was prompted by word that Moore plans to aim his camera lens at the health-care industry, much as he did with other targets, most recently President Bush in "Fahrenheit 9/11." '

Linux, Open Source

• Open Office XML Format Will Probably Become an ISO Standard [/.]
  • Sweet! If this come true then it's another reason for why OpenOffice wins over Microsoft Office. Don't forget that most people only use 5% of the features offered by MS Office.

Local

• Pushy panhandlers targeted
  • 'Even though Claudia Smith walks out of homeless shelters every morning desperate for money to buy food and clean clothing from thrift shops, she acknowledges that cussing and hounding people isn't going to help her. So she isn't too fearful of getting snared by an ordinance passed by the City Council Wednesday that will hit aggressive panhandlers with fines when it takes effect by early November. Not that she could pay the fine, anyway.'
    • They may not be able to pay, but it's the principle of the thing. Givers and receivers should all have basic manners and dignity for each other --you never know who might go whacko on you.
  • 'Under the law, panhandlers can be ticketed if they ask for money within 10 feet of bus stops, ATMs, currency exchanges or banks. Panhandlers will be barred from asking for money from people in restaurants, sidewalk cafes and gas stations. They cannot be rude or use profanity, and they cannot touch a person whom they are asking for money, according to the law. It also bars two or more panhandlers from jointly asking for cash.'
    • Excellent! Most of the panhandlers in Chicago's are drug addicts or insane. There are shelters for the truly hungry.
    • Panhandling laws in the Philippines are stronger but different. In the much poorer Philippines, giving money to beggars is illegal so the GIVER can get fined.
  • 'Most people asking for money present no problem, and the aggressive panhandlers are few, he said. While the law was passed without debate, a 1991 law that outlawed all panhandling sparked a class-action lawsuit that cost the city nearly $500,000 to settle. City lawyers say this new law, focusing on aggressive begging, will stand up to legal challenges.'

Terror, War

• Jordan king: Iraq unsafe for poll. 'Jordan's King Abdullah says only extremists will gain if Iraqi elections go ahead as planned in January.'
• Here is an email I recently sent to my GOP friends as part of a small thread we've had.

  That's the point: I don't want politics in the discussion. We are in Iraq because of politics instead of necessity. People were emotionally manipulated into invading and now we're stuck in the mess.

  If we had kept hammering in Afghanistan -- which we had the moral authority to do -- we might have had Osama bin Laden by now. If we had proceeded more slowly with weapons inspectors then we would have had time to develop a plan for Iraq, built up a REAL coalition, and we would have invaded with good moral authority.

  As it stands we're in a huge mess without international support, without a plan, and without moral authority --esp. since we torture prisoners, kill civilians, and fix elections. Fuck: How can we have real elections in Iraq if we can't even have trustworthy elections here? (Florida hasn't mended any of their voting problems --obviously because the GOP rigged the 2000 election and they want to do it again ;).

  Personally I think we need to regain our moral authority: Be much more careful about civilian deaths and apologize/compensate for the ones we killed. Do whatever it takes to get more UN and International cooperation (including fixing the UN instead of ignoring it). Have a 3rd party oversee the election process so that there is no doubt about it's authenticity. Have some real heads roll to account for the prisoner abuse.

  Regaining moral authority is not largely an emotional reaction but a rational one. No one is entitled to "justice" but everyone is entitled to due process. Once we have moral authority then we can apply force and power with a heavy hand as long as we retain our moral authority. Then we can really plant democracy in Iraq. Plus this will relieve our military forces a bit so we can use it where we need it elsewhere.

  Or come up with your own plans. In one sense it doesn't matter who wins the election. We the people still need to think about what we should be doing. We can't rely on politicians to do the thinking for us. Why should we allow politicians --who have their own agendas-- to ignore the analysis of the military and of diplomats? I don't like blindly accepting whatever the government does.

  -George Hernandez

• Baghdad Bombings Kill 35 Children. 'It was unclear if the bombs -- which also wounded 141 people, including 10 U.S. soldiers -- targeted the convoy or a ceremony marking the opening of a new sewage system that was taking place at the same time. '

• Bin Laden Deputy Purportedly Seeks Strikes

  • 'An audio tape purportedly released by Osama bin Laden's deputy calls for attacks on U.S. and British interests everywhere, according to a broadcast Friday by Al-Jazeera television. The Arab station said the speaker on the tape was Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian-born surgeon and the closest aide to al-Qaida terrorist group leader.'

  • ' The speaker on the latest tape calls on Muslims "not to wait any longer, otherwise, we will be devoured, one country after the other," according to Al-Jazeera. "The youth must not wait for anyone and must begin resisting from now and learn a lesson from Iraq and Afghanistan and Chechnya." '

  • 'The CIA determined with a high degree of confidence that the speaker in the previous message was al-Zawahri.'

• 96 Killed in Major U.S. Assault in Iraq. ' Master Sgt. Robert Powell, a spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division, said 96 insurgents were believed killed during Friday's clashes. Dr. Khalid Ahmed said at least 80 bodies and more than 100 wounded were brought to Samarra General Hospital, but it was not immediately clear how many of them were insurgents. The hospital was running out of bandages, oxygen and other supplies, Ahmed said. One American soldier was killed and four were wounded, Powell said'

US Elections

• Transcript: First Presidential Debate [2004-09-30]
  • I saw this debate live in it's entirety. These debates have to be seen --it isn't enough to read the transcripts.
  • Body language: Kerry won without a doubt.
    • Both were generally calm and polite. No one invaded anyone's personal space and no one jabbed his finger at anyone else.
    • Kerry had great posture, a great poker face, and was always respectful in body language. Kerry's occasional jotting down of notes made him look smart and showed that this was important.
    • As the debate wore on we frequently saw Bush slumping, looking disdainful, and smiking. Plus Bush was clearly shorter --in spite of the distance between the lecterns. ;)
  • Verbal delivery: Kerry won without a doubt.
    • Neither candidate ran on. Surprisingly the light system indicating time worked quite well.
    • Kerry was eloquent. Kerry pronounced all his words properly and he clearly knew what each word meant and the subtleties of using them. Kerry has a very neutral accent.
    • Bush stammered often and often repeated himself as if he were trying to fill in the time. Some of the words seemed a bit too big for him to really grasp. Bush has a country boy delivery which may be endearing for some but I'm not into favoring or disfavoring anyone for their regional accent even if I like the sound of the accent. EG: A British accent is always fun.
  • Emotional delivery: Depends but I preferred Kerry.
    • Kerry had a consistent sincere and certain tone through out. He can vary his volume and pacing but the range is more subtle than Bush.
    •  Bush's delivery changes much more distinctly when he goes into "empathizing" or "delivering a sermon" mode. I can tolerate empathizing but he's not a preacher and I find the preaching annoying.
  • Character conveyance: Depends but I preferred Kerry.
    • Kerry is clearly strong and brave but he also has a brain that adds complexity.
    • Bush is persistent and consistent but too inflexible and fixated for my taste.
  • Issue: Iraq: Depends but I preferred Kerry.
    • I clearly agree with Kerry that 9/11 logically lead to al Queda/Afghanistan but not to Iraq. Bush blew it by going into Iraq (something even Bush Sr. purposely avoided) and Bush allowed Osama bin Laden to escape. Osama started it [9/11], but Bush didn't finish it.
    • Bush believed that he "exhausted" diplomatic options but I don't believe that. I believe that Kerry will be a much better than diplomat than Bush, and hence Kerry will also do better at war.
    • Kerry agreed to the war but he also wanted an exit plan, a real coalition, and a way to pay for it. That's not flip-flopping, that's common sense. There was no exit plan. There was weak coalition. There were tax cuts for the rich and a huge deficit.
    • Obviously Iraq democracy, infrastructure, elections, etc. are important US concerns now. No duh! How could Kerry not do a better job with this than Bush?
    • Iraq was in a box before Bush opened it up. Iraq wasn't a center of terrorism, but it is now. Bush broke it, now America has to buy it. Bush may have started it [Iraq], but Kerry will finish it.
  • Issue: Nuclear Proliferation (NP): Kerry won without a doubt.
    • Kerry wrote a book on it! Bush was barely familiar with the combination of words "Nuclear Proliferation", much less pronounce it.
    • Bush was trying to spin "Nuclear Proliferation" into "WMDs in the hands of terrorists". They are 2 related but separate issues.
    • Kerry said Bush had cut NP funding. Bush countered by saying that NP funding had actually increased. The real story is that Rumsfeld had wanted to cut NP funding but got overruled.
    • If Bush was indeed concerned about NP, then why did we only guard the oil but not the nuclear facilities when we invaded Iraq?
    • If the US is against NP, then why is Bush sending "mixed messages" by starting to develop new nuclear weapons?
    • Bottom Line: I believe that Kerry has a better grasp on NPs and could do the job more effectively.
  • Issue: Korea: Depends but I preferred Kerry.
    • Korea was closely watched before Bush. But since Bush: Bush stopped bilateral talks in favor of multilateral talks (including China, Japan, etc.). Hence Korea took out our TVs and has now acquired nukes.
    • Kerry wants to resume bilateral talks and continue multilateral talks. Again Bush diplomacy sucks.
  • Issue: Russia: Depends but I preferred Kerry.
    • Putin is responding to terrorism by removing democratic elements in his government and taking more power for himself.
    • Bush had earlier "judged" the character of Putin as great but apparently Bush may have misjudged. Another case Bush's lousy instincts.
    • Kerry sounds like he would be a bit more insistent that Putin stay democratic.
  • Issue: Diplomacy: Kerry without a doubt.
    • Bush was weak and rushed in diplomacy for Iraq.
    • Bush is "no" on the ICC. Why is everyone else subject to it but not the US?
    • Bush is no on the Kyoto Protocol. Even Russia is about to sign it which would mean that 61.6% of industrialized emissions would be covered. If the US signed onto Kyoto then the US percentage of 36.1% would bring the total to 97.7%
  • There is nothing innovative or insightful about either the "flip-flop" campaign or the "stay the course" campaign. Both phrases are monotonous mantras the Republicans keep repeating in order to frame the debate and hypnotize the public. It's just more of the same.
  • In contrast Kerry is a brave warrior with a brain. Kerry is Presidential, strong, multi-dimensional, and he has clean diplomatic plate.
  • The first debate was yesterday and as of today Bush has slim a 4% lead. It will take the public a few days to digest the debate however so the polls will change. If foreign policy was supposed to be Bush's strongest area, and if Kerry just beat Bush on foreign policy, then Kerry has a very good prospect at beating Bush! 
  • Overall I'm surprised at the quality of the debate. They actually discussed issues! And there was a minimal amount of mud slung!
• And the winner is… 'John Kerry! He beat President George Bush in the first Presidential Debate of this campaign season. The score was 35 to 23.'
• The upcoming Vice Presidential debate on 2004-10-05 looks like it could be fun: The Dark Lord v Mr. Sunshine.
• Here are some sweet words from a MoveOn.org email:
  • ' The debate last night was a make-or-break moment in our campaign to win back the White House. Today the verdict is in: with confidence and conviction, Kerry made the case against Bush's disastrous foreign policy -- and Bush couldn't take the heat. Today's editorial by the Boston Globe sums it up: "Ladies and gentlemen, you wake today to a whole new presidential race. Last night, John Kerry won as clear a debate victory as we've seen since Ronald Reagan outdueled Jimmy Carter in 1980…The Democratic challenger seemed more serious and substantive, more knowledgeable and confident, than the man who holds the job." '
  • ' John Kerry's performance was very strong. But what sealed the deal for many commentators was how rattled Bush got when confronted with the truth about his policies. The Washington Post derided his "stammering and pausing," the New York Times said he was "scowling and grimacing" and "petulant," the Boston Globe noted his "sighing, clenching his teeth, rolling his eyes," the LA Times said he seemed "tired and annoyed," and CBS News described Bush as "scowling at times and looking away in apparent disgust at others." Mark Halperin of ABC News summed it up: George Bush was "remarkably angry-seeming." '
  • ' Kerry has said before that George Bush lives in a "fantasy world of spin." Last night that fantasy world began to crumble. Bush appeared angry that anyone would dare to challenge his view of the facts. Faced with the reality of the mess he has created in Iraq, and challenged for repeatedly misleading the American people, he retreated, falling back on his trite slogans over and over and over. One of the most compelling moments of the debate came when George Bush once again tried to connect Iraq and 9/11. But Kerry wouldn't let him do it, and Bush scowled at his powerful response. '
  • 'Even the conservative pundits gathered on Fox News had to admit that Kerry looked pretty good last night. Bill Kristol said, "I think Kerry did pretty well, and…we're going to have a real presidential race." And right-wing commentator Joe Scarborough conceded: "I don't see how anybody could look at this debate and not score this a very clear win, on points, for John Kerry." And the voters agree. ABC News said, "John Kerry won the debate," pointing to a poll of independent voters who declared Kerry the winner, 45% to 36%. CBS News said, "John Kerry won the debate," and found Kerry up by 15 percentage points among uncommitted voters. Even Gallup, a polling firm which has consistently skewed Republican, found Kerry winning by 16 percentage points, with a whopping 46% of the viewers saying that the debate made their opinion of Kerry more favorable. On the web, clickers delivered a landslide: with over 250,000 votes cast on the CNN website, 77% of the viewers thought that Kerry won, as opposed to only 19% for Bush. Kerry's win last night will transform the presidential race. As voters get to actually meet the man Karl Rove has demonized, they realize he presents a serious alternative to Bush's reckless policy of endless war. '

2004-10-04t16:49:41Z | RE: Martial Arts . Practice Notes . Falling . Rapier .
2004-10-02 Rapier Weekly Class

Organization: ChicagoSwordplayGuild.com
Context: Weekly Class
Date-Time: 2004-10-02t11:30/15:00
Location Address: 1419 W. Blackhawk St., Chicago, IL 60622-2317
Location GPS: 41.906951 North, -87.663452 West
1st Half Subject: Falling and Takedowns
1st Half Instructors: Greg Mele, Dave Peck, Jesse Kulla
1st Half Students: ca. 20
2nd Half Subject: Rapier, esp. cavatione
2nd Half Instructors: John O'Meara
2nd Half Students: ca. 6

The first half of class involved a review of falling. People worked in pairs over a mat. I arrived slightly late but I could not have missed much because everyone was still working on falling backwards from a squatting position. (And yes I did my punishment calisthenics!) It was evident that the basic principles were covered such as tucking your chin in, and rolling while spreading the fall over a wide area (as opposed to a small area like your tail bone). Predominantly backward falls were performed. There was an interesting emphasis on NOT slapping your arms on the ground because actual ground is not usually padded.

After practicing falling from squatting, we went right on to falling from standing. This was done while emphasizing three ideas.

The first idea was to visualize the missing "third foot" of the Faller. (The analogy is that a table requires a minimum of three legs to stand by itself.) If a person's feet are two corners of an equilateral triangle, then the third corner is where the third leg would be.

The second idea was for the Pusher to bring some part of the Faller's body to the imaginary third foot or further. The wrist was usually the easiest grab but the hip, shoulders, or head were also brought down. Sometimes it helped to twist or lower the Faller in some way to make the takedown easier. Points were made that the Pusher should not bring himself/herself into a precarious position as well.

The third idea was to utilize a "wave" push. The idea was basically not to just push back but to push up then down. This would raise the fallers center of gravity up first but would also emphasize that the Pusher push downward as well as horizontally.

The second half of the class split the group into Rapier and Long Sword practice. I did the Rapier portion so these notes will cover the Rapier class which consisted of roughly 5 exercises.

Ex. 1. Partner lunge critiquing. Pairs had one person practice attacking with a lunge while the other person observed and critiqued. Most common points were toes straight, fuller extension of rear leg, time of the hand then foot, and keeping the wards tight while closing either inside for quarta ward (inside, palm up) or outside for the other 3 wards.

Ex. 2. Partners gaining and freeing swords. Both partners roughly in place moving only the arm. Tempi 1: Agent (Ag) gains sword. Tempi 2: Patient Agent (PAg) frees her sword but Ag frees his sword. Tempi 3: Same. Repeat.

Ex. 3. As Ex. 2 but while moving back and forth in stance.

Ex. 4. Partner practice with cavatione (a semi-circular disengage with the wrist only). Starting from outside of measure, swords slightly too far to touch. Tempi 1: Ag moves in and gains sword. Tempi 2: PAg frees sword via cavatione but Ag frees via cavatione (a controcavazione) and moves in while gaining sword. Tempi 3: Same as Tempi 2. Tempi 4: Ag lunges for touche.

Exercise 5: Like Exercise 4 but with a volte (French) or inquartata (Italian). Start from the same as Ex. 4. Tempi 1: Ag gains sword. Tempi 2: PAg frees via cavatione but Ag frees via cavatione (a controcavatione). Tempi 3: Ag lunges but PAg frees via cavatione (a ricavatione!) while countering with a girata (stepping to the outside AND forward with the rear foot while closing the line and countering) for touche.  I think we also need to clarify how synonymous or different the term "girata", "volte", and "inquartata".

The contracavatione of Ex. 4 was quite difficult but the ricavatione with a girata was much more! For several classes now we have been working on closing in on our opponents while dynamically keeping our swords free and gaining their sword. On very rare occasions it seems that our swords sing and move snakishly by themselves, but more often there's just a lot of clanging. I, at least, am certainly in need of more work in order to execute these techniques with sufficient economy, speed, and tactical timing.

2004-10-08t20:52:07Z | RE: 2D, Images, Photos . 2D+text, Comics, Sequential Art . 2D+time, Activities, Animation, Video . 3D, Architecture, Sculpture . Computers, Networking, ProgrammingDrink, Food . Economy, Finances, Money . Engineering, Function, Technology . Entertainment, Movies, Radio, Show Biz, TV . Environment, Fauna, Flora, Green . Fun, Games, Play . Humanity, Psychology, Sociology . Linux, Open Source . Local . Love, Relationships, Sex . Martial Arts . Math, Science, Science Fiction, Space . Terror, War . US . US Elections .
2004-10-08t20:52:07Z

2D, Images, Photos

• Mondolithic.com. These commercial graphic artists have a lot of their cool artwork online. This one was a 2 page spread in Wired about the dangers of electronic voting.
  

2D+text, Comics, Sequential Art

• Avengers Toys: Disassembled. Sweet! I was really in the mood for some good fun crap like this: A comic strip made by photographing your super hero toys against a cardboard background.
  
• Judge Palpatine presiding: Who shot first: Solor or Greedo?. Sigh. I can't believe I read the whole thing.
  

2D+time, Activities, Animation, Video

• GOP fear phrases video [.MOV]. Hammering away.
• What Barry says [.MOV]. A visually arresting attack on the NeoCons, war corporatism, and the PNAC (Project for the New American Century).

3D, Architecture, Sculpture

• Dilbert's Ultimate House. 'What do you get when thousands of Dilbert readers put their minds together and design a house?'

Computers, Networking, Programming

• Build Your Own PC: Cheaper and Easier than Ever
  • Nice little article on making your own PC.
  • 'Thanks to shopping online, building your own PC is less expensive than ever. It's tough, almost impossible, to build a low buck system for less than Dell or Gateway can. Face it: they're buying a thousand processors at a pop, you're buying one. They get a better price. As systems get more expensive, there's more room to beat the big guys. Careful shopping might save you 10, or if you're really good, even 20 percent.'
• An Open Letter To Microsoft Windows [/.]
  • Written like a break up letter to a lover, it goes over the relationship from 1992 to now. Fun but good content.
• Mono: A Developer's Handbook [/.]
  • A book review of the book published by O'Reily.
  • 'I am reasonably proficient in C and C++ as well as the more common scripting languages, but i always felt the lack of a sweet spot between the hard and fast low-level programming languages and the loosely typed scripting languages. Lately, my interest in the Mono project has been growing. The C# language appears to offer just that sweet spot between power and productivity I've been looking for, and its class libraries like Gtk# seem to provide the programmer with a very clean and intuitive API.'
• IBM says Blue Gene breaks speed record [/.]
  • Yay! The US will have the number one supercomputer again!
  • It will be official when Top500.org says so in November or so.
  • I included the /. link only because of the fun ridiculing of a typo.
• Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 (J2SE 5.0) finally released [2004-09-30] [/.]
  • Read the /. for bitter pro and con comments about Java.
  • It's actually a jump from J2SE 1.4.2 to J2SE 1.5 but in anycase the Java names suck.

Drink, Food

• Sweet! Caffeinated, ginseng beer. This link is more for others than myself because I consume alcohol and caffeine only occasionally. On the other hand I love sweets but I can't envision myself drinking sweet alcoholic beverages any more than I do now.

Economy, Finances, Money

• Wealth does not create individual happiness and it doesn't build a strong country, either
  • 'A study in the recent issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest addresses how economic status is no longer a sufficient gauge of a nation's well-being. The authors argue that the psychological well-being of its citizens is the greatest measure of a nation-- not the well-being of its economy.'
    • Ah, so money can't buy happiness.
• September Job Growth Weaker Than Expected
  • This is probably one of the last economic reports before the election in November. This was one of Bush's last chances.
  • 'U.S. payrolls grew by just 96,000 workers in September ... the jobless rate steady at 5.4 percent in September'

Engineering, Function, Technology

• He's off his trolley. Blast off with a rocket powered shopping cart!
  

Entertainment, Movies, Radio, Show Biz, TV

• DVDVerdict.com/reviews/StarWarstrilogy.php. 11,000 word review of the recently released Star Wars Episodes IV, V, & VI on DVD by 10 folks.

Environment, Fauna, Flora, Green

• Global Warming Expected to Intensify Hurricanes [/.]
  • ' Think this hurricane season was bad? Well according to the New York Times, a study was published online on Tuesday by The Journal of Climate indicating that warming ocean temperatures are going to make for stronger, wetter hurricanes in the coming years and decades. An abstract of the article concludes cheerfully enough that 'greenhouse gas-induced warming may lead to a gradually increasing risk in the occurrence of highly destructive category-5 storms.' Oh joy. '

Fun, Games, Play

• Addicted Gamers, Losing Their Way [/.]
  • What? Not me... no way!
  • I was going to forward these links to my wife but then she'll get into another round of pressuring me about it.
  • I am going through another round of dealing with my gaming. I can go for many days without playing, but once I start playing a game, I have a very difficult time playing for a short or pre-determined period of time. It is possible that my biochemistry actually changes once I start playing. However I have hope that I have the discipline and bio-chemistry to not play as often. This way I can have my occasional fun but have a life too.
  • The /. thread has good different perspectives. EG:
    • 'That's not addiction. It's compulsive behavior, but it's not addiction. Consider the difference between the alcoholic and the compulsive gambler. The alcoholic is actually experiencing a change in brain chemistry. If he doesn't drink, he suffers actual physical symptoms: he gets the shakes, DT's, gets sick, etc. The gambler just gets pissed off when he can't gamble. He suffers PSYCHOLOGICAL symptoms. He gets antsy, annoyed, tries to get to the track. He's unhappy. NOT PHYSICALLY ILL. Hence the difference. One is a physical phenomenon. One is a psychological phenomenon. Addiction is not the same as a compulsive behavior. Now, to games: What you're describing is a little bit obsessive-compulsive, but it's certainly not an addiction. And, sure, you can get yourself in a whole lot of trouble being obsessive about something. Maybe if you find out that you literally can't stop playing a game, you've got a bit of a problem and you should back off (or maybe talk to a good therapist). BUT, it's not addiction. No matter how often people try to frame it as such.'

Humanity, Psychology, Sociology

• 'There are some questions that social scientists should be able to answer. Either executing people cuts the homicide rate or it does not. A fascinating look into statistics and the death penalty.' [MeFi]
• Mrs. Rollman's Second Grade
  • Read Our How To's
    • How to Get Ready for Bed. This is brilliant. Some of you have no idea friggin idea how brilliant this is.
      1. 'Take a bath.
      2. Put your pajamas on.
      3. Brush your teeth.
      4. Say good night to your parents.
      5. Get in the bed and get your favorite stuff animal.
      6. Ask your parents to tuck you in.
      7. Close your eyes.
      8. Have sweet dreams.'

Linux, Open Source

• Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS)? Look at the Numbers!. A 400,000 character plus paper.

Local

• 'Quarters' is small change compared to other insiders
  • 'On Thursday, Mayor Richard Daley was asked about John "Quarters" Boyle, who was convicted of stealing $4 million from the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, then was given a cushy city job, and who was charged the other day with taking bribes for contracts in the Hired Truck scandal.'
  • 'First, Daley said lifting $4 million shouldn't disqualify Boyle from gainful public employment.

    Reporter: Would stealing $4 million from another public agency disqualify somebody from a city job?

    "No, I don't think so," Daley said.

    Then a few minutes later, after some perspiring and strange facial expressions, he abruptly changed course. He said that a guy who stole $4 million from the public probably should be disqualified from expecting the public to pay his salary.'

  • So Daley seems "flip-flop-ish" but I think it's a good thing that he can change his opinion right before our eyes. The key point is that he does the right thing. How "Quarters" go the city job in the first place is another story. A benevolent kingship is nice but even better if he cleans up if we catch him.
  • There's a lots of more juicy political dirt in the story.

Love, Relationships, Sex [assume NSFW]

• 'Team America' Tones Down to Get R Rating. Puppet sex! I wonder if they'll show it on the DVD edition? Or will they have to sell another DVD with the uncut version?
• Erotics.TheAppleCollection.com/Erotic00.shtml. Apple erotica? Well, why not?
• Rainbow.arch.scriptmania.com/rainbow_tv_episode.html
  • This old British kids TV show was jam packed with shameless sexual innuendo. O dear!
  • 'The sketch opens with Zippy peeling a banana...
    Zippy: "One skin, two skin, three skin, four.... "
    George: "Zippy, where is Bungle?"
    Zippy: "I think Geoffrey is trying to get him up"
    We see a view of the door and hear Bungle moaning from behind it.
    Bungle: "Geoffrey, I can't get it in"
    Geoffrey: "You managed it last night"
    Bungle: "I know, let's try it round the other way around. Ooooooh, I've got it in"
    Bungle and Geoffrey enter the studio with Bungle carrying a hammer and peg kit
    Bungle: "Would you stick this on the shelf, George"
    George: "I can't reach, you'll have to stick it up yourself,
    Geoffrey (to camera) " Hello everyone, today we are talking about playing"
    Bungle: "Playing with each other, Geoffrey?"
    Geoffrey: "Yes Bungle, do you have a special friend that you like to play with?"
    George: "Yesterday we played with our balls. Are we going to play with our friend's balls today?"
    Bungle: "Yes, and we can play with our twangers as well."
    Geoffrey (to camera): Have you seen Bungles twanger?
    Zippy: "Oh I have, I showed him how to pluck with it."
    Bungle: "It's my plucking instrument."
    Geoffrey asks the audience if they can pluck like Bungle
    Zippy: "I can, I'm the best plucker here."
    George: "And I'm good at banging. My peg's hard isn't it Zippy?"
    Zippy: "Well of course it is, Your peg wouldn't go in if it was soft."
    Geoffrey: "Let's get back to Bungle's twanger."
    Bungle (excited): "Oooooh Geoffrey, we could all paint our twangers couldn't we?"
    George: "Let's sing that plucking song."
    Bungle: "Rod and Roger can get their instruments out and Jane has got two lovely Maracas."
    Singers Rod, Roger and Jane enter.
    Rod: "We could hear you all banging away."
    Roger: "Banging can be fun."
    Jane: "Ooooh yes, and I was banging away all last night with Rod and Roger."
    Roger (looking sad): "Yes, but it broke my plucking instrument."
    Geoffrey: "Never mind Roger, let sing the plucking song, come on everybody get your instruments out."
    Rod (to Jane): "Do you want to blow on my pipe while I'm twanging away?"
    Jane: "Oh no Rod, I was blowing a lot with Roger last night. But would you like to play with my maracas?"
    Zippy: "No, let's just pluck away with our twangers."
    Bungle: "Yes, it doesn't matter what size your twanger is."
    Zippy: "I've got a big red one."
    George: "I've only got a tiny twanger. But it works well and I like to play with it."
    Geoffrey (to viewers): "Well, have you got your twangers out? And remember, you can bounce your balls at the same time. If you haven't got any balls, ask a friend if you can play with his. Now, let's all sing the plucking song."
    Everyone in studio: "Pluck, pluck, pluck away, we're going to pluck all day today."
    "Pluck, pluck, pluck away, we're going to pluck all day."
    Geoffrey (to viewers): " It's time for us all to go now, but don't forget to get your twangers out and play with your balls."
    "See you soon. Bye." '

Martial Arts

• Air Force pursuing antimatter weapons Program was touted publicly, then came official gag order.
  • Whoo-hoo! It's about time we started using that alien technology! Ha ha ha!
  • 'The energy from colliding positrons and antielectrons "is 10 billion times ... that of high explosive," Edwards explained in his March speech. Moreover, 1 gram of antimatter, about 1/25th of an ounce, would equal "23 space shuttle fuel tanks of energy." Thus "positron energy conversion," as he called it, would be a "revolutionary energy source" of interest to those who wage war. It almost defies belief, the amount of explosive force available in a speck of antimatter -- even a speck that is too small to see. For example: One millionth of a gram of positrons contain as much energy as 37.8 kilograms (83 pounds) of TNT, according to Edwards' March speech. A simple calculation, then, shows that about 50-millionths of a gram could generate a blast equal to the explosion (roughly 4,000 pounds of TNT, according to the FBI) at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.'
  • 'Still, Dyson adds, antimatter weapons are "a long, long way off." Why so far off? One reason is that at present, there's no fast way to mass produce large amounts of antimatter from particle accelerators. With present techniques, the price tag for 100-billionths of a gram of antimatter would be $6 billion, according to an estimate by scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and elsewhere, who hope to launch antimatter-fueled spaceships.'
  • 'Another problem is the terribly unruly behavior of positrons whenever physicists try to corral them into a special container. Inside these containers, known as Penning traps, magnetic fields prevent the antiparticles from contacting the material wall of the container -- lest they annihilate on contact. Unfortunately, because like-charged particles repel each other, the positrons push each other apart and quickly squirt out of the trap.'
  • Related: Positron Sources [PDF]
• Pocket-Sized Shotgun Hits Stores
  • Not quite an anti-matter gun but it has its charm.
  • 'It's a two-shot weapon made from a piece of metal the height and width of a standard credit card, and about a half an inch thick. Each barrel fires seven standard steel BBs. It will retail for $100.'
  • ' "This I can see being the ultimate self-defense weapon," said Mark Koscielski, owner of Koscielski's Guns and Ammo, the only gun shop in Minneapolis. Koscielski and Patrick Teel, who makes the guns in suburban Blaine at his company AFT Incorporated '
  • ' They said the guns are meant to be used for close-range self-defense and wouldn't be effective as offensive weapons. "They are very effective at five to 10 feet. They're absolutely useless at 20 feet," Teel said. The credit card-sized shotgun is a muzzleloader, meaning it doesn't use shotgun shells. The user has to measure out some gunpowder, pour it in each barrel, drop seven BBs in each barrel, and tamp in a small wad of paper. A knob on one end serves as a safety, and two buttons set into a hole in the body are the electrical triggers. Each barrel fires with a loud pop. '
  • 'The new guns don't count as firearms under federal regulations because they're muzzleloaders, Koscielski and Teel said. It's illegal to carry one without a permit to for a concealed handgun, they said, and they both pledged not to sell them to anyone without valid identification and either a carry permit or a purchase permit. '
  • 'Thirty-seven states have laws that require officials to issue concealed carry permits to qualified applicants and nine others have laws that give officials some discretion over whether someone gets a permit. Only Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska and Wisconsin lack a law allowing some form of concealed carrying of guns. '
    • Aww man! The gun control law for Chicago, IL suck!
  • 

Math, Science, Science Fiction, Space

• 'The Crusade Against Evolution. How the next generation of "creation science" is invading America's classrooms, and peer reviewed biology journals.' [MeFi]

Terror, War

• Lawmaker expresses "dismay" that White House allegedly wrote Allawi speech
  • 'In a letter to the White House, a leading US Senate Democrat expressed "profound dismay" that the White House allegedly wrote a large portion of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's speech to Congress last week.'
  • ' "To learn that this was not an independent view, but one that was massaged by your campaign operatives, jaundices the speech and reduces the credibility of his remarks," Feinstein wrote. '
  • Yes, can you say "puppet government"? Allawi used to be on the CIA payroll, eh?
• How the White House Embraced Disputed Arms Intelligence [NYT] [/.]
  • Preface: The /. post has over 3,000 comments in the past 3 days. Slashdot is about to get overtaken by politic-heads!
  • Here is the /. summary of the roughly 60,000 character report:
    • ' "This New York Times article reports that in 2002, the Bush Administration's assertions that Saddam Hussein was rebuilding his nuclear weapons program were based on evidence that was doubted by the government's foremost nuclear security experts. Specifically, aluminum tubes most likely meant for small artillery rockets were interpreted by the administration as parts for uranium centrifuges." In a nutshell: while Bush, Cheney, Rice and Rumsfeld were announcing to the American public that these tubes were slam-dunk evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions, they already knew that there was completely overwhelming evidence that the tubes were just for artillery rockets (as Iraq said) and that the tubes were totally unsuitable for use in centrifuges. '
• Report on Iraq arms undercuts president. 'Drawing on an investigation that included interviews with Saddam Hussein and his former top aides, the government's chief weapons inspector [Charles Duelfer] has concluded that Iraq did not possess chemical, biological and nuclear weapons--or programs to build them--for more than a decade before the March 2003 U.S. invasion--a direct contradiction of President Bush's contention that the existence of such weapons justified the war.'
• I just did something may or may not start a flame war. A pro-Bush friend of mine forwarded this chain email to me:

  Blanket Amnesia

  QUOTES FROM AMNESIA CITY..............BE SURE TO READ THE ENDING

  One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line" - President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998

  "If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program" - President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

  Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." - Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998

  "He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten time since 1983." - Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998

  "We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." - Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI), Tom Daschle (D-SD), John Kerry( D - MA), and others Oct. 9,1998

  "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." - Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998

  "Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999

  "There is no doubt that .. Saddam Hussein has invigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies." - Letter to President Bush, Signed by Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL,) and others, December 5, 2001

  "We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandated of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them." - Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002

  "We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

  "Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." - Al Gore, Sept 23, 2002

  "We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." - Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

  "The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..." - Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002

  "I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force-- if necessary-- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." - Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002

  "There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years . We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction."-Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002

  "He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do" - Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002

  "In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members.. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons" - Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002

  "We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction." - Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002

  "Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime . He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real" - Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003

  SO NOW EVERY ONE OF THESE SAME DEMOCRATS SAY PRESIDENT BUSH LIED--THAT THERE NEVER WERE ANY WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION AND HE TOOK US TO WAR UNNECESSARILY!

  Send this to everybody you know..The media and networks won't do it. Why do you suppose that is?

  I replied not only to my little circle of pro-Bush friends but also to the 37 other people on the previous round of that chain email:

  Yep, I agree with all the quotes and I remember those quotes bouncing around. I was also all for kicking Saddam Hussein's ass and setting up a democratic Iraq. However none of that is PROOF. And due process requires and acquires proof.

  The thing about Law is that no one is entitled to justice; the only thing people are entitled to is due process. Bush should have gone ahead with the inspection process. Then the UN would have had no choice but to issue a more descriptive order. Then we would have finally spanked Saddam Hussein with total legitimacy and UN support.

  That process would have also given us time to come up with an occupation plan, an exit plan, more funding, and proper allies. We would also have had the time and resources to finish catching Osama bin Laden properly. That would have been the right war at the right time instead of what we have now: right war at the wrong time.

  None of this is hind sight. Some folks just have amnesia about this supposedly "unpatriotic" kind of talk.

  -George Hernandez
  georgehernandez.com

  BTW1: If the UN didn't eventually cooperate, then Bush would have had the great opportunity fix the UN instead of lamely trying to go around it. What an incredible missed opportunity. We Americans and Woodrow Wilson created the UN with the League of Nations... how can we let anybody get away with stealing our own creation?

  BTW2: If people have amnesia, then it's Cheney who can't remember that he did in fact meet Edwards before; or that he did in fact suggest connections between Iraq and 9/11 numerous times; or that in the 1st Iraq war we had a real coalition with MUSLIM allies, UN legitimacy, financial contributions, etc.

• U.S. Raid in Iraq Kills 11; UK Hostage Said Beheaded
  • 'A U.S. air strike aimed at foreign militants led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed 11 people in the Iraqi city of Falluja Friday and insurgents later said a British hostage held by Zarqawi's group had been beheaded. The U.S. military said a "precision strike" hit a house where Zarqawi associates were meeting in the northwest of the guerrilla-held city at 1:15 a.m.'
    • OK, that almost sounds OK.
  • 'Residents and local doctors said 17 people were also wounded in the attack, among them nine women and children. They said a wedding party had been held in the house Thursday night. The bridegroom was killed and the bride was wounded in the raid. Reuters television footage showed four women lying bloodied and bandaged at the local hospital.'
    • WTF?!?! So we killed a wedding party too? Or instead?
    • Can you imagine? Here you are having a joyful wedding day followed by a happy reception with dancing relatives and laughter, then BLAMMO! Everyone gets blown up at 1:15 in the morning by a U.S. precision strike. If I were an Iraqi, I'd tell myself "Fuck the insurgents, I'm going to kill some American ass!".
    • How come we never hear about the U.S. offering apologies and cash compensation for these sort of things?

US

• Citizen Microsoft: It's time we stopped acquiescing to the behemoth in Redmond, because what's good for big business isn't necessarily good for Washington [/.]

US Elections

• Draft rumors blow chill wind over campaign. 'What's intriguing about the draft rumor isn't whether it's true or false--though on key points it's clearly false. What's intriguing is the warmth with which the Republicans deny it and must deny it. The gap in public opinion between support of the draft and support of the war requires such a denial and reveals something else that ought to leave them vexed: When the question really hits home, not many Americans believe in our mission in Iraq enough to put their lives or family members' lives on the line for it.'
• Vice Presidential Debate [2004-10-05]
  • Polls declare different victors in VP debate [CNN]. They have the full debate available on video and transcript.
  • Both sides claim victory in Cheney, Edwards debate [MSNBC]. Videos and transcript.
  • VP Candidates Slug It Out Over Iraq, Jobs [ABC]
  • Cheney, Edwards Spar Over War [CBS]
  • Cheney, Edwards Hit Road After Debate [Fox News]
  • VP rivals sharpen debate [Chicago Tribune]
  • And the winner is... [Chicago Tribute]. 'The score: 49 for Edwards and 32 for Cheney.'
  • The winner was not as clear cut as the 1st Bush v Kerry debate. This one was more dependent upon whom you favored going into the debate.
    • There were more "facts" tossed back and forth as well as many accusations of the other side having the wrong facts. Facts on both sides have to be checked.
    • Emotionally, it was colder than the 1st Bush v Kerry debate. There was only one warm spot and that was over the gay marriage issue which both sides basically said was a non-issue. Edwards had a more moving, human and emotional closing speech.
    • Verbal and physical sign language. Both were pretty steady and more poker faced.
    • Cheney came prepared to attack Edwards, whereas Edwards came prepared to put forth his viewpoint.
  • Overall you got a feel of both. Cheney is clearly pro-corporation, pro-military, while Edwards is pro-middle class, pro-military with diplomacy.
• As far as Cheney saying "The first time I ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight." during the VP debate:  well, bluntly, they have met before:
  • [Daily Kos].
  • Video proof [Insomnia].
  • Plus Cheney doesn't hang out with Democrats.
  • It's just an outright lie and smear.
  • VP's Claim About Meeting Edwards Debunked [Fox News]
    • ' "The vice president said that the first time I met Senator Edwards was tonight when we walked on the stage. I guess he forgot the time we sat next to each other for a couple hours about three years ago. I guess he forgot the time we met at the swearing in of another senator. So, my wife Elizabeth reminded him on the stage," Edwards said as the crowd roared. '
    • ' According to Edwards' staff, Cheney replied, "Oh, yeah." '
• Cheney said: "I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11, but there's clearly an established Iraqi track record with terror." I'm sorry, but this is a blatant flat out lie that is so ridiculously easy to check.
• As far as job creation, Cheney just doesn't have a leg to stand on but he'll just say otherwise. Just because Cheney says something doesn't make it so. However he delivers his reality so flatly, so matter of factly, that some people just take his word for it.
• Cheney said to check out the Halliburton facts at "FactCheck.com" however...
  • Firstly, it turns out that FactCheck.com redirects to  George Soros site ( GeorgeSoros.com) who is strongly against the Bush-Cheney administration! Ha ha ha!
    • Wait... update before I could even post. It turns out that George Soros says he had nothing to do with the redirect. Someone (probably a Progressive or anti-Bush fellow) must have registered factcheck.com and had their DNS redirect all references to GeorgeSoros.com. A whois check at a place like NetworkSolutions.com says that DomainNameSales.com/ owns FactCheck.com.
      • Related:
        • Campaign Dispatches: Web woes. This article says the that "Name Administration Inc., of the Cayman Islands" redirected but I see nothing to back that up.
  • Secondly, Cheney certainly meant FactCheck.org because it recently had this post "Kerry Ad Falsely Accuses Cheney on Halliburton" [2004-09-30]. However if you look at the site, it actually checks the facts of both parties. EG: "Bush Mischaracterizes Kerry's Health Plan" [2004-10-04].
• OneSimpleQuestion.blogspot.com. I've posted a link to these guys before but now not only would you get an award (currently $2,418) for asking Bush "How many times have you been arrested, Mr. President?", but now you can get a $6,000 more if the question is asked and answered on TV!
• A friend of mine said it was so wrong that I put Kerry buttons on my kids' backpacks. I replied saying that at least my kids weren't wearing these shirts from LowerCaseTee.com:
  
• Bush's Top Ten Flip-Flops. What a stupid strategy is "Flip Flop". Here the list summarized:
  1. WMDs
  2. Nation Building and the War in Iraq
  3. Iraq and the Sept. 11 Attacks
  4. The Sept. 11 Commission
  5. Free Trade
  6. Homeland Security Department
  7. Same-Sex Marriage
  8. Winning the War on Terror
  9. Campaign Finance Reform
  10. Gas Prices
• Voters With Active Passports Give Kerry 58%-35% Edge. This poll was in 2004-08, but that stat isn't likely to change.
• "Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush" by George Soros
  • 'This is the most important election of my lifetime. I have never been heavily involved in partisan politics but these are not normal times. President Bush is endangering our safety, hurting our vital interests and undermining American values.'
    • My position exactly.
  • 'The destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center was such a horrendous event that it required a strong response. But the President committed a fundamental error in thinking: the fact that the terrorists are manifestly evil does not make whatever counter-actions we take automatically good. What we do to combat terrorism may also be wrong. Recognizing that we may be wrong is the foundation of an open society. President Bush admits no doubt and does not base his decisions on a careful weighing of reality. For 18 months after 9/11 he managed to suppress all dissent. That is how he could lead the nation so far in the wrong direction. '
  • 'Immediately after 9/11 there was a spontaneous outpouring of sympathy for us worldwide. It has given way to an equally widespread resentment. There are many more people willing to risk their lives to kill Americans than there were on September 11 and our security, far from improving as President Bush claims, is deteriorating. I am afraid that we have entered a vicious circle of escalating violence where our fears and their rage feed on each other. It is not a process that is likely to end any time soon. If we re-elect President Bush we are telling the world that we approve his policies - and we shall be at war for a long time to come. '
• GeorgeSoros.com/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Home. Neat. Apparently George Soros himself has started blogging.
• I don't care what your party is, this is funny! I wonder what Simpson's character they could have put in for Edwards?
  [http://fater.blogspot.com/2004/10/from-andy-axel.html]
• 'Mr. Bush and His 10 Ever-Changing Different Positions on Iraq: "A flip and a flop and now just a flop." '  by Michael Moore
  • 'Dear Mr. Bush,

    I am so confused. Where exactly do you stand on the issue of Iraq? You, your Dad, Rummy, Condi, Colin, and Wolfie -- you have all changed your minds so many times, I am out of breath just trying to keep up with you! Which of these 10 positions that you, your family and your cabinet have taken over the years represents your CURRENT thinking:
    1983-88: WE LOVE SADDAM ...
    1990: WE HATE SADDAM...
    1991: WE WANT SADDAM TO LIVE...
    1998: WE WANT SADDAM TO DIE...
    2000: WE DON'T BELIEVE IN WAR AND NATION BUILDING...
    2001 (early): WE DON'T BELIEVE SADDAM IS A THREAT...
    2001 (late): WE BELIEVE SADDAM IS GOING TO KILL US!...
    2003: WE DON'T BELIEVE SADDAM IS GOING TO KILL US...
    2003: "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!"...
    2004: OOPS. MISSION NOT ACCOMPLISHED!...'

• Bush Would Use Power of Persuasion to Raise Oil Supply [2000-06-28].
  • 'Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude.'
    • Ha ha ha! What an ass.
• Kerry Will Restore American Dignity: 2004 Iconoclast Presidential Endorsement. What a Texas paper endorsing Kerry?!?! Ha ha ha!
• Woody Allen on the 2004 Election
• Bush Supporters Misread Many of His Foreign Policy Positions
  • ' As the nation prepares to watch the presidential candidates debate foreign policy issues, a new PIPA-Knowledge Networks poll finds that Americans who plan to vote for President Bush have many incorrect assumptions about his foreign policy positions. Kerry supporters, on the other hand, are largely accurate in their assessments. The uncommitted also tend to misperceive Bush's positions, though to a smaller extent than Bush supporters, and to perceive Kerry's positions correctly. Steven Kull, director of PIPA, comments: "What is striking is that even after nearly four years President Bush's foreign policy positions are so widely misread, while Senator Kerry, who is relatively new to the public and reputed to be unclear about his positions, is read correctly." '
    • Absolutely amazing!

2004-10-25t14:56:31Z | RE: aaBlog . 2D+time, Activities, Animation, Video . Clothes, Fashion . Computers, Networking, Programming . Engineering, Function, Technology . Environment, Fauna, Flora, Green . Humanity, Psychology, Sociology . Interesting, Jokes, Odd, Weird . Obituaries . Math, Science, Science Fiction, Space . Stories, Words, Writing . Terror, War . US Elections . Working . World .
2004-10-25t14:56:31Z

aaBlog

• Darn it! I've been very busy at work, home (esp. the new baby), and in martial arts lately so I've fallen behind on blogging again.

2D+time, Activities, Animation, Video

• Pinkey the cat [video]. Proof that cats do not belong on leashes.

Clothes, Fashion

• SWChick.com [MeFi]
  • 'A Star Wars and costuming fan site'
  • All right! Chicks dressed up in Sci Fi style.

Computers, Networking, Programming

• Google's New Program Searches Hard Drives. Ha ha! Google's coming out with the signature feature of Microsoft's new OS "Longhorn" which isn't due until 2006. MS is so slow these days! Internet Explorer hasn't been developed in years and the new OS is taking forever. In the meantime Google, Mozilla, Linux, and open source are zooming around. Longhorn is supposed to do network searches as well as desktop searching but that's a much bigger security issue.
• Intel kills plans for 4GHz Pentium. So instead starting in 2005, the new Intel chips will double their cache size from 1 MB to 2 MB just like the Xeon chip and the "Extreme Editions" P4s for gaming.
• What VoIP Is Actually Good For [/.]. 'One of the things that's bothered me about VoIP is that other than so-so quality phone service at a cheap price, what's the big deal? I mean so you can now deliver voice mail into e-mail because it's all IP packets, does that mean I should ditch my telecom investment. Well in part 3 of Queue's special report on VoIP (here's part 1, part 2) two authors from Bell Labs help explain actually useful things you might do. Now I get it. '
• Java 1.5 vs C# [/.]. Over 700 posts to the /. thread so far.

Engineering, Function, Technology

• A quenchable superhard carbon phase synthesized by cold compression of carbon nanotubes [PDF] [/.]. Harder than diamond!
• Robots Do The Darndest Things [/.]. '15 years ago they couldn't get them to walk, now they are rollerskating (video). Read more about the 2004 Intelligent Robotics and Systems conference in this New Scientist article, and at the conference's site. Also shown at IROS, a childbirth simulator for obstetricians, a capsule that crawls through your intestines, and a 3-mm long swimming robot. (No, I don't get paid by New Scientist.) '

Environment, Fauna, Flora, Green

• Powered by sunlight [/.]. 'The truck is hydrogen-powered and creates its own fuel from solar energy and water, a technical feat that rivals the advanced technology being researched by major auto companies and universities. The four-cylinder engine is tuned to run on hydrogen, which is produced by a hand-built electrolysis system mounted in the bed.'
• Global air pollution map produced by Envisat's SCIAMACHY [/.]
  • 'The image shows the global mean tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) vertical column density (VCD) between January 2003 and June 2004, as measured by the SCIAMACHY instrument on ESA's Envisat. The scale is in 1015 molecules/cm-2. Image produced by S. Beirle, U. Platt and T. Wagner of the University of Heidelberg's Institute for Environmental Physics. Credits: University of Heidelberg '
    
• Climate fear as carbon levels soar: Scientists bewildered by sharp rise of CO2 in atmosphere for second year running [/.]
  • 'When the Pacific warms up during El Niño - a disruptive weather pattern caused by weakening trade winds - the amount of carbon dioxide rises dramatically because warm oceans emit CO2 rather than absorb it. But scientists are puzzled because over the past two years, when the increases have been 2.08 ppm and 2.54 ppm respectively, there has been no El Niño.'
  • 'Analysts stress that it is too early to draw any long-term conclusions. But the fear held by some scientists is that the greater than normal rises in C02 emissions mean that instead of decades to bring global warming under control we may have only a few years. At worst, the figures could be the first sign of the breakdown in the Earth's natural systems for absorbing the gas. That would herald the so-called "runaway greenhouse effect", where the planet's soaring temperature becomes impossible to contain. As the icecaps melt, less sunlight is refected back into space from ice and snow, and bare rocks begin to absorb more heat. This is already happening.'
  • The /. thread has over 1200 comments, discussing politics as well as the science.
• Amphibian species imperiled worldwide Global survey shows one- third threatened -- 13 in California. 'The results of the survey, published today in the journal Science, show that 1,856 of the known 5,743 species are "globally threatened'' in their forest, stream or underground homes. The delicate creatures, which have thin, porous skins and need fresh water to stay moist, are faring much worse around the world than either birds or mammals, the scientists say. Around a tenth of bird species and a quarter of mammal species are threatened.'
• High Resolution Mountaintop Removal Pictures. Pictures of mountains getting raped.
  

Humanity, Psychology, Sociology

• 'Easy grades, light reading loads, and above all a professor you can enjoy. Today's university culture is one of all entertainment all the time an essay by Mark Edmunson based on his new book Why Read? about the the "crisis in the humanities", called the most provocative look since Allan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind.' [MeFi]
  • Interesting comments in MeFi too.

Interesting, Jokes, Odd, Weird

• The Household Encyclopedia of General Information. An 1881 publication put online.
• ScrotalSafetyCommission.com. The very word "scrotum" is funny.

Obituaries

• Christopher Reeve. Born 1952-09-25. Died 2004-10-04.
  • Farewell Superman. You fought a good fight.
    
  • Related:
    • 'Superman' actor Christopher Reeve dies at 52
    • Superman forever
    • Reeve a true Superman after accident, offstage
    • APACure.com. 'The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation (CRPF) is committed to funding research that develops treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and other central nervous system disorders.'
    • Christopher Reeve [IMDB]
    • Christopher Reeve  is  was an asshole. This was by that crazy Maddox guy. He's supposed to irk you.

Math, Science, Science Fiction, Space

• "Watch, watch it now... watch!" [see videos] [MeFi]. Clips from an old Australian science TV show. Damn he just gets you so excited!
  
• ' "Just for the record, do you believe the Sun goes around the Earth or the Earth goes around the sun?" : Ages before "Intelligent Design", a bold PaleoCreationist pseudoscientific gobbledygook - embodied by Tom Willis, Creationism's man in Kansas and head of the Mid Atlantic Creation Research Society - strode the Earth. The AAAS dissected the mess in "Lions, Tigers and APES, Oh My! ; Creationism vs. Evolution in Kansas" ( Google cache) and one writer concluded : "The War between the creationists and the public schools is over. The creationists appear to have won" : now, in a Kansas that's scientifically proven flatter than a pancake, Mona Lisa is as happy as a clam, and Kissing Frank's ass and appeals to mysterious watchmakers predominate, while on the national stage, God is a real estate developer. Meanwhile, a new group proposes better zoning bylaws : Scientists and Engineers for Change. ' [MeFi]
  • Amazing that we've gone through the Age of Enlightenment, all the scientific discoveries so far, etc. and yet crap like this persists so strongly.
• Stem Cells May Open Some Eyes
  • 'Scientists have derived retinal cells from embryonic stem cells for the first time, in a breakthrough that could lead to the first therapeutic use of the controversial cells.'
    • Now making the blind see ... that's a miracle! Yay science!
• The X Prize is Won! [MeFi]
  • 'The cash designed to inspire space travel was won Oct. 4, 2004 as SpaceShipOne, a privately built three-person craft, made a required second flight above 62 miles (100 km).'
  • Sounds good but it's also marketing for the new space tourism industry.
• 'What number comes next in the sequence: 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66, ? How would you do on the GLAT? Page 1, 2, 3 and 4.' [MeFi]. The MeFi thread has some gems such as the On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences.

Stories, Words, Writing

• Visionaries outline web's future [/.]
  • 'Using a robotic scanner, Mr Kahle said the job of scanning the 26 million volumes in the US Library of Congress, the world's biggest library, would cost only $260m (£146m).'
    • That would be an incredible bargain for the entire planet!
  • The /. thread immediately became a thread on IP (intellectual property).
• 'The Death of Hamnet and the Making of Hamlet. In the spring or summer of 1596, William Shakespeare received word that his only son Hamnet, 11, was ill. In the summer he learned that Hamnet's condition had worsened and that it was necessary to drop everything and hurry home. By the time the father reached Stratford the boy--whom, apart from brief visits, Shakespeare had in effect abandoned in his infancy--may already have died. On August 11, 1596, Hamnet was buried at Holy Trinity Church: the clerk duly noted in the burial register, "Hamnet filius William Shakspere." It might have been possible that Shakespeare's Catholic father urged his son to have prayers said to speed the child's release from purgatory. The problem was that purgatory had been abolished by the ruling Protestants, and saying prayers for the dead declared illegal. Hence, the possible dilemma for Shakespeare was whether to risk punishment by praying for their deceased loved ones or obey the law and allow those souls to languish in flames. This anxiety regarding one's obligations to the dead, Stephen Greenblatt suggests, lies behind Hamlet's indecision about whether to obey his father's ghost and take revenge on his uncle Claudius.' [MeFi]
• 'Are you not amazed at how she evokes soul, body, hearing, tongue, sight, skin, as though they were external and belonged to someone else? And how at one and the same moment she both freezes and burns, is irrational and sane, is terrified and nearly dead, so that we observe in her not a single emotion but a whole concourse of emotions? Such things do, of course, commonly happen to people in love. Sappho's supreme excellence lies in the skill with which she selects the most striking and vehement circumstances of the passions and forges them into a coherent whole.   Longinus, On the Sublime
  Sappho's poem of jealousy survives only because the ancient critic Longinus quoted it as a supreme example of poetic intensity--now Ken Knabb has put up 26 translations of it in the English at the Gateway to the Vast Realms , the literature and texts section of his Bureau of Public Secrets. And wait! There's more! ' [MeFi]

Terror, War

• How Technology Failed in Iraq
• Plan Would Let U.S. Deport Suspects to Nations That Might Torture Them [MeFi]. Doesn't that Bush make you so proud to be an American?... NOT!

US Elections

• I'm having some elections burn out.
  • I'm in Illinois and my state is clearly going for the Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards.
  • This election is in the hands of voters in the swing states and the things and people who may influence those voters.
  • Now they're just rehashing issues, going over talking points, going negative, and reacting and counter-reacting.
  • I don't want to write about politics as much as I've had to this year. I'm ready to move on regardless of who wins. However, it would be a much happier Christmas for me if Kerry wins.
• I'm still shocked that this is a close election.
  • Bush slacked off and allowed 9/11 to happen. Then he did the right thing by counter attacking at Afghanistan. Then he did the wrong thing by invading Iraq. Bush didn't have the legal right and evidence to invade Iraq. If he had followed procedure, then we would have had the whole world beside us, instead Bush did the right war, the wrong way, the wrong time. He could have been a great President if he were only mediocre, but instead it is evident that he just doesn't have what it takes. He may act boldly but that doesn't mean he can act correctly or efficiently.
  • Bush has a recession to deal with but it doesn't explain the huge job loss and the huge deficit. I understand wanting to reduce taxes but not when it means making a big deficit. How can he have gone from a $5 trillion surplus to a $5 trillion deficit? That's $10 trillion lost and that's just wrong.
  • Bush is obviously a corporate lackey.
    • The Medicare "fix" is glaringly pro-pharmaceuticals when you consider that the Medicare can't haggle for lower drug costs.
    • By refusing the Kyoto treaty, Bush is blanking out on the opportunity because the next economy is the "green economy".
    • Bush has done nothing about outsourcing. A company may find cheaper labor overseas but "cheap labor" is unethical because historically it has been things like slavery, child labor, unsafe labor, and labor that perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
  • It is fine that Bush has religious convictions but religious convictions must be translated into secular moral terms, and evaluated before becoming policy. Bush is like a charlatan preacher who fleeces his flock for votes and money. Bush does not have sufficient separation between state and religion. Bush's policy and political base seems to be driven more by conviction (which is subjective) than by rational analysis. Bush's influence on issues such as stem cell research, education on evolution, abortion, and inter-religious wars is too much for me.
• Bush gets endorsement from Tehran
  • 'The head of Iran's security council said Tuesday that the re-election of President Bush was in Tehran's best interests, despite the administration's labeling of Iran as part of "the axis of evil" and threats of sanctions over the country's nuclear ambitions.'
  • 'Iran historically prefers Republicans. Democrats tend to press human-rights issues.'
  • Ha ha! That's almost as good as getting an endorsement for al Queda!
• YouForgotPoland.com [MeFi]. Funny pictures related to Bush's quip during the Presidential debates. The MeFi comments are fun too.
  
• 'A Tale Of Two Believers: Blair hides his church attendance - because he may be a secret Catholic; Bush promotes Faith Based Initiatives, yet doesn't seem to go to church at all. Does your leader have a secret spiritual life?' [MeFi]
  • The MeFi comments turns up links like these:
    • Faith Without Works
    • Does Bush Go to Church?. Via belief net

Working

• Warm Offices Linked to Fewer Typing Errors and Higher Productivity.
  • ' "At 77 degrees Fahrenheit, the workers were keyboarding 100 percent of the time with a 10 percent error rate, but at 68 degrees, their keying rate went down to 54 percent of the time with a 25 percent error rate," Hedge says. "Temperature is certainly a key variable that can impact performance." '
  • Related: Cornell University Ergonomics Web

World

• U.N.: 70,000 have died in Sudan camps
• "The European Dream" by Jeremy Rifkin [MeFi]
  • This article is so good that I'm quoting lots of it.
  • 'That's why it saddens me to say that America is no longer a great country. Yes, it's still the most powerful economy in the world, with a military presence unmatched in all of history. But to be a great country, it is necessary to be a good country. It is true that people everywhere enjoy American cultural forms and consumer goods. America is even envied, but it is no longer admired as it once was. The American Dream, once so coveted, has increasingly become an object of derision. Our way of life no longer inspires; rather, it is now looked on as outmoded and, worse yet, as something to fear, or abhor.'
  • On how Europe beats America
    • 'Americans are so used to thinking of our country as the most successful on earth, they might be surprised to learn that, by many measures, this is no longer the case. In just a few decades, the European Union has grown to become the third-largest governing institution in the world. Though its landmass is half the size of the continental United States, its $10.5 trillion gross domestic product now eclipses the U.S. GDP, making it the world's largest economy. The European Union is already the world's leading exporter and largest internal trading market. Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies.'
    • 'The comparisons between the world's two great superpowers are even more revealing when it comes to the quality of life. For example, in the European Union, there are approximately 322 physicians per 100,000 people, whereas in the United States there are only 279. The United States ranks 26th among the industrial nations in infant mortality, well below the EU average. The average life span in the 15 most developed EU countries is now 78.01 years, compared to 76.9 years in the United States.'
    • 'Children in 12 European nations now rank higher in mathematics literacy than their American peers, and in 8 European countries children outscore Americans in scientific literacy. When it comes to wealth distribution -- a crucial measure of a country's ability to deliver on the promise of prosperity -- the United States ranks 24th among the industrial nations. All 18 of the most developed European countries have less income inequality between rich and poor. There are now more poor people living in America than in the 16 European nations for which data are available. America is also a more dangerous place to live. The U.S. homicide rate is four times higher than the European Union's. Even more disturbing, the rates of childhood homicides, suicides, and firearm-related deaths in the United States exceed those of the other 25 wealthiest nations, including the 14 wealthiest European countries. Although the United States is only 4 percent of the world's population, it now contains one-quarter of the world's entire prison population. While the EU member states average 87 prisoners per 100,000 people, the U.S. averages an incredible 685 prisoners per 100,000 people.'
    • 'Europeans often remark that Americans "live to work," while Europeans "work to live." The average paid vacation time in Europe is now six weeks a year. By contrast, Americans, on average, receive only two weeks. Most Americans would also be shocked to learn that the average commute to work in Europe is less than 19 minutes. When one considers what makes a people great and what constitutes a better way of life, Europe is beginning to surpass America.'
  • On differences between Europe and America
    • 'That difference is reflected in the American and European Dreams, which at their core are about two diametrically opposed ideas about freedom and security. For Americans, freedom has long been associated with autonomy. An autonomous person is not dependent on others or vulnerable to circumstances beyond his or her control. To be autonomous one needs to be propertied. The more wealth one amasses, the more independent one is in the world. One is free by becoming self-reliant and an island unto oneself. With wealth comes exclusivity, and with exclusivity comes security.'
    • 'The new European Dream is based on different assumptions about what constitutes freedom and security. For Europeans, freedom is found not in autonomy but in embeddedness. To be free is to have access to many interdependent relationships. The more communities one has access to, the more options one has for living a full and meaningful life. It is inclusivity that brings security -- belonging, not belongings.'
    • 'The American Dream emphasizes economic growth, personal wealth, and independence. The new European Dream focuses more on sustainable development, quality of life, and interdependence. The American Dream pays homage to the work ethic. The European Dream is more attuned to leisure and "deep play." The American Dream is inseparable from the country's religious heritage and deep spiritual faith. The European Dream is secular to the core. The American Dream depends on assimilation: We associate success with shedding our former ethnic ties and becoming free agents in the great American melting pot. The European Dream, by contrast, is based on preserving one's cultural identity and living in a multicultural world. The American Dream is wedded to love of country and patriotism. The European Dream is more cosmopolitan and less territorial.'
    • 'Americans are more willing to employ military force to protect what we perceive to be our vital self-interests. Europeans are more reluctant to use military force and instead favor diplomacy, economic assistance, and aid to avert conflict and favor peacekeeping operations to maintain order. Americans tend to think locally while Europeans' loyalties are more divided and stretch from the local to the global. The American Dream is deeply personal and little concerned with the rest of humanity. The European Dream is more expansive and systemic, and therefore more bound to the welfare of the planet.'
  • 'There has never been a governing institution like the European Union. True, the European Union maintains many of the trappings of a state. Its laws supersede those of its 25 nations. It has a currency (the euro), a flag, and a headquarters. It regulates commerce and trade and coordinates energy, transportation, communications, and, increasingly