Troop Withdrawal Just Before the November Mid-Term Elections?!?

Oh Course! That's why they're stalling in congress! The neo-cons will look like heros when they start evacuation troops from the shit-storm that they've put them in! It's all starting to make sense now! And it's allowing me to use as many exclamation points as I want! Hooray!
WashPost Story: Democrats Cite Report on Troop Cuts in Iraq
All the Google News hits.
Every article also seem to point to the fact that "a timetable for troop withdrawal could prove decisive in the November elections." The newspapers are on board to broadcast the headlines right before people go to the polls. And the neo-cons are ready to knockdown any timetable vote that doesn't come along at a politically opportune moment. It all makes sense in a sick, war-mongering, no-care-for-humanity kind of way.

And what great news to hear that Warren Buffet is giving $44 billion to charity. $44 BILLION. I mean, they say you can't solve a problem by throwing money at it, but this could test that theory... and definitely make a significant dent.

Read More...

Summary only...

BumpTop 3D Desktop Prototype

Watch it on You Tube
Probably useless, but nifty and nerdy.

Read More...

Summary only...

Living Will

R and I were discussing living wills the other night. She explained that if she was ever predicted to remain in a vegetative state, she wanted the plug pulled (I can only imagine by me). Either because I'm not sure or because I felt like playing devil's advocate, I said I wouldn't want the plug pulled at all. I think that if someone else wants the plug pulled, more power to them.
As far as I'm concerned there are plenty of good reasons to want an not want the plug pulled. What if people in vegetative states really can comprehend everything that's going on around them? If you don't believe in an afterlife, I'd imagine that every waking moment on this earth should be pretty important to you. If you're even the tiniest bit cognizant, you'll probably want to hang around rather than suffocating for lack of respirator or starving for lack of feeding tube. For all we know, living without brain activity might be a state of ethereal being about which most of us can only dream. Then again, being that happy and not being able to actually think about how great it was or tell anyone about it probably would be a downer.
The disadvantages of a prolonged vegetative state run a bit long. There's are the no-talking, no-eating, no-doing-anything-without-help, no-thinking cons. R also brought up the stress-on-your-loved-ones con. Even worse that all of that would be the inability-to-scratch-itch-or-inform-anyone-of-itch-location con.
It's important too to draw a distinction between complete and total paralysis and being in a prolonged vegetative state, the main difference being that, in the latter case, Doctors don't believe that we're capable of thinking.
Hence the purpose of the living will. Best to do your thinking ahead of time rather than trying to do it with zero brain activity.
I've been successfully turned around by the whole itch-you-can't-scratch argument and hereby declare that I'd like to have that plug pulled.

Read More...

Summary only...

Henry Rollins Writes A Letter To Ann Coulter

Watch it on iFilm
I really hate that lady.

Read More...

Summary only...

Reminder

I should go to school for Journalism. Here are the Degree Requirements at AU.

Read More...

Summary only...

Sparklines for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and HTML documents

If you display data, you should know about Sparklines:
Sparklines: Intense, Simple, Word-Sized Graphics are lauded by Edward Tufte and can be used by anyone. You can download the
Bissantz SparkMaker - Sparklines for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and HTML documents.

Read More...

Summary only...

Wasting time?

This is a good time waster: Pitchfork Feature: 100 Awesome Music Videos

Read More...

Summary only...

Is nice!

Borat on Conan O'Brien - Part 1, Part 2.

Read More...

Summary only...

My neighborhood

My neighborhood
Originally uploaded by El Greg.

A shot from a window on the 10th floor of the Hotel Helix looking down at our neighborhood in the Logan Circle area of Washington DC. I can see my house from here! Wait... nope, it's behind a building.

Read More...

Summary only...

Doing the math to reduce homelessness

Doing the math to reduce homelessness

Read More...

Summary only...

Stupid Bully

Bush apologizes to L.A. Times reporter

Read More...

Summary only...

VOTE! Time to pick the dirtiest car deserving of a Dyson - Autoblog

My friend Chris is in a contest for the dirtiest car of all time. Please Click Here and vote for the first car.

Read More...

Summary only...

AmpCamp mp3 of the day

A free download of good new music every day

Read More...

Summary only...

First picture on the new camera and some links

The Flowers In Front of Our Building

On the right is one of the first pictures I took with my new Leica D-LUX 2 (crappy website) that I got to replace my stolen Canon S500. It's a different company and will take some getting used to, but a lot of the buttons and menus are exactly the same. I had to get something given our upcoming trip to Delhi in July. There will definitely be plenty of great pictures to put up when we get back. I also grabbed an iPod camera connector, which will hopefully allow me to take as many photos as I want by backing up the memory cards on the go.
Some stuff:
The Stolen Sidekick
Everyone suddenly loves soccer: World Cup on Yahoo
and more trouble in Allofmp3 land

Read More...

Summary only...

Two Things

(1) A reminder to myself to check out this Danish TV show
(2) Great news that the Senate is only 49.9% dumb as they vote 49-48 vote on a motion to end debate on the proposal advanced by Republicans and President Bush about banning gay marriage. Repression isn't the answer, people.

Read More...

Summary only...

Oh no!

Russian Download Site Is Popular and Possibly Illegal

Read More...

Summary only...