Bush is taking a vacation. I don't get a vacation... at least not one with pay. He'd better be doing a lot of worrying about BIG issues while he's away on vacation. Europeans get months off of work. I get four days and none of them paid. For reasons behind this, read yesterday's entry.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Monday, December 22, 2003
This morning, while brushing my teeth, something hit me. My contract runs out at the end of February. That's not good. Not good at all. My plight is only part of a larger problem. At what point did it become acceptable to hire people for six months at a time, with no benefits, and then drop them? From what I can figure out, the real problem lies in the current employment situation in the US. There are so many people out there looking for any kind of work that pays over $10 an hour (here ruling out making sandwiches and/or cleaning stuff) that we'll take anything we can get. We don't care about benefits, vacation time, hours or, let alone, what we're actually doing. Somewhere, somehow, something has gone horribly wrong. I hear stories of companies actually recruiting students and asking them to join their companies with bonuses! Bonuses! I understand that people still get recruited and still get bonuses, but it used to happen a lot more often to a lot more people.
Who wants to work in a big corporation anyway? Not me... but I sure wouldn't mind a little stability. There was a power-shift somewhere. The reason that these companies would want to treat workers the way they are is to increase their profits. Obviously, if they don't need to pay benefits or retirement plans or compensate workers in any other way, they'll make more money. Workers have lost their pull and it's corporations that have purchased it, worn it out and don't even seem to be considering returning it. Production is up, but employment is remaining the same. What this means is that the workers are doing more, but aren't getting any backup to help them. In the old days, this would happen and the workers would get tired and the company would have to hire some more workers. Now, with enough perfectly qualified people out looking for jobs, tired workers can be
But enough about everybody else, what am I supposed to do? It's not like the job I have is sitting there advancing my career in any way. So, what happens when the project that I have to print and copy stuff for is over? The answer is clear: A DIFFERENT JOB!!! With NEW people to pretend I enjoy working for in hopes of having someone pay for my health insurance! Yay!
Friday, December 19, 2003
Hum dee dum. Read this. I was told that there would be something for me to do at 3pm. It's 3:12 and now I'm sitting around blogging for lack of anything better to do. The link above goes to the winners of the British blog awards. Just makes this one feel inadequate if you ask me. oh well. It seems like British people don't have te same stigma against blogging as some Americans do. Honestly, this is really "nerdy" over here and over there it seems semi-respectable. One of the op-eds in the Times is pretty good today. Click on the : after times on the right and it should go to the op-ed page. And here's some really good news for mp3 downloaders.
And this is REALLY IMPORTANT
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Wait a minute...
Here's an article in the post explaining how my taxes are being used, without authorization, to upgrade the system used to collect taxes. I'm not sure if this counts as irony, stupidity, or ridiculousosity. But I don't like it.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
A Ride on the Metro (Now with Pod People)
R and I spent the afternoon at her parents' house in Bethesda. They have a really comfortable couch. We spend many a Sunday afternoon there and always take the metro back into DC at around 6pm or so. The platform is usually empty except for the two of us and someone crazy who feels like talking (see the Ode to Guy at Grovesnor from 9/23). This week was very different. Before we even got to the platform we watched as a large group of 40 and 50 somethings got onto the train (that we would miss while getting tickets). We're talking twenty or thirty people, which is a lot compared to the usual three. By the time our train showed up, there was another crowd of forty to fifty 40 and 50 somethings waiting to get on. As soon as we entered the car, fear gripped my like a nymphomaniacal Greg-fetished gorilla. Any new passengers would be met by standing room only in a car of older suburbanites wearing scarves and a cloud of the same perfume frangrance exuding from every female on board. What the hell was going on? I had to know. Why was a car, normally empty, now full of bald men and their caked makeup wives? Where did these women buy all their big, gold clip-on earrings? Why did everyone seem to know eachother? The next stop yielded the same results. More of them piled on, greeted eachother, introduced their wives and started small talk about slush and wind chill.
I honestly began to wonder if I had entered another dimension. My mind started to race through different possibilities. A GOP fundraiser downtown? No way, republicans wouldn't take the metro. An AARP gathering? They were old... but not that old. Were they leaving something in Bethesda and all just returning to their homes? Impossible. These people definitely didn't live in the city... they leaked suburbia from their pores. Was there a terrorist threat in Bethesda and some kind of new Patriot Act amendment that let all the wealthy men and their clingy wives evacuate first? No wonder they looked so pleased with themselves.
Why did they all look so content? What wonderful slaughter were we all being transported to?
And then I heard it. Three words. "Simon" "and" "Garfunkle". Suddenly, like an easy SAT question, all the pieces fit together. Crumbs are to Bread as Dust is to Wood and these people are all on their way to the same lame concert.
"I thought they broke up?" whispers R in my ear.
"They must need money."
All at once, a few of the elders seem to realize that there are young people in their midst.
"They probably don't even know who Simon and Garfunkle are."
"They're like Simon and who?"
"I don't even know the names of the bands my daughter listens to."
"Do you think they'll do Mrs. Robinson?"
Whispers fly around the car and, with the first explanation of buying concert tickets online as a pioneering concept, my head starts to spin. I'm overwhelmed with the idea that this is probably the first time in a year these wives have been into DC and it's all to go to a concert from the nice guy and his jerk friend who can't even sing.
"Get me out of here!" I want to scream, lunging at the nearest velvet bollero-wearing Garfunkle fan. Luckily, my actions never had to go this far. I kept silent; except for some random giggling and made it out the door with only a few disgusted glances around the car.
Now I'm home; safe. What disturbs me the most, is what I might have thought if I hadn't overheard the venue. I wouldn't sleep, that's for sure.
Well, they caught Saddam. Now the question is: What are they going to do with him? I'm as happy as everyone else that a terrible dictator is now in prison, but I'm scared about what effect this will have on the public opinion of Bush et. al. I suppose we'll find out soon enough.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Since when were earthquakes called temblors? Either way, I didn't feel anything at all and was informed of said temblor a few hours after it occured. Stuff like this makes you think, though... it really does... about stuff... y'know... important things... like having to wake up for work tomorrow. Stuff like that.
Sometimes, even the most ambitious and good-intentioned blogs end up turning into simple lists of what people had for lunch. I fear this will become one of them.
Yesterday I had a Cliff bar that I snacked on from around noon until 2, then I went out and got a sandwich with Turkey, American and hot peppers. That was good. I shouldn't have had that bag of chips though.
Today I brought two clementines and a cliff bar, but started to get really, really hungry around ten minutes ago and ended up at the hotdog stand downstairs. I already ate the hotdog... but the bag of chips is only half done and sitting next to me at my desk. The cliff bar is in my drawer.... with a banana... from... a while ago... That half smoke was good though. I think "half smoke" is a DC thing. It's just a big, spicy hot dog.
Thursday, December 04, 2003
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
If you remember Animal Farm, there was this constant theme throughout that no matter how poorly the farm was doing, Napoleon and his pig friends would always say that production was at an all time high and that everything was great. What I'm starting to wonder is this: Why is it that, as soon as the mainstream media starts reporting that Bush is going to need to focus on the failing economy to win the election, production takes a jump? Who's reporting that production is jumping? The US Department of Labor, of course. Now, I'm not saying that the Dept. of Labor is the only group reporting on productivity jumps and a more lively economy, there are tons of news agencies reporting on the Dept. of Labor's findings too.
What I really want to know is this:
Conservatives will say that this is totally ridiculous. That suggesting that the Department of Labor would skew statistics to make it look like tax cuts had saved the economy is completely insane. Then again, President George W. Bush nominated Elaine L. Chao, the current secretary of Labor. He also nominated Kathleen P. Utgoff the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reported this productivity jump.
Now I'll make my concessions: I'm not saying that anything happened. I know that there are a lot of other people in each of these departments who actually collect this information and make it available and weren't appointed by a conservative "president". I also know that tax cuts can boost the economy. But for how long and at what cost?
But here's what I want to leave with: Three actions that seem like oddly coincidental reactions:
It's a depressing outlook, but doesn't it seem extremely coincidental that everytime it would be useful for something to happen to this administration, it happens? 9-11 is a bit of a stretch, but this other stuff? Child's play when you've got enough money and leftover Daddy-politicos.
I knew it was a placebo, but I had never called it thepurple coneflower until now.
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Monday, December 01, 2003
Monday, November 24, 2003
I'm not much for updates, now that the new job has started. Oh well, c'est la vie.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
It's just like me to complain about not having a job for two months and then complain about working too much when I finally get one. So, may I entertain the idea of being just like me for two sentences? Man, what the hell happened when I find myself having already worked forty hours on a Thursday night. Not to mention the fact that I'm working tomorrow AND saturday.
Ok, enough of that. Having been moved to the new cube, life is quite different around the office. Things are really, really quiet. I haven't figured out anything bad about this, except that now I have to be quiet too. I did get my own phone, with my own voicemail, which I immediately put a dissappointing message on, but couldn't muster the energy to replace it with something better. I also got connected to the company e-mail and instant messenger system that comes along with Lotus Notes. The instant messenger thing could really be done without. As soon as you sign on, everybody knows that you're in the office and have remembered to sign onto the instant messenger thing. After that, there's no professional way to not be found online for the rest of the day. Everyone will know that you're away from your desk (possibly slacking off) if you leave an away message, but if you sign off altogether, everyone knows that you didn't forget about the program's existence. It's awful. Awful. Awful. Awful. Ok. It's not that bad.
Today was my first time using Lotus Notes. After a few hours of stupiding around I learned that Notes is just like Outlook and other e-mail programs, except the vocabulary is different. Instead of a "letter" or "message", you write a "memo". Instead of "synchronizing", one "replicates". I'm so smart it sickens me.
At the new cubicle I also have access to a different little kitchen and work on a different side of the building with different elevators and a different bathroom. It's like a different office, but with several similar (ok. the same) mindless tasks to do it also feels a lot like the same office... which it is. The best part about the new cube is that the bathroom is only 10 feet from my desk. That's way better than the 50 feet I had to walk at my old desk.
What on earth am I rambling on about?
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
When I started this blog, I thought that it would be a place for me to write down all sorts of random thoughts, and even more: random, relatively long meanderings about intersting topics. The latter has suffered. I haven't had the time to bitch about stuff enough.
So here's the deal: I'm going to try to write one really good entry every week. It probably won't happen on Wednesdays... Those are really tough. Maybe on Fridays or Saturdays. Yeah.
I think the first topic for one of these ridiculous philosophical entries is going to be the fact that I told myself that I would never be caught dead in a shirt and tie sitting in a cubicle and reading memos. Well, it has Begunith... and I am none too happieth.
-peace out more tomorrow.
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Tomorrow I get to move to my own cubicle! I haven't seen it yet, but I might get on a tour that'll take me there with my manger in the next few minutes. Word on the street is that the new cubicle is outside the offices of some big-wigs.... which isn't good... because now I won't be allowed to type loudly and talk all day long.
Perhaps this blog will be shortlived...
or perhaps...
just perhaps...
It will become stronger and more mighty than... oh screw it, I'm goin' home.
Monday, November 17, 2003
Another week begins! I can't wait for Friday! Until then, why not read this?
Friday, November 14, 2003
Thursday, November 13, 2003
This, however, is not a good question to ask... Questioning the reasons behind your own employment will only lead to on overwhelming feeling of underachievment, and uselessness...
So, yeah. Printing out reams upon reams of previously printed documents, collating them, attaching little binder clips (or big binder clips!), to them and then putting them on someone's desk is useful.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
Here's a pretty rad US electoral college calculator. Watch out! If you're not careful you might learn something about history or even the names of the guys who lost elections.
Friday, November 07, 2003
I've started another blog... my nerdiness only gets nerdier. Take a gander at http://nobuzzwords.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Thank God (as Bush is only speaking for God) for all those tax cuts.... wait a second... who cares about tax cuts when no one has a job?
Monday, November 03, 2003
During a fundraising speech (about 2 minutes ago), Bush said: "Free nations don't develop weapons of mass terror." I'm confused: Don't we develop tons of weapons that would cause terror for anyone that we used them on? and What's he doing giving fundraising speeches?
He also bothers to say that "if you have problems with the neighborhood you live in, it's your responsibility to do something about it." Is this what my taxes are paying for? Somebody to tell me that if I don't like something I should go fix it myself? Even if it's something like the school system or crime? Are we all supposed to be vigilantes and activists? I thought that government would help to give us safer neighborhoods and better schools. But, apparently, we're in a new era of responsibility where it's my job to clean up this town, not the job of my elected officials. Hmmm... I'm all for activism, but Bush can't just forfeit responsibility for the state of the nation, which is really what this whole "new era of responsibility thing seems to be about.
Friday, October 31, 2003
I was e-mailing this to R and thought it might belong blogged... if only to tell of my amazingly interesting Friday at le office.
I've decided that, instead of annoying my coworkers with random stupid questions and thought, I'd start writing them here, while I think of them... this process will probably last upwards of one day...
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Now I'm watching and listening as Donald Rumsfeld is comparing post-war Iraq to Post war Germany. You can watch too HERE, but it'll be over in about 30 seconds, I'm guessing.
Today in the News:
I remember that episode! I thought it was hilarious. The study that's linked to below about 83% of Fox news regualar watchers having at least 1 misconception about the Iraq war seems to give some weight to their conservative reputation, but that doesn't mean they can't sue themselves to prove themselves liberal, right?.
and then there's this:
As if no one expected that the companies donation to the campaigns would benefit somehow. Wow! What surprising news!
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
In the News Today:
Satan says "Come on down!" to dead Price is Right announcer.
Friday, October 24, 2003
Thursday, October 23, 2003
Some British guy is going to run 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents. Neat. I'm so bored with work I can hardly think of anything amusin... wait... I can't... oh no.
I'm still not sure if I want Cuba to turn into the next Cancun, but when the
U.S. Senate votes to deny Cuba travel ban funding, I feel like things might be turning around (politically, at least). I always thought the US position on Cuba was useless, costly and dumb and now some people on the hill have my back. Word.
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
Bush, Powell and Condi Rice were on a big pr campaign to talk about how we're winning the war on terror and how well things are going in iraq. But the Oct. 16th leaked Rumsfeld memo raises some good questions that throw doubt at the spin Bush and pals are putting on the current state of affairs.
My favorite quote (besides most of the ones mentioned in the press):
My impression is that we have not yet made truly bold moves, although we have have made many sensible, logical moves in the right direction, but are they enough?
Whoa, if "shock and awe" wasn't bold, what the hell is? Who is this guy? Nevermind the fact that he used "although" and "but" in the same phrase, he also uses the word 'behinder'... which isn't a word. I love it.
US arrests Canadian and deports him to Syria for suspected terrorism. Just plain retarded.
Plunger acted on impulse.
This Niagra falls jumping guy article writes its own hilarity.
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
Watch this video of a bus crash and report from Today. Seatbelts on buses seem a bit unecessary to me, given that there were no serious injuries and not having them makes for very amusing footage.
Here's a transcript of one of the sniper suspects opening statements. My recommendation: If you're trying to defend yourself, don't say things about the prosecution in relation to the crime like "We know something happened. They wasn't there. I was. I know what happened." (can be read on page 3 of the transcript).
In July, the White House (and others) predicted budget deficits of at least $408 billion.
Then they come out with the actual deficit of $374.2 billion In October. Then they say that this shows how fantastically the Bush economic plan is working. I've got one for you: I predicted that I'd spend $6 Million dollars this week, but that, given a new economic spending plan, I now can reduce that number by $5,999,983. Won't you all be amazed with me come Friday when I've only spent $17?!? I'll get all your votes in the upcoming election, you'll be so amazed.
Monday, October 20, 2003
Not much for blogging today. Went to see a lecture at the National Museum of Natural History. I fell asleep. It was a slide show... so it wasn't really my fault. I can't stay awake for slide shows. It's a condition. So now I'm stuck at work late and trying to get a through a big batch of files. Thereby I have little time to write something that only I will ever read. Check this out in the meantime.
Friday, October 17, 2003
There's this fanatic general who wants to kill your god if it's not his god. And somebody is putting suspicious stuff on airplanes to test their security. It's about time somebody gave them a wakeup call as to how bad the security really is, though this isn't the way they should've done it. It's all about the illusion of safety.
Thursday, October 16, 2003
On Bush's radical speech
My comments are in Italics, whereas W's stuff isn't.
"Our challenges will be overcome with optimism and resolve..."
Don't forget money... Lots and lots of my money
Bush went on to play the blame game with a list of reasons why the economy sucks so badly. Among them: Sept. 11th, corporate scandals, and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Basically giving the "I didn't do it" speech.
Bush then outlined his 6 point plan to get the economy back on track
1- Healthcare - giving small businesses access to the same assoc. Healthcare plans of big businesses.
That's lovely... What about me? I'm working a temp job. I don't have healthcare no matter what size businesses can offer it.
2- Effective legal reform to stop frivolous lawsuits against doctors - class action lawsuits that cross state lines should be held in a federal court.
This seems about right, though going after lawyers is pretty easy.
3- A sound national energy policy finding clean energy sources ("...for national security America must be less dependent on foreign sources of energy.")
So... you're planning on drilling in Alaska, then?
4- Needless government regulations hinder new jobs, so they should be gotten rid of
Basically saying that he wants to get rid of some paper work. How did this make it into a 6 point plan for the economy? If it was a 200 point plan I would understand a paper-work-reduction act, but I'm not sure I'm going for this one. Saying that you're going to "eliminate needless government regulations" just makes me worry about your definition of "needless".
5- Pursue free-trade agreements to open markets for us products.
In other words, force other countries to sell our genetically modified and hormone filled products.
6- Make sure that all the tax-relief we pass does not disappear in future years. The tax cuts are scheduled to go away and Bush wants to make them permanent.
This just makes it so that in the future administrations will need to "raise taxes" just to get back to where we were before the tax cuts, instead of simply eliminating the tax cuts. Taxes will go up no matter what, having the cuts made permanent just makes the next administration lose more face.
"Who can possibly think that the world would be a better place with Saddam Hussein still in power?... Certainly not the victims of the rape rooms"!
That wasn't the question, you idiot. No one argued that he was a good guy, I think they argued that the way you went about removing him was stupid. And why do you always need to bring up rape rooms in every speech about Hussein's past (as he did in his speech to the UN on Sept. 23)? I know they're bad, but going after female voters like that is kind of transparent. And who's really the threat? North Korea is talking about testing a nuclear weapon!
Then, in reference to the new Iraq: "free nations are peaceful nations." But aren't we "free"? Aren't we at war on multiple fronts? Terror, drugs, etc. Who's peaceful?
Can Bush really be this transparent? I'm consistently astounded and baffled as to why the rest of the country doesn't pick up on this stuff. I recognize that all politicians do this same stuff, democrats, republicans, everybody, but that doesn't make it RIGHT. Does it?
The big idiot is giving a speech in CA before he goes to China to potentially throw up on people like his daddy. Watch it live from the bbc right here. What a world we live in that the signal is going from California to Britain and then to my computer.
The UN is voting on a new resolution, which will probably be really "symbolic" and "meaningful" but not actually "do" anything. It'll be great stuff and you can see it on msn live video. Personally, I'm happy for Iraq that the UN is getting involved, but sad that the UN folded so easily. They seem to just have accepted what happened on the ground in Iraq as unchangable and are going to jump on the fix-iraq bandwagon. What will this tell a war-mongering Bush administration? That it's ok to go against the rest of the UN because they'll all just come back around to sanction it later? Or is the UN telling the US that they failed and need UN support to prevent a total disaster with the occupation?
Be on the lookout for Bush to tell you he raised social security benefits by 2.1%, but don't be fooled; this is just a cost of living increase to keep up with inflation. And while he's telling you that, don't forget about today's announced raise in medicare premiums in 2004. Bush says that this raise shows that the system needs to be reformed. Isn't that part of his job? Fixing stuff? Not just waiting for it to happen and saying how telling it is of its need to be fixed? "Not my problem" seems to be his slogan as much as it is the rest of the country.
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
China gets back from space just fine. Reports say that the astronaut circled the earth 14 times in 20 hours... I wonder if that gets boring after a while...
The saddest part about the bomb blast that killed three security guards is that they were in the Gaza strip to interview palestinian candidates for a fullbright scholarship. I sure hope that this wasn't an israli attempt to keep palestinians from getting an education or a palestinian attempt to try not to get an education. Oh well... at least there are hitler-hailing dogs named Adolf to fix things (see below) ....
Some German guy taught his dog to hail hitler. What I find amazing is that he's been arrested for this, when skinheads could get away with it any day in the US. I guess the thing protecting me from being able to write stupid stuff is the same thing protecting the skinheads... I wonder what the laws are like in Germany... I wonder if they hand out visas... Hmmmm
Tuesday, October 14, 2003
The supreme court's gonna talk 'bout el Pledge De Allegiance
Finally! I never liked saying that thing and it was b/c of the 'under God' line. So now maybe we can get some real action on this as the Supreme Court Weighs 'Under God' Reference in Pledge (washingtonpost.com)
I guess extra legs means extra meat. Check out the picture and then think about this: If the top legs don't function, those could be sold as "veal" and the others could be sold as "beef." Ah ha!
"What the Bush adminstation has done by invading Iraq and not N. Korea, is tell small countries that if they have a nuclear weapon, the US will not invade you..." This increases nuclear proliferation and "essentially makes George W. Bush the world's biggest suicide bomber." -can't remember the name of the guy who said this, but he was a priest and a guest on the Brian Lehrer show on wnyc today.
The trends that shape our world
Today's trend: getting your heads separated. All your conjoined friends are doing it...
Monday, October 13, 2003
Not much in here today. Mondays are the worst. More on that later.
For now, go to memepool and click around.
Friday, October 10, 2003
Mentioned on the list of terrorist attack locations since 9/11 (other than Bali, Casablanca etc.)
Najaf and Baghdad... I didn't know these were Al Qaida operations... Does Cheney?
Most of the speech seems to focus on justifying the war in Iraq: "material breeches", etc.
I just want him to justify having not used the UN. His stupid ass says that people wanted a unanimous decision by the UN and that the objection of just one country could have put us in grave danger and kept us from having the power to act. I'm pretty sure it didn't need to be unanimous, it just need to be unanimous among the members who have veto power. Of course, Cheney would never mention this... that wouldn't help the massive war-justification public relations effort going on right now.
Democracy not working in the middle east? Why not give it a shot somewhere South of Florida?
And don't forget to watch Cheney's speech today on how well the Iraq war is going...
Thursday, October 09, 2003
Tonight will be the fourth debate between the different candidates for the democratic nomination. Oddly enough, this debate is scheduled during the same time slot as the second game of the Yankees-Red Sox series. Also, it's the same time as NBC's Must See TV. I wonder: Who's scheduling these things, a worn out flip-flop? Did the Democratic National Committee buy the cheapest time slots without considering what else Americans might be watching? It's pretty obvious the answer is yes, given the other debates' scheduling.
Debate 4 - Oct 09th - Also scheduled: MLB Playoffs/Must See TV
Debate 3 - Sep 25th - Also scheduled: Premier of Friends
Debate 2 - Sep 10th - Also scheduled: still searching
Debate 1 - Sep 04th - Also scheduled: NFL Kickoff
Another important point is that this fourth debate is being held in Arizona, where the second Dem. primary will take place... and that the debate will air live at 5pm Arizona time on a Thursday. Nobody is home at 5pm on a Thursday. Unless Arizona democrats tape the debate, they'll only hear it through media sources, with the appropriate spin.
Am I just making excuses for having not watched the different debates? Maybe.
Should these people look at their scheduling a bit closer before they organize these things? Yes.
I wish I could have found the ratings for these different programs compared to the debates, but I can only do so little while I'm at work. Maybe you should do some research.
Next time I see a priest, I'm crossing to the other side of the street. Everyone knows they're gun toting thieves. Give me that old time religion.
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
The new $20 bill is released tomorrow. They're actually doing a huge publicity campaign to the tune of $33 million dollars. Is this really necessary? I'll probably just get the bill when I get the bill, why do I need to be marketed? What's going on? This makes me even more angry than the govt. advertsing the Army to me with my tax money... what a world.
George W Bush is an asshole. You heard it here.
He announced that he's doubtful if the CIA leak will be found. What kind of administration is he running that he can't figure out who leaked classified information? Isn't that the whole point. There were only 150 some-odd people who knew that the ambassador's wife was an agent. Can't we just strap them into a lie detector and get this over with? Infuriating.
Arnold Wins! I can't say that I'm disappointed, but I hope Californians know what they're doing.
The full election results are pretty interesting. Gary Coleman made quite a showing, as did Mary Carey Cook, an aspiring adult film "actress". Lordy!
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Here it is, the comprehensive list of all the California Gubernatorial candidates and links to their respective webpages.
Found this on memepool It's neat!
What a boring day at work. Lord, it's dull.
Either way, at least there are plenty of tiger attacks to keep me reading the news.
There's that one in Harlem and then there's Roy.
Makes you wonder: Is there a link between these two attacks?
Here are two more recent attacks. I'm sure there're more, but googlenews is all backed up with news about Roy.
Oct 7th attack
Sept 4th Attack
Monday, October 06, 2003
I can't believe I'm just hearing about this Roy attacked by tiger thing! Man, that's umm.... really... really... ummm... sad.
I imagine the tiger has finally decided that magic is lame and it would be best to move into a more natural role of hunting, killing, lying around, being featured in nature documentaries, etc.
Were tigers meant for magic shows? Only mother nature could answer that question and she says "no".
Road Block for road map. Israel decides to bomb Syria a bit. Looking for the next Iraq/Afghanistan? The US recommends Syria. They're "on the wrong side of the war on terrorism," says the US ambassador to the UN. What the hell does that mean? If one side thinks you're on the wrong side of a war, doesn't that make you an enemy? Sword rattling runs rampant!
Friday, October 03, 2003
Right now some dude up in congress is using a deadpan delivery to talk about this. Apparently, gas only costs 10 cents a gallon in Iraq. Hmmm... That gas isn't from Iraq either... Hmmm...
At work?
Bored?
Think about this:
This week I had to part with 22% of my pay check for taxes.
What happened to the "tax cut"? You know the tax cut that was supposed to kickstart the economy and get me a job? The one that was supposed to... get ready for it... lower taxes! I just don't understand economics well enough. I understand that things take some time, but if that's the case, they should stop using the term "cut". It's too abrupt. Maybe they should just say a "tax diminishment" or something all wordy like that.
I bet I could tell you a lot more about that tax cut if I owned a house, had a maid and drove a Ferrari.
For boredom I also recommend this. It's even worse and will make you feel better. It's also informative.
And don't forget about Fark.com and Friendster.
Friday!
The US Dept. of Labor reports that there were 57 thousand new jobs filled in september. Strange that this report comes out only a few days after there was so much talk about the loss of jobs, W's administration being the first since Hoover's to have job losses and his drop in the polls. Hmmm.... Also a bit bizarre that everyone was shocked by this report. How can all the analysts get this wrong? Is the Bush adminstration just telling the Dept. of Labor to lie because he's dropping behind in the polls?
I think so.
Something else fun... the washington post says that a report shows Iraq has no banned weapons, but W still says that iraq was "a danger to the world" (AP story). I wonder who would have more of an interest in lying.....
Fun thought of the day on Propaganda
Choose which facts you report and you can sway public opinion any way you want.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
In the News this Morning
Finally, China bans icky commercials.
Not getting along with each other? Build a Wall. It's fantastic to see how far we've come.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Watchin' a bit of Bush on the 'ol internet today. Why do I make myself angry like this?
From his speech on the No Child Left Behind program at Hyde Park Elementary in Florida
On posting internet results for testing in public schools:
"by the end of this year ( O - Four ), every school will have their results posted"
|I find this highly doubtful, but we'll see what happens. If they aren't posted by the end of the year, W can always just blame congress for not getting the legislation through quickly. And everyone knows that quickness is the most important factor when making decisions.|
Also fun:
"I spent a lot of time on the security of our nation... One aspect of that security is to deal with people who hate America it's to go get, em before they get us."
This is just sick and twisted. It's not wrong to hate someone.
Worse than listening to W speak is having to listen to him snicker when he thinks he's being funny... lord it's awful Click Here to watch for yourself.
Monday, September 29, 2003
I looked a bit more into this candle-related death resulting from the blackout in Italy, talk about an epidemic!
I wonder how many have died thus far... and to think these evil candles have been around since wax and fire were placed together.
Jobs and Growth
Being a "job-seeker" myself and experiencing this economy make me especially wary of fun misstatements made by W. Remember in April when W. went to a steel mill to talk about his Jobs and Growth package?
Well the steel mill he spoke at just announced it was going to cut 900 jobs last Thursday.
Awesome.
I was made aware of this fun stuff through the Daily Misleader, a fun daily e-mail of different misstatements (lies) doled out by our fearless leader.
Power outage in all of Italy (save Sardinia)
4 deaths resulting:
(2) elderly women fall down staircases.
(1) elderly woman lights her nightgown on fire with a candle.
(1) elderly woman dies in a car accident resulting from a dark intersection.
A secret French and Swiss plot against elderly Italian women, or just plain sad?
Vouchers
Are vouchers just an excuse to not give funding to public schools?
"If you devote money to a system that's supposed to educate your children and it fails, you have a problem."
This is supposed to be an argument for sending kids to charter schools. It sounds more like an argument to give money to help public schools. What's wrong with these people? And isn't it interesting that so many conservatives are supporting a program that gives such a small amount of money that most of the charter schools would end up being "religiously affiliated"?
"who knows better than parents where their kids should go?" - says DC Mayor A. Williams, but A. Williams was opposed by the school board in DC and went ahead with the voucher idea anyway. Hmmm... I'm too busy to try to find links to all of this now, but for those of you who live somewhere that has representatives in the house and senate, please call and tell them that they have no right to be voting on DC affairs.
Friday, September 26, 2003
Hey, everybody (all two people reading this thing) donate to my AIDS walk campaign here: Walker Whitman AIDS walk 2003 every little bit helps and it's for a good cause, blah, blah, blah... you know the drill.
On the Subject of Illegal Downloading
Why this subject? Because all of a sudden everybody is freaking out about pirating music and I thought it would be nice to zip around on Google News to look for related stuff.
66 years of Piracy dropped
RIAA's original press release claims that they'll give amnesty to people who admit their illegal downloading before the RIAA finds them. Maybe we (I mean... ummm... people...) should all just get signed and notarized affidavits and present them as soon as they're subpoenaed, or just send it in the mail the day the subpoena comes. Another article presents a pretty good picture of how useless the RIAA's strategy is (i.e. taking 2000+ years to sue everyone). This one says some interesting stuff about the whole situation in general and makes a good analogy to copying TV shows on you VCR and copying mp3s.
At least somebody is out there to help. The eff is representing some of the people targeted by RIAA. If you get caught, I'd suggest giving htem a call. And at least there's one person fighting back.
What I really wonder is what the artists think about all of this. Granted, the record companies are the ones producing and distributing their music, but the artists don't seem to be talking too much at the moment.
Wednesday, September 24, 2003
More Stupid News
Guantanmo prisoner charged with "furnishing unauthorized food. To wit, baklava pastry" (see the first link). Among other things, Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi was also charged with espionage, treason, la, la, la... but I really think the baklava is too awesome. I didn't know you could get baklava in Cuba. From what I understand, Cubans are only rationed five eggs a month. Aren't there eggs in Baklava? Well, it turns out there aren't any eggs... so that's good to know. I still wonder why the "terrorists" that they're keeping in Guantanamo want greek pastries and where they get walnuts, almonds, cloves, butter and sugar.
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Ode to Guy at Grosvenor
Oh toothless guy from Grosvenor
we met and discussed many things
your breath did stink
your teeth did miss
and with me your memory clings
We conversed for quite some time
topics ranged and topics ran
discussing food
and discussing sport
your bottle never left your hand
At first we began with how-do-you dos
then the subject turned to food
you exclaimed that quiche was good
and that people don't eat beets as much as they should
Then we talked football
and you complained of tv
and how you were bored with just basic
and had no electricity
Without your tv
you went to the bar for some fun
and while telling the tale
drank a mini of bourbon
"Spaghetti's gotta have sausage,
and it's an Italian dish"
Your words bounce around in my head
like nine stupid fish.
When the train came
not one tear was spilled
we took separate cars
and we were both thrilled
You were thrilled
'cuz you were sauced
I was thrilled
'cuz you were lost.
Now this is news.
Check out Electric Soft Parade if you have a spare ear.
An ode to the guy I met at the Grosvenor Metro Station last night is forthcoming... I just need to sit around and write it.... see above to know if I ever got to it.
I've been reading a little too much news today:
Domestic
Hooray for school Vouchers! Now kids can learn from the all-knowing bible instead of those silly text books that the public schools can't afford anyway!
Then again, Espresso at Dunkin' Donuts is a fantastic idea.
International
First Afghanastan, then Iraq, look who's in the middle: Iran with 3 brand new Missles that don't go very far and don't blow much up. I wonder when they're getting a dose of "freedom" provided by W + Hawks.
Moron
Listened to Bush's address to the UN
"Leaders will see what is possible in the heart of the middle east"
Wasn't that the big plan all along? To use Iraq as an example of our power and even a starting point for an eventual war on all things non-American?
A few other questions that I've had floating around:
What happened to N. Korea?
What happened to Liberia?
Did Bush really need to mention "Rape Rooms", "Sex Slaves" and the "sex trade" in a speech asking for UN help in Iraq?
Also found a site chock full of Unbelievable conservative views that deserves to be looked at objectively, subjectively and with baffled looks of disbelief.
Okay, back to aimless work that never ends.
Monday, September 22, 2003
Was about to link to a couple of sites and realized that I should just leave a link to the site that links to all of them... I just said the word "link" a lot.. Que Nerd!
memepool.com
I highly suggest checking out destroy tropical hurricanes by nuking them and the falling down stairs simulator which requires a download, but has an amusing site anyway.
And this band must be awesome with the ethnic diversity they've got going.
Back at work... A nice change from a hurricane induced 4-day weekend. What am I working on? Reading stuff online, of course.
So... If 69 percent of people think that Saddam was directly or indirectly involved in 9/11, and 69 percent of people thought it was a good idea to go to war with Iraq and it turns out that Saddam wasn't directly involved , does that mean that those 69 percent would take back their war-vote and we'd have a 0%?
More polling on iraq here
Hmmm... Not that I want this stupid blog to be political, but it's what I'm thinking right now so here it is all typed up and pretty.
Saturday, September 20, 2003
That bar was ridiculous! $7.25 for a gin and tonic?!? Why the hell did I order one of those, anyway? I'm not that high class. The food was cheap, but the drinks were retarded.
Attempt to park in Adams Morgan post-expensive-place proved totally ridiculous. Ended up at some forty-something bar in downtown. Sad, sad, sad.
Today I found out that my night vision is terrible. I'm off to eat some carrots... even though their "improvment of night vision" is a total lie... hmm... as long as I'm ingesting lies, I think I'll have one of those muscular building Miller High Lifes that I've got in the fridge. Man that beer is cheap.
Friday, September 19, 2003
Thursday, September 18, 2003
The storm continues, unabated and downgraded to a tropical storm... this isn't the tropics... but that's beside the point. I'm tired of all the hype that surrounds everything. How can the media sit there and lie to me, telling me that doom is impending, when I know that it won't be worse than a random thunderstorm?
I'm pretty sure the only reason there was so much media attention to this hurricane was that they knew it was coming. With random summer thunderstorms, they're sudden and unexpected, so the media doesn't have time to spin up some cool graphics and stir everybody into a froth that buys everything in its path. In the case of this stupid hurricane, the media had tons of time to make everyone think they're going to die and that normal "objects" will become "projectiles" that will "fly" through the "air" using "quotes" to talk about things.
Either way, I'm carrying on as normal with naught a care in the world about the wind and rain... which I'm not really witnessing at the moment. And a final complaint: I get paid by the hour and they've closed my job for TWO DAYS for this fake hurricane. Yeah... that's my final complaint.
Bored at work?!? Listen to BBC radio. No commercials and better music that's not manufactured in a meeting:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/
I suggest Tom Robinson on music6, or just going to the genre button on their player and finding ROCK & ALT... though I don't like to call it Alternative or Rock and Roll... those names are lame... I'll call it M-U-S-I-C that I particularly enjoy.
Don't believe the hype... this hurricane is nothing unlike a THUNDERSTORM. The only reason they hype it up so much is to try to get me to buy a lot of batterries to replace the ones I have leftover from the last orange alert. Now, where did I put my girlfriend's candles?
Go here-> http://www.doubledrat.net
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