Molt Be Blog

Friday, July 28, 2006

Huge time waster

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Finally! Mass Transit on Maps on the Web

There were hacks before for getting to see subway stations on Google maps, but the new Yahoo! Maps Beta goes the distance and gets mass transit for DC up on there too. This is pretty huge, given that the wmata.com site still has no maps showing the street location of stations. As though 23rd and Connecticut has any meaning for tourists or people from Virginia.

Monday, July 24, 2006

An aside on dryer dials

Stupid Dryer.

I just don't get it. More and Less are relative terms. Are they talking about the state that I want my clothes to be in or the current state of my clothes? Are my clothes more or less dry already or do I want to make them more or less dry? Why would I want to make them less dry? What question is this machine posing? Do I want them to be more dry than they are now or less dry than they are now? That doesn't seem to make sense. Of course I want them to be drier than they are right now.

If the dial said "More dryer action" and "Less dryer action", then I might get it, but at this point I'm confused and bewildered. If I didn't know that the dial goes clockwise as the cycle runs, I'd be completely lost.

Blogged with Flock

Saturday, July 22, 2006

India (expanded) - Part I

Note: I've been working on this post since we got back... that doesn't mean it's going to be perfect!
I thought I might as well take the next few days to try to blog our entire trip to India. As I'm paranoid about the internet and the terrible people that use it, I won't be including any pictures that have me in them... so pardon the fact that some of the pictures on the right will just look like postcards.

After leaving H and R Block with the knowledge of what our tax return would be, Rose and I went to an Indian restaurant on 17th and L in Washington, DC to have lunch. The place used to be called the Ascot Lounge, but recently changed their name to the Indian Experience. We'd gotten pretty good news at the tax place: This being our first year owning a home in DC, we were eligible for a first-time home-buyer's tax credit.

Halfway through dinner, one of us (R insists it was her) mentioned that India would be an interesting place to go, especially given that we both loved the food so much. Lo and behold, we were on our way to STA travel in Georgetown a few weekends later to make the arrangements. We'd looked around online, but had used STA when we went to our friends' wedding in Poland two years earlier and found it was just as cheap and avoided the hassles that come along with Travelocity, Orbitz and the rest.

The flight we purchased on Alitalia would take us out on July 1st at 4:30pm and fly us into Milan where we would wait for three hours before continuing onto Delhi, arriving there at 10:20pm on July 2nd. Delhi is nine and a half hours ahead of DC, so the trip would really be only about twenty-one hours door-to-door. Given that neither of us is too rich in vacation time, we decided to limit our trip to only ten days total, and would return on July 9th with a day off once we were back to rest up for work.

R is a planning and packing fanatic and had everything prepared far in advance. This included ponchos, 99.8% Deet bug spray, a mixed ziploc of Immodium and Advil, Neosporin, Band-aids, and everything else we could possibly need. Additionally, R used some of our condo contacts to get in touch with a travel agency in Delhi to get us train tickets to Agra and Shimla as well as a hotel reservation for a night in Shimla all to be waiting for us at our hotel in Delhi when we arrived.

I, on the other hand, focused my efforts on packing various gadgets and the wires associated with them (ipod, camera, chargers, blackberries, blackberry-charger, various adaptors, etc.) While I had alerted management that I would be going on vacation more than four months in advance, my boss decided to take it as a total surprise when I reminded him of the trip the Monday before I was suppose to leave. Never mind that I'd been talking about it steadily for months or that it had been blocked out in the team calendar since the day we bought the tickets. He immediately began trying to make sure that everything I was working on would be finished by the time I left. This meant putting in about 65 hours over the next five days. Thank goodness that R had so much of our stuff packed. By the time I got home late on the last day of June, I was in no mood to search for my poncho.

Before catching our plane on Saturday evening, we had to take the cat up to Bethesda to stay with R's parents for the week that we'd be gone. R's dad was nice enough to pick us up and we took the cat and our suitcases Northward.

Humayun's Tomb

While we eating lunch and starting to think about leaving for the airport, we got a call from STA regarding our flights. Apparently, Alitalia had canceled the second leg of the trip from Milan to Delhi. STA explained that they had tried to arrange something else over the phone, but that the airline had kept insisting that we'd have to solve the problem after we go to Milan. They did suggest, however, that we get to the airport a little earlier and see if we could arrange something there.

Once at the airport, R and I did a good job of playing good cop/bad cop (wherein R shows a lot of emotion and frustration with the people at the Alitalia desk and I come off as being understanding of their position but unwilling to accept what they're telling me). This behaior of ours seems to happen naturally almost every time we get into a situation like this. In the end, we were moved to a flight on KLM that would take us through Amsterdam and then to Delhi and get us in only 20 minutes later than our original itinerary. Even better, the second leg of the flight was full and we would have to be bumped up to business class. The Horror!
I had never ridden in anything but coach until this trip and have decided that I will not enjoy flying very much ever again if I'm stuck back there with the proles. Here are just some of the reasons I discovered for business class to cost more money:
(1) The food is far better
(2) There is much more leg room
(3) There are no screaming babies (I can only assume this is because families have better things to spend their money on than renting a big lounge chair 33,000 feet in the air for 6 hours)
(4) Better service
(5) Only three seats across at its maximum
(6) Better smelling passengers (partly due to the babies, but definitely apparent amongst other flyers as well)

Enough about getting there. We did actually get there and weren't pestered for more than two seconds at customs. Upon exiting the gate we were met by a sea of taxi drivers holding different signs. After running the gauntlet once and not seeing the sign for our hotel, I went back and found one with R's name on it, spelled incorrectly.

Walking out of the airport with the driver was the first moment that either of us really experienced Delhi and lends truth to the idea that you can't count a place on your list of visited places if you've only been to its airports. Trying to recall if it was the heat or the smell that hit me first, I can only assume it was the smell. Heat takes a little while to hit as it has to push all the cool air out of my clothes before enveloping me, but the smell was right there from the moment the doors opened until the moment I was asked to stow my tray table on the flight back home. We would later learn that a lot of the poorer residents of Delhi still use cow dung to heat their stoves and that this is what was giving their city that distinctly sour, musty smell stinging the back of my throat and thick enough that you thought you could wave it away (alas).

New Delhi rom a rooftop

Stupid me had forgotten that Indians drive on the left side of the road. This was another first for me, as I've never been to Japan, Australia or England (except its airports), but I thought I got used to it pretty quickly. While they may drive on the same side of the road as Britons, I can only assume that the driving style of Indians is vastly different. There is very little stopping at any time during a drive. If the brake is depressed, the horn is usually depressed as well. This also holds true for the gas. In fact, from my experience, there are few times when the horn isn't being honked or about to be honked in an Indian vehicle (particularly a Tata).

Per the suggestion of my Grandpa, I took along a little notebook for the trip. Here are the notes I made on our first drive in India while we were going from the airport to the hotel (mind you, midway through this drive R reached out and grabbed me hand, in that "what have we done?" sort of way... the feeling was mutual):

Any street downtown

(1) Ladies ride sidesaddle on the backs of mopeds.
(2) Air quality: questionable.
(3) Our driver has no mirrors on his car.
(4) We're on the wrong side of the road over here.
(5) There is a water buffalo in the highway.

As the driver took us deeper and deeper into Delhi, we started to wonder where exactly our hotel was located. We were staying at the hotel Ajanta near the center of Delhi and it had only cost us $178 for the week that we would be there. The hotel was located between old and new Delhi, North of Connaught Place and the New Delhi train station (not to be confused with the Nizammudin train station, much further to the South).

While the streets around and in front of the hotel were filled with not-so-welcoming faces, the lobby and its employees seemed great. After arriving in the lobby, we were taken into a small office off to the side to show our passports and reservation receipt. The first room they took us to was a complete wreck and we were about to unload our things when the phone rang and the bellman was instructed to take us to a different room - one that more closely matched what we'd seen in pictures online. We didn't even have to complain! Later we would notice loads of other people also carrying "STA" hotel reservation receipts.

While the bellman was doing the whole "show-you-obvious-things-in-the-room-while-you-rustle-for-my-tip" thing, he showed R the bathroom. Upon noticing a large bucket and smaller pouring vessel in the tub, R asked, "What's that?"
To which the bellman replied, "bucket."

The lobby of the hotel Ajanta

I chose to use the shower head rather than the bucket for the duration of the trip and now feel that I may have cheated myself slightly.

At this point R and I were pretty beat and called it a night - finally turning in around 12pm Delhi time. Before we went to bed, however, we both took a melatonin pill. Having heard of this drug's great ability to help one get back on their circadian rhythms when traveling, I thought it was worth a shot. I'll tell you this: it works. Maybe it's just a placebo, but if that's the case it's my new favorite placebo. Bless that stuff. I woke up the next day at 8am feeling refreshed and ready to do some touristing.

The morning of July 3rd, R and I went downstairs to change some money at the front desk. We inquired there about the best way to get around the city and were informed that the hotel had a taxi stand that would give us a driver for the day for 800 Rupees. At 44 Rupees to the dollar, that's under 20 bucks. While we were at the front desk, we also picked up our various train tickets and hotel vouchers for the rest of our trip that had been mailed there by Parul Tours & Travels a great travel agency recommended by our neighbor who was based in New Delhi for the US State Dept.

After paying for a cab for the day, R and I set foot out of our hotel and witnessed India from the ground during daylight hours for the first time.

The view across from our hotel in New Delhi (the hotel Ajanta)

"Culture Shock" doesn't really describe the feeling we both had on seeing the area surrounding our hotel. All of India was in the street walking by: cows, stray dogs, three-wheeled tuk-tuks, cars, rickshaws, bicycles, smog, dirt, dust, heat, humidity, men, women (not many) and children. That unforgettable smell was still in the air, but now the heat had been turned up to about 110(F).

Our cab driver was a Nepalese man named Durga, and would end up taking us around each day that we did sight-seeing in New Delhi. A few blocks after we'd left the hotel, Durga stopped and picked up his (much) younger brother. Durga explained that his brother was learning to drive by touring around with him during the day. While listening to him speak over the next week, I realized that Durga had two types of English that he employed, the kind he used when he was driving and the kind that he used when he wasn't. Durga's driving English was entirely made up of short statements like, "Ok, my big boss", "You like India, fifty-fifty?", "Hello police officer", and "where we're going next?" Once the car was stopped, Durga's English improved dramatically and he would talk to us about some of the sites we were seeing and answer all of our dumb cultural questions. I'm dead sure that the only reason he spoke differently when driving is that driving in India is so brain intensive that if he tried to speak in fuller sentences, his truck would be wrapped around a tree. Further proof of how difficult it is to drive there can be found in Durga's brother having to do so many ride-alongs before attempting it himself.

Our first stop on our first day of touring about was Raj Ghat, which marks the spot of Mahatma Gandhi's cremation on 31 January 1948.

Raj Ghat

This was this first place where we were required to remove our shoes. We left them with a guy at the same type of counter they have at the bowling alley while we were inside looking at the eternal flame that burns in Gandhi's memory. At first I didn't mind taking my shoes off to see a monument. Later in the trip, however, I would step in a puddle with a socked foot and realize that walking around outside with no shoes on is not the way to take in national monuments. Stepping in water with a sock on is up there on my list of pet peeves right next to poorly stacked cooking pans.

It was incredibly hot by the time we left Raj Ghat and were taken by Durga to see Humayun's Tomb. In the same gardens that house Humayun's tomb, is another tomb for nobleman Ali Isa Khan Niazi. We toured the tomb of Ali Isa Khan Niazi first and were immediately approached by a man who offered to show us around, saying, "I'm not a guide. I work here." This seemed like a fair enough explanation, so we let him walk around with us and point things out a bit.

A view from out of the Mosque next to Ali Isa Khan Niazi's tomb

Ali Isa Khan Niazi

After tipping our "non-guide" at the nobleman's tomb, we headed towards the larger Taj-Mahal-style tomb of Humayun who was the second Mughal Emperor of India. By this point, we were so thirsty and hot from being out in the sun that seeing the massive distance between a shaded archway and the actual edifice we decided that seeing was believing and it would be best to take a picture, find some shade and find some water.

Finding water is relatively easy in Delhi. Most everyone in the city appears to drink bottled water, so it's avaiable just about everywhere. R and I had heard enough stories about the water before leaving that we were strict to the point of brushing our teeth with bottled water during our stay. I even avoided coffee to a large extent, as one never knew how well the water had been heated. After informing Durga of our dehydrated state, his brother jumped out and came back with two bottles of water. I was surprised to find the bottles were Aquafina, a brand bottled by Pepsi. This would be one of many times that I would notice the complete and total infiltration of Frito-Lay on India. Half of the shops and houses on the side of the road that we would take a few days later from Kalka to Shimla were painted with "Lay's" or "Pepsi" logos. Aquafina was everywhere. I can only wonder what kind of financial interest Frito-Lay has in the water quality in Delhi staying horrible.

I digress. R and I were completely revitalized after each draining a liter of water. Our next stop was the tomb of Safdajung which looked enough like Humayun's tomb that we weren't even slightly dissappointed at having withered in the heat earlier in the day. Up in the tomb area we were once again approached by a man with the same "I'm not a guide, I work here." line. Given the familiarity of this statment and the man's lack of shoes or socks, we both realized that we'd been taken for a ride earlier. The man then asked us if we could exchange one American dollar for Rupees. Now even more assured as to his not being an employee, R and I immediately adopted British accents and left down a staircase.

Safdarjun's Tomb

We had had plans to have suits made while we where there given that it costs so much less to do so in India. With this in mind, we had Durga take us to Khan Market, which had been recommended to us by our neighbor who used to live in Delhi. Billed in Wikipedia as "one of the more upscale and expensive places to shop in New Delhi" we were a little surprised at what we found. We weren't looking for upscale, anyway, so we weren't dissappointed.

Behind Khan Market

Alas, we were unable to find the tailor or clothing stores that had been recommended for us. We did, however, manage to buy a bunch more water and some shoes for R.

Plenty tired and hungry, Durga suggested a spot for lunch where we had our first authentic Indian meal. The restaurant was a bit touristy, but there were locals present as well. The food was delicious and suprisingly similar to the Indian food that one would find in the states. Throughout the trip, I found that most of the food that we ate on the trip, whether served in hotels or on the train, was very similar to what can be found here in the states. Of course, there's a little less meat in the food in India, but otherwise it's pretty close.

After lunch, Durga took us back to the hotel where we both passed out from 3pm to 6pm. After waking up from this "nap", we went up on the roof and sat around watching the hundreds of kites being flown from rooftops and being watched ourselves by various people on their rooftops. We also noticed a large monkey across the street on some water tanks, which enouraged us to abandon the roof and see about having a walk around.

Monkey on a Roof

We ended up in the hotel restaurant where I was dissappointed to find out that there was no beer on the menu. After a very cheap not-so-delicious bite to eat we both got sleepy again and decided to turn in, especially given that we would have to wake up early the next day to catch a train to Agra.

Whew! That's the end of Part 1. I'll start typing part II later today and will upload eventually. There's a lot more to go!

You Tube Surfing

Terry Tate, Office Linebacker
I had not seen these Terry Tate adertisments [You Tube] before. They are amusing. Enjoy.

Friday, July 21, 2006

What Should I Read Next?

This is a good idea: What Should I Read Next?

Good blog find

everyday Issa seems like a good idea

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Of all the things to Veto...

Stem Cell Bill Gets Bush's First Veto. Oh well, at least it made a great photo-op. If only every embryo could be adopted. If only every lab created embryo could be inserted into a surrogate mother and born into the world. If only these embryos could be frozen for a later time. All this makes me think that instead of embryos using for research to save Michael J. Fox (save him!), they're going to end up in the trash.

Bush and his allies say that frozen embryos are tantamount to humans, and therefore are no more appropriate for medical research than are death row inmates. "If this bill were to become law," Bush said yesterday, "American taxpayers would for the first time in our history be compelled to fund the deliberate destruction of human embryos."

Others reject that analysis, saying it would make killers of every couple that produces an unused embryo, and every employee and official who allows fertility clinics to produce and store such embryos.

"If that's murder, how come the president allows that to continue?" asked Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). "Where is his outrage?" Harkin called the veto "a shameful display of cruelty, hypocrisy and ignorance."

Free advice through music

Was just listening to this song, whose lryics' come from an essay which you can learn about here.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering
experience…I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not
understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and
recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before
you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you
imagine.

Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as
effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing
bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that
never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing everyday that scares you

Sing

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with
people who are reckless with yours.

Floss

Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes
you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with
yourself.

Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you
succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe
you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t
congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your
choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body,
use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever
own..

Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for
good.

Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the
people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you
should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and
lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you
knew when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live
in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will
philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize
that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one
might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will
look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who
supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of
fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the
ugly parts and recycling it for more than
it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen…

Thursday, July 13, 2006

In-tur-esting

So a little bit earlier I read an article about how Israel had bombed the airport in Beirut and thought that it was pretty screwed up. I posted the link automatically from CNN via Blogger's "Blog This" button. The button grabs the title of the HTML page for the title of the blog post and the text of the hyperlink. You can see the post just below and the title is "Rockets hit Israel after airport attack - Jul 13, 2006", but the actual headline of the article on CNN is: "Israel attacks airports, major highway after Hezbollah lobs rockets"
For one thing, their timing seems to be in reverse for the article headline and title. For another thing, they appear to have used the title for a pro-Israel statment and the headline for the opposite. Now that I link to the article again I can see that they've changed the page title to match the headline... I'm pretty sure that Hezbollah attacked first, but it's surprising that they got it wrong in the first place.
Either way, I'm very anti-Israel in these latest actions. Capturing soldiers is wrong. It's terrible. But launching missles isnt' the solution and neither is bombing airports. If the last few decades of Israeli action have taught us anything, it's that heavy artillery isn't very good at stopping terrorism... or even stemming the tide. How can governments be this stupid and desperate?

Rockets hit Israel after airport attack - Jul 13, 2006

This is no good: Rockets hit Israel after airport attack.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Another picture from India

It was 100 degrees at midnight in New Delhi on July 2. If you don't have AC, pulling your bed into the alley outside is a more comfortable way to go. Even if you have AC, 8 hour blackouts have been plaguing the poorer (and less often the wealthier) sections of the city for more than a month.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

India Photos

R and I got back from India on Sunday afternoon. Here are some pictures. Captions/descriptions can be found on the Flickr site, if I haven't taken the time to enter them here.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

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.

Friday, June 23, 2006

BumpTop 3D Desktop Prototype

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

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.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Henry Rollins Writes A Letter To Ann Coulter

Watch it on iFilm
I really hate that lady.

Reminder

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

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.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Wasting time?

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

Is nice!

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

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.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Doing the math to reduce homelessness

Doing the math to reduce homelessness

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Stupid Bully

Bush apologizes to L.A. Times reporter

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

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.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

AmpCamp mp3 of the day

A free download of good new music every day

Saturday, June 10, 2006

First picture on the new camera and some links

Flowers Under Flash

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

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

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.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Oh no!

Russian Download Site Is Popular and Possibly Illegal

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Two things

Awesome: YouTube - Crazy Multi-Input Touch Screen
Funny/Sad: Anonymous Lawyer blog.

Monday, May 29, 2006

Memorial Day = Political Opportunity

Bush says U.S. must honor war dead by continuing to try to "defeat the terrorists"
Saying that continuing to fight against this unpalpable enemy will justify or avenge the deaths of those that he was speaking around at Arlington National Cemetery only increases my disdain for Bush. This is an endless war against an ideology that cannot be beaten with weapons.

Thoughts

Had some interesting revelations last night:
(1) It's a common stereotype that drummers are usually the least intelligent members of a band. Wondering why this was, I decided that it's because only unintelligent parents would think it was a good idea to buy their children a drum set. Those things are loud. This is a general statement. Of the drummers that I know personally, all are smart and have smart parents... except one.
(2) Be wary of people who are very particular about unimportant things. It's usually a sign that they are only trying to seem like they know what they're talking about.

The connection between these two? None whatsoever.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Get Angry

Turn your sound on and listen to this. Remind Us ...

Burgled!

R and I had our condo burglarized a few weeks ago. I'm only getting the time to write about it now due to a hellish work schedule and lack of creative spark.

Let's see... where to begin.

The bathroom window was unlocked. Hence, point of entry. I was at a Nationals vs. Pirates game for a work "teambuilding" thing. R was still at work helping out after her real shift had ended. We arrived home at the same time around 10pm after picking up some food. I'd left home at 7pm, so whoever came in must have done so between 7 and 10. Jerks.

The door was closed, but I noticed when unlocking it that the knob lock was locked and the deadbolt wasn't.

"That's odd," I thought.

Once inside it didn't take long to figure out what had happened. The playstation was on the floor and the TV looked a bit askew. At first thinking that the cat must have dragged a bunch of wires around, we were mistaken, given that the DVD player was gone. R's jewelry box was rummaged through and she now has several single earrings for which the matching one was taken. In addition, my shoulderbag with my camera, glasses and work laptop was taken.

It could all have been far, far worse. The intruder closed the door behind them preventing the cat from escaping. We weren't home; preventing a confrontation. My Mac is still sitting pretty with all my music, pictures and everything else (oh shit, I should really back this thing up, huh?).

We called the police and an officer showed up after about an hour. He looked around for a while and then called for a crime scene unit. Two hours later there was blue finger printing dust all over my Playstation, R's jewelry box and the bathroom window; not the easiest stuff to vacuum up.
I'm surprised I'm not more freaked out by the whole thing. The police did a good job of making us realize how normal this is in downtown DC (great?) and telling us stories of much, much, much worse things that they had seen. That helped.

The worst things about being burgled:
(1) Knowing that someone you don't know has been in your place.
(2) Not being sure if shit you can't seem to find was stolen or if you just misplaced it again (ie. My watch).
(3) Dealing with filing a homeowner's insurance claim.
(4) Calling up a company to put bars on your windows when you can distinctly remember saying, "we don't need bars on the windows. We need to trust people. Bars cause more crime than they prevent because they make the neighborhood look dangerous and attract dangerous people."
(5) They took my camera! I loved my Canon S500! F*#@!

The best part about being burgled:
(1) Getting to use the (transitive) verb "burgle" and all of its many conjugations. Yes!
(2) A new work computer that's way, way better than the last one.
(3) R already replaced my awesome shoulderbag. She rules.
(4) It's a good excuse to get a new camera. I'm eyeying up the Leica Digi-Lux 2

I've been keeping a little too busy and ignoring el blog... but I suppose that's both good and bad. As the president of the condo association, I've found that the position is more than a title and is also a big time-hole. Talking with contractors about repairing things that the association doesn't have money for sucks. I can't wait to rent again. Working 90 hours in a week doesn't aid in blogging ability either. In fact, my lack of recent entries consisting of something other than quick posts about news appears to have hindered my ability to write in anything other than short disjointed thoughts.

Recentness:
Last Sunday: Got back from a wedding in Miami. Was sick on the plane. Great wedding! No pictures. Thanks burglar!
Monday: Work.
Tuesday: Went to a lecture by Edward Tufte on "Presenting Data and Information" that was fan-freaking-tastic. I'd recommend
Wednesday: Work, then played in my second kickball game of the season... also the last regular-season kickball game. I missed all the other ones because my team normally has some "work product" due to the "client" every Thursday. Thank God that project is over... for now.
Thursday: Work, then home a little early (5 is early, right?), cleaned the house a bit, went to DC9 to see a show put on by DCist. Quite good.
Today: Will be working from home tomorrow and hopefully managing to do laundry and reorganize the songs that synch to my iPod in the meantime.
This coming Saturday: barbecue at the boss' house at 4pm, barbecue at R's parents at 6?
This coming Sunday: Another barbecue at 6. I will be oh-so-fat. I love Memorial Day weekend.
This coming Monday: No work and all play makes Greg happy.

Monday, May 22, 2006

AIDS

The Post has an article with this headline today: "AIDS Vaccine Testing Goes Overseas"
AIDS testing has been going on overseas for some time. A must read on the subject is this article by Celia Farber from the April 7th issue of Harper's magazine.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Washington Babylon

I hadn't followed any of the fallout from Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Press Correspondents Dinnter, but Ken Silverstein, Washington Editor for Harper's Magazine did on his blog, Washington Babylon in his post "Richard Cohen: a Scientific Inquiry" (Richard Cohen being the Op-Ed Columnist for the Washington Post who wrote the article "So Not Funny" and the follow-up article "Digital Lynch Mob" regarding the Colbert speech.)

Monday, May 15, 2006

Bush's speech

Looks like the folks over at USEnglish have Bush's ear:
From his speech this evening on immigration:

Americans are bound together by our shared ideals, an appreciation of our history, respect for the flag we fly, and an ability to speak and write the English language. English is also the key to unlocking the opportunity of America. English allows newcomers to go from picking crops to opening a grocery from cleaning offices to running offices from a life of low-paying jobs to a diploma, a career, and a home of their own. When immigrants assimilate and advance in our society, they realize their dreams, they renew our spirit and they add to the unity of America.

[Speech Text]

I'm still not sure where I stand on the English-as-an-official-language debate. I like that a famous linguist, S.I. Hayakawa, founded US English, but I don't like the idea of trying to force a "common"language on America as being official. There are plenty of arguments for and against the idea.
Doesn't having foreign languages around make our culture more diverse and interesting?
Where does the "official" version of English being and end? Do we start with the way "normal" people talk? Who is normal?
What about black English? That's it's own dialect entirely and is spoken by a significant percentage of Americans. Should that dialect and its various colloquialisms be considered part of the "official" version of English?
Will the government provide classes in English for those that don't speak it?
President Bush specifically mentioned writing and reading in his speech. Is he proposing programs to rid this country of illiteracy? Remember, Cuba has a better literacy rate than the US.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Save the Internet :

Save the Internet :

Thursday, May 11, 2006

DC People, listen up!

DC is getting more wired:
DCist on May 9th (like, a few days ago) announced: LastCall
and another friend just pointed me traincheck.com
These sites both allow for checking on DC metro train times via SMS.
Last call offers even more features, like concert times, restaurant table availability, movie times, and more.

Friday, May 05, 2006

MySpace - Backwater of the Internet

I was discussing MySpace with some coworkers the other day and how much I hate it. Then, this afternoon, I read an article at wired.com about committing "MySpacecide" and decided to do it myself. I am no longer listed on MySpace. I am quite happy about it.
I was even more elated when I read further through the article and learned about MyDeathSpace.com, which links to the MySpace pages of people who have died. It's one of the saddest web sites I've ever seen (beyond postsecret).
I never liked MySpace. It seemed tacky... like the Atlantic City of social networking sites. That's not to say that Friendster is fantastic, but at least it doesn't feature any sites "pimped" by MySpacePimper.com.
So that's it. No more MySpace.com for me. I'm done. I bow out.

Reminder

Read this later: Wired News: Committing MySpacecide

Reminder

Buy this: Amazon.com: Linksys Wireless-G Range Expander WRE54G: Electronics

Reminder

Buy this: Amazon.com: Linksys Wireless-G Range Expander WRE54G: Electronics

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Savant

I'm trying to remember the last time that I could draw a panorama of Rome from memory... Hrm... nothing comes to mind.

The Forecast

R and I are going to India in July. New Delhi for 10 days. Today's forecast: High of 103 and widespread dust. Imagining that this link will be oudated soon, I've put the image to the right.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Exploring Online Video

You can see:
Russian Freerunners, Quardruplets Laughing, And Juggling to the Beatles (really quite amazing) all in Google's Top 100
Videos of cats acting dumb are always good, too: One, Two

Stephen Colbert Roasts George Bush

Brilliant, Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Sooooooooooooooooo sad.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Rebels Reject Draft Darfur Peace Deal

Rebels Reject Draft Darfur Peace Deal

Donate to the UN World Food Program

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Day Off

I spent the morning sleeping until 10am. Then walked to the office to pick up a letter that I was supposed to draft an initial response to that I'd left there. Then sat on the deck and answered the letter. Then I read through the latest issue of macworld, which is like a 112 page glossy Apple advertisement delivered to your doorstep. A lame magazine, but it did teach me that buying a Macbook Pro isn't really worth it yet. That $11 subscription saved me $2,888!
The next magazine of nerdery that turned to was wired. This month's issue features Al Gore and his green ways as well as a very comprehensive guide to Online Video, which isn't online yet. I'd like to sit down and visit every one of these sites to see what it's all about, but who has the time? The next best thing is going to have to be to start typing the ones I find interesting in and linking back to them later. Heregoes:

Whew! Now it's time to go visit some of this crap!

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Delhi Driving

R and I are going to India in July for ten days.
We weren't planning on renting a car and certainly aren't after seeing this video

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Reminder

Get me one of these for the video ipod: The Invisible Shield

This is Too Amusing

Ridiculous

"I come in the name of Go... Repeat after me, bitch! I Come in the Name of JESUS."

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Reminder

Rich Ajax slide shows with DHTML and XML

Reminder

Take the Brain Speed Test

Molt Be Blog

70 hrs at the office last week = not much Molt Be Blog.... Will he update after deadline Apr 30th? Only Time will tell.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

McClellan resigns as White House press secretary - Yahoo! News

Out with the Old Liar, In with the New. Guesses, anyone?

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Too much

I've been working too much to keep up with entering things in here, sadly. Things are supposed to slow down on May 1st, though. Promises, promises.
In the news:
Tom Cruise is Going to Eat Holmes' Placenta - Gross. Or maybe not [UPDATE]
Two Duke Students were Arrested on Rape, Kidnapping and sexual offense charges - Finally.
Bush's New Cheif of Staff thinks that a Lame Duck can be Saved by a Staff Shakeup - Nope.
And People Took Caring-About-Thing-That-Don't-Affect-Them to a New Level by Protesting Gay Couples' Being Allowed to Roll Eggs Across a Lawn - Sad.

Friday, April 14, 2006

O'Reilly Network -- Roll Over, Rollovers -- CSS Style

O'Reilly Network -- Roll Over, Rollovers -- CSS Style

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Google Calendar

Google Calendar released today. You can import other calendars, share yours with others, all through your google account.

Time waster

Classic arcade games online

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Whitest Kids You know

Trevor Moore's Grossout Spectacular - Very Amusing

Monday, April 10, 2006

Oh Crap

US plans strike to topple Iran regime - report

Vote for a Quarter

My friend S writes:

I have a colleague at work who has submitted two designs that have been selected by the US Mint as possible designs for the Washington State Quarter (there are 3 final designs to vote on).

The Governor is going to have final say, but public opinion counts, so click on the link below and vote (as often as you would like).

If you are looking for a little insight...#2 is lovely and a perfectly acceptable choice, but check out #3 and see the subject line for the one that I am pulling for... save the whales, people.

http://www.governor.wa.gov/quarter/

Please vote for #2 or #3! I went for #3... as did 67% of everybody else.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Neato

A time waster... you might need to run it in IE, though:
Desktop Blues

Reminder

Just a note to self that I need to buy plane tickets to Miami for May 19th through 21st.... that's soon!

Bush Lies!

Liberals rejoice! The end is nigh for these dirtbags in the Whitehouse and the Senate. Delay resigns and Bush and his press secretary get caught in bold face lies. They'll spin their way out of this by Wednesday next week at lunchtime, but it's nice to see them squirm a bit now and then.

(soon to be ex)-President Bush in September, 2003 [lies in bold]:
"I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take appropriate action."

From the NYT:

For months, Mr. Bush and his top aides have campaigned against leaks of classified information as a danger to the nation and as criminal acts. A Washington Post report on secret overseas jails run by the C.I.A. and a New York Times report on domestic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency have led to criminal investigations, and scores of intelligence officers have been ordered to take polygraph tests.

In that context, the report that the president was himself approving a leak may do serious political damage, said Mr. Shenkman, who has a blog on presidential politics. "It does give the public such a powerful example of hypocrisy that I think it might linger for a while," he said.

McClellan Lies!
From CNN.com:

Scott McClellan argued Friday that the president staunchly opposes releasing classified information that could affect U.S. security. And he pointed out that the president reserves the right to declassify material.

Looking at the specific 2003 case, McClellan said, "Because of the public debate that was going on and some of the wild accusations that were flying around at the time, we felt it was very much in the public interest that what information could be declassified be declassified, and that's exactly what we did."

But the court documents show that Bush approved the release of the information 10 days before the White House said the information was declassified.

The information was released on July 8, 2003, according to the documents.

On July 18 of that year, McClellan told reporters "this information was just, as of today, officially declassified."

Another gem from McClellan: "There is a difference between providing declassified information to the public when it's in the public interest and leaking classified information that involved sensitive national intelligence regarding our security."

More good news! Because these "Disclosures Are Called Unrelated To Plame Case" (or so says Libby's lawyer) that means that they're unrelated to the old "ongoing investigation" saw the and Administration should be able to allow itself to talk this issue to death. That is, unless the President asks the DOJ to start an investigation of himself.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Bush Launches DOJ Investigatoin on Self

Or at least he should: Bush Authorized Secrets' Release, Libby Testified

A Car Story

From my brother J about his coworker: Things that Suck

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Stumbled Upon

FlightAware - Free IFR Flight Tracker: Status, Tracking, History, Graphs, and Maps

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

...

Just got back from work at 11:30pm. Booooo.
Reviewing the Washington Post. Yay!
The lady basketball players at my alma mater beat Duke. Yay.
Tom Delay, like the snake he is, resigns. Double Yay.
His soul, unfortunately, will live on. Boooo.
A jury decides its a good idea to allow Moussaoui to become a martyr. Nothing says "stop killing" like more killing. Boooo.
Away messages tell people what you're doing while you're away. Duh.
and finally Congress has to deal with the issue that doesn't break along party lines (immigration) and its non-partisan nature is the biggest news since Katrina. Duh?

Sunday, April 02, 2006

America Hates Atheists

Not so surprising articulo

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Blog Neglect

I have to admit it, I've been neglecting this thing; using it as more of a link repository than anything else. I see something interesting, don't have time to comment on it and instead just click on the nifty little

in the Google Toolbar. It's handy. I'm lazy. Enough said.
I'll blame work for taking up most of my time and not allowing me to sit around writing about what I think.... probably because I only have time to think about settlement distributions, loadfiles and queries (if that's not sad...).
R and I went to visit the GPs out in CO for four days last week. It was gorgeous. The lakes are still frozen over and allow for plenty of snowball fights and picture taking. My mom, brother and sister were all out there as well, so plenty of family time was spent. This was quite a nice change from the work, work, work all the time that's been going on here in DC. With R on a different schedule that has her leaving pretty early and working most weekends we don't see eachother during the day very much.
There is a cat on my lap. I think she purposely start to slide off onto the floor when she's falling asleep so that I'll pull her back up and pet her a bit when she's about to slip. Crafty bastard.
Big news is that R and I are going to New Delhi in July to put our tax return to good use. Won't Bush be pissed when he learns that we're spending the money we saved due to his tax cuts on an Italian airline to fly to a foreign country. "Trickle-down" my ass. HA!
On Wednesday night we went to the 930 club to see Editors and StellaStar. Both were excellent.
This evening we went to the Spring Stock party at a store in Georgetown that sells Thai and Indonesian furniture, hand woven hats, artsy purses and hand-made jewelry, among other thigs. One of our neighbors is friends with the owner and we all went out after meeting at the store to have dinner.
Now I'm back home, very sleepy and sorry that I can't write any more. Maybe tomorrow I'll actually pick a topic and really write about it. Doubtful... but it could happen.
Tomorrow night we're off to see She Wants Revenge at the Black Cat. I've never heard their music, but am assured that if I like good music, I'll like this show. The pressure is unbearable. Of course, based on this review of their album by Pitchfork... I might be dissappointed in another Interpol/Joy Division copy cat like the Killers/Bravery/Editors/etc. Then again, those bands aren't shabby and can certainly play and sing better than I.
To bed!

R and J engaged in a snowball fight. R hits. Runs.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Mac Peeps Only

Own a Wacintosh? Download Desktop Manager, which will let you have multiple desktops... like in OS/2. Remember of OS/2? Good stuff.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

So that's what the volume dial is for!

I knew this crazy click wheel did something: Apple puts limits on iPod levels

Interesting twist

Kadima wins Israel's general election as Likud humiliated and time marches on.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Big News Day

Andrew Card resigns: Transcript: Text of Bush's Announcement

Monday, March 20, 2006

Duh

This article in the post points out what we already knew but couldn't put into words... unless it was the words we use when talking to anyone and everyone we don't work with about our jobs.

Our No. 1 pet peeve at work? Condescending tones, whether from a manager or a peer, according to an office etiquette survey for Randstad USA.
One third of the 1,444 working adults surveyed also pull their hair out over public reprimands, micromanaging and loud talkers.

I'm definitely part of that 33%.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

In Secret Unit's 'Black Room,' a Grim Portrait of U.S. Abuse

In Secret Unit's 'Black Room,' a Grim Portrait of U.S. Abuse - New York Times
Another great way to create more terrorists.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Greg's Day Off

Finally have a real day off with not even an hour of work (have only had 5 of those since Feb 1 including today). The following is what I did with the day.
I woke up around 9:27 (roughly) and puttered around a bit. I had a cup of coffee and some oatmeal and put it a move, "The Smartest Guys in the Room", a documetary about the rise and fall of Enron. I found the film informative, but cheesy. They could have used more Ken Burns photograph panning and less obvious stock footage and lame music. I'd still recommend seeing just to get a look at the people behind the scandal, but to actually get a really good idea of what happened I'll probably need to read a book... but I have enough of those lying around the house unread already.
I recently finished reading Benjamin Kunkel's book, Indecision, which I've come to learn is something very hip to have done. I'll have to thank mom for giving it to me for Christmas. I wonder if it's also hip to be given hip books by your mom. I imagine not.
I'm still trudging through the end of Trawler, by Redomond O'Hanlon. It's a book that I heard about more than a year ago when I saw Mr. O'Hanlon on the daily show. O'Hanlon is an adventure author and this one takes him on a fishing trawler in the nothern Atlantic. Sleep-deprivation is the basic theme of the book and the haphazard surroundings and fatigue of the author lends to the book itself being an exhausting read. It's a smart, funny book, but has taken me far too long to get through.
Where was I? After watching half of the Enron movie, I realized that I needed to leave to make the appointment I'd set to have my hair cut at 12:45. I scooted over the the bank to get cash for tip (feeling mildly guilty for using Citibank after just hearing that they'd been partially complicit in the whole Enron debacle), and then scooted the rest of the way up to Georgette Klinger to see my friend Kate who works there.
On my way back from the "Salon" (so lame) I ran into a bunch of traffic on Mass. Ave. It looked like there was a protest march up ahead, so I turned around and took an alternate that put me on the other side of the march. I was finally able to figure out what it was for just now: Today is the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion and 300 people gathered outside the Naval Observatory, Cheney's pad, to protest. Here's an article. How sad that I forgot and was out consuming things? How sad that there were only 300 people to protest? I like to think I would have been right there along side them if I'd known about this. These protesters need some marketing and fast.... or even just advertising. With a 66% dissapproval rating, the market is definitely already there.
Upon arriving home, I got some food and watched the end of the Enron movie.
Feeling fat and sedentary, I decided to watch an episode of "Long Way Round", which had arrived from Netflix on Friday. "Long Way Round" is a documentary that follows Ewan McGregor and his friend Charlie Boorman as they ride their motorcycles from London East, across all of the European and Asian continents, fly to Alaska and then cross the North American continent. I've now seen the first two episdoes, think it's fantastic and would recommend it to anyone. Even R find it amusing, and she hates motorcycles and driving in general.
Post-documentary episode, I went to the gym and ran two miles. Then I sat in the Sauna for a little.
After arriving home I puttered around on the internet and found this Retro Phone Handsetat Think Geek. It's awesome. You should buy one.
After R arrived home from work, we watched "The Cuckoo", a Finnish film that arrived almost a week ago and we're just getting around to seeing it. I'd recommend it as well.
Having written my day down, it seems like I watched a lot of movies and didn't do very much. That's ok, though. I've been working too much and deserved a day on the couch. Tomorrow... same thing. Brilliant!

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patty's Hai Ku
With brilliant five seven form
Please see words below

The pictures tell it
One couple of drunken cats
Green hats make cats sad.

*no kittens/cats/felines were harmed in the taking of these photos. Some owners were scratched while they slept, but this is normal.

OK Go singer arrested

OK Go singer arrested. Good band. Good story. I must have been working hard this week to only find out about this on a Thursday. OK Go opened for Rufus Wainwright when we saw him on Halloween, 2005. 'Twas a good show.

LibTIFF - TIFF Library and Utilities

LibTIFF - TIFF Library and Utilities... you know, for Kids! (this is just boring work stuff for me... no need for you to look at it.)

Reminder: Walker, Brokeback Ranger

Watch this when at home... thatvideosite.com :: Walker, Brokeback Ranger

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Exciting Links for Boring Days

This list is where I found this video and these pictures and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

A Senate Maverick Acts to Force an Issue

Amen! A Senate Maverick Acts to Force an Issue

FISA courts will allow a warrant up to 72 hours after a name is requested for filtering by the NSA.
A warrant for a wiretap issued by the FISA courst is completely secret. Not even the wife of the judge listens in on the briefings if they're being conducted in his living room, which they often are.

Why? Why, why, why, why, why would the president need to circumvent these courts? That's the question they're not answering. Gonzales and everyone else will go up in front of Congressional hearings to argue over the legality of wiretapping without even a secret warrant, but I have yet to hear a coherent, worthwhile explanation as to why such an action would be necessary. Hook it up.

Monday, March 13, 2006

Reminder

Check out this guy Metzcher's Mac Blog

A break

Finally got some time off of work after working Saturday and Sunday and have a moment to do something different. That's manifested itself in running outside in this fantastic weather that we're having in DC, catching up on reading the magazines that are piling up (why did I ever subscribe to the New Yorker?), and cruising around on the internet. I'm currently watching a Frontline episode on the Iraqi insurgency. Ridiculous. I recommend this to everyone. American news media has not been covering the Iraq situation to any extent. I think I'm pretty well read but still learned a lot from watching the show.
The other picture there is for My Name Is Earl fans. That's a picture from a recent episode that shows Earl Hickey's return address! How awesome that we now know where he lives. Of course, there's no state on the postcard, but it does say Camden, USA and they do go to Frostberg University in the episode, which is in Maryland. There's a Camden in Maryland, too... and the drive to Frostburg takes "all night". Interesting clues... if you're into that sort of thing. Ok. Must reserve non-work time for things other than blogging.... like using Google Earth's Measuring tool to figure out how far I've run. And if you like Google Earth, check out Google Mars... nerd.

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | US envoy to Iraq: 'We have opened the Pandora's box'

Origami artists use a little elbow crease - MIT News Office

My mom sent me this link. It's awesome! Go mom!

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Red rain could prove that aliens have landed

The Observer | World | Red rain could prove that aliens have landed

But is this rain intelligent? I'll believe it when I'm bowing to its overlord... or if it starts to rain purple... that would definitely be convincing.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Where to download music legally

I'm really glad I found this Guardian Guide to where to download music legally. Lots of free songs from lesser knowns in non-DRM'd mp3 and Ogg Vorbis formats.

This too

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | US envoy hints at strike to stop Iran

Reminder to me to read this later...

Apple Laptop Has Looks and Brains - New York Times

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Fonts By Theme

______________vdr4™

______________vdr4™

hethe_™

Thursday, March 02, 2006

A bit of BitTorrent bother

Slashdot points to This article at the BBC that answers readers comments on a newsnight story concerning bit torrent. If you're a bit torrent user, it's an interesting read. If you're not, it's just nerdy drivel.

newswire.co.nz - news of consequence

newswire.co.nz - news of consequence

Liar Liar Liar

Video shows Bush Katrina warning. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Bush is a big liar.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

CNN.com - Released hostage expresses empathy toward kidnappers - Mar 1, 2006

CNN.com - Released hostage expresses empathy toward kidnappers - Mar 1, 2006

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