"Life is too short not to exact a bitter and bloody revenge"
This was encountered here.
The more I hear about public "education", the more it scares me. Jeff Medcalf is spluttering mad about some tool from the education establishment who trys to slam homeschoolers in an op-ed piece.
Rachel Lucas also comes across a mindnumbing example of political correctness run amok in the school book selection process.
The more I hear about this, the more determined I am to keep my future children out of public schools and homeschool them. Provided that I ever have children, that is.
I was only halfway paying attention to the TV the other day and I barely registered it at the time, but it appears that TNN is bringing back Ren & Stimpy. I have to admit that I've had an on again, off again relationship with that show. Sometimes it was hilarious, sometimes it was just gross, and sometimes I'd just have to go, "Huh?" It takes either a very disturbed person or a comic genius to come up with the Royal Canadian Mounted Yaksmen. However, one of my favorite episodes was "Space Madness." My ice cream...
Ren & Stimpy's Adult Party Cartoon is going to be the main anchor for TNN's new animated show lineup. They will also have Gary The Rat and Stripperella. In case you hadn't guessed from the name of the new show, it's not going to be quite as restrained as it was on Nickelodeon. :)
This is so very wrong.
A 73-year-old man who used an air raid siren to stun his wife into submission has had it confiscated by German police.Link via Pejman Yousefzadeh.
"My wife never lets me get a word in edgeways," the man identified as Vladimir R. told Mannheim police. "So I crank up the siren and let it rip for a few minutes. It works every time. Afterwards, it's real quiet again."
Perry de Havilland skewers a misguided Democrat in this article at samizdata.net. It seems that someone actually made the proposition that libertarians would be better off with the Democratic party. It boggles the mind that he could make such a statement. The Democrats stand for just about everything that disgusts a libertarian:
This guy just doesn't get it. Don't get me wrong--there's a lot that I hate about the Republican party. But I consider it to at least provide a little raw material to work with, as opposed to the Democratic party, which would have to be razed to the ground and rebuilt from scratch before I'd even consider it.
A new Home Depot store is being built in Roanoke at the intersection of 114 and 377. It is almost done and they have a sign up that says that they are taking applications for employment now. What caught my attention was that the same message was repeated in Spanish at the bottom of the sign.
One of the things that disturbs me is the growing number of people who are living and working in this country who do not speak English. Worse, to my way of thinking, is that there is a rather vocal group of people who don't see anything wrong with it. These people like to frame this as a racist thing, that if I don't support their right to live in this country without speaking the language that I'm some insensitive racist. They'd be wrong, but that doesn't seem to stop them from screaming it from the rooftops.
Let's be perfectly clear, though, that I am not against people coming to this country. I just want three things of people who want to come here: 1) Do it legally, 2) learn to speak English, and 3) be willing to work. People can speak whatever language they want amongst their friends and family, but the vast majority of this country speaks English and if people want to truly succeed, they must speak the language.
I've long wondered what happened to the old paradigm of the melting pot in American culture. I think it was a good one and we should get back to it, as nothing will destroy this country more quickly than if we become a collection of factions and ethnic enclaves that are all in competition with each other, which I am afraid is the direction that we're heading now.
If we want this country to succeed, we must ditch the hyphens and all become Americans.
The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well.
--Joe Ancis
I wasn't sure whether to categorize this under "Music" or "Guns." Someone has created an MP3 player in an AK-47 magazine. Some interesting pictures on that page (and the MP3 player is kinda neat too :) ).
Link via Slashdot, where, unfortunately, the anti-gun idiots have come out of the woodwork in the comments section.
Update: The woman in the picture is committing one of the three mortal sins of gun handling. Thanks to Bitter Bitch for reminding me about this in the comments.
My Linux system is setup such that each time I login the 'fortune' program runs. The fortune program picks a quote or saying from its quote file and outputs it on the terminal's stdout. I liked this one quite a lot.
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.More from Charles A Beard.
-- Charles A. Beard
Someone please tell me that this will not ever come to completion.
Damn. Someone please just shoot me now and put me out of my misery.
Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who!
What Monty Python Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
Now that I've had a chance to think about it, I think that Identity was an OK movie. I think my reaction to it was based on my misconceptions as to the true subject of the movie. Being something of a true crime afficionado I'm usually left cold by the slasher/serial killer/spree killer genre. In real life, most killers are pretty simple types who do not set up elaborate traps or play games with their victims (and especially with the cops). However, given the plot of this movie, all the unrealistic stuff actually makes sense in a way. I can't say much more than that without giving it away.
One other observation that I made about the movie is that the director seems conflicted about wanting to provide clues to the past action as well as wanting to keep you a bit confused about events until the end. He does this through a series of flashback sequences. I was reminded a little of Memento and Mulholland Dr. It's unfortunate that I was reminded of this, as it is pretty difficult for a movie to live up to Mulholland Dr. on the flashback meter.
I think it may be time to bitch-slap PayPal and kick 'em to the curb. A few weeks ago I got an email from them saying that their acceptable use policy had changed and that I had to accept the new policy by a certain date (originally they said the terms would go into effect automatically, now they're saying that my account will be severely limited after that date). When I last logged into PayPal I declined the terms, as they were not acceptable to me. They are now sending daily emails warning me that I must accept the terms and conditions. It should be noted that (according to the last email), there are 82 days until the deadline. I was going to wait until June to see if they came to their senses and changed the policy, however I will go postal if they send me 82 more emails....
I've been listening to internet streaming radio via my Turtle Beach Audiotron. Lately I've been listening to the "Lounge - Secret Agent " station from Turtle Radio's "New Age & Ambient" genre.
I just found that Turtle Radio is simply picking up this stream from SomaFM, which has a number of alternative streams available. If anyone is interested in the weird music I listen to, here's a link to the Secret Agent 128K MP3 stream (you'll need WinAmp). If your internet connection won't support a 128K stream, go to the SomaFM link and scroll down the the Secret Agent section for lower bandwidth streams.
I went to see Identity this evening. I'm still cogitating on my opinion of the movie. Perhaps a few more Jack-and-colas will unlock my true thoughts on the topic. Or something.
Since my cellular contract expired at the beginning of the month, I've been contemplating a new phone. The one I have now is two years old and I've abused it quite a bit in that time. Since it appears that cellular number portability isn't going to be implemented any time soon (and I didn't find any other carriers that I liked enough to hassle with getting a new number), I went to the Cingular kiosk in the local mall to renew my contract so I could get a new phone and a new rate plan. Cingular doesn't have a very large selection of phones available, but after a bit of consideration I decided on the Nokia 6340i.
One of the things I was glad to see among the phones that were available is that the race to build the smallest phone is finally over. My previous phone was a Nokia 8260, which was technically a good phone. But after spending two years with it, I learned that something that small isn't really practical in everyday use. My fingers were too big for the buttons, causing me to misdial numbers or make mistakes entering passcodes.
But what really inspired this post is the fact that the new phone has an IR feature that allows it to exchange information with computers and handhelds. I usually dread having to enter all those numbers from my old phone into the new phone using the cumbersome alphabetic entry method that is required on cell phones (since they only have a numeric keypad). However, with this one I just turned on the IR receive feature in the phone, pointed it at my Palm Vx and selected the "Beam address" option in the Palm for each person I wanted to add to the phone. Further, the people at Nokia got their act together and created true address book entries for the phone directory. This means that I can have several different numbers for the same person and they'll all be subentries under their name. In the past I was forced to create separate entries for each number for a person.
It's the small things that make really make a difference in my experience of a product. So far, this has been fairly pleasant. If I get really adventurous I may enable internet access on this phone just to see if it lives up to all the hype I've been hearing about it (it's only $3.99 per month).
An old post of mine on the Dixie Chicks seems to have attracted a response (I need to remember to start turning off comments on old posts).
It's been a trying morning here so far, so my patience is stretched a bit thin. Here's the comment that was left:
I have to say that country music lecterns can't and won't stand by their own. We are all entitled to speak our minds and yes - that is a right that all Americans fight for everyday.Once again, this commenter demonstrates the fact that so many people don't understand the true meaning of free speech. Free speech does not mean that you can say whatever you want without consequences to your friendships or career.
EVERY AMERICAN SUPPORTS THE TROOPS HOWEVER NOT EVERY AMERICAN SUPPORTS THE POLITICAL VIEW OF THE AMINSTRATION.
THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO AND EVERY SOUTHERNER AND COUNTRY MUSIC LISTERN SHOULD TAKE NOTICE.
DON'T HATE THE DIXIE CHICKS FOR STANDING THEIR GROUND.
Stand up to everyone who brings their children to CD bashings that local radio stations host. We should all be ashamed of parents who teach their children to hate others for not agreeing with their political beliefs.
That's UN- AMERICAN.
Free speech simply means that the government isn't standing over your shoulder ready to haul you off to an acid bath or cut your tongue out if you say something the government doesn't like.
As a free citizen, I have an absolute right to disagree with someone and to withhold support from them if I choose.
There seems to be this sentiment from some quarters that we should somehow ignore what others say and continue to support them no matter what they say. This seems to include the idea that "standing your ground" is somehow such a noble act that it negates the content of the ideas expressed while standing that ground. This is complete and utter crapola.
Of course, the commenter couldn't make her point without resorting to that old canard about hate. This has absolutely nothing to do with hate and if she'd be honest with herself, she'd realize that. To compare it to hate is to unnecessarily polarize the debate. Of course, that seems to be a standard tactic amongst those who don't understand the debate or would like to focus attention away from it.
Let's make this absolutely clear once again, just in case some people aren't getting it:
Free speech isn't free of consequences.
Don't expect me to continue to shell out my hard-earned money to support someone that I don't like. To demand that I do so out of some misguided respect for someone "standing their ground" is what is truly un-American.
A man in Missouri filed a civil rights complaint against a radio station that allegedly denied his request to dedicate a song on the air because he stuttered.
If it is true that he was denied air time because of his stutter, it's cruel, but it isn't a violation of civil rights. The station owns the transmitter and has control over who goes on air. I have a hard time with people who go to such great lengths to force a private entity to bend to their wishes. It's unfortunate that people have such a poor grasp on the concept of rights. But it's about what we should expect given the poor overall state of education that people are getting in the area of the constitution and civil rights.
Watching tonight's episode of CSI I was struck by just how gaunt Bobcat Goldthwait looks these days. I remember him from Police Academy back in the 80's. It doesn't look like he's been doing so good lately.
I would be remiss if I didn't say Happy Birthday to my sister, who turned 30 today:
I hope she doesn't kill me for telling everyone about that.... But really, 30 isn't so bad. Besides, I didn't upload that picture I found of you from the 80's...
Some quick thoughts:
There's an old saying that the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. I would love to have one of these to replace my two-year old Palm Vx, but aside from my living room, I don't go to many places that have 802.11b access.
I saw this dumb law (scroll down to Seattle) as a quote at Slashdot this morning, and it amused me greatly.
SeattleI will admit that I'm easily amused, though.
- You may not carry a concealed weapon that is over six feet in length.
I went to the range today and spent most of the time trying to figure out what was wrong with my Witness .45 Tactical. It had developed the habit of misfeeding on the next-to-last round in the magazine. I purchased a new magazine recently and it seemed to function fine for the first 100 rounds. However, in the next 50 rounds it started doing it even with the new magazine, except on the third round remaining. As an experiment I let the gun sit and cool between sessions and the problem seemed to go away. I'm suspecting that it's some weird combination that happens when the gun gets hot. Or maybe I should just take it to a gunsmith instead of wasting all that time.
Today was a weird day. I guess I was tired and I've had a lot on my mind, but I felt like I was just going through the motions, and my marksmanship was OK, but not up to par for me. Maybe part of it was that I was disappointed that a friend of mine couldn't make it because of car trouble. Who knows, but something's definitely wrong if I'm not having fun at the range.
A man was sentenced to jail in Pontiac, Michigan for performing a castration on his kitchen table.
Man jailed for home castrationWilling victim?! So just what motivated this step?
A judge has jailed a Taiwanese man who performed a castration in his kitchen.
Suo-Shan Wang, 29, was arrested in June after the willing victim of the castration became unwell outside his home.
Wang was convicted of practising medicine without a licence and sentenced to 14 months to four years.
The man who underwent the castration did so because he wanted to curb his sex drive as he had a sexually transmitted disease, prosecutors said.Man, that's a bit drastic. Hasn't this guy ever heard of condoms?
So where did the enterprising pseudo-surgeon learn this skill?
Wang told police he learned the skill from his grandparents. He performed his first surgery on a dog and then on the dog's owner and three of the owner's friends in Australia, prosecutors said.Hmmm... Those are some really impressive credentials.
Another interesting tidbit turned up in this article.
Authorities say that after the procedure, the men shared a slice of pie at the same table on which the castration was performed.I certainly wouldn't share anything with someone who did that to me, but then I'd never willingly do something that freakin' stupid. I cringe just thinking about it. Ugh.
Kim du Toit delivers one of the best lines I've seen in a while:
Bottom line for the parents: you were careless, twice. You didn't teach the boy respect for a loaded gun, and you left a loaded gun where the boy could find it. Welcome to the Darwin Channel on Real Life TV.I will never cease to be amazed at the lack of responsiblity displayed by some people. Guns don't "just go off" unless someone just pulls the damn trigger. There's no mystery about it.
I have no sympathy for someone who says, "the gun just went off." And before I'm accused of being a heartless bastard, I think it's time that people started taking responsiblity for their actions. Sometimes that means that we have to say the hard things even though people's feelings will be hurt.
We tend to get so wrapped up in the media pity party that we forget that it's people who are responsible for what happens (not inanimate objects). If this fourteen year old wasn't responsible enough to be around a firearm, then the parent had a duty to keep the firearm away from him (actually, I'd argue that the duty was to train him in proper gun handling and usage, but that's an argument for another day).
I've been increasingly dissatisfied with the layout of my guns page. It's kind of bland and the way they're laid out is kind of cumbersome. At the same time, the way the page is maintained is a bit clunky (the page is generated using a PHP script that has the descriptions of all the guns as array entries in the code, which is not exactly high quality programming; but then, it was the first PHP script I'd ever written and I was in a hurry).
I've spent most of the day working on a new PHP script that will allow me more flexibility in how the page is laid out and in how the data is stored. I've just gotten the code to the point where it can read an XML input file to pull the data in (it took me longer than expected, given the brain fog induced by a few too many rum-and-colas last night :) ). The next step will be to write the code that uses the data to display the page.
My goal is to make this code flexible through the use of PHP templates for the various page elements and CSS style sheets to control presentation within the elements. If I get really ambitious, I'll look into autogenerating thumbnails.
If this works out, I may look into releasing the code for use by anyone who wants to create a gun gallery on their own website.
I took some time away from the computer today to get out and stimulate the economy. My mood was considerably brightened by my new clothing purchases because I was able to finally break through a (psychological) size barrier.
I am, however, left with the observation that there must be some kind of contest between the clothing companies to see who can use the most stickers and plastic hang tags on each item. The problem is that those plastic hang tags usually leave a little end somewhere that you don't see. They either get lost in the carpet or find their way onto my bed. I find them later by either stepping on them or rolling over and getting stuck.
When I checked my mail I found that the CDs I ordered from Amazon had arrived. They were protected in the box by bubble wrap, which leads me to my second observation of the day--I don't think I know anyone who can resist the awesome temptation of bubble wrap. You can't handle it without popping at least one (or two, or three....).
To conclude a rather crappy day my trip to the range was foiled by a power outage at Bass Pro Shops. At that point, I decided to hell with everything and came home.
My cigars and that bottle of Jack are calling me....
Thanks to the asswitted pissant who created W32.HLLW.Nebiwo, all of us are required to run a manual virus scan on our machines here at work. I usually endure this hellish scan on Mondays from 12:00 to 4:00. My poor pathetic laptop is grinding itself into a slow death as it scans files (current stats--515500 files scanned, elapsed time 198:45; update: final stats--714350 files scanned, elapsed time 273:33).
I hate virus writers with a passion, because most of them are pathetic little teenaged asswipes who downloaded a virus kit. To the nitwit who released W32.HLLW.Nebiwo, I hope your already tiny nether parts shrivel up and blow away.
Let's take stock of the day so far:
The state is the great fiction by which everybody tries to live at the expense of everybody else.
-- Frederic Bastiat
Dr. Robert Atkins died today of complications from a fall he suffered earlier this month. There seem to be a lot of people who revel in disinformation and ignorance about Dr. Atkins and the Atkins Plan. It's sad that I have to do this, but in the interest of truth, I feel I should share the following with everyone.
First, the cause of death:
The serious snowstorm that hit New York City the day before the incident, along with unseasonably cold temperatures, left streets and sidewalks slippery. As was his daily habit, Dr. Atkins walked from his home to his office, a distance of about one mile. At approximately 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 8, 2003, he fell and hit his head, suffering severe head trauma. Keith Berkowitz, M.D., a colleague at The Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine, was arriving at work at the same time, and was able to rush Dr. Atkins to the hospital within minutes. The doctors at the hospital emergency room determined that Dr. Atkins had suffered a subdural hematoma and that surgery was required to remove the blood clot from his brain. He survived for several days but eventually succumbed to complications.
He suffered a cardiac arrest about a year ago, but it was unrelated to the Atkins plan.
The cause of this event was cardiomyopathy, not blocked arteries. Over the last couple of years, Dr. Atkins has had an infection of the heart muscle (called the myocardium) contracted during an overseas trip. Coupled with the extreme heat conditions of mid-April here in New York, the 71-year old Dr. Atkins suffered this event.I offer this because I have been told, quite sincerely, by people who ought to know better, that Dr. Atkins died of a heart attack (a year ago), and that anyone who follows his plan would do so as well. Since I knew he was alive at the time, I naturally dismissed these people as either cranks or simply misinformed.
"We have been treating this condition, cardiomyopathy, for almost two years," explains Patrick Fratellone MD, Dr. Atkins' personal physician and cardiologist, "and during the course of diagnosis, we discovered that Dr. Atkins' coronary arteries were normal as diagnosed by an angiogram performed at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital on the upper west side of New York City in April of 2001. Clearly, his own nutritional protocols have left him, at the age of 71, with an extraordinarily healthy cardiovascular system. Unfortunately, the infection-related cardiomyopathy is totally another matter."
In the interest of full disclosure, I have been on the plan since September and I have lost 65 pounds so far. However, I have no interest in debating the merits of the plan with people. I just want people to shut the hell up about it, as I'm fed up with their ever-so-solicitous suggestions about how I should run my life.
Working in the IT business, I can appreciate a lot of these. That first button is especially appropriate.
Jeff Medcalf delivers a full frontal fisking of the former commander-in-briefs, Bill Clinton at Caerdroia. This had me laughing:
Amazing, Bill Clinton finally realized that it's possible to have a foreign policy, rather than just stumbling blindly from crisis to crisis hoping that no one notices the brunette under the desk. He's right though, that the US can't "kill, jail or occupy all of its adversaries." Some individuals will need to disappear, and some soon-to-be-former leaders will need to be turned over to their soon-to-be-former slaves for the Mussolini treatment. Thanks for reminding us to use all of our options.One of these days I'll be able to type 'Caerdroia' without slowing down like I'm driving over a speedbump. :)
I heard this on the radio this morning. It just seemed so sad to me that someone so young would take such a drastic action. (Dallas Morning-News, registration may be required)
A 12-year-old girl at an Addison private school was found dead in a campus restroom Wednesday from what police described as a self-inflicted injury.I've always been conflicted about suicide. My personal values and beliefs tell me that it's a decision that adults can make for themselves. As self-owners, we're ultimately in charge of ourselves and we can control our final disposition. Despite that, though, like all other choices, there are consequences to it. The problem is that the person who makes the choice is not (usually) going to face them. Having known a girl whose mother killed herself when we were in elementary school, I saw just how irresponsible that choice was. If people were to consider the destruction and pain that they were going to leave behind, they'd realize that it's just not the right choice.
About 3:10 p.m., police and rescue personnel responded to the Greenhill School in the 4100 block of Spring Valley Road after someone called 911 to report an unconscious person in a restroom.
Addison police Officer Brad Freis said the first officers who arrived found a middle school student with what they described as a self-inflicted injury. Police declined to say whether the girl had a weapon.
Of course, none of this applies with children. It just saddens me to think about it. This poor girl must have thought that things were never going to get better (whatever they were). It's unfortunately that no one was able to intercept her before she made such a horrible and irreversible decision.
The Department of Homeland (in)Security has chosen the the former privacy officer of DoubleClick as its first privacy "czar". DoubleClick is one of the worst offenders with regards to disregard for privacy. Their goal, before getting a huge public black eye at the time, was to link all of your online activity to your personal profile information (which they acquired through the purchase of another company). They were planning to do this through the use of cookies and web bugs that would be used to identify you at any site where you browsed or (of most interest to them) purchased. This earned them an FTC investigation and forced them to change their plans.
Of course, this woman was hired after that fiasco, but I still don't trust anyone who works in the data collection industry to look out for our interests (nor do I expect them to give a damn about the constitution for that matter).
My initial impression:
Hello, fox. Would you like the keys to the henhouse?
But then I'm just a hysterical luddite wanker who wants to get us all killed because I have something to hide. :)
Link via Slashdot
Some Denton-area teenagers were out playing with a potato gun over the weekend and the episode ended badly for one of them: (Denton Record-Chronicle, registration may be required)
A Denton teen is in critical condition after being shot in the face with a frog exploding from a potato gun, and his mother wants to know why the illegal weapons are available on the Internet.This whole incident leaves me with several rather intemperate thoughts:
Daniel Benjamin Berry, 17, was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth early Sunday after he looked down the PVC pipe barrel and was struck in the face by a frog.
"He is going to be blind in both eyes," said his mother, Lisa Berry, from her vigil in the critical care waiting room. "Some other kid ordered one [potato gun] over the Internet. They thought it was a toy. It's not a toy. It's a dangerous weapon."
The accident occurred about 1 a.m. near the Old Alton Bridge in the Copper Canyon area. Denton County Sheriff's spokesman Kevin Patton said three teens took the homemade mechanism, which is considered an illegal weapon, to the bridge along with a supply of potatoes to fire for recreation.
"At some point, someone decided to fire frogs from the gun," Mr. Patton said. "And at some point, the gun misfired."
A crowd of teens had gathered to watch, the sheriff's spokesman said.
"Mr. Berry was a spectator. He walked over to try to help with the misfire. He looked down the barrel and the gun fired on a delayed reaction. The frog struck him in the face."
...
Ms. Berry said she doesn't blame the other boys for her son's injuries. They did not know the destructive power of the weapon they bought, she said. Once her son is past the critical phase, she plans to find out more about how such weapons can be sold, she said.
Daniel wanted to join the Air Force but she would not sign for him, she said. She encouraged him to go to college until he was old enough to join without parental consent. So he has been attending the International Business School in Denton.
"All he ever wanted to do was be an Air Force pilot," she said. "That isn't going to happen now."
Am I just an insensitive prick for thinking that a bit of personal responsibility is needed here? Frankly, at this point, I don't care anymore. I'm tired of things being made against the law because some irresponsible people don't have enough sense not to get themselves hurt doing something stupid. (I didn't put that bit about "something to offend everyone" up there in the top left corner for nothing.)
This weekend at the gun show I couldn't resist acquiring a Marlin Camp Carbine (.45ACP). I probably paid a bit too much for it, but it is in almost new condition. The bore doesn't look like it's been used at all, and it looks like it still has the original grease in the action. From what I could tell, the original owner fired it a little but probably didn't clean it. I've written to Marlin for a manual so I can take it down and clean it before I try to fire it. I've gotten in the habit of field-stripping and cleaning all new guns before I fire them. It's most helpful with a used gun, as it gives you a chance to verify that all the parts are in good condition before the first firing.
See the link above for pictures.
Imagine you're the president. You've waged a war despite the naysaying and obstructionist policies of the rest of the world and come out on top. Your approval ratings are high. As long as the country's economy doesn't go completely to hell in the next year, you've got a lock on the 2004 election.
So, what do you do next? How about pissing off one of your major constituencies? One that is single-mindedly dedicated to a single issue. One that votes. One with an advocacy organization that has 5 million members.
It was unlikely that the law would get renewed. All you had to do was shut your mouth and just wait for September, 2004 and do nothing. But no, you just had to step on the Presidential wang with your golf spikes, didn't you?
I didn't vote for you in 2000, but I was giving you the benefit of the doubt for 2004 (provided that you didn't support Patriot II or try to make the Patriot act permanent). If this nonsense continues I will simply sit out the elections or vote for someone else as a protest.
Link via Instapundit.
More commentary:
Kim du Toit
The Bitch Girls
I almost got rear-ended this morning by a dumbass who was tailgating when another dumbass stopped for the vehicle in front of her who was turning left (of course she did this right after pulling out in front of me in a 50MPH zone, which didn't leave me a lot of braking distance). In Texas it is legal (and expected) that if someone turns left that you go around on the right (provided you can do it without leaving the pavement). I've noticed lately that a lot of people are stopping instead of passing. Perhaps these people are new to the state and simply didn't bother to check up on our laws (I know that some states prohibit passing on the right when someone is turning). Alternately, since this woman was driving a Suburban, maybe she doesn't realize that it will fit into the space available on the shoulder. The main downside I've seen to the advent of SUVs is that a lot of people are driving them who have never driven anything that big before and they don't know the boundaries of their vehicle.
From the Texas driver's handbook:(pg 6-3)
PASSING ON THE RIGHTOf course, this could just be a problem with drivers in Argyle. I've noticed over the past few months that they're getting more and more squirrely in the mornings.
In Texas and many other states, you may pass on the right. You may pass on the right only under conditions permitting such movement in safety.
1. The road is clear of parked vehicles or other things and is wide enough for two or more lanes in each direction.
2. You are on a one-way road.
3. You may pass on a paved shoulder when the vehicle you are passing is slowing or stopped on the main travelled portion of the highway, disabled, or preparing to make a left turn.
Do not pass on the right by driving off the paved portion of the highway.
I have a confession to make. It's kind of a guilty pleasure, but I like The Dead Zone series on USA. The premise fascinates me. Can you imagine having the ability to see the future or the past simply by touching a person or an object?
This episode from a couple of weeks ago really got my attention with the moral dilemma it presented. Imagine knowing that one of your friends will die, but that saving your friend would cause the deaths of many others (a bus load of school kids and another friend).
* From the theme song for the show, New Year's Prayer by Jeff Buckley.
The University of North Texas staged a production of The Laramie Project this weekend (for those that may not remember, it's about the murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming). Some protesters from the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas staged a protest with their typical hateful nonsense. This spawned a counter-protest. If I had known that this was going on I'd have joined the counter-protest.
Protesters, opposition line up near play's productionNote the highlighted portion. These people sound just like the Islamofascists that rail against America and our "decadent", "evil" culture. Simply substitute Allah for God in their rantings. I'm not sure, but isn't this the same church from which Phelps spews his hatred? If so, these are evil, nasty freaks who show up at the funerals of gay people with signs that say things like "God hates fags" and "Fags burn in hell." And their hatred seems to include anything modern. One of the protesters above was holding a sign that said, "God blew up the shuttle."
04/13/2003
By Megan Middleton / Staff Writer
More than 80 University of North Texas students held a counterprotest Saturday night across the street from 10 members of a Kansas church who came to protest the university's theatrical production of The Laramie Project.
The play looks at the town of Laramie, Wyo., after the kidnapping and murder of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student. It was created by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theatre Project, a collective of gay- and lesbian-rights activists in New York.
Protesters and counterprotesters took to both sides of Chestnut Street at the intersection of Welch Street near the Radio, Television, Film and Performing Arts Building, where the production would later begin.
The group of protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., held signs that read "Fags Die, God Laughs," "God Abhors Fags" and "UR Going 2 Hell." A child of one of the church members also held a sign that read "Matt in Hell."
The groups screamed back and forth at each other, and many drivers yelled at the group from Kansas as they were passing by.
The church members remained at the corner for about an hour.
"There's room for all of you in hell!" shouted one person with the group from Kansas.
Several women with the church stood on an American flag and sang, "God hates America," to the tune of "God Bless America."
"This is the scariest damn thing I've ever seen," said Zack Huggins, a UNT junior who came out as a part of the counterprotest against the Kansas group. "I was hoping I lived in a day and age where this kind of hate wasn't around anymore. I've lost some faith in humanity."
Counterprotesters held up posters, some in the shape of hearts, that read "God Loves Everyone." Other signs read: "God Made Gays" and "God is Love."
The group of mainly students also sang "Over the Rainbow" and chanted, "Go back to Kansas," to the church group.
....
A lot of times we don't have groups like this [counterprotest]," Mr. Hockenbarger said.
He said the group is not concerned about evangelizing to help people become Christians.
"I'm trying to spread a message -- that message is repent or perish," he said. "Our purpose is not to recruit. Our purpose is not to win souls."
How horrible it must be to live with a such a dark and nasty pit of hatred in your heart. I feel sorry for their children growing up and being indoctrinated into this foul and odious mindset.
When I did my taxes recently I tried to use Kiplinger's TaxCut, instead of TurboTax because I was upset with TurboTax for their product activation policy. I checked out the features on the box for TaxCut and it seemed to compare favorably in that it listed the ability to download my stock trade info and my W2. Unfortunately, the reality turned out to be less impressive. It turned out that they didn't support my company's W2 download and they only supported about 8 brokerage firms. It seemed kind of cheesy to me that they couldn't download data from E*Trade.
So out of frustration after trying to import data via files, I gave up and used TurboTax online. The TurboTax software worked quite well and included a very useful cost basis calculator (which came in handy with some stock that I sold off as a single lot that was originally bought in three lots).
As part of the Kiplinger TaxCut setup, it asked me to register. Being suspicious of registration schemes, I always make up a new email address for each company that I do business with online. It only took a week before I started getting spam at the new address that I used, despite the fact that I opted out of ALL emails from them. What's worse, is that they were using an outside agency, so it implies that someone actually had to go to the trouble of pulling the data and sending it to the spamhaus.
They just blew their one and only chance to work with me. I won't be buying TaxCut in the future, regardless of whether they fix their import problems. I'm serious about not wanting any email crap. I get a bunch of email as it is and I don't need unsolicited offers crowding out real email. If I get another spam from them I will redirect the address so that the email is sent to one of their online contact emails (or, if I can find it, to their CEO).
This is something that I'd always felt intuitively, but I'd never really given it much thought. I was raised on rear-wheel drive (and big V-8's) and I just never liked the feel of a front-wheel drive car, despite what everyone was telling me about their safety. Combine this with the fact that most front-wheel drive cars during my formative years were econoboxes, it was enough to turn me off of them for good.
We don't get snow and ice here enough to have a lot of practice driving on it, but the experience I had with a front-drive car on it told me that the safety benefits were overrated. I've gotten used to oversteer and I've learned countersteering if the rear wheels should break loose (having spent the past 10 years driving pickup trucks). I've also gotten really used to using the accelerator to hold a curve (which doesn't work so well in front-drive cars).
Perhaps this explains my disdain for most cars these days (that and the fact that most of them are too damn small). The cars that interest me are either AWD or rear-wheel drive (and have V-8s).
Link via Instapundit.
At this point I don't care anymore whether we find WMD in Iraq or not. Simply liberating that children's prison makes the whole operation worth it. The mere fact that Iraq had a children's prison highlights the pure evil that was Saddam Hussien and his minions.
I'm still having a hard time coming to terms with even the concept of such a thing as a children's prison. It's just not something that I can wrap my mind around. Apparently, I'm not the only one.
My conference ended early today and I met Kim du Toit at DFW Gun Range for some shooting.
Kim let me try his Marlin Camp Carbine (.45 ACP). It was a really nice gun. It isn't too long or heavy and it doesn't beat you up with recoil. I think a bug has been planted. One of these days I may have to obtain one.
Of course, turnabout is fair play. Kim seemed to enjoy my Ruger Single-Six and expressed interest in getting one of his own.
Update: Of course, just because I went to the range today doesn't mean that I won't go to my usual session on Friday after work. Hmmm.... I may need to order more ammo...
I just saw this (Washington Post registration required) over at The Command Post. Apparently, Mohamed ElBaradei thinks that any tests for WMD in Iraq will need the to be done by the U.N. to have credibility.
My initial reaction to such a statement is to wonder if he's been smoking the same crack as the Iraqi Minister of (dis)Information.
To the nimrod at 166.102.192.7 (h7.192.102.166.ip.alltel.net), the virus-laden email that you sent me didn't work.
What kind of a chump do you take me for?
The conference I'm attending is for technical people from my company. A variety of technical sessions are being offered through Wednesday. I attended one today concerning creating highly-available systems. The presenter was a former chief engineer on a nuclear sub who now works for the company. His point throughout the presentation was that your system's reliability depends not only on technology, but also on your people and the processes that they follow.
The most interesting point he brought out was something that was learned from 9/11. We in the industry were quick to set up redundant systems in geographically separated datacenters and to put procedures in place for offsite backups, but we forgot about distributing people. The companies that were located in the World Trade Center had offsite backups and redundant systems in place, but they didn't have people who were ready to step in and fill the positions of those who were killed. All that physical preparation wasn't very useful because there were no people available who knew the systems.
I have to admit that I hadn't given much thought to this topic before, even though I've seen what happens when people become too specialized and aren't cross-trained on each other's jobs. It's one more thing to factor into the next system that I'm involved with.
I'm going to be attending a work-related conference this week. It's in downtown Dallas and I have to be there at 8:00 am. Outside of rush hour, this wouldn't be so bad (39 miles / about 40 minutes). But I'm going to have to make my way through rush-hour traffic, which means I will be leaving at 6:30am.
That would normally be bad enough, but this time change crap is really going to mess with me (it's going to feel like 5:30am).
I've come to the conclusion that cats are insane. I was over at a friend's house last night for a birthday party. She has a large cat that is generally pretty friendly. I was petting the cat and scratching its back, which it seemed to like, when it suddenly bit me (and it wasn't a little play-bite either, as it drew blood). What causes a cat to go from happy to biting like that?
All I can conclude is that cats are not to be trusted. They're sneaky little devils and you never know what they're going to do. I've always preferred dogs to cats (although I don't hate cats), and this is just one more thing that reinforces that. A happy dog isn't going to bite you while you're petting it.
Now I'm pissed. Check out this article from Wired about the comments of some lawyer from the Manhattan Institute about those of us who oppose government spying on innocent citizens.
If you don't want the government to do what it must to protect you from terrorists, you should butt out, said Heather MacDonald, a lawyer at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. She made her remarks Wednesday at the 13th annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference.Luddite?! Anti-technology?! I've forgotten more about technology that this constipated harpy will ever know. In fact, it's because of my occupation that I know just how insidious these kinds of technologies are.
And, she urged, stop all the panic-stricken screaming, because it's endangering human lives.
Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups wield technology as a weapon with no worries about privacy rights, MacDonald said. But fear and distrust of anti-terrorism and surveillance technology hampers the U.S. government's ability to shore up defenses and stop attacks before they happen.
...
McDonald said the "hysterical cries" from those who see dark plots behind every government antiterrorist plan just proves that privacy advocates have a "luddite mentality."
It isn't hysterical or luddite to demand that the government follow the damn constitution. We have a right to be free from government searches and seizures unless they have a specific and demonstrable reason. What part of that does she not understand?
I will not sit idly by while government hacks and control-freak politicians destroy what little privacy we have left. I will not be bought off by false promises of "safeguards" and outright lies that the information won't be abused (Quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?). I will continue to stand up and tell them to their faces that they are misguided, wrong, and in danger of destroying our constitution.
Damn wankers.
Mrs. du Toit has an interesting new essay up on her site this morning. She talks about the way in which we sometimes "just know" that something is going to happen or how something is going to turn out. Very often we are tempted to dismiss these thoughts, since we don't seem to have a rational basis for them, or we don't want to believe them, or perhaps we don't want others to think we're bonkers.
I understand how she feels about this, since I have often felt the same way. There have been times when I just knew how something was going to turn out, but I had no identifiable rational basis for it. I must admit that I'm not 100% accurate about these things. There have been times when I've been wrong.
There is still a lot that we don't know about how intelligence operates. I know that most of us tend to seek patterns in the world around us. It could be that there is some kind of subconscious or non-linear process in the brain that allows us to integrate numerous small inputs and create a larger picture. Perhaps we're merely taking advantage of this process without realizing it.
Mrs. du Toit worries that we're on the verge of another world-wide conflict, World War III. As of yet, there are few indicators that we can directly identify that would lead to this conclusion. However, I have also had that little nagging voice in the back of my head telling me the same thing since September 11, 2001. I don't have a rational explanation to give at this point.
For everyone's sake, I hope that we're both wrong about this. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the next 10 years bring.
I saw a circular in today's paper with one of my pet peeves in huge type (it was a full page ad). I can't stand it when people use the contraction "it's" (it is) when they really intend to use the possessive "its". Unfortunately, many people don't seem to realize when they're doing it.
Some other pet peeves are using "your" for "you're" and "then" for "than".
Just did my taxes. I have to pay an extra $250 (it would have been worse except for some stock losses) in addition to the extortionately large sum that had already been stolen from my paychecks (I won't reveal the exact amount, but it's a five-digit number), so I'm going to be in a poor mood for a while. I don't want to hear any crap from Democrats about tax cuts right now. I'll be inclined to ram my fist down their throats.
A Lewisville man got himself killed in a road-rage incident that he apparently started by repeately ramming another vehicle:
"It started as an apparent road rage incident," Officer Burson said. "A man told us he was stopped at a red light at Dallas Drive and Teasley Lane. He said the Jeep showed up in the next lane and sped off toward the interstate. He was in the right lane and moved to the left lane and got in behind the Jeep so he could enter the interstate. The Jeep driver slammed on his brakes, and he took evasive action to avoid colliding. The other driver said he wound up in front of the Jeep."For those not from the Denton area, Frenchy's is a local lawn service company which uses big orange vans. They frequently leave the vans in various parking lots across town as advertisements.
The Jeep driver sped up and rammed his car repeatedly on the interstate, the other driver told police.
"He took the exit by Tia’s [Tex-Mex restaurant] and the Jeep rammed him with enough force that their bumpers locked up," Officer Burson said. "He was trying to brake, and the Jeep was pushing him. He accelerated and broke loose."
The vehicles moved southbound on the service road in front of the Black-Eyed Pea restaurant, the officer said.
"He felt that the Jeep was ready to ram him again. He slammed on his brakes. The Jeep tried to sideswipe him, missed, and went into the ditch The Jeep went airborne and hit Frenchy’s van head-on," Officer Burson said.
This news is not very comforting:
Severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, has prompted officials in Asian countries to enforce little-used quarantine laws, close schools and impose new health screenings on travelers. Closer to home, health experts suspect a second case of SARS has been identified in Collin County.Later on, the article points out that it is now believed that the virus can live for several hours on surfaces (like doorknobs and elevator buttons). That's just great--now I'm going to be paranoid about touching anything.
The first case was diagnosed about 12 days ago, and the other came to the health department's attention on Friday. In the first case, the infected man recently traveled to Hong Kong, and is believed to have brought SARS home. The second case is a mystery.
"We know that there is no known link with the first man," said county spokesperson Leigh Hornsby.
There is little danger to the public, because both infected men are quarantined in their own homes.
"These persons are in their homes, they're wearing masks, they're not venturing out into the public," Hornsby said. "If there's any type of venturing out, it's to see their physician. Their family members who don't live within the household aren't even visiting them. So there are so many precautions that are being taken at this point."
I also find it interesting that they haven't found any link between the two people who are infected. It makes me wonder if there isn't someone else out there who doesn't know he or she has it and is spreading it around. It's a little worrysome, because Collin County adjoins Denton County on the east, and many people who live in Collin County work in Dallas and the surrounding areas.