Den Beste argues that the reason Palestinians are against the wall that Israel is building is that it will bring more peace to Israel but lead the West Bank and Gaza strip into civil war. Fairly convincing, although I am not so sure of the deep planning behind the invasion of Iraq that he implies, or that support from Arab countries to the Palestinian cause will dry up.

Caught on the Airline Highway of Life

Alice, over at Life As I See It, tells us about her day visiting with the US immigration service. She has to deal with the fact they make you turn your head sideways a bit in the photos, and needs to get them done twice. I think they make us line up in so many lines as a leftover from the 80's. Back then they wanted to make defecting Soviets feel at home by queuing as much as possible. The end result of not having enough people to deal with the need for service will continue to be longer lines and waits.

A few years ago I lived in Massachusetts for a while, working at an IT company near Boston. I was able to work in the US under a visa that stemmed from NAFTA. Americans, and now Mexicans, could go work in any of the three countries on the basis of this type of visa. However it only last a year. After that you had to renew it, but you couldn't do that at a local INS office. You had to do it at a border crossing - entering from Canada. So you had to drive up to the border and visit Canada for about 30 seconds, returning to get your visa. This alone should tell you what a sensible system this is.

Three Canadian friends of mine and I decided to go together since our visas were due roughly at the same time, rather than drive up separately. We went up 95 from Boston in Maine. We took the forsaken "Airline Highway", number 9, from Bangor to the border. This highway is pretty empty. Once a few years earlier my car broke down on it and I had to walk for two hours to find a phone. The only thing I saw before the phone was a sign that said "Beware Bear Hunting Dogs" which worried me for a couple of reasons. But back in 96 we managed to get by it without much trouble.

We crossed the border, and turned around and crossed back - the Canadian customs guy laughed at what we had to do, damn him - and came back to the US. We filled out some papers for about 20 minutes and were on our way back to Beantown. Just then some lovely snowflakes began to glide down to earth, reminding us, I suppose of our Canadian roots. This swiftly developed into a snowstorm. Welcome to the Blizzard of 1996. If we thought the Airline highway was scary, bendy, and isolated the way in, in a snowstorm it was a winter wonderland-ish nightmare. But we couldn't stop to find bear-hunting dogs to pet. We had to keep our eyes peeled for logging trucks that felt that we were more of a speedbump than another vehicle on the two-lane road.

Finally we made it to Bangor, where I95 had turned into a rink. Cars decorated the sides of the road like discarded Christopher Radko ornaments. How festive! As we rounded a turn we say five or six cars on the side, smashed together like legos, and our car started to slide right for them. Our driver, an erstwhile air traffic controller, lost his cool and froze up, in sympathy to the highway one would guess. I had to grab the wheel to skirt the crash, which we did. Our third passenger began to wonder aloud if he had made a mistake in leaving the largely ice free part of Pakistan him immigrated to Canada from.

We were finally on our way back and the storm let up a little. However the salt trucks had turned the roads into a blinding mess, which the 18-wheelers tossed into our windshield. Needless to say, the wiper fluid motor gave out. But of course. Our wants-to-be-an Air traffic controller that it was still shooting out wiper fluid, but in a "fine mist", was less than convincing. We opened side windows, abandoning ourselves to frostbite in hopes of avoid fiery crashes. Finally we got back to Boston.

Where we were told if our company had not screwed up, they could have renewed our visas by mail. This madness alone (well maybe some other things) drove one of us from the high-stakes world of IT to the low pressure world of air traffic control. Another returned to Canada. And I kept going here for the joy of dealing with paperwork. So Alice, I hear you.

If you take links from this post and cross them with election results from 200, it's interesting. Divided by number of electoral votes casts, red states get more federal dollars back for each dollar they sent to the feds.

Electoral votes: Bush 271 (50.47%) Gore 266 (49.53%)
Dollars in/out*: States voting for Bush 39.36 (59.74%), states voting for Gore 26.52 (40.26%)

* =For each tax dollar sent in, how much federal spending came back again in terms of a dollar.

Georgia has decided it not longer needs to evolve. Therefore, they're telling teachers not to mention the word evolution in science classes and replacing it with "changes over time". Next, they'll be taking out gravity and replacing it with "stuff is attracted bigger stuff". But since the gravity idea doesn't have the Taliban Christian Creationists behind it, it probably won't fly. It's not a scientific debate because the arguments they bring to the table are not scientific and cannot be disproved - they're based on faith, not confirmation of facts. One day in the future we'll see these kinds of idiotic initiatives in the same light we look at 19th century state legislatures passing laws making pi = 3 the law. Until then, we have to bear with puppets like the school board administrators in Georgia claiming that ignorance is strength.

Update 5:41 PM
Just when you think there's a limit to school board stupidity in Georgia, Kevin reports that they have a plan to skip the US Civil War in history classes in Georgia. Makes one think of 'Spinal Tap'

"They've cancelled the Boston gig - but don't worry - it's not a big college town"

Quote of the day, from Paul:

I doubt that Raymond Chandler sat around in an office all day pointing out the shortcomings of half-wits while he wrote. He was probably in his underwear drinking scotch. And not for nothin, I bet my underwear is cleaner than Raymond Chandler’s.

Meryl links to video of the aftermath of the recent suicide bombing in Israel, that killed ten ordinary people just studying, going to work, and talking on cellphones, by a Palestinian terrorist. A warning - it's not for the faint of heart. It's incomprehensible to imagine having your friends and relatives being literally torn to shreds by the acts of such vicious cowards. I can't think of another country in the world that would be condemned for wanting to build a wall to keep out these homicidal maniacs, except for Israel. Faced with such mindless attacks, the least that could be done is to build a wall. If we were subject to these same attacks in the US, they'd already be laying the bricks. Not to mention putting the planners out of our misery.

So they're rating teachers online now. The rating are done more or less anonymously by students (one would presume - there is no way to tell for sure). I got news for you kids - the ones you think are the "hardest", as one category is called, are probably the best ones to pay attention to. I see my old history teacher is there, Len, still one of the best teachers I ever had from pre-school to grad school. I remember he used to have "history baseball" where students would be tossed a pitch of some historical name or place, and try to describe it fully, getting more bases the more complete their description. Not to mention the outing to his house in the winter for his classes. Len managed to teach us details on World War II that didn't come off like one of those mind numbing B&W documentaries they run on the WWII channel A&E. I noticed a bit of an immature feel to some of the comments on the site, needless to say, perhaps they are a little too close to the events to give a reasoned judgment.

Want friends, but not spammers, to be able to send you email via a web link? Here's how to have it without having it harvested by spammers, via Kate.

Brad Delong and Eugene Volokh note, with the appropriate horror, a conservative writer musing about some "other" people he might, in a fit of pique, refer to as lucky duckies - slaves.

Over at The Elegant Variation they take a shot at that most common of literary novel characters, the writer

Now, this is my own personal bugbear, but if I read one more novel about an academic or a writer I'm going to blow my brains out. Are you all so bereft of invention that this is the best you can cobble up? These arch, self-indulgent self-portraits? My question to all of you is why do you think that any reader would care? What do you offer them to connect to? How are you speaking to them? And that, in my opinion, is why it's easy for the NYTBR to cut you - and the rest of us, by association - off. You have no constituency, no one who will not only defend the need for your work but who will back it up with their pocketbooks.

The tired old maxim "write what you know" is at fault here to a certain extent. As the idea has been beaten like a rig since they started writing novels, it's hard to see a lot of new thought in it anymore. I have a feeling the novels they criticize might not be much more readable if the main character was a fishmonger or oboe player. I'm just wrapping up "Unless" by Carol Shields on my bookshelf now - having won the Pulitzer it hardly needs more praise from my tiny voice. On the surface it suffers the same conceit of having the main character as a writer. But it avoids the usual pitfalls of studying the suffering artist and delves into the terrors of lives that most anyone can relate to...perhaps the writers who write about writers could live a little more life, and thus get some into their characters.

Truth be told, she sounds guilty. She made up a story about being kidnapped and drugged, when the reality was she was having a fling in Las Vegas. If she wasn't a city councilwoman, it probably wouldn't be national news (in Canada). The charge that she invented a stalker don't sound too far fetched either - but this note about the prosecutions evidence made me pause: "They began to get suspicious when the cameras failed to turn up any suspects and when undercover officers observed Ms. Heatherington studying books on stalking at the local library." So now what you read at a library is being used against you in court. So if you are actually a victim of a crime, trying to research that crime seems suspicious. The use of library information - though in this case it seems to be observation, not records - is despicable. The library is the lowest common denominator of knowledge. It's a place where anyone, just be living in a community, has the ability to learn. And some people wonder why we should worry about the government wanting more and better access to library lending records.

The potential for scope creep is enormous. How long before people's reading habits are leaked in support of political campaigns? How would you like your library reading habits to be for sale in a database? With outsourced data processing becoming more common, it's not so far fetched. Even if you don't think it would progress to that level, the benefits seem thin - if there are any - and the costs too high to our culture and ability to learn. Other than a desire on the part of some law enforcement officials, I'd like to know one benefit of monitoring what we read at public libraries.

File this under "What colour is the sky in your world?":

Several leaders in the progressive movement are -- ironically -- looking to Iran as a possible model for a new kind of Islamic society. Opposition to the authoritarian power of Muslim clerics in that Islamic state has in recent years sparked widespread calls for secular reform.
'Iran provides the best hope for progressive Islam,'' Manji said.
Moosa, the Duke professor, agreed.
'The shortest way to Islamic liberalism,'' he said, 'is through Islamic fundamentalism.''

Random thought while trying not to die exercising at the gym - are all the ads on Dr. Phil for diet pills? Ironically the story on Dr. Phil seemed to be about a woman addicted to some kind of pills. Also saw A_ there, who is going to be getting ready for a triathlon. Myself, I'm just hoping to be able to get up the stairs more easily!

Andrew Sullivan challenges Atrios to come up with three posts criticising the left...Atrios had said:

I'm not sure what "the left" means in Andy's world. Sometimes it's Salon and the New York Times. Sometimes it's Tom Daschle. Sometimes it's Hillary Clinton. Sometimes it's the mythical Transnational Progressivism movement, operated out of Barbra Streisand's basement. Sometimes it's some guy with a sign somewhere that Andy doesn't like. Sometimes it's a website in the Netherlands which proves the existence of a liberal fifth column operating out of liberal blue state enclaves like Provincetown and Washington, D.C.

Ok, here's a few:

- a note about NPR, noted by Andrew as being left wing here for one.

- a quote of an article swiping at Maureen Dowd, who Andrew named a sarcastic award after...

- a shot at the New York Times...

But I think it misses the point to want to see posts "for" or "against" the left or right, but how about some in favour of the facts?

PS. Add a search form to your blogs guys!

More friendliness from the Immigration Service where they mistook a Canadian Doctor for a car thief - repeatedly. It seems corrections are just about impossible at times.

Mr. Chadda and his mother, who was visiting, showed up for what they thought would be a routine visit on Nov. 12. Instead, he said federal officials handcuffed and shackled him, and placed a gun to his left temple.
'I'll never forget the feeling of the barrel of that pistol on my head,' he said quietly.

They tossed him in a cell, and was assaulted in the most vile ways by guards.

The young doctor said he suffered both verbal and sexual abuse at the hands of the guards, who sodomized him with the handle of a plunger while taunting him racially.

"They kept calling me Pretty Boy Doc," Mr. Chadda said.

"I realized after that, I'd better keep my mouth shut."

The Halifax native spent the next five days at the detention centre, during which he said he was nearly assaulted a second time.

A guard took him outside on his last night to have a cigarette. The man then tried to rape him, he said, but he fought back.

He said he also regularly witnessed drug deals between prisoners and the guards. "There were drugs, you name it, you could get it . . . What were they selling them for? Sexual favours and cash."

When they finally realized their error, they sent him out with a warning:

"He showed me a list of names of my friends and family, their phone numbers, addresses," he said of a senior INS official.

The official told him that if he went public with what had happened in the detention centre, " 'We will make your life a living hell,' " Mr. Chadda said.

Representatives from the FBI and the former INS could not be reached for comment last week.

Number of times the word "plunger" appears in the Official 'Use of Force' guidelines for detention facilities - 0. Cost of petty thugs and sadists running said facility in the face of departmental blind ignorance - priceless.

Kevin at Calpundit finds more reasons not to shop at Wal-Mart. They run ads talking about the great health care for employees, when in fact it's pretty lousy. I shudder to think of the Wal-Mart effect on jobs if the act to allow guest-workers occurs. It's back to indentured servitude for our "guests".

Someone spotted a figure that might be the scumbag taking shots at cars near Columbus, Ohio

'I didn't see the weapon discharge. I saw a person stopped on the overpass,' Thomas told The Columbus Dispatch. 'I heard a ping and it (the windshield) cracked. That's when I realized someone shot at me.'

By having everyone get as much information as possible on the person or persons, it's more likely we'll catch them. It's how we caught Malvo, so let's hope the authorities share information before it escalates to that level.

It's still pretty bleak living for some women in Afghanistan, reports Hamida Ghafour:

'I bought my wife for 25,000 rupees and married off my daughter earlier this year for 50,000. I also got an Arab wife for my son, for 25,000 Afghanis,' he says.
He is proud of his six cows and about a dozen sheep that run wild in the mountains, drink from the stream and graze on the patches of clover. His granddaughters, the two little shepherd girls, have been taught not to talk to strangers. Girls are vulnerable to the roaming, predatory Mujihadeen soldiers - and run away like shy gazelles when approached.
He insisted I visit his home and have tea with his family. Their house is set on the foot of a hill, and a used scud missile, and a couple of spent rockets are displayed on the mud wall of the courtyard.
'It's for our decoration,' explains his daughter in law, Makkhai, a pretty, pale skinned girl in her early 20s.
We walk inside the small room with bare mud walls and a few cushions.
'This is a poor person's house,' she says as we sit down with her sister in law. They use the rare visit with a foreigner to explain the hardships in their lives. Makkhai sends her elder son to school but her daughter stays at home.
'Their grandfather won't let her,' she explains. 'The school is too far away, at least two hour walk. She can't go alone so she will stay home with me.'
The women are not allowed to leave the confines of the courtyard.
'We have our food brought her, our clothes, everything. We never leave the house. Even our bracelets are brought her by the woman who sells them in the bazaar.'
There is too much work to do anyway, explains the sister in law. She opened her palms. They were stained deep brown, almost black from peeling walnut skins.

With no education, the situation is unlikely to improve much for these women. Some stability and security from roving thugs is needed, we'll have to wait to see if it ever comes.

More crushing of dissent. Non-sarcastic crushing, even. As Katherine R at Obsidian Wings noted, they were circling this Canadian reporter on the Maher Arar case, because she was getting accurate information from her sources inside the government.

"They even went through her underwear drawer," Mr. Anderson said.

Another RCMP squad staged a simultaneous raid at Ms. O'Neill's office in Ottawa City Hall.

The Mounties have not laid charges. "But we believe charges are pending," Mr. Anderson said.

The two search warrants say the Mounties were looking for the documents, records or any other material that might identify the source of the leak. The warrants were issued under the federal Security of Information Act, which makes it a crime to disclose or receive secret information related to national defence or security.

No Canadian journalist has ever been successfully prosecuted for publishing official secrets.

It remains to be seen what truths will be found, if they're cracking down on the watchers.

Over in Dean's world, there's a story of a motorcycle and the angriest squirrel in the world. Perhaps he couldn't stand the humiliation of paved streets using up what was once lovely green grass, and the motorcyclist just didn't understand his culture.

Katherine R, who is all over the Maher Arar scandal like a Syrian prison guard at a steel cable sale, notes the possible pending arrest of a reporter on this issue. Ah, a hapless lover of democracy being crushed by the dictatorship in Syria? Nope, this is happening in Canada. You can read the story here that may end up putting O'Neill in the clink.

Moonie Media, Mulling Multiple Markets, Mixes Musical Metaphor

The Washington Times, owned in the end by that light of reason Reverend Moon, talksa bit about Alan Greenspan and in so doing attempts a musical metaphor. They start out saying "Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, the former swing-band musician who studied at Julliard, has hauled out his trombone again." They blather on a bit about what they think of Greenspan's trade pronouncements, then end with "By trumpeting this unwavering warning over the past three months from Washington to Dallas to Berlin, Mr. Greenspan clearly wants his tune heard worldwide". For the uninitiated, you do not "trumpet" a trombone. Would you bicycle a car?

Jessa from Bookslut is presently between engagements: " Yesterday I got called into my boss's office. 'Honestly, we just couldn't get you as excited about internet payment processing as you were about Bookslut.com.' I think at that point I tried not to giggle." If you have some resources, check out their Cafe Press Store.

More good deeds by the BCIS as they screw up the life of a German spouse of a US citizen with bad advice. It is not at all surprising that she got a wrong account of the rules when she talked to the BCIS The complex body of laws making up the immigration code is daunting even for lawyers. Often persons at a different BCIS office will give different answers depending on what they think is true and local policies. I had a friend who was told at one border crossing his visa was invalid, and he had to quit the job he had in the US and immediately leave to go back to Canada. He checked at another crossing less than an hour away, where the officer scoffed at his colleague's ruling and immediately granted a new visa. Lack of training an uniformity combined with bureaucratic rot, make for uncertainty and fear for those of us trying to obey the rules.

There are some t-shirts that would make it very difficult to get on a plane these days...They have a series of computer error related t-shirts, although no "Abort, Retry, Ignore?" shirts, alas. Perhaps that would be too political? Link via Very Big Blog.

Would you call this backhanded optimism? A Cleveland economist is saying we should see improved economic times due to increasing consumer demand, with the note that he "...says we'll still see some companies choose to relocate out of state or abroad, but a stronger economic outlook will slow the exodus." A slowly sinking ship is good news?

In another user of legislature intended to take rights away from people, Ohio is set to ban same-sex marriages

Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican and sponsor of the current bill, told the committee that a recent ruling by Massachusetts' high court declaring that state's gay marriage ban unconstitutional could affect Ohio.
``My concern is the cost of the courts' rewriting statutes in ways we did not intend,'' Seitz told the committee.
Seitz's bill puts into law that same-sex marriages would be ``against the strong public policy of the state.'' It also would prohibit unmarried partners of state employees from receiving benefits that married partners get.

Perhaps My. Seitz is threatened by that weird look the waiter at Applebees gives him now and then. No word on whether they will continue to recognize drive-through weddings done in Vegas, since they doubtless better preserve the sanctity of man-woman marriage.

French thought police on the lookout for beards, if they're religious

Responding to a question, Mr. Ferry also said that beards would be banned, if they are worn for religious reasons, according to a report on France Info radio.
The planned law would ban "conspicuous" religious symbols from schools, from head scarves to Jewish yarmulkes, or skull caps, to large Christian crosses. One aspect of debate has focused on word choice — whether the phrasing should be changed to "visible" or "ostentatious."

Because the problem is what people think of their beards and scarves, not that thugs are attacking Jewish kids in France.

April Baer, local NPR announcer, is leaving Cleveland (link via Cool Cleveland) but has some nice things to say about this city on her way to the other coast:

Brain Drain? Please. I'm the least appropriate person for that label. For the past five and a half years, I've had the chance to do meaningful work at a progressive, community-minded company (ideastream). I found a fantastic neighborhood in Cleveland (Ohio City) where a person can stretch her legs, play hard, and really get to know the neighbors. OK, so the old-school politics drive me nuts sometimes. But there's a reason why I've stayed. Just like there's a reason you're still here, reading this, when you could be in Columbus sucking down a Cinnabon at Easton in a consumerist stupor. I'm talking about two things: The past, and the future.

Cleveland history is better than television. You've got gods and monsters, steel barons, race riots, social upheaval, and once in a while... PROGRESS. It's good to live in a city that hasn't forgotten where it came from. I can tick off a long list of ways that the city's mythology continues to shape what's happening today.

She is a familiar voice that will be sorely missed.

Paid for any duck hunting vacations lately? Oh yes you have.

Over at Canadians are smug, they take the military to task for recent reports that they were hesitant to use special forces before 9/11. Blood is the only oil that can move bureaucracy. CAS (is that a good acronym) also blasts the loonies to the left for paranoia about US Government conspiracies, though I file all from the left and right looking for black helicopters in the "stupid" file.

Anita takes notice of holonics, which is an idea concerning manufacturing with the ability to change processes at a rapid pace. This might lead to favouring local resources for manufacturers adopting this idea. Although I'm not sure you can ever beat specialization in terms of per unit cost, I'll have to read up a bit on this, as it sounds promising.

You can get full on coverage of what the pols are saying at the Command Post about Iowa, but here are some reactions from supporters on blogs...

Kerry's blog: A picture of a guy with a toothbrush in his mouth...guys you have to get on top of good news...

Edwards blog

The contrast between Edwards' message and that of Gov. Dean, during CNN's split screen coverage, was astounding.
The undecided who witnessed that unpredictable moment could easily see which candidate truly exemplifies the sort of leadership our nation deserves.

John Edwards didn't just pull off a surprise in Iowa. He demonstrated the stuff that we want in a president.

Bring on the Edwards-Bush debate.

I'll be watching in Greensboro.

From Dean's camp:

No one stole the caucuses from us.
No one rigged the results.
It's not Terry McAuliffe's fault.
It's not Judy Dean's fault.
It's not because of orange hats scaring Iowa people.
It's not even the media's fault.
...
I think Dean is a likeable guy, but if all I knew about him was what I saw on TV in the last month, I'd think he was an arrogant, angry prick with no personality and no soft side.

But that's NOT the fault of "the media".

Note to self - don't refer to my candidate as a prick when otherwise avoidable...

Kucinich board:

I dunno, but 1% in the Iowa caucuses would give me pause to wonder.

How much more money does this campaign have left?

There were only 4 people at our local House Party last night, compared to last month's total of 30+.

Gotta wonder. Is support dwindling? Has it peaked already and is on its way down?

Are people looking more to a centrist who they think can beat Bush? Are they afraid of a progressive? Is America not ready for a progressive?

And what about New Hampshire? They're right next to Vermont, so of course they're going to go for one of their own.

Right now, sorry to say, I'm not feeling terribly optimistic...

Lieberman blog:

This is not good news for the Lieberman campaign. I don't see what he'd accomplish by asking Union Dick to be his VP candidate. Nor is it even remotely logical for Gephardt to be talking about leaving the race on caucus night, which is notoriously unpredictable

Gephardt - can't figure out if he has a blog! Sharpton - can't find any officialish blogs here, either..

So now they want to make the hamburger the the state food of Ohio

A man known as Coondog O'Karma, a constituent of Cuyahoga Falls' Republican Sen. Kevin Coughlin, advanced the idea incessantly over a period of years, Coughlin said, until the senator finally bit.
O'Karma, it seems, is a well-known eating champion and hamburgers are among his favorite epicurean challenges.

I think hamburger, and Ohio is not what springs to mind. Why don't they make "cars" the state vehicle? As much as I admire legislative ideas springing from the minds of people stuffing their gullets at fairs like starving, meat-eating, much larger hummingbirds, I have to wonder what the point of it is. I might suggest they make swiss cheese the state food, since Ohio makes more of it than any other state. But then I haven't won any cheese-eating contests, so don't listen to me.

Interesting graf from a Knight-Ridder apologia piece on Bush's campaign promise fulfillments...

He's also had some big setbacks. Congress rebuffed many of his ideas for forging closer cooperation between the government and faith-based charities. His producer-friendly energy policy is caught in a tug-of-war between the House of Representatives and the Senate. In fact, Congress has killed or stalled at least 25 percent of Bush's commitments, despite being controlled for much of the time by his own Republican Party.

Not the energy industry, but "producers". I love it when language is muddied to reduce understanding. Then there's this promise and result

Establish a six-month deadline for processing immigration applications.

YES, with goal of full implementation by 2005.

Isn't this a bit like saying, of course I have my doctoral thesis finished. Expect my full implementation sometime in the next two years or so. this ain't happening in 2005 or anytime soon, take this from someone who has waited there. It may just be my perception but it seems like government, and not just the present administration, are resorting to the dog ate my homework school of defense of failures more often. But as long as they try, that's all that matters, right? Hrm.

A woman being deported from my city has to decide if she wants to leave or keep her kids. Since they were born here they have US citizenship, but she does not. She's lived here for eleven years, and her ex-husband was deported to Jordan. She once had a visa but it expired 13 years ago. She claims she's been trying to get citizenship since then but has had trouble - which wouldn't be too surprising. Despite the attempts of the likes of Dennis Kucinich it's likely she will be sent to Venezuela, where she says she no longer has any relatives.

Paul Martin inherited the crown of PM of Canada once Chretien retired. But Rex Murphy thinks he is not adjusting well to the role of leader of Canada, evidenced by petty squabbling over long-time MP Sheila Copps.

But since he has taken over, his public presentations -- at news conferences, during the year-end interviews, even at the recent summit -- have lacked the level of performance that one who executed this great leadership coup could reasonably be expected to give.
He's either not comfortable, or, if this is possible, not confident. He seems hesitant, lacking at times either passion or precision. He coveted this position so long, it's mildly startling he is not fully at ease in it.

A columnist at the right lurching The National Post, soon to axe free viewing of articles on the web, notes

Martin may well award the Liberal nomination to other women, but aides say the Prime Minister will not protect one incumbent MP from a challenge by another, as is the case with Copps.

Not surprisingly, Copps has screeched like a wounded political animal backed into a corner by men with sharp sticks.

Screeched huh? Reminds one of the many columnists who kept referring to her as "shrieking" when she ran for the liberal leaderships (with more votes than this last time). In other words, meaningless drivel attempting to appeal to the base, no pun intended, who think any outspoken left-wing politician with a leftish streak is "screeching". At any rate, Copps will left to fend for herself, while the PM offers no help to someone who might challenge for leadership in a few years, especially if Martin's tenure does not go so well.

The display on the treadmill at the gym reads back the miles "walked", calories burnt, etc. And also the heart rate which I keep an eye on, not having spent much time in gyms til now, just in case I , you know, start to die or anything. I keep waiting for it to read back "who do you think you're kidding" but maybe that was just a hallucination. On the other hand I seem to be making a habit of it, and already feel springy-er in the mornings. Like Seinfeld said, it's a lot of work trying to get into good enough shape to go to the gym.

The end of the Hubble space telescope is nigh

John Grunsfeld, NASA's chief scientist, said NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe made the decision to cancel the fifth space shuttle service mission to the Hubble when it became clear there was not time to conduct it before the shuttle is retired. The servicing mission was considered essential to enable the orbiting telescope to continue to operate.

I tend to agree with John Glenn that Bush's plans for moon and Mars missions grossly underestimate how much they would cost. I don't think they'll follow through on these programs past early November of this year, whichever way the election goes. We can say goodbye to images like this one:

Speaking of Lemmings... one thing going around the blogs is to take IMDB's top 100 films list and mark which ones you have seen. I'm also putting stars (on a scale of 5) by what I thought of them...let's all jump off the cliff. I guess you could call this a Friday 100? I've seen all but 24 of them...

1. Godfather, The (1972)
2. Shawshank Redemption, The (1994) ****
3. Godfather: Part II, The (1974)
4. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)****
5. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002)***
6. Casablanca (1942) *****
7. Schindler's List (1993) *****
8. Shichinin no samurai (1954) [Seven Samurai]*****
9. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)****
10. Citizen Kane (1941) *****
11. Star Wars (1977) **
12. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)****
13. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) ****
14. Rear Window (1954) *****
15. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)***
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)****
17. Memento (2000)****
18. Usual Suspects, The (1995) ***
19. Pulp Fiction (1994) ****
20. North by Northwest (1959) ****
21. Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain, Le (2001) [Amelie] ***
22. Psycho (1960) ***
23. 12 Angry Men (1957) ***
24. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
25. Silence of the Lambs, The (1991) *****
26. Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) [The Good, the Bad and the Ugly] *****
27. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) **
28. Goodfellas (1990) ****
29. American Beauty (1999) ***
30. Vertigo (1958) ****
31. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
32. Pianist, The (2002)
33. Matrix, The (1999)***
34. Apocalypse Now (1979)***
35. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)****
36. Some Like It Hot (1959)*****
37. Taxi Driver (1976) ****
38. Paths of Glory (1957)
39. Third Man, The (1949)
40. C'era una volta il West (1968)[Once Upon a Time in the West]
41. Fight Club (1999) ****
42. Boot, Das (1981) ****
43. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) (Spirited Away)
44. Double Indemnity (1944) ***
45. L.A. Confidential (1997) ****
46. Chinatown (1974) ****
47. Singin' in the Rain (1952) ***
48. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
49. Maltese Falcon, The (1941) ***
50. M (1931)
51. All About Eve (1950) ***
52. Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957) ****
53. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) *****
54. Se7en (1995) ***
55. Saving Private Ryan (1998) ****
56. Cidade de Deus (2002) [City of God]
57. Raging Bull (1980) ***
58. Wizard of Oz, The (1939) ****
59. Rashmon (1950) ****
60. Sting, The (1973) ****
61. American History X (1998) *
62. Alien (1979) ***
63. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
64. Leon (The Professional) (1994)
65. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) *****
66. Vita bella, La (1997) (Life Is Beautiful)
67. Touch of Evil (1958) ****
68. Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
69. Wo hu cang long (2000) (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) ****
70. Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948) *****
71. Great Escape, The (1963) ***
72. Clockwork Orange, A (1971) *****
73. Reservoir Dogs (1992) ****
74. Annie Hall (1977) ****
75. Amadeus (1984) *****
76. Jaws (1975) ****
77. Ran (1985) ***
78. On the Waterfront (1954)
79. Modern Times (1936)
80. High Noon (1952)
81. Braveheart (1995) ***
82. Apartment, The (1960)
83. Sixth Sense, The (1999) ****
84. Fargo (1996) ****
85. Aliens (1986) ****
86. Shining, The (1980) ***
87. Blade Runner (1982) *****
88. Strangers on a Train (1951) *****
89. Duck Soup (1933) *****
90. Metropolis (1927) ****
91. Finding Nemo (2003) ****
92. Donnie Darko (2001)
93. Toy Story 2 (1999) ***
94. Princess Bride, The (1987) *****
95. General, The (1927)
96. City Lights (1931)
97. Lola rennt (1998) (Run Lola Run) ****
98. Full Metal Jacket (1987) *****
99. Notorious (1946)
100. Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957) [The Seventh Seal]

Thinking of voting for your favourite blog for the, ahem, "Bloggies"? Here's some reasons that you should not, given that it seems to have 1. stolen language from Kevin's awards 2. reputedly a bad voting process. Kevin's always seems like a from the ground up and pretty open process at least to this newbie's eyes.

The Maher Arar case was apparently related to another case of a Syrian-Canadian carrying maps that border guards found suspicious showing government buildings and nuclear facilities near Ottawa. However after being detained in Syria, one wonders what recourse those so detained have when no charges are filed in the end in Canada?

You should be reading Meryl Yourish, and if you do, hit her tipjar - or you'll have to deal with her mom! Meryl's a witty writer covering everything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to politics to the insanity of terrorists and their apologists.

Random quote of the unspecified time period

The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become definite, finite, obvious; common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities are contemptuously rejected. As soon as we begin to philosophize, on the contrary, we find, as we saw in our opening chapters, that even the most everyday things lead to problems to which only very incomplete answers can be given. Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom

Bertrand Russell, 'The Problems of Philosophy'

H1B or not to H1B - that is the question.

H-1B visas are supposed to be gap fillers, allowing companies to find well-educated employees when they run into trouble hiring qualified U.S. workers. Critics have charged, however, that some companies are using them on a constant basis to cut costs. Also, the visas are intended to help U.S. employers stay competitive, but Hira said his research shows their use by foreign-based companies has accelerated the shift of tech work abroad.

I think this may be an issue in the upcoming election. I don't agree it's black and white, but probably requires a more nuanced approach than we have today.

Inman Fawaz Damra, an important Islamic leader in North East Ohio was arrested for immigration violations. I'm the first one to say the nightmarish Immigration law is tough for anyone to figure out, and is often marked by service slow as a drunken tortoise, and arbitrary rulings. The case against him does not sound that strong. That doesn't mean I would think him a great guy to hang out with...He's said a few controversial things, like

[Muslims should be] directing all rifles at the first and last enemy of the Islamic nation, and that is the sons of monkeys and pigs, the Jews.

He backtracked and apologised for those comments later...although it isn't exactly a relatively innocent Easterbrook-like stupid statement. Perhaps he was just, as they are fond of saying in domestic politics, appealing to the base? We'll see if this case leads anywhere, or if it's just using the myriad rules of the immigration laws for spite.

East 55th Street in Cleveland is a scary looking street to drive down, and with good reason. Empty and crumbling brick warehouses abound. But if we build a convention center, all the crooks can come work at the new restaurants and hotels, right?

I've always felt Canada undersold the well-trained troops with budget cuts in terms of men and equipment, and the strain is showing according to the G&M: "That 2,000-person deployment to Kabul taxed the 11,900 soldiers in the army's field force beyond its limit. Rotations home had been deferred and training delayed." I would hope the new PM sees his way fit to increase budgets for the armed forces in Canada, they certainly give us their all in their efforts and skills.

Shameless Plug

Think Aphrodite is keen? Interested in those ancient, wacky, often philosophical, Greeks? A friend of mine, Dr. R_, has a new book called Worshipping Aphrodite: Art and Cult in Classical Athens. The good Doctor knows her stuff and can sometimes be found traveling to Greece, and works in a large museum here in town.

In a fiscal crisis of sorts, Mayor Jane Campbell of Cleveland, Ohio has a modest proposal. That they city stop collecting garbage from public trash cans, and that people volunteer to do it by adopting a can. Yes, now you can have all the glamour associated with cleaning and emptying the trash from the large cans downtown. You even get a sticker with your name on your adopted can. There's no place I'd rather see my name than on the side of a urine soaked can. And no better way to spend my free time than dropping by every day to empty it. Perhaps while I'm at it I can take a Swiffer to the sidewalks.

Sondra has a problem with mice, and notes illustratively "And do. not. ever. illuminate a mouse path with a black light. Trust me. There's a reason why they all know how to go the same route that the naked eye would never observe." I keep threatening M_ with bringing along a blacklight next time we go to a hotel.

In a shameless ratings grab, several local channels highlighter a Youngstown anchor getting fired for being a a wet t-shirt contest. Never mind it was a year ago and in Florida, and not meant for public video viewing. Of course while doing voice-overs about how "shocking" her actions were, they kept running pixilated video of it, or a slide show, I guess to show prospective moral young would-be anchorpersons how not to behave. Perhaps she can now go to work for more pay on that naked news site.

In what would probably be George's worst nightmare, this guy : has been living without coffee - "I am proud to state in front of God and Juan Valdez that I have gone five years now without a single cup of joe, and that includes latte in any form." I myself do not drink it every day, just once in a long while or when I am desperate to stay awake and all else has failed. In college while studying, I drank so much that I often had what I assumed were caffeine related headaches. But for one who knows all of things made from those beans, you can check out Brewed Fresh Daily for complete coffee coverage.

Lynn links to a map showing the very small amount of real estate that JS Bach lived and worked in during his life. It makes you appreciate the internal combustion engine all the more. So is your life defined by where you go? If so, Bach led a pretty small life compared with the many globetrotters today. Even for his day, Bach didn't get out much. Clearly travel alone doesn't bestow more than introspection. What's place is the shape of one's life in the shape of your life? Here's mine minus England and a lot of trips around the Maritimes in Canada.

Connie Schultz takes a few shots at Ohio's new concealed carry law. The new law lets Ohio residents gets permits to carry concealed guns, after completing a training course. One of the provisions of the bills allows the news media to access records of who has these permits. Schultz says the newspapers will then publish or make available the names for anyone to peruse, She refers to one legislator who voted for the bill as "Cowboy Jim". I take that to mean she hold cowboys in little regard as hooligans, as opposed to the rugged individualist some of the rest of us may consider them.

...one of the new law's provisions prohibits the general public that would be you from finding out who is purchasing a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Only journalists are allowed that information. So, that is exactly what we intend to do. We will find out who bought the permits to carry concealed weapons and then let you know, too.

I'm not sure why the general public needs access to this information. I fail to recall another other property in one's house or possession that my neighbour can find out I have in a public database. Perhaps they'd like to know how many hammers I have, or what brand of plunger is in my house while they're at it.

His sidekick from the state Senate, Tag-along Steve Austria, fired the second shot. He said publishing the names of permit holders would be the exact kind of abuse they're talkin' about. Why, he said, the whole idea behind concealed carry is that the rest of us aren't supposed to know who's carrying 'em. Publishing their names would threaten the safety of the very men and women who don't want you to know they're packin' in the first place.

Because they don't want people breaking into their houses to steal guns? Because they don't want anonymous threats? Perhaps the writer would prefer to publish a hit list of everyone who has a concealed weapons permit?

It seems to me the ones who need protecting aren't the folks who tuck a Glock under their armpit every time they step out to walk the dog or buy a quart of milk.

Getting a quart of milk, walking the dog - I guess she's trying to say these activities are so wholesome and safe, that one need not fear anything. In fact, the newspapers will decide in advance when you should be concerned for your own and your family safety. After all, your rights to defend yourself come from the newspapers, not from the Constitution.

I hate to make assumptions here, but I can't help thinking that folks who carry concealed weapons aren't the ones quoting Gandhi. And if I'm in a store that's about to be robbed, the last place I want to be is between a robber and the Dirty Harry wannabe who's decided to take the perp down.

I'm looking over her column to see the studies showing a correlation between concealed carry laws and a rise in vigilante activity - in vain as it turns out. My quibble isn't that you should not quote Gandhi, or Dirty Harry. But why is it not up to you to decide who to emulate, or to emulate neither? There's no spot between Harry and Mahatma on the use of force scale? Apparently not. The columnist seems to make a big assumption that carrying guns is bad, and that we should think of "the children" as Mrs. Lovejoy from the Simpsons often intones. Her arguments to support this seem lack firepower.

Kevin makes note of police cracking down on evil behaviour - evil behaviour being asking about buying Microsoft Flight Simulator for your ten your old kid. The easily startled Staples management reported the inquiry to police, who felt it needed investigating. I wonder if the police will note who has purchased staple removers in the last few years, at the same time as purchasing games in which things fly.

sugarmama let her dog blog in a fit of weekend petbloggery. That looks like a Boston Terrier, the kind of dog M_ would like. Actually she'd like two dogs and three cats. Yikes. I can't recall where, but I read once that to empty the shelters in the US every household would have to adopt two dogs and six cats.

Hmm, I may need to start using my hands-free headset on my cellphone more. A study suggests possible brain damage from cellphones

His team exposed 32 rats to 2 hours of microwave radiation from GSM cellphones. Researchers attached the phones to the sides of the rats' small cages using coaxial cables -- allowing for intermittent direct exposure -- and varied the intensity of radiation in each treatment group to reflect the range of exposures a human cellphone user might experience over the same time period. Fifty days after the 2-hour exposure, the rat brains showed significant blood vessel leakage, as well as areas of shrunken, damaged neurons. The higher the radiation exposure level, the more damage was apparent.

The real question though is if other studies can confirm his results. In science nothing is ever "proved" so much as it is well confirmed, or not well confirmed. So far this particular cellphone danger is not well confirmed, so we'll have to wait for further studies to be sure. I am positive that the typical TV news segment will miss this distinction, as science seems to be a mystery to most reporters covering the news these days.

Summit County Ohio's chief dog warden Glenn James was put "to sleep" by superiors on Friday. This relatively untrained person had animals lethally injected, often, without anesthesia, and mass kills done apparently for spite. How this loser ever got in charge of an animal shelter is beyond me, you can read the full story from Scene published back in October, with a -your-blood-may-boil alert. Even though Glenn James is fired, he's still trying to live off the public teat by claiming an unspecified "disability" at age 43 - unsurprisingly right around that time he could heard the bell getting ready to toll for him.

Apologies if you have seen this already, as many wage slaves no doubt have, but... I heard on Whad' Ya Know on their "Thanks for the memos" segment, this memo had to be one of the best I've read in years.

I am giving you two weeks to fix this. My measurement will be the parking lot: it should be substantially full at 7:30 AM and 6:30 PM. The pizza man should show up at 7:30 PM to feed the starving teams working late. The lot should be half full on Saturday mornings. We have a lot of work to do. If you do not have enough to keep your teams busy, let me know immediately.

After the CEO sent this out it got on the net and the stock tanked. The CEO wanted more work, but of course offered no more pay for this...after all, are there no workhouses?

Tonight I'm gong to a show of Viktor Scheckenegost's religious work. Viktor is a Cleveland area artist who has designed and created things from dinnerware to pedal cars, as well as painting and sculpture. He's 97, and still gets out - I hope I can do that well if I reach such an age! I'm not what you would call religious [Sarcastic much? - ed Go back to Kausfiles! - J] but one can appreciate beauty and craft on its own merits. Witness that one of my favourite pieces of music to play is Rutter's 'Gloria' for brass, organ, and choir. At any rate, I'd like to see some of his works - his show a few years ago at the Cleveland Museum of Art was very worthwhile.

Joy complains that her school is forcing her to use an MS Windows based computer to take exams, when she'd rather stick with her Mac. As one who was forced to write a paper in WordPerfect in 1987, never having used it before, I can sympathize with being asking to use technology for no good reason. Other than the administration there is unwilling to do much more than pick whatever happens to be the most popular software off the shelf. It's always pretty amazing how little thought goes into software purchase - such as who will be using it...

It appears as though resident of Ohio will soon be able to legally carry concealed guns. The text of the bill is here. One line states: "(d) It does not require the licensee to include serial numbers of handguns, other identification related to handguns, or similar data that is not pertinent or relevant to obtaining the license and that could be used as a de facto means of registration of handguns owned by the licensee."

Should we get more information on guns? These people say we need to track the ballistic fingerprints of guns to make them traceable. The NRA argues

"A sniper, a criminal with steel wool, with a cleaning kit, with a drill can completely change the characteristics in the time it takes someone to drink a cup of coffee," LaPierre said. "Every time you fire a gun, the ballistics change. Talk to any firearm expert in the country."

Perhaps, but I wonder how many crooks are spending time working over their weapons ala Marvel Comics 'Punisher'. The other argument against it is the low benefits compared to the cost of testing every gun. The question of what a life is worth is a valid question here. It's not mean to be a claim that lives are priceless, as an economic fact, they are not. The question is whether closer tracking of guns in this way is worthwhile, or is there a better way to spend our money.

Update: 1/10/2004 9:55 AM
Costs of a gun registry in Canada are rising to a level that makes it easy to take aim at such ideas as unreasonable.

"Wah wah, there's too much sex in movies" (but violence is ok-dandy I surmise) column phoned in from the PeeDee's Feagler. Apparently he wants movies to be a place he can just "munch popcorn". As noted in Diversionz:

So I guess were just going to have to take our chances and see if everyone can be big boys and girls about this. I suppose this is the risk we take for living in a free country. But just remember that part of that freedom is also giving those that wish not to own televisions or radios to do just that. And if those on the conservative side like to be able to watch TV or listen to their radios without being offended, I would think some kind of rating system could be worked out so that those that were on the side of caution could best determine if a show was to their personal tastes or not without finding any surprises within.

Or you can just go anyway, and whine about body parts looking like pork, and munching popcorn. But please do it in another theater, I know your munching type, and find you as a pebble in a shoe.

Why, oh why, do they insist on remaking great movies? They're now going to redo 'The Producers' this time starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. They're great actors both, but the original film with Wilder and Zero Mostel was a great film - so why exactly does it need to be redone?

Couldn't they take a bad film and make it better? The best they can hope for is a film that is as good as the original - but this is often unlikely. Take Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho. Well-executed though it was, it didn't seem to be as good as Hitchcock's original. There's one key reason - it's hardly original and well remembered by the viewing public. The relative permanence of film makes remaking films that worked the first time a bit futile. It reminds me of rewriting books - also not a good idea.

Not that they could do much with dreck, but why not contribute to the pool of original ideas, instead of only drawing from it? Do they think simply because it was made more than thirty years ago we've forgotten it? If not, I'd like to remake Ocean's Eleven - a good remake of a bad film, in the hopes of cashing in myself. I'd also like to rewrite the seventies books of Stephen King - why with the crowds recognizing the names of the books, it's sure to be a winner.

I just wish some would dress their naked cynicism and greed in at least a bikini.

Joy over at Confessions of a G33k has switched jobs and states. Always stressful at first, be sure to stop by and wish her luck. Hmm, lucky gal is in a state with an Ikea store.

Just began New Year's resolution - actually this was a Thanksgiving resolution, slightly delayed to start going to them gym. Consider my ass kicked. But I'll be back again tomorrow, albeit to work on the parts that don't hurt, so I alternate em!

Salon.com points out a middle east writer calling the "outrage" at the capture of Saddam as the mother of all farces...

Some Arabs saw Saddam's capture as an intentional insult to all Arabs and Muslims. Such a view implicitly assumes that Saddam was a symbol for Arabs and Muslims, that he was a legitimate leader supported by a majority of his own people, and that he was promoting the aspirations and goals of Iraqis and Arabs. But he wasn't. Saddam was never a role model or symbol for Arabs and Muslims. He never had any real legitimacy. His policies and actions, shorn of propaganda, flew in the face of Iraqi, Arab and Islamic interests. His arrest and trial will in the end be the same as the arrest of any criminal. It is a sign of respect for the law, which is neither insult nor humiliation.

After WWII, we had a fair trial and defense attorneys for some of the heinous crimes ever committed. I hope our actions now will be as fair and history can judge it as well as Nurnberg in retrospect.

Kevin at Calpundit points out the most disturbing brochure I've ever seen. It's advertising the Pakistani nuclear laboratories spin-offs with a drawing much like a mushroom cloud. But since they're our allies, let's not worry about that, right?

A Lakewood City councilman, Ryan Patrick Demro, wants to move a flagpole from in front of city hall to in front of the refuse and recycling plant. The reason? Likely because the previous mayor wanted to fly a rainbow flag on it during Gay Pride month last June. Some people protested by tearing up a rainbow flag underneath the one that was flying. They were an interesting group:

The daily Plain Dealer quoted one of the veterans, Ralph "Pete" McGrew, 81, bragging that he and others had beaten up gay men and stolen their money during his Marine days in World War II.

"We lived off of 'em. We rolled them.We just beat the heck out of them," McGrew told the paper

(BTW, the story is no longer available as the paper only shows 14 days of archives).

I don't know much about Demro, other than he is my city council rep. The election pamphlets distributed by the two big candidates were the usual fluff that tells you nothing. I remember he did hold his opponent up to a kind of ridicule, by noting his job as "florist" (as opposed to a flower shop owner, a perhaps more apt description). I just try not to think about the efforts and money spent on the flagpole...

Normally I might have some sympathy for someone who lost 162 million dollars. But she seems like she couldn't keep it together before losing her winnings:

She told police the contents of her purse -- including the lottery ticket -- spilled outside the South Euclid store where she bought it last week. She thought she picked up everything but realized after the drawing that the ticket was missing.

Whoops.

Update: 1/6/04 11:44 AM
someone turned in the winning ticket to the Ohio Lottery. Their identity is not released yet. I think the woman who says she lost it is out of luck.

Update: 1/6/04 1:14 PM. The one who turned it in also had a receipt from when she bought it. Looks like the person claiming she dropped it from her purse was gambling with the truth.

Sugaramama is peeved about certain trends in blogging and she isn't afraid to say so

So, while I'm currently doing something highly annoying, I'll throw it in the list. Modifying words so that they contain all or part of the word BLOG. We are developing a new lexicon here, so let's do it ad infinitum. Or shall I say, blog infinitum? BLAH-HA-HAHA.

It has become a bit annoying...I for one, am not fond of the term "blogosphere" when the term "bloggers" seems to describe the same thing. And the one I see lawyers using to describe law related blogs as "blawgs"... No. This is akin to SciFi fan fiction. Don't make up words hoping they'll catch on, use them to describe things insufficiently described by the existing vocabulary. Otherwise we're one step away from 3l1t3 (that's elite as written by people showing what computer geniuses they are, or what they would do if they spilled Mountain Dew on their keyboards and half the keys jammed).

Are micropayments becoming the future on the net? Sounds promising...in Europe they're ahead of the game..."Firstgate Internet, out of Cologne, has been in operation since 2000. The company boasts nearly 2 million customers, at a time when the North American providers are either still in Beta stage or number their customers in the hundreds and thousands". I for one would like to see more micropayments for parts of contents only available through macropayments now...the information market is becoming more granular.

Amy Sullivan posted some resolutions for 2004. Sometimes reading other people resolutions you get inspired yourself. I cannot help but agree with her decision not to review anymore Ann Coulter books...now...what would be something to do with Ann Coulter books? I was saying go blue too earlier - we even put up a big Michigan flag here in O State country, but alas it was not to be...

I was glad to see someone else was up blogging at 2:20 AM this morning.

The American Family Association is taking a poll on homosexual marriage (link via Jen)and I think is getting different results than they hoped for. Personally I think marriage should be a private and not a civil matter at all, but since that isn't the question....go and tell them what you think!

Best definition of college that I've read in a while comes from Cecil Adams

Snoozing Your Way Through Four Years of Monotonous Drivel So You Can Collect a Piece of Paper That Entitles You to Make Twice as Much Money as the General Run of Mankind While Doing Half the Work

What I most remember are the lengthy conversations - that is to say, pointless conversations - in the student lounge. I recall when in one I saw my friend Kursat passing a note - I intercepted it. It read, speaking of me, "He has been talking for three hours nonstop!". Well I had to - no blogs then!

Via Viginia Postrel, I saw there is an interesting article on a history of Economics with this graf from the story on it:

Technology even makes an appearance in the entry on religion, which cites estimates that 'attribute 90 percent of income growth in England and the United States after 1780 to technological innovation, not mere capital accumulation.' The relative insignificance of savings undercuts Max Weber's famous theory that Protestant thrift was the key to capitalist growth

I think we'll see more growth in our lifetimes as well, with all our tech innovation and despite IT jobs drifting abroad.

They are gradually getting lights back on in Iraq

Power production varied over the weekend, reaching a strong peak generation on December 25 and producing a consistently high number of megawatt hours.

December 23: 2,978 MW 66,890 MW hours
December 25: 3,757 MW 75,403 MW hours
December 26: 3,307 MW 75,943 MW hours
December 27: 3,535 MW 75,419 MW hours

I can only imagine what it's like to live in a place where guerrillas/terrorists/thugs/morons keep sabotaging power lines. To keep people miserable enough so that will toss the US out and put these idiots in charge? The solution is to eliminate them, but also to expose their actions. Back here in Ohio, we have to rely on sheer incompetence to get blackouts.

Good advice from Kate

Every minute you spend cataloging the ways you think someone has wronged you is a minute you could've spent doing something else. Sooner or later those minutes are going to add up and prove that you have, indeed, wasted your life.

Atrios breaks out a calculator to give lie to media spin on Democratic hopes in the next election. It's too bad the "real" reporters don't have access to this high tech tool.

So who do I support? I'm reserving judgment for now, because I don't believe in giving any candidate, including the president, "turkee" or no, unabashed support. I want to see what specific ideas they have and how likely they are to hold to them On the first part of that it's tougher for the non-incumbents as they can't enact national policy, and on the second part so far the incumbent leaves a lot to be desired. Let's hope with people on the blogosphere keeping watch, we won't find the campaign sucked into a stupid meme propagated by big media - as it likely the case.

Barbara Kay says that

Last month one was gloating because Al Franken's anti-Republican Lies and The Lying Liars Who Tell Them, had become a best-seller. This was apparently a sign that in 2004 Bush would be swept from office by irate Americans fed up with the 'fascist' policies of his administration

Doing a search inside books on Amazon only got hits off of one Al Franken book (not the one she mentions), and it was from a quote of Rush Limbaugh using the term "Liberal compassion fascists", whatever those are. Also, quoting Kay, what party does this remind you of: "...a values-neutral coalition in thrall to special interest groups..."? Kind of an either or situation until she throws in labour unions a few words later, just to clear up which values-neutral-thrall party she is referring to.

Makers of small documentaries may have latched onto a money making venture - profiling serial killers. It's already been played out as a story idea in movies, though TV cop dramas will recycle it constantly. Like any subject, the intelligence and artistic vision, or lack thereof, will make the documentary good or bad more so than the subject matter.

Headlines...

Physical Education Could Be Introduced in Girls Schools (in Saudi Arabia).
Maybe they could use the skills to fight off club wielding religious police who don't care for the cut of their clothing?

PAC aims to keep Hillary Clinton from higher office
Is this from the deep school of political though, whose contribution to our society is to say "I don't know much, but I know what I hate"? UPDATE 1/1/04 9:56 AM. I guess it's because Hilary came in 1st among most admired women in American. Now the agenda of this group is clear. Keep admired people out of office.

NASA after a piece of tail
Was this wording really needed? Is AP hiring blurb writers from Maxim now?


Beagle still missing on Mars
Hold on to the leashes, folks, you never know where they'll run off to...

Castro has much to celebrate 45 years after ousting U.S.-backed dictator
This seems a bit too cheery, especially given the first graf:

With many of his most vocal critics silenced or in prison and island's tourism industry on the mend, 77-year-old President Fidel Castro had much to celebrate on the eve of the anniversary of the revolution that brought him to power 45 years ago on New Year's Day 1959.

And "ousting US backed dictator" was such news it had to be in the headline?