Another blogger fired

Friendster fired a developer over her personal blog, Troutgirl. She says, speaking of the firing:

The levels of irony on this are pretty deep. For one thing, I wrote a fairly well-known paper last year about the need for semi-permeable blogging. For another thing, by all accounts the particular posts that led to my termination were this one and this one (although feel free to check my archives for any other incriminating information). I try really hard not to blog about anything that is not a matter of public record... but I guess that's not protection any more.

It is a worrying trend for those who blog. To anonymize mine, I'd need to put it on a different domain (one that I don't own) and use a pseudonym...yech. Instead, I've opted never to mention my place of business at all, so googling it will never hit my blog. It would be nice to have a full, open exchange of ideas, but although tenured professors may be safe, the rest of us are subject to whatever the higher-ups decide is the unwritten company policy. Considering the benefits of open networking via blogs, it's a shame so many companies remind blind to the possibilities.

Olympics

In keeping with summing up what one thinks of the Olympics, as Lynn ably did here, a few thoughts. First, the bad. A pox on the house of NBC for their Olympic Moments. We know in advance they will be cheesy bits, but this crop seemed particularly amatuerish, as if the local TV reporter usually assigned to flipped over minivans on the Interstate was asked to quickly come up with a puff piece covering "all that Greek history stuff". It's nice to put things in context, but talking about the Battle of Marathon approxiamately 630 times during the actual marathon is a bit much for a 2 hour race. I don't know who's in charge of editing their tape delay plans, but why not end on the Marathon (since it was the actual last event) and not the bronze medal water polo match that was over before the marathon?

Gymanstics is...interesting. I wonder how much damage the women are doing to their knees when age 25 is considered ancient in the sport. There's no denying the heart-stopping ability to flip and twirl in ways they would break older people of either gender's bones. Plus I founmd if you mute the commentary it's much more bearable. On the men's side, I thought Paul Ham's comeback from 12th to first was one of the most amazing things I've seen at the games. For those clamboring for him to return his medal to give it to the South Korean, I am nto so much impressed. True the judges took away too much from the bronze medalist than they should have. But reviewing the tape also indicated the Korean had too many "holds" (where he stays still on the bars) which would have led to the same deduction if it had been noted by the somewhat blind judges. With any judged event, it would be possible to constantly review every performance frame by frame, with the medals being handed out a few months later after careful review. Failing that, you have to stick with what happened that day, barring cheating.

Lynn notes they seemed to cover women's events more than men. In terms of US teams, since the US baseketball and beach volleyball, and soccer had gold medals for women and for the men - not so much - , it's hard to argue with that. The crazy rules of the Beach volleyball association, which tell the women the maximum width of their uniforms, have no purpose I can see but to insure the Yahoo most emailed photos section are inordinately populated by female volleyball butt. This is just plain old sexist, no matter how you slice it. No one is asking for men in mini-speedos in Men's beach volleyball, I might add.

Swimming is always a big event, but at least it's a race, so endless heats don't wear on your nerves too much. I even liked Not so with diving, which though popular, is like watching people dive into a pool. I always love the track events tghe best, like El Guerrouj in the 1,500 meter finally getting the gold after failing to do so in two prior Olympics. It was nice seeing the US runner Jeremy Wariner win the 400 gold individually and in the relays, he is just someone commited to racing, and not a walking egomaniac. Although with Gary Hall Jr, winning the 50 meters in freestyle swimming, the arrogance and wearing of a Rocky style robe works for him.

As a Canadian I didn't have much chance to hear O Canada these Olympics, my old homeland only grabbed 3 golds, a total eclipsed by Michael Phelps alone. Seeing the favourite in the women's 100 meter final fall at the first hurdle stung. Not as much as it did to Perdita Felicien, who after the fall sat beside the fallen hurdle, not even turning to see the end of the race. Perhaps like El Guerrouj she will be able to find redemption in the next games.

"...some certain shallowness about the book that I can't quite describe."

Once again, it's time for some fun with Amazon book reviews, this one is from the self-described 'quiltin_maniac' reviewing Atwood's 'Edible Woman'. My comments are in italics:

It was ok, but I missed a lot of the "irony and metaphor" that the back cover assures me was in there! Just "whoosh" right over my head, I guess. I think we will be agreeing on a lot of points here, primarily being that this book is over your head. Perhaps you could keep it on a lower shelf
Marian McAlpin becomes engaged... and inexplicably, her eating habits change I suppose it is inexplicable, if you don't bother to read the rest of the book. It's like in 'The Name of the Rose', you could say "some monks are inexplicably murdered". I can see how this interpretation lacks satisfaction for you. - first she can't eat meat, picturing the living breathing animal it once was. Then eggs. Then everything else! She knows she should eat, she knows she must eat, but food of any sort revolts her. Mix in a nutty roommate who decides to get pregnant, and starts looking for an unwitting "donor" to be the father, and Duncan, a bizarre grad student Marian meets during work (She works at a survey service, and had to go door to door doing a survey), and you have a strange yet amusing story about a woman resisting the loss of her identity when she marries. I guess that was what it was about anyways.I feel like I should give you a gold star at this point, but I'm afraid you might see it as condescending.

Cute What's cute? Was this review originally part of a Power Point Presentation, and the graphics are now missing?but it seemed a bit light to me, as if Marian just "felt" these things but didn't really state them to the reader.I think you could direct the TV movie of this book, where Marian spends the last ten minutes giving a speech on what she's learned, and how it's an important lesson for us all, brought to you by Campbells. It's mmm-mmm good. But I think I do end up liking your review for the great line you finish with: There was some certain shallowness about the book that I can't quite describe. Exactly.

Bridges

Back in my old home province, some are complaining that they need a suicide barrier on the McDonald Bridge, which spans Halifax Harbour. Authorities are dragging their feet, though

Bridge managers here and elsewhere have long sought ways to try to prevent people from using bridges to end their lives, but the jury is out on whether measures such as the installation of special barriers would reduce a community's overall suicide rate.

. An old friend of mine used to be on the boat that would pull out the bodies of suicide, and judging by what she told me, there is definitely more than the one suicide a year there claimed. But in an article in the New Yorker on suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge, writer Taf Friend found some interesting facts about other places where the depressed come to end it all:

The Empire State Building, the Duomo, St. Peter?s Basilica, and Sydney Harbor Bridge were all suicide magnets before barriers were erected on them. So were Mt. Mihara, a volcano in Japan (more than six hundred people jumped into it in 1936 alone); the Arroyo Seco Bridge, in Pasadena; and the Eiffel Tower. At Prince Edward Viaduct, in Toronto, the site of nearly five hundred fatal jumps, engineers just finished constructing a four-million-dollar 'luminous veil' of stainless-steel rods above the railing. At all of these places, after the barriers were in place the number of jumpers declined to a handful, or to zero.

The New Yorker article goes on the say that by delaying those wishing to kill themselves with a barrier, there's a chance they may stop long enough to change their minds. So in the case of the Halifax Bridge, it may be a question if the cost of the suicides there outweighs the cost of a barrier. Because such a weighing of life in a cost benefit question would seem so crass, the Bridge commission seeks to disguise the argument we should be having.

Bad ideas that will not die

They are once again trying to "study" the idea of a new convention center in Cleveland. To the tune of $390,000 a year. Think about how Cleveland could be promoted for all that cash, and weep. One thing I noticed in Toronto? Nobody is visitng there because of the great convention centers.

Toronto trip

I just got back from visiting relatives in Toronto. What's the difference between Lakewood and Toronto? Volume. The sheer number of people and tourists crowding the streets is a marked difference between the two burgs. The number of small shops lining the streets of Toronto is enough to make a capitalist weep with joy. Toronto had a reputation as "boring", but the variety of ethnic neighbourhoods, architecture and food there make it the very definition of cosmopolitan. We had dinner one night in the Beaches at a little Italian place called Whitlock's. Nice ambiance, although I was a bit disturbed by the man with a guitar singing Bryan Adams songs phonetically. Have I mentioned Bryan Adams is the worst idea to come out of Canada had since Kim Campbell's 1993 election campaign? M_ and I also enjoyed some excellent Greek food in Greektown - Myth is the name of the restaurant. My sister opined that Canadians will open the front windows of restaurants the moment the mercury budges above zero, and it makes a meal feel like being part of a living, bustling event. Whilst Cleveland was contemplating doing away with garbage cans altogether, Toronto has these neat recycling boxes that don't even look like garbage cans. I don't know how widespread the idea is, but I was also impressed by their removal of parking meters. Instead of hunting for change, you go to a small kiosk and pay with cash or card for a ticket for how long you want, and place that on your dashboard. The now-defunct parking meters? Transformed into decorative bike stands. Moreover, the feeling of community is what makes Toronto a cut above other cities I've visited. There's something there that Cleveland would do well to emulate - and having taxpayers here pay for a new convention center is not the answer.

The Beaches on the east side of the city have lots of restaurants, coffee shops, and street front stores to feed and clothe the myriad throngs buying goods there. Such traffic means that my relatives there can sell their house for more than ten times what they bought it for in the early 70's. In another part of the city, Cabbagetown, there are numerous houses set close to the street, with interesting architectural elements, stained glass, and other effects of having had starving artists live there at one point in time. It's truly a pedestrian neighbourhood, though close to the city.

The Art Gallery of Ontario has a Turner/Whistler/Monet show on right now, showing influences between the three, and similarities in their artistic development. The AGO has a pretty amazing collection. I wasn't too sure about the piece in the contemporary gallery that has two automated fists smashing a keyboard repeatedly, though I sympathize with the sentiment. They also have a show of the Group of Seven (seven of the best known Canadian painters) going that's worth a visit. I must add their restaurant has a breakfast themed after the Turner/Whistler/Monet show and the food is nearly as good as the art.

I am glad these are not my police

So Munch's 'The Scream' was stolen from the museum today. This is the second time it's happened in ten years. But what caught my eye wass this line:

Mr. Castang said police arrived on the scene 15 minutes later. Visitors were ushered into the museum's cafeteria.

That's slow enought that I bet the theives are sorry they bothered bringing a car for a getaway. They could have had a leisurely stroll. I'm sure this kind of rapid police response will stop anyone from thinking of stealing whatever they want from the museum.

Hopelessly devoted to Jews?

Meryl Yourish of her self-titled blog has a little link-fest going on with links to some interesting articles. One is ony Israelis who identify with the Palestinians to the extent that they "have effectively chosen them over Israel." Now, why is it I prefer Isreal myself over the other nations in the region? Could it be that I'm a Jew? Well I do love bagels, and hail from Nova Scotia of lox fame, but I'd have to conclude I'm hopelessly goy. Am I eagerly anticipating the arrival of the AntiChrist and most of the events in the Left behind series of books, thus have a need for Israel to exist and fufill prophecy? Not so much. It just might be an affinity for a democracy flourishing in a region where ignorance and oppressive regimes are the rule, founded by a people hounded by the ignorant for thousands of years. Plus, as a people, they supply more comedians per person than almost any ethnic group. And the world needs laughter.

Cheap...err... Freedom loving downloaders rejoice

File traders take heart - the courts are on your side:

...the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles said on Thursday that peer-to-peer software developers were not liable for any copyright infringement committed by people using their products, as long as they had no direct ability to stop the acts.

That makes sense. I would not hold Microsoft responsible for Jackie Collins because she wrote her books in Word. Or hold Yamaha responsible because Kenny G plays their instruments. But banning Yamaha would not mean none of us would have to suffer listening to Kenny G's music, and shooting down software companies for writing P2P programs would be equally fruitless. On an unrelated note, all two people who have downloaded Kenny G songs off the net were offended by this entry.

Your Honor, and I mean that loosely...

The judge accused of mastering his domain underneath his robes during trials has resigned.

"I have greatly enjoyed my public service and offer my gratitude for the public trust reposed in me during the terms I served," he said.

(Emphasis mine). I'll bet. This of course opens a whole new set of euphemisms, like 'pounding the gavel', 'retiring to chambers', 'quashed'...

Toronto Bound

Going to Toronto for the weekend, and I suggested to M_ that we might want to see the Bata Shoe Museum. Her response was that her obsession preference is for new shoes, not ancient ones. I haven't been in Canada since last fall for my brother's wedding. A week after M_ and I left Nova Scotia it was hit by the Juan and thus the worst hurricane damage. Ever. Hopefully our visit to Ontario will not precipitate any calamities, but I'm not making any promises. We will go via the Peace Bridge, which features a fortuitously placed Tim Hortons just over on the Canadian side, better to meet ex-pat maple dip donut needs. Dunkin Donuts in the US is like Tim's as Dick Vitale is to Don Cherry - a much inferior version.

Updated 6/14/2005: added link to Hurricane pics.

Stupidest thing I've heard all week

NBC's otherwise un-thrilling Olympic coverage made me fall out of my chair last night (8/18). Not due to excitement, but at shock at how utterly ignorant they are. In a very mediocre video piece on the history of the games in Greece. Then came the line from Jimmy Roberts:

The theory of evolution may be controversial...

* and onto some tripe about the evolution of sports. Since when is the theory of evolution controversial? Go to NBCOlympics.com and search on the word evolution, and the first five results result are some sponsored links to idiotic books on how God placed dinosaurs skeletons on Earth to "test" us and other such nonsense. How about some links to actual information on evolution? Whichever schill signed off on that line during TV coverage needs to go back to high school biology, and be pelted with bones.

Summer readin'

Looking at the local school summer reading list is interesting. It reminded how my 12th grade, annoying, gay-as-a-governor-not-that-there's-anything-wrong-with-that English teacher drained away any interest in Lord of the Flies with a word by word analysis. But what caught my eye was the addition of Lord of the Rings to the list. The advise the student to pick one of the three books(!). As Tolkien often noted, it is really a single book, and reading any in isolation, especially the last two, would be an exercise in futility. Of course, my copy of LOTR was almost worn bare by the time I was in 8th grade, let alone the 12th grade they have assigned it to here. I must look in askance at them listing movies on a summer reading list. although it certainly takes less time to see a movie than read the book, I'm not sure that's a habit we want offered in early academic life.

How to get a head in Advertising

Cleveland native Jeremy Martin wants to sell his head for advertising. If some person or company wins his eBay auction, he'll put their logo and name on the back of his (shaved) head. I think he's missing a big chance here. All he has to do is tattoo a picture of the front of his face on the back of his head, and he'll be safe to attacks from the rear.

I considered advertising my blog there, but at $60,000 it's a bit out of my budget range...

What Bugs Bunny teaches us about psychology

Some Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails want to go on a hunger strike (link via Fark):

The 1,700 inmates, seen by Palestinians as symbols of resistance to Israeli occupation, want wardens to stop strip searches, allow more frequent family visits, improve sanitary conditions and install public telephones, supporters said.

But Israeli officials call the protest launched Sunday a ploy by the prisoners to secure easier communication with militant groups waging an almost 4-year-old uprising, and have vowed to fight their liquids-only fast. The Prisons Service said it would draw on tactics used in hunger strikes by jailed Northern Irish militants in the 1970s and 1980s, such as withholding basic amenities.

"Among the various methods we plan to employ is holding barbecues outside the walls of the affected prisons," a Prisons Service spokesman said.

Call me sick, but do you get a mental picture of a prisoner in a cell, defiant, arms crossed whilst the guards start up the bbq...the scent forms a visible fog that drifts into the cell, where the prisoner begins floating, smelling the feast until his head bonks into the bars?

Somewhat unfair story about Lawyers

It's official - Lawyers are out to f$%# you:

Members of the Canadian Bar Association on Sunday voted against forbidding lawyers to have sex with clients.

Well, that's a bit harsh. I think it's prohibited by most professional medical associations to have sex with clients for ethical reasons, said reasons not being a hinderance to lawyers. I note that professional associations of computer programmers and IT staff have felt no need for such a resolution.

Cough

For those in doubt about the subtle etiquette of coughing or clearing your throat, allow me to elucidate. Lifting your head skyward so everyone in all neighbouring cubicles can hear every droplet of wet material as it spasms through your lungs, and on occasion out through your mouth, whilst not covering, or even closing your mouth, is not a good thing. A killing of you by stringing piano wire across a road you are driving down would be acceptable payment for the lung-clearing, apology-free sounds with which you have filled the office. And by all means, go outside for another cigarette break, that'll clear it right up.

Kaufman on openings

King Kaufman, writing at Salon.com, had the Olympic opening ceremonies down: (may need to view ad to read article)

I wonder what the Olympic Opening Ceremonies will look like in 40 years. Will the fashion for such spectacle entertainment change or will such events still be the same ponderous, humorless affairs we're stuck with today, the same drama club-meets-modern art lite, people painted silver and pretending to run in slow motion while suspended by wires kind of deal?

I remember watching the performers holding their...er...lightsabers pretending to run through the air in slow motion, in what appeared to be some bastardized combination of Star Wars and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and wondered if only on the high platform of the Olympic stage are such things allowed to suck this much.

Najaf again

Fighting in Najaf, Iraq is continuing.

The collapse of the ceasefire in Najaf after the failure of negotiations cast a shadow over the National Conference in Baghdad, which gathered 1,000 religious, tribal and political leaders from across Iraq. Some of the delegates threatened to walk out unless the government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi put an end to the fighting.

It was a blunder to let Al-Sadr and his thugs off the hook before June 30th, and now it's going to prove difficult to be rid of them. If the central government cannot clear out private armies it will lose the confidence of the Iraqi people, if it has not already. Such a seemingly small decision in the US not going in to clear out Al-Sadr is having ongoing negative effects. You cannot fight half a war. The price paid for such thinking in 1991 was not enough to make anyone remember, apparently.

Grayce Scholt Art show in Flint, Michigan

Courtesy of our photog and resident art critic M_, here are some sample photos from the art show at Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan, (Phone: (810) 762-0443,Email: finearts@mcc.edu). The current exhibtion features Works by Grayce Scholt. The show is titled "And on the Fifth Day...." and runs through August 22nd, 2004.

Artist's statement:

My favorite 'creation day' is the fifth day when the waters brought forth swarms of living creatures. The thought that marvelous creatures were formed, brooded, incubated in the 'great mouth until just the right moment when they were ready to be 'spit' out in swarms, in billions of living creatures - boggles the mind.
- Grayce Scholt

If you are in mid-Michigan, drop by!

Are you an Alien? Dr. McCoy, I resent that.

Every year, illegal aliens in the US - without health insurance - cost hospitals millions to treat them. The Hospitals have to treat anyone coming into an ER, of course. So the Feds are offering money to hospitals to offset these costs, but in order to qualify for the money, they have to ask the IA's questions:

"Are you a United States citizen?"

"Are you a lawful permanent resident, an alien with a valid current employment authorization card or other qualified alien?"

"Are you in the United States on a nonimmigrant visa" of the type issued to students, tourists and business travelers?

"Are you a foreign citizen who has been admitted to the United States with a 72-hour border crossing card?"

Full story on NYtimes.com (free registration required, or use the username/password nopickler/nopickler).

Of course this would have the effect of documenting the illegal aliens - referred to as undocumented by some. As a practical matter, it's likely they would simply avoid medical treatment, or hospitals would be forced to decide whether to treat them if they refuse to answer. Employers have to verify immigration status for people they hire, but of course some hire many illegals off the books. Now hospitals are being asked to obtain the same data.

This is a tricky question for me to consider. I'm a legal immigrant, and it's hard not to get steamed thinking of the legal bills I incurred in filling out the paperwork, and the long, long waits I had to become a legal resident. I don't see it as fair to grant someone who snuck in the same status. If you waited in a line for 2 years and paid $5,000 to do so, you'd not look kindly on someone jumping the queue.

The problem here is the federal government is trying to force hospitals to do what they themselves are unwilling to do - register and make note of all the illegal aliens in the US. Aside from the lack of manpower to conduct such an operation,in states with high numbers of illegals it's politically dangerous for the agencies to conduct large scale sweeps. Should illegals with jobs be allowed to "transistion" to a legal status? This question should not be handled by trying to trip them up when they need medical care. The only result will be illegals suffering illness without the aid of any doctors, and piecemeal deportations of some who do go in, and are later caught based on the information the hospital gathered. Of course this reopens the door closed by the 1986 changes to the law, that insisted hospitals must provide an exam and stabilizing care to anyone who comes into the ER. If the person refuses to answer the questions, the hospital will not get the federal funds, so can they then refuse to treat them? The hospitals should not be used as a de facto immigration agency because the politicians lack the will to deal with the question directly.

Swift Boat Veterans

The non-partisan Anneburg FactCheck.org has a detailed report on the claims of the anti-Kerry Swift Boat Veterans. A highlight:

A group funded by the biggest Republican campaign donor in Texas began running an attack ad Aug. 5 in which former Swift Boat veterans claim Kerry lied to get one of his two decorations for bravery and two of his three purple hearts.
But the veterans who accuse Kerry are contradicted by Kerry's former crewmen. One of the accusers says he was on another boat "a few yards" away during the incident which won Kerry the Bronze Star, but the former Army lieutenant whom Kerry plucked from the water that day backs Kerry's account. In an Aug. 10 opinion piece in the conservative Wall Street Journal , Rassmann (a Republican himself) wrote that the ad was "launched by people without decency" who are "lying" and "should hang their heads in shame."

You can read the article and decide for yourself, but it sure seems to me the Swift Boat guys and being fast and loose with the facts at best. At worst? Rassman said it best.

Bush challenge

President Bush had a challenge for John Kerry

Kerry voted in October 2002 to give Bush authority to go to war in Iraq, but he has since criticized the president about war policies. In a speech in New Hampshire last week, Bush issued a 'challenge' to Kerry to say whether he would vote the same way today with all that's known about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction.

Questioned by reporters Monday, Kerry said he would still vote for war authority. "I've challenged the president back," he said, demanding to know why Bush had been in a "rush to war without a plan to win the peace."

Bush has called Kerry's position a flip flom. Hmmm.

President Bush may have more questions, not only for Kerry, but for America, such as:
- Knowing what you know now, would have voted for Bush in 2000?
- Since America voted for Bush in 2000, wouldn't voting for someone else in 2004 be a flip flop? We need steady citizens in a time of change here people.

Image found via Apeiron.

Loyalty Bizness

Norbizness has some suggestions for future Bush/Cheney campaign stops, including:

President/Vice President encased in large plexiglass dome equipped with banking vaccuum tubes to accept donations on the fly

. It's in response to the exclusion of those not willing to sign loyalty papers to Bush not being allowed in the crowds at campaign stops. One veteran in the story was stopped. Kerry's campaign stops have nothing like this kind of stringent loyatly checks. The fact that Bush and Cheney cannot even tolerate the presence of anyone but party loyalists speaks volumes. This is not a campaign, but an impression of one. The Offices of President and Vice President are not owned by any political party, but serve all the American people.

New CIA Head

Porter Goss, House Representative from Florida and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has been nominated by President Bush to head up the CIA. He is a conservative, no doubt. One this web page from back in July has some heaping contempt for him as a choice to head the CIA:

This is what CIA would get with Porter Goss at the helm. Appointing Goss would administer the coup de grace to intelligence analysts trying to survive while still speaking truth without fear or favor. The only saving grace for them would be the likelihood that they would be spared "multiple visits" by Cheney to the inner sanctum where it used to be possible to produce unvarnished analysis without vice presidents and other policy makers looking over their shoulders to ensure they "had thought of everything." Goss, who has a long history of subservience to Cheney, could be counted upon to play the Cheney/Gingrich/et al. role himself.

But Meryl says he has some background in the CIA:

The Connecticut-born Goss graduated from Yale in 1960 and launched a clandestine career, working for Army intelligence for two years and eventually the CIA's most well-known division, the Directorate of Operations.

. Hmmm.

Tis a good barn, English but tis no Foreign Policy

Anita Campbell of the Small Business Trends blog connects some dots on a corny subject: why are the presidential candidates posing with ears of corn? No, it isn't to give more raw material to the Photoshopers at Fark.com, but to appeal to the rural voters. One key group in Ohio is the Amish, who rely on these markets - worth reading the article above. It's good to learn a bit more about Amish since my knowledge consists large of:
- they don't like buttons
- they're willing to protect Harrison Ford in a pinch
- they are far too fond of fried cheese

Conventional Wisdom

The upcoming Republican Convention in New York City is having some side-effects, like the eviction of the homeless from areas near the convention

It's hard to say precisely how many homeless people sleep in midtown Manhattan, but a food pantry on West 31st Street serves 500 people a week. The Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen on West 28th Street serves roughly 1,200 people every day.

But beginning the week of the convention, police will close down much of the area around the convention site, allowing pedestrians only if they can prove they have business in the area.

Some might call this heartless. But I think it's a sign to the future. First, every (housed) American should join the Republican Party. You get benefits like the ability to say Kerry "looks French". Once we are all so ensconced, we can hold conventions constantly all across the nation. Thus the homeless will have nowhere to go, and will go out of the nation, perhaps to Sea, or San Francisco, or some other foreign place. I'm just saying...

But perhaps I'm being too cynical and non-optimistic. Surely there's important news - hey, Jenna Bush caught a big fish!

Brew all the you can brew

Canada's military has a new plan to keep it's troops alert and on their toes - fill them with Tim Horton's coffee. For those of you not familiar with the chain, it covers the land like finely ground beans and is by far the biggest coffee, donut and sandwhich chain in the Great White North. The linked story has a mild expresso of doubt from some claiming the coffee isn't fair trade coffee, and perhaps is not the best coffee in the world. The military, the nation, and my dad all disagree.

Al-Sadr again, naturally

The bad news from Iraq - Al-Sadr's armed supporters creating renewed violence in Iraq - should be no surprise. Like I said before, nothing good came of a truce with Al-Sadr and his goons. Some wags in the blogosphere suggested Sadr was joining the democratic process, and would be the equivalent of Pat Robertson on the political scene in Iraq. First of all, do we really want to inflict a Pat Robertson on the Iraqis? Haven't they suffered enough? Secondly, so far Robertson's supporters are launching very few RPG's in comparison with Sadr's gangs. They should have gone in and cleared him out before, and now it will be even more difficult to do so, without seeming to undermine the authority of the newly minted Iraqi government. You cannot fight half a war.

The spirit of giving in to evil

Ever feel a need to annoy China, that bastion of freedom that's trying to suppress anyone mentioning Taiwan being a separate nation? They want the Olympics to remove ads for Taiwan's team from baggage carts. Defenders of dictatorships that they are, the Olympic officials have agreed and asked Taiwan to get rid of the posters. So how can we annoy China? Slogans? Like

Go for the Gold, Taiwan!

Free Tibet
How about the obvious?

Free China.

The Buck

Who do you suppose is responsible for blowing the cover off of Pakistani and British anti-terror ops in Pakistan, by revealing the name of a captured Al-Qaida suspect? The Pakistanis claim he was actively cooperating at the time (I guess you might say his cover is blown now). It also had an effect on a British operation:

British police told Reuters on Friday that they had been forced to carry out the raids more hastily than planned, a day after Khan’s name appeared in the Times.

Such raids are usually carried out late at night or in the early morning, when suspects might be at home and less likely to resist. But showing clear signs of haste, British police pounced in daylight. Some suspects were taken in shops; others were caught in a high-speed car chase.

I'd like to not be cynical about this, but if the timing of the arrest announcement was not political, then this was a major foul-up by someone who needs to be held accountable. Then again, it seems like these days in Washington the buck doesn't stop anywhere, and I am having increasing difficulty taking these clowns seriously. Which would not be a problem, except that anti-terror efforts demand seriousness, considering the high cost of failure.

Malkin's list

Via Lynn of Reflections in d Minor, comes a political quiz from Michelle "Let's have American Concentration Camps" Malkin (her comments are in bold):

1. I have never voted for a Democrat in my life.
Me either! I have voted for the Liberals and the NDP only, so far. I should add that I'm Canadian. I supposed I might vote Democrat if allowed to do so, though I might add the Republican Party has certainly gone to great lengths to make it tough for me to vote for them. I am quite happy running around aborting fetuses, teaching evolution, and having a straight marriage unaffected by gay people getting hitched. But I am not opposed to voting for them because they are Republicans...because mindless party loyalty is the exact opposite of the spirit of democracy.

2. I think my taxes are too high.
Too high for what purpose? I think some of my taxes are spent very badly. This seems to have a built in assumption that I would be happier with lower taxes. Perhaps I would, but I'd like to know if say, the national debt would become a lodestone around the neck of every future generation, what programs would be cut, and if local and state governments would begin to need to tax the very marrow from my bones due to reduced Federal support.

3. I supported Bill Clinton's impeachment.
It's hard for me to measure how little I care about Clinton's sex life without an electron microscope. Clearly congress had too much free time. Perhaps we need to right-size them.

4. I voted for President Bush in 2000.
No. See question 1.

5. I am a gun owner.
I'd like to be, but I have to free up some budget funds, and although it's legal, I have a nagging worry about how an officious government official might try to screw me over one day before I become a full blown citizen.

6. I support school voucher programs.
No. Does anyone think public schools will get better with this? And do you really want to see who happens when they get worse?

7. I oppose condom distribution in public schools.
If you ride a bike, you wear a helmet, right? Or should you wait to crash and thus "learn responsibility". I might add that very few people get pregnant on bikes, get AIDS from a bike, or ride bikes into vaginas.

I must add that they never distributed condoms in my school, and as a consequence, no one ever had sex. What a genius Michelle is!

8. I oppose bilingual education.
I guess this question is a comment on how badly English is being taught? By this same logic, we should probably cut biology if people are doing poorly in chemistry. Since most people in the world speak English we're too stupid to learn other languages, this is a good position also.

9. I oppose gay marriage.
Since I'm not gay, I don't care who gay people marry. Actually, unless I'm one of the participants, I don't care who gets married at all.

10. I want Social Security privatized.
I don't see the point in having a half-private social security. Either cancel it and tell people to invest (honest approach) or continue to hold the idea that government should not manage your money, except a little bit in the case of "privatized" social security.

11. I believe racial profiling at airports is common sense.
First here's what I think of "common sense":

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'

Steve Landsberg had the right idea on racial profiling, if you insist on having it. The mindset behind the idea of racial profiling though, that racial profiling will make us safer from determined, financed terrorists, is utterly without merit.

12. I shop at Wal-Mart. Several times a week.
The goods come from China, so I must assume Michelle is a Godless Communist.

13. I enjoy talk radio.
Really! I love Talk of the Nation, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and Al Franken too! Michelle and I could have a listening party!

14. I am annoyed when news editors substitute the phrase "undocumented person" for "illegal alien."
As a legal alien, with the massive legal bills to prove it, nothing annoys me more than when people talk of immigrants, they usually mean the illegals and not the rest of us.

15. I do not believe the phrase "a chink in the armor" is offensive.Chink probably derives from Middle English, but it's later usage as a slur against Chinese people's is hard to ignore. It would be like pretending that gay meant the same thing as in 1904. Chink in the armor, since it would seem to have roots in the original meaning, should probably not be considered an offensive usage. But it's a cliche, and perhaps could be left aside for better choices.

16. I eat meat.
Doesn't almost everyone? Is this part of an imagined meat-eaters-are-an-oppressed-minority thing? No matter how stupid PETA becomes - and they are pretty damn stupid - I don't see a declaration of diet as a brave stand.

17. I believe O.J. Simpson was guilty.
Well, duh.

18. I cheered when I learned that Saddam Hussein had been captured.
Who didn't, aside from his blood-stained cronies? I bet you're all for puppies, too. I'm glad that's the main reason we invaded. Given that reasoning, I assume we'll be invading all the dictatorships - I'm assuming here we can afford to do so, but I trust my government has everything all planned out.

19. I cry when I hear "Proud to be an American" (God Bless the USA) by Lee Greenwood.)
Am I required to like every crappy song if it has a patriotic theme? I ain't with you here. It's one step away from being required to like the State art of Soviet Russia. Do I have to like Up with People too? If you want pure rocking American music, Bruce Springsteen has lost hairs with more talent than Lee Greenwood. And though I've never been a country fan, I liked the Dixie Chicks before - and regardless of - their bashing of Bush.

20. I don't believe the New York Times.
Yeah, the Washington Times is so much better, and blessed by our true savior, the Reverend Moon. I guess what you mean is you don't beleive the NYT when it disagrees with you, but when it passes on Chalabi inspired nonsense about WMD's, then it's ok. Glad we cleared that up.

Failure of Intelligence

So the CIA wants to pick the brains of Hollywood writers to guess what terrorists might do next.

"We had our terrorism and counternarcotics analysts meet with Hollywood directors, screenwriters and producers. People who are known for developing the summer blockbusters or the hit TV show that often have a terrorism theme," said Jami Miscik, CIA's deputy director for intelligence.

Although I'm sure consulting with Hollywood is sure to protect us from androids sent back from the future to find Sarah Conner, maybe we should look in the real world first. Terrorists will strike wherever they perceive poor security. Trying to predict every single specific scheme is insane, because there are an infinite number of ways to be attacked. This and the fact that most movies about terrorism are pretty bad - I don't want those writers helping plan national security. I guess next we will be checking with the writers on "ER" for our national health policy, "The Sopranos" to figure out how to tackle organized crime, and anything with Paris Hilton to determine if we need a new federal initiative on skanks. Let us consider the question, if you had to hire someone, would you prefer someone who is trained, experience and educated, or someone who's done a lot of renting at Blockbuster?

Don't f*%$ with Tigger

So Tigger (free reg req for story), or to be more accurate, an actor protraying same, was aquitted of fondling a girl at Disney World. Sounds like a specious lawsuit, from the story. I have no point, except to wonder if Eeyore would have recieved as fair a treatment. Plus - the Exxon Tiger? He'll never see the inside of a courtroom, my friends.

Photo: George Skene/AP

Wednesday Flower blogging?

At the request of my esteemed wife M_, I finally posted the pictures of our flowers. We are black thumbs both, but thanks to the energetic retirees J_ and B_ in the spring, we've managed to keep some things alive.

Could we bribe George to do this?

So the GCRTA (Cleveland, Ohio's transit authority) wants local communities to clean up their stations and bus stops. Some of them do have a certain "Escape from New York" quality to them, I will admit. What galls me about this is the line saying that ridership would increase if stops

...included better information on when to expect a bus.

In Tower City and a few other large light rail stops, they recently installed electronic bulletin boards. They flash abbreviated content from Cleveland.com, usually the first sentence or two of a story. They also have "Next Train Leaves" information. Great idea. As usual, the problem is in the execution. It regularly flashes train information that's several hours old - in other words, trains that left earlier that day. Although of great use to train watching buffs, it's useless to us commuters. Plus, the information they do manage to show us on time is largely fictional. They are using this electronic board to show us the scheduled times, not the actual times trains are running. Recently, during train slowdowns during the International Children's Games, I looked in askance at the board at the Van Aken rapid station. I though perhaps an enterprising soul at GCRTA could put up a message "Blue Line is running 15 minutes late", or "Blue line Leaving 6:30 (estimated)", or even a simple "Expect delays". Instead, the screen was turned off. I have to keep reminding myself these are the same sparkling minds that printed up system maps on kiosks showing the Blue and Green Lines in different shades of blue instead of blue and green. I think we need to put George Nemeth in charge of the whole thing - not only would he have the boards display something useful, I bet he'd have them broadcast the data WiFi.

Steve's Idea to becalm Annie

Steven E. Landsburg writes in Slate that there is a possible economic solution to the problem posed by people like Annie Jacobsen made nervous by Middle Eastern men going to the bathroom, carrying bags of fast food and other terrifying behaviour. I had a similar experience, though perhaps not quite so scary because I'd like to think I'm not a complete idiot. (my detractors should take time to note the modifier on idiot). Landsburg's idea? Pull out people for screening based on racial profiling but pay them $100 for their trouble.

If Northwest had had a policy like that on Annie Jacobsen's flight, it would have paid out $1,400 to the 14 Syrians. Assuming there were another 200 passengers on that board, they could have covered that cost with a $7 hike in ticket prices.

. There are three minor problems with this idea. First, would people attempt to act suspicious to get extra screening and a hundred bucks? I know sane people would not, but opening a possible flow of cash might be tempting to the many idiots flying the friendly skies. This might be somewhat mollified by problem two - if the extra screening delays the passengers being screened up to 15 minutes, might this delay each flight 15 minutes? It's possible to budget an extra 15 minutes into each flight's schedule, but I'm, not sure what the cost of that might be. And if only a small number of flights ever need the extra 15 minutes, airlines would be reluctant to have these padded schedules. Thus, is there a strong possibility that the persons selected for extra screening (assuming they are innocent, of course) would miss their flight, watching it take off whilst sadly clutching their $100 bills. The biggest problem is that simple, elegant solutions that acknowledge how economics could balance otherwise troubling social situations are the last thing government thinks of - usually markets invent them. I'd like to see Landburg's idea thrown at the TSA wall and it's inherent stickiness checked though.

Drudge flip flops on Tomorrow

Tom Tomorrow posts proof that "journalist" Matt Drudge stole a photo from his site, altered it, and posted on his Drudgereport.com "news" site. Drudge has taken the photo down now, but Google's cache still has it. He also has posted no explanation. Another reason why I don't read his site - that and the fact I never got much actual information from it...

Tips

Harvey, of Bad Example (link via Susie of Practical Penumbra) has some useful tips for bloggers, including my favourite:

10) "If you're going to shoot... SHOOT! Don't talk!": Which is my way of saying don't waste precious blogging time telling your readers what you'll be blogging about later. Spend the time writing about the topic instead. Make it part one of a series if you have to, but get something out. Your readers are looking for substantive writing, and "coming soon" posts have none.

How about some other Eastwood-movie related tips? "If you hang a man, you better look at him!" Don't be afraid to trackback to posts that you proceed to dissect on your blog. I noticed on Harvey's list, Point 12 is one that will be hard for Harvey and I to follow...

Nano Cleveland

There will be a nano technology conference in Cleveland, Ohio in October. It will be held in the 3 square millimeters on the tip of the cane held by the statue of Moses Cleaveland in Public Square. Arrive early, seating is limited.

Insecurity

Salon.com has a feature on problems unaddressed in airline security by the 9/11 report. A former FAA agent, Steve Elson, has been testing the new system:

TSA's annual budget is a staggering $5.3 billion. But in the past two years, the media has gone hog wild broadcasting how airport security is no better than it was before Sept. 11. Throughout 2003, Elson, usually with TV news cameras in tow, waltzed through security gates of the nation's major airports with objects (blow dryers and oranges) that resemble guns and explosives -- by hiding them beneath lead-shield film bags -- 135 times. In each instance, despite seeing a black blob on x-ray monitors, screeners didn't bother to look beneath the film bags for anything else.

Thanks goodness they have everyone take off their shoes though.

Another excellent point made by Dean Esmay is that racial profiling may simply be a waste of time. Far be it from me to suggest that giving the evil eye to travelling Syrian clarinetists is not a security plan, but pretending a list on a clipboard is a solution is not the answer. It's nice to imagine we can sit around and dream up every possible attack and every possible person who would attack us, but it's no subtitute for actual thought. And it doesn't seem like there's enough thinking going on.

Plane Writing

In a familiar refrain, one needs to watch what one writes. A Japanese guy was on a plane, reading a paper, and saw a phrase he didn't understand. He wrote it down to look it up later, as he's trying to learn English. The phrase he wrote down? Suicide Bomb.

Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said travelers need to be mindful of how they behave on airplanes because potential security threats are treated very seriously.

"We caution people not to write about bombs because if they're going on vacation, their travel plans will be disrupted," she said.

I can understand reacting when someone says bomb. But when they write it? Do they imagine terrorists are on the plane, making To Do lists on palm pilots?

- Pick up Knicks tickets

- Bomb plane

- get gutters cleaned

Far be it from me to say this is idiotic, I'll let you make your own call on that. I checked the TSA website and could find no tips on writing at all, alas. So let me fill in the gap:

Tips for Writing on planes

1. Tom Clancy is banned from flying ever again. It's inevitable he'll mention high tech weaponry.

2. Do not write the word Bomb

3. Do not write hip, urban novels. It's too hard to avoid having a character mention that someone "is da bomb".

4. Do not copy the Star Spangled Banner. "Bombs bursting in air"? You may as well pen a love letter to Osama.

5. When writing tense, multigenerational family novels, avoid mentioning the atmosphere at the unhappy wedding being "explosive".

6. If freelance writing for "ER", do not write "crash cart".

7. Anything violent happening on or near a plane in the narrative is probably not safe to write.

8. In fact, just to be safe, keep to the 19th century. If you want to write about balloon fires - well - live on the edge, I say.

9. Avoid writing articles on whether a terrorist attack benefits the Republicans or the Democrats. Not because of safety, but because that's pretty stupid.

10. Most importantly, do not write about the lesser known films of Jodie Foster. Not because of Hinkley. But she was in an Alan Smithee directed film called Catchfire...or Backtrack...or whatever name they have on it as it sits forlorn in the bargain bin of you worse video stores. And who starred in that epic? Dennis Hopper. Who of course was in Speed as a demented bomber. Not only that, but the aforementioned Catchfire featured some massive explosions. Now you may think the mild mannered dweeb beside you would not be able to put that together, but it's becoming clear to me what genius lies in the cranium of the average passenger.