massdestruction

bear right

Maybe I am wrong but I really think they should have let this bear go. I mean he probably would have contributed more to society than some people. Hell, he can probably balance on a bike better than our President!

back fire

For a political party that continuously claims their opponents "don't support the troops", this attempt at a joke is a pretty offensive notion about a guy who has shrapnel in his leg, not to mention offensive to any purple heart "winner."

Perhaps Democrats could wear razor-blade "medals"? Nah, that'd be below the belt wouldn't it.

Lets all go to the lobby...

Cate and I saw Hero this weekend. It is one of the most beautiful fims I have ever seen. Its a great story, the martial arts fighting scenes are brilliant, but its beauty is worthy of seeing it on the big screen. If you get a chance, spend some dough and see it.

Speaking of movies, Cate and I got a new TV a couple months ago. The big-ass chain store we got it from gave us their frequent buyers club card which gives a certain amount of store credit back for every dollar spent. TVs aren't cheap so we ended up with a good amount of credit. We got DVDs to watch on our new TV. I have always been a big fan of film noir so today I went and got a big film noir collection out of the box set aisle. 5 flicks in one box and I didn't pay a cent.... well... I got a TV...

Finally, in the film noir category—Cate and I rented The Stranger the other night. I had never seen it before but I really liked it. Its got Orson Welles and Edward G. Robinson. Not a classic film noir tale but a good one nonetheless. Cate fell asleep. Well, I did say that I was a fan of film noir. Cate has gotten movies too (I just happen to like them as well).

"Consultants" ugh

To my Linux friends... here is where the problem lies. This is part of a memo to someone's business I happen to know from a "top consultant" in their field. The system they are trying to sell the business on is "mission critical" and this is what they had to say:

Transition from UNIX to Windows

With the benefits of Windows 2000 we've seen so far, it is clear why the trend for migrating from UNIX to Windows is gaining momentum. Users that migrate from UNIX are enjoying better performance, improved reliability, higher scalability, and easier manageability.

This momentum has been substantiated by an IDC report comparing sales of branded workstations with Windows to those with UNIX. Windows Workstations are selling more each year, and the sales figures are expected to continue growing through 2003. UNIX workstation sales, on the other hand, have been declining, with sales expected to continue to decline through 2003.

Yellow Band Redux

I am surprised by the number of comments on my post on the Livestrong Bands. Thanks to Ness for the link to help others find out how to buy them. I got some youth sized ones to fit my scrawny little wrist.

Now I am wondering if that "Ness" is my old friend from London??

Busted Bike for Bush

This story hits at exactly what I was getting at in the comments section of my last post. Now that the police are holding the Bikes Against Bush guy the RNC doesn't have to worry about him. Forget the fact that he is being held without cause and without being charged, we'll just deal with that problem in court... well after the convention is over.

Its an assault on free speech and it is a complete misuse of the justice system for political gain.

Holding Pens... freakin' holding pens!!

This is going to get real ugly, real fast. First of all, a free speech zone is about the most unconstitutional thing I have ever heard of (in my non-constitutional-scholar opinion). Now today I read about holding pens being set up at Pier 57... um Holding Pens!?! - holy shit!! where the fuck do we live?

The holding pens are referred to in this story about cyclists in the monthly critical mass ride being arrested.

This is going to be ugly.

2%

I just noticed that I am using more storage space for "archived mail" on Gmail than the size of my very first PC hard drive. My first PC had a 20Mb disk that was bigger than the laptop I am writing this on... seriously (of course this is a tiny laptop). The power supply was a freakin' anchor too.

I remember when I first got "Stacker" so I could get a whopping 40Mb out of my disk in a very buggy way.

This is all very odd.

Oh, by the by and by... I just got about 6 gmail invitations. If anybody wants one let me know.

Boy-Bumpers

I know at least one of my friends thinks that Media Matters for America is just a hack-liberal website, but I continually find that, despite what I have been told, they do not take quotes they find out of context. The more I see of them, the more I like. Yes, they were started by former-Republican-hitman-turned-gay-Democrat-star David Brock, but I like what they do.

So while reading up on the swift-boat debacle this research on Jerome Corsi stood out to me. Corsi is the one who really wrote the smear-book on Kerry, Unfit for Command. Please read their report, its interesting. My favorite quotes (which Corsi has since apologixed for) are:

• Corsi on Islam: "a worthless, dangerous Satanic religion"

• Corsi on Catholicism: "Boy buggering in both Islam and Catholicism is okay with the Pope as long as it isn't reported by the liberal press"

• Corsi on Muslims: "RAGHEADS are Boy-Bumpers as clearly as they are Women-Haters -- it all goes together"

• Corsi on "John F*ing Commie Kerry": "After he married TerRAHsa, didn't John Kerry begin practicing Judiasm? He also has paternal grandparents that were Jewish. What religion is John Kerry?"

• Corsi on Senator "FAT HOG" Clinton: "Anybody ask why HELLary couldn't keep BJ Bill satisfied? Not lesbo or anything, is she?"

If the subject of this post doesn't bring some stray search-engine hits, the internet must be broken

Wuss

After reading about the controversial swiftboat veterans some more, I've been thinking about forming my own group: Non-Serving Wusses For Truth. My group would call on Bush and Cheney to own up to the fact that they didn't have the balls to serve either. We want them to be proud of not having the meddle, or the right stuff.

In Bush's case we want him to own up to the fact that he really didn't want to go to Vietnam so he decided to do blow for a year instead of protecting Texas' airspace. In Cheney's case... well, there is simply no way in hell the armed forces would want that specimin of man.

You know, its OK to not be a military type - you don't have to pretend to be something you're not. I think it is more honorable to take responsibility for your choices, feelings, and beliefs than it is to dishonor those who do choose to serve their country in that particular manner.

Op-ed

Wow, squishy - excellent link! I think that is worthy of printing and passing out.

RNC Flood

Does anyone know if it is illegal to run one of scripts designed to overload Bush and RNC websites suring the Republican Convention? Sure hope not, I don't want to go to prison.

Falling down on the job thanks to the Reverand Moon

You are correct squishy, I should have posted a link to AdvocacyDev but I was busy trying out the new Super Chinese Buffet in Carrboro.

I was also distracted by the most excellently researched Where in Washington, D.C. is Sun Myung Moon? blog. Did you know that Rev. Moon brokered a deal for submarine missle launching technology to North Korea? Did you know that there was a corronation in one of the U.S. Senate buildings with lawmakers carrying a jewel-encrusted crown on a pillow for the self-proclaimed Messiah Moon?

F U C K E D U P !!

Dear President Cheney

Make sure you get yourself on Cheney's enemies list by sending this letter to him and Vice President Bush. I would be proud to be on that list. Oh wait... I worked on a Democrat campaign... I'm on it.

Hurry Cane

Hurricane season is upon us once again. Bonnie passed through with a small scratch on the N.C. coast and Charley is wreaking havoc on Florida and will be upon us soon. Once again I will remind you geeks out there of the Frying Pan Shoals Weather station. This is a station in the weather buoy system off shore. Its South-east of Wilmington NC and tends to be a good measure of how strong a hurricane is.

You will see a link to see observations from other nearby stations but Frying Pan tends to be more reliable as it is a fixed structure and not an actual buoy.

Very calm seas at the current time. There are times when I have checked this station that remind me of just how powerful the sea can be. Its not a good time for a sailing trip.

Human Dignity

Believe me when I say that I wish this man all the luck in the world in losing the weight he needs to. However, I was particularly struck by the following passage in the article:

A group known as the League of Human Dignity helped arrange for Deuel to be driven to a local livestock scale, where he could be weighed.

Um... "Hi, we're Human Dignity and we're here to take you to a livestock scale." Yeah... maybe they need to consider a name change or perhaps hiring a good PR person.

I'm Rick James Bitch

As I am sure most of you have heard, Rick James passed away the other day. In honor of the superfreak I offer this piece that aired on the Chapelle's show a couple years ago. It is long and unfortunately in windows media format... but if you haven't seen it you will be crying with laughter by the end. In fact, all of the Charlie Murphy True Hollywood Stories are this funny.

Tour de Ralph

On Sunday I went on a ride that a friend is starting to help new riders learn about group riding. This week it was about a 34 mile ride which was a record for many in the group and a little boring for others. I was looking forward to it as a couple of old friends were coming along.

A few miles into the ride I started feeling really awful. I thought perhaps I had screwed up with eating or drinking and that I was hitting a wall. Well, I did hit a wall - a big one - I had to stop and um... well... be sick. I finished the ride though still thinking that I was just dehydrated (which, of course, I was by then).

A couple days later and I now know that I had some sort of stomach virus. I can look at the experience as an awful one, since it wasn't much fun... but I am kind of proud that I had the strength and will power to ride ~34 miles with a nasty virus.

Super CFC

Want more? Probably not... at any rate here are some photos I took of the Chelsea/AC Milan match. Sports photography is one of those things that is really quite difficult and takes a good deal of practice.

One rule is that there must always be a ball (for whatever sport) in the shot. Another, the shot musn't be too wide. And another, the shot must be completely still (no motion blur).

Of course there are exceptions, but to be a sports photographer for a newspaper or magazine those are some of the rules. I think I did OK for being in the stands with a 300mm lens as opposed to those monstrous ones the pros use.

RNC not welcome - Update

OK so the sunny Monday morning that allowed me to take photos of the cool signs all over Philly also brought out the people cleaning them off

Unfortunatelly most of the ones I had seen were gone but I did get some shots of a few. From the sticker variety

to the classic bill

There were even some in between.

The Libertarians took an old-school approach.

There was at least one that took no sides.

I have to say I did not see any Republican guerrilla campaigning.

RNC not welcome

I will continue to call it "Philthydelphia" but it really isn't a bad city. Having said that, I really hate being in a city when it is hot and super-humid. If I were a multi-millionaire I would have a city place and a country place.

Having said all that, Cate and I did find a bar called Cafe Monk's that was a Belgian beer bar... my favorite. They also had about 20 good scotches on hand. We met Elliotte, the bartender and had some amazingly good beers. The other item of note is all the flyers around town referring to the RNC Not Welcome campaign. This campaign is great in its artwork, if nothing else. Go to the website and click on "flyers and graphics" - that is a taste of what is plastered all over town... except the ones here are not on the website, they're local versions. I think I will take some photos of them tomorrow if its not raining - I think squishy, in particular, will love some of the home-grown artwork here. I sure do like them.

Tomorrow night the game. We found out that Manchester United stayed here the other night (Yuch!!) - maybe Chelsea will stay here tomorrow night - woo!