massdestruction

"magma"

According to new reports, it is probably time for computer nerds to keep a keen eye on the Mount St. Helens webcam.

If this baby doesn't blow soon we should rethink what we know about trying to predict eruptions.

Dorks ahoy

People, please read the comments to my post on the Livestrong bands and tell me what the hell is going on. Am I being duped? Is there a link to that post from the goober-patrol website or something?

Conspiracy I think.

Venus BethTrap

I am extremely happy to hear that my good friend Beth is going to be back on the radio. If you read Beth's post about her radio history, I heard just about every incarnation of her voice on the air.

Beth does good radio. I'll tune in.

Comments

To those who wished to leave comments and got an error message - it is fixed now. I had an errant wildcard in my comment spam blocker. Comment away!

Cat

Its easy to raise an eyebrow at Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) being diverted and deported for being on "the list" - but just remember that Mr. Peace Train supported the fatwah against Salmon Rushdie in 1989.

I remember thinking at the time that his supposed search for God (which he started in the 70s after nearly drowning in California) had taken a major turn - and a bad turn at that.

I was never a fan of Cat's music but you have to wonder what happened to the guy who sang this:

Why must we go on hating, why can't we live in bliss

Now Mr Islam's website states that

He has vehemently and consistently criticized terrorist acts and has always advocated peace through his songs and his extensive humanitarian relief work.

Um... I would imagine Mr. Rushdie wouldn't quite agree with that.

In 1989 Mr. Islam stated that:

Under Islamic Law, the ruling regarding blasphemy is quite clear; the person found guilty of it must be put to death. Only under certain circumstances can repentance be accepted.

A few days later he said that his words were "misrepresented", that while what he stated was indeed true, that didn't mean that he thought Rushdie should be put to death. When asked if he would denounce the fatwah Islam refused and still does so today - saying that he doesn't want to talk about it.

Everyone jump up on the peace train

Ubuntu

So I decided to install ubuntu on my "anything goes" computer. Its a very, very nice debian variant. If nothing else they have done one thing exactly right... the default apt sources file only points to their archives. They are keeping the archives very clean and it makes for a nice system with absolutely no conflicts. That has been the one thing that I see as very wrong in the Debian world and I assume this was what was in mind at some stage.

The other nice thing is that all of my hardware was detected correctly - thats a pretty big deal for this tiny Japanese laptop. The only issue now is suspend and that is a bitch to deal with.

Oh, this was also an extremely easy way to try out GNOME 2.8. Nice.

With no disrespect to my old workmates, Debian has really fit into my usage needs far better than Red Hat/Fedora these days.

Boob Stats!

In honor of the now late Russ Meyer, I present Dave's Boob Stats.

The other famous boob pedler, Janet Jackson, was seen by 90 million people showing her boob for a split second. Of those 90 million, only 500,000 made complaints. Once again, its the minority rule. With the $550,000 fine imposed today, they could have simply paid ~$1000 to each of those prudes. I bet every single on of them would have taken the cash too.

Gay Players

Here's the Uruguay national soccer coach on why he wouldn't call up homosexual players:

"He has very different habits from the other[s]"

Yeah, those gay players are always doing their nails in the middle of the game. Oh, not to mention always trying to change the uniforms by addng fringe and lace. Those silly, silly gays.

Ivan's light

Right now it is almost as dark as if the sun were just down at sunset. Although Ivan has not hit our particular area hard, we are still getting some of the bands producing heavy, short-lived rain. I think there are probably tornado warnings popping up with these bands too.

Nonetheless, I pulled out some English Beat and decided to enjoy the darkness for a little while. Zola doesn't seem to mind so I'll let it go for a while before turning on a light to actually see what I am doing. The Beat are surprisingly good in this particular ambiance.

Middle-age Man to the Rescue!

This spring I decided to get gutter helmets installed on our house. If you are not familiar, these are the devices that allow water to flow into gutters and not leaves et al.

This is rather important for our house as generally our gutters did not flow as soon as 2 weeks after cleaning them out.

Now, however... I feel like a freakin' prophet

Fortunate Son

Think what you will about this new commercial. Draw your own conclusions, mull it over in your mind and decided what Bush's record means to you. All I have to say is that I welcome ANY opportunity to have CCR's Fortunate Son played on the airwaves. It is truly one of the World's most brilliant rock songs.

Ridin'

We're back! We rode well. It rained, then it was beautiful. Cate drafted me the whole way... in the wind... then sprinted to take the finish. You have to be proud of her not having the opportunity to train as much and riding as well as she did. Go Cate!

And now that it has been a few days trying to keep this virus at bay, I am going to go be very sick. Yay!!

Moms

Ugh. I woke up this morning with yet another illness. I think the kids are bringing bugs in to Cate a bit early this year. No matter what, it ain't gonna keep me off the bike for this weekend's ride. Still, a long day watching the copius amounts of rain Frances has brought was a bit of a downer. My mom would have made me soup back in the day (when I didn't get sick all the f**king time.)

One high note was reading this story that I missed the other day. Pretty funny. Something tells me Scott's Mom gave him a lecture.

Fit for command?

The Giving Season

This coming Saturday the MS 150 is here! Since I last mentioned it Cate has decided to ride it too. I am really happy about that. She's a little worried as she hasn't had as much time to train as I have but I promised her that I'd pace her through the windy spots. Considering how windy that part of the world is, and it being hurricane season, that could be a difficult promise to keep. Nonetheless, all for a great cause.

See that old post for a link to donate. I have almost reached my goal thanks to you good people. I need about $100 more though! If you have some money that would be better off fighting MS than buying you another few cups of coffee please help out. Every bit counts.

gamma

Once I got a couple gmail invitations to hand out, they just keep on coming. I am now of the opinion that this thing is not "in beta" at all. At any rate, I've got 'em if you want 'em and I'll probably have more.

Finally!

Now this is exactly what the press is supposed to do!! All too often the press only covers whether or not lies or distortions were a good political move without even noting that they were lies or distortions. Kudos to the Washington Post.

Words they said

Now this is a telling graphic (for the USA Today person in you). The NY Times simply counted various words used in the two conventions. Sure there is no context, sure it is not scientific - but look!

click to enlarge

Haster and LaRouche?

Sometimes I almost laugh at the slander and libel laws in the U.K. Then I read a story where guys like Haster and LaRouche (odd pairing isn't it) use the lack of laws to their benefit. Maybe the Brits have something with those laws.

Of course, if you have a track-record of lying in the U.S. it is harder to be sued. The problem is, in our culture someone can say the lie and then deny it over and over and the damage is already done.

Lame

Note: I think the referenced article above is a pretty lame... really lame article but I thought the facts therein were very interesting.