Hitchens has decided that the civil war in Iraq was inevitable -- that Saddam would not have been able to keep a lid on the boiling tensions between Shia and Sunni factions -- and that our presence in Iraq now as the pot begins to boil over is a good thing. There you have it, a revisionist explanation for why we invaded: to put ourselves in the middle of a religious struggle.
Meanwhile, Bush is considering a new strategy (or soda) called "Surge." The idea is that we need to provide security for the Iraqi people; that democracy cannot emerge in the presence of excessive violence.
WAY TO GO YOU FUCKING IDIOT. We could have used some security in Iraq immediately after we invaded, don't you think? You know, fill a power vacuum before allowing insurgents to get a good footing?
ITS TOO LATE, BUSH, YOU FUCKED IT UP.
Abizaid agrees. He's retiring.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Padilla
I've been disgusted by the descriptions that surfaced a few weeks ago about the detention of Jose Padilla. I am shocked and appauled. Horrified. Padilla faced no charges for years -- no indictment -- and instead was detained as an unlawful combatant on suspicion of plans to detinate a dirty bomb. The indictment that was finally delivered makes no mention of this dirty bomb. The reason? The only evidence against him are toture confessions.
Great job, Bush.
So while Bush has obtained no admissible evidence against Padilla, he's abused him so thuroughly, Padilla remains only the shell of a former man barely able to control his own body.
Salon has a great article contrasting the successful prosecution of a right-wing domestic terrorist threat in Tennessee and the miserable failure of a prosecution of Padilla.
From Salon:
"Given the chance to prosecute Jose Padilla in the way that countless prosecutions had been successfully conducted before, the Bush administration chose instead to go a new route, assuring us all the while that only they knew how to keep us safe. In that, they seem to have failed."
Great job, Bush.
So while Bush has obtained no admissible evidence against Padilla, he's abused him so thuroughly, Padilla remains only the shell of a former man barely able to control his own body.
Salon has a great article contrasting the successful prosecution of a right-wing domestic terrorist threat in Tennessee and the miserable failure of a prosecution of Padilla.
From Salon:
"Given the chance to prosecute Jose Padilla in the way that countless prosecutions had been successfully conducted before, the Bush administration chose instead to go a new route, assuring us all the while that only they knew how to keep us safe. In that, they seem to have failed."
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Kovtun was not poisoned Nov 1
The half life of polonium 210 is thirty days in humans. Now, thirty five days after Litvinenko's Nov 1 poisoning, a Russian business man, Kovtun, falls seriously ill and into a coma* from Polonium 210 poisoning. Fishy? You bet. Why would someone fall drastically ill so rapidly so long after an initial exposure to Polonium? After all, Litvinenko was hospitalized only hours after he first fell ill. Do you think the timing of Kovtun's hospitalization could have anything to do with the British arrival in Moscow?
*Kovtun's layer says he is not in a coma. Why is there a discrepancy? Why would the hospital say otherwise?
The Russians will say "Oh, look, Litvinenko poisoned another man but poisoned himself in the process, case closed. Everyone go back to your business and forget about this incident."
*Kovtun's layer says he is not in a coma. Why is there a discrepancy? Why would the hospital say otherwise?
The Russians will say "Oh, look, Litvinenko poisoned another man but poisoned himself in the process, case closed. Everyone go back to your business and forget about this incident."
Friday, December 01, 2006
Litvinenko
A lot of my readers* have been emailing me asking why I haven't yet blogged about Litvinenko's poisoning.
(*All of them in fact. No one reads this blog.)
I have been following this case like a hawk, of course. I'm decidedly anti-Putin and I see the connection between Litvinenko and Politkovskaya as further evidence against Putin. (Can you believe that fucker dismissed her assasination by noting that her work as a journalist was inconsequential?)
So, the story for those of my readers who haven't been following it*:
(*Again, an empty set)
Litvinenko stumbles into a London hospital after a shitload of vomiting. 10 days later, he's lost all his hair. Litvinenko accuses the Kremlin of beging behind his apparent poisoning. Doctors struggle to identify whatever it is that's killing him. They fail; it kills him. They detect Polonium 210 in an unnatrually high concentration.
Polonium, it turns out, isn't available to anyone who doesn't have a nuclear reactor.
The Britts then start combing London for more of this Polonium and find it in minute traces everywhere Litvinenko has been.
His timeline is here.
Some of the controversy has revolved around Mario Scaramella who met Litvinenko for lunch at a sushi bar on the day of his poisoning. Scaramella has been accussed of being behind the poisoning, which he vehemently denies, since the two were friends and on the "same side" in the investigation into Politkovskaya's murder -- and because the topic of the conversation was a hit list from the Kremlin that Scaramella had gotten wind of... Scaramella was on it. Scaramella also says that Litvinenko did not eat anything
Today, Scaramella was found to have some amount of Po 210 in his system. (Traces or lots? Don't know.)
The rest of the controversy has been over the meeting that Litvinenko had with two former KGB agents in a London hotel on the day of his poisoning. It's a classic case of "you done it" -- Just like the dioxin poisoning of Ukranian candidate Victor Yushchenko two years ago.
Polonium 210 was found both at the hotel where Litvinenko met the KGB agents, and at the sushi bar where he met Scaramella afterwards. I'm no genius, but seems to me like the poison simply followed Litvinenko around with him -- he shed some at the hotel and then later he shed some at the sushi bar. This clears Scaramella's name.
(*All of them in fact. No one reads this blog.)
I have been following this case like a hawk, of course. I'm decidedly anti-Putin and I see the connection between Litvinenko and Politkovskaya as further evidence against Putin. (Can you believe that fucker dismissed her assasination by noting that her work as a journalist was inconsequential?)
So, the story for those of my readers who haven't been following it*:
(*Again, an empty set)
Litvinenko stumbles into a London hospital after a shitload of vomiting. 10 days later, he's lost all his hair. Litvinenko accuses the Kremlin of beging behind his apparent poisoning. Doctors struggle to identify whatever it is that's killing him. They fail; it kills him. They detect Polonium 210 in an unnatrually high concentration.
Polonium, it turns out, isn't available to anyone who doesn't have a nuclear reactor.
The Britts then start combing London for more of this Polonium and find it in minute traces everywhere Litvinenko has been.
His timeline is here.
Some of the controversy has revolved around Mario Scaramella who met Litvinenko for lunch at a sushi bar on the day of his poisoning. Scaramella has been accussed of being behind the poisoning, which he vehemently denies, since the two were friends and on the "same side" in the investigation into Politkovskaya's murder -- and because the topic of the conversation was a hit list from the Kremlin that Scaramella had gotten wind of... Scaramella was on it. Scaramella also says that Litvinenko did not eat anything
Today, Scaramella was found to have some amount of Po 210 in his system. (Traces or lots? Don't know.)
The rest of the controversy has been over the meeting that Litvinenko had with two former KGB agents in a London hotel on the day of his poisoning. It's a classic case of "you done it" -- Just like the dioxin poisoning of Ukranian candidate Victor Yushchenko two years ago.
Polonium 210 was found both at the hotel where Litvinenko met the KGB agents, and at the sushi bar where he met Scaramella afterwards. I'm no genius, but seems to me like the poison simply followed Litvinenko around with him -- he shed some at the hotel and then later he shed some at the sushi bar. This clears Scaramella's name.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Russian Mafia
The poisoning of an outspoken critic of Putin,Alexander Litvinenko, seems related to the assasination of an outspoken critic of Putin, Anna Politkovskaya. An italian man has turned emails over to Scottland Yard describing a well organized plot to kill Litvinenko by the Russian Mafia.
I'd put money on Putin being behing the whole thing.
I'd put money on Putin being behing the whole thing.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
Hitchens on Intelligence Squared
Hitchens was brilliant as usual on NPR's debate last night, Intelligence Squared. The topic of discussion was: Freedom of expression must include the right to offend. Hitchens and two others agreed, while another panell of three disagreed.
This topic was motivated, of course, by the uproar and the violence and the murder in the Muslim world following the publication of a handful of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in a small Danish newspaper.
The stream is available here.
Hitchen's concluding remarks begin at minute 49 in the 53 minute version and at minute 140 in the 143 minute version.
I'm transcribing his comments here:
"The real question, or if you like the sub-text question, before us is this "Is nothing sacred?" What we've been discussing is the old question whether or not there is such an offense as blashphemy or profanity?" Now if I don't tell you exactly what I think about the simpering speeches that came from the other side, I'm not censoring myself, I'm just being polite, and civil and just saving some of your time.
What I will not prevent myself from saying, and will not let anyone else prevent me from saying is the following: It is wrong and it always has been for churches -- powerful, secular, human institutions -- to claim exemption from criticism, which is what really is being asked here. If there's going to be respect, it has to be mutual.
Does Islam respect my right to un-belief? Of course it does not.
Does it respect the right of a muslim to appostasize and change belief? Of course it does not.
I have had to have -- I can name now four or five friends, six or eight, maybe, if I had time, five or six of whom you would certainl have heard of, who have to live their lives under police protection for commenting on Islam, for having an opinion on it, and this is getting steadily worse all the time. And it's grotesque!
Here is an enormous religion with gigantic power that claims that an archangle spoke to an illiterate peseant and brought him a final revelation that supercedes all others. Its a plagarism by an epileptic of the worst bits of Judeaism and Christianity. That's obvious, it seems to me.
Do you think -- How long do you think I'm going to be able to say that anywhere I like? It would already be quite a risky thing to say in quite a lot of places. I did not come to the Uninted States of America 25 years ago to learn how to keep my mouth shut, and I'm going to reject all offers that I change that policy, however simperingly they are put."
This topic was motivated, of course, by the uproar and the violence and the murder in the Muslim world following the publication of a handful of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in a small Danish newspaper.
The stream is available here.
Hitchen's concluding remarks begin at minute 49 in the 53 minute version and at minute 140 in the 143 minute version.
I'm transcribing his comments here:
"The real question, or if you like the sub-text question, before us is this "Is nothing sacred?" What we've been discussing is the old question whether or not there is such an offense as blashphemy or profanity?" Now if I don't tell you exactly what I think about the simpering speeches that came from the other side, I'm not censoring myself, I'm just being polite, and civil and just saving some of your time.
What I will not prevent myself from saying, and will not let anyone else prevent me from saying is the following: It is wrong and it always has been for churches -- powerful, secular, human institutions -- to claim exemption from criticism, which is what really is being asked here. If there's going to be respect, it has to be mutual.
Does Islam respect my right to un-belief? Of course it does not.
Does it respect the right of a muslim to appostasize and change belief? Of course it does not.
I have had to have -- I can name now four or five friends, six or eight, maybe, if I had time, five or six of whom you would certainl have heard of, who have to live their lives under police protection for commenting on Islam, for having an opinion on it, and this is getting steadily worse all the time. And it's grotesque!
Here is an enormous religion with gigantic power that claims that an archangle spoke to an illiterate peseant and brought him a final revelation that supercedes all others. Its a plagarism by an epileptic of the worst bits of Judeaism and Christianity. That's obvious, it seems to me.
Do you think -- How long do you think I'm going to be able to say that anywhere I like? It would already be quite a risky thing to say in quite a lot of places. I did not come to the Uninted States of America 25 years ago to learn how to keep my mouth shut, and I'm going to reject all offers that I change that policy, however simperingly they are put."
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Double Standard
From Sullivan's blog, I found a link to David Frum's reaction to the allegations that the prominent evangelical leader, Ted Haggard, has been employing the servies of a male prostitute while high on crystal meth.
Frum frames the left's uproar over the issue as: "See, he's no better than anyone else." The left's glee in this, he charges, is out of toppling a high-and-mighty man, exposing his weaknesses and therefore ridiculing the ideals he stood for. Something like: "This man had ideals that he himself could not live up to."
This straw man liberal that Frum has constructed looks like quite the fool when Frum turns the tables on him and suggests that a man who tries to lead a moral live and fails is better than the man who makes no attempt to lead a moral life. The "hypocracy" that liberals accuse Haggard of, of knowing the difference between right and wrong but being unable to choose right, that hypocracy is more admirable than the bandit homosexual who unclosets himself, chosing wrong with an open distain for right.
Frum misses the point, almost purposefully.
The glee that I feel (I guess I'm that evil leftist) over this revelation is based on two ideas:
1) The moral compass that Haggard has tried to steer his life by points the wrong direction. He is wrong in saying that homosexuality is evil. Frum's argument is first framed on the premise that homosexuality is evil; the rest of his discussion requires the reader accept the premise. I reject that premise.
2) Those who most loudly condemn homosexuality are those who feel its "evil pull;" those who feel confronted with the choice between doing the right thing and doing that gay prostitute. If you're loudly criticial of homosexuality, it's because you're gay.
It is in this second idea that the notion of hypocracy arises. The hypocracy is not in saying that gay sex is evil and yet having gay sex anyways; the hypocracy is in asserting homosexuality is a choice (as murder is a choice) while KNOWING that the pull he feels towards homosexual behavior is not under his control. Haggard knows he is a homosexual and that the behavior is a result of who he is; he cannot correctly assert that he simply enjoys the behavior and is drawn to the behavior despite being straight.
Unfortunately for him, he lives in an evangelical culture that condemns homosexuality so roundly that he has no choice but to resist his homosexual tendancies. He can't be who he was born to be without being ostracized. And so his resistance turns into rabid defiance. The only way to control his behavior is to speak out against its source constantly. And his rabid hatred produced his rise in the community that supported that condemnation. Eventually he feeds the fire of hatred and intollerance in the community whose hatred and intollerance pushed him in the direction he was forced to follow. In physics, this would be called a positive feedback loop. A community of hatred that produces objects of its hate will continue to formet its own hatred.
The only escape is a radical meltdown of that society. It's what I hope for, that some day the evangelicals will realize the lunacy of their precepts and finally reject them. Haggard's position of prominence in the evangelical society and his very public and very poorly timed meltdown may break the positive feedback loop.
But I doubt it. Haters like their hatred.
Frum frames the left's uproar over the issue as: "See, he's no better than anyone else." The left's glee in this, he charges, is out of toppling a high-and-mighty man, exposing his weaknesses and therefore ridiculing the ideals he stood for. Something like: "This man had ideals that he himself could not live up to."
This straw man liberal that Frum has constructed looks like quite the fool when Frum turns the tables on him and suggests that a man who tries to lead a moral live and fails is better than the man who makes no attempt to lead a moral life. The "hypocracy" that liberals accuse Haggard of, of knowing the difference between right and wrong but being unable to choose right, that hypocracy is more admirable than the bandit homosexual who unclosets himself, chosing wrong with an open distain for right.
Frum misses the point, almost purposefully.
The glee that I feel (I guess I'm that evil leftist) over this revelation is based on two ideas:
1) The moral compass that Haggard has tried to steer his life by points the wrong direction. He is wrong in saying that homosexuality is evil. Frum's argument is first framed on the premise that homosexuality is evil; the rest of his discussion requires the reader accept the premise. I reject that premise.
2) Those who most loudly condemn homosexuality are those who feel its "evil pull;" those who feel confronted with the choice between doing the right thing and doing that gay prostitute. If you're loudly criticial of homosexuality, it's because you're gay.
It is in this second idea that the notion of hypocracy arises. The hypocracy is not in saying that gay sex is evil and yet having gay sex anyways; the hypocracy is in asserting homosexuality is a choice (as murder is a choice) while KNOWING that the pull he feels towards homosexual behavior is not under his control. Haggard knows he is a homosexual and that the behavior is a result of who he is; he cannot correctly assert that he simply enjoys the behavior and is drawn to the behavior despite being straight.
Unfortunately for him, he lives in an evangelical culture that condemns homosexuality so roundly that he has no choice but to resist his homosexual tendancies. He can't be who he was born to be without being ostracized. And so his resistance turns into rabid defiance. The only way to control his behavior is to speak out against its source constantly. And his rabid hatred produced his rise in the community that supported that condemnation. Eventually he feeds the fire of hatred and intollerance in the community whose hatred and intollerance pushed him in the direction he was forced to follow. In physics, this would be called a positive feedback loop. A community of hatred that produces objects of its hate will continue to formet its own hatred.
The only escape is a radical meltdown of that society. It's what I hope for, that some day the evangelicals will realize the lunacy of their precepts and finally reject them. Haggard's position of prominence in the evangelical society and his very public and very poorly timed meltdown may break the positive feedback loop.
But I doubt it. Haters like their hatred.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Kim Jong Il can suck it
From today's Post
"South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that North Korea said it would fire a nuclear-tipped weapon if the United States continues to refuse direct discussions with the country, according to the Associated Press."
"South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that North Korea said it would fire a nuclear-tipped weapon if the United States continues to refuse direct discussions with the country, according to the Associated Press."
Putin did it
I'm convinced Vladamir Putin assasinated a critic of his policies in Chechnya. This KGB agent, after all, thought Bush fired Dan Rather.
From the first article linked to above:
"There was no attempt to disguise the murder as a theft or an accident: Her assassin not only shot her in broad daylight, but he left her body in the elevator of her apartment building alongside the gun he used to kill her -- standard practice for Moscow's arrogant hit men... Whereas local thieves might have tried to cover their tracks, Politkovskaya's assassin, like so many Russian assassins, did not seem to fear the law.
...
After all, whoever pulled the trigger -- or paid someone to pay someone to pull the trigger -- has already won a major victory. As Russian (and Eastern European) history well demonstrates, it isn't always necessary to kill millions of people to frighten all the others: A few choice assassinations, in the right time and place, usually suffice... After the assassination of Politkovskaya on Saturday, it's hard to imagine many Russian journalists following in her footsteps to Grozny either. "
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Putin is not our friend.
From the first article linked to above:
"There was no attempt to disguise the murder as a theft or an accident: Her assassin not only shot her in broad daylight, but he left her body in the elevator of her apartment building alongside the gun he used to kill her -- standard practice for Moscow's arrogant hit men... Whereas local thieves might have tried to cover their tracks, Politkovskaya's assassin, like so many Russian assassins, did not seem to fear the law.
...
After all, whoever pulled the trigger -- or paid someone to pay someone to pull the trigger -- has already won a major victory. As Russian (and Eastern European) history well demonstrates, it isn't always necessary to kill millions of people to frighten all the others: A few choice assassinations, in the right time and place, usually suffice... After the assassination of Politkovskaya on Saturday, it's hard to imagine many Russian journalists following in her footsteps to Grozny either. "
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Putin is not our friend.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Shirking Responsibiliy
How to never take responsibility for your actions.
While we're on the topic of spinning Foley's tragic events for political gain, check out this YouTube of O'Reilly pinning this one on the democrats. (Link stolen directly from Andrew Sullivan.)
While we're on the topic of spinning Foley's tragic events for political gain, check out this YouTube of O'Reilly pinning this one on the democrats. (Link stolen directly from Andrew Sullivan.)
Friday, September 29, 2006
Hearts and Minds
How the new torture legistlation reads to an Iraqi audience:
"If we should accidentally incarcerate you, and you are innocent, make no mistake -- we will torture you until you confess."
Didn't we at one point seek to win Iraqi hearts and minds? Where has that ideal gone?
Wasn't that the millitary's idea? Don't our boys in uniform diserve our respect when it comes to deciding how to carry out the fight? Didn't the millitary perscribe the policy of winning hearts and minds so that in the long run fewer soldiers would die?
What has Runsmfeld done?
"If we should accidentally incarcerate you, and you are innocent, make no mistake -- we will torture you until you confess."
Didn't we at one point seek to win Iraqi hearts and minds? Where has that ideal gone?
Wasn't that the millitary's idea? Don't our boys in uniform diserve our respect when it comes to deciding how to carry out the fight? Didn't the millitary perscribe the policy of winning hearts and minds so that in the long run fewer soldiers would die?
What has Runsmfeld done?
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Habeas Corpus
The senate voted against habaes corpus for unlawful combatants.
Meanwhile, Slate notes that the language of the compromise over torture, which I had previously celebrated, seems to grant the White House permission to do whatever it feels like AND to keep the public in the dark about it.
No one in congress knows what techniques the president is actually using!
This is a sad day.
Meanwhile, Slate notes that the language of the compromise over torture, which I had previously celebrated, seems to grant the White House permission to do whatever it feels like AND to keep the public in the dark about it.
No one in congress knows what techniques the president is actually using!
This is a sad day.
Phydeauxn't
From today's Post:
"Custom bones crafted from tennis balls were the only chewy toys Vicky Keslar's Golden Retriever couldn't destroy in short order, so on Sept. 10 the Crofton, Md., resident went online and bought a package of the hard-to-find bones from Phydeauxpets.com, the first site listed in the results of an online search for the item.
"Three days after that purchase, a record bearing the exact date and time stamp of that transaction, her name, address, phone and debit card number was among several records from the store that showed up in a shadowy online chat room frequented credit card and identity thieves.
"When contacted by me after I saw the stolen data being traded online, Keslar and nearly a half dozen other victims reported having shopped at that same pet store at the times specified in their records.
"Phydeauxpets.com owner Frank Papa of Carrboro, N.C., shut down the Web site on Sept. 15 pending an investigation of the data theft. Keslar didn't have any fraudulent charges against her debit card, but the thought of someone cleaning out her checking account right when all of her monthly bills come due prompted her to swear off shopping online with a debit card. Now, she uses a credit card with a $250 limit when she buys online. But she is still shopping around for another vendor of the scarce doggie bones."
"Custom bones crafted from tennis balls were the only chewy toys Vicky Keslar's Golden Retriever couldn't destroy in short order, so on Sept. 10 the Crofton, Md., resident went online and bought a package of the hard-to-find bones from Phydeauxpets.com, the first site listed in the results of an online search for the item.
"Three days after that purchase, a record bearing the exact date and time stamp of that transaction, her name, address, phone and debit card number was among several records from the store that showed up in a shadowy online chat room frequented credit card and identity thieves.
"When contacted by me after I saw the stolen data being traded online, Keslar and nearly a half dozen other victims reported having shopped at that same pet store at the times specified in their records.
"Phydeauxpets.com owner Frank Papa of Carrboro, N.C., shut down the Web site on Sept. 15 pending an investigation of the data theft. Keslar didn't have any fraudulent charges against her debit card, but the thought of someone cleaning out her checking account right when all of her monthly bills come due prompted her to swear off shopping online with a debit card. Now, she uses a credit card with a $250 limit when she buys online. But she is still shopping around for another vendor of the scarce doggie bones."
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Bush's strawmen lack brains, OZ has no comment
Froomkin tears apart Bush's silly arguments.
Paraphrasing Bush:
"You know what my detractor's say? They say that I am not the right leader to fight the war on terrorism. That's a pre-9/11 mindset. To think that we are not at war and that America should just stand by and let others attack us."
Paraphrasing Bush:
"You know what my detractor's say? They say that I am not the right leader to fight the war on terrorism. That's a pre-9/11 mindset. To think that we are not at war and that America should just stand by and let others attack us."
Friday, September 22, 2006
Mission Accomplished
Bush caved. He compromised on the key provision in the torture legistlation he called for in redefining the Geneva convention's article 3.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Fillabustering Anti-Torture Legistlation
Frist wants to fillabuster anti-torture legistlation.
I hear he plans to use the following campaign motto in his reelection this fall:
"We're just as bad as the terrorists"
I hear he plans to use the following campaign motto in his reelection this fall:
"We're just as bad as the terrorists"
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Rendition
A couple years ago, news surfaced of a Syrian-born Canadian detained by Americans and sent to Syria to be tortured. The man set out to sue the Uninted States. A Canadian inquiry into the event has concluded that, indeed, the man was falsely accused and tortured. While being tortured, he confessed to having trained in Afghanistan; the inquiry concludes that he was never there.
That's right.
America tortures innocent people in the name of fighting terrorism. When torture produces confessions, those confessions are bullshit. So what's the point of torture?
There is no point.
Powell's letter to McCain is a poignant reinforcement of the fact that Bush's torture policy hurts America.
That's right.
America tortures innocent people in the name of fighting terrorism. When torture produces confessions, those confessions are bullshit. So what's the point of torture?
There is no point.
Powell's letter to McCain is a poignant reinforcement of the fact that Bush's torture policy hurts America.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Sleep deprivation
An editorial on the Post describes the cruelty that is sleep deprivation and its historical use in fascist states to extract false confessions and not actionable intelligence!
In contrast, Sullivant posts an emai from a soldier in the first gulf war that describes the willingness of Iraqi soldiers to surrender knowing that when they were taken into custody, they would be given fair treatment.
Will they get fair treatment now?
No.
That's Bush's whole point. He dehumanizes the enemy and scares americans into believing all arabs are out to kill our families. Its fascist rule-by-fear. We should call it what it is.
In contrast, Sullivant posts an emai from a soldier in the first gulf war that describes the willingness of Iraqi soldiers to surrender knowing that when they were taken into custody, they would be given fair treatment.
Will they get fair treatment now?
No.
That's Bush's whole point. He dehumanizes the enemy and scares americans into believing all arabs are out to kill our families. Its fascist rule-by-fear. We should call it what it is.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Friday, September 08, 2006
Telepharmavangelism
A long time ago, TJ lent me The Faint's two albums "Danse Macabre" and "Wet From Birth," which I ripped onto my laptop. Then I went and bought one of their older albums so I'd have more to listen to. I never really enjoyed that album I bought, but man do I did Danse Macabre and Wet From Birth.
I just bought Wet From Birth new today, and Danse Macabre used.
I'm listening to a song on Wet From Birth called "Symptom Finger" where The Faint coin one of the coolest phrases I've ever heard. Telepharmavangelism. Selling people on cures to diseases they may not have.
I'm not sure that telepharmavangelism really goes on, yet. But considering my job future, I think telepharmavangelism will help my salary. If I ever get a position in a company where it's my job to telepharmavangelize, I'll totally credit my profession to The Faint. Thanks, guys!
I just bought Wet From Birth new today, and Danse Macabre used.
I'm listening to a song on Wet From Birth called "Symptom Finger" where The Faint coin one of the coolest phrases I've ever heard. Telepharmavangelism. Selling people on cures to diseases they may not have.
I'm not sure that telepharmavangelism really goes on, yet. But considering my job future, I think telepharmavangelism will help my salary. If I ever get a position in a company where it's my job to telepharmavangelize, I'll totally credit my profession to The Faint. Thanks, guys!
Ann Coulter
"I think there should be a literacy test and a poll tax for people to vote."--- Ann Coulter on Hannity & Colmes, 8/17/99
More like that, here
More like that, here
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Bushzilla
There's no way I'm the first person to have seen this photo and envisioned a gigantor Bush roaming the streets of Japan.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Murder, in god's name
An Honor Killing in Italy; bitch had it comin'. She was dating a non-Muslim and you know what god says about murder: do it whenever you fucking want.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
False hope
I had thought there might finally be justice in the Ramsey case, but this article in the Times makes me think this little man who confessed is just looking for attention.
"Ms. Karr said that she and Mr. Karr were in Alabama together on Dec. 25, 1996, the day JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in Colorado."
"Ms. Karr said that she and Mr. Karr were in Alabama together on Dec. 25, 1996, the day JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in Colorado."
rice hot
Slate has a set of searches performed by a single AOL user
"16006693 best place to retire
16006693 places like crawford but without cindy sheehan
16006693 crawford the town not cindy crawford
16006693 crawford tx
16006693 like crawford tx but not so hot
16006693 best places to retire not hot
16006693 best places to retire global warming
16006693 global warming mith
16006693 global warming myth
16006693 crawford hot
16006693 cindy crawford hot
16006693 rice hot
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Tuesday, August 15, 2006
reverse hypothesis
I liked this editorial
"Haven't legions of experts - for decades now - identified the Mideast conflict as the centre of the world's chaos and the key to its pacification? Is there any diplomat who does not repeat ad nauseum the formula about the gates to a hell of future wars versus the gates to world harmony, all of which open in Jerusalem? ... The sad, reverse hypothesis is seldom posed, but it is actually much more likely: Every truce along the Jordan is fleeting, as long as the palaces and streets, the majority of the intelligentsia and the officials of the Muslim world hang on to their anti-western passion."
"Haven't legions of experts - for decades now - identified the Mideast conflict as the centre of the world's chaos and the key to its pacification? Is there any diplomat who does not repeat ad nauseum the formula about the gates to a hell of future wars versus the gates to world harmony, all of which open in Jerusalem? ... The sad, reverse hypothesis is seldom posed, but it is actually much more likely: Every truce along the Jordan is fleeting, as long as the palaces and streets, the majority of the intelligentsia and the officials of the Muslim world hang on to their anti-western passion."
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Sullivan's YouTube of the day
I think this commedian says what everyone thinks (well, what non-Muslims think) of extremism in Islam and the vulgar ``moderacy'' in Islam that shamelessly degrades women giving support and legitimacy to the extremists.
"I think we've all heard why these terrorists are so highly motivated.
We've all heard this. It's because they're told that waiting for them in heaven are 72 virgins. And for those terrorists, this is a great thing to look forward to.
For those virgins, heaven isn't quite what they expected, is it?
I would hate to get that talk as a young child.
'You be a good little girl. You must always wear a burqua, you must always wear a veil, you may not go to school, you may not have a job, you may not learn to read, you may not vote, you may not drive a car. You may not sing, dance, play games or listen to music. You must live a life of absolute humility and cellibacy, and when you die
You will go to heaven,
where you will be a sex slave for terrorists!'"
"I think we've all heard why these terrorists are so highly motivated.
We've all heard this. It's because they're told that waiting for them in heaven are 72 virgins. And for those terrorists, this is a great thing to look forward to.
For those virgins, heaven isn't quite what they expected, is it?
I would hate to get that talk as a young child.
'You be a good little girl. You must always wear a burqua, you must always wear a veil, you may not go to school, you may not have a job, you may not learn to read, you may not vote, you may not drive a car. You may not sing, dance, play games or listen to music. You must live a life of absolute humility and cellibacy, and when you die
You will go to heaven,
where you will be a sex slave for terrorists!'"
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Predicting sides
To listen to Andrew Sullivan, there is no hope but to watch the middle east plummit into a period of blood-letting as Islam struggles to find its place in the modern world. To listen to Harold Mayerson, the escalation in Lebanon could easily pull the world into a war, much like the escalation in Austria following Archduke Ferdinand's assasination pulled the world into WWI.
Sounds like we're lookin' at a war; so let's pick sides!
OK, US on one side, Iran on the other; who else?
Syria: Iran's side.
Russia: Iran's side - Russia is not our friend, they have been undermining basically every attempt we have made to cool the crazies in the past four years; they have rejected many times the idea of bringing up Iran for sanctions over the Nuclear Weapons program (and their violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that Iran signed!). They look to criticize the US at every oportunity; they have criticised the US for the lack of security in Iraq that resulted in the decapitations of four Russian diplomats. I should say that Russia is a good meaning country with good meaning citizens, ruled by a KGB agent who wants things to return to the gold-ol' days when the Iron Curtain kept the world from knowing just how bankrupt they were. Now everyone can see how bankrupt the kremlin is, and that's just not cool with Putin. He'd like that curtain drawn. Putin's so funny -- he says that he wants democracy but just not right away because there must be a transition period before the people can handle democracy... just like the "transition period" of communism where there would be gross food shortages and poverty, but that eventually everything would get put right. It just so happened that the transition period of communism never ended.
North Korea: Iran's side - not only are they full partners with the Iranians when it comes to missle technology, they just don't like the US. And by "they" I mean "he". God king Jong Il uses brinkmanship to finance his playboy lifestyle, and he seems fairly good about not rocking over the edge, but with the hell-bent attitude Iran has, my guess is that he'll end up dragged over the edge anyways.
China: This is the toughest call, but I think they'll be on the US's side. China does not want to be threatened by North Korea, nor by Russia. I think we'll end up in bed with the chinese, kind of like how we ended up in bed with the Russians durring WWII. We won't be good friends afterwards, or at least I wouldn't put all my chips on us being good friends afterwards.
Europe? Well, they'll probably stay out of it until they're dragged in. I think they will play the part of the US in WWI, pretending like they can go about their business and not get involved. When their Luisitania finally sinks, they'll join the US.
OK.
I hope this was a fun exercise in futility, that there is no WWIII, and that I don't get drafted to partake in Islam's infighting over whether or not women should be allowed to read.
Sounds like we're lookin' at a war; so let's pick sides!
OK, US on one side, Iran on the other; who else?
Syria: Iran's side.
Russia: Iran's side - Russia is not our friend, they have been undermining basically every attempt we have made to cool the crazies in the past four years; they have rejected many times the idea of bringing up Iran for sanctions over the Nuclear Weapons program (and their violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that Iran signed!). They look to criticize the US at every oportunity; they have criticised the US for the lack of security in Iraq that resulted in the decapitations of four Russian diplomats. I should say that Russia is a good meaning country with good meaning citizens, ruled by a KGB agent who wants things to return to the gold-ol' days when the Iron Curtain kept the world from knowing just how bankrupt they were. Now everyone can see how bankrupt the kremlin is, and that's just not cool with Putin. He'd like that curtain drawn. Putin's so funny -- he says that he wants democracy but just not right away because there must be a transition period before the people can handle democracy... just like the "transition period" of communism where there would be gross food shortages and poverty, but that eventually everything would get put right. It just so happened that the transition period of communism never ended.
North Korea: Iran's side - not only are they full partners with the Iranians when it comes to missle technology, they just don't like the US. And by "they" I mean "he". God king Jong Il uses brinkmanship to finance his playboy lifestyle, and he seems fairly good about not rocking over the edge, but with the hell-bent attitude Iran has, my guess is that he'll end up dragged over the edge anyways.
China: This is the toughest call, but I think they'll be on the US's side. China does not want to be threatened by North Korea, nor by Russia. I think we'll end up in bed with the chinese, kind of like how we ended up in bed with the Russians durring WWII. We won't be good friends afterwards, or at least I wouldn't put all my chips on us being good friends afterwards.
Europe? Well, they'll probably stay out of it until they're dragged in. I think they will play the part of the US in WWI, pretending like they can go about their business and not get involved. When their Luisitania finally sinks, they'll join the US.
OK.
I hope this was a fun exercise in futility, that there is no WWIII, and that I don't get drafted to partake in Islam's infighting over whether or not women should be allowed to read.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Kind of Penis II fails during launch
Haha, North Korea.
Launching your type-o'-dong on independence day when no one in the US is paying you attention, you find out that it doesn't work.
"The controversial long-range missile failed less than a minute after launch, falling into the Sea of Japan, along with the other, less-sophisticated missiles."
Totalitarianism needs to be eradicated. Kim Jong Il has done nothing but harm the people of North Korea. And now he's hoping to paint his country in the corner.
Launching your type-o'-dong on independence day when no one in the US is paying you attention, you find out that it doesn't work.
"The controversial long-range missile failed less than a minute after launch, falling into the Sea of Japan, along with the other, less-sophisticated missiles."
Totalitarianism needs to be eradicated. Kim Jong Il has done nothing but harm the people of North Korea. And now he's hoping to paint his country in the corner.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Thursday, June 15, 2006
The Smiths
I met with two professors at the Other university in north carolina with whom I've been collaborating off and on for quite a while. Let's call this pair "The Smiths." I took a course they taught a few years back, at which point, I found a nifty way to take one of their programs and make it much faster. So, I've re-written the core of this one program and met with them to talk about getting the revisions working properly -- in fact, I met with them a month ago, and realized that I had to go back and rewrite a substantial portion of the code to make it fast enough that it was worthwhile.
So in the past month, I would work on my dissertation during the 8 to 5 block, and then put in a couple of hours on writing this program. I called it "pleasure coding." I also put in some time on the weekends, too.
Anyways, it's working.
So I met with the Smiths yesterday along with several members of their lab, and one former member of their lab who is now working for a company I'll call Pork. If I were looking for a job in industry, Pork would be on my list. In fact, I will likely consider industry at some point, and when I do, I'll probably think about Pork.
Back to the story. Met with the Smiths and hashed out some details about which versions were where and how should we go about merging all of the code together into one source. At the end of the meeting, I was to combine the code from the various branches to the source into the code that I had been working on. I would then give that code to one of the Smiths' lab members.
So that's what I did today. I've sent the code, and we'll do some regressoin testing to make sure it's working properly, and we'll start distributing it. I'm psyched.
So in the past month, I would work on my dissertation during the 8 to 5 block, and then put in a couple of hours on writing this program. I called it "pleasure coding." I also put in some time on the weekends, too.
Anyways, it's working.
So I met with the Smiths yesterday along with several members of their lab, and one former member of their lab who is now working for a company I'll call Pork. If I were looking for a job in industry, Pork would be on my list. In fact, I will likely consider industry at some point, and when I do, I'll probably think about Pork.
Back to the story. Met with the Smiths and hashed out some details about which versions were where and how should we go about merging all of the code together into one source. At the end of the meeting, I was to combine the code from the various branches to the source into the code that I had been working on. I would then give that code to one of the Smiths' lab members.
So that's what I did today. I've sent the code, and we'll do some regressoin testing to make sure it's working properly, and we'll start distributing it. I'm psyched.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
dissertation
I just spent the past week reading 50 some papers on croquet (read: the subject of my dissertation). Now I understand things well enough that I can start writing. That sucks, I don't want to write. I've got a paragraph to show for my last hour being at my computer. A paragraph writen, and three dozen web sites read.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Neglect
This blog is suffering from serious neglect.
E3 is going on right now; a blogger from the Post is covering it. I was excited to see a link to Fable 2 and followed it to so I could watch the trailer. But I don't have windows media player for Safari. At one point, I downloaded somehing so I could watch .wmv's but it will only show the first half of anything. It pisses me off sooo much. If anyone (Stromk) has a pointer for me on how to view .wmv's with Safari, I would greatly appreciate it.
Damnit. It's a bitching blog.
E3 is going on right now; a blogger from the Post is covering it. I was excited to see a link to Fable 2 and followed it to so I could watch the trailer. But I don't have windows media player for Safari. At one point, I downloaded somehing so I could watch .wmv's but it will only show the first half of anything. It pisses me off sooo much. If anyone (Stromk) has a pointer for me on how to view .wmv's with Safari, I would greatly appreciate it.
Damnit. It's a bitching blog.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Unemployment
Pants and I were talking about how the boomers were gonna start retiring soon. That got me thinking: maybe the reason the job market is so tight is that this sea of extremely tallented (read: old) workers have filled all the best-paying positions. If that's true, then when the tide goes out, there should be lots of treasure waiting to be plucked off the coast.
The Post has an article about how Uncle Sam is looking to fill its ranks since over the next decade, the boomers are going to retire.
The Post has an article about how Uncle Sam is looking to fill its ranks since over the next decade, the boomers are going to retire.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Hard-Fi's Performance Sucked
I want google blog search to find this post and to inform as many would-be concert goers just how bad Hard-Fi is in concert. Blame for yesterday's miserable concert falls squarely on the shoulders of their lead singer. HIs voice was atrocious. He was off key, he air-balled all of the high notes, and he substituted shouting for singing for roughly half of the concert. And despite the quality of his performance, he kept lecturing the croud about how they weren't applauding enough for him. He had no idea how bad he was. It did not occur to him that shouting is no substitute for singing. It did not occur to him that not even trying to stick to the melody was a bad thing. It did not occur to him how disappointed his audience was.
If he reads this, (I doubt he could), he will deny to himself how bad his performance was.
I love their album. They opened with the second track -- Middle Eastern Holliday -- and their singer belted out the first few words, I was in shock. "WTF? Why aren't you singing it right?". I was sad because this was the song I was most looking forward to, and at the time, I thought the singer was going to improve as he warmed up. Since they opened with it, I was not going to get the chance to hear it sung right.
By their third song, I knew there would be no improvement. The rest of the concert was to suck just as much.
Pant's and I have a few thought-bites of the concert.
* It's like they weren't trying
* We just watched a bad Hard-Fi cover band
* Very karaoke
* Mad props to whoever produced their album; they made someone with little tallent sound good.
* Half the audience followed them here from Britain.
* The rest of the band did fine -- didn't matter, the vocals ruined everything.
* Learn to play the harmonica and put down that Wind Piano, you loser.
If he reads this, (I doubt he could), he will deny to himself how bad his performance was.
I love their album. They opened with the second track -- Middle Eastern Holliday -- and their singer belted out the first few words, I was in shock. "WTF? Why aren't you singing it right?". I was sad because this was the song I was most looking forward to, and at the time, I thought the singer was going to improve as he warmed up. Since they opened with it, I was not going to get the chance to hear it sung right.
By their third song, I knew there would be no improvement. The rest of the concert was to suck just as much.
Pant's and I have a few thought-bites of the concert.
* It's like they weren't trying
* We just watched a bad Hard-Fi cover band
* Very karaoke
* Mad props to whoever produced their album; they made someone with little tallent sound good.
* Half the audience followed them here from Britain.
* The rest of the band did fine -- didn't matter, the vocals ruined everything.
* Learn to play the harmonica and put down that Wind Piano, you loser.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Hard Fi
Hard Fi is playing the cradle tonight.
I've been listening to their recent album, "Stars of CCTV" over and over again. It's good stuff. I think the 2nd track is my favorite, though the lyrics aren't inspiring. That's fine. It's not always about lyrics.
In contrast, the Jenny Lewis CD I just bought has plenty of good lyrics. I think I'm gonna start collecting some of the lyrics I like on this blog; I like lyrics and this blog is for me not you, so stop your complaining.
"Didn't I see you in Vegas? It wasn't pretty, but she was ... (not your wife)" -- Jenny Lewis, (echoed by the Watson Twins).
I've been listening to their recent album, "Stars of CCTV" over and over again. It's good stuff. I think the 2nd track is my favorite, though the lyrics aren't inspiring. That's fine. It's not always about lyrics.
In contrast, the Jenny Lewis CD I just bought has plenty of good lyrics. I think I'm gonna start collecting some of the lyrics I like on this blog; I like lyrics and this blog is for me not you, so stop your complaining.
"Didn't I see you in Vegas? It wasn't pretty, but she was ... (not your wife)" -- Jenny Lewis, (echoed by the Watson Twins).
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Not our friend
Putin is not our friend. Time and again, he takes anti-democratic stances. He's rolled back democratic advances in his own country; governers are no longer elected, they're appointed by the Kremlin. He's stuck his nose into the elections in the Ukrane and Belarus. Cover story on today's Post: Russia delivered to Iraq US troop movement data during the invasion. How is that the act of an ally? It's one thing to make diplomatic protestations; it's another thing entirely to subvert troops on the ground.
Putin is using his "friendship" with Bush for his advantage in crushing rebellious groups in his country; after the USSR fragmented, Russia is using all its strength to prevent further loss of territory. So in the immediate aftermath of the Beslan seige, Putin makes it look like radical Islam was involved. That way he can use Bush's anti-terrorism rhetoric to justify brutal repression. Lessons from Chechnya are then taken to Georgia.
What Putin will not do, though, is acknowledge the democratic motives that Bush has. Putin is all about his own power. Why hasn't our foreign policy shown signs of reacting?
Putin is using his "friendship" with Bush for his advantage in crushing rebellious groups in his country; after the USSR fragmented, Russia is using all its strength to prevent further loss of territory. So in the immediate aftermath of the Beslan seige, Putin makes it look like radical Islam was involved. That way he can use Bush's anti-terrorism rhetoric to justify brutal repression. Lessons from Chechnya are then taken to Georgia.
What Putin will not do, though, is acknowledge the democratic motives that Bush has. Putin is all about his own power. Why hasn't our foreign policy shown signs of reacting?
Friday, March 24, 2006
Putin
I don't like Putin.
During Ukrane's orange revolution, he took the "fradulent elections should not be overturned" stand.
Belarus is up for sanctions before the UN over their recent presidential election. All international monitors have ruled the election was neither free nor fair. What's Putin's stand? "Congrats Lukashenko! Great job crackin' heads."
Post article
During Ukrane's orange revolution, he took the "fradulent elections should not be overturned" stand.
Belarus is up for sanctions before the UN over their recent presidential election. All international monitors have ruled the election was neither free nor fair. What's Putin's stand? "Congrats Lukashenko! Great job crackin' heads."
Post article
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Sex Symbol
From the A.V. Club:
"But who deserves to go? Unquestionably Mr. Covais, whose talents as a singer, a dancer, and a stage presence have escaped me entirely. And here's the thing that's most disturbing about him: Thanks to Paula Abdul, he's constantly referred to now as a "sex symbol." Okay, I'm confused: When you call this kid a sex symbol, are we still talking about the sex that involves fucking and whatnot? Or is there some other kind of sex that's possibly presaged by a choirboy singing "Starry Starry Night" in an angelic voice?"
"But who deserves to go? Unquestionably Mr. Covais, whose talents as a singer, a dancer, and a stage presence have escaped me entirely. And here's the thing that's most disturbing about him: Thanks to Paula Abdul, he's constantly referred to now as a "sex symbol." Okay, I'm confused: When you call this kid a sex symbol, are we still talking about the sex that involves fucking and whatnot? Or is there some other kind of sex that's possibly presaged by a choirboy singing "Starry Starry Night" in an angelic voice?"
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Workahol
I had lunch with TJ yesterday at Patio Loco. I'd just discovered a bug in some code I released a long time ago. A big one. One to make a lot of Croquetta players unhappy. I drifted off in the middle of conversation with TJ to think about the reaction that I'd get. My absence from the converstaion was quite noticable. At least if there are three of us at lunch, and I drift off, the other two people can continue talking by themselves. Not so if it's just me and one other person.
I've been so wrapped up in my work for the past couple of years in an attempt to graduate. I have trouble not thinking about work. It really sucks. I mean, I love my work, but I don't want it to be my life. Even now while I'm typing this blog entry, my mind keeps drifting back to work. Of course, I'm at my desk in my office and it's between the hours of 8 and 5...
I've been so wrapped up in my work for the past couple of years in an attempt to graduate. I have trouble not thinking about work. It really sucks. I mean, I love my work, but I don't want it to be my life. Even now while I'm typing this blog entry, my mind keeps drifting back to work. Of course, I'm at my desk in my office and it's between the hours of 8 and 5...
Saturday, March 11, 2006
Job
Woot.
So I'm sorry everyone for leaving this blog so neglected for so long. I've been workin' some long hours. About mid January, I scheduled a job interview in Seattle for a post-doc. I was out there from Monday to Wednesday of this past week. I spent the week before that preparing a talk for the job interview. I talked about the flexible gates and the grassa extensions I'd made to Croquetta. It went over really well. I got the job.
That means I'm scheduled to move out to Seattle in August '07. A while from now, yes, but I've got lots of work to do between now and then. Coleman has offered me a job here as a post-doc. I'll stay here and work in his lab for a year after I graduate. I've got my fingers crossed, but I'm hoping for August. While the post-doc with Coleman will definately be a great experience, there was no interview process -- he just offered one day -- and so there was no build up of tension and then a release. So, I guess I feel more excited about landing the position in Seattle, but still, the work I'll be doing with Coleman will be really exciting.
I'm gonna have to make up a whole slew of new nicknames to protect the innocent.
So I'm sorry everyone for leaving this blog so neglected for so long. I've been workin' some long hours. About mid January, I scheduled a job interview in Seattle for a post-doc. I was out there from Monday to Wednesday of this past week. I spent the week before that preparing a talk for the job interview. I talked about the flexible gates and the grassa extensions I'd made to Croquetta. It went over really well. I got the job.
That means I'm scheduled to move out to Seattle in August '07. A while from now, yes, but I've got lots of work to do between now and then. Coleman has offered me a job here as a post-doc. I'll stay here and work in his lab for a year after I graduate. I've got my fingers crossed, but I'm hoping for August. While the post-doc with Coleman will definately be a great experience, there was no interview process -- he just offered one day -- and so there was no build up of tension and then a release. So, I guess I feel more excited about landing the position in Seattle, but still, the work I'll be doing with Coleman will be really exciting.
I'm gonna have to make up a whole slew of new nicknames to protect the innocent.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Monday, February 13, 2006
Riots
From Slate
"Of course it is not Western values that are trampling freedom of expression: It is the ayatollah's own values, combined with the threat of violence. The other problem with his little joke about double standards, and with the whole supposedly mordant comparison between denying the Holocaust and portraying the prophet, is that the offended Muslims do not want a world where people are free to do both. They don't even want a world where people are not free to do either, which would at least be consistent. They want a world where you may not portray the Prophet Mohammed (even flatteringly, slaying infidels or whatnot) but you may deny the Holocaust all day long."
"Of course it is not Western values that are trampling freedom of expression: It is the ayatollah's own values, combined with the threat of violence. The other problem with his little joke about double standards, and with the whole supposedly mordant comparison between denying the Holocaust and portraying the prophet, is that the offended Muslims do not want a world where people are free to do both. They don't even want a world where people are not free to do either, which would at least be consistent. They want a world where you may not portray the Prophet Mohammed (even flatteringly, slaying infidels or whatnot) but you may deny the Holocaust all day long."
Monday, February 06, 2006
My $0.25
The Fed a'int doin' its job, 'cause a single copy over in the chem library now costs a quarter if you want to use cash. I had 4 pages I needed to copy. I had one dollar. I was kinda tired. I copied the page before the first page in the paper I wanted. That is, I photocopied the first page, and then without thinking rotated the book 180 degrees and copied the opposing page. The opposing page was not part of the paper I was trying to copy.
So I walked back to my office where I'd accidentally left my student ID. I returned to the chem library. I swiped my card ($0.14/copy when you use your card). "Retry." I did. "Retry." After 20 more "Retry" messages, I "borrowed" a quarter from one of the students sitting next to the copy machine.
Grrr.
So I walked back to my office where I'd accidentally left my student ID. I returned to the chem library. I swiped my card ($0.14/copy when you use your card). "Retry." I did. "Retry." After 20 more "Retry" messages, I "borrowed" a quarter from one of the students sitting next to the copy machine.
Grrr.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
The Bear
The A.V. club has an article on animal snuff for kids.
I don't know how to imbed links yet - I'll figure it out - but here's the URL
http://www.avclub.com/content/node/45020
I misread the title of the article, replacing "snuff" for "smut" - we all know where my mind is, it's not a joke, it just happened, ok?
So I opened the link thinking the first thing I would read about was Disney's "The Bear." I saw it with my grandfather when I young. It's a touching story of a man and his son, I mean a bear and his cub. I can't remember, but I think the mother is killed by a hunter at the beginning of the movie.
At one point, the father discovers a female passing through. He pushes over a tree to show how macho he is, and I think he digs a hole. When they start fucking, the cub wanders off and finds some mushrooms. He eats them, rolls over on his back and starts hallucinating. A butterfly lands on his paw and the cub is mesmerized. Fade to black. Cub wakes up with a hangover.
Chauvinism. Criminal neglegence. Sex. Drugs.
The movie should have made the list of "snuff," though, because daddy bear has a run in with a bullet-splaying hunter. The guy notched the tip of the bullet I think to rip apart on impact. Grizzly. I think daddy bear survives; the rest of the A.V. Club's movies were more grim.
I don't know how to imbed links yet - I'll figure it out - but here's the URL
http://www.avclub.com/content/node/45020
I misread the title of the article, replacing "snuff" for "smut" - we all know where my mind is, it's not a joke, it just happened, ok?
So I opened the link thinking the first thing I would read about was Disney's "The Bear." I saw it with my grandfather when I young. It's a touching story of a man and his son, I mean a bear and his cub. I can't remember, but I think the mother is killed by a hunter at the beginning of the movie.
At one point, the father discovers a female passing through. He pushes over a tree to show how macho he is, and I think he digs a hole. When they start fucking, the cub wanders off and finds some mushrooms. He eats them, rolls over on his back and starts hallucinating. A butterfly lands on his paw and the cub is mesmerized. Fade to black. Cub wakes up with a hangover.
Chauvinism. Criminal neglegence. Sex. Drugs.
The movie should have made the list of "snuff," though, because daddy bear has a run in with a bullet-splaying hunter. The guy notched the tip of the bullet I think to rip apart on impact. Grizzly. I think daddy bear survives; the rest of the A.V. Club's movies were more grim.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
American Idol
I'm so excited. I'm gonna be on American Idol! I didn't make it to Holywood, no, but they spent a lot of time interviewing me before and after my spectacular (at least I thought so) audition. I looked so good - I spent months preparing for this audition.
My best shiniest hair is in the back of my head, so I grew it out really long. I didn't want the judges to see me as some long-haired hippy, so I kept it short in the front.
I wore my american flag shirt that has 15 american flags on it, one for each of the stripes on the flag.
I flossed my teeth, which I usually dont' bother to do since the gaps between them are big enough to fit the bristles of my toothbrush.
I even lost 5 pounds over the past 6 months, brining me down to 245.
I looked great.
But Simon Cowell can suck my dick. That mother fucker wouldn't know tallent if it donkey punched him.
My best shiniest hair is in the back of my head, so I grew it out really long. I didn't want the judges to see me as some long-haired hippy, so I kept it short in the front.
I wore my american flag shirt that has 15 american flags on it, one for each of the stripes on the flag.
I flossed my teeth, which I usually dont' bother to do since the gaps between them are big enough to fit the bristles of my toothbrush.
I even lost 5 pounds over the past 6 months, brining me down to 245.
I looked great.
But Simon Cowell can suck my dick. That mother fucker wouldn't know tallent if it donkey punched him.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Optimizing Grassa
Grassa now works. We put it together in record time. At the begining of the week, it took 110 seconds to score a small game, and 80 minutes to score a large game (one that covered the whole field). I've been optimizing the code using Shark (it's real name). Shark is the most amazing program I've ever run. It's a profiler. It samples the program counter during program execution and talies how much time you spend in each function. When it's sampled for 30 seconds, it creates a heirarchical display of what functions dominate the running time. You can look at the assembly, and it'll give you Mac-specific suggestions on how to re-write your code and whatnot...
The assembly suggestions aren't nearly as useful as the structured heirarchy of function calls. The profiler behaves exactly as a profiler should. I can't imagine anything better.
I've got Grassa scoring the small game test case in 17 seconds now, and the large game in 17 1/2 minutes. This scoring function hasn't been tuned yet, but we know it models scores better than previous scoring methods and that ultimately, it will be part of Croquetta's backbone. I remain totally psyched.
The assembly suggestions aren't nearly as useful as the structured heirarchy of function calls. The profiler behaves exactly as a profiler should. I can't imagine anything better.
I've got Grassa scoring the small game test case in 17 seconds now, and the large game in 17 1/2 minutes. This scoring function hasn't been tuned yet, but we know it models scores better than previous scoring methods and that ultimately, it will be part of Croquetta's backbone. I remain totally psyched.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Message for TJ
Pants was telling me about how she'd recently caught up with TJ's blog and was shocked (shocked!) at how much scatalogical humor TJ relied upon.
She wanted me to relay: TJ is a poopy pants.
I'm not making this up.
She wanted me to relay: TJ is a poopy pants.
I'm not making this up.
Flawed
A few years ago a friend of mine told me that my name was an anagram for:
An ear, very flawed.
I post this at the risk of exposing my identity.
An ear, very flawed.
I post this at the risk of exposing my identity.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Orals
I passed my orals yesterday. I'm so glad it's over. I don't know really what to say about the experience. I had trouble falling asleep last night; I kept reliving the exam. I'll try to post some of the specifics soon.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Lame list
Foster's was crazy packed this afternoon. I met Pants there around 1 and we stayed for a couple of hours. We talked about whether or not hollow objects were stronger than solid objects. She first asserted "Hollow objects are stronger than solid objects" which raised my eyebrows so she quickly qualified it with "for their weight." This is probably true, I'm not sure, but I'll believe it. But Pants didn't stop there. She pulled out the trump card for all scientific debates: she invoked Mr. Wizard. "That's old school Mr. Wizard right there." End of argument. Case closed. Whabam bizzach, shut that up!
Except I remembered that epsiode of Mr. Wizard. He had a kid come on and they watched a metal dowel bend under successively heavier weights. He had two dowels of the same diameter, one hollow one and one solid. The hollow one bent more under the strain. The child was suprised, I guess because "hollow" is such a cool word and why wouldn't an object described by a cool adjective be better than the object without that adjective?
I recounted that episode to her, admitting that the two bars were of unequal weight. She relented: in fact, she didn't remember whether or not there was a Mr. Wizard episode about hollow objects.
We reminisced about TV science and I was reminded about how Bill Nye used to be part of that Seattle-based sketch commedy show that was on Commedy Central back in the early 90's. I couldn't remember its name. Google helped me out: Almost Live!
I loved that show.
Except I remembered that epsiode of Mr. Wizard. He had a kid come on and they watched a metal dowel bend under successively heavier weights. He had two dowels of the same diameter, one hollow one and one solid. The hollow one bent more under the strain. The child was suprised, I guess because "hollow" is such a cool word and why wouldn't an object described by a cool adjective be better than the object without that adjective?
I recounted that episode to her, admitting that the two bars were of unequal weight. She relented: in fact, she didn't remember whether or not there was a Mr. Wizard episode about hollow objects.
We reminisced about TV science and I was reminded about how Bill Nye used to be part of that Seattle-based sketch commedy show that was on Commedy Central back in the early 90's. I couldn't remember its name. Google helped me out: Almost Live!
I loved that show.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Towed
They towed my car from out in front of Open Eye today. I spent all morning there, left around noon, and Stromk was there when they were hooking my car up to the tow truck. He asked them if it was necessary. They beat him up and told him to pass the message on to me that I should burn in hell.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
crash
The hard drive on my Mac crashed this morning. I have no idea if the department was backing it up, which makes me think they weren't. I'm backing up my laptop onto Stromk's Mac right now. My laptop's CD-RW isn't writing any more.
I kept my CVS repository on my Mac. I committed the Grassa revisions I was working on yesterday to the remote SVN repository. That work isn't lost.
But it looks like I lost the high scores for Croquetta.
I kept my CVS repository on my Mac. I committed the Grassa revisions I was working on yesterday to the remote SVN repository. That work isn't lost.
But it looks like I lost the high scores for Croquetta.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
One week
One week until I take my Orals. Any capitalized test should be feared. I'm gonna gather all the papers I listed and sit down with them for the next week -- I'd rather be writing and I'd much rather be doing research.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Grassa
So, I've been working on this new way of scoring games in Croquetta. Let's call this scoring function "Grassa." Well, its a complicated scoring function and I'm working on it with another guy. Let's call him Dale. Dale and I only started working on the code a few weeks ago, but it fits nicely into a framework I've been developing for a while. The point of the framework is to make it easy to extend, that is, it should be easy to add new scoring functions.
Well, I finished my section of the code this weekend: it's compiling and when I stub out the code Dale's responsible for, it links.
So, I have an ideal example of how the framework actually did make it easier to extend Croquetta. My committee will love it.
I'm so psyched.
Well, I finished my section of the code this weekend: it's compiling and when I stub out the code Dale's responsible for, it links.
So, I have an ideal example of how the framework actually did make it easier to extend Croquetta. My committee will love it.
I'm so psyched.
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Crazy Bug
I went to Coleman's lab (he's an avid camper) for 6 hours yesterday to see if I couldn't find a bug in Croquetta. I've been working on this new section of code, and can't tell if it's working properly. What I thought I'd observed was that the player's score was worse by about 5 points when you run my new code instead of the old code.
The score wasn't being added up wrong. It looked like Croquetta was finding a worse score. But when I looked at the alternate scores that were available, there weren't any that were better. It was getting as good a score as it could find and that score was correct. But that score was "wrong" by 5 points compared to the old score.
I was going nuts.
Now it's apparent that there was no difference in the old and new score. I'm just crazy. So I guess its working correctly.
The score wasn't being added up wrong. It looked like Croquetta was finding a worse score. But when I looked at the alternate scores that were available, there weren't any that were better. It was getting as good a score as it could find and that score was correct. But that score was "wrong" by 5 points compared to the old score.
I was going nuts.
Now it's apparent that there was no difference in the old and new score. I'm just crazy. So I guess its working correctly.
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