8.31.2004

Thery're doing power players week on Jeopardy! this week (I think that's what they're calling it). Bob Woodward got a question about the movie All The President's Men... so not fair to Tucker Carlson or the evil Peggy Noonan.
Apparently they're making a feature movie out of the former animated series, Aeon Flux. Starring Charlize Theron.
Yeah, this was about the reaction I had to the bit of RNC speeching I heard yesterday.
Interesting article about why women never seem to be mentioned in the same guitar-circles as Hendrix, et al.
Thus spake Kruman-thustra. I thought he was on vacation...

8.30.2004

They did a funny send-up of The Usual Suspects on Yes, Dear- very amusing. Haven't seen many tv shows go all out with the movie parodies...
And here I thought that Amontillado was a dry sherry.
Man, the Greek judicial system sure moves a lot faster than ours.

8.28.2004

Lucy in the sky with...Shatner?

8.27.2004

I hate it when people throw out my artworks...
Yeah, you need to do this in much the same way that you need another hole in your head.
Hehe- the American sprinters are funny. And so are their agents:
Zebra's been ducking Shawn

8.25.2004

Hehe, funny quote from this article:
"Do not compare me to Bill Clinton," Bush said, pronouncing the name "Clin-TAWN," as if it were a new species of evil Star Trek alien.
Who knew sand could be so interesting?
Last Tuesday, Susan and I went to a concert. It was great- though loud- fun. It was the Chicks With Attitude Tour. Liz Phair was the headlining act, and Charlotte Martin, Katy Rose, and The Cardigans performed as well.

Charlotte Martin was kinda dull. She's got a great voice and she can surely tickle the ivories, but she's waaayyyy to earnest for my taste. She's got an irony-deficiency, or something. She played one song that was fun and funny- called "I'm normal" -check it out if you care to.

Katy Rose was loud and abusive and crunchy. Very cool. Also in need of some work on her diction.

The Cardigans were great fun. They're really good, and got way into their set. Their bassist reminded me of a tall, Swedish, version of Jack Black's character in School of Rock. It was fun to watch.

Liz Phair's set was neat- played some old stuff, some new stuff, and she and her players seemed to have a blast. It was pretty awesome. There were these big flat-screen monitors on the stage here and there that played Koyaanisqatsi-like footage throughout. One of the odder things that showed up was a loop taken from within a beating heart (or valve or something like it).

The sound engineers had, mounted on some of their sound-engineering-equipments, a StrongMad and a The Cheat! It was pretty awesome.

8.21.2004

SBVT = Some Bush Voters (from) Texas? Link courtesy TomDad

8.18.2004

8.13.2004

I have, from a colleague at Caltech, inside info regarding the latest security SNAFU at Los Alamos.

Apparently, as part of their new security procedures, all removable storage media get barcoded. Some smart individual printed out some labels ahead of time for media that were supposed to arrive in the future. When those disks didn't show, they were forgotten.

Eventually, the lack of disks for those labels was taken to mean that the storage media were missing!

Yeah for silliness.

Now the source is a reliable guy, but he's getting the info from LANL-Caltech contacts, and it's secondhand, at least...
Good thing the Bush tax cuts weren't just for the rich... wait... they are.
Hehe- this post is hilarious. I haven't read the article to which they link. (LA Times requires registration, and you can't have mine, this time)

8.12.2004

I think I know why the CIA seems to have fallen down on the job. From the August 2, 2004 U.S. News & World Report (italics added for emphasis) :
It is the CIA's Directorate of Operations -its clandestine side- that garners the most public attenion...
Maybe we should be a little more circumspect with regards to it, you think?
Begone, foul Brooks!

UPDATE: It seems that this post might have been a little too elliptical. The Brooks to whom I refer is David Brooks, the Times columnist who spews a great deal about the dichotomoy between "red" states and "blue" states, concentrating a great deal on the relative wealth of the different regions. The post I linked to discusses the actual economic situation in the "red" regions vs. the "blue" regions.

8.11.2004

Noooo! Don't cancel The West Wing!
More cloned kitties. I think Tabouli is a cool name for a cat, but Baba Ganoush?

8.10.2004

TomDad found an eloquent photograph and sends it along...
Yeah, but at least some of them (UPDATE: Brits, that is) understand that being a morning-person isn't a sign of rectitude.
Those wacky Brits are at it again with their scientific studies...

8.09.2004

Cuddle Time!
According to the September issue of The Atlantic, Medford, OR, is "the most godless" locale in America. (p52)
Cool video of an F-18 breaking the sound barrier. Might have to wait for the video to load (bottom right) if you've got a slow connection.

8.07.2004

Fox News internals. It's looking better and better for Kerry in the national polling. However, the state-by-state polls aren't looking solid enough, yet...

And remember, friends don't let friends vote Nader.

8.06.2004

Fascinating article from Popular Science. Found at GeekPress
Some cool work from OSU. Found the article at Volokh Conspiracy
Bet you wouldn't catch anyone doing this at Redondo Beach...tar...ptooey!

8.05.2004

Hmm, Freudian slip?
Congressmen leaking intelligence to the media? How nice! (From TAPPED).

8.04.2004

Whoa! SUVs are illegal in Pasadena!


Man, stock market trading looks pretty damn exciting. The guy on the far right looks like his team just scored a touchdown off a 90 yard pass...or something.

8.03.2004

Article looking at some recent polling data...here, from Slate. More, here, from DonkeyRising.
Hey- it's a denial of services attack, made by those wascally wepublicans.

Here, the Times comments on Bush's actions with regards to the 9/11 committee's report.

Here's Bush on his actions:
The national intelligence director will serve as the president's principal intelligence adviser and will oversee and coordinate the foreign and domestic activities of the intelligence community. Under this reorganization, the CIA will be managed by a separate director. The national intelligence director will assume the broader responsibility of leading the intelligence community across our government.
And some more...
And I think that the -- I think that the new national intelligence director ought to be able to coordinate budgets. I certainly hope Congress reforms its budget process, too, so that it's a seamless process.
Here's stuff from the 9/11 report:
The current DCI is responsible for community performance but lacks the three authorities critical for any agency head or chief executive officer: (1) control over purse strings, (2) the ability to hire or fire senior managers, and (3) the ability to set standards for the information infrastructure and personnel.
So, the new NDI will have the powers that the current DCI has, but the DCI will still be there... that's what I call intelligence reform!
Man, I wish I'd known about this law when I was in England. (Consequently, it was also Eminem with which my neighbor in the dorm rattled my door.)

8.02.2004

Hehe. Here's a good sendup of the whole Apple-Wall Street-Bedroom full of computers-geek culture.

8.01.2004

Band Name: The Evil Dewars

(Tom doesn't think it's funny, but maybe he's just not that geeky after all...)