Page created 27 May 2002 by blvdgirl , last modified 27 May 2002 by blvdgirl
URL: http://www.cnn.com
There's some big scary stuff going on in the world. Thought we might want to talk about it.
Surprisingly I wasn't that scared by the teaser headline "NATO formally recognized the end of the Cold War today by welcoming Russia into an enhanced cooperative role with the alliance." Maybe I'm just being optimistic. I believe it's an old Hungarian proverb that states "The believer is happy, the doubter is wise."
Speaking of scary... I was scared of this view out my bedroom window Monday moring. I figured the guns only had blanks (I didn't notice any dead birds fall during the 21 gun salute), but the people firing them didn't exactly put me at ease. I guess you just have to sit back and enjoy memorial day in small town Maine.
smax
Which would you rather be? Happy or wise?
I think that I'd want to go with happy on that one... Solomon asked for wisdom and that didn't get him very far; I mean, Ecclesiates isn't too cheerful. To be blissfully ignorant and happy would not be a bad thing...
I never really thought of happiness or wisdom being an either/or situation. That may be the most depressing concept I've heard lately.
I prefer the concept of the happy doubter. Even the melencholy can be (usually are) very witty and even funny... think about the the Mat Klemp.
Obviously, I don't think that happiness and wisdom is an either or... But when you had mentioned the believer's happiness and the doubter's wisdom (which does present happiness and wisdom as a duality- opposite ends of a spectrum, if you will) I put the question to myself, that if I could only have one or the other, which would I prefer? I certainly didn't mean to depress you with the concept. To answer myself, I said that I would prefer happiness. However, just because I would prefer happiness to wisdom in this isolated scenario (which is totally unpractical considering my naturally critical, inquisitive, and increasingly cynical nature, by the way) does not mean that I would say that in the real world (real being contrary to the theoretical question) doubters don't have happiness. In truth, in the real world I am predisposed to associate happiness without wisdom as vapidness...
I don't know why I am getting defensive and arguing. I may as well be misunderstood as not. Maybe the defensiveness is what you were expecting in response to your reply, my friend, knowing me as you do. If that be the case, consider yourself gratified as I am flustered and annoyed at present...
Acknowledgement- It was probably a stupid question.
Seriously folks. I'm dealing a lot with right now, how those kind of bad habits come back to really bite you in the booty. Being cynical and critical might be able to protect you from some hurt or mistakes, but often at someone else's expense. And being overly, and espeicially hastily, critical just ends up pigeonholing yourself.I'm not saying this to point fingers at all... like I said, I'm dealing with this now, particularly in dealing with close relationships -- roommates and girlfriends -- because it's so easy to lash out with my own knee-jerk view, rather than try to think about it from all sides, or even to just think, "I really don't need to feel that way, much less SAY that."
But it's a lot harder, at this point in my life, to try and back off, and say, "I dont' really need to rip that to shreds", or "maybe I don't know enough about this to slam it", or "maybe I'd be a kinder, more gracious person to let X slide even though I could flex my brain and say something sharp..."
Yeah, I've been dealing with that too. And I want to be a nice, forgiving, loving person... then I have relapses and I think, I am not a nice person at all. And the sad bit is that ripping something to shred gives me so much immediate pleasure and a weak sense of power- but it is not a pleasure that I relish afterwards... I usually walk away thinking that I didn't like the person that I was when I was doing it...sort of a bitter aftertaste...
What did Paul say? I do the evil I do not want to do....
god, i hope not. expressions of happiness are not very entertaining - see: entertainment of most any entertaining kind. pedro, i hope you are at least in some part unsuccessful in your quest for goodness and happiness, or are at least willing to fake some miserableness once in a while for the un-edification of the rest of us, 'cause dammit, [i] loves company. hope you don't hate me for wishing you ill. or wait - hope you do. bygones.
Knowing the few folks I do on this tasty digital distraction, I doubt anything could turn this into a vessel of nothing but expressions of happiness. Have no fear Moonboots... Maybe I should have given the original answer of "yes." I don't think it was a stupid question, it was good enough to spur a lot of thought.
As for the the correct answer...
Yesterday I watched some reporter who probably thrives on name recognition but whose name I can in no way recollect interview Colin Powell about the increasing threat of war in India and Pakistan. Powell's answers to every question was "I can't really answer that but..." and then he would skirt around the fact that once the ball gets rolling over there it will in effect not stop to gather any moss. I guess he didn't want to incite panic among the masses or he can't say that the leaders of both sides were acting like spoiled kids because that might effect his diplomatic efforts. But, Powell assures us that the reason Rumsfield is going over there to reallocated troops to the area around Kashmir is purely a diplomatic one... I'm sure we'll all agree that's good news.
When I was a kid, I was more afraid of anything, next to maybe bees. But bees are an acute, immediate fear, so I feel sort of justified in that. Especially for an 8 year old.Why do we still have these weapons? Can't we humans draw any lines?
or at least not to be the FIRST to do so. i can kind of understand that. i mean, if WE give up ours, we might look bad, and we will be weakened militarily. at least as far as apocalyptic-bargaining chips go.
... many times, Peter. Why can't we draw the line? Fight your battles with bayonettes again, if you have to fight at all.It's a frightening thing to be bringing new humans into this world that sometimes has such little respect for the planet and for itself. I get freaked out living so close to the pentagon sometimes. Jay works in federal buildings and in news outlets. Sometimes, it's stressful and hard. As to the happy or wise question, blvd, I will admit that during the anthrax thing (my husband worked for Fox, CNN at the time. He's a freelancer, tv graphic artist) I wouldn't read the news or turn it on. Jay told me what I needed to know - filtered it for me. I would honestly threaten to go home to Lake Nebagamon where this kind of thing doesn't happen. So I chose limited ignorance and a far higher level of happiness ... only after I'd controlled my fear did I go back and find out what actually happened.
Word on the street is that George and Helen are retiring this July and have sold the business (but not the building) to a family who is going to clean up the place some (not sure what that means) and will be adding some mexican food although they intend to keep the menu largely intact.
post 9/11 airport security measures get relaxed today.woo hoo!
That's right Ladies and Gentlemen... sit back, relax... in the comfort of YELLOW!
So I think that this news story is funny Santa is Dead <obligatory joke about how this is what happens when you don't cooperate with clergy....anyway speaking of vicars there is a pretty funny english television show (which means it's NOT!) about a women who happens to be one...kindof like that whole woman pope thing...i hope you're happy that i'm flunking out of college to write this post...wasn't it like, pope john I that ended up being pope Joan I after they figure out that "whoops! he just had a baby" whatever. shutup tom
SANTA IS DEAD, LIKE A DOORNAIL, LIKE FRICKIN' WHATEVER
just incase i screwed that up too.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2562109.stm
i gonna write a paper
so there's this guy Strom Thurmond (or, thuringer or, something. formerly he was all about the segregation) and it was his birthday last week and he's been in congress longer that i've been alive. There is this other guy Trent Lott...well, trent made an ASS out of himself last week saying "America would have been better off if the now veteran Senator Strom Thurmond had won on a segregationist ticket in the 1948 presidential elections." Whatever, I didn't vote for them so they can go ahead making stupid asses of themselves.read the full story===> trent lott is an ass
Some people are horrible. What the hell is up with things like this happening? What are people THINKING?! I'm really frightened of the kind of people who are lurking in the world my Anna's going to grow up in. This is just... terrible.
try here.
i found this in my rarely used "favorites" folder on MIE.if you've got a spare hour to read and get mad, or at least re-think some things... some very big things, you should read it.
or, if spooky "JFK and ABE LINCOLN" similarities are your cup of tea, this might be a bit more interesting.
This poor guy.
Thinking about world events and the scary stuff going on everyday got me thinking about how much does happen all of the time, all the stuff that we, young as we mostly are, have lived through. maybe this should be another entree...holidays make for reflection-what, for example, do you remember of the gulf war? Or the fall of the Soviet Union? Iran- Contra? The question that we'll answer for our grandchildren, where were you when you found out about the WTC? Or all of the wars that have been going on all over this planet since humans decided that they didnt like to share. Strange to think about how easy it could have been for the world to have been blown up several times over by now...
Who are these people? brave new world
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_365440.html
I bet he really loves Frosted Flakes.
I see great opportunities for him as an animal safari host.Seriously, what's next, will he alter his voice so he actually sounds like a tiger?
No, he'll probably start peppering his code with savannaisms. Like $antelope = "eaten"; and my $pecking_order++; Ok, actually he probably already does that.
And don't let anyone know who you are. Or you won't be able to fly.
(re: flying) What's next in Bush's benevolent line of civil rights infringement? I feel like there are FBI cameras on me 24-7, nowadays.
but I'd rather be one the list and have a hefty file for speaking my mind about ignorance and abuse of power than to sit on the sidelines afraid of getting onto their list. Not that I've ever done anything radical enough to get on a list like that... but a part of me wishes I had.
I'm not sure why everyone feels the need to blame G.W. for the latest round of civil liberties infringement. This wouldn't bother me, except for the fact that these infringements are the result of a legislative action, not an executive one, so any animosity would be better directed at our Senators and Representatives. After all, the bill establishing the TSA, and therefore giving them the power to create the blacklist in question, passed in the House with only nine opposing votes (410 - 9) and in the Senate without any opposition (100 - 0). None of the Senators, and only nine Representatives thought the infringement was bad enough to vote against the bill. In case anyone is curious, here are the voting records for the Senate and House.
As far as being watched by FBI cameras is concerned, it got a lot easier for them with passage of the Homeland Security bill, opposed by a scant 9 votes in the Senate (90 - 9), and a somewhat more respectable 132 votes in the House (295 - 132). Voting records for the Senate and House.
I guess my point is just that it's really easy to blame the President because he's in the public eye and he pushed for passage of both bills, when consideration is hardly ever given to the fact that a bill could never make it to his desk without the affirmative votes of hundreds of other elected officials.
that the president has a whole lot less power than people think. i mean, sure bills go past his desk, and that whole commander-in-chief thing, but those are checked and balanced by a distribution of power to OTHER corrupt evil politicians. i have to say that im impressed with Bush, personally. i mean, this guy had EVERYONE hating him from the get go, and his approval rating is still quite respectable, and he really hasn't done any worse than the other men who have held the position. then again, i hate politics, and try to keep my head in the sand as much as possible.
I still want to get a shirt with a picture GW on it that reads in arabic "it's not my fault, i didn't vote for him" because i didn't, i voted for that other guy...no, not the one that was running the green party campaign (even though he owns the petrol company's stock), I mean the "real" third party candidate, Harry Brown.
I'm not even saying this to defend GW, because I really don't feel the need to do that... but I wonder how much better the recen loss of civil liberties would have been had Gore won. To be fair, I'm sure some of the racial profiling kind of stuff would have been better, and Arab-Americans would undoubtedly have been treated at least somewhat better by the government... but to you think that PATRIOT or Homeland Security or those things wouldn't have passed under Gore? As Jack said, feel free to examine the voting record if you want to continue to stand by your party.And this isn't even to discuss the fact that other laws, like the DMCA or the CTEA (different kinds of civil liberties) were passed under Clinton and that Congress... I think that people have largely lost sight of the spirit of civil liberty that was, at least originally, such a foundational aspect of American government and society.
And, yes, I know, in a lot of ways, we're still a freer society than many... but that's not really the point.
Nader owns stock in some Petrol company? I wonder if Jello Biafra will get nominated for the Green Party ticket next time around. Check out this former NPC graduate's column. He's got some interesting points
Alaric has a good point, but that shouldn't allow GW to abdicate all responsibility for the agenda he has pushed. Pedro, may be right the things under Gore after 9/11 would have been quite similar. We could play what-if games all day long but I would like to think that we wouldn't be holding american citizens without trial or access to a laywer; that we wouldn't be pushing so hard for a war with Iraq when I feel like we stopped caring about the war on terror; that we wouldn't be dismantling environmental policy and pushing to drill in AK and CO and UT and CA; that we wouldn't have a return to 'reaganomics'.... The problem with all this is that there is probably more merit to Jim's argument than I would want to believe.
Lukas, you're totally right about Iraq, and also totally right about the enviro stuff. (But those things are not specifically about the loss of U.S. citizen's civil rights.)On that subject, I'm pretty upset at the way that GW just seems to be inexorably pushing the country to war with Saddam... don't get me wrong; I think Saddam is a pretty bad guy, and probably *is* a menace to the west... but this whole game just makes me uncomfortable. You'd think if there was a smoking gun, we could have shown the world what it was by now.
It's such a cliche, but I think people are willing to give up their civil liberties to feel safe. Congress will vote on it and a president will sign these items because they see it as an easy way to gain political capital and they don't see it as affecting them personally. That's my thirty second deskchair analysis.
I s'pose I did fly off the handle a bit by blaming this all on G.W., as his power is minimal with checks and balances and so on. But, I staunchly believe that he & his cohorts cheated to win his position, and even as far as typically sleazy politicians go, that is REALLY an infringement upon the 19th ammendment and our privilege to vote. It makes me personally indignant that I took two busses in the cold to vote when it apparently made no difference, since it was all pre- ordainedly fixed by the powers that be. Both he and his father are quite the war-happy fellows, especially when it comes to the Middle East, and war typically boosts popularity ratings. War is always bad, but I don't understand the point behind this potential one at ALL. Like the Gulf War.Maybe this isn't the place to bare such personal opinions, but I gotta say it--I just don't trust the guy. Even less so that most politicians. In any case, Alaric, thank you for the interesting voting records for the House & Senate. I had an idea but was not aware of the actual numbers.
I think we should be free to discuss politics... after all, that was never verboten at George's.
Maybe I shouldn't be given that license, because who knows what things will spew, unchecked, from my mouth. But it's nice to know there is a free forum for expression still left in the world.
lets emember how supportive the democrats were in august of 1998 of clinton dropping bombs on iraq. at least then it was for a good reason- to divert attention away from... MONICA, MONICA, MONICA!both parties can eat it.
Look on the bright side, GWB has no son named George. So much for 3rd time's the charm.On the other hand I see this country as fairly out of control and amazed at the choices that our politicians make. I'm also amazed at the the choices that the american people have made about our politicians.
I myself have never voted because I have never seen a politician on a ballot that I thought deserved to be elected... well maybe one, but I was not a legal resident of NY at the time. I also would have felt funny voting for a friend.
YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH HILLARY?
It is submitting to evil, yes. But, I also feel that it is my responsibility as a moderately thinking individual to vote so that I could use my vote to effect change in the long run--translation: politicians don't care about what our generations care about because we never show up to vote for or against them. But, it is difficult to find a politician you want to support... Also, I do think that voting on local referendums and bond issues is important and meaningful...
I don't know why I read this little menu item, I had decided long ago that I would stay out of it, these things just piss me off and make me ill... But I just read a little news update on some of the goings on in Palestine, demolitions, walls being built between homes and agricultural areas... As I understand it Israel is building, with US aid, a wall around palestine to protect themselves, however, the wall isn't being built on any official boarders and thus usurps 10% the palestinian authoraties total ammount of land. Suposidly it is some of the most arable land as well. all the canned questions are comming to mind, why doesn't the media talk about this, Why can't we do something about it, why why why? I got no answers that aren't verging on racist or apocalyptic... I am really sick of being the little fish feeding off the bottom of this most repugnant cess pool some people proudly call America.oh, yeah, ulyssess, I aggree, the only difference between republicans and democrats is who they lie to to get in power, once they get there it's fuck the world and give me and my pals money.
ake-- the average "good" american doesn't want to hear what their tax dollars are paying for...Sometimes I think that if the apocalypse is coming it would be better sooner than later.
pretty much every generation who was waiting for an apocalypse thought it was going to be Real Soon Now...
if my understanding of the New Testament is clear at all than things aren't nearly bad enough for it to be the end of the world.... But, wouldn't it be nice if we could skip all of the really scary stuff, I mean what we have now seems quite bad enough... but that is because I am a frightened little child
Which brings us to the interpretation question regarding if John's prophesy was really about Rome, the Left Behind(r) series, or a little of both.
please direct any responses to the apocalyptic babble to "Theology Fried Rice."
i was watching a R.A.T.M. video the other day and they showed GW and in the next frame, a Rhesus Monkey. I swear they must be cousins. I suppose thought that if the documentary that my roomie (ulyssess00) watched the other night and we are all descended from africa then it kindof makes sense though, huh?whatever, i'm just being stupid.
my aunt just sent me this:"500 Employees
Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
* 29 have been accused of spousal abuse * 7 have been arrested for fraud * 19 have been accused of writing bad checks * 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses * 3 have done time for assault * 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit * 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges * 8 have been arrested for shoplifting * 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits * 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year
Can you guess which organization this is?
It's the 535 members of the United States Congress. The same group of Idiots that crank out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line."
i like that the word idiots is capitalized.
capitoized?heh heh me funny
It'd be funnier with the l.
okay, you got me...jeeze, and i thought my comp professor (3rd time around) was going to be difficult. yeah, capitolized.are you happy now, my blvd?
:-)
UpIn A Mug: holy smokes jay-z got murdered.
bo BoB187: what?
bo BoB187: when?
UpIn A Mug: tonite.
bo BoB187: sweet, beyonce is single
...that story is a hoax.
Reading that article should make you suspect its legitimacy within about 6 words.
i mean, the syntax is imcomprehensible. news articles are usually written to avoid any stumbling in reading, even erring on the side of ambiguity... hifuckinglarious...
I like that most of this forum has disappeared (of course it cold just be my computer). But the ways it's showing now, it looks like pedro and baggins are just talking crap about CNN, which of course is acceptable.
Is this the same computer that uly was complaining about? I haven't had any of these problems that you guys are recently talking about, but I have had weird issues in the past.
I gotsta love some conspiracy theory stuff. After all, it seems that the media is pretty much interested in feeding the ratings, not what is necessariy going on. Or maybe thats conspiracy talk, hehe. Speaking of the capitalized Idiots in power, how bout some Kissinger-Bush-Saudi connection stuff. /<why the war?> Plucked from a tabloid, all the way.
election polling in israel started an hour ago.THE LIKUD PARTY IS GOING DOWN!!!!!!
(yeah... right... and the democrats totally held congress in november...)
so....if you AREN'T planning on watching the state of the union adress...
check THIS out and you may want to re-think it.
ulyssess00, I feel like very few people that are so cynical ever make it past the realm of radio (i.e. Rush Limbaugh) or the internet (the drudge report, which is actually a bad example because he's on tv sometimes, although, it's just so he can look stupid).I really don't like it when our president says "We caught many Al Qaeda leaders...some though we didn't catch, but lets just say, they aren't a threat to the U.S. or our allies anymore". See, in spanish there is a verb "desaparacerse", to disappear oneself, or when a gov't thinks that someone is a threat they "disappear". Like when someone that a drug cartel doesn't like looks like he'll win an election in Colombia, he disappears, I really think that is a form of terrorism. But whatever, i know that i misunderstood him.
why does he speak as though he is a hero ready and capable of defending us himself? i don't even trust him to get through this speech without fucking something up. and those morons in the audience who continue to stand up and sit down when they want to applaud? they are liars.is anyone else watching this?
apparently he's been rehearsing his speech for several days. just to make sure he doesn't accidentally tell us the truth about what he's doing maybe.
okay, here's a question i'm curious about. bush wants to make tax cuts left and right, but he also wants to improve medical care and benefits. where does he want the funds to come from for those benefits? he seems to be stating a lot of generalities that any humane person could agree with: "people should not die of AIDS" "children should be able to read."
does anyone get the whole tax cut thing?
i'm skeptical.
he just doesn't come across as the most intelligent man, but you have to remember that very few people show their whole intellect when they speak in public. I mean, you can't blame everything that he's accomplished on his father. BTW, I'm only watching because i can't decide which movie to watch, and i'm too lazy to put a cd in the changer.
is that the "democratic response" was on right afterwards, like, chill the fuck out, the elections isn't for another year at least
ariel sharon got re-elected tonight, so here's to a few more years of killing palestinians. Fricking israel, i want my damn money back!
ariel sharon wasnt running for re-election. but his LIKUD party kicked some serious ass.ATTENTION ALL WEST BANK AND GAZA STRIP PALESTINIANS: LIFE IS STILL GOING TO TOTALLY SUCK REALLY REALLY BAD FOR A FEW MORE YEARS.
in other news, pakistan has announced that they're really pissed off that the US state department is making them look bad. so they're totally fighting fire with fire and requiring all americans travelling into pakistan to be fingerprinted and TESTED FOR AIDS.
TESTED FOR AIDS!?!?
way to go, lets piss off ANOTHER foreign country with a nuclear weapons program.
neoacerbitas, I'm with you on the democratic response. It seems to me that it'd be smarter for them to wait at least until the next day before issuing an official statement, so that they can actually hear the speech first. I understand the draw of putting your message out while all of the major networks have taken time out of regular programming, but it just comes across as silly and pointless when you listen to a person refuting statements that were never made.
when what we get in return is a Committee on Disarmament chaired by Iraq, and the Commission on Human Rights chaired by Libya?
I missed it??? I didn't even know about it...shows how connected I am to the world. I always try to watch G.W. speak because it is high comedy indeed.This leads me to the disclaimer that anything I express on here about politics is mostly personal opinion. I am poorly informed, largely by choice. I don't read the paper, I don't watch television at ALL, except for Joe Millionaire, which will soon be over for the season--trag--so I never even saw a news commercial about it. Damn.
yo cinnamongirlare your bosses down with sharon and the likud's or are they more labor party or one of the other parties kind of guys?
in other news...
an ONASIS turned 18 and got a few bil.
I will talk to them about it because I am curious to know myself, but most of the office is out on Weds. However, I will keep you posted. I know that when Sharon initially got elected even some of the more hard-cores around here were a little wary of his heavy handed-ness and apparent lack of remorse in regards to violence. But now that's he's in and doing what's "best" for Israel, as many people think (regardless of those who get trampled in the process), I think most American Jews think of him favorably...apparently Israelis do too as they re-elected him. It's a scary situation...no peaceful negotiations are going to be able to be made until the Palestinians feel with a sense of security that they are given a chance to create a state, and the terrorist attacks are something they feel is one of few options available in the face of a much larger army. I sympathize with both sides, but I must say it gets tiresome to hear only one side of the conflict all day at work. And no way could I speak honestly on my opinions--I'd probably get fired, or at least everyone in the office hating me.
a guy thats not even from my country is congratulating the president on how he's spending money on other countries. Admittedly it is for a good cause, but it's sill funny to me. BONO, a man from the land of eire, is happy with us, good. Why the hell does he get face time with the president (for free i'm sure) when i have to cough up a couple grand just to go to some god damned presidential dinner just so that i can be in the same room with the nitwit?not to stereotype but, i hear he has a tendancy to show up drunk to the whitehouse, but i can't remember where i heard that so i'm just going to go ahead a start a rumor.
European leaders rally behind U.S.Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Denmark and the Czech Republic have all signed a declaration of solidarity with the U.S. Which is great, I guess?
War
Huh!
What iiiiis it good for?
An RAF Nimrod also took part in the operation.not only was that the best out of context line i found, it was an entire paragraph, all by itself. The article was about a ferry that was drifting between ireland and wales, a nimrod is a helicopter or something (RAF means Royal Air Force).
I hate politics, and that's that.
cause politics are everywhere wether you like it or not.bono is a citizen of the world, who has been a lot more succesful with capturing the hearts and minds of people world wide than GW will ever be.
bono realizes the unique position he is in. bono has decided to use this unique position for some good.
AIDS kills a shitload of people every day. like five or six world slave trade towers full. americans and non-americans. when these people die from AIDS, you have to keep in mind that THESE PEOPLE DIE.
american money comes from american taxes, yes. and while we have quite an AIDS problem here, its nowhere near the size of the problem in africa. but lets not pretend that we dont have our dick in the pudding here.
we owe africa big and we are the RICHEST AND MOST POWERFUL NATION IN THE WORLD.
tom, the next time you write joshua tree, i'm sure you'll be invited to the white house.
to show up drunk too.ulyssess00 you just don't get me, it's the whole you do dishes to get them done, i do dishes to get them clean thing. See, you weren't understanding me, i wasn't criticizing bush's actions, they're very good, I would even vote for someone that would help the world like this. My problem is that I'm a citizen of the United States of America, I have to pay money to get to meet my president. I realise that we are the RICHEST AND MOST POWERFUL NATION IN THE WORLD and i didn't say we weren't, but what does this make us? Why should we be everybody's sugar daddy, if we can't even keep the guy down the street from coming and smoking his crack in our living room?
I'm not even going to talk about AIDS in this post because I didn't in my first. So, lets hear what you have to say about foreign nationals getting to meet the prez before we do and your post will make some sense.
That Bono has a larger political impact and relevance than I do, and that the President of the United States of America is free to associate with whomever he pleases. Be it known therefore that I, Peter A. Peterson II of sound mind and body do hereby relinquish my right as a 'Merkin Citizen to stand infront of furrin' nationals such as this Sonny Bono fellow on the grounds of my birthright.
you and personal taste for defusing things
com ed printed up their bills, unbeknownst to them the website they posted wasn't their own, but that of a porn site. i couldn't find a link though, so i grant you permission to ignore this.
So, just so everyone knows, the animal was a victim of abuse, and i am not condoning that abuse nor abuse towards any animal. I simply think it's funny that someone absconded with an elephant, they say there a very few left in wilds of germany...So, basically the gist of this is that this circus owner in germany wasn't taking care of his elephants, one had to be put down and then he ran away with the other. The site says that a police spokesperson said "she could be transported in an unmarked lorry or hidden in any large stable". Another stated "if they could not find such a large animal it would not say much for their powers of detection." Apparently the police have had no luck in their search, I'm sure this is a conspiracy, they may be able to turn something up if they scour jimmy carter's travel records in their nation.
NELSON MANDELA is calling GW out!!!he doesnt have all his facts straight, but like i said... we americans have got our collective dick in the pudding when it comes to africa. and mandela knows it.
this is a man who was serving a life sentance for saying "black people should be able to serve office in a black country," while GW was railing fat lines of coke off the bar in his YALE frat house.
get the BBC version, too.
The NYTimes has a poignant editorial on Iraq written by a former senior policy analyst at the CIA. A little light on the details perhaps, but it raises some interesting points. Stupid free registration required.
...that when Bush entered the House chamber for the State of the Union, Bombs Over Baghdad should have been blasting on a loudspeaker system. It might just have been the straw the broke the camel's back and scared Saddam into coming clean on his weapeons programs. It's what I would have done, and I wouldn't have given a rat's ass what the intellectuals thought of me, because the public would have loved me.Mandela needs to get the facts straight before he opens his mouth. One power?
Why the hell is the most common argument against war on Irag "becasue France doesn't think it's a good idea"? Can someone explain that to me?
north korea launched a new anti-US propaganda campaign.check out a very interesting slideshow of the posters starting here.
what npr tells me is that france is a major reason not to go to war because they have placed themselves in a very similar position [though it was vague what that specific situation was - someone here probably knows] and it turned out pretty fucked up for everyone. plus, france being a major ally of the u.s. within the u.n. it would be much more diplomatic if we had the support of our allies. but pretty much the u.s. is forcing our allies to agree on war. actually, i'm not even sure it's in question anymore [or rather, i'm not sure g.w. views it as a question of if, but rather, how soon, ma?].that might be totally off base, but i think it makes a little sense at least. hey, it's a start.
vietnam? I don't know. I'm just asking.
Okay, I've been to Paris, I've worked with French diplomats and French troops . . .and I here must obey the Ma Dictum that if one has nothing nice to say . . .I tend to stay out of this entree, though I read it, for reasons that should be obvious to those of you who know what I do now, what I came from recently, and what I'm working toward.
But France makes good burgundy and killer apple brandy, and pretty much should be ignored on global affairs.
Having read NPR, I think they are making the comparison with Vietnam for the U.S, and the French role in losing the conflict a decade earlier when it was still Indochina. It's not a valid comparison, trust me. France lost because of colonialism--the last piece of the puzzle in Southwest Asia, formerly dominated by Britain and France, falling into place. The equation with us as 1950's France and Iraq as Indochina is not valid.
I also tend to think that NPR has it's rose-colored glasses and stenciled hiphuggers out from the drawer where they've been resting for thirty years. Ok, we've had demonstrations, sure--but the country has not yet been fused by casualties, the draft, and a clear program of disinformation aimed at our own people.
just as americans tend to differ from the american government, it probably isn't a stretch to believe that the french are not the french government. so if you don't like the french people, that doesn't necessarily mean much about their government.
This is not meant so much as a rebuttal, but an observation: I think the American government tends to reflect the citizenry a little more than we want to admit. I would never do such a thing!
and he could roll a joint soooo fast it wasn't even funny, and well too.
Evidently French DIPLOMATS ( and troops) i.e. Representatives of Their Government? . . . .France tends to listen to its people as well as America does; sometimes in my opinion a little too much more than the USA does.
So does Germany. Witness the brilliant reverse-field political move their Chancellor pulled off by switching from a hawk to a dove on the eve of the election, and winning the election thereby on the strength of realizing his people's overwhelming sentiment of avoiding war.
the diffuser around?
...not that France (or for that matter, the French) is necessarily wrong, it was that no one in the anti-war movement seems to be able to put the argument into their own words and present a viable alternative, so they're reduced to pointing at France and Germany and saying, "yeah, what they said." I suppose exile has been mentioned a couple of times (in my opinion, the only viable non-war option), but I don't think there's any chance of Saddam relinquishing power, he's got too much to lose by doing so.lieutenant, is correct in pointing out that France's experience in Indochina is not really useful in examining the current situation. For anyone interested in learning more about it, I recommend this book.
bush and hussein should play a game of poker. no limit hold em freeze-out.
If Bush's poker face is anything like that dog-face (sincerity?) that he often makes... I don't want to see it. Also, I don't know that I want to test Bush's intelligence in that fashion...
However, I do have one positive thing to say about Bush, I thought that his speech after the Columbia disaster (stupid sincere face aside- I closed my eyes) was pretty nice.
The New Republic has an editorial questioning Stephen Pelletiere's revisionist history. It was written in response to this editorial that lukas posted last friday.
that's why instead of Bush, it would be ME playing against Hussein for all the chips. i'd bust his ass in a heartbeat. (or maybe just on a heart flush)
I'm inclined to agree with The New Republic on that issue. Thanks for posting that Jack, even if I did have to finally break down and register there.
Here's a good editorial on Bush that I think pretty much everyone can enjoy, or at least think about:
Tenet: North Korea has ballistic missile capable of hitting U.S.
North Korea scares me A LOT more than Iraq. A close second is India/Pakistan where we are one short coup away from nuclear war. North Korea scares me because if they continue to process nuclear material to stick in missiles then japan is going to want to have some nukes for deterrent and china won't want to be left out and all of a sudden you've got a arms race in southeast asia featuring two governments we know very little about. I'm skeptical about the capabilities of an untested 3-stage Taepo Dong 2. But the 2 stage could easily reach targets in SE asia and possibly HI or AK. As I read furthur down in an article on Tenet's remarks I find that he is probably talking from 2001 intelligence so I wonder if it's a move to shore up support for Star Wars 2.
India/Pakistan also freaks me out because they expelled each other's diplomats AGAIN and I don't think it would take much to spark all out war in that region. Imagine what would hapen if there wasa coup in Paksitan and suddenly their government was run by hard-line islamic millitants. Probably won't happen but there are people in both governments who don't appear to be afraid of pushing the proverbial button. There's my 2 minute armchair analysis...
both india and pakistan have huge collective boners just thinking about being nucler superpowers.funny that the only time this issue was covered somewhat extensivly by the US media was right after the ENRON story broke...
hmmmm....
They prosecute people for war crimes. I supposed you could not care because, well, it's belgium, home of ale, but they have brought war crimes charges against: Yasser Arafat, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, and Laurent Gbagbo. In a ruling by their supreme court, belgium has now "paved to way" to prosecute Ariel Sharon for war crimes, specifically a massacre in the Lebanon. Israeli FM Binjamin Netanyahu is quoted as saying that belgium is "helping to harm not only Israel but also the entire free world" to which he (they? Israel?) will "respond with severity" suggesting that maybe the belgians shouldn't go to israel for vacation lest they want to put into camps. Shimon Peres made the statement "Belgium cannot be Israel's judge. It has not gone through [the same things] as Israel and cannot judge history" Maybe suggesting that two wrongs make a right.
390,000 people from England and Wales selected "Jedi" as their religion. I wonder if lucas gets royalties for that? A petition circulated prior to the 2001 census urging people to "Do it because you love Star Wars... or just to annoy people,".
Maybe it's just me, but i think they should spend more time, say, at the dentist then at home thinking they're jedis>
here's the story
A correction in today's New York Times reads...Because of an editing error, a front-page article yesterday about diplomatic developments in the Iraq crisis misidentified the Bush administration official who said about the weapons inspectors in Iraq, "At some point it will become obvious that it's time for them to go." It was an administration official speaking on condition of anonymity, not Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
that's an awesome oopsie! No really it wasn't her! It was this anonymous person! REally!!
BREAKING NEWS ON POSSIBLE TERROR ATTACKS
...so little Tommy always cried "wolf" even when there weren't any wolves around, and sometimes when he only thought that maybe there could be a wolf, or sometimes when one of his friends said that he heard there was a wolf coming. Eventually people stopped listening to Tommy, because his predictions and fearmongering never amounted to anything, and they figured he must just be looking for attention or trying to be important.And then one night two packs of hungry, rabid wolves descended on the town and ate all the sheep and several children of various colors and economic statuses. And then the people of the town naturally banished Tommy for not paying attention and warning them. (Some of them even suspected that Tommy knew the wolves were coming and let them come!)
The End.
that part is inevitable.
ulyssess00: your post seems to suggest that when the federal government tells the public the latest intelligence on possible terrorist attacks is "the most specific we have seen", they are just crying wolf. Bullshit. If another terrorist attack were to happen tomorrow and the government had failed to raise the warning level and notify the public of this intelligence, the ensuing outcry would be deafening. And if nothing happens tomorrow or the next day? Great! That only means more innocent people are still alive. I, for one, would rather have the government encourage me to prepare for the worst-case scenario at the risk of never making use of the preparations, than to lull me into a false sense of security, risking the lives of thousands.
i'm not saying the federal government is doing anything wrong in this case. they're doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing prior to 9/11. i am just making the point that post-9/11 america is a weird fucking place to live, and no matter how good a job the government does, the effectivness on the american public wares off each time. so what? the public are idiots, right?but most of all, i was just making a stupid joke. nothing more.
laugh you bastards.
my dad can beat up your dad!
Now that we've all laughed, I'd like to point out three things:
- "The public" includes you, me, and everyone else. Don't get all high and mighty with me, mister.
- World events are no laughing matter
- neoacerbitas, yeah? well...well...you're dumb!
ok i really dont want a flame war ensuing....1. i DO include myslef in the public, and i love my country.
2. sorry, but anything can be a laughing matter... just as long as you keep what is factual straight and what is jest, in jest.
3. i will refrain from further "jokes" on this entree.
Did you even see what point two was linked to? Give me a fucking break.
a failure to recognize that not every "tommy" cries wolf, this is a generalization, and a god damned one at that. More to the point is that we shouldn't use the wolf analogy because if anyone is the boy crying wolf in this situation it would be us...or maybe japan. You know that if the gov't didn't tell us about 99% of every threat they knew about, they'd be kennedy'd (you know, killed or at least put in a position of disrespect by all citizens) real fast. Although, i do feel like they can only tell us so much like, if they knew that every transamerica building in the u.s. was a target for later today, could they tell us something that specific, i mean, huge riots would ensue. I don't know, but if someone doesn't take the initiative to just chill the fuck out, we'll all be fucked, except for new zealand.
i awoke this morning with two phone messages from people back in arizona regading some people dying in a night club.quite a tragedy.
Someone cleaned out 123 of the 160 vaults in the diamond district of Antwerp, Belgium. Certainly no small feat considering the security measures. Link
that "britons have been told to leave iraq"?
first off, NO SHIT! why haven't they left already?
second off here's the link
That diamond heist is nuts! It's a movie script just waiting to be written!
I was talking the other day about post-saddam iraq and how things could get real ugly and today I ran across an article in London's Observer written by an exiled iraqi opposition leader on the very subject jack and I were discussing. I haven't read it all yet, but it appears to be worth reading.
CNN reports that four teachers were stoned to death for casting an "evil spell" that has killed 68 people so far.
Neal Pollack vents some steam and tells war writers and poets to Just Shut Up.This isn't really an event per se, but it pertains to the discussion of world events, so I'll put it here. Besides, I think it's just me, Tom, Grady, and Lukas who read this entree, and I figured you guys might find it funny.
don't always have something to post though.
did you guys hear about the Great White show on the east coast? a pyrotechnic in their first song of the set went awry, and the whole place went up in flames, and over 80 people have died from the resulting chaos that resulted from this panicked flee. casualties include Great White guitarist... whatever-his-name-was.
on a flight from saudi arabia, on quatar airlines somehow thought there was a bomb onboard the plane, so the plane made and emergency landing...if it hadn't for the fact that she was "european" i would suggest that maybe she got worried about seeing arabs on the flight, you know, like how it happens here...anyway, i though that was kindof funny just cause i'm an asshole and stupid american shit compared to almost stupid european shit is funny to me
a;ldkja;lsdkjfa; so you can read the story about the "female european passenger"
but it's ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING about this nine year old girl that got raped, and got pregnant from being raped.....she was quoted as saying that she didn't want to have the baby because she didn't want to have to share her toys...my god, what is wrong with this world? Well, she had and abortion,which i think is a good thing, just don't tell anyone okay?
THAT HE'S BLACK, NOT MAORI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bluhbluh, gurgle gurgle
THAT HE'S BLACK, NOT MAORI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bluhbluh, gurgle gurgle
What are you on this morning?
fine malt liquor...still...somehow from last night...i'm on windows too...crashes more than mac os ever did
I guess there's no hunting on church property.
I also read this entree. And I agree with alaric. Everyone needs to shut up. For or against, it ain't stoppin' now, barring some sort of divine intervention.
to quote alaric: "Don't get all high and mighty with me, mister."i am fortunate enough to live in a country where i don't have to be TOLD to shut up. sure, i'll be the first to admit it, pro- or anti- war protesters sure as hell can be annoying, and if i had $0.02 for each person's two cents i had to hear on the topic i'd be able to fill my gas tank for once. but annoyance is one of the prices you pay for freedom. so buck up.
statements like "For or against, it ain't stoppin' now, barring some sort of divine intervention," ring grossly ignorant and unamerican in my ears. fuck that. i'm every bit as american as donald rumsfeld is. if war is going to waged in the name of america, and i see such a war as uneeded and unjust, i have every fucking right to scream at the top of my lungs, "NOT IN MY NAME!!!" regardless of who it annoys.
don't get me wrong, the article jack posted was great. very well done. nothing irks me more than over-argued points and bad op-ed peices. but if you can sift through all that dribble, you mind find there is important dialogue beneath it all. wether you're pro- or anti- war, you have to realize that shit is a little kooky right now. there are about a billion elements to it all, and we as a country need to take the time to sort it out and let that dialogue occur.
and damn it, dont forget how many totally fucking rad things happened in this country because people refused to shut up. people in china get told to shut up and its a sad, sad country as a result.
also- bad poetry will always exist, regardless of political climate.
said the little bird who reads this entree faithfully, but gets too flustered to make any sane contribution....
First off, I'd like to point out that I never actually told anyone to shut up. That said, I do agree with a lot of Neal's points, specifically that there are far too many editorials out there on both ends of the spectrum that say nothing. Yes, after sifting through the crap a dialog becomes discernable, but a new point hasn't been raised since Powell's speech to the UN, so they're basically just talking to hear their own voices. This practice is exactly what I alluded to in an earlier post, asking why war critics can't come up with a reason other than "France doesn't think it's a good idea."
ulysses00, you do have the right to stand up and scream "not in my name", just as Neal Pollack has to right to stand up and tell writers of bad war related editorials and poems to "just shut up." There is a gigantic difference between someone telling you to shut up in America and someone telling you to shut up in China, and that is in China the sentiment is punctuated with the threat of prison and/or a gun to your head, something that doesn't happen in America.
There is still one chance of the war not happening. If Saddam steps down from power and goes into exile, war won't be necessary. Short of that or divine intervention, nothing will stop it.
Lastly, yes, bad poetry would still exist without the current political climate, but that crap would not garner the same national recognition it now enjoys if it wasn't for the subject matter playing on people's uncertainty and fear.
well said, jack.i am in agreement with you on pretty much all points.
yet, you can call me an idealist, but i still maintain that war can be stopped if enough americans (screw the french) stand up and say "we dont have to kill people here to get oil, put an illigally-elected president down as a hero in the history books, satisfy the damnds of a severely corrupt israel, continue the way out-dated imperalist adgenda, and further the downward spiral of angry muslim nations vs. hawkish westerners."
war kills innocent people. that totally sucks, dude.
idealist, i know. i await my scolding.
i don't have problems with people protesting and stuff, that's a wonderful part about living in a country where people don't vote, and have to make up for it later (not that it's the case here, I'M NOT SAYING THAT ABOUT THE CURRENT PROTESTS BECAUSE I KNOW THAT WE HAD NO IDEA THAT SOME EFFER WAS GONNA EFF WITH OUR EFFING SHIZZNIT SO DON'T PREACH TO ME ABOUT IT please), but if we really want to make a change we'll have to get hella more people to protest, we'd have to get like, a seventy million anti-war protester march in washington before we (they) make any headway. That's the thing, itwon't change until the majority of the people will it too. (full stop)
Just also to clarify, I should have said I agree with the sentiments that caused alaric to post the article by someone else. That being said, Jack's right. The only way that war will be averted is if a dictator steps down, or his people rise and remove him, the very possibility of which he has committed most of his human rights abuses since 1979 to prevent, and expended such terror that his tiny minority controls the masses. Which at this point is divine intervention.I defy anyone on this ole BBS to find me an example of where a dictator comparable to Hussein has stepped down. I also throw down a general challenge to anyone to read up on the 10 years immediately preceding the outbreak of hostilities in Pre-War I Europe and tell me if they don't see parallels.
And also, I move we ban the use of the word ignorant as a knee-jerk reaction to opinions. Say you disagree, say I don't agree, don't insult. (See pedro's diary entry for his vision on how this should work.) That was probably unintentional--at least I hope so , especially considering the nature of what field and what position in which I've spent the last three years. I have no actual foreknowledge of events--if I did, I would not be trumpeting it about on this board--innocent lives--but in general experience, to use a metaphor, the rip in the cord of the sword of Damocles is just about finished.
What I am sick of is bleating. Unceasing, innumerable bleating from both sides. "No war, Yes war, I will not send them/In a boat with green eggs and ham, Bush is a dictator too, Nuke Florida--They Started This Whole Mess" That's why I agree with the article that everybody needs to shut up. I need to shut up. I need to pray for peace, and if anyone--ANYONE--finds inappropriateness in a career soldier praying for peace, then you can come to Kosovo or Bosnia or Macedonia with me, and spend some time in orphanages and health clinics manned by soldiers from a variety of nations, all of whom desperately want peace. It is the soldier's fervent wish not to be needed and to train passionately against the fear that someday they will indeed be needed.
Lives already have changed; 125,000 of them away from home, family, and loved ones, with more to come. Some of them will never come home. Most of them, if not all, if I read the country right, will find that home has changed in their absence, while they were out serving those who don't support them, hate their very existence, don't exercise their blood-soaked right to vote in democratic elections, or even take the ultimate stand for principle and go live somewhere else.
I had five messages on my voice mail this week and three emails. All were from friends. One's wife had been verbally abused in a parking lot--she had been told "I hope your husband dies". One was from a good friend and squad mate. One was from our platoon sergeant. All ended with asking for a call and asking for prayer. They are all afraid, but they will go. I am afraid as well. I am afraid for the future of this country and I am afraid that I will be making the first official visits of my career as part of a notification team.
So . .. there is no summary here. Just some thoughts with a bitter pickle and burnt chips.
i apologize for using the word "ignorant."but that's how i react when i hear sentiments like "THIS WAR IS INEVITABLE." i pray right along side you that it is not.
assholes who say things like "i hope your husband dies" to the wife of a servicemen need to get their shit straight.
shut up indeed.
iraqi children or american soldiers, i dont want anyone to die. and so i am against any invasion of iraq.
In regards to war, I agree with Matt. It's going to take Hussein stepping down to avert the war. That, at this point, may take divine intervention. It certainly takes prayer, from people on both sides - those who support the war and those against it. Matt, I cannot beleive someone said they hope your friend's husband dies. You know, if/when the war begins, I will have no respect for people who abuse members of the armed forces in such a way. They deserve all the love, prayers, and support they can get. The decision to fight is not theirs, though it was their decision to serve, and it really upsets me when people act agressively to those who are not in charge of making the decisions. The best thing anti-war people can do is pray. The best thing pro-war people can do is pray. And I think the power of that, and the power of God, shouldn't be underestimated. Gosh, I sound like such a prude, but I am completely serious.Though, my own opinion about war is to go in there, go in there quickly, and do it as fast as possible with as much backing from the rest of the world as possible. That will accomplish the objective - getting rid of a horrible dictator who is at this moment probably selling the stuff that was supposed to be destroyed to terrorists to use against civilians everywhere - and if it's done fast, it will minimize the loss of civilian life, in the long run. Remember: this is the man who had his own SON executed. I can't even comprehend the evil that lies within him. Then humanitarian aid can be restarted to the Iraqui (is that how you spell that?) people, and their country can begin to be rebuilt without the dictatorship.
with lieutenant we should nuke florida because either
1)they aren't smart enough to figure out the ballot
or
2) they're too old to read the thing clearly...so we can just save my ass some social security huh?
anyway, gore conceded the election so it's his own damn fault anyway.
Nuking Florida was a joke, in case any of my bosses are reading this
so, what i can muster really isn't what lieutenant was looking for, but it's possibly the closest in existence...after Francisco Franco (dic. of spain) died, king Juan Carlos regained power and chose a higher up in franco's regime to be the PM, so the first thing he did was hold elections in their senate or whatever as to what to do with themselves...they then voted franco's government out of existence, which was okay because technically there was a king around to "rule", so, that's as close as it gets
the bbc site is unreachable since last night so i can't tell you the stupid happenings of the world...i can't send email either but, that's not important
before i forget they're testing and AIDS vaccine, it's only had limited success, though more success than before, and much more success with asian and black people.
neoacerbitas, I see that the bbc is back up now, but during future outages you might find solace in the International Herald Tribune. Also, Google News picks up articles from a lot foreign sources.
the story shows a picture of the petronas towers, world tallest building, from the worlds largest slum...slightliy ironic, but it goes with the story
Tom, you get bonus points for that. I had indeed forgotten that one, which was a good sign for the world in general, clearing up one of the last remaining bad ill effects of the rise and fall of fascism and totalinarian states from the 1930's. Good for you.
is that i wouldn't have remembered that except that i'm trying to finish up a class from last YEAR so that i can graduate and stuff...let's see now, in other news...
- alligator rips off womans arm
- the america's cup yacht race has beenthretened by terrorists. I find this troubling because the race isn't like, high profile or anything, you have to be really rich or snooty (that's my excuse) to know about it, it's not like it's on the tele.
- N. Korea's hole is getting bigger
- condom gem theft foiled
i guess that's about all so far today, some of that stuff is pretty funny too...
It is on Tv, but usually somehwere around 4 a.m.
Wasn't that about the America's cup? (That's about as close to the sport as I've been.)
broadcasts the americas cup, but that's cable.blvdgirl yes, wind is about the america's cup
not me.
so, since you know about america's cup being on the tele, do you have cable? If you do, do you have espn, and espn speedvision? and perhaps would you not mind say, me and my buddy caseofbeer coming over to watch yachting and/or formula one racing? My friends is extremely giving... :-)
caseofbeer always tends to catch a ride with me to parties, then disappears at the party before i have a chance to enjoy his company.
thats probably my fault.(does anyone remember how Hemingstein and Dave C-son used to affectionalty refer to their friend Dennis?)
no
i do have a few uncles from kentucky: jack, mark etc. and an old grand-dad
finally, someone found a use for a washing machine
i put some shit up in worldweird interwerble hobomatic stewer
I would not mind at all if you cam over, but unfortunately I am moving to Naperville in three weeks, and that kind of puts a damper on things. But me, my cable, my HDTV, and sports galore, will only be 45 minutes away, or 1.5 hours by metra (that includes CTA travel time to get to the metra). So feel free. I don't know what channels I have because I have a black box, get them all, and still watch mostly network TV, bizarre how that works.
D'oh
Ulysses brought back some good memories with his reference to Hemingstein and Dave's friend, Dennis.Aaron and I also had a running joke which referred to Dennis as Riding the White Van. One night when we were studying in England these unknown guys stopped and asked me where St. Hilda's college was. It turns out they were some random Canadian band and were playing at a dance at St. Hilda's. That is an all girls' college in Oxford. I told them I couldn't really describe how to get there, but I took a class there and would show them the way if they'd give me a ride to town. Yes, I know I am extremely stupid to get in a van with strange men, but they were young and seemed nice. They also had North American accents, which I missed. In a town as small as Oxford, it is hard to get lost, but I got all of us VERY lost, and they were late for their gig. It may have had something to do with the fact that Dennis was in the van with us.
Immediately after Riding the White Van, I showed up for High Table (no pun intended), which is what they call supper in the stuck-up Oxford system. It's this very solemn occasion and you even have to don a black gown before you come into the dining hall. Oldpossums and Hemingstein had to baby-sit me throughout the meal so I wouldn't do anything inappropriate in my state. I wish those basts were on here more often, as no one else has any idea what this story is about, but that was a fun meal. English food is so awful, even with the aid of Dennis I only enjoyed the ice cream they had for dessert.
My days with Dennis are long over, but sometimes I miss him a little.
Does this count as a World Event, since I was in England when it happened?
My problem is that Dennis has long term effects on me, he has a tendency to not leave me alone for hours at a time after I only talked to him once or twice, and let me tell you when you are zoned out hardcore wandering around the red light district in Amsterdam and have no idea how long you've been doing so, it gets a little alarming.
The Big One
no not THAT al-queda guy, the other.
british gas company bills man 2.3 trillion pounds sterling.
It was a bill for electricity.
...that's the problem with space heaters.
why is british gas in the electricity business? it must be a yankee thing... ;-)
a yankee thing to not understand... (then the wink) ;-)
gas prices
at his laptopdude! you shot a dell!
I know that WorldNetDaily is a very conservative media outlet, but this was an interesting article: Saddam Saved from Abortion by Jews. This could obviously be a pro-israel/anti-saddam/pro-life fabrication... but it's interesting to read about recent history of Jews in Iraq. I'd be interested in seeing some other accounts of this story, or refutations.
John Walker Lindh got jumped by a neo-nazi.
so, all the major networks just interrupted their usual programming to beam us live footage of today's UN briefing.i find it interesting (on a number of levels) that NBC and CBC are showing the russian and french replies, but that FOX cut back to jerry springer after colon powell was done....
Fidel Castro got re-elected the other day. He, of course, stood unopposed.
the possible upcoming war in Iraq, it is important to support the service men and women who don't make the decisions, but go where they are sent. In that spirit, here is a way to show support to them.
I'm not sure if this is the appropriate entree in which to post this, but at any rate, it needs to be read.
As I read that, I hoped I had been linked to The Onion and hadn't noticed. Je ne peut pas le croire!
french fries are belgian and french toast was invented by an american whose last name was french
Far be it from me to question the accuracy of information that has been formally posted on the internet, but I think French toast is, in fact, French. The culinary tome The Joy of Cooking notes that the French do serve the same dish, only they call it pain perdu (i.e. "lost bread") and eat it for dessert.Now, since the French have a name that is so logical--whereas the English name is pretty arbitrary--it seems awfully likely that some Brit or American got the idea for French toast in France and did not ascribe his own surname to the dish. The reason the name makes so much sense en francais is that French toast is best made with stale bread. (NB: This suggests that the website given above not only got the story wrong, but got the recipe wrong, too!) Also, the fact that the French usually eat bread with every meal makes it plausble that a Frenchman (or woman) would be inspired to create a recipe for salvaging the leftovers. Necessity, after all, is the mother of invention.
If you've been living your whole life with the sorry Americanized version that calls for slices of white bread, you owe it to yourself to buy a baguette (or a loaf of real French bread, i.e. white bread from the bakery with a thick crust), let it sit for a couple of days and get real hard and dry, then cut slices about an inch or an inch and a half thick and substitute that for the Wonder bread you normally use. Just make sure the egg mixture soaks all the way in, or else it will be dry in the middle. Cook it on medium-low heat so the center isn't runny and the edges don't burn. Also, use the fattiest milk you have, and strike the pepper from the recipe in question. That guy must be on crack.
can you boycott a country? if there is someone we should boycott it is anna nicole smith.
it's 12:50... do you know where your mother is?
great article, pedro.
Husbands lose things more often than wives. It's my SuperPower - the ability to find lost keys, socks, phones, etc faster than anyone else in the house.
I would resent that if I knew where I put my resentment . .dammit, it's around here somewhere . . .
Don't you just hate how it's always in the last place you look?
now children can build bombs too...always in the last place that you look.
he must have seen The Manhattan Project a few too many times, which, incidentally is a great movie, or at least I thought so in junior high.
That is actually a true story.
