Friday, December 31, 2004

Bye bye Passport... and good riddance.

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Microsoft's Passport fails to travel far as Web strategy

I dropped Hotmail a few years ago when they started that Passport crap. It's not a bad idea, but it's /such/ a bad idea from Microsoft. No one wants to trust that kind of info to a company that can't make software securely. Now if Google tried it...

Creepy

Jessica Simpson: Jessica Simpsons Virgin Vow

JESSICA SIMPSON's father JOE made the singer promise to stay a virgin until she married, during a ceremony when she was twelve.

Simpson sr, who doubles as Jessica's manager, handed the 24-year-old a promise ring and vowed to be the only man in her life until she married.

He explains, "I'm going to tell you how beautiful you are every day. Even when you make a mistake, you are someone special. And I am going to be that person until the day you find a man to do that in my place."

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Ohio Official Refuses Interview Over Vote

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Ohio Official Refuses Interview Over Vote

You have got to be kidding me! Way to feed the conspiracy theorists Blackwell. I can't think of a better way to drum up publicity for the people protesting the Ohio results... unless you are really hiding something.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Free FM radio!

CNN.com - Pirate radio calls for inauguration protests - Dec 22, 2004

You gotta love "pirate" radio. The subjugation of the FM band to the FCC is a crime against free speech. Vast swaths of it remain unused and those that are belong Clear Channel, and the FCC sits there and protects their monopoly.

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Now that's a bank robbery

Gun threats and kidnap: how raiders netted £30m as shoppers strolled past

TimesDispatch.com | Mosul attack kills 24, wounds 64

TimesDispatch.com | Mosul attack kills 24, wounds 64

Damn.

KR Washington Bureau | 12/20/2004 | Harsh interrogations in Iraq went beyond FBI standards, memo says

KR Washington Bureau | 12/20/2004 | Harsh interrogations in Iraq went beyond FBI standards, memo says

More "isolated incidents" of us torturing people. C'mon people we're Americans. We don't do this crap.

Check this out:

"We have also instructed our personnel not to participate in interrogations by military personnel which might include techniques authorized by executive order but beyond the bounds of FBI practices," the top FBI official in Iraq reported to bureau officials in Washington. The FBI official wasn't named in the memo.

The memo includes several references to an "executive order" signed by President Bush, but the two government officials said that was an error and that the reference was to Defense Department directives.

White House officials also said the memo's reference to an executive order from the president was a mistake.

"No such executive order exists or has ever existed," said Frederick Jones, a spokesman for the National Security Council.


So the "top FBI official in Iraq" doesn't know the difference between an Executive Order and a Defense Department directive? Seems a little fishy to me.

EPIC 2014

EPIC 2014

Future history.

Monday, December 20, 2004

Jeri Ellsworth -- naked and petrified

Google Search: jeri ellsworth

Not really, but she's my newest "it" geek girl. She designed a "C64 in a joystick" emulator from the ground up. She's also teh hot in an elfin geek sort of way. So I dub her N&P.

Jeri if you happen across this ego surfing. I'm not stalkerish or anything. No really... I'm not.

Fallujah in Pictures

Fallujah in Pictures

Is back up. It's gruesome but so is war.

Favorite Neil Young lyrics

NEIL YOUNG LYRICS - Only Love Can Break Your Heart from the LP After the Goldrush:

"I have a friend
I've never seen
He hides his head
inside a dream
Someone should call him
and see if he can come out.
Try to lose
the down that he's found."

course this little bit of Cripple Creek Ferry runs a close second:

"All alone the captain stands
Hasn't heard
from his deck hands.
The gambler tips his hat
and walks towards the door.
It's the second half
of the cruise.
And you know he hates to lose."

Ali Leaves Iraq the Model

Iraq the Model is a pro-American Iraqi blog whose main three writers Mohammed, Ali and Omar have been thoroughly vetted even been invited to the White House on a recent US visit. It's been trumpeted throughout the conservative press as "See things aren't so bad. These guys like us." And reading the blog, you see why. The point out all the good things that are going on in Iraq. Reading their blog gives me hope for Iraq. If there are enough people there like these guys, Iraq will be fine.

So I was a little surprised to read this this morning:


This is the last time I write in this blog and I just want to say, goodbye. It's not an easy thing to do for me, but I know I should do it. I haven't told my brothers with my decision, as they are not here yet, but it won't change anything and I just can't keep doing this anymore.
My stand regarding America has never changed. I still love America and feel grateful to all those who helped us get our freedom and are still helping us establishing democracy in our country. But it's the act of some Americans that made me feel I'm on the wrong side here. I will expose these people in public very soon and I won't lack the mean to do this, but I won't do it here as this is not my blog.
At any rate, it's been a great experience and a pleasure to know all the regular readers of this blog, as I do feel I know you, and I owe you a lot.
Best wishes to all of you, those who supported us and those who criticized us as well.

Yours sincerely,
Ali.


I don't know what happened. No one does it seems, but I doubt it's good.

I Am A Conservative Christian, And The Religious Right Scares Me, Too

So says Chuck Baldwin in another conservative anti-Bush piece. I can get with a guy like that even if his bio (in the column) makes me nearly ill. True conservatives are finally coming out against Bush. Way to go guys.

Friday, December 17, 2004

San Antonio strippers to wear permits

San Antonio strippers to wear permitss

I guess there are no more fully nude strip clubs in San Antonio.

The New York Times > International > Asia Pacific > Intelligence: A Hostile Land Foils the Quest for bin Laden

The New York Times > International > Asia Pacific > Intelligence: A Hostile Land Foils the Quest for bin Laden

Didn't Bush say something about "never letting another country" interfere with our security? Looks like Pakistan just vetoed us chasing Bin Laden down. This leaves me with two possible conclusions:

1)Bush is a liar.
2)Bin Laden is not a threat to national security. (Which would make point 1 true).

Ah here we go:
"I will never give another country veto power over our national security."
-- George W. Bush, 10/20/04

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune - Male gymnast fights to compete

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune - Male gymnast fights to compete

On the girls gymnastics team because his school has no boys team. Title IX surrenders.

They /have/ to let him compete, or Title IX is bullshit.

Rumsfeld to actually sign death letters

European and Pacific Stars & Stripes

The man's been accused of a lot of things, but this is low. This makes "the army you have" comment look sensitive. Stamping condolence letters with a mechanical signature? C'mon man. Have a fucking heart. Buy one at least, you've made enough money off these guys and gals backs over the course of your career.