Which OS are You?
Hey, that's cool. Via Sisyphus Shrugged.
See you next year! Thanks for reading!
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Welcome to my Blogroll...
(I imagine the above line sung to the tune of Alice Cooper's "Welcome to my Nightmare...")
Welcome to Puck's Den of Iniquity, by housemate of mine, and husband's brother, Transformer Dan.
I like his blog. It's very the World Wide Web circa 1995.
(I imagine the above line sung to the tune of Alice Cooper's "Welcome to my Nightmare...")
Welcome to Puck's Den of Iniquity, by housemate of mine, and husband's brother, Transformer Dan.
I like his blog. It's very the World Wide Web circa 1995.
New Year's Resolution #5: Democrats, Fight the Real Enemy!
I think Sinead O'Connor should sing Bob Marley's "War" a capella at the Democratic National Convention and tear up a picture of George W. Bush while shouting "Fight the Real Enemy!"
Maybe that will get the message through the Democratic Presidential Candidates' thick skulls.
Look, guys, when you do all the infighting like this not only do you each individually look like assholes, but you each make each other look like such jerks that my fellow unwashed masses in America will find whichever of you wins the nomination so unappealing that they'll stay home election day and Dubya will have another turn at the wheel.
Wesley Clark and Howard Dead especially, kiss and make up already. Together you guys could rock. Does it really matter which one of you is listed first on the ticket and which of you is listed second. You could flip for it as far as I'm concerned. Or rock-paper-scissors, if you prefer.
Just please, save some mud to sling at Bush. Because we all know how unelectable he really is.
I think Sinead O'Connor should sing Bob Marley's "War" a capella at the Democratic National Convention and tear up a picture of George W. Bush while shouting "Fight the Real Enemy!"
Maybe that will get the message through the Democratic Presidential Candidates' thick skulls.
Look, guys, when you do all the infighting like this not only do you each individually look like assholes, but you each make each other look like such jerks that my fellow unwashed masses in America will find whichever of you wins the nomination so unappealing that they'll stay home election day and Dubya will have another turn at the wheel.
Wesley Clark and Howard Dead especially, kiss and make up already. Together you guys could rock. Does it really matter which one of you is listed first on the ticket and which of you is listed second. You could flip for it as far as I'm concerned. Or rock-paper-scissors, if you prefer.
Just please, save some mud to sling at Bush. Because we all know how unelectable he really is.
New Year's Resolution #4: See Better Movies!
In 2003 I managed to hold my gorge down during League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Tomb Raider 2: Cradle of Life, and the phenomenally icky Dreamcatcher, and yet have not seen Lost in Translation, In America (actually from last year, but released in the states in 2003), American Splendor, Winged Migration, or any of the movies on critic's "10 Best of 2003" lists that aren't Return of the King.
This is very bad.
My husband comes from a family that went to the movies once or twice a year, and to popcorny, feel-good movies at that. My family went to the movies every single weekend, often depressing dramas at that. When I married my husband, I swore that mine was the family tradition that would carry on. I really have to try harder. Although I do enjoy a good popcorn flick, for every Pirates of the Caribbean there seem to be seven or eight Shanghai Knights.
Although I did manage to get him to go see Whale Rider with me.
In 2003 I managed to hold my gorge down during League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Tomb Raider 2: Cradle of Life, and the phenomenally icky Dreamcatcher, and yet have not seen Lost in Translation, In America (actually from last year, but released in the states in 2003), American Splendor, Winged Migration, or any of the movies on critic's "10 Best of 2003" lists that aren't Return of the King.
This is very bad.
My husband comes from a family that went to the movies once or twice a year, and to popcorny, feel-good movies at that. My family went to the movies every single weekend, often depressing dramas at that. When I married my husband, I swore that mine was the family tradition that would carry on. I really have to try harder. Although I do enjoy a good popcorn flick, for every Pirates of the Caribbean there seem to be seven or eight Shanghai Knights.
Although I did manage to get him to go see Whale Rider with me.
New Year's Resolution #3: Celebrate Multiraciality
This is an issue that really pisses me off.
Let me state that I am ethnically Cuban, Black (yes, Mr. President, they have Black people in Cuba as well as Brazil), Italian, Spaniard, and Chinese. I take pride in the many cool things in all of these ancestries and cultural legacies. I consider myself to "be" all of these things (and don't see any conflict between this and my identity as an American, either).
That's why this abcnews.com article really annoyed me. It tells the non un-interesting story of Wayne Joseph, a man who took a DNA test out of curiosity and found out that he's not black like he thought he was.
...After seeing a TV story last April about a Florida company, DNA Print Genomics, which marketed an ancestry-by-DNA test, he began to wonder exactly how much of him was African, how much wasn't, and what else there might be in his genes.
...A few weeks later, the results arrived at his comfortable Claremont, Calif., home.
"I just glanced at it, just a cursory glance initially — didn't really notice it much," Joseph said. "Then, I went back to it, because all of a sudden it hit me exactly what I had read. And it read, 57 percent Indo-European, 39 percent Native American, 4 percent East Asian and 0 percent African.
Fine, interesting. Andcertainlyy a strange discovery to find out about one's self. One that probably could lead to a newfound interest in your family'sgenealogyy, and a new interest in the cultures that your ancestors came from.
Fine. Great. But the annoying part comes later.
Only in an absurd farce, like The Jerk, does a white man identify himself as black, though, in a way, that is precisely what Wayne Joseph proudly, if unwittingly, did for the last 50 years. The question is, what does he do now?
Emphasis mine. Wow. Poor Wayne Joseph, just discovered that he's White, Native American, and East Asian, and instead of being able to embrace these new facets of himself, loses the last two a few paragraphs later. Citing the "one drop makes you black" rule, writer Jim Wooten seems to have let slide the "one drop makes you white" rule.
Wayne Joseph is not White. He is White and Native American and East Asian. He should embrace all sides of his heritage. (I myself would be curious about the East Asian. That's probably some interesting family history, there.)
This is an issue that really pisses me off.
Let me state that I am ethnically Cuban, Black (yes, Mr. President, they have Black people in Cuba as well as Brazil), Italian, Spaniard, and Chinese. I take pride in the many cool things in all of these ancestries and cultural legacies. I consider myself to "be" all of these things (and don't see any conflict between this and my identity as an American, either).
That's why this abcnews.com article really annoyed me. It tells the non un-interesting story of Wayne Joseph, a man who took a DNA test out of curiosity and found out that he's not black like he thought he was.
...After seeing a TV story last April about a Florida company, DNA Print Genomics, which marketed an ancestry-by-DNA test, he began to wonder exactly how much of him was African, how much wasn't, and what else there might be in his genes.
...A few weeks later, the results arrived at his comfortable Claremont, Calif., home.
"I just glanced at it, just a cursory glance initially — didn't really notice it much," Joseph said. "Then, I went back to it, because all of a sudden it hit me exactly what I had read. And it read, 57 percent Indo-European, 39 percent Native American, 4 percent East Asian and 0 percent African.
Fine, interesting. Andcertainlyy a strange discovery to find out about one's self. One that probably could lead to a newfound interest in your family'sgenealogyy, and a new interest in the cultures that your ancestors came from.
Fine. Great. But the annoying part comes later.
Only in an absurd farce, like The Jerk, does a white man identify himself as black, though, in a way, that is precisely what Wayne Joseph proudly, if unwittingly, did for the last 50 years. The question is, what does he do now?
Emphasis mine. Wow. Poor Wayne Joseph, just discovered that he's White, Native American, and East Asian, and instead of being able to embrace these new facets of himself, loses the last two a few paragraphs later. Citing the "one drop makes you black" rule, writer Jim Wooten seems to have let slide the "one drop makes you white" rule.
Wayne Joseph is not White. He is White and Native American and East Asian. He should embrace all sides of his heritage. (I myself would be curious about the East Asian. That's probably some interesting family history, there.)
New Year's Resolution #2: Purchase Almanac to spite FBI
In a move sure to prevent terrorist attacks everywhere, the FBI has urged local law enforcement officials to keep an eye out for people carrying almanacs. Poor Ben Franklin is spinning in his grave.
In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning."
It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books are annotated in suspicious ways.
I'm sorry, I just cannot take this seriously. The thought of what my local police department (notorious for doing things like shooting to death people who are threatening suicide) would do to someone of dusky hue observing a touristy landmark with an annotated almanac in their bag makes the mind reel.
But beyond that, if terrorist organizations had used the Internet to get this information (and I'm sure it's all there), would anyone with an internet connection be suspicious? Will old ladies' almanacs be confiscated at airports as well as their tweezers?
We captured Saddam, but forgot about all those pesky almanac publishing houses?
I'm sure the government can expend its energy in much better ways. Like capturing Osama bin Laden, for example.
In a move sure to prevent terrorist attacks everywhere, the FBI has urged local law enforcement officials to keep an eye out for people carrying almanacs. Poor Ben Franklin is spinning in his grave.
In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning."
It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books are annotated in suspicious ways.
I'm sorry, I just cannot take this seriously. The thought of what my local police department (notorious for doing things like shooting to death people who are threatening suicide) would do to someone of dusky hue observing a touristy landmark with an annotated almanac in their bag makes the mind reel.
But beyond that, if terrorist organizations had used the Internet to get this information (and I'm sure it's all there), would anyone with an internet connection be suspicious? Will old ladies' almanacs be confiscated at airports as well as their tweezers?
We captured Saddam, but forgot about all those pesky almanac publishing houses?
I'm sure the government can expend its energy in much better ways. Like capturing Osama bin Laden, for example.
New Year's Resolution #1: Go Vegetarian
Go ahead, accuse me of buying into the Mad Cow disease hype. I don't care.
But this post at Sisyphus Shrugged has me wanting to yak. Total, complete ick.
Also recommended for budding PETA members, the excellent My Year of Meats, by Ruth Ozeki, which manages to be about Japanese/American culture clashes, female empowerment, fertility problems, eating disorders, the retch-worthy American beef industry, and good all at the same time.
Some prick broke into our VW bus and stole my copy a few years ago. I hope they've eaten lots of hormone-injected, BSE-infected beef since then.
Go ahead, accuse me of buying into the Mad Cow disease hype. I don't care.
But this post at Sisyphus Shrugged has me wanting to yak. Total, complete ick.
Also recommended for budding PETA members, the excellent My Year of Meats, by Ruth Ozeki, which manages to be about Japanese/American culture clashes, female empowerment, fertility problems, eating disorders, the retch-worthy American beef industry, and good all at the same time.
Some prick broke into our VW bus and stole my copy a few years ago. I hope they've eaten lots of hormone-injected, BSE-infected beef since then.
Hope everyone had a Good Holiday
Whatever that holiday might have been. Whenever it might have been.
I myself prefer New Year's to Christmas, and am really looking forward to putting 2003 behind me. It kind of sucked, let's face it.
2004 seems more promising, with the hope of a new president, new film classes, and the Extended Edition DVD ot Return of the King (mostly joking!).
Plus, my ten year high school reunion will be in a year. I've heard that a particularly nasty former bedmate of mine is now fat and miserable. Can't wait to see him.
In April I will be closer to 30 than to 20, which is a good thing. I've always thought the most well-rounded, wholesome people in the world were 30-year old women.
I'm feeling kind of ruminative tonight, and in that spirit I will now post a series of New Year's resolutions for 2004 (when, I've heard, all the old computers will freak out and think it's 1904!).
Whatever that holiday might have been. Whenever it might have been.
I myself prefer New Year's to Christmas, and am really looking forward to putting 2003 behind me. It kind of sucked, let's face it.
2004 seems more promising, with the hope of a new president, new film classes, and the Extended Edition DVD ot Return of the King (mostly joking!).
Plus, my ten year high school reunion will be in a year. I've heard that a particularly nasty former bedmate of mine is now fat and miserable. Can't wait to see him.
In April I will be closer to 30 than to 20, which is a good thing. I've always thought the most well-rounded, wholesome people in the world were 30-year old women.
I'm feeling kind of ruminative tonight, and in that spirit I will now post a series of New Year's resolutions for 2004 (when, I've heard, all the old computers will freak out and think it's 1904!).
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
I laughed so hard, egg nog came out of my nose!
Here I am, idly browsing the internet whilst awaiting the coming Holidays when I come across the funniest Albuquerque joke ever.
This is so close to what our local paper is like, it's uncanny.
Balloons! Balloons!
Found at the fantabulous Metaquerque, who seems to take pictures of what Albuquerque actually looks like. Thanks be to Quirky Burque for pointing me in his direction.
Here I am, idly browsing the internet whilst awaiting the coming Holidays when I come across the funniest Albuquerque joke ever.
This is so close to what our local paper is like, it's uncanny.
Balloons! Balloons!
Found at the fantabulous Metaquerque, who seems to take pictures of what Albuquerque actually looks like. Thanks be to Quirky Burque for pointing me in his direction.
Sunday, December 21, 2003
Americans are not safer
Proving Howard Dean's point, the Office of Homeland Security raised the terror threat level to Orange today.
Ridge cited reports that Osama bin-Laden's terrorist network is trying find holes in U.S. aviation security, and that "extremists abroad" are anticipating attacks that will rival or exceed the scope of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The government elevated the threat level, last raised in May, after U.S. intelligence agencies "received a substantial increase in the volume of threat-related intelligence reports," Ridge said.
I really think this whole color coded system is silly. But that's for another post.
I thought that capturing Saddam Hussein was supposed to make Americans safer? Who is this Osama bin Laden fellow they keep mentioning? I thought we already captured all the insane dictators who wanted to kill Americans?
It's not that I'm not impressed by Hussein's capture. I just don't think he was the one we should have been looking for.
Proving Howard Dean's point, the Office of Homeland Security raised the terror threat level to Orange today.
Ridge cited reports that Osama bin-Laden's terrorist network is trying find holes in U.S. aviation security, and that "extremists abroad" are anticipating attacks that will rival or exceed the scope of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The government elevated the threat level, last raised in May, after U.S. intelligence agencies "received a substantial increase in the volume of threat-related intelligence reports," Ridge said.
I really think this whole color coded system is silly. But that's for another post.
I thought that capturing Saddam Hussein was supposed to make Americans safer? Who is this Osama bin Laden fellow they keep mentioning? I thought we already captured all the insane dictators who wanted to kill Americans?
It's not that I'm not impressed by Hussein's capture. I just don't think he was the one we should have been looking for.
Friday, December 19, 2003
For the love of God
Somebody give Jim a job already! It's not fair for crapfactories like Ann Coulter or Andy Sullivan to be working writers but to have Jim of the illustrious Rittenhouse Review out of work! The Gods of Employment be damned!
Somebody give Jim a job already! It's not fair for crapfactories like Ann Coulter or Andy Sullivan to be working writers but to have Jim of the illustrious Rittenhouse Review out of work! The Gods of Employment be damned!
Friday Quiz Blogging
You know, the first time I read Dante's Inferno, I could picture myself among the wrathful and the gloomy. They seemed like punks and goths to me, respectively.
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Fifth Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test
Via Thousand Yard Glare.
You know, the first time I read Dante's Inferno, I could picture myself among the wrathful and the gloomy. They seemed like punks and goths to me, respectively.
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Fifth Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Purgatory (Repenting Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers) | Very Low |
| Level 2 (Lustful) | High |
| Level 3 (Gluttonous) | Very High |
| Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious) | Moderate |
| Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy) | Extreme |
| Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics) | Extreme |
| Level 7 (Violent) | Extreme |
| Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers) | High |
| Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous) | High |
Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test
Via Thousand Yard Glare.
Thursday, December 18, 2003
Federal Appeals Court to Bush: Ha-Ha!
A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that an American citizen must be treated like an American citizen.
In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) said Padilla's detention was not authorized by Congress and that Bush could not designate him as an enemy combatant without the authorization.
..."As this court sits only a short distance from where the World Trade Center stood, we are as keenly aware as anyone of the threat al-Qaida poses to our country and of the responsibilities the president and law enforcement officials bear for protecting the nation," the court said.
"But presidential authority does not exist in a vacuum, and this case involves not whether those responsibilities should be aggressively pursued, but whether the president is obligated, in the circumstances presented here, to share them with Congress," it added.
So, no, Mr. Bush, you cannot do whatever you want.
Don't get me wrong, I truly hope they put this guy away for awhile. But to think that Jose Padilla is getting treated differently that, say, this man, or this man, or hey even this man is astounding.
Padilla is Hispanic. Those other three guys were white.
It really makes you go hmmmmm. You know, what an amazing coincidence that three white terrorists get trials in US court while the Hispanic terrorist is held indefinitely without a trial. I'm shocked!
But probably not that much. You get used to things like this after awhile.
A Federal Appeals Court has ruled that an American citizen must be treated like an American citizen.
In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) said Padilla's detention was not authorized by Congress and that Bush could not designate him as an enemy combatant without the authorization.
..."As this court sits only a short distance from where the World Trade Center stood, we are as keenly aware as anyone of the threat al-Qaida poses to our country and of the responsibilities the president and law enforcement officials bear for protecting the nation," the court said.
"But presidential authority does not exist in a vacuum, and this case involves not whether those responsibilities should be aggressively pursued, but whether the president is obligated, in the circumstances presented here, to share them with Congress," it added.
So, no, Mr. Bush, you cannot do whatever you want.
Don't get me wrong, I truly hope they put this guy away for awhile. But to think that Jose Padilla is getting treated differently that, say, this man, or this man, or hey even this man is astounding.
Padilla is Hispanic. Those other three guys were white.
It really makes you go hmmmmm. You know, what an amazing coincidence that three white terrorists get trials in US court while the Hispanic terrorist is held indefinitely without a trial. I'm shocked!
But probably not that much. You get used to things like this after awhile.
Maybe it's too soon to say...
But I really don't think capturing Sadaam Hussein will make much of a difference in Iraq. For one, I really don't think he was running too many things cowered down in that hidey-hole growing an Osama-like beard all these months.
I am glad he's been captured. We should release him to that international court in the Hague we refuse to participate in because Henry Kissinger might get nabbed.
Or, just turn him owver to his own people. Maybe they'll hang him like Mussolini. But I have to agree with Howard Dean, I don't think Americans are any safer because of Hussein's capture
I'm probably going to be proven wrong on this one, but a plywood box underground doesn't really seem like a main base of operations or a military HQ or anything like that.
Also, and more obviously, things like this keep happening.
Now, if only we could capture OSAMA BIN LADEN already! You remember Osama bin Laden, right? Please tell me somebody does!
But I really don't think capturing Sadaam Hussein will make much of a difference in Iraq. For one, I really don't think he was running too many things cowered down in that hidey-hole growing an Osama-like beard all these months.
I am glad he's been captured. We should release him to that international court in the Hague we refuse to participate in because Henry Kissinger might get nabbed.
Or, just turn him owver to his own people. Maybe they'll hang him like Mussolini. But I have to agree with Howard Dean, I don't think Americans are any safer because of Hussein's capture
I'm probably going to be proven wrong on this one, but a plywood box underground doesn't really seem like a main base of operations or a military HQ or anything like that.
Also, and more obviously, things like this keep happening.
Now, if only we could capture OSAMA BIN LADEN already! You remember Osama bin Laden, right? Please tell me somebody does!
Hey neat!
Wow, another Albuquerque blogger. Check her out at Quirky Burque.
Also welcome debitage, Nurse Ratched's Notebook, Apathy, Inc, Dohiyi Mir, All Facts and Opinions, and Armact Alerts, all OSP contributors.
Wow, another Albuquerque blogger. Check her out at Quirky Burque.
Also welcome debitage, Nurse Ratched's Notebook, Apathy, Inc, Dohiyi Mir, All Facts and Opinions, and Armact Alerts, all OSP contributors.
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