Your Friday time waster

Collected Tears of the Weeping Nivbed

Some funky art thanks to ,uh, Philos, or feng, or somebody.

TheStar.com - Canadian in passport fiasco

"A Toronto woman coming home from India says she was pulled aside at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, accused of using a fake Canadian passport, denied consular assistance and threatened with jail."

The Skyline Network - Following the Path to War

"Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced on Wednesday that all Americans should arm themselves in the war against terror with a Terrorism Survival Kit. So, in the spirit of things, I decided to prepare my own Terrorism emergency kit. Having seen all manor of post and pre-apocalyptic Kevin Costner films, I felt qualified to put one together myself without following Secretary Ridge's instructions."

Link thanks to Philos.

Teemings - Extras - The Horror of Blimps

"Somewhere in the control room of my mind a fat little dwarf in a security outfit was paging through a Penthouse while smoking a cigar with his feet up on the table, watching the security monitors of my brain with his peripheral vision. Suddenly he saw the LARGE SILENT SINSITER MENACING FLOATING PRESENCE coming at me, and he pulled every panic switch and hit every alarm that my body has."

LEGOs and Other Floating Flotsam Curtis Morgan Miami Herald 17may98

"On Feb. 13, 1997, a rogue wave rocked the Tokio Express 20 miles off Land's End, England. The ship rolled 60 degrees one way and 40 the other, flinging 62 containers overboard, including one containing 4,756,940 LEGO pieces. The parts, in 100 shapes, were to be placed into kits in Connecticut."

Cringley on WiFi

"WiFi exists primarily thanks to Apple Computer, which years ago proposed to the Federal Communications Commission that certain radio frequencies in the 2.4 to 5.8 gigahertz range be allocated for unlicensed data communication. "

Link thanks to Philos

Monorail leaders warn of a fourth city vote

"Seattle has voted once, twice, three times to build a monorail line. But monorail authorities yesterday warned that the city might have to vote a fourth time if state lawmakers approve a bill pushed by Rep. Ed Murray."

We voted for monorail. We don't care if it's a good idea. We don't care if we need it or whether we can afford it. We dont' even care if it's feakin' legal. We want it. And you can take back your d*mn stadium, too.

NYPOST.COM Post Opinion: Oped Columnists: 'MAINSTREAM' USEFUL IDIOTS By BYRON YORK

"'WE who sign this statement call on all Americans to join together," says the Not In Our Name manifesto. To hear the group's leaders speak, one might think that is actually happening, that there really is a "broad-based movement" represented by these activists. But a look at the people and organizations involved in Not In Our Name suggests otherwise - no matter how many celebrity signatures they might collect. "

I picked up this link on Robichaux.net a while back. It was something that I thought needed a reply, partially because, as a participant in the Feb. 15th protests, I have a stake in the argument over what those protests mean and whether they were effective or even needed.

First of all, I wasn't down at Seattle Center because I want to free Mumia, or because I care what happens in Cuba, or because I'm a Maoist, Marxist or any other kind of ist. I was there on a strictly "ism free" mandate. I was at Seattle Center because of immigrants. I was there because I am an immigrant, and, as such, have significantly less rights than your average Joe American already, and this situation is on the verge of becoming critically worse. I strongly believe that any legislative act that weakens the rights of a segment of society endangers the rights of all. I want very much to become an American citizen and vote, and I hope that by the time I do, I'll have the same liberties that all American's enjoy today. So now you know where I'm coming from.

In his article, Byron York suggests that the Feb 15th demonstrations do not have a broad base because 'Not in Our Name' does not represent a broad point of view. But in fact, where NION gets its money has nothing to do with the broad or narrow base of the peace movement's support. After all, it's not as though 20,000 people ever turned out to plead freedom for Mumia in Seattle, or like there are 20,000 members of the communist party in the city. In order to get those numbers, you need a cause that appeals to a relatively broad base of people. NION certainly does not "represent" my opinions. I do that on my own.

I applaud York for digging up some details on NION's fund-raising practices; although I feel sort of like someone tapped me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear "psst... I don't want to rain on your parade, but some of those people are l-i-b-e-r-a-l-s." Personally, I knew next to nothing about the organization before I read York's article and I'm glad for the information, but I'm not going to let it stop me voicing my opinion.

USB Coffee Cup

Perhaps the best use of USB yet! Link gleaned from Robichaux

Salon.com Technology | Artificial stupidity

"Minsky had announced that he would give $100 to whoever made Loebner stop his contest. But Loebner would only stop his contest when somebody won the gold medal. Therefore, Loebner reasoned, Minsky, being an honorable man, would give $100 to whoever won the ultimate Loebner competition. Therefore, Marvin Minsky was a cosponsor of the Loebner competition, simple as that. It was delicious!

Loebner promptly issued a press release saying that Marvin Minsky was now a cosponsor of the Loebner Prize, by virtue of his announcement of the "Minsky Loebner Prize Revocation Prize." What made this development so delightfully ironic was Minsky's own statement that anyone was free to use the name 'Minsky Loebner Prize Revocation Prize' in any advertising they liked, which made it nearly impossible for Minsky to prevent Loebner from doing just that. Which is why Loebner continues to cite Minsky as a cosponsor of his event every chance he gets."

some art

marchtowar.com

"Here's how it works:
1. Players guess when the war
will finally begin.
2. Each guess requires a $5 donation.
3. The player with the winning guess (closest to actual start of hostilities) will receive prepaid gas cards valued at 20% of the total pool.
The remainder will be donated to humanitarian organizations helping Iraqi civilian casualties."

The astonishingly cool Forevertron.

Link thanks to Philos.

Two Weird and Scary Tales

Iraqi Weapons Hid on Circling Vessels?

"Each with a deadweight of 35,000 to 40,000 tonnes, the ships have been sailing around the world's oceans for the past three months while maintaining radio silence in clear violation of international maritime law, say authoritative shipping industry sources."

Tiny Island State Falls into Chaos

"The island has also begun interning asylum seekers while their applications to live in Australia are processed, in return for aid from Canberra. However this appears to have gone badly wrong. Late last year, Australian immigration officials admitted that the asylum seekers, mainly Iraqis, had been running their own detention centre since officials abandoned the site following a riot. "
Update: The circling vessels appears to be a false rumor! I'll keep an eye out for more information.\

Google buys Blogger

"Forget war and strife, the only news that mattered on the Web this week was Google's acquisition of Pyra Labs, the scrappy San Francisco startup behind the Blogger weblogging tool. "

I-Mockery.com | Pillow and Sheet Fort Wars!

"There was an eerie mist throughout our townhouse that morning, or perhaps it was simply poor jpeg compression. With the smell of Bisquick pancakes and carnage in the air, the only soldier left in my squad, Military Messiah, sat nervously at his post. For he knew that today would be our final stand... we would either emerge victorious, or the enemy downstairs would conquer all that remained. I was quite confident however, for the enemy had to fight an uphill battle, whereas we could simply throw various debris at them as they tried to make their way up the staircase."

Weirdness gleaned via denormalize, who gets really mad if I don't credit him.

New Scientist

"Scientists simulating meteorite impacts on the frozen oceans of Europa have made an electrifying discovery, which raises the chances of finding life on Jupiter's moon."

Expedition Attempts to Unveil Secret of Loulan

"An archaeological team left Thursday for the historic site of the Kroraina (Loulan) Kingdom on the Silk Road in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region."

BBC NEWS | UK | Politics | Pope urges Blair to avoid war

"Mr Blair is keen to be seen showing that he's going the extra mile, talking to the Pope who is, no question about it, the world's most revered public figure with an anti-war stance."

"Peace movement could find itself fighting over tactics Kali Snowden is hauled away in a Washington State Patrol car after her arrest during Tuesday's protest. Kali, 15, has been grounded by her mother."
...
"'We broke the public's daily routine and asked everyone to resist apathy and reflect on the gravity of this war,' said Meesh Wilson, 29, a spokeswoman for the group."

I was on one of the busses that had to detour through the U District to avoid this protest. This is the bus that carries the young, hip tech workers who don't drive SUVs, beleive in mass transit and are likely to support an anti-war effort. I'd bet a lot of the people on that bus were downtown marching on Feb 15, yet I didn't see much reflecting on peace going on. What I saw was a lot of people cell-phoning the office to explain why they'd be late.

Man, 23, killed in afternoon shooting

"The shooting took place outside a market at the corner of 26th Avenue East and East Cherry Street -- a well-known drug and gang corridor about a block away from Garfield High School."

The Donnas have their own brand of punk

News

"A scientific adviser to the United States government has suggested that secrecy might be the best option if scientists were ever to discover that a giant asteroid was on course to collide with Earth."

Yeah, so those Rand Corporation punks can safely hide out in the mantle with their army of super robots!

Where Did The Moon Come From?

"Although the moon has enthralled observers for aeons, planetary scientists have struggled to trace its ancestry."

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Trailer

BBC NEWS | Europe | World gears up for anti-war protests

"Anti-war protesters around the globe are preparing for a series of protests against the prospect of a US-led military invasion of Iraq."

I will be there.

Always be Prepared

Link courtesy of feng

Seattle Weekly: News: Politics: Waiting for the Bullet by Geov Parrish

When I picked up the Seattle Weekly this morning and read Goev Parrish' article, I had an unmistakable sinking feeling. The article outlines some of the provisions of the recently leaked PATRIOT Act II bill. The key is the massive extension of government powers over anyone who is in any way associated with a gorup deemed to be terrorist, to wit:

• "Individuals, whether or not they are citizens, may be declared official enemies with whom the United States is at war.
  
• Information on who the government "detains" will be banned. Ditto what is then done to them. Freedom of Information Act requests will be denied, leaks will be crimes, and publication of that information will also be criminal.
  
• The Justice Department's proposed new law also vastly expands other penalties, including a dramatic escalation of criminal penalties for routine immigration violations--even when the INS is at fault."

There are a couple of problems here. For one, there's no oversight over what organizations the government deems terrorist. In essence, they can immediately strip any group of people of their constitutional rights by fiat. It also extends the de-facto criminal status of immigrants. If you are an immigrant in the united states, you can be detained without any formal charge being made. As an immigrant, this makes me a little nervous.

And when I finally do become a citizen, it turns out that my citizenship may now be viewed as a priviledge. In the United States, sovereignty lies in the people of the United States. So what does it mean when the adminstration can revoke this sovereignty?

"EverQuest" hits the PS2 - Feb. 12, 2003

Remember when I was blogging about Sovereign, the upcoming MMPOG modern warfare strategy game from Verant? Remember when I blogged that the game had mysteriously changed into some kind of odd outer-space game with no semblance of the game of real-world units and technologies they originally stated as being their goal? Well Sovereign's epitath, it seems, is a paragraph mention in a CNN article about Everquest.

"Work on 'Sovereign,' a massively multiplayer real time strategy game, has been terminated after more than four-and-a-half years of development. Ambitious in nature, the game had hoped to replicate a continuous global war that supported up to 500 players. Diplomacy would have played as significant a role as the player's tactical abilities. "

Scott Dierdorf, feng, and Sundry have hit on this new way to help bust out your writing mojo. The plan is, you write the first paragraphs of some of your favorite books on your blog and see if it helps tweak your brain into action. So why haven't I done it yet? The sad truth is that all my books are stacked on the floor in the only painted closte in the house underneath a heap of rugs and baby toys. But I WILL do it as soon as the house is painted, I promise.

Well it's time for my weekly update on my LaunchCast station. Today I'm feeling a little better about the whole thing. Although I do feel as though LaunchCast does its best to push you towards subtly more commercial music, I think I've managed to negotiate an uneasy peace with it. Of course, LaunchCast is Yahoo!, so you've got to keep your eye on them at all times. Right now I'm listening to Mrs. Robinson on the Simon & Garfunkle Live in the Park recording, one of my gavorite songs. I've also been getting regular doses of Leonary Cohen and almost the right mix of Bjork and Propellerheads. A few of the recommendations have even been helpful. As for the downsides: getting LaunchCast to ONLY play the Smiths and Bob Marley songs that I like has been a pain. I've had to turn off song after song until only the few that I enjoy are played. I also noted that even if I block an artist, I will get his songs if either the song or the album has been rated. Note that LaunchCast considers anything you've rated to be fair play, even if you rate it 1 in 10, so block things you don't like. It's also hard to get some of the less commerical stuff (of course). Mistle Thrush is listed as being in their system, but it's clearly not. I created a station where Mistle Thrush was the only band listed, and still couldn't get it to play, even though Luanch clearly claims they have a Mistle Thrush album in their library. Lots of bands are not available at all (Freezepop and Future Bible Heroes come to mind.

Suprevillains use LINUX

"Fembots with a penchant for evil."

Link thanks to Denormalize

Joe Frank :: Official Web Site

570bars.com has undergone a redesign. Check it!

BBC - Religion & Ethics of War: Just War Theory

"The just war theory is a largely Christian philosophy that attempts to reconcile three things:

• taking human life is seriously wrong, and
  
• states have a duty to defend their citizens, and defend justice
  
• protecting innocent human life and defending important moral values sometimes requires willingness to use force and violence"

You can also read more on theories of war ethics here and a history of Just War Theory here.

BBC - History - British Relations with Iraq

How can you understand the war, if you don't know the history?

"Iraq (the old Arabic name for part of the region) was to become a British mandate, carved out of the three former Ottoman provinces. France took control of Syria and Lebanon. There was immediate resentment amongst Iraq's inhabitants at what they saw as a charade, and in 1920 a strong revolt spread through the country - a revolt that was put down only with great difficulty and by methods that do not bear close scrutiny. The situation was so bad that the British commander, General Sir Aylmer Haldane, at one time called for supplies of poisonous gas."

Forget Moore's Law

"Because it's unhealthy. Because it has become our obsession. Because it is dangerous--a runaway train, roaring down a path to disaster."

Having heard the title track, I see that it is far past time I saw Koyaanisqatsi.

Britain Admits That Much of Its Report on Iraq Came From Magazines

"The British government admitted today that large sections of its most recent report on Iraq, praised by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell as "a fine paper" in his speech to the United Nations on Wednesday, had been lifted from magazines and academic journals. "
...
"But much of the material actually came, sometimes verbatim, from several nonsecret published articles, according to critics of the government's policy who have studied the documents. These include an article published in the Middle East Review of International Affairs in September 2002, as well as three articles from Jane's Intelligence Review, two of them published in the summer of 1997 and one in November 2002."
...
"But critics of the government said that not only did the document appear to have been largely cut and pasted together, but also that the articles it relied on were based on information that is, by now, obsolete. "
...
"Dr. Glen Rangwala, a lecturer in politics at Cambridge University who has compared the British report with the articles it used as sources, said that in some cases, the authors apparently changed phrases from the original articles to make the case against Iraq seem more extreme.

For instance, Dr. Rangwala said, a section on the Mukhabarat, the Iraqi directorate of general intelligence, appeared to have been lifted verbatim from Mr. Marashi's article, except for a few tweaks. Where Mr. Marashi mentions that the Mukhabarat's responsibilities include 'monitoring foreign embassies in Iraq,' the government document speaks of 'spying on foreign embassies in Iraq.' "

Thanks to my wife for the link.

Peace protesters float an anti-war message

"The pope has spoken out against this war. . . . Why not business leaders?"

Salon.com News | Papal envoy to visit Iraq

"Pope John Paul II will dispatch a special envoy to Iraq to emphasize his plea for peace and to encourage Iraqi authorities to cooperate with the United Nations, the Vatican announced Sunday."

GN Online: Ancient boat reflects Kuwait's maritime links

"If the assessment of British and Kuwaiti archaeologists is correct, the slabs, found covered on one side with barnacles and dumped in a stone building at a site called As Sabiyah, would push back the date for the oldest known boat by more than 2,000 years, the report said."

Letters to the Editor

"Responsible allocation of resources: Bullets or apples?
Thank you for finally exposing the free-lunch scam ("Cracking down on free lunch," Wednesday's front page). This feel-good rip-off has been gnawing at the public's fiscal and moral health for decades. Day after day and week after week, thousands of 6- and 7-year-old gluttons wolf down apple wedges, carrot sticks and orange slices at the public trough, with no thought whatever to their cost. The food is doled out regardless of individual need. For example, a very small child is free to gobble down just as many apple wedges as a much larger one. Furthermore, there has never -- and I emphasize never -- been any monitoring of ongoing "need." Just because Johnny's stomach was empty yesterday, does it follow that it's empty today?
Some readers may think money wasted on the free-lunch scam is inconsequential, but those orange slices and carrot sticks add up fast.
The facts are sobering. For every 6-year-old chiseler we turn away from the trough each week, we can buy another bullet. And with each additional bullet we buy, we have the potential to kill one more Iraqi child.
Fulfilling the American Dream boils down to responsible allocation of resources.
Margot H. Sims
Teacher
Ballard High School
Seattle"

Salon.com News | Hunter S. Thompson

"I have one or two of those, but I got them before they were illegal. In that case, if I were sure that any tragedies and mass murders would be prevented, I'd give up my assault rifle. But I don't really believe that. Do I have any illegal weapons? No. I have a .454 magnum revolver, which is huge, and it's absolutely legal. One day I was wild-eyed out here with Johnny Depp, and we both ordered these guns from Freedom, Wyo., and got them the next day through FedEx. Mainly, I have rifles, pistols, shotguns; I have a lot of those. But everything I have is top quality; I don't have any junk weapons. I wouldn't have any military weapon around here, except as an artifact of some kind. Given Ashcroft and the clear blueprint of this administration to make everything illegal and everything suspicious -- how about suspicion of being a terrorist sympathizer? Goddamn, talk about filling up your concentration camps. But, yeah, my police record is clean. This is not a fortified compound."

You *do* read his ESPN column, don't you?

Salon.com | The Salon Interview: Camille Paglia

"So do you agree with Oriana Fallaci's characterization of the war on terrorism as a clash of civilizations?
Before 9/11, I would never have believed it, but I do now. For years I was saying that the study of world religions in higher education will lead us toward mutual understanding and world peace and so on and so forth. Well, the attack on the World Trade Center opened my eyes. After a decade of government neglect of this issue, we now face an entire generation of ruthless young Islamic men who have been radicalized. The solution is not to bomb Baghdad but to win over the Muslim center, which has been alarmingly passive. We need a cultural war -- one certainly enforced by targeted military strikes and espionage directed at terror cells and leaders, like the Predator attack on that jeep in Yemen. Boom! Perfect -- out of nowhere comes a missile that takes them out. Fantastic! We need small, mobile units of special forces deployed everywhere, stealth operatives -- kidnapping terrorists and debriefing and neutralizing them. Undercover activity is the way to go. But this kind of conventional war that Bush has planned for Iraq won't get to the root of the problem. All Bush is doing is shifting moderate Muslims in sympathy toward the radical extreme. "

William Gibson's new novel asks, is the truth stranger than science fiction today?

"The eavesdropping did produce results for William Gibson. He still remembers the time more than two decades ago when he was listening to two women in such a bar reminiscing about their days as keypunch operators at the Pentagon. They talked of how a guy used to come around and erase the games on their computers, although what he was really looking for was computer viruses.

'Excuse me,' Gibson interjected, 'I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. What exactly are computer viruses?'

'They're computer programs that get into computers and behave like viruses. They replicate.'"

Lympher's Homestar Runner!

Featuring an interview with the Homestar Runner creators!

Military.com Resources

"West Point Atlas and Military.com present strategic and historical maps covering major conflicts in U.S. history."

The Seattle Times: Arts & Entertainment: Poetry slams into politics at White House

""What idiot thought Sam Hamill would be a good candidate for Laura Bush's tea party?" he asked. "Someone's going to get fired over this." "

Reviving Romance With Space, Even as 'Space Age' Fades

"n 1962, as America was gearing up for a space race against the Russians, the iconoclastic science fiction writer J. G. Ballard published 'Which Way to Inner Space?,' a manifesto railing against his field's preoccupation with exotic space travel and calling on popular imagination to focus instead on Earth, human consciousness and biology."

Salon.com Books | Vatican gives two thumbs up to Harry Potter

"The Vatican is giving two thumbs up to the Harry Potter series.
The good vs. evil plot lines of the best-selling books are imbued with Christian morals, the Rev. Don Peter Fleetwood told a Vatican news conference Monday."

You can track your bus on the Internet

"you could call him the cyber-commuter of the future, because as he wondered if the No. 545 bus to Redmond was running late or came early and had already passed him by, he reached for his cell phone. He dialed up the Internet, punched in some more numbers and saw this on the screen: 'Route 545. On time.' "

Link thanks to my lovely wife.

Someone went to The Blog Twinning Project and twinned me with Squished Frog Blog. woot.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Seven die in shuttle disaster

"The US space shuttle Columbia has broken up soon after re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew on board."