Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Goths and chavs go to war in the woods in attempt to keep the peace on the streets

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Goths and chavs go to war in the woods in attempt to keep the peace on the streets: "Fourteen male and female chavs and goths yesterday swapped fake Burberry and Marilyn Manson T-shirts for camouflage to take part in the first of the airsoft games, which is similar to paintballing but uses ball bearing - BB - guns firing plastic balls."

Bush angry about ending vacation early

"CRAWFORD, TX—President Bush concluded his summer vacation by holding an informal press conference Monday to address grieving mother Cindy Sheehan, saying 'her damn dead son ruined my whole summer vacation.'


Bush addressed Mrs. Sheehan, who was not present, by saying 'a mother should not have to bury her son this way, by which I mean allowing her son's death to destroy his commander-in-chief's one chance to relax and unwind.'

Sheehan, whose son Casey died in Iraq in April 2004, has led a vigil outside of Bush's Crawford ranch since early August, urging the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and demanding a meeting with Bush.

'This is a terrible tragedy,' Bush said. 'If this dead soldier of a son had the ounce of sense he needed to keep his worthless ass alive, my last few weeks might have been peaceful. I mourn the loss of the beautiful August mornings, and the sweet afternoons that could have been spent on the porch swing listening to the songbirds. All Americans mourn this loss.'

When asked why he has refused to meet with Mrs. Sheehan, Bush said, "Listen, I came here to relax. I want to fish, go biking with Lance Armstrong, play with my dogs, chainsaw some brush, and get back to nature. 'Course, it's hard to do that when you have to constantly listen to the mother of some dummy who didn't have sense enough to stay out of a damned war zone."

Bush added: "I'm more exhausted today than I was when I started this vacation."

Security concerns stemming from the presence of the anti-war protesters gathered around Sheenan's "Camp Casey" prevented Bush from making public appearances in Crawford, including ordering his annual cheeseburger at Goode Company Barbeque.

"I was really looking forward to that burger," Bush said. "And I could have had it too, if it wasn't for that soldier getting his stupid ass blown off."

"We're supposed to be over there showing the Iraqis how to get it done, not acting just as dumb as they are with all their stupid dying," Bush added. "I tell you, it feels like every other month since I started this job, somebody gets himself killed just to mess up my holiday."

When asked to address recent public suggestions, including Sheehan's, of immediate withdrawal from Iraq in light of mounting casualties, Bush said, "I don't want to think about that now. We can discuss that back in Washington. For now, let's relax and have a good time."

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush's remarks reflect the administration's stance on casualties.

"I think what President Bush is saying is that, while we certainly owe a debt of gratitude to our fine men and women serving abroad, we don't want the real dumb ones who die to interrupt our precious downtime," McClellan said. "It is the president's opinion, and that of the entire administration, that the best way to honor the brave sacrifices of our fallen soldiers is by enjoying a relaxing vacation and not thinking about their deaths."

Live blogging of the hurricaine

The Irish Trojan's blog - Brendan Loy's homepage

My Space Sucks!

Yes, it sucks! It's Friendster for idiots! It's http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/4208/2stupiddogs.html for idiots! It's Livejournal for idiots!

Everything about it is for the dumb and horny. No wonder its so damn popular. It's like an aol chatroom in 97.

Greenspan: end of housing boom inevitable - Yahoo! News

This is a self-fulfiling prophecy. He says it's going to happen, people listen to him, therefore it happens.

But he also says it will take several years. Is he hedging his bet?

It's pretty much a law that what goes up must come down. But all investments carry risk. That's where the profit comes from. Can't y'all just remember that for next time? Why does it have to be repeated everytime? Why does everyone get so carried away and taking insane chances and huge amounts of debt?

Greenspan: end of housing boom inevitable - Yahoo! News: "'The housing boom will inevitably simmer down,' the Fed chief said. 'As part of that process, house turnover will decline from currently historic levels, while home price increases will slow and prices could even decrease.'"

Pagan Homeschooling

Pagan Homeschooling

World Jump Day

Change the world by jumping.

new site redesign

I got a copy of MS frontpage 2003 and it's actually an improvement. The ftp works, it doesn't make you try to publish a website using only the weird "publish" feature that only worked with sites running the MS IIs server. It has some added themes that are really nice. I like the Satin one. Which is what I've used on my business consulting site.
Sell Money Seminar. Get rich, work at home, be your own boss, business consulting.

I'm actually impressed. It seems that MS has gotten rid of a lot of the kinks that made Frontpage a bitch to work with in the past.

I like Frontpage, it does a lot of nice things. It really simplifies some things I hated doing, like making buttons and banners and updating navigation through a whole site when you add a page. But it had all these horrible "features" that made it difficult to work with. In addition to the "publish" feature that I've already bitched about it also did some stupid things like change code when I pasted it into the source. Why did it do that? There's a lot of code I use that I cut and paste from other files, but it was impossible to use this in Frontpage XP. I had to open the the htm files in a text editor and do it that way. That's something I can do, I learned html in a text editor, but it made no sense to have to flip back and forth like that.

But, I haven't tried out that feature, yet. It may still make changes to the source code for no apparent reason. I haven't had reason to use that, yet.

Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music

Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music

great lis of quotes

New Page 1: "

8/22/05

There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president.

– Kurt Vonnegut






8/21/05

In America satire is protected speech even if the object of the satire doesn’t get it.

– Al Franken"

Maybe he's on to something.....

Turkmen President Bans Lip Synching - Yahoo! News: "ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan - He has outlawed opera and ballet and railed against long hair and gold teeth, but now Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov is determined to wipe out another perceived scourge: lip synching.
ADVERTISEMENT

Niyazov has ordered a ban on lip synching performances across the tightly controlled Central Asian nation, citing 'a negative effect on the development of singing and musical art,' the president's office said Tuesday.

'Unfortunately, one can see on television old voiceless singers lip-synching their old songs,' Niyazov told a Cabinet meeting in comments broadcast on state TV on Tuesday. 'Don't kill talents by using lip synching... Create our new culture.'

Under Niyazov's order, lip synching is now prohibited at all cultural events, concerts, on television — and at private celebrations such as weddings.

Niyazov has led the former Soviet republic for 20 years, creating a vast personality cult around himself and issuing decrees regulating behavior in all walks of life.

In 2001, Niyazov banned opera and ballet as not corresponding with the national mentality. Last year, he called for young people not to get gold tooth caps and urged authorities to crack down on young men wearing beards or long hair."

It looks like For Better or For Worse will be canceled.

For Better or For Worse: "
On September 1st 'For Better or For Worse' will be discontinued due to the fact that the creator has not renewed her contract with Comics.com. As of September 1st the strip will no longer be available on Comics.com and e-mail delivery of the strip will stop."

Quote

"You think following the rules will buy you a nice life, even if the rules make you a slave."

Malcolm Reynolds on Firefly.

BloodyFingerMail.com : Leave Your Mark

BloodyFingerMail.com : Leave Your Mark

More bodies on the suicide wagon....

Japan Today - News - Two men, one woman die in suicide pact - Japan's Leading International News Network: "NAGOYA — Police said Thursday that two men and one woman were found dead inside a locked one-room apartment, the result of an apparent suicide pact.

The two men, aged 28 and 23, and the woman, identified as a 17-year-old high school student, were discovered by the boss of one of the men when he didn't show up for work. 'There is no evidence that they knew each other,' said a police spokesperson. 'We think they might have met through an Internet suicide site.' (Wire reports)"

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Appeals Court Tosses Judge's Wiccan Order

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Appeals Court Tosses Judge's Wiccan Order: "INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A judge who ordered two Wicca believers to shield their son from their ``non-mainstream'' faith overstepped his authority, an appeals court said Wednesday in dismissing the order.

The Indiana Court of Appeals said state law gave a custodial parent the authority to determine a child's upbringing, including religious training. A judge could find that certain limitations were needed to protect a child from physical or emotional harm.

The parents' appeal, brought by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, claimed among other issues that the decree was unconstitutionally vague because it did not define mainstream religion. But the appeals court based its ruling on state law.

Marion Superior Court Judge Cale Bradford added the religion language to a divorce decree granted in 2004 to Thomas E. Jones and Tammy Bristol of Indianapolis. Jones is a Wiccan activist who has coordinated Pagan Pride Day in the city.

The judge's order followed a routine court report that said both parents are pagans who send their son, who is now 10 years old, to a Catholic school. In May, Jones said neither he nor his ex-wife had taken the boy to any Wiccan rituals since the order was issued.

The two parents do not have listed phone numbers and could not be located for comment Wednesday.

"

Joi Ito's Web: False positive - Part II

The man shot by the London police wasn't acting suspicious at all.

Joi Ito's Web: False positive - Part II: "the victim didn't jump the gate and had actually sat down in the train before the police came and shot him 7 times in the head after grabbing him."

WFTV.com - News - Pit Bulls Kill Three Animals At Michigan's Children's Zoo

WFTV.com - News - Pit Bulls Kill Three Animals At Michigan's Children's Zoo: "SAGINAW, Mich. -- A pair of pit bulls burrowed under a fence at a children's zoo and killed two goats and a rooster, officials said.



'It is a sad day at the zoo,' Director Nancy J. Parker said.

One of the dogs was shot to death by a zoo employee while another was captured by animal control officers.

Saginaw County Animal Care Center Director Mark Wachner said he was not surprised by the pit bulls' attacks.

'That is just prey behavior,' he said. 'It is not that uncommon.'"

Doesn't he mean "predator" behavior? "Prey" behavior would be running the hell away.

gimproulette.swf (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)

gimproulette.swf Ever want to play Russian Roulette?

What do they call it in Russia?

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Ten Precepts From The Art of War That Never Made It Past Sun Tzu's Editor.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Ten Precepts From The Art of War That Never Made It Past Sun Tzu's Editor.: "Ten Precepts
From The Art of War
That Never Made It
Past Sun Tzu's
Editor.

BY JOHN KEARNEY

- - - -

1. When you sally forth to meet the enemy, show your contempt for him by the haughtiness of your prance.

2. Confuse your enemy with mixed metaphors. Be like the wind beneath his keel.

3. All warfare is based on deception. When the enemy draws near to you, cry out, 'Look out behind you.' When he turns to look behind him, attack.

4. Always keep the blades of your weapons sharp. It is the way of the ginsu.

5. Always keep the hair of your men shorn close to the scalp. Nobody likes hippies.

6. All warfare is based on deception. When the enemy draws near to you, cry out, 'You spilled soup all down the front of your tunic.' When he looks down at the front of his tunic, attack.

7. Never lend money to your men just before a battle.

8. Demoralize your enemy by whispering and giggling and then suddenly going silent as he draws near. When he asks what you were talking about, say, 'Oh, nothing.'

9. Never allow your men to paint flowers or colorful swirls on the sides of their chariots. Nobody likes hippies.

10. Confound your enemy with precepts that sound pr"

the truth about the singularity in 2012

Maya calendar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "End of the world?

The turn of the great cycle is conjectured to have been of great significance to the Maya, but does not necessarily mark the end of the world. According to the Popol Vuh, a sacred book of the Maya, they were living in the fourth world. The Popol Vuh describes the first three worlds that the gods failed in making and the creation of the successful fourth world where men were placed. The Maya believed that the fourth world would end in catastrophe and the fifth and final world would be created that would signal the end of mankind.

The last creation ended on a long count of 13.0.0.0.0. Another 13.0.0.0.0 will occur on December 21, 2012, and it has been discussed in many New Age articles and books that this will be the end of this creation. However, the Maya abbreviated their long counts to just the last five vigisimal places. There were an infinitely larger number of units that were usually not shown. When the larger units were shown (notably on a monument from Coba), it is expressed as 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.0.0.0.0, where the larger units are obviously supposed to be 13s in all larger places. In this creation we are only approaching 0.0.0.0.0.0.13.0.0.0.0, and the larger places are no where near the 13s that would match the end of the last creation.

This is confirmed by a date from Palenque, which projects "

cat haiku

cat haiku: "You never feed me.
Perhaps I'll sleep on your face.
That will sure show you."

WFTV.com - News - U.S. Colonel Accused Of Trashing Cars With Pro-Bush Stickers

WFTV.com - News - U.S. Colonel Accused Of Trashing Cars With Pro-Bush Stickers: "DENVER -- An Air Force Reserve colonel may face criminal charges in a vandalism case.

The officer, Alexis Fecteau, is accused of defacing cars at the Denver International Airport.

He allegedly blacked out pro-Bush bumper stickers on 10 vehicles, then spray painted an expletive and the president's name on the vehicle.

He is director of operations for reserve forces at the National Security Space Institute in Colorado Springs. Police set up a bait vehicle equipped with a camera that captured an image of the suspect and his car.

Police have referred the case to prosecutors, who are considering filing criminal charges."

Guns and Dope Party

Guns and Dope Party


A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined,
but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a
status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them,
which would include their own government.
--George Washington

Science Fiction is dead

Not that that will stop Star Wars or Star Trek, or any of that stuff.

It's been a long time since there have been any new ideas in the field. The stories being written are just reworkings of old ideas. Some of it is still very good, but like Firefly, for instance, it's just cowboys in space. Oh, it's a very good western, but it's really just a "what if the civil war happened in space?" story.

I think we've lost our imagination. We can't see the future any more. What we see is just more of the same.

You can call it the singularity if you want. But what's really happening is an inability to see past 2012 or so.

Take my love. Take my land.
Take me where I cannot stand.
I don't care, I'm still free.
You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out to the black.
Tell 'em I ain't comin' back.
Burn the land And boil the sea.
You can't take the sky from me.

Have no place I can be since I found Serenity.
But you can't take the sky from me.

Fake Suicide Killer

The Japan Times Online: "OSAKA (Kyodo) A 36-year-old man arrested late Friday on suspicion of killing a woman he met through a suicide Web site has confessed to killing two other victims who also believed he shared their desire to commit suicide, according to police sources."

Crack House Rules

The tragedy of the commons, demonstrated in this list of rules from a crack house.

Pages torn from children's books.

JayPinkerton.com

bad joke

"Why do ducks have webbed feet?
To stamp out fires.
Why do elephants have flat feet?
To stamp out burning ducks."

Boing Boing: DIY cubicle privacy

Boing Boing: DIY cubicle privacy


Stefan says: "A co-worker down the aisle created a privacy shroud for his cube with some PVC pipe, connectors, and cheap nylon cloth."

This is totally a sign that you should start your own business.

Or maybe you just need some Paxil and a vacation.

Haunted Cellphone

My wife's phone is haunted.

She had been getting calls from people who said they were returning the call she had made to them. But she hadn't called them. All of the calls were happening at midnight or 3am or such.

I was starting to think she was sleepwalking and making the calls, or just forgetting them.

But just now I heard a beep and walked into the computer room. Her phone had just dialed someone in her address book and was on the line with them.

I hung it up.

I wonder if the poultrygoose will be angry at me for hanging up on it's conversation.

The Sikhism Home Page: Sikh Religious Philosophy

The Sikhism Home Page: Sikh Religious Philosophy

Not a bad religion, as these things go. They all sound good on the surface, though. It's usually just PR, though.

Calvin and Hobbes Snowman gallery

Calvin and Hobbes Snow Art Gallery

My 22 month old daughter is starting to remind me a lot of Calvin. My wife is exasperated with her, but I think it will be worth it if we get good art out of it.

Bloodsuckers: Vampires in Spaaaaaace!!!!!!!

The Joe Lando Web Page - Bloodsuckers Movie Credits

This was really a rather good movie. So good it's bad, maybe. But it wasn't campy so much as aware of it's own ridculousness.

It's about a team of bounty hunters in a ship called the Hieronymous. Rather good name for a ship.

It turns out their is intelligent life in the universe, and it's all vampires.

These guys are part of some sort of half-assed military group that kills vampires....sort of like the merchant marines for killing bloodsucking aliens.

The plot is way too convoluted...hell, it's just random. It's like they took enough plot points to make an entire Star Trek season and put them into a 90 minute movie. It jumps all over the place. They rescue someone who betrays them, their captain is killed and turned into a vampire, the new captain has tantric vampire sex with a vampire/human hybrid, their ship is blown up....on and on and on.

It's just one cliche after another, and somehow it's good.

I could really see this becoming a seiries.