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7.31.2003
your papers, please
the separation fence that israel is building in the west bank has also emerged as a key sticking point between the two sides. the barrier � which aims to block palestinian attackers from reaching israel � also drives deep into the west bank to separate jewish settlements from palestinian areas, and palestinians consider it an expropriation of their land. qalqiliya, which reaches up to the so-called green line dividing the west bank from israel, is surrounded on three sides by walls and fences, with prison-like watchtowers manned with israeli soldiers rising up over the town, and it has become a focal point of palestinian protest against the barrier. "the wall is in complete contradiction of our interests. we are living inside of a prison," qalqiliya mayor marouf zahran said during thursday�s demonstration. a single road to the east, along a corridor about a mile wide, is the town�s only entry and exit route to the rest of the west bank. the barrier cuts off the city from 32 villages in the area � as well as from israel to the west and jewish settlements to the north and south � leading to the closing in recent years of some 600 businesses in qalqiliya, officials say. *** ... what the hell? 
laugh riaa-t
yoshimi vs. the blue's clues robots
flaming lips/blues clues collaboration due soon
...but sweet mary and joseph, the flaming lips have got to be indulging in too many christmas trips to mars, because when i read they'd be teaming with the guy from blues clues i truly flipped a lid. well, i guess it was a proverbial lid, but still, i didn't trust any of my five senses after the pitchfork announcement. even tactile was in jeopardy! since first reading about the project last year i sorta hoped it might have been quietly swept under an oversized teletubbie-shaped rug or something, but it seems the lips/blues clues collaboration now has a tracklist and a release date. birthing this august 12th on pias, steve burns' songs for dustmites was produced by lips soundsmith dave fridmann at tarbox road studios and engineered by lips bassist michael ivins. lips drummer steve drozd plays on many of the songs as well. as for wayne coyne himself... well sir, mr. coyne does not appear on songs for dustmites. however, according to the administrator of the blues clues web page (my homepage, i'll have you know), the pair have 'hung out' and burns may appear in the lips' upcoming christmas movie. burns' website also contains a bevy of information, both nonsensical and practical, about the album, how he scores chicks and squirrels. you can even stream the songs in their entirety... .: steve burns: www.steveswebpage.com .: david fridmann: www.netsync.net/users/fridmann no -- it's folksy!
nice spin on this one.
bush adds to list of folksy sayings washington - president bush, known for being plainspoken and having a folksy way with words and phrases, has added to the growing list of what are known as "bush-isms." ...some might say the response was classic bush, delivered by a chief executive who for the most part favors sweet, simple and to-the-point replies over lengthy, more flowery prose. "i think he's a person that thinks that words oftentimes get in the way of communication, rather than in assistance to it," said roderick hart, who teaches communication and government at the university of texas at austin, in bush's home state. "he's a person who believes in direct, no-nonsense chatter," hart added. *** whereas the rest of us believe in language that communicates ideas rather than random funny noises. i will admit that i have mocked president bush before because he's fumbled more than few opportunities for public speaking. to some extent, i sympathize -- i know what it's like to trip over your own tongue on occasion. however: this is embarrassing. i don't ask for much in our public officials, but i do ask that when you address the american public that you, y'know, try to make yourself coherent. and i certainly think that you should address the problem, rather than spin it off as "folksy", which this administration seems content to do. 7.30.2003
gibberish
found at warren's first, though i would have come across this this afternoon, anyway:
bush shuns calls to legalize gay marriage washington - president bush said wednesday he has government lawyers working on a law that would define marriage as a union between a woman and a man, casting aside calls to legalize gay marriages. "i believe marriage is between a man and a woman and i believe we ought to codify that one way or the other and we have lawyers looking at the best way to do that," the president said a wide-ranging news conference at the white house rose garden. bush also urged, however, that america remain a "welcoming country" � not polarized on the issue of homosexuality. "i am mindful that we're all sinners and i caution those who may try to take a speck out of the neighbor's eye when they got a log in their own," the president said. "i think it is important for our society to respect each individual, to welcome those with good hearts." *** i don't really care where you come down on the issue itself, but let's be completely honest here: does this sound like something you really, really want legislators and/or lawyers (like me!) deciding for you? also: if someone could explain that last quote from the prez above for me, i'd surely appreciate it. i understand that those are all english words, but they don't really mean anything when they're put in that order -- a common problem, i've found, in trying to figure out the current administration. bottled rocket
sens. oppose loosening model rocket rules by devlin barrett, associated press writer washington - a bill to loosen federal restrictions for model rocket enthusiasts drew fire tuesday from senators from new york and new jersey, who said the proposal would give terrorists access to dangerous explosives. sen. charles schumer, d-n.y., criticized the measure by sen. mike enzi, r-wyo., to change the homeland security act to allow rocket enthusiasts to buy black powder and another form of high-powered rocket propellant without submitting to a background check. the act was passed after the sept. 11, 2001, attacks. standing next to a seven-foot tall rocket, schumer said the legislation effectively would allow would-be terrorists to amass large quantities of explosives. ...tim lehr, rocket manager at al's hobby shop in elmhurst, ill., said the restrictions are killing the rocket hobby business and are an unnecessary hassle for hobbyists. "it's going to put dealers out of business, period," said lehr. he predicted the hobby will die out within five years because no one new will pick it up knowing the bureaucratic hurdles of background checks, storage requirements and governmental oversight. think you used enough dynamite, there, butch?
7.29.2003
quotable quotes
7.18.2003
do you read sutter cane?
shots fired at school board meeting
man douses 2 with gasoline, opens fire with assault-style rifle associated press charleston, w.va., july 18 � audience members attending a school board meeting thursday were credited with thwarting an attack by a maintenance worker who doused two people with gasoline and shot another with an assault-style rifle. one woman was wounded in the attack thursday night but her injuries were not life-threatening, police said. onlookers grabbed the man before he could take aim, witnesses said. �their quick action really did help prevent fatalities tonight,� school board member john luoni said. richard dean �rusty� bright, 58, who had been on sick leave, arrived about 10 minutes into the kanawha county board of education�s meeting with three large buckets of gasoline and a chinese-made sks rifle under an overcoat, witnesses said. luoni said bright placed the buckets on a table and then splashed maintenance supervisor jeffery a. allred and karen williams, a personnel department official. bright appeared to try to ignite the gas, then pulled out the rifle, witnesses said. luoni said bright fired several shots, but was unable to take aim before onlookers subdued him. pop quiz, hotshot
http://www.msnbc.com/news/938823.asp?cp1=1
a quiz about how much news you've retained in the post-september 11, 2001 world. i got 60%, and i thought i was pretty well-informed. i fought the law and the law won
upload a file, go to prison
by katie dean 02:00 am jul. 17, 2003 pt a new bill proposed in congress on wednesday would land a person in prison for five years and impose a fine of $250,000 for uploading a single file to a peer-to-peer network. the bill was introduced by reps. john conyers jr. (d-mich.) and howard berman (d-calif.). they said the bill is designed to increase domestic and international enforcement of copyright laws. more specifically, the bill targets peer-to-peer file trading, an aide working for the congressmen said. the law is meant to keep up with changing technology. content like movies, music and software are the country's no. 1 export, but the creators are being hurt by people who use technology to get the content for free, conyers said. jason schultz, a staff attorney with the electronic frontier foundation, called the bill "a sign of desperation" by the recording industry and hollywood as they try to hold on to their business models. the bill, called the author, consumer and computer owner protection and security act of 2003, or accops, would allocate more money to the justice department to investigate copyright crimes: up to $15 million a year, compared with the current budget of $10 million. the bill would also enable information sharing between countries to help in copyright enforcement abroad. the bill "clarifies" that uploading a single file of copyright content qualifies as a felony. penalties for such an offense include up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. in addition, filming a movie in a theater without authorization would immediately qualify as a federal offense. "we're giving notice that this is something we want specific attention paid to," said the aide. "the current law is very general." **** (more in link) **** united states copyright office title 17, united states code (copyright) � 501. infringement of copyright (a) anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner as provided by sections 106 through 122 or of the author as provided in section 106a(a), or who imports copies or phonorecords into the united states in violation of section 602, is an infringer of the copyright or right of the author, as the case may be... � 504. remedies for infringement: damages and profits4 (a) in general. � except as otherwise provided by this title, an infringer of copyright is liable for either � (1) the copyright owner's actual damages and any additional profits of the infringer, as provided by subsection (b); or (2) statutory damages, as provided by subsection (c). (b) actual damages and profits. � the copyright owner is entitled to recover the actual damages suffered by him or her as a result of the infringement, and any profits of the infringer that are attributable to the infringement and are not taken into account in computing the actual damages. in establishing the infringer's profits, the copyright owner is required to present proof only of the infringer's gross revenue, and the infringer is required to prove his or her deductible expenses and the elements of profit attributable to factors other than the copyrighted work. (c) statutory damages. � (1) except as provided by clause (2) of this subsection, the copyright owner may elect, at any time before final judgment is rendered, to recover, instead of actual damages and profits, an award of statutory damages for all infringements involved in the action, with respect to any one work, for which any one infringer is liable individually, or for which any two or more infringers are liable jointly and severally, in a sum of not less than $750 or more than $30,000 as the court considers just. for the purposes of this subsection, all the parts of a compilation or derivative work constitute one work. (2) in a case where the copyright owner sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that infringement was committed willfully, the court in its discretion may increase the award of statutory damages to a sum of not more than $150,000. in a case where the infringer sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that such infringer was not aware and had no reason to believe that his or her acts constituted an infringement of copyright, the court in its discretion may reduce the award of statutory damages to a sum of not less than $200. the court shall remit statutory damages in any case where an infringer believed and had reasonable grounds for believing that his or her use of the copyrighted work was a fair use under section 107, if the infringer was: (i) an employee or agent of a nonprofit educational institution, library, or archives acting within the scope of his or her employment who, or such institution, library, or archives itself, which infringed by reproducing the work in copies or phonorecords; or (ii) a public broadcasting entity which or a person who, as a regular part of the nonprofit activities of a public broadcasting entity (as defined in subsection (g) of section 118) infringed by performing a published nondramatic literary work or by reproducing a transmission program embodying a performance of such a work. (d) additional damages in certain cases. � in any case in which the court finds that a defendant proprietor of an establishment who claims as a defense that its activities were exempt under section 110(5) did not have reasonable grounds to believe that its use of a copyrighted work was exempt under such section, the plaintiff shall be entitled to, in addition to any award of damages under this section, an additional award of two times the amount of the license fee that the proprietor of the establishment concerned should have paid the plaintiff for such use during the preceding period of up to 3 years. ****** yeah. looks pretty general to me. you guys in congress are dumb as monkeys, you know that? 7.16.2003
subs
http://www.aero.ufl.edu/~vql/courses/feem/submarine.jpg
http://members.netvalue.net/robsmalley/submarine.jpg http://www.nationalism.org/rusaction/resourse/news/kursk.jpg http://homepage.tinet.ie/~steven/images/gertype212.jpg http://www.anawa.org.au/weapons/trident.jpg http://www.southwest.com.au/~jfuller/liquids/dsrv.jpg odd
i am given to understand that my employer was forced to evacuate mesa verde because of a near miss with lightning that started a fire.
7.15.2003
catchup
random bits o' this and that.
i watched a great show last night -- monster house on (i think) the discovery channel. basically, it's sort of like trading spaces, only it's just one house, and the redecoraters are all (theoretically) professional people. and they just gut the damn house and start over, with a unifying theme for the whole deal. it's pretty funny, particularly because a) they don't always finish in the allotted seven days, and b) they don't always get along with each other. the one i watched last night had a very crabby, arthritic carpenter who repeatedly swore at the cameraman whenever he was around. val can feel the baby kicking, but it's still too early for me, despite the fact that she says she actually saw it kicking last night. apparently, my hand makes it stop moving. so i don't know what to do with that, except be patient, i guess. i think i'm becoming a little obsessed with wilco -- i can't stop listening to yankee foxtrot hotel. dad is doing a lot better. we went up there on saturday evening for dinner and to hang out, and he's moving around all over the house on the cane. i guess the walker didn't last all that long. he looked really good for only a week and a half past surgery, although the strain before and after apparently messed up his knees pretty badly. he puts ice packs on them in the evening, top and bottom. they take up their own entire shelf in the freezer. i know mom will be glad to get rid of them soon, so i can only hope that dad's knees mend pretty quickly... also, we have decided on names for the baby, but they're ultra-secret and i've promised not to tell. 7.09.2003
hp:ootp
this is the bestest thing the inertnet has ever given me:
http://www.electronicgeisha.com/pureart/harrypotter/ootpreview.jpg edit: snipped for loading ease. it was making me crazy... thanks to charity for the link. "inertnet" ganked from xtop also, i am apparently a huge girl. van winkle
man wakes after 19 years in coma
accident victim stuck in 1984; believes reagan still president mountain view, ark., july 9 � the words began tumbling out � at first just a few nouns and eventually a torrent of phrases. terry wallis, who had been in a coma since a 1984 car accident, regained consciousness last month to the surprise of doctors and the delight of his family, including his mother, who heard his first word in 19 years. ...terry wallis, now 39, was riding with a friend in july 1984 when their car left the road and plunged into a creek. wallis and his friend were found the next day underneath a bridge. the friend was dead and wallis was comatose. wallis� daughter, amber, was born shortly before the accident, and the coma dragged on for almost two decades. she is now 19 and her dad has said he wants to walk again, for her. he is a quadriplegic as a result of the crash. ...terry�s father, jerry wallis, said his son talks almost nonstop now, but it seems as though time stopped for him after the wreck. terry still believes ronald reagan is the president. terry has asked to speak to his grandmother, who died several years ago, and even recited her phone number � something everyone else in the family had forgotten. �you see, he�s still back in 1984,� said jerry wallis... 7.08.2003
file under "toldja so"
shuttle foam test offers 'smoking gun' proof of disaster
a chunk of foam insulation fired at shuttle wing parts monday blew open a gaping 16-inch hole, yielding what one member of the columbia investigation team said was the "smoking gun" that proves what brought down the spaceship. the crowd of about 100 watching the test gasped and cried, "wow!" when the foam hit -- the impact so violent that it popped a lens off one of the cameras recording the event. 
...jesus. 7.06.2003
there and back again - a day
7.04.2003
boom
7.02.2003
brother down
all for want of an "e"
i swear to you that if the reason i was embarrassed in front of the same client twice in less than a month because of one single missing letter, i will lose my mind.
7.01.2003
viva casa del dahlberg
we are out of the apartment and into the house, finally and permanently. chez dahlberg is no more; viva casa del dahlberg.
pictures tonight. for those that i haven't already hit with the information -- new address and phone number available upon request.
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