.date
December 31, 2004
.item
Last Cat Blogging Of 2004
.pubdate
Fri, 31 Dec 2004 09:05:16 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/31/09:05:16:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/cats20041231.jpg
.alt
Tory James
.ie
.item
What If...
.pubdate
Fri, 31 Dec 2004 11:06:03 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/31/11:06:03:00
.p
.url
http://smartwithheart.org/
.ls
smartwithheart
.le
steps into the quicksand while holding firmly to the third rail:
.url
http://smartwithheart.org/NoJesus.php
.ls
Challenging the Historicity of Jesus
.le
.p
I went to Catholic school from 1st through 6th grades. Needless to say
this sort of thing never came up in Cathechism class. I'd never really given much thought to the subject before, because that issue wasn't central to the
philosophy (which I endevor to follow). I'd been much more troubled that in the last 200 years the message of Christ had been subverted and distorted beyond recognition of his contemporaries. This is an eye-opening evaluation of the historical evidence.
.item
Peak Oil Countdown
.pubdate
Fri, 31 Dec 2004 11:17:51 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/31/11:17:51:00
.pqt
To quote my energy editor Dale Allen Pfeiffer, a geologist: it appears that the year 2007 will be important. A new study published in Petroleum Review suggests that production might not be able to keep up with demand by 2007. The study is a survey of mega projects (those with reserves of over 500 million barrels and the potential to produce over 100,000 barrels per day of oil). Mega projects are important not only because they provide the bulk of world oil production, but also because they have a better net energy profile than smaller projects, and they provide a more substantial profit than smaller projects.
.pqt
Bear in mind that the planet consumes a billion barrels of oil (or two mega fields) every 11-1/2days.
.pqt
The discovery rate for mega projects has dwindled to almost nothing. This can be seen in the data for the last few years. In 2000, there were 16 discoveries; in 2001 there were 8, and in 2002, only 3. From discovery to first production generally takes about 6 years. If a new project can make use of existing infrastructure, then the start-up time might be cut to 4 years.
.pqt
...
.pqt
But there is another factor to this oil calculus. We hear complaints that a major part of the problem with current oil prices has to do with a lack of refineries. Why are no more refineries being built? The answer is simple and an irrefutable confirmation of peak oil. The refineries are not being built and massive expensive exploration projects are not being undertaken because the oil companies understand that there is very little oil left to find.
.pqt
Michael C. Ruppert in an
.url
http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_15732.shtml
.ls
August 31 Speech
.le
to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco
.date
December 28, 2004
.item
Tsunami Information
.pubdate
Tue, 28 Dec 2004 21:49:30 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/28/21:49:30:00
.p
.url
http://www.ceejbot.com/blog/space/start/
.ls
Ceej
.le
pointed out that the
.url
http://www.wikipedia.org
.ls
Wikkipedia
.le
is the best source of information on the
.url
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
.ls
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.
.le
.p
24 minutes spent reading the wikkipedia will leave you more informed than 24 hours of CNN.
.p
When you're done, join me in bending some plastic at
.url
https://www.redcross.org
.ls
The Red Cross
.le
and at
.url
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
.ls
Doctors Without Borders
.le
.item
Again, Strange Dreams
.pubdate
Tue, 28 Dec 2004 14:22:25 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/28/14:22:25:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/SquirrelServices.jpg
.alt
Squirrel Services
.ie
.p
I'm never sure what causes these mysterious mash-up dreams, but cute rodents
and object-oriented programming appeared in the same place, at the same time in my dreams the other night, and it all became perfectly clear:
.pqt
* Squirrels are objects that provide squirrel services. *
.p
Right. Too much turkey before sleep will do that to you.
.date
December 24, 2004
.item
Friday Cat Blogging - Tory, Miko and T-chan
.pubdate
Fri, 24 Dec 2004 11:21:57 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/24/11:21:57:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/cats20041224.jpg
.alt
Three cats in a line
.ie
.p
Tory: Purry holidays, everyone!
.p
Miko: Here's wishing you the joys of family, and a warm place to rest your chin.
.p
T-Chan: Meowy Christmas. ZzzzZzzzZzzz.
.date
December 23, 2004
.item
Bloggercon Audio
.pubdate
Thu, 23 Dec 2004 19:09:46 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/23/19:09:46:00
.p
Oh Yeah, did I mention that all of the
.url
http://www.itconversations.com/series/bloggercon2004.html
.ls
recorded sessions of Bloggercon
.le
have been
converted to .mp3 and are available at
.url
http://www.itconversations.com
.ls
IT Conversations?
.le
Well, they have. I higly recomend Law moderated by Lawrence Lessig,
Core Values moderated by Mary Hodder and
Newbies moderated by Rebecca MacKinnon.
.p
I've listened to the entire schedule, and all are worth a listen. (And yes, I dropped a tip in the tip jar, too)
.p
If you listen closely, you can hear me
adding my $0.02 from time to time.
.p
I've been told I have the perfect voice to become a great mime.
.p
Woot! there's a new
.url
http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail358.html
.ls
interview with David Brin.
.le
I went to a session with Brin at Worldcon San Jose, I thought it was most rewarding.
.date
December 17, 2004
.item
Friday Cat Blogging - Miko
.pubdate
Thu, 16 Dec 2004 22:38:25 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/16/22:38:25:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/cats20041217.jpg
.alt
Miko
.ie
.p
Yes, I'm joining the Friday Cat Blogging bandwagon.
.p
We think Miko is half ragdoll and half squirrel.
He's skittish, but very affectionate, and is the only one of our three who likes to be picked up and held.
He loves to lay on my warm monitor when I'm in my den, and thinks LCDs are are for the birds.
.item
What's That Cracking Noise?
.pubdate
Fri, 17 Dec 2004 08:49:05 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/17/08:49:05:00
.pqn
Yet, aside from giving the Cato Institute and other organizations promoting Social Security privatization the space to present upbeat tales from Chile, the U.S. news media have provided their readers and viewers with little information about international experience. In particular, the public hasn't been let in on two open secrets:
.pqn
Privatization dissipates a large fraction of workers' contributions on fees to investment companies.
.pqn
It leaves many retirees in poverty.
.pqt
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/opinion/17krugman.html?oref=login&oref=login&oref=login.url
.ls
Paul Krugman
.le
.p
Oh, what's the point. I can tell you all a thousand times (And probably will) that whatever infirmity Social Security has, bleeding the patient will be of no help. But it doesn't matter. Dubya has about half the country following him,
thinking he's walking on water, but it's only thin ice.
.p
When Dubya leaves office he'll be safe in the arms of the Saudi Royal Family, and Richard Mellon Scaife, and Rupert Murdoch, and Sun Yung Moon.
The rest of us will not be so lucky.
.date
December 16, 2004
.item
More Ranma Stuff
.pubdate
Thu, 16 Dec 2004 22:38:25 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/16/22:38:25:01
.p
.url
http://karen.saiin.net/~apnea/
.ls
apnea
.le
is a Ranma * Akane Only site. Great artwork and the links page is a great resource for further Japanese fansite surfing.
.item
Windows XP = Extremely Persnickety
.pubdate
Thu, 16 Dec 2004 21:21:05 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/16/21:21:05:00
.p
I'd been wondering about why it was that when I used my laptop at work I'd get
a complete set of icons on my taskbar, but when I used it at home I'd get an abbriviated set.
This happened several days in a row, regular as clockwork. At work, I'd find a full icon set, at home, I'd find that several were missing.
.p
Tonight I did an experiment here at home. I waited a couple of minutes* between power up and actually logging in. All of the Icons showed up.
.p
* About the same amount of time it takes to pick up my
.url
http://www.fredart.com/fredart/artpage.php3?src=&ft=co&fn=21
.ls
Ruri-Ruri
.le
coffee cup, and making a quick round trip the the other corner of the building for my first cup before logging in.
.p
Oh by the way, I discovered that the firewall software that comes installed by Sony was blocking Windows Workgroup Networking. There were no hints about that in the help system. Sigh.
.item
A Red Warning Light On The Dashboard Of Democracy
.pubdate
Thu, 16 Dec 2004 08:52:22 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/16/08:52:22:00
.pqt
Rev. Jesse Jackson told the congressmen that over the weekend he had spoken to John Kerry, who has since sent a letter to each of the state’s 88 county election boards, saying he supported three areas of inquiry in the recount. Jackson said Kerry wanted “forensic computer experts” to examine voting machines, especially those using optical scan technology, because in other states, notably New Mexico, Bush had won all the precincts with that voting system in place. Kerry also wanted to examine 92,000 ballots that recorded no vote for president, and 155,000 provisional ballots that were rejected.
[Ephasis Added - J.]
.pqt
.url
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/986
.ls
The Free Press
.le
.date
December 15, 2004
.item
A Dare
.pubdate
Wed, 15 Dec 2004 21:47:24 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/15/21:47:24:00
.p
Kyburg issued me a dare, I
.url
http://www.livejournal.com/users/kyburg/493115.html
.ls
responed
.le
with eight haiku.
.p
It's clearly not by best work, but it somehow unstuck me. Thanks, K.
.item
If It Ain't Broke, Don't Break It.
.pubdate
Wed, 15 Dec 2004 13:21:09 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/15/13:21:09:00
.pqn
According to the Congressional Budget Office, using a more realistic model, the trust fund will run out in 2052, and even then it will cover 81 percent of the promised benefits. To fully fund this shortfall would require additional revenue of 0.54 percent of GDP, less than we are currently spending in Iraq. Or, as Paul Krugman noted in The New York Times, about one quarter of the revenue lost each year by President Bush's tax cuts, "roughly equal to the fraction of those cuts that goes to people with incomes of $500,000 a year."
.pqn
.url
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=18239
.ls
Molly Ivins
.le
.p
I'm personally ambivalent about Social Security, I don't plan to need it in retirement, and I'm expecting that it will be means tested by the time I reach that age. That doesn't mean I want it to go away. After all, my savings are "in the market" now, and between the falling dollar and the duldrums of the economy I might well find myself needing it.
.p
I'm treating it like insurance for now; I'll pay today so that should I need it I can call on it later.
.p
The real crisis is on medicare, not Social Security.
.p
I feel powerless to prevent this however, it seems my swords of fact and reason make no mark on the sheild of willfull ignorance. Truth has been voted off the island.
.item
Cajone Pass Under Tumbling Skys
.pubdate
Wed, 15 Dec 2004 12:34:51 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/15/12:34:51:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/cajonepass.jpg
.alt
Cajone Pass
.ie
.pn
Nikon E990 2004.11.21
.p
Here is the view coming down from Cajone pass on Highway 15 on the way to Las Vegas. The snow in the pass had backed up traffic in the other lanes for twenty miles. This part of the road is such a long, even grade that it tricked the eye into believeing that we were traveling on the flat, and that up ahead there was a bend upwards in the world.
.date
December 14, 2004
.item
Windows Networking Gripes
.pubdate
Tue, 14 Dec 2004 22:17:42 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/14/22:17:42:00
.p
You know, I have no trouble setting up Linux, and I've been able to get every machine I've ever known on the inturwebs, including aged macs and my museum piece Bebox, but for some reason Windows workgroup networking just never seems to work for me.
.p
I have a nice solid Windows 2000 Machine upstairs with a bunch of data on it I'd like to copy to my XP laptop, and altough I have no trouble reaching Antacrtica over the inturwebs, I simply can't seem to get to my machine a few feet away.
.p
I am about this close to installing a linux machine just so that it can translate.
.p
Heck, the Win2K machine can see my laptop, but altough I have folders shared it
says: The Network path is not found. My new laptop can't see the win2k machine.
.p
And don't get me started about the help system. Oh, and for some unknown reason my battery indicator has dissapeared from the taskbar. What's up with that?
Come ON. It's almost 2005. Toyota would be out of business if the gas gauge just disappeared randomly.
.date
December 13, 2004
.item
Objects In Fear Are Further Than They Appear
.pubdate
Mon, 13 Dec 2004 21:21:32 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/13/21:21:32:00
.p
Did you know that 10 years ago, Social Security was just 35 short years from running a deficit, and now we project it will take only 38 more years?
.p
.url
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_12/005316.php
.ls
Washington Monthly
.le
has the scoop.
.p
.item
Onionated
.pubdate
Mon, 13 Dec 2004 12:39:50 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/13/12:39:50:00
.p
The Onion takes a look at
.url
http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4049
.ls
roll-backs at Wal-Mart.
.le
.date
December 10, 2004
.item
Been There, Done That.
.pubdate
Fri, 10 Dec 2004 13:47:40 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/10/13:47:40:00
.p
You know, privatizing social security is such an appealing idea that It's been tried before:
.pn
In Chile:
.pqt
The World Bank found that half of the pension contributions of the average Chilean worker who retired in 2000 went to management fees. The brokerage firm CB Capitales...found that the average worker would have done better simply by placing their pension fund contributions in a passbook savings account.
.pn
And Sweden
.pqt
....Everyone in the new system is forced to speculate in mutual funds and results in the first years have been disastrous. From March 2000 until March 2003, the Swedish stock market declined by 68%. As of 31st January 2004, 84% of all accounts had lost money, despite the upturn in the market since March 2003.
.p
Read all about it at
.url
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_12/005297.php
.ls
Washington Monthly
.le
.item
Social Insecurity
.pubdate
Fri, 10 Dec 2004 08:57:48 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/10/08:57:48:00
.p
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/opinion/10krugman.html?oref=login
.ls
Krugman
.le
unravels the plan.
.p
I'm thinking it's Enron writ big—a shell game where the Wall Street firms stand to skim a nice guaranteed profit from the part of the population they’ve never had though the front door before.
.p
Dubya wants to return this country to what it once was: a land of indentured servants, belching smokestacks, and robber barons.
.date
December 9, 2004
.item
Waiting
.pubdate
Thu, 09 Dec 2004 14:49:53 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/09/14:49:53:00
.pn
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/redseats.jpg
.alt
Waiting at Kansai Airport
.ie
.pn
2004.12.08 Kansai Airport Nikon N990
.item
Fanfiction
.pubdate
Thu, 09 Dec 2004 14:58:10 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/09/14:58:10:00
.p
.url
http://www.livejournal.com/users/fiendling/499144.html
.ls
Fiendling
.le
has some observations on Ranma Fanfiction. (Darn right, it's Ranma + Akane!)
.date
December 7, 2004
.item
Dollars and Sense.
.pubdate
Tue, 07 Dec 2004 12:46:10 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/07/12:46:10:00
.pqt
The dollar is not what it used to be. Over the past three years it has fallen by 35% against the euro and by 24% against the yen. But its latest slide is merely a symptom of a worse malaise: the global financial system is under great strain. America has habits that are inappropriate, to say the least, for the guardian of the world's main reserve currency: rampant government borrowing, furious consumer spending and a current-account deficit big enough to have bankrupted any other country some time ago. This makes a dollar devaluation inevitable, not least because it becomes a seemingly attractive option for the leaders of a heavily indebted America. Policymakers now seem to be talking the dollar down. Yet this is a dangerous game. Why would anybody want to invest in a currency that will almost certainly depreciate?
.pqt
.url
http://economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3446249
.ls
The Economist
.le
.item
The New Explorers
.pubdate
Tue, 07 Dec 2004 12:46:10 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/07/12:46:10:01
.p
IT conversations is reaching outside the tech world to present some audio interviews of more general interest.
.url
http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail254.html
.ls
Ben Saunders
.le
crossed from Siberia to the North Pole, but had to give up the second leg of his trip, North Pole to Canada, because the ice sheet now has large areas of open water. At the present rate, the ice will dissapear before the end of the century.
.date
December 3, 2004
.item
New Toy
.pubdate
Fri, 03 Dec 2004 13:27:40 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/03/13:27:40:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/newtoy.jpg
.alt
temp image
.ie
.p
Say hello to my new Sony S260P. I had been limping along at 300 MHz with Win98, an 800x600 screen, and (gasp!) 32MB of RAM.
.p
She's a good machine, and she stays nice and quiet if all I'm doing is browsing the web.
.date
December 2, 2004
.item
Tosca
.pubdate
Thu, 02 Dec 2004 19:57:24 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/02/19:57:24:00
.p
We saw Opera San Jose's production of Tosca at the California theater last night. The California theater hosts a fine organ, and it was used to subtle and haunting effect at the end of the first act, where the church of St. Andrea was filled with the procession of the cardinal while Scarpia (Joseph Wright) planed his seduction of Tosca. It gave me shivers.
.p
The California seems like an old friend already, and it seems that the reeds have been brought up out from under the lip of the stage, the mix sounded more balanced that the last production. I think it's going to be a great venue!
.p
One of the things I like about Opera San Jose is that the audience dresses more casually than at the War Memorial in San Francisco, and the smaller room can be comfortable filled by any of the cast's voices. The War Memorial was so huge that only the strongest voices seemed to carry, and the others were lost. Where it comes to Opera, I prefer quality to volume.
.item
Post Election Blues
.pubdate
Thu, 02 Dec 2004 08:34:49 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/02/08:34:49:00
.p
The election may be over, but the battle over Social Secruity is just beginning.
The
.url
http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2004/12/three-card-monte.html
.ls
Angry Bear
.le
is keeping an eye on things,
.url
http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2004/12/three-card-monte.html
.ls
today's post
.le
is a great place to get your feet wet. (Warning! Contains large numbers!)
.date
December 1, 2004
.item
Twisted Catbloging
.pubdate
Wed, 01 Dec 2004 17:05:58 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/12/01/17:05:58:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/torytwist.jpg
.alt
Troy James
.ie
.p
Life has gotten very busy for me over the last couple of weeks.
Sorry about the lack of bloggage.
.p
To make up for it, here's a photo of Tory James. Yes, he sometimes sleeps with his front legs one way, and his back the other. Other than that he's a very sweet kitty.
.end
.date
November 19, 2004
.item
Oh, No. Not Again.
.pubdate
Fri, 19 Nov 2004 08:25:10 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/19/08:25:10:00
.p
This morning CNN is running the Iran's Nuclear Threat headline.
Dubya's second term hasn't even started and the sabers are rattling again.
God help us all if this is the new bee in Dubya's bonnet. He has a proven
genius for getting his way. Someone better tell the Iranians he's crazy
enough to do it. We have proof of that.
.p
But it beggs the question; You and who's army? Ours is kind of bogged down
next door, remember?
.p
Oh wait, I get it. Dubya's Iraq exit srategy is through Iran.
.date
November 16, 2004
.item
Florida Again
.pubdate
Tue, 16 Nov 2004 22:48:00 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/16/22:48:00:00
.pqt
"We began to compare the special printouts given to us with the signed polling tapes from election night. Lo and behold, some were missing. We also found some that didn't match. In fact, in one location, precinct 215, an African-American precinct, the votes were off by hundreds, in favor of George W. Bush and other Republicans. Hmm. Which was right? Our polling tape, specially printed on Nov. 15, without signatures, or theirs, printed on Nov. 2, with up to 8 signatures per tape?"
.pqt
.url
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/16/19274/790
.ls
Daily Kos
.le
.p
Here we go again.
.item
Nine Years Of Autumn
.pubdate
Tue, 16 Nov 2004 16:36:56 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/16/16:36:56:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanfic/bin/95award.jpg
.alt
Autumn Graphic
.ie
.p
Today is the ninth anniversary of the release of my
best-known fanfiction,
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanfic/seasons/Autumn.shtml
.ls
Autumn
.le
which was selected via online voting as the Best Of Ranma Fanfiction for 1995.
(Spring and Summer were also in the top ten!)
.p
As I recall, there was an issue about Autumn having made the deadline for
entry into the contest, because although I posted it a day ahead of time, the rules required that it be moderated into the newsgroup before it could be
called an valid entry. The moderator was apparently out of town, but did get around to posting it that night, but after midnight by my news server.
.p
I was quite bummed, as I'd really made an effort to make the deadline,
and it looked like altough I'd posted it a full 24 hours earlier,
I'd missed the deadline by 20 minutes.
.p
The next day I saw the post on on anther news server, and it was marked
as posted before midnight. It had been moderated before midnight Pacific time, but my news server dated it received on Eastern time.
.p
Enough of that, just go read the story. It's the last of the series, so if you
are totaly new to the seasons stories, they should be read in this order:
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanfic/seasons/Winter.shtml
.ls
Winter
.le
-
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanfic/seasons/Spring.shtml
.ls
Spring
.le
-
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanfic/seasons/Summer.shtml
.ls
Summer
.le
-
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanfic/seasons/Autumn.shtml
.ls
Autumn
.le
.p
Taleswapper reviewed Autumn in
.url
http://members.aol.com/talswapr/awards96.html
.ls
"My Favorite Ranma Fanfics of FY 1996"
.le
.item
Pretty Cars
.pubdate
Tue, 16 Nov 2004 13:10:56 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/16/13:10:56:00
.p
.url
http://www.cardesignnews.com/
.ls
Car Design News
.le
is just chock-full of cool looking designs. Cars can look really cool if you don't have to leave room for all of the moving parts.
.item
Guitars And Rants
.pubdate
Tue, 16 Nov 2004 08:39:23 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/16/08:39:23:00
.p
.url
http://www.edromanguitars.com/
.ls
Ed Roman
.le
has a huge guitar shop in Las Vegas. I'm not in the market for a new axe
right now, but the
.url
http://www.edromanguitars.com/rant/RantsHome.htm
.ls
rants section
.le
of his website is certainly worth a read.
.date
November 15, 2004
.item
Does Anybody Really Know The Real Time?
.pubdate
Mon, 15 Nov 2004 21:45:48 PST
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/15/21:45:48:00
.p
No big deal, I just tweaked my backend code to support the Pacific time
zone, and I need to enter this item to test the code.
.p
At the tone, the time will be...
.item
Page Design
.pubdate
Mon, 15 Nov 2004 16:41:08 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/16/16:41:08:00
.p
A while back I read on
.url
http://www.scripting.com
.ls
Scripting News
.le
an item on the ideal length of a line of text could be found by
typing the alphabet. I couldn't remember if you typed it once or
twice, or somewhere inbetween, but a google search finds mention
of the
.url
http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/finetypography/ht/line_length.htm
.ls
alphabet-and-a-half
.le
rule.
.p
I'm not sure if thats all small characters:
.p
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm
.p
or all caps:
.p
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHI
JKLM
.p
or broken up into words:
.p
Abcd efgh ijkl mnop qrst uvwx yz abcd efgh ijkl m
.hr
.p
I was later unable to locate that particular item, but
.url
http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/42/text_length.htm
.ls
Usability News
.le
has some research on the subject. It looks like reading speed
is not significanly affected by longer lines, but adult readers
perfer shorter lines.
.p
They mention:
.pqn
the Narrow-length was perceived as promoting easier concentration
than both the Medium- and Full-length conditions
.p
I wonder if that effect works both ways; text published in a narrower
format will be read with more concentration.
.hr
.p
.url
http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/nov02.asp
.ls
Human Factors
.le
suggests the historical origin of 4 inches.
.item
Rats.
.pubdate
Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:59:26 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/16/11:59:26:00
.pqn
I smell a rat. It has that distinctive and all-too-familiar odor of the species Republicanus floridius. We got a nasty bite from this pest four years ago and never quite recovered. Symptoms of a long-term infection are becoming distressingly apparent.
.pqn
.url
http://www.zogby.com/soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=10398
.ls
Colin Shea
.le
at Zogby International
.pqn
Update: That URL is no longer working, but
.url
http://dailykos.com/story/2004/11/14/0503/1882
.ls
Kos
.le
has the whole text.
.item
Recount Ohio Close
.pubdate
Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:41:41 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/16/11:41:41:00
.pqt
Green Party has raised more than $144,000 towards estimated $150,000 Ohio recount
—
.url
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=415
.ls
Blue Lemur
.le
.p
It looks like they got out their spreadsheets and decided that a little more cash might be reqired to make this happen. They are just $6000 away from the target.
.p
I don't really expect that the election will be overturned, but I think
this sort of audit will help prevent fraud in the future.
.p
It's all well and good the the mainstream press is falling over themselves to say; "It's all okay, have faith", but we're talking about ballots here, not Angels. Us members of the reality-based community are willing to pay real money for a realty-based recount. Leave faith for the mysteries we cannot count.
.item
Peak Oil
.pubdate
Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:29:31 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/16/11:29:31:00
.p
First comes a
.url
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20041004120849669
.ls
Fictional Radio Interview
.le
with some terrific links to articles on Peak Oil. The interview is quite inflamitory, but there is a thread of truth in the narrative about how the
commercial press works.
.p
Second comes a fine exploration of
.url
http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=331&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
.ls
the "Abiotic Oil" Controversy.
.le
.date
November 12, 2004
.item
I Never Should Have Quit The Ice Rodeo
.pubdate
Fri, 12 Nov 2004 16:04:15 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/13/16:04:15:00
.pqn
I've been asking somebody to write a program, because I use Apple's iCal program, and I've got a Sidekick, which is the Mac version of the BlackBerry, and I keep my calendar and all the contact data on the computer.
.pqn
—
.url
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_111104/content/across_the_fruited_plain.guest.html
.ls
Rush
.le
Yes, that Rush.
.p
Rush has a Sidekick. And a Mac. And compares the first to the second.
.p
I wonder if my skates still fit. The Ice Rodeo always has openings for clowns.
.item
Trust But Verify
.pubdate
Fri, 12 Nov 2004 14:25:53 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/13/14:25:53:00
.pqt
The Green Party in concert with the Libertarian Party has raised more than $40,000 towards an estimated $113,000 filing fee for a recount of Ohio ballots in the presidential election as of 1 p.m. Friday afternoon, RAW STORY has learned.
.pqt
.url
http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=415
.ls
The Blue Lemur
.le
In association with The Raw Story
.p
I just dropped $25
.url
http://web.greens.org/c/cobb/supporters.cgi?function=donate
.ls
into the hat.
.le
.date
November 9, 2004
.item
Bloggercon Webcasts - Podcasting
.pubdate
Tue, 09 Nov 2004 11:28:32 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/10/11:28:32:00
.p
The first of the Bloggercon sessions had been podcastorized (Hey, did I just invent a new word?) and is up at
.url
http://www.itconversations.com/
.ls
IT Conversations
.le
.p
I met Doug Kaye (of IT Conversations) during lunch out on the grass at the con.
He comes through as thoughtfull and pleaseant in the webcasts,
he's even more so in person.
.p
There was an Apple engineer there too, (I'm sorry, I'm hopeless with names) it never ceases to amaze me when I mention that I was on the Quadra 660AV team and the person I'm talking to says "Oh, I had 5 of those."
.p
I didn't take notes during the con, because I knew these podcasts were in the works.
.hr
.p
I didn't find what I was seeking at the con, but that really has more to do with me than the con. I was coming off the emotional roller coaster that was Tuesdays election, feeling that the effort I'd placed into blogging in an effort to sway the country, or even one voter to vote for Kerry was for naught, and feeling that I was more of a stranger in my own country on Wednesday than I was on Monday.
.p
Perhaps I was looking for a new story to tell, a new reason to bang out a few words, publish some images, or make some sounds. Those reasons are not to be found at a Con.
.p
I'd made myself a promise that I would jump back into Yellow, and finish it before Christmas if Kerry won the election. (If I've just totally confused you, Yellow is a romantic Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction which has been causing me writers block since December 10, 2002. See the link to Fanfictions on my home page.)
.p
As I write this CNN is showing footage (Megabyteage?) of the fighting in Fallujah. I'm having a hard time placing my heart back in Ranma and Akane's Nerima, a place where there is no 9-11, no Iraq war, and no vote count
irregularities.
.p
I refuse to bring the darkness of this world into theirs.
.p
I haven't given up on Yellow.
.p
I will find my way back.
.p
It make take some time.
.p
Wish me luck.
.date
November 8, 2004
.item
Catching Up
.pubdate
Mon, 08 Nov 2004 16:19:53 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/9/16:19:53:00
.p
Saturday started with a drop-off at the airport, (The alarm went off at 5:00 AM)
and ended in a traffic jam on I 280 at 11:30PM, so Sunday rolled around and when all the chores were done the spirit (Johnny Walker Red) was willing, but the blogging was weak. Strange, that since I spent Saturday participating at
.url
http://www.bloggercon.org/
.ls
Bloggercon.
.le
I might have something to say about it after the event soaks in a bit. I really want to listen to the podcasts of the sessions I missed. (I'll post the URLs as soon as I locate them.)
.p
I met a lot of interesting folks, and it's really great to put faces on
the bloggs and podcasts. The strangest effect I noticed was that Adam Curry somehow makes a better connection through his podcasts than he did in front
of a room of 200.
.p
I'm going to need to try one of these podcast things for myself one day.
.item
Bent Maps
.pubdate
Mon, 08 Nov 2004 16:17:10 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/9/16:17:10:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/statecart_reduced.png
.alt
Map by Michael Gastner, Cosma Shalizi, and Mark Newman at the University of Michigan. Released under creative commons, see http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/ for use rights.
.ie
.p
Michael Gastner, Cosma Shalizi, and Mark Newman at the University of Michigan
have produced
.url
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/
.ls
a series of electoral maps
.le
including cartograms which distort the shape and size of the states to take into account population. (Image used under Creative Commons License)
.date
November 5, 2004
.item
There's Not Enough Tin Foil In Ohio
.pubdate
Fri, 05 Nov 2004 12:09:51 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/6/12:09:51:00
.p
.url
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/4/224812/643
.ls
A Recount
.le
is not out of the question.
.item
French Frustration
.pubdate
Fri, 05 Nov 2004 11:01:29 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/6/11:01:29:00
.pqn
The President is right in saying that the war on terrorism is a new war. However let’s look at history. Polish cavalry did not stand a chance against Germany’s mechanized cavalry. France did not recognize the threat Germany was at the eave of WWII. It thought anyway that the battle would resume as it was left at the end of WWI, in trenches. Many countries did not understand that Germany had changed the rules of war, by using modern warfare techniques. And this was not the first episode of this time in humankind history: bronze shattered on steal a long time ago. So the rules of war have changed again, and we have to recognize that a new war has started, the President is right at that.
.pqn
But sending tanks and bombers (in the wrong country) won’t do much good here, and the President did not get that. Not at all. This war is possible thanks to the media. A terrorist does not exist without the media. Yet the President sent poor kids to Iraq, in their tanks and hummers... without having realized that the battle was not happening on the ground, but on the air. He sent terrorism something to feed on. The President had (and by far) the upper hand after the WTC tragedy. He managed to reverse the situation, and now Al Jazeera and others are feeding the hatred towards the States in that region. This country is fighting combatants gathering from around the globe toward Iraq. Not many of them, but still enough to pin us to the ground there. And it is doing so without international support (did I forget Poland, Mr. President?). So Mr. Bush plunged in what could be described as... a world war? And with a very limited set of key allies. Forget France, Germany and now Spain if you will, let’s not realize that Europe is becoming a super-power of its own. But no support from Russia, no agreement from China... That’s a lot of people right there!
.p
An except of
.url
http://gd.nerim.net/Mad.html
.ls
Mad
.le
by William;
.pqn
I am a French guy who lived for years in the States. I love the American culture: I love the work place culture, I love the fact that you can re-start your life at any time, I love the judicial system which, despite a few stupid lawsuits here and there, still manages to bring progress and act as a real counter power to the executive. And I love the fact that as a whole, American people like "nice" people, and would like for themselves to simply be good persons (don't laugh, but it is not true all around the world: the French for instance have some kind of admiration for nasty and twisted characters... but still love their children, we'll come back to that later).
.item
Curiouser and Curiouser
.pubdate
Fri, 05 Nov 2004 11:01:29 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/6/11:01:29:01
.pqn
Broward County corrected a computer glitch Thursday that had miscounted thousands of absentee votes, instantly turning a slot-machine measure from loser to winner and reinforcing concerns about the accuracy of electronic election returns.
.pqn
The bug, discovered two years ago but never fixed, began subtracting votes after the absentee tally hit 32,500 — a ceiling put in place by the software makers.
.p
Okay, so in Broward county they use touch screens on the day of the election, but of course absentee paper ballots must be counted separately.
.p
Who came up with this idea to start counting back down? Jeez. The right way to do that is either stop the count and throw an error, or add like ten billion
to make the error stick out like a sore thumb.
.p
.url
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10103931.htm?1c
.ls
Miami Herald
.le
.item
That's Strange...
.pubdate
Fri, 05 Nov 2004 02:06:56 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/6/02:06:56:00
.p
You know, maybe those Touchscreen machines aren't so bad after all.
.p
Kathy Dopp at
.url
http://ustogether.org/
.ls
US Together.org
.le
has been
.url
http://ustogether.org/Florida_Election.htm
.ls
running the numbers.
.le
.p
In the counties with touchscreen machines, numbers bounce around some when comparing the actual vote to an estimate based on party registration and turnout.
.p
I had to puzzle on it a bit, but the reason that that the expected votes
columns are smaller than the actual results is that only the Republican and Democrats are listed. (For example, Hillsborough county is 35.1% Republican, 41.7% Democratic, which leaves 23.2% others.)
.p
Republicans did great in that county, 241,630 vs 210,892, so clearly they got some inde voters, and probably more cross-over votes than did the Democrats.
.p
The spreadsheet calls those 241,630 votes a 51.2% percent change over the 159,843 predicted Republican votes.
.p
The Democrats did similarly well in Martin County, pulling 51.5% over the predicted tally.
.p
Now look at Calhoun County, using those optically scanned, recountable paper ballots. Republicans pulled 433.2% over the prediction, AND Democrats pulled -56.9%.
.p
Liberty county was even stranger: 712.3% vs -59.9%.
.p
Oh, did I need to tell you this was Florida?
.date
November 3, 2004
.item
Election Reflection
.pubdate
Wed, 03 Nov 2004 20:44:07 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/4/20:44:07:00
.p
Kerry did the right thing this morning. He looked at the evidence, and made a descision, a reality-based based descision, on that evidence. I cannot fault him for that. I was really looking forward to that sort of thinking in the administration.
.p
The sting of electoral collage defeat was bad, but the popular vote has just plain weirded me out. Somehow a majority of voters voted to place a singularly unreflective man back into a position where he has by all measurments been a miserable failure. It's as if the country said, "Yeah, sure, he drove us into the ditch, and and he's about to wrap us around a pole, but we'll let him drive a while longer." It looks like a critical factor in the turnout for Dubya was that anti-gay marriage measures were on the ballots in many states, including Ohio. Were these folks really more afraid that gays might commit to marriage
than they were about sending thier kids to Iraq? (And then on to Afganistan, and then Iran, and then Syria and then all the way to North Korea, eeeeeeEEEEEEEAAAAAAaaaah!) — [Sorry, Dr Dean.]
.p
It was one thing, back in 2000, when Clinton made running the country look so deceptively easy, to pick a down-home dumbed-down candidate based on how much you are just like him. My freinds from Europe say although they detested Dubya, that they could forgive the American public that mistake once — we just didn't know any better. But that they would not forgive a second term. The Eurozone is already a larger economy than the USA, watch for pressure for oil and other comodities to begin trading in Euros.
.item
The Rest Of Our Lives
.pubdate
Wed, 03 Nov 2004 13:15:37 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/4/13:15:37:00
.pqt
Setting aside my general political leanings, my personal views and feelings of partisanship, I think the result portends very bad things for America's role in the world and the well-being on all levels of this country. Changes in domestic politics, in theory at least, can be shifted back at a following election. The world, though, is different. There we are just a ship — though the largest one — on waters we can never truly control. And I fear that this result will set in motion dangerous dynamics that even the relatively young among us will be wrestling with and contending with for the rest of our lives.
.pqt
.url
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_10_31.php#003929
.ls
Talking Points Memo
.le
.item
We're Closed Today.
.pubdate
Wed, 03 Nov 2004 12:04:21 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/4/12:04:21:00
.p
I am de-linking the paper airplanes and fanfictions for today.
.p
Sorry, World.
.item
Oh No, Not Again.
.pubdate
Wed, 03 Nov 2004 02:12:42 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/4/02:12:42:00
.p
There's something rotten in the state of Ohio.
(Oh, and Florida, There's more to come in Florida.)
.end
.date
November 2, 2004
.item
Print Your Own!
.pubdate
Tue, 02 Nov 2004 13:01:15 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/3/13:01:15:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Touchscreen041102.gif
.alt
I Voted Touchscreen, I Think...
.ie
.p
Show the world how your really think about Touchscreen voting machines!
.p
There are 700 or so voters in my precinct, by 09:00 100 of them had cast ballots. Gianormous turnout. Don't be left out of this one. If you don't vote, you don't get to complain afterwards.
.item
Go. Vote. Now.
.pubdate
Tue, 02 Nov 2004 11:24:00 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/3/11:24:00:00
.p
It's important.
.pqt
P.S. If Kerry wins, I'll finish Yellow by Christmas.
.pqt
Now go vote.
.date
November 1, 2004
.item
A Message From John Kerry
.pubdate
Mon, 01 Nov 2004 20:05:12 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/11/2/20:05:12:00
.pqn
During this campaign I have asked you for so much — your time, your energy, and your financial support. Today, I ask you for one final thing — your vote.
.pqn
Tomorrow, Americans will face a choice.
.pqn
How will we find our way forward? How will we keep America safe, and keep the American dream alive?
.pqn
I believe we begin by giving this country we love a fresh start. This morning, I would like to give you as plainly as I can the summary of my case on how — together — we can change America.
.pqn
I believe we begin by moving our economy, our government, and our society back in line with our best values.
.pqn
I believe we do whatever it takes to lead our troops to success and bring them home safe. And when they do come home, I believe we begin by rebuilding an America with a strong middle class where everyone has the chance to work and the opportunity to get ahead.
.pqn
Tomorrow, you can choose a fresh start. You can choose a president who will defend America and fight for the middle-class.
.pqn
You can choose between four more years of George Bush's policy to ship jobs overseas and give tax breaks to the companies that do it — or a president who will reward the companies that create and keep good jobs here in the United States of America.
.pqn
Tomorrow you will face a choice between four more years of George Bush's giveaways to the big drug companies and the big HMOs — or a president who will finally make health care a right, and not a privilege, for every American.
.pqn
This election is a choice between four more years of tax giveaways for millionaires along with a higher tax burden for you — or a president who will cut middle-class taxes, raise the minimum wage, and make sure we guarantee women an equal day's pay for an equal day's work.
.pqn
Tomorrow, America faces a choice between four more years of an energy policy for big oil, of big oil, and by big oil — or a president who finally makes America independent of Mideast oil in ten years. A choice between George Bush's policy that just yesterday showed record profits for oil companies and record gas prices for American consumers. I believe that America should rely on our own ingenuity and innovation, not the Saudi Royal family.
.pqn
Tomorrow this campaign will end. The election will be in your hands. If you believe we need a fresh start in Iraq; if you believe we can create and keep good jobs here in America; if you believe we need to get health care costs under control; if you believe in the promise of stem cell research; if you believe our deficits are too high and we're too dependent on Mideast oil then I ask you to join me and together we'll change America.
.pqn
I ask for your vote and I ask for your help. When you go to the polls bring your friends, your family, your neighbors. No one can afford to stand on the sidelines or sit this one out.
.pqn
And in return for your hard work, you have my commitment to always fight for you, to always be on your side. In the words of Bruce Springsteen that have become the theme of this campaign. "We've made a promise we swore we'd always remember...no retreat and no surrender."
.pqn
Tomorrow we will change America and with your help I will always keep that promise to you.
.pqn
Thank you,
.pqn
John Kerry
.end
.date
October 29, 2004
.item
Please
.pubdate
Fri, 29 Oct 2004 13:13:54 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/30/13:13:54:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/NoMore041029.jpg
.alt Please, No More Bush
.ie
.p
A polite request from the patio of a building just off Page Mill Road in Palo Alto, CA.
.item
Rethuglicans In Ohio
.pubdate
Fri, 29 Oct 2004 11:55:58 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/30/11:55:58:00
.pqn
When Catherine Herold received mail from the Ohio Republican Party earlier this year, she refused it.
.pqn
The longtime Barberton Democrat wanted no part of the mailing and figured that by refusing it, the GOP would have to pay the return postage.
.pqn
What she didn't count on was the returned mail being used to challenge the validity of her voter registration.
.pqn
.url
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/10042113.htm?1c
.ls
Beacon Journal
.le
.date
October 28, 2004
.item
I Didn't Make The Bed This Morning
.pubdate
Thu, 28 Oct 2004 15:10:51 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/29/15:10:51:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/cats041028.jpg
.alt
Miko, Tory James, and T-chan
.ie
.date
October 25, 2004
.item
What's Your Sign?
.pubdate
Tue, 26 Oct 2004 00:04:04 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/27/00:04:04:00
.p
The Hiptop has a stong following in the deaf and hard of hearing community, but today I learned that there is even a 'sign' in use for the Hiptop. (Would that be ASL slang?) The sign mimics the motion of the display rotating open, one hand being the base, and the other the display. How entirely cool is that?
.date
October 24, 2004
.item
More Sounds: Summer Evening
.pubdate
Sun, 24 Oct 2004 14:30:35 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/25/14:30:35:00
.p
This isn't really a podcast, It's just an MP3 of a Instrumental I recorded with
Clayton Neece (a former housemate) one summer evening in our backyard. I'm
doing the rythmn track in open tuning, and Clayton is providing the improvised lead. This was a single take, recorded onto an Akai CS-M01A cassette deck with a pair of inexpensive condensor microphones on boom stands. There's no reverb added, but I did balance the channels and mix them to reduce the stereo separation.
.p
The tape was digitized and mixed in Steinberg's Wavelab Lite, and Cubasis VST (unfortunately, VST only runs on my old and infirm win98 laptop.) The mixdown .wav was converted to .mp3 in iTunes, and the ID3v2 tags added in HTagEditor. All of which took far longer than I would have liked. (Why can't I get iTunes
to save the tags?
.p
It's pretty clear that my audio setup needs a lot more work before I attempt
a mixdown podcast.
.p
Summer Evening is released under
.url
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
.ls
Creative Commons : Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0
.le
You may use it and abuse it for non-commercial use.
.aud
Summer%20Evening.mp3
.aud_len
1714176
.aud_end
.date
October 22, 2004
.item
I Told Ya. He's One Of Us.
.pubdate
Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:17:10 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/23/20:17:10:00
.p
John Kerry stopped by a
.url
http://www.huberbrewery.com/21index.shtml
.ls
local brewery
.le
in Wisconsin. He took a tour, and
.url
http://www.huberbrewery.com/tour/kerry/pages/Image30.html
.ls
a sip.
.le
.p
That John Kerry, He's really one of us. It's Berghoff time!
.item
8100 Miles per Gallon?!?!?!
.pubdate
Fri, 22 Oct 2004 11:30:42 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/23/11:30:42:00
.p
So says the
.url
http://fancycarol.free.fr/history.html
.ls
history page
.le
of the Fancy Carol Shell Ecomarathon team in Japan. Okay, they actualy say 3444 km/L. You do the math. (Seriously. 1 kilometer = 0.6213712 miles, 1 Gal = 3.785412 Liters)
.p
.url
http://fancycarol.free.fr
.ls
here
.le
is their home page. (Why are so many Japanese websites laden with frames?)
.date
October 21, 2004
.item
The world though a pinhole
.pubdate
Fri, 22 Oct 2004 01:45:15 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/23/01:45:15:00
.p
The
.url
http://www.pinholeday.org/
.ls
Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day
.le
website has a wonderful collection of images taken on 25 April 2004,
without the benefit (or detriment) of lenses.
.p
I gave away my wet darkroom a couple of years ago, but images like these
inspire me to give it another try.
.item
Sidekick II At Amazon For $24.99
.pubdate
Thu, 21 Oct 2004 13:13:38 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/22/13:13:38:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/AmazonSKII041021.jpg
.alt
amazon.com ad
.ie
.p
Do your Christmas shopping early!
.url
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00063DKVC/qid=1098330513/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-9423135-3799937?v=glance&s=wireless&n=507846
.ls
Amazon
.le
.pqn
Disclosure: I had a little something to do with the design of the Sidekick II, and I'm really quite proud of it.
.date
October 20, 2004
.item
Sorry Don
.pubdate
Wed, 20 Oct 2004 22:14:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/21/22:14:18:00
.p
I wrestled with the descision, but last night I decided to add the John Kerry bumper sticker image to each of the paper airplane pages.
.p
Today I found this entry in the paper airplane guestbook From Don in JAX Florida
.pqn
Comments: Great site but please remove the Kerry Edwards Sign.. Remember there are children on this site too..
.p
Yes, Don. I am acutely aware that children read this website, That's the reason why I avoid crude language throughout the site. But it's because of the kids that those signs are there.
.p
I care enough about the kids that I've provided these designs to all of them, all over the world, for the last four years — all on my own dime. I care enough about the kids that I have placed my support behind the candidate I know in my heart will provide them with a better future. I want them to have clean air in which to fly their planes. I want them to grow up in an economy that lets their fathers and mothers to have good jobs, so that they can spend time folding paper and chasing in the yard, rather than taking on a second job to pay for health care. I want them to live in a country that is respected and admired in the world.
.p
I'm hoping, like anyone who places a bumper sticker on their car, or a sign on their lawn, to get people to think about my candidate. I live and drive in California, which has already decided for Kerry, so bumper stickers or lawn signs have no chance of affecting this election.
.p
My website, however, has national and global reach. I get hundereds of hits per day on the paper airplanes, but only a handful for this pathetic excuse for a weblog. ^_^;
.p
I have no way of measuring the ratio of adult to child (or even US vs Global) readers, but judging from the guestbook, there might be a few undecided voters that I could help sway each day.
I have to try to sway them. I didn't want to wake up on November 3rd knowing that there was something so simple I could have done. (And If you have a website, I urge you to do the same!)
.p
By the way, these are not paid ads. Far from it. I pay for this site out of my own pocket. I decided to put them up on my own, and they will remain up through the election.
.item
Why I'm Voting For John Kerry #1
.pubdate
Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:42:43 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/21/11:42:43:00
.p
Kash over at
.url
http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2004/10/why-im-voting-for-kerry.html
.ls
Angry Bear
.le
gives us his five good reasons for voting for John Kerry: Economy, Iraq, Democracy, Budget and Terrorism.
.p
I agree whole-heartedly with his Reality-Based reasons, so I won't
repeat them here, but I have a few gut-level reasons for voting for John
Kerry I'd add to a list:
.pqn
John Kerry is More Likeable: I know this goes against the grain,
but if I were at a party, and came across Kerry talking with folks in the kitchen, I'd probably hang out to see what he had to say. I like smart people,
they tell smart jokes, and have interesting stories. I'd also suspect I'd find
a fine local beer, or some California vintage in his hand, half full, but mostly forgotten, because if he's not talking, he's listening, and listening's more fun than drinking.
.pqn
He's got interesting stories; he's traveled extensively and met with world leaders. He's been there, done that, and remembers why it mattered. He has
a quick smile, and a genuine laugh, and doesn't laugh at his own jokes.
.pqn
I'd love to talk to him about religion, I too was an alter boy, but left the
church when it was disclaiming verifyable facts of science. (I suppose that's when I became a card-carring member of the Reality-Based Community). I'd like to plumb the reasons for his remaining. I'll bet they're persuasive.
.p
One of the Media's memes is that altough I've got ample reason to vote against Dubya, I should still lean his way because he has a record as president (and
gave a good speech to the firefighters at the WTC) and Kerry doesn't have a record and didn't give that speech.
.p
There's a lot of reasons to vote for Kerry, but in the end it is a simple choice.
I do not need to place him on a scale and see if he measures up to some
arbitrary standard, I need only to weigh him against his opponent so see who I would personally rather follow for the next four years. John Kerry's that man.
.item
Bush Receives Endorsement From Iran
.pubdate
Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:42:43 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/21/11:42:43:01
.p
Yes. Really.
.pqn
TEHRAN, Iran — The head of Iran's security council said Tuesday that the re-election of President Bush was in Tehran's best interests, despite the administration's axis of evil label, accusations that Iran harbors al-Qaida terrorists and threats of sanctions over the country's nuclear ambitions.
.pqn
.url
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-iran-us-elections,0,4375343.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
.ls
Newsday
.le
.p
Now THATS what I call realpolitiks.
.date
October 19, 2004
.item
Reality-Based Community
.pubdate
Tue, 19 Oct 2004 15:08:22 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/20/15:08:22:00
.pqn
The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."
.pqn
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html
.ls
Without a Doubt
.le
by Ron Suskind in the New York Times Magazine
.p
I'd spent most of my computer time last weekend doing a little back end
tinkering on the site, but I'd seen links to this article, but had not
read it until today.
.p
Last summer I'd read (and highly recomend) Suskind's book on Paul O'Neil, and this article re-enforces and extends that story. This president, and his
administration, have open contempt and naked disdain for fact.
.p
Once Bill Clinton was asked what big idea he brought to Washington.
"Mathmatics" was his response.
.p
Dubya's big idea is "Faith". Faith is a good thing, but it's not the only thing.
.pqt
Faith cannot grow trees.
.pqt
Faith cannot keep the wings from breaking off airliners.
.pqt
Faith cannot balance the budget of the United States.
.pqt
Faith cannot change black to white, cold to hot, or up to down.
.pqt
Faith cannot put humpty-dumpty back together again.
.pqt
Faith cannot bring back the lives of the soldiers killed in Iraq.
.pqt
And Faith alone cannot make peace.
.p
Dubya is asking us to disclaim the inconvenient facts, to ignore his
record and place our future in his resolute, blind faith.
.p
No, Dubya. My eyes are open, I read the papers, and I have a calculator.
.p
Oh yeah, I have Faith too. Faith that America will awake on November 2nd,
and see the inconvienient facts. Faith that America will place a thoughtful
man into the Whitehouse. Faith that we will again take up the unfinished work
of creating a more perfect union.
.date
October 18, 2004
.item
This is a test
.pubdate
Mon, 18 Oct 2004 23:19:30 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/19/23:19:30:00
.p
Okay, added the permalinks to the homepage. Now I need to think about doing some podcasts.
.item
Backstage At The Interwebs
.pubdate
Mon, 18 Oct 2004 00:55:03 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/19/00:55:03:00
.p
Permalinks are now working. One of the features of RSS 2.0 is that each
item can optionaly contain a GUID (Global Unique IDentifier), and many
rss readers and aggregators use them to keep track of items. My original
feed didn't have them, and I saw a lot of duplicate items roll up in
LiveJournal, so I added them, in the form of a URL, but without marking
the atribute isPermaLink to true. Ever since then, LiveJournal has
.url
http://www.livejournal.com/users/joseph_palmer/73121.html
.ls
prominently displayed
.le
the guid at the top of each item, and starting now you can click them there
(or wherever they show up in your favorite aggregator or reader) and you will
be taken to a new page that displays only the entries from that day.
.p
Now I have to do a little design work to add permalinks to the html on my homepage.
.date
October 15, 2004
.item
The Power of Nightmares
.pubdate
Fri, 15 Oct 2004 11:30:41 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/16/11:30:41:00
.pqn
During the three years in which the "war on terror" has been waged, high-profile challenges to its assumptions have been rare. The sheer number of incidents and warnings connected or attributed to the war has left little room, it seems, for heretical thoughts. In this context, the central theme of The Power of Nightmares is riskily counter-intuitive and provocative. Much of the currently perceived threat from international terrorism, the series argues, "is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services, and the international media." The series' explanation for this is even bolder: "In an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power."
.pqn
.url
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1327904,00.html
.ls
The Guardian UK
.le
.p
Here's a scary tought; maybe the administration really is doing okay on the War On Terror, because the reality of that threat isn't really as bad as what they've been saying.
.p
That notion is a double-edged sword. On one hand comforting, because the threat of actually being the victim of a terrorist attack has been overblown.
On the other hand, it would expose the war against Sadam as a cynical fraud —
based on the (now disproven) connection between Sadam and the less than great and powerfull al-Qaida.
.date
October 12, 2004
.item
Here's Your Mistake, Dubya. Here's Your Mistake.
.pubdate
Tue, 12 Oct 2004 10:52:11 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/13/10:52:11:00
.pqn
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Equipment and materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons are disappearing from Iraq but neither Baghdad nor Washington appears to have noticed, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency reported on Monday.
.pqn
...
.pqn
The equipment — including high-precision milling and turning machines and electron-beam welders — and materials — such as high-strength aluminum — were tagged by the IAEA years ago, as part of the watchdog agency's shutdown of Iraq's nuclear program. U.N. inspectors then monitored the sites until their evacuation from Iraq just before the war.
.pqn
The United States barred the inspectors' return after the war, preventing the IAEA from keeping tabs on the equipment and materials up to the present day.
.pqn
Under anti-proliferation agreements, the U.S. occupation authorities who administered Iraq until June, and then the Iraqi interim government that took power at the end of June, would have to inform the IAEA if they moved or exported any of that material or equipment.
.pqn
But no such reports have been received since the invasion, officials of the watchdog agency said.
.pqn
.url
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/20041011/wl_nm/iraq_un_nuclear_dc
.ls
Yahoo
.le
.p
Nov 2 is coming soon. Vote Dubya's incompetent administration out of office.
We're in a real mess now, and we need some grown-ups in charge.
.date
October 11, 2004
.item
7 Out Of 10 Economists Agree
.pubdate
Mon, 11 Oct 2004 20:46:05 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/12/20:46:05:00
.p
The
.url
http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2004/10/economists-agree-bushs-economic-policy.html
.ls
Angry Bear
.le
comments on and points to
.url
http://economist.com/world/na/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3262965
.ls
a survey in the Economist.
.le
.p
It ain't pretty for Dubya.
.p
P.S. The Economist is a conservative publication.
.date
October 10, 2004
.item
Show Your Support
.pubdate
Sun, 10 Oct 2004 15:53:50 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/11/15:53:50:00
.p
I've added this graphic:
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/johnkerry.jpg
.alt
John Kerry Bumper Sticker
.ie
.p
to the masthead of my website to show my support of John Kerry. I ask you
to do the same. You can copy the image to your own website, or link to the graphic from mine. The important thing is to show your support. Link the
graphic to
.url
http://www.johnkerry.com
.ls
www.JohnKerry.com.
.le
.p
Think of it as a bumper sticker that can be seen from all over the world.
.p
P.S. Drop me a line with the URL of your site, and I'll link to it here.
.item
Oh, Get Over It.
.pubdate
Sun, 10 Oct 2004 12:48:44 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/11/12:48:44:00
.p
There's been a lot of speculation about that rectangular bulge in the back
of Dubya's suit during the first debate. Some are going so far as to claim
he was equiped with a radio receiver so as to have Rovetounge's voice in his
ear to feed him answers.
.p
Get over it. It wasn't a reciever, it's just cover for the hole where
Cheney sticks in his hand.
.date
October 8, 2004
.item
Our Favorite Phone Ever
.pubdate
Fri, 08 Oct 2004 13:18:47 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/9/13:18:47:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/mobilepc1104.jpg
.alt
Cover of MobilePC November 2004
.ie
.p
They Like it, they really like it!
.item
Another Day, Another Debate
.pubdate
Fri, 08 Oct 2004 11:17:42 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/9/11:17:42:00
.p
Now we now know why the misadministration wanted to move the subject of Iraq to
the first debate; Things are deteriorating so fast there that westerners are no longer safe even in the
.url
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1762/5022056.html
.ls
Green Zone,
.le
and there's this:
.pqn
The chief US arms inspector has reported that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) at the time of last year's US-led invasion.
.url
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Foreign/FJ08Dh01.html
.ls
The Standard
.le
.p
I Bet Dubya wished he could have had the Iraq debate a year and a half ago.
.p
Tonight will be about domestic issues, which will prove no better for Dubya,
since it's now official:
.pqn
For their part, the Kerry campaign can truthfully assert that the US economy currently has lost a net of 821,000 total jobs since Bush was inaugurated, and 1.63 million private-sector jobs. (Yes, the Bush economy has been pretty good at creating more government jobs.) —
.url
http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2004/10/summarizing-bushs-job-creation-record.html
.ls
Angry Bear
.le
.date
October 6, 2004
.item
Revenge Of The Nerds
.pubdate
Wed, 06 Oct 2004 00:48:36 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/7/00:48:36:00
.p
Last night the VP mentioned that should we want information on Halliburton
we should visit
.url
http://www.factcheck.com/
.ls
www.factcheck.com
.le
.p
Okay Dick. I Clicked. You should too, but put down your coffee first ;)
.date
October 5, 2004
.item
I Know You Are, But What Am I?
.pubdate
Tue, 05 Oct 2004 20:32:39 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/6/20:32:39:00
.p
You've all heard the childish claim that "Sadam was a Weapon Of Mass Destruction" from the right wing.
.p
Do you suppose we on the left should now claim that Dubya was his own
.url
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_GUARD?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
.ls
"No Fly Zone?"
.le
Naw. That'd be to childish.
.item
"It's A Wonder That They Still Know How To Breathe" or "Dumb And Getting Dumber"
.pubdate
Tue, 05 Oct 2004 20:11:49 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/6/20:11:49:00
.pqn
The same poll in June showed that 56% of all Republicans said they thought Saddam was involved with the 9/11 attacks. In the latest poll that number actually climbs, to 62%.
.pqn
.url
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000653667
.ls
Editor & Publisher
.le
.date
October 4, 2004
.item
Custom Hiptop Case
.pubdate
Mon, 04 Oct 2004 18:45:11 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/5/18:45:11:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/PalmerCase.jpg
.alt
Caselogic Hiptop Case
.ie
.p
.p
I found the
.url
http://www.casedirect.com/product_detail.asp?UID=2004100418293531&T1=CAS+XGB+20P&menu=85
.ls
perfect case
.le
for the new Hiptop! (AKA Sidekick II)
Alas, they haven't signed me for a promotional deal, that's another
.url
http://www.shaunpalmer.com/
.ls
Palmer.
.le
.p
They have
.url
http://www.casedirect.com/product_list.asp?SKW=davemirra&UID=2004100418293531&menu=85
.ls
Other
.le
.url
http://www.casedirect.com/product_detail.asp?UID=2004100418293531&T1=CAS+XGB+20H&menu=85
.ls
cases
.le
too, but when I saw the Palmer case I just had to have it.
.item
Volcano Alert? I'm More Worried About That Giant Fly!
.pubdate
Mon, 04 Oct 2004 16:36:22 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/5/16:36:22:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/volcanofly.jpg
.alt
Volcano Webcam
.ie
.item
Xprize Is Ovah
.pubdate
Mon, 04 Oct 2004 12:32:34 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/5/12:32:34:00
.p
Congradulations to the Spaceship One Team. October 4th now hosts two
.url
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/
.ls
Historical Space Events
.le
.date
October 3, 2004
.item
Ranma's Worst Nightmare
.pubdate
Sun, 03 Oct 2004 19:03:02 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/4/19:03:02:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/A-Akane.jpg
.alt
A-Akane Restaurant Sign
.ie
.p
The Hiragana on the sign is "A—Akane", which is something that Ranma says.
.p
The restaurant is in Los Altos, CA. The sushi is very good. (I think Kasumi runs the kitchen.)
.date
October 2, 2004
.item
1994 Saturn/SW2 Wagon - 116K - Auto - $2250
.pubdate
Sat, 02 Oct 2004 19:08:23 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/3/19:08:23:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Saturn-1s.jpg
.alt
Saturn Wagon
.ie
.hr
- Model SW-2
- Medium Red
- 116,050 miles
- One Owner
- No Collisions
- Non-Smoker car
- Automatic (3-spd)
- Air Conditioning
- Power Steering
- Power Windows
- Power Door Locks
- Tilt Wheel
- Cruise Control
- AM/FM Stereo
- Driver's Air Bag
- Anti Lock Brakes
- Alloy Wheels
.hr
.p
Good Condition, Minor ding in hood, minor scratches.
.p
I'm selling because I got my Prius!
.p
Kelly Blue Book for Private Party Value is:
.pqn
Fair: $2,180
.pqn
Good: $2,605
.pqn
Asking: $2,250 (Negotiable)
.date
October 1, 2004
.item
Sadly, no.
.pubdate
Fri, 01 Oct 2004 16:51:12 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/2/16:51:12:00
.pqn
I have — I understand everybody in this country doesn't agree with the decisions I've made. And I made some tough decisions. But people know where I stand.
.pqn
— Dubya 2004 09 30
.p
Actually Mr. pResident — no. They Don't.
.p
.url
http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/html/new_9_29_04.html
.ls
PIPA
.le
did a little research, and most of your supporters are in fact confused about your stands on many, many issues. But you'd have known that if you read my blog this morning. You do read my blog, don't you?
.date
September 30, 2004
.item
So Long, Hiroshima Okonomiyaki
.pubdate
Fri, 01 Oct 2004 00:16:10 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/2/00:16:10:00
.p
I stopped by tonight to pick up dinner, and Hank (the owner) told me over the grill, "It's the last day. We close tonight."
.p
Wife and I were there on opening day (I think were were customers three and four) and we were there on the last day. (And many in between.)
.p
I sat in teary stunned silence while he cooked our dinners. On the way out, I bowed deeply and thanked him.
.p
Sayonara Hiroshima Okonomiyaki, I'll miss you.
.item
Now THAT Was A Debate.
.pubdate
Fri, 01 Oct 2004 00:03:09 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/10/2/00:03:09:00
.p
Jim Lehrer, Thank you. You did great. Those were solid, penetrating questions.
Bygones.
.p
Anyone who thinks Dubya won that debate was watching through rove-colored glasses.
.p
Kerry looked presidential. Calm. Attentive. Respectfull. Likeable.
He had a firm grasp on the facts. He played by the rules, and stretched past his time less often than Dubya. You know, maybe he should carry one of those light things with him for the rest of the campaign.
Can't you see it? Kerry in front of a crowd, he takes a question, nodds, then pats his pockets, pulls out the box, and puts it on the front of the podium.
The place would explode in laughter and applause.
.p
Kerry did let a few pitches go past, I really think he should have nailed
that "Voted For War" question. Something like:
.pqn
Yes, I voted to give the President the authority to go to war, and I'd do it again, and should I become president I hope that the members of the other party would put partisan politics aside and do the same for me, should I need that authority.
.pqn
Sadam had not responded to the UN resolutions. More pressure was required to
get him to open his country to weapons inspectors. It worked.
Faced with the treat of war, Sadam backed down and permited
Hanz Blix back into Iraq.
.pqn
Without that vote, that pressure would not have come to bear.
.pqn
Without that vote, no inspections could have taken place.
.pqn
Without that vote, the status of Sadam's weapons programs would have
remained a mystery.
.pqn
That's what I voted for, and Yes, I'd do it again.
.end
.item
That's Not A Debate... This Is A Debate
.pubdate
Thu, 30 Sep 2004 11:28:10 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/31/11:28:10:00
.p
I've watched Jim Lehrer's news show for years. He's a folksy guy
with a good nose for news. He's also reaching that age where he's
probably planning to retire. Here's how he could go out with a bang...
.p
Tonight at the top of the dabate broadcast he should pull out that 32 page
memorandum of understanding, face the camera and make a statement:
.pqn
Ladies and gentlemen, the candidates came up with this set of rules, but I
remember what a bunch of manure the debates were in 2000, and these rules
make it even harder to get to the issues.
Now I'm not going to shame the candidates my pointing out which ones asked for which restictions, but the simple fact is we are here to choose the next leader of the free world, than this (waves memorandum) is horse hocky. (Rips it in half)
.pqn
Now, tonight's about foreign policy. I'm not going to ask questions. I'm going to name countries, and then you two debate the issues related to that country.
.pqn
Let's start with Iraq. Mr. President, you won the coin toss, would you prefer
to ask the first question, or answer it?
.item
I Don' Think You' Candidate Stan' For What You Think He a Stan' For
.pubdate
Thu, 30 Sep 2004 11:28:10 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/31/11:28:10:01
.pqt
As the nation prepares to watch the presidential candidates debate foreign policy issues, a new PIPA-Knowledge Networks poll finds that Americans who plan to vote for President Bush have many incorrect assumptions about his foreign policy positions. Kerry supporters, on the other hand, are largely accurate in their assessments. The uncommitted also tend to misperceive Bush’s positions, though to a smaller extent than Bush supporters, and to perceive Kerry’s positions correctly. Steven Kull, director of PIPA, comments: “What is striking is that even after nearly four years President Bush’s foreign policy positions are so widely misread, while Senator Kerry, who is relatively new to the public and reputed to be unclear about his positions, is read correctly.”
.pqt
.url
http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/html/new_9_29_04.html
.ls
PIPA
.le
.p
I think what's really going on here is that the folks being polled are
thinking I think labor and environmental standards in trade agreements makes sense, so of course my favored candidate does too.
.date
September 29, 2004
.item
I Wanna Be Like Mike (Melvill)
.pubdate
Wed, 29 Sep 2004 15:22:27 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/30/15:22:27:00
.p
It looks like Spaceship One made the altitude for the first of two flights required to claim the
.url
http://www.xprize.org/secure/member_join_fly.php
.ls
X-Prize.
.le
.p
In the post flight interview, Burt Rutan mentiond that the ground controllers were reccomending astronuat Michael Melvill cut the engine as soon as the ship began an unscripted roll, (which developed into a corkscrew, putting my heart in my throat) but Melvill felt he could ride it a few more seconds — to the cutoff point for achiving the minimum altitude goal. He cut the engine 11 seconds before the sheduled time, but late enough to surpass the altitude by over 9 kilometers.
.p
Melvill bounded out of the craft after landing exclaiming, "Now that was fun!".
.p
Oh yes, I wanna be like Mike.
.date
September 28, 2004
.item
Memo Found
.pubdate
Tue, 28 Sep 2004 14:28:47 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/29/14:28:47:00
.p
I just got an email with a link to the 32 page Memorandum! It's at the
.url
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/documents/debate_mou.pdf
.ls
Washington Post (.pdf)
.le
.p
Thanks Michael!
.p
P.S. Yes, I really do need to fix the permalinks. I finaly figured out
a simple and clean way to implement that function, and should have them working
within a week.
.item
Memorandum of Obfuscation
.pubdate
Tue, 28 Sep 2004 11:37:11 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/29/11:37:11:00
.p
Great. This years debates are being held under rules laid out in a 32 page
Memorandum of Understanding between the parties.
.p
I'll bet Dubya read all 32 of those pages.
.p
But I can't. And You can't. Because for some reason the news media is thrilled to
.url
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/09/21/debate.highlights/
.ls
report on the Memorandum,
.le
but for some reason, none of the multitude of websites I've visited, including
the
.url
http://www.debates.org/
.ls
Commission on Presidential Debates
.le
site has linked the actual 32 page document.
.p
COME ON. We're not talking about National Security here. We're talking about the rules of the televised debates to choose the next leader of the free world.
.p
If anyone finds a link, let me know.
.item
Galluping Bias, or Bent Poll?
.pubdate
Tue, 28 Sep 2004 11:14:25 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/29/11:14:25:00
.pqn
Except that yesterday, they not only did it again, they apparently felt that a 7% GOP bias wasn't good enough. So they perpetrated the same fraud upon the media (including their partners CNN and USAT) and voters and this time used a 12% GOP bias in their likely voter screen. I kid you not.
.pqn
.url
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/002881.html
.ls
Left Coast
.le
.p
Why would they do this? Why would they use a model so far removed from the
evidence of voter turn out the last elections?
.p
Do they really think that Democrats will stay away in droves from the voting booth?
.p
Do they know of some October surprise?
.p
Have they been shown a video of Osama Bin Laden being frog marched out of his cave — the one cave with the John Kerry yard sign planted by the GOP Special Opps Team in front?
.item
Router? We Don't Need No Steenkin' Router
.pubdate
Tue, 28 Sep 2004 02:13:05 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/29/02:13:05:00
.p
D suggested we purchase the Linksys WRT54G to replace our old wireless access point. Halfway through the setup I realized that we didn't really want or need the router function, and there was no way to program the router as a passthough.
.p
I spent a little while Googling for information on using it as an access point only, and found one encouraging tech support site which cheerfully suggested I sign up (only $9.95 a month) for that one critical bit of information.
.p
I turned down their gracious offer, and was getting ready to return the router to the store when it hit me: I could connect the existing home network to
one of the regular ports, and just leave the WAN port disconnected.
.p
Now all of the traffic on the house twisted pair net goes to the wireless — and I've got the WRT54G is opperating as a basic wireless access point, with three spare switched ports, all at he same price as the WAP54G access point (which does not have the switched ports). One of those spare ports was used to replace the repeater I'd installed for the Playstation. Ya-ta! Thanks, D.
.date
September 27, 2004
.item
Even More Ranma Fanart
.pubdate
Tue, 28 Sep 2004 00:19:10 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/29/00:19:10:00
.pqn
.url
http://chaikoke.hp.infoseek.co.jp/
.ls
Chai
.le
By Kokemomo
.pqn
.url
http://kimiboku.nobody.jp/
.ls
Kimi to Boku
.le
(You And Me) by Kokage
.pqn
.url
http://www2.plala.or.jp/ranspe/index.html
.ls
Ranma Special
.le
By Hinata
.pqn
.url
http://www5f.biglobe.ne.jp/~ranma/
.ls
strawberry shortcake
.le
By banana
.pqn
.url
http://sakudro.udap.jp/
.ls
Sakura Drop
.le
By Ayuri
.p
I love Ranma fanart, and from time to time prowl the links from one art site to another. I have to wonder if there was some super popular book on web design, since so many sites seem to be built on the a similar model.
.p
Most sites open to a splash screen, with a link or graphic to click before you get to the main site. This practice has pretty much been dropped in the USA, with the exception of some Fortune 500 wannabees with more budget for Flash than user testing.
.p
Once you are inside, most of the sites are heavy with frames, and many are
laden with javascripts. Sometimes the frames work really well, and sometimes rather less so.
.p
Many of the sites are 800x600 hostile; I suppose I need to upgrade my
aged laptop one of these days.
.p
I'm also jealous of the some of the dingbats-like gliphs in the Kanji fonts,
the musical note makes an especially fun punctuation mark.
.item
50.3 MPG
.pubdate
Mon, 27 Sep 2004 20:38:28 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/28/20:38:28:00
.p
I finaly filled the Prius for the first time this morning; 8.617 gallons after 434 miles. This includes a week of commutes, test drives with freinds, acceleration tests (wow!) and a couple of 'extra' trips to try it out.
.p
The buzz on the net is that I should expect the milage to increase after a break-in period.
.p
In other news, today in New York, crude oil rose to a record
.url
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aBdoL3jcKJLQ&refer=us
.ls
$49.74 per Barrel.
.le
.date
September 25, 2004
.item
Two Hiptop Family
.pubdate
Sat, 25 Sep 2004 16:24:53 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/26/16:24:53:00
.p
We picked up a second Hiptop II for wife at the T-Mobile store at Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose today. They still have a couple in stock.
.p
Ask for Aldolfo!
.date
September 24, 2004
.item
Sneak Pix of Sidekick II
.pubdate
Fri, 24 Sep 2004 13:57:38 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/25/13:57:38:00
.p
Since you can now walk out of a T-Mobile stire with a Sidekick II, I figured it would be a matter of days before someone took one apart for photos. Please don't void your warranty, just look at these.
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/M1_TOP_ASSY.jpg
.alt
M1 PCB
.ie
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/M1_BOT_ASSY.jpg
.alt
M1 PCB
.ie
.item
Bluetooth MP3?
.pubdate
Fri, 24 Sep 2004 13:39:00 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/25/13:39:00:00
.p
I've been looking into adding MP3 playback to my Prius, and so far I'm not satisfied with the solutions I've found. The stereo system already has a 6 CD changer, but I've been spoiled by iTunes. 6 ordinary CDs just isn't enough.
(And this from a guy who only had AM-FM in his last car.)
.p
There are some aftermarket wiring harnesses, but I'm not even sure that they are compatable, since there may not even be a changer expansion jack on the 6 CD deck. In any case, going to RCA jacks and treating an MP3 player like a dumb CD changer is simply going in the wrong direction.
.p
My ideal car stereo includes a hard drive and 802.11 connection, so that I could just sync my collection to the car, but there is abother option...
.p
The car stereo is already wired for Bluetooth phone applications. It could talk to a Bluetooth MP3 player. That data pipe is bi-directional, and all of the information that the MP3 player has could be shared with the car's LCD display system; song lists, transport controls, even album art.
.p
I'm guessing that the stereo in the 2004 Prius doesn't have the right stuff to deal with MP3 packets, but since nearly all of the plumbing is already there we'll see it in future models.
.item
Losing The Thread
.pubdate
Fri, 24 Sep 2004 01:49:39 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/25/01:49:39:00
.p
I was catching up on The Daily Show (Thanks, Tivo) and just saw the interview with Richard Clark (Former head of anti-terrorism).
.p
He made one of those oh yeah observations; why are we killing people in
Iraq?
.p
Do they have any Weapons of Mass Destruction?
.p
Did they support Sadam?
.p
Did they support Al-Qaida?
.p
Just what are we doing?
.date
September 22, 2004
.item
Le Nozze di Figaro
.pubdate
Wed, 22 Sep 2004 16:36:28 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/23/16:36:28:00
.p
.url
http://www.operasj.org/
.ls
Opera San Jose
.le
has arrived in its new home in the beautifly restored Historic California Theater. The California is far larger and more ornate than thier
privious home at the Montgomery, and I was concerned that the larger space would overwealm the cast, but last night's performance of The Marriage of Figaro put an end to my concerns.
.p
The sound in the California is good, though different from the Montgomery. From our fourth row seats the violins have lost thier individuality—in the old theater the sounds of rosin on string were more apparent, more live. In the new theater the woodwinds are now fully under the stage, and the oboes and bassoons were obscured and muted. Overall, the effect was to take the edge off each of the instruments, and at first I was a little dissapointed. I had become accustomed to the sound from our seats in the old theater. (Note: I can only report on sound from our seats, the mix will be different in the balcony where you have a direct sound from the instruments.)
.p
As the evening progressed, my opinion changed. The new theater has a warm, big room sound, with no noticable echo. It works well for quiet passages, and fills
wonderfully on the larger.
.p
Joseph Wright (Figaro) must love the new theater. His voice can be comfortably heard above the volume of the orchestra, and the 4X larger stage gives him room to move about. Unlike the Montgomery, the stage of the California appears to be free of dead-zones, all of the cast could be heard from any location in the set.
.p
Sandra Rubalcava was playfull and wonderful as Susanna, one of the more difficult rolls in opera because she is on the stage for so much of the perfomance.
.p
David Babinet Sang and Acted Count Almaviva brilliantly, a perfect mix of villan and dupe.
.p
For me Deborah Berioli's (Countess Almaviva's) aria "And Susanna comes not" was the high point of the evening, It's one of my favorite Mozart pieces, and her voice filled the hall. I literally had goosebumps. It also sealed my impressions of the California Theater. That aria comfortably filled the new hall with emotion and sound. That same performance would have simply been too big for the Montgomery Theater, where I frequently found my ears overloaded by the volume of a strong singer.
.pqn
Opera San Jose Debut Season
in the California Theatre:
September 18, 2004 - April 24, 2005
.item
Oh, I Hope Not.
.pubdate
Wed, 22 Sep 2004 11:10:50 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/23/11:10:50:00
.p
Yesterday Dubya delivered an
.url
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040921-3.html
.ls
address
.le
at the UN general assembly. He was speaking of Afghanistan and Iraq, and
following one of his characteristic overly-long pauses began the next paragraph with:
.pqn
These two nations will be a model for the broader Middle East, a region where millions have been denied basic human rights and simple justice.
.p
As is his habit of speech, he delivered the comma as a full period stop. I imagine that many of the delegates felt a jolt of icy adrenaline as they
imagned a region full of Afganistans and Iraqs.
.p
Afghanistan and Iraq will be a model for the broader Middle East? Doesn't our pResident read newspapers [wait—he literally said he doesn't]. Doesn't he watch CNN? [no—just Faux News and Bassmasters on OLN]. Internet? [Yeah. Right.]
.p
Afghanistan and Iraq will be a model for the broader Middle East?
Sounds like a model for World War III to me.
.item
I'm Being Followed By A Moon Shadow, No It's John Ashcroft.
.pubdate
Wed, 22 Sep 2004 03:30:01 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/23/03:30:01:00
.p
Cat Stevens (AKA Yusuf Islam) was the cause of the
.url
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=564395
.ls
airliner diversion to Bangor.
.le
He was questioned, then ejected from the country.
.p
I don't know about you, but I'll sleep Much Better ™ tonight.
.date
September 21, 2004
.item
It's Here.
.pubdate
Tue, 21 Sep 2004 20:31:06 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/22/20:31:06:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/SKII.jpg
.alt
Sidekick II
.ie
.p
Exclusively at
.url
http://t-mobile.com/
.ls
T-Mobile
.le
.p
This is what I've been working on when I'm not blogging.
.date
September 20, 2004
.item
A Letter From John Kerry
.pubdate
Mon, 20 Sep 2004 17:45:09 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/21/17:45:09:00
.pqn
This election is about choices. The most important choices a president makes are about protecting America at home and around the world. A president's first obligation is to make America safer, stronger and truer to our ideals.
.pqn
Three years ago, the events of September 11 reminded every American of that obligation. That day brought to our shores the defining struggle of our times: the struggle between freedom and radical fundamentalism. And it made clear that our most important task is to fight and to win the war on terrorism.
.pqn
In fighting the war on terrorism, my principles are straight forward. The terrorists are beyond reason. We must destroy them. As president, I will do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to defeat our enemies. But billions of people around the world yearning for a better life are open to America's ideals. We must reach them.
.pqn
To win, America must be strong. And America must be smart. The greatest threat we face is the possibility Al Qaeda or other terrorists will get their hands on a nuclear weapon.
.pqn
To prevent that from happening, we must call on the totality of America's strength — strong alliances, to help us stop the world's most lethal weapons from falling into the most dangerous hands. A powerful military, transformed to meet the new threats of terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction. And all of America's power — our diplomacy, our intelligence system, our economic power, the appeal of our values — each of which is critical to making America more secure and preventing a new generation of terrorists from emerging.
.pqn
National security is a central issue in this campaign. We owe it to the American people to have a real debate about the choices President Bush has made and the choices I would make to fight and win the war on terror.
.pqn
That means we must have a great honest national debate on Iraq. The president claims it is the centerpiece of his war on terror. In fact, Iraq was a profound diversion from that war and the battle against our greatest enemy, Osama bin Laden and the terrorists. Invading Iraq has created a crisis of historic proportions and, if we do not change course, there is the prospect of a war with no end in sight.
.pqn
This month, we passed a cruel milestone: more than 1,000 Americans lost in Iraq. Their sacrifice reminds us that Iraq remains, overwhelmingly, an American burden. Nearly 90 percent of the troops — and nearly 90 percent of the casualties — are American. Despite the president's claims, this is not a grand coalition.
.pqn
Our troops have served with extraordinary bravery, skill and resolve. Their service humbles all of us. When I speak to them when I look into the eyes of their families, I know this: we owe them the truth about what we have asked them to do and what is still to be done.
.pqn
In June, the president declared, "The Iraqi people have their country back." Just last week, he told us: "This country is headed toward democracy. Freedom is on the march."
.pqn
But the administration's own official intelligence estimate, given to the president last July, tells a very different story.
.pqn
According to press reports, the intelligence estimate totally contradicts what the president is saying to the American people.
.pqn
So do the facts on the ground.
.pqn
Security is deteriorating, for us and for the Iraqis.
.pqn
42 Americans died in Iraq in June — the month before the handover. But 54 died in July — 66 in August and already 54 halfway through September.
.pqn
And more than 1,100 Americans were wounded in August — more than in any other month since the invasion.
.pqn
We are fighting a growing insurgency in an ever widening war-zone. In March, insurgents attacked our forces 700 times. In August, they attacked 2,700 times — a 400% increase.
.pqn
Falluja, Ramadi, Samarra, even parts of Baghdad — are now "no go zones" — breeding grounds for terrorists who are free to plot and launch attacks against our soldiers. The radical Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, who is accused of complicity in the murder of Americans, holds more sway in the suburbs of Baghdad.
.pqn
Violence against Iraqis from bombings to kidnappings to intimidation is on the rise.
.pqn
Basic living conditions are also deteriorating.
.pqn
Residents of Baghdad are suffering electricity blackouts lasting up to 14 hours a day.
.pqn
Raw sewage fills the streets, rising above the hubcaps of our Humvees. Children wade through garbage on their way to school.
.pqn
Unemployment is over 50 percent. Insurgents are able to find plenty of people willing to take $150 for tossing grenades at passing U.S. convoys.
.pqn
Yes, there has been some progress, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our soldiers and civilians in Iraq. Schools, shops and hospitals have been opened. In parts of Iraq, normalcy actually prevails.
.pqn
But most Iraqis have lost faith in our ability to deliver meaningful improvements to their lives. So they're sitting on the fence instead of siding with us against the insurgents.
.pqn
That is the truth — the truth that the commander in chief owes to our troops and the American people.
.pqn
It is never easy to discuss what has gone wrong while our troops are in constant danger. But it's essential if we want to correct our course and do what's right for our troops instead of repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
.pqn
I know this dilemma first-hand. After serving in war, I returned home to offer my own personal voice of dissent. I did so because I believed strongly that we owed it those risking their lives to speak truth to power. We still do.
.pqn
Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell. But that was not, in itself, a reason to go to war. The satisfaction we take in his downfall does not hide this fact: we have traded a dictator for a chaos that has left America less secure.
.pqn
The president has said that he "miscalculated" in Iraq and that it was a "catastrophic success." In fact, the president has made a series of catastrophic decisions from the beginning in Iraq. At every fork in the road, he has taken the wrong turn and led us in the wrong direction.
.pqn
The first and most fundamental mistake was the president's failure to tell the truth to the American people.
.pqn
He failed to tell the truth about the rationale for going to war. And he failed to tell the truth about the burden this war would impose on our soldiers and our citizens.
.pqn
By one count, the president offered 23 different rationales for this war. If his purpose was to confuse and mislead the American people, he succeeded.
.pqn
His two main rationales — weapons of mass destruction and the Al Qaeda/September 11 connection — have been proved false by the president's own weapons inspectors and by the 9/11 Commission. Just last week, Secretary of State Powell acknowledged the facts. Only Vice President Cheney still insists that the earth is flat.
.pqn
The president also failed to level with the American people about what it would take to prevail in Iraq.
.pqn
He didn't tell us that well over 100,000 troops would be needed, for years, not months. He didn't tell us that he wouldn't take the time to assemble a broad and strong coalition of allies. He didn't tell us that the cost would exceed $200 billion. He didn't tell us that even after paying such a heavy price, success was far from assured.
.pqn
And America will pay an even heavier price for the president's lack of candor.
.pqn
At home, the American people are less likely to trust this administration if it needs to summon their support to meet real and pressing threats to our security.
.pqn
Abroad, other countries will be reluctant to follow America when we seek to rally them against a common menace — as they are today. Our credibility in the world has plummeted.
.pqn
In the dark days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Kennedy sent former Secretary of State Dean Acheson to Europe to build support. Acheson explained the situation to French President de Gaulle. Then he offered to show him highly classified satellite photos, as proof. De Gaulle waved the photos away, saying: "The word of the president of the United States is good enough for me."
.pqn
How many world leaders have that same trust in America's president, today?
.pqn
This president's failure to tell the truth to us before the war has been exceeded by fundamental errors of judgment during and after the war.
.pqn
The president now admits to "miscalculations" in Iraq.
.pqn
That is one of the greatest understatements in recent American history. His were not the equivalent of accounting errors. They were colossal failures of judgment — and judgment is what we look for in a president.
.pqn
This is all the more stunning because we're not talking about 20/20 hindsight. Before the war, before he chose to go to war, bi-partisan Congressional hearings... major outside studies... and even some in the administration itself... predicted virtually every problem we now face in Iraq.
.pqn
This president was in denial. He hitched his wagon to the ideologues who surround him, filtering out those who disagreed, including leaders of his own party and the uniformed military. The result is a long litany of misjudgments with terrible consequences.
.pqn
The administration told us we'd be greeted as liberators. They were wrong.
.pqn
They told us not to worry about looting or the sorry state of Iraq's infrastructure. They were wrong.
.pqn
They told us we had enough troops to provide security and stability, defeat the insurgents, guard the borders and secure the arms depots. They were wrong.
.pqn
They told us we could rely on exiles like Ahmed Chalabi to build political legitimacy. They were wrong.
.pqn
They told us we would quickly restore an Iraqi civil service to run the country and a police force and army to secure it. They were wrong.
.pqn
In Iraq, this administration has consistently over-promised and under-performed. This policy has been plagued by a lack of planning, an absence of candor, arrogance and outright incompetence. And the president has held no one accountable, including himself.
.pqn
In fact, the only officials who lost their jobs over Iraq were the ones who told the truth.
.pqn
General Shinseki said it would take several hundred thousand troops to secure Iraq. He was retired. Economic adviser Larry Lindsey said that Iraq would cost as much as $200 billion. He was fired. After the successful entry into Baghdad, George Bush was offered help from the UN — and he rejected it. He even prohibited any nation from participating in reconstruction efforts that wasn't part of the original coalition — pushing reluctant countries even farther away. As we continue to fight this war almost alone, it is hard to estimate how costly that arrogant decision was. Can anyone seriously say this president has handled Iraq in a way that makes us stronger in the war on terrorism?
.pqn
By any measure, the answer is no. Nuclear dangers have mounted across the globe. The international terrorist club has expanded. Radicalism in the Middle East is on the rise. We have divided our friends and united our enemies. And our standing in the world is at an all time low.
.pqn
Think about it for a minute. Consider where we were... and where we are. After the events of September 11, we had an opportunity to bring our country and the world together in the struggle against the terrorists. On September 12, headlines in newspapers abroad declared "we are all Americans now." But through his policy in Iraq, the president squandered that moment and rather than isolating the terrorists, left America isolated from the world.
.pqn
We now know that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and posed no imminent threat to our security. It had not, as the vice president claimed, "reconstituted nuclear weapons."
.pqn
The president's policy in Iraq took our attention and resources away from other, more serious threats to America.
.pqn
Threats like North Korea, which actually has weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear arsenal, and is building more under this president's watch — the emerging nuclear danger from Iran — the tons and kilotons of unsecured chemical and nuclear weapons in Russia — and the increasing instability in Afghanistan.
.pqn
Today, warlords again control much of that country, the Taliban is regrouping, opium production is at an all time high and the Al Qaeda leadership still plots and plans, not only there but in 60 other nations. Instead of using U.S. forces, we relied on the warlords to capture Osama bin Laden when he was cornered in the mountains. He slipped away. We then diverted our focus and forces from the hunt for those responsible for September 11 in order invade Iraq.
.pqn
We know Iraq played no part in September 11 and had no operational ties to Al Qaeda.
.pqn
The president's policy in Iraq precipitated the very problem he said he was trying to prevent. Secretary of State Powell admits that Iraq was not a magnet for international terrorists before the war. Now it is, and they are operating against our troops. Iraq is becoming a sanctuary for a new generation of terrorists who someday could hit the United States.
.pqn
We know that while Iraq was a source of friction, it was not previously a source of serious disagreement with our allies in Europe and countries in the Muslim world.
.pqn
The president's policy in Iraq divided our oldest alliance and sent our standing in the Muslim world into free fall. Three years after 9/11, even in many moderate Muslim countries like Jordan, Morocco, and Turkey, Osama bin Laden is more popular than the United States of America.
.pqn
Let me put it plainly: The president's policy in Iraq has not strengthened our national security. It has weakened it.
.pqn
Two years ago, Congress was right to give the president the authority to use force to hold Saddam Hussein accountable. This president, any president would have needed the threat of force to act effectively. This president misused that authority.
.pqn
The power entrusted to the president gave him a strong hand to play in the international community. The idea was simple. We would get the weapons inspectors back in to verify whether or not Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. And we would convince the world to speak with one voice to Saddam: disarm or be disarmed.
.pqn
A month before the war, President Bush told the nation: "If we have to act, we will take every precaution that is possible. We will plan carefully. We will act with the full power of the United States military. We will act with allies at our side and we will prevail." He said that military action wasn't "unavoidable."
.pqn
Instead, the president rushed to war without letting the weapons inspectors finish their work. He went without a broad and deep coalition of allies. He acted without making sure our troops had enough body armor. And he plunged ahead without understanding or preparing for the consequences of the post-war. None of which I would have done.
.pqn
Yet today, President Bush tells us that he would do everything all over again, the same way. How can he possibly be serious? Is he really saying that if we knew there were no imminent threat, no weapons of mass destruction, no ties to Al Qaeda, the United States should have invaded Iraq? My answer is no — because a commander in chief's first responsibility is to make a wise and responsible decision to keep America safe.
.pqn
Now the president, in looking for a new reason, tries to hang his hat on the "capability" to acquire weapons. But that was not the reason given to the nation; it was not the reason Congress voted on; it's not a reason, it's an excuse. Thirty-five to forty countries have greater capability to build a nuclear bomb than Iraq did in 2003. Is President Bush saying we should invade them?
.pqn
I would have concentrated our power and resources on defeating global terrorism and capturing or killing Osama bin Laden. I would have tightened the noose and continued to pressure and isolate Saddam Hussein — who was weak and getting weaker — so that he would pose no threat to the region or America.
.pqn
The president's insistence that he would do the same thing all over again in Iraq is a clear warning for the future. And it makes the choice in this election clear: more of the same with President Bush or a new direction that makes our troops and America safer. It is time, at long last, to ask the questions and insist on the answers from the commander in chief about his serious misjudgments and what they tell us about his administration and the president himself. If George W. Bush is re-elected, he will cling to the same failed policies in Iraq — and he will repeat, somewhere else, the same reckless mistakes that have made America less secure than we can or should be.
.pqn
In Iraq, we have a mess on our hands. But we cannot throw up our hands. We cannot afford to see Iraq become a permanent source of terror that will endanger America's security for years to come.
.pqn
All across this country people ask me what we should do now. Every step of the way, from the time I first spoke about this in the Senate, I have set out specific recommendations about how we should and should not proceed. But over and over, when this administration has been presented with a reasonable alternative, they have rejected it and gone their own way. This is stubborn incompetence.
.pqn
Five months ago, in Fulton, Missouri, I said that the president was close to his last chance to get it right. Every day, this president makes it more difficult to deal with Iraq — harder than it was five months ago, harder than it was a year ago. It is time to recognize what is — and what is not — happening in Iraq today. And we must act with urgency.
.pqn
Just this weekend, a leading Republican, Chuck Hagel, said we're "in deep trouble in Iraq ... it doesn't add up ... to a pretty picture [and] ... we're going to have to look at a recalibration of our policy." Republican leaders like Dick Lugar and John McCain have offered similar assessments.
.pqn
We need to turn the page and make a fresh start in Iraq.
.pqn
First, the president has to get the promised international support so our men and women in uniform don't have to go it alone. It is late; the president must respond by moving this week to gain and regain international support.
.pqn
Last spring, after too many months of resistance and delay, the president finally went back to the U.N. which passed Resolution 1546. It was the right thing to do — but it was late.
.pqn
That resolution calls on U.N. members to help in Iraq by providing troops, trainers for Iraq's security forces, a special brigade to protect the U.N. mission, more financial assistance, and real debt relief.
.pqn
Three months later, not a single country has answered that call. And the president acts as if it doesn't matter.
.pqn
And of the $13 billion previously pledged to Iraq by other countries, only $1.2 billion has been delivered.
.pqn
The president should convene a summit meeting of the world's major powers and Iraq's neighbors, this week, in New York, where many leaders will attend the U.N. General Assembly. He should insist that they make good on that U.N. resolution. He should offer potential troop contributors specific, but critical roles, in training Iraqi security personnel and securing Iraq's borders. He should give other countries a stake in Iraq's future by encouraging them to help develop Iraq's oil resources and by letting them bid on contracts instead of locking them out of the reconstruction process.
.pqn
This will be difficult. I and others have repeatedly recommended this from the very beginning. Delay has made only made it harder. After insulting allies and shredding alliances, this president may not have the trust and confidence to bring others to our side in Iraq. But we cannot hope to succeed unless we rebuild and lead strong alliances so that other nations share the burden with us. That is the only way to succeed.
.pqn
Second, the president must get serious about training Iraqi security forces.
.pqn
Last February, Secretary Rumsfeld claimed that more than 210,000 Iraqis were in uniform. Two weeks ago, he admitted that claim was exaggerated by more than 50 percent. Iraq, he said, now has 95,000 trained security forces.
.pqn
But guess what? Neither number bears any relationship to the truth. For example, just 5,000 Iraqi soldiers have been fully trained, by the administration's own minimal standards. And of the 35,000 police now in uniform, not one has completed a 24-week field-training program. Is it any wonder that Iraqi security forces can't stop the insurgency or provide basic law and order?
.pqn
The president should urgently expand the security forces training program inside and outside Iraq. He should strengthen the vetting of recruits, double classroom training time, and require follow-on field training. He should recruit thousands of qualified trainers from our allies, especially those who have no troops in Iraq. He should press our NATO allies to open training centers in their countries. And he should stop misleading the American people with phony, inflated numbers.
.pqn
Third, the president must carry out a reconstruction plan that finally brings tangible benefits to the Iraqi people.
.pqn
Last week, the administration admitted that its plan was a failure when it asked Congress for permission to radically revise spending priorities in Iraq. It took 17 months for them to understand that security is a priority, 17 months to figure out that boosting oil production is critical, 17 months to conclude that an Iraqi with a job is less likely to shoot at our soldiers.
.pqn
One year ago, the administration asked for and received $18 billion to help the Iraqis and relieve the conditions that contribute to the insurgency. Today, less than a $1 billion of those funds have actually been spent. I said at the time that we had to rethink our policies and set standards of accountability. Now we're paying the price.
.pqn
Now, the president should look at the whole reconstruction package, draw up a list of high visibility, quick impact projects, and cut through the red tape. He should use more Iraqi contractors and workers, instead of big corporations like Halliburton. He should stop paying companies under investigation for fraud or corruption. And he should fire the civilians in the Pentagon responsible for mismanaging the reconstruction effort.
.pqn
Fourth, the president must take immediate, urgent, essential steps to guarantee the promised elections can be held next year.
.pqn
Credible elections are key to producing an Iraqi government that enjoys the support of the Iraqi people and an assembly to write a Constitution that yields a viable power sharing arrangement.
.pqn
Because Iraqis have no experience holding free and fair elections, the president agreed six months ago that the U.N. must play a central role. Yet today, just four months before Iraqis are supposed to go to the polls, the U.N. Secretary General and administration officials themselves say the elections are in grave doubt. Because the security situation is so bad and because not a single country has offered troops to protect the U.N. elections mission, the U.N. has less than 25 percent of the staff it needs in Iraq to get the job done.
.pqn
The president should recruit troops from our friends and allies for a U.N. protection force. This won't be easy. But even countries that refused to put boots on the ground in Iraq should still help protect the U.N. We should also intensify the training of Iraqis to manage and guard the polling places that need to be opened. Otherwise, U.S forces would end up bearing those burdens alone.
.pqn
If the president would move in this direction, if he would bring in more help from other countries to provide resources and forces, train the Iraqis to provide their own security, develop a reconstruction plan that brings real benefits to the Iraqi people, and take the steps necessary to hold credible elections next year — we could begin to withdraw U.S. forces starting next summer and realistically aim to bring all our troops home within the next four years.
.pqn
This is what has to be done. This is what I would do as president today. But we cannot afford to wait until January. President Bush owes it to the American people to tell the truth and put Iraq on the right track. Even more, he owes it to our troops and their families, whose sacrifice is a testament to the best of America.
.pqn
The principles that should guide American policy in Iraq now and in the future are clear: We must make Iraq the world's responsibility, because the world has a stake in the outcome and others should share the burden. We must effectively train Iraqis, because they should be responsible for their own security. We must move forward with reconstruction, because that's essential to stop the spread of terror. And we must help Iraqis achieve a viable government, because it's up to them to run their own country. That's the right way to get the job done and bring our troops home.
.pqn
On May 1 of last year, President Bush stood in front of a now infamous banner that read "Mission Accomplished." He declared to the American people: "In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed." In fact, the worst part of the war was just beginning, with the greatest number of American casualties still to come. The president misled, miscalculated, and mismanaged every aspect of this undertaking and he has made the achievement of our objective — a stable Iraq, secure within its borders, with a representative government, harder to achieve.
.pqn
In Iraq, this administration's record is filled with bad predictions, inaccurate cost estimates, deceptive statements and errors of judgment of historic proportions.
.pqn
At every critical juncture in Iraq, and in the war on terrorism, the president has made the wrong choice. I have a plan to make America stronger.
.pqn
The president often says that in a post 9/11 world, we can't hesitate to act. I agree. But we should not act just for the sake of acting. I believe we have to act wisely and responsibly.
.pqn
George Bush has no strategy for Iraq. I do.
.pqn
George Bush has not told the truth to the American people about why we went to war and how the war is going. I have and I will continue to do so.
.pqn
I believe the invasion of Iraq has made us less secure and weaker in the war against terrorism. I have a plan to fight a smarter, more effective war on terror — and make us safer.
.pqn
Today, because of George Bush's policy in Iraq, the world is a more dangerous place for America and Americans.
.pqn
If you share my conviction that we can not go on as we are that we can make America stronger and safer than it is then November 2 is your chance to speak and to be heard. It is not a question of staying the course, but of changing the course.
.pqn
I'm convinced that with the right leadership, we can create a fresh start and move more effectively to accomplish our goals. Our troops have served with extraordinary courage and commitment. For their sake, and America's sake, we must get this right. We must do everything in our power to complete the mission and make America stronger at home and respected again in the world.
.pqn
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.
.pqn
John Kerry
.item
Miserable Failure
.pubdate
Mon, 20 Sep 2004 11:25:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/21/11:25:40:00
.pqn
An informal, unscientific survey of historians conducted at my suggestion by HNN found that eight in ten historians responding rated the current presidency an overall failure. Of 415 academic historians who expressed a view of President Bush's administration so far as a success or failure, 338 (81 percent) classified it as a failure and 77 (19 percent) as a success. Twelve percent of all the historians who responded rated the current presidency the worst in all of American history.
.pqn
.url
http://hnn.us/articles/7286.html
.ls
History News Network
.le
.p
It's an interesting read, and it really puts some historical perspective into how bad things have been before. So far Dubya's only got 12% of the Worst President Ever vote. Given four more years I'm sure he could bring those numbers up.
.date
September 18, 2004
.item
Spanked
.pubdate
Sat, 18 Sep 2004 14:16:51 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/19/14:16:51:00
.p
Dan sent me an email last night reminding me that some agrigators automatically use the guid as a permalink.
.p
I know, I know. It was an ugly hack on my part but I do plan to make those work real soon now ™.
.item
Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
.pubdate
Sat, 18 Sep 2004 14:10:26 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/19/14:10:26:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Prius_1.jpg
.alt
Dashboard of Prius
.ie
.p
Well, It's here. I took delivery last night at Stevens Creek Toyota.
We're still getting acquainted, but I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
.p
It’s definitely a she.
.date
September 17, 2004
.item
Quote of the Day
.pubdate
Fri, 17 Sep 2004 18:20:23 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/18/18:20:23:00
.pqn
...what's important for the journalist is not how close you are to power but how close you are to reality.
.p
.url
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/journalism_under_fire.php
.ls
Journalism Under Fire
.le
by Bill Moyers
.item
Random Thoughts
.pubdate
Fri, 17 Sep 2004 14:14:07 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/18/14:14:07:00
.p
The Trade Secrets show shook loose a couple of odd memories...
.p
A couple of years ago I was sitting at lunch with other Dangerites, and I told them my theory of patents:
.p
I think we need a patent jury system. A patent challenge would envolve calling a panel who are "skilled in the art" expressed in the patent. The jury would be paid by the challenge fee, and provided with pizza and beer, then the patent examiner would describe the problem to the jury, and give them three hours to see if they come up with the same solution that was covered in the patent. If the examiner judges the solutions to be similar enough to the patent, then the idea expressed in the patent would be judged to be invalid.
.p
After I expressed that idea, F jumped in with:
.pqn
"If that was on TV I'd watch it."
.p
.url
http://secrets.scripting.com
.ls
Trade Secrets
.le
is like that show.
.item
The Secret Is Out
.pubdate
Fri, 17 Sep 2004 01:19:48 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/18/01:19:48:00
.pqn
"This is a bad place for fans of George W Bush"
.p
.url
http://secrets.scripting.com/
.ls
Trade Secrets Radio
.le
is the name of Adam Curry and Dave Winer's new trans-oceanic internet radio program.
.p
It's an odd mix of technology and politics, but I really like it. Give it a listen.
.p
In a related matter, the Guitar Center flyer I got in the mail today has a nice bundle of Cubase & and a high quality PCI A/D card. Hmmm....
.date
September 16, 2004
.item
Testing 1,2,3
.pubdate
Thu, 16 Sep 2004 18:15:54 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/17/18:15:54:00
.p
I just realised that I haven't tested my back end software against my Hiptop in a while, so that's what I'm doing now.
.item
Bounce? What Bounce?
.pubdate
Thu, 16 Sep 2004 10:57:03 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/17/10:57:03:00
.pqn
The Harris poll, conducted by telephone Sept. 9-13, shows Sen. Kerry leading Mr. Bush 48% to 47% among likely voters nationwide. The poll also found that a slender 51% to 45% majority doesn't believe that Mr. Bush deserves to be re-elected.
.pqn
.url
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB109526872487418642,00.html?mod=todays%5Ffree%5Ffeature
.ls
Wall Street Journal
.le
.p
So, 51% to 45% is a slender majority?
.date
September 14, 2004
.item
Europeans Overwhelmingly Favor Kerry for President
.pubdate
Tue, 14 Sep 2004 10:36:45 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/15/10:36:45:00
.pqn
If Europeans could vote in the U.S. presidential election, they would pick John Kerry over George W. Bush by a nearly 6-to-1 majority, the latest HI Europe poll shows.
.pqn
.url
http://www.bopnews.com/archives/001555.html
.ls
The Blogging of the President
.le
Via
.url
http://live.curry.com
.ls
Adam Curry
.le
.item
Grrr.
.pubdate
Tue, 14 Sep 2004 01:25:33 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/15/01:25:33:00
.p
Hmmm. It looks like I'll have to add an html link to the RSS feed along
with the attachment, neither Sharp Reader nor Live Journal display a link
to the attachment. I'll get to it before I release new audio, but untill then you can get to the audio files from
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com
.ls
my home page.
.le
.item
Ranma Audio Fanfiction: Red
.pubdate
Tue, 14 Sep 2004 00:43:33 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/15/00:43:33:00
.p
I just remembered that I have another audio work that I can publish via RSS:
an audio recording of my Ranma Fanfiction Red from July 23, 1999.
I recorded this in short sections, and edited them together on my BeBox.
(I had to record it in short bits because I kept choking up while I was reading it.)
.p
If you like it,
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/guestbook/guestbook.html
.ls
please let me know.
.le
.aud
Red.mp3
.aud_len
2994959
.aud_end
.item
RSS Enclosures
.pubdate
Tue, 14 Sep 2004 00:23:55 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/15/00:23:55:00
.p
I've been listening to
.url
http://live.curry.com/
.ls
Adam Curry's
.le
Daily Source code audio feed, and he got me fired up enough to add the ability
to publish RSS media enclosures with items. I'm still working out the details of my recording system, so here's that 12 second Russian Joke again. Com'on, give it a listen!
.aud
RussianJoke.mp3
.aud_len
53758
.aud_end
.date
September 13, 2004
.item
Memogate
.pubdate
Mon, 13 Sep 2004 14:19:16 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/14/14:19:16:00
.p
Back in the 80's I worked at a company that was building a document retreival
system for microfilm. The heart of the system was an OEM camera-scanner that would show the image of the microfilm on a computer display. The resolution of the output was similar to a fax machine, and in fact we literally hacked into the hardware of an early digital fax machine to use it as a printer.
.p
Now I'm no expert on typewriters, but I recall that our old Smith-Corona had
a wonderful scent of machine oil and ink, and that it had a few extra characters like the true 1/2 symbol, and that you could easily roll the paper down a bit to place something above the baseline. I expect that any day now that an army surplus typewriter, with the th key (Handy for typing 187th) will show up on Ebay, putting an end to that argument.
.p
My guess right now is that the documents are authentic, but that the originals were destroyed years ago, and that the images we see now were retrived via a digital microfilm scanner, at fax resolution, from the middle of a roll of microfilm containing numerous other documents from that era, and that the authenticity of that roll of microfilm is incontrovertible.
.item
Nine Years Of Summer
.pubdate
Mon, 13 Sep 2004 13:19:29 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/14/13:19:29:00
.p
Nine years (and eight days) ago I released
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanfic/seasons/Summer.shtml
.ls
Summer,
.le
the third of the seasons stories, and it's
.url
http://members.aol.com/talswapr/newhall.html
.ls
Talswapr's favorite
.le
of the series.
.p
A little while after it was released there was buzz about a new web tool
that would analyze a page, and try to reduce the content to a minimum.
Summer was reduced to one word: “Chicken.”
.p
After months of silence, I've recently begun getting email requests to finish
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanfic/colors/Yellow.shtml
.ls
Yellow.
.le
I'm hoping I'll be back in the mood to write on November Third. (For World readers, that's the day after the US election.) If John Kerry wins I promise
my readers a nice Christmas present!
.date
September 12, 2004
.item
Vandals For Bush
.pubdate
Sun, 12 Sep 2004 21:53:38 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/13/21:53:38:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Scratch.jpg
.alt
Scratched car
.ie
.pn
On Saturday September 11, I found that my car had been vandalized
in the San Jose Airport car park. Yes, I'd flown on the anniversary of 9/11,
on American Airlines, no less.
.p
Perhaps the vandal just has something against small red cars parked neatly in the middle of clearly marked spaces.
.pqt
I doubt it.
.p
Perhaps the vandal thought clearly the person who owns this car isn't supporting my favored candidate for president, but a couple of deep scratches on his hood should set him running right into Dubya's arms.
.pqt
It didn't.
.p
Perhaps the vandal was thinking that his little act of petty domestic terrorism was heroic.
.pqt
It wasn't.
.date
September 8, 2004
.item
The Finn Brothers - Everyone Is Here
.pubdate
Wed, 08 Sep 2004 17:30:09 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/9/17:30:09:00
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/FinnEIH.jpg
.alt
Finn Brothers Cover
.ie
.p
It's a very good day, first The Blue Nile's High, and now a
new album of pop for grown-ups from the
.url
http://www.finnbros.com
.ls
Finn Brothers.
.le
.p
Maybe I'll go buy a lottery ticket!
.item
The Blue Nile - HIGH
.pubdate
Wed, 08 Sep 2004 17:09:16 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/9/17:09:16:00
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/bluenilehigh.jpg
.alt
HIGH CD cover
.ie
.p
.url
http://www.the-blue-nile.com
.ls
The Blue Nile
.le
has always been very near the top of my 'favorite bands' list.
After an eight year wait comes a new release, High.
.p
It was worth every day of those eight years. It's simply that good.
.item
John Zogby Looks At Newsweek's Numbers
.pubdate
Wed, 08 Sep 2004 02:29:36 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/9/02:29:36:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/newsweek.png
.alt
Newsweek Chart
.ie
.p
Directly following the RNC, both Time and Newsweek released polls that
Dubya had made big gains. CNN was all over that story like Frances on Florida,
and I can only imagine what Faux News was saying. Other Polls taken at the
same time were not showing anything like those sorts of gains, and a few days after the startling results of the Time poll were released, it was revealed that for reasons unspecified, they had inexplicably began counting 'leaners' who were not counted in previous polls.
.p
Yesterday
.url
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews859.html
.ls
John Zogby
.le
got some information on the Newsweek poll and found that they had reshuffled the electorate, shaving 8% from the Democratic ranks, giving 5% to the Independants, and 3% to the Republicans.
.p
I could speculate as to why two major news magazines, each part of huge media empires, published results that were at best poorly founded, and at worst
calculated to tap into the advertising budgets of the candidates, but that would be irresponsible. Almost as irresponsible as publishing bogus polls, if I had access to the national media echo machine.
.end
.date
September 7, 2004
.item
1001
.pubdate
Tue, 07 Sep 2004 16:47:02 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/8/16:47:02:00
.p
.url
http://icasualties.org/oif/
.ls
Iraq Coalition Casualty Count
.le
.date
September 3, 2004
.item
Strange Dream Smashup
.pubdate
Fri, 03 Sep 2004 11:31:14 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/4/11:31:14:00
.p
Hopefully unrelated to the election, I had a very stange dream last night:
Jed Clampet (played by Buddy Ebsen) and Daisy "Granny" Moses (played by
Irene Ryan) were sitting in their kitchen in Beverly Hills. When Jed
started to speak, he was delivering lines from Ebsen's roll in Barnaby Jones,
and when Granny spoke, she was using lines from other episodes of the
the Beverly Hillbillies, totaly unrelated to the scene they were in.
.p
The scene changed back and forth from the Kitchen to the beat-up truck, each
gesturing exactly as they would have in scenes delivered in those locations, but delivering words wildly unrelated to the moment.
.p
By morning the actual dialoge had evaporated from my memory. I sincerly hope
that it was just dreamed up—I don't want to find that I have dedicated much of my memory to 60's sit-coms, and 70's cop shows. I never was much of a fan of Barnaby Jones, my brother was, he watched each and every episode, just waiting and hoping for Ebson to say
"Welllll—Dogies."
.p
P.S. Jed had some great sayings, like "lower than a well-diggers heel." and "lower than a snakes-belly in a wagon-rut".
.p
Oh wait, you know maybe that's the connection to the RNC convention...
.item
The Words
.pubdate
Fri, 03 Sep 2004 11:31:14 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/4/11:31:14:01
.pqt
The election comes down to this. If you believe this country is heading in the right direction, you should support George Bush. But if you believe America needs to move in a new direction, join with us. John and I offer a better plan that will make us stronger at home and more respected in the world. We offer responsible leadership and with your help, we're going to bring that leadership to the Washington!
.pqt
For four days in New York, instead of talking about real plans for creating jobs, strengthening the economy, expanding health care, and bringing down gas prices, we heard almost nothing but anger and insults from the Republicans. And I'll tell you why. It's because they can't talk about the real issues facing Americans. They can't talk about their record because it's a record of failure.
.pqt
Tonight, President Bush got up and told us that he's got a plan for the economy. That's exactly what he said four years ago. But with the largest deficit in American history, I don't think we can afford four more years of this president's plans. That's because for four years, this president has taken us in the wrong direction.
.pqt
.url
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=17689
.ls
Remarks of John Kerry
.le
Springfield OH, September 2, 2004
.p
This link contains only about half of Kerry's words. (And appears to be the
part that CNN et.al. carried live.) C-span2 carried the remainder of his remarks, where he talked about the people he's met, and the places he's seen.
The part that CNN carried was all Dean, the part that followed was all Clinton.
.item
After Midnight, We're Gonna Let It All Hang Down
.pubdate
Fri, 03 Sep 2004 00:39:39 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/4/00:39:39:00
.p
John Kerry let Bush have his day, then at midnight eastern time he
delivered a electrifying reply from Springfeild Ohio. (Thank you, c-span2)
.p
It was one of those inspired locations, where the over-the-sholder shots
showed a sea of very ordinary people in front of the sort of small town
American buildings that Norman Rockwell would have used as background.
.p
From time to time you could hear some heckling from the back of the crowd, and that's all American too. At least they let them in.
.date
September 2, 2004
.item
Oh No Ya Don't!
.pubdate
Thu, 02 Sep 2004 19:49:58 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/3/19:49:58:00
.p
For
.url
http://www.thegreatamericanshoutout.org/modules/event/index.php
.ls
tonights Great A merican Shout Out
.le
I've elected to go back to my Minnesotan roots, you betcha.
.item
We've Really Turned That Corner Now.
.pubdate
Thu, 02 Sep 2004 11:55:25 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/3/11:55:25:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/slowdown_graph.png
.alt
Economic Chart
.ie
.p
Read the analysis by Kash at
.url
http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2004/08/fading-recovery.html
.ls
Angry Bear.
.le
.p
Also Check out all of
.url
http://angrybear.blogspot.com/2004/09/bush-prosperity.html
.ls
this morning's post,
.le
here's a preview:
.pqt
Boy, I'm sure glad to be living in a time of Bush Prosperity! In the past 3 1/2 years Bush Prosperity has brought us:
* Median household incomes that have fallen by 3.5% (according to the Census Bureau)
* 4.3 million more people in poverty (according to Census)
* 1.1 million fewer people working in the US (according to the CES)
* 2.2 million more people unemployed in the US (according to the CPS)
* An extra $1.0 trillion in government debt (through October 2004)
* A forecast of $1.8 trillion in additional government borrowing between 2005-2010 (according to the CBO)
.date
September 1, 2004
.item
Frances On The Way
.pubdate
Wed, 01 Sep 2004 16:48:09 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/9/2/16:48:09:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/ServerLocation.jpg
.alt
Server Location
.ie
.p
This website is hosted out of Boca Raton, Florida (I think).
If I'm off the air this weekend, this is why.
.p
Ya'll hold on tight down there, my thoughts are with you. Be safe.
.date
August 31, 2004
.item
Secrets, Secrets And More Secrets
.pubdate
Tue, 31 Aug 2004 16:41:38 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/32/16:41:38:00
.p
.url
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_08/004595.php
.ls
Kevin Drum
.le
reports that the names of the platform committee members of the Republican party are a closely held secret.
.item
Domino Theory Revisited
.pubdate
Tue, 31 Aug 2004 11:43:49 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/32/11:43:49:00
.p
Remember the domino theory of the '60s? The one that said if Vietnam falls to communism, then communism would spread from country to country in the region? Well, its back, but time its not communism, it's fundamentalist islam.
.p
The first domino, Iran, fell with the peacock throne twenty five tears ago.
.p
The second domino, Iraq, collapsed with the overthrow of Sadam.
.p
The third domino...
.pqt
Fred Kaplan of Slate is even more pessimistic. "This is a terribly grim thing to say," he wrote recently, "but there might be no solution to the problem of Iraq" - no way to produce "a stable, secure, let alone democratic regime. And there's no way we can just pull out without plunging the country, the region, and possibly beyond into still deeper disaster." Deeper disaster? Yes: people who worried about Ramadi are now worrying about Pakistan.
.pqt
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/31/opinion/31krugman.html
.ls
A No-Win Situation
.le
by Paul Krugman. He's talking about
.url
http://slate.msn.com/id/2105127/
.ls
this
.le
article in Slate.
.date
August 30, 2004
.item
Close Your Tags
.pubdate
Mon, 30 Aug 2004 20:11:03 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/31/20:11:03:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/protest.jpg
.alt
</BUSH>
.ie
.p
Image Source: Kyle, via
.url
http://haacked.com/archive/2004/08/30/987.aspx
.ls
haacked.com
.le
via
.url
http://www.boingboing.net/
.ls
boingboing.net
.le
.p
I rarely post images that I havn't taken myself, I hope the
attribution is enough. This image was just too good to pass up,
and besides, I'm sure the protester who made the sign won't mind seeing the message in a few other places. ^_^
.date
August 27, 2004
.item
Drip... Drip... Drip...
.pubdate
Fri, 27 Aug 2004 14:26:17 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/28/14:26:17:00
.pqt
Four years ago, this page endorsed George W. Bush for president. We cannot do so again — because of an ill-conceived war and its aftermath, undisciplined spending, a shrinkage of constitutional rights and an intrusive social agenda.
.pqt
.url
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002016659&zsection_id=268448410&slug=kerryed27&date=20040827
.ls
The Seattle Times
.le
.item
Hobin Rood
.pubdate
Fri, 27 Aug 2004 13:55:51 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/28/13:55:51:00
.pqt
Instead, note only that this is yet another article on Greenspan's Social Security agenda that fails to mention his leading role first in pushing for increases in the regressive payroll taxes in the 1980s to secure the system and then, two decades later, advocating for George Bush's massively regressive tax cuts — tax cuts that are, of course, the underlying cause of the ostensible Social Security "crisis" he’s so worried about now. It’s simply the most brazen and drawn-out Robin Hood-in-reverse scheme I've ever heard of, and it's worth emphasizing every time the Maestro opens his mouth on the subject.
.pqt
Sam Rosenfeld at
.url
http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2004/08/index.html#003705
.ls
The American Prospect
.le
.item
Wobegon
.pubdate
Fri, 27 Aug 2004 11:12:24 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/28/11:12:24:00
.pqt
Something has gone seriously haywire with the Republican Party. Once, it was the party of pragmatic Main Street businessmen in steel-rimmed spectacles who decried profligacy and waste, were devoted to their communities and supported the sort of prosperity that raises all ships. They were good-hearted people who vanquished the gnarlier elements of their party, the paranoid Roosevelt-haters, the flat Earthers and Prohibitionists, the antipapist antiforeigner element. The genial Eisenhower was their man, a genuine American hero of D-Day, who made it OK for reasonable people to vote Republican. He brought the Korean War to a stalemate, produced the Interstate Highway System, declined to rescue the French colonial army in Vietnam, and gave us a period of peace and prosperity, in which (oddly) American arts and letters flourished and higher education burgeoned-and there was a degree of plain decency in the country. Fifties Republicans were giants compared to today's. Richard Nixon was the last Republican leader to feel a Christian obligation toward the poor.
.pqt
We're Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore
.url
http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/979/
.ls
Garrison Keillor
.le
.item
Leave It To Fark
.pubdate
Fri, 27 Aug 2004 11:12:24 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/28/11:12:24:01
.pqt
Lawyer resigns from Bush campaign because he gave legal advice to anti-Kerry group that has no connection to Bush campaign
.p
.url
http://www.fark.com/
.ls
Fark
.le
is one of those meta-blogs, where there's a tradition of coming up with the most inspired headlines for the linked stories. Not surprisingly, that headline is a perfect distilation of the
.url
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=BM0GFB5UXUE5WCRBAEKSFEY?type=topNews&storyID=6068235
.ls
Reuters article
.le
.item
Et Tu Brute?
.pubdate
Fri, 27 Aug 2004 01:17:44 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/28/01:17:44:00
.pqt
The New York financial community is expected to give the Republicans a lavish welcome when the president's party arrives for its national convention next week. Wall Street has been a big contributor to Mr Bush's record-breaking re-election fund. But one senior Wall Street figure, once talked of as a possible Bush cabinet member, said that he and other prominent Republicans had been raising money with increasing reluctance. “Many are doing so with a heavy heart and some not at all.” He cited foreign policy and the ballooning federal deficit as Wall Street Republicans' main concerns.
.pqt
Republican fundraisers on Wall St shy away from Bush
.url
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ce667ab6-f78b-11d8-afe6-00000e2511c8.html
.ls
The Financial Times
.le
.p
Oh—oh. Conservatives with calculators.
.date
August 25, 2004
.item
Shout Out
.pubdate
Wed, 25 Aug 2004 13:55:27 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/26/13:55:27:00
.p
All Franken is promoting a movement where as Dubya takes the stage at the RNC,
everyone who is opposed to his re-election should go to the window, open it up and shout "Fugetaboutit!". But that's pretty much a New York
.p
This morning he asked for the regional variants of "Fugetaboutit!"
.pqt
Vermont Ayup. Don't think so.
Tennessee Y'all git on outa he-ah.
Florida Enough already.
California No, Dude.
Minnesota Oh, no you don't.
.p
More at
.url
http://greatamericanshoutout.org/modules/event/index.php
.ls
greatamericanshoutout.org
.le
.date
August 24, 2004
.item
67 Cubic Miles Of Oil
.pubdate
Tue, 24 Aug 2004 22:52:51 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/25/22:52:51:00
.pqt
1,750 Gb, the estimate of all the conventional oil that there ever was or ever will be, is less than the amount of sunlight that hits the earth in one 24 hour day.
.pqt
1,750 Gb of oil is equal to 67 cubic miles. The (conventional) oil already consumed globally, plus all the oil yet to be consumed, could be fit into a cube slightly over 4 miles on a side!
.pqt
If spread over the entire surface of the earth — land and oceans combined — 1,750 Gb of oil would constitute a layer 21.5 mils thick — about the equivalent of a spark-plug gap!
.pqt
.url
http://www.oilcrisis.com/debate/oilcalcs.htm#sunpower
.ls
oilcrisis.com
.le
.p
.p
That's also only two or three pixels on your monitor.
.item
He. Wasn't. There.
.pubdate
Tue, 24 Aug 2004 15:30:26 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/25/15:30:26:00
.pqt
Stephen Gardner has been touted by the anti-Kerry group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and by conservative hosts as a singularly authoritative critic with firsthand knowledge of Senator John Kerry's (D-MA) record in Vietnam because Gardner — unlike all the other members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth — actually served on a swift boat that Kerry commanded. Gardner has questioned Kerry's integrity; has claimed personal knowledge of the circumstances leading to Kerry's first Purple Heart; and has spoken with authority about the events leading to Kerry's Bronze Star. Fellow anti-Kerry Swift Boat Vets member Larry Thurlow has also cited Gardner as eyewitness support for his accusations against Kerry and against Kerry's first Purple Heart. Yet while Gardner did serve as a gunner under Kerry's command on PCF (Patrol Craft Fast) 44, he has admitted that he — just like the rest of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth claiming that Kerry is lying about his medals — was not present for the incidents leading to Kerry's receipt of any medals or any of Kerry's three Purple Hearts.
.pqt
.url
http://mediamatters.org/items/200408240001
.ls
Media Matters
.le
(Emphasis mine.)
.p
I make a point of not using four letter profanity on my website, but
this mess has come as close as any to ending that.
.p
Yo, media. Before you go spreading this crap arround, why don't you check
the stories? Why don't you check the record?
.p
What makes you think that the claims of a group of Bush supporters —
NONE OF WHOM WERE THERE carries the same weight of eyewitnesses and
contemporary records?
.p
Jeez, If someone came up to you and claimed we never landed on the moon, would you demand Neil Armstrong disprove their claims?
.p
He wasn't there. Ask him about things he actually saw.
.date
August 20, 2004
.item
Ironic Artifact
.pubdate
Fri, 20 Aug 2004 13:09:11 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/21/13:09:11:00
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/DangerCard.jpg
.alt
Greeting card Danger Be Damned
.ie
.p
I came across the card I got on my last day at Be, Inc.
.p
I worked at Be...
.p
I work at
.url
http://www.danger.com
.ls
Danger
.le
now...
.p
So I've worked at Danger, and Be, and that leaves...
.date
August 19, 2004
.item
Neodymium
.pubdate
Thu, 19 Aug 2004 23:48:07 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/20/23:48:07:00
.p
.url
http://www.gaussboys.com/
.ls
Gaussboys
.le
sells Neodymium Magnets. Powerful enough to lift anvils. Really.
Wyle Coyote has an open account at this place.
.item
A Reason For Hope
.pubdate
Thu, 19 Aug 2004 14:17:28 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/20/14:17:28:00
.pqt
In October of 2000, voters were asked whether they were “unusually excited” about the upcoming election. And now, in 2004, they've been asked again: Are they unusually excited about THIS upcoming election?
.pqt
Among Republicans, the number is up - 51% are “unusually excited” versus 48% last time.
.pqt
Among Democrats, the number is up from 36% to 68%.
.pqt
That is not a typo.
.pqt
When we were complacent and unexcited last time, we won by 537,000 votes. Now we are wide awake, fighting mad, and determined to win.
.pqt
.url
http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/040819.html
.ls
Andrew Tobias
.le
— DNC Treasurer
.date
August 18, 2004
.item
H2 - A Moped Designed by Tax Law
.pubdate
Wed, 18 Aug 2004 11:42:15 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/19/11:42:15:00
.pqt
The Hummer doesn't have to play by the other guys' rules because it's so heavy that it falls into a category meant for big equipment for farmers and such. A condo-dwelling salesman buying a 3-ton-plus Hummer for his job can get a tax credit up to $100,000. (A hybrid-car purchaser like me gets $1,500.) In the same incredible-hulk tax-credit category are those other well-known pieces of farm equipment, the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Suburban and Lincoln Navigator.
.pqt
Any wheeled behemoth over 4.5 tons — the "gross vehicle weight rating" of the H2 — is exempt from pollution emissions, another perk meant for heavy machinery. Its very size lets it dodge the gas-guzzler tax on sedans half its size and twice its mpg.
.pqt
And because it doesn't have to post its mpg numbers, you have to rent one to do the math. Mine got, at a stretch, maybe 10 miles per gallon on roads and freeways, without running the AC.
.pqt
.url
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=17456
.ls
Patt Morrison — LA times
.le
.p
You know, the local Hummer lot is overflowing with unsold vehicles, do you
think maybe they could direct some of their production capacity back into building armor kits? Maybe they would
.url
http://slate.msn.com/id/2095705/
.ls
if Dubya's $87 billion war budget had some money for it.
.le
.p
Oh man, I see this as a win-win-win. Every Hummer not patroling the streets
of Santa Clara is two or three armor kits for Iraq, and up to $100,000 saved
by not handing out tax incentives.
.date
August 17, 2004
.item
Please To Be Listening To My Russian Joke
.pubdate
Tue, 17 Aug 2004 22:59:46 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/18/22:59:46:00
.p
I've been meaning to do this for ages, even before I listened to the
Adam Curry show. One of the things I like about Adam's "Daily Source Code"
is that it is variable in length. On days when he has a lot to say it's
longer, and on days he has less to say it's shorter.
.p
Today I can say what I want to say in just 12 seconds (That's only 52.4 KB). It's called
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/sounds/RussianJoke.mp3
.ls
My Russian Joke.mp3
.le
.p
Feel free to pass it on, or tell it to your parents, or CC it to Air America Radio.
.date
August 16, 2004
.item
Starsha
.pubdate
Tue, 17 Aug 2004 01:21:01 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/18/01:21:01:00
.p
I'm finding hits from
.url
http://www.starsha.com/
.ls
starsha.com
.le
in my referer logs, but I have no idea what it is. (And neither does Google—gasp!)
.item
What's Up With That New Vault Apparatus?
.pubdate
Tue, 17 Aug 2004 01:13:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/18/01:13:18:00
.p
I was wondering about it, since it looks different from the vault horse
used in the '00 games.
Of course NBC hasn't seen fit to inform me about it, so I
.url
http://www.coachesinfo.com/category/gymnastics/61/
.ls
found it
.le
with Google.
.item
Don't Fret
.pubdate
Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:55:46 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/18/00:55:46:00
.p
.url
http://www.frets.com/
.ls
frets.com
.le
has a lot of great articles on maintaining, repairing and building guitars.
Frank Ford at Gryphon Stringed Instruments replaced the frets on my '61 Gibson B-25 a couple of years ago, and did a perfect job of it. My B-25 has a separated bridge plate, which has caused the top to arch a bit. He suggested I have that repaired, and the bridge replaced, but that old gutar plays well and has great sound just the way it is, and I'm afriad that if I had it "fixed" it would lose that magic.
.p
In the meantime, I still lust after a big ol' J200, but so far I've not found one that could replace my B-25.
.item
Curry For Breakfast
.pubdate
Mon, 16 Aug 2004 21:15:12 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/17/21:15:12:00
.p
.url
http://live.curry.com/
.ls
Adam Curry,
.le
best known in the states as one of the original VJs on MTV, has a terrific
weblog, and he's started doing audio blogging in the form of a program
he calls "Daily Source Code". The
.url
http://cloud2.urj.nl/bt/dailySourceCode-20040813-112954-082.mp3
.ls
first episode
.le
was recorded in his car as he drove from his home in Belgium into the Netherlands.
.p
It's an interesting experiment, very geeky subject matter delivered as
a personal perspective by someone with a background in broadcast. (In fact,
he's been a morning radio guy for nearly a year.)
.p
I find the notion of audio RSS attachments interesting, but I fear that
anything I might come up with would be sort of the audio equivalent of my
political cartooning skills. Eww. Besides, my voice sounds like a chipmonk.
.item
Your Papers Are Not In Order
.pubdate
Mon, 16 Aug 2004 16:07:09 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/17/16:07:09:00
.pqt
Voters with active passports prefer Kerry 58% to 35%, while those without a passport are for Bush 48% to 39%.
.pqt
.url
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=851
.ls
Zogby
.le
.p
Kind of sums it all up, doesn't it.
.end
.date
August 15, 2004
.item
Meanwhile, Back in the Oval Office...
.pubdate
Sun, 15 Aug 2004 21:03:54 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/16/21:03:54:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/OvalOffice.jpg
.alt
Back at the Oval Office comic #1
.ie
.p
I know, I know. Don't quit your day job. Be gentle, it's my first time.
.item
What Josh Said
.pubdate
Sun, 15 Aug 2004 17:56:24 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/16/17:56:24:00
.pqt
Voting for the war resolution was not remotely the same thing as going to war at the first possible opportunity.
.pqt
Forcing inspections meant seeing what inspections would yield. And seeing what inspections would yield was the best insurance against getting ourselves into the current situation and finding that the WMD, which constituted the premise for the whole endeavor, didn't even exist.
.pqt
.url
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_08_08.php#003275
.ls
Talking Points Memo
.le
.p
I'm not sure where this is tempest in a teapot really going, but I expect
to see it come up again in the debates, and no doubt Dubya is already
practicing his smirk in a mirror and rehearsing his response:
"So you would have left Sadam in power, huh? Gimme a yes or no answer."
.p
Some Americans — primarily those who have already made up their
minds — will see that as a fast-ball strike.
.p
I don't know what Kerry has in mind for his response, it'll probably
include something about 1000 dead Americans, Sadam being a toothless tiger,
the damage to our relationship with our alies, and if he's feeling his
oats maybe something about attacking a country known to be a
non-threat without legal justification.
.p
Kerry could have used any or all of those last week, and that would have put
an end to it there. My devious side suspects that he bunted last week,
and he's expecting to see that pitch again, with more people paying
attention to the game.
.date
August 14, 2004
.item
Strasburg Rail Road
.pubdate
Sat, 14 Aug 2004 14:45:55 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/15/14:45:55:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/StrasburgRR.jpg
.alt
Strasburg Rail Road
.ie
.pat
2004.07.20 Nikon E990 Photoshop
.p
These four railway men stopped to talk, and it looked like they'd
stepped out of history. I did take the liberty of removing (digitaly)
the modern lunch pails.
.p
On our last vacation we rode on three different steam trains, I'm not a train otoku or anything, it's just a pleasant way to see some countryside.
.item
Gold And Lead
.pubdate
Sat, 14 Aug 2004 14:45:55 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/15/14:45:55:01
.p
Gold medal to the organizers of the Athens Olympics for an inspired
opening ceremony. The temperary sea in the middle of the stadium was great
art, and the five-story bust that broke into drifting peices
was breathtaking. I really wish I had seen that in person.
.p
Lead lump of metal to NBC's faux-live coverage of the opening ceremony.
When you are showing something tape delayed you're not fooling anyone when you say; "while we were away in commerical break". It's all on TAPE. It happened HOURS AGO. You can PAUSE THE DAMN TAPE while you run commercials.
.p
Over the years the Olympic event coverage has become a re-run to me.
I suspect it's because every four years they drag out the same
'bumper' music - that background stuff that they play at the top and bottom of each broadcast, an occasionaly to punctuate event changes. I really enjoyed the music that the Athenians put into their opening ceremony, I wish NBC would use more music from the host nation during the games, it would would go a long way toward making each Olympics feel new.
.date
August 13, 2004
.item
A Little Comedy...
.pubdate
Fri, 13 Aug 2004 11:35:17 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/14/11:35:17:00
.pqt
Q: What’s the difference between Alan Keyes and a parrot?
.pqt
A: One’s loud, annoying, colorful, and says a lot of things that don’t make sense, and the other’s a bird.
.pqt
.url
http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=8666
.ls
Rent-a-Joke
.le
.item
A Little Tragedy...
.pubdate
Fri, 13 Aug 2004 11:35:17 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/14/11:35:17:01
.pqt
Deffeyes is talking not about the amount of oil in the ground, but about the maximum daily pumping capacity of oil. The problem is that even as we continue to find new fields, old fields start to decline. When the decline becomes greater than new discoveries, total oil production starts to fall. This has already happened in the continental United States, which reached its peak capacity in 1970 and has been declining ever since, an event famously predicted in 1956 by geophysicist M. King Hubbert.
.url
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_08/004500.php
.ls
Kevin Drum - Washington Monthly
.le
.item
A Hulking Farce...
.pubdate
Fri, 13 Aug 2004 11:35:17 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/14/11:35:17:02
.pqt
WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 - Fully one-third of President Bush's tax cuts in the last three years have gone to people with the top 1 percent of income, who have earned an average of $1.2 million annually, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to be published Friday.
.pqt
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/13/politics/campaign/13tax.html?ex=1250136000&en=6f84660636ae70cd&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland
.ls
New York Times
.le
.date
August 12, 2004
.item
Go Away
.pubdate
Thu, 12 Aug 2004 11:26:59 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/13/11:26:59:00
.pqt
Every minute spent by Larry King or Fox News on Lori Hacking or Laci Peterson is a minute they don't spend on health care, education, environmental quality, national security, the economy or other real issues that should be the center of public attention, especially in an election year.
.pqt
A nation full of people who know more about Scott Peterson's defense strategy than they do about Donald Rumsfeld's is not a nation that shows much ability to govern itself.
.pqt
.url
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_2389371
.ls
Salt Lake Tribune
.le
.pqt
.url
http://www.ceejbot.com/blog/space/start/2004-08-10/1#Lecturing_the_media
.ls
[via Ceej]
.le
.item
Heimlich Maneuvers - 1988
.pubdate
Thu, 12 Aug 2004 11:26:59 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/13/11:26:59:01
.pqt
Just then, Kerry stepped off an elevator, rushed to Hecht's side and gave him the Heimlich maneuver — four times.
.pqt
The lifesaving incident made international news, and Dr. Henry Heimlich, who invented the maneuver in 1974, called Hecht to say that had Kerry intervened just 30 seconds later Hecht might have been in a vegetative state for life.
.pqt
.url
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/lv-gov/2004/feb/06/516309920.html
.ls
Las Vegas Sun
.le
.p
Yes, that John Kerry.
.item
Goodbye, Kind World
.pubdate
Thu, 12 Aug 2004 11:26:59 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/13/11:26:59:02
.pqt
Worse still are the possible effects of changes in cloud cover. Until recently, climatologists assumed that, because higher temperatures would raise the rate of evaporation, more clouds would form. By blocking some of the heat from the sun they would reduce the rate of global warming. But now it seems that higher temperatures may instead burn off the clouds. Research by Bruce Wielicki of NASA suggests that some parts of the tropics are already less cloudy than they were in the 1980s.(6)
.pqt
The result of all this is that the maximum temperature rise proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2001 may be a grave underestimate.(7) Rather than a possible 5.8 degrees of warming this century, we could be looking at a maximum of 10 or 12.(8) Goodbye, kind world.
.pqt
.url
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2004/08/10/goodbye-kind-world-/
.ls
Monbiot.com
.le
.date
August 11, 2004
.item
Nine Months of Winter and Three Months Of Bad Sledding
.pubdate
Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:48:25 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/12/11:48:25:00
.pqt
This year, the American psychodrama, eh, is the election, and Canadians are taking unusual care, even by their standards, to try to phrase their questions delicately. "You couldn't possibly..." they begin, only to break off. "Are you not aware of what..." "Surely you realize how..." But they can think of no polite way of asking if we are such freaking idiots we haven't noticed the damage that has been done by the Bush administration to the American reputation all over the world.
.pqt
The incomparable
.url
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=17441
.ls
Molly Ivins
.le
.item
But Conservatives Are Supposed To Conserve, Right?
.pubdate
Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:48:25 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/12/11:48:25:01
.pqt
For thirty years, the National Election Studies asked Americans which party they believed was more conservative. This is about as basic a question about ideology - and American politics in general - as one could come up with. It would probably surprise most people to learn that the proportion of respondents who correctly answered that the Republicans are the conservative party seldom rose above 60%.
.pqt
.url
http://www.alternet.org/election04/19507/
.ls
Alternet
.le
.p
So, either 40% of the population is clueless, a position evidenced by Dubya's
approval ratings floating in the low 40's, or they see the ironic contradiction in the Republican Party calling itself "conservative".
.item
Yesterday's News Today
.pubdate
Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:48:25 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/12/11:48:25:02
.p
I don't think anyone at the
.url
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/08/11/spinning_the_wars_absurdities/
.ls
Boston Globe
.le
reads my webpage*, but today they pick up on something that was on my mind yesterday:
.pqt
And if he sidesteps? On Monday, Kerry did just that. The senator said he would still have voted to give the president the authority to go to war because he believes "it was the right authority for a president to have." That's not inconsistent with what Kerry has said all along: that the president deserved the leverage the congressional vote gave him. But Kerry did not say whether, had he been president, he would have initiated hostilities against Iraq.
.p
* But then again, maybe they do. I used to get a lot of hits on my paper airplanes from Boeing.com, and I know there's at least one fan of Ranma Fanfiction at the International Atomic Energy Commision. ^_^
.item
YASU - Contemporary Japanese Cuisine
.pubdate
Wed, 11 Aug 2004 02:02:35 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/12/02:02:35:00
.p
There's probably a hundred Japanese restaunts within an hour's drive from here,
and the menus are nearly interchangable; - Sushi - Tempura - Teriyaki, you know the drill.
Not so at
.url
http://www.japantownsanjose.org/yasu.htm
.ls
YASU
.le
on Jackson street in San Jose's Japantown. Chef Brett Yasukawa calls his
menu 'yonsei-cuisine', my Japanese-English dictionary fails, but
my taste buds tell me it's quite wonderful.
.p
The shredded chicken with barbeque sauce over rice made me forget all about chicken teriyaki. The mixed poki was a refreshing and spicy substitute for sashimi. And what about the tri-tip, or the duck in miso sauce? Well, this is
not your father's Japanese restaurant. Not unless your father is an Iron Chef.
.pqt
.url
http://www.japantownsanjose.org/yasu.htm
.ls
YASU
.le
211 East Jackson Street
San Jose, CA 95112
(408) 291-0684
.item
Thanks, Chris!
.pubdate
Wed, 11 Aug 2004 00:30:06 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/12/00:30:06:00
.p
Chris took a look at my feed and pointed out a couple of problems.
I was double-escaping ampersands in the RSS feed, which messed
up the Trademark: ™ Registered Trademark: ® and ampersand: &
.p
I also stepped down off of CSS styling to the blockquote tag for the
paragraphs that are pullquotes. Now for more testing.
.date
August 10, 2004
.item
What Did He Say?
.pubdate
Tue, 10 Aug 2004 13:04:57 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/11/13:04:57:00
.p
Over the last couple of days I've head newscasters say that Kerry would
have 'voted to go into iraq' even knowing what he knows today.
.p
Well, I thought that sounded a but odd, so I found the exact quote:
.pqt
"I'll answer it directly. Yes, I would have voted for the authority. I believe it is the right authority for a president to have but I would have used that authority effectively."
.p
That's very different from saying he would vote to attack. If memory serves, that vote gave Dubya the authority to act, and it (along with a lot of US and UK troops massing in the theater) was the critical leverage required to get the
UN weapons inspectors back into Iraq. And it worked.
.p
As president, Kerry might one day require that same sort of leverage, and we
should give it to him.
.p
In a realted matter, this is a good time to remember that at the time that
this particular vote was before the Senate, the administration had an admission
from North Korea that they did, in fact, have a nuclear weapons program. That
fact was withheld from the Senators until after the Iraq vote.
.item
More Ranma Fanart
.pubdate
Tue, 10 Aug 2004 01:39:12 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/11/01:39:12:00
.p
.url
http://www.geocities.jp/pakupakuwhite/
.ls
apricot's first love
.le
has some amazing Ranma and Akane images.
Like so many Japanese sites, it's heavily frames and java based, hit
ENTER, then the second menu item , which is "I ra su tu" in katakana,
then click the radio buttons so see images.
.p
Apricot has a great eye for the characters, fine linework, and I love the coloring style, almost watercolor in style.
.date
August 8, 2004
.item
Nonsense And Sensibility
.pubdate
Sun, 08 Aug 2004 18:26:09 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/9/18:26:09:00
.pqt
Paul Krugman: Well, it's really good for explaining how reasonable people can't bring themselves to see that they're actually facing a threat from a radical movement. Kissinger talked about the time of the French Revolution, and pretty obviously he also was thinking about the 1930s. He argued that, when you have a revolutionary power, somebody who really wants to tear apart the system — doesn't believe in any of the rules — reasonable people who've been accustomed to stability just say, "Oh, you know, they may say that, but they don't really mean it." And, "This is just tactical, and let's not get too excited." Anyone who claims that these guys really are as radical as their own statements suggest is, you know, "shrill." Kissinger suggests they'd be considered alarmists. And those who say, "Don't worry. It's not a big deal," are considered sane and reasonable.
.pqt
Well, that's exactly what's been happening. For four years now, some of us have been saying, whether or not you think they're bad guys, they're certainly radical. They don't play by the rules. You can't take anything that you've regarded as normal from previous U.S. political experience as applying to Bush and the people around him. They will say things and do things that would not previously have made any sense — you know, would have been previously considered out of bounds. And for all of that period, the critics have been told: "Oh, you know, you're overreacting, and there's something wrong with you."
.p
Read the rest at
.url
http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/04/08/int04041.html
.ls
BuzzFlash
.le
.p
This echos the thoughts of a friend who initialy thought that the fact
Dubya lost the popular vote (big time) would lead to him acting
more as a caretaker president, or at least the weight of knowing
that a majority of Americans voted for the other guy would stay his hand,
and besides, we had the balance of powers to keep him in check, right?
.p
Yeah, Right.
.item
It seemed like a good idea at the time...
.pubdate
Sun, 08 Aug 2004 15:05:25 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/9/15:05:25:00
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/jp8831.gif
.alt
JOSEPH PALMER
.ie
.p
My bells graphic, while well within the RSS 2.0
spec, doesn't play nicely with sharpreader, and
livejournal didn't even scrape it for the posting icon.
.p
I've made a new, smaller image. Sigh.
.item
The Bells, The Bells
.pubdate
Sun, 08 Aug 2004 12:30:05 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/9/12:30:05:00
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/JP_Liberty.jpg
.alt
Liberty Bell
.ie
.p
The RSS 2.0 Spec has a provision for adding a kind of masthead
image to the feed, and I thought the Liberty Bell would be a
good symbol of what my weblog is all about.
.p
The Liberty Bell is on display in a museum across the street from where
it rang in Liberty Hall. The architects of the museum thoughtfully placed
it in an alcove with floor to ceiling windows that face the bell tower,
so you can both wonder at its symbolism, then glance up to see where it rang.
.p
The feed still validates, now to see how it looks in a few RSS readers...
.pat
2004.07.11 Nikon E990
.date
August 6, 2004
.item
But — We're Picking Up Speed!
.pubdate
Fri, 06 Aug 2004 11:08:56 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/7/11:08:56:00
.pqt
One thing is clear: calls to "stay the course" are fatuous. The course we're on leads downhill. American soldiers keep winning battles, but we're losing the war: our military is under severe strain; we're creating more terrorists than we're killing; our reputation, including our moral authority, is damaged each month this goes on.
.pqt
By PAUL KRUGMAN,
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/06/opinion/06krugman.html?hp
.ls
New York Times
.le
.p
This is another must read from Mr. Krugman.
.p
You know, the real October surprise may be Iraq collapsing into civil war.
.item
Results Count*
.pubdate
Fri, 06 Aug 2004 10:47:47 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/7/10:47:47:00
.p
.url
http://atrios.blogspot.com/2004_08_01_atrios_archive.html#109179730259985347
.ls
Atrios
.le
Reports 32K new jobs in July, and The June numbers were revised downward
from 112k to 78K. That's a difference of 34k.
.p
Think about that; July was +32k, but June was revised -34k.
So... July is within the margin of error, right?
.p
Dubya's going to be the first president since Herbert Hoover to have lost
total jobs while in office. The very fact that John Kerry is willing to
step in to clean up this horrifying mess is reason enough to vote him in.
.p
* "Results Count" is one of Dubya's campaign sound bites. They do, Dubya, they really, really do.
.item
Expression Publique
.pubdate
Fri, 06 Aug 2004 10:30:16 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/7/10:30:16:00
.p
I've been trading emails with freinds in Germany and France of late, both
are concerned about the outcome of the US election. I've asked them to forward
any interesting articles they might come across.
.p
The first is from
.url
http://www.expression-publique.com/
.ls
Expression-Publique.com
.le
France.
.pat
Question : Which word would qualify toward the USA under George Bush ?
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/20040805_Q1.jpg
.alt
Graph
.ie
.pat
Question : Which word would qualify your feelings toward the USA, without taking George Bush in consideration?
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/20040805_Q2.jpg
.alt
Graph
.ie
.item
Independence Hall, Philadelphia.
.pubdate
Fri, 06 Aug 2004 00:35:16 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/7/00:35:16:00
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/IndependanceHall.jpg
.alt
Independence Hall
.ie
.pat
2004.07.11 Nikon E990, Wide Angle Adaptor
.date
August 5, 2004
.item
Indifference to Truth
.pubdate
Thu, 05 Aug 2004 23:28:36 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/6/23:28:36:00
.p
Those three ringing words: Indifference to Truth, so casualy dropped in
.url
http://dailyhowler.com/dh080504.shtml
.ls
todays Daily Howler,
.le
read like the title of a history of the last decade.
.p
Bob Somerby uses it to describe the press coverage of the 2000 election,
but it also applies to the Reagan Revolution,
and Trickle Down Economics,
and Tax Simplification,
and the Contract with America,
and The Faux News Network,
and Rush Limbaugh,
and it most precisely describes nearly every action of Dubya's administration.
.item
God give us men.
.pubdate
Thu, 05 Aug 2004 11:15:36 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/6/11:15:36:00
.p
By Senator Robert Byrd
.pqt
We will soon mark the third anniversary of the terrible tragedy that struck this nation on September 11, 2001. Three years ago, yet it seems like yesterday. We can close our eyes and see those tall towers as they stood. We can hear the voices that have been stilled.
.pqt
I pray for those souls, and I pray for this country. Three years ago, I didn't dream of writing this book, but in the days that have past since that fateful fall morning, more than our soldiers have fallen under attack.
.pqt
The foundations of our government have suffered. The liberties enshrined in constitution of the United States have been designed by a presidency that is bent on a ruthless pursuit of power. A President that sees himself above the law a president, a Presidency that sees itself... a presidency that relies on secrecy and manipulation in order to advance its own partisan agenda.
.pqt
It is the Constitution of the United States that has been undermined, undercut, and is under attack. It is the American people's liberties that is in jeopardy. That is why I wrote, "losing America." I wrote this book to save this book. [holding Constitution of the United States] God save the constitution of the United States. God save the Constitution of the United States.
.pqt
In the federalist papers, James Madison reasoned that in framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself. Accordingly, Madison and the other framers of constitution divided power so that no one person or branch of government could gain complete advantage. As Madison explained it, ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
.pqt
That is why the framers viewed the separation of powers with such importance. No single man, no single branch of government was to be given absolute power. No single man was to have sole authority to decide the fate of the nation. Oh, how different — how different today. The separation of powers and the checks and balances in the constitution are the ultimate guarantor of the liberties of the people. It was the separation of powers upon which the framers placed their hopes for the preservation of the people's liberties.
.pqt
Despite this heritage, the congress has been in too many cases more than willing to walk away from its constitutional powers. We have turned a blind eye to the Bush administration's ruthless pursuit of power. We scorn those nations that have long been our friends. We call them the old Europe. Members of congress, especially those in the majority party do whatever the president wants them to do. What has happened to the courage of men?
.pqt
God give us men.
.pqt
If the president says, jump, they ask, how high? And sadly, too many in our own party remain silent. Our founding fathers struggled to escape the heavy yoke of one King George. We must not submit to the dictates of another. As Brutus said to Citero, when Citero was attempting to toady-up up to Anthony, our ancestors would have scorned even a gentle master. We are at a dangerous time in our republic.
.pqt
The Constitution — the very foundation of this great country is under attack. It is under a tack by a presidency that is bent upon secrecy, that has to be dragged kicking and screaming to answer questions, and that follows a path of utter recklessness. Its policies have changed the face of America around the globe from that of a giant peacemaker to that of a schoolyard bully. People who once declared a strong allegiance with America now question our purpose. That is not America. I have been in congress for more than a half century. I have lived through times of fear and times of hope. Of despair and of achievement.
.pqt
I have seen our government at its best, but today I fear that we see our government at its worst. I have never seen such extreme partisanship, such bitter partisanship, and such forgetfulness of the fate of our fathers and of the Constitution. I say enough is enough! We cannot sit silently by and witness the dimming of freedom's flame! Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Make way for liberty. Let me say once again, we cannot sit silently by and Ted Kennedy and I haven't sat silently. We're not going to sit silently.
.pqt
You and I, we cannot sit silently by and witness the dimming of freedom's flame. To the American people I say, awaken to what is happening. It is the duty of each citizen to be vigilant, to protect liberty, to speak out, left and right and disagree lest be trampled underfoot by misguided zealotry and extreme partisanship. So, at a time when dissent is dismissed as being unpatriotic, when one's beliefs are subject to ridicule or investigation, the strength of the individual is all the more important.
.pqt
If the individual's voice is drown out, if the spirit is extinguished and the fire of freedom dies, then who — who — tell me, who — shall be left to carry on the legacy of this Republic? We can turn the tide. You and I and Ted Kennedy and general Clarke and others like them can turn the tide. We can turn the tide for the individual mind remains an unassailable force. The individual voice can inspire others to act.
.pqt
A single act of bravery can lead an army against great odds. The strength of a single individual can give hope to the hopeless, voice to the voiceless, power to the powerless and the precious light of liberty will once again turn brightly. Thank you, my fellow Americans. I have seen America today, and I shall not forget you.
.pqt
There is an inscription on a statue in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to the memory of the late Benjamin Hill, United States senator from the State of Georgia. "Who saves his country saves himself. Saves all things and all things do bless him. Who lets his country die lets all things die, dies himself and all things die and curse him." my fellow American, we have work to do. Let's work to save our Country.
.pqt
Thank you.
.date
August 4, 2004
.item
Sidekick II Review
.pubdate
Wed, 04 Aug 2004 21:01:55 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/5/21:01:55:00
.p
.url
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/aptech_story.asp?category=1700&slug=Tech%20Test%20Danger%20Hiptop
.ls
Tech Test: The addictive Hiptop improves
.le
— from the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
.item
T-Mobile USA Flips the Lid Open on the T-Mobile Sidekick II
.pubdate
Wed, 04 Aug 2004 12:39:52 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/5/12:39:52:00
.pqt
Building on Success of first Sidekick(tm), Marquee Device Features Slimmer Design, Integrated Camera and Built-In Speakerphone, Some of the Many Upgraded Features
.pqt
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — August 4, 2004 — Some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment will be walking the red carpet here tonight. But the brightest spotlight will be squarely focused on the biggest star — the T-Mobile(r) Sidekick II — successor to the original hit of Hollywood and action sports stars — the original Sidekick from T-Mobile.
.pqt
One of the most highly anticipated sequels to hit Hollywood this year, the T-Mobile Sidekick II will be making its debut at an exclusive, VIP party featuring a performance from The Black Eyed Peas. In conjunction with the beginning of the ESPN X Games X, this star-studded event will feature celebrity Sidekick fans from sports, television and film and musicians from all over.
.pqt
The public will be able to get its hands on the T-Mobile Sidekick II this fall.
.pqt
"I can't live without my Sidekick," said skateboarding icon Tony Hawk. "I take it everywhere with me. It allows me to answer emails as they come in instead of coming home to 100 different messages."
.pqt
The T-Mobile Sidekick II went through a low-carb diet and is 25 percent slimmer than the popular original model. At the same time, it added muscle with a fully integrated camera, and flash, to capture those you-had-to-be there moments; enhanced phone sound quality and functionality such as a speakerphone; and enhanced battery life to give customers approximately 4.5 hours of talk
.pqt
A style makeover for this lean, mean machine makes it easy for anyone to personalize and accessorize.
.pqt
Personalize
.pqt
* HiFi Ringers - Get ringtones based on the straight-up, full-on actual recorded songs from top artists. Everything from hip-hop and rock to classic soul.
* Voice Ringers - Download voice messages from music artists and celebrities who announce incoming calls.
* Cool New Games - Download the latest games for fun anytime, anywhere.
* Contacts - Keep up to 2,000 of your personal contacts in your pocket, so your friends are always a phone call, email, or instant message away.
.pqt
Accessorize
.pqt
* Color Bumpers - Complement any look in a wardrobe with seven interchangeable (purchased separately) color bumpers; perfect to properly accessorize for a night on the town or a day at the beach.
.pqt
The distinctive signature color screen swivels open to showcase a full QWERTY keyboard, the perfect complement for the T-Mobile Sidekick II's email and instant messaging capabilities. T- Mobile Sidekick II owners get their own email account and can set up as many as three external accounts to deliver email directly to their inbox. Yahoo!(r) Messenger is now available for download to the T-Mobile Sidekick II, in addition to the fully integrated version of AOL(r) Instant Messenger(tm) (AIM(r)) service, meaning users can IM their friends at the same time they're surfing the Web to find that perfect place to hook up tonight.
.pqt
"Without the T-Mobile Sidekick, I wouldn't know how to function on a day-to-day basis," says popular actor and recording artist Nick Cannon. "It keeps the business tight."
.pqt
"The T-Mobile Sidekick II makes a great device even better by enhancing the experience people loved with the original Sidekick. The new version adds more IM options, new phone capability and a built-in camera with flash, so now more than ever it's the ultimate communication device," said John Clelland, senior vice president of segment marketing for T-Mobile USA, Inc. "It seems everyone is excited about the T-Mobile Sidekick II, making it a must-have device."
.pqt
The T-Mobile Sidekick II, based on Danger, Inc.'s hiptop(r) Wireless Solution, is planned to be available this fall through T-Mobile at T-Mobile retail stores, select national retailers, as well as online at www.t-mobile.com.
.pqt
Along with the launch of the T-Mobile Sidekick II, T-Mobile and Danger plan to introduce software that will allow Sidekick customers to wirelessly synchronize their desktop contacts and calendar information with their T-Mobile Sidekick. This synchronization software will be available for the T-Mobile Sidekick II and previous Sidekick generations. Price of the software will be announced at a later date.
.pqt
About T-Mobile USA, Inc.
.pqt
Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile USA Inc. is a member of the T-Mobile International group, the mobile telecommunications subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT). T-Mobile operates the largest GSM/GPRS 1900 voice and data network in the country, reaching over 253 million people including roaming and other agreements. In addition, T-Mobile operates the largest carrier owned Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless broadband network in the country, available in more than 4,700 public access locations including Starbucks coffeehouses, Borders Books and Music, FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Centers, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, airports and select American Airlines Admirals Clubs, Delta Air Lines Crown Rooms, United Airlines Red Carpet Clubs and US Airways Clubs. Through its Get More(r) promise, T-Mobile provides customers with more minutes, more features and more service. For more information, visit the company Web site at
.url
http://www.t-mobile.com
.ls
www.t-mobile.com.
.le
.pqt
About Danger, Inc.
.pqt
Danger's award-winning hiptop(r) Wireless Solution enables wireless operators to quickly and economically deploy new applications and services to consumers over next-generation data networks. This solution includes: the hiptop(r) Service Delivery Engine-a suite of server-based infrastructure software, which is currently hosted as a service for wireless operators; the hiptop(r) Development Platform-a platform for the development of mobile applications using industry standard development tools; and hiptop(r) device designs-hardware designs for wireless all-in-one devices, which may be customized and branded by wireless operators. Additional information about the company is available at
.url
http://www.danger.com
.ls
www.danger.com.
.le
.pqt
*Compatible network and applicable wireless service plan and features required. Services may be priced separately; other terms and conditions apply.
.hr
.p
Just in case you've been wondering why I've been so busy of late....
.p
P.S. Getting this press release to pass both the HTML and RSS
checkers really showed some interesting issues,
I'm going to have to look into how to get the trademark and registered
characters into legal RSS.
.item
Oh Yeah...
.pubdate
Wed, 04 Aug 2004 14:54:59 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/5/14:54:59:00
.p
Photos of the Sidekick II are on the
.url
http://www.danger.com
.ls
http://www.danger.com
.le
website. It's way sweet!
.date
August 3, 2004
.item
Be Prepared
.pubdate
Tue, 03 Aug 2004 23:35:58 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/4/23:35:58:00
.p
The online
.url
http://www.mysteryaction.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/emergencies/index.htm
.ls
Preparing for Emergencies booklet
.le
(uk verson).
.date
August 2, 2004
.item
Maybe You Should Consult A Lawyer On That...
.pubdate
Mon, 02 Aug 2004 16:05:34 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/3/16:05:34:00
.pqt
And let me just say this to you. Knowing what I know today, we still would have gone on into Iraq. We still would have gone to make our country more secure. He had the capability of making weapons. He had terrorist ties.
.pqt
.url
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04215/355614.stm
.ls
Dubya,
.le
via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
.p
What we know today is that Iraq did not remotely pose an imminent threat to the United States. We also know that the only legal reason under international law to attack another county is an imminent threat.
.p
Now I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me that going into Iraq
"knowing what I know today" would be a war crime.
.date
August 1, 2004
.item
Orange Again
.pubdate
Sun, 01 Aug 2004 18:38:26 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/8/2/18:38:26:00
.p
You know, maybe we should have gone after that Bin Laden guy after all.
.end
.date
July 30, 2004
.item
RSS Back
.pubdate
Fri, 30 Jul 2004 11:36:46 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/31/11:36:46:00
.p
It looks like that I was able to knock down that weird bug, so the RSS Feed
is now back. It still needs some tinkering, but it verifies again.
.date
July 29, 2004
.item
Good Eats
.pubdate
Thu, 29 Jul 2004 20:56:34 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/30/20:56:34:00
.p
A review of
.url
http://www.muimi.net/omoide/index.php?p=458#comments
.ls
Hiroshima Okonomiyaki,
.le
my local okonomiyaki shop. I dropped a ton of flyers for the
place during Fanime, the owner said he had a large number
of folks come in wearing con badges, so when I came back to
see him he gave me one (with pork) free! (I felt like Ranma
mooching off Ukyou.)
.item
I Love The Inturweb
.pubdate
Thu, 29 Jul 2004 01:02:06 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/30/01:02:06:00
.p
.url
http://blueguitar.org/schems.htm
.ls
blueguitar.org
.le
has stacks of music gear related schematics.
.date
July 27, 2004
.item
Something's Broken
.pubdate
Tue, 27 Jul 2004 10:03:53 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/28/10:03:53:00
.p
I've got a strange editing bug in the new backend, for some reason
I'm getting duplicate lines in the output. I've shut off RSS generation
for a day or two untill I can get to the bottom of it.
The hompage may, from time to time look strange. Sorry 'bout that.
.p
Update: I think I found the problem, but I'm going to leave the XML
off for a day or two.
.p
Update2: Ooh bouy. The bug would cause any line to be duplicated if
the first word in the line aliased to a macro name, and every time I ran
the edit process, each line would be copied, including the copies, so if
I did 11 new entries, all lines starting with "he" or "url" would end up
duplicated 2048 times. Fortunately, it only did that to the history file.
.p
Sigh. I'm beginning to think this home-grown backend stuff is too much trouble — nah.
.item
Because They Didn't Have Any Stupid Rocket J. Squirrel Hats
.pubdate
Tue, 27 Jul 2004 01:56:19 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/28/01:56:19:00
.p
Drudge is prominently displaying a less than flattering picture
of Kerry
.url
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040726/ids_photos_ts/r4086761383.jpg
.ls
wearing a cleanroom suit while turing a shuttle at NASA.
.le
I've worn one once. It made me look fat.
.p
Now you wouldn't never catch Dubya in a git-up like that, no siree Bob. After all when he was guv'ner of Texas (a part time position, so I've been told)
.url
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/politics/5103115.htm?1c
.ls
he didn't even bother to find time to head down the road to the Johnson Space Center.
.le
.p
Now maybe it's just my secret desire to be on Junkyard Wars, and interest in
anything big and mechanical, but I know in his position I would have found time to pay a visit, and maybe lean on the director to assign me a personal tour guide (any bright Jr. Engineer would do) for a few hours of up close and personal with the right stuff. But that's just me.
.date
July 25, 2004
.item
Iron Butt
.pubdate
Sun, 25 Jul 2004 22:14:43 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/26/22:14:43:00
.pqt
This is a contemplative, serious person — well-grounded in progressive principles — who has the good habit of getting interested in new ideas that survive scrutiny. His work habits reveal an iron butt for grunt work, as well as considerable experience in working across party lines. A non-Bush president will have to repair considerable damage abroad and at home, complex tasks that will resist grand fixes and reward the patience and tough negotiating that are Kerry attributes. But a non-Bush president will also have to think and act big and new, and the work Kerry has already done on a range of issues should inspire confidence.
.pqt
.url
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=8118
.ls
Thomas Oliphant
.le
.p
Living in California, we don't get to see the candidates up close the way they do in Iowa, and when they got a close-up look at John Kerry they saw something they liked. Seems like Mr. Oliphant, who's personaly known him for years has a high opinion of him.
.p
For myself, I think an Iron Butt president is just what we need right now.
.date
July 25, 2004
.item
Sorry 'bout That
.pubdate
Sun, 25 Jul 2004 14:36:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/26/14:36:40:00
.p
My new feed seems to have dumped an entire month of entries (And a pathetic month it's been, sorry) into the livejournal feeds.
.p
It shouldn't happen again. One of the big reasons for my back-end re-write was to assign publish dates to each item, which should make my feed play better with livejournal.
.p
I'm still beavering away on the permalinks. I'd originally planned to point them at the yearly history file, but while that might be okay for DSL, it could be quite a hit (185K from January 1 to today) for readers on a dialup.
.date
July 24, 2004
.item
New Back End
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 17:22:28 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/17:22:28:00
.p
I've switched over to my new back end software, so if you see
the curtains rippling here and there, It's just me.
.p
I didn't get the html permalinks in, but I decided I needed to put some
miles on the edit system.
.date
July 23, 2004
.item
Another Day, Another Hard Drive
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:00
.p
I lost the C: drive on my windows machine today, no real data lost,
(I mirror and back up the important stuff) but it took nearly 3 hours
just to install Windows 2000 on a new drive and windowsupdate - reboot - repeat.
.p
It'll be quite a while before I get all my apps re-installed.
.item
Herr's Mill Bridge
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:01
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Herrs_mill_bridge.jpg
.alt
Inside of covered bridge
.ie
.pqt
2004.07.19 Nikon 990 w/wide Angle adaptor
.date
July 22, 2004
.item
Unfinished Work
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:02
.pqt
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation,
conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
.pqt
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so
conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here
gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
.pqt
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow —
this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far
above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember
what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living,
rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have
thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great
task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion
to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under
God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the
people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth
.p
Just back from a trip to Pennsylvania, which included a day at Gettysburg.
The spot where Lincon gave that address is now marked with a large memorial,
encircled by the graves of the men who died over 3 days of fighting in 1863.
.p
Not far away is the visitors center, where there are prominent signs:
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/gett_notice.jpg
.alt
NOTICE
.ie
.p
I was turned away for my Camera bag, and had to return it in the car.
.p
Lincon's words, which ironically the world did note, and which have been long remembered, rang in my ears.
.p
Picket's charge crashed into the union lines a stones throw away from this sign.
.p
Lincon gave that speech just across the road and from this sign.
.p
This sign is less than an hour's march from the Wheat Feild, the Pear Orchard and Little Round Top.
.p
This is too is the unfinished work.
.date
July 19, 2004
.item
Seven of Twelve
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:03
.p
.url
http://hnn.us/articles/6241.html
.ls
History News Network
.le
reports on navel excersises planned with Taiwan for this summer. Over half of the
US carrier fleet (7 of 12 carrier groups)
will be deployed. That's more than we sent to Iraq. During both wars. Combined.
.p
The Chinese are not amused.
.date
July 15, 2004
.item
A Reminder of History
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:04
.p
Kevin Drum
.url
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2004_07/004303.php
.ls
reminds us
.le
that whatever the CIA evidence was leading up to the war, we had inspectors on the ground for three months before the first troops crossed the border.
.p
In case you've forgotten, they found no WMDs, only some missiles that could fly a few miles past the UN restrictions (and only then because they were lighter than the would be if the guidance package were actually installed).
.date
July 14, 2004
.item
A Sinister Invitation
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:05
.p
.url
http://www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=9296
.ls
Joe Conason
.le
Takes a look at the proposal to delay the election if another terrorist attack occurs before November 2.
.p
I can't imagine a worse response to a terrorist attack.
.p
We didn't delay elections during World War I, or World War II.
.p
We didn't delay elections during the Civil War, when the fate of our union was truly in the balance.
.p
Maybe Dubya's appointee should take a little time off and visit Lexington and Concord,
stand on that famous bridge and listen for the echo of the shot heard 'round the world.
.p
Or maybe he should go visit Independance Hall In Philladelphia and maybe sit in
Washington's chair and read the Declaration of Independance and the Constitution,
and feel the weight of the wisdom that went into those documents.
.p
Maybe then he would see how terrifingly wrong it would be, and how much
it would undermine and compromise the principals on which our nation was
founded and flourished.
.p
Maybe then he would see that such a plan would be casting away our most
precious treasure to keep the vandals from stealing it.
.date
July 9, 2004
.item
Let's Make A Deal
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:06
.p
Seems like the GOP is all up in arms about a fundraiser in NY where
Whoopie used the sort of language reserved for Republican Vice Presidents on
the floor of the US Senate, and have demanded that a video of the event be released.
.p
If I were Kerry, I'd offer to trade that tape for tapes of Dick's Energy task force meetings.
.item
How Very Convenient
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:07
.pqt
Military records that could help establish President Bush's whereabouts
during his disputed service in the Texas Air National Guard more than
30 years ago have been inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon.
.pqt
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/politics/campaign/09records.html
.ls
New York Times
.le
.date
July 7, 2004
.item
July Surprise
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:08
.pqt
This spring, the administration significantly increased its pressure on
Pakistan to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman Al Zawahiri,
or the Taliban's Mullah Mohammed Omar, all of whom are believed to be
hiding in the lawless tribal areas of Pakistan.
.pqt
...
.pqt
But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last
spring that "it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] HVT were
announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July"—the first
three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
.pat
.url
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040719&s=aaj071904
.ls
July Surprise
.le
in The New Republic
.p
This is a must read.
.p
Go read it NOW. I'll wait.
.p
Welcome back. I loved Sean McCormack's ironically accurate quote:
.pqt
Our attitude and actions have been the same since September 11 in terms of getting high-value targets off the street, and that doesn't change because of an election.
.p
That's so true. On 9/12 Dubya was already asking Richard Clark about Iraq, demanding that he re-evaluate and re-check his sources on Sadam.
The neocons was already moving to make political hay of the worst terrorist
in US history. This andministrations attitude and actions have remained the same.
.item
bo logh
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:09
.p
a
.url
http://bologh.blogspot.com/
.ls
weblog in Klingon.
.le
Dang. There's no Klingon to English option at
.url
http://babelfish.altavista.com
.ls
babelfish
.le
or in
.url
http://www.google.com/language_tools
.ls
Google's translation tools
.le
.item
Sweet Surrender
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:10
.pqt
There may be a simple, overlooked, and incredibly basic reason why the fighting in
Iraq refuses to end: Namely, there was never a surrender. Saddam Hussein's government
never formally capitulated...
.pqt
Gregg Easterbrook in
.url
http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=express&s=easterbrook070204
.ls
The New Republic
.le
.date
July 5, 2004
.item
F911
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:11
.p
I just got back from Fahrenheit 9/11, and I feel like
I've stepped into the story of
.url
http://www.wordfocus.com/word-act-blindmen.html
.ls
The Blind Men and the Elephant —
.le
everything I'd read about the movie seemed to describe a film
different to the one I saw.
.p
Perhaps it's because I've seen most of the information about
Florida, Halliburton, Carlyle and the Bin Laden family before,
so it didn't have the shock effect it might have had. I'd
seen or read about most of Dubya's verbal belly flops — Moore
was practically stingy with them — there's enough material there
alone to make a trilogy.
.p
What was new for me was the interviews and live footage: the
troops in Iraq, and with the mother from Flint who had lost her son —
one story told out of nearly a thousand.*
.p
It's a good film, but yes, it deserves the R rating, fortunately
those who will be old enough to vote in November can see the movie.
.p
I don't mean to be flippant, but I'd like to see the alternate scenes.
I'm sure there was at least one edit showing every second of the 7 minutes of
My Pet Goat between when Dubya got the news of the second plane hitting the second tower, and when he stood up to leave the classroom.
.pqt
* The official death toll is today
.url
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/
.ls
983 coalition, 865 American deaths.
.le
This does not include soldiers who perished from battlefield injuries
in the hospital in Germany, nor those returned to the states on life
support to give their families a last chance to say goodbye.
.date
July 4, 2004
.item
30 Days? Did I say 30 Days? I Never Said 30 Days.
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:12
.pqt
By the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in honor and tribute to the memory of Ronald Reagan, it is hereby ordered that the flag of the United States shall be displayed at full-staff at the White House and on all buildings, grounds, and Naval vessels of the United States beginning July 3, 2004.
.pqt
.url
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040702-7.html
.ls
A Proclamation
.le
that modifies the 30 day period oulined in
.url
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/06/20040606-1.html
.ls
This Proclamation.
.le
.p
I guess the drinking game is off.
.item
The Declaration of Independance - 2004
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:13
.p
Stephen R. Shalom has
.url
http://tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=1519
.ls
annotated the Declaration of Independance
.le
with recent events by a more recent leader named George.
.date
July 2, 2004
.item
No, Make That Four Years Too Late.
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:14
.p
Sorry, my mind was out to lunch yesterday when I mad up
my headline. Of course it was four years ago that Florida
removed thousands — primarily minorities who voted overwealmingly
for Al Gore from voter rolls.
.p
The
.url
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/9062928.htm?1c
.ls
Miami Herald has aleady found 2100
.le
who are wrongfully and unlawfully on the list.
.item
Half-Staff 4th
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:15
.p
The official 30 Day mouring period for Ronald Reagan will include this
year's Fourth of July. I think you could probably make a drinking game:
One sip for every mention of Reagan by the talking hair, three sips for
each mention by an administration official, and you have to finish the
bottle on a lap dissolve simultanously showing fireworks, the Flag at half-staff, and Reagan.
.date
July 1, 2004
.item
Two Years Too Late
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:16
.pqt
A state court judge in Florida ordered Thursday that the board of elections immediately release a list of nearly 50,000 suspected felons to CNN and other news organizations that last month sued the state for access to copies of the list.
.pqt
.url
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/01/florida.elections/index.html
.ls
CNN
.le
.p
This is a Very, Very Good Thing(tm), since after the 2000 election:
.pqt
My office carefully went through the scrub list and discovered that at minimum, 90.2 percent of the people were completely innocent of any crime - except for being African American. We didn't have to guess about that, because next to each voter's name was their race.
.pqt
.url
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=217&row=2
.ls
Winning the Election - The Republican Way: Racism, Theft and Fraud in Florida
.le
by Liam Scheff
.end
.date
June 30, 2004
.item
Anyone Care For Another Trifecta?
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:17
.pqt
The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission.
.pqt
Such guidelines do not currently exist, said DeForest B. Soaries, head of the voting panel.
.pqt
Soaries was appointed to the federal Election Assistance Commission last year by President Bush.
.pqt
.url
http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm20449_20040625.htm
.ls
Detroit Free Press
.le
.item
Moore Good Questions
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:18
.pqt
Moore: "-we may not of even gone into this war had these networks done their job. I mean, it was a great disservice to the American people because we depend on people who work here and the other networks to go after those in power and say 'Hey, wait a minute. You want to send our kids off to war, we want to know where those weapons of mass destruction are. Let's see the proof. Let's see the proof that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11.'"
.pqt
.url
http://www.buzzflash.com/alerts/04/06/ale04009.html
.ls
Buzzflash
.le
.p
This article brought to mind one of those
.url
http://community.sparknotes.com/gender/
.ls
online games
.le
(now requires registration) where you answer
questions, and it tries to guess you gender.
.p
Back when I took it, one of the questions was something like:
'Do you secretly think that a nuclear war would be cool?'
.p
Well Hanna, do you?
.item
One Step Forward, One Step Back
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:19
.p
Forward: Sorry about the lack of linkage, I've been making
great progress my backend re-write my to do list
is now down to the Permalinks, a subject I'm
possibly taking too seriously. I really do plan to
set something up so that everything "item" I've
written (yes, including the old entries) gets a
link that will work "forever".
.p
Backward: My work machine had a hard crash and the
hard drive is toast. Here's a list of the applications
I use for may job (and therefore need to re-install):
.hr
- Mozilla - Because It's Better and Safer
- PADS PowerPCB - For Desiging PCBs
- PADS PowerLogic - For Desiging Schematics
- AutoCAD LT 2004 - 2D Cad
- ProDesktop - Converting 3D Pro Engineer files to 2D
- CorelDRAW - Block Diagrams (I really, really miss Macdraw.)
- Photoshop - I take hundreds of technical photos on each project
- WinZIP - You gotta zip, Yes, It's a registered copy.
- CuteFTP - A nice FTP program, I paid the reasonable fee.
- NoteTab Pro - A Nice, powerful Text Editor (I miss the Monaco font)
- Convert - Converts everything from Inches/mm to Pecks/Hogshead
- Acrobat - PDF Rules.
- MS Office - Beause people send me files ;(
.end
.date
June 28, 2004
.item
What a coincidence!
.pubdate
Sat, 24 Jul 2004 14:05:18 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/7/25/14:05:18:20
.p
From the Supreme Court: roughly speaking, enemy combatants
can seek justice in US courts. Keeping them at GITMO does not
shade them from the protection of the contribution.
.p
No Wait! Look! The news from the NATO summit: we signed over
the pink slip to Iraq one day early. — Err, make that two days
early.
.date
June 25, 2004
.item
Knit 1, Perl 2, Joe 0
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:00
.p
Okay, maybe not zero, I've been making great progress on my
back-end re-write for this website. I'm especially looking forward
to adding some audio attatchments in the RSS feed. (Some jokes
are just better told than written.)
.p
There's also something in the air, an anticipation in the blogniverse
that something big is comming — the sort of something that caused Cheney
to blurt out something on the floor of the senate that would have cost him
the price of a new home in FCC fines if the CSPAN mics had caught it.
.p
Speaking of
.url
http://www.cspan.org
.ls
C-span,
.le
A while back I was listening to a web feed of a hearing, and afterwords
they left the microphones on in the room. For 20 minutes I was
able to listen in as tourists poked their head into the room and made
comments. I think it was the room where they did the Watergate hearings,
since one of the few things I could clearly make out was "It was in here,
it happened right here." It feels like that...
.date
June 21, 2004
.item
It's A Long, Long Ways From Oshkosh
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:01
.p
This morining, N328KF, AKA SpaceShipOne, made 100KM in altitude.
It seems like just yesterday that Burt Rutan was flying VariEzes
into the EAA convention.
.p
P.S. someone might want to tell the talking hair on CNN that
Dick Rutan, (who they had simply introduced as Burt's brother)
was the reason they were in
.url
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/GENERAL_AVIATION/rutan/GA15G1.htm
.ls
Mohave on December 23, 1987
.le
.date
June 18, 2004
.item
Her er det perfekte papirfly
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:02
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/PL1-Oslo.jpg
.alt
PL1 Over Oslo Norway
.ie
.pqt
Foto: Tom Egil Jensen
.p
I just came across
.url
http://www.vg.no/pub/vgart.hbs?artid=910316
.ls
this article
.le
on one of my paper airplanes from VG Nett, in Norway.
.p
They even did a
.url
http://www.vg.no/bilderigg/index.hbs?rigg_id=1072
.ls
Photo essay
.le
with instructions on folding it in Norwegian.
.end
.date
June 17, 2004
.item
Nine Years of Spring
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:03
.p
Just thought I'd point out that my second Seasons story;
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanfic/seasons/Spring.shtml
.ls
Spring
.le
was released nine years ago today. Back in '99 I started
counting hits, it's been 5835 so far.
.p
Spring has been translated into
.url
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:IuCY1an0iFgJ:griquelme.sytes.net/RANMA/fanfics/seasons/parte02.htm+&hl=en
.ls
Spanish (Google cache)
.le
(Hmm. Looks Like I'd better copy these Spanish Translations to my website soon...)
and also into
.url
http://www.manganet.it/Ranma/fanfiction/traduzioni/seasons_spring.htm
.ls
Italian!
.le
.p
Still hoping for Japanese translations....
.item
If This Is Free Trade, I Don't Want It.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:04
.pqt
As California struggled through the 2000-2001 energy crisis, Enron traders gloated about gouging the state. Now state Attorney General Bill Lockyer says federal regulators are heaping insult upon injury by demanding California pay Houston-based Enron and other energy companies almost $270 million in refunds.
.pqt
.url
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2632069
.ls
Houston Chronicle
.le
.p
California pay $270 million to Enron? Do you mean this Enron:
.pqt
Tapes given to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, show Enron and
its partners in Nevada gouged consumers and forced utilities in that state - and
others throughout the west - to sign expensive long-term contracts at the height
of the crisis.
.pqt
"I want to see what pain and heartache this is going to cause Nevada Power Company,"
says one Enron trader on the tapes. "I want to **** with Nevada for a while."
.pqt
"What do you mean?" a second trader asks.
.pqt
"I just, I'm still in the mood to ***** with people, OK?" the first trader answers.
.pqt
.url
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/16/eveningnews/main623569.shtml
.ls
CBS News
.le
[Words I'd rather not see on my hompage replaced with **** and *****]
.date
June 16, 2004
.item
Behind the Scenes
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:05
.p
Posting will be a little slow this week, I'm devoting more
of my energy into a re-write of my back end software. My
to-do list looks like this:
.pqt
Enhance "GET" CGI with startline and length
Separate the writing of the HTML and XML files
Add macro tags for .endXML, .endHTML
Add a preview / verify / commit to edit page
Add a frames-based verify page with commit button
Make backup of Macrofile before commit
Design permalink data storage structure
Add permalinks to each entry
Generate the history files from the macrofile
Convert previous years to macro language and re-generate with permalinks
.date
June 15, 2004
.item
You Have GOT To Be Kidding Me.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:06
.h3
Part 1
.pqt
SEATTLE — Enron Corp. manipulated the energy market practically every
day during the 2000-01 power crunch and gouged Western customers for at
least $1.1 billion, according to audiotapes and documents released Monday.
.pqt
.url
http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-enron15.html
.ls
Chicago Sun-Times
.le
.h3
Part 2
.pqt
A federal judge has ordered that ex-Enron CEO Jeff Skilling should get what
could be about $1 million in annual interest from some of the $66 million in
assets frozen by the Justice Department when he was indicted.
.pqt
.url
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2627471
.ls
Houston Chronicle
.le
.p
Does this remotely make sense?
.p
This is SO STUPID I'm surprised the W3C HTML Verifier doesn't reject this post
with the error message: This is such utter nonsense, that no one will belive it.
.date
June 14, 2004
.item
Grownups
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:07
.p
Enough with this Kerry / McCain crap.
McCain is one of the
.url
http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2003_archives/002336.html
.ls
few remaining grownups
.le
in the republican leadership, and the country would be better off
with him having more power and influence within his party, rather than
being marginalized within the Kerry Whitehouse.
.item
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:08
.p
.url
http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/oleary/
.ls
Mrs. O'Leary's cow
.le
has been on my mind a lot this weekend. Thinking Back to 1980, I recall Reagan talking a lot about knocking over lanterns, and
how it was natural and right to knock over lanterns. And he knocked over
a few (the largest tax cut for the rich in history) — but the hired hands saw the danger and set the lantern back (the largest tax increase on everyone in history). In the end we thought it was somehow charming that Reagan should talk
about lantern knocking, and it seemed mostly harmless — except for that enormous mess of a debt — (another Cow by-product).
.p
Unfortunately, the lantern lesson caught on with a certain breed of right-leaning cattle, and lanterns are being tipped from sea to shining sea.
.date
June 12, 2004
.item
But Tell Me How You Really Feel
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:09
.pqt
I think it is hard now to avoid seeing the true nature of the group that has taken over the Republican Party. The record is certainly clear, their intentions are clear, their activities are clear, and it's time to take a stand. After seizing control of the country by the narrowest of margins in 2000 the Republicans have illegally excluded Democrats and the public from almost all aspects of management of the government. They have positioned ideological agents throughout the departments, agencies and the courts. In one of their first acts in power they allowed companies like Enron to "harvest" the people of California and Oregon, and appointed FERC members would not do their job to stop this. Their tax cuts, that went to only a few, have bankrupted the country and spent our Social Security retirement money. They have handed out our country's natural resources, and given the right to pollute our air and water for profit to a few rich cronies. They have launched aggressive war in an imperialistic scheme to bring the Middle East's oil supplies under their control.
.pqt
.url
http://seetheforest.blogspot.com/2004_06_01_seetheforest_archive.html#108662392067427640
.ls
Seeing The Forest
.le
.p
When I grow up I want to write like Dave Johnson.
.date
June 11, 2004
.item
Giveth, And Taketh Away
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:10
.pqt
Against the express wishes of the U.S. Congress in writing last year's sweeping new Medicare law, it appears that low-income beneficiaries who sign up for a $600 subsidy to help pay for their medicines could face a reduction in food stamps they get to help pay for their groceries.
.pqt
.url
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid=751&e=10&u=/nm/20040610/hl_nm/medicare_drugs_dc
.ls
Reuters Via Yahoo
.le
.item
The Forcast Is Warm, Followed By Widely Scattered Glaciers
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:11
.pqt
Initial tests on gas trapped in the ice core show that current carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are higher than they have been in 440,000 years.
.pqt
...
.pqt
"We have never seen greenhouse gases anything like what we have seen today," said Dr Wolff.
.pqt
.url
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3792209.stm
.ls
BBC
.le
(Link Fixed)
.date
June 10, 2004
.item
MTV Movie Awards 2004
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:12
.pn
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/MTVMA2004.jpg
.alt
Ashton Kutcher with Sidekick
.ie
.p
That's Ashton Kutcher reading from a
.url
http://www.t-mobile.com/products/overview.asp?phoneid=195184&class=pda
.ls
Danger Sidekick
.le
.p
I really like having a hand in creating a product that's becoming part
of the culture. I don't think it was his, I think someone just handed it
to him with his lines on the screen. If he were really familiar with the
product he'd have flipped it open.
.item
Th_ Tortur_ At Abu Ghraib Was A War Crim_
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:13
.pqt
We're like contestants on Wheel of Fortune with a long phrase spelled out in front of us with maybe one or two letters missing. We know what the letters spell. It's obvious. We just don't have the heart to say it out loud.
.pqt
.url
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_06_06.php#003058
.ls
Talking Points Memo
.le
.p
A while back I had a discussion with M about torture and the law.
Yesterday I heard an observation on the radio that crystallized my thoughts:
.p
Torture should always be a crime.
.p
That said I could probably think up a screenplay where the only way to save the nation from devistating attack would be to torture someone, and if I were writing that story, the torture would, in fact, take place, but the action hero would balance the value of any information they could expect to extract against the plain knowledge that they were committing a crime, without warrant or license, and will be prosecuted. He cannot ask his boss for permission, torture is a crime and approving torture would make his boss a criminal too.
.p
The action hero would need personal proof that the person they were torturing has useful information, because that information comes at the high price of willingly facing a jury of his peers. He would have to know that the information he is trying to extract is actionable, and could be tested for truth; what is the point of getting a 10 digit number, if you can't tell if it's the disarm code, or it's the detonate code?
.p
So what happens if our action hero tortures the wrong guy? He gets convited and
goes to prison. What happens if our action hero gets the information and saves the nation? As suggested on that radio program: no president would deny pardon.
.date
June 9, 2004
.item
I Can't Get No — Satisfaction
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:14
.pqt
A growing number of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction, underscoring dissatisfaction with the leadership of President George W. Bush, according to a poll published on Thursday.
.pqt
.url
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1086445552817
.ls
Poll shows dissatisfaction with Bush
.le
The Financial Times
.pn
I wonder how the polls will look after a week of All Reagan, All The Time*
.p
*On the subject of placing the giffer on the currency, I'm opposed to
any such action until 10 years after his passing, we may feel very different about it when the baby boomers hit retirement and the cupboard is bare.
.item
eWeek On Danger
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:15
.p
eWeek seems to like what we're doing:
.url
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1608848,00.asp
.ls
Danger May Soon Rule the Handheld Market
.le
.item
1984 Really Was Like 1984
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:16
.p
Another Lasting Reagan Legacy was the elimination of the Broadcasting Fairness Doctrine. No longer would the license of a broadcaster rest the civic good that both sides of an issue would receive equal time. No longer would time be given
to opposing veiwpoints or corrections of fact.
.pqt
Catsup is a vegetable
Trees cause pollution too
I know these to be factual
Rush told me it was true.
.item
Tin Foil Hat Time
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:17
.pqt
Last January, Bush praised veterans during a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The same day, 164,000 veterans were told the White House was "immediately cutting off their access to the VA health care system."
.pqt
Molly Ivins in
.url
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18890
.ls
Alternet
.le
.p
Over the years, Dubya has a history of praising a program, then
within a day or two, cutting funding for the same program.
Two thoughts come to mind...
.p
Do the books balance? I ask this because It seems that Dubya's Tax cuts for the rich, while irresponsible and unsupportable by any factual analysis, were not large enough to have had the effects on the economy we witness every day. Is there something else going on? A kind of Enron writ big?
.p
Maybe it's just because we're actually 6 to 7 million jobs behind the population growth curve, and that's a lot of working age people who do not have productive jobs. (And many of the Dubya Memorial New Jobs are poorly paid, and lack health benefits.)
.p
The second thing that comes to mind is that Dubya talks a lot about freedom these days, and every time he talks about something, it's soon to be on the chopping block.
.item
As Good a Reason as Any
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:18
.pqt
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 41.4 points yesterday on the news
of the successful transit of Venus across the Sun.
.item
BREAKING: 4th Estate Awakes From 3 Year Coma
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:19
.pqt
There is no justification, legal or moral, for the judgments made by Mr. Bush's political appointees at the Justice and Defense departments. Theirs is the logic of criminal regimes, of dictatorships around the world that sanction torture on grounds of "national security."
.pqt
.url
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26602-2004Jun8.html
.ls
Washington Post
.le
.date
June 8, 2004
.item
This Shrinking World
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:20
.pqt
Egads, now I'm keeping tabs on my family members through my SharpReader.
.pqt
— My big sister
.item
Most. Overrated. President.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:21
.pqt
Over the course of this week we'll be hearing a lot about Ronald Reagan, much of it false. A number of news sources have already proclaimed Mr. Reagan the most popular president of modern times. In fact, though Mr. Reagan was very popular in 1984 and 1985, he spent the latter part of his presidency under the shadow of the Iran-Contra scandal. Bill Clinton had a slightly higher average Gallup approval rating, and a much higher rating during his last two years in office.
.pqt
We're also sure to hear that Mr. Reagan presided over an unmatched economic boom. Again, not true: the economy grew slightly faster under President Clinton, and, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, the after-tax income of a typical family, adjusted for inflation, rose more than twice as much from 1992 to 2000 as it did from 1980 to 1988.
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/08/opinion/08KRUG.html?ex=1402027200&en=d7e99bfbc6b07590&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
.ls
The Great Taxer
.le
By Paul Krugman
.p
I'm old enough to have been working during the "Reagan Revolution".
One of the key elements was "Tax Simplification" — which for my
income group (as a Jr. Engineer in Silicon Valley) meant Your Taxes Got Higher.
.p
That was simple.
.date
June 7, 2004
.item
Dude, Where's My Rule of Law?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:22
.pqt
So the right to set aside law is "inherent in the president". That claim alone should stop everyone in their tracks and prompt a serious consideration of the safety of the American republic under this president. It is the very definition of a constitutional monarchy, let alone a constitutional republic, that the law is superior to the executive, not the other way around. This is the essence of what the rule of law means — a government of laws, not men, and all that.
.pqt
Josh Marshall at
.url
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_06_06.php#003045
.ls
Talking Points Memo.
.le
Read it and shiver.
.item
Random Web Finds
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:23
.p
When searching for frankincence, I came across (no pun inteneded)
.url
http://www.catholicsupply.com/
.ls
Catholic Supply,
.le
an online catalog for Catholic Church supplies.
I was looking for the type that is a combined coal and
scent, (Like I used to light whe I was an alter boy).
They didn't have that type, but they do
.url
http://www.catholicsupply.com/churchs/incense.html
.ls
stock a number of other types
.le
.date
June 6, 2004
.item
More on the Gipper
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:24
.p
.url
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0301.green.html
.ls
Another article,
.le
this one written some months ago examines Reagan's record.
.p
You know, it does not honor the man to lie about his record.
.item
RSS 2.0
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:25
.p
.url
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/2004/06/04#a553
.ls
A Proposed clarification for RSS 2.0 spec
.le
is being floated. I took a minor part in the discussion
in the comments, it looks like my concerns were not
shared by the others, and admittedly, I am not steeped deeply enough
in the lore of RSS to quite understand the politics.
.p
For myself, I drank the XHTML kool-aid, and bought into the arguments of the
.url
http://www.webstandards.org/
.ls
Web Standards Project,
.le
so when someone calls something "HTML" my mind translates that into
"Valid XHTML", including balanced opening and closing tags.
.p
In order to design my XML feed I bought the
.url
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/consynrss/index.html
.ls
O'Reilly book
.le
which was pretty discouraging, until I found the section on
"Including HTML Within a Feed" block quote on page 33.
The author (Ben Hammmersley) argued against the use of this feature,
(and I don't recall finding any examples HTML being used in the book, either) but in the end, the ability to include real XHTML in the <description> field was the factor that convinced me add an RSS feed for my site.
.p
My biggest concern was one of attribution: I frequently pull fair-use
sized paragraphs from the sources I blog, and I was concerned that
stripping out the markup (which styles them into blockquotes) would
make it too hard to see what I wrote, and what I quote.
.p
My concern to RSS moving forward is that the
.url
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
.ls
spec
.le
is imprecise about what they mean by "HTML" — Dave has even commented
that "Plain text is also HTML" — a notion I have a hard time getting
past my commitment to XHTML dogma.
.p
I'd propose that some future revision would specify valid XHTML as
the correct markup to use. The way things stand, the aggregator must
guess about the contents of the <description> field. The
engineer in me thinks it would be easier if the contents were
explicitly plain text* or explicitly XHTML. Methinks it would be
easier to strip out valid markup if the aggregator wants the plain
text, then it would be to try to decode a mish-mash of plain text
punctuated with markup.
.p
* The crux of the proposed clarification is that certain characters:
<, >, and &, have special meaning in XML, but at the same
time are right there on the keyboard, and if they are included in
the feed then data can be silently lost. The proposed change is to
insist that any text in the <description> field be entity
encoded like we do in HTML. I think that's a reasonable thing to do,
my only disagreement is with the wording of the clarification,
but that's probably a result of my XHTML goggles.
.p
By the way, I find strict structures of XHTML to be paradoxically
a lot easier to remember and code for than plain HTML, and I
recommend it to all my friends.
.item
Fair and Balanced
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:26
.p
With the So Called Liberal Media in full beatification mode,
it falls to the web to provide a little sobering balance.
.pqt
Reagan began the road of crippling America's ability to care for Americans.
Now we have this failed trickle down economic policy pushed by yet another President.
One that leaves Americans in record debt and record bankruptcies. Instead of tax rates
which fairly distribute the burden of funding America, the rich have been encouraged to
avoid their fair share. Ronald Reagan began the bankrupting of America and the creation
of a super wealthy CEO class, one where their great grandchildren will never have to work,
an aristocracy of trustifarians. Under Reagan hypocracy and selfishness became the rule of
the road. Not just in public life, where his staff routinely lied, eventually leading to
Iran-Contra.
.pqt
.url
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2004/06/ronald-reagan-1911-2004.html
.ls
Steve Gilliard — Ronald Reagan 1911-2004
.le
.p
For myself, I have no tears for the Gipper, he had good innings, and
has now found his reward. Nancy is in my thoughts today, she's spent the
last ten years living with Alzheimer's, and her recent speech in support
of stem cell research was moving.
.date
June 5, 2004
.item
Enron. @%*&(^$# Enron.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:27
.p
.url
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/01/eveningnews/main620626.shtml
.ls
CBS has a tape
.le
of Enron employees making perfectly clear what they did to California.
.p
The most disturbing thing about the Enron case, is that if the crimes
that coporation had been commited by an individual, that individual would
be striped of his ill-gotten gains, and locked in prison, (and if I had
my way, sharing a cell with Charlie Manson). Instead Enron is preparing to
.url
http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=5325628
.ls
emerge from bankruptcy.
.le
.p
If there was ever a case for the coporate death penalty, than Enron is that case.
.date
June 4, 2004
.item
The Blues Brothers
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 the American republic under this president. It is the very definition of a constitutional monarchy, let alone a constitutional republic, that the law is superior to the executive, not the other way around. This is the essence of what the rule of law means — a government of laws, not men, and all that.
.pqt
Josh Marshall at
.url
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_06_06.php#003045
.ls
Talking Points Memo.
.le
Read it and shiver.
.item
Random Web Finds
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:23
.p
When searching for frankincence, I came across (no pun inteneded)
.url
http://www.catholicsupply.com/
.ls
Catholic Supply,
.le
an online catalog for Catholic Church supplies.
I was looking for the type that is a combined coal and
scent, (Like I used to light whe I was an alter boy).
They didn't have that type, but they do
.url
http://www.catholicsupply.com/churchs/incense.html
.ls
stock a number of other types
.le
.date
June 6, 2004
.item
More on the Gipper
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:24
.p
.url
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0301.green.html
.ls
Another article,
.le
this one written some months ago examines Reagan's record.
.p
You know, it does not honor the man to lie about his record.
.item
RSS 2.0
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:25
.p
.url
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/2004/06/04#a553
.ls
A Proposed clarification for RSS 2.0 spec
.le
is being floated. I took a minor part in the discussion
in the comments, it looks like my concerns were not
shared by the others, and admittedly, I am not steeped deeply enough
in the lore of RSS to quite understand the politics.
.p
For myself, I drank the XHTML kool-aid, and bought into the arguments of the
.url
http://www.webstandards.org/
.ls
Web Standards Project,
.le
so when someone calls something "HTML" my mind translates that into
"Valid XHTML", including balanced opening and closing tags.
.p
In order to design my XML feed I bought the
.url
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/consynrss/index.html
.ls
O'Reilly book
.le
which was pretty discouraging, until I found the section on
"Including HTML Within a Feed" block quote on page 33.
The author (Ben Hammmersley) argued against the use of this feature,
(and I don't recall finding any examples HTML being used in the book, either) but in the end, the ability to include real XHTML in the <description> field was the factor that convinced me add an RSS feed for my site.
.p
My biggest concern was one of attribution: I frequently pull fair-use
sized paragraphs from the sources I blog, and I was concerned that
stripping out the markup (which styles them into blockquotes) would
make it too hard to see what I wrote, and what I quote.
.p
My concern to RSS moving forward is that the
.url
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
.ls
spec
.le
is imprecise about what they mean by "HTML" — Dave has even commented
that "Plain text is also HTML" — a notion I have a hard time getting
past my commitment to XHTML dogma.
.p
I'd propose that some future revision would specify valid XHTML as
the correct markup to use. The way things stand, the aggregator must
guess about the contents of the <description> field. The
engineer in me thinks it would be easier if the contents were
explicitly plain text* or explicitly XHTML. Methinks it would be
easier to strip out valid markup if the aggregator wants the plain
text, then it would be to try to decode a mish-mash of plain text
punctuated with markup.
.p
* The crux of the proposed clarification is that certain characters:
<, >, and &, have special meaning in XML, but at the same
time are right there on the keyboard, and if they are included in
the feed then data can be silently lost. The proposed change is to
insist that any text in the <description> field be entity
encoded like we do in HTML. I think that's a reasonable thing to do,
my only disagreement is with the wording of the clarification,
but that's probably a result of my XHTML goggles.
.p
By the way, I find strict structures of XHTML to be paradoxically
a lot easier to remember and code for than plain HTML, and I
recommend it to all my friends.
.item
Fair and Balanced
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:26
.p
With the So Called Liberal Media in full beatification mode,
it falls to the web to provide a little sobering balance.
.pqt
Reagan began the road of crippling America's ability to care for Americans.
Now we have this failed trickle down economic policy pushed by yet another President.
One that leaves Americans in record debt and record bankruptcies. Instead of tax rates
which fairly distribute the burden of funding America, the rich have been encouraged to
avoid their fair share. Ronald Reagan began the bankrupting of America and the creation
of a super wealthy CEO class, one where their great grandchildren will never have to work,
an aristocracy of trustifarians. Under Reagan hypocracy and selfishness became the rule of
the road. Not just in public life, where his staff routinely lied, eventually leading to
Iran-Contra.
.pqt
.url
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/2004/06/ronald-reagan-1911-2004.html
.ls
Steve Gilliard — Ronald Reagan 1911-2004
.le
.p
For myself, I have no tears for the Gipper, he had good innings, and
has now found his reward. Nancy is in my thoughts today, she's spent the
last ten years living with Alzheimer's, and her recent speech in support
of stem cell research was moving.
.date
June 5, 2004
.item
Enron. @%*&(^$# Enron.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:27
.p
.url
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/01/eveningnews/main620626.shtml
.ls
CBS has a tape
.le
of Enron employees making perfectly clear what they did to California.
.p
The most disturbing thing about the Enron case, is that if the crimes
that coporation had been commited by an individual, that individual would
be striped of his ill-gotten gains, and locked in prison, (and if I had
my way, sharing a cell with Charlie Manson). Instead Enron is preparing to
.url
http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=bondsNews&storyID=5325628
.ls
emerge from bankruptcy.
.le
.p
If there was ever a case for the coporate death penalty, than Enron is that case.
.date
June 4, 2004
.item
The Blues Brothers
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:28
.pqt
Tenet was allowed to resign "voluntarily" and Bush informed his shocked staff of the decision Thursday morning. One aide says the President actually described the decision as "God's will."
.pqt
God may also be the reason Attorney General John Ashcroft, the administration's lightning rod because of his questionable actions that critics argue threatens freedoms granted by the Constitution, remains part of the power elite. West Wing staffers call Bush and Ashcroft "the Blues Brothers" because "they're on a mission from God."
.pqt
.url
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4636.shtml
.ls
Bush's Erratic Behavior Worries White House Aides
.le
By DOUG THOMPSON Publisher, Capitol Hill Blue
.p
I wonder how long it will take 'till someone photoshops Dubya and Big Bad John into a Blues Brothers image....
.date
June 3, 2004
.item
Fanime Scan
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:29
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/jp_fanime04.gif
.alt
Pencil Sketch
.ie
.p
Meg Deming, of
.url
http://deathbysugar.keenspace.com/
.ls
Death By Sugar
.le
fame, had a booth at Fanime. This is a sketch she did of me, but
it doesn't look like me, well, maybe a little, that is you'd have
a hard time picking me out of a crowd from this image.
.p
I do, however think It's a great starting point for an avitar...
.item
A Busy Week for Dubya
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:30
.p
So far he's had to
.url
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=5327547
.ls
Hire a Lawyer
.le
over the Valerie Plame affair
.p
Today he's on his way to Europe, But he can use the flight to think
about who will replace CIA head George Tenet, who quit this morning
for
.url
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5336032
.ls
"personal reasons."
.le
.p
These are the sorts of things that are always released late Friday,
the soft spot in the news cycle, I wonder what's coming tomorrow?
.date
June 2, 2004
.item
More Oil — Or Less
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:31
.p
The New York Press has a great article on
.url
http://www.nypress.com/17/22/news&columns/AaronNaparstek.cfm
.ls
The Coming Energy Crunch.
.le
.item
Under The Hood
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:32
.p
Troubles with the RSS feed today, It just so happens that
I wrote the backend in May, — the only month that happens to be
3 letters long, and therefore a legal RFC 882 month.
.p
Now that it's June, I had to change to codes to output "Jun"
.item
When Tax Cuts
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:33
.pqt
Some tax-cut advocates try to deny the fundamental fact that the tax cuts will need to be paid for.
For example, some claim the cuts will generate enough economic growth to 'pay for themselves.'
As discussed below, the evidence not only does not support such claims, it implies precisely
the opposite result — that sustained deficit financing of tax cuts will end up reducing long-term
economic growth, thereby raising the cost of the tax cuts. Others claim the repayment can be postponed
indefinitely. But given the nation's large underlying long-term fiscal imbalance even without the tax
cuts, such indefinite postponement of paying for the tax cuts is simply not possible — it eventually
would spark a serious fiscal crisis. (Similarly, large increases in spending, such as occurred with
the enactment of the Medicare drug benefit, will also need to be paid for.)
.pqt
Once the Tax Cuts are Paid for, Low and Middle-Income Households Likely To Be Net Losers, on Average from
.url
http://www.cbpp.org/6-2-04tax.htm
.ls
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
.le
.item
TANSTAAFL
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:34
.p
Also, take a look at what happens when (mis)administration's "Tax Cuts" are
.url
http://www.cbpp.org/5-18-04tax2.htm
.ls
made permanent.
.le
.date
June 1, 2004
.item
Flip-Floppin Away
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:35
.p
The Center for American Progress details
.url
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=42263
.ls
twenty flip-flops.
.le
.item
12:00 - 12:00 - 12:00
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:36
.p
Looks like those newfangled drug discount cards are
.url
http://www.hoeffelforsenate.com/press/PR060104.cfm
.ls
harder to figure out
.le
than the average VCR, and seniors are
.url
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0602/p03s02-uspo.html
.ls
staying away in droves.
.le
(Thanks to
.url
http://atrios.blogspot.com/
.ls
Eschaton)
.le
.item
My Brain Hurts
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:37
.p
One of several surreal moments of the weekend; a simulcast of the
WWII memorial dedication happening in the ballroom down the hall from
FanimeCon Dealer's room. It must have seemed very strange indeed
for the vets, many of whom had served in the pacific, to walk though
a celebration of Japanese pop culture on their way to their event.
.p
I also met J&D in person on Sunday for the first time, they are the
second couple I know of who met and married though Fanfiction. D had
just started emailing me out of the blue, like I was one of the family,
and after meeting in person and a rather nice breakfast, I now feel
like one.
.p
I missed the Indy 500, My Tivo recorded the rain delay, the first 29 or
so laps, and then more rain delay, then the This Week timeslot,
on the same channel, showing more rain delay. No replay is scheduled.
Sigh. At least I got to see the Formula 1 European Grand Prix.
.p
Still waiting to see feedback on the Fanfic Panel...
.date
May 29, 2004
.item
The Fanfic Panel Is Ovah
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:38
.p
I think it went pretty well, we ended up going for two full hours.
Attendance was down from previous years, closer to 20-25, but we had
a lot of people joining in the conversation - more than half the room.
.p
I ended up with extra buttons, so I've been handing them out to anyone in a Ranma costume.
.date
May 28, 2004
.item
Megatokyo Panel
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:39
.p
Typical con snafu, they had people lined up for the room, then decided to
move us, then neglected to pass out the "meet the vips" raffel tickets
to the people who were moved. Oh well, Fred put it right in the end.
.p
It was a good panel, almost a comedy routine between the understated Fred,
and the more... "animated" Dom. It sounds like Fred will be cutting back
on his convention appearances in order to improve his productivity next year.
.p
They couldn't get the projector to work with Fred's Mac, so he would spin his
laptop arround to show the prepared questions to the audience. He had
collected this set of questions at each Con, since the same thing got
asked at every con. I suppose it gets old after a while.
.item
Fanime update
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:40
.p
It took nearly an hour to get our badges last night. I had been
worried about attendance, (The Fanime Website was hardly a hotbed of
activity leading up to the con) but I think it's going to be a big
crowd.
.p
Printing up promo materials for the Fanfic Panel Now. Not sure if
I'll be able to post them, but I'm bringing magnets, blue tape and
other non-destructive means of attachment.
.p
Expect a lot of updates via the hiptop over the weekend - GPRS coverage was
spotty in the SJCC, but there were a few good areas.
.p
Overheard in line:
.pqt
"But you're still a lawyer."
.pqt
"No I'm not."
.pqt
"Sure you are, it's all still in your head."
.pqt
"No, I deleted that character."
.date
May 27, 2004
.item
Standing In Line
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:41
.p
It's 6:54, and the line to pick up badges at Fanime is about 100 meters long, almost out the door.
.item
Backlinks
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:42
.p
Another anime related link, this time from Italy:
.url
http://aly.splinder.it/
.ls
Dreaming of a place.
.le
It's a very sophisticated looking site,
but it makes Mozzilla very very unhappy.
.item
This Year's Button
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:43
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Fanime2004.jpg
.alt
Fanime 2004 Button
.ie
.p
Each year I make buttons that I give out at the
.url
http://fanime.altimus-labs.com/viewtopic.php?t=1429
.ls
Fanfic Panel,
.le
and here's this year's model.
.date
May 26, 2004
.item
Remarks by Al Gore
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:44
.pqt
Unilateralism, as we have painfully seen in Iraq, is its own reward. Going it alone may satisfy a political instinct but it is dangerous to our military, even without their Commander in Chief taunting terrorists to "bring it on."
.pqt
Our troops are stretched thin and exhausted not only because Secretary Rumsfeld contemptuously dismissed the advice of military leaders on the size of the needed force - but also because President Bush's contempt for traditional allies and international opinion left us without a real coalition to share the military and financial burden of the war and the occupation. Our future is dependent upon increasing cooperation and interdependence in a world tied ever more closely together by technologies of communications and travel. The emergence of a truly global civilization has been accompanied by the recognition of truly global challenges that require global responses that, as often as not, can only be led by the United States - and only if the United States restores and maintains its moral authority to lead.
.pqt
Make no mistake, it is precisely our moral authority that is our greatest source of strength, and it is precisely our moral authority that has been recklessly put at risk by the cheap calculations and mean compromises of conscience wagered with history by this willful president.
.pqt
.url
http://www.moveonpac.org/goreremarks052604.html/
.ls
Move On PAC
.le
(Rush Transcript)
.item
Spam Spam Spam Spam
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:45
.p
I give up. The Bayesian filters in Mozilla are no longer up to
the task of sorting the avalanche of spam that fills my inbox
each day. I've had as many as 1000 spams within a 24 hour period,
with up to 100 a day getting past the Bayesian filter.
.p
Last night I signed up for the
.url
http://www.spamarrest.com
.ls
Spam Arrest
.le
filtering service.
.p
So if you want to send me an email, please expect an email from Spam Arrest
pointing you to a webpage where you will be asked to type a short word
that appears in a graphic. That's it. A one time task. Thereafter, your
messages will go directly to me.
.p
I'm sorry for the inconvienience.
.date
May 25, 2004
.item
Who's The Grownups Now?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:46
.pqt
The Democrats have become the eat-your-spinach party, preaching the virtues of fiscal restraint, while Republicans invite us to a free lunch. And what a feast it is! Upper-income Americans have been treated to vast tax cuts, with promises of even more are to come. Government spending, meanwhile, has ballooned - including Medicare drug benefits, farm price supports, and pork-barrel projects of every size and dimension. This year's deficit, according to the White House's own estimate, will be $521 billion - four and a quarter percent of the total economy. And then it's at least $500 billion as far as the eye can see. If Bush succeeds in making his tax cuts permanent, reducing the alternative minimum tax, and summoning tens of billions more to war against terrorism, future deficits will be much larger.
.pqt
.url
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=7773
.ls
Robert B. Reich, "The Mixed-Up Politics of the Deficit",
.le
The American Prospect Online, May 11, 2004.
.item
Cheeky Spam
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:47
.pqt
Your mailer do not support HTML messages. Switch to a better mailer.
.p
Poor Spammer, so sorry my mailer won't
display your spam. Why don't you switch to a better job?
.item
Fanime Links
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:48
.p
In preperation for this Saturday's panel I put together
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanime/
.ls
Fanime 2004 Resources
.le
— A sorted list of links related to copyright, writing, and fanfiction.
.p
While putting it together, I re-discovered the
.url
http://www.wordplayer.com/
.ls
WordPlay
.le
Screenwriting site, which has some really terrific inside Hollywood
essays, and the original (And in my humble opinion, far superior)
script for the American version of
.url
http://www.wordplayer.com/archives/GODZILLA.cover.html
.ls
Godzilla
.le
.date
May 22, 2004
.item
Pencils Down!
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:49
.p
.url
http://www.tonytrap.com/archives/000212.html
.ls
Tony
.le
also found Gen. Clarks essay compelling, and has a fiendishly clever suggestion.
(I wonder if he can suggest something to remove the coffee I spit all
over my monitor when I read it?)
.item
Blowback
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:50
.p
Can it be that Iran
.url
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-uschal0522,0,4141685.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines
.ls
duped the Neocons
.le
with Ahmed Chalabi? Talk about blowback, the US supported Sadam back in the
1980-8
.url
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Iraq_War
.ls
Iran-iraq war,
.le
can it be that Now they've used the US army to depose him in 2003?
.item
Dude, Where's My Duds?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:51
.pqt
Iraq declared that it had produced 170 of these base-bleed sarin artillery shells as part of a research and development program that never led to production. Ten of these shells were tested using inert fill — oil and colored water. Ten others were tested in simulated firing using the sarin precursors. And 150 of these shells, filled with sarin precursors, were live-fired at an artillery range south of Baghdad. A 10 percent dud rate among artillery shells isn't unheard of — and even greater percentages can occur. So there's a good possibility that at least 15 of these sarin artillery shells failed and lie forgotten in the Iraq desert, waiting to be picked up by any unsuspecting insurgent looking for raw material from which to construct an IED.
.pqt
.url
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0521/p09s01-coop.html
.ls
Iraq sarin shell is not part of a secret cache
.le
By Scott Ritter in the Christian Science Monitor
.date
May 21, 2004
.item
Not At All Conservative
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:52
.pqt
It is not at all conservative to balloon government spending, to vastly increase the power of government, to show contempt for the Constitution and the rule of law, or to tell people that foreign outsourcing of American jobs is good for them, that giant fiscal and trade deficits don't matter, and that people should not know what their government is doing. Bush is the most prone-to-classify, the most secretive president in the 20th century. His administration leans dangerously toward the authoritarian.
.pqt
.url
http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20040521/index.php
.ls
Charley Reese
.le
.p
I sometimes wonder how any ethical conservative can support the
actions of this administration.
.item
No words
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:53
.p
I have no words to describe how I feel about
.url
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1221658,00.html
.ls
the attack on a wedding in Mukaradeeb.
.le
.item
World Wenders Part 2
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:54
.pqt
More than anything else, we should keep in mind the primary lesson of the fall of the Soviet Union: Democracy can come to a place only when its people rise up and demand it.
.pqt
.url
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0405.clark.html
.ls
Broken Engagement by Gen. Wesley Clark in the Washington Monthly
.le
.p
That quote is remarkably in tune with:
.pqt
The Bureau does not create revolution. It creates the necessity for revolution. Given that necessity, the native populations are perfectly capable of handling the revolution.
.p
from The World Wenders don't you think?
.p
The theme of my short story
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/fanfic/colors/AfterBlack.shtml
.ls
After Black
.le
was that you could not force someone to be happy, that all you can do
is to provide the environment for them to become happy, and it was up
to them to do the rest. Substuting democracy for happiness does not seem
to strain that theme.
.p
Gen. Clark was my first pick for president, based on seeing him speak
on C-span, and this article makes me feel a little nostalgic for the
week or two when it seemed like he had a real chance.
.p
I'm not sure he could have written this article were he the nominee,
there's a little too much truth in it.
.p
About halfway through the article it hit me; this really was Gen. Clark's
writing and thinking, not a speechwriter, not a columnist, not a historian, it was really him. Then I thought: Has Dubya ever in his life written anything
approaching this clarity and detail, and would he have read it to the end?
.p
This is how real grown-ups think. Dubya may have made a big show of demanding
coats and ties in the oval office, but that's just dress up.
.date
May 20, 2004
.item
Public Morality
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:55
.pqt
But the differences in the two moral systems also play out on the social or civic plane, and not just on the individual level. And in that civic sphere, the differences come down to this: Liberals believe in public morality and in adherence to democratic process, while conservatives value personal morality and positive, efficiently achieved results.
.pqt
.url
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=7739
.ls
Michael Tomasky, "End Times", The American Prospect Online, May 17, 2004.
.le
.p
That paragraph precisely and succinctly sums up the reason I call myself a liberal. It's a really terrific article, one of many at
.url
http://www.prospect.org
.ls
The American Prospect Online.
.le
.date
May 19, 2004
.item
If We Pull This Off, We'll Eat Like Kings.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:56
.p
Do you remember that
.url
http://users.skynet.be/bawa/larson/larsonsolution.htm
.ls
Far Side cartoon?
.le
(Sixth from the top.)
.p
Two tiny spiders have spun a web at the bottom of a playground slide.
.p
The one speaking that line is surely William Kristol, editor of the
.url
http://www.weeklystandard.com/
.ls
Weekly Standard
.le
and chairman of the
.url
http://www.newamericancentury.org/
.ls
Project for the New American Century
.le
I listened in horror to his
.url
http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml?display=day&todayDate=05/18/2004
.ls
interview
.le
on Fresh Air. He sounds so reasonable, so casual about sending our troops off
to die in his war (and sending lots more). So offhand about the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the war, and happy to spend anything it takes. So comfortable with raising taxes - but only to support the war.
Oh, and he says he sleeps well at night.
.p
Update: For some reason the Server at NPR will not accept the
"&" in the URL, and if I leave it out (Hard to do since
my backend always fixes them) Then I'd get an error on checking
the XHTML.
.p
I'm siding with the W3C on this. Please cut and paste the URL below to get to the page.
.p
Update Update: My Bad. URL now works. Small error in the url handling routine. Won't happen again.
.item
My Pet Goat
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:57
.pqt
In one of the film's most dramatic moments, we watch the president attending an elementary school class on that ill-fated morning of Sept. 11. An aide whispers to him news of the plane crash into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The look on Bush's face is stunned, as any person's would be. A clock ticks away. The president looks as though he'll never get up from that seat. The minutes tick by.
.pqt
"Was he wondering if he should have shown up to work more often?" Moore says in voice-over, this comment connecting with glimpses earlier in the movie of Bush's frequent stays in Texas to clear brush and play golf. The president stares at the children's book he's holding. It's called "My Pet Goat."
.pqt
.url
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5006082/
.ls
"Fahrenheit 9/11": Connects with a hard left
.le
MSNBC
.p
He sat there for seven minutes. The leader of the free world sat
in a room full of school children after being told that a second
aircraft had attacked the World Trade Center for seven minutes.
After a summer of the the CIA director running around "with his hair on fire",
he sat there for seven minutes.
.date
May 18, 2004
.item
Behind the Scenes
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:58
.p
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/rss.xml
.ls
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/xml.gif
.alt
xml gif
.ie
.le
.p
Say hello to the new XML link graphic. It's at the bottom of the left sidebar.
.p
I was pleased and surprised to find that in less than a day I'd been
.url
http://www.livejournal.com/users/joseph_palmer/
.ls
syndicated into Live Journal
.le
Thanks, D.!
.p
.imgr
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/loveRss.gif
.alt
Rss gif
.ie
And that little bit of RSS candy? That's a link to the
RSS validator. My content management system is still
shaking out the bugs, so I wanted a quick way to test
my feed after every posting.
.p
My todo list for the site includes adding permalinks
(Which will probably drop you into the history file
at the date of the entry) and some better timestamps
for each item. All that will have to wait untill after
the Fanime Convention, I've got a panel to organize,
buttons to make, and a chapter of Yellow to
release in the next two weeks.
.item
Not a Good Day
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:59
.pqt
Q: I would like to go back to the first incident, when the survivor asked why did you kill his brother. Was that the incident that pushed you over the edge, as you put it?
.pqt
A: Oh, yeah. Later on I found out that was a typical day. I talked with my commanding officer after the incident. He came up to me and says: "Are you OK?" I said: "No, today is not a good day. We killed a bunch of civilians." He goes: "No, today was a good day." And when he said that, I said "Oh, my goodness, what the hell am I into?"
.pqt
.url
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/9316830p-10241546c.html
.ls
Atrocities in Iraq: 'I killed innocent people for our government'
.le
in the Sacramento Bee
.item
Diebold
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:60
.pqt
"What we found was that all the voting machines used the same secret encryption key code, that the code had never been changed and that all of the developers had access to it," he said. Other problems with the technology have led states to reconsider e-voting in the upcoming presidential election.
.pqt
Stubblefield dismisses conspiracy theories that surround Diebold. "In some ways it's far worse than that, they just did not know what they were doing," he said. For example, they were able to analyze the Diebold voting machine source code because the company had accidentally left it on an open FTP server.
.pqt
.url
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid14_gci964983,00.html
.ls
SearchSecurity.com
.le
.date
May 17, 2004
.item
$41.83 a Barrel
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:61
.p
.url
http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/17/markets/oil/
.ls
CNN/Reuters
.le
has another interesting graphic, this time about the price of oil.
.p
I have to wonder, are the inflation adjusted bars for prior
years year-to-date averages as well, or are they the peak
price? After all, today's peak price would graph out to
be about the same as the price during 1974 Oil Embagro.
.date
May 16, 2004
.item
Flipping the Switch
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:62
.p
I'm testing a new version webloging backend software, so
if you should find the occasional error in the xhtml, I'm
working on it.
.p
The big reason for the change was that the new script supports an
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/rss.xml
.ls
rss 2.0 feed!
.le
.date
May 14, 2004
.item
The War Is Over (!)
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:63
.p
.url
http://www.freewayblogger.com/
.ls
Freeway Blogger
.le
has the associated press
.url
http://apnews.myway.com/image/20040511/US_PRISONER_ABUSE.sff_CADD105_20040511191117.html?date=20040512&docid=D82H709O2
.ls
photo.
.le
.item
Why Do You Think They Call Us Subjects?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:64
.pqt
Up the road in La Crosse, the clampdown on civil liberties was even more sweeping. Wolf and hundreds of other Wisconsinites and Minnesotans who sought to express dissents were videotaped by authorities, told they could not make noise, ordered not to display certain signs and forced to stand out of eyesight of Bush and his entourage. Again and again, they were told that if they expressed themselves in ways that were entirely protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, they would be "subject to arrest."
.pqt
Up the road in La Crosse, the clampdown on civil liberties was even more sweeping. Wolf and hundreds of other Wisconsinites and Minnesotans who sought to express dissents were videotaped by authorities, told they could not make noise, ordered not to display certain signs and forced to stand out of eyesight of Bush and his entourage. Again and again, they were told that if they expressed themselves in ways that were entirely protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, they would be "subject to arrest."
.pqt
John Nichols:
.url
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/nichols/74197.php
.ls
When King George travels, liberties suffer
.le
.date
May 13, 2004
.item
Friedman Gets A Clue
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:65
.pqt
I admit, I'm a little slow. Because I tried to think about something as deadly serious as Iraq, and the post- 9/11 world, in a nonpartisan fashion — as Joe Biden, John McCain and Dick Lugar did — I assumed the Bush officials were doing the same. I was wrong. They were always so slow to change course because confronting their mistakes didn't just involve confronting reality, but their own politics.
.pqt
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/13/opinion/13FRIE.html?ex=1399867200&en=5d54b03cf40926fe&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
.ls
Dancing Alone
.le
By Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times
.p
I paid a lot of attention to Mr. Friedman's opinions prior to the war. He'd
made a number of media apperacnces, and it was perfectly clear that he
had great resepect and genuine affection for everyday Iraqis. As the build up
to shock and awe approached his columns seemed to be more Pollyanna
than political reality.
.p
His support for the war was dissapointing, since it was he himself who
said that it had to be for the right reasons, done the right way, with the
right coalition for it to work. (I make that three strikes...)
.p
Finaly, he's beginning to think that Dubya Inc. had something other than
"a decent outcome in Iraq" in mind for this war.
.date
May 12, 2004
.item
@-navi
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:66
.p
@-navi is like mapquest for Japan, good for an hour or two of tracking
down places I've been.
.p
.url
http://www.at-navi.com/pcx/jsp/map/mapMilLoginCtl.jsp?lat=35.39.30.00000&lon=139.44.49.00000&unit=0&datum=0&sc=0
.ls
Here
.le
is the Tokyo tower, (at the 9:00 position) the Tokyo Prince Hotel (2:00 position) and a very large shrine (4:00 position). Fans of Tenchi Muyo
will remember that the big white canon used to send Kain to another
dimention was parked at that very shrine.
.p
(update) when I re-tried the link on another machine I discovered that the
url did not follow the map location (I think there's some Java magic envolved)
the URL now drops you next to Tokyo Tower Tokyo Tower
.item
The World Menders
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:67
.pqt
Democracy Imposed From Without Is The Severest Form Of Tyranny
.pqt
— Motto of the IPR (Interplanetary Relations Bureau) From
The World Menders (1971)by
.url
http://www.wildsidepress.com/cgi-bin/miva?miva/merchant.mv+Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=WP1&Category_Code=Biggle1
.ls
Lloyd Biggle Jr.
.le
.p
Those words are haunting even now, 33 years later, but then 44,245 US sevicemen
had been killed in Vietnam by the end of '70, and there was no end in sight.
.p
The World Menders offers a few other axioms:
.pqt
Democracy is not a form of government, it is a state of mind.
People can not be arbitrarily placed in a state of mind.
.pqt
One measure of the urgeny of revolution is the freedom the people have, compared to the freedom they want.
.pqt
The Bureau does not create revolution. It creates the necessity for revolution. Given that necessity, the native populations are perfectly capable of handling the revolution.
.pqt
Fundimental to any Democracy is the people's right to be wrong. No Democracy has ever survived the abolishment of the principal.
.item
Think of that.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:68
.pqt
The deficits are now projected at $400 billion this year and at comparably destructive levels for the indefinite future. The tax cuts are responsible for more than $3 trillion in long-term revenue losses over 10 years. And Greenspan hasn't even spoken out against the president's campaign to make the cuts permanent.
.pqt
Just imagine the outcry from Greenspan, Wall Street, and the Republican Party if these deficits had been the result of social spending rather than tax cuts for America's wealthiest. For half of the cost of the projected deficits — $200 billion a year — we could have universal, high-quality child care and health insurance for all Americans. Think of that.
.pqt
.url
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/05/12/what_greenspan_wont_admit_about_deficit/
.ls
What Greenspan won't admit about deficit
.le
by Robert Kuttner for the
.url
http://www.boston.com/
.ls
Boston Globe
.le
.item
Heh.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:69
.pqt
The edlin line editor was thrown together in two weeks in 1981, and was expected to have a six-month shelf life. Some industry pundits have suggested that this is the only Microsoft-written MS-DOS program that is bug-free; this is entirely false, however, as Seattle Computer Products, not Microsoft, wrote EDLIN.
.pqt
.url
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edlin
.ls
Wikipedia
.le
.date
May 11, 2004
.item
Peak Oil Revisited
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:70
.pqt
A growing number of geologists and analysts in the energy industry have been saying for some time that global oil reserves may be dangerously exaggerated. With oil prices currently at around $37 a barrel, the highest for nearly 15 years, and the threat of diminishing supply or terrorist attacks on the energy industry, the question of reserves has assumed a greater importance than ever.
.pqt
.url
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=3&article_id=2387
.ls
The Daily Star
.le
.item
The 6 1/2% Solution
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:71
.pqt
Sixty-two percent of the energy that begins as gasoline in a car's fuel tank was lost as heat in the engine combustion process; 17 percent was lost to engine idling; 6 percent to the transmission; and 2 percent to accessories, such as air conditioning and power steering.
.pqt
In the end, just 13 percent of the energy in the gas tank made the car go—and half of that was subsequently lost to wind and tire resistance.
.pqt
.url
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/car/chi-supercarmain.htmlstory
.ls
Supercar: The tanking of an American dream
.le
from the Chicago Tribune.
The pull quotes were from
.url
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/car/one/chi-super1part3.story
.ls
Part 3.
.le
.date
May 10, 2004
.item
The Big Mo
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:72
.pqt
I have made a career of taking bungee jumps in my election calls. Sometimes I haven't had a helmet and I have gotten a little scratched. But here is my jump for 2004: John Kerry will win the election.
.pqt
.url
http://www.zogby.com/news/051004.html
.ls
John Zogby
.le
of
.url
http://www.zogby.com/
.ls
Zogby Poll
.le
fame.
.date
May 9, 2004
.item
Followership
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:73
.pqt
First month sales of the new Prius in Japan were 17,000 and in the United States there were 10,000 pre-orders. Toyota expects to sell 100,000 hybrid vehicles this year and perhaps 350,000 by 2006.
.pqt
American car manufacturers are scrambling to catch up with the Japanese. They've discovered they are years, not months behind. In late 2002 Ford announced it would be introducing a hybrid in the fall of 2003. In late 2003 Ford announced it was postponing introduction until late 2004. GM declared it would introduce a hybrid pickup in 2004. In late 2003 it announced it was delaying introduction of a full hybrid until 2007. Dodge had said it would introduce a hybrid Ram Contractor in 2005. In late 2003 Daimler/Chrysler canceled its plans to build a hybrid SUV.
.pqt
This is all very embarrassing to this native-born American. I'm convinced that American engineers are the equals of their Japanese counterparts. It is American CEOs who are not the equal of their Japanese equivalents.
.pqt
.url
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17333
.ls
A Tale of Two Countries
.le
By David Morris in
.url
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17333
.ls
AlterNet
.le
.pqt
Mr Morris has
.url
http://www.alternet.org/alsoby.html?Author=2120
.ls
several interesting articles
.le
at Alternet, including one on
.url
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17416
.ls
solar energy
.le
.p
These stories are stark illustrations of what may be the
greatest threat to the United states: our most powerful
corporate "citizens" are structured to act without regard
to to the common good of the nation (and the world).
.item
Spaceman
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:74
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Spaceman.jpg
.alt
Spaceman
.ie
.p
I loaned the 1st season of Ranma to Jasper under the same terms
that I give everyone — If you return it late, you owe me a drawing.
He was late. ^_^
.p
I really like this drawing because there is no up or down, just
like in space.
.p
Thanks, Jasper.
.date
May 8, 2004
.item
Pottery Barn Rules
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:75
.p
This morning's Boondocks — featuring Colin Powell moonlighting in
a Pottrey Barn — set me to thinking.
.p
We've all heard that Powell famously told Bush about Iraq that the Pottery Barn rule was in effect: "If you break it, you own it."
When this reached the press, a spokesman for pottery barn stepped forward to
.url
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/23/1082616326327.html?from=storyrhs
.ls
set the story straight.
.le
.p
Pottery Barn does not sweep the shards of the damaged object into a bag,
and ring it up on your MasterCard, they simply write off the damage.
Practically speaking, I'd bet that if you were to saunter into a Pottery Barn — say because you heard that there might be Weapons of Mass Destruction Related Activities going on between the flatware and the placemants, and
started to smash everyting in your search, they'd be on the on the phone
to 911, and your MasterCard might well become envolved.
.p
The genuine Pottery Barn Rule might be more soberingly applicable
to our situation in Iraq than the mis-stated If you break it, you own it rule.
.p
What really happens when you break something at Pattery Barn goes something like this: First, you appologize profusely
for your blunder to each and every employee you meet as you make a few
rushed guilt purchases, then you slink out of the store and rush to your car to avoid bumping into shoppers who might have wittnessed your faux pas*.
For months afterwards you avoid the store — crossing to the other side of the mall as you walk by, all the while feigning rapt interest in the saccharine displays in the window of the Hallmark store.
It's not until some months pass, and some niece gets engaged, and registers at Tiffany, Gucchi, Prada, and Pottery Barn do you pass through the doors again.
(And even then only then after visiting each of the other stores.)
.p
Those are the real Pottery Barn Rules.
.pqt
* Not applicable in Texas. They call it something else there.
.item
Pinnacles
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:76
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Pinnacles.jpg
.alt
Pinnacles National Monumnet
.ie
.pqt
.url
http://www.nps.gov/pinn/
.ls
Pinnacles National Monumnet
.le
.pat
2004 05 02 Nikon 990 w/Polarizing filter
.p
This is the western part of the original geological formation, the
eastern part can be found 195 miles to the south, on the other side
of the San Andreas fault.
.date
May 7, 2004
.item
Outrage Fatigue
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:77
.p
The pictures out of Abu Ghraib have wrapped the needle
on my outrage meter around the stop pin.
.p
Dubya's vowed to get to "get to the bottom" of this.
.p
We don't need to "get to the bottom" of this.
We've seen the bottom of this on the front page of every newspaper,
and on the top of every news show.
.p
What we really need to do is to get to the top of this.
.p
What we really need to do is close that prison, put a fence around it,
and place those responsable for the abuse inside the fence with
picks and hammers.
.p
Let them leave when not one stone stands upon another.
.date
May 4, 2004
.item
On Being Human
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:78
.pqt
Just when we thought we had a pure and simple hero, a millionaire athlete who gave up wealth and fame to become the ideal patriot, to make the ultimate sacrifice, his friends and family complicated everything. They turned Pat Tillman into a human being Monday, showing us what was really lost during that ambush in Afghanistan, insisting that we question every assumption we've made since he died an icon on April 22.
.pqt
.url
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/04/SPG5K6FD091.DTL
.ls
sfgate
.le
.p
Mr. Tillman appears to have been a far more complicated person than made the
headlines. I wish I'd known him.
.item
There's something Rotten in the State of Florida
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:79
.pqt
First, the purges. In the months leading up to the November 2000 presidential election, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, in coordination with Governor Jeb Bush, ordered local election supervisors to purge 57,700 voters from the registries, supposedly ex-cons not allowed to vote in Florida. At least 90.2 percent of those on this "scrub" list, targeted to lose their civil rights, are innocent. Notably, more than half—about 54 percent—are black or Hispanic. You can argue all night about the number ultimately purged, but there's no argument that this electoral racial pogrom ordered by Jeb Bush's operatives gave the White House to his older brother. HAVA not only blesses such purges, it requires all fifty states to implement a similar search-and-destroy mission against vulnerable voters. Specifically, every state must, by the 2004 election, imitate Florida's system of computerizing voter files. The law then empowers fifty secretaries of state—fifty Katherine Harrises—to purge these lists of "suspect" voters.
.pqt
...
.pqt
Florida's electorate is 11 percent African-American. Florida refused to count 179,855 spoiled ballots. A little junior high school algebra applied to commission numbers indicates that 54 percent, or 97,000, of the votes "spoiled" were cast by black folk, of whom more than 90 percent chose Gore. The nonblack vote divided about evenly between Gore and Bush. Therefore, had Harris allowed the counting of these ballots, Al Gore would have racked up a plurality of about 87,000 votes in Florida—162 times Bush's official margin of victory.
.pqt
.url
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=327&row=0
.ls
VANISHING VOTES
.le
by Greg Palast
.p
Mr. Palast is the last living 'investigative reporter'.
.p
These noble creatures, which once roamed the continent in thundering herds, have
In the last 30 years been killed off by their only known natural enemy, corporate media ownership.
.p
Although Mr. Palast is a US citizen, and lives and works in the USA, he reports for the UK's Guardian, a paper which notably finds the theft of the US presidency to be more newsworthy than Michael Jackson.
.p
How very quaint.
.p
Buy his book:
.url
http://www.gregpalast.com/store.htm
.ls
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
.le
.date
April 30, 2004
.item
Summary Judgment
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:80
.pqt
Defendant begins the descent into Alice's Wonderland by submitting a Motion that relies upon only one legal authority. The Motion cites a Fifth Circuit case which stands for the whopping proposition that a federal court sitting in Texas applies the Texas statutes of limitations to certain state and federal law claims. That is all well and good — the Court is quite fond of the Erie doctrine; indeed there is talk of little else around both the Canal and this Court's water cooler. Defendant, however, does not even cite to Erie, but to a mere successor case, and further fails to even begin to analyze why the Court should approach the shores of Erie.
.pqt
.url
http://www.nationalreview.com/document/document073001.shtml
.ls
National Review
.le
.p
It starts out a bit dry, but quickly turns into a brilliant lesson in
the deadly use of the English language.
.p
Amazon, this really peaves me, after all, you can charge my credit card in seconds, but it takes you DAYS to simply hide my personal info? FIX THAT.
.p
Those of you with personal websites might want to seach your domain on
A9.com to see if Amazon is has made it really, really, really easy for
scary, scary strangers to find your phone number and address.
.date
April 23, 2004
.item
Separate But Unequal
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:81
.pqt
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice briefs House and Senate Republicans on the situation in Iraq. The closed-door briefing comes near the end of a series of Congressional hearings examining troop deployment extensions, military costs and the planned June 30 transfer of power to an Iraqi government. Rice also met with some Senate Democrats in a meeting that was arranged at the last minute.
.pqt
.url
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1848295
.ls
NPR Audio
.le
.p
Rice spent more than an hour privately breifing and answering questions
from members of her own party in the house, then crossed over to spend
another hour with Senate Repubs.
.p
There was then a hastily called meeting where she was to brief Democrats,
but that breifing was cut to just 10 minutes when the Senate Repubs
called a vote.
.item
Hello Kitty Headlamps
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:82
.p
Really.
.url
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/hello-kitty-headlamps-015334.php
.ls
Pink.
.le
.p
Also available in
.url
http://store.yahoo.co.jp/sanrio/154938.html
.ls
blue.
.le
.p
Or you could go with the ever popular
.url
http://store.yahoo.co.jp/sanrio/131067.html
.ls
Hello Kitty War of the worlds Death Beam
.le
(Plugs into your cigarette lighter socket.)
.date
April 21, 2004
.item
I'm number 648,950!
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:83
.p
.url
http://a9.com/
.ls
A9.com,
.le
An Amazon.com company has started a new search service.
.p
I didn't talk about it at first, because they have a little
"Site Info" button that leads to
.url
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001HO6P2/103-9715355-4234268?url=www.josephpalmer.com/
.ls
an Amazon Page
.le
which had data-mined personal info for all of the world to see.
It took several days for the "Correct errors or omissions in the Contact Information." page to remove my home phone number and home address.
.p
Amazon, this really peaves me, after all, you can charge my credit card in seconds, but it takes you DAYS to simply hide my personal info? FIX THAT.
.p
Those of you with personal websites might want to seach your domain on
A9.com to see if Amazon is has made it really, really, really easy for
scary, scary strangers to find your phone number and address.
.date
April 20, 2004
.item
It's the... Oh Never Mind.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:84
.pqt
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the administration has announced its intention to make John Negroponte our first ambassador to postwar Iraq, to take up residence in what will be the world's largest embassy after June 30. Negroponte was one of the key figures in the Iran-Contra scandal, the cockeyed plot that sold U.S. arms to Iran and used the money to finance an illegal war in Nicaragua. So, our first ambassador will be a man who armed Iraq's enemy during that war.
.pqt
Negroponte speaks no Arabic, he is a specialist in covert operations in Latin America and he has no Middle East experience aside from the Iran-Contra insanity. He is, however, a bona fide, certified, chicken-fried neo-con. Is anyone else appalled?
.pqt
.url
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Apr/04192004/commenta/158546.asp
.ls
Molly Ivins
.le
.p
I am, Molly. I am. I really am.
.item
I Liked It Better...
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:85
.h4
When They Belived In Elvis.
.pqt
So here we have a major political constituency - representing much of the current president's core vote - in the most powerful nation on Earth, which is actively seeking to provoke a new world war. Its members see the invasion of Iraq as a warm-up act, as Revelation (9:14-15) maintains that four angels "which are bound in the great river Euphrates" will be released "to slay the third part of men". They batter down the doors of the White House as soon as its support for Israel wavers: when Bush asked Ariel Sharon to pull his tanks out of Jenin in 2002, he received 100,000 angry emails from Christian fundamentalists, and never mentioned the matter again.
.pqt
George Monbiot in
.url
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1195728,00.html
.ls
The Guardian
.le
.date
April 17, 2004
.item
Free Market? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Free Market
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:86
.p
.url
http://wampum.wabanaki.net/archives/000916.html
.ls
Wampum
.le
tells the story of Creekstone Farms, who felt they
could make more money by testing every head of cattle
for Mad Cow.
.date
April 16, 2004
.item
UK Paper: "THE PRESIDENT'S BRAIN IS MISSING"
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:87
.pqt
Millions see Dubya fluff question on conflict
By Mark Ellis, Foreign Editor
.pqt
PRESIDENT George Bush was laid bare to the world as a bumbling embarrassment yesterday when he couldn't think up an answer to a reporter's question.
.pqt
.url
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid%3D14147825%26method%3Dfull%26siteid%3D50143%26headline%3Dthe-president-s-brain-is-missing-name_page.html
.ls
The Mirror
.le
.p
Go look. That is the actual headline.
You know, that paper
.url
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=14151379%26method=full%26siteid=50143%26headline=a%2dclear%2dand%2dpresent%2ddanger%2dto%2dthe%2dworld-name_page.html
.ls
really doesn't like Dubya.
.le
.date
April 15, 2004
.item
You have got to be kidding me.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:88
.p
.url
http://www.hellocthulhu.com/
.ls
This
.le
is just wrong.
.date
April 14, 2004
.item
Sign Of Our Times.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:89
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/buger.jpg
.alt
Sign at bake shop for croquette buger.
.ie
.pqt
Actual Sign from local bakery. They have great curry pan,
but I just couldn't bring myself to ask about the croquette buger.
.date
April 13, 2004
.item
Are your children deeper in debt then they were four years ago?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:90
.pqt
To put this in some perspective, the budget deficit last year was approximately $4000 per household. If you assign that debt to each household, the median income has fallen by something like 10% since Clinton�s time. Now that is obviously unfair because that can�t be exactly how the deficit is made up, but it�s clear that on any reasonable assignment of the costs of deficit financing the overall performance is much worse than the 0.6% fall that CNN/Money is prepared to run with.
.pqt
.url
http://www.crookedtimber.org/archives/001668.html
.ls
Crooked Timber
.le
.date
April 12, 2004
.item
Da Da Da...
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:91
.pqt
What do we want?
.pqt
PATIENCE!
.pqt
When do we want it?
.pqt
NOW!
.pqt
—Al Franken (At the Florida Recount '2000, in response to the republican riot demanding a stop to the recount.)
.date
April 11, 2004
.item
Red Tree
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:92
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/RedTree.jpg
.alt
Red Tree in Kyoto, Japan
.ie
.pat
Tree In Kyoto Park, November 20, 2001. Nikon E990
.date
April 8, 2004
.item
NetSky? SkyNet? Is that you?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:93
.p
Overnight I got over 1,000 copies of the latest virus sent to
my email account. Thanks loads, Bill.
.p
That's it. I'm not going to read another email unless
it has "Swordfish" in the subject line.
.date
April 5, 2004
.item
Le'me out.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:94
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Fox.jpg
.alt
Fox at Minnesota Zoo
.ie
.pat
Fox at Minnesota Zoo ~1980. Nikon FTn, 50mm Nikkor, TriX-pan
.date
March 31, 2004
.item
I'm In The Wrong Business
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:95
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/prius-cut1.jpg
.alt
Prius Engine Cutaway
.ie
.p
.url
http://megachem.co.jp/CUT%20MODEL-2.htm
.ls
MEGACHEMCO LTD
.le
makes those amazingly cool cut away models of just about anything mechanical.
This is a close up of an actual cutaway Toyota Prius engine. It looks like they buy a engine or a transmision or whatever, and cut it open for educational purposes.
They also make and sell
.url
http://megachem.co.jp/aero.htm#TE41
.ls
Wind Tunnels,
.le
so if you've been looking all over for a Continuous Supersonic Wind Tunnel,
well, they have exactly you are looking for.
.pqt
(Photo: Megachemco)
.item
Watch Your Step! or Snow Job
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:96
.pqt
"There is not a single company left in the United States that makes ladders. The lawsuits got to be too much for the ladder industry," read comments Snow prepared for a conference sponsored by the Small Business Administration.
.pqt
But when the department discovered there were some 11 producers selling $850 million worth of ladders in the United States, those words were left unspoken and deleted from a speech text posted later on the department's Web site.
.pqt
.url
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=7&u=/nm/20040330/od_nm/ladders_dc
.ls
Yahoo! News
.le
.date
March 30, 2004
.item
Trees and Fog
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:97
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/TreesFog.jpg
.alt
Trees at night in the fog
.ie
.pat
Date ~'73-77. Nikon FTn, 50mm Nikkor, TriX-pan
.date
March 29, 2004
.item
Advice on Writing...
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:98
.p
From the University of Southern Mississippi:
.url
http://www.usm.edu/english/center/the39steps.html
.ls
The 39 Steps: A Primer on Story Writing
.le
.p
From Orson Scott Card:
.url
http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/index.shtml
.ls
Uncle Orson's Writing Class
.le
His
.url
http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/lessons/1998-11-17.shtml
.ls
OSC Critique
.le
is particularly brilliant.
.p
I disagree a little with his assertion
that "the first paragraph is free" from his
.url
http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/lessons/1998-10-29.shtml
.ls
Beginnings
.le
lesson, though. Maybe it's because I specialize in short stories,
but I think the first paragraph is a critical part of a story,
because it is where the reader is beginning to synchronize with the
author, adjusting to his writing 'voice'. It's one of the reasons that
my prose format is relatively uncluttered prior to the first paragraph.
I want that beginning of the story to stand clearly out as if they had
turned a page in a book.
.date
March 28, 2004
.item
Call for Panelists - FanimeCon 2004 Fanfic Panel
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:99
.pqt
Con Website:
.url
http://www.fanime.com/
.ls
http://www.fanime.com/
.le
.pqt
Location:
.url
http://www.sjcc.com/
.ls
San Jose Convention Center,
.le
San Jose, California
.pqt
Con Dates:
Memorial Day Weekend, 2004 (Friday May 28 - Monday May 31)
.pqt
Panel Schedule:
10:00 AM, Saturday, May 29, 2004 (Tentative, Room TBD)
.pqt
Moderator:
Joseph Palmer
.hr
.pqt
I'm seeking three to five panelists for this year's panel.
.pqt
Traditionally, the Fanime Fanfic Panel has been all authors,
but this year I'm very interested in having an archivist or
reviewer or other expert to join the panel.
.pqt
I'm hoping to make this a audience participation event, in
previous years we've had some of the best questions come
from the panel, and some of the best answers come from
the audience.
.pqt
The focus of the panel will be on writing, publishing and
promoting anime Fanfiction.
.hr
.pqt
If you're an author, please email the following information
to
.url
mailto:fanime2004@josephpalmer.com
.ls
fanime2004@josephpalmer.com
.hr
- Your fan or pen name (if you have one)
- Your real name
- A list of works you've written.
(Highlight your personal favorites, and recent works)
- The URL of your website, or links to your works
- Previous Fanfic Panels (When and where)
.hr
.pqt
If you're an archivist or reviewer, or have other expertise that
might be appropriate to a Fanfic Panel, please email the
following information to
.url
mailto:fanime2004@josephpalmer.com
.ls
fanime2004@josephpalmer.com
.hr
- Your fan or pen name (if you have one)
- Your real name
- A brief description of your "Fanfic related program activities"
- The URL of your website
- Previous Panels (When and where)
.hr
.pqt
There is also a
.url
http://fanime.altimus-labs.com/viewtopic.php?t=1429
.ls
discussion thread
.le
at the Fanime Bulletin Boards
.pqt
Please feel free to join in.
.date
March 26, 2004
.item
Separated at birth?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:100
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/drone_inside.jpg
.alt
Drone
.ie
.p
(Photo AP)
The
.url
http://www.uvonline.com/cgi-bin/view?t=N&r=N/1906
.ls
UVonline
.le
reports on the IDF mini-drones.
.p
(update - This has been picked up on
.url
http://www.slashdot.org
.ls
Slashdot,
.le
they link to a longer
.url
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3571261.stm
.ls
BBC article.
.le
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/planes/PL4/PL4.gif
.alt
PL-4
.ie
.p
You know, aside from the vertical tails, it looks a lot like PL-4
.p
Truth be known, the original PL-1 was my attempt at making a paper
version of the
.url
http://www.labiker.org/xb70.html
.ls
XB-70 Valkyrie.
.le
The strange thing is, the XB-70 used the downward winglets to go fast,
I found they are good for making paper planes fly slow.
.date
March 23, 2004
.item
Hah. You Call That A Great Depression?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:101
.pqt
The United States is shouldering a greater debt burden today than it did during the Great Depression.
.pqt
The total amount owed - by consumers, businesses, governments and financial institutions - totaled $34.4 trillion at the end of 2003, according to the Federal Reserve. The economy produced $11.3 trillion of output.
.pqt
That makes the nation's debt triple its gross domestic product. In 1933, debt was about 2 1/2 times GDP, according to a study by the Gabelli Mathers mutual fund.
.pqt
.url
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/8192892.htm
.ls
Miami Herald
.le
.date
March 18, 2004
.item
Will No One Send A Calculator To The Whitehouse?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:102
.pqt
Mounting deficits, a threat to the nation's long-term economic health, are the natural outgrowth of these stark percentages. The White House claims that the economic slowdown is primarily responsible for these deficits are wearing thin. Indeed, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just issued a report that attributes only 6 percent of this year's $500 billion deficit to a sluggish economy. Far more dominant as factors behind the red ink are the costs of the president's progressively deeper tax cuts, weighted for the affluent, and the Iraq war.
.pqt
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/18/opinion/18THU1.html
.ls
The New York Times
.le
.date
March 17, 2004
.item
The Tears In Spain Fall Mainly Everywhere.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:103
.p
A couple of people have asked me what I thought about the horrifying
bombings in Madrid, and the effect on the elections there, but the
simple fact is I don't know enough about the political environment
in Spain to have any evidence-based opinions.
.p
It was discomforting, to see a government change just days after an
attack, but as the
.url
http://atrios.blogspot.com/2004_03_14_atrios_archive.html#107953407021241474
.ls
news trickles in,
.le
the fog clears to present a more complicated situation.
.p
Besides, if you are uncomfortable with the notion that a terrorist
attack
.url
http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/image001.gif
.ls
can have an effect
.le
on an election, think back to the 2002 elections right here at home.
.pqt
P.S. There are many more great graphics at
.url
http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/
.ls
Professor Pollkatz's Pool of Polls
.le
.date
March 16, 2004
.item
Of Course I Can't Hear, I've got a Fender in My Ear
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:104
.p
I began to title this post "We Were Liberated From The Four Minute Song",
in reference to a line in the Who's We won't get Fooled Again, but
partway thought typing it I thought, wait—was it "three minute song"?...
.p
Three minutes in Google in showed me the error of my ways, for the line
is actually: "We were liberated from the fold, that's all." For the last
three decades I've been hearing the lyric wrong. Sigh.
.p
Anyway, the topic of the post was going to be why my site doesn't support
.url
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
.ls
RSS.
.le
.p
The topic came to mind because I'm seeing a load of hits from
.url
http://www.scripting.com
.ls
Scripting News,
.le
the wellspring of RSS, and over that last couple of months I've been thinking about adding a feed. My back end is a hand-rolled perl script, so to implement the feed I'd have to do a weekend of tinkering, which is no minor thing, but the main reason I haven't taken the plunge is related to my misheard lyric;
I've been liberated from the four line post.
.p
It's a bit ironic that the post that Dave picked up was that sort of thing that is ideal for RSS - a pithy offhand comment - the sort of thing I'd say outloud for laughs, but at best an incomplete thought.*
.p
I still wrestle with the style of my blog, but I find (as I look back through
by history files) that I'd have a very hard time writing the item synopsis for many of the entries. Maybe it's the storyteller in me, but for some of the entries, I think a leading synopsis would dilute the impact of the actual post. (And I don't want to do that.)
.p
At the same time, many of my titles are jokes or puns, and if the title was all I published in the RSS, then a reader would frequently get a misleading idea of what the post is all about. (And I don't want to do that, either.)
.p
I hope over time I'll find a way to to keep the style of my blog
intact while finding a way to deliver a coherent RSS feed. In
the meantime, I'll just keep posting in the rather random style of
the site.
.pqt
(*Disclosure: I tried doing marketing, when I tried my own startup,
and I was a dismal failure at it, so I have a deal with the splendid and talented
.url
http://www.danger.com
.ls
Danger Inc.
.le
marketing team: I don't do marketing, they don't design PC boards.)
.date
March 15, 2004
.item
Yeah, Right.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:105
.p
.url
http://archive.scripting.com/2004/03/16
.ls
Dave Winer
.le
called me a marketing guy. Me, a marketing guy?
I don't think so.
.item
Wired Rave Awards
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:106
.p
Tonight at the
.url
http://www.raveawards.com/
.ls
Wired Rave Awards
.le
I got a chance to speak with
.url
http://www.rutanaircraft.com
.ls
Burt Rutan,
.le
the designer of
a number of inventive aircraft, including the Voyager, the
first (and so far only) aircraft to fly around the world
non-stop, with no refuling.
.p
Years ago (Many Many years ago, like '76-78 era) I went to
go see Mr Rutan speak at the Oshkosh EAA convention. I arrived
a bit late and found myself a seat off to the side of the stage,
on a little platform that held the organ for the Sunday morning church
services. There was an old wooden folding chair I tried, but it proved to
be unsafe for human use, so I sat on the edge of the platform.
.p
A few minutes into Mr Rutan's presentation an older gentleman came
to sit, I whispered a warning in his ear as he went for the chair,
and he joined me on the platform.
.p
Partway through the presentation Mr Rutan looks over at us, (I thought
the audience that we had a special guest, and introduced the gentleman
as
.url
http://www.aviabellanca.com/History.html
.ls
August Bellanca
.le
of Bellanca Aircraft fame.
.p
The presentation was about the
.url
http://avia.russian.ee/air/usa/rutan_defiant.html
.ls
Defiant,
.le
an inline twin engine arcraft built of composite materials. Part
of the presentation was Mr Rutan harmlessly bouncing up and down on on
a composite wing panel, then on an aluminum part, which
promptly buckled and bent. Mr Bellanca seemed quite taken with the
demonstration, and Mr Rutan even handed him the panels to examine.
.p
Judging from what
.url
http://www.aviabellanca.com/
.ls
aviabellanca
.le
is up to these days, Mr Bellanca was very impressed with the presentation,
and came away with ideas to transform his aircraft. I came away from it
with a nice memory, and a pretty good reason to chat up one of my
engineering heros tonight.
.hr
.p
BTW, I rolled back to date on this entry - I was writing it from CA, where
it was still Monday, but my server is in FL, where it was already Tuesday.
Maybe I should look at my blogscript to see if I could easily fix that....
.date
March 14, 2004
.item
Quote of the Day
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:107
.pqt
That's it. It's one thing for a ghost to terrorize my children, but quite another for him to play my Theremin. — Homer Simpson.
.item
Don't Look Away
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:108
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/interest.png
.alt
Chart: Interest payments exceed all domestic progams by 2010
.ie
.p
The
.url
http://www.ctj.org/
.ls
Citizens for Tax Justice
.le
take a look at Dubya's budget:
.url
http://www.ctj.org/pdf/def0104.pdf
.ls
Bush Still on Track to Borrow $10 Trillion by 2014
.le
(.pdf) (Warning! Contains Tables and Graphs of actual
economic data. Not suitible for dittoheads or neocons.)
.p
Yes, what you are looking at is a chart showing that by 2010
the annual cost of interest on the national debt will exceed
annual spending on all domestic programs (excluding homeland
security)
.p
This is the road Dubya has put us on.
.p
This is where he wants to lead the country.
.item
Running out of oil — and time
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:109
.pqt
Thus, when we peak becomes a rather pressing question. Some pessimists tell us the peak has already come, and that calamity is imminent. That's unlikely. But the optimists' forecast—that we don't peak until around 2035—is almost as hard to believe. First, oil demand is climbing faster than optimists had hoped, mainly because China and India, the sleeping giants, are waking up to embrace a Western-style high-energy industrialism that includes tens of millions of new cars. Second, even as oil demand is rising, oil discovery rates are falling. Oil can't be produced without first being found, and the rate at which oil companies are locating new oil fields is in serious decline. The peak for world discoveries was around 1960; today, despite astonishing advances in exploration and production technology, the industry is finding just 12 billion new barrels of oil each year—less than half of what we use. This is one reason that oil prices, which had averaged $20 a barrel since the 1970s, have been hovering at $30 for nearly a year.
.pqt
Oil companies, not surprisingly, are getting anxious. Despite the fact that the current high oil prices are yielding massive company profits, companies are finding it harder and harder to replace the oil they sell with newly discovered barrels. On average, for every 10 barrels an oil company sells, its exploration teams find just four new barrels—a trend that can go on only so long. Indeed, most Western oil firms now say the only way to halt this slide is to get back into the Middle East, which kicked them out during the OPEC nationalizations of the 1960s and '70s. This has, in fact, become the mantra of the oil industry: Get us back into the Middle East or be prepared for trouble. And the Bush administration seems to have taken the message to heart.
.pqt
.url
http://www.petroleumworld.com/SuF031404.htm
.ls
Petroleum World
.le
.date
March 13, 2004
.item
Old House
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:110
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/DL1.jpg
.alt
Photo of House
.ie
.pat
c1975 Nikon FTn, 50mm Nikkor, Tri-X pan (Detroit Lakes, Mn.)
.p
This shot was taken just at sunset, and is a bit underexposed,
but I like it for its historical look.
.date
March 12, 2004
.item
Fountain Fish
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:111
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/fountainfish.jpg
.alt
3 Fish in a fountain
.ie
.p
I loaned Dave a book (The Great Unraveling — highly recommended)
under the terms that the late fee would be a quick-sketch drawing.
.p
Fortunately for me, he got busy, and began to feel guilty about how
long he had the book, and returned it with this cool and enigmatic sketch.
.p
Dave's other comics can be found at:
.url
http://www.spies.com/~dbort/drarings/
.ls
Dave Bort Draw Now
.le
.p
I think next time I lend him a book, his late penalty would be to complete
a link graphic...
.date
March 11, 2004
.item
More Backlinks
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:112
.pqt
- Ranma 1/2 - Red, Orange, Black, After Black, Yellow, and Manila by Joseph Palmer - When I saw the link to these stories on animefics, I went, "Ooh! Yay! Ranma/Akane fic! I love those! *sparkle*" And it had been a long time since I'd read any Ranma/Akane that I'd really liked, so I was looking forward to them and... I found that what I liked about them was what I liked about the original series, in a way. I've read other fics that have made me go, "Oh, my god, that was so amazing!" more than this one did, but these stories had a special... charm tg that by 2010
the annual cost of interest on the national debt will exceed
annual spending on all domestic programs (excluding homeland
security)
.p
This is the road Dubya has put us on.
.p
This is where he wants to lead the country.
.item
Running out of oil — and time
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:109
.pqt
Thus, when we peak becomes a rather pressing question. Some pessimists tell us the peak has already come, and that calamity is imminent. That's unlikely. But the optimists' forecast—that we don't peak until around 2035—is almost as hard to believe. First, oil demand is climbing faster than optimists had hoped, mainly because China and India, the sleeping giants, are waking up to embrace a Western-style high-energy industrialism that includes tens of millions of new cars. Second, even as oil demand is rising, oil discovery rates are falling. Oil can't be produced without first being found, and the rate at which oil companies are locating new oil fields is in serious decline. The peak for world discoveries was around 1960; today, despite astonishing advances in exploration and production technology, the industry is finding just 12 billion new barrels of oil each year—less than half of what we use. This is one reason that oil prices, which had averaged $20 a barrel since the 1970s, have been hovering at $30 for nearly a year.
.pqt
Oil companies, not surprisingly, are getting anxious. Despite the fact that the current high oil prices are yielding massive company profits, companies are finding it harder and harder to replace the oil they sell with newly discovered barrels. On average, for every 10 barrels an oil company sells, its exploration teams find just four new barrels—a trend that can go on only so long. Indeed, most Western oil firms now say the only way to halt this slide is to get back into the Middle East, which kicked them out during the OPEC nationalizations of the 1960s and '70s. This has, in fact, become the mantra of the oil industry: Get us back into the Middle East or be prepared for trouble. And the Bush administration seems to have taken the message to heart.
.pqt
.url
http://www.petroleumworld.com/SuF031404.htm
.ls
Petroleum World
.le
.date
.date
March 9, 2004
.item
Half Full, or Half Empty?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:113
.h4
Either Way There's Only Half Left.
.pqt
A memo, circulated to Sir Philip Watts and other senior executives in early 2002, warned that the company's method of booking oil and natural-gas reserves appeared to be inconsistent with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (news - web sites) guidelines, these two people said. The memo pointed out that the company might have to revise downward its reserve tally by the equivalent of about one billion barrels of oil, these people said.
.pqt
On Jan. 9, the world's third-largest publicly traded oil company by market value announced it would cut its oil and natural-gas reserves by about 20%, or 3.9 billion barrels of oil equivalent. A good chunk of the overbooking occurred during Sir Philip's tenure as the companywide head of exploration and production between 1997 and 2001. He became chairman in 2001.
.pqt
Dow Jones via
.url
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/dowjones/20040308/bs_dowjones/200403080046000016
.ls
Yahoo News
.le
.p
O—kay. So an Oil company must report reserves based on rules made up by the Securities Exchange Commision. Are these the 'reserves' that folks point at who believe that we have extra decade or two of petroleum before the Hubbart peak? Have the other Oil companies been padding the 'reserves'? what if all of them have been reporting 20% more reserves?
And anyway, why is the SEC setting the rules? Do they have a department of geologists who set the standards?
.date
March 7, 2004
.item
The Big Picture
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:114
.p
Take a look at the employment index chart over at
.url
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2004/03/presidential_jo.html
.ls
The Big Picture
.le
.date
March 6, 2004
.item
California Screamin'
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:115
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Disney1.jpg
.alt
California Screamin'
.ie
.pat
Nikon 990E 2002 09 14
.date
March 5, 2004
.item
Jobs? We don't need no stinkin' Jobs
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:116
.pqt
The Labor Department's report said private-sector employment was unchanged in February, while the government added 21,000 workers.
.pqt
The report also showed job creation in December and January was weaker than previously thought, adding to the gloomy tone of the report. The department revised lower its count of jobs gains in January to 97,000 from 112,000 and for December to just 8,000 from 16,000.
.pqt
.url
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1203&e=1&u=/nm/20040305/bs_nm/economy_dc&sid=95609869
.ls
Yahoo!
.le
.p
At January's growth rate it would take over 8 years just to get back to the employment numbers of Jan 20, 2001.
.pqt
Over the last three months, employment has risen an average of just 42,000 per month, down from the 79,000 average of the prior three months. It is also far short of the 150,000 or so jobs needed each month just to keep pace with growth in the labor force.
.p
In those same 8 years, we'd need to add 14,400,000 new jobs. At January's
growth rate only 2,016,000 new jobs would be created (And those would be in government), and there would be 12,384,000 people entering the workforce and
not finding work.
.p
Of course, In January, the private sector was flat, while all of the growth in jobs was in the government sector. Could that be where Dubya wants to take the country?
.item
Understanding the severity of the current labor slump
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:117
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/payrolljobs.gif
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Payroll Jobs Graph
.ie
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A number of factors must be considered in order to understand the severity of the current labor slump:
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The record length of time that jobs have failed to recover
Prior to the current slump, jobs had never fallen over a two and a half year period since monthly job numbers began in 1939. After five months of job gains, payroll jobs in January remained 2.3 million below the level of March 2001.
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The growth in the working age population since the recession began in March 2001
Even as jobs were shrinking by 1.8%, the working age population (i.e., the number of people of working age) was growing by 3.7%. Had job growth kept up with working age population growth over that period, 7.1 million more payroll jobs would have been filled in January 2004.
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The effect of the "missing" labor market on the unemployment rate
The unusually prolonged period without adequate job growth has caused an unprecedented number of people to refrain from actively looking for work, and therefore to be excluded from the unemployment measurement.
.p
The
.url
http://www.epinet.org
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Economic Policy Institute
.le
Takes a look at employment in a
.url
http://www.epinet.org/briefingpapers/146/epi_bp146.pdf
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report
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(.pdf) putting the current situation against the last
50 or so years:
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Oil? We don't need no stinkin'... hey, waitaminute!
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:118
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.url
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=222982004
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What will happen when the oil runs out?
.le
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It's amazing, the things you find a couple cliks away when you
.url
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=hubbert+peak&sa=N&tab=wn
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Ask Google News
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about the
.url
http://www.hubbertpeak.com/
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Hubbert Peak
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F1
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:119
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The first race of the
.url
http://www.f1.com
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Formula 1
.le
season is this weekend at Albert Park, South Melbourne Australia.
Once again the
.url
http://www.speedtv.com/index.php
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Speed Channel
.le
(DirecTV 607) is covering most of the races.
.date
March 4, 2004
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Where do you want to go today?
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:120
.p
Point A
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But in that case, what's it all about? If everything Bush and his officials do is political, what is that they want to do with their power?
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Old-line Republicans that I know cling to the belief that the Machiavellianism is only temporary, that it's embraced in service to a higher goal. Once the 2004 election is over, they say Bush will show his true colors as an idealist, someone who genuinely believes in small government and free markets.
.pqt
But if Phillips is right—and I think he is—there is no higher goal. Bush's motivations are dynastic—to secure his family's rightful place. While he may have some policy biases—like that "instinctive policy fealty" to the investment business—policy is basically there to serve the acquisition of power, and not the other way around.
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.url
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/16911
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The Wars of the Texas Succession
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By Paul Krugman
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Point B
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At Harvard Business School, thirty years ago, George Bush was a student of mine. I still vividly remember him. In my class, he declared that "people are poor because they are lazy." He was opposed to labor unions, social security, environmental protection, Medicare, and public schools. To him, the antitrust watch dog, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities Exchange Commission were unnecessary hindrances to "free market competition." To him, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was "socialism." Recently, President Bush's Federal Appeals Court Nominee, California's Supreme Court Justice Janice Brown, repeated the same broadside at her Senate hearing. She knew that her pronouncement would please President Bush and Karl Rove and their Senators. President Bush and his brain, Karl Rove, are leading a radical revolution of destroying all the democratic political, social, judiciary, and economic institutions that both Democrats and moderate Republicans had built together since Roosevelt's New Deal.
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.url
http://www.glocom.org/opinions/essays/20040301_tsurumi_president/
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President George Bush and the Gilded Age
.le
.p
Dubya's now running ads claiming he knows where he wants to take this country.
Funny thing, he never actually says where he wants to take the country.
.date
March 3, 2004
.item
Got Soap?
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:121
.pqt
David Kay, the man who led the CIA's postwar effort to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, has called on the Bush administration to "come clean with the American people" and admit it was wrong about the existence of the weapons.
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In an interview with the Guardian, Mr Kay said the administration's reluctance to make that admission was delaying essential reforms of US intelligence agencies, and further undermining its credibility at home and abroad.
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.url
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1160842,00.html
.ls
The Guardian
.le
.item
Is it hot in here, or is it just me?
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:122
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GENEVA (Reuters) - The world's second-largest reinsurer, Swiss Re, warned on Wednesday that the costs of natural disasters, aggravated by global warming, threatened to spiral out of control, forcing the human race into a catastrophe of its own making.
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In a report revealing how climate change is rising on the corporate agenda, Swiss Re said the economic costs of such disasters threatened to double to $150 billion (82 billion pounds) a year in 10 years, hitting insurers with $30-40 billion in claims, or the equivalent of one World Trade Centre attack annually.
.p
Hey, wait a minute. Are you telling me that
.url
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040303/3/3ihff.html
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Global warming could hurt big business?
.le
Someone better tell Dubya, quick.
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We didn't listen to you before, why should we listen to you now?
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:123
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The casting was a dead giveaway. For the first time since annual threat assessment briefings by the heads of key intelligence agencies began a decade ago, the director of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) was disinvited.
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Roberts and his Republican colleagues decided to preclude the possibility that some recalcitrant senator might ask why INR was able to get it right on Iraq when everyone else was wrong.
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.url
http://tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10027
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No Skunks Allowed
.le
.date
March 2, 2004
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Stuper Tuesday...
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:124
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.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Touchscreen.gif
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I voted touchscreen, I think...
.ie
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Put the Lime in the Coconut...
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:125
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The world is quickly running out of oil. In the year 2000, global production stood at 76 Million Barrels per Day (MBD). By 2020, demand is forecast to reach 112 MBD, an increase of 47%. But additions to proven reserves have virtually stopped and it is clear that pumping at present rates is unsustainable. Estimates of the date of "peak global production" vary with some experts saying it already may have occurred as early as the year 2000. New Scientist magazine recently placed the year of peak production in 2004. Virtually all experts believe it will almost certainly occur before the end of this decade.
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.url
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0301-12.htm
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Will The End of Oil Mean The End of America?
.le
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Is that an Ozone Hole? Oh no—it's not! Oh yes—it is!
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:126
.p
I had a great discussion last night with a self-described conservative,
and part way through he got me thinking about the ozone layer again.
(He claimed to have heard that the ozone holes were closing up). Since I
haven't heard anything like that I decided to prowl arround the
web and look for recent actual data.
.p
I found a
.url
http://www.ozone-sec.ch.cam.ac.uk/EORCU/Reports/wr0203.pdf
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detailed Report (2003/3 Winter .pdf)
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by the
.url
http://www.ozone-sec.ch.cam.ac.uk/
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European Ozone Research Coordinating Unit.
.le
But I'm afraid the report did not back up my freinds position.
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On-going observation of ozone loss during successive Arctic winters is
important as substantial losses can occur.
A striking feature of Arctic ozone loss has been the large interannual variability of the ozone loss and its strong dependence on temperature. For example, there were losses of <10% in 1998/99 and >65% in 1999/2000 at around 18 km.
Losses of 50% or more have been seen at the same altitudes in the Arctic in several winters since the early 1990s.
Chemical losses in total ozone in the Arctic vortex have varied between about 5 and 30% since the early 1990s.
Overall a decrease in total ozone in the Arctic region has been observed since 1980, although there is considerable year-to-year variation in the observed values.
This variability in the ozone loss is to be contrasted with the Antarctic where nearly complete ozone loss has taken place in all winters in the 1990s at altitudes between about 15 and 20 km.
.p
So it's true that from time to time the level of Ozone is rising (or falling!).
Metaphoricaly, talking about those variations is like talking about the tides,
when the the real issue is rising sea levels.
.date
February 27, 2004
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The Last Thing the Titanic Needs is Another Iceberg
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:127
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After supporting tax cuts for the wealthy, which have already blown a gaping hole in the federal budget, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told lawmakers on Wednesday that Congress should extend the cuts indefinitely — at a cost of $1.5 trillion over the next ten years — and pay for it by slashing Social Security.
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.url
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17969
.ls
The Class Warrior
.le
in Alternet.
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Science? We don't need no stinkin' Science!
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:128
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FINDINGS OF THE INVESTIGATION
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1. There is a well-established pattern of suppression and distortion of scientific findings by high-ranking Bush administration political
appointees across numerous federal agencies.
These actions have consequences for human health,public safety,and community well-being.
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2. There is strong documentation of a wide-ranging effort to manipulate the government's scientific advisory system to prevent the appearance of advice that might run counter to the administration's political agenda.
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3. There is evidence that the administration often imposes restrictions on what government scientists can say or write about "sensitive" topics.
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4. There is significant evidence that the scope and scale of the manipulation, suppression, and misrepresentation of science by the Bush administration is unprecedented.
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.url
http://www2.ucsusa.org/publications/report.cfm?publicationID=730
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Scientific Integrity in Policymaking
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An Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science
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From
.url
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/report.html
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Union of Concerned Scientists
.le
.date
February 26, 2004
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Truth? We Don't Need no Stinkin' Truth!
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:129
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WASHINGTON — House Speaker Dennis Hastert has hardened his opposition to extending the deadline for the independent commission studying the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, even as the panel's leaders pleaded yesterday for more time to complete their work.
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.url
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/02/26/hastert_firm_on_sept_11_inquiry/
.ls
Boston.com
.le
.p
Investigation into why the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up in re-entry,
killing seven astrounats. — $50,000,000
.p
Investigation into Bill Clinton's affair, where one blue dress was stained.
— $40,000,000
.p
Investigation into the worst terrorist attack in US history, resulting in the loss of 3000 lives. — $14,000,000
.p
Shutting down the 9-11 commision before a full investigation. — Four more years.
.date
February 23, 2004
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You had me at Regressive Tax Cuts
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:130
.pqt
The reasons to defeat Bush escalate daily. The administration enacts regressive tax cuts; wages pre-emptive wars and lies about their justification; hacks away at civil liberties and appoints hard-right judges to shut down challenges; and undermines the union movement. The Bush administration attacks root structures of democracy by disenfranchising tens of thousands of Florida voters, redistricting dozens of Texas, Pennsylvania and Michigan Congressional seats in raw power grabs, and jamming Democratic phone banks in New Hampshire. It brands those who oppose it as allies of terrorism.
.pqt
That doesn't even count global warming, which (as sources from Fortune Magazine to the New York Times and a Pentagon study have recently warned) now brings the potential for melting polar ice caps to shutting down the Gulf Stream and plunging Europe and northeastern North America into a man-made ice age.
.pqt
.url
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17920
.ls
The Lone Ranger Of Righteousness
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By Paul Loeb, — AlterNet
.p
Hey, Nader. Look at the last 3 years, then turn around and extrapolate 5 forward. Do you like what you see? Is that the kind of country you want?
Do you even recognise it? Idiot.
.date
February 21, 2004
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Point Lobos State Reserve
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:131
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.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/PointLobos1.jpg
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Point Lobos State Reserve
.ie
.pat
2004.02.21 Point Lobos State Reserve
.p
.url
http://pt-lobos.parks.state.ca.us/
.ls
Point Lobos
.le
is just south of Carmel, California. It's a stunningly beatiful park,
and surprisingly small. You could walk all of the trails in a single day,
but only if you didn't stop to take a picture every few meters.
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Random Acts of Flowers
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:132
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.url
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/02/21/MNGEP55KOA1.DTL
.ls
Flower Power
.le
takes on a different meaning as folks from the red states are ordering
flowers to be delivered to couples waiting to be wed in San Francisco.
.p
Awww.
.p
It's so easy to take a studied, balanced, maybe we should just have civil
unions position on this — easy, that is, until you see the couples, and hear their stories. The first couple to be married had been devoted partners for 51 years. I got all teary eyed just seeing them on tv. If we don't recognise that commitment for what it is, then I think we're cheapening marriage for everyone else.
.date
February 19, 2004
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The Midwest Shifts to the Left
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:133
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.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Dakotas.jpg
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CNN Screenshot
.ie
.pat
CNN 2004.02.14 11:16:20
.p
This unretouched graphic shows a distinct leftward shift in the Dakotas. ^_^
I had to wonder about the accuracy of the rest of the story, after all,
unemployment is a lot of big, big numbers. I wonder if the same intern
who did the map did the numbers?
.date
February 18, 2004
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Talking Points Memo
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:134
.pqt
One of the key points the White House never mentions is that, notwithstanding what people thought before the return of inspectors, we found out quite a lot during the brief period when inspectors were in the country. And almost all of what we learned was damaging to the White House's case for war. Indeed, one reason for the hurry to start the war was the fear that the case would collapse entirely.
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.url
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_02_15.html#002572
.ls
Josh Marshall
.le
in Talking Point Memo
.p
One of the reasons I like
.url
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
.ls
TPM
.le
is that Mr. Marshall doesn't feel the need to print something every day,
But when he has something to say, it's well worth the listen.
.p
I cringe every time the Whitehouse claims that the WMD might have been spirited away during the war, or that critical evidence was hidden or destroyed during the looting. We had UN inspectors in Iraq, chasing every lead the world's
intellegence agencies were passing in, and those leads were garbage.
.p
I's now perfectly clear that everything that comes out of this
administration, be it about global warming, the effects of tax cuts
on the economy, or Dubya's Texas Air National Guard service must be
given no more credance than the WMD claims.
.p
After all, if Dubya, Inc. was willing to obfuscate the truth in order
to rush to war, what subjects would they tell the truth about?
.item
Pot, Kettle. — Now with 2800% More Black!
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:135
.pqt
Happily for politics as usual, Kerry has surged to the fore and is now undergoing the pluperfectly idiotic political experience of being called the candidate of special interests by Republicans! Oh, this is so rich, how can you not rejoice? President Bush has only raised 28 times as much money from corporate special interests as John Kerry, and four times as much directly from lobbyists. But that didn't stop the Bush campaign from sending out an email video to 6 million supporters accusing Kerry of being the candidate of the special interests!
.pqt
.url
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=16451
.ls
Molly Ivins
.le
.p
(Update: My original headline had it as only 2300% more black. It's
2800%. My bad.)
.date
February 16, 2004
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The Urban Institute of Large Numbers
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:136
.p
.url
http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2004_archives/000303.html
.ls
Brad DeLong
.le
explores the effects of the long term deficit on the long term interest rates.
.p
Now if we ould only get the president's council of economic advisors to
explore the effects of the long term deficit on the long term interest rates.
.hr
.p
This story brings to mind a missed opportunity
in one of the 2000 debates: Dubya made a joke (if you call it that)
about Gore inventing the calculator, and Gore brushed it off.
I would have loved it if his response had been:
I've never said that I invented the calculator—but
I know how to use one."
.date
February 14, 2004
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Sailor Take Warning
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:137
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Sunrise040214.jpg
.alt
Sunrise Image - Red Sky at morning - Sailor take warning.
.ie
.pat
Sunrise 04.02.14
.p
This was the view out of my window this morning. The sun was just over the horizon, but peeking in under the cloud cover. This Photo doesn't really
do the light justice, and seconds later the sun was in the clouds.
.date
February 13, 2004
.item
Economy Sails Away From Workers
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:138
.pqt
The story is so common-place as to be a cliche. Another 3.3 million jobs are predicted to transfer offshore in the next decade. Who is to blame? Is this all really the fault of overpaid workers? I don't think so. Between 1979 (when Michigan auto workers were hammering Toyotas) and 1995 (when White was closing), the salary of the median American worker had actually dropped 4.6 percent, from $25,896 to $24,700.
.pqt
But, during the same period the top 1 percent of U.S. families had an increase in income of 78 percent. The American wage gap between a typical CEO and a typical worker had grown from 40 times to 190 times. The differential is now over 500 times.
.pqt
.url
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpdav133668325feb13,0,308055.story
.ls
Cathy N. Davidson,
.le
vice provost for interdisciplinary studies at Duke University [Newsday]
.item
BUSH A NO-SHOW AT ALABAMA BASE, SAYS MEMPHIAN
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Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
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http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:139
.pqt
Though some accounts reckon the total personnel component of the 187th as consisting of several hundred, the actual flying squadron — that to which Bush was reassigned — numbered only "25 to 30 pilots," Mintz said. "There's no doubt. I would have heard of him, seen him, whatever." Even if Bush, who was trained on a slightly different aircraft than the F4 Phantom jets flown by the squadron, opted not to fly with the unit, he would have had to encounter the rest of the flying personnel at some point, in non-flying formations or drills. "And if he did any flying at all, on whatever kind of craft, that would have involved a great number of supportive personnel. It takes a lot of people to get a plane into the air. But nobody I can think of remembers him."
.pqt
"I talked to one of my buddies the other day and asked if he could remember Bush at drill at any time, and he said, 'Naw, ol' George wasn't there. And he wasn't at the Pit, either.'"
.pqt
The "Pit" was The Snake Pit, a nearby bistro where the squadron's pilots would gather for frequent after-hours revelry.
.date
February 11, 2004
.item
No, in fact, we weren't all wrong.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:140
.pqt
A second emerging thesis of defense by the administration in light of no weapons is, as David Kay said, "We were all wrong."
.pqt
No, in fact, we weren't all wrong.
.pqt
Bush said Sunday, "The international community thought he had weapons." Actually, the U.N. and the International Atomic Energy Agency both repeatedly told the administration there was no evidence Iraq had WMD. Before the war, Rumsfeld not only claimed Iraq had WMD but that "we know where they are." U.N. inspectors began openly complaining that U.S. tips on WMD were "garbage upon garbage." Hans Blix, head of the U.N. inspections team, had 250 inspectors from 60 nations on the ground in Iraq, and the United States thwarted efforts to double the size of his team. You may recall that during this period, the administration repeatedly dismissed the United Nations as incompetent and irrelevant. But containment had worked.
.pqt
.url
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=16415
.ls
Molly Ivins
.le
.date
February 9, 2004
.item
ARF! ARF! — Dog Will Hunt
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:141
.pqt
To make a long story short, Bush apparently blew off drills beginning in May 1972, failed to show up for his physical, and was then grounded and transferred to ARF as a disciplinary measure. He didn't return to his original Texas Guard unit and cram in 36 days of active duty in 1973 — as Time magazine and others continue to assert based on a mistaken interpretation of Bush's 1973-74 ARF record — but rather accumulated only ARF points during that period. In fact, it's unclear even what the points on the ARF record are for, but what is clear is that Bush's official records from Texas show no actual duty after May 1972, as his Form 712 Master Personnel Record from the Texas Air National Guard clearly indicates:
.pqt
.url
http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003220.html
.ls
CalPundit
.le
untangles the famous "torn document" relating to Dubya's National Guard record.
.p
Gee, if ARF is a paper outfit, did he fly
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/planes/Airplane.shtml
.ls
paper airplanes?
.le
.date
February 8, 2004
.item
FanimeCon 2004
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:142
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Akane-New-Animation-1b.gif
.alt
Tendou Akane
.ie
.p
A couple of weeks ago I put in a proposal for the Fanfic Panel at
.url
http://www.fanime.com
.ls
FanimeCon 2004.
.le
This moring I got an email from the panels coordinator, with a tenative
slot at 10:00 AM Saturday May 29.
.p
Needless to say I'm pretty jazzed about this, I was very bummed to miss
the Con and Panel last year — even if it was to go to
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/gallery/London/lti.html
.ls
London.
.le
.p
No specific plans yet, but here's what I proposed for the Con Program.
.pqt
Fanfiction Panel
From inspiration to publication - Join us in a spirited discussion of the hows and whys of writing and publishing fanfiction. It doesn't matter which series you choose, or if you're a first time author, or an old-timer, there's simply nothing better than getting together with other authors to inspire and arouse your creative muse. Panel moderator: Joseph Palmer
.date
February 6, 2004
.item
Courthouse
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:143
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Courthouse.jpg
.alt
Hallway in courthouse
.ie
.pat
Nikon E990 - 2002.04.01 Santa Barbra, CA
.p
One of the reasons I like the Nikon is that swiveling lens lets me get
shots like this. I was holding the camera over my head, against a
wall to stabilize it. Who needs a tripod when you have walls?
.item
Like Father, Like Son.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:144
.pqt
Bush's 47 percent approval rating is the same as his father's at this stage in his presidency 12 years ago before he lost to Bill Clinton.
.pqt
Just under four in 10, 37 percent, said they would definitely vote to re-elect Bush as president, while 43 percent said they would definitely vote for someone else, according to the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs. Another 18 percent said they would consider voting for someone else.
.pqt
...
.pqt
"I think he's run the country into the ground economically, and he comes out with these crazy ideas like going to Mars and going to the moon," said Richard Bidlack, a 78-year-old retiree from Boonton, N.J., who says he voted for Bush in 2000. "I'm so upset at Bush, I'll vote for a chimpanzee before I vote for him."
.pqt
.url
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&e=2&u=/ap/20040206/ap_on_el_pr/ap_poll_bush
.ls
Yahoo News
.le
.p
Yahoo! Indeed!
.item
Republican Welfare
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:145
.pqt
Writing in The New York Times last week, Daniel H. Pink used the Tax Foundation�s figures to come up with his own political analysis. He divided the country into "Giver states" and "Taker states" and looked at their 2000 election results. It turns out that Bush got 78 percent of his electoral votes from Taker states, while Gore got 76 percent of his electoral votes from Giver states.
.pqt
Pat Cunningham —
.url
http://www.rrstar.com/opinion/columnists/pat/20040205-10692.shtml
.ls
Rockford Register Star
.le
.date
February 3, 2004
.item
Independence, or Round Up The Usual Suspects
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:146
.p
So Dubya's going to name the members of an "independent"
commision to investigate the distortion of intelligence
that lead to the war in Iraq.
Who do you think he'll nominate? Henry Kissenger again?
James Baker? No Wait — he could have Dick Cheney run the
investigation — he did so well on that whole energy thing, right?
.p
I have a nomination for the chairman: Dubya's former treasury secretary,
Paul O'Neill. He has already been vetted by the Senate,
and has held the oldest cabinet position in our nation.
Yes, he's a Republican, (Or as American Politics Journal put it:
conservative, corporate and Republican to his marrow")
but as he said in his own words:
.pqt
"I'm too old to begin telling lies now."
.p
and
.pqt
"I'm old and I'm rich. — What can they do to me?"
.p
Sorry Paul, we can ask you to serve your country one more time.
.p
According to Ron Suskind, author of The Price of Loyalty
Mr O'Neill is "the most evidence driven man I've met". As an
engineer, I can really respect that.
.item
Budgets of Mass Destruction found in Washington
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:147
.pqt
The Era of Fiscal Responsibility is Over
In what may be the most deceitful budget submission in memory, President Bush claims that the United States can continue operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, fund a trillion-dollar tax cut, increase spending on defense, homeland security and counterterrorism, and launch a manned mission to Mars, while cutting the $521 billion deficit in half over the next five years. And astoundingly, even these depressing deficit projections are wildly unrealistic. They rely on a grab bag of gimmickry and distortion that, taken together, dramatically underestimate the scope of America's fiscal crisis. A more sober budget projection reveals that, five years from now, the budget deficit will be $477 billion�almost exactly what it is today.
.pqt
...
.pqt
NOT INCLUDED — FUNDING FOR IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN:
The president's budget does not include any funding for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq or Afghanistan beyond September 30. The administration used the same gimmick last year, then requested $87 billion in additional funds. It has already been reported that the administration plans on requesting at least $50 billion in additional spending for Iraq and Afghanistan�but only after the November elections.
.pqt
.url
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=6228#1
.ls
Center for American Progress
.le
.date
February 1, 2004
.item
Sunrise, Katsura Japan
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:148
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/katsura.jpg
.alt
Sunrise
.ie
.p
2001.11.19 Nikon E990
.item
Irony is so dead.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:149
.pqt
Tony Blair and George Bush have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for waging war on Saddam Hussein.
.pqt
.url
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/02/01/upeace.xml
.ls
The Telegraph UK
.le
.date
January 31, 2004
.item
Life With Bill
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:150
.pqt
So I reinstall XP, configure the network connection, and start restoring 8.1 gigabytes of data. About two minutes into this process, XP pops up a dialog telling me that the Remote Procedure Call service has terminated and that XP will reboot itself in 50 seconds.
.pqt
David Ramsey recounts his recent experiences with Windows XP:
.url
http://www.neko.com/story.php
.ls
I Was a Naive Fool
.le
.item
Tee Hee!
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:151
.pqt
BOSTON — Addressing guests at a $2,000-a-plate fundraiser, George W. Bush pledged Monday that, if re-elected in November, he and running mate Dick Cheney will "restore honor and dignity to the White House."
.pat
.url
http://www.theonion.com/4004/top_story.html
.ls
The Onion.
.le
.date
January 28, 2004
.item
Appalling
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:152
.pqt
"Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling."
.pat
.url
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040123-2.html
.ls
www.whitehouse.gov
.le
(That's the real one) news release
.p
Not just our children.
.date
January 27, 2004
.item
STOP THE TRAIN. THE BRIDGE IS OUT.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:153
.h4
CBO Projects Record Deficit
.pqt
The federal government will run a record $477 billion budget deficit this year and could accumulate nearly $1.9 trillion in additional debt through 2014, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said Monday.
.pqt
If President Bush succeeds in making his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, the deficit could reach nearly $3.5 trillion over the next decade, with the tax cuts alone costing the Treasury $295 billion a year by 2014, CBO said.
.pqt
Even without that change, the government's long-term finances have worsened considerably in the past six months, largely due to the war in Iraq and passage of the $400 billion law adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. In August, congressional forecasters predicted a 10-year deficit of $1.4 trillion through 2013. That figure has jumped nearly a trillion dollars since then.
.pat
.url
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49021-2004Jan26.html?nav=hptop_tb
.ls
Washington Post
.le
.p
Dubya, you should have paid attention to Paul O'Neill in those meetings.
.item
Mars Rover Rescued by the rm-star?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:154
.pqt
The suspected cause will be familiar to any computer user who multitasks too much: too many files were open. A flaw in the rover programs allows the creation of an unlimited number of files, and the computer crashed trying to keep track of them, mission managers said.
.pat
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/27/science/space/27MARS.html?ex=1075870800&en=b7ab731035d01b5d&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
.ls
New York Times
.le
.hr
.pqt
During the battle, User spies manage to snarf source of the Empire's
ultimate weapon; the dreaded "rm-star", a privileged root program with the
power to destroy an entire file system at a keystroke.
.pqt
.url
http://www.google.com/groups?q=%22DEC+WARS%22+3cpu&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&c2coff=1&safe=off&scoring=d&as_drrb=b&as_mind=12&as_minm=5&as_miny=1981&as_maxd=26&as_maxm=1&as_maxy=1990&selm=175%40snark.UUCP&rnum=4
.ls
Unix Wars
.le
.item
Red Ink Realities
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:155
.pqt
Even conservatives are starting to admit that George Bush isn't serious when he claims to be doing something about the exploding budget deficit. At best — to borrow the already classic language of the State of the Union address — his administration is engaged in deficit reduction-related program activities.
.pat
PAUL KRUGMAN in
.url
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/27/opinion/27KRUG.html?ex=1390539600&en=c33626ab06a73488&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND
.ls
The New York Times
.le
.p
A real must-read article.
.hr
.pqt
"People ask me what great new ideas did you bring to Washington. I say, 'Arithmetic.'"
.pat
.url
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/7796491.htm
.ls
William Jefferson Clinton
.le
via Hesiod at
.url
http://counterspin.blogspot.com/
.ls
Counterspin Central
.le
.date
January 26, 2004
.item
Photo Linkage
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:156
.p
.url
http://www.metaldreams.net/
.ls
Metal Dreams Photograph and Musings
.le
offers terrific photos from all over North East Wisconsin. I get
shivers
.url
http://www.metaldreams.net/w9lookar9.html#NEW
.ls
just looking at them.
.le
(Scroll to the bottom picture...)
.date
January 25, 2004
.item
Reconstructing the past
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:157
.p
Sorry about the mess at the bottom of the column,
I'm trying to reconstruct the 1999 entries using
.url
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.best.com/~jpalmer/index.shtml
.ls
The Internet Wayback Machine
.le
and various backups.
.hr
.pqt
Update: I've found pretty much everything for '99 and '98 (It wasn't
much) but I'm a bit bummed... I couldn't find a backup of my very first
homepage in ealy '97. :(
.date
January 24, 2004
.item
Study. Hall.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:158
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Schoolhall.jpg
.alt
School Hallway
.ie
.pat
c. 1975 Nikon FTn, 50mm Nikkor Tri-X Pan
.date
January 23, 2004
.item
It's Friday, and the Network Reporters have gone for the Weekend...
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:159
.pqt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - David Kay, who stepped down as leader of the U.S. hunt for weapons of mass destruction, said on Friday he does not believe there were any large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq
.pat
.url
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=578&u=/nm/20040123/ts_nm/iraq_usa_weapons_kay_dc&printer=1
.ls
Yahoo! News
.le
.date
January 22, 2004
.item
Calpundit Crunches the SOTU Numbers
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:160
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Blog_CBO_Projections.gif
.alt
CBO Chart
.ie
.p
.url
http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003096.html
.ls
Calpundit
.le
Has compared the budget outlined in the State of the Union
against Congressional Buget Office projections. It's not pretty.
.p
David Corn has more
.url
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17621
.ls
SOTU Analysis:
.le
.pqt
"Specifically, the OMB figures are likely to exclude the costs of fighting terrorism internationally after September 30, 2004; to fail to reflect the full costs of the Administration's own "Future Year Defense Plan;" to omit the costs of extending relief from the mushrooming Alternative Minimum Tax after 2005; and to omit the costs of extending a series of very popular tax breaks."
.date
January 21, 2004
.item
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:161
.pqt
In a classic open market, today's wind power technologies are competitive with coal, but leave it in the dust once ecological externalities are factored in. Price instability is pushing natural gas out of range. Oil hasn't been a significant generator of electricity for a century (except, ironically, in Hawaii, where a conversion to solar power is being pushed hard). Finally, given the realistic life cycle, the threat of terrorist attack, and the cost of waste disposal, atomic power is barely worth mentioning.
.pqt
...
.pqt
Estimates from John Turner at NREL indicate that a single PV array installation in central Nevada covering 100 square miles could generate enough electricity to meet the entire nation's needs. Far less ambitious projects could power Las Vegas, Phoenix, Reno, and other cities in the inter-mountain West.
.pat
.url
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/01/01_203.html
.ls
Free and Green
.le
In Mother Jones
.p
Yeah, 100 square miles sounds like a lot, but for reference, that's
.url
http://www.cpp.usmc.mil/cpao/pages/about/baseinfo.htm
.ls
half the size of
.le
of
.url
http://www.cpp.usmc.mil/cpao/pages/about/baseinfo.htm
.ls
Camp Pendleton
.le
.p
I've sometimes wondered if we couldn't kill two birds with one stone.
Here in California, we have thousands of miles of open canals to
ship water from Northern California to LA, and evaporation losses
are significant. What if we covered the canals with PV arrays?
.date
January 20, 2004
.item
Mental Photoshop
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:162
.p
Tonight, during the State of the Union, I was imagining
how I would feel next January, with John Kerry giving the
speech, and John Edwards sitting in the #2 position.
.p
It was a very comforting feeling.
.p
Those Iowans — they're a
pretty smart bunch, you know.
.p
(Clark - Edwards felt pretty darned good too.)
.item
xwave - A Waveform Font
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:163
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/xwave.gif
.alt
xwave Font Sample
.ie
.p
Xwave is a TrueType™ font that has electrical waveform
gliphs. I created this monospaced font with
.url
http://www.fontlab.com/html/typetool.html
.ls
Type Tool,
.le
an inexpensive Font creation tool.
.p
The image above shows the key mappings, and gives a sample
timing diagram. (The trick is to use a word processor and
set the position of the signal name to a right-tab, then
build up the waveform from a left tab.
.p
I've found this font useful when designing some pretty gnarly
bits of logic, I hope you will too. I hereby grant permission
to use the font for pretty much any legal use, but I retain the
ownership rights. (You cannot just turn around and sell it.)
.p
.url
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/misc/xwave.zip
.ls
Download xwave
.le
(It's in a .zip file - containing the font and the .gif
cheat sheet from above)
.date
January 19, 2004
.item
Putting the COM in .COM
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:164
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/9446318_B_store.jpg
.alt
.ie
.p
Yes, josephpalmer.com has gone commerical.
.p
You too can now own your own "It's latte, then you think."
mug, exclusively though
.url
http://www.cafeshops.com/josephpalmer
.ls
cafe press
.le
.p
So you don't forget, order before midnight tonight. Quantities are unlimited,
this is an unlimited time offer.
.pqt
The fine print:
* No assembly required.
* Coffee not included.
* If you are a neocon, or are planning to become a neocon, see your doctor before use. (A cure is on the way!).
* WARNING: Lattes may cause wakefullness.
* JosephPalmer.com is not responsible for burns resulting from hot coffee spills — please sip responsibly.
* Batteries not included.
* Use product open side up.
* If dropped, product may contain small pieces unsuitable for children.
* No lattes were harmed during the the making of this cup.
.item
Politics as Sports
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:165
.p
I've had a revelation.
.p
Up until this week I though that political reporting had focused
too much on the horse race of the election, and
not enough on the issues. I despaired that political reporting had
become too much like sports reporting.
.p
I was wrong.
.p
Political reporting needs to be more like sports reporting.
Political reporting already has the reporter who 'calls the plays',
and they have 'color' people (far more of the latter than the former)
what they are missing is the statistician to keep them honest.
Don't tell me that Americans don't like facts and figures,
sports reporting is all about facts and figures.
.p
Yesterday's football games were filled with statistics on
'third down conversions', and 'completions' and whatnot.
.p
Don't get be started about baseball, with it's private language
of runs, hits and errors. A batter can't step out of the dugout
and pick up a bat without the commentator retelling his whole history,
distilled into a handful of numbers. And Heaven help him (or her)
there was ever a real gaff in their record, a title losing error,
a bad call, a ball dropped at a critical moment, because the color
commentator will make sure to dredge up that mistake for the rest
of the players life.
.p
Just imagine what political reporting could be....
.pqt
Announcer: - Good evening and welcome to tonight's state of the union
address.
.pqt
Color: - Tonight is the president's third state of the union, and it looks like weve got a great crowd.
.pqt
Stats: - This is day 1096 of his term, he has 366 days - just over one year - left in his first term.
.pqt
Announcer: - This event is always a highlight in the president's year,
where he gets to set his agenda for the coming year.
.pqt
Color: - Looking back to last year's event we heard a lot about the
biological terrorism threat of 25,000 liters of anthrax from Saddam Hussein
.pqt
Stats: - We now know that zero liters have been found, so that's
scored as having an EF - that's an 'exaggeration figure' of 2,500,000%.
Now normally we would assign an ER - 'exaggeration ratio' to this but since
literally ZERO anthrax was found, that ratio would be infinite.
.pqt
Announcer: - What about the 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin from
last year?
.pqt
Color: - That's nearly enough to give everyone in LA a Botox
treatment!
.pqt
Stats: - Again, Zero found, for a EF of 3,800,000%
.pqt
Announcer: - What about the significant quantities of
uranium from Africa?
.pqt
Stats: - Zero found, but here's where it gets tricky,
since no exact amount was in the address last year, we have to
extrapolate a number. Now if the Uranium were weaponised...
.pqt
Color: - You need big factories to do that right?
.pqt
Announcer: - Yes, but none were found.
.pqt
Stats: - ...if it were weaponised and delivered to a major city.
.pqt
Color: - With those Unmanned Arial Vehicles we heard about....
.pqt
Announcer: - Well, those UAVs turned out to be so small they couldn't deliver two six packs from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial.
.pqt
Color: - Yeah, but what if it were lite beer?
.pqt
Stats: - Getting back to the uranium, we estimated a bomb might
kill 125,000 people, for an EF of an astounding 12,500,000. That's a
personal best for the president - for exaggeration. But it's going to have
an asterisk because of the estimation process.
.pqt
Color: - That's too bad, well maybe he'll do better tonight.
.pqt
Announcer: - Okay, the president is about to enter the chamber
what are people looking for tonight?
.pqt
Color: - Jobs. People are looking for jobs.
.pqt
Stats: - This president has a respectable EJA - that's
earned Job Average of 2281.
.pqt
Color: - 2281?
.pqt
Stats: -
No, wait, I missed the minus sign. It's a negative 2281.
.pqt
Announcer: - Just what is the EJA?
.pqt
Stats: - It's the number of jobs added or lost per day of the
president's term - We have to go back to (shuffles papers) Herbert
Hoover to see a worse record. Our last president had an EJA of —
get this — 8000!
.pqt
Color: - 8000, that's quite a record. But for this president,
haven't there been any new jobs created?
.pqt
Stats: - No, there's new jobs, but not enough. In a nation of 300
million people, roughly 3800 a day begin looking for their first job.
.pqt
Announcer: - So if this president wants to go into the next
election with a positive EJA?
.pqt
Stats: - It's statistically impossible.
.pqt
Color: - The president is at the door for his third and possibly
last State of the union address.
.date
January 18, 2004
.item
Ice Golf
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:166
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/icegolf.jpg
.alt
Golfing on Ice
.ie
.p
~1974 - Ice Golfing Tournament on Little Detroit Lake
.p
I really like this scan because it feels really old,
there's nothing in the image that gives away the date.
.p
In unrealted iTunes news, my dottering HP CD drive was unable
to rip many of the CDs in my collection (iTunes would just
truncate the song when an error occured) so I picked up a
Plextor PX-708A. Plextor has a reputation for being the best
drive for reading CDs, and it's proving it by flawlessly
ripping and compressing CDs at up to 5X* that the HP just
gave up on.
.p
* I suspect that this is now CPU bound. My first PC was
at 4.77 MHz, then I got a 40 MHz Macintosh, then a 400 Mhz
P2, so I've got my eye on upgrading to a 4 Ghz machine
when they come out later this year. In the meantime I'm
still using a hand-me-down 800MHz P3, and I wouldn't even
have that except that somone literaly handed me the CPU
because they'd upgraded.
.item
Angry In Iowa
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:167
.pqt
I talked to a couple - he a pig farmer, she a secretary for the local schoolboard - and they say they have only caucuses once or twice in their lives. But they are turning out, and they say they don't remember their friends and neighbors talking about politics as much as they are this year. And they don't ever remember them being so upset, angry and disappointed with what's going on in Washington
.pat
.url
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/1/18/154155/010
.ls
Daily Kos
.le
.item
Creative Class War
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:168
.pqt
But having talked to hundreds of talented professionals in a half dozen countries over the past year, I'm convinced that the biggest reason has to do with the changed political and policy landscape in Washington. In the 1990s, the federal government focused on expanding America's human capital and interconnectedness to the world—crafting international trade agreements, investing in cutting edge R&D, subsidizing higher education and public access to the Internet, and encouraging immigration. But in the last three years, the government's attention and resources have shifted to older sectors of the economy, with tariff protection and subsidies to extractive industries. Meanwhile, Washington has stunned scientists across the world with its disregard for consensus scientific views when those views conflict with the interests of favored sectors (as has been the case with the issue of global climate change). Most of all, in the wake of 9/11, Washington has inspired the fury of the world, especially of its educated classes, with its my-way-or-the-highway foreign policy. In effect, for the first time in our history, we're saying to highly mobile and very finicky global talent, "You don't belong here."
.pat
.url
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0401.florida.html
.ls
Washington Monthly
.le
.p
(Thanks for the pointer, Dave)
.item
"It's latte, then you think." -J.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:169
.date
January 16, 2004
.item
US D0484503
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:170
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/US0D0484503.jpg
.alt
US Design Patent D0484503
.ie
.p
US Design Patent
.url
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=D484503.WKU.&OS=PN/D484503&RS=PN/D484503
.ls
D0484503
.le
.p
The first I heard of this was a bit of four color junk snail mail from
.url
http://www.uspatentservices.com
.ls
United States Patent Commorative Collection
.le
.item
Going Backwards
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:171
.pqt
From the
.url
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21321-2004Jan15.html
.ls
Washington Post:
.le
.pqt
For the past four decades, Iraqi women have enjoyed some of the most modern legal protections in the Muslim world, under a civil code that prohibits marriage below the age of 18, arbitrary divorce and male favoritism in child custody and property inheritance disputes.
.pqt
Saddam Hussein's dictatorship did not touch those rights. But the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council has voted to wipe them out, ordering in late December that family laws shall be "canceled" and such issues placed under the jurisdiction of strict Islamic legal doctrine known as sharia.
.pat
From
.url
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
.ls
Riverbend at Baghdad Burning
.le
.pat
.pqt
Don't get me wrong- pure Islamic law according to the Quran and the Prophet gives women certain unalterable, nonnegotiable rights. The problem arises when certain clerics decide to do their own interpretations of these laws (and just about *anyone* can make themselves a cleric these days). The bigger problem is that Shari'a may be drastically different from one cleric to another. There are actually fundamental differences in Shari'a between the different Islamic factions or 'methahib'. Even in the same methahib, there are dozens of different clerics who may have opposing opinions. This is going to mean more chaos than we already have to deal with. We've come to expect chaos in the streets... but chaos in the courts and judicial system too?!
.item
Drive-By Wreath Laying
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:172
.pqt
The president's visit to King's resting place lasted less than 15 minutes. Escorted by Coretta Scott King and Christine Farris, King's sister, Bush placed a wreath before King's tomb, bowed his head in prayer briefly and departed.
.pqt
Hundreds of protesters, black and white, stood across the street from the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, bearing signs that read, "Impeach The Liar," "Bush Zionist Puppet" and "Money For Jobs And Housing, Not War."
.pqt
Five Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority buses parked in front of them blocked their view of the president. Police in riot gear stood atop the vehicles.
.pat
.url
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/7720744.htm
.ls
Knight Ridder
.le
.p
Oh, get real. Those buses were there to block the presedent's view
of the protesters.
.p
I'd really, really like Dubya to see one of these protests. Id like
him to see with he own eyes that people are angry about where he is
taking this contry.
.p
Do you think the secret service might also be envolved in
making the
.url
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=39590
.ls
Superbowl a 'free-speech free zone'?
.le
.date
January 15, 2004
.item
Paul O'Neill on Fresh Air
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:173
.p
At one point in the
.url
http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml?display=day&todayDate=01/14/2004
.ls
interview
.le
Terry mentions that he was Secretary of the Treasury for "two years".
He corrected her: "twenty-three months".
.p
He sounds like the kind of man that when asked "What color is that house?"
would reply; "It's white on this side."
.hr
.p
.url
http://www.matiasduarte.com
.ls
Matias
.le
brought his
.url
http://www.matiasduarte.com/C1109630205/index.html
.ls
toy tanks
.le
into work today, at at lunch we had a pitched battle over
some very tough terrain (Okay, it was an overturned paper
plate and some napkins, but the tanks did quite well.)
.p
He also
.url
http://www.matiasduarte.com/C962707862/E1307378991/index.html
.ls
links to an terrific article
.le
by Michael Crichton.
.date
January 14, 2004
.item
Fiscal Nightmare
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:174
.pqt
The most ominous sign of trouble came from an unlikely source, the International Monetary Fund, which in the good old days was the sharp crusading edge of Washington's export of capitalism. Yet it is the IMF that is now crying foul at the administration's economic plans. Last week, a team of economists from the fund predicted that the U.S. could owe 40 percent of its total economy within a few years - a statistic that will take the United States to an Argentinean scale of indebtedness. Quite apart from the effect of this massive debt on the U.S., the IMF is worried about what will happen to the world economy when things come unstuck. The economists do not envisage a soft landing with a deficit on this scale.
.pqt
Indeed, the United States' position is worse than it looks since it's problems run deeper than the national level. Thanks to a federal system of government, much of the money that central governments control in other countries is spent in this country by state, county and city governments. And they are all facing growing deficits. It all adds up to a fiscal nightmare.
.pat
.url
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17547
.ls
The Real National Security Threat: The Bush Economy
.le
in
.url
http://www.alternet.org/
.ls
Alternet
.le
.date
January 12, 2004
.item
Economists for Dean
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:175
.p
The
.url
http://econ4dean.typepad.com/
.ls
Economists for Dean
.le
website has some interesting reading, and some great links,
including one leading to
.url
http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/2003_archives/002306.html
.ls
An Unequal Exchange
.le
by Paul Krugman
.date
January 11, 2004
.item
Tmsuk T-52 Enryu - Rescue Labor
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:176
.p
.imgl
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/T-52.jpg
.alt
T-52 Enryu Labor
.ie
.p
.url
http://www.enryu.jp/feature.html
.ls
This thing
.le
looks a lot like the farming labors from the Anime series
.url
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6305951640/
.ls
Patlabor.
.le
.date
January 8, 2004
.item
Perfectly Legal
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:177
.p
.url
http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml?display=day&todayDate=01/07/2004
.ls
Fresh Air
.le
has a superb interview with Journalist David Cay Johnston, Author of
.url
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591840198
.ls
Perfectly Legal:
.le
The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich - and Cheat Everybody Else.
.item
Microsoft Fright Simulator?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:178
.pqt
A mother's enquiry about buying Microsoft Flight Simulator for her ten-year-old son prompted a night-time visit to her home from a state trooper.
.pat
.url
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/34776.html
.ls
The Register
.le
.item
Frosty Leaves
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:179
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/frosty_leaves.jpg
.alt
Frosty Leaves
.ie
.date
January 7, 2004
.item
New Years Resolution:
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:180
.pn
Q: Do you have a New Years Resolution?
.pn
A: Yes. 1600x1200.
.item
Deflation Nation
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:181
.p
An intoxicating look at the economy (with sobering charts and graphs) at
.url
http://billmon.org/archives/000946.html#more
.ls
The Wiskey Bar.
.le
.item
Paper Airplanes of Mass Destruction
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:182
.p
.url
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60340-2004Jan6.html
.ls
Iraq's Arsenal Was Only on Paper
.le
— Washington Post.
.item
UPDATE: WMD FOUND!!
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:183
.pqt
The cache included sodium cyanide and other highly toxic chemicals, as well as land mine components, briefcase bombs, trip wire and more than 60 fully operational pipe bombs.
.p
No, not in Iraq,
.url
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=16238
.ls
in Texas.
.le
.date
January 6, 2004
.item
4 Bars!
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:184
.p
.imgr
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/4bars.jpg
.alt
4 bars on hiptop
.ie
.p
Yay! Looks like a new cell tower has been installed nearby.
Ironically enough, prior to tonight, I'd never had enough
signal to use my hiptop at home. Now I've got 4 full bars
throughout most of the house.
.p
For some reason, this pocket of San Jose was the last to get
everything. First it was Cable TV, we have underground utilities on our court,
so the folks around the corner (with utility poles) had Cable for years before
we got it. Then we had to wait 'till last fall to get DSL,
even though houses closer to the CO had it for years. Eventually
they installed a repeater a few blocks away,
but since it was past our street, people further away
got DSL months before we did.
.p
Things are looking up.
.date
January 5, 2004
.item
Awww.
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:185
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Squirrel.jpg
.alt
Random Squirrel, One each.
.ie
.date
January 4, 2004
.item
The Spirit has Landed
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:186
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Spiritonmars.jpg
.alt
Panorama of Mars from Spirit
.ie
.p
We watched landing on the NASA channel last night, and the 15 minutes
between the first indications of the atmosphere and the acquisition
of signal from the surface were tense and dramatic, and what's more
they were real.
.p
Since I design PC boards, I like to say that when I "do a compile" it
takes two weeks, and costs thousands of dollars. Last night I watched
a room full of people — each of whom is representing a much larger team,
complete a compile that took years, and millions of dollars, and get it
right. Now that calls for a New Board Dance.
.p
Image from the
.url
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/gallery/images.html
.ls
Image Library at JPL
.le
.date
January 2, 2004
.item
Photos
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:187
.p
.url
http://www.trekearth.com/
.ls
Trekearth
.le
offers "Over 24,877 photos from around the world".
.item
iTunes? Not I
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:188
.p
iTunes is so far a mixed experience. The first thing I
searched for: "Steely Dan" brought
.url
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=62444&selectedItemId=62416
.ls
FM
.le
to the top of the
list. ($0.99 For a song otherwise only available on compliations, which
I don't need since I own the whole catalog on CD — ka-ching!)
.p
After that things went downhill, nearly every song I've looked for
isn't (yet) available:
.p
I've tried searching for a couple of old favorites:
Gerry and the Pacemakers' Ferry Cross the Mersy and
The Vogues' 5 O'clock World with no luck.
.p
Then I looked for something a newer, but further afield:
.url
http://www.panjabi-mc.com/
.ls
Punjabi MC
.le
(Mundian To Bach Ke). Okay, this may be
a bit esoteric, but he's well known in Europe, and his music
is an explosive blend of bhangra with hip-hop.
.p
It also looks like some of my favorite bands are AWOL:
.url
http://www.psiron.demon.co.uk/
.ls
The Blue Nile
.le
,
.url
http://www.fmrecords.com.au/viewartist.cfm?ArtistId=385
.ls
The Split Ends
.le
,
.url
http://special.the-raft.com/japan/
.ls
Japan
.le
and
.url
http://www.keithemerson.com
.ls
Emerson
.le
.url
http://www.greglake.com
.ls
Lake
.le
and
.url
http://www.carlpalmer.com
.ls
Palmer
.le
.p
I'm sure that over time the iTunes back catalog will fill in,
and I'm looking forward to a larger world music section, (J-pop,
please), but even today iTunes is an impressive product, and may
one day be seen as a more important industry first step than the
Macintosh.
.p
Update: Make that "Split Enz" and two albums show up. ^_^;
.date
January 1, 2004
.item
Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:189
.p
.img
http://www.josephpalmer.com/etc-local/graphics/Tahoe.jpg
.alt
Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe
.ie
.p
No, that' not Tri-X pan, that's a recent digital photo that's
been washed through Photoshop. The original color shot was nice,
but the B&W seems more evocative.
.item
Linkage
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:190
.p
.url
http://amai.bloki.com/blog/
.ls
Amaiblog
.le
- links to Art, Animation, and other such Chaos.
.p
.url
http://www.animeresearch.com/
.ls
AnimeReseach.com
.le
An academic look at Anime. (Really.)
.p
.url
http://sailormoon.channel.or.jp/
.ls
Live Action Sailor Moon.
.le
(Be very afraid.)
.item
After Saddam ... Now What?
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:191
.p
.url
http://hnn.us/articles/2743.html
.ls
Kenneth M. Pollack
.le
has put together perhaps the best single article I've ever read on the middle east.
.item
Concrastination
.pubdate
Tue, 29 Jun 2004 02:31:40 EDT
.guid
http://www.josephpalmer.com/cgi-local/View_Permalink.cgi?entry=2004/6/30/02:31:40:192
.pqt
Now, the three months before I start a new novel, I don't write a word. Rather I work on my main character's scrapbook. The very process of collecting her preferred poems, swatches of her favorite colors, and petals from the flowers she grows gives me time to find her.
.pat
.url
http://www.writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/000552_11202002.html
.ls
Procrastination as a Writing Solution
.le
By M.J. Rose
.p
I have, of late, wondered if my blogging is getting in the way of
my writing (such as it is). In a typical week, each minute I spend
on the mechanics of typing a blog entry and getting the URLs right
is suported by a half hour of thinking about things that I might blog.
Not that I sit down for a proper think, but when I'm driving, eating lunch,
or working in the yard (especially then) I stew the articles I've
read.
.p
I've sometimes worked myself into a real lather over things I want to write,
only to find that when I get back to my computer, my internal dialog, having
fully explored the issue, has left me with nothing to say here. It doesn't
leave much time to be in the place I'm trying to describe in fiction,
and I've found I really have to be there with my (borrowed) characters
to write anything I'm at all satisfied with.
.p
In 2004 I suspect the ratio of blogging to fiction will again favor
blogging, for two reasons;
.p
Firstly, I think the 2004 election is critical
to the future of our Democracy, and while I personaly might not find
the words, perhaps one of the stories that I link will help convince
you (oh, yes, I mean you,) to register and vote.
(For Clark, or for Dean, or whoever wins he nomination —
frankly it's too early even or me to pay attention.)
.p
Secondly, I find blogging doesn't require the same solitude and concentration
that fiction requires, so instead of hiding away in my office,
I can be in the living room with wife, with the TV in the background
(like right now).
.date
2004