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Spent some time, picked up the last two Espers in Final Fantasy XII (Zodiark certainly gave me a hair-raising experience, but eventually was defeated), and generally futzed around for most of the day. Finished a graphic novel called Teenagers from Mars, which was okay. Some part of the story goes out into weird mode, but then I remembered some similar events, not necessarily to the degree displayed in the book, but there.
Our reports from the Baltimore battleground indicate once again, a heavy firefight around Doctor Football. For a significant part of the contest, Raven Squadron held ground and was gaining advantage, but The Michigan Man engineered a late breakthrough, navigating a pass that only an experienced general could find, much less drive through, and finally broke the Squadron’s lines, sending them into what looked to be a retreat. At a prearranged signal, the Squadron counterattacked, and came within yards of breaching Doctor Football’s defensive line, but the line held, and Raven Squadron was repulsed. Doctor Football is victorious again. After two close battles, however, it appears that the Steel Brigade of Pittsburgh may finally have enough intelligence with which to defeat Doctor Football’s advances. Several worry that if the Steel Brigade should fall, there will be no-one to stop Doctor Football’s rampage across the padded rugby world. Will the Steelers hold? Tune in next week!
In matters significantly more serious, a referendum that would have changed the Venezuelan constitution to permit Hugo Chavez to stand for more elections has failed in a close contest. In addition to permitting Mr. Chavez to continue running for elections, several hundred other constitutional changes were part of the proposed referendum. The defeat sets Mr. Chavez’s ideas back, but it would be unwise to count him out completely. Faring better was Mr. Vladimir Putin, whose party was elected into a majority of the Russian Duma, although not without some controversy over the fairness of the elections. In both cases, we note, the United States was told not to interfere with their election processes. I would hope that we were all grown up enough about votes that we wouldn’t have to worry about interference, but considering how much skullduggery is done in domestic elections, I suppose it’s not surprising if there’s also interference in foreign elections as well.
On the domestic front, the Center for Constitutional Rights would like you, the populace, to sign a nice letter reminding Mr. Bush of his Constitutional responsibilities, and will include, at no charge to you, a copy of the Constitution with your letter for ease of reference.
Bob Schieffer hits the nail on the head with regard to the progress of the "surge" in Iraq - military matters have done well. The political issues have yet to be resolved.
Douglas MacKinnon is interested in one of the potential hot-button issues of the general election coming up - the question of illegal immigration. In his view, America should have a tighter border and more money to local enforcement agents, and that fringe people on the left and right should give way to the sane, levelheaded, rule-of-law-respecting people. Said people are simply afraid that illegal immigrants will be exploited by unscrupulous businessmen looking for lower wages and open passageways for terrorists to enter the country with. MacKinnon would love to see more funding given to local enforcement agencies on border areas so they can police more effectively. I do note that the debates on immigration always tend to focus on the big border between the United States and Central American nations. Rarely do we hear of problems with Canadians sneaking across. I wonder if they ever worry about Americans coming over illegally into Canada to find better health care. So, if the two solutions boil down to:
1) Building a big fence and putting lots of mean people with guns to shoot anybody who gets close to it,
and
2) Trying to find ways of getting the Carribean nations into an acceptable state where they are mostly satisfied with their own country’s economy and opportunities,
then, to me, one looks to be an efficient short-term solution that will eventually fail because ingenuity and sheer number of attempts always trumps firepower, and the other looks to be a viable long-term solution that will require a lot more expenditure, thought, and listening. So if people want the first option, it should be as a holding action, not a permanent solution. But I suspect most will see the first as the permanent solution and the second as a pipe dream. As an initial counterexample, take the reality show "Who Wants to Marry a United States Citizen?". As I said, ingenuity wins out almost every time. The globalization of the economy may have the last laugh, though, depending on who may get tapped to make and distribute the world’s goods.
One can but wince in sympathy after hearing about an attempted reversal of a colostomy that mixed the pipes, putting urine through the colon and fecal matter through his penis. That’s definitely got to hurt. A lot. The error was corrected after twelve days, so thankfully it’s not permanent, but I’ll bet it was painful.
No sympathy, however, for Benjamin Johnson, who claims that he's not gay, his defenders should take the high road, and that if he's not pissing off liberals, he's not doing his job. Confrontational politics and all. Of course, if he takes the traditional Republican stance of “I’m right, and you should obey me”, then this isn’t quite as strange as it looks. Okay, what we were really doing for this segment is marveling at how many more men are saying that Senator Larry Craig had sex with them. Craig still maintains that he is not gay, and that he's still got plenty of service left for Idaho. Well, until all of this shakes out, I guess we won’t get any answers at all. Too bad that the Republican party has painted itself as the super anti-gay party - they could have had a great moment where they welcome their previously-shunned people and worked together on integrating them into society. Alas, that moment will be very far off indeed, and until then, people will still look askance at anyone who claims to be both Republican and homosexual.
If there was no sympathy for the above, there very well might be negative sympathy for the military. With recruitment still a challenge, the Army has decided to offer a new incentive. $40,000 USD will be available toward a home or starting a business, in exchange for five years of military service. Offer only good in select areas. And, supposedly, the college tuition bonuses through the GI bill will also be offered, but if they take the housing bonus to maximum, there won’t be any more room for any other bonuses. Choose wisely. The money will also only be available, supposedly, after the five years have passed, or five years after the end of one’s tour (if one wants the cash straight up.)
Scorn and quiche, however, are reserved for the faces of anyone who tries to make Janguo Liu's claim that married couples are more efficient resource users (a duh moment) into some ringing endorsement of marriage and the need for people to get together and stay together. So, Fox Noise, when can we schedule an appropriate time for hot pastry delivery? The logic really is that when you put multiple people together, they share costs and benefits of their dwelling space. The heat heats all, the lights provide brightness for all, and so forth. Nothing special about marriage in it.
In technology, MP3 without DRM may be the dominant mode soon, after Wal-Mart makes demands to its suppliers that they provide such for walmart.com, and other promotion possibilities might mean that businesses manage to finally convince the cabals of what the users have been trying to say for many years - stop screwing with our music that we paid for.
I have no idea about context, but the following image appears to be Guitar Hero being played on a Commodore 64 machine. It could certainly work, I just wonder what it sounds like. Something more practical is NEC's spoken-Japanese to English-text cell-phone chip, which might make it possible for a tourist to communicate with people, even if in a somewhat rudimentary way, without having to fumble around in English, or if there isn’t quite the right English phrase for it. That might be a handy thing to do in reverse to several other languages - sell international cell phones with language translation abilities. Of course, the problem is when someone responds in their native language. If you can’t speak it, understanding it would also be tough. Ramping up the potential danger and the cool stuff, a time-lapse, color-filtered photo of a Tesla VEWPRF tree. Or rather, the time-lapse, color-filtered photo that turns a Tesla coil’s sparks into a VEWPRF tree. The best gadget tonight, however, may be the smallest one, a ThumbThing that assists in holding books open.
Next-to-last for tonight are some things about our happiness. One of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
theweaselking‘s finds involves the hole in everyone's life, which some people try to fill with various things. From, there, to The Happiness Project, where His Holiness the Dalai Lama reminds us that helping one's fellow eases one's own internal suffering. Suffering itself may not diminish, but the way we experience it changes. In such, charitable doing might be much better than charitable giving. For those wondering about possible VEWPRF giving, luxuriant hot chocolate might be a good idea. And it’ll probably be cheaper to buy your ingredients and learn to make your own, because place in New York and elsewhere will probably charge you at least $5 for a glass.
Last for tonight, however, is A Big List of Sites That Teach You How To Do Stuff. For those moments when your DIY instincts take over, or you really want to know how to replicate someone’s cool project or effect or thought. Have fun.
Our reports from the Baltimore battleground indicate once again, a heavy firefight around Doctor Football. For a significant part of the contest, Raven Squadron held ground and was gaining advantage, but The Michigan Man engineered a late breakthrough, navigating a pass that only an experienced general could find, much less drive through, and finally broke the Squadron’s lines, sending them into what looked to be a retreat. At a prearranged signal, the Squadron counterattacked, and came within yards of breaching Doctor Football’s defensive line, but the line held, and Raven Squadron was repulsed. Doctor Football is victorious again. After two close battles, however, it appears that the Steel Brigade of Pittsburgh may finally have enough intelligence with which to defeat Doctor Football’s advances. Several worry that if the Steel Brigade should fall, there will be no-one to stop Doctor Football’s rampage across the padded rugby world. Will the Steelers hold? Tune in next week!
In matters significantly more serious, a referendum that would have changed the Venezuelan constitution to permit Hugo Chavez to stand for more elections has failed in a close contest. In addition to permitting Mr. Chavez to continue running for elections, several hundred other constitutional changes were part of the proposed referendum. The defeat sets Mr. Chavez’s ideas back, but it would be unwise to count him out completely. Faring better was Mr. Vladimir Putin, whose party was elected into a majority of the Russian Duma, although not without some controversy over the fairness of the elections. In both cases, we note, the United States was told not to interfere with their election processes. I would hope that we were all grown up enough about votes that we wouldn’t have to worry about interference, but considering how much skullduggery is done in domestic elections, I suppose it’s not surprising if there’s also interference in foreign elections as well.
On the domestic front, the Center for Constitutional Rights would like you, the populace, to sign a nice letter reminding Mr. Bush of his Constitutional responsibilities, and will include, at no charge to you, a copy of the Constitution with your letter for ease of reference.
Bob Schieffer hits the nail on the head with regard to the progress of the "surge" in Iraq - military matters have done well. The political issues have yet to be resolved.
Douglas MacKinnon is interested in one of the potential hot-button issues of the general election coming up - the question of illegal immigration. In his view, America should have a tighter border and more money to local enforcement agents, and that fringe people on the left and right should give way to the sane, levelheaded, rule-of-law-respecting people. Said people are simply afraid that illegal immigrants will be exploited by unscrupulous businessmen looking for lower wages and open passageways for terrorists to enter the country with. MacKinnon would love to see more funding given to local enforcement agencies on border areas so they can police more effectively. I do note that the debates on immigration always tend to focus on the big border between the United States and Central American nations. Rarely do we hear of problems with Canadians sneaking across. I wonder if they ever worry about Americans coming over illegally into Canada to find better health care. So, if the two solutions boil down to:
1) Building a big fence and putting lots of mean people with guns to shoot anybody who gets close to it,
and
2) Trying to find ways of getting the Carribean nations into an acceptable state where they are mostly satisfied with their own country’s economy and opportunities,
then, to me, one looks to be an efficient short-term solution that will eventually fail because ingenuity and sheer number of attempts always trumps firepower, and the other looks to be a viable long-term solution that will require a lot more expenditure, thought, and listening. So if people want the first option, it should be as a holding action, not a permanent solution. But I suspect most will see the first as the permanent solution and the second as a pipe dream. As an initial counterexample, take the reality show "Who Wants to Marry a United States Citizen?". As I said, ingenuity wins out almost every time. The globalization of the economy may have the last laugh, though, depending on who may get tapped to make and distribute the world’s goods.
One can but wince in sympathy after hearing about an attempted reversal of a colostomy that mixed the pipes, putting urine through the colon and fecal matter through his penis. That’s definitely got to hurt. A lot. The error was corrected after twelve days, so thankfully it’s not permanent, but I’ll bet it was painful.
No sympathy, however, for Benjamin Johnson, who claims that he's not gay, his defenders should take the high road, and that if he's not pissing off liberals, he's not doing his job. Confrontational politics and all. Of course, if he takes the traditional Republican stance of “I’m right, and you should obey me”, then this isn’t quite as strange as it looks. Okay, what we were really doing for this segment is marveling at how many more men are saying that Senator Larry Craig had sex with them. Craig still maintains that he is not gay, and that he's still got plenty of service left for Idaho. Well, until all of this shakes out, I guess we won’t get any answers at all. Too bad that the Republican party has painted itself as the super anti-gay party - they could have had a great moment where they welcome their previously-shunned people and worked together on integrating them into society. Alas, that moment will be very far off indeed, and until then, people will still look askance at anyone who claims to be both Republican and homosexual.
If there was no sympathy for the above, there very well might be negative sympathy for the military. With recruitment still a challenge, the Army has decided to offer a new incentive. $40,000 USD will be available toward a home or starting a business, in exchange for five years of military service. Offer only good in select areas. And, supposedly, the college tuition bonuses through the GI bill will also be offered, but if they take the housing bonus to maximum, there won’t be any more room for any other bonuses. Choose wisely. The money will also only be available, supposedly, after the five years have passed, or five years after the end of one’s tour (if one wants the cash straight up.)
Scorn and quiche, however, are reserved for the faces of anyone who tries to make Janguo Liu's claim that married couples are more efficient resource users (a duh moment) into some ringing endorsement of marriage and the need for people to get together and stay together. So, Fox Noise, when can we schedule an appropriate time for hot pastry delivery? The logic really is that when you put multiple people together, they share costs and benefits of their dwelling space. The heat heats all, the lights provide brightness for all, and so forth. Nothing special about marriage in it.
In technology, MP3 without DRM may be the dominant mode soon, after Wal-Mart makes demands to its suppliers that they provide such for walmart.com, and other promotion possibilities might mean that businesses manage to finally convince the cabals of what the users have been trying to say for many years - stop screwing with our music that we paid for.
I have no idea about context, but the following image appears to be Guitar Hero being played on a Commodore 64 machine. It could certainly work, I just wonder what it sounds like. Something more practical is NEC's spoken-Japanese to English-text cell-phone chip, which might make it possible for a tourist to communicate with people, even if in a somewhat rudimentary way, without having to fumble around in English, or if there isn’t quite the right English phrase for it. That might be a handy thing to do in reverse to several other languages - sell international cell phones with language translation abilities. Of course, the problem is when someone responds in their native language. If you can’t speak it, understanding it would also be tough. Ramping up the potential danger and the cool stuff, a time-lapse, color-filtered photo of a Tesla VEWPRF tree. Or rather, the time-lapse, color-filtered photo that turns a Tesla coil’s sparks into a VEWPRF tree. The best gadget tonight, however, may be the smallest one, a ThumbThing that assists in holding books open.
Next-to-last for tonight are some things about our happiness. One of
theweaselking‘s finds involves the hole in everyone's life, which some people try to fill with various things. From, there, to The Happiness Project, where His Holiness the Dalai Lama reminds us that helping one's fellow eases one's own internal suffering. Suffering itself may not diminish, but the way we experience it changes. In such, charitable doing might be much better than charitable giving. For those wondering about possible VEWPRF giving, luxuriant hot chocolate might be a good idea. And it’ll probably be cheaper to buy your ingredients and learn to make your own, because place in New York and elsewhere will probably charge you at least $5 for a glass. Last for tonight, however, is A Big List of Sites That Teach You How To Do Stuff. For those moments when your DIY instincts take over, or you really want to know how to replicate someone’s cool project or effect or thought. Have fun.
