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silveradeptSaturday started early, as required - to get up and listen to one’s padded rugby squad. After an extraordinarily shaky start, the defence decided to make matters easier for the offence by intercepting passes and forcing fumbles. The offence, with their regular guide at the helm was then able to effectively move the ball down the field. The field goal kicker, however, needs practice. Lots of practice. From there, the day was wide open. Took a razor to my face to reduce growth to clean-shaven. Got a haircut to reduce the mop on top to something more manageable, and then went and played games for most of the day. I don’t think I’ve won a board game there yet, which means my Catan streak of 0-fer is still intact, and I’ve just added on more games to the list of ones I’ve played and not yet had victory at. I’m beginning to wonder whether winning Catan is like ascending in Nethack - rare event where things have to settle in just so for you to make it all the way through.
Spoiler Warning. A list of the endings of movies. Of course, you’d have to have seen the movie to know which spoiler applies where, but it is a list of spoilers. (I’m sure I’ve linked this before.) In this same vein of context-less quotes, although with hopefully a little more context, American Samidzat offers a sampling of what has appeared in the OVO blog in September. All of this sort of filters down to a bedrock truth that Peggy Noonan has - America is a country where even the people who are ideologically opposed to you should be allowed to speak, and should be spoken with. By closing yourself off to only those sympathetic to your point of view, you stop being able to grow and address flaws in them. Thus, someone explaining why they think Ron Paul is a Dominionist Christian posing as a libertarian is permitted to air those thoughts and see if other people find flaws in them. Which the commenters do, in the logic and conclusions drawn, despite agreeing that Ron Paul is not a candidate that any of them would want in the Presidential office. That said, four prominent Republican candidates skipped a debate that was supposedly tailored toward African-American issues, and I can hear a reprise of the idea that “Republicans don’t care about black people” coming out of this.
International news ahoy - The United Nations is delaying any action on stricter sanctions for Iran until November, citing the need to hammer out just what sanctions and progress would entail. Additionally, Iran and Venezuela cemented an economic alliance aimed at disrupting United States influence. Unrelated to nuclear ambitions, a court in Iran has sentenced a mother to death by stoning for having an extramarital affair. If I were looking for measures of social progress, that might be one good place to start. Yet, at the same time, going to war with Iran could be disaster for the United States by giving the current administration sufficient ammunition and justification to cement their hold and grab for even more power beyond the Constitution.
United States forces say they've killed another senior al-Qaeda official. Which no doubt gives them more victory points, in their own assessment. The OpinionJournal offers Frederick Kagan’s opinion on why we can start saying “win” in Iraq: by being able to protect the populous, it becomes easier to turn people toward your ideology. Which is well and fine, but recall that we can’t hold this level of involvement forever, not without many more recruits to replace those who will have their tours expire. To that end, the Navy has called the upcoming generation of potential recruits a "somewhat alien life form", and laughably attempts to provide translations and such so the recruiters can speak the lingo of the young. The report mentions that the new generation’s not real interested in military careers, because they want college and because there’s a war going on. They also go out of their way to insult the generation by calling them a “coddled” generation that has heard nothing but praise from the beginning. Way to recruit, boys.
Army sniper acquitted of murder, convicted on charge of planting evidence. “Oops, sorry, honest mistake that you killed an innocent. Shame on you for trying to justify that he was someone who needed to be killed.” Makes me wonder how many other innocents may have been killed in this manner, and not brought up on charges.
Fearing for potential fallout after a nuclear-armed terror attack, Huntsville, Alabama is reopening, renovating, and expanding fallout shelters. Such that one of their largest can hold 20,000 people, and other buildings can hold more than 30,000. If it happens, they feel prepared. Although I still wonder whether anyone could outrun a properly executed nuclear detonation to make it to the fallout shelters. The government would like us not to worry about that, though, crowing about a successful test of a missile defence system.
Going into technology, perhaps something that is a doll fetishist’s dream - an advertisement has been set up that allows users to dress-up a Japanese supermodel hologram in various outfits. The advertisement is for the clothing line, obviously, but this may be more useful for the curious to see three-dimensional advertisements... and the joys of putting clothes on someone, possibly in good combinations, possibly in really bad ones.
A potential warning to all persons who have electronic locks on their cars - the system that car manufacturers buy remote entry from has a flaw in it - it can be listened to. And the crypto on most cars is about 20 years old, That said, the time it takes to hack the locks is about an hour, as opposed to the seconds the more percussive methods take. But for stealing the things inside cars, rather than the cars themselves, that hour’s time to make master electronic keys may be very well spent.
Something much more infuriating, though - Apple's latest iPhone firmware update renders unlocked and hacked iPhones into paperweights. Some unchanged iPhones are also suffering, but that cry of rage you heard was all the people who bought iPhones intending to make them better and now have found that their money was wasted. Maybe I’m missing something here, but what business is it of Apple’s to regulate how consumers use their products? If you want to try and scare people away, you can withdraw support or refuse to update with the presence of hacking, but deliberately bricking products because you don’t like that they’ve been unlocked for use by other carriers? That’s low, **AA sort of low. That might be on par with seizing $59,000 of an undocumented worker's savings because he didn't know that he had to declare sums over $10,000 at customs - and then not giving any of it back after determining that he's not part of the drug trade.As the Slacktivist says, if you're seizing the life savings of a minimum-wage dishwasher, then something's gone wrong, and you're an asshole for doing so. Continuing in the vein of “Asshole!” with what may very well qualify them for one of the Worst People in the World today (and for as long as they continue to enforce this policy) are the brilliant minds that decided that there would be no bags or purses in their school, because the prisoners there are all potential shooters. A policy that bans bags, however, tends to have problematic effects when women need to carry feminine hygeine products. So apparently, they amended the plan - okay, you can have bags, but only if you’re on your period. Yep, single them out and then ask them if they’re bleeding any time they have a bag with them. The students have said, “Fuck that noise.” and have worn said products on their shirts, or made necklaces out of them, to protest this unfairness. Plus, it must be very difficult taking one’s books home to do homework with, if no bags are allowed in school. This particular policy is right on par with the one that requires a four-year-old to take her hood down because of the park's policies. And quite possibly the requirement for the King of the World MMO that those wishing to play female characters must prove their gender through web camera methods. Closing out the Idiots and Assholes file for tonight is John McCain reaffirming his unworthiness to be president by saying that the United States would do better with a Christian president than a Muslim one.
Seventeen pounds, one ounce. That’s the weight of a Siberian woman’s 12th child, more than ten pounds heavier than what the World Health Organization determines to be the average weight for healthy newborns. I’m assuming that someone has already covering some sort of angle about how strong Russian women make strong Russian babies.
I don’t know who pays attention to this in the media, but apparently the recent parity between Canadian and the United States dollars is apparently making marijauna purchases more expensive, possibly dropping supply from America and making it harder to find good pot to buy. According to a Government Accountability Office study done, though, the border with Canada is a bit porous. Lacking personnel, having a bigger border, and not feeling that there’s a big threat coming from Canada probably contributed to that.
World's largest scrap metal sculpture, Forevertron. Cooooool. Things potentially as confusing, but not made of scrap metal, are curious signs photographed by various BBC News viewers.
I may now have to be concerned about a University of Arizona program that purports to be able to track terrorist writers by their styles. Considering how many times people around me proudly declare “I am a terrorist!”, and how easily I may fit the justification, even just by saying things critical to the war effort, does that mean I’ll get a visit from investigators on a wild-goose chase soon? And then I can tell them that their program must be in error, which will be a sight and a half because I don’t think anyone there will believe the program really is in error until there are plenty more wild-goose chases done.
Right, bed. Have some things to procure tomorrow, and then, quite possibly, a lot of expenses to incur this week. I think the bank account can weather the storm and come out with a reasonable balance. I just may have to figure in things I didn’t expect to have to take control of this quickly. I’m pretty sure I can handle it. Of course, I may be freaking out over nothing at all, and that my salary will be able to handle this without difficulty. *exhalation* Time will tell. (And if someone could kick out or tone down the voice in my head that says I have to save every penny I can and not spend anything on anything that isn’t absolutely essential until I have a large amount of reserves, I’d aprreciate it.) So, yeah, bedtime.
Spoiler Warning. A list of the endings of movies. Of course, you’d have to have seen the movie to know which spoiler applies where, but it is a list of spoilers. (I’m sure I’ve linked this before.) In this same vein of context-less quotes, although with hopefully a little more context, American Samidzat offers a sampling of what has appeared in the OVO blog in September. All of this sort of filters down to a bedrock truth that Peggy Noonan has - America is a country where even the people who are ideologically opposed to you should be allowed to speak, and should be spoken with. By closing yourself off to only those sympathetic to your point of view, you stop being able to grow and address flaws in them. Thus, someone explaining why they think Ron Paul is a Dominionist Christian posing as a libertarian is permitted to air those thoughts and see if other people find flaws in them. Which the commenters do, in the logic and conclusions drawn, despite agreeing that Ron Paul is not a candidate that any of them would want in the Presidential office. That said, four prominent Republican candidates skipped a debate that was supposedly tailored toward African-American issues, and I can hear a reprise of the idea that “Republicans don’t care about black people” coming out of this.
International news ahoy - The United Nations is delaying any action on stricter sanctions for Iran until November, citing the need to hammer out just what sanctions and progress would entail. Additionally, Iran and Venezuela cemented an economic alliance aimed at disrupting United States influence. Unrelated to nuclear ambitions, a court in Iran has sentenced a mother to death by stoning for having an extramarital affair. If I were looking for measures of social progress, that might be one good place to start. Yet, at the same time, going to war with Iran could be disaster for the United States by giving the current administration sufficient ammunition and justification to cement their hold and grab for even more power beyond the Constitution.
United States forces say they've killed another senior al-Qaeda official. Which no doubt gives them more victory points, in their own assessment. The OpinionJournal offers Frederick Kagan’s opinion on why we can start saying “win” in Iraq: by being able to protect the populous, it becomes easier to turn people toward your ideology. Which is well and fine, but recall that we can’t hold this level of involvement forever, not without many more recruits to replace those who will have their tours expire. To that end, the Navy has called the upcoming generation of potential recruits a "somewhat alien life form", and laughably attempts to provide translations and such so the recruiters can speak the lingo of the young. The report mentions that the new generation’s not real interested in military careers, because they want college and because there’s a war going on. They also go out of their way to insult the generation by calling them a “coddled” generation that has heard nothing but praise from the beginning. Way to recruit, boys.
Army sniper acquitted of murder, convicted on charge of planting evidence. “Oops, sorry, honest mistake that you killed an innocent. Shame on you for trying to justify that he was someone who needed to be killed.” Makes me wonder how many other innocents may have been killed in this manner, and not brought up on charges.
Fearing for potential fallout after a nuclear-armed terror attack, Huntsville, Alabama is reopening, renovating, and expanding fallout shelters. Such that one of their largest can hold 20,000 people, and other buildings can hold more than 30,000. If it happens, they feel prepared. Although I still wonder whether anyone could outrun a properly executed nuclear detonation to make it to the fallout shelters. The government would like us not to worry about that, though, crowing about a successful test of a missile defence system.
Going into technology, perhaps something that is a doll fetishist’s dream - an advertisement has been set up that allows users to dress-up a Japanese supermodel hologram in various outfits. The advertisement is for the clothing line, obviously, but this may be more useful for the curious to see three-dimensional advertisements... and the joys of putting clothes on someone, possibly in good combinations, possibly in really bad ones.
A potential warning to all persons who have electronic locks on their cars - the system that car manufacturers buy remote entry from has a flaw in it - it can be listened to. And the crypto on most cars is about 20 years old, That said, the time it takes to hack the locks is about an hour, as opposed to the seconds the more percussive methods take. But for stealing the things inside cars, rather than the cars themselves, that hour’s time to make master electronic keys may be very well spent.
Something much more infuriating, though - Apple's latest iPhone firmware update renders unlocked and hacked iPhones into paperweights. Some unchanged iPhones are also suffering, but that cry of rage you heard was all the people who bought iPhones intending to make them better and now have found that their money was wasted. Maybe I’m missing something here, but what business is it of Apple’s to regulate how consumers use their products? If you want to try and scare people away, you can withdraw support or refuse to update with the presence of hacking, but deliberately bricking products because you don’t like that they’ve been unlocked for use by other carriers? That’s low, **AA sort of low. That might be on par with seizing $59,000 of an undocumented worker's savings because he didn't know that he had to declare sums over $10,000 at customs - and then not giving any of it back after determining that he's not part of the drug trade.As the Slacktivist says, if you're seizing the life savings of a minimum-wage dishwasher, then something's gone wrong, and you're an asshole for doing so. Continuing in the vein of “Asshole!” with what may very well qualify them for one of the Worst People in the World today (and for as long as they continue to enforce this policy) are the brilliant minds that decided that there would be no bags or purses in their school, because the prisoners there are all potential shooters. A policy that bans bags, however, tends to have problematic effects when women need to carry feminine hygeine products. So apparently, they amended the plan - okay, you can have bags, but only if you’re on your period. Yep, single them out and then ask them if they’re bleeding any time they have a bag with them. The students have said, “Fuck that noise.” and have worn said products on their shirts, or made necklaces out of them, to protest this unfairness. Plus, it must be very difficult taking one’s books home to do homework with, if no bags are allowed in school. This particular policy is right on par with the one that requires a four-year-old to take her hood down because of the park's policies. And quite possibly the requirement for the King of the World MMO that those wishing to play female characters must prove their gender through web camera methods. Closing out the Idiots and Assholes file for tonight is John McCain reaffirming his unworthiness to be president by saying that the United States would do better with a Christian president than a Muslim one.
Seventeen pounds, one ounce. That’s the weight of a Siberian woman’s 12th child, more than ten pounds heavier than what the World Health Organization determines to be the average weight for healthy newborns. I’m assuming that someone has already covering some sort of angle about how strong Russian women make strong Russian babies.
I don’t know who pays attention to this in the media, but apparently the recent parity between Canadian and the United States dollars is apparently making marijauna purchases more expensive, possibly dropping supply from America and making it harder to find good pot to buy. According to a Government Accountability Office study done, though, the border with Canada is a bit porous. Lacking personnel, having a bigger border, and not feeling that there’s a big threat coming from Canada probably contributed to that.
World's largest scrap metal sculpture, Forevertron. Cooooool. Things potentially as confusing, but not made of scrap metal, are curious signs photographed by various BBC News viewers.
I may now have to be concerned about a University of Arizona program that purports to be able to track terrorist writers by their styles. Considering how many times people around me proudly declare “I am a terrorist!”, and how easily I may fit the justification, even just by saying things critical to the war effort, does that mean I’ll get a visit from investigators on a wild-goose chase soon? And then I can tell them that their program must be in error, which will be a sight and a half because I don’t think anyone there will believe the program really is in error until there are plenty more wild-goose chases done.
Right, bed. Have some things to procure tomorrow, and then, quite possibly, a lot of expenses to incur this week. I think the bank account can weather the storm and come out with a reasonable balance. I just may have to figure in things I didn’t expect to have to take control of this quickly. I’m pretty sure I can handle it. Of course, I may be freaking out over nothing at all, and that my salary will be able to handle this without difficulty. *exhalation* Time will tell. (And if someone could kick out or tone down the voice in my head that says I have to save every penny I can and not spend anything on anything that isn’t absolutely essential until I have a large amount of reserves, I’d aprreciate it.) So, yeah, bedtime.
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-30 11:55 am (UTC)On the other hand, there's an awful lot of expansions which can jigger this up... ¬¬
no subject
Date: 2007-09-30 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-30 03:01 pm (UTC)You can NOT single out underage girls and demand to know whether they're sexually mature. To do so, depending on local laws, can probably be prosecuted as sexual assault.
As for banning bags... I recall a school that a friend's child went to instituted a similar rule shortly after Columbine, except they were allowing transparent bags. So students protested by having their pads, tampons, vibrators, issues of maxim, etc. deliberately placed where they would be in full view of everyone. The policy didn't last long.
In my last two years of high school they had turned one of the buildings into a middle school but, due to a failed bond issue, were unable to open the sister high school that they had just built. So Chippewa Valley High School had about 3000 students jammed into a building that was coded for 1500, and the hallways were so packed in between classes that it was literally impossible to visit a locker and still be on time to one's next class. Some people were just perpetually late; I handled it by carrying all of my books at all times and never using the locker. A bag ban would have been impossible. Not that they wouldn't have tried it, of course.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-30 04:13 pm (UTC)I do like the idea of bringing all the things one would normally have in the bag and putting them on display for all to see, some potentially specially-purchased just for that.
And regarding the crowding issue, wow. There had to be some violation of law somewhere to put twice as many students as the school could reasonably fit. A bag ban in that time really would have been impossible to enforce. Again, not that they wouldn't try it, and thin out some of the people at school through arbitrary suspensions.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-30 06:18 pm (UTC)Fascinating: they worked out a way to do exactly what TSA wants them to do and call their conformation a "rebellion."
The way George Orwell must be spinning in his grave, we could turn his coffin into an electrical turbine and power San Diego.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-30 06:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-30 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-30 11:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-01 04:27 am (UTC)I think policies like this, while not intending to target girls, really do. Asking a teenage girl if she has her period is mortifying. Most teenage girls don't even want their fathers and brothers to know when it's going on, let alone a school security guard.
As much as I think the pencil case rule sucked when that article was posted,I'd rather see THAT in schools than a "you can only carry a bag if you're on the rag" policy.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-01 04:34 am (UTC)Oh, and one more comment on the whole "rag bag" thing. Most teenage girls aren't on a regular 28-day guarenteed cycle, unless they've been put on BC. When girls are first starting menstruation it can take several months to develop a regular cycle, sometimes even longer, and sometimes a regular cycle never happens. Having the ability to keep an emergency pad in your backpack at school can save you (or a friend!) who starts bleeding at an inopportune time. Taking that ability away is rather unhygienic.