Using Bees To Effect Vengeance

I get to be as self-indulgent as I want without wasting anyone's time. Guilt-free solipsism -- excellent!

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Tuesday, September 23, 2003
 
Bush Shrugs Off Democrats, Attacks:

"'I appreciate people's opinions, but I'm more interested in news,' the president said. 'And the best way to get the news is from objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what's happening in the world.'"

Bwahahah. Ahahahhahahah. Hahaahaahahahahahaaaaa. [stops. absorbs. zoom in on tear silently rolling down cheek.]

If he's serious about this, then he will lose the election. He's surrounded by ideologues (and Karl Rove). Actually, this "insulation" explains a lot.

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Friday, September 19, 2003
 
If I were using Movable Type for this blog, I'd create a category called Squirreliana. The latest distinguished addition to the ranks is courtesy of ToT, whom I'm looking forward to meeting at the ACLFest this weekend.

Anyway, without further ado: Touched by a Squirrel

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Radiohead Rorschach. Jeff, I wonder how your kids would like Radiohead?

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Skype

"Skype is the next phenomenon from the people who brought you KaZaA. Just like KaZaA, Skype uses P2P (peer-to-peer) technology to connect you to other users. – not to share files this time, but to talk for free with your friends.

The technology is extremely advanced - but super simple to use... You’ll be making perfect quality free phone calls to your friends in no time!"


I downloaded it after being intrigued by the rampant enthusiasm for it on Unbound Spiral. It seems to work on my circa 1998 Windows98 laptop, but I don't know anyone who has it so I haven't called anyone (cough).

I also don't have a microphone but apparently you can plug headphones into the Mic jack and that'll work fine.

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Thursday, September 18, 2003
 
Mistakes of Vietnam repeated with Iraq

Vietnam vet and former U.S Senator Max Cleland does not pull any punches with this one. The point that jumped out at me:

"If you adopt the strategy of pre-emptive war, your intelligence must be not just "darn good," as the president has said; it must be "bulletproof," as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed the administration's was against Saddam Hussein."


I have to say, I had no doubt whatsover that Saddam had chemical weapons. Looks like I was wrong. [via Daily Kos]

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addyourown: New York restaurants and reviews

Be sure to add your favorite to the list -- it's very easy (and as we all know, that's the key).

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Wednesday, September 17, 2003
 
Dean Campaign Announces Major Endorsement. I love this. No other campaign has this type of sensibility -- the other candidates can launch blogs all day long and not get there.

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Monday, September 15, 2003
 
Why don't we reframe the conflict in the Middle East as "two-staters vs. totalizers" -- because that is the salient difference here. Most Israelis and most Palestinians are in favor of a two-state solution. They therefore share a common interest in bringing about an independent Palestinian state and making Israel feel secure about that development.

The two-staters are not the ones blowing up buses in Tel Aviv or deliberately settling occupied West Bank territory. The ones doing the damage and inflaming passions on both sides are the totalizers, for whom any two-state solution is an unacceptable sellout. Israeli and Palestinian totalizers share a common interest in preventing a two-state solution and in perpetuating a winner-take-all conflict.

Statesmen like Abbas and Peres work to make the two-state solution a reality, in the face of suicide bombings, house razings, inflammatory actions by both sides. Of course there is ground that needs to be bridged, but both camps acknowledge the need for two states at peace with one another.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad are committed totalizers -- that's why the roadmap was doomed to failure. These organizations have absolutely no incentive to advance the peace process by refraining from terror. Therefore they have no incentive to help Abbas, Qureia or anyone else create the conditions for a two-state solution. I believe the only reason they even agreed to a ceasefire was so that they could wreck it ignominiously, driving more frustrated and angry civilians on both sides into the totalizer camp. Hamas and the Israeli hawks need one another -- they feed off of the other's provocation. Hamas loves it when Israel kills little Palestinian kids while trying to take out a terrorist...it just drives more Palestinians into the totalizer category.

Men like Sharon and Arafat? Both of them claim to be two-staters, but their actions belie that designation. That's the heart of the problem. The Palestinian Authority has to crack down on Hamas, Al-Aqsa and Islamic Jihad. Israel has to empower the PA to do so. Neither Sharon nor Arafat are committed to making these two things happen.

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MADONNA'S QUESTION: WHO'S ENID BLYTON?. This is an entirely unacceptable oversight. Pull your finger out, Madge! [via tmftml]

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Dozens of covers of "Summertime" for download.

Unless you read Russian, you'll want to mouseover each link to and check your browser's status bar to see who the artist is. [via aprendiz de todo]

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Friday, September 12, 2003

Thursday, September 11, 2003
 
Study Finds WTC Fires Spewed Toxic Gases for Weeks

Ah. I worked a few blocks from there, and it would've been nice to know that at the time. You see, because now I may have sulfuric acid, "carcinogenic organic matter" (i.e bits of dead people?), and undissolvable particles of glass in my bloodstream, heart, and lungs.

The EPA says they were pressured to delete cautionary statements from their reports at the time.

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The September 11 Digital Archive.

And on a more personal note: this.

I don't think I ever did post the story of my experiences on that day.

Update: By the way, I've never taken down the MP3 of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell blaming gays, lesbians, feminists, atheists, ACLU, People For the American Way etc. for 9.11. I wanted to make sure that anyone Googling for it could find it. I'm happy to say I do get the occasional hit from people looking for it. You can listen to it again here.

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Wednesday, September 10, 2003
 
Glenn Tilbrook's next album will include collaborations with Elvis Costello and Chris Difford, plus a cover of a song by Austin's own Cornell Hurd Band (!)

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Scrabblog. Yes! Finally a reason for my *other* grandmother to get online!

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AccuRadio.com -- pretty well-put-together online radio station. I'm listening to the Brit Rock stream right now. [via large hearted boy]

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RIAA settles with 12-year-old girl

I hope the record company conglomerates feel better now that they've gotten $2,000 bucks out of a woman who lives in an NYC housing project. Given the enormous impact that $2,000 will have on the RIAA's coffers and the drop-in-the-bucket it represents to Ms. Torres and her 12-year-old honor student daughter, it seems like a fair and equitable settlement for sharing your J-Lo MP3s on Kazaa. Great PR too. Go get 'em guys!

Update: a P2P group will pick up the tab for Ms. Torres.

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Some fun optical illusions. Good for re-setting a deadened brain...mental palate cleansers. [via boing boing]

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Tuesday, September 09, 2003
 
Josh Marshall over at Talking Points Memo has been on-point lately, especially with the analogy he draws between Rumsfeld's "Bush critics aid the terrorists" meme and the infamous "stab-in-the-back" meme that helped undermine the Weimar Republic after WWI.

It's straight-up cynical bullshit, folks -- and I think it has to be disgusting quite a few moderate Republicans as well.

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Monday, September 08, 2003
 
Democrats Split on Pushing the Personal or the Political

When Esquire ran photos of each major Democratic candidate with their families, Dean chose to be surrounded by campaign interns, citing a desire to keep his family out of things. His wife doesn't even accompany him to many political functions -- he's escorted by Evan Bayh's wife instead (which is pretty weird, I must say).

Personally, I much prefer Dean's style of keeping his personal life in the background. As a marketer, I'm hyper-aware of the political calculus behind trotting out your personal tragedies or playing up your Perfect Nuclear Family for the cameras, and it makes me feel ill to see it. I respect someone who refuses to pimp out his personal life much more than someone for whom it's all election fodder.

Then again, I don't need to feel like my President could be my best friend, or that large corporations whose products I purchase have to somehow care deeply about me as an individual despite never having met me (and how does one meet a corporation anyway?).

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Stop the FCC. As MoveOn.org says, "This is the big one." Add your name to the email petition.

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Thursday, September 04, 2003
 
Thanks to FutureMe.org, I can send an email to myself in the future. I'm almost overwhelmed at all the things I want to say to then-me.

Should I carefully document my current emotional state, my hopes and my fears, so I can look back on now-me with wistfulness/pity/fondness/envy? Should I say something whimsical? When considering what to write, should I prioritize what I want to write about now or what I'd want to read about then? How far into the future should I email myself? A year? Twenty years? Sixty years?

Isn't this blog just one big email to my future self?

What will go in your email to your future self?

P.S -- It's interesting to see how others have treated the opportunity. [via TMN]

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