:: Venting Insanity ::

:: Saturday, August 21, 2004 ::

on this day
On Aug. 21, 1959, President Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union.

Happy birthday, Hawaii... or is it anniversary? ~_^

snapple "real fact" #231
Detroit has the greatest number of registered bowlers in the U.S.

:: Thursday, August 19, 2004 ::

an apology
I got this via e-mail the other day. Felt the need to share.


An Apology

For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue. On the one hand, right thinking Americans will abhor the stupidity of the actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion this minor event into some modern day Ma Lai massacre.

Some Arabs are asking for an apology. I humbly offer mine here:

I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth, it was in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.).

I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after 9/11.

I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Arabs.

I am sorry that Arabs have to live in squalor under savage dictatorships.

I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth.

I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious schools.


I am sorry that Yasir Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and high jacked the Palestinian"cause".


I am sorry that no other Arab country will take in or offer more than a token amount of financial help to those same Palestinians.

I am sorry that the USA has to step in and be the biggest financial supporter of poverty stricken Arabs, while the insanely wealthy Arabs blame the USA.

I am sorry that our own left wing elite and our media can't understand any of this.

I am sorry the United Nations scammed the poor people of Iraq out of the "food for oil" money so they could get rich while the common folk suffered.

I am sorry that some Arab governments pay the families of homicide bombers upon their death.

I am sorry that the homicide bombers think babies are a legitimate target.

I am sorry that our troops died to free more Arabs.

I am sorry they stopped the gang rape rooms and the filling of mass graves of dissidents.

I am sorry they show so much restraint when their brothers in arms are killed.

I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more Arabs than any other group.

I am sorry that foreign trained terrorists are trying to seize control of Iraq and return it to a terrorist state.

I am sorry we don't drop a few dozen Daisy cutters on Fallujah.

I am sorry every time terrorists hide they find a convenient "Holy Site".

I am sorry they didn't apologize for driving a jet into the World Trade Center that collapsed and severely damaged Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church - one of our Holy Sites.

I am sorry they didn't apologize for flight 93 and 175, the USS Cole, the embassy bombings, etc.

I am sorry Michael Moore is American; he could feed a medium sized village in Africa.

America will get past this latest absurdity. We will punish those responsible, because that is what we do. We hang out our dirty laundry for all the world to see. We move on. That's one of the reasons we are hated so much. We don't hide this stuff like all those Arab countries that are now demanding an apology.

Deep down inside, when most Americans saw this reported in the news, we were like - so what? We lost hundreds and made fun of a few prisoners. Sure, it was wrong, sure, it dramatically hurts our cause, but until captured they were trying to kill us and we were trying to kill them. Now we're supposed to wring our hands because a few were humiliated? Our compassion is tempered with the vivid memories of our own people killed, mutilated and burned amongst a joyous crowd of celebrating
Fallujans.

If you want an apology from this American, you're going to have a long wait. You have a better chance of finding those 72 virgins.

snapple "real fact" #395
It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

baby jokes are tiresome
Babies and Bath Water

While children have long been used in political ads to represent the future, many of the MoveOn entries use them to satirize the actual candidate. Several of the proposed anti-Bush commercials use kids to condemn the president for unsophisticated thinking, for an infantile worldview, for the fact that his daddy purchased his every big break and for the fact that he is desperately beholden to the wealthy and powerful grown-ups surrounding him. The clear message is that Bush is more a child than an adult.

What's wrong with continuing efforts to characterize Mr. Bush as a not-particularly-smart third grader? For one thing, it plays to every stereotype of liberals as snotty know-it-alls who think everyone in a red state is anti-intellectual or simple-minded. It answers name-calling from the right with name-calling from the left.

These assertions also insult anyone who voted for Mr. Bush in 2000. Rather than offering an argument for Mr. Kerry, they merely disparage swing voters, who may be tempted to defect to the Democrats over the war or the economy, by sneering that they voted for a kid - and a dumb kid at that.

One of the most enduring memories from the Bush-Gore debates in 2000 was Al Gore, all sighs and eye-rolls, trapped in what must have felt like the middle-school playground fight from hell instead of a presidential debate. Everything about Mr. Gore's demeanor signaled that he felt he was giving a punk kid a much-needed scolding. Which missed the point: a lot of very smart people voted for Mr. Bush in 2000 because to them, he represented a return to honesty and morality. Dismissing him as a stupid child, and these voters as stupid-children-by-association, is no way to win them back.

You think they would have figured that out by now... but I guess not.

snapple "real fact" #289
In 1908, the first lollipop-making machine started in New Haven, CT.

Again, I didn't pick this on purpose...

politics at its best... or worst...
Politics as Usual

Smear groups to the left, smear groups to the right... I give up.

snapple "real fact" #370
Heat, not sunlight, ripens tomatoes.

Which explains why you can ripen in a paperbag on your windowsill.

blogging in the classroom
In the Classroom, Web Logs Are the New Bulletin Boards

An interesting way to use blogging, to be sure... Having been in IT learning for a while, finding teachers with websites wasn't uncommon for me. However, I've yet to see one use a blog for the classroom. It might be interesting to do.

snapple "real fact" #286
The height of the Eiffle Tower varies by as much as 6 inches depending on the temperature.

price of fuel
Oil Prices Set a New Record as Supply Falls

And here I was liking the 'lower' prices. *sighs and remembers when $1.56⁹ was expensive...*

snapple "real fact" #348
It is estimated that the world's oceans contain 10 billion tons of gold.

google goes public
Google Opens on Nasdaq

Google has gone public... but with lower prices than they were hoping for.

snapple "real fact" #263
Bowling pins need to tip over a mere 7 1/2 degrees to fall down.

Then why is it so damn hard to get a strike?

health insurance expensive? nah...
Rising Cost of Health Benefits Cited as Factor in Slump of Jobs

No kidding... it's effin' expensive. That's why I ended up on state assistance.

snapple "real fact" #312
A flea can jump 30,000 times without stopping.

And someone actually counted?

computers in the classroom
When Gadgets Get in the Way

Okay, I admit it, I'm just as bad as any other person when I get in front of a computer. I do things I'm not supposed to. Surfing the 'net at work, in class, etc... But who doesn't from time to time? It's all in how you manage it. And, honestly, sometimes I'm just too darn bored in class not to.

snapple "real fact" #380
It is illegal for a portrait of a living person to appear on U.S. postage stamps.

:: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 ::

education is once again a political platform
Effort by Bush on Education Faces Obstacles in the States

The "No Child Left Behind" policy has some harsh critics.

snapple "real fact" #264
Your breathing rate increases when you start to type.

Hmm... something I'll have to watch for.

8 terrorists charged
British Charge 8 on Counts of Conspiring in Terrorism

Britain keeps the vigil.

snapple "real fact" #362
"Arachibutiphobia" is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.

Guess there's a term for everything...

steps to being public
So Google is Almost Public. Now Comes the Hard Part.

Can they do it? Guess it's wait and see...

snapple "real fact" #336
The last letter to be added to our alphabet was "J".

a problem in politics
N.J. Voters in a Pickle

Gov. James McGreevey's exit strategy has put New Jersey voters, and democracy itself, in a terrible bind. Under the timetable announced last week during his bombshell news conference, Mr. McGreevey will resign his office on Nov. 15 and hand the reins of government to Richard Codey, the president of the State Senate. Executive power will thus reside for three months with a lame-duck governor crippled by scandal and then, for the next 14 months, with an interim governor who has no mandate from the voters.

This can't be good...

snapple "real fact" #288
Four Corners, AZ, is the only place where a person can stand in 4 states at the same time.

But... if they're calling it Arizona, is it really in 4 states?

even cyber-crime doesn't pay
eWeek.com's Special Report on Cyber-Crime

Lots of neat articles on Cyber-Crime.

snapple "real fact" #389
In the U.S., all interstate highways that run east to west are even-numbered.

more corporate buyouts
CA Buys Anti-Spyware Vendor

Computer Associates buys out PestPatrol.

snapple "real fact" #298
The sailfish has been clocked at speeds of over 60 miles per hour.

sp2 delays
Microsoft Pushes Back Automatic Delivery of SP2

More delays from Microsoft, it seems.

snapple "real fact" #267
Double Dutch jump rope is considered a cross-training sport.

phisher id
System Uses 'CallerID' Method to Beat Phishing

Phish heads, phish heads... roly poly phish heads.

snapple "real fact" #315
No two lip impressions are the same.

:: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 ::

wheeee!
IT WORKS!

Okay, now that I got that out... apparently they got the database working over the weekend. So, now the site is working completely! We have bulletins up there and everything. *crosses fingers* I just hope it stays that way.

I showed it off to the Warden today. He looked happy, asked if I could convert the old bulletins to add to the current site. It'll take some time, but I can do it. I just hate that you can't select text in Reader... That means a lot of typing if I can't find a way around it. I might print and scan into Word. That'll get me the pictures, too, if they want them, and it'll be faster than retyping the whole damn thing.

In a way, I'm glad, because it means I won't have to do the other project they wanted us to do... which was reformatting the proceedural manual that scanned in really bad. It's HUGE... like over 100 pages... and it's all messed up. I'm not looking forward to messing with that if I have to. I offered to, so I could just get the damn hours in while the site wasn't working. Stupid database. Unfortunately, Ray wasn't in, so I couldn't ask him what the problem had been.

Either way, it's done and it works. I even fixed the scrollbar problem I was having. Now, he wants different colors... ^^;; That's easy enough do, tho'.

snapple "real fact" #353
The weight of the moon is 81 billion tons.