We Didn't Smacko Jacko, Say Calif. Cops

I must admit, Fox News wrote a great headline.

Cyber blackmail targets office workers

MSNBC - Cyber blackmail targets office workers

Something tells me this story is bogus. First, the primary source is an unnamed "British detective." Two, the story doesn't cite a single instance in which the ploy actually worked. No victims or perpetrators are quoted, and the only victim cited is an unnamed "Scandinavian university." And third, it just sounds farfetched. How are these perpetrators getting merchant credit card accounts, which would be necessary to accept the credit card ransom, as outlined in the story? Wouldn't nine out of 10 recipients report the e-mail to authorities, who'd then track the merchant accounts? Bogus.

Remember those Bush officials who said the nation's meat supply is safe? They were lying.

As Probe of Infected Cow Spreads, So Does Worry:

"Already, consumers who ate meat that might have come from the sick Holstein are concerned. Grocery stores were shipped ground beef and beef patties from meat that included the infected cow 11 days before a test for mad cow disease came back positive and the meat was recalled -- it is not yet known how much of the meat was pulled off grocery shelves or has been consumed. "

Because Ashcroft is too busy reviewing you library records!

Now It's a Scandal - New evidence that a House GOP leader offered a bribe.

From Slate's Timothy Noah:

What does a guy have to do to get a congressional bribe investigated? Even making allowances for slow readers, John Ashcroft's Justice Department is taking an awfully long time to decide whether to do anything about the (unsuccessful) attempt to bribe Rep. Smith.

Yes, I felt it, and yes, I'm OK.

Three Killed in Strong California Coast Earthquake

I've been in several minor earthquakes now, and this one -- a long side-to-side motion -- was the most unnerving.

Depends on what the definition of "is" is

Depends on what the definition of "is" is

Powered flight a hoax!

CNN.com - Bush honors anniversary of first flight - Dec. 17, 2003: "One hundred years after the brothers' first flight, a meticulous reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer made a valiant attempt to take to the air on Wednesday.
Much like many of the brothers' early efforts, the plane could not get airborne. It struggled down a narrow track and unceremoniously came to a halt in a mud puddle. "

Republican family values

Thurmond Kin Acknowledge Black Daughter: "Rather than wait for the request, the family issued a statement which, in effect, supports her contention that she was born to Mr. Thurmond, then 22, and Carrie Butler, who was 16 and employed by Mr. Thurmond's parents as a housekeeper in Edgefield, S.C."

Bush wins re-election

U.S. forces capture Saddam near hometown

Sigh.

Unelectable.

Biography of President George W. Bush

Hustle and bustle

Andrea and I had a busy weekend. We visited a friend of hers selling Brazilian jewelry at a wine tasting in Livermore. After that, we had dinner in Pleasanton and stuck around for a Christmas parade. Then we went to her newspaper's holiday party. Needless to say, I was very tired.

Hopefully, next weekend will be much calmer.

They can't even tell the truth when the news is good...

(via Atrios):

White House Version of Mid-Air Exchange Disputed

Finally, some common sense in e-voting

Wired News: E-Votes Must Leave a Paper Trail

Sometimes, California politicians can get it right.

DeLay's next fundraiser?

Funny reference to a story in one of my recent posts.

San Diego Fire Warnings Were Repeatedly Ignored

Once again, people get the government they deserve. Or in other words, sometimes, taxes are a good thing.

G.O.P. Leader Solicits Money for Charity Tied to Convention

From today's New York Times:

It is an unusual charity brochure: a 13-page document, complete with pictures of fireworks and a golf course, that invites potential donors to give as much as $500,000 to spend time with Tom DeLay during the Republican convention in New York City next summer and to have part of the money go to help abused and neglected children.

Representative DeLay, who has both done work for troubled children and drawn criticism for his aggressive political fund-raising in his career in Congress, said through his staff that the entire effort was fundamentally intended to help children. But aides to Mr. DeLay, the House majority leader from Texas, acknowledged that part of the money would go to pay for late-night convention parties, a luxury suite during President Bush (news - web sites)'s speech at Madison Square Garden and yacht cruises.

Classy.

Back in the 21st century!

I have phone AND Internet service now. Now my house is truly a home.

Occupational Hazards - How the Pentagon forgot about running Iraq. By Jacob Weisberg

Nice one by Slate's Jacob Weisberg.

Back during the 2000 campaign, George Will and others argued that presidential intelligence didn't matter. This notion was reinforced after Sept. 11, when it became fashionable to argue that Bush's "moral clarity" was preferable to the ability to comprehend many sides of a complicated issue. In fact, presidential intelligence does matter. The intellectual qualities Bush lacks—historical knowledge, interest in the details of policy, and substantive (as opposed to political) judgment—might well have prevented the quagmire we're facing in Iraq right now. A more engaged president—one who understood, for instance, the difference between the Sunnis and the Shiites—surely would have asked about Plan B.

Almost completely moved in

With some help from Andrea, I'm pretty much settled into my new apartment in Sunnyvale. One glitch: I still have no phone service, though Pac-Bell insists they've turned it on. And that, of course, means I have no Internet access.

But why can't the media report on all the copters that aren't getting shot down?

U.S. Helicopter Downed in Iraq, 15 Soldiers Killed

My, what a good idea it was to invade Iraq. Bush is so smart.

Rock the vote

Read about security problems with Diebold's electronic voting machines. They threaten democracy and have the nerve to sue people pointing out that fact.

Where there's smoke...

Andrea and I went to a going-away dinner party last night hosted by Alex and her husband Chris, which was fun. But as we got closer to their house, about an hour away in "The O.C.," we could smell the smoke, see the haze and -- we think -- feel the heat of the Southern California fire.

This morning, that haze and smell had drifted all the way up to Los Angeles itself. Scary.

We visited the new Walt Disney Concert Hall, the fancy new architectural landmark by Frank Gehry. It was awesome and beautiful. We also visited the almost-as-new Los Angeles Cathedral. Andrea and I agreed that it looked a little bunker-ish for a church, which presumably aims to reach out into the broader community. But I thought the inside was really nice, an understaed, spartan arrangement.

It's unfortunate that it took my moving away to inspire us to see Los Angeles' cultural heritage.

Thousands flee as wind fuels flames

This must be why there's a weird haze outside and pieces of ash are floating everywhere. I'm not kidding.

According to Ann Coulter, this is treason

Rumsfeld Challenges Progress in War on Terror

Ah yes, the wisdom of overseas outsourcing

Pakistani transcriber threatens UCSF over back pay

Budget cuts at the copy desk?

Oops.

(from The Smoking Gun)

It's not exactly "Dewey Defeats Truman," but the New York Post made a colossal error today on its editorial page. The paper somehow printed an editorial bemoaning last night's Yankees loss to the Boston Red Sox, noting that the "Curse of the Bambino boomeranged this year" and that the Bronx Bombers "couldn't get the job done at home." The editorial concluded, "Wait'll next year!" Obviously, the Post piece was drafted while the Yanks were trailing the Sox, but was--unbelievably--not yanked when the club tied the game in the eighth inning and won it on Aaron Boone's walkoff home run in the 11th.

I sometimes lose sleep wondering whether I misspelled a name in a story that's gone to press or get sick to my stomach when I discover an easy-to-check error. I can't imagine what the editors at the Post are thinking.

I feel safer already

At Iraqi Depot, Missiles Galore and No Guards

Is it just me, or is Donald Rumsfeld looking dumber every minute?

Crossing the picket line

Doing our best to imitate France, pretty much everyone in L.A. went on strike this week. I don't have to ride the bus, but I do have to buy groceries. The workers have a right to strike, of course, and it's always in a person's best interest to maximixe one's salary. But at the same time I don't feel too much sympathy for them. Their main gripe is that they'll finally have to start shelling out co-pays. I say this is a good thing. One of the reasons health care costs are spiralling is because drugmakers and hospitals can keep raising prices, knowing insurance will pick up most of the tab. If people had to pay more of the costs, demand would wane, and prices wouldn't continue going up so quickly.

Of course, insurance should be set up in such a way as to encourage preventative care, without triggering abuses by patients or doctors.

Hey! Maybe we could set up some organization designed to carefully watch costs -- set up discounts with networks of doctors and reward them for being more efficient and making costs part of the health care equation -- and pass those savings onto the insured. Oh yeah, that's what an HMO is supposed to do.

Welcome to the real world, grocery clerks.

On the move again

I've signed the lease, ordered electric and phone (more importantly, DSL) service and contacted the movers.

I'll be in a decent location in Sunnyvale about 10 minutes away from work. It's Andrea's old apartment complex, only the rent has dropped $150 since she lived there, not counting the $50 discount I get because of the death of the previous tenant. The renter was required to tell me about the passing, presumably because the law reflects the sensibilities of thr Bay Area's Chinese population.

Anyway, I'm close to a grocery store and In-and-Out Burger, and a short walk takes me to a P.F. Changs's, Starbucks, Borders and misc. places. And then there's downtown Sunnyvale, which has a few shops and restaurants.

And of course, my beautiful girlfriend is a short drive away.

One of the worst ledes (yes, that's how it's spelled) I have ever read:

Davis on Letterman tonight
:

"Maybe it was only a matter of time, but still-Gov. Gray Davis has gone Hollywood. Well, maybe not Hollywood, but tonight he will go late night, 'Late Night with David Letterman' to be exact."

1 in 5 doesn’t speak English at home

"Nearly one in five Americans speaks a language other than English at home, the Census Bureau says, after a surge of nearly 50 percent during the past decade. Most speak Spanish, followed by Chinese, with Russian rising fast."

I found the study that the article article is based on. Portuguese ranked so low that they had to lump it in with Portuguese Creole. Yes, there is such a language. Considering the size of Brazil that can mean: 1) Not a lot of Brazilians emmigrate or 2) They all speak English, even at home.

I'm doing my part to make sure the latter is true.

Arnold's revenge on the L.A. Times

And on any newspaper, for that matter: ever try fitting "Schwarzenegger" into a headline with a subject, verb and object? Copy editors can't use "actor" as a substitute anymore, and his new position makes "Arnold" too demeaning. California journalism just got a lot tougher.

And for the record, I think this might be the first governor most people have seen naked.

Fox distorts, we deride

Study hits war views held by Fox fans


"Heavy viewers of the Fox News Channel are nearly four times as likely to hold demonstrably untrue positions about the war in Iraq as media consumers who rely on National Public Radio or the Public Broadcasting System, according to a study released this week by a research center affiliated with the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs"

A big reason why homes cost so much in California

From today's San Jose Mercury News: "Because of the city's strict voter-mandated residential growth control initiative, the group had to go through the city's competitive application process multiple times to secure approval to build their 100-unit project in two separate phases, said Tom Iamesi, the group's director of housing development.
The city program, enacted by voters in 1977 and updated in 1990, established a formula that limits growth to about 200 homes per year, with 20 percent of those new homes allotted to affordable housing annually, said Jim Rowe, Morgan Hill planning manager."

And a primary motive for the growth-control measures, of course, is the state's wacky property tax laws, which reward cities for businesses, but not the residents who live there.

Why are Republicans so wasteful of tax dollars?

Questions are Raised on Awarding of Contracts in Iraq

From the New York Times:


"Last month the Iraqi Governing Council questioned why the American occupation authority had issued a $20 million contract to buy new revolvers and Kalashnikov rifles for the Iraqi police when the United States military was confiscating tens of thousands of weapons every month from Saddam Hussein's abandoned arsenals.

On Wednesday the Iraqi council, in a testy exchange with the occupation administrator, L. Paul Bremer III, challenged an American decision to spend $1.2 billion to train 35,000 Iraqi police officers in Jordan when such training could be done in Iraq for a fraction of the cost. Germany and France have offered to provide such training free."

Of course, the real question is not why the Republicans are so wasteful, but why they're so brazenly corrupt. They're spending like this so their contributors can get nice hefty government contracts.

Another Bush lie

Report Offered Bleak Outlook About Iraq Oil

New trouble for Schwarzenegger

New trouble for Schwarzenegger

"Browne said Friday on the television show “Inside Edition” that Schwarzenegger groped her ankles and knees during an interview in the 1970s."

OK, I'm no Schwarzenegger fan, but is it really possible to "grope" someone's knees and ankles?

Big news day

Lets summarize:

1) The Gropenator apologizes.

2) Rush Limbaugh is a drug addict.

3) No weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

4) The Bush recovery continues.

Am I forgetting anything?

My favorite is Drudge's take on the Limbaugh story. It wasn't "Limbaugh accused of drug abuse," but "Media orchestrates attack of Limbaugh." Ah, yes, the liberal media made him do it. And it looks like one of the side-effects of the drugs he was abusing is hearing loss, which may explain why he went deaf so early. Drug abuse is tragic, but it's hard to feel sorry when it happens to someone who'd made a career of castigating others for the very same thing.

Why can't Republicans just control themselves and take personal responsibility?

Women Say Schwarzenegger Groped, Humiliated Them

It's official

Andrea formally got a graphic design job at the Mercury News, the news I couldn't say publicly until today. Congratulations, sweetie!

Yeah, right.

White House gathering inquiry data

Why can't they just admit what everybody already knows? It was Karl Rove. I'll be glad to see that slimeball lose his job. It's too bad people that connected always land feet first, though.

Next up, the Lewinsky-style finger-wagging denial

White House Denies Leaking CIA Agent's ID

Why does George Bush hate America?

White House grapples with allegation

That's right folks, two senior officials blew the cover of a CIA agent to get revenge on her husband for criticizing the government. So basically somebody there broke two laws and obviously has no respect for the First Amendment. But then again, would we expect anything less from an administration that likes to keep public policy secrets, rewrite history and hide facts when they become inconvienent?

Oh, and here's the beauty. The guy's criticism was 100% correct.

A fine whine

Sour Grapes - Why is there no such thing as a good, low-priced California wine?

Finally, someone agrees with me about the state's crappy, overpriced wines.

Like father, like son.

Poll: Bush rating at lowest ever

Nice.

Official moving date

I'll be moving back to the Bay Area to be with my love at the end of October, so I'll be spending a week up there to look for an apartment soon. Andrea and I just realized it's the first whole week we've gotten to spend together since I moved.

In other news, we probably won't be going to Brazil for Thanksgiving as planned. I can't publicly say why now, but it's a good thing. Well, maybe not for Andrea's family, but on the whole, good for Andrea.

Aw, yeah. Let's roll.

Clark Tied With President Bush in Poll

A great day for mail

Here's what I got today:

1) The newest issue of Dwell, the home design magazine.

2) The newest issue of The New Yorker. It's nice and thick. Together, the magazines will make great reading material for my flight to San Jose this weekend.

3) My passport. Soon, I will be a world traveler. Or, at least I would be if the world consisted solely of the Americas. So in that sense, I'll be a New World traveler.

4) My Oct. 7 California recall ballot. It includes some sadly overlooked candidates, including psychologist/farmer Robert C. Newman II and middleweight sumo wrestler Kurt E. "Tachikaze" Rightmyer. Also running are a few notable, shall I coin a term here, "nomonyms." (If there's a real term for a non-celeb who shares a famous name, please let me know). Please, ladies and gentlemen, give a warn welcome to Michael Jackson, Ed Kennedy, Richard Simmons and Robert Dole.

My neighborhood poll location is the nearby Borders, so I have no excuse to vote in this one. I hope they make it really easy for me and put the booths near the computer magazines. Naturally, I'll be casting my ballot for Gary "Whachutalkinbout" Coleman.

RIAA sues 12-year-old girl

Here's the stupidest part of the whole thing: this was a customer that was perfectly willing to pay for online music (they thought they were paying a legitimite service for what turned out to be a link to download a Kazaa variant). In other words, they're suing their very best customers, the kind they'll need if they hope to survive much longer.

Hey kids, don't get fake IDs

Not when you can get real ones!

Bush to seek $87 billion for Iraq effort

squan·der (skwŏn'dәr):

n.
To spend wastefully or extravagantly; dissipate. See synonyms at waste.
To fail to take advantage of; lose a chance for: squandered an opportunity to go to college.

n.
Extravagant expenditure; prodigality.

Repeat a lie long enough, and people start to believe it.

Poll: 70% think Hussein, 9/11 linked

The Bush recovery continues

U.S. companies slash payrolls by 93,000 in August

Fun weekend

Andrea and I spent Labor Day weekend at the beach, on Catalina Island and in Westwood.

Direct boat service from Los Angeles (Marina Del Ray, actually) to the island only recently began, and it's already popular. It's strange that Los Angeles, the biggest city in the West, let alone Southern California, didn't have direct service until recently. Long Beach, Orange County and San Diego had it. But not L.A.

Catalina is a weird little tourist area. It's part of Los Angeles county, but for obvious geographical reasons, its own little world. I just wonder what living there would be like. And I wonder whether they have DSL there.

And in totally random news, a fly just landed in my halogen lamp, and I can smell it burning.

Bush: Industry To Get Boost

Bush: Industry To Get Boost

"President Bush announced steps to help bring jobs to the nation's hard-pressed manufacturing industry today, beginning with what administration officials said would be increased pressure on China to change currency policies that help Chinese firms undercut U.S. competitors."

That's funny; when Howard Dean said the exact same thing two weeks ago, the GOP wingnuts called it a sign that his extremist views would never get him elected.

New poll says Americans disapprove of federal Commandments order

I'd be curious to know whether all four out of five would be in favor of legally enforcing those same commandments, which include:

- Not taking God's name in vain (death sentence)
- Not committing adultery (death sentence)
- No working on the Sabbath (death sentence)
- Honoring one's parents (cursing them brings death sentence)
- Not coveting neighbor's possessions

Heck, the only ones that actually contribute to our legal system now are the prohibitions against murder, theft and perjury. And enforcing the last one could put a serious damper on the unrestrained capitalism conservatives are so fond of.

White House may speed request for more funding

What? You mean wars cost money? There goes that priceless little theory by Rush Limbaugh and company that Iraq's oil would make this a self-funded war. Oops.

Fair and Balanced

In case you're wondering why I changed the site's tag line, it's a temporary, anti-Fox News move in response to their silly little lawsuit.

And stamps -- he wants lots of stamps.

Unabomber asks government to return bomb, books

Oh, and how could I forget...

Schwarzenegger to Davis: Hasta la vista, baby!

Yahoo! News - Schwarzenegger in Surprise Calif. Recall Race Bid

Yahoo! News - Schwarzenegger in Surprise Calif. Recall Race Bid: "Action film star Arnold Schwarzenegger defied predictions, stunned California and frightened Democrats on Wednesday when he announced he would run for governor in a bid to terminate Governor Gray Davis's political career. "

Ahem.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Auditions For New Role -- 'Governator'

Ah yes

Arnold's gift to headline writers

Schwarzenegger Announces Calif. Gov. Bid

Let's see:

"Davis' total recall"
"Arnold to play the Governator"
"Davis Terminated?"
"Arnold confirms he's The Running Man"
"Davis' Judgement Day"

and that's just off the top of my head.

At any rate, I think Davis might be in trouble.

While we were attacking Iraq...

Iran Closes In on Ability to Build a Nuclear Bomb

Purported al-Qaida message warns U.S. on detainees

Here's why it's hard to take threats like this too seriously: they're already "at war" with us and, presumably, trying their best to attack us again. There's no such thing as going after us "110%."

Never mind

Flip-flop on air marshal schedules

Pennywise and pound foolish

Air marshals pulled from key flights

"The decision to drop coverage on flights that many experts consider to be at the highest risk of attack apparently stems from a policy decision to rework schedules so that air marshals don’t have to incur the expense of staying overnight in hotels."

Discovering Gold

I spent the day going to and strolling Pasadena, courtesy of the new Gold Line extention of the light rail system. They were giving everyone free rides and having mini-celebrations at each stop. Much to my amazment, the trains were standing-room only, each stop was packed and the guy said the wait to get on was three hours earlier in the day. I thought only I was geeky enough to be curious about a mass transit system.

I also used a Border's gift certificate I got for my birthday to buy three Brazilian music CDs, two of which turned out to be pretty cool compilations.

TV images of sons shock many Arabs

Are they kidding? Dead bodies are to Arab TV what freeway car chases are to Los Angeles TV.

Yes, I'll definitely wait until Fall to visit

Phoenix: where candles melt indoors

The crappiest place on Earth?

According to this Disnleyland news site, they're basically shutting down Tomorrowland.

Like I've been saying for years...

High-Tech Votes Can Be Hacked, Scientists Say

I'm all for high-tech voting, but these systems all should have a publicly verifiable paper-trail.

Nice Flash animation

Damage Control, Inc. by Mark Fiore

Cosmonaut scraps wedding in space

Apparently, they had drifted apart

Thanks, folks. I'll be in town all week. Be sure to tip your waitresses.

Happy Birthday to me...

Yes I'm 34, and boy, do I feel old.

Andrea organized a birthday dinner for me in Palo Alto, and I got to see some old friends from the newspaper. The dinner was great -- a little Italian place we'd never heard of -- with an odd mixture of Brazilians and Americans. Concidentally, there was another American with a Brazilian significant. She's from Phoenix, went to ASU and knows a good friend of mine from school. Small planet.

Why Bush's intellectual curiosity matters

Warning in Iraq Report Unread

President Bush and his national security adviser did not entirely read the most authoritative prewar assessment of U.S. intelligence on Iraq, including a State Department claim that an allegation Bush would later use in his State of the Union address was "highly dubious," White House officials said yesterday.

Remember the notion during the '00 campaign that it didn't matter whether Bush was studious, or even smart? Now it seems his so-called leadership -- or the thoughtless, unquestioning self-confidence that passes for it -- got us into an expensive war we didn't need to start.

Car Plows Through Crowd in Santa Monica, Killing 9

Car Plows Through Crowd in Santa Monica, Killing 9

Yes, this is a big story. But 50 reporters (yes, I counted) to cover it? That's more than they had covering the Iraq war!

Breakable

Orbitz blames Oracle for site outage

What he said

War, lies and yellowcake

"My sense is, they really did believe they were going to find WMDs, and that it was therefore okay to lie about it beforehand, because they knew they’d ultimately be vindicated. Of course, they also thought they could just install Ahmed Chalabi as some sort of Presidential Puppetman and retreat into the sunset to a soundtrack of cheering Iraqi throngs. This is what happens when you have CEO’s running a government like a business: no one around them is in a position to tell them that they are living in a fantasy world. And when reality fails to conform to their fantasies, they are perhaps the most shocked of all."

It all depends how you define "intelligence"

President defends intelligence team

No, it's not just about 16 little words

20 Lies About the War

CIA got uranium mention cut in Oct.

CIA got uranium mention cut in Oct.

It gets better and better.

Bush says uranium controversy closed

Sure it is. Of course, even if his PR nightmare were over, he still needs to explain his lies about the aluminum tubes, al-Queda ties and most importantly, weapons of mass destuction. That's why we went to war, remember? Because Iraq was such an imminent threat.

Maybe he's not a goner

Bush Says He Has Faith in CIA Director

Of course, you have to wonder about an agency that failed to see 9-11 and helped start a bogus war in the same administration.

Tenet's a goner

CIA director takes responsibility for incorrect information in State of the Union address

The Republicans are in charge #6

House backs overtime pay changes

Jobless claims rise unexpectedly

Yes, last year's tax cuts are working like magic. Can't wait for the new ones to kick in.

White House backs off claim about uranium buy

Oops, our bad.

The Bush recovery continues...

Jobless Rate Rises to 6.4 Percent; Highest in More Than 9 Years

Like Bush said: he's a uniter, not a divder

Power Moves May Be Uniting Hard-Liners in Iraq and Iran

U.S.: Banned arms evidence in Iraq

Before the Republicans get too excited: "U.S. OFFICIALS said the discoveries were not proof that Iraq had managed to build or obtain banned weapons of mass destruction, as President Bush asserted before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March. But they said the materials, some of which dated back to the first Gulf War, were compelling proof that Saddam was trying actively to acquire such weapons in defiance of the United Nations."

In other words, inspections and sactions were doing the job.

Labels aim big guns at small file swappers

Telling quote of the article: "Go in the stores and buy the records."

You'd think after Napster, Kazza and iTunes, the recording industry would get it through their heads that people don't want to "go in the stores." They want their music online. And as someone who just cancelled his subscription to Pressplay, most of the music isn't online, leagally anyway.

Arizona wildfire grows by a third.

Fortunately, the fire is threatening only vacation homes and the UofA.

KensAwesomeCalc, version 2.01

I fixed a rounding bug. After two hours of taking the mathematical approach (adding .5 to the result and truncating) and trying to figure out why I couldn't add a fraction to a decimal, I finally did a Google search and discovered this magical little function in C# called System.Math.Round.

Heh.

Is Bush lying? Depends on what your definition is 'is' is.

Bush Speech Overstated Iraq Report (washingtonpost.com)

Bush did not indicate that the consensus of U.S. intelligence analysts was that Hussein would launch a terrorist attack against the United States only if he thought he could not stop the United States from invading Iraq. The intelligence report had said that the Iraqi president might decide to give chemical or biological agents to terrorists, such as al Qaeda, for use against the United States only as a "last chance to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him." And it said this would be an "extreme step" by Hussein.

A scary statistic for you

"A Fox News poll last week found that almost half of Americans feel that the administration was "intentionally misleading" about Iraq's weapons, but more than two-thirds think the war was justified anyway."

Inside the Beltway

We did just about everything you can do in D.C.: Visited the Smithsonian (we actually went in only the Museum of American History), White House, Capitol building, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and Vietnam War Memorial.

I have to say that the WWII memerial going in now really disrupts the flow of the Lincoln to the Washington Monumant. Considering how overdue the WWII memorial is, you'd think they would have had the time for some better planning.

It was pretty awesome to think that so much power is concentrated into such a small geographic area. I know, I know, the power actually comes from scattered votes of the country. But so much decision-making occurs is this small niche of a city. Pretty amazing, if you ask me.

And the train stations are just so cool in the East -- little airport-like malls that overwhelm with size and architectural history.

Off to Baltimore / Washington D.C.

Andrea and I are taking Friday off to visit the Capitol. Will blog.

More Bush lies.

This time, they're about the tax cuts.

Arizona may ignore next orange alert

This ought to do wonders for tourism.

Productive weekend

I finished version 2.0 of my "Awesome Calculator" for work, with changes that include a smaller interface, rounded results, the ability to leave some fields blank, a currency exchange rate converter and automatic copying of results to Windows' clipboard.

I also updated my resume, researched this weekend's trip to Baltimore / Washington D.C. (no, I'm not going to protest) and saw "Finding Nemo," which was excellent.

And best of all, I'm all caught up on my reading.

The results are in!

In the non-daily categories, Andrea won 1st and 2nd place for page design, and I won 2nd place and honorable mention (basically, 3rd place) in technology story. Unfortunately, my archrival from the San Francisco Business Times took 1st.

Full results here.

Liar, liar

Compare what the Bushies said then to what they're saying now.

Isn't anyone else stunned at the sheer audacity of this bunch? Call Clinton a liar, but at least his were about himself -- and didn't get 150 Americans killed.

Our great leader

“Al Qaeda is on the run. Right now, about half of all the top Al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they’re not a problem anymore.”

-- George W. Bush
May 5, 2003

Iraq weapons hunt may take years

Of course. They were such an imminent threat that now we can't even find them.

While we were bombing Iraq...

This guy (remember him?) was planning more attacks. Thank goodness Bush & Co. have made the world so much safer.

Bush: Defender of the common man

Some Audience Members Told Not to Wear Ties for Bush Speech

Bomb attacks rock Saudi capital

Ah yes, as we can see here, Al Qaeda is nearly crippled. OK, OK, terrorists, we're leaving.

Cool software alert

This neat little Winamp add-on, EvilLyrics, uses Google to automatically look up the lyrics of any song you're listening to. It actually works, even on my obscure Brazillian music.

Sweet vindication

Both Andrea and I won two awards each from the Peninsula Press Club for work we did at the Business Journal last year, only weeks before getting laid off. Believe me, I'm making sure all of my old editors know.

This will be Andrea's second straight double-win from the PPC.

I'm glad somebody said this

Byrd blasts Bush for 'flamboyant showmanship' with carrier speech

Now more than ever, I wish this man were my senator.

My favorite parts:

"Last week, the White House had said that such a landing was necessary because the carrier would have been too far out for a helicopter landing. In fact, the carrier was close enough to the California coast for a helicopter landing."

And

"Byrd, who has been a persistent and vocal critic of Bush's policies toward Iraq, said a "salute" to America's warriors was appropriate, but he added, "I do question the motives of a desk-bound president who assumes the garb of a warrior for the purposes of a speech."

Osama victorious

U.S. to end operations in S. Arabia

I'm back!

I didn't realize I was even down until a few people asked me what happened to the site. I renewed my domain name, and because of a weird corporate buyout of my former registrar, it was counted as a transfer and I had to reset my URL forwarding and DNS services.

Anyway, that's taken care of.

I had a really long weekend of journalism workshops, old friends and driving. I got to see Robert and Sarah from the Business Journal for the Poytner Institute's National Writer's Conference -- which, by the way, should have been called a regional conference, since there was another one somewhere that day. And today, I saw former OCBJ collegues Alex and Ludmilla at the L.A. Times book festival at UCLA. It was huge.

And then I took a really long nap.

Attention Pressplay members!

Think twice before downloading the latest Internet Explorer security fix. It causes a Javascript error in the Windows Media Player plugin that makes the service inaccessible. Pressplay tech support just confirmed that it's "working with Microsoft" on the issue. Amazingly, Microsoft is a Pressplay affiliate.

After another Windows hotfix slowed mine and everyone else's PC, I'm starting to wonder whether the "auto update" feature of Windows XP is such a good idea.

Fox News strikes again

AP Wire | 04/23/2003 | Media, military investigated for taking art, artifacts, cash from Iraq

So far, only Benjamin James Johnson, who worked as an engineer for Fox News Channel, has been charged.

The dark side of OTC Claritan

And perhaps, another indictment of health care system that doesn't give consumers incentives to cut costs.

CNN.com - The Claritin over-the-counter dilemma - Apr. 23, 2003

New SARS travel warning issued

New SARS travel warning issued

Responding to the global spread of the deadly SARS virus, the World Health Organization on Wednesday urged against travel to Beijing, China’s Shanxi province and Toronto, Canada’s business capital.

For the record, I've always urged against travel to Toronto.

Rise of the machines

The Unmanned Army

Yes, "The Terminator" was a prophecy.

Hey, check out my new site

To feed my interest in the design aspects of technology, my new site, "Design-Nerd" is finally up. This is where I'll herald all the cool -- and aesthetically pleasing -- gadgets I see. It's not finished (the logo has to be changed, for instance, because the domain name I was hoping would expire soon got renewed), but I'm eager to get early feedback.

I'm rich!

For the first time in as long as I can remember, I have a positive net worth (assuming my car is worth exactly what I owe on the loan). Woo-hoo!

Another bogus war story debunked

CNN.com - Media fooled over helmet escape

Interesting

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see Sadam gone, as are millions of Iraqi's. But it's starting to look like "Wag the Dog" wasn't such a farce after all. I sincerely hope this Web site is a hoax.

The photographs tell the story...

We win!

We came on strong and spanked them. In the words of the great 70s band Queen: "We are the champions..."

Gonna be a rumble tonight

And I'm not talking about Iraq.

Because of a first-place tie, my bowling team faces a bowl-off tonight between Pin Heads and the Lucky Strikes (I'm a Pin-Head) for the IBD league championship. Now I wish I'd bought my own ball.

Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

An excellent editorial by Baltimore City Paper.

In case you haven't gotten it yet, here it is in a nutshell. Criticizing the president is not the same thing as criticizing the troops. Criticizing the president is not the same as criticizing America. And criticizing the president is not "giving aid and comfort to the enemy," which is the classic definition of treason, a federal crime that earns felons the death penalty.

This can't be good.

Major Threat Seen in L.A. Quake Fault

Why does Fox News hate America?

Pentagon Says Geraldo Rivera Will Be Removed From Iraq

"At one point, he actually revealed the time of an attack prior to its occurrence," Lt. Mark Kitchens, a spokesman at Central Command, said yesterday morning. Lieutenant Kitchens added that Mr. Rivera had been escorted to Kuwait.

Navy's floating hospital treats Iraqis

Want federal health care? Join the Iraqi army.

Among the ship’s 62 doctors — mostly Navy physicians from the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland — are two neurosurgeons, a plastic surgeon and a pediatrician. Heart surgery and organ transplants are the only procedures that can’t be performed on board.

Well, what do you know? Diplomacy does matter.

Missteps with Turkey prove costly

Still #1

But barely. We lost two games to tie for 1st, in which the number of total points determines the winner. We have an ever-so-slight lead.

Good news for Andrea, too. She's gotten the Ok from everyone she needs to do the cross-training in editorial. So let's hope she's doing real graphic design soon.

12 U.S. troops presumed captured

12 U.S. troops presumed captured

On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Rumsfeld said that if those are coalition soldiers being shown on the Al-Jazeera TV footage, “those pictures are a violation of the Geneva Convention.”

If the Iraqi's killed soldiers execution style, then someone's getting tried for war crimes. But as far as showing them on TV, I don't see the difference between an Iraqi state-run TV showing these images, and the U.S. military letting CNN and others show Iraqi POWs yesterday.

Shockingand awesome

Shock and awe, not to be confused with Chaka Kahn, has begun.

Unauthorized Entry - The Bush Doctrine: War without anyone's permission. By Michael Kinsley

Exactly.

War blogging

System note:

It looks like there's been a burst of commenting activity on the YACCS system, so comments may be down for awhile.

I report ... you decide

I hate to admit this -- because I hate Fox News and its smug pretense of balance and fairness -- but they're doing the best war coverage so far.

And I have to admit that it's a little weird watching Internet-quality video on my TV. I hope those videophones everyone's using gets better fast.

Bowling victory

Yes! Three straight wins tonight puts us solidly in 1st place again.

Where's the war we ordered?

It's at least four minutes behind schedule.

This means war

Well, it looks like we're going. Andrea is all freaked out, but I have to admit I enjoy watching round-the-clock war coverage. It reminds me of college, when my roommates and I refused to take the Christmas tree down until the troops came home. That's right, our tree was still up Jan. 16 (or whenever Gulf War I started) and was a fire hazard by the time it came down.

I went to San Jose last weekend and had a really good time in San Francisco. We got caught in the middle of the war protests (though people were also protesting capitalism, heterosexuality, our South Korean military presence and, for some reason, the Gap). Old Navy lowered the metal "night bars" as shoppers watched the protesters from inside. Andrea and were in the middle of things until we wisely decided to go across the street and watch the ordeal from the second story of Virgin Megastore.

Andrea has the OK for cross-training from every person she needs it from except the union leader from editorial. The editorial department, where she'd like to get training, has a different union than the one representing her department, complicating the process. Neither union wants to be the one to pay her salary during the training. God forbid she try to improve her value to the newspaper and fulfill one of the editor's big pushes. I like unions, but I hate hate HATE bureaucracy.

We're No. 2!

My bowling team is back in 2nd place (tied for 2nd, actually) after winning two of tonight's three games.

Yahoo! News - French Fries Get New Name in Congress

Oh, brother.

Weekend on the Coast

I spent the day in Santa Monica, mostly at the Third Street Promenade. I finally got around to reading this month’s Dwell and Wired, both of which were pretty interesting. Dwell focused on affordable but well-designed housing, which, because I am a person of momodest means, piqued my interest.

This weekend I took the plunge and ripped most of my CD collection to the computer. It’s just nice to have all my music in one place and easily accessible (I download a lot of MP3s and subscribe to the legal online music outlet, Pressplay, so this is more of an issue than it sounds). In the process I came to appreciate Microsoft’s Media Player version 9. It automatically creates different folders for each artist and album and even creates an icon of the album cover. This works for ripped, downloaded and subscription music alike. Nice.

My bowling team (yes, I’m in a league) lost our No. 1 ranking last week after loosing three games in a row. In my defense, I was getting over a backache brought on from a game two weeks prior. The rest of my team will have to come up with their own excuses.

Someone here at Barnes and Noble just asked about my laptop. When people are still impressed with your technology six months after you bought it, that’s a good sign you got a cutting-edge device. Now that I can’t buy anything for awhile, we’ll see how long that lasts.

T-Mobile lowered the prices for its Wi-Fi access and got rid of its ridiculous data transfer caps. But still not enough to make the service worthwhile.

OK, I’m going to leave because it’s freezing in here. I dressed for the afternoon high of 73, not this 40-degree night.

More job news

Andrea's interview went well today, but they indicated that they're interviewing a designer from the L.A. Times next week with 13 years' experience. But the women said she'd really like to hire another woman. Let's hope the L.A. Times guy is asking for too much money.

Also, Andrea's union leader said they'll try to make sure she gets called into work three or more times a week. Let's hope that happens.

And in a shocking development, The San Jose Business Journal laid off five more people today. No word on whom.

The Bush recovery continues...

Parabéns!

Everyone say happy birthday to Andrea. She's 30! (Actually it was on Monday, but I didn't get a chance to update the blog).

Play detective!

Do these picture look even remotely alike? If I saw the guy on the bottom walking down the street, I would have never guessed it's the same guy as the one on the left. Be glad I'm a journalist and not a CIA agent.

Good news, bad news

First the good: Andrea has an interview next week for an infographic design position at the San Jose Mercury News, a big step up from what she's doing now and a far better use of her talent. Also, a very popular designer (an American whose wife happens to be Brazilian), has expressed interest in her work, and might use her for conferences he organizes in Brazil.

The bad news: she found out that her department lost a big client and will therefore cut two people, putting her at No. 2 or No. 3 on the substitute list. This means she may work as little as a day a week. It'll probably be closer to two or three days, but in either case, she'll take a big cut from her already low pay.

Pray that she gets the Merc job. Or maybe this is God's way of forcing her to move here.

TV is your friend

Tonight's episode of Smallville was awesome. Clark finally learns that he's Superman (or at least Kal-El), special-effects abound, the tension between Clark and Lex Luthor grows, and the multilayered Christopher Reeve appearance even had musical allusions to the John Williams Superman theme. Excellent!

I think this was the episode everyone was waiting for. Too bad they'll show reruns for the next few months.

Another great story...

Message Technology Gets 'American Idol' Showcase

Valentine's Day

Well, I'm getting ready to go to San Jose again. I'll miss the real holiday, since I get in at 10:30 p.m. and she doesn't get off work until midnight or so. But we'll celebrate on Saturday. One of her cousins is in San Francisco, so I'll get to meet her, too. Best of all, it's a three-day weekend.

I'm a little worried about this terrorism business. I guess there's nothing I can do, but it's never a good sign when the government advises you to stock up on duct tape. I hope the rumors about stinger missiles are exaggeated. And I hope targets don't include Disneyland, the underwater BART tunnels in the Bay area or LAX. Or for that matter, my apartment.

U.S. questions dissident's conviction

CNN.com - U.S. questions dissident's conviction

"Our embassy in Beijing and our consulate general in Guangzhou have again registered our deep concerns over lack of due process," Boucher said.

"We also note with deep concern that Mr. Wang's trial was conducted in secret, raising questions about the nature of the evidence against him," he added.

"We are particularly concerned by the charge of terrorism in this case given the apparent lack of evidence and of due process."

Because the United States would never do anything like that.

An sad day for arcade games...

Atari Arcade Division Closes

NASA Reported Fragile Shuttle Wing in '94

Oops.

So much to write about, so little time.

Obviously, the Columbia disaster came as a shock. Like a lot of little kids, I wanted to be an astronaut growing up, and I used to be a huge shuttle fan. I remember a neighbor giving me a shuttle "owner's manual" that I read over and over and from cover to cover. And I still remember seeing those heat tiles falling off of Columbia in the late 1970s in NASA's first real-world test flights, when it would piggyback jumbo jets on cross-country flights. But on Saturday, I didn't even realize a shuttle was even up in space, much less the Columbia.

Andrea came for the weekend, and as usual, we had a really good time. We mostly hung out in Santa Monica, saw a Brazilian movie called "City of God" that's been getting good reviews (extremely violent, but good) and even tried a new restaurant (it was OK). She flew back this afternoon.

That's it for now. I'll try to update in the next couple of days.

Another Clinton "scandal" debunked.

Salon | Newsreal: The great Arlington National Cemetery smear

Bush Says Saddam Shows 'Utter Contempt' for U.N.

Finally, Bush and Iraq agree on something.

I reorganized my Yahoo briefcase to make room for more picture. They include Andrea's and my trip to Solvang a few months ago and some random shots. I'll put the Monterey pictures back up when I get time.

Reporting from San Jose

I'm seeing Andrea for the first time in more than a month and she's doing just fine. Today we're going clothes shopping, then off to help a friend fix his wireless network, then off to an NFL playoff party by a bunch of Tennessee Titans supporters. We're supposed to give some moral support to Sarah and Geoff, who are Oakland Raiders fans (though both are from Tennessee).

The whole notion of rooting for a particular team is sort of silly. In ancient times -- when a team comprised people from a particular town or region, and people rarely moved far from their birthplace -- I can see identifying with a team. Its triumph over another team, after all, would seem to imply some sense of genetic superiority. But nowadays, a team has little to do with the town they happen to play in. It players change constantly, teams move, and not even the owners live there half the time. So the whole notion of home-team loyalty is a corporate construct. In other words: sports fans = suckers.

Game server flaw poses attack threat

Not good

'In an advisory posted to the company's Web site, security consultancy PivX Solutions stated that popular multiplayer games that have servers supporting the GameSpy network--such as "Quake 3: Arena," "Unreal Tournament 2003" and "Battlefield 1942"--could be used to magnify a denial-of-service attack, in some cases by as much as 400 times.

...

Other games that PivX believes are vulnerable are "Quake," "Quake 2," "Half-Life," "Tribes," "Return to Castle Wolfenstein," "Medal of Honour: Allied Assault," "NeverWinter Nights," and "America's Army." Versions of the game servers that are released on the Linux platform are affected as well."

The Republicans are in charge #6

White House Allows Limits on Emergency Coverage

U.N. team finds chemical warheads

It looks like we finally have some evidence.

Rumsfeld: Lack of evidence could mean Iraq's hiding something

You can't beat that kind of logic.

What was it Bush was saying about how Iraq treats its people?

Death, terror in N. Korea slave camps

Bush: 'Sick and tired' of Iraqi deception

We are not, however, sick and tired of North Korean deception.

The Republicans are in charge #5

House weakens rules on lobbyists

Apple releases its own Web browser

If this is the company's biggest product announcement for MacWorld, they're doomed. This might have been exciting about 10 years ago.

Proof still not given of first human clone

OK, it's official. Legitimate news organizations can stop giving these hucksters attention and credibility now. We have enough pseudoscience as it is.

Wow, those online gamers really get into it....

WinBeta.Org - L.A. Official Calls for Probe of Internet Cafes

"The investigation of the cybercafes, also known as 'PC bangs' or 'cybercafes,' came after a brawl erupted between rival groups playing in a tournament involving the online combat game 'Counter Strike.'
...
One unidentified teenager was shot in the leg on Monday outside an Internet cafe in Northridge, a suburb that is part of Los Angeles. A second youth was struck in the head, reportedly with a chair."

Happy New Year!

Let's hope this one is better than the last. Here are this year's resolutions:

1) Get to full-time reporter status.
2) Visit another country,
3) Cut debt in half and save $500 or more a month.
4) Learn some Portuguese.
5) Learn some C# programming.

Happy New Year!

Things look a bit cheerier than they this going into 2003. Let's hope it stays that way...