I just finished an excellent article on Evil SQA Practices that would bore the vast majority of you into a stupor the envy of major drug manufacturers. But one bit of it rang a big ol' bell in my noggin:

There was a small Polynesian island in a remote part of the Pacific Rim where the inhabitants lived in grass huts and raised pigs for their skins. One night, during an intense tropical storm, lightening struck a hut with a pig inside. The hut burned to the ground, and the next day, as the locals were sifting through the charred remains of the hut, they came across the burned up and still smoldering pig. It smelled pretty good, so a young boy broke off a piece and tasted it. It tasted good. This is how the islanders discovered roasted pig. A week or so went by and the islanders got hungry for roast pig. So they put a pig inside another hut and burnt that hut to the ground.

So the practice was to burn down huts. The principle was wanting to satisfy their hunger, specifically for roasted pig. If the islanders would have continued to focus on practices, they would eventually become homeless. To, instead, focus on principles could have lead the islanders to the invention of the barbeque and have spared their huts.

So terrorism is a practice. Do they even remember their principles?

Posted by: Jim at 09:51 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I heard a story about Venezuela on NPR this morning. A political action group is being charged with treason for encouraging citizens to vote against the sitting president. The group receives funds from the US through the National Endowment for Democracy. The gist of the story is that American money is being spent to further American interests instead of bolstering a democracy.

Well...duh. (Issue 1)

Generally speaking a strong democracy is in America's best interests. As an ostensibly democratic nation we deal better with other ostensibly democratic nations. However, not all governments perform admirably in following our wish list, whether the government is democratic, oligarchic, despotic or other. American money should most definitely be spent to further American interests. One of our great interests is fomenting democracy so our money is very often spent supporting democratic causes but this does not and should not mean that we will spend money on supporting a democracy against our national interests.

Um...excuse me? (Issue 2)

How exactly is giving money to a party working within the democratic framework of their country not supporting democracy? Isn't one of the tenets of democracy the ability to organize change from within? The money here is being spent in support of a candidate in a democratic election. Since when is it not democratic to support a candidate in an election?

Conclusion

NPR really pisses me off sometimes.

Posted by: Jim at 11:50 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Okay, so I'm getting pretty experienced with pain management. The crap I've got requires some form of external medication in order for me to function like a relatively normal person. I say relatively because, let's just face facts here, I ain't never gonna be accused of being normal. Hehe.

Anyway, the specialist I saw (the last doc I saw about whatever I've got) gave me Vioxx. This worked pretty well. When i was taking Vioxx I was pretty much back to regular function. General lack of pain, free body movement, wrestling with the kids, lifting heavy objects, stuff like that. The only thing it didn't really tackle was my feet. Still, it worked and I was in better shape for using it.

Then Vioxx was recalled because it kills people. People on Vioxx have a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Fuck.

I kept taking it anyway, seeing as I didn't have that many left and am not in any particular risk category for heart problems. I looked forward to the day when I could see the doc again and get a prescription for Celebrex, which was the drug that Vioxx users were being switched to (in the majority).

In the meantime I needed something of the over-the-counter variety. I went to my old friends acetaminophen and acetylsalicylic acid. They'd carried me through many a hangover and headache. They sucked. Didn't really get rid of the pain at all. I tried ibuprofen. That worked pretty well but not for a very long time and I had to take a pretty large dose for it to work. It also started to make me violently ill.

Enter naproxen sodium. More commonly known as Naprox or Aleve. Aaaaaahhh!!! (<--- Angels singing)

It worked. Really well. Maybe not quite so well as Vioxx but well enough to function and no stomach problems, no need to overdose. I was happy and relieved that I had found something that worked to take me through to when I could get Celebrex.

Then late last week some problems surfaced regarding Celebrex. It seems that it kills people. People on Celebrex have a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Fuck!

What the hell is up here? Now the FDA is looking into the entire class of drugs and it's possible that they might all be classified as unsafe. The entire class of drugs! This is the class of drugs specifically designed to get rid of the pain I've got.

Fuck!!

But wait, there's more. On my ride into work this morning I heard about a test that is being aborted because the drugs being tested were greatly increasing the risks of patient's suffering heart attacks and strokes. The drugs involved? Celebrex and naproxen.

Fucking Aleve, which has been on the market for 30 years, over the counter for more than a decade, regarded by all as one of the safest pain killers available, is suddenly found to increase risk factors for heart attacks and strokes but this isn't discovered until I need it?

Fuck you, universe!

Posted by: Jim at 11:59 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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You're in your van and your two year old daughter is asleep in the back seat. You've got to stop and pick something up from the office. Do you:

A) Wake the tyke up and bring her inside with you?
B) Lock the doors and roll up the windows and go in alone?
C) Leave the van running and unlocked with your sleeping child inside while you go into the building alone?
D) A or B
E) Anything except "C". Really, just about anything you can possibly think of besides "C". Don't pick "C"!

If you picked "C", how would you feel while watching the van drive away?

Lovely Wife comments on a local woman who chose poorly.

Posted by: Jim at 11:55 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Lycos has invested a lot in anti-spam infrastructure for their users but spam is still a huge problem. How do you stop the spammers? Passing laws doesn't work - they just rent servers in places where there are no laws against spamming. The spammers themselves don't seem to be susceptible to anything.

But their customers are. Lycos has designed a tool to give those customers exactly what they want - traffic. Lots and lots and lots of traffic.

Lycos launches screensaver in fight against spam

Haarlem (pts) - The Internet portal Lycos http://www.lycos-europe.com has developed a screensaver that endlessly requests data from sites that sell the goods and services mentioned in spam e-mail. As the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk reports, the company is hoping to make the monthly bandwidth bills of spammers rocket by keeping their servers running flat out. According to the Internet firm, if enough people sign up and download the new tool, spammers could end up having to pay to send out terabytes of data. By getting thousands of people to download and use the screensaver, Lycos hopes to get spamming websites constantly running at almost full capacity.

The individual burden isn't much (about the same as downloading an MP3 file over the course of a day) but the combined requests of thousands of trial users in Sweden have already had a dramatic effect. Response times from targeted sites have already dropped by 85 percent.

For the sites advertising through spam there are two damaging effects. First, they have performance issues. As huge numbers of requests come in their servers can't respond as quickly. Secondly, the Cialis and fetish gear merchant sites are using massive amounts of bandwidth - something they must actually pay for.

This is great. Spam is used because it is cheap. Make the use of spam expensive and people will stop using it.

Yay for Lycos!

(Tip credit to Dopple-G)

UPDATE
Kate has more, including a link to the download.

Posted by: Jim at 11:50 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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And don't shit where you drink either. The Georgia Supreme Court denied Gwinnett County's permit to dump 40 million gallons of sewage into Lake Lanier.

Sewage has been dumped there since before there was a lake. This permit was axed because it would allow Gwinnett to dump sewage that was less clean than they already have the capability to process and would allow them to avoid the per instance fines for violating the sewage quality requirements.

Lake Lanier is the main drinking water source for Atlanta and the sole source for the 700,000 residents in Gwinnett County. That number includes the five local members of the Peacock clan. Poop water, ewwwww. Thank god for Britta filters.

Posted by: Jim at 08:12 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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They rape women and children, force people into prostitution, and run sex slave rings. It's all in a day's work for United Nations Peacekeepers.

The United Nations has dispatched two teams to investigate 150 charges of sexual exploitation and abuse by civilian and military personnel serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a senior UN official.

The allegations include criminal activity, paedophilia, rape and solicitation of prostitution, said Jane Holl Lute, an Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), at a press briefing Monday.

And people look to the UN as a proto-governing world body? It staggers the mind. That's like putting Clinton in charge of the secretary pool.

Now after these investigative teams come back with the results of their investigations the UN will issue recommendations. Yes, recommendations! They're not going to actually do anything about it at all. They're just going to go have a look-see and then say "Hey guys, please don't do that any more". Wanna know why? Because the UN has no authority over UN troops! Ain't that grand? There are 10,000 troops from fifty countries and each country is responsible for disciplining their own troops. If the boys from Stickitinmyassoslavia (that's a made up name, don't bother Googling it) don't have a problem with their troops raping kids and extorting sex from women then nothing at all happens.

Wow. Just...wow.

Posted by: Jim at 05:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Georgia legislature has made the Department of Motor Vehicles subservient to the Georgia public school system. Schools may now tell the DMV to suspend student licenses for up to a year. The idea behind it is to give the schools another stick to threaten truant and disruptive kids with. The reality is quite frightening, especially when you consider how existing school legislation, zero tolerance laws and zero tolerance policies aggravate and interact with each other.

Much more on this at Zero Intelligence.

Posted by: Jim at 08:24 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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So, the world's oldest terrorist lies in a coma and the world is waiting for him to breath his last. Anybody else thinking of this as an early Christmas present?

Don't get the wrong idea here. I'm not the sort that goes about wishing that people die or wishing bad things on anybody. Doing things like that tends to warp you. But that doesn't mean I can't be just as relieved as the next guy when the right person buys the farm.

Does that make me inhumane? Cold? Twisted? No, I don't think so. Look, if you have cancer do you cry when the surgeon excises it? If you've got a tick on your arm do you feel sorry for the tick when you're putting the lit match up against its shell and it pops like the world's smallest firecracker? Of course not.

Arafat is a parasite, just like that tick. Nobody got through to him with a lit match over the past decades but we can be just as happy when the bloated blood sucker dies naturally.

Israel and the Palestinians have serious problems. One of the worst of them is going away. For that I am very, very happy.

Side note: Anybody else notice that once again the French military is trying to keep an Arab dictator in power? Humanitarian aid, my ass.

Posted by: Jim at 06:52 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Rodney Dangerfield has died of complications following heart surgery. He was a lousy actor but damn was he funny.

Rest in peace, Mister Dangerfield.

Posted by: Jim at 11:32 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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So what's the problem then? After all it has recently been shown that swimming through syrup is just as easy as swimming through water.

Cussler and Gettelfinger took more than 300 kilograms of guar gum, an edible thickening agent found in salad dressings, ice cream and shampoo, and dumped it into a 25-metre swimming pool, creating a gloopy liquid twice as thick as water. "It looked like snot," says Cussler.

How's that for a pick-up line? "Hey Baby, want to swim through my pool of snot?"

The pair then asked 16 volunteers, a mix of both competitive and recreational swimmers, to swim in a regular pool and in the guar syrup. Whatever strokes they used, the swimmers' times differed by no more than 4%, with neither water nor syrup producing consistently faster times, the researchers report in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal.

I seems that although there is more drag on the body as it passes through a thicker liquid there is also more thrust from pushing against the liquid and the two cancel out for a human sized object.

Now we know. Isn't science grand?

(Hat tip to Dopple-G)

Posted by: Jim at 09:32 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Dad Says School Duct-Taped Son's Pants

The dress code says no pants hanging off of your ass. Assistant Principal Patricia Walters takes that shit seriously. When Spencer Allison wore his baggies down low his teacher sent him to see her and she corrected the problem in impeccable fashion.

"She then proceeded to duct tape his waist, three times around the waist," said [the boy's father Scott] Allison. "Then she sent him back to class, in front of his peers."

He said he worried his son would be mocked by his classmates at the school in the town about 20 miles east of South Bend.

"This outrages me and shocks me," Allison said.

Of course he's going to be mocked. The Assistant Principal taped his pants! That's beautiful! Talk about fodder for mocking. And what are the chances that lil Spence violates that particular section of the dress code again?

Actually, Spencer is pretty lucky. Whenever I see an example of this particular fashion statement I always think of a staple gun, not duct tape.

(Hat tips to Jason Trommetter and Jack Mitcham.)

Posted by: Jim at 09:28 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Kelley of Suburban Blight was in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, along with a bunch of other bloggers who are less important simply because I don't know them. The article is here and you can avoid the annoying registration here.

Congrats Kelley!

Posted by: Jim at 08:57 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The new federal dietary guidelines have been submitted for approval. Salt and alcohol are still bad for you but fortunately sugar is still A-okay!

The recommendations included noncontroversial language advising consumers to choose their fats and carbohydrates "wisely" and to limit salt and alcohol.

The experts stopped short of directly urging Americans to cut down on soft drinks, cakes, cookies, pies, candy and other sugar-filled food, saying more research was necessary.

Record numbers of kids are clinically obese and up to two thirds of adults are overweight to some degree or another. Diabetes rates have skyrocketed, riding in tandem with soft drink sales. More research is necessary to see if eating junk food contributes to weight gain? more...

Posted by: Jim at 01:22 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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I found this bit of news all over my regular reads this morning. Tiffany, Joanne Jacobs and Kimberly Swygert are all over it.

It seems that red is losing favor as the ink to use when correcting papers. It's too authoritarian and bold. It intimidates kids and could even harm their self esteem. Purple is soft and comforting and it is much better for their little psyches.

"If you see a whole paper of red, it looks pretty frightening," said Sharon Carlson, a health and physical education teacher at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Northampton. "Purple stands out, but it doesn't look as scary as red."

...

A mix of red and blue, the color purple embodies red's sense of authority but also blue's association with serenity, making it a less negative and more constructive color for correcting student papers, color psychologists said. Purple calls attention to itself without being too aggressive. And because the color is linked to creativity and royalty, it is also more encouraging to students.

...

"I do not use red," said Robin Slipakoff, who teaches second and third grades at Mirror Lake Elementary School in Plantation, Fla. "Red has a negative connotation, and we want to promote self-confidence. I like purple. I use purple a lot."

Tiffany asks what Lovely Wife and I, as homeschoolers, feel about the red/purple issue. Well, Tiffany it's like this: We've found that it's best not to correct at all. Pointing out that a child has made an error can be very damaging to their self esteem. We review things with the child and for the correct answers we give positive feedback like "Yay! You got that one right!" For the ones that are not 'traditionally correct' we will say something like "Oh, wow! That is certainly an exciting alternative!" Using this method we can quickly build up our boys' self esteem without exposing them to damaging concepts like "being wrong".

Um...right. That actually hurt me to put down on paper. The reality is we haven't done much written correcting at all yet. Bear starts book school next week. For the writing that he had done, we're generally right there with him and we correct him as he's doing it. If he brings me something he's done and there are errors I'll point them out to him and we'll fix it together if a writing instrument is handy.

Verbally I'm using red ink though. I guarantee.

POINTS: 3 points to the first person to source the title of this post. No searching, y'all.

Posted by: Jim at 09:46 AM | Comments (37) | Add Comment
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1 I just bought stock on your page. Now get more hits so I can make money.

Posted by: pylorns at August 24, 2004 10:06 AM (FTYER)

2 I wish i knew. Sounds like something out of Civil Disobedience, but probably not. But, then i am emptionally scarred from seeing red marks on my papers in third grade, so i really don't know how i get through the days. :-D

Posted by: tommy at August 24, 2004 10:15 AM (MAoAh)

3 Here we go, coddling the children to death. This kind of thing makes me nuts...

Posted by: Paul at August 24, 2004 10:18 AM (vbP6L)

4 I'm guessing Mark Twain. That's it - that's all I have...

Posted by: Clancy at August 24, 2004 10:45 AM (EGVPL)

5 Nope, not Twain. This was a bit before his time.

Posted by: Jim at August 24, 2004 10:55 AM (IOwam)

6 No one need think that the world can be ruled without blood. The civil sword shall and must be red and bloody. --Andrew Jackson That's in my CommonPlace Book

Posted by: DeAnna at August 24, 2004 11:20 AM (IdVP4)

7 Hmmm... That's not who I was thinking. However, a quick Googling shows the quote is attributed to AJ as well as to my guy. Either it's a common misquote or AJ was quoting the older source. You get 3 points DeAnna, and this remains open for another 3 if anybody can get the other answer.

Posted by: Jim at August 24, 2004 11:32 AM (IOwam)

8 How odd... I just googled too and it's all about AJ. I'm dying to know who the real quoter is!

Posted by: DeAnna at August 24, 2004 12:12 PM (IdVP4)

9 Nevermind, found it. AJ totally plagiarized!

Posted by: DeAnna at August 24, 2004 12:17 PM (IdVP4)

10 Yeah, it looks like he did. I'm going to have to take those points away now. We can't reward cheating you know. Hehe. I tease. ;-)

Posted by: Jim at August 24, 2004 12:23 PM (IOwam)

11 My "red and bloody," eh? Sounds like ol' Patrick Henry hisself.

Posted by: Victor at August 24, 2004 12:24 PM (3QS7e)

12 It's even before Patrick's time.

Posted by: Jim at August 24, 2004 12:28 PM (IOwam)

13 Nuh Uh! It wasn't MEEEE, it was Andy! He's the poopoo head.

Posted by: DeAnna at August 24, 2004 12:29 PM (IdVP4)

14 Can we google nowww.....pleeaase.

Posted by: Tiffani at August 24, 2004 01:16 PM (xpNFK)

15 Nope. If nobody gets it by tomorrow at some unspecified time I'll throw it open to searching.

Posted by: Jim at August 24, 2004 01:20 PM (IOwam)

16 Your mean!

Posted by: Tiffani at August 24, 2004 01:22 PM (xpNFK)

17 True, but I make up for it by being impossibly cute. Just ask Lovely Wife - she'll testify for me.

Posted by: Jim at August 24, 2004 01:25 PM (IOwam)

18 Tiffani, for half of the points, I'll give you a hint.

Posted by: DeAnna at August 24, 2004 02:12 PM (IdVP4)

19 shakesspere? (sp)

Posted by: pylorns at August 24, 2004 02:13 PM (FTYER)

20 Now, now, DeAnna. Behave. Nope. Not Shakespeare.

Posted by: Jim at August 24, 2004 02:15 PM (IOwam)

21 Jim - you never said sharing wasn't allowed. Cute as a button you are. (major sucking up-can ya tell?)

Posted by: Tiffani at August 24, 2004 02:46 PM (xpNFK)

22 To paraphrase my Papa, there's a lot of things I haven't said - that doesn't make them not so. (His version was actually "There's a lot of things I didn't do, that doesn't mean they were impossible".)

Posted by: Jim at August 24, 2004 02:54 PM (IOwam)

23 With no cheating, I'm guessing Cicero. Or Julius Caesar. Or both. Or either.

Posted by: RP at August 24, 2004 04:05 PM (LlPKh)

24 Plato.

Posted by: pylorns at August 24, 2004 04:53 PM (FTYER)

25 Nope. He wasn't a Cicero or Caesar or Plato. Nor was he a contemporary of any of them. He came a bit later.

Posted by: Jim at August 24, 2004 06:02 PM (GCA5m)

26 How about Marx, Lenin, or Stalin?

Posted by: RP at August 24, 2004 07:13 PM (X3Lfs)

27 I googled it (so I'm ineligible) and I must say I was *very* surprised at first, then I thought about it...practical man, he was.

Posted by: Victor at August 24, 2004 07:59 PM (etHvD)

28 Nope. Not a Communist either.

Posted by: Jim at August 25, 2004 05:36 AM (GCA5m)

29 I too am shocked. I knew i liked him for good reson, though.

Posted by: tommy at August 25, 2004 10:00 AM (MAoAh)

30 Okay, y'all. Nobody got the answer so I'll throw it wide open. One point to the first person to report the quote source and you can use any means to get find it.

Posted by: Jim at August 25, 2004 10:50 AM (IOwam)

31 Martin Luther

Posted by: Clancy at August 25, 2004 11:36 AM (EGVPL)

32 Yay for Clancy for being the first person to check back in these comments! One point for you.

Posted by: Jim at August 25, 2004 11:41 AM (IOwam)

33 You suck!! I leave for an appointment ...come back...and the answer is already up and points are rewarded. I guess that's what I get for working. Damn.

Posted by: Tiffani at August 25, 2004 12:06 PM (xpNFK)

34 That'll larn ya!

Posted by: Jim at August 25, 2004 12:08 PM (IOwam)

35 So a few years down the line, teachers are going to stop using purple ink because it has negative connotations, and all correcting will be done in turquoise...for awhile...

Posted by: Susie at August 25, 2004 03:19 PM (mua5j)

36 Nah, they'll probably go puce before turquoise. Turquoise is too representive of the habitual opression of the Native American peoples.

Posted by: Jim at August 25, 2004 03:28 PM (IOwam)

37 And in the year 2040 they'll be studying why everyone hates colors.

Posted by: Claire at August 28, 2004 12:10 AM (l1oyw)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Minutes spent listening to NPR this morning: 27
Number of times Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses were mentioned: 4
Coming up with new cuss phrase "lefty francostein news bitches": Priceless

I was particularly impressed by an exchange between the stateside newsposer and the man on the street reporter in Iraq, which I'll paraphrase:

Stateside Newsposer: I understand that there was terrific fighting in Najaf and large sections of the city are without power, water and phone service while Hakuna Ma-sadr's private army hides in one of Islam's most holy sites. But today is also the anniversary of something that is being noted here in the States and all over the world. A year ago today the United Nations building in Baghdad was bombed. Is that anniversary being noted in Iraq?

Man On The Street: No. The Iraqi's couldn't honestly give a good fuck about a single bomb that went off a year ago. You schmuck.*

Kudos to the man on the street in Iraq.

* The "you schmuck" part was implied in his tone and the 3 seconds of stunned silence before he answered the question.

Unrelated: Is there any mosque, plaza, pizzeria, etc in Iraq that isn't "one of Islam's most holy sites"?

Posted by: Jim at 08:39 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Students allege liberal bias

Ruth Malhotra is a student at Georgia Institute of Technology. When she told her instructor that she would be missing her public policy class to attend a conservative political conference her instructor replied that Ruth would be failing her class.

Malhotra ... ultimately filed a grievance with the school, saying the professor used her public policy class to push her outspokenly liberal viewpoints on students.



"WeÂ’re there to learn the foundations of policy, not the professorsÂ’ personal platforms," said Malhotra, 20, of Atlanta.

Ruth isn't alone in her persecution. A growing number of conservative students are rebelling against an overwhelming liberal bias on their campuses. The group Students for Academic Freedom collects stories of bias and organizes students to respond. They have over 130 chapters at universities around the country.

Conservative legislators are also moving to help this persecuted minority.

They have proposed a measure that would encourage colleges to present “dissenting sources and viewpoints” in the classroom and to “promote intellectual pluralism” in selecting outside speakers and financing student activities.

...

Republican Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon of California, chairman of the House subcommittee in charge of the reauthorization bill, said the proposals are designed to send a message to liberal academic officials: “You’re using the school in many cases to brainwash and not to educate.”

Posted by: Jim at 02:16 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Dateline: Atlanta

Local blogging celebrity Jim Peacock has been profiled in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (annoying registration required, yech). Friends and family admit to being underwhelmed by his stark rise to fame. Mr.Peacock was unavailable for comment but his spokesman Bear Peacock released a tersely worded statement "He's pukey in the toilet. Can I have ice cream?"

New visitors to the site "Snooze Button Dreams" have been advised to examine the right sidebar where sections such as "People Love This Place / Best of Snooze Button Dreams" and "Blogrolls etc / Constant Reads" will expand to show them lists of hyperlinks to some of Mr.Peacock's favorite posts and favorite other bloggers.

This reporter was furnished with a short list of links to items mentioned in the article:

Posts mentioned in the article:

men's room at work

sour cream

kids in the parental bedroom

the gross guy stuff

dog's fear of water

cog on corporate culture

poetry in the soul

Hunting Todd



Jim's other blogs:

Protomonkey

ZeroIntelligence



Other blogs mentioned in the article:

Suburban Blight (Kelley's blog)

Pork Tornado (Dusty's blog)

Salami Tsunami (Dusty's other blog that he actually gets paid money to write, the lucky bastard.)

In addition, the following posts don't suck too badly:

Dirty White Boy

Learning to Speak

Hot to Trot

Why Oh Why Do I Have To Love Women?

Why Do Elephants Paint Their Tonails Red?

The Infection Spreads

I Sure Do Miss Those O'Grady's Chips

In closing, please do not look at the bageldonut. Seriously, it's nasty.

Posted by: Jim at 08:15 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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1 He stole my Walter Mitty punchline! Nice story, babe. It really makes you sound like a clever, well-versed, well-thought of blogger. The bribe worked, eh? Just kidding-you know you're my man. Even if I didn't get a mention in your article. It's ok. I know where I stand now. My kidneys are going to Simon and RP. Hey-we all have a price.

Posted by: Helen at August 17, 2004 08:29 AM (mjc0R)

2 Yay! That's actually quite an insightful read although I disagree with the statement that you are occasionally purile ... frequently yes, but not occasionally ;-)

Posted by: Robert at August 17, 2004 09:03 AM (kXZI6)

3 That's okay, Helen. I shouldn't need your kidneys anyway. I'm more interested in other body parts. >;-) Robert, those were my thoughts exactly! I mean how many posts about pooping do I have to put up there before I'm truly recognized for the puerile hack that I am?

Posted by: Jim at August 17, 2004 09:26 AM (IOwam)

4 Why don't you two love birds get a room...... :-P Nice article.:-)

Posted by: LW at August 17, 2004 11:15 AM (q6E0D)

5 That was an annoying registration process, but was totally worth it. Yay, Jim!!! Great article! I think you deserve the recognition. Oh, and Helen, thanks for the kidney. I am very grateful.

Posted by: RP at August 17, 2004 12:02 PM (LlPKh)

6 "blog that he actually gets paid money to write" That's odd... the words LOOK like English, but I don't understand that phrase

Posted by: Harvey at August 17, 2004 01:58 PM (tJfh1)

7 Congratulations, Jim! I'm so proud of you. You're representin', babaaay. Oh, and I'll tell the AJC that I'm really not interested in a subscription unless and until you get a byline.

Posted by: Emma at August 17, 2004 02:52 PM (NOZuy)

8 It's true, Harvey! And he got it without Wonkettish ass sex stories too. There is hope for us all.

Posted by: Jim at August 17, 2004 02:55 PM (IOwam)

9 It took a while to load but OH. Those babies are so darned adorable!

Posted by: Emma at August 17, 2004 02:58 PM (NOZuy)

10 Truly amazing...will wonders never cease!!

Posted by: mitzi at August 17, 2004 11:01 PM (d5HaF)

11 How did you get the kids to stand still like that for 3 seconds? It's a great article; it makes you sound, well, almost normal. And I've got a kidney coming to me! So it's a real win-win thing...

Posted by: Simon at August 18, 2004 01:07 AM (OyeEA)

12 Emma - Yeah, they took their horns off and everything for the photographer! mitzi - let's hope not! Simon, the secret is in the bribery. In this case it was scooters.

Posted by: Jim at August 18, 2004 05:24 AM (q6E0D)

13 Ah! Jim! You're famous! Some guy commented on my blog thusly: "So, I get Google News Alerts for "Ayn Rand." Today their was a link to an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/0804/17blogger.html) about a guy who's a blogger. In the article it states, "Since he started posting, other bloggers have turned him on to objectivism and the writing of Ayn Rand." So, I went to the blogger guy's website: (www.snoozebuttondreams.com) and I looked over on the side where he had other blogs listed and yours was among them! Very cool! Maybe this will increase traffic flow to your site!" I guess he doesn't know that *I* take partial credit for turning you on to Rand! Sorry haven't been keeping up with the blog. That will have to change.

Posted by: Don at August 18, 2004 08:31 AM (e6au8)

14 Congrats! We are in esteemed company indeed.

Posted by: Spirit Fingers at August 18, 2004 09:40 AM (/rjc8)

15 Congrats Jim! I wish I could actually see the article..but it won't let me register from out of the country....

Posted by: Rachel Ann at August 18, 2004 10:03 AM (8T53U)

16 That's right, Don. You were the first objectivist I had regular discourse with. That seems like forever ago, doesn't it? Rachel Ann - That disparity has been corrected. Check your mail. ;-)

Posted by: Jim at August 18, 2004 10:10 AM (IOwam)

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And he is offering his help in the healing process, to whoever might need it.

This is just so out of this world.

He'll be getting whacked in jail. I give him a year tops before some patriotic convict slips a sharpened spoon between his ribs and does what our courts can't seem to do correctly.

(Hat tip to Lovely Wife)

Posted by: Jim at 01:17 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Scene: Dining area in the Kerry/Edwards tour bus. Big John is behind the table wearing a short sleeve dress shirt (pinstripe, power tie pulled a bit loose, top button undone). He is drinking from his coffee mug (Kerry/Edwards logo on white mug) and watching the scenery go by. He puts the mug down and begins speaking, still watching the landscape zip past.

Kerry: (sadly) Some people are saying some pretty strong things about me. Things that my opponents are starting to pick up and run with. They are questioning my ability to lead and questioning my behavior in the Vietnam theatre. Heck, they aren't questioning - they're practically yelling it at the tops of their voices.

Big John turns to face the camera. He picks up the coffee, takes a swig, puts it down. The slightly sad look on his face is replaced with a bemused grin.

Kerry: Good! Those individuals are Americans and they are entitled to their opinions. What's more, as Americans they are entitled to say them out loud, on the radio, on the television, on the Internet, wherever and however they can. That is what America is about and I applaud them for taking a stand about something they believe strongly in.

But those are opinions that they are saying. My opinions are markedly different from theirs. My friends and supporters have very different opinions. The men who served on my boats with me while I was in Vietnam sure aren't voicing opinions like theirs. The good people of Massachusets who have elected me to almost two decades of service in the United States Senate certainly have different opinions.

Now we might not state our opinions so...forcefully, but we believe in them just as strongly. I hope that their message won't make you feel pressured into making your own opinion. I hope that you'll take the time to get to know me a bit before you take anybody else's opinion as your own.

Thank you, America.

Big John picks up the mug again and takes a sip as he turns back to the window to look out at the passing amber waves of grain. Cue mellow version of campaign rock song. Voiceover with legal mumbo jumbo.

(Link via Ace of Spades)

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