It's nice when Stephen Hawking expresses the same sentiment you've been ranting about for years.

Started coding again. I cobbled together what I could remember on the train ride home, did this with 21 lines:



Just meant to get my feet wet again. Necessary when you forget the simple sh*t like how to print an array.

It was 65°F in Cambridge today. 80°F in my office because the boss is loathe to open the windows. Ugh. I like heat but it's a bitch to work in.

Bush says Iraq is not in a state of civil war.

Hadley also dismissed the notion that civil war has begun in Iraq. "The Iraqis don't talk of it as a civil war. The unity government doesn't talk of it as a civil war," Hadley said. "You have not yet had a situation also where you have two clearly defined and opposing groups vying not only for power but for territory."

Oh really? Mr. Hadley, meet Muqtada al-Sadr, spiritual leader of the Mahdi army.

And who cares if the Iraqi government calls what's happening a ham and swiss on rye? When did the group that sold us visions of nuclear plumes and WMD become the gold standard of truth?

Wikipedia
A civil war is a war in which parties within the same culture, society or nationality fight for political power or control of an area. Political scientists use two criteria: the warring groups must be from the same country and fighting for control of the political center, control over a separatist state or to force a major change in policy. The second criteria is that at least 1,000 people must have been killed in total, with at least 100 from each side.

Merriam-Webster
noun: a war between opposing groups of citizens of the same country

This homicidal refusal to accept the obvious sure puts Clinton's "that depends on your meaning of 'is'" in perspective, doesn't it?

Holy crap. One of my photos reached position #16 on the Flickr Explore list.

                                             friday
                                       rockport, ma
                              mid november and 58°f
                       nikon d50 w/Sigma 28mm f/1.8
   leonid meteor shower begins in precisely 2 hours
the last clouds are being swept away as i type this
    weather.com says six hours of uninterrupted sky

Best Cobert EVER.

Someone ought to write a book called "How Comedy Saved the West."

With a posthumous foreword by Bill Hicks.

these wrinkles masterfully disguise
the youthful boy below
who turned your way and saw
something he was not looking for
both a beginning and an end
but now he lives inside
someone he does not recognize
when he catches his reflection
on accident

     Death Cab For Cutie ("Brothers On a Hotel Bed")

called you from the hotel phone
i haven't dialed this code before
i'm sleeping later and waking later
i'm eating less and thinking more
how am I without you?
am I more myself or less myself?
i feel younger, louder
like I don't always connect
like I don't ever connect

     Everything But The Girl ("Single")

It's not the song per se it's her goddamn voice. Ugh. This is exactly the type of stuff I'd like to play in the subways. And yes, with a live female singer. Heck, this would probably be one of the songs I'd cover.

Started learning French via Rosetta Stone this morning. Figure it's a good way to spend an hour each day.

If you still believe that Karl Rove is a genius, wizard, architect or anything short of overrated, you must shut the f*** up. One popular vote loss, one win, one near loss to a disorganized opponent and one outright loss means one thing and one thing only: mediocrity. Racking up this kind of record by means of dirty tricks, race-baiting and questioning the patriotism of decorated war veterans makes Rove a mediocre hack at best."

     Bob Cesca @ HuffPo

Eat a dick, Rick.

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- Nicaraguans waited in long lines Sunday to vote in an election that will decide whether Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega returns to power, 16 years after the end of his leftist rule and a U.S.-backed war to topple him. The U.S. has warned against an Ortega win, with Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez saying that aid and trade "will be endangered" if "anti-democratic forces prevail." The race is also watched closely by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a U.S. foe who is hoping to find a new ally in Ortega.

How badly would the neocons freak out if some country, any country warned the United States against voting Republican? And not just warn, threaten economic retaliation? They'd huff and puff about sovereignty, threaten to bomb the country responsible and blame Democrats for being unpatriotic if they didn't go along with the whole ridiculous, hypocritical pile of bullshit.

Here the Bush administration is, doing precisely that and nobody bats an eye. That's because there is a rich American tradition of what's good for the rest of the world isn't necessarily good for us. And yet I still hear the O'Reilly zombies on the public commute wondering why "they" hate "us."

No newspaper will point out this double standard. This factoid, this split ruleset either isn't printable by the so-called "liberal" or "independent" media or it is, but it hasn't occurred to the reporters.

I, being optimistic about the nature of man, can't figure out which of these possibilities sucks least so I can root for it.

Thirty-two hours until the beginning of the November election or, as I like to call it, Schadenfreude 2006.

Nevermind. He's fucked.

What's this? He bought a few hundred dollars woth of meth and a massage from a gay escort but he never did the drugs and he didn't do the guy?

Right. I think we can all read between the lines. "I didn't impale."

Has a familiar ring to it. Hell, it has LEWINSKY RETRIBUTION stamped all over it.

PS: Watch that Olberman clip! This means you!! CHEW YOUR FOOD!

For the record, I'm backing Haggard until some evidence comes forward.

I can't in good faith expect an even-headed and impartial peer review by the court of public opinion for the progressives but then consider it ancillary when the person targeted has a different worldview (ignorant and riduclous as it may be). I HOPE it's proven to be true, and I suspect it will be, but despite Bush, this is still a country where a person is innocent until proven otherwise.

Evangelical or not.

Freakin' figures.

You scored as Tom Zarek. You began your career as a terrorist, but that was so your voice could be heard. You alone know the right path, and anyone who gets in your way is fighting against the good of you all. Still, you can wait, and you can fight your war in any arena. CPO Galen Tyrol 81% Capt. Lee Adama (Apollo) 81% Tom Zarek 81% Commander William Adama 63% Dr Gaius Baltar 63% Lt. Sharon Valerii (Boomer) 63% President Laura Roslin 44% Col. Saul Tigh 44% Lt. Kara Thrace (Starbuck) 38% Number 6 31% What New Battlestar Galactica character are you? created with QuizFarm.com

"I say what this says to voters if you think Katrana was a success, Iraq is now Katrina. Iraq is the foriegn policy version of Katrina and this President cannot handle the reality. This is not an election anymore, it's an intervention."

     - Some random guy on CNN's Situation Room.

Me: [to office] What's a word for 'bilingually stupid?'
Ella: [pausing from phone conv.] 'Puta.'

["How long has she been calling you a 'puta?' Here's a knife, do something with the knife..." -ed]

Out of a field of many, this is the best Olberman to date. Who the hell does his writing?