Do Not Question Us

From Rumsfeld's rally...I mean speech...held before the American Legion: "And that is important in any long struggle or long war, where any kind of moral or intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong, can weaken the ability of free societies to persevere."

Did he really say that? As long as there is a war on terror we are not allowed to question his actions? Wow. He can go straight to hell.

Don't believe what you read and see

This is too rich: "The good news is that most Americans, though understandably influenced by what they see and read, have good inner gyroscopes. They have good center of gravity. So, I’m confident that over time they will evaluate and reflect on what is happening in this struggle and come to wise conclusions about it."

So yeah, don't read the news or watch reports on the tube. Use your "inner gyroscope" just like our genius president.

One last jab

"...we have learned the lessons of history, of the folly of trying to turn a blind eye to danger." I hope he at least has learned that lesson since he and his cohorts were in charge during the largest terror attack in the history of our country. That's a heck of a snow job, Rummy.

Summation

I'll allow Keith Olberman to summarize Rumsfeld's speech: "The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack." Found that via Tom Tomorrow.

A good idea

I love this idea and we have the technology to do it. If the Fox Network can have a whooshing sound every time a new stat pops up on the screen why can't they do this: "Televised football would instantly improve by throwing a few Madden flourishes into their coverage. For starters, they should ramp up the use of the so-called SkyCam—the XFL used bird's-eye views all the time, and it was the only reason those games were worth watching. Also, when the team on offense huddles up, a graphic should pop up noting how many tight ends, wide receivers, and running backs have entered the game. Ditto for the defense. And after the play is over, they should quickly flash a Madden-esque graphic with multicolored vectors depicting the routes that the receivers just ran across the field."

The man is a genius

Say what you want about Al Franken and his politics but at least he's genuinely funny. Link courtesy of this guy.

Bet you didn't know this

If you owe eBay $1.70 they will put your account on hold until you pay them if you wait long enough to pay them.

Screw AOL

I've been very pleased by the recent news story about AOL and their questionable billing practices. The news story reminded me of my infuriating incident of AOL dishonesty. It happened well over five years when we switched from AOL to Roadrunner in my abode. When I tried to cancel the account the scam they used was to offer me a free month. I said sure since there was going to be a few days of down time before the Roadrunner was installed and this would allow me to have internet the while time during the changeover. I thought that was mighty nice of AOL.

You know how every website subscription you've ever had works. When the subscription run expires, you can't get in anymore until you pay up, much like my eBay account right now. I figured that I would use the AOL account for a month and once it expired I would use the Roadrunner connection exclusively. AOL had other plans. What they did was as soon as I tried to log on after the expiration date, partly my fault since I was paying attention to the date, they immediately charged $30 to my credit card. I called and said I thought I had cancelled the account. They, literally, laughed and said, "why did you use it?" I'm serious, one woman actually giggled at me on the phone. This is the closest I have ever come to a heart attack. I was seeing red and almost yelling into the phone. I demanded they refund the money, they said no. I demanded to talk to someone else they said it would do no good. I don't remember ever being more angry at any time in my life.

What really made me furious was that I had been a customer of theirs for several years. Somewhere around four or five. I split the account with Chris during that time and I must have paid them almost $1000 over that period. What kind of company does all it can to screw over someone who has paid them that much money? So yeah, the hell with them. I hate to see people lose jobs but part of me desires to see that company go tits up. I bet that if they do go bankrupt they do it at the beginning of a month so they can charge their loyal customers for a full month they won't get.

Kipling

I came across this poem in an article about Rudyard Kipling and his son who died during World War War I, the first "war to end all wars." Kipling wrote an amazing poem about his dead son a year later. The
article is here and the poem is below and in the article.

My Boy Jack (1916)

Have you news of my boy Jack?'
Not this tide.
'When d'you think that he'll come back?'
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

'Has any one else had word of him?'
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.

'Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?'
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind -
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!

New Toy

You can never have enough things in your life to distract, I always say. I've been looking around for a good piece of software that I can do panoramic pictures with and I think I found one I like. It's called Autostitch and, surprisingly, you don't have to do a thing to make the panorama. You just choose the photographs you want stitched together and the program takes care of the rest. Here's an example below. I took five pictures of my back courtyard and stitched them together this morning. There is some distortion in the picture because I stood in one spot. If you move sideways you can avoid this.

Beauty and horror

I guess images like these were unavoidable if you have a disaster in a city like New York. A city full of artists can't help but produce photographs like these during the worst of days.

Richard Dawkins

"You won't find any opposition to the idea of evolution among sophisticated, educated theologians. It comes from an exceedingly retarded, primitive version of religion, which unfortunately is at present undergoing an epidemic in the United States. Not in Europe, not in Britain, but in the United States."

It gets better

"Actually, holy alliance would be a better phrase. Bush and bin Laden are really on the same side: the side of faith and violence against the side of reason and discussion. Both have implacable faith that they are right and the other is evil. Each believes that when he dies he is going to heaven. Each believes that if he could kill the other, his path to paradise in the next world would be even swifter. The delusional "next world" is welcome to both of them. This world would be a much better place without either of them."

This guy is my hero

"An astronomically overwhelming majority of the people who could be born never will be. You are one of the tiny minority whose number came up. Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one. The world would be a better place if we all had this positive attitude to life. It would also be a better place if morality was all about doing good to others and refraining from hurting them, rather than religion's morbid obsession with private sin and the evils of sexual enjoyment."

Never even knew about this

Sometimes we live in such an interesting world.

Young and Colbert

Here is Neil Young's appearance on the Colbert Report. Good stuff.