just got in from the lounge - hence my previous post

on a cold, wet, the first bit of snow night in d.c. there were a lot worse places to go the eve before thanksgiving.

join me in rooting for denver tomorrow.

happiness is...(this really only makes sense if you're english...)

it's snowing :)

enjoy!

happy thanksgiving everyone :)

just got my delivery from chemical records, so i'm happy.

off to pennsylvania early tomorrow to see some of rebecca's family. back on friday. let's hope it snows (not toooo much, as we're driving....)

censorship - of the worst kind

we're not a tv lovers. we only watch films, sports (me), simpsons, documentaries, and the occasional 'pimp my ride'. that rules out all tv shows and the so-called drama.

so as i'm flicking through, waiting for monday night football, i come across a film. in the film, the tv network has done a rigourously adept job of making sure that no 'unsuitable' part of the female anatomy is shown - the classic blur, and also no profanity (silence). this was just an 'ordinary' (whatever that means) non adult-rated film, but the censors felt compelled to reduce it to absurdity, so heavy handed were they so as not to offend anyone.

but within a few moments, i see in all its voilent detail, an attack on a woman, a shooting, a killing, guns being fired everywhere and no hint of censorship whatsoever!

i find a scene of someone being attacked violently and being shot a lot more in need of (possible) censorship than the prospect of the occassional female breast on the small screen.

just who are you protecting, mr. censor. for what reason and why?

this country has an extremely unhealthy attitude towards sex, but apparently has no problem with firearms and people being murdered by them on the small screen. oh, that's right, i forgot: that's drama........

seen michael moore's 'bowling for columbine'?

only on ebay.........

q: when does $400.00 worth of hardware cost $3,350.00?

a: when it's the launch date of the new xbox 360

conclusion: i'm putting an order in for the new sony ps3 as soon as they announce the launch date.......

"At the Toys "R" Us in San Francisco's Richmond district, which quickly ran out of its two-dozen-odd allotment of 360s, a hysterical woman demanded the manager come over to her house on December 25 to explain to her young son why he wasn't getting a Christmas present."

perhaps the store manager and all the staff should visit the woman's house a day early, with a free psychiatric evaluation voucher, instead........ho, ho, ho!

"staying the course" - by dick cheney

'staying the course', as is now weekly wheeled out by the white house, smacks nothing more than an excercise in face-saving. 'staying the course' is undertaken at horryifying economic and human cost by politicians, who happily let others foot the bill.

where were you, dick cheney when 'staying the course' was being doled out to the american people during the vietnam war? the hypocrite was dodging the draft....

First he enrolled in Casper Community College; then he went to the University of Wyoming. That kept him out of the draft until August 7th, 1964, when Congress initiated massive conscription in the armed forces. Three weeks later, Cheney married Lynne Vincent, his high school girlfriend, earning him another deferment. Then, on October 26th, 1965, the Selective Service announced that childless married men no longer would be exempted from having to fight for their country. Nine months and two days later, the first of Cheney's two daughters, Elizabeth, was born. All told, between 1963 and 1966, Cheney received five deferments.....

xbox 360 armed robbery!

A Stafford, Virginia, Electronics Boutique store was the scene of an armed robbery this morning. According to sources, the perpetrator made off with two Xbox 360 systems, forcing the store manager to hand them over at gunpoint.

Sources tell GameSpot the local police responded quickly, cordoned off the store, and immediately pursued the thief. The thief was apprehended shortly afterward.

- the thief was then ordered to play the original sony playstation non-stop for 24 hrs with only "scooby doo night of 100 frights" for gameplay.....

dj nutty coming under a boot attack

a stiletto heel in the sternum really does aid in the picking of records....

you really can't go wrong with carrots

never hear anything bad about them.

rize

just watched rize. what a great film.

“Business success is after all excitement and fun.”

A. Calantzopoulos,
President and CEO, PMI (philip morris industries)

that's right. do what i did and go to philip morris's usa web site. now go to any other country that they have listed. what's the difference?

i tried mexico. in fact, you can select any other country, there's no similarity between the usa web site and all their other sites, which have exactly the same format.

absolutely no mention of smoking and health issues. nothing!

World Health Organization (WHO). Press Release "World No-Tobacco day: Helath Versus Smoking," May 27, 1993 -

"Transnational tobacco companies such as Philip Morris, RJR Nabisco, BAT Industries, and American Brands are also making their presence felt in other countries. In the developing world, per capita cigarette consumption has risen on average by more than 70% during the last 25 years."

fda and what's good for the republicans

in exactly whose interests is it that the fda have rejected the intended over-the-counter sales of plan b? (the controversial morning-after contraceptive)

for sure, not those that might be best served by it.

or as the Assistant Commissioner for Women's Health Susan Wood put it in her resignation last year:

"I can no longer serve ... when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by professional staff here, has been overruled,"

bit like the catholic church being against the use of condoms.

espn - gotta blow the smoke up someone's .......

hey espn. how about a little less of the cheesy "he's such a nice guy, there's nobody nicer on the face of the earth", blah, cheese, blah, cheese, more cheese, "he's overcome the tragic death of a stick insect"...blah, blah, cheese, blah, cheese. "you'ld never know he hits people on a sunday for a living"...... "

"he's the best" ........love-fest on a player you seem to single out every damn sunday night, and just commenting on the game? and i thought phil simms was the biggest sicophant commenting on nfl sunday.

shut up!!!!!!! or can't you do that.

i guess not.

most hated ad on football sunday is: charles schwab

er, what's rada doing on the charles schwab ad?




all of these guys (not rada) are so pathetically un-blokey. makes you want to kick over their potted plants and release some moles to un-manicure their suburbian lawns. " suburbia - where the developers cut down the trees and then name the roads after them...."

not the best sequel for the 'waking life' director's talent. what did he call these ads; boring in suburbia?

i'm sure bob sabiston didn't mind the check, though.

usher

just ordered some records from chemical.

i didn't see the usher truth tour on dvd. best buy has it........

earth wind & fire at starbucks :(

these two ought to be kept apart.

just walked into my local starbucks on p st. and apart from the sunday morning lobotomised crowdm, they were playing earth wind & fire - fantasy.

i see that starbucks now has a new elton john christmas collection cd. presumably aimed at the lobotomised crowd.......

maths

still plodding through my intermediate algebra book. i get to a point and then my brain just shuts down and refuses to 'see' the problem. when i go back to it, the next day or whenever, i'm able to make progress. what is it about maths that makes the (my) brain do this?

i can't think of any other subject, except physics (which is just plain hard) that my brain reacts too like this. everything else, i just get fatigued and feel like i've had enough, but can still put in another quarter hour, etc. .

maths? there's no way i can 'do a little bit more'. weird.

self studying is tough. especially maths.

very liberal studies - 12 years on

from the new york times:

When Mr. Lechner enrolled in college in 1994, the Internet was practically a baby and his current girlfriend was starting fourth grade. He has since drifted through four majors - education, communications, theater, women's studies (!) - and watched hundreds of friends graduate, get jobs and marry.

i think the phrase is: grow up, dude. 12 years and no science majors is nothing to smile about.

if you're that committed to being in education, try teaching (one of your majors)

in england, you have just four years to get your degree. three to pass + one retake.

only in america can this guy become a celebrity. in england, he would find a very different response.

i am reminded of prince edward and when he first came to cambridge. he didn't have good enough grades to get in, but when you're the queen's son, it helps. the local press attacked him mercilessly (someone didn't get a place who did have the grades because of him), which was only half as bad as the treatment he took on the rugby field. so bad was the experience that he had to stop playing after a few games (not that you'ld want him next to you on the field in a good game in the first place). a guy whose never got his hands dirty isn't much use in a game of rugby.

that's how he ended up judging a flower show....i suspect mr lichfield doesn't play any physical sport in college, for much the same reason as prince edward. he's a target. college is great, but you have to leave and not be student forever. not unless you're after a phd in science, and then that really will take a long time.

a real hero - not the hollywood variety

Jenin boy killed by Israeli Army during holidays; Parents donate his organs to Israelis

November 3rd. Ahmed al-Khatib, 12 years old, was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers.

Mr. Khatib said he hoped the gesture would speak to the conscience of all Israeli fathers and mothers so that they might work to end the cycles of violence and stop the crimes against Palestinian children. More than 700 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the past five years, and around 100 Israeli children have also been killed in the violence.

Six Israelis received Ahmed's organs, including a twelve-year-old girl named Samah Gadban who had been waiting five years to receive a heart transplant.
Samah's father told Haaretz, "I don't know what to say. It is such a gesture of love... I would like for [the family] to think that my daughter is their daughter."

Other recipients of Ahmed's organs include a six-month-old baby, a 56-year-old woman, two five-year-old boys, and a four-year-old girl.

Mr. Khatib said he hoped to meet the recipients of his son's organs, and he hoped that the gesture would be a step toward peace between peoples.

"I don't mind seeing the organs in an Israeli or a Palestinian. In our religion, God allows us to give organs to another person and it doesn't matter who the person is," said Mr. Khatib.

His hope is that the donations will send a message of peace to Israelis and Palestinians.