Wednesday, December 31, 2003a fortunate incident
Though having a heart attack is certainly a frightening occurence, the grandmother below managed to pick the right place to do it!
Wishing you good health and good luck in 2004!
Gran's heart attack on jet with medics
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/3359149.stm
When the stewardess put out the call: "Is there a doctor on the plane", 15 cardiologists stood up to help 67-year-old Dorothy Fletcher.
The doctors were en route to Orlando for a heart conference.
Mrs Fletcher, who comes from Liverpool, was on the flight to go to her daughter's wedding in Florida.
"The doctors were wonderful. They saved my life," she said.
posted @ 12:19 PM PDT Saturday, December 27, 2003blame Canada
Mad Cow in the U.S.A. is going to be a hot political issue. Is it any wonder they're seeking to blame Canada? I would like to point out that the "Canadian" Mad Cow belonged to an American from Mississippi.
posted @ 07:44 PM PDT Thursday, December 25, 2003not all the news is bad
Unfortunately, the "Beagle 2" (named after Darwin's Beagle) Mars explorer craft has lost contact with its senders on Earth. Even if contact isn't re-established, this mission will teach the scientists some lessons about how to better proceed next time. They're making progress.
There are some amazing discoveries in astronomy happening right now, aided by a new generation of high technology telescopes and explorational equipment. Some of the photographs are amazingly beautiful!!
Space exploration is fascinating to a wide cross-section of people. If you're one of them, I recommend keeping up with what's going on in space news. The beginnings of a possible Star Trek future are here!
posted @ 01:10 PM PDT Wednesday, December 24, 2003happy holidays!
Happy Holidays and thank you to everyone who reads my ramblings! May your holiday season be more about the joy of genuine celebration than merely the stress of shopping!
Though I love the tradition of gift giving, those of us living in a consumer culture sometimes go overboard and forget that other things are more important. However, I'm not going to deny that good presents are a wonderful thing!
my wish list (hint,hint!)
posted @ 01:44 PM PDT Tuesday, December 23, 2003the BBC on Afghanistan
Here are a few interesting articles about Afghanistan from the BBC archives:
December 4, 1997:
Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/west_asia/37021.stm
A senior delegation from the Taleban movement in Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan.
A spokesman for the company, Unocal, said the Taleban were expected to spend several days at the company's headquarters in Sugarland, Texas.
Unocal says it has agreements both with Turkmenistan to sell its gas and with Pakistan to buy it.
May 13, 2002:
Afghanistan plans gas pipeline
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1984459.stm
Afghanistan hopes to strike a deal later this month to build a $2bn pipeline through the country to take gas from energy-rich Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India.
Afghan interim ruler Hamid Karzai is to hold talks with his Pakistani and Turkmenistan counterparts later this month on Afghanistan's biggest foreign investment project, said Mohammad Alim Razim, minister for Mines and Industries told Reuters.
December 27, 2002
Central Asia pipeline deal signed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2608713.stm
An agreement has been signed in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, paving the way for construction of a gas pipeline from the Central Asian republic through Afghanistan to Pakistan.
The project has been around for some years
The building of the trans-Afghanistan pipeline has been under discussion for some years but plans have been held up by Afghanistan's unstable political situation.
posted @ 04:54 PM PDT Monday, December 22, 2003evolution of the groove
I believe that the deliciously weird Intergalactic Faerie Funk are currently innovating our music of the future...
posted @ 11:07 PM PDT Sunday, December 21, 2003fear itself
Two related items:
US raises level of terror alert
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3335595.stm
The US Government has raised the nation's terror alert to its second-highest level. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge said the move followed a substantial increase in intelligence reports about possible threats.
Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.
-- Hermann Goering (1946) |
posted @ 09:13 PM PDT Friday, December 19, 2003save the cute animals!
Though I definitely consider myself to be a person for the ethical treatment of animals, I am not a supporter of PETA. Their obnoxious tactics (such as giving out "your mommy kills animals" flyers to children of women wearing fur) do little to convince anyone of their cause.
Here's what Michael Moore says about them in his (totally amazing) new book, Dude, Where's my Country?:
Animals don't have rights. Yes they should be treated "humanely." Yes, Tyson Foods and all the others that "harvest" chickens are disgusting. But "freeing" chickens from their factory farms is idiotic. They don't know how to survive in the wild and they're just going to get hit by a truck. And lay off carrying on about the milk, no matter how bad it is for you. You just look like a dumbass if you go on national TV, like PETA does, to argue that beer is better for the body than milk. This shit just makes me wanna go kick my dog.
I only wish that the people who put so much time and effort into saving the animals would join those of us trying to save the humans.
posted @ 07:23 PM PDT Thursday, December 18, 2003virtual reality
Back when I was a kid in the 1980s I was addicted to text-only adventure games. Compared to what's available today, these were downright primitive, but I enjoyed figuring out how to achieve the goals and taking on the roles of the characters. Generally you would get a basic description of what you could see and where you could go from there. The number of things you could actually do were extremely limited.
Today computer games are more sophisticated and the technology is improving rapidly. It will be interesting to see how advanced things will get. Every geek has fantasized about what they'd do if given a chance to try out a Star Trek Holodeck...
A few nights ago, I had a dream where I was in a game that seemed completely real. I was thrown into a situation that seemed ordinary enough, but was new to me personally. Though I could manipulate objects, communicate with the other people in the game, and pretty much do whatever I wanted, I decided to "just observe and play along with what others were doing" until I figured things out. I was still dreaming when the game ended, and remember feeling as if I'd missed an opportunity to enjoy it to the fullest. I decided that I would be more resourceful and adventurous the next time I played. Unfortunately, "next time" was pre-empted by my alarm clock and I was grumpy about it as I headed off to work.
Later that day, a co-worker had a stroke in the office and after a frightening medical drama died in the hospital. The fact that life is precious and uncertain hit home. I stopped lamenting that I'd missed my opportunity to play that dream game and realized that the place to apply that resourcefulness and adventurousness in order to enjoy things to the fullest is in life.
I'm now in the process of reevaluating everything and am feeling a new sense of motivation to create and achieve some new goals. I realized that I wasn't honestly doing my best.
posted @ 09:31 PM PDT Wednesday, December 17, 2003how not to write a cover letter
I'm currently working for a media company that received this entertainingly weird cover letter today. Somehow, I don't think he's going to have much luck in the job market...
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 8:08 PM
Subject: How do you do?
Someone dropped me a note the other day saying you folks might be interested in hiring me. I haven't got any experience in television news production, and I'm not really a PR type of guy, which, if this manages to filter up to the right place, you will already know. So, in the listings we can scratch, A and C, leaving B:
Management Consultant
This hadn't occured to me. I'd have expected some kind of research or writing that required publishing, which could have unforseen problems, as I have a reputation for candor and blunt prose.
If I'm right, you already know something about my qualifications, so I won't detail my accomplishments. People tend to think I'm bragging, but I am pretty sure I could enjoy doing this job well.
I'm a peculiar kind cat and you have no reason to know me from Adam, but if I'm on the money here, and you pass this on to someone who might care who I am, I'll definately owe you one. You can get in touch with me most of the time at or this email address.
Otherwise, you can just write this off as more internet weirdness.
Thanks,
Doug
posted @ 04:53 PM PDT Monday, December 15, 2003catching Saddam
They finally caught Saddam and many are trying to spin this as a great victory. There's no denying he was a tyrant and a dictator, but the situation in Iraq isn't quite as simple as good guys vs. bad guys.
For a little historical background, read what Michael Moore has to say about it:
We Finally Got Our Frankenstein... and He Was In a Spider Hole!
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2003-12-14
America used to like Saddam. We LOVED Saddam. We funded him. We armed him. We helped him gas Iranian troops.
But then he screwed up. He invaded the dictatorship of Kuwait and, in doing so, did the worst thing imaginable -- he threatened an even BETTER friend of ours: the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia, and its vast oil reserves. The Bushes and the Saudi royal family were and are close business partners, and Saddam, back in 1990, committed a royal blunder by getting a little too close to their wealthy holdings. Things went downhill for Saddam from there.
But it wasn't always that way. Saddam was our good friend and ally. We supported his regime. It wasnt the first time we had helped a murderer. We liked playing Dr. Frankenstein. We created a lot of monsters -- the Shah of Iran, Somoza of Nicaragua, Pinochet of Chile -- and then we expressed ignorance or shock when they ran amok and massacred people. We liked Saddam because he was willing to fight the Ayatollah. So we made sure that he got billions of dollars to purchase weapons. Weapons of mass destruction. That's right, he had them. We should know -- we gave them to him!
posted @ 11:27 AM PDT Saturday, December 13, 2003a wise man from Texas
Are you sick of so-called "conservative" talk show hosts and media commentators who are really obnoxiously extreme? If so, Jim Hightower will be a breath of fresh air. He's brilliant, funny, and a true patriotic American. If you like his stuff, encourage your local radio stations to carry his daily 2 minute bits!
Faking Reality
http://www.jimhightower.com/air/read.asp?id=11231
Is anything going to be real in our world, or is everything to be "simulated reality," created by profit-seeking corporations?
Already, we have Disneyland's plastic imitations of quaint European "villages," we have "dairy creamers" that contain no cream and don't come from dairies, we have pets that are not actual animals but preprogrammed robots, we have kids playing "baseball" on hand-held computers instead of out on a baseball field and now, even the small sensory joys in our lives are no longer real, but instead are synthetic replications.
Take the pleasure of buying a new car and inhaling that new-car smell. Is it real... or is it "nuance?" Cadillac has revealed that it now imbues each of its vehicles with an artificial scent called "nuance" that was created in a chemistry lab by a company that specializes in "aroma quality management." Leather seats? No need to go to that expense, for this company can make a plastic covering that, it claims, feels and smells more like leather than leather.
That's only the start of fake fragrances in automobiles. An executive of this smell-simulating company says: "We believe there is growth potential in people wanting to be in this big burly SUV with rich walnut, and they want it to smell like wood." So, they've now got a wood perfume for SUVs, which is necessary in the interior, since even real wood paneling is lacquered and doesn't have an actual wood smell.
Then there's a car's sound. Remember the great, sensual rumble of old Fords? Well now they're back not for real, but thanks to an artificial sound system. Ford used computers and focus groups to come up with the classic rumbling sound and then it hired a company to install a system of resonators so Ford's new pickup trucks artificially rumble like an old V-8.
In the Brave New World of marketing, no need to experience reality just fake it.
posted @ 02:18 PM PDT Wednesday, December 10, 2003psychedelic nectar
Rob Brezny is the genius who writes the syndicated weekly horoscope column known as Free Will Astrology. I'm a big fan of his beautiful style of writing and lucid insights, and highly recommend his book, The Televisionary Oracle (scroll down on the page to read the entire text online!) Warning, it's definitely WAY out there, but I personally enjoy that sort of thing.
Here's a taste from Chapter 29:
Attention please.
This is your ancestors speaking.
We've been trying to reach you
through your dreams and fantasies and meditations,
but you don't seem to have heard us.
That's why we've been forced
to borrow the Televisionary Oracle.
So listen up.
We'll make it brief.
The fact is
you're at a crossroads
analogous to a dilemma
which has mystified our biological line
for six generations.
We beseech you now
to master the turn
that none of us have ever figured out
how to negotiate.
Heal yourself
and you heal all of us.
I want to paint fat, pimply guys in muscle cars with as much panache as Leonardo da Vinci painted his Madonnas," mused our friend Romney in describing her aspirations as an artist. "I want to invoke the elegance of Rembrandt," she continued, "as I create canvases depicting toxic landfills where pagan angels play catch with burning televisions as they scavenge for Pez candy dispensers." This is the spirit we'd like you to emulate in the coming months and years, beauty and truth fans. Be eager to find and even create beauty everywhere you go, no matter how little you have to work with.
The Televisionary Oracle
wishes you
bigger, better, more original sins
and wilder, wetter, more interesting problems.
posted @ 04:39 PM PDT Tuesday, December 9, 2003should you get a flu shot?
The other day I took the subway and the entire car was covered in ads encouraging people to get a flu shot, some of which seemed to insinuate that it's immoral not to get one. Many employers give them out for free (hoping to save on sick days) as well.
Are there risks to the flu shot, and if so are they worth enduring in order to avoid the flu? Here's something to read before you decide whether to join the herd:
Six Ways to Avoid the Winter Flu--and a Flu Shot Isnt One of Them
http://www.mercola.com/2003/oct/29/flu_shot.htm
The flu vaccine, whether in the shot or nasal form, is worthless at best and should be avoided. Not only are they loaded with toxic chemicals including mercury and aluminum, but many people come down with the flu shortly after receiving the shot. This is because it actually weakens the immune system, making the person more predisposed to the illness. I have never received a flu shot and haven't missed a day of work due to illness in over 20 years.
The bottom line is to lead a healthy lifestyle, which includes eating right, exercising, getting adequate sleep, and addressing stressors, year round. If you do, chances are youll never have to worry about coming down with the flu.
posted @ 02:32 PM PDT Monday, December 8, 2003conflict of interest
What happens when top-level medical researchers have a financial interest in the drugs they are studying?
Report: Top national health officials often paid by makers of drugs they monitor
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2003/12/07/national1333EST0489.DTL
Some of the National Institute of Health's top officials have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees from drug companies whose products they were responsible for monitoring, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.
The newspaper, citing records it said it began gathering five years ago, reported that in some instances officials of the federal institute operated as consultants for companies whose drugs were linked to the deaths of patients taking part in NIH studies.
...
One patient the Times said died was Jamie Ann Jackson, who had been listed as "Subject No. 4" in an NIH study of the treatment of kidney inflammation related to lupus, a disease that attacks the body's immune system.
The cause of death was linked to a complication involving use of a drug made by Schering AG, for which Dr. Stephen I. Katz, the senior NIH official involved in the study, was a paid consultant.
Katz didn't stop the study after Jackson's death or warn doctors outside the agency, which could have threatened the market potential for the drug, the Times said.
Katz said his connection to Schering AG had no influence on his decisions and his work for the company had been approved by top NIH officials.
Katz has been paid between $476,369 and $616,365 in company fees over the past decade, the Times said, citing his income-disclosure reports.
posted @ 12:17 PM PDT Thursday, December 4, 2003thoughts on Iraq
The war in Iraq is slowly becoming more and more unpopular with Americans. Soldiers are dying, the weapons of mass destruction never were found, and things are generally not going well in Iraq. War is also damn expensive.
With an election coming up in America next year, George W. Bush needs to do something big to turn the tide of public opinion. The ideal situation for him would be to pull out of Iraq while making it look on TV like everything there is fixed while handing off the government to someone else (perhaps the Shiites who are clamoring for power.) Many Americans would rally around a "Welcome Home Heroes" parade like a hometown football victory. The photo ops would be even better than Thanksgiving with the troops!
I imagine this is what BushCo is working on right now, but only time will tell if they succeed...
posted @ 07:02 PM PDT Wednesday, December 3, 2003"miracle baby" born in Bethlehem
I'm trying to imagine what this baby's childhood is going to be like and what kind of adult he'll become...
'Miracle' baby draws Bethlehem crowds
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/02/mideast.baby/index.html
Palestinians in the West Bank town revered by Christians as Jesus' birthplace have been thronging to the adjacent Aida refugee camp for a glimpse of the 11-day-old infant many are calling a "miracle baby."
The boy has gained attention for being born with a large birthmark across his cheek that roughly forms in Arabic letters the name of his uncle, Ala, a Hamas militant killed by Israeli troops after he was suspected of having planned a suicide bombing.
The family, devout Muslims, called it a divine message of support for the Palestinians against Israel, although some local Christians preparing for subdued Christmas observances have quietly dismissed it as lacking religious significance.
The Israeli army declined comment, but one security source said, "It sounds very freaky." The family denied any hoax.
posted @ 04:45 PM PDT Monday, December 1, 2003farking addictive
I'm addicted to the news and snarky comments on the news website fark.com and have to discipline myself to stop looking at it repeatedly during the workday...
posted @ 12:12 PM PDT
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