November 30, 2006
Your terrorism score, as compiled by the government
Oh wait, it's not accessible, though they will keep it for forty years. Comforting to know that they include your meal choice (Halal?) as part of the scoring process. Another illegal operation brought to you by the "freedom" folks, a.k.a. the good guys.
November 29, 2006
iPod sales to North Korea banned
Just take a look at the Korean peninsula at night. The leadership drive BMWs and Cadillacs, they drink fine cognac and scotch, and the people starve. Read about the plan here. More Hennessey for the rest of us.
Something I wish I had gotten involved with when I had a chance
new materials and physical measurements for better acoustic instruments. Had students demonstrating cheap, good, and excellent violins in class back at Penn State. You could hear, feel, and measure the differences. Beautiful stuff.
November 27, 2006
Art on the ice
The ANITA experiment down in Antarctica needed a box painted about 40% black. So my colleagues there held an art contest. Pretty good work!
November 22, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving
Many of my colleagues are in McMurdo, Antarctica this week. Don't worry, I'll have an extra glass of wine for them. Otherwise it's turkey dinner and all the trimmings here at Chez DuVernois.
November 20, 2006
Bush's choice to head the Family-Planning Post?
Yup, you guesses it, someone who opposes contraception. At least for white people.
Meanwhile at the CIA...
..."no evidence" of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. And Bush isn't a fan of Seymour Hersh's it appears.
Brilliant military thinking!
Though the "decider" hasn't decided whether he wants to send more troops or bring them home. That's decisive!
November 16, 2006
35th anniversary of the Cannonball
Brock Yates is still reveling in his 15 minutes of fame. But it was a great moment. "At no time did we exceed 175 mph." Hopefully they'll figure some way of pulling off a 2007 version of the race...
Good and bad uses of money
Bad. The US government's vote-gathering operations which funnel money to Cuban "exiles" in Florida.
November 13, 2006
New explanation for fundamentalist islam
Sexual frustration. Can you imagine the US bombers loaded with porn headed for the Middle East?
November 12, 2006
"World's most dangerous road"
Scary-sounding mountain road out of La Paz, Bolivia. Vehicles off the edge, dirt road washing away, crazy bus & truck drivers, and speeding.
November 09, 2006
November 08, 2006
40 years ago today...
...Paul McCartney died. "If you think the harmony, is a little dark and out of key, you're correct, there's nobody there."
Okay, now I'll say something about the election
I think I'd like to learn a whole lot more about exit polls and computerized voting. Why did the exit polls now agree with official tallies, but not in the 2004 election? Anyway, that's a subject for a different day...
Today, we have to ask ourselves the most burning question, why did so many incumbent Republicans manage to keep their ill-deserved seats? Look, Orrin Hatch and Trent Lott are not actually good for the country, folks. Minnesota looks a touch bluer than it did before, though Pawlenty seems to be staying. And we're really sorry about sending Michele Bachmann to DC, though I suspect some number of people voted for her in order to get her away from Minnesota.
Dirty tricks? Well, the racist TV ad in Tennessee might have worked, and we have two interesting stories on voter suppression and odd (and dirty) tricks in Maryland:
- This is what voter suppression sounds like. Someone got a Virginia recording of Republican voter suppression efforts.
- And the bizarre efforts in Maryland to convince voters that the Republican was the Democrat. Or some such.
And the ballot measure results were interesting too.
November 07, 2006
Though the US government officially does not believe in global climate change...
...they're interested in the increasingly-passable Northwest Passage. The UN climate talks have been looking at the cultural damage that will be inflicted by the ongoing climate change.
November 06, 2006
"The Intrepid stands for everything we believe in ... our freedom and our values."
It then got stuck in the mud. What more fitting tribute to what this country believes in and the state of our freedom and values. Stuck in the mud. Maybe tomorrow will bring some relief.
Confused by right-wing "reasoning?"
National Review columinst David Frum eplains why wingnuts should keep their faith. Essentially, a gay bashing, closeted homosexual, meth user is still a better person than a principled, gay, liberal who advocates drug decriminalization. Snow talked about two cultures, but I'm not sure that this was what he was thinking. Heck, he probably wouldn't have seen any "culture" in those folks.
November 04, 2006
More on climate change denials and deniers and their tactics
Questionable tactics, ad hominem attacks, and corporate polluter money.
November 03, 2006
Another day, another hypocritical fundie Republican
Head of the National Association of Evangelicals, a man who frequently rants about the evil of gays and drug addicts, wait for, yep, regularly pays for gay sex and methamphetamines. Oh well, it's not as if his followers would have learned anything from previous examples.
Ahead of this election, let's remember this little op-ed
The Day the Enlightenment Went Out, by Gary Wills. Written right after the 2004 election.
November 02, 2006
November fiction
November is National Novel Writing Month. Check them out and get started yourself.
For shorter work, check out the six word short stories on Wired.
November 01, 2006
Abstinence-only education in the news again
You know, the crazy fundie-run education scheme shown to encourage riskier behavior and teen pregnancy...well, it's back, and now it's also for the unmarried up to age 29. Hmmm...what's wrong with this picture? What, the government do something that doesn't work, is utterly ridiculous, and highly big brotherish just because of their ideology? Oh yeah, happens all the time.
Florida election machines still don't work
And there's no way of reporting the problems in the election system!
"The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."
That was Martin Luther King talking about his country shortly before his murder. Still true today with Iraq in a state of chaos, at least 300 000 dead Iraqis (best estimate of over 600 000), 90% of Iraqis reject the presence of the US "liberators." The war must be ended and the damage to this country undone. And we must resolve to create no more killing fields.