This is very cool but an example of how much English has changed over the years; I can't read it at all.

Little boys with big toys

In present-day Russia, the politicians and oligarchs don't seem to play nice together. The government would prefer, according to the Reuters article, to deal with foreign control than fellow Russians who pose a political threat. I've been paying a little bit more to this situation because one of the young Russian tycoons, Roman Abramovich, bought a team in the Premiership last Spring--he's since spent well over US$150 million on new players for it--after seeing the writing on the Moscow wall and selling off his nearly $2 billion controlling stake in a big aluminum company. President Putin, if I might make a perhaps overly simplistic observation, seems to be having difficulty shaking off his KGB upbringing and helping his nation complete the transition to Western capitalism.

Can I get one shaped like, oh, a black five gallon hat?

Sadly, I don't have the bunny inside. Don't actually know anyone who does.

PepsiBlueFilter

Very funny Product FAQ.

Suitable for hair pulling and depantsing for truth-oriented young women.

Free 'as in beer' NewsMonster.

Everything (and by everything, I mean every little thing) you ever wanted to know about Prince, for a fee.

More people who think we're stupid

Victory in Florida Feeding Case Emboldens the Religious Right: Politicians looking for re-election and consolidating party gains, playing to the extremists. Florida used to be solidly Democratic, even after most of the rest of the South shifted, and I think people in the southern part of the state need to be more frequent in getting to the polls. Same topic as my letter to Jeb Bush.

House Leaders Are Pushing to Cut Corporate Taxes: the bill was drafted by Rep. Bill Thomas (of California!), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, who justified the new giveawayproposal because it is less generous to companies than one he floated earlier this year. $60 billion in additional tax breaks but no mention of fixing the low income tax credit problem in last year's tax cut. Deficit? We have a budget deficit? Whatever.

Bonus note: Antonin Scalia only seems really stupid when he gives speeches ridiculing his colleagues on the Surpeme Court.

How stupid do these people think I am?

The text of an email I recieved this morning:

"Dear Citibank Member,

This email was sent by the Citibank server to verify your e-mail address. You must complete this process by clicking on the link below and entering in the small window your Citibank ATM/Debit Card number and PIN that you use on ATM.
This is done for your protection -T- because some of our members no longer have access to their email addresses and we must verify it.

To verify your e-mail address and access your bank account, click on the link below. If nothing happens when you click on the link (or if you use AOL)B, copy and paste the link into the address bar of your web browser.

[some URL I won't include, structured to look like it goes to Citibank's site but actually goes somewhere else entirely]

w---------------------------------------------
Thank you for using Citibank!
R---------------------------------------------"

Viruses and spam are bad enough but this is simple out and out fraud! Stupid fuckers.

Lines drawn in the Air

Society's conventions draw lines in the air
Grains of sand that shift from side to side
As moments pass and what has happened
Collides with what was chosen and what
Was said.

Do unto others as, no doubt, but when so
Many of us choose to ignore such wisdom
Can there truly be anything that resembles
Convention or is this figure of speech simply
Common illusion?

Leading writers, or intellectuals, or pundits,
Point to logic and suggest a life driven by
Consistent principles--if a, then b, resulting
In happiness--though one may easily survey
Other results.

Sanctity of life or purity of experience, one
Extreme to another, yet set a kettle to boil
Steam still rises and a whistle proclaims the
Pressure under which many, simple or complex,
Finally crumble.

The youngest children often ask questions
Dismissed as unanswerable, irrelevant, trite
When a parent or teacher finds the truth
Painful to express, exposing the illogic,
Ungirding faith.

Gritty pineneedles
Scrape the bottoms of my feet
Walking in the wind.

Congrats Rogers!

Fellow SpoFite Rogers Cadenhead continued his campaign to dominate the tech book publishing world by releasing Radio UserLand Kick Start today. There's even a sample chapter online. If you use Radio UserLand or just need to know about it, I can't imagine a better place to start.

Hypocrisy at its finest

Dear Governor Bush,

I was reading in the paper today about legislation you signed which allows you to intervene in the case of Terry Schiavo. Your action in this case directly inserts "the government" into one person's and one family's private life choices. For many, many years I have listened to members of your Republican party, though not specifically you yourself, explain that the government has no business getting involved in precisely this way; given your prominence in the party, though, one must expect you to be in agreement with such a fundamental position. So can you explain to me how you reconciled your decision regarding Mrs. Schiavo with your longstanding principles?

Thanks,
Your Pal Bill

Talk about your wishlist items: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1, yowsa!

New Springsteen coming in November

Two releases: The Essential Bruce Springsteen is a 3-CD set that has tracks from every record The Boss has released over his career comes on 11/11 with one disc containing never before released and live tracks and Live in Barcelona is a two disc DVD of his October, 2002 concert in the Spanish capital plus extra material including a Behind the Scenes feature is in stores a week later. Personally I'd prefer the DVD though the unreleased material is, of course, very tempting as well; I love his version of Jimmy Cliff's Trapped.

Experiment in Food

Atkins Nutritionals stopped making their blueberry muffin mix the way we liked it several months ago, more than doubling the carbs in the new formulation, and now our stash of the old mix is finished. A woman at the company said to just use the pancake mix and add fresh blueberries to get the same result. TS1 made our first batch of them tonight and the taste test is scheduled for breakfast tomorrow.

Random Tuesday encounters

Extremist Fascist Makeover: a little too close to reality for my taste.

The lyrics for A Whiter Shade of Pale, still completely incomprehensible and wonderful.

Anil says Sam Brown has love for you

Dark Star: one man's classic science fiction, though not one with which I'm familiar.

A SportsFilter thread of community-contributed haiku mainly concerning the Red Sox's lost AL championship series, including three or so from your humble host.

Dennis Miller: comedian US Senator; he wins, I move to Australia.

Made in India

Interesting, insightful article at Network Computing on one company's bad experience with outsourcing an application's development to a consulting company in India. Bottom line: poor software delivered later than promised and well over budget. [via Larkware News]

Monday mumblings

Newts, toads and zebrafish do it, are humans next?

My brain is asymmetrical, is yours?

New source of electricity: water pushed through tiny holes.

Props on the redesign to TrekWeb!

My, what a shock: the Bushinistas aren't bothering to crack down on tax cheats, especially corporate offenders and very wealthy individuals (who just happen to be the biggest donors to Bush and Republicans in general).

+1 insightful: a MetaFilterian named ed goes deep on a very real shortcoming of recent Star Trek series inside a fanfic thread.

Voyager fans with imagination only: Janeway and Seven

Yesterday's wedding: Vina and Chris

Congratulations to my new brother-in-law, Chris Brandenburg, on marrying into Vivian's family via her sister-in-law Vina. The bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome and the party was above average. I took a few photos and my only complaint is that her family lives far enough away that we don't see them often enough--that and a few of the more overused, cliched songs (*cough* Always and Forever *cough*) the otherwise decent DJ used. Have a great honeymoon in Hawaii!

Domestic terror

"It was a rural arsenal fit for war." Michigan police arrested a man who had a machine gun mounted in his SUV and thousands of rounds of ammunition plus many weapons in a bunker on his property. The MetaFilter discussion gets sidetracked in a bit of a morass but does the raise the important question of why the government is not really dealing with radical domestic groups. After all, these people have no need to cross a national border to unleash violence and destruction.