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July 29, 2005
Last day in Austin
whoa.
...yeah.
Guess I should work on finishing packing, and reserving a hotel for Monday night...
I think I haven't been taking leaving this time as seriously, because I'm not leaving the country, but still, I'll be far away from my Austin and Texas peoples, and most likely, super-busy.
Posted by griffjon at 11:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Resisting searches in NYC
BoingBoing posts a link to how to peacefully resist your bags being searched in NYC subways.
Also, I heard that at the Leaning Tower of Piza, a backpack was left at the top for over an hour undisturbed in a paranoid test.
Man. Low crime rate, huh? No one even checked for a wallet or spare cash?
WTF. Not everything is a bomb.
Posted by griffjon at 10:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Grudge Match
Seriously, people!
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced the creation of a new post to help "accelerate the demise" of the Castro regime in Cuba.Caleb McCarry, a veteran Republican Party activist, was appointed as the Cuba transition co-ordinator.
--BBC
Hey! If we invade Cuba (it worked so well last time!), we can just throw "enemy combatants" straight into gitmo!
Honestly, tho. What do you think will happen when Casto dies/retires/is assassinated? A new and better, pro-US president will miraculously appear? Only if we inset our own dictator and falsify the elections. Which, I guess, is our standard practice for South America...
There are serious issues of poverty, trade imbalance, and political freedoms that the US has spent the past, what, 40 years now making worse through trade embargoes, and making it very difficult for Americans to travel to Cuba, even on aid missions?
And we're hoping to depose the leader that's kept Cuba together through all that, without offering a better, planned out solution?
Yeah. Great plan. Worked like a charm in Iraq. Nothing going wrong over there, for sure.
Sigh.
Posted by griffjon at 10:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Stem Cells, Frist
Frist, who's certainly not my favorite person, is breaking from the rest of the Republican party and supporting a bill for expanding stem cell research. Of course, in an ethical manner (one would hope!), and only from fetuses which "would otherwise be discarded"
Could be Frist is going towards the center in his presidential bid?
Or, maybe (man, I'm cynical!) Frist sees the way the Supreme Court wind is blowing, and after Roe v Wade is overturned, there won't be any "discards" to be had (well, through "ethical" means, I'm sure), and this will be a moot point.
Posted by griffjon at 09:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 28, 2005
CAFTA
Well, CAFTA passed. Free Trade is one of those wonderful-sounding terms that is nothing like what you imagine it to be. It basically means "easier to exploit international labor and send jobs to wherever the worst worker's rights and environmental laws are." It does not mean fair import tariffs, reducing the imbalance caused by government subsidization, or anything that'd actually be, well, useful.
The real barriers that US policies never ever touch are subsidies. The documentaty Life + Debt shows how US dairy subsidies destroyed the entire Jamaican dairy market, because the US can sell milk so dramatically below cost that the increased cost via shipping still combine to lower than the price of local milk.
Tariffs are often a target of free trade, and I have mixed feelings about them. Generally, I think, no tariffs would be great. What usually happens is that everyone agrees to no-tariffs, and then the US finds a way to bully people into paying tariffs, but refuses to pay other countries' tariffs. If, for example, Ja could have placed a tariff on subsidized milk, the price would have risen to local market values, and provided more revenue to the gov't that didn't increase the tax burden (80% of tax income goes to debt repayment, so Ja has very, very little money for social programs).
Failing outright tariffs, the US does things like requiring all importers to get an ID (with an annual fee based on how much you import) for "security" reasons.
I have a great friend who runs a non-profit in Nicaragua which works with local artisans and farmers to get them a fair price on their work and reduce poverty, and she has this to say on CAFTA:
Many people are confused about what free trade is. The legislation that just passed was about "eliminating trade barriers." The "barriers" they are referring to are "barriers" to the United States corporations and government like:* having to pay someone a fair wage for their work (= more money in labor costs paid out by U.S. corporations)
* respecting intellectual property rights instead of stealing them
* respecting environmental protection laws instead of destroying the environment in their wake
* paying any taxes to the countries where you have your sweatshops
"Free trade" essentially means that you trade for free.
Poverty has increased 20-30% in countries with free trade
"Free trade" means exploiting people in the name of profit. This means that corporations in the U.S., and the politicans who cater to them, are all about to get a lot richer.
IF THIS IS "FREE," THAN WHAT DOES "FREEDOM" MEAN???
To which I'd only add a quote from Owen "Blacka" Ellis, a Jamaican poet and playwright -- "Freedom: Who's free? Who's Dumb?"
Posted by griffjon at 11:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 27, 2005
Video Gaming
The LA Times has a great opinion piece on the whole GTA "sex scene" and violent video games, and reminds us that over the past decade, which has sxeen the most violent and bloody video games ever, from Quake to GTA, teen violence has been dropping like a rock, and is lower than it has been since the Duke University's Child Well-Being Index has been tracking it (1975).
It makes a good argument that video games are not categorically different from other amusements, and in fact more mentally challenging than many traditional board games, TV, and so on, and less violence-inspiring than, say, football.
Posted by griffjon at 03:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 26, 2005
TelSur
A new pan-Latin American TV channel, Telesur, has begun its first broadcast from the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.It is backed by the governments of Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay who say they want it to promote Latin American integration.
Last week the House of Representatives voted to enable the US administration to begin broadcasting its own TV signals to Venezuela.
The US plan is intended to counter what it called anti-US propaganda.
A few minutes later than scheduled, just after midday Venezuelan time, Telesur's presenter, Patricia Villegas, welcomed viewers to "this new television station of the south".
--BBC
Having seen what US Cable has done to Jamaican culture, I fully support any country's efforts to maintain their own identity.
Posted by griffjon at 11:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The new face of Catholicism?
Nine Roman Catholic women have been unofficially ordained as priests and deacons in North America, risking excommunication by the Vatican.The ceremony took place aboard a tour boat near Canada's capital, Ottawa.
The women - seven Americans, a Canadian and a German - were ordained by three female bishops, who were also unofficially anointed in 2003.
Seven women who were ordained in 2002 despite the Vatican's ban on female priests were later excommunicated.
--BBC
Now, I'm not up on my dogma, but last I checked, excommunication was a one-way ticket to hell in the Catholic world. Seems ... a bit harsh of a punishment for people trying to spread the faith and widen its audience?
But then again, I never really understood most religions anyhow...Logic is rarely their strong point.
Posted by griffjon at 11:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 22, 2005
Moving Progress
I've chosen this place from CraigsList:
Room for rent in 4 bedroom rowhouse, shared bath. Hard-wood floors. Rent includes utilities, including high-speed wireless Internet and unlimited long-distance calls. Washer/dryer in the basement. Room can be furnished or unfurnished. Temporary resident is OK. The space would be perfect for a grad student/intern or young professional.Off-street parking; 10 minute walk to Rhode Island Avenue metro (Red line); convenient to downtown and the Hill; walk to good grocery store and drug store.
Housemates include journalist/grad student, engineer, and barista. There's a small dog and one very cool kitty cat. We're all friendly and tolerant, and quite busy, so you'll frequently find yourself with the place all to yourself. We care less about whether you're a guy or gal, gay or straight, Dem or Republican than if you're going to pick your dirty towels up off the floor and wash your dishes. :-)
It's 600 with utils included and a W/D, on the Red line metro and only 3 mi from GWU, so I can walk if I have time, weather permitting. The live-in owner writes for the Washington Post and blogs as well, and they do communal dinners/cooking and such. Evidentially they use the peapod service for groceries and split it up evenly.
Should be fun. And, if not, for whatever reason, it'll be soooo much easier to find a place while actually in DC, and knowing the neighborhoods better.
I'm trying to get in touch with the Avis place nearest me to cement my rental, they came in at under $600 for a minivan or SUV. I think I'll try to drop by after work and look at the options.
Posted by griffjon at 01:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 20, 2005
Need for better healthcare
When a 60-year-old electrician shoots a postman so he can get life in jail to escape his medical bills, we really need to think about improving the healthcare system to make it reasonable and affordable, instead of a huge profit industry...
Posted by griffjon at 08:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Thanks again, Santorum
Santorum introduced a bill back in April to restrict the tax-dollar-funded National Weather Service from duplicating any service provided by commercial weather companies (like, perhaps, AccuWeather, who shares Santorum's home town?)
Lots of people support the NWS's data being open and free to the public, and unsurprisingly, only the weather business types support the bill.
It really pisses me off that our "representatives" are represent business over their consituents.
Posted by griffjon at 07:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Moving Target
The Bush strategy laid clear by the Washington Post is to keep a moving target for action. In the past month, we've had return scandals of Abu-ghraib and Gitmo, the Downing Street Memo, and the revelation that Rove outed Plame as a CIA operative in a way to take revenge on Wilson, her husband. To get the heat off Rove, Bush announced his Supreme Court nominee, an Anti-Roe, pro-business judge.
There are too many horrible, horrible things to keep focus and take care of any one.
Posted by griffjon at 03:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Busy
So, my first choice in housing fell through, but there's lots available (much thanks to
Getting my sh*t up there, tho, there's some fun. I need to call around today and find rental agencies that will do one-way out-of-state car rentals, and see if any have minivans/vans/large SUVs for a reasonable amount.
And make some hotel reservations along the way.
And get a job in DC. I have one lead, and sent a lot of resumes out, but nothing solid yet.
And finish registration for classes; only one class left to register, I'm trying to take a consortia class at GTown (getting the best of both worlds!)
...AIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
I'll get through it, it's just lots of details and variables to hold at one time.
Posted by griffjon at 10:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 18, 2005
Move Pondering
Can I compress, pack, discard and re-organize enough stuff to move in an SUV?
UHAUL has upped their rates by $200, making it now cost $824 plus gas, or take a Budget truck for 778 + insurance + gas
I can get a minivan or large SUV for ~500 + insurance + gas, and the MPG will prolly be significantly better, and easier to drive, more comfy, etc.
At a minimum, it means ditching my futon frame, perhaps also the bookcase. Can I fit a futon matress, my desk, a trunk of winter clothing and a duffell of everything else, and ~6 boxes of Kitchen Shit, computer stuffs and misc objects into the back section of a minivan?
I'm also posting on CraigsList's rideshare board for both cities, but that's a long shot.
Posted by griffjon at 11:10 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 14, 2005
Morning
This morning consisted of getting woken up by the demo team pulling up floorboards downstairs and then getting curdled milk on my cereal. The day can only get better.
Posted by griffjon at 09:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 12, 2005
Distraction
Do you ever wonder if the current revelation that Rove outed Plame as a CIA operative is just a master machination, possibly of Rove's own design, to get the blogosphere off of the investigation into Downing Street Memo?
Just a thought.
Posted by griffjon at 06:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Question...
How does Microsoft create all these humongous projects with a staggering set of features, user interface widgets, and functionality... yet somehow manage to totally ignore the most useful little details from the equivalent *nix systems?
For example, RegEx available in pretty much everything, or, the most basic functionality of procmail message filtering/management in Exchange.
le sigh.
Posted by griffjon at 11:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 07, 2005
MS spyware
OK, so I've never been a big MS fan, but they've crippled their own anti-spyware tool to allow Claria (remember Gator?) throw. That's like making a bullet proof vest with a large hole around the heart.
Of course, anyone who's trusting any single anti-spyware tool prolly deserves what they get. I use SpyBot and Ad-Aware together, FireFox with my own adblock filters, and don't use IE, so I feel reasonably safe.
Posted by griffjon at 08:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Invading Iraq has spawned terrorism
KOS compiles a few different articles with a very definite point -- our ignoring the Taliban to go after Iraq have done nothing but generate more support for and more actions from terrorists.
Posted by griffjon at 07:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 06, 2005
Fashion Police
A reader of BoingBoing points out that Miami airport now has fashion police:
(regarding the reader's girlfriend carrying a purse with a brass knuckle-ish handle
After holding her for a few hours and some serious questioning (during which she was terrified), they took the bag BUT let her on the plane. She has to return in August for a Court date, the charges are unclear so far, but serious enough that she needs a lawyer.
Posted by griffjon at 07:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Europe throws out software patents
EU is a bit smarter than we are on this side of the pond re: software patents. Software's inherently covered through copyrights; patents on software were expected to have a chilling effect on the EU F/OSS community.
Posted by griffjon at 07:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 05, 2005
Santorum
KOS points to some excerpts from Santorum's book, such as this gem:
"The notion that college education is a cost-effective way to help poor, low-skill, unmarried mothers with high school diplomas or GEDs move up the economic ladder is just wrong." (It Takes a Family, 138)
or this:
"Many women have told me, and surveys have shown, that they find it easier, more “professionally” gratifying, and certainly more socially affirming, to work outside the home than to give up their careers to take care of their children. Think about that for a moment…Here, we can thank the influence of radical feminism, one of the core philosophies of the village elders." (It Takes a Family, 95)
Can we return to the 21st century? Please?
(and no entry can be complete without a link to Information about Santorum (not work safe))
Posted by griffjon at 09:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Fan Phun
So, I replaced my fan with one for an 8100 (the only Parts-People had in stock). It's 3W instead of 6W, and the max speed doesn't seem to be as high as the 8200 model. I need to put it through the paces of Unreal Tournament to see how it handles 100% CPU for a while. Hopefully I won't have to replace it, as it's a %%^%$&#$#@@$###$%#$&**^$#!! tough component to replace -- it requires wiggling out the motherboard from a very, very tight wedging that Dell thought fit to burden us with.
It's behaving at the least better than one-fanning was going, so I can get by for a while.
I also took the opportunity to suck it up and buy a new optical drive, so hopefully I can write CDs again. It at least plays DVDs.
Posted by griffjon at 07:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 03, 2005
Moving
So, I've spent a lot of this quiet weekend working on getting things straightened out for my move out of Austin to DC. The unfortunate downside is that my job ends on the 27th and my lease on the 31st, and the haus will prolly be demolished ASAP afterwards[1].
This focuses my options, regardless, and there are a few variables in play:
DC Housing -- I currently have no place to live in DC. I have sufficient couch-surfing space there, and
DC Job -- I'm sending my resume out and in contact with some people I know in the area, but have no job lined up. Again, this isn't the end of the world, I've managed to save a decent chunk between my dot-com savings, my PC readjustment, and my Austin job to float if I need to. Realistically, I could go a semester, maybe two, with only a few contract jobs here and there, but my goal is to be able to repay a large chunk of my loans as soon as they start accruing interest.
Schedule -- I must start attending GWU functions on August 25th, (class starts onthe 31st) which means I'd like to be in town 1-2 weeks before that to get settled, buy books, get accustomed to my commute, neighborhood, see my DC peeps, potentially find housing and settle into a job.
I'm going to see if I can press on the guy to let me stay through the first week in August, but my first foray into this territory was responded to with "the extended stay on 6th is nice," so that's dubious. Before the flood arrives, I realize that there's many Austinites who could put up with me for a week or two, and I may in fact utilize that; I'm primarily pondering how to most optimally get my Stuff from Austin to DC (ideally, one move out here, one move in in DC).
Thoughts and inspirations welcomed.
[1] I actually got an eviction notice to move out on the 1st (...on the 1st), but maintained a cheerful polite attitude with the cheerful polite land developer, cheerfully and politely reminding him that I had not received my 30-day notice of cancellation on my lease, and therefor had the right to continue my lease through the end of the month, thank you.
Posted by griffjon at 04:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Gonzales not an option for SCOTUS?
Quoth my favorite news organization and yours, too, the BBC
Members of conservative groups around the US are rallying to head off the nomination of US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court....Last week, a delegation of conservative lawyers met the White House chief of staff to warn that appointing Mr Gonzales would divide conservatives, the New York Times reports.
Paul M Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, said he had told administration officials that nominating Mr Gonzales would divide the president's supporters.
"We have let the administration know through whatever channels we have that Gonzales would be an unwise appointment because of the opposition of some of the groups," he said.
He said some groups would actively oppose Mr Gonzales, while "others like the Southern Baptists and myself would simply not help".
Posted by griffjon at 01:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Blog Housekeeping
I've been working on the individual archives/permalinks in the blog, so the RSS feed should be now linking to one post per link, instead of the monthly archive, and the page it brings up should be a bit cleaner and faster to download.
Posted by griffjon at 10:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Go Go Godzilla!
The coast guard sent helicopters to monitor the 1,000m (3,280ft) cloud, 1,120km (700 miles) south-east of Tokyo, and warned ships to stay away.The team said the area around the site appeared to be red.
"It's highly likely that it's caused by an eruption of an underwater volcano," coast guard spokesman Shigeyuki Sato said, adding it had happened before.
Japanese troops stationed on the island of Iwo Jima first noticed the cloud of steam on Saturday.
Television footage showed white smoke billowing into the sky from the brick-red water.
"We suspect the undersea volcanic moves are becoming active," said another coast guard official.
--BBC
Posted by griffjon at 09:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 02, 2005
"Fair Game"
In early October 2003, NEWSWEEK reported that immediately after Novak's column appeared in July, Rove called MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews and told him that Wilson's wife was "fair game."--Newsweek
How stunningly patriotic to use one of your own operatives in a personal political fight back home, endangering her, her contacts, and destroying her mission. Can we expect the same level of honor to be shown to our troops? Are they just pawns for the Whitehouse's little games? For oil companies?
I can only hope that in some future, Jeff Gannon gets to share Rove's prison cell.
Posted by griffjon at 08:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Did Rove leak Plume's ID?
DailyKOS links to Lawrence O'Donnel's piece in the Huffington Post:
I revealed in yesterday's taping of the McLaughlin Group that Time magazine's emails will reveal that Karl Rove was Matt Cooper's source. I have known this for months but didn't want to say it at a time that would risk me getting dragged into the grand jury.McLaughlin is seen in some markets on Friday night, so some websites have picked it up, including Drudge, but I don't expect it to have much impact because McLaughlin is not considered a news show and it will be pre-empted in the big markets on Sunday because of tennis.
Since I revealed the big scoop, I have had it reconfirmed by yet another highly authoritative source. Too many people know this. It should break wide open this week. I know Newsweek is working on an 'It's Rove!' story and will probably break it tomorrow.
I'm with KOS on this -- caution. I'd love to see it be true, and for Karl to fall, hard -- couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Seriously.
Posted by griffjon at 02:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
GWU, Internet, and Politics
DailyKOS talks about Carol Darr, who heads the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet at GWU, and supports the media exemption for campgaining, except for bloggers.
Carol talks aout the media exemption:
At its essence, [the media exemption] allows a media corporation, through certain of its employees -- reporters, editorial writers, and cartoonists -- to spend an unlimited amount of corporate money communicating with candidates, asking them anything about their campaigns, with no question relating to money or strategy off limits, activities, in short, that would be considered "coordination" if the person doing the asking were not considered media.
Looks like there's still a need for some cluesticks :)
Posted by griffjon at 10:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 01, 2005
A sad Day
The Stateman has an article about O'Connor's planned retirement from the Supreme Court, possibly giving Bush not one but two apointments to the SCOTUS. Gonzales, our favorite pro-torture nutcase, is in the running.
The only word of that I can think to express my thoguhts on this is "fuck"
(Seen at http://www.livejournal.com/users/usumcasane/27057.html)
Posted by griffjon at 09:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack