Hey guys, here’s a quick update. i saw gwu last during march madness at reed. my team (house husband’s) lost by a point to gwu’s reed team. anyway, he had hitched hiked from the ski cabin down to play. crazy huh? he said he was going to email about details, phone no., etc, but has failed to do so. i’m kinda worried since i haven’t heard from him in about 2 weeks. i might call ann casey to get the number. the last i talked to isuru was about 2 weeks and he just seemed incredibly busy. he was trying to come by portland but couldn’t quite afford it yet. anyway, i have his number if any of you are interested. as for my STP training…i met a guy a few weeks ago on a ride and now i ride with him and his group. we do about 40+ miles on saturday mornings and they all seem really nice. a few of them race so i can learn cool tips from them. although descending at 55mph just requires nerves and i don’t really have that right now. i ride about 100+ miles a week so i think i’m doing well. okay, i gotta get back to work. take it easy. -colin
Interesting
Nice post Mark.
The war is of course on, and it’s possible to see everything in downtown Baghdad. Kinda freaky to imagine what it is to have to change your route to work or the store because you’d be passinig a likely target. I suppose that the advancements in weapons tech are good in that we no longer raze entire cities, but it almost makes for an almost surreal situation where the war is just down the street at the intertsection of x and y. I feel for the Iraq troops on the front lines, and feel for a population that must be terrified out of their minds.
In ’94 after we launched into Iraq (cruise missles to support somethign or other), almost the entirety of out battle group could be seen on the same horizon, an event that never happens as we’re normaly spead over tens of miles. We fired off at like 4 or 5 am, and the next day, as we were realatively huddled, was an odd one. We obviously took a defensive type posture, and then just waited. Reality was for us that our battle group could readily handle anything, so, it’s not waiting with concrete fear for your life. But waiting for action of that nature is odd. I cannot imagine what it is to know that it is without a doubt comming, you wont see it, and if your in the wrong place, you will simply die.
It is an unfortunate day.
A final thought. Two nations are at war, one is being bombed and the lives of it’s citizens are disrupted to the point that things effectively cease. The other has the oscars, tournaments, and reunions of the batchelor to watch and doesn’t care to me mired in the details of the war they are involved with. I might have an unusual degree of intrest in these kinds of things, but I can’t say if I find it discouraging to the point of offense that we are so fucking nonchalant about this. When we loose people here we get whipped into an irrational frenzy, and when we get what we want, and are actually involved in the taking of lives, we can’t be bothered to pay attention. Fucking pathetic.
Another observation: We strike Iraq, immediately there’s a report that 600 US troops are huning Al Qeida in southern Afghanistan, then Bush makes his speech and mentions in passing that this might not go as fast as some have figured (though I thought they were the only ones assuring anything…), and now we have a senior Al Qeida operative that *may* be involved in a huge plot against us here and *may* already be in the US. Does this strike anyone else as fishy? First go to war in a ‘resolute’ fashion, then say “oh, well we’re doing great on that other issue too,” then remind everone ‘why’ we’re doing this by mentioning somthing of no timely value or substance? My god…
Quotes about the war
My source is slashdot; I’m trusting the users’ references…
On NPR:
PETER FREUNDLICH:
All right, let me see if I understand the logic of this correctly. We are going to ignore the United Nations in order to make clear to Saddam Hussein that the United Nations cannot be ignored. We’re going to wage war to preserve the UN’s ability to avert war. The paramount principle is that the UN’s word must be taken seriously, and if we have to subvert its word to guarantee that it is, then by gum, we will. Peace is too important not to take up arms to defend. Am I getting this right?
Further, if the only way to bring democracy to Iraq is to vitiate the democracy of the Security Council, then we are honor-bound to do that too, because democracy, as we define it, is too important to be stopped by a little thing like democracy as they define it.
Also, in dealing with a man who brooks no dissension at home, we cannot afford dissension among ourselves. We must speak with one voice against Saddam Hussein’s failure to allow opposing voices to be heard. We are sending our gathered might to the Persian Gulf to make the point that might does not make right, as Saddam Hussein seems to think it does. And we are twisting the arms of the opposition until it agrees to let us oust a regime that twists the arms of the opposition. We cannot leave in power a dictator who ignores his own people. And if our people, and people elsewhere in the world, fail to understand that, then we have no choice but to ignore them.
Listen. Don’t misunderstand. I think it is a good thing that the members of the Bush administration seem to have been reading Lewis Carroll. I only wish someone had pointed out that “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” are meditations on paradox and puzzle and illogic and on the strangeness of things, not templates for foreign policy. It is amusing for the Mad Hatter to say something like, `We must make war on him because he is a threat to peace,’ but not amusing for someone who actually commands an army to say that.
As a collector of laughable arguments, I’d be enjoying all this were it not for the fact that I know–we all know–that lives are going to be lost in what amounts to a freak, circular reasoning accident.
Bill Maher:
“As of this writing, the most depressing thing about war in Iraq was how easy it was to sell. Shouldn’t it be a little harder than this to sell people a war?
… [and]how amazed I was that, of all the lies told by presidents in my lifetime, the one so many people couldn’t get over, and which the media treats as the standard for mendacity, was: ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman.’ astounding lies that affected each and every one of us in very real ways: that we were winning the war in Vietnam; that we weren’t trading arms for hostages, and if we were it was a soldier’s duty to lie about it; that global warming and marijuana needed more study before we could consider policy changes about them; that there’d be no new taxes; that Clarence Thomas was the most qualified person a nation of 250 million could find to sit on the Supreme Court…
“All these lies, all these giant, steaming-turd whoppers, and the one that broke the bank was ‘Blow jobs aren’t sex.’ Wow, that’s a stupid country.”
From /. user SatanicPuppy:
I think that if this country was going about it in any way other than as the big bully on the playground, the international community would not be so opposed.
Iraq sucks. No way to pretend otherwise. It would be nice to see someone go in there, oust the facists, and put some sort of populist government in place. Not that that will happen this time; even if we oust the government, we’re just going to put another facist in charge. We’re the US, that’s what we do.
The thing that really bothers me is our attitude about the whole thing, like we have a right to move in there because we “know” he has weapons of mass destruction. This is the most utterly flimsy excuse. We’re not invading India, Pakistan, or N. Korea, are we? We don’t care about anyone else’s weapons. No, its all about the #$^@^#$ oil. The senate wouldn’t let him drill in the arctic national wildlife refuge, and so he’s got to invade something in the middle east.
And the whole terrorism excuse? Dear god! We should be invading the Saudi’s if that was really our point. But, of course it isn’t.
No no, this is W’s war, his chance to get his jollies by acting like his dad. I’d rather have a hunk of spam in the oval office. At least then there would be a chance of ONE good descision coming out of the white house.
If there is any justice in the world this will come back and kick him in the nuts.
Diplomacy is the art of saying, “Nice Doggy” until you can find a rock.
/. user matman:
I think that most people will acknowledge that the removal of Saddam (and other unstable leaders/organizations) is something to be strived for. The decision to take military action towards that goal is not what concerns me. My concern lays in the fact that the current US administration has shown contempt and arrogence when dealing with other nations and has not exhausted oportunities for a non-lethal solution to their problems. Diplomacy was attempted only as a PR mechanism – not as a genuine attempt to involve the rest of the population of the world in important decisions. In this war, the United States is choosing to sacrifice Iraqis towards the goal of liberation/stability; the noble thing to do would be to sacrifice Americans or willing allies, including some Iraqis (lets look at Iraqis killed VS Americans killed).
The United States, being a proponent of democracy, should promote democracy for the world – not just for nations. The United States is a citizen of the world; money and power shouldn’t give it a stronger voice than anyone else. The actions of the United States reminds me of the recent elections in Iraq – a ballot with only one option. The rest of the world shouldn’t be ignored; the rest of the world wants to be involved and respected as citizens of the world. Refusing to acknowledge the value offered by the rest of the world is insulting and alienating. Please, hear us, United States.
For more check out http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/20/038213&mode=thread&tid=99
‘blogdad’
Hey everyone, I haven’t been on here in a while. Chris reminded me the other day but then I forgot again. I appreciate everyone’s posts on the war, I can’t seem to get it out of my mind right now. I’m not feeling particularly insightful at the moment but I thought I’d mention a blog from < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />
so there you have it: the dapper man’s on the 10,000 dinar bill.)
Also interesting is www.kevinsites.net. He’s a CNN correspondent stationed in
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I’m actually feeling down about this whole business but I’ll pass on a couple of things on the humorous side anyway. This is where my evening filled with reading commentary about the war/policy/world eventually took me: the Bush-Blair rendition of “Endless Love” at http://politicalhumor.about.com/cs/bushmultimedia/v/blendlesslove.htm. It’s well done; I laughed aloud although I’m not in the mood to laugh. And I have to caveat the fact that I’m going to report a signs I saw at a protest today with the comment that I don’t believe that anti-Bushisms are the way through this but:
“Hey Bush, pull out! We wish your dad had.”
(Carried by a group of college students)
and
“I listen to my dad why doesn’t Bush?”
(carried by a small 8-10 year old girl)
stand out in my mind. I find the latter just plain absurd, I mean who came up with that anyway? Who does her dad think he is? yeah his daughter may brush her teeth and go to bed when told but I’m not sure he should extrapolate that authority as a personal entitlement to advise the president, even if it is Bush. I can just hear the little girl as she catches on, “why do I have to listen to Dad? Dad said Bush shouldn’t go to war and he did anyway.” Now that’s not an arguement I want my kid to be able to make. Oh wait, is the sign inferring that G.W. should listen to G.B. I? Does that little girl even understand her own sign? eh? Anyway, goodnight. Kate
check it
Funniest site of the week: Government terrorism warning signs and interpretations. Hope you have a good time in Hawaii Chris…and don’t give me that “I’m busy” schtick. My thesis has to be done the Friday of that week…so I trump yo busy ass…if I can get out and hook up for some noodles, so can you. hehehehe….
Hey Mark, what’s the deal with George? Is he up on Mount Hood all the time now? Does he have email/web up there? What’s his whole schedule like? Just wondering if he is ignoring us or what…it seems all the females (cept B_Diddy) are incognito…where have I experienced that before?? hmm….
P.S. Page count: 102. Woo me!
Best Buy
Mark, I will respond to our earlier thread, have a couple things going on that I need to tend to before I try to tackle that one. I tip my hat to you for even trying to define what it s to you, the prospect of doing so myself is somewhat daunting.
As for Best Buy, and places like it, I find that the sales droids, and thus their service, are without value. I assume that like myself, you research what your going to buy prior to buying it; more often than not you know much more than the people helping you. I one time purchased Jurassic Park, the DTS edition, only to find that it was not in fact DTS. I took it back, and exchanged it without issue, but prior to leaving the store I opened it (the new one) and found that this one was off as well. The manufacturer had just screwed up. So, when I told this to the droid, they called the ‘AV’ manager and he told me that it is the right version, and that DTS and Dolby 5.1 were the same thing. I got my money back when I explained to him the difference in bit rate between the two (never mind the different logo’s and that this particular DVD came in two versions…). That Best Buy left me alone after that. I actually prefer to be unmolested because I find it awkward to call a sales type on their BS. In my estimation, the Best Buys and whatnot are best used to put eyes to technical info from the net, and if the price and availability is right, buy.
I actually had a fairly decent experience at ‘Video Only’ over the weekend, in that the guy complemented info on details that I was unsure about without trying to sell something else. M’s dad is going to buy an HDTV monitor, and I will make it a point to buy it from him.
Kinda rambling, but, there was an article in the WSJ that I read the other day about the prodigies of Jack Welch. One of them went to Home Depot, and has done poorly; he centralized the distribution model as in the aircraft industry, and pushed for more and more temps. The downside is that they rely on just in time stocking’ and at times are without product in a retail market, and the high turnover of employees means that there is a dearth of knowledge. The lack of expertise in particular has lead to a growing market share for Loews and other hardware type chains. The Best Buys suffer from a similar problem, in that they have a fair amount of turnover and there is no incentive to stay and learn, thereby making one of real use to a customer. As sure as I may be about tech related equipment, the old guys at Home Depot or Loews intimidate me…
Crappage
Good luck with your dissertation Ben! Good luck with your tournament Chris, even if you don’t want to go! Good luck breaking into J. McBride’s house George!
Man, so many things are happening right now. I’ve been thinking about France lately, and how maybe it’d be nice to move there. I’d have to talk to Robin first of course… And I suppose I should think about it 3 years from now after I finish grad school…
You only spent 2 hours on MoO3 Ben? I’ve spent a good 40 hours on it so far and I am shelving it only temporarily until the patch comes out. The thing is, I think the game could be really good; it just isn’t quite there yet, and unfortunately it’s by design. Fortunately, however, I think those design decisions are mostly superficial and they could fix it with a good patch.
Here’re some other quick reviews for things I’ve tried or gotten recently:
1. Freelancer demo: the demo was pretty short, but it was pretty clear that different space ports you visit are all pretty much the same, and the voices in the demo were not varied enough to make the repitition enjoyable. I was going to buy this game from playing the demo, but I talked to a co-worker who got it and he said that the actual game is nothing more than what you do in the demo. Too repetitive.
2. Viewsonic Tablet PC: my dad got one (recommended by the realtor he works for or something like that) to help him out with his real estate appraisal business. It’s pretty cool for note taking and for being wireless and portable, but it’s somewhat awkward to browse with, using that stylus… Fortunately, it supports all kinds of USB devices (it’s just a snazzier version of Win XP), so once we added a mouse things were fine. Is it worth $2,700? Not to me, but my dad, in his retirement now and doing appraisal to keep himself busy, is making (according to my mom) $90k a year. Jeezus. That’s way more than he ever actually made when he wasn’t retired. If I were to get a Tablet PC, I’d probably go for one that is a laptop with a swivel head so that I’d have a keyboard when needed.
3. cool pants from Xiamen: well, I didn’t actually try these on, but my dad (in an effort to keep one-upping me–first with his computer compared to my new Shuttle…) got these cool cargo type pants from China. They’re every bit as cool as mine except they have even more pockets and can zip to three different lengths. 🙂
4. Samsung 171v 17″ LCD monitor: my Sony 17″ CRT finally died after 7 loyal years. It was time to get a flatscreen. This model is not the best you can get, and it has this slight light to dark gradient from the bottom of the screen, but it was cheap! $500 at most places with a $100 rebate. My local Best Buy had only one in stock and it was an open box so I got an additional $50 off. $350 for this monitor is a steal. Still, if I were making as much as my dad, I would’ve gone with the 191t. That one is sweet. Speaking of Best Buy; I’ve read some reviews on the web which say their customer support is horrible, but I’ve never had a problem returning anything to them. I suspect that the quality of service is more tied to location rather than company policy. The Fry’s Electronics in Wilsonville (just south of Portland) also has very friendly sales reps and I’ve also not had a problem returning something there. Fry’s down in Palo Alto, on the other hand, is a horrifying experience.
more later from yours truly,
JohnnyDanger!
Sad..
Wow, I love Powell’s response to the fake issue: “With respect to the uranium, it was the information that we had,” Powell said. “We provided it. If that information is inaccurate, fine.” Fine? Fine what?
- Fine – you caught me, or
- Fine – in 27 hours no one will be talking about stupid aluminum tubes anyway?
s heartened to hear this though. At least the French are being relatively consistent. Did you hear about that bill that would have us dig up all of our WWII soldiers over there and bring them home? Wow.
So here’s my deal: I’m going to be in Maui from March 20th to March 29th. I will be around the week of the 31st, but it’s going to be a pretty interesting week, since I’ll be playing some major catch up. Our team is still talking about going to nationals, which would be the next week. Rumor has it that we’ll get nominated in the top ten for the tournament (we’re #8 now), but I am not convinced that we’ll finish that high. Some key people can’t make it. Personally, I’d rather not go. Anyway, Schrag you can call me on the cell phone whenever. I’ll have it in Hawaii.
Of course, you may notice that my plane leaves about 10 hours after the war deadline passes. If history is allowed to repeat itself, my vacation in paradise may get fucked. Two years ago, a trip home for my 27th birthday (and a major mental health vacation – I was to leave hours after learing the result of my Ph.D. written qualifier) was cancelled because of the Al Queda airplane attacks on the US. This time, I just want Bush to wait until I am safely in Hawaii, so I get stuck there. If the above statement makes me a shallow person, fine?
We are good to go…
Damn Mark that MOO3 review is on point. You said exactly what I was thinking, but in a funnier and more concise way than I would have. I’m pretty disappointed with the game, at least for the two hours I tried to play it. I want Supernova…let’s pay George to break into J-McB’s house and steal it. By the way, thanks for the “simple/complex” shout-out.
In good news, I have set a date for my dissertation defense: April 22nd is high noon. In bad news, that means I have to have a draft to my readers by April 4th…that’s 16 more days of big fun! Plus that last week I am at a conference in Boston, for which I haven’t started my presentation. Melhus, did you check your calendar for the week of March 31st yet?
In other words, Bush seems to have finally done what he was going to do all along. I read an article that said all the details of this whole process, including the timeline, were set almost a year ago…shady. Also, what’s the deal with the fake nuclear evidence? It’s a depressing time for the world. The saddest part for me is that now if there is another terrorist attack in America, we really have no one to blame but ourselves. Of course, people will take that as evidence that Bush was right, and totally miss the point (as they have been missing it all along).
Spaceward Ho! Review
Spaceward Ho! was the baddest game that ever made it onto my Mac LCIII. Well, I’m going to exclude Civilization, because only Derek played that (on my computer), and I’m going to exclude that game where you were “God” and people continuously dropped from the top of the screen and you could bomb them, run them down with rolling wheels, light them on fire, etc. That game was pretty bad-ass too.
Anyway, the concept of the game is that you are the leader of your own burgeoning empire in outer space! This is something that I often fantasize about (Note: Heidi Klum is involved too, BTW), but what a crazy idea to let you act on those fantasies in a game! You get to start out on a “home planet” and make money and shit. When you get enough goods, you can start building spaceships that explore the planets around you! WOW! Some of these planets have stuff that you can use to build more spaceships and shit! SWEET!
After a while, you have a bunch of planets, spaceships and shit. But the more planets you have, the more work this game is. Like really, who wants to check out what’s going on at every planet each turn? The turns get longer and longer, and you have to manage everything. Why can’t I put someone else in charge? I’m master of the frigging universe? Anyway, there is an upside: you have these scientist, nerd guys that advance your technology and make your spaceships look totally cool! You can name them whatever you want to, so I loaded ’em up with more and more guns. I made:
- The Baddest I
- The Baddest II
- Totally the Baddest
- Baddy Boy
- Baddy-Baddy Bing-Bong
But you have to be careful, because some of the planets are crappy. There can be a bunch of Mars’ for every Earth. If the planets around you suck, then you don’t get to build the good spaceships and shit. If I get a couple of bum planets right away, I just start the game over.
Now, here is where the game kinda SUCKS. So it turns out that there are other people living in the universe, but you can’t see ’em until you discover their planets. WHAT? And get this, they have been developing their own shit too! Not only that, but they have also been building defenses that totally blew the crap out all of my Baddy-Baddy Bing Bongs! What did I ever do to them? Then, these jerks (who I don’t even know!) went and systematically blew up all of my planets. Really, what was the point of my making them anyway? I was perfectly happy on my own home planet with Heidi Klum!
So you can put a lot into this game, and it will just break your heart. But the graphics are still way better than Lode Runner. Plus, I never even mentioned the sweet sound effects. Yeeeeeee-Hah!