I want to be in that number………

An interesting article on the behind the scenes politics that brought the Saints to NOLA.

Pepsi / Bush Yard by Yard Campaign

A good site by Pepsi / Bush about a plan to help rebuild New Orleans. No, no. Not George Bush. Reggie Bush. Pepsi is making donation to rebuild New Orleans for every yard Reggie gains this season: http://www.yardbyyard.com/

Orwell was an optimist

It looks like Americans will have the opportunity to pay $10 per month to have video surveillence cameras installed in their homes ( AT&T launches video monitoring service ). Clearly George Orwell, being British, was thinking too small. It turns out people will actually pay a monthly fee to give someone complete listening and viewing capabilities inside of your home. No jackbooted troops necessary, just some good old-fashioned marketing. Perhaps there will be a rebate program through the NSA soon. Then there will be the new FOX 'reality' show "America's Funniest Home Surveillance Videos". Big Brother as a Capitalist. Things really are different post-9/11.

Associated Press Racist-think

Here is a story that injects race into an issue that has nothing to do with race. The AP went looking for a race angle in a story where nobody was complaining about it. You can really see the mindset of these racist people when you read this story. Everything that they look at, every issue that confronts them is processed under the premise that somewhere there’s a race angle attached to it.
The reporter talked to one white family and one black family and used those interviews to categorize the typical response of all whites and blacks accordingly. And what race story would be complete if it didn’t have someone blaming everybody else, except the alleged victims themselves? Well, this story has quotes from some unknown Clinton-era former something-or-ever guy who isn’t afraid to blame everybody involved except the people who need to be standing up for themselves. (News flash to the AP, Clinton isn't in office anymore).

Da Mayor in Yer Pocket

From the people who brought you "Cajun in Your Pocket". Sayings include:

• You gotta be kidding me
• This is a national disaster
• Get their asses movin' to New Orleans
• And let's fix the biggest Goddamn crisis in the history of this country
• Excuse my French everybody in America
  But, I am pissed.

And Bush thinks IRAN & IRAQ are the greatest threats?

So what about this interview with the North Korean General who oversees the DMZ DOESN'T scare the hell out of you? Shoot-the Iraqis had sandstones qualify as WMD's. North Korea has (or very shortly will have) functional deliverable nukes. That strikes more terror in me than the possibility of some Al Qaida stunt.

Of course, had Bush actually tried to wage a preemptive strike on N. Korea it would had made the Iraq conflict seem like a sorority girl slumber party tickle-fight.

Putting a hyperlink in the comments

Here's an answer to Mac from a while back. As he noted, hyperlinks (aka hypertexts) are available in Posts but not Comments. Here's a hyperlink to a little tutorial. The key paragraph is below.

Hypertext LinksHypertext links (also called hyperlinks or "hot" links) are text or graphics items that act as "buttons" that the user can click on to display another Web page (or another portion of the same page). Text links are shown as underlined text on the Web page. For example, to create a link to another HTML page called "chapter1.html" that is stored in the same directory (folder), you might write:

This is discussed in Chapter 1.
which is rendered like this:

This is discussed in Chapter 1.

Or you could write
Click here to go to Chapter 1.
which would look like this:
Click here to go to Chapter 1.

In either case, if the user clicks on the underlined text, chapter1.html is displayed. The general template for a hyperlink is . You simply put the file name between the quotes "" and the link text (the text that you want to act as the hot link) between the > and the <.

Fiber Optic Internet in Lafayette

Caught part of a show on PBS (see: Community Connections) about how Lafayette, LA put in a municipal fiber optic network in spite of lawsuits by cable and telecom providers. The citizens figured they were getting screwed by cable and internet companies (and indeed they were) so they decided to do something about it. I'm usually against government getting involved in places that private firms are servicing, but I enjoyed seeing the coonasses stickin' to the big cable / bell duopoly.

NOLA Normalcy Returning

Nice to see the old hometown getting back to normal.

A $139 million "DOH!"

Vegas gazillionaire Steve Wynn pulls a Homer on a $139 million Piccaso painting. Luckily, it was his painting. Unluckily, he had just sold it for the aforementioned $139 million. DOH!

Mike Tyson - How Low Can He Go?

OK, I know I'm stuck in a sports rut, but this story is just too pathetic not to make comment. Mike Tyson reports he' s considering fighting women during his next "tour" of boxing matches. As Andy Griffith might say to Otis the town drunkard, "pitiful, pitiful".

On the upside, at least this time he can hit a gal without it leading to domestic violence or assault charges (see multiple instances thereof in the timeline).

I'm here all week. Try the veal.

Taliban Fighters Hide Inside 'Impenetrable' Marijuana Fields, Troops Say.

Is this s ploy to increase the military's recruiting numbers?

Taliban Fighters Hide Inside 'Impenetrable' Marijuana Fields, Troops Say.

Anthrax Anniversary

Yesterday (Oct. 15) was the 5th anniversary of the Anthrax attacks on the east coast. Not a mention in the local Sunday paper or on any news show that I saw. This was always a suspicious one. Hot on the heels of 9/11, high grade anthrax was sent to news networks, two Democratic senators and the Supreme Court (this is from memory). No internationally recognizable targets like the President or Vice President or a large business or military installation. And the envelopes all included a note advising the opener to take penicillin. Not exactly the handiwork of a blood-thristy terrorist bent on doig maximum damage to the US. My theory: someone with access to military anthrax (nearby Ft. Detrick, MD has a history of Antrhrax research) either officially or unofficially thought the citizens of the US were not taking 9/11 seriously enough. Perhaps it would become another Oklahonma City-style police matter and not a clash of civilizations. Anyone remember the follow-up media coverage of smallpox and duct tape?

The Incredible Shrinking Wal-mart

I was scanning this Associated Press article that was picked up the the USA Today (Jury orders Wal-Mart to pay at least $78 million for breaking labor laws) and found the oddest discrepancy. In the middle of the article it states: "Wal-Mart is the nation's largest retailer with $10 billion in sales in 2004." It's quite easy to verify that Wal-mart did about $250 billion in 2004 (Wal-Mart tops 1Q target). A strange discrepancy for these two big news organizations, especially since it is such as widely known number. And a typo doesn't make sense here, either. Are reporting standards this lax? I wonder what else I'm hearing in the news these days is wrong.

Americans for Tax Reform

TV comedians must be having a really good year. The latest irony: Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform may lose it's tax exempt status for money laundering in the Abramoff scandal (Nonprofits laundered cash for Abramoff: Senate panel). And some fun trivia that somehow the press hasn't picked up on yet. An old friend was classmates with both Jack Abramoff and Monica Lewinsky. Seems they went to the same high school. What are the odds of that?

opinion polls

I like the idea of publishing polls...2 questions

1. are they easy to set up?
2. how difficult is it to issue press releases? I'll bet Dr. M-G's sister would know.

Nuke or No Nuke?

M.I.R.T.H. can really expand its subscriber list by issuing poll results, so let's conduct one.

Here is the question:
Did North Korea really detonate a nuclear device earlier this week, yes or no?

My vote: NO.

Hiccup Cure

The Ignoble Prizes were given out last week. The prize for medicine was for a very interesting cure for hiccups that was written up in a medical journal: Termination of intractable hiccups with digital rectal massage I think I'll stick to breathing into a paper bag.

Trapped in a TV drugs sting, MPs sweat it out

A TV show in Italy got some samples of bodily fluids from 50 members of the Italian parliament. And One-third tested positive for drugs -- taken in the last 36 hours (!) I saw the story on the BBC, but it does not appear to have been picked up by the US press yet. Here's the Times Online's story: Trapped in a TV drugs sting, MPs sweat it out . These guys make '60 Minutes' look tame. It also seems this episode of the popular show has been cancelled. It runs on former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's TV stations.

No Limbo No Mo'

Benny's thinking of getting rid of Limbo. My gawd, where all dem poor unbaptized babies gonna go? Read this and find out, cap.

NOLA odds & ends

It appears Katrina has spurred a home design phenomenon - the Katrina Cottage - a 300 square foot piece of architectural ingenuity.

Those Katrina Cottages would be a welcome sight to these folks featured in a BBC slideshow.

Finally, the population of NOLA seems to be a bit under the number estimated by Sugar Ray Nagin. Maybe he's been too busy "reciprocating" to be bothered with facts? Or maybe he's having a little "brain freeze" from sticking his head in Jefferson's freezer?

Chocolate Ray and the Freezer Man

You gotta love the Mayor’s reasoning on this one. "I've told the congressman that since he supported me during the mayor's race, that I would reciprocate." It’s one thing to be a stand up guy, but why associate yourself with someone like Jefferson? Maybe Ray knows some of Jefferson’s buddies. This will be interesting to watch, perhaps we’ll see Ray explaining some of his ‘cold’ cash…, ”... With the hurricanes and all, I thought my freezer was safer than the bank..”

U.S. Health-Care System Gets a "D"

Newsweek covers the recent report on the US healthcare system in the article: U.S. Health-Care System Gets a "D". Reading this will encourage you to stay healthy. Here's the scary stuff: "The authors of the report concluded that, if the U.S. improved and standardized health-care performance and access, approximately 100,000 to 150,000 lives could be saved annually, along with $50 billion to $100 billion a year." Why this breakdown in the free market? Why do we spend so much more and get so much less?

Doubling into a double-play

I know that this group is not populated with many sports fans; however, this article from the Washington Post about last night's Dodgers-Mets game is particularly eloquent sports writing.

Take a break from all that serious political stuff and enjoy!

Thurston

Missing the story at HP

I’ve been superficially following this story about Hewlett Packard executives accused of breaking some privacy laws (which don’t seem to exist yet). What is never touched on or mentioned is what I think the real story is about. In a nutshell, someone on the HP board was leaking confidential inside info to the media. HP did an investigation and found out who was doing it. Now some at HP are charged with crimes against privacy because of the investigation. You’ve probably figured it out by now, but my question is “what about the guy who leaked the information?” Isn’t he guilty of breaking these ‘privacy’ laws? Where’s the outrage against him. I say more power to HP, too bad they didn’t finish the job the old fashioned way and break this guy’s kneecaps.

Capitol Crimes

I happened across Bill Moyers' documentary on the Jack Abramoff scandal on PBS, "Capitol Crimes". I caught it in the middle, but was hooked. The details were all much more repulsive than I had expected. And lest you think this was a hippy, left-wing PBS hatchet job, it takes everyone to task for the "cash and carry" atmosphere in Washington. The boys in charge seems to have just gotten a little carried away. On a related note, a colleague told me over lunch this week how to get a $1M 'earmark' inserted into a budget. Seems it takes as little as a $10k in the right places. Are we sure we really want to export this 'democracy' to the Middle East?

Oil and US Elections Redux

I did a quick Google on "bush oil prices election" and ran across this fascinating article on MSNBC. It talks about allegations in the new Woodward book that the Saudis promised to boost oil supplied in time for the November elections to help the Bush administration.

Did Saudis assure Bush on oil prices?

Wait. The 'new' Woodward book is "Plan of Attack". Hey, this story is from 2004! If nothing else, you have to admire Mr. Bush's good luck when it comes to energy prices during those oh-so-so-close elections.

Beam me up, Scotty

I didn't realize this, but scientists are actually trying to figure out teleportation. Granted they can only get an atom or two from here to not-very-far-away, but apparently it can be done. Life imitates art.

Violence in a school…

..does not equal school violence. Everyone has heard by now about the guy who took over a classroom in an Amish school and killed several little girls before killing himself. Now the discussions are all about what we can do to reduce school violence and make our schools safer. Getting shot in a classroom by a crazed gunman is not school violence. If a guy breaks into your house and kills you is that domestic violence? What can we do to make schools safer from guys like this? Short of making schools like prisons, nothing. If he wants to get in, he’s coming in.

Think you had a bad flight?

Read this story from the NYTimes and you'll never complain about your particular flight ever again.

The only story I have that approaches this was when our flight to Tucson was struck by lightning on landing approach. Very loud and very scary - not helped by the fact that the pilots never said a word to the passengers AND it was a couple of weeks after that 747 out of New York blew up on take off. Of course, we landed without further incident, which was much better than some of the unfortunate folks in the aforementioned stories fared.

Is flying still statistically the safest way to travel? I'm guessing it is, but as I get a little older I find myself shying away from air travel whenever possible.


Thurston

Constitution Subverted, Work begins on Magna Charter

As best I can tell, this new law lets the president detain anyone he wants indefinitely without a trial, and lets him decide what treatment this prisoner receives. I probably don't know my habeaus from my corpus, but this seems to be more excess in this WoT. Arlen Specter (I always thought that name sounded like a comic book character of some sort) and many others seem to think this cancels some old and very basic rights from the Magna Charter.

From the Christian Science Monitor: In fog of war on terror, some rules set

And The Austin American Statesman (commentary): Sarasohn: After 800 years, habeas corpus is compromised