Shots Across the Bow

Speaks for itself

``As long as they want to send them here, we'll kill them here. Should they go somewhere else, we'll go with our Afghan allies and coalition forces and kill them wherever they go.''

General F.L. Buster Hagenbeck, referring to Taliban and Al Qaida fighters responding to the call for jihad.

Hello. I'm back. Sort of. Still a little light headed, and I don't dare stand up quickly, but the worst has passed. I hope.

I just finished watching the Jerry Springer show. (A major flue bug, 48 hours of bed rest, and a bad reaction to generic Nyquil. Gimme a break.) Anyway, since I may be going to Chicago for a training seminar later this year, I thought about getting tickets to see the show live. (Delirious from the fever) Then I realized that with my luck, instead of Supermodel Lesbians Who Want to go Straight with a Middle Aged Man from the Audience, I'd get tickets to Titannic Tubbies and the Animals They Love

Yeeesh. I think I'm feeling sick again.

Courtesy of William Sulik of Blithering Idiot comesthis teaser. You'll have to look closely to spot it.

My heart will go on. Just look at the pictures. Found via Beauty of Gray

The truth hurts Charles Krauthammer, writing in The Washington Post lets our EU buddies know where they stand in this uncompromising column:

Our enemies have already turned against us. Our allies will not. Europe knows that in the end, its security depends on our strength and our protection. Europeans are the ultimate free-riders on American power. We maintain the stability of international commerce, the freedom of the seas, the flow of oil, regional balances of power (in the Pacific Rim, South Asia, the Middle East) and, ultimately, we provide protection against potentially rising hostile superpowers.

The Europeans sit and pout. What else can they do? The ostensible complaint is American primitivism. The real problem is their irrelevance.

And the conclusion:

We are in a war of self-defense. It is also a war for Western civilization. If the Europeans refuse to see themselves as part of this struggle, fine. If they wish to abdicate, fine. We will let them hold our coats, but not tie our hands.

My dad and his brother in law were in a bar in Nashville when a fight broke out. (Something that used to happen fairly regularly when my dad went into a bar.) He was doing all right until his brother in law tried to help him by pulling him out of the fight. Unfortunately, my uncle tried to pull him out by wrapping him in a bear hug, while my dad was trying to carry on a conversation with an irate gentleman brandishing a broken beer bottle. Needless to say, the result wasn't a favorable one for my dad.

We can't allow the EU to try and hold us back when we are already in a street fight. This isn't fisticuffs between gentleman, but an back alley brawl with no holds barred.

Let the games begin!I just bought my first PDA. When I placed the order on-line, a screen popped up touting a special offer for a free cell phone attachment. I had a cell phone several years ago, but got rid of it because I wasn't using it enough to justify the money. Now that I'm commuting an hour and a half each way, there have been several times when I wished I had one.

So I decided , "What the hell," and ordered the attachment, giving the information they needed for a credit check.

The next day, I got an e-mail from the vendor saying that my cell plan had been approved by the provider and an account was being prepared for me. Yesterday, my phone and PDA arrived. (Yes, UPS finally came through.) Today I call the cell phone provider. They've never heard of me, or the PDA phone I bought. Completely without clue were they. (I watched Empire Strikes Back last night. Can you tell?) After talking with four different people at the cell phone place, I called the PDA vendor, and asked them what was going on.
The nice guy I talked to was surprised that the cell phone folks had no clue what I was talking about, and he checked into it. Ten minutes later, he called me back, and said that the cell phone company had no record of my account.

I already knew that. I asked what they were going to do about it. He said I could sign up anywhere since I already had the phone. Sinc I had actually read the contract, I knew that if I didn't activate the phone, I was on the hook for $100 for a phone that wasn't hooked up to anything. I asked him about that and he went to get his supervisor.

So now, his boss is talking to the cell phone boss, they have my information again, and I've been assured that all will be taken care of. Of course, Jimmy Hoffa was 'taken care of' too. I don't think I want that.

In the meantime, I get to surf for good little applications for my new brain.
It's good that I got a new one, because the old one was getting a little rough. I was driving down a curvy road (an East Tennessee redundancy) one afternoon last spring, and on a particularly sharp curve, the day planner slid across the dash and out the window, over the drainage ditch, through the barbed wire fence, and landed in a pasture. Now pastures in East Tennessee almost always have cows on them, unless they have pigs or llamas on them. (Yes, llamas. They use them to pack supplies up to the lodge on Mt. LeConte, where wealthy people go to experience life like it was in the good old days. Or like it was yesterday on the south side of English mountain, but that's another story.) Anyway, while there are usually a lot of cows in each pasture, and they all eat constantly, its not like the ground is carpetted with what cows leave behind when they eat a lot. Rather than get too detailed, let's just say that the Gaelic "gang agley" was fairly freely translated on that day.

So now, I have a new brain, an interactive brain. One which will keep track of my busy social schedule (rotate tires, friday 9AM), allow me to keep up with my business expenses (3 Plastic Tarps and 2 bottles of corn oil. ) and to do lists (Move cars. Mow grass. Put cars back.) One which will remind me of things I'd rather forget, like dentist's appointments, and trips to the exorcist. (I'm sharing too much, aren't I?)

So far, I've put in four addresses using the little stylus, and I can already tell that is has got to go! I'll be permanently deformed if I use that thing for very long. Fortunately, I've found some inserts for the pens I've been turning and I'll replace this silly thing with a real pen.

Time to stretch a bit. The kids are all busy; playing, doing homework, watching TV, whatever. You've worked all day, came home, cleaned house, made dinner, cleaned the kitchen, and now you are ready for your time. You sit down in your chair with your book that you're right in the middle of and begin to read. Instantly, all activity in the house ceases and a line of petitioners forms at your chair. Every child has just remembered something important about their day that they simply must share with you. You sort through their triumphs, tradegies, wins, lossess, needs, wants and desires, and slowly the line diminishes, until you are alone again with your book. You lower your eyes to the page, and get swept away.
It doesn't matter where. The old west, outer space, the ocean, the mountains, places you've seen, places you've seen only through closed eyes at one in the morning. New places, different places, different times, where your life is different, no regrets, no confusions, no messy areas, just neat little lines of words which fire your imagination to create things of wonder.

She clears her throat, delicately, letting you know she's still there. You missed one. One more request to fill. She's your little girl, so you lower the book, and she begins to tell you a Dickensian tale of sorrow and treachery and battles fought and won, until she finally gets to her point. She needs money for lunch tomorrow.

You hand her the change from your pocket, and, satisfied that you have done your duty, prepare to resume traipsing the world from the comfort of your recliner.

She clears her throat again. You ease your eyes up from the book, trying to show her that you are really wanting to read this one page, or maybe two, but she persists, and begins to explain all about her day, the boy she met, and the one she likes, and the girl she doesn't like, and how her friend made her feel silly, and whether she should go to the dance. You nod in the right places as her voice fades into the background, satisfied that you are doing your job, listening to her talk, but all the while wondering when you can get back to your book. Eventually she trails off, running out of things to say, and you mumble some vague reassurances, that people do like her, and things are fine, and of course she's doing well. She says OK, then starts to wander off.

You start to sink back into your book, pulling it around you, shutting out the messy world and locking yourself in with the rigid prose that sets your mind free to roam.

"Daddy?" she asks.

You slam down the book, glare over at her, annoyed at the continuing interruptions. Can't she see you want a little peace?

"What is it now?"

The hurt is bigger than her face, then anger flits across her face.

"Never mind!"

Instantly guilt consumes you. All she wanted was a little of your time, a little attention from the guy who hung the moon and stars, and you wanted to read a book instead. What kind of monster are you? You heartless bastard.

You soften your voice and ask again what she wanted, but the damage is done. Her feelings are hurt and there's a wedge between you that is your fault. She starts to go away, not crying even though she wants to, and that's the worst part, because you know she hurts, but she doesn't want to bother you any more.

You go after her, and catch her arm, and go to one knee, so she can look into your eyes and tell her you're sorry. She can see that you mean it and her smile comes back faster than it faded, and she clings to your neck, and you hold her for a minute, revelling in the easy forgiveness of a child. You ask her what it was she wanted to ask, and she says she forgot.

You growl good naturedly, swing her upside down and tease her about interfering with your reading, and get into a tickle fight that lasts until bedtime. The book lies forgotten on the table. It will still be there tomorrow, or the next day, and someday soon she won't be. And you realize that you don't really need a book to fire your imagination to create something wonderful. You've done it for real.

I see your true colors shining through Like this is a surprise or something? Bill Clinton lies again.

He said it would cost America $US2.5 billion ($A4.87 billion) to meet UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's request for an extra $US10 billion ($A19.47 billion) to fight AIDS and other infections diseases.

"For us, you know what that is?" he asked the $1,100-a-head charity dinner in Melbourne for the Microsurgery Foundation.

"Two-and-a-half months of the Afghan war, and about one tenth of one per cent of the federal budget.

"That's it.

"There are 40 million AIDS cases a day and if we don't do something about it, there will be 100 million AIDS cases a day."

Let's start with some common sense. 40 million AIDS cases a day means the entire population will be infected in 40 days. Cool! Just in time for Easter.

OK, let's do a little fact checking. From Avert:
Worldwide AIDS stats as of December 2001

People infected with HIV in 2001 Total 5 Million
................................................Adults 4.3 Million
................................................Women 1.8 Million
................................................Children 15 years 800,000
No. of people living with HIV/AIDS Total 40 Million
..................................................Adults 37.2 Million
..................................................Women 17.6 Million
..................................................Children <15 years 2.7 Million

Ahhh. Now we see. 40 million living with AIDS today. Of course, that doesn't scare people enough.

Let's see what other garbage he spewed:

In a direct reference to the Howard government's woes, Mr Clinton also warned Australia needed to pull its weight in addressing global warming or the refugee crisis would get worse.

"If the world warms in the next 50 years as it has done in the last 10, ...agricultural production will be disrupted across the globe," he said.

"You'll have literally millions upon millions of food refugees, leading to more violence, more disruption and more boatloads of refugees that you will have to face."

Considering that the newest evidence shows that the troposphere has actually cooled over the last decade, and that the best climate models we have require an increase in tropospheric temperature to drive their doomsday predictions, I think it is safe to call this another lie.

Or is the "smartest president we've ever had" just a moron?

Hmmmm. Tricky The fellow behind Libertarian Rant enjoyed my bit about Star Trek characters as politicians. He is yearning for more though.

Just for you:


Bob Dole................Data. His lack of emotion cost him any chance at command
Checkov.................Pat Buchanon. Makes lots of noise. Screams well.
Q..........................Ross Perot. Virtually limitless power, yet always getting tripped up by idiosyncratic behaviors
The Borg Queen......Patricia Ireland. My apologies to the borg queen for this comparison
Riker......................Dick Cheney Capable commander in his own right, but loyal to the boss.
Deanna Troi............Elizabeth Dole. Great at projecting warmth and empathy. Bad at picking men.
Captain Sisko.........Colin Powell. Go ahead. Piss him off.

You know something? I have way too much free time....

I'm curious about something In this story from Fox about the rioting in India, why do I have to scroll down over half the page before I find out why the Hindus are rioting?

Sounds a lot like the Rodney King riots all over to me. A bunch of thugs taking the opportunity to kill and destroy.

Listening to the news at lunch, I heard that there is an Air India plane on its way to New York which may be carying a man on the BBI's Most Wanted Terrorist watch list. It's now 5:30, and I haven't heard anything else.

How do you keep a news junkie in suspence?

Story at 11.

Aarrrgghhhhhh!

UPDATE The whole thing was a false alarm. And I only had to wait until 2130.

That's Amore I'm something of a traditionalist. I still believe in love, and that marriage is a union of two people, not just a social contract. My definition of love runs closely to what Robert Heinlein said in , among other places:

'Love' is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

Our Dr. Feelgoods now characterize that state as a social disease called co-dependence.

They tell us that we must remain separate from our marriage and our spouse, that we must retain our autonomy. They tell us that depending on our mate is bad, because it reduces our ability to fend for ourselves. They tell us that we must be ready to jump ship at a moment's instant, because there are no guarantees, and people change. And we follow their advice, because they are the experts, right?

And because we follow their advice,and refuse to commit, and refuse to depend on our mate, we fulfill their prophecy. We grow apart; we lose our connections. The ties that we form are never strengthened, never become vital.We hold our mate at arm's length, and as long as things go well, we are all right. The fire may die, we may lose the passionate connection, but we are comfortable, and secure in the knowledge that we are still independent. Then the storm comes, and when we need those roots, those ties, they fail us. We are torn apart, because we really don't have all that much to lose. After all, we were almost alone in the first place.

But love can be so much more. A true commitment of the heart and mind without hesitation or reservation creates a union which carries more strength than both of the two possess alone. Knowing that there is someone who you can rely on to be there for you in victory or defeat for you is a tremendous source of courage, and will allow you to face down any challenge. Challenges that would destroy the 'modern' marriage can be overcome by a true commitment.

An embrace is always stronger than a handshake.

So why do we settle for this pale imitation? Is it from fear of getting hurt? Are we afraid that if we truly commit, we may get hurt by our mate, or by fate? I think so. I think we try to minimize pain by minimizing our emotional exposure. The trouble with that is we minimize our joy as well. We pass up on so much because we are afraid we may get hurt. The lesson we need to learn is that the joy is always greater than the pain. Quoting another science fiction author, Spider Robinson:

Sorrow shared is reduced; happiness shared is multiplied.

Yes, I'm feeling a little sentimental today, but I'm sure it will pass....

What's up with UPS?I ordered a some merchandise and had it shipped via UPS. The order was shipped from three separate locations. I checked the tracking code to see where they were, and two of them were scheduled for delivery today. I checked back a few minutes ago, to see if they'd been delivered, and saw that they had not, and an exception put in.

I checked further and saw that the driver had noted a need for an apartment number.

I live in a house. There are no apartments nearby.

Now there are two houses and two mobile homes on my driveway, so I could understand some confusion, so I made sure to put large numbers on my house, to minimize confusion.

It wasn't enough.

Here's the sad part. Remember I said I had packages coming from three places? One of them was successfully delivered on Monday.

By UPS.

A new link sightseeing in Plato's Cave joins the permalink section with the following timess entry:

This weekend's activities included sitting on a tree stump by the shore of Lake Tahoe. Lesson learned: Sap can be sticky for quite a long time.

True wisdom cannot be gained without experience.