If there really had been a Mercutio, and if there really were a Paradise, Mercutio might be hanging out with teenage Vietnam draftee casualties now, talking about what it felt like to die for other people's vanity and foolishness.
--Kurt Vonnegut's Hocus Pocus p151
Murder charges await Marine captured in Mexico - CNN.com
Topic: Miscellaneous
9:12 am EDT, Apr 11, 2008
U.S. Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, the main suspect in the killing of a 20-year-old pregnant Marine, was captured Thursday night, three months after fleeing North Carolina, the FBI said.
It's not so much that there's something special about founders as that there's something missing in the lives of employees.
An obstacle downstream propagates upstream. If you're not allowed to implement new ideas, you stop having them. And vice versa: when you can do whatever you want, you have more ideas about what to do. So working for yourself makes your brain more powerful in the same way a low-restriction exhaust system makes an engine more powerful.
This is why grad school was so much better than work is now. Then, I get to pick projects, manage and engineer them myself, and do my own marketing. Now, I do one little piece of nothing on a project which will probably get re-engineered by my manager next week.
Near the Golden Gate, Seeking Broader Access to Parks - New York Times
Topic: Miscellaneous
4:24 pm EDT, Mar 18, 2008
Federal law requires the Park Service to provide universal access to its land and attractions. Ms. Sieck and other people with disabilities say they cannot gain entry or use many of the Golden Gate area’s historic buildings, trails, museums, restrooms or water fountains.
The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in San Francisco, contends that the Park Service and its local administrators have “systemically discriminated against plaintiffs on the basis of their disabilities,” failing to make adjustments, required for decades, to assist people with restricted mobility, poor or no vision, hearing loss or other needs.
It's not hiking once you add gently sloped paved roads to every trail. There needs to be a line where some trails are for walking (and rolling) and some are, frankly, only for hiking.
Theo Jansen is the Dutch creator of what he calls "Kinetic Sculptures," where nature and technology meet. Essentially these sculptures are robots powered by the wind only.
Upton Sinclair, Now Playing on YouTube - New York Times
Topic: Miscellaneous
12:49 pm EDT, Mar 12, 2008
Several states have laws restricting photography and videography of what are broadly referred to as “animal enterprises,” including circuses, medical laboratories and ranches. And in 2006, Congress passed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which makes behavior that results in damage to or the economic disruption of an animal enterprise illegal. The laws were in part a reaction to the increased use of hidden video cameras, Ms. Newkirk said.
Your pro-industry, anti-safety tax dollars at work. I thought we had a majority democratic legislation?
...however, the black color scheme in Word is pretty bitching. Also, the previewing of bullets in Word, the cell colors in Excel, etc. is bitching, too.
Majestic Jacobean style English castle with over 45,000 sq ft of home on 12.3 acres of beautifully landscaped property. Outstanding master carvings and stone work throughout the home. Eleven various stone and woodcarved fireplaces. Totally renovated exterior and interior with all new mechanicals including central air.
13 bedrooms, 8.3 bathrooms. Now, if only it wasn't in Jersey...oh, and not $11,000,000. :-)
House Leaves Surveillance Law to Expire - New York Times
Topic: Current Events
12:30 pm EST, Feb 15, 2008
Surveillance efforts will not cease when the law lapses. Administration intelligence officials said agencies would be able to continue eavesdropping on targets that have already been approved for a year after the initial authorization. But they said any new targets would have to go through the more burdensome standards in place before last August, which would require that they establish probable cause that an international target is connected to a terrorist group.
Ah, the good ole days when you had to show probable cause before wiretapping. I for one don't feel any less safe that this provision has expired, and in fact feel *in*spired to donate to my local ACLU.
