] President Bush was absolutely right when he said it was
] impossible to win a war against terrorism - it's like
] announcing we can win a war against violence. Terrorism
] can only be minimized and controlled, and that can be
] done only with a worldwide strategy, joined by all of the
] world's sensible and peaceful nations. We hope that when
] Mr. Bush accepts his party's nomination for re-election
] tonight, he makes that argument.
]
]
] The chances of a serious dialogue about terror took a
] blow, of course, when Mr. Bush retracted his completely
] sensible statement about terrorism after the
] Kerry-Edwards campaign attacked it. So far, this has been
] an election season of monumental simple-mindedness, in
] which the candidates start each day by telling us this is
] the most important election in the history of the planet,
] then devote the rest of their waking hours to meaningless
] sniping. But it's certainly not too late to elevate the
] conversation.

Mr. Bush and the Truth About Terror

Just some old web-comic I stumbled across. I doubt anyone would find it special enough to propagate. But, I enjoyed it enough for my own archival purposes.

[ I read that... always liked scott mccloud -k]

Online Comic: I can't stop thinking

Um, who is this guy and this method of his and WTF is he saying Voynich is solved? He got published in Cryptologia, which is something to his credit. However, to my understanding Voynich remains very very much unsolved.

[ Yeah, last i heard the prevailing wisdom was that it's pretty much a sham. -k]

WIRED: Psychologist says he cracked Voynich?

] 1001. City's collective IQ drops eight points,
] temporarily tying us with Seattle.
]
] 1000. Delegates from Kansas spotting Dave Chappelle on
] the streets 50 times a day.
]
] 999. Rudy Giuliani caught backstage in Nosferatu pose,
] muttering, "Soon all this will be mine!"
]
] 998. Protest war stories from people who spent previous
] 364 days watching MTV.
]
] 997. Mary Cheney forced to stop eating pussy for most of
] Wednesday primetime slot.
]
] 996. Osama bin Laden's name will not be mentioned by
] a single speaker during the convention.
]
] 995. Our weekly Al Qaeda training seminar and pot luck
] social was cancelled.

:-)

[ Awesome. Good mix of funny-inappropriate, funny-true, and funny-sad-but-true. -k]

1001 things to hate about the rnc

“It’s a federal law, sir; a Secret Service agent came and explained it to us.”

[ This is pretty old by now, but I'll meme it again, because it's such a ridiculous story of uneducated law enforcement. -k]

Priest Accosted by Police Citing WiFi Law

Oh Yeah!

The sequel -- titled "The Passion of the Clerks" -- is set to begin shooting in January. Miramax Films, which turned the original into a cult-hit after buying it at the Sundance Film Festival, plans to distribute the follow-up.
...
So far, he said he has gotten only positive responses from the people who have read the script, so he decided to move forward with it. Both O'Halloran and Anderson are signed on, and Jason Mewes, will return as stoner Jay, the "hetero life-mate" of Smith's stoic Silent Bob.

"hetero life-mate" ? Hmmm. Interesting use of words...

[ They're Jay's words, actually... It's from one of the later films, though for the moment my brainful of trivia is failing me as to which, or if maybe it was in more than one... -k]

Kevin Smith plans 'Clerks' sequel

[ I found a few definitions for this word... in the broad sense, it can apply to society in the description of unrest or instability due to a lack of values, morals or ideals. It can have a similar application to individuals, describing their own instability due to a similar lack.

I like the M-W medical dictionary's second definition the best though : "personal unrest, alienation, and anxiety that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals"

It may be an aspect of meaning that the word absorbed over time, but the addition of purposlessness to the definition moves it out of the realm of moral judgement and seems to make it applicable to a more general state of wandering, of uninspired drifting through life. I think that makes it much more vital term.

Just thought i'd share... I always like learning new words. -k

p.s. my usual source for definitions is dictionary.com, one leg of my personal tripod of trivia verification. ]

] A heavily armed gang seized up to 400 hostages at a
] Russian school near Chechnya Wednesday and threatened to
] kill 50 children for any member of their group killed, a
] senior local official said.
]
] Itar-Tass news agency said negotiations had begun with
] the gang of up to 17 men and women who stormed into the
] secondary school in Beslan in North Ossetia province
] during a morning ceremony to mark the first day of the
] new school year.

[ Jesus, people are some kinda fucked up. And given Russia's historcal lack of delicacy in these situations, i really fear for these hostages. It would seem that whatever Russia's policy on Chechnya is, it's not working so well, what with the planes and the suicide bomb in Moskow. -k]

Top News Article | Reuters.com

] Though the "swift boat" controversy is a convenient foil,
] and can't have helped Kerry, the shift looks to represent
] broader assessments. The Massachusetts senator has lost
] ground on unrelated items ranging from "a vision for the
] future" to trust to handle health care and education.

This is a detailed collection of data about where the public stands right now. The above discussion is a little bit disingenuous. Much like Dean's "YARRR," its clear that "swing voters" are extremely vulnerable to meaningless attack politics, especially when they are carried in the mainstream press, and their perceptions of a candidate on one issue impact their perceptions on totally unrelated issues.

Kerry's attempt to handle the swift boat veterans clearly failed. The press may also have chosen their candidate and may be spinning things in his favor. Monday's USA Today headlined a picture of Cheney getting off of a plane, and trumpeted Bush's strengths. Protestors where mentioned, but their message was heavily spun down. One would think 100,000 people in the streets of New York would be a more newsworth photo then Cheney's daily deplaning.

Our election is a popularity contest; a football game. If the press is really smart they'll steer things back to Kerry next month, and then back to Bush again in October... Keeping you on the edge of your seats until the big event. Gotta sell copy...

ABCNEWS.com : Poll: As Convention Opens, Bush Has Edge

] In a late Tuesday night court filing, the department told
] U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen it supports the Detroit
] defendants' request for a new trial and would no longer
] pursue terrorism charges against them. The defendants at
] most would only face fraud charges at a new trial.

Nah, the U.S. Government never makes mistakes when it prosecutes people. Anyone who is accused of being a terrorist must be a terrorist. Thats why its ok to throw them in GITMO without trial.

Yahoo! News - U.S. Seeks to Throw Out Terror Convictions