more news rants (or) ‘I love the smell of morons in the morning’
A military jet staffed with a 15-member medical team swept into Brazil last month on the orders of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to retrieve an ailing state senator from a coastal hospital.
The trip cost taxpayers $147,187, Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson said. But she said it was necessary given the circumstances described by aides of Sen. John Vasconcellos, who checked himself into a clinic after feeling chest pains during a nine-day goodwill trip to Brazil. (full story)
Um. Good to know where my money is going. Cuz that $147,187 couldn’t possibly have gone to the school system or to one of the (useful) social programs. Sen. Vasconcellos should have been brought back via normal-jet. I can just imagine the call the Governator made:
Governator: “Senator Vasconcellos?”
Senator: “Yes.”
G: “It is I, the Governator. You have been captured by Brazilian doctors and your mission will be Terminated.”
S: “I was here because I wanted to visit.”
G: “Your ruse is up, Senator, we’ll be sending a full military rescue team to extract you.”
S: “The weather is beautiful here.”
G: “Copy that, Senator, we’ll send the special task force too”
S: “I meant that the weather was nice here. Are you on something?”
G: “The military squadron will arrive within twelve hours”
S: “What-ever”
“We have a philosophical difference of opinion with them that I don’t think we’ll ever be able to bridge just because of the fact that they think pet ownership is slavery.” full story)
I’m going to go with Petco on this one. Having a pet isn’t slavery, unless you have a cat … they keep their owners on a pretty tight leash. I know my cat just *hates* being waited on hand and foot … er, paw and paw. I’m sure he just pines to be in the wild where he doesn’t get fed nutrient-rich food twice a day and can’t just lounge in the sun all day. Where does PETA think these house-animals should go? The Happy Forest Without Predators? Come on, PETA-people, look at your own acronym: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. How ethical is it to remove a living being from a life that it has become accustomed to and force it to live ‘in its natural habitiat’? My cat’s natural habitat is the couch. Ethical does not equal total liberation. Ethical means you don’t kick them across the room. If my cat petitions for emancipation, he can have it. That’s ethical.
A planned nudist bicycle tour in the Netherlands’ so-called “Bible Belt” has upset local church officials who are holding their own youth charity bike ride the same day. (full story)
Whoa whoa whoa, that’s crazy. Holland has a bible belt? I didn’t realize there were fundamentalist Dutch people. Weird. Oh, the bike ride thing. Ouch. If they want to do it, who’s to stop them? Except maybe a bad case of chafing.
“The provocation did not flow from Eddie Araujo. The provocation flowed from within them. They were the source of their own provocation,” Lamiero said. “Their pathetic, weak sense of self-identity led to the death of a human being.” (full story)
Rest in Peace, Gwen Araujo.
The four met Araujo in the summer of 2002, and Merel and Magidson had sex with her. They became suspicious after comparing notes, leading to a deadly confrontation in October 2002 at Merel’s house in Newark, a San Francisco suburb.
Another woman at the house confirmed Araujo’s identity by grabbing the teenager’s genitals.
Um, ok. Let me get this straight. They had sex with her, and then had to grab genitals to verify that she wasnt 100% biological woman? Yeah, these are bright shining stars aren’t they? Just towering intellectual giants. Send them to prison, if only for being so amazingly stupid.
And isn’t Newark more of a San Jose suburb?
“Toxic dust” found on computer processors and monitors contains chemicals linked to reproductive and neurological disorders, according to a new study by several environmental groups. (full story)
Oh, so I *can’t* safely eat my computer. It’s good to know that, you know, I figured computers were perfectly healthy for me, considering all the silicon, plastics, lead, gold, heavy metals, phosphors, and other vital nutrients. Do people seriously spend money on this bulls***? I have a feeling that studying stupid things like this also causes reproductive and neurological harm. What’s these people’s recommendation — don’t lick your computer’s motherboard? Darn, I love doing that.
“This will be a great surprise to everyone who uses a computer,” said Ted Smith, director of the Toxics Coalition. “The chemical industry is subjecting us all to what amounts to chemical trespass by putting these substances into use in commerce. They continue to use their chemicals in ways that are affecting humans and other species.”
Oh my god. My computer’s made of chemicals? Ick, get it off my desk. And I’m sure it’s just a vast conspiracy by the Chemical Industry (motto: we make up the stuff that makes stuff up) … I bet there’s all kinds of internal memo’s just waiting to be leaked to the news agencies … ‘be sure to include seven metric tons of Trihydroketoethelyne dinitrate in every computer’. These evil, irresponsible chemical companies “continue to use their chemicals” … they really should stop. I mean, now who needs chemicals anyway? It’s not like they’re good for anything…
It kind of makes me laugh when I see headlines that were obviously made by people with a sense of humor. CNN reported today “Nearly 300,000 Texans still in dark” … it’s good to see that people are starting to recongnize the perils of religious fundamentalism.
And another insipid poll from CNN - “Do you think CIA Director George Tenet should have resigned?” Well, you know, being the average informed American, I know everything that went into his resignation, from the classified National Security factors to his personal life. I’m sure the average American is perfectly qualified to answer that. My answer — No, because now we have to make another Director of Central Intelligence, and apparently good spies are hard to come by these days.
Michael Lohan was accused of assaulting his brother-in-law, Matt Sullivan, at a first communion party on May 23. (full story
What, did he get pushed in the punch bowl or something? Seriously, people, chill out. It’s an event at a CHURCH. There’s a BABY AND A PRIEST there. And VIDEO CAMERAS. Moron.
Besides potentially threatening drinking water for major California cities such as San Jose and Los Angeles, the saltwater also threatened freshwater fish, some of them rare, and farmers’ fields in the San Joaquin Valley.
There appeared to be no immediate danger of a fish kill, and some young fish may benefit from being able to hide in the suddenly submerged crops, said Mike Wintemute of the state Department of Fish and Game. (full story)
Welcome to California, where it’s more important to watch out for the rare fish in the delta than be concerned about the welfare of hundreds of farmers who risk their livelihood. What’s a fish kill anyway? Do some bad-ass trout get together and crack some heads? Do fish have little Uzi’s? That would be cool. And maybe some sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads. What’s this about baby fish benefitting from hiding in crops? Yeah, that’s natural. Playtime for Nemo!
“We don’t have data that suggests Windows XP drops wireless connections more than any other system,” said Greg Sullivan, the lead product manager in Microsoft’s Windows division. “Wi-Fi configuration in Windows XP is much different and easier than in previous versions.” (full story)
I have two words for that. One of them is ‘bull’ and the other one is a word that I shouldnt type. But it sounds like ‘hit’ or ’sit’ or ‘lit’.
Why won’t Microsoft just admit that they have some really severe problems with Windows? I think consumers would appreciate the honesty, so millions of people can quit banging their heads against the wall trying to fix something (virus, compatibility, wireless networking) that’s a known problem and not the consumer’s fault?
“It indicates that you’ve associated with an access point. It is possible for you to be associated without having (Internet) connectivity,” said Shai Guday, a Microsoft wireless group program manager.
But most users don’t have the background to parse the distinction between connection and “association” with an access point. All they know is that the icon says there’s an access point with a strong signal nearby and they can’t get on the Internet.
Yeah, and what’s the point of being ‘associated’ and not ‘connected’? Unless you’re running inventory software on your palm computer in a huge freakin warehouse, theres no reason to have an unbound connection. Maybe there should be a little light that responds to some big router (or a list of them) that indicates internet connectivity. I’d go for it, that would be useful. See if you’re on the net at a glance. The system could ping 4.2.2.2 or whatever you define every few seconds to check its status.
The IAEA’s records, which it has released to New Scientist, show a dramatic rise in the level of smuggling of radiological materials, defined as radioactive sources that could be used in dirty bombs but not nuclear bombs. (full story)
Um, OK, so the IAEA has detailed numbers on nuclear smuggling? Is this through some benificient criminal that lets the IAEA in on his numbers? Or are the IAEA inspectors all British? (”Oh, fissile material, how nice. How much have you got? Three tons? Alright, let me get that down here, … from Uzbekistan, yes? Alright then, cheerio”)
And more from wired.com:
What Liberal Media?
Is it time for a fresh affirmative-action push in the nation’s newsrooms? A new study reveals a minority group that is decidedly underrepresented on the staffs of TV stations and newspapers: conservatives. The nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that only 7 percent of reporters, editors and media execs at national news outlets called themselves conservative, while 34 percent self-identified as liberal. While the study addressed only the news professionals’ personal beliefs — and not whether their opinions lead to biased coverage — a newspaper editor shed light on the situation. “Most of us think too much alike and come from the same backgrounds,” he said. “Find the pro-lifers in a newsroom. That’s harder than finding Waldo.”
— Lewis Wallace
No More Hanky-Panky
In sex-starved Japan, things have gotten so bad that news magazine Aera published an unlikely exhortation: “Young people, don’t hate sex.” The popular publication was responding to a stream of life-defeating statistics: Japanese wedding and birth rates are plummeting, condom shipments have gone limp and “love hotel” check-ins are swiftly declining. In a 2001 survey, Japan ranked dead last among 28 countries in the frequency of sex (at an average of just 36 times a year). ”Men don’t want to spend time with their girlfriends, especially shopping,” explained a 40-year-old man who isn’t dating. And many women are growing more independent and assertive, while others may be waiting for Mr. Right. ”The good men are all married,” said one writer. ”Those left behind are all nerds or without jobs or violent or not nice-looking.”
— Jenny McKeel
