Taken For Granted

Quick Thoughts
* Looks like the Iraqi Election turnout has been revised down to ~60%, still a resounding success considering what they were facing (some walking 13 miles to get to a polling center) ... Our prayers to the 44 Iraqis killed for trying to vote. It embarrasses me that here in the US we can barely scrape 60% of the voters out to the polls, amazing what we all take for granted. Oh, and Kerry comes out and says the vote didn't matter. Nice. (More on that below)
* Drudge : Israel might be planning an attack on Iran's nuke sites ... not too much of a secret, apparently ...

News
* SAY NO to Senate Bill 5475 ... sweeping "assault weapon" legislation (and by assault weapons some shotguns & some antiques are included) ... oh, and a sheriff can inspect your storage of them annually.
* Iraq: The British C130 was apparently shot down ... condolences to all of those on board. This is the single deadliest day for the UK troops.
* Iraq: An opinion on the Iraqi Elections ... and more here ... and more here
* Dean losing the race for DNC chair? ... will he yell again? Pretty please? And, he wins some backing ... and more on Dean here
* This judge gets it wrong ... extends the protection of our constitution to captured terrorists
* Hillary faints
* Death Row soon-to-be-execution halted ... maybe we can get this rapped up sometime soon?

Interesting
* Phishing, now Pharming
* More on Free Speech, or the lack of it where Christianity is concerned
* More on (Or is that Moron?) Kerry ... and Soros calls Kerry flawed ... and Kennedy not a good thing either ... and A US Marine responds to Kennedy ... and thoughts on libs in general
* Hormones vs premature births
* Bush, Iraqis = Yes. Noonan = No
* More on the 1gbps WLAN
* Your car, gas fob not so safe
* This balloon has staying power!
* Say No to LOST! ... "How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin"
* CNN, the (cough) unbiased network?
* ESC into Neurons
* $100PC project
* MiniPC project
* Apple beats Google?? ... but then al Jazeera gets a nod as well, so take it with a grain (or more) of salt
* Politics as usual in NC?
* Rewriting 9/11?
* Reagan/Rocky remix ... found via CFG
* America the Beautiful
* Coulter on abortion, and she's not real happy with Bush
* Low carb hackers?
* Excellent recap of the USS San Francisco's accident & ensuing ordeal to make it back to port
* Help stop illegal immigration in Cali
* McLawsuit?
* CL on Bill Clinton
* Snoop, Sex, Court ... you do the math (and I don't mean child support)
* Bar codes vs Alzheimers?

Funny
* Should be a new OOTS at some point today ...
* "This project is so important, we can't let things that are more important interfere with it." ... and other Dilbertisms there
* ID gets the best demons
* Cheney remembers Auschwitz, forgets suit
* Iraqi Election results slowed by suicide bombers' absentee ballots
* Iraqis vote, give up right to complain
* Cubicle Warnings
* No Baby-Return Policy
* Drink the Kool Aid
* Iraqi's vote to keep blowing each other up
* Don't yell at the guy working the big pieces of construction equipment
* A 'salute' to the pessimists :) ... NSFW ...
* Google, photoshopped

Quote of the Day
All the technology in the world doesn't matter if the majority of your population is mind numbingly stupid.
thanks BASH!

Iraqi Vote Day!

Iraqi Vote Day
* Voter turnout 70+% ... with all of the threats, and the (only) dozens of attacks, they still manage to have a higher turnout (percentage-wise) than the US has EVER had (our best was 63% in 1960). Some precincts hit 95% turnout! Major win for Iraq, for Freedom, and for the US/Bush. Big lose for the terrorists/insurgents, Kerry, Dean, the rest of the Democrat-pessimists, France/Germany/Russia ... and all of the dictatorships surrounding Iraq.
* FOXNEWS had a special wherein Shep Smith walked through one of Saddam's palaces. The above ground part was estimated to have cost $1B dollars. Oh, and the MILES of tunnels, bunkers, decontamination chambers, food storage, etc. beneath it dwarfs that $1B cost. All of this was built after the First Persian Gulf War ... while sanctions were imposed. You can thank the UN's Oil for Food fiasco (and Kofi, and Kojo) for this happening while people in Iraq were starving (or being executed).
* Weather : pummeling the South-East; 80k still without power. Here in VA we got some snow and some ice, and some incompetent drivers causing accidents. Bus crashes into parked tractor-trailer in New York, kills several. Condolences to all of those lost, and prayers for the injured!

News
* Iraq: More on the vote! ... and more excellent thoughts here!
* Iraq: British C130 plane crashes ... details pending ...
* US - infantile AIDS?
* Russian spies all over the US?
* Sharon, Abbas to meet
* 75yr old SC women tasered?

Interesting
* Glaciers shrinking?
* Firefox 1.1 delayed ... 'cuz Google stole their developers?
* Gmail tips .. and I still have invites left!
* Blind art?
* LSD art?
* Thoughts on Terry Turner

Funny
* ... not today!

Not Payday

Quick Thoughts
* Have a great weekend everybody, just make it through today!
* Gratuitous Blegging : Sign up for clickies, with me as your referrer:

News
* Baby Jordan got a heart! ... prayers for a speedy, solid recovery and our condolences to the donor, but a sincere thanks for opting to donate organs!
* Iraq: al Zarqawi -2 'close associates' ... (other sources say 'top lieutenants')
* Your Lexus, +1 Virus!
* PG buying Gillette for ~$57B ... making the world's largest consumer products co. ... and Buffet makes $630M off of this
* Amber Alert in Indiana
* Hamas wins local election in Gaza strip ... that is NOT GOOD ...
* Saudi flip-flops, supports high prices ... when capitalism goes too far ... and why we need to reduce/eliminate our foreign oil addiction (or, atleast take enough measures towards that goal to make it a feasible threat to their economy)
* US vs Mexico ... we say Mexico is dangerous, they whine
* 16yr old girl in Illinois dismembers another girl ... being charged as an adult (good!)
* You don't need to exercise, you just need to move around a bit more? ... I am thinking the exercise definitely helps ... hey - it even has an acronym - 'NEAT' ... non-exercise activity thermogenesis ... still thinking the exercise would be good for you ...
* DHS going to merit based pay system ... imagine that, let capitalism actually work in the government! (and a thought on how DHS is still not doing its primary job 100% yet)
* Iraq: Thoughts on the upcoming election, media bias
* Goat in France has Mad Cow?
* 'Mafia don' = informant
* Cosmetic implant causes vCJD?
* Explicit evidence to be used against Pedophile-Jackson

Interesting
* "More 9/11's are necessary" ... what?? Ward Churchill is hereby officially asked to leave my country, and even better - to leave my planet. I'd settle for him being (cough)'asked' to leave the school he teaches at! ... thanks Randy!
* Some thoughts on dhimmitude
* Pic of the nuclear sub that had an undersea collision back on Jan08
* Rentable cleavage ... where else, eBay!
* MadTech's Friday Rant ... excellent, as always!
* US Supreme Court says "Deport them"
* Absentee Legislators ... they should be forced to payback for the time they were not at work, just like us plebeians! ... found via KerryHaters
* More thoughts on ESCR, Human equality
* FBI to 'reach deeper' inside the US
* Interesting SFF PC
* Stan Lee wins lawsuit, loses mind? ... Ringo to be super hero, ability = "defeating evil by hooking up with three extremely powerful superheroes, then just standing around while they do all the work" ... hahahha!
* The ONLY TIME you should ever POSSIBLY listen to Air America ... PWL blogger will be on; 12:45CST today
* Some thoughts, questions on Social inSecurity
* The Audubon Society permits drilling in (atleast) one of its sanctuaries .. so why can't ANWR be open??
* Need an Anonymous mail to be sent? ... IMHO they should enable HTTPS, so your session with them is encrypted
* More on Pluto & Charon
* Need your Star Wars fix? Here are the Roll-Ups (including SWEPIII)
* 5 years worth of BoingBoing, ready for DL
* Autonomous rolling security
* Intel's VIIV patent
* Battery Life extender? ... not so sure this is real ...
* Supernovae makes magnetic stars
* Clinton(s) to block Dean as DNC lead? ... the more in-fighting the better!
* Cisco hit by trio of bugs ... BGP, MPLS, IPv6 targeted ...
* Endangered Gizmos list
* Google searching for ... meaning?
* Arctic Hole

Funny
* Sir Peter Maxwell ... hilarious site ... read any/all of the articles. Now! Go on, move along ... Seriously, I don't mind. (I know you'll be back!)
* Iraqis bitterly divided over Oscar nominations
* An AD you will NOT see on TV this year ... from Budweiser, King of Commercials ... found via WyckedOne
* Harvard to offer Home-Ec degrees
* Global warming caused by increased activity in Hell
* Star Jones Cuts Ties with Legal Career to Spend More Time with Food
* North Korea says it's ready treat U.S. as a friend
* 2005 Shaping Up to Be Another Sucky Year
* Johnny Carson to continue writing for David Letterman
* Interview ... d20 sucks & girls ruin D&D, Cobra has built a Weather Dominator

Quotes of the Day
GEICO Saves 15 Percent Or More By Discontinuing Advertising
thanks TheOnion!

mel: 10 Think about sex
mel: 20 Goto 10
thanks Bash!

Auschwitz Liberation Day

Quick Thoughts
* 60 years ago today the Auschwitz Death Camp was taken by Soviet troops; please observe a moment of silence and reflection. Some details on the memorials taking place ... and Complete Blogburst-Remembering the Wannsee Conference and the Liberation of Auschwitz, via Cao ... a portion of which:

Remembering the Wannsee Conference and the Liberation of Auschwitz
* This article is posted by participants of the January 27, 2005, Blogburst to remember the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, sixty years ago, on January 27, 1945.
* On January 20th, we marked the anniversary of the 1942 Wannsee Conference. In the course of that Conference, the Nazi hierarchy formalized the plan to annihilate the Jewish people. Understanding the horrors of Auschwitz requires that one be aware of the premeditated mass-murder that was presented at Wannsee.
* Highlighting these events now has become particularly important, even as the press reports that '45% of Britons have never heard of Auschwitz' (Jerusalem Post, December 2, 2004)
* The Holocaust, symbolized by Auschwitz, the worst of the death camps, occurred in the wake of consistent, systematic, unrelenting anti-Jewish propaganda campaign. As a result, the elimination of the Jews from German society was accepted as axiomatic, leaving open only two questions: when and how.
* As Germany expanded its domination and occupation of Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, the Low Countries, Yugoslavia, Poland, parts of the USSR, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Italy and others countries, the way was open for Hitler to realize his well-publicized plan of destroying the Jewish people.
* After experimentation, the use of Zyklon B on unsuspecting victim was adopted by the Nazis as the means of choice, and Auschwitz was selected as the main factory of death (more accurately, one should refer to the “Auschwitz-Birkenau complex”). The green light for mass annihilation was given at the Wannsee Conference, January 20, 1942, and the mass gassings took place in Auschwitz between 1942 and the end of 1944, when the Nazis retreated before the advancing Red Army. Jews were transported to Auschwitz from all over Nazi-occupied or Nazi-dominated Europe and most were slaughtered in Auschwitz upon arrival, sometimes as many as 12,000 in one day. Some victims were selected for slave labor or “medical” experimentation. All were subject to brutal treatment.
* In all, between three and four million people, mostly Jews, but also Poles and Red Army POWs, were slaughtered in Auschwitz alone (though some authors put the number at 1.3 million). Other death camps were located at Sobibor, Chelmno, Belzec (Belzek), Majdanek and Treblinka.
* Auschwitz was liberated by the Red Army on 27 January 1945, sixty years ago, after most of the prisoners were forced into a Death March westwards. The Red Army found in Auschwitz about 7,600 survivors, but not all could be saved.
* For a long time, the Allies were well aware of the mass murder, but deliberately refused to bomb the camp or the railways leading to it. Ironically, during the Polish uprising, the Allies had no hesitation in flying aid to Warsaw, sometimes flying right over Auschwitz.
* There are troubling parallels between the systematic vilification of Jews before the Holocaust and the current vilification of the Jewish people and Israel. Suffice it to note the annual flood of anti-Israel resolutions at the UN; or the public opinion polls taken in Europe, which single out Israel as a danger to world peace; or the divestment campaigns being waged in the US against Israel; or the attempts to delegitimize Israel’s very existence. The complicity of the Allies in WW II is mirrored by the support the PLO has been receiving from Europe, China and Russia to this very day.
* If remembering Auschwitz should teach us anything, it is that we must all support Israel and the Jewish people against the vilification and the complicity we are witnessing, knowing where it inevitably leads.

News
* New Beagle variant - sev 3 ... prompts 'ThreatCon' to rise to 2 ... also 'W32.Spybot.Worm.' targets MySQL via TCP/3306 and (possibly) uses other vectors as well
* Bush orders end to 'hiring' of columnists ... good!
* More on the train derailment yesterday ... some douche was going to commit suicide, then chickened out ... but left his car on the tracks. He is (and should be!) getting charged with 10(+?) counts of murder. Dumb enough to seriously try to commit suicide, and then even dumber to kill others (while failing to kill himself). Despicable. Inconsiderate. Update : FOX is reporting 11 dead so far, more expected ...
* Iraq: 1 US Marine, and 6 Iraqis, killed in polling location bombing ... condolences for all of them (and for the 30 Marines & 1 Sailor killed yesterday!) ... and major polling center attacks
* AG approved by committee, confirmation expected to follow ... committee was split along party lines ... the word for today is obstructionist :P
* WWII GI's remains (finally) come home
* Big Oil denying Global Warming ... and, OTOH, is GW twice as bad as previously thought? ... methinks the truth is somewhere in the middle, or closer to the lesser side if anything :)
* Ever wonder what (some) firefighters (allegedly) do during their 'downtime'?
* Draw something violent, get arrested? For a felony!? ... and how would this impact violent cartoons - South Park, Drawn Together, good-old fashioned Bugs Bunny? The answer is (more than likely) not at all, but still worth a thought?
* Wash, Wisconsin, East At Louis ... and now Sacramento? ... Democrat voter fraud all over the place
* The September 11th Documentary project
* UN blames US, Jews for problems in the Arab World ... Hmm, UN ... the same UN that literally gave Saddam $Billions? More reason we should stop supporting the scum in NY; let them make their home in France (the unemployed people there would surely be able to support that overhead) ... from a RightNation Post:"I am sick of my tax dollars supporting the very people who would dearly love to see each and every American dead, or in chains."
* 'Dead man' starts breathing on the morgue table
* Work for MS, make mad $$$ on the side
* Detroit -3 schools ... flu issues
* Kids not listening? Give them a stunner. Not the wrestling move, the electric kind!
* Cruise ship disabled by 'massive wave'
* CFG start a new project : Social Security Choice!
* China, bastion of civil rights, rounds up mourners and beats them
* Kennedy, still living in some weird bizzaro world, says troops must leave Iraq ... and as usual, he condemns Bush without actually giving any details on how he would do it. Throw in a touch of intentional misdirection and you have a Senator.
* Massive Ford recall ... cruise control switch problems, can cause fires even while it is not in use

Interesting
* More on Angry Ted and FOX-Hitler ... "Does this make CNN an extension of Putin’s regime? Or do they prefer Saddam?"
* Ever wonder how a Venus Flytrap works? ... like the Female Mantrap, appears to be one thing until you are within striking distance, then it locks you in ... :)
* While old-people-sex is oogy to think about, this spray can make it happen ... pheromones
* SBC + AT&T? ... $15B here, a couple of mergers there, pretty soon you have a HUGE company ...
* MS to require 'Genuine Windows' for OS update downloads
* Earth swimming in Dark Matter?
* Chimeras being made? ... not the one from the MM, but a real human-animal hybrid ... this sounds a)like a bad 50's movie and b)VERY SCARY?
* Is the democratic Party broken? ... check out the (non-existent) fix #4!
* Cool new spacesuits ... "extreme exploration" suits ... I'm waiting for the suit from Sentenced to Prism' :)
* GBrowser just the first step, GOS to come? ... interesting ...
* Using WINE to run Win* malware
* Misc thoughts on high performance computing, from Sun
* Recap of the ISS's EVA
* WD 250GB HDD (7200RPM ATA/100) for $99!?
* eXeem Lite available (for now)
* BT - 'We are going to double your bandwidth free of charge''Take away your Internet access' ... whoops!
* Weyco fires smoking employees ... this is a very slippery slope; fat people next? Then ugly? Then Bald? Then minorities? Oh, I know - they could fire anyone not from / a member of a specific religion! (or a specific church!)
* Stop 'complaining', start a revolution
* Mark Levin on a judge releasing 200 felons? ... in Delaware ...
* No system for tracking illegal aliens who commit felonies ... or cause train derailments?
* Post-factory addition of WLAN to your laptop
* Milky Ways Black Hole could erupt again
* Survive Tsunami, get a fungal infection ... keep sending aid!
* Jeep factory worker kills Supervisor, self
* Apple Commercials - all 779MB of them!
* Fun with CSS
* New moon pics
* New Traffic Exchange - BlogAzoo ... still getting started up, click there to use me as your referrer!
* Pluto's moon was a knock-off
* Why can't we get UWB?
* Like iTunes, but for your PSP?
* Genetic couch potato?
* Mark Levin, on AG-select AG
* Nickie has a thing or two to say to ASCAP

Funny
* New OOTS! ... hors d'oeuvres!
* Flinching causes brain drainage
* Senate debates gravity
* eBay admits strange auctions just corporate marketing technique
* Bush picking up a part-time job
* Jesus takes away man's sin, man asks for it back
* Hitler goes to party as Prince Harry
* A humorous take/addition on/to a real story
* Clinton donates his book to Banda Aceh
* For all us guys : write your name in the snow!
* True: MapPoint : Find the LONGEST route ... MS boots it ... thanks Greg!



... if you see the nag-banner instead of the comic, just click - worth reading!

Quote of the Day
Love is grand; divorce is at least a hundred grand.
thanks SurinderXX! ... go there, other good ones!

I did not have sexual relations with that woman

Quick Thoughts
* Today, 1998 : William Jefferson Clinton (aka Slick Willy, aka Teflon Billy) lied to everyone by saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" ... thus ensuring his Legacy
* Don't forget to support our troops, (cough) if you are allowed to

News
* Marine Helo down, and other violence ... UPDATE: 31 killed in Helo crash, believed to all be US Marines, and 5 other US troops killed elsewhere ... condolences and prayers for/to all of them!!
* China's economy +9.5%!
* Boston terror threat a hoax ... methinks someone is going to jail :)
* Deficit will hit (record) $427B ... "still on track to halve it by 2009"
* Voter fraud in St Louis as well?
* Bush administration paid another columnist (~$21k) for support!? ... that is bad ... and excellent thoughts from Malkin ... and RedState has a thought or two as well
* It is Wictory Wednesday! ... "Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) has been one of the most steadfast members of the Senate Republican leadership. But he’s facing a tough re-election battle ..."
* Condi Confirmed!
* LA Train derails, 10 killed

Interesting
* Must See : Pro-Iraqi-Election video clip / commercial ... thankfully, with subtitles ... found via Nickie Goomba
* al Zarqawi lies ... naturally he lies, he is losing ground and desperate
* The Democrat agenda to suppress the masses
* The Few, the Proud ... a poem from the US Armed Forces to the Protesters
* Chimps have a sense of justice?
* Mark Levin reviews Hillary's statements ... found via MarkLevinFan
* From the US PTO is stupid file : McAfee has received a patent for a software firewall ... does the phrase 'previous art' not matter anymore?
* Restore Windows in 30 seconds? ... Radix Protector, USB or PCI,
* Who is the only living Senator to be a former Clan (KKK) member? ... answer, and some interesting talking points ... (check the Day by Day article a few posts down my page :) )
* More thoughts on the Grocery Bag Tax
* RIP : Common Sense
* The GAO's report (.PDF) on federal programs at 'high risk' due to fraud
* Competing views/approaches to external storage
* Opera feeling lonely at the bottom?
* The 'Ultimate Boot CD' ... updated version ...
* GlobalTerrorAlert's report (.PDF) on Iraq's foreign fighters ... found via Counterterrorism Blog
* XM + Sirius? ... or guess not!

Funny
* Ashcroft found in Kidman's bushes
* Spongebob-fueled gay epidemic seizes America
* US children still traumatized by exposure (aka the "Super Bowl XXXVIII tragedy")
* Pirates not hurt by P2P
* Bad Weatherman ... wow, someone should have mercy-stopped him ...
* Relationship beats Q2 expectations!
* Angels change name (again)
* TMNT Underoos inspire jihad
* al Zarqawi : "Democracy is just plain wacky" and "Taco Bell is Satan"
* Hillary panders : "I am Pro-Chife"
* Protest one person short of success
* U.S., U.K. join together in "Axis Of Good Kind Of Evil"
* Sadly, that is not a valid way of avoiding taxes
* NetFlix, so you never have to leave your house again!
* White Trash Wednesday

Quote of the Day
HiTopChucks18: brb gonna work for a minute
thanks BASH!

Remeber the CIA day

Quick Thoughts
* 12 years ago today a lone gunman, armed with a rifle, killed 2 CIA employees outside its headquarters. 3 others were injured.
* Aww, poor Mikey - no Oscar nominations for Moore's FableF9/11

News
* Infant in need of a heart transplant ... please pray for him! And if you know of a 'donor' within 4-7 hours of NY please connect them! (as a recent father, with heart-related problems a *serious* possibility for our baby, I can barely imagine what they are going through)
* Iraq: Insurgents kill 'high ranking' Iraqi Judicial Ministry official ... and his bodyguard, condolences for them and prayers for their family, friends and country!
* SEC charges Penthouse with poor tastefraud
* 150 killed in 'human stampede' (India)
* Immigrant smuggling plane forced to land (Texas)
* Iraq: Iraqi's torturing Iraqi's? ... that is not the way to win hearts and minds!
* Islam : the religion of peace? ... or just being overrun by militants / fanatics? (atleast from a publicity perspective)
* Britons detained @ Gitmo suing US for £30M
* Hillary continues positioning ('transforming') herself for '08 : comes out pro and against abortion
* 'Illegal wall' blocked Firefighters' escape, 2 die ... whoever built that wall should be held accountable! Condolences to their family & friends (and coworkers).
* Super-Skimpy prom dresses? ... hopefully we will recover our sanity before Riley turns 18 :P
* Annan grilled for Oil-for-Food Fiasco
* Welcome to Auschwitz
* Kennedy picks up Boxer's broken torch in persecuting Rice
* Stocks finally spring upward

Interesting
* Jihad for kids ... "peace will come to the Middle-East ONLY when the Palestinians begin to love their children MORE than they hate Jews" ... seriously, read this post - the whole thing - and understand what the world (not just the US0 is up against!
* The Govenator 'gets it'! ... "the public sector is a 'monster' that needs to be 'starved'" ... "Taking money out of the private sector is a no-no" ... great to see a politician doing the right thing!
* Every PC user should go here and see how securely their machine really is
* Gates drops $750M for infant vaccinations! ... this is why we should 'let' people be successful; charity beats taxation every time!
* The Pentagon IS making a new spy team
* Meet your next keyboard? ... alphabetical instead of being intentionally harder to use / slower ... oh, and it only has 53 keys
* Why we forget?
* 'Good fat' can help your fat?
* Already in line for the next Star Wars? This guy is (and only 20+ weeks to go!).
* When is a friend really an enemy? ... when they are telling their people to attack you ...
* More on Zarqawi
* Some Liberals WANT the US to LOSE?
* France : a nation of depressed pessimists? ... "cradle-to-grave socialist welfare system, a health care system that lets tens of thousands of elderly drop dead when the temperature goes up a few degrees, and a military that surrenders at the drop of a hat" ... so sad. Go drink more wine.
* US economy is rolling along just fine
* Spain caves (or should I say tunnels?) even more to al Qaida?
* Weak US Dollar bad for Canada?
* ACL-Useless going after our troops?
* Boxer still on the wrong track ... from the same person who defended Clinton?? ... how is that for non-partisan politics? ... and from the comments:"Go ahead! Make an *international* laughingstock out of yourself"
* Navy, Air Force recruiters 'swamped' ... let's hope those brave 'kids' are willing to join the Army or Marines ...
* Confirm Them!
* Kerry to face new competitor in Senate/'08 ... admittedly this is a bit of a stretch, but anything to keep Kerry backpedaling!
* Ancient inbreeding lead us to be susceptible to genetic diseases
* Your very own stormtrooper armor!
* Having younger siblings cuts your risk of developing MS?
* AMD's roadmap leaked on fan-site
* Thunderbird + anti-phishing
* Overclocked Video Card!
* Your TV is getting Google'ized?
* Next Gen consoles to meet/exceed PC-quality graphics ... movie quality?
* Your libido, measured?
* Ted Turner compares FOXNEWS to Hitler ... hahahha, when you can't compete you insult! ... "Ted is understandably bitter having lost his ratings, his network and now his mind"

Funny
* CounterStrike : the movie ... where Cholup knifes Rusty, and Rusty knifes the English Language ...
* RVB#48 is out
* Bush to world : "Who's your daddy?"
* Man's death turns ordinary blizzard into Killer Blizzard
* Reason not to take public transportation
* Light-Traffic makes commuter feel Alive
* Some portions of Bush's inaugural speech that didn't quite make it to the final draft
* Kobe to miss five games due to sprained WHAT?
* Who REALLY benefits from the Tsunami Aid?

Quote of the Day
@buo: A byte walks into a bar and orders a pint. Bartender asks him "What's wrong?" Byte says "Parity error." Bartender nods and says "Yeah, I thought you looked a bit off."
thanks BASH!

5MPH?

Important!
* University of Oregon BANS Support Of The Troops ... read the article, react accordingly ... and Malkin adds a thought or two, and a pic worth seeing ... and everyone should say "Thanks!" to our troops!

Quick Thoughts
* To the Acura that was driving 5MPH today - learn to drive, or stay home! Yes, the residential roads were not perfectly clear BUT IF YOU CAN'T GET UP TO A SPEED THAT EXISTS ON MY SPEEDOMETER YOU DON'T BELONG ON THE ROAD! </rant>
* A quick Thank You to al-Zarqawi for telling the world that al-Qaida doesn't just hate the US - they hate freedom, democracy, and everyone who supports them (and "participants in the upcoming election are enemies of Islam"). He's like a recruiting officer for the militaries of the right-thinking nations of the world!
* Congrats to the Patriots and the Eagles ... heading to the 'Bowl! (My Redskins, sadly, will only be going if they buy a ticket :( )
* Anyone have any experience, good or bad, with the VPEP 529 program? I am getting ready to sign up for Riley and would appreciate any input ... ?
* While I am blegging for info : anyone recommend a good brand/model of tires for, say, a Jeep Wrangler? Looking for something ~33" ... keeping in mind that I (obviously) want something reasonably capable off-road, but also that I commute ~60 miles a day so they have to do well on asphalt as well! (I currently have the stock rims, so can't go toooo wide either!)
* A quick shout out to our DC-Metro weatherpeople; thanks for getting everything 100% wrong, thank you for building up the hype/excitement/fear for no reason whatsoever, and thank you for also getting it wrong by MISSING THE (admittedly light) SNOW WE ARE GETTING NOW. You guys are great. Seriously, you deserver a HUGE (negative) RAISE!

News
* Iraq: Car Bomb near Allawi HQ, 2 killed ... condolences to their families! ... and al-Zarqawi claims responsibility ... and al-Zarqawi's car-bomb-mastermind captured?
* Sex Offender-Kidnapper caught ... and the 11yr old was found safe
* Germany nabs a terror suspect or two
* Lunar colony to run on moon dust and robots ... All I want is a frigging secret base on the moon with a laser ... I shall call it a "Death Star"
* HP reorg in the works?
* Viagra good for your enlarged ... heart? ... and then you get some good, vigorous, aerobic exercise, right?
* 'Global Warming Point of No Return' - 10 years or less from now
* Oil hits 8wk high "due to increased demand" ... damn ... and it is going higher ... or maybe the price is rising because OPEN is cutting production?
* Yushchenko + Putin, talks shaky?
* Indonesia +1 Earthquake (6.2)
* Israel is building its wall
* A few thoughts on the upcoming Iraqi elections ... "It doesn't matter to the liberal-socialists if Iraq elections are, in essence, successful; they will never admit it. The liberal-socialists will find some fault with the election to claim them illegitimate. Because if they don't, to admit elections were successful would be to give a victory to George Bush, and that is something they cannot allow. They would much rather have the U.S., the Iraqis, free elections, democracy, and freedom fail than to give credit to George Bush, and for that, they are pathetic."
* Court OKs Dog Sniff During Traffic Stop ... excellent! Found via CHT!
* Terri's Law Tossed ... "right to die" in question ... FWIW I agree with the "right to die"; however I don't believe her husband should be allowed to proceed. There are lots of issues still being questioned around her husband, his motivation, and his possible involvement. (Comments updated 02/14/05-TJ)
* Speaking of right to die - this convicted serial killer is trying to skip his last appeal, and people are stopping him!?
* Deficits, Social inSecurity
* Dem activists charged in the tire slashing case! ... related to current and former political representatives!
* Iraq'ish: Bus asking for (another) $80B
* Remember Elian Gonzalez? 'Traumatized' people suing US for $13M
*FERMI-II Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan shut-down due to "non-radioactive coolant leak"

Interesting
* In case you didn't know, Soros is bad
* Dodge - we only want to appeal to guys ... no chickie cars
* The joys of the EPO button ... and a good read for anyone who has a data center :)
* Who said "The evil that destroyed six million Jews and others in those camps is one that still threatens all of us today."
* 3 Scientists infected with 'Rabbit Fever'
* Google entering the VOIP game? .. in the UK
* Not-so-Neo-Conservative?
* Pentagon runs clandestine intelligence-gathering infrastructure ... is it just me, or does the title of the article sound like it is trying to scare you? Does it really surprise anyone that spying/surveillance is keep a little secret? How effective would it be if it were 'in the open'? And naturally, the Pentagon denies it ... then again, maybe this secret unit is the group that found Saddam?... maybe they can find OBL too?
* ISS crew have their first EVA Wednesday
* Some still can't understand how/that Kerry lost ... "If it were an honest election, I would say that Bush would have lost" - (cough) 3.5MILLION AMERICANS disagree!
* Hillary still attempting to continue her transformation ... just don't fall for it!
* Free HTML stuffage
* Speculation : Apple to jump in bed with Sony after buying TiVo?
* NASA to fight for Hubble after all?
* Learning machine?
* IBM might not be allowed to sell its PC unit to Lenovo(China)
* Retraction: No Yahoo baby
* "US Stem Cell research in danger" ... embryonic, that is. The more proven, and currently useful/productive, (adult) stem cell research/usefulness still all good
* Human to Human avian flu transmission
* MS will have to defend against 12(+?) patent infringement cases
* Fear in politics?
* Gummy Bear Breast Implants?
* Another Moonbat Martyr?
* From the West Coasters are weird file : $.17 per plastic bag
* Has Iraq Weakened Us?
* Interesting study of 'romantic relationships' in high school, mapped out
* Attempted mass-suicide in Gitmo (in 2003) ... (cough) and how would Allah reward that?
* MS, flying car ... Blue Screen of (plummeting to my) Death?
* More on the Cool-Party-Mom ... drugs, alcohol, sex ... certainly a different way to make up for you lost childhood, and a great way to ruin your soon-to-be-lost lost adulthood!
* More GBrowser rumors sure to follow - Google hires one of Firefox's developers ... speaking of which, USE FIREFOX!
* More on WiFi
* RSS to Java script!
* Virtual Keyboard!

Funny
* New OOTS! ... horses get spot checks, and Oprah is on at 4
* Saddam ‘hurt’ that Prince Harry did not go as him
* following inaugural events, Kucinich officially drops from 2004 election
* President’s inaugural speech crashes Google
* Pitt, Aniston split officially ends U.S. tsunami concern
* A lawsuit we can all 'support'
* Alien Insectoid Overlord ... Cheney has exoskeleton, needs no coat
* Sri Lanka pledges $35M in aid to US victims of Aniston-Pitt catastrophe
* Baby: Kid's Grocery Shopping Yields 80% Sugar
* Why to switch to Linux ... cyber-goats, fembots, lasers
* True: Search terms that get your to Para's blog
* Bunnies are suicidal? ... weird ...

Quote of the Day
subgenius : what's wrong with Canada?
crash3m_ : its like having a loft above a killer party
thanks BASH!

Inconsolable

Quick Thoughts
* When our weatherpeople say 6-9" of snow, what they REALLY mean is 2-3" ... at 01:00 Sunday am the highways were perfectly clear, and even secondary/tertiary streets IN DC were easily passable by any car (let alone my sweet Jeep). And Boston is supposedly getting 3' (update: heard some parts of Mass. got 40")!

News
* Johnny Carson has passed away
* OBL now worth $50M cash-money
* al-Zarqawi - "Democracy is a lie" ... let's put $50M on his head as well ... and a few thoughts from within Iraq
* NEVER FORGET: 43 MILLION LOST LIVES ... 32nd anniversary of Roe v Wade ... also Pro-Choice? Read this. ... thanks to MVRWC!
* Wash State - Gubernatorial election results challenged, by Republicans ... mean old Republicans, trying to stop the Dems from (literally) stealing an election ... and did you know that 129 felons illegally voted ...(PS - margin of stolen victory was 129 ... interesting 'coincidence', eh?)

Interesting
* Great tit-for-tat n Social inSecurity reform ... and Sowell has some comments as well
* Iraq: Prayer request
* Death Penalty - the system works!
* Hydrogen - not so clean for fuel use?
* Play 'any' NES game via your browser! ... no sound ...
* Politics - Lies & Money?
* A thought on racial profiling
* Find 'any' sound you are looking for
* "When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny" ... and some other great quotes!
* Hypocrisy in the Govt? ...and the hypocritic oath
* Useful Idiots?

Funny
* True: Evil Women deletes ex-boyfriend's online game info ... now, THAT IS JUST WRONG!
* True: Big Guns are cool!

Quote of the Day
George Bush wins again
Hippies pout like large babies
Like we really care
thanks O4Tom!

The Wide Awakes

TWA Links!
In much the same vein as my previous "LINKS" post I am creating another one ... this one is specifically for The Wide Awakes:

AmberGnat
And Rightly So!
Cao's Blog
Cat House Chat
Crystal Clear
Dead Republican Presidents
The Donegal Express
I Hate Hollywood
Iowa Geek
It Is What It Is
Knitters for Bush
Long Time Gone
Mark Levin Fan
My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Nashif Report
NIF
Ogres Politics and Views
Ravings of a Mad Tech
Right Wing Nut House
Right Magazine
Rottweiler Puppy
Soy Como Soy
Sticks and Stones
Uncivil Rights
Uncle Jacks

AND you could use this BlogRoll code (replace ()'s with <>'s) :
(script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"
src="http://rpc.blogrolling.com/display.php?r=5f900d2e303eeca0bb42b19904c2a074")(/script)

And here are our RSS feeds (partial list so far) :
http://thewideawakes.org/feed/rss2
http://bamapachyderm.com/feed/rss2
http://feeds.feedburner.com/RavingsOfAMadTech
http://iowageek.blogspot.com/atom.xml
http://uncivilrights.blogspot.com/atom.xml
http://trejrc0.blogspot.com/atom.xml

The End of the World!

Quick Thoughts
* ... end of the world, 6" of snow - same-same ... 07:15 and no snow in VA yet (UPDATE@08:00 - snow gently falling now ... UPDATE@08:15 - snow stopped :( ). And NYC, stealing my thunder, is expecting 18" of snow, Blizzard! Rust Belt to get ~15" ... in other news, expect Comair to go offline any minute now ... (that last statement is not based on any facts ... yet)
* Gastric bypass surgery helped a man lose 500lbs, and he still ways 600lbs. HOW DO YOU LET YOURSELF GET TO WEIGH OVER 1000lbs??? Don't get me wrong, I am not in great shape and could stand to lose a fair amount of weight, but to be 800lbs overweight?? (he is trying to get down to 200lbs, about where I should be FWIW).

News
* Iraq: 8 Chinese hostages freed ... after China caves to the terrorists and issues a (worthless?) advisory banning Chinese nationals from entering Iraq
* al-Aqsa ready for ceasefire with Israel?
* Iraq: Chalabi arrested for bank fraud
* US Air reaches deal with union, saves $200M+
* Backward thinking in the UN? No?!
* RePost: Georgia manhunt still on for kidnapper ... and seriously, look at the guys picture - that screams molester

Interesting
* Office morale boosters
* WiFi : Good for you, good for hackers ... does that make it a win-win? :) ... the good for pedophiles part is bad ...
* PE Builder - make a CD Bootable Windows! ... think Knoppix, but with Windows :) ... can then read NTFS, and you can tweak it with 'plugins'!
* TechTV, etc. video clips - FREE!
* Verizon, email, lawsuit
* Wow, do you realize how easy it is to get someone else's credit report? ... that is scary/bad, and no wonder ID theft is all over the place :(

Funny
* True: NY Rep 'assaults' traffic cop
* Green, grassy Titan - not for smokers

Quote of the Day
knobboy: I hate physics
knobboy: Having to learn all this stuff about wave and frequency is killing me
knobboy: Some might even say it MHz
thanks Bash! ... edited for content :)