Thursday, December 30, 2004

Security

A chilling exchange on an internet message board for rat terrier owners shows how a Kansas woman who allegedly ripped the baby out of the abdomen of a pregnant dog breeder set up the meeting. read more


That story appeared a few days ago, thinking about blogging and identity and how many identifying details we are prepared to reveal reminded me of it.

I mean, I guess out of instinctual self-preservation I have several online layers. On this site I post what I am thinking and about things that are happening around me, I probably don't impart that much personal detail about myself but I feel comfortable here. After that are several other layers which I can't really define but which either "shed" or accumulate depending on circumstances.

I guess on a personal details scale of 1 to 10, I am probably somewhere about 6. At 10 there are incredibly trusting people like Bobbie Jo Stinnett, who shared her pregnancy on a chat board and chose to meet a complete stranger. And at 0 there are harmful people. Like Lisa Montgomery. Who completely falsified her identity and killed another woman to obtain an unborn child and complete a false pregnancy.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Toll climbs to 68,000

Tsunami Death Toll over 60,000 ABC


Toll hits 68,000 reuters 1 hr ago.


An increase as bodies washed back to shore over the last few days are recovered. Twenty-four hours ago reports were nearer 26,000.

I guess the toll will fall off over the next few days and then begin to increase again, as more missing people are reported and sickness sets in from food and clean water shortages.

Reuters;

The region has seen huge killer waves before, including one when Krakatoa erupted off southern Sumatra in 1883, but Indian Ocean countries have no tsunami warning system.


Well, we probably need one - a tsunami warning system.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Toll reaches 26,000

25 mins ago...

Volunteers from across the world today joined the horrifying task of dragging scores of bodies from devastated beaches and coastal towns in Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka as the death toll in the tsunami disaster reached 26,000 - news.scotsman.com


The Daily News estimates the death toll could reach 45,000.

The earth's axis has been knocked slightly more off tilt too. It's pretty amazing really, all our maps are inaccurate now - by maybe up to 20 metres.

An earthquake that unleashed deadly tidal waves on Asia was so powerful it made the Earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the regional map, US geophysicists said today.

The 9.0-magnitude temblor that struck 250 km south-east of Sumatra island on Sunday may have moved small islands as much as 20 metres, according to one expert. - The Age.


The weather has been a bit stormy lately. Cooler and very windy in Sydney.

I keep thinking of the Lord Of the Rings episode where the Ents flood Isengard.

Interview

I am before council. My credibility is at stake. How might I assure council of my authenticity ?

I'm definitely not Jim Treacher, you could even ask Jim. He'd probably say "yes that's not me" or he might say "who, never heard of them". But then how'd you know Jim wasn't pulling your leg. Hmm. It's tough. Reminds me of the time I was mistaken for a figment of someone else's imagination. Or the time when Natasha's signature kept leading to Kevin McGeehee's site (I still can't figure out where her own blog is).

You could even check with Vanessa, she'd probably say "yes that's not me" too. Although, you never can tell with Vanessa.

Perhaps if I fess up. It wasn't really this site which I was hoping to transfer to mu - it was this one. I thought I'd test mu out on this blog first though. Blogger has been absolutely fantastic, but managing comments on it is a hassle.

Someone recommended mu.nu to me, for comment managability (urged me to contact you actually).

Monday, December 27, 2004

Merry Christmas

Anyway, so after I watched USA news on telly on Christmas day, I watched AUS news on telly. Bit hard to spot the difference. The Jim Lehrer show did a story about Floridan communities rebuilding themselves post-hurricane and the ABC did a story about Darwin communities rebuilding themselves post-cyclone. The Jim Lehrer show did Rumsfeld talking to American troops in Iraq (long speech excerpts), ABC did Rumsfeld talking to American troops in Iraq (different footage minus long speech excerpts).

Then there was this other story about a bunch of people protesting outside department stores that wish customers "Happy Holidays".

Merry two days after Christmas.

News hour

I watched tv on Christmas day - for the first time in probably since about Christmas day last year. I was the only one in the room who wanted to watch news on Christmas day. I felt like my grandfather. I just wanted to see what kind of brain-washing was on with and how different it might be from other thought-detergents. I watched fox. Very very smooth highly researched cultural propaganda. There didn't appear to be many on-site reporters.

Most of the international "stories" seemed almost devoid of journalism. There was one of Rumsfeld doing an Iraq Christmas Troop Tour, stop-offs in Mosul and Tikrit. Basically just a whole lot of speech clips from various locations run together. The Tikrit footage seemed especially strange. I can't quite put my finger on it, kind of like glimpsing an exposed seam in an almost flawlessly edited production. I think there was a spotlight on Rumsfelds face because the shadow from a flag behind him fell at odds to the highlight on his cheek and forehead. Must've been hot out there in the Tikrit sun without shade, and with spotlights. Unless he was filmed in a studio and the background spliced in later. He kept pausing - not sure if it was to let his words sink in or remember what his next line was.

After that Jim Lehrer hosted a little studio chat about the Ukraine situation with two guests. The whole thing totally rigged. Once upon a time studio chats with two guests implied two different opinions, a little debate and a bit of elbow from the host. Not here. Bruce Jackson was so totally pre-packaged pro-west/Yushchenko it was almost funny (orange tie and rote approach) while the guy who was supposed to be the legitimate eastern rep spoke in an eastern european accent with an oddly whitehouse twang. Anyway, Bruce Jackson sat there reciting rehearsed lines and the eastern rep guy sat there looking a bit alarmed and not providing much of an alternative viewpoint apart from one cryptic sentence at the beginning referring to "100 percent European production" re orange events. Jim Lehrer just read his prompts and looked tired.

Friday, December 24, 2004

Un-grinched

It happened. I un-grinched. Some time between late morning and early afternoon a spirit of merry forgiveness and foible peace uplifted my soul. I'm not sure where it came from, or how, but there I was walking home early from work and all of a sudden Christmas Tidings were upon me.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Grinch

I just can't get into Christmas this year. And I'm sure it's not just me. Everyone seems kind of down about it. It's not like there's any less shop trimmings (there's plenty) or any less carol singing. It's just that everyone just seems kind of quiet. It's kind of hard to celebrate when there's a bunch of wars on. It just doesn't seem right.

I'm left feeling like someone's somehow stole something from me.

Another poor battered ...

Jack asks ~

My question is this: Repeatedly I have seen Saddam's torture chambers used as a way to give a "just cause" to this war. However, as we decry Saddam's torture chambers, we construct and use our own. Does this not undermine our "just cause"?

but then, oh no! Poor Jack goes into battered lefty mode, uttering this (all too familiar) heartfelt plea ~

Please do not dismiss this as a "liberal" or "left-wing" position or question. I am reading events as they will be read from the perspective of history.

Like your site Jack. But why so afraid to unashamedly rejoice in the, erm, liberality of your thoughts?

I mean, heck, I did one of those online quiz thingies thinking I'd wind up centrist or something, but nope slap bang there on the liberal left with Gandhi. And you know what? That felt good! Dude, it is time we reclaimed the left!

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Raed's latest post with comment thread open.

As if occupying the country isn't enough. What exactly do they all expect to find on that thread. More oil?

A couple of well-known Iraqi bloggers recently visited with President Bush who told them he knows all about blogs and has people on staff whose job is to read them daily.

Phrase 2

Re-thinking the war

The idea of a "war on terror" has been the guiding force behind the Iraq war and much of President Bush's foreign policy. Terrorism experts are beginning to reconsider the phrase...

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Parallel

Putin holds regional governates hostage.

Mr Putin signed into law a bill that scraps elections for regional governors and allows the president to nominate candidates instead.

Mr Putin proposed the bill after the Beslan hostage tragedy.


The plans have been criticised by the West as a threat to Russian democracy... officials say the changes are needed to strengthen national unity.


A patriot act.

smh

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Was he poisoned or not

This is getting almost confusing now. Yesterday one of my local papers had pictures of Yushchenko splashed all over the world section front page, headlining "Poisoned Politics" and "Dioxin in food 'a bid to kill me'".

Another one of my local papers had a tiny little article tucked away in the corner from Vienna reading "so far 'no evidence' of Yushchenko poison".

This morning news-google searching 'yushchenko poison' produces 1,600 results. The second result an old record from 7 December titled:

Doctors confirm Yushchenko poison claim.


On the same morning searching '"no evidence" yushchenko poison' produces 112 results, with more recent dates then just searching "yushchenko poison" turns out. The third search item, dated 8 December, reads:

No conclusive evidence Yushchenko poisoned, hospital says.


What does this all mean? Perhaps running the "poisoned" header sells more papers. I don't know. A lot of news outlets are going for broke with the dioxin theory, while at the same time reports are starting to creep through that doctors from the Viennese clinic treating Yushchenko have stated there is "no evidence of poison", that they have "only undertaken a descriptive diagnosis" and that the symptoms "do not correspond to the clinical image of an illness".

Monday, December 13, 2004

Another lame bloggers competition - prizes

The competition categories are;

  • Post-modern - eloquence without content
  • Terrible Secrets - fairly open field, so long as it's terrible, true and secret.
  • The Dullest Diary Entry In The World - will be awarded to lamest post ever.
  • Overall winner.


The prizes;

For winners of each competition category - the satisfaction of having created something special.

For overall winner - the satisfaction of having created something really really good.

Another lame bloggers competition

Somebody suggested I run a competition, to alleviate the air of thumb-twiddling dullness which has settled upon the hour. And somebody suggested the prize be me - one hours worth of witty engaging MSN chat. But I felt that would cheapen me. So I thought I needed to come up with a different prize. Which was quite difficult really. I suddenly realized how unmaterialistic I have become, and how (relatively) unmaterialistic most bloggers are. I mean, here we all are just imagining up a whole bunch of stuff. How more un-real can you get then that? So it needed to be a prize that appeals to bloggers. With added value. So the prize is a package deal. More about the prize later. Meanwhile, the competition;

Competition Categories;

  • Post-modern - eloquence without content
  • Terrible Secrets - fairly open field, so long as it's terrible, true and secret.
  • The Dullest Diary Entry In The World - will be awarded to lamest post ever.
  • Overall winner.

Email your submissions to; emigreimagine at yahoo dot com dot au. Winner will win by number of links to the entry and by votes on a poll.

Sunday, December 12, 2004

I inspired another blogger. I had no idea my boredom was so motivational. Life In The Slow Lane (Paul, Vic Australia, as per debut here).

It's very strange

Dioxin....

the head doctor of the Rudolfinerhaus clinic where Mr Yushchenko is undergoing treatment, said there was no doubt the disease had been caused by dioxins, mostly likely administered in something like soup - BBC.


...in Russia, a health ministry official questioned their conclusions.

"Dioxin is not a poison with an immediate effect," Yuri Ostapenko said in an interview with Moscow Echo radio.

"Toxicity builds up over years, dozens of years, and it is impossible to receive a dose one day that would poison you the next." - BBC.


...One week Yushchenko suffers a viral infection...

...Siegel said he doubts that Yushchenko was poisoned with ricin, as some have suggested, because his symptoms "weren't super-acute enough - there were not enough pulmonary and gastrointestinal manifestations."

His theory: Yushchenko has been suffering from an unknown virus.

"A viral illness can be something you never definitively find," Siegel said... - SMH.


...The next he has been poisoned...

The various and unusual symptoms could be caused by a subtle secret chemical, Connecticut toxicologists said.

But from what little medical evidence is available, the doctors said there is no clear indication of poisoning.

"It’s very strange," said Dr. Carl Baum, director of toxicology at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. - MTP.


Some doctors who tested Yushchenko are now supposed to be retracting their dioxin poisoning diagnosis. According to the news. It is very strange. It seems, he was supposed to be disfigured instead of assassinated. Why would someone go to all that trouble. Is an election result really that crucial?

Move over vunder-vomen...



Chernobyl Grrl

Theme tune; Soviet Snow (lyrics here).
Appears; in cloud of radioactive dust.
Properties; steel capped boots, heart a thermonuclear core wouldn't melt, multi-purpose staff.
Secret weapons; geiger reading like Hiroshima 1945, acid tongue.
Companion; mutant gamma-pup.
Mission; fish labourers out of power-plants during reactor meltdowns, neutralize toxic contaminants.

Revolutionary Superhero series - Build your own at UGO.

Posted by Hello

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Reply

Received this email from "s5d6r1".

In these hard days in Iraq there is a need for clearing some confusion, that is important to stop the bleeding of the Iraqi and American blood, by clearing these issues the pretext that the terrorist are using to recruit young Muslims is weakened and that will remove the misunderstanding that lead a lot of Iraqi people to have a hostile look at the present of the coalition forces in their land too.

To do this a clear statement is needed from the US president by talking in clear words to the Iraqi people and the people of the world in a televised speech setting clear these important issues:

  • US acted to protect itself from what it believed was a grave danger presented by the regime of Saddam Hussein. By removing this regime from power it created a power vacuum that it felt its obligation to fix things before leaving the country.
  • The presence of the coalition forces in Iraq is TEMPORARY and as soon as a democratic elected government with the ability to protect Iraq and enforce the law is created they will LEAVE.
  • There are NO PLANS to put any prominent military bases in Iraq.
  • There are NO PLANS to control Iraqi resources by American or multinational companies through long term contracts.
  • There are NO PLANS to influence by any means the way Iraqis want to rule themselves, or the upcoming elections.

Many of these issues was declared before but there is a need to say it again. For many Iraqis they need this assurance before they can get over their suspicions toward the coalition and if the president's words are clear enough he will make an edge against the terrorists and win a lot of Iraqi hearts that some of them are in a gray area and they will lean to the right side.

So I ask for your help to get this letter to the American administration and the president, by e-mailing it to the president, the white house, your congressman, the media, weblogs, forums, lobby groups and as many people as possible.

You could post this letter on your blog, the letter already posted in three Iraqi blogs:

By doing this we will be able to save lives and help Iraq standing on its legs again.

E-mails

President George W. Bush: president@whitehouse.gov
Vice President Richard Cheney: vice.president@whitehouse.gov



Anyway, my reply;

Dear s5d6r1

Well, personally, I feel a bit more then the US president talking is going to have to happen to convince anyone about these things. As you say, many of these issues have been declared before. I'm not sure repetition in this case is going to be especially convincing without actual proof. And proof, in my experience, only comes with time.

Anyway, s5d6r1, you are dead right about the power vacuum. George W Bush and Richard Cheney's email addresses were a nice touch too. Do you think anyone will actually buy it?

e

Friday, December 10, 2004

National Exclusive

Dear >insert name<

Your nation's pain is unique. No one else could ever possibly understand the pain and misery that >your nation< (insert name of nation) has suffered. No one on earth could understand the pain and misery that is the poor >insert nationality<'s lot. Nowhere in history has any nation sufferered as yours. No other people have been as oppressed or as downtrodden as the >insert nationality<. No one could possibly have suffered as an >insert nationality<. >Insert nation<'s pain, is unequaled by any other pain. Your pain, >insert nation<'s pain, is as exceptional as it is tormentuous. Nobody could even begin to understand the >insert nationality<'s pain and suffering, because pain and suffering are nationally exclusive, exclusive to your nation. Nobody else could possibly understand, ever. Because your nation's pain is unique.

With sympathy

e

I vote for a different blog every 24 hours, I guess that's what makes me a swinging voter?

Weblog 2004 awards.

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Every cloud has a Silver-steining

A New York jury has agreed with World Trade Centre leaseholder Larry Silverstein that the attack on the twin towers by a pair of hijacked planes was two insurable events, requiring nine companies to pay out as much as double their policy limits.


Mr Silverstein said before the trial that with $US3.55 billion he could afford to build the first skyscraper, the $US1.5 billion 1,776-foot Freedom Tower, and a second; then he would borrow against those buildings to pay for the last three.In addition to funding the rebuilding, Mr Silverstein also needs the money to keep paying his $US109 million a year rent to the Port Authority. - smh.

Who benefits most. The terrorists, or New York property developers?

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

I had a dream

It's one of those weeks. There's not really a lot to blog. A sort of "yes we've seen it all before" pall seems to have settled upon the blogolopolis. I mean, I have been exchanging past life stories in chat with neo-cons. And the neo-con started it. So I now am reduced to blogging either quizzes or dreams.

There is a lot happening. It's just that it's all the same old thing and I'm rather tired of it this week.

Things I am tired of this week:

  • Rigged uprisings in the Ukraine.
  • The Virgin Mary, this time appearing on a 10 year old cheese toasted sandwich.

Anyway. I had a dream (yes really). I dreamed I was listening to a blues singer. And these were the words she sung:

You know I've traveled
all over the world honey
and I've seen a lotta different women live
a lotta different ways

10 thousand different ways of pain


And then she goes on to sing about the 10 thousand different ways of pain she has seen women live, it's sort of about freedom. We are free to live 10 thousand different types of misery. And it's kind of a lament, that we live these 10 thousand ways of mundane pain instead of 10 thousand different ways of joy. It's sort of a song of compassion about the inversion of liberty.

And then, she belts out;

And it pains me
Oh yes it pains me
to see women live
these 10 thousand ways


And that's the last line of the song, and the one that sticks in my head as I shower.

No idea where the men were in the dream. There weren't any. But in waking I include them too. It pains me, oh yes it pains me, to see you live, these 10 thousand ways.

(First verse is sort of spoken, last word of each line descending. Last verse sung ascending "pains me" - emphasis on pains, live and ways and on the Oh).

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Voter Vault

The Voter Vault.

The science of data mining, a specialty in the field of applied mathematics. It extracts useful knowledge from analysis of patterns hidden in the voluminous data generated by networked computers, credit reports and consumer record keeping.



Said McAuliffe, "We can go right down to the county and precinct level and pull up any person who now lives in any of those precincts ... with high-quality lists for targeting, testing, fund raising and organizing for a master mobilization effort in 2004."


During campaigns, the entire database is employed "to decide whether ... a voter is a supporter or leaning toward our candidates," McNeilly said. "It tells us if they need more persuasion in the form of phone calls or issue-related mail, and on Election Day, if they are a supporter, we make sure they are motivated to go out and vote."


Remembering unsolicited emails "with all the right answers" some US bloggers received before their elections.

"It's not about the number of names but how much data you can put behind each name that makes the difference," said Eddie Mahe, a veteran Republican campaign consultant.


Shit. The perfect target for the Voter Vault. The blogger, who else publishes such a rich and varied source of data all by themselves, about themselves, for absolutely free, on everything, from what they had for breakfast to how often they bonk. No wonder so many bloggers sound so brainwashed.

Yushchenko



The same man. In the same year.

The poll was called in favour of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, but opposition supporters have been protesting since Monday after allegations of election abuses.

The fire has been stoked even more by rumours Mr Yushchenko was poisoned. In September, he was admitted to a private hospital in Austria, complaining of stomach pains. His face is now covered in lesions and has lost all colour - a marked difference from the good-looking politician who was campaigning earlier in the year. - BBC.


Posted by Hello

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Site
Meter