My friend and business associate Thomas recently posted on his blog that due to South Dakota attempting to ban ALL abortion (including in cases of rape and incest), he and his company will no longer do ANY business in that state.
Although I generally take my time and like to analyse a situation before setting for my opinion, I am in complete agreement with him on this. I will not conduct business in the state of South Dakota.
Now this issue is going to be challenged. And unless the supreme Court overthrows Roe vs Wade (in which case we are ALL truly fucked) it WILL be overturned. And off the top of my head, I don't believe I have any shows in South Dakota. I don't believe I have ever been to South Dakota. But to be honest its not sounding like a place I would have a very good time.
A letter to the Governor will be sent shortly. In it I will lay out my logical and well thought out argument about why I believe he and his state are fundy asshats. I'm sure he will be crushed. I know my contributions to the general coffers of that state are, at this moment, precisely nil, it's the bitter thought that counts. This state has no desire to deal with reality and although I have a tendancy to dress up like a pirate and engage in rampant escapism, I believe that governments have a duty to live in the real, 21st century world.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Obey!
Go take a read. By the time you are done you should be shaking with fear, because this is how bad things start.
Jedi Mind trick.
There has been a whacking amount of buzz over the proposed sales of six (Actually 21 now)port management contracts to the United Arab Emirates. Many government officials, both Republican and Democrat have expressed strong reservations about the deal. These are weighty matter of State and Business on a mega scale. So I thought I would throw in my two cents.
By now we know that these ports are not being sold in any real sense, the State owned UAE company will be taking over management of the ports. (It runs 19 other ports in 14 countries). The ports will be run locally, security will be handled by DHS through the Coast Guard et al.
On the surface, it seems like an okay deal once one gets past the kneejerk reaction to the rather scary sounding headline "Arabs buy US ports". The Bush administration says that Dubai has spent millions upgrading security to their ports. They assist in the war on terrorism. They are a trusted ally. And this is, after all, just a business deal and has been carefully reviewed by "top people".
So why all the hubub bub?
Where to start? Well we know that the UAE sent two of its citizens to the Sept 11th plane racing team in New York. The money that paid for it, went through the UAE. The UAE is one of only three countries that recognized the Taliban. Member of the royal family have met with Osama Bin Laden. The port at Dubai was a transit point of nuclear weapons components that went to Libya. Does any of this make you nervous?
Of course, this was in the UAE's past. Ancient history, it was like, 5 or 6 years ago. They've turned over a new leaf. Sarcasm aside, countries, like people, change.
But there are other concerns here. The Dubai World Ports company is State Owned. That means it is an extension of the government of the UAE. The British P&O company is a private company in a country that has been our ally for, well ever since we settled that landlord/tenant dispute a few hundred years ago.
Yes, this is a business deal, but business, government, corruption and terrorism all intersect in this part of the world. There is logic, and then there is reality. Smuggling is a huge business at any port. And bribery is part of the business environment in the Middle East (and indeed much of the rest of the world). A port manager who makes a so-so wage takes bribes all the time. He's paid to unload one companies truck first, he'd paid to overlook shipments of cigarettes and hard to find consumer products going to places like Iran and Iraq. He's paid to let counterfeit Chinese goods pass unchecked. Port security is only as strong as it's weakest link and ports have been a weak link, even after Sept 11.
On the domestic side only 5% of offloaded cargo is inspected. The coastguard fleet is ancient and is understaffed. Port security is essentially a joke. And we all know that there is no corruption on our end of the line. Oh hell no.
And who are those top people who so carefully reviewed this deal? Bush? Rummsfeld? Chertoff? Treasury Sec. Snow? None of these guys seems to have known this deal had gone through until last week. This does not inspire my confidence.
And then there's the elephant in the room. Bush has said that this deal should not be sunk because the company involved is Arab. This is a way to show unity between the Arab world and the US. To fight this deal is to slap the face of the Arab business world. He is, in a way correct. It shouldn't make a difference. But it does. And we have George to thank for much of that. We have been living in a near panic state for several years now. The terror alert level is a stress dial that has been repeatedly turned up and down whenever things get too hot for the President. We now fear and/or hate Arabs. So why is he surprised that we seem skittish about this deal? This sale is a victim of the administrations success at scaring the crap out of us over National Security.
This deal would not raise eyebrows if the buying company was German or even French. Why? Because Frenchmen did not pilot the planes that his the World Trade Centers. We are guilty of bigotry I suppose. Which is unfortunate but understandable. France after WWII was a bit wary of Germany. If you were robbed by a black man, no matter HOW liberal or forgiving you are you WILL look at all blacks suspiciously for a while. What we are seeing now is a cringe reflex. It will go away in time. Does this hurt general US/Arab relations? I don't think so. The average Arab isn't affected by this deal. They quite frankly dislike us for other far more legitimate reasons. And me? I'm not going to loose much sleep if the Royal Family looses out on making even more money, they don't seem to be hurting for cash.
I read today that the Port Authority of New York have filed suit. Not for security reasons but because they (like so many people) were not told about the deal til the ink was dry. The state of New Jersey has also sued on National Security grounds. This issue isn't going away.
It's possible that all of this was done above board and indeed there is no cause for alarm, there's nothing to see here...but America is doesn't seem to be falling for this kind of Jedi mind trick any more.
By now we know that these ports are not being sold in any real sense, the State owned UAE company will be taking over management of the ports. (It runs 19 other ports in 14 countries). The ports will be run locally, security will be handled by DHS through the Coast Guard et al.
On the surface, it seems like an okay deal once one gets past the kneejerk reaction to the rather scary sounding headline "Arabs buy US ports". The Bush administration says that Dubai has spent millions upgrading security to their ports. They assist in the war on terrorism. They are a trusted ally. And this is, after all, just a business deal and has been carefully reviewed by "top people".
So why all the hubub bub?
Where to start? Well we know that the UAE sent two of its citizens to the Sept 11th plane racing team in New York. The money that paid for it, went through the UAE. The UAE is one of only three countries that recognized the Taliban. Member of the royal family have met with Osama Bin Laden. The port at Dubai was a transit point of nuclear weapons components that went to Libya. Does any of this make you nervous?
Of course, this was in the UAE's past. Ancient history, it was like, 5 or 6 years ago. They've turned over a new leaf. Sarcasm aside, countries, like people, change.
But there are other concerns here. The Dubai World Ports company is State Owned. That means it is an extension of the government of the UAE. The British P&O company is a private company in a country that has been our ally for, well ever since we settled that landlord/tenant dispute a few hundred years ago.
Yes, this is a business deal, but business, government, corruption and terrorism all intersect in this part of the world. There is logic, and then there is reality. Smuggling is a huge business at any port. And bribery is part of the business environment in the Middle East (and indeed much of the rest of the world). A port manager who makes a so-so wage takes bribes all the time. He's paid to unload one companies truck first, he'd paid to overlook shipments of cigarettes and hard to find consumer products going to places like Iran and Iraq. He's paid to let counterfeit Chinese goods pass unchecked. Port security is only as strong as it's weakest link and ports have been a weak link, even after Sept 11.
On the domestic side only 5% of offloaded cargo is inspected. The coastguard fleet is ancient and is understaffed. Port security is essentially a joke. And we all know that there is no corruption on our end of the line. Oh hell no.
And who are those top people who so carefully reviewed this deal? Bush? Rummsfeld? Chertoff? Treasury Sec. Snow? None of these guys seems to have known this deal had gone through until last week. This does not inspire my confidence.
And then there's the elephant in the room. Bush has said that this deal should not be sunk because the company involved is Arab. This is a way to show unity between the Arab world and the US. To fight this deal is to slap the face of the Arab business world. He is, in a way correct. It shouldn't make a difference. But it does. And we have George to thank for much of that. We have been living in a near panic state for several years now. The terror alert level is a stress dial that has been repeatedly turned up and down whenever things get too hot for the President. We now fear and/or hate Arabs. So why is he surprised that we seem skittish about this deal? This sale is a victim of the administrations success at scaring the crap out of us over National Security.
This deal would not raise eyebrows if the buying company was German or even French. Why? Because Frenchmen did not pilot the planes that his the World Trade Centers. We are guilty of bigotry I suppose. Which is unfortunate but understandable. France after WWII was a bit wary of Germany. If you were robbed by a black man, no matter HOW liberal or forgiving you are you WILL look at all blacks suspiciously for a while. What we are seeing now is a cringe reflex. It will go away in time. Does this hurt general US/Arab relations? I don't think so. The average Arab isn't affected by this deal. They quite frankly dislike us for other far more legitimate reasons. And me? I'm not going to loose much sleep if the Royal Family looses out on making even more money, they don't seem to be hurting for cash.
I read today that the Port Authority of New York have filed suit. Not for security reasons but because they (like so many people) were not told about the deal til the ink was dry. The state of New Jersey has also sued on National Security grounds. This issue isn't going away.
It's possible that all of this was done above board and indeed there is no cause for alarm, there's nothing to see here...but America is doesn't seem to be falling for this kind of Jedi mind trick any more.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Stunning news. Indians are not Jews!
I really am not making this shit up. If you are not familiar with the basic idea behind the Mormons it goes something like this:
In the 1800's a man named Joseph Smith was visited by angels who showed him two golden plates on which was written a new testament about Jesus. These tablets were written in another language but not to worry, the angels gave Joe magic glasses to translate these holy plates, which no one actually saw. Among the wackiness; apparently Jesus(tm) came to America and the native American population is actually a lost tribe of Israel.
Really.
Except of course that Indians are NOT Jews. Genetic testing has conclusively proved it. This has kind of freaked out the Mormons (aka the Church of Latter day saints) because, well, the words of Joseph Smith are (like the words of so many religions) completely true and incapable of ever being wrong. Except when they are.
Look, I strive to be tolerant and accepting of many faiths and beliefs. But really guys, this shit is just made up. Just like Scientology it was made up whole cloth.
At some point I think I will create a religion and make it composed of nothing but whacko nonsense and contradicting statements ( I know, I know. So many are already there). Volumes of it (because the validity of a religion seems to be based upon how many pounds its holy books weigh) And you know what? I will find people willing to believe in it wholeheartedly. They will see the wisdom of my words. They will know the warm glow of faith without reason. If I play my cards right I will be able to made up rules that let me do any damn thing I want. Multiple wives? Sure. All your money? Give it to me. Raping children, I say its okey-dokey. Upon my death there will be a power struggle. The original doctrine will be largely ignored in the rush to grab power. My message will be commoditized and sold in specialty stores. My visions will be reduced to images on tortia shells, my wisdom printed on bumper stickers. There will eventually be sectarian splits in my whacko religion. These will become schisms that will set one group against another. There will be violence and murder. Both in my church and against those who do not believe. All in my name.
I gotta gets me some of that action.
This is what comes of not using your brain.
In the 1800's a man named Joseph Smith was visited by angels who showed him two golden plates on which was written a new testament about Jesus. These tablets were written in another language but not to worry, the angels gave Joe magic glasses to translate these holy plates, which no one actually saw. Among the wackiness; apparently Jesus(tm) came to America and the native American population is actually a lost tribe of Israel.
Really.
Except of course that Indians are NOT Jews. Genetic testing has conclusively proved it. This has kind of freaked out the Mormons (aka the Church of Latter day saints) because, well, the words of Joseph Smith are (like the words of so many religions) completely true and incapable of ever being wrong. Except when they are.
Look, I strive to be tolerant and accepting of many faiths and beliefs. But really guys, this shit is just made up. Just like Scientology it was made up whole cloth.
At some point I think I will create a religion and make it composed of nothing but whacko nonsense and contradicting statements ( I know, I know. So many are already there). Volumes of it (because the validity of a religion seems to be based upon how many pounds its holy books weigh) And you know what? I will find people willing to believe in it wholeheartedly. They will see the wisdom of my words. They will know the warm glow of faith without reason. If I play my cards right I will be able to made up rules that let me do any damn thing I want. Multiple wives? Sure. All your money? Give it to me. Raping children, I say its okey-dokey. Upon my death there will be a power struggle. The original doctrine will be largely ignored in the rush to grab power. My message will be commoditized and sold in specialty stores. My visions will be reduced to images on tortia shells, my wisdom printed on bumper stickers. There will eventually be sectarian splits in my whacko religion. These will become schisms that will set one group against another. There will be violence and murder. Both in my church and against those who do not believe. All in my name.
I gotta gets me some of that action.
This is what comes of not using your brain.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Dopplegangers
Despite being over 2000 miles from home I have seen about six people who are pretty good copies of friends I know back home. Kollin, Grimm, Monkey, Vallerie... It was spooky.
After the dust storm died down the event was much more pleasant, except for the bitter cold nights. We had to borrow a fake fur blanket and a third sleeping bag to stay alive in the frigid Arizona night air. The people out here really are friendly and helpful. Our fellow merchants in the bazaar tent (except for Beverle) were very nice folks. I am comforted by the fact that despite her offering lower prices people continually bought their corsets from us.
I only caught glimpses of the fighting, which looked little different from home. The event IS pet friendly so we met lots of cool dogs. The caliber of drummers is MUCH better than at pennsic. The large tent where court was held was lit with theater lights rather than fluorescent. There was a very swanky SCA 40th birthday party with all kinds of edibles. They also held THE coolest night time youth event. The lightsaber battle. They set up four big black lights and covered the padded weapons with fluorescent tape which looked (if I may date myself) wicked cool.
Elissa gave us a ride back to the airport. The UPS stores were all closed (I am a moron) and she has graciously agreed to drop the stock off tomorrow. I am trusting someone I met on the internet with $7000 worth of stock. Yeah.
With gobs of time on our hands we did the books and the show was a success. We will come back next year (when it will likely flood according to local sources). Our biggest challenge now is cleaning every damn thing that went with us. Joy.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
All you can eat suck fest
Arrived safe and sound in Arizona. What difficulties we experienced were minor. Ellysa, the local SCA member we contacted throught Tribes got us to the site. It is there we learned that we had failed to pack the bits required for our clothing racks. Another nice local was found and a trip to WalMart was arranged. Two cheap racks and some supplies are obtained. Upon returning to site we learn that the ONE person whom I dislike with a passion that burns as hot as a thousand suns is setting up right next to us. Beverle. My nemisis.
Rossana kindly refrained from snapping her neck and instead agreed to ignore her.
Today we were faced with more pressing concerns. The state is in the middle of a drout. It has not rained for 140 days. Dust is everywhere. How could thing get more gooder? Lets add twenty mph winds. Everything and everyone is covered by a layer of fine brown dirt. Several tents were wiped out (ours seems to have survived) At the hight of the storm both clothing racks were wiped out completely.
Rossana kindly refrained from snapping her neck and instead agreed to ignore her.
Today we were faced with more pressing concerns. The state is in the middle of a drout. It has not rained for 140 days. Dust is everywhere. How could thing get more gooder? Lets add twenty mph winds. Everything and everyone is covered by a layer of fine brown dirt. Several tents were wiped out (ours seems to have survived) At the hight of the storm both clothing racks were wiped out completely.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Off we go...
I had the pleasure of enjoying a great dinner and meeting some new people last night. Roger, a friend of Ed Dale's invited me, my sweetie and our minion Lindsey to his very cool home on the East side for an annual Chinese feast. Apparently he enjoys cooking for groups of 10 or so over the course of several weekends. It was a superb meal and I left stuffed with Chinese goodness.
We depart soon for a SCA event in Phoenix called Estrella. Never done it before and a fly-in show presents all kinds of logistical problems. We have shipped out three boxes of stock, we ordered stock from another supplier, we have four suitcases with our displays, tent, sales gear and two carry on bags with minimal garb. Any one of these things not arriving will be a large pile of suck. The cool thing is that I put in a request for a ride to the site from the airport on Tribes and got three offers of help. SCA people really are some of the coolest folks around.
Things got fairly hairy three days ago when the power steering went out on our minivan. In a panic I contacted Grimm, the Jedi master of all trades. He agreed to take alook but suggested I pick up a few things at the auto parts place. When I went to start the cargo van there was a terrible screeching and smoke. I looked under the hood and saw a completely shredded serpentine belt. Awesome.
When Grimm arrived he looked at the engine and poked at it a little.
"Your alternator isn't moving at all"
"Fuck. What's that gonna cost?"
"You might get one for about $130 plus a new belt for $35."
I poked my head into the guts of the engine and noticed that there was a large ice flow that seemed to have developed during the rain/freeze cycles of the past weeks. It resembled a small frozen waterfall. I pointed it out to Grim.
"Holy crap, I think your alternator is physically filled with ice."
"Blow torch?" I suggested.
"Uhm, maybe a hair dryer, you don't want to go waving a blow torch around your engine compartment. Lots of wire and tubes that do stuff."
So with the help of my wife's hairdryer and two trips to the auto parts store to get the right size belt, we were able to get the van started again. Cost? $38 and some numb fingers. The minivan? That didn't go as well. Grimm did what he could, but power steering systems are not an easy fix. Expensive parts and lots of serious underside gutting. We sent the vehicle to a local shop that got the job done in one day. Cost? I don't really want to talk about it. Let's just hope that this show in Arizona is a good one.
We depart soon for a SCA event in Phoenix called Estrella. Never done it before and a fly-in show presents all kinds of logistical problems. We have shipped out three boxes of stock, we ordered stock from another supplier, we have four suitcases with our displays, tent, sales gear and two carry on bags with minimal garb. Any one of these things not arriving will be a large pile of suck. The cool thing is that I put in a request for a ride to the site from the airport on Tribes and got three offers of help. SCA people really are some of the coolest folks around.
Things got fairly hairy three days ago when the power steering went out on our minivan. In a panic I contacted Grimm, the Jedi master of all trades. He agreed to take alook but suggested I pick up a few things at the auto parts place. When I went to start the cargo van there was a terrible screeching and smoke. I looked under the hood and saw a completely shredded serpentine belt. Awesome.
When Grimm arrived he looked at the engine and poked at it a little.
"Your alternator isn't moving at all"
"Fuck. What's that gonna cost?"
"You might get one for about $130 plus a new belt for $35."
I poked my head into the guts of the engine and noticed that there was a large ice flow that seemed to have developed during the rain/freeze cycles of the past weeks. It resembled a small frozen waterfall. I pointed it out to Grim.
"Holy crap, I think your alternator is physically filled with ice."
"Blow torch?" I suggested.
"Uhm, maybe a hair dryer, you don't want to go waving a blow torch around your engine compartment. Lots of wire and tubes that do stuff."
So with the help of my wife's hairdryer and two trips to the auto parts store to get the right size belt, we were able to get the van started again. Cost? $38 and some numb fingers. The minivan? That didn't go as well. Grimm did what he could, but power steering systems are not an easy fix. Expensive parts and lots of serious underside gutting. We sent the vehicle to a local shop that got the job done in one day. Cost? I don't really want to talk about it. Let's just hope that this show in Arizona is a good one.
Friday, February 10, 2006
It's not that the media is biased...
It's that they seem downright dumb.
I often say "Don't attribute to malice what can be explained by simple stupidity". Take for instance the recent discovery of a new Tomb in Egypts Valley of the Kings. I was super geeked about this because I was there. I saw this with my own eyes.The news is just starting to show pictures and relate how and where the tomb was found. But in bouncing around several major news sites I am amazed at how many facts have simply been wrong.
Reuters listed the tomb as being 5 KM from King Tutankhamun's. This led me to believe that maybe the tomb was discovered somewhere else and the excavation I had seen with my own damn eyes must have been a bust. But 5KM puts the tomb outside of the Valley completely. The new tomb is actually 5 meters away. Big difference. Another story today stated that the tomb was found during excavation near the Collosi of Memnon. It is true that there is digging going on there, but the Valley is several kilometers away. The Valley is for tombs, the Collosi marked the entrance to a temple. I double checked my pic against the ones of the tomb entrance at CNN.com, sure enough its the site we were at in the Valley. They are near each other in the same way Cleveland and Akron are near each other. That is, not very.
What's worse, the CNN story used a cute interactive map. When you clicked on Luxor and the Valley, you were shown two small images, except each images shows a scene that is on the opposite side of the Nile. I know, picky picky. I'll let that one slide, but missing basic facts? It makes one wonder how many details the media gets wrong when it reports a story. All media is under pressure to get the news out fast. First in print or on the air gets the audience. But in the process they are not reporting accuratly. And the devil, dear friends, is in the details.
Consider the current bruhaha on domestic spying. It's a complex issue. There are lots of laws with lots of words in them. So when someone comes along and says "Well this is what the law means, and previous Presidents did this..." Well, that saves you a lot of time. No need to do research or think. But once again a lot of facts are getting lost.
Remember New Orleans? I know that is So twenty minutes ago. Remember the horror stories of blacks reverting to savages in the streets, rampant raping and killing? But it wasn't true. In a farcical game of telephone, one person (or reporter) hears something and passes it on. This gets embellished or confused with another possible story. The beast feeds on itself. Guesswork is reported, thus becoming fact. But it isn't the truth.
Despite instant global communication and instant access to volumes of data, we are getting incorrect information. It's up to the minute and beamed from half way around the world. But its still wrong sometimes. Maybe more often than we know.
This is not a paranoid rant about the manipulation of the media. That's a tin foil hat for another day. This is just an observation and maybe a warning.
I can't speak for the spying scandal. But I CAN speak to the facts of the tomb discovery. And there is ample proof that the New Orleans horrors never were. Given these facts, maybe we should add a grain of salt to our media diet.
I often say "Don't attribute to malice what can be explained by simple stupidity". Take for instance the recent discovery of a new Tomb in Egypts Valley of the Kings. I was super geeked about this because I was there. I saw this with my own eyes.The news is just starting to show pictures and relate how and where the tomb was found. But in bouncing around several major news sites I am amazed at how many facts have simply been wrong.
Reuters listed the tomb as being 5 KM from King Tutankhamun's. This led me to believe that maybe the tomb was discovered somewhere else and the excavation I had seen with my own damn eyes must have been a bust. But 5KM puts the tomb outside of the Valley completely. The new tomb is actually 5 meters away. Big difference. Another story today stated that the tomb was found during excavation near the Collosi of Memnon. It is true that there is digging going on there, but the Valley is several kilometers away. The Valley is for tombs, the Collosi marked the entrance to a temple. I double checked my pic against the ones of the tomb entrance at CNN.com, sure enough its the site we were at in the Valley. They are near each other in the same way Cleveland and Akron are near each other. That is, not very.
What's worse, the CNN story used a cute interactive map. When you clicked on Luxor and the Valley, you were shown two small images, except each images shows a scene that is on the opposite side of the Nile. I know, picky picky. I'll let that one slide, but missing basic facts? It makes one wonder how many details the media gets wrong when it reports a story. All media is under pressure to get the news out fast. First in print or on the air gets the audience. But in the process they are not reporting accuratly. And the devil, dear friends, is in the details.
Consider the current bruhaha on domestic spying. It's a complex issue. There are lots of laws with lots of words in them. So when someone comes along and says "Well this is what the law means, and previous Presidents did this..." Well, that saves you a lot of time. No need to do research or think. But once again a lot of facts are getting lost.
Remember New Orleans? I know that is So twenty minutes ago. Remember the horror stories of blacks reverting to savages in the streets, rampant raping and killing? But it wasn't true. In a farcical game of telephone, one person (or reporter) hears something and passes it on. This gets embellished or confused with another possible story. The beast feeds on itself. Guesswork is reported, thus becoming fact. But it isn't the truth.
Despite instant global communication and instant access to volumes of data, we are getting incorrect information. It's up to the minute and beamed from half way around the world. But its still wrong sometimes. Maybe more often than we know.
This is not a paranoid rant about the manipulation of the media. That's a tin foil hat for another day. This is just an observation and maybe a warning.
I can't speak for the spying scandal. But I CAN speak to the facts of the tomb discovery. And there is ample proof that the New Orleans horrors never were. Given these facts, maybe we should add a grain of salt to our media diet.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Very cool news
Not long before we left Egypt we had a second lecture with Zahi Hawass of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. He told us that he had just come from the Valley of the Kings and had some news, it appeared that a new tomb had just been discovered, possibly intact.
I didn't post this info since the SCA is VERY touchy about releasing information about discoveries before they have been inspected and confirmed. Now I can. Here is the story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11252094/
It doesn't look like the tomb is royal, but it may be undisturbed. It would be the first newly discovered tomb in the valley since Tutankhamun in 1922. We were in the Valley while they were digging but couldn't get too close. Very cool news indeed.
I didn't post this info since the SCA is VERY touchy about releasing information about discoveries before they have been inspected and confirmed. Now I can. Here is the story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11252094/
It doesn't look like the tomb is royal, but it may be undisturbed. It would be the first newly discovered tomb in the valley since Tutankhamun in 1922. We were in the Valley while they were digging but couldn't get too close. Very cool news indeed.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
I'm on a roll...
I had heard about this short film but was amazed when I finally took a look. It depicts aliens arriving in apartheid South Africa. The visuals are amazing, and the acting is very good, but more than that the film shows how we as a species cannot find ways to cohabitate. It is ugliness in a time of ugliness. Go watch it, it's kind of hard to explain.
It made me giggle
I don't often pass around so called 'Viral videos' if I can help it. My wife tends to get three or four 5 meg files a day from well meaning friends, which used to cripple us when we had dial up. I will occasionally send out a link to a specific individual I think might appreciate something I found on the underside of the internets. But this video was cute enough that I thought it worthy of posting here.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
You knew it was coming...
Once of the complaints about blogs is that their writers often wax philosophical about the most trivial of things. They opine endlessly about things they know nothing about and obsess about the most mundane of subjects.
I'm kinda feelin left out...
So it is with great great pride that I submit the following post regarding...My Cat.
To clarify a little, I don't actually have a cat. The last cat I laid claim to, Bill, passed away some four years ago or so. He wandered into the house I was renovating, stuck out his tongue, said "ack!" and the rest is history. Rossana and I had Bill for thirteen years. That's longer than I have known some people, and truth be told I liked Bill more than some people I have known.
We had come to accept that we would likely not own another cat. Our schedule is pretty rough and we have no super close friends to call upon for slave duty when we are away. That didn't stop a cat from adopting us.
The cat in question is not the kid of cat I might have chosen, if I had any say in the matter (which I don't) He is a large, long haired beastie as black as night. Rossana began feeding him outside and he eventually came inside. It is likely he has been living on his own all his life. He lacks many social skills, does not understand how to play and until recently when we had his claws trimmed, liked to tenderise various parts of our bodies without any notice as to our discomforture while he slept.
To be fair, he is beautiful, and is very mild mannered. No insane running around breaking things or attacking you from hidden locations. He rolls on his back in a way so cute you could forgive him for spilling acid on your face and has the attention span of a flea.
We were worried about him while on our trip to Egypt. Although he seems to enjoy being inside he is in no way housebroken. When he needs to go, he lets us know is a piercing, no-nonsense yowl. So we would not leave him in the house. Our friend Grimm was kind enough to come over and leave food by a make shift shelter we made for him. On our return it was an entire day before he showed up and he was not pretty. At some point he has run through some kind of brambles and slept in some kind of mud. His long hair was now matted and filthy. We did what we could but there was nothing for it but to go to a groomer.
So now we have one ugly-ass shaved cat. He is not completely shaved, we begged the nice woman to keep all the fur she could since he still hangs out outside. He came back clean and looking like he had been in a fight with a weed whacker. If you were previously unaware, cats look butt ugly without fur. The good news is that he seems to hold no grudge against us for this indignity (or his plan for revenge is calculated in years). We were told that it would be two months before the hair grows back. I quietly pondered if some kind of toupe' or combover were feasible. I want to take a sharpie marker and fill in some of the bald spots. Cats deserve some sense of dignity.
So there you have it. A posting about our cat. You life is now complete.
BTW his name is "The Great Cat of Reh", or simply Ray. Although we tend to use the term "Brat child" and "It". As in "IT has just rolled off the couch and is stuck behind the cushions".
I'm kinda feelin left out...
So it is with great great pride that I submit the following post regarding...My Cat.
To clarify a little, I don't actually have a cat. The last cat I laid claim to, Bill, passed away some four years ago or so. He wandered into the house I was renovating, stuck out his tongue, said "ack!" and the rest is history. Rossana and I had Bill for thirteen years. That's longer than I have known some people, and truth be told I liked Bill more than some people I have known.
We had come to accept that we would likely not own another cat. Our schedule is pretty rough and we have no super close friends to call upon for slave duty when we are away. That didn't stop a cat from adopting us.
The cat in question is not the kid of cat I might have chosen, if I had any say in the matter (which I don't) He is a large, long haired beastie as black as night. Rossana began feeding him outside and he eventually came inside. It is likely he has been living on his own all his life. He lacks many social skills, does not understand how to play and until recently when we had his claws trimmed, liked to tenderise various parts of our bodies without any notice as to our discomforture while he slept.
To be fair, he is beautiful, and is very mild mannered. No insane running around breaking things or attacking you from hidden locations. He rolls on his back in a way so cute you could forgive him for spilling acid on your face and has the attention span of a flea.
We were worried about him while on our trip to Egypt. Although he seems to enjoy being inside he is in no way housebroken. When he needs to go, he lets us know is a piercing, no-nonsense yowl. So we would not leave him in the house. Our friend Grimm was kind enough to come over and leave food by a make shift shelter we made for him. On our return it was an entire day before he showed up and he was not pretty. At some point he has run through some kind of brambles and slept in some kind of mud. His long hair was now matted and filthy. We did what we could but there was nothing for it but to go to a groomer.
So now we have one ugly-ass shaved cat. He is not completely shaved, we begged the nice woman to keep all the fur she could since he still hangs out outside. He came back clean and looking like he had been in a fight with a weed whacker. If you were previously unaware, cats look butt ugly without fur. The good news is that he seems to hold no grudge against us for this indignity (or his plan for revenge is calculated in years). We were told that it would be two months before the hair grows back. I quietly pondered if some kind of toupe' or combover were feasible. I want to take a sharpie marker and fill in some of the bald spots. Cats deserve some sense of dignity.
So there you have it. A posting about our cat. You life is now complete.
BTW his name is "The Great Cat of Reh", or simply Ray. Although we tend to use the term "Brat child" and "It". As in "IT has just rolled off the couch and is stuck behind the cushions".
Friday, February 03, 2006
Pictures!
I took over 600 pics and some video with my camera on this trip. Some of the better shots (with descriptions) are now available for your retinal pleasure at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72759385@N00/sets/72057594056901988/
Hmm... Had some linky probs, should work now.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72759385@N00/sets/72057594056901988/
Hmm... Had some linky probs, should work now.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Why do I not have trained minions to do this?
So some people are getting married, which is not at all unusual. People do this sort of thing all the time. But SOME PEOPLE have to be clever monkeys and make a goddamn trailer for their wedding:
http://nikkidave.com/trailer.html
Why the hell didn't I think of that?
Grumble grumble...
http://nikkidave.com/trailer.html
Why the hell didn't I think of that?
Grumble grumble...
Monday, January 30, 2006
Aftermath
After some 25 hours of travel we return safely to Bag End. We are tired and rough around the edges. Both of us have colds. There is no bad news on the answering machine but 50 pounds of mail, most of it crap.
There is no rest for the wicked though. In two weeks we're back at work doing the Estrella War in Arizona. Gotta start the money flowing IN, I don't want to think of what my phone bill will be like next month.
This trip was amazing. I have downloaded the pics to my computer and am in the process of organizing them. I hope to put the best up within the week.
I also hope to post some info on the last 48 hours in Cairo. I couldn't post about them while I was there for several reason I can't go into now. But suffice to say it was a bit of a roller coaster ride. If you've read my story about Instanbul then you should like this one. Keep your eyes peeled.
There is no rest for the wicked though. In two weeks we're back at work doing the Estrella War in Arizona. Gotta start the money flowing IN, I don't want to think of what my phone bill will be like next month.
This trip was amazing. I have downloaded the pics to my computer and am in the process of organizing them. I hope to put the best up within the week.
I also hope to post some info on the last 48 hours in Cairo. I couldn't post about them while I was there for several reason I can't go into now. But suffice to say it was a bit of a roller coaster ride. If you've read my story about Instanbul then you should like this one. Keep your eyes peeled.
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