Best Apartment Posting Ever

Ah, new rule. Get the deposit two weeks before move in.

Had my chart done

Hey, I don't ask for these things, they just happen.

Taurus, Scorpio rising, Aries Moon, and in Venus and Saturn, Taurus in Mars, Jupiter in Leo. You're optimistic and generally go after what you want, and don't let things bother you, and are slow to get mad, and underlying you're a homebody and stubborn. www.astro.com, cross reference with www.astrology-numerology.com.

I think we've all learned a little something about me today.

A Tropical Depression forming in the Carolinas?

SATELLITE AND RADAR INFORMATION INDICATE THAT A SMALL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM COULD BE FORMING ABOUT 140 MILES SOUTH OF CAPE FEAR NORTH CAROLINA. THIS SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DEVELOP INTO A TROPICAL DEPRESSION AT ANY TIME AS IT MOVES NORTH TO NORTH-NORTHEASTWARD AT 15 TO 20 MPH.

Does that seem strange to anybody else?

ZIP 11?

I was just over at Congresspedia trying to see what it said about my elected representatives. After a frustrating bout with their address entry form, I saw the simpler Zip-9 form? Remember Zip 9? It was a classic operations tragedy -- by the time the US Post Office had gotten their new addressing standard through its various approval bodies and deployed to postal customers, sorting machines had improved to the point where it was irrelevant. Ah, shed a tear.

The upshot of this is, I don't know my Zip 9 because it doesn't help me at all to know it. So, to fill out this form I clawed through a nearby stack of my unopened mail to see if any industrious correspondents had looked it up for me.

I discovered a credit card company had done this very thing. But, there were two extra zeroes on the end.

At first I giggled at their over-engineering -- clearly they're trying to save on billing from Pitney Bowes' professional services department should there be any upcoming zip code extensions. But, what if they know something I don't?

But, ah, you still like me, right?

Nearly a quarter of people surveyed said they had "zero" close friends with whom to discuss personal matters. More than 50 percent named two or fewer confidants, most often immediate family members

....

"It's one thing to know someone and exchange e-mails with them. It's another thing to say, 'Will you give me a ride out of town with all of my possessions and pets? And can I stay with you for a couple or three months?" [said Duke University Professor Lynn Smith-Lovin, lead author on the study to be published in the American Sociological Review.]

Just so you know what the standard is.

ELSEWHERE...TROPICAL STORM FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH MONDAY

I don't know if Forecaster Stewart is trying to be reassuring or droll. He's all like "There's a BROAD NON-TROPICAL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM CENTERED NEAR CAPE CANAVERAL FLORIDA" and once you've resigned yourself to that, he hits you with "A SMALL NON-TROPICAL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM ... EAST-NORTHEAST OF BERMUDA." Oh, but that's it. Just two tropical cyclones minding their own business. Could be worse. And Monday? It might be.

Cribbing from Conrad

The link's to an article by Bill van Auken, essentially summing up what we know about the plot to blow up the Sears Roebuck tower in Chicago, which for a time was the tallest building in the world. , which is roughly that a paid FBI information manufactured both the plot and a link to Al Qaeda, and got some cultists who ran a construction company and did good works to sign on in exchange for shoes. The plot was then held essentially in escrow until the administration deemed it a good time to foil a terrorist plot.

So, great. Three things.

1. This is one more example of this cultural quirk where we believe that if we get a subcontractor to do some nasty business -- this guy isn't portrayed as an agent, but more of a contractor with a continuing FBI relationship -- we're somehow not accountable. This really is something we should stamp out. It doesn't reflect well on us.

2. I get most of my news from headlines. If a headline sufficiently interests me, I'll read the story, but mostly I just construct whole narrative from the 12 words or so editors have chosen to represent the article and store it uncritically in my head as gospel truth. I suspect I'm not alone in this, so headlines are pretty important in driving public opinion.

Now, close your eyes and ... OK, finish reading the sentence, then close your eyes. Close your eyes and imagine what the headline would be. Something like "Craven officials cow Chicagoans with apocryphal 'terror' plot" or "Al Qaeda's influence in America enhanced by Bush Administration." Maybe, "'Homeland Defense' refocuses American people on terror by recruiting, equipping quirky religionists." So, now let's look at some news sources. We'll do a search on 'sears tower plot'.

news.google.com (headlines from first two groups):

• Sect inspired 'leader of Sears Tower plot'
• The FBI's Sears Tower Plot
• FBI smashes tower plot
• Officials On Sears Tower Plot: No Need To Worry
• 7 Indicted In Alleged Sears Tower Plot
• Plot against Sears Tower mostly just talk
• Seven US Terror Suspects Seeking al-Qaida Support Arrested
• Miami men indicted in Sears Tower plot

news.yahoo.com:

• Preacher baffled by son's arrest in plot to blow up Sears Tower
• 7 held in Sears Tower plot
• Tall stories: The plot to topple Chicago's Sears Tower was not all that it seemed
• Business as usual at Sears Tower despite plot
• Business an usual at Sears Tower despite plot
• Officials On Sears Tower Plot: No Need To Worry

And, just for yucks, newsmax.com. Newsmax' current cover, by the way, is "Gore spins global warming." I don't even want to know what they mean by that:

• Americans Arrested in Plot to Bomb Sears Tower
• Homegrown Terrorists Allied with al-Qaida
• Miami Terror Suspects Allied with al-Qaida
• Major Terror Plot Against US Ignored
• Terror Suspects Plotted 'Islamic Army'
• Spanish Intel Study: Madrid Bombings Show No al-Qaida Ties

That last one's from back in March. Apparently even NewsMax hasn't had the balls to run with this story. OK, and from that great bastion of government sanctioned liberalism, the grey lady:

• Father: Plot Suspect Not in ' Right Mind'
• F.B.I. Killed Plot in Talking Stage, a Top Aide Says
• 7 Arrested in Terrorism Inquiry, Authorities Say
• Zarqawi: The New Face of Al-Qaeda
• THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE CONTEXT; On Whether To Warn, What Choice Is There?
• Why Didn't We Stop 9/11?

Can you see why the enemies of freedom choose the New York Times to set up as a straw man? Well, you need two sides to any debate, and it's better if the other side agrees with you.

3. I'm not a super interesting reader. I like novels by novelists that everyone likes: Ernest Hemmingway, Sinclair Lewis, Joseph Contrad. I know that last one's not an American, but he's still good. And this business has got me interested in reading The Secret Agent again. So, I'm going to do that -- the British Government works with this guy to create and expose terrorist plots, which seems somehow relevant.

Kidders in science

Up until recently, examples of modern behaviour before 50,000 years ago had eluded researchers, even though humans with modern-looking anatomy are known in the fossil record from about 195,000 years ago onward.

This had led some researchers to propose that modern anatomy and modern behaviour did not evolve in tandem.

Instead, they argued, a fortuitous mutation in the human brain may have triggered an explosion in human creativity 50,000 years ago, leading to a sudden appearance of personal ornaments, skilfully-crafted art, novel tools and weapons.

Really? People argued this? This has got to be a kind of a 'WMD' approach to science, wherein crafty ne'er-do-wells write crazy stuff down just because it can't be easily disproven.

Breaking the back of the corporatist duopoly

What's the Logic?
Some members of Congress are requiring would-be emailers to complete a simple "logic puzzle" before being allowed to send a note through their official Web site. But several advocacy groups are complaining, saying the puzzles -- several of which are actually basic arithmetic problems -- went beyond their stated purpose of preventing spam and actually prevented logic-challenged constituents from having their voices heard. (Roll Call)

Perl Developer Openings- Previous experience is OK! Please review

Just got an email with that subject -- it's like the crazy cat lady is looking for some web work. Would experience normally put her off? Is she now so desparate that she's willing to consider it? And, oh, OK, this is one of those postings one should review before committing to. That's nice to know.

New ways to reject old Europe

So, apparently, this "Red Crystal" business isn't a done deal. My Google Alerts have been buzzing over the past three days with this AP article stating a conference is meeting to approve it.
Now, as you know, the Red Cross symbol is just a chromatic inversion of the Swiss Flag. But, why? The movement is based in Geneva, but the American Red Cross is nobody's patsy! I think we should totally go red crystal, which the article refreshing refers to as a 'square standing on one corner.'

The question is no longer, "Would Iraq be better off under Saddam?"

And now it's "Will Iraq be better off under the Taliban?" The linked State Department memo relates that even Baghdad is slipping into fundamentalism -- Iraqis that work at the US Embassy are being told to cover their faces in public, a stricter standard than 'Iran at its most conservative.' Wahabists -- the Saudi fundamentalists who really drove the 9/11 attacks -- are taking over the culture of the country.

So, now if someone asks, "Would Iraqis be better off under Saddam," you can stop equivocating. The answer's really just 'yes.'

Kinshasa's bigger than Miami!

Wow. That was unexpected.

Start mixing a little coffee (or rather a lot) into your daily red wine regiman

Woody Allen's Sleeper is coming to pass. Coffee's good for you! Or, rather, it makes heavy drinking less bad for you.

It's totally voluntary, you only need one to buy or sell

Wisconsin frames the issue. You can't _make anyone implant an RFID tag. They have to choose it.

70 % Chance of a hurricane in 12 hours; predicted track drifts farther from Manhattan

But, of course, the devil's in the discussion

THE GFDL AND NOGAPS GUIDANCE SHOW A MORE NORTHWARD TRACK...BUT ... ONLY A SLIGHT
LEFTWARD ADJUSTMENT HAS BEEN MADE TO THE PREVIOUS FORECAST TRACK.

Gitmo detainees launch all out assault on United States

"They hung themselves with fabricated nooses made out of clothes and bed sheets," base commander Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris said. "They have no regard for human life. Neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation but an act of asymmetric warfare against us."

Two Saudis and a Yemeni hanged themselves after being held without charges for 4 1/2 years in an isolated military prison 10,000ish miles from home. And Admiral Harris thinks this is the latest sneak attack.

Shouldn't we be looking for some way to make up to these people for the imprisonment, instead of blaming them for their despair? Oh, right, the knuckleheads behind it are still running the asylum.

It's official! We have the first named storm of the season

After being referred to by so many names -- scattered rainshowers near Jamaica, an area of organized wind currents, Tropical Storm One, Albert has finally dropped his mask.

You'll notice the five day cone just sort of skims Cape Cod, and at present there's no suggestion it'll hit Manhattan.

At present.

Tropical Depression One

I'd suggest putting off any business in Tallahassee

Forecaster Avila lays it out

Well, this could be Alberto. Isn't this terribly anxious, tropical storm season? I have to say, I'm not cheering for the storms. But, I expect them. And the first could start as A BROAD AREA OF LOW PRESSURE COVERING EASTERN YUCATAN AND THE GULF OF HONDURAS. Escpecially if THERE IS SOME POTENTIAL FOR SLOW DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE NEXT 12 TO 24 HOURS AS THE SYSTEM MOVES AWAY FROM LAND.

Keep an eye on the FunkTop.

Save NPR and PBS (again)

As part of its very clever information corruption campaign, the people behind the 1994 GOP takeover of the House have been spamming us with fake emails about votes to eliminate NPR. So, I'll say that this one is real.

I was an early member of MoveOn, when it was about forcing out members of Congress that had participated in the impeachment of President Clinton. However, they officially promote the canard that the Green Party threw the 2000 election to George Bush, so I don't belong now or donate to them. They do do good work, though, and this is what they're working on now.

Hi,

Everyone expected House Republicans to give up efforts to kill NPR and PBS after a massive public outcry stopped them last year. But they've just voted to eliminate funding for NPR and PBS—unbelievably, starting with programs like "Sesame Street."

Public broadcasting would lose nearly a quarter of its federal funding this year. Even worse, all funding would be eliminated in two years--threatening one of the last remaining sources of watchdog journalism.

Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS again this year:

http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

Last year, millions of us took action to save NPR and PBS, and Congress listened. We can do it again if enough of us sign the petition in time.

This would be the most severe cut in the history of public broadcasting. The Boston Globe reports the cuts "could force the elimination of some popular PBS and NPR programs." NPR's president expects rural public radio stations may be forced to shut down.

The House and Senate are deciding if public broadcasting will survive, and they need to hear from viewers like you. Sign the petition at:

http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/

Thanks!

P.S. Read the Boston Globe story on the threat to NPR and PBS at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1864

Other states needn't recognize gay marriage

[T]he Defense of Marriage Act [is] a 1996 law that says states don't have to recognize gay marriages solemnized in other states despite the "full faith and credit" clause.

OK, I didn't know that. That's sucky. But, it makes sense conservatives would attack the fact of the union itself. Maybe they think 50 individual countries would be easier to govern back into the stone age.

I should see how that's going.

FunkTop in the Carribean

Man, look at that thing form....

Aggressive Apologism in Movie Reviews

This stuff is so pervasive that it's clear the intent is to leave no safe haven for criticism of the government. I'm not suggesting there was any reason to remake "The Omen" -- I didn't see the original -- but when the review starts off

All remakes are needless, but this update of "The Omen" is especially so

Don't you kind of know that eventually the reviewer is going to mention that the film criticizes President Bush*? And the AP's Christy Lemire does not disappoint

But in the most feeble effort at modernizing the material, this "Omen" vaguely attempts to be politically relevant. A montage of photographs at the start suggests that the devil is everywhere, all the time -- on Sept. 11, at Abu Ghraib, etc.

The AP has gotten repeatedly called out for this business with Senator Reid. But, clearly, they're not folding up their partisan tent quite yet.

* Used as a synecdoche, of course

UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN UNFAVORABLE FOR TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION

I can't help but think I heard that line during the nascence of half the named storms last season

Hold the phone! We could still tie with 2005

A BROAD...NEARLY STATIONARY...SURFACE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS LOCATED
OVER THE NORTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN SEA...WITH AN ASSOCIATED TROUGH
EXTENDING NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS CENTRAL CUBA AND THE BAHAMAS.
UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN UNFAVORABLE FOR TROPICAL
CYCLONE FORMATION IN THESE AREAS.  HOWEVER...THIS SYSTEM COULD
PRODUCE SOME LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL ACROSS PORTIONS OF JAMAICA...
THE CAYMAN ISLANDS...CENTRAL AND EASTERN CUBA...HISPANIOLA...THE
BAHAMAS...AND THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS OVER THE NEXT DAY OR
TWO.

Send Sandbags

Free map viewer linked! Click 'elevation' and then that point to see how high a point is. It takes about 30 seconds to tell you, which is the trick. You have to be very patient, and don't close the popup.

So, my grasp of mathematics seems to suggest that if Greenland raises the sea surface level 20 feet, and Antartica raises it 20 feet, they'll together raise it 40. Now, this is somewhat incorrect, because as the water rises, it'll spread out -- if water's covering 90% of the globe it'll rise slower than if it's covering 70, and it might rise high enough to reach some sizeable canyons, which are dry only due to their isolation.

But.

Imagine that those non-Manhattan coastlines are 40 ' verticals. Then I'm hosed! I'm only at 32' altitude. I'll have to move. Those bastards over at Park Avenue are fine.

I hate moving.

Eating a little crow

It's officially hurricane season. Now, you can say stuff like

ONE TROPICAL CYCLONE...TROPICAL STORM ALETTA...FORMED DURING THE MONTH OF MAY 2006. NAMED TROPICAL CYCLONES IN MAY ARE SOMEWHAT INFREQUENT EVENTS...WITH AN AVERAGE OF ONE TROPICAL STORM EVERY TWO YEARS AND A HURRICANE ONLY ABOUT EVERY THREE YEARS.
INTERESTINGLY...HOWEVER...THIS IS THE SEVENTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR TO HAVE A NAMED CYCLONE FORM IN MAY...WHEREAS DURING THE PREVIOUS SEVEN-YEAR PERIOD THERE WAS ONLY ONE.

all you want. But, that's in the Pacific and the fact remains that we've had no hurricanes or named cyclones in the Atlantic to date. I was surprised when last season ended, and I'm surprised that this season hasn't started. So you take your CLUSTERS OF SCATTERED MODERATE/ISOLATED STRONG CONVECTION around the ITCZ and run along. We've outgrown you.

Oo! But, there is a name list out, reproduced here in case you have trouble saying 'Nadine'. You can start placing bets in the office pool as to which name we'll get to. My money's on Iota.

NAME           PRONUNCIATION    NAME            PRONUNCIATION
-------------------------------------------------------------
ALBERTO        AL BAIR- TOE     LESLIE
BERYL          BER- IL          MICHAEL
CHRIS                           NADINE          NAY DEEN-
DEBBY                           OSCAR
ERNESTO        ER NES- TOE      PATTY
FLORENCE                        RAFAEL          RA FA EL-
GORDON                          SANDY
HELENE         HE LEEN-         TONY
ISAAC          EYE- ZAK         VALERIE
JOYCE                           WILLIAM
KIRK

The Frog Saving Itself

Aha! I first heard the frog thing in the movie Bob Roberts, and it sounded true. But, I've heard it a lot since. And it's begun to seem less and less credible to me. As I mentioned at the post-GoreFilm meetup, I have this conflict about wanting to know if it's true, and not wanting to run the experiment. Apparently it's false.

Al! If you're going to be the face of Climate Change, you have to shake the serial exaggerator label. Funny that he got it when running against an absolute bullshitter, but there you are.