Category: long story short

…but perhaps I should have: ABC News: Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany Is New Pope How old is Pope Benedict XVI anyway? I am correct that “the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith” is just the old Inquisition re-branded, right? So I guess he was probably acting as a kind of vice-Pope during JPII’s infirm…

In Reason: The Pentagon’s Secret Stash: Why we’ll never see the second round of Abu Ghraib photos Matt Welch explains how “damage control” has trumped transparency, not that this should surprise anyone. I guess I should be thankful that any pictures were taken at all and that even some of them got out. I hope…

The world played a few unkind jokes on this April fool: a parking ticket near Piedmont Ave., and the state franchise tax board giving our tax refund to some other (unnamed) state agency, probably also related to outstanding parking tickets. Then the flooding in the basement – especially weird after no rain. No idea if…

Did some yoga this morning for the first time in months. What a relief. I nearly cried in downward-facing dog as I felt my calves stretching out of their tight cramp. And in the warrior pose, my shoulders felt like they might crumble and fall off, but something tells me this is just the countervailing…

I missed the kickball game this morning (KICK! 2005) … got to follow George’s advice more closely….

Well, the outgoing mail sending problem seems to be located in my client software, Eudora. By process of elimination, I’ve ruled out the DSL connection, the various mail servers, and so on. This seems to be the final push I need to abandon Eudora, since it appears to be a bug in the software or…

Nothing much substantial has changed but for some reason I’m the optimism tip this week. I have a feeling something’s about to break big and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Or maybe I’m just getting hyped for south by southwest. I’m more productive when I’m in this kind of mood, though. I’m…

I keep telling myself to do some blogging every day, even if it’s boring- even-to- people-who- know-me journal entries in my persona blog. Why? For selfish reasons. When I’m keeping track of what I’ve been doing I get more done and I feel better about myself. I also notice patterns and figure out why I’m…

big box Originally uploaded by xian. this is all that was holding us up

Good interview with Brent Simmons of Ranchero at The Shape of Days.

DKo: Boldface is mine. USA TODAY, 6-22-04 On Nov. 27, 2002, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved 17 “Category Two” interrogation techniques….He also approved one “Category Three” technique,…”non-injurious physical contact.”….Rumsfeld rejected three proposed Category Three techniques: exposure to cold weather or water;… DKo: So in November, punishment by exposure to cold was unconscionable, not allowed even…

“Remember, more than 90 percent of American homes celebrate Christmas. But the small minority that is trying to impose its will on the majority is so vicious, so dishonest–and has to be dealt with.” –Bill O’Reilly, Fox News: Cited in NYT, 2004: The Year of ‘The Passion’, by Frank Rich I was reading the Newsweek…

Where’s the moral majority when you need them?

It was bacterial, it wasn’t pneumonia, the zithromax killed the little buggers, and the prednisone kept my lungs inflated while my heart was breaking all week. Off to celebrate a friend’s birthday and watch the sun set over Alameda’s beach.

http://www.gnn.tv/content/eminem_mosh.html Here’s the Eminem Mosh vodeo. Blew me away. (Big file, 32MG, downloads in four minutes broasdband, but you can also click for a dial-up version.)

Apologies for radio silence. Over the weekend I was celebrating my birthday but I’ve also been experiencing really bad asthma and some nonspecific aches and pains. It got pretty bad last night so I went to Kaiser today and they told me I’ve got (if I’m lucky) bronchitis or (if I’m not) pneumonia. Well, at…

So does life really begin at forty? Given that I’ve just started playing music this year, maybe so. This is also the 7th birthday of my online journal in its various incarnations. I’ll be offline most of today. Up to Point Reyes later. All I want for my birthday is to see the last of…

Street poet Wordsworth from the Slam Bush convention in Florida Pretty cool. You have to stick with it past the part where Bush is “kicking his game.” It didn’t stream for me, but it downloaded for replay. I know I’m obssessing with the Hip-Hop angle, but we kids feel so misunderstood. Fight the Power!

*Props, i.e., proper respect This from Rolling Stone: [BTW, the post-11/2 dates don’t mean anything. The song will get its play–after this “leak”–before the election, and the issue of the magazine (despite its “cover date”) will also be out.] Eminem Talks Bush Song Rapper calls Iraq war “mess,” blames president Eminem’s upcoming album, Encore, due…

Poll Finds Pro-Kerry Vote Fever at Colleges LA Times “[A]ccording to a poll released Thursday by Harvard University…84% of students said they would ‘definitely be voting’ this year, compared with 50% who said so in the spring of 2000.” “The poll surveyed…210 campuses in 48 states. Students…preferred Kerry over Bush, 52% to 39%….The Massachusetts senator…

Yes, I do have a birthday coming up, the big four-oh on October 30. (That will also be the seventh anniversary of this journal – w00t). People never know what to get for me, but this year it’s easy. First of all, the perfect gift for me is to buy a copy of my book.…