Grasshoppa

Strange algorithm

Out of curiousity I googled "search engine" and much to my surprise Google was only the fourth hit that came up. Altavista came up first.

Zealots

This may come as a surprise to many of you but the world's most zealous fundamentalists are not members of al-Qaeda or their sympathizers. They're Apple fans.

(via Gizmodo)

Suckers

When I first heard about the prisoner/bodies deal Israel made with Hizbullah, I really thought that the Israeli government was played for a bunch of suckers. 400 prisoners for 1 prisoner, 3 corpses and a promise to maybe consider providing info on Ron Arad? One wonders what Hizbollah's opening offer was - mass Israeli suicide? In any case, now that the Arabs spit in Israel's face, I know that the Sharon governmet is a bunch of suckers.

Pigs at the oil trough

This list (sorry it's in French, use google to translate if you need it) of people and organizations who were supposedly bought of by Saddam with oil is too good to be true. Supposedly some former Iraqi officials (there's no mention of which ones) have verified the veractiy of this list, but it's still too vague.

Then there's the method of payment - oil. I assume that these people aren't getting physical barrels of oil, rather they are getting certificates of vouchers. If so, then how do these people make money from them? Wouldn't the powers that be in the commondities market find it a bit strange to have individuals selling off large quantities of oil? Wouldn't we have heard about this?

Defeat

Alas, I was defeated in my Blog Madness matchup 21-15. I'm just going to pretend that my genius was misunderstood rather than that my post sucked. Thank you to all who voted for me, and especially for Rebecca for plugging my entry.

Blog Madness reminder

Once again, allow me to remind you that I am competing in Blog Madness and hope you will vote for me.

Please, though, before you vote, read my competition's entry as well. I do hope you'll find mine to be better, however.

Sharpton redux

I would be remiss not to give Mark Kleiman kudos for slapping Al Sharpton around about 5 months ago.

Thanks are in order for my college buddy, James, for the tip.

Of course, more troubling as that according to an American Research Group poll Sharpton is getting 15% of the vote.

Oscar comments

I haven't seen a lot of the movies and performances that have been nominated for various Academy Awards, but I have two comments:

1. It's a shame that Sean Astin didn't get a best supporting actor nomination for his role as Sam Gamgee. He really gave a masterful performance, in my opinion.

2. As much as liked Bill Murray in "Lost in Translation," it's difficult for me to understand why he received a nomination for basically being Bill Murray on film.

Episodes in brilliance

While commuting to work this morning, I was listening to one of the local radio stations (i.e. not a member of the odious ClearChannel conglomerate) that was soliciting people's reasons why they don't vote. My favorite response was from the genius who claimed that he didn't vote because the media is too biased. Such an effective means of striking at the great media conspiracy I should say.

Blog Madness

OK folks, I need your help. I am LOSING right now in my Blog Madness face off by a wide margin... to a post detailing some college kid's night of drunken debauchery. How cliche. Come on, please vote for me...right here.

How very peaceful

You almost have to admire Hamas' auadicty by proposing this ceasefire. This quote from Abdel Aziz Rantisi tells it all:

"It is difficult to liberate all our land at this stage, so we are willing to accept a phased liberation. We accept a state in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip"

How very Hudaibiyah

Visibility

In her recounting of her weekend canvassing in New Hampshire, Diana mentions "visibility" which is where supporters of a candidate stand on street corners with big banners and signs, doing a bit of publicity for said candidate. I've lived in three states (NY, CA and MA) and I've only noticed this phenomenon up here in New England. Maybe it's a New England thing, I don't know. But I always laugh when I see this people out there even when it's for local elections.

Vote for me!

Ok folks, it's on! So help me out and vote for me. This is my chance to regain blog respectibility, so lend me a hand, ok?

Blinded us with scientists

According to this, NY Times article, former CIA chief weapons inspector, David Kay, seems to be laying most of the blame on the CIA's intelligence gathering methods.

The salient points of the article are:

1. Iraqi scientists outright lied to Saddam Hussein about weapons programs that in reality never existed. The Iraqi government was such a corrupt mess that these scientists could get away with this behavior.

2. The CIA was also fooled by these scientists and did not realize what a mess the Iraqi government was. They also relied too much on information from spy satelites, intercepted communications obtained from foreign spies, and information from exiles and defectors. According to Kay, the largest problem was that the agency lacked its own spies in Iraq who could provide credible information.

3. Iraq actually feared UNSCOM and pretty much disarmed. However, Iraq did maintain a ballistic missile program and did allocate funds to develop a nuclear weapons program (which was not as advanced as those of Lybia or Iran)

4. The CIA agents Kay spoke with did not feel pressured by the Bush information to find WMD. They actually believed Iraq had them.

If you believe what Kay has to say, then it would seem that the problem is far worse than "Bush lied." After all, Bush can either be impeached and convicted (unlikely) or can be replaced in 9.5 months (looking to be increasingly likely). However, revamping the CIA is a far more complex and daunting task, and given the intransigence inherient in bureaucracies, it could take a long long time.

Sharpton's free pass

I think Diana is absolutely correct for taking Democrats and liberal folk to task for never taking Al Sharpton to task for his race baiting past. As I've said before, it's particularly telling when candidates from the party that claims the mantle of tolerance and acceptance silently accept a racist in their midst, merely because of the color of his skin.

The target

Obviously backup Giants quarterback, Jesse Palmer, has no intention of ever setting foot on an NFL football field. Any professional football player that agrees to be on the Bachelor makes himself a prime target to have his clock repeatedly cleaned by opposing linebackers and linemen.

The need for humans

The recent communication problems with the Spirit rover on Mars demonstates the limits of unmanned space exploration with currently available technology. Humans can adapt and ad lib when things don't go as planned; robots cannot. If there is indeed a hardware problem, then there is nothing NASA can do about it.

Here's a thought, though, perhaps NASA should consider sending a pair of rovers so that if one goes down, the other can repair the first.

Intolerance

My only comment on Cynthia Cotts' hatchet job on Tom Friedman is that it is a shining example of how secularists/atheists/non-religious folk can be just as bigotted and intolerant as any deeply religious person.

But for a more thorough response, from someone who Cotts quoted, see Daniel Radosh.

Dean dons keffiyeh

I'm not sure what to make of this photo. Really, it shouldn't bother me, since the keffiyeh is just an Arab ethnic adornment, and, to make a parallel argument, I'd be rather perturbed if Dean was criticized for wearing a kippah. Yet, that that piece of fabric is loaded with symbolism and it does make me uncomfortable.

Actually, I'm very curious why Dean was sporting the keffiyeh at a party in Iowa of all places. I could understand if it were in Michigan, which has a large Arab-American community, but Iowa is as white as Wonder bread. I also wonder what Dean's wife thinks of his fashion accessory.

(via LGF)

Not the brightest bulb

From the Guardian's account of Israeli Ambassadors gone wild:

Zvi Mazel, Israel's ambassador to Sweden, ripped out electrical wires, grabbed a spotlight and hurled it into a fountain, causing it to short circuit and become a potential death trap.

Truly, I am fascinated as to how a disconnected spot light thrown into a fountain could become a "potential death trap." I think that next time David Smith (the journalist in question) bathes, I'm going to throw a disconnected hair drier into the bath - you know, just for the shock value.

Dead heat

Color me surprised that there's a dead heat in the polls before the Iowa caucus. (Since there are no error estimates on the polling results, I'm going to call a 3% lead a dead heat.) I suppose New Hampshire is where it's at, but Camp Kerry has to be pleased to be making such a strong showing.

By the way, I was amused by this article's characterization of Al Sharpton as a "former civil rights activist." I think "opportunistic race baiter" would have been more accurate.

Just do it

Thus spake Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim:

"Sheik Yassin is marked for death, and he should hide himself deep underground where he won't know the difference between day and night. And we will find him in the tunnels, and we will eliminate him."

Somehow the phrase "Discretion is the better part of valor" comes to mind. There's no need to talk trash and there's no reason to make what's probably going to an idle threat against a blind handicapped old man, as all it does is make him a sympathetic figure. Better to just make him disappear, quickly and quietly. Let his twisted disciples wonder what happened to their beloved spiritual guide.

Brrrr

It is so damn cold here that the display on my car radio is sluggish. Inronically, the cooling system for our servers here at work is malfunctioning so the computers are overheating. Too bad they can't open a window.

Tasteless

This cartoon is distasteful, to put it mildy. I'm sure if someone drew a cartoon celebrating dismembered Jews, there would be howls of indignation ringing throughout LGF. I have no love for Corrie or her terrorist enabling ISM, but some decorum from our side would be nice.

Robbed

It's always nice to come home at the end of a long week to find out that your apartment has been robbed. Gone are two laptops, all of my girlfriend's jewelry and my watches. I don't care so much about my stuff, but I feel awful for my girlfriend.

The police came and searched for prints and seemed to be genuinely helpful, but I know they won't find out stuff. So if anyone cares to make a donation to help me replace some of her stuff, it would be most appreciated.

Oh btw, make sure you have renter's or home owner's insurance. Otherwise, you might be sorry.

Inevitable

It was bound to happen, but today I finally received spam from Ron Popeil.

Mars needs (American) women.

So the president wants to send Americans to Mars (or the moon), which is, in principle, a great idea. The country could desperately needs something to feel proud and surely a manned mission to Mars would serve in that capactiy. Of course, there's no way we can afford such an undertaking. We've got record federal deficits, a costly occupation in Iraq, and there's that whole War on Terror thing to pay for. I humbly suggest solving our immediate problems before embarking on an epic journey.

Blog Madness

Think you got a top notch post from 2003? Enter it in Blog Madness. For the hell of it, I entered my I want my HTV post.

Egypitan/Iranian thaw

I don't know whether Charles Johnson is deliberately being obtuse or just has reading comprehension problems, but as I read it, Egypt's Foreign minister is saying the Camp David accords as a point of contention between Egypt and Iran is no longer exits. Not that the accords no longer exist.

Update: It looks like James Taranto agrees with me. Go me - I think.

Afghan Constitution

I admit that I was surprised to hear about the Afghan loya jirga agreeing on a constitution after hearing only a few days ago about how the conference was on the verge of collapse. One could only imagine how the American Consitutional Convention, hardly a scene of brotherly love, would have been reported if the modern media had existed back then.

Needless to say, this is a step in the right direction. Now let's see if it's worth more than the paper it's printed on.

The Spirit of Mars

Nice to see some good news (and photos) from NASA. I guess they remembered to be consistant with their units of measurment this time.

By the way, I don't know why everyone was so shocked that the British Mars probe, Beagle 2, hasn't been heard from. No doubt there's a short in the electrical system.