|
 |
Saturday, October 18, 2003 |
--------------------
World Series. David Warren on the near certainty that Iran will get its Islamic Bomb, and what that means for the world: [little green footballs]
10:36:31 PM 
|
|
--------------------
The Bear and the Atheist
An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all the beauty and power that surrounded him. As he was walking alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes. As he turned to look, he saw a seven foot grizzly charge towards him.
He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing in on him. He tried to run even faster, so scared that tears were coming to his eyes. He looked over his shoulder again and the bear was even closer. His heart was pumping frantically as he tried to run even faster, but he tripped. He rolled over to pick himself up and saw the bear right on top of him raising his paw to kill him.
At that instant he cried, "Oh my God!" Just then, time stopped. The bear froze, the forest was silent, the river stopped running. A bright light shone upon the man, and a voice came out of the sky saying, "You deny my existence all of these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit all of my creation to a cosmic accident and now do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"
The atheist, ever so proud, looked into the light and said, "It would be rather hypocritical to ask to be a Christian after all these years, but perhaps you could make the bear a Christian?" "Very well," said the voice. As the light went out, the river ran, the sounds of the forest continued. The bear then brought both paws together, bowed his head and said, "Lord, I thank You for this food which I am about to receive."
8:17:23 PM
|
|
--------------------
Mr. Moderate [Wall Street Journal]
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia is routinely described as a "moderate" Muslim, but apparently he believes moderation in the pursuit of injustice is no virtue. He's hosting a 57-nation summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which he opened with "calls for the world's 1.3 billion Muslims to unite against 'a few million Jews' who allegedly rule the world by controlling the world's major powers," as the Associated Press reports:
He urged Muslims worldwide to ignore teachings by religious fundamentalists that scientific studies are somehow un-Islamic. "We need guns and rockets, bombs and warplanes, tanks and warships for our defense," Mahathir told leaders from 57 nations. . . .
"The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews rule the world by proxy," Mahathir said. "They get others to fight and die for them."
"We are up against a people who think. They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back but by thinking," Mahathir said. "They invented Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so that they can enjoy equal rights with others."
The full text is here. Abraham Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, issued a statement calling on leaders of civilized nations to denounce Mahathir's "grotesque anti-Semitism," which is "an unacceptable outrage and an affront to civilized society."
No one can disagree, but at the same time there's a laughable quality to Mahathir's rant. For one thing, it's a backhanded compliment; the gist of what he's saying is: Jews are so much smarter than we are, and it's not fair! (In this respect it's the mirror image of American liberals pounding the table and impotently rage against those stupid Republicans.)
And while Mahathir rightly criticizes the intellectual and technological backwardness of the Muslim world, he seems blissfully unaware of its moral backwardness, which he himself embodies. Can he really think of no better reason to pursue knowledge and technology than to produce weapons to attack the Jewish "enemy"? Does he really mean to disparage democracy as a Jewish plot? (Malaysia is actually one of the more democratic Muslim states.) It's attitudes like these that will have to change if there's to be any hope for progress in the Muslim world.
8:05:24 PM
|
|
--------------------
Looks like California is no longer the only state with coo-coo senators. (LP)
Give That Man a Medal
Here's another one of those odd congressional dissents. Yesterday, amid the debate over Iraq funding, the Senate passed a resolution "to express the Sense of the Senate that the Global War on Terrorism medal should be awarded expeditiously to members of the Armed Forces serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Noble Eagle." The vote was 97-1.
So who was the lone dissenter? Well, we'll give you a hint: All 50 Republicans present voted "yes." So did all 47 Democrats. That leaves only Sen. Jim Jeffords, the Republican-turned-independent from Vermont, who abandoned not only his old party but the one he usually supports now. One wonders what exactly was his objection to this resolution. Is he against giving servicemen medals, or does he just want it to be done slowly?
7:16:33 PM
|
|
--------------------
This Just In [Wall Street Journal]
"Democrats Seek a Candidate Who Can Beat Bush"--headline, Associated Press, Oct. 17
I don't think you have anything to worry about Dems. There are already millions of so called conservatives who whine that they will not vote for Bush because he did something they don't like. It's those people you need to work on. They will hand you the election on a silver platter just like they did twice with Bill. I fully expect to see this woman get a pass for 8 years from the stupid so called Republican voters who will vote for 'no chance to win third party candidates' out of spite. After they hand it to you they will cry crocodile tears for 8 years and I hope to be here to rub it in every day. (LP)
7:11:04 PM
|
|
--------------------
We'll see about the license thing. Action will be required to receive the Poopdeck Seal of Approval. (LP)
'This Guy's Got It' [Wall Street Journal]
In a column earlier this week, Bloomberg News Service's Andrew Ferguson relayed a story from George Shultz, President Reagan's secretary of state and an adviser to California's Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger:
"Buffett and I"--that would be billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who with Shultz heads the soon-to-be-governor's team of informal economic advisers--"were doing a conference call with Arnold back in September. A number of businessmen had joined us. And one of them, a Latino restaurant owner, starts to push this driver's license thing."
That would be the new California law, signed by a desperate Governor Gray Davis shortly before last Tuesday's recall election, allowing illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses.
"This fellow says, 'Arnold, all my employees are for it. All my customers are for it. You support this thing and I can guarantee you a lot of votes.'
"There was a long silence. Finally Arnold says, 'But I don't support it.'
"And this businessman says, 'But it would be very good for you,' and so on and so on.
"Another long silence.
"Finally, Arnold says, 'I'm sorry, I can't. What kind of governor would I be if I started supporting things I don't believe in?'
"Remember, this was not a public event for public consumption. This wasn't some kind of grandstanding. I just thought, Wow. Bam. What an answer. This guy's got it. This guy's the real thing."
"This guy's got it." Sound familiar? If so, you probably read our Peggy Noonan's column of Oct. 13, 2000 (ellipsis in original):
About two years ago I saw George Shultz, a man of great judgment and experience who is both shrewd and wise. Mr. Shultz told me that George Bush, the Texas governor, would run for president, and that he was enthusiastically supporting him.
I was surprised. Isn't Bush . . . young? I asked. He's been governor for one term, is that enough experience?
Mr. Shultz's eyes narrowed, and he shot me a look. I've spent time with him, he said. "He's like Reagan. He's got it."
President Bush stopped in San Bernardino, Calif., yesterday and made his first appearance with the governor-elect. Watching the event on TV, it struck us that Shultz was right: Both men do call to mind the spirit of Reagan: the optimism, the patriotism and the humor. From the president's remarks:
We did have a good visit, and during that visit I was able to reflect upon how much we have in common. We both married well. Some accuse us both of not being able to speak the language. We both have big biceps. Well, two out of three isn't bad. We both love our country. Arnold Schwarzenegger is going to be a fine and strong leader for California. I'm proud to call him friend.
What a contrast with the Democrats, who've become the party of despair, doom and anger. Can you imagine dyspeptic Howard Dean standing with dour Gray Davis and declaring: "We both love our country"? Some may find this corny, but we'd say it's refreshing, especially after sitting through numerous Democratic debates in which the candidates never deign to mention patriotism except to accuse the Republicans of lacking same.
6:48:06 PM
|
|
--------------------
You are so not sued if you follow these instructions.
While there is no way to know exactly what the RIAA is going to do, who it is going to sue, or even how much music qualifies as a "substantial" amount, users of P2P networks can take the following steps to reduce their chances of being sued:
6:38:23 PM
|
|
 The wait is over for Windows users. Now all you former Napster users can download guiltfree to your hearts content. Wish I cound still enjoy music but thousands of hours standing next to jet engines turning at full power has deprived me of that pleasure. (LP)
With the words "Hell Froze Over" appearing on a huge blue screen behind him, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs joked Thursday that that's when most people thought they'd see iTunes available for Windows.
6:30:13 PM
|
|
---------------------
If you look at lots of blog type web sites everyday and haven't tried using an RSS Newsreader yet - why not?
FeedDemon has the Poopdeck Seal of Approval. (LP)
6:13:39 PM
|
|
--------------------
Recently I dialed a wrong number and got the following recording:
"I am not available right now, but thank you for caring enough to call.
I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the
beep. If I do not return your call....you are one of the changes."
Thanks Bob.
5:42:59 PM
|
|
--------------------
Powers of ten and our universe
The Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida has put up a very interesting Java applet on their site. It begins as a view of the Milky Way Galaxy viewed from a distance of 10 million light years and then zooms in towards Earth in powers of ten of distance. 10 million, to one million, to 100,000 light years and so on and then when it finally reaches a large oak tree leaf. But that is not all, it zooms into the leaf until it reaches to the level of the quarks viewed at 100 attometers.
From ten million light years in space to the DNA of an oak leaf in one minurte thirty seconds, quite a trip! Thanks Captain Sid.
5:36:48 PM
|
|
--------------------
After you read something like the below be sure to go to snopes.com and see what they have to say. There are a lot of sites dealing with hoaxes and urban legends but snopes seems to have more than the others and they are easy to use. Just type anything from the subject of the article or e-mail in question in the search box. You will usually find what you are looking for in the first entry at the top of the results page.
As a side note - the last time I stayed in a large chain motel I mentioned this to the desk clerk and she laughed. She said they get at least a dozen people a day asking about it. She then picked up the key coding box and showed me the only cord coming from it went to the wall power outlet and that there is not even a port for any connection to a computer.
Looks like as far as snopes.com is concerned the jury is still out on this one. (LP)
A MUST READ !!!
Southern California law enforcement professionals assigned to detect new threats to personal security issues, recently discovered what type of information is embedded in the credit card type hotel room keys used through-out the industry.
Although room keys differ from hotel to hotel, a key obtained from the "Double Tree" chain that was being used for a regional Identity Theft Presentation was found to contain the following the information:
a.. Customers (your) name b.. Customers partial home address c.. Hotel room number d.. Check in date and check out date e.. Customers (your) credit card number and expiration date!
When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner. An employee can take a hand full of cards home and us! ing a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense.
Simply put, hotels do not erase these cards until an employee issues the card to the next hotel guest. It is usually kept in a drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT!!!!
The bottom line is, keep the cards or destroy them! NEVER leave them behind and NEVER turn them in to the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card.
Information courtesy of: Sergeant K. Jorge, Detective Sergeant, Pasadena Police Department
5:30:05 PM
|
|
--------------------
Hell freezes over again!.......Two days in a row!.......Now the DLC gets a clue!
Hey - if we just tell everyone we like guns they will all vote for us. Of course since we are liberals we will forget we said all this once we get elected and get rid of all the evil guns.
9:03:46 AM
|
|
© Copyright 2003 Lopsided Poopdeck.
|
|
|
