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"we scratch and claw, but only at the air--only at each other. And for all of it, we never budge an inch."

Awesome news, Sonya! Congratulations! Now finish that typing.

Phil, if you're reading this, I'm heading straight home after work, but I'll try to reach you via phone.

Heck, still waffling on Sonic, Phil. Maybe I'll swing by your pad tonight on the way home from work to listen to some of what you guys wanted to play.

Sonya, if you want to write a novel, now's the time!. Jibber and I are gonna give it a shot. And regarding having multiple interests, I think that's a good thing. True Story: saw Angie when Matt was in town last, and while we're chatting she asks, "so what do you do for fun?" I stammered and hesitated. Fun? I couldn't think of anything I do for fun. No hobbies, no regular activities, nothing. It was awkward.

And MotorGrrrl's speaking my language when she talks about work.

I think it's time for the Iron Maiden graphic to come down.

A couple of interesting sites: www.afghana.com, arabnews.com

I think everything's back in place on tanque.org; let me know if you see any dead links. BlueMarble's DNS hasn't updating Drunkenfish's info for me, but the rest of the internet seems to have gotten to it.

The copyright/MP3 comments reminds me of the Napster business too, Jim. I don't think any of the issues have changed. I miss Napster, but I've been too lazy to check out the other file sharing technology. Maybe I'll look back into it when we've got a faster connection. Maybe not. I don't listen to much music at home, come to think of it.

I didn't hear from you tonight, Phil, but you should probably look for another drummer for the Sonic Youth thing. I'm just not into it right now. I appreciate the offer, though.

Amos, you're cracking me up with the Chomsky observations.

I quick post to force a copy to dbwired's server. Old page is changed here so I can tell which server I'm hitting. BM's DNS seems a little slow to update. Still a few pages to copy to the new server, so there will be some dead links (and missing graphics) here and there. Bear with me.

Whew. Sometimes you go for a few days without posting anything, and the task of relating everything that's transpired in the past 72 hours seems too daunting to even begin. Michael and Julie are married. I got to meet Sophie Stalker-Herron (though I can't connect to Stalker-Herron.com just now for reasons unknown). I got to see Jim play live again onstage. I got to see Kate and Pete's house. I saw my sister telling a story in Bryant Park. I got to see a bunch of old friends.

Towards the end of the roller-coaster, a bunch of us were at Jimmy's Mom's house, eating tasty breakfast food and chatting. "Someone should write a book." Yeah, the material's there. I'm hanging out with my buddies, and there's a little time-warp effect going on, laughing with Kate and Heidi like we're in high school, but now it's even better because new friends are there too. When millionaire rockstars throw their lives away on drugs, it's because they're still looking for what I already have. I have no idea how I got so lucky.

The onslaught of birthing continues. Sophie Stalker-Herron is adorable. Really. As in "delightful, lovable, and charming." I get a kick out of watching everyone play "pass the baby." Craig Spencer's wife is expecting. Who's next in the fertility lottery? Or in the marriage lotto for that matter? Hmmm. It was fun to hear Ann pinning Jim down on such matters.

It occurs to me that I don't know any Sonic Youth songs. Lot's of music talk this weekend. Chris burned some CD's of a bunch of Chiptones music, stuff I've been wanting to hear again for a long time. Of course, my copies disappeared from the table while the mixing and mingling was going on, but Jim's copies are still safe and will be copied post haste. Bottle Cap and Herron house gigs, with some As Is stuff there too. What a find - thanks Chris! I had forgotten about talking to SVB and Phil about playing a couple SY songs for some Second Story thing (Oops). I'm fence sitting now, not really sure I want to play in front of other people, for pete's sake.

Sean showed interest in producing my solo album, tentatively titled Wedge. Of course, it would have to be a "with friends" type project. Or not, who knows. My Mo-town cover album project remains back-burnered. Talk of a Spooge-Pig project. Talk of a power trio +1. Heh, heh.

That was quick; Chomsky's already got a book on 9-11 published.

Okay, DNS changes are sent and taking place. For the tanque.org weblogs, I'll go into the Blogger settings and change the ftp path to the new host. This means that you'll still be able to post, but there might be a period when updates don't show up. I'm not sure how long to expect the DNS changes to take, could be as long as 24 hours or more. But I'll be checking it out this weekend, and will hopefully have it all straightened out soon. In the meanwhile, again, if anyone has problems with their page for some reason, email me.

Adam blogs again!

John, I sorta think the terms geek and dork have come to mean a little less than they used to. Now it seems they're often used interchangeably, but I think they can have quite subtle differences. Sean and I drooling over Space:1999 toys seems geeky. Using that info in an attempt to pick up women in bars would be pretty dorky. But I'm not sure of the definitions, even in my own mind.

One of these days I need to come up with a "How Ned are you?" quiz.

Dork Score: 11; but I thought this test was really uninteresting.

I AM 24% GEEK.

Anyone who scores double digits on that geek test is a freak. Seriously. I went back and changed my answers until it was 100%. Why? Why not?

Heidi, give me a call if Phil gets arrested at the airport and you need a ride. If he really shows up waving a plastic gun, he deserves to get detained.

Heck. I don't know if Network Solutions is moving tanque.org yet or not. I'm gonna wait til I see some action before I change any Blogger settings.

I spoke to Hope tonight, who tells me that the whole Bryan Park affair is supposed to end by 9:00pm, so I'll need to get there earlier, maybe around 8:30pm or so. Carrie, are you still down with that plan? I'm ready to hear some stories.

And how cool is this? Kate just called and she'll be in town tomorrow. Shari and I might crash at her pad after Michael and Julie's wedding Saturday night. Quite nice.

Man, I'm tired. I've been staying up too late too many nights in a row. So I'm not going to post all the fantabulously insightful observations I have on deck. I need to start to settle. I typed a little bit last night, working on a generic practice story, and I'm not so sure I can pull off the NaNoWriMo. I'm still gonna try, but I think it's a long-shot.

Also, Jibber, I think your idea of a supportjackflannel.org-type site is good. I just don't feel like doing it myself. If I did do a site like that, it would be more along the lines of supportNed.org.

Yeah, it's the night before a big night; I should be in bed.

Welcome, Christopher! You're coming on board during a time of minor DNS/hosting problems, but hopefully all will be resolved soon. I've been lurking on your site since Liz linked to it; it's really nice.

I plan to make the final move tonight (10pm or 11 or so), which will include changing all the ftp paths in the various Blogger accounts. Then it's a matter of waiting for the magic of DNS to happen -- not sure how long that will take, but there may be a period of time when we're not getting updated again. Please bear with me. If anyone has trouble or questions, please email me.

Of course, none of this has any effect on the pages on non-tanque domains (like Sean; thanks for the link to my bluemarble site).

Yahoo, we're back online. Major shouts out to my last BlueMarble buddy, Adam. You may remember him as "the guy from BlueMarble who blogged for a short time, then stopped." Well, he just might be back. Either way, he straightened things out this morning.

I feel like a traitor to the Marble, but I'm in the process of moving on. Smithville seems intent on running it into the ground, which is really too bad, but I don't want to stick around to watch. KivaDSL, here I come. Tanque.org will be moving to dbwired.com soon. Thanks again to everyone who offered suggestions for hosts. If dbwired doesn't live up to expectations, I'll be looking again, but I'm thinking positive thoughts.

"And if Ned or Sean put any of my shit up on the web, I will take you to court." Makes me want to post some songs, just to call Phil's bluff. You'd think friends would just be able to say "please don't post my stuff on the web." Maybe it's just a bad day thing.

Of course, no one is probably reading this, since tanque.org seems to have been hijacked by another site. *Sigh.* I've contacted dbwired about moving it.

For the real nitpickers:

The em dash —
The en dash –
The hyphen -
The minus −
The soft-hyphen ­ (invisible unless at the end of a line)
The ellipsis …

Enterprise update: I probably won't be back to catch the beginning of the show tonight (dinner with the folks). If you're in town and want to swing by around 8 to see if anyone's home, go for it. But know that Shangri-La might be empty.

Belated but sincere thanks to Jim and Carrie for the I-69 info. Tonight's planned activity includes using a crowbar if necessary to separate my duff from the sofa and writing some letters. As for Enterprise tonight, I'm sortof in limbo; since my parents leave town tomorrow, I may be hooking up with them one last time after work, and therefore might not make it back in time. I'll try to post an update here when I know for sure one way or the other.

Oh yeah, and in case it wasn't clear, yesterday's quote is from the Iron Maiden album Powerslave, the cover of which will adorn this page for a few more days. I thought they were ancient history, but apparently they've continued to put out albums all this time. I got see them on the Seventh Son of a Seventh Son tour, of which I have fond, albeit vague, memories. (gushing album reviews)

"They think we hate them. We don't hate them. God hates them," he said, quoting a psalm that says God hates "workers of iniquity." (this link will die eventually, since the HT requires a subscription to access their archives)

Carrie, I'm sorry I didn't see your post earlier. Mom and Dad and Bethany just left, unfortunately. Next time you'll get more notice, I promise - I'd like you to meet them sometime.

Point taken, Amos. I'm sure an interesting comparison could be made between the freedoms enjoyed by arab women in Israel and, say, Iran, which was the clearly the author's point. As for "my love it or leave" interpretation, the phrase, "If you disagree, then prove it by packing your bags" was what sounded so similar to 1960's anti-anti-war speak. But your broader interpretation of the full article's intention no doubt more accurately captures the author's intent. Let me continue to play the fawning lapdog by saying that you hit it right on with the distinction between our Government and our country at large (our society? our culture? our civilization? our citizenry?).

In case that paragraph sounds snitty, it's not supposed to; I really do agree with you. I just like the phrase "fawning lapdog." :) Also, I had entertained using some clever retort along the lines of tossing salad, but I couldn't find anything I was satisfied with.

"This much is true: It really is possible to love your country and value your freedoms and still believe the government is full of fools and prevaricators and BS artists and Dick Cheney. Really." Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

Jim, this link is for you. WorldWideWords: explains Jesus H. Christ. (found while researching Jibber's use of the word "mathom")

It's a little much at $400, but the ipod looks pretty interesting. Maybe I do need a Mac....

"Addiction is wondering when someone will please notice that I'm a fuckup and come take away my apartment, my dog, my high-paying job, my charmed life, but no one ever does."

Not to be morbid, but I was curious: symptoms of Anthrax.

Temporary Happiness.

Um, Jibber, this isn't you, is it? :) I thought about signing up on NaNoWriMo with a pen name, but decided this time around I'd stick with the real deal. So maybe I'll be too embarressed to include those hair-raisingly scandalous love scenes in the story, but that'll have to do. When I make a living writing erotica, though, it will definately be under a nom de plum.

"I'm not a big fan of excuses, John. So, do something with your life and don't forget to help those around you if you can." Good stuff.

Liz's new design is, as always, quite cool. I actually have Waycross memories of my own; what a small world, eh? And speaking of sharp design, I've been admiring her buddy's site, Boredomjockey. Rather than stealing his last four or five links, I'll just recommend that you swing by his page and see for yourself. Robokitties, Current Events, Flash animation, etc. Also, I really like his music page, which has short, useful album reviews. Or at least they seem useful; I'll have to verify after actually taking one of his suggestions.

Thanks to all who mentioned my absence at Clint's. Family trumped costumes last weekend, as I got to see both my sisters and both my parents. The folks are clearing out the last of the stuff they've held in storage since they moved, and now my car is loaded up with Ned memorabilia - much of it junk, but some gems exist. Like the Space:1999 Eagle Sean mentioned. I thought that baby was a goner, so it was quite the pleasant surprise to see it there. I think I have enough parts to assemble the Death Star play set too, as well as an X-Wing fighter, a land speeder, a Droid Factory with most of the pieces missing, and a Micronauts Terraphant. Things may be uncomfortably geeky at Shangri-La for the next several weeks. Oh yeah, and I also found a single Space:1999 communicator (walky-talkies that came in sets of two).

Also brought back a couple Curious George books. Curious George is cool. However, I hesitate to even mention him on the internet, as the last thing I want is for him to be "rediscovered" by contemporary pop culture and turned into the latest hip fashion. Shari and I were in Greetings on Kirkwood last weekend, and there on the shelf were brand new baby-doll Atari t-shirts. Atari is cool and all, don't get me wrong, but I think my tastes run more along the lines of vintage Atari gear, not the stuff that's made today. But maybe that's nit-picking.

In any event, my parents will be at Shangri-La tonight, dropping off some more stuff and meeting Lou and Eddy. Stop by if you want to meet the Baughs.

And, speaking of family, my sister Hope will be telling scary stories at the park on Friday. She's the last to go on, so she estimated that she'd start around 9/9:30. Here's Ned's tentative Friday activity schedule (for all who wish to jump on the bandwagon): (a) Pick up Heidi at the airport on the way home from work; (b) rendez-vous at Shangri-La for weekend commencement ceremonies; (c) get to Bryan Park around 9 to hear stories (or earlier, depending on the goings on); (d) get to Second Story to see the latest incarnation of JamesRobinson and the Insignificants (or whatever they're called); (e) stay up late making Heidi watch Space:1999 episodes.

Makes you wish it was Friday already, don't it? And then, of course, it's weddin' time!

Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave
I don't want to die, I'm a God, why can't I live on?
When the Live Giver dies, all around is laid waste.
And in my last hour, I'm a slave to the power of Death.

As Bill once said to me, you can't escape your roots.

This is how you underline something.

Lost Highway was one of the best movies I've seen in serveral years. It's rare that a movie sucks me in as completely as it did, while at the same time leaving me confused about what I'd seen and what it meant. I think that's intentionally done. I don't think it's supposed to be totally explainable, just like our own inner thoughts don't always make logical sense outside of their own framework. The second time I saw it didn't have the same effect on me; that's due in large part to the fact that it's almost like watching a mystery, or trying to figure out a puzzle, and repeated trips through the maze can't be as startling as the first. That said, I think it holds up to repeated viewings. So what's the point? Well, it's risky to try to do this from memory (it's been over a year since I've seen it), but I think the "wrapper" story is key to figuring out the "plot." The jazz player is suspicious of his wife's fidelity. That's the foundation. What he does with that suspicion, and how it warps his mind and his world, is the rest of it. The early scene where he walks into the darkness I believe is the signal that he is entering his mind, dropping down to the lower levels of consciousness, to explore how he feels. The "give me back my phone" guy may be an external force, a demon/angel forcing him to address his inner demons, or he may just be a personification of sax guy's inner turmoil. I leave it to the viewer to interpret the dreams he explores, but basically I think the plot is a jealous guy working it out.

Fodder for the FILM page perhaps, but it seems to have fallen into disuse.

I haven't listened to all of the new Jack Flannel yet, but I like what I've heard so far. I think it's safe to say that there's a Lynch influence in many of the songs, both in the form of direct samples from Twin Peaks and in subtler forms; the tone is at times meloncholy, at times surreal. His rendition of "Jealous Guy" is truly atmospheric and creepy. Like I said, I haven't heard the last couple songs yet, so it's hard to say yet how this will end, but this feels like a sad album. Phil's laying it out there in the open for the listener. It's a relationship album.

Of course, to get 5 out of 5 stars, it needs to have at least one track with me on drums. :)

Speaking of relationships, now seems as good a place as any to mention Shari and me. We've been friends for years now. We've been a couple for a few years now. We're back to 'friends' status these days. This isn't a really big change; we've been in a comfortable friend/room-mate state for quite a while now, but only recently did it become "official." I think most everyone is already up on the news, but I haven't spoken much about it and didn't want anyone to think I was moodily hiding out; I'm just not a big talker about this sort of thing, and the last couple weeks have been filled with other happenings. So there it is. Like I said, it's not a radical change, but I thought I'd mention it. And I was trying to figure out how to end this paragraph with a specific sentiment, but can't quite figure out how to smoothly transition to it, so here it is with a somewhat disjointed seque: Shari's met a ton of cool people since she's moved to Bloomington, really valuable friends, and it makes me happy to think of the small part I played in facilitating that. Friends are cool.

Later, baby-cakes.

Actually, Phil, I read the link you have to wcg's stance on celebrating holidays and it doesn't seem so outlandish. But I'm sure you're more familiar with biblical restrictions against celebrations than I. I'm wondering, if people decided to celebrate Christ's resurection on the forth of July, would that be sacrilege? Is it the timing of the celebration or the celebration in itself that falls afoul of the bible?

I for one find your interest in Christian studies facinating, even though I don't share your beliefs. These days I think I consider myself agnostic, not athiest (the athiest argument is just as hard to prove as any other; Ben?). I'm very concerned with ethics, however, and my strongest influence in such matters, after my parents, is the Christian doctrine under which I was raised. Protostent, Episcopalian (spelling?). Try to be nice; try not to cause harm. I believe it's in the my best interest to see that as many people in my life are as happy and prosperous as possible. I don't have a cohesive unified field theory. I'm piecing something together, though. Have been for as long as I can remember.

Got thoughts on music and other matters, but I feel like I need to go to sleep now. Or at least stop typing. I listen to music in my car, where there's a tape deck. I have an hour to listen on the way to work. I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning, to hear bhfu.

peace IN.

Quick clarification, Phil: Tom, while related to Nord2000, is in fact not the guy from EP.

Tee Hee, I saw John's Saturday post before the grand editor sent it packing for a total rewrite (this sentence written while Shari and Huffman are chatting in the kitchen) ((If I didn't have someplace to go this afternoon, I'd have a bottle on my desk)).

Chris showed me some pictures on his wee little view-finder (no USB cable to transfer them to tanque3), and the costumes all look awesome. Sonya, Sean's uniform ROCKS! (said the geek).

found on objector.org: "George Wilson was part of an American bomber crew in 1944. One night the pilot called the crew together and told them he planned to refuse to fly missions against non-military targets. He would do so, he said, even if the military threatened to court-martial him. After a discussion that lasted almost until dawn, the crew decided to join the pilot in his refusal."

Interesting weblog discoverd thru blogspot: adnan.org

Boy, you miss a couple hours and you miss a lot. John, don't feel bad, and don't take too long to come back. A new voice, one with extrodinary wit and clever insight, has contributed to Marco. :) JIbber, you hang in there too, you loveable robotic pseudo-intellectual.

FYI, I think it's safe to use the term "porn" to describe anything Dave does. John, maybe. This, definately.

Well, anyone reading this probably knows by now that I won't be at Clint's tonight. I expect my absence to mean that there will be a slew of beer left over, so feel free to bring it to Shangri-La. Have a good time. If what I saw hanging on the bathroom door at Jimmy's is any indication, I'm missing out. Take pictures!

Amos links to a pretty powerful article with a positive message. So there's not really any reason for me to pick at it, and come off sounding like a prig, but a couple passages did stick in my craw, and this is one method of working through my reactions to it.

The paragraph Amos quotes is interesting. It proposes that Israel "treats its 1 million Arab citizens with greater respect and dignity than most Arab nations treat their citizens." That's very interesting stuff, and I'd believe it, but the next sentence doesn't seem to back it up: "Today Palestinian refugees can settle in the U.S. and become American citizens, but in spite of all the tall rhetoric of the Arab world and Quranic injunctions (24:22), no Muslim country except Jordan extends this support to them." What does US imigration policy have to do with how Arabs are treated in Israel? I'd like more meat here, because I thought "right-of-return" was one of the big issues that isn't being resolved.

Okay, so there's that. But the main thing that gave me pause was this paragraph:

"It is time that we acknowledge that the freedoms we enjoy in the U.S. are more desirable to us than superficial solidarity with the Muslim world. If you disagree, then prove it by packing your bags and going to whichever Muslim country you identify with. If you do not leave and do not acknowledge that you would rather live here than anywhere else, know that you are being hypocritical."

"Love it or leave it." I've never liked this line of reasoning. The argument can be made that its hypocritical to move to a country who's government does things you consider vile. It's also an interesting thought exercise to consider. If America is so evil, what about it attracted you to it? Or on a personal level, if I think the American government is so capable of truly horrific activities, why do I stay here? Isn't it disingenuous to stay? Yes, it's interesting, but like I said, I don't buy it. I think the author of the article is speaking to those who complain that all of America is evil, that it is a "terrorist state." Maybe those are the only people he meant to address with that statement, the ones who criticize every aspect of America as immoral while sending their children here for college. I'll agree that you can't have it both ways; you've got to admit that there are some pretty friggin cool things about this country. There's tremendous cruelty as well, but not enough to erase the positive.

It's true that we choose our targets of scorn. The rest of the article is right on, which is perhaps why I felt the urge to pontificate a little. And now the clear thread that was in my mind just moments ago has splintered into many fractious little trickles: what I love about my life in Bloomington, what I admire about the constitution, the responsibility of living in a democratic society, the frustration inherent in something like free speech for all.

Anyhoo, I like the article; a similar view is expressed here. And I like the poem.

Okay, we're back online just in time for everyone to be offline and not reading the weblogs. Be that as it may, let me take this opportunity to introduce the latest Tanquer, Tom. You may remember him from such drama as "Chicago webloggers" and "Sean fears publicity." Yes, he's the guy who wrote that article a while back about weblogs that had us all a-titter. Welcome to the blog, Tom.

Well, this is a drag, but not something that can't be fixed. The links on the front page work anyways. Gotta get a new host this weekend though.

National Novel Writing Month has John and Ben written all over it. I think I'm gonna go for it.

Here comes Ben! Sorry England didn't gel like you wanted, but at least you had the adventure of living overseas for a bit. You'll have to make a swing through Bloomington on your way to Florida.

Wax is for Anthrax / Still they can rock well

Dave: you're right to be wary of anyone who would like you for your webpage. I've always liked you despite it. Also, Dave makes a good point, Amy; we really should see some photographic proof of your breast claim. [update: just saw your offer, Amy - me too!]

Sonya: don't go to Bullwinkle's; it's a gay bar! (obligatory play for tongue)

Nice pix on Sean's page this morning.

And yes, Phil, I'm sure the US presence in Saudi Arabia is due to oil; Oil is why that region gets the attention it does (as opposed to, say, the African continent). I'm wondering, I guess, about the specific rationale for the presence of military units. They were originally stationed there during the Gulf War and never left, if I'm remembering correctly. Since we got oil from the Saudis before the war without a military presence, and since overseas military bases are expensive to maintain, I'm wondering about their strategic value in the mind of US officials. Does the Saudi government gain anything from their presence? Do we? Is it part of the empire? Is Saudi Arabia in danger of attack? More reading ahead, I'm sure. I've got thoughts on the creation of Israel topic too, but I'm way too underinformed to even start working through it. More reading.

Also, Phil makes a good point about the location of Afghanistan. However, Bin Laden is definately from Saudi Arabia. As I understand it, much of the Taliban's forces are made up of recruits from the Middle East, many of which don't even speak the local dialects (I don't have percentages, though). So I don't think the term "Middle East terrorist" is all that misleading.

I think the poem Jim points to is ugly. I don't think I'd argue that it's racist per se, just stupid. I can see how someone might see it as uplifting, as in "they tried to kill our spirit, but we wouldn't let them" type of thing, but it doesn't read that way to me. Jimmah's right, though, that if this stuff is in school, there's an opportunity to use it to examine what's being said and what's being left out. Really, though, this just seems like all the other robotic internet "humor" that has been floating around forever, where old jokes are repackaged into something that vaguely connects to the current meme and is distributed as something new. I prefer the comic that Chris linked to, or the even sillier TouristGuy.

And now, some life-affirmation from H.P. Lovecraft:

It is good to be a cynic - it is better to be a contented cat - and it is best not to exist at all.

Universal suicide is the most logical thing in the world - we reject it only because of our primitive cowardice and childish fear of the dark. If we were sensible we would seek death - the same blissful blank which we enjoyed before we existed.

Smiles everyone, smiles!

Oh, and I'm glad to hear John is learning the fine art of nation-building through Civ II. You should try it sometime Carrie; sometime when you have 3 hours to kill. :)

"As an advocate of the expulsion of Arabs living under Israeli rule, he referred in July to Palestinians working and living illegally in Israel as "lice'' and a "cancer'' that must be stopped from spreading." Charming fellow. It's probably a bad idea to form an opinion on isolated statements like this, but for the life of me I don't understand this perspective. I don't understand the perspective of Israeli settlers who feel justified moving into occupied territories. I wish I knew my history better.

"In other words, anyone with eyes to see knows that Al Qaeda is a bunch of Nazis, but we don’t know whether they’re a bunch of Nazis circa 1931 or a bunch of Nazis circa 1941." Not sure that I agree with this, but there's a convincing ring to it.

"It is clear that pacifism is of interest to virtually no one in the United States. That is not said out of disrespect for principled pacifists who consistently reject violence, but simply to point out that any political argument that sounds like 'turn the other cheek' will be ignored." Same article: "Nobody will accept bombs with one hand and food with the other. Nor will anyone feel gratitude over food doled out by an arrogant superpower that insists on a constant double standard in international relations and makes peremptory demands of other nations on a regular basis." This article makes the same sort of wishful leap of logic that I've heard before, i.e., that some sort of transition government is a viable solution to Afghan troubles without military action ("There will need to be a transitional government, which should be -- as has been suggested for the past decade -- ethnically broad-based with a commitment to allowing international aid and basic human rights"). As if the Taliban would just step aside and let a UN committee step in and take over the country. As if any government, no matter how tenuous an organization, would willingly step down to allow foriegners in to run things. But, that said, the "hearts and minds" argument seems pretty logical to me. As someone with no military intelligence or inside info on special ops, I'd like to see the bombing stop and a massive relief effort go into full swing for the refugees before winter. Short of that, I'm hoping that there's a massive relief effort sometime after the fighting stops. But our history in the region doesn't make me optimistic.

Why are we in Saudi Arabia? To defend it from possible attacks from Iraq? To help keep the monarchy in power? Gotta do more reading.

"Terrorism is an act against God, not for Him. Anyone who tries to justify such atrocities ultimately fails because both Islamic law and theology punish these acts as moral sins and heinous crimes. This is true regardless of one's grievances towards American foreign policy. The Quran instructs Muslims in times of adversity to act with justice and persevere with patience." Hey, turns out those Middle East terrorists aren't any more Muslim than our home-grown variety are Christian! Whoda thunkit?

Of course, I'm just looking for things that back up my pre-existing world views. I should be looking for arguments justifying the murder of innocents, just to test my opinions.

BlueMarble isn't accepting ftp connections this morning; hopefully it will get resolved soon. Okay, looks like it's working now.

You may refer to me as Dimple Chubb-Baggins.

Boy, BlueMarble is making me nervous this morning. Couldn't telnet in this morning right away, still can't ftp, and both tanque.org and drunkenfish.org (as well as bluemarble.net) are intermittently unavailable. I'm hoping it's a temporary problem, but it's got me thinking about finding a different host. Our connections at BlueMarble are all but gone, which means that the generous hosting arrangement (i.e., free) may be in jeopardy (linked because I can't believe I had to look up the spelling on that word after having lived with Jim for years). I think this morning's problems are just temporary technical glitches, but it's kinda making me nervous.

Getting someone else to host our domains wouldn't be that big a deal, and would only cost $5 or so a month (at dbwired.com, for instance), but most places don't allow telnet access anymore, which I'd miss. In any event, tanque/drunkenfish will live on regardless. I'll email everyone if it looks like there will be some downtime due to a change of host. For now, business as usual.

Phil lives.

And in other scary news: Palestinian National Authority cabinet minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told Reuters: "We feel sorry about this assassination. We reject all forms of political assassinations," He added: "We want to put an end to this vicious cycle of killings although Mr Zeevi had adopted hostile positions and policies against our people. But we still consider that political assassination should not be the answer." The Palestinian Authority is under U.S. pressure to rein in militants as part of attempts to establish a cease-fire.

Mathnerds to the rescue!

Why do two negative numbers multiplied produce a positive number? Here's an explanation.

More and more (quickly now)

Whew, I feel all buttery inside.

Liz, I'll let Jimmah clarify his (admittedly snippy) post if he wants, but I guess I just meant that I could relate to his gut reaction. But phrases about dead horses come to mind, so I'll set aside my floggin' gloves.

JJibber, if you ever get the feeling that I'm condescending to you somehow, please call me on it. It might be intentional, but more likely due to some babbling opinioning of my own.

Sonya, you hurt my feelings. Just for that I'm not bringing the syrup or the jelly this time.

There's no stopping this now, John.

And more importantly....

Somebody make sure Phil is still alive.

"Yet another wartime peril to democracy derives from hyper-caution and self-censorship on the part of the media themselves."

Can't stop talking about Jims.

JJ, I really would have liked reading your point by point response to that 5 Reasons Against article. I probably would have tried to reflect and respond to what you had written; what else could I do but respond to the words? I like to think I wouldn't be raking you over the coals for what you said, but maybe that's how it would appear. Or maybe not. Writing doesn't come easy for me either; to misquote that bum in Kingpin, it takes me forever. I don't know what to say about not feeling like you can't write at ease without risking offending someone. I guess that when sensitive subjects are discussed (i.e. like war and terrorism), maybe we have to expect that people will read what we say carefully and take it personally.

Anyways, my hope is that there's plenty of babbling opinions, followed by discussion. That's the good stuff.

And if I may make a request to a different Jimmah: don't you dare delete Monday's (10/15) post, even if you get ridiculed for it later. See everyone, Jimmah felt attacked too. He can be a sarcastic bastard, let's be clear, but I totally understand where he's coming from. Let's keep talking.

Like I said, either way, I'll still be here.

To all my friends!

Oh yeah, at the risk of jinxing anything, I've been hearing rumors of new Tanquers coming to the scene. But maybe they've been scared away. :)

Pat, you're speaking my mind lately. Firstly, the semi-colon; I love using it, but I don't think its use was ever satisfactorily explained to me in school. Or maybe I just wasn't paying attention that day. But I do like it.

As for evidence that Bin Laden is our man, I doubt we'll ever see it now, and no one seems to be asking for it any more. Seriously, why is it that Tony Blair is the one who's convincing us that there is convincing proof? Because, I believe, the United States doesn't want to be in the position of having to prove anything to justify its policies; might is the only justification needed. Or put another way, the US is not willing to cede any of its decision-making to foreign committees. So while the US recognizes the usefulness of the UN in certain circumstances, that doesn't mean that it (the UN) wields any authority in their eyes (the US). Which, I might add, isn't an undefendable position. Anyhoo, the question was dropped as soon as the bombs were dropping, such matters having become taboo and unspeakable on the evening news. There's no space to follow up such questions of proof or justification. Maybe it will be addressed again, years from now when the population of Afghanistan is halved.

Or maybe I'm just bitter. Or maybe I just don't have the stomach for world politics. Or both.

I too thought it border-line bizarre when GW ended his press conference with a plea for children everywhere to cough up a buck. I really don't have the words. I guess I just don't trust the people with the bombs to be in charge of sending the food and medicine.

more blogging about blogging

And okay, since it came back up again, let me just say that I reserve the right to be offensive, and to be offended, and to write my thoughts here on this webpage. That's the whole point of having this. These pages work like a discussion group, but when it comes down to it, each person is in control of his or her words, and nothing else. Respond if you please, or don't. I'll still be here either way.

I guess this stuff just takes me by surprise every time it comes up. Words have meaning. Language is imperfect. Communication takes effort. I can understand why it's not worth the effort sometimes, though. I can understand feeling like you're being attacked for what you've written. I hope everyone still feels like they can write whatever they want - - because they can. (Well, that is, unless you're interested in using tanque.org as a medium for publishing prison pornography; then maybe you should ask Dave to host your page).

As is often the case, I don't feel like I'm getting my thoughts down very clearly. And I'm up too late.

Heidi, I'll take your word on it that people can change. A rarity, but a possibility nonetheless.

Barfly is on TV right now. As good as I remember, only now the publisher is also the Borg Queen in my mind.

Anyone out there want to recommend a good (and free) email client for win2k? I've been using Pocomail recently, which is okay, but is now begging to be purchased. Anymore I just use telnet for my mail, but I do like saving it locally so I can search for older stuff.

blogging about blogging about blogging.

The leaves all changed suddenly, and are starting to fall already. I don't miss summer, but I'm not looking forward to scraping ice from winshields in a couple months. I like fall. I like being able to wear jeans without getting hot, I like warm sunspots during the day and cool evenings. I like watching leaves fluttering in the breeze.

Shari came home with some stuff a few days ago, and just like that my car's new racing stripe is gone. How cool. It's the little things, you know?

It's a bummer to hear about Becky's dog. It's been a long time since I've had a pet die. The closest thing of late was coming to terms with the fact that Oscar doesn't live here anymore, but that doesn't really compare.

Also bummers-ville is the stuff going on with Carrie and John re: John's dad. I really take it for granted that everyone's parents are as cool as mine are and were when I was growing up. People rarely change, do they? They're either pretty cool to begin with, or not.

Oh hell, maybe they change, what do I know?

I have litterally squandered today. I watched the last hour of Gremlins, for pete's sake. But here I sit.

Say, Chris, I know you don't want people stealing your pictures and stuff, but that javascripty thing that won't let me right click on your page is annoying. I like to open links in a new window when I'm reading someone's page. And it's not like the pictures aren't already in my cache if I really wanted to save them for myself. Just a feature request, to be ignored if you're so inclined; I know you just want to be like Noah Grey. :)

And Sonya, I know you're trying to start a flame war with your "shove your heads" comment. I for one am not taking the bait.

Okay, I took the robot test thing, just to fit in with everyone else.

But then I went back and answered all the questions with the opposite answers, and came up with this:

I must therefore conclude that Di-Havana is the anti-Ned. You've been warned.

[insert pithy insight to global politics here, followed by sexy journal entry about my madcap life]

I swear, at this point, if Shari decides to come back to webland, I'm quitting.

Ooops, too late.

Jim, I'm not sure what you mean by "it can't be permitted," regarding blogs and such in your Oct 8th post. It's our loss if someone doesn't want to post, sure, but how can someone deciding not to do it not "be permitted?"

Heart-warming story of love and compassion: Last night I'm watching Roswell when Shari calls from the bedroom "someone's spray painting something outside, but they ran off when I opened the blinds" (I'm paraphrasing). So I go out to the sidewalk in my socks and look at the house. Hmm, nothing there, but I do smell paint. I step into the street and look at my car. Oh, that's what they were doing, giving my car a racing stripe. Obviously Shari scared them off before they could really finish, but they got enough of a start to put a line across both side windows on the driver side. I have nothing but compassion for the clever little minds that inhabit my neighborhood, really. They're so cute when they get creative.

Actually, I was pretty stunned. I couldn't work up feelings of gushy love for the night-painters for several minutes, as I stood around and thought, "well, that hasn't happened before." I was reminded of Bill's story of getting his car egged in Chicago, or of the times Sonya's car was messed with up there.

Okay, so I'll admit, I wasn't really experiencing feelings of love and compassion. But I was a little stunned. All I can say is I hope drugs and/or alcohol were involved; it's easier for me to handle drunken vandalism than the kind that is performed deliberately and thoughtfully.

Of course, perspective is a good thing. Thanks, Di-Havana, for putting things in perspective for me today. For added perspective, check out RAWA.org.

Anyone looking for some Enterprise action, and who doesn't mind a little disorder, is welcome to come by tonight.

Linkage - For Jimmah. - Drop IIS, go Linux/Apache. - American Military Operation Name Generating Device.

So it begins. I'm not watching. I've been watching television, but not the coverage. I think I'll go for a walk.

You say please, Senior Nacho!

part One: the links

riothero found statements regarding 9-11 by the OTO (yes Heather, that OTO). Interesting. Another: "In no way was I intending to say, nor have I ever thought, that the men and women who defend our nation in uniform are anything but courageous and valiant, and I offer my apologies to anyone who took it wrong." Or is it "took it wrongly?" And here's a feel good article on how fun it is to be female in Afghanistan, before and after the Taliban. Men suck.

part Two: the gab

Shouts out to Heidi for confirming what I suspected; whilst driving in the Sean&Sonya convoy to Bloomington, that golden orb hanging low over the treetops across the cornfields was, in fact, a Harvest Moon. Also, where'd you get your Taliban info? And, I should have said this long ago, but the front bedroom of Shangri-La is all you, babycakes. Michael and Julie's wedding will be mucho fun. Are people planning on staying up in Indy or driving back that night? Curious minds want to know.

Carrie, I didn't get my cash to you in time, I fear. How 'bout if I just give you denero the next time I see you, and you split it between the funds. Seriously. We live in the same town, but I never hear about all the stuff you're involved with. Oh yeah, and kiss mine. :)

Mucho shouts out to Ernie, too. "Stop censoring yourself." Tell it, brother. On 10-1 you mention that you "think we'd be smarter to support the norther alliance and let them beat the taliban." I agree as far as not putting US ground troups into that mess, but I'm not so sure that supporting the NA is the way to go. Those guys seem pretty bad in their own right, so much so that I'm not sure that Afghani society would be any better off with them. But that's the problem with that part of the world; it's been so screwed up for so long, only the helpless and the vicious remain.

Like Liz, I gotta update some links on my page to reflect the changes in DrunkenFishland. Ben clued me into the latest DrunkenFishy a couple days back, and I'll admit that I thought "yeah, okay, let's see if she posts more than, oh I don't know, Regan or Rob," but so far it looks promising. Di-Havana, rock on. And be sure to post something inflammatory soon about 9-11.

Speaking of DrunkenFishies, don't throw in the towel, Clay. At least let me know where that Star Wars abomination came from (Leo as Darth? Urgh!). Seriously, I remember watching you and Sam torturing Ben and thinking, this must be what it's like to have older brothers; Weird. Sisters-only in my childhood. And why doesn't Matt have a page? He seems the most likely to be online out of the whole lot. Anyways, I want more wisdom like "John, You sadistic bastard!"

And rope swings. I remember on a boy scout canoe trip (before they stopped letting fags take kids camping) when Ben and I paddled by a rope swing, and decided to try it out. Ben went first, the crazy, mad fool. He flew out into the stream, and came up suddenly. "The water's pretty shallow; you'll need to pull up your feet right away," he warned (I'm paraphrasing). I jumped, and twisted my ankle. Ouch. Luckily, canoeing ain't like hiking, and I spent the day, paddle in hand, with my foot up.

My use of the word "fags" in the previous paragraph was meant to be sarcastic, as in "a form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule." In this case, my victim was the Boy Scouts of America, who decided that boy scout leaders must first be required to copulate with women before handling small boys. There may have also been some irony at play. Though I've been told that irony doesn't work after 9-11. I don't believe it.

And finally, it's anyone's guess what will happen to ShariWorld. Don't ask me, I just live here.

Peace outty, folks.

Friend's Comment Dismissed With Wanking Motion

I didn't see this until today, but Amos is cracking me up: "I recommend you strike first and strike hard." (10-3 post) :) So is Jimmy.

Two responses to the Hitchens article the other day: Chomsky and Bell. Bell's a wordy fellow.

quick tidbits: Microsoft discontinues NT, and disses Novell. I picked up a used copy of the Dummies book for the Win2k accereated exam since my NT4 certification is going the way of the dinosaurs soon, but I can't seem to muster much interest in maintaining my MS status. I just don't see the point, at least right now.

"One person requires 18kg of food per month to survive. If the UN's projections are correct, and some 1.5 million manage to leave the country, around 6.1m starving people will be left behind. In five weeks, in other words, Afghanistan requires 580,000 tonnes of food to see its people through the winter, as well as tarpaulins, warm clothes, medicines and water supply and sanitation equipment. The food alone would fill 21,000 trucks or 19,000 Hercules transport planes. The convoy which reached Kabul to such acclaim yesterday has met barely a three thousandth of the country's needs."

"We'd gather in a big room, filled with books and comfortable places to sit." Though college educated, I have always felt that comma placement need not be shackled by the rules of grammar. When I want a sentence to be read with it's intended pauses between phrases, I drop punctuation haphazardly, here and there, without a care about proper usage. The pointing out of glaring grammatical errors is graciously acknowledged, though may not result in a change in sentence structure.

To continue with tedious detail concerning recent minor changes at Tanque.org, I've decided to move away from IMPACT font, at least for now. I still like it, and there are remnants on TanqueLogue, but I'm looking for a font that looks better in small sizes. Also, the library picture adorning Tanque.org's home page is a screen grab from Ninth Gate (IMDB here, script (I think) here). The Ninth Gate is one of those movies that I enjoy, even as I'm aware of it's cheesiness and somewhat unsatisfying conclusion. It has atmosphere. I can't help myself. I don't recommend it; chances are you won't like it. But I do.

Meant to mention last night, there's still a ton of unloading to be done at Sean&Sonya's new pad, so if you want to lend a hand, stop by. I think the plan for today is to clean the house up a little first, then unload. No word yet on how Lewis is taking to the new pad.

Back from Chicago.

Sean and Sonya now live in Bloomington!

Gotta say: I'm not judging anyone, but I don't like it when posts are deleted. I'd prefer that everything is out there to be read and re-read. JimS, it seems like you think JimA's response to your recent post was inappropriate or rude. I don't see it, or I'd like to hear what you think was out of line. He said that he didn't like being told to "pull his head out of his ass." I'm not sure what you were saying (because I can't read it). True, you didn't direct your post at him, but what's a reader of your page supposed to do with a statement like that? I'm not saying don't use it, but I am saying, don't expect to be able to say "I didn't use your name" when you make a statement like that.

I guess the problem might be that JimS feels attacked. I didn't read an attack in JimA's response to JimS's post, just a response. But I'm not the sharpest tack in the box. From what I have to go with, I don't think there's any censorship going on.

Sigh.

A dialogue. I want to be able to hear different perspectives, and thoughts, and desires. I don't feel like my opinions are fully formed, and I'd like to hear from people I know. I've known most of the TanqueFishies for quite some time now, via La Blog. I want us to be able to disagree without it shutting down the discourse.

Man, I'm tired. I've got to get up for work in a couple hours. More later, babycakes.

Blogger makes it happen, baby-cakes.

1d3