BunkBlog

Dilbert predicts the next step in reality TV.

I don’t know if we’re using area code 256 yet, but if we are, whoever has 256 -963-2229 has a very entertaining way of keeping track of that phone number. hehe

Here’s a quick summary of where your family’s taxes go. What’s impressive is that $4690 per household more is spent than is taken in. So, if you have one child, add that to his tax burden as he ages.

This is also the most federal spending per household since WW2. It’s a good thing we have those conservative Republicans in power, keeping government small, isn’t it?

Because Lysa did it and Aaron did it, I have to go along I suppose.
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From the inimitable TDJ, we have this wonderful news item: Performers Whip Easter Bunny At Church Play.

This whole Passion Play revival is getting a little too surreal.

Watch Condoleeza Rice tapdance! Hear the amazingly convoluted double-speak! See the commissioners smirk! Ah, the joys of a public circus.

Poppy Brite says, “Thanks for Nothing (Literally)” in her recent post. This dovetails nicely with a recent article in Salon dealing with the woes of a self-described mid-list author. Based on the outpouring of love Ms. Doe received, it’s a good thing she remained anonymous.

Seriously, anyone who has ever had any slight glimmer of hope of becoming a world-famous author and live the jet-setting lifestyle of the rich and famous had to have done a modicum of research and found out the worst-kept secret of publishing. That secret? Glad you asked. Most writers are poor or have “real” jobs that allow them to write without worrying about the money from the publisher. The vast majority of writers do not earn a living at it, even the famous ones. In addition to the indomitable Doc Brite, Steven Brust has mentioned his money woes in passing during recent months.

Stupid Iraqis

If you wanted the U.S. to leave your country, you should really stop shooting at us. Maybe that would have worked under Clinton or Bush I, but we’ve got a new cowboy in town. Think of the Sean Connery quote from the Untouchables, “If he sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.” That’s the new modus operandi of the U.S., ok? Get it straight and stop getting yourselves (and our soldiers) killed. Geez.

According to one set of data, manufacturing jobs have fallen 22 percent in the past 20 years, but output from manufacturing has risen 77 percent. Similarly, farming jobs have fallen 33 percent, yet farm output has risen 96 percent. This leads into an interesting ponderance, wherein my compassionate liberal side wars with my hardnosed libertarian side.

I think most people can see there is a trend here. We are (going against all known mathematics) able to do more with less. The problem, of course, is that there continue to be *more* of us, as well. So we need fewer people to do the work, yet we have more people. This is an exponential problem, as our industrial efficiency increases and population increases.
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The Science Fiction Museum is gonna open soon. Time to move to Seattle!

Here’s a heck of a shirt for ya: Janet Jackson Breast Shot. Bizarre stuff.

Air America Radio – neither fair nor balanced, but a nice counterpoint to Rush and Coulter and Savage…

Girl Banned From Prom For Smoking Away From School

Here’s a girl, 18 years old, who smokes. Now, smoking is stupid but it’s not criminal. She doesn’t smoke at school, she smokes elsewhere. This, however, somehow affects her eligibility for extracurricular activities. Huh?

Proving once again that public schools are counterexamples to the democratic freedoms and principles this country was founded on. Sure, we have to limit some freedoms in schools. We don’t want the kids to yell and scream and shoot firearms while conducting various religious rituals. But, c’mon! How does this girl doing something legal and not immoral while nowhere near school affect her schoolwork in any way? Stupid rules.

CBS had a puff piece on The Olsen Twins online from December 2003. Here’s a quick excerpt.

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen aren’t just rich and ambitious, they’re mini-moguls. And they’re already worth, by some estimates, $40 million each and counting.

Did you know that the Olsen girls are not identical twins but fraternal? Amazing, I know.

More importantly, did you know that it’s quite possible these two girls (now 17 years old) may be billionaires by the time they turn 18? Damn, I’m a failure.

W.House Looks for Rice Compromise

The White House looked for a deal on Monday with the Sept. 11, 2001, commission under which national security adviser Condoleezza Rice would appear in private before the panel, but it refused to budge in the face of demands she testify in public and under oath.

What exactly are they afraid of? Why would a public servant who has done nothing wrong want to avoid testifying publically under oath about their honorable and competent actions? Just sayin’.

Welcome a new addition to the site: GiikiWiki. This new section is, so far, devoted to imagery and geospatial information resources. Fun for geeks.

In case you were looking for them, I’ve removed the LJ Userpics I formerly hosted here. I’ve not made a new one in almost a year, and it’s only using 10% of my bandwidth, so it’s gone. Why would I remove something that still gets 100 megs of traffic in a month? Because most of that traffic is from search spiders or from people using some of the animated GIFs as avatars on other sites (that always pisses me off).

If you are actually interested in the templates I made available, let me know. I may put them back up somewhere else.

Suppose her man is at all uncomfortable with Oleg taking this photo of Kit? Just sayin, most guys would be a bit . . . peeved.

The recent news from Richard Clarke and Sibel Edmonds regarding intelligence abuses (they aren’t failures – the intel geeks knew things they were apparently told to ignore) makes me wonder about the enforcement of nondisclosure agreements in the government. I have to sign an NDA every time I get read on to specific compartments of information, and these NDAs are supposed to be adhered to in perpetuity (To reduce paperwork storage requirements, they acknowledge that the NDA will be disposed of 75 years after it is signed. Even so, I don’t have any reasonable expectation of living to 108.).

Sibel Edmonds says she translated materials for the FBI from Turkish and Farsi into English. These materials sound like real corkers, too – details of locations and plans from the 9/11 terrorists. So, they would presumably be at least Secret and compartmented. Yet, she’s speaking with impunity about these documents? Sure, she claims that Ashcroft is out to get her and threatened her with jail. Um, yeah. You should be thrown in jail if you intentionally disclose highly classified information to unauthorized persons. That’s why you signed documents noting your legal understanding that you would get thrown in jail if you talked about this stuff. It’s the rules. You don’t have to sign the NDA – you just don’t get that cushy job as a translator for the FBI.

So why hasn’t the FBI at least arrested her for her security violations? I don’t get it.

BTW, I think Ashcroft is a jackass and should be investigated very thoroughly. But I still signed that NDA knowing I had to shut the hell up about things. Duh.

Desktop Sidebar is like Gkrellm for Windows. This is so geeky, I’m so stoked. Now, if it could get a decent integration with Trillian…