Cat-Blogging: The Waiting For Dorothy Edition, 2005

wAitiNG foR doROthY: Cat-Blogging
The Baby Cat Gets Cute
October, 2005

judge affirms r kelly child pr0n charges

well, when you are rich, you can bend the laws into knots with your high-paid lawyers, the kind normal folk don't get. (examples abound.) and when you are famous and rich, you can get away with murder (and i mean that in the literal sense, as with the egregious case of wife-batterer o j simpson).

one example of such a situation happened in march 2004, when florida prosecutors dropped twelve charges of child pornography against singer r kelly because the defense got the search thrown out.

A judge had ruled that photographs seized from the singer's home allegedly showing him with an underage girl were seized illegally. [...] Florida Circuit judge Dennis Maloney ruled the warrant used to seize the pictures from R Kelly's home in 2002 was based on insufficient evidence, making the digital photographs inadmissible.

without the evidence, the prosecution threw up its hands & threw out their charges (& then, most likely, threw up in the bathroom).

but a glimmer of hope: he still faces fourteen charges of child pr0n in illinois (IL mugshot courtesy of the smoking gun):

A US judge has refused to dismiss charges against American singer R Kelly for allegedly engaging in videotaped sex acts with an underage girl.

Judge Vincent Gaughan rejected defence arguments in the Chicago court that prosecutors were too vague about when the alleged crime took place.

Judge Gaughan's decision takes Mr Kelly closer to trial in the three-year case. His next court date is on 9 December.

The singer, 38, has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of child pornography.

Prosecutors originally said the videotape in question was made during a nearly three-year span between January 1998 and October 2000.

the prosecution faces serious hurdles - their inability to date specifically when kelly recorded himself raping the minor seems to be causing mass havoc.

frankly i'd like to see him charged with that crime rather than child pr0n, but doubtless he paid off the family à la michael jackson.

worst part of this for me is that r kelly continues to make bank selling highly sexually explicit material.

i'm no prude - "best cock on the block" by bitch & animal is a favourite amusement of mine, with the lyrics, "what can i say? / they can't stay away / from the best cock on the block today / it's eternally hard / i've got five different sizes, shapes and colors."

but i prefer songs not written and performed by a man charged in two separate states for child pornography. that shit just creeps me out, man.

The Orgasm Festival

He's no fan of les arts d'amour,
Thinks a woman who comes is a whore;
When such sentiments arise,
Is it such a surprise
If he doesn’t get laid anymore?

This clever little limerick was written by a commenter on a Feministe article about a Dr Michael S Adams, whose most recent ignorant lecture, entitled 'O' Awareness and Gender Identity, is just a picture of idiocy.

I'll highlight some of it, but read it yourself. In full.

There will also be a "vibrator museum" showcasing various sex toys including - but not limited to! - an antique vibrator from 1924. And there will be a vibrator raffle and lots of information on masturbation, orgasm and contraception.

Jessica Polka, an executive board member for the co-sponsor of the event, was recently quoted as saying that “We also have the goal of trying to work toward fighting the social stigma against female sexuality.” In other words, she wants college women to become whores without being ostracized.

yes, he did. he fucking went there. How'd you like to be his student?

Oh, what, I neglected to mention that he's a tenured professor? Yeah, his little personal history - behind that click - has this tidbit of enlightening information as well: "A few years later, Adams abandoned his atheism and also became a Republican." Ah yes, because the party of Lincoln is now the party of the theocrats.

BUT WAIT! - he's not done. No, he's going to go beyond literally saying that "women who have orgasms are whores". Oh yes.

Gird your loins, my fellow human beings:

But a word of warning to the young feminists of FSU is in order. Their events, which are geared toward women, do nothing to include certain groups that are suffering a crisis of "gender identity." And that is potentially problematic since Chancellor Moeser is now under pressure to add “gender identity” to UNC’s non-discrimination policy.

This new initiative would enable transsexuals in all stages of transition, such as cross-dressers, “inter-sexed” persons, and “inter-gendered” persons – groups that all deny their birth sex - to be included in the non-discrimination policy.

The level of ignorance that someone requires in order to assert that "'inter-sexed' persons" are part of the "groups that all deny their birth sex" is just straight-up staggering. Um, hello? No matter what you think about transfolk and genderqueers, there can be no arguing that the intersexed are born that way. That's the fucking definition - they are inter-sexed.

The Student Advisory Committee to the Chancellor recently met with Moeser to discuss what he should do and how students “feel” about this issue. Needless to say, if "gender identity" is added to the UNC non-discrimination policy, it could have serious implications. For example, the creation of gender neutral bathrooms and special counseling to help students “transfer” gender could follow.

Quick, call the National Guard! There's a war on, the Gulf Coast is a horrific disaster, but we must stop the gender-neutral bathrooms!

Given what we have just learned about the UNC students’ Orgasm Awareness Festival, it might be advisable for taxpayers to contact James Moeser (chancellor@unc.edu) to offer some insight on “gender identity discrimination.”

You know, I think I just might. I might drop him a line, and tell him how I feel.

Of course, I rather doubt I'll say anything that will please the Good Doctor... maybe you should do the same?

caribou, whale & walrus

nunatsiaq news has an article about the interesting situation in greenland, whose population is kalaaliit (i.e. "greenland eskimo", a loanword from 12th century Norse skrælingi "savage" [see fortescue, jacobson & kaplan, Comparative Eskimo Dictionary: With Aleut Cognates (Alaska Native Language Center Research Paper 9), ISBN 1-55500-051-7]).

it's about food.

In Nunavut, the sale of fresh caribou, fish, whale and walrus happens largely out of sight if it happens at all [...]

nunavut is a (comparatively) new canadian province. its official languages include inuktitut ("canadian eskimo") and it is largely inhabited by inuit ("canadian eskimo"). as such, it is a self-governing, majority-First Nations province, which is fairly remarkable.

... but in Greenland, country food is widely available: in outdoor markets where Inuit hunters sell their produce directly, or in the freezer aisle of the grocery store.

“In each town, you find a big marketplace where you will be able to buy seal meat or whale meat, muktuq [skin and fat of a narwhal, cut into small cubes -ed.], and whatever you need,” said Rasmus Ole Rasmussen, a professor at the Institute of Geography and International Development studies at Roskilde University in Denmark.

The outdoor markets — where hunters go to sell their products — have been operating for 150 years.

As in Nunavut, store foods began to take the place of country foods in the diet of Greenlanders in the 1970s and 1980s, especially for younger people, who either lost the skills to prepare their own country food from scratch, or had no time or inclination to do it themselves.

But that trend was reversed when country foods were introduced in supermarkets, neatly cut up and packaged just like chicken, beef or pork, at the end of the 1980s.

hm. but the problem is that the lives of professional hunters apparently sucks - highly impoverishing - and hence greenland is seeking to improve this situation.

i dunno, i just wanted to balance out the post on the imitation human flesh product. i don't know if i'd want to be eating muktuq myself, but here's the story.

LIBBY INDICTED!

... but not rove. fuckers. clicky clicky

the party ends

yale bans drinking games at harvard-yale game AND will shut down tailgating RIGHT AFTER HALFTIME.

proof that yale is, again, trying to be like us. but we know that they can't beat us at football, nor can they kill a party as well as we can. :)

[today i'm on a separate project, and i have internet access! yay!]

who knew that "tofaby" really exists?

i could not make this up.

all i want to know is who tested this to make sure it is accurate?

"longpig. it's what's for dinner."

welcome to aboriginal rights

let's start with the basics: "Kashechewan is a fly-in community located on the west coast of Hudson Bay, approximately three hours from Toronto by plane." that means there are no roads in - & over half of its population is under the age of 18.

kashechewan - which means "flowing waters" - is a member of the nishnawbe-aski nation. the people of "flowing waters" are an "L-dialect" (or "moose") cree-speaking group.

so why is kashechewan in the news? let's see what the globe & mail has to say:

Prime Minister Paul Martin... told reporters that Ottawa will begin to take action "today," when asked whether the Liberals were embarrassed by the situation, in which more than half of Kashechewan's residents have been made ill by drinking water laced with E. coli bacteria. [snip]

More than half of the reserve's 1900 residents, many with serious skin problems, are being moved by the Ontario government because of tainted drinking water. About 75 have already been taken to Sudbury and more were heading out on Thursday.

insert the ironic comment about "flowing waters" here.

Residents of the community, off of James Bay in Northern Ontario, have been boiling their water for two years. At the very least, native leaders want Ottawa to provide funds to fix and properly run its water treatment plant.

The community's water problem is attributed to the location of the treatment plant's intake pipe, which is 135 metres downstream from a sewage lagoon. [snip]

Meanwhile, the exodus was in full swing Thursday as planes departed the embattled northern Ontario reserve and friends and family waved goodbye from the ground. About a dozen protesters were at the reserve's tiny airport, venting their anger with Ottawa for the benefit of arriving members of the media.

Deputy Chief Rebecca Friday said she is fed up with the federal government and Mr Scott for refusing to help the reserve, which has been under a boil-water advisory for two years. Ms Friday said no one should be expected to remain at the reserve, where residents have been boiling their drinking water for two years.

Ms Friday was particularly angry that Scott refused to stay in the community and that he didn't respond to her request for an emergency evacuation. "He has not done anything," she said. "We've had to wait two weeks for this." Ms Friday said the entire community should leave to escape the misery and water contamination that has sickened many of the residents. "I'm very, very sad that it has to come to this point where everybody has to leave," she said. "It's an awful situation."

More than half of the reserve's residents are suffering from health problems, such as scabies and impetigo, as a result of drinking water tainted with potentially deadly E. coli.

Marie Reuben, who was part of the first wave to leave, was happy simply to be in a place where her children could bathe in clean water. "I'm just glad they got us out of there," Ms. Reuben said after getting off the plane. "I don't want to go back there."

Many critics and locals believe the reserve needs to be relocated in order to solve its chronic water and health problems.

this is an awful situation. kashechewan has been under "boil restrictions" - meaning all water needs to be boiled before use - for two solid years, and on and off for eight in general. this is ridiculous.

"sorry, miss, but we've seized your womb as evidence"

mediagirl brought this one to my attention. first read:

Woman Faces Charges After Teen had Abortion

WECT Online, 26 October 2005

A New Hanover County social worker is still on the job after facing charges dealing with a teenager's abortion. Susan Taylor was charged with obstruction of justice.

The sheriff's office was investigating a statutory rape case involving a 14-year-old girl, but now their evidence is gone, the fetus.

The sheriff's office says Taylor involved herself in the criminal investigation, in direct conflict with the case. It resulted in the loss of critical evidence and this was the basis for the arrest.

A spokesperson for New Hanover County Social Services says Taylor will continue to work until the investigation is complete.

yeah, that's right.

because a 14yo rape victim should be impounded as evidence.

listen, if you need evidence, you take the remains of the aborted fetus, not the child what were raped. this is the most back-ass bullshit i've ever heard of - girl-child is pregnant (through "statutory rape" - what that actually means in this case remains unclear) and they want her to stay pregnant so they can use her body as evidence?

what the fuck.

i realise that my social commentary isn't ever terribly deep. i guess i just can't stand to deal with this kind of shit, and my only response is to want to whack people with a five-iron. i mean, what am i supposed to say? the only thing i figured i could do useful was to add this link to mediaGirl's web shop.

fuck do american women ever need to go on strike - and it's timely. here's what i learned from reading pinko feminist hellcat's recent post, bang those pots & pans:

On October 24 1975, 90% of Iceland's women refused to work, cook or look after children. The effect was incredible, recalls Annadis Rudolfsdottir.

i mean, fuck. i was six months old then, and now i'm 30. and iceland's women gave the collective finger then and got what they are due, and we're still fucking barefoot and in the kitchen.

In Reykjavík an estimated 25,000 women gathered to listen to speeches, sing and discuss matters - an astonishing number considering that Iceland's population was then just under 220,000. The women were from all walks of life, young and old, grannies and schoolgirls; some wore their uniforms from work, others had dressed up.

and what results? well, nothing is perfect. there are still problems - and iceland's women are expected to strike again on 30 october. but consider this:

It was a spur to action and many feel that the solidarity women showed that day paved the way for the election five years later of Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the world's first democratically elected female president.

Finnbogadóttir firmly believes that too. "After October 24, women thought it was time a woman became president," she says. "The finger was pointed at me and I accepted the challenge."

that's right, bitches. they elected their first woman president - and we elected the rot-brained second-rate actor ron "bedtime for bonzo" "agent t-10" reagan.

whom, incidentally, those fucking inbred assholes keep naming shit after, and to whom they give credit for "ending the cold war" as if he had shit-all to do about it. frankly, the most remarkable thing about ronald reagan was that he was uncircumcised.

did i mention he informed on fellow actors as communists, approved of the blacklist and testified enthusiastically for the witchhunt of the house un-american activities committee?

fuckers.

so i say, let's recall the redstockings. let's see about iceland's upcoming strike.

and LET'S FUCKING DO IT OURSELVES, GODDAMNIT.

i am so sick of this shit i want to start the defenestrations immediately.

i have an even simpler explanation

hey, asian people! want to see more asian american actors on television and the big screen? then GET INTO THE BUSINESS SIDE OF THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY, FOOLS. become the financiers, the producers, the casting directors. the power players. the ones who hold the key.

sometimes the obvious eludes people...

Book of Life: Why People Suck -- The NIM((y)our)BY Edition

a couple build a beautiful tree house for their child, in their backyard. the city throws a fit because of permit issues, and the next door neighbor has a bug up his ass about children being able to look down into his backyard.

updated with additional thoughts:

i don't know for certain who got the city government involved. my guess is the neighbor brought it to their attention. this guy apparently lived in close quarters with others prior to moving to the neighborhood, and having a private backyard was a really big deal for him. in typical passive-aggressive style, it does not appear that he attempted any negotiation with the people who built the tree house regarding his privacy concerns. instead, he got the city involved. it doesn't cost him anything, and it allows him to put his neighbors through hell when they probably could have worked something out that satisfied everyone involved.

the particularly painful thing is that this man is a control freak, yet values 'privacy'. a respect for privacy entails many things, but definitely not this man's conflict resolution skills.

no no no. _no_.

the man done went and got the law involved. this is the point where you spit on the ground and set a date for the day you royally kick his sniveling little ass.

basically, the only way to escape the sweaty, controlling clutches of other people is to be extremely rich, or live in the boonies. i am so not buying a condo. imagine the typical control freak neighbor and raise to the hundredth power. i'm sticking to the stand-alone house without a village idiot's committee (aka homeowners association) attached to it.

There Are Just Some Milestones You Wish You'd Never Reach

the us military death toll in iraq has broken 2000.

uh

i hope the new jersey transit is running tomorrow. "the perfect storm" is supposed to hit this region during rush hour. wilma, alpha and a system from the west is supposed to converge over new york and new jersey between 7am and 10am.

run, train, run. i get paid by the hour, and i need that paycheck!

They Are Emotionally 12 Years Old

the onion received a letter from a white house lawyer declaring that their use of the presidential seal in their publication is in violation of the law.

Dear Boss

when we have a major deadline to meet, you are no longer allowed to do the following:

1) Give me a large assignment on Thursday, and then change your mind on Friday

2) Give me a different large assignment on Friday, and then change your mind on Monday

3) Declare that I must exhaustively test the feature you've assigned to me, and then tell me I'm being too detailed when you review the test case I wrote for the feature

4) Tell me to carefully plan my test files so as to minimize the number of files needed to verify all the steps in my test case, and then tell me I'm spending too much time planning my test files

5) Have three 'five minute meetings' that actually last an hour apiece every day

6) Insist that we need to meet every day to plan our strategy -- I can plan my strategy myself, and I only need to do it once

7) Refuse to allow me to develop my own strategy to complete my assignment because your way works for you -- My strategy is better for me

8) Assume that I am too incompetant to achieve my goals without hand-holding -- Please see 4,5,6, and 7

9) Tell me to create test files according to my plan, and then insist that I use other people's test files -- those files are

a) Out of date because the feature and default software settings have changed
b) Not organized or designed to cover all the steps in my test case efficiently

10) Micromanage every last little detail of my assignment

you are slowing me down. please stop.

it's.... ALPHA!

tropical depression alpha forms in the caribbean. maybe a california trip would be a better idea to use up my u.s. airways miles.

anyway, this past weekend was a blur. we ordered several bottles of liquor on saturday.

you know it was a good celebration where members in your party utter all of the following phrases seriously and without irony in the morning:

"dude, where's my car?" (how did it end up below washington square park?)

and

"where are my pants?" (they were IN the car)

The Littlest Nazis Redeux

the gaede twins, lynx and lamb [can we say white trash??], continue their ascendance to white nationalist fame. and yes, they have been compared to the olsen twins. i'm going to pray to the porcelain god now.

[hat tip to pandagon]

limon case decided. one point for gay rights.

studied matthew limon case last semester. too busy at the moment to write much. but summary is here.

pesky the rat

i don't know if any of you have stumbled upon this page before: pesky the rat. i think it might have been a salon.com blog at some point. if you haven't it's definitely worth reading, even though it isn't updated anymore. and if you have read it before, it's worth reading again for laughs. more about the site here.

somehow, this morning, i landed on "interview with tippy the libertarian cow," a story on the site. tippy the libertarian cow spontaneously tips over whenever she gets into an argument over federal income taxes.

also of note:
god switches from linux to microsoft windows, and all hell breaks loose

wilbert the weapon of mass destruction ponders the nature of his own existence

distraught bacteria commits apoptosis after failing to infect george w. bush with common sense

beware the DMCA: Duplication and Multiplication of Chickens Act (IP lawyers and law students should read this)

creation myth of an isolated south american tribe whose only contact with the outside world is a single episode of the o'reilly factor

bush signs legislation to ban feminine products that men do not understand

interview with bob the barnacle, nader supporter

interview with hurricane ivan

market fundamentalists hire new god - said to be more cost effective

and more...

warrant for tom delay's arrest

Warrant for Tom Delay's Arrest

that's right, bitches. nancy pelosi has kindly provided us with a picture of the arrest warrant for tom delay.

it's a good day, o good day. i can't wait for his mugshot.

food network dorks rejoice!

the rachel ray drinking game

another contestant for the darwin awards

in this article it was reported that a man died from complications resulting of a perforation of the colon sustained when he tried to have sex with a horse.

the heart-shaped box

Heart Shaped
by UrbanUmbrella.

no, i have no hand fetish.

ha ha, okay, so i'm lying.

your nails are too long, dear, but the rings are endearingly butch.

overall rating: snackalicious.

insomnia

woke up around a half an hour ago and couldn't get back to sleep. very irritated.

but i guess residents of florida are more than simply irritated. wilma, in the last three hours, has strengthened to a category 5 in the gulf of mexico. maybe i'm still asleep and this is all a dream.

HURRICANE WILMA ADVISORY NUMBER 16
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
5 AM EDT WED OCT 19 2005

...AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE PLANE REPORTED 884 MB...THE LOWEST MINIMUM PRESSURE EVER MEASURED IN A HURRICANE IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN...THIS VALUE SHOULD BE USED WITH CAUTION UNTIL CALIBRATED...

still, it's not this.

lesson of the day

there are two types of drivers who will not hesitate to run you over: scruffy men in hoopties (like one of the characters in "clerks") and young women in expensive cars (kelly osbourne). the first type of driver definitely sees you - and he is trying to play chicken or is just trying to piss you off; the second type of driver is simply a moron and doesn't look where she is going. both are a menace to pedestrians. but if you're broke, it's better to be hit by the clueless women in range rovers, because they have deeper pockets. if you survive, you will be more likely to actually collect on the tort damages. moral of the story: all other things being equal, it's better to be hit by kelly osbourne than a convenience store clerk.

Babes in the Wood

this is another round of "emily zilch & the babes in the wood".

yeah, the facebook has creepy man-trolls. (does anywhere not? and can i please go there now?

this tool 'friended' me. i denied his ass: mostly i can't believe someone is so clearly spamming me - and like a total wanker. read this sexy, sexy come-on:

How are u doin? I like your picture, its different. I would like to chat with you to find out more about the rest of you. If thats coo wit u, hit me bac

did he just write, "If thats coo wit u, hit me bac"?

NO HE DI'N'T!!!.

n.b. my profile not only says i only like girls, it also starts with a firm disclaimer that i do not want to hear from men i don't already know AND has testimonials from friends that i like to cut up men into small pieces when they randomly "friend" me. after pillorying them publicly.

which i am now doing, incidentally. this is a public pillorying.

ironically, i can't block his ass because i'm not his friend, so i can't see his email address.

fucker.

Flashing too much bling can get your prom cancelled

Principal cancels high school prom, because of the "financial decadence" surrounding the event.

"It is not primarily the sex/booze/drugs that surround this event, as problematic as they might be; it is rather the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake -- in a word, financial decadence," Hoagland said, fed up with what he called the "bacchanalian aspects."

I don't know how I feel about that. I think he got it backwards.

If these kids can afford it, why rain on their parade? If their parents want to spoil then for a couple of days, why be the bad guy? So these kids are affluent. Big deal. $10,000 might seem like a lot for some folks, but maybe it isn't such a large amount for Long Island private school kids - especially split 46 ways. (Hint: They paid about as much as we did for that weekend in the Fire Island rental. And we took the "affordable" option.) Besides, it's the prom. The prom is the quintessential party day for a high school kid - it's supposed to be a day of decadence. It's not like the prom happens every day. Mardi Gras only happens once a year too. It's not like people run around flashing their boobs every single day for plastic beads.

On the other hand, high school kids shouldn't be on a booze cruise or in a car stocked with liquor. It's, you know... illegal. The sex/booze/drugs aspect is probably a little more problematic than some rich dad plunking down cash for a limo. As much as I think the war on drugs is a huge waste, especially against soft drugs like marijuana, unsupervised sixteen year olds shouldn't be around these substances. Period. And no matter what I believe the drugs/booze laws should be, it's still illegal for high school students to be drinking. Wishful thinking cannot will away current laws. If you're underage and drinking, and the cop or the judge isn't feeling generous, it goes on your record. If you're underage and you're a spoiled brat with a Lexus, then you're just a spoiled brat with a Lexus. Uncle Sam doesn't care.

Yes, prom can be a little stressful. And sometimes, it is almost as if the parents are they ones competing for their little ones to be the most fabulous. (Suburban parental competition can be a little much. Rather than going into a personal account of the silliness, I'll just watch the PTA meetings on the show Weeds. Maybe I'll save my mildly embarrassing prom story fueled by my mother's weird desire to trump the debutante-type kiddies for another time.) But that's just part of the territory.

Yes, conspicuous consumption and the competition surrounding it can rub some people the wrong way, but when it comes down to it, it really isn't going to kill anyone. If you don't like it, you don't need to jump into the fray. To be honest, people who think they are morally superior, because they refrain from purchasing material items bug me. I haven't bought clothes in over a year, but if my friend wants to flash her collection of $200 jeans and Gucci pumps, more power to her. You go girl! Mmmm hmmm! People have different ways of making themselves feel better. Some people go shopping. Some people go running. Some people paint. Some people, like me, spend their disposable income on exotic spices and kitchen appliances so I can cook fancy meals from scratch. So when someone wants to shut down an event, because the outside, non-school sponsored, private after parties might have too much bling rather than shutting it down because of the possibility of something truly harmful - like possible drug/alcohol related accidents or arrests, it just bugs me, just a little bit.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:

I GOT A JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOB!

AND I'M 30 TODAY!

This guy has too much time on his hands

In a quarrel over the inclusion of African American queer leader Keith Boykin (who was ultimately snubbed) at the Millions More March in Washington, Reverend Wilson pulled something unforeseen out of his sleeve... or out of a plastic bag.

Boykin [and HRC representative Donna Payne] said Wilson then grabbed a white plastic bag and pulled out a bottle of sleeping pills and a G-string made from Pez candies strung together. He said black girls use the items to try to turn other girls into lesbians.

Ya know... there are easier ways to get a date. Like maybe going to a club or a youth center. Stringing together Pez candies and doping someone with Ambien to convert someone to lesbianism isn't exactly de rigueur. This guy is a loon.

energy troubles: a solution?

hey: dome village is always an option.

Craig Chamberlain's Omni-Sphere domes provided an innovative solution and a new kind of transitional housing for the homeless. They provide an attactive alternative to the usual "brick and mortar" or instutional type buildings which and one that is non threatening to the local community.

Omni-Spheres are 20' in diameter and 12 ' tall with an area of about 314 square feet inside. They are comprised of 21 panels and bolt easily together with 150 teflon bolts. The panels are made of a super stong polyester-fiberglass material which makes the domes extremely durable. The Omni-Sphere is water tight and maintenance free. They are quick to assemble and cam be put up in uder four hours by a team of two with no more than a step ladder, a screwdirver and a wrench. There is also an insulated version called the Survivial-Sphere which can hold the heat in sub-zero tempatures.

The Dome Village is made up of 20 of these domes on a property of about one and one-third acres. Eight domes are community-use and include a kitchen, community room, office domes, separate women’s and men’s bath facilities, and a laundry dome. The remaining domes are residential, partitioned in half and providing private living space for two individuals or a family.

...

In 2004 a new generation of the dome structure was created based on Craig Chamberlain's Omni-Sphere design. Lek Shelters has produced a version now available which [sic] is made of a new type of material that has additional insulating and other qualities.

seriously. can we get one?

Energy Troubles

our last gas bill: "Due to rising world energy costs, beginning september 1st your cost of gas increased from $0.7501 per therm to $1.2232 per therm."

that's an increase of more than sixty percent.

Gender Trouble

i came across this fantastic diary by an intersexed person at daily kos. it never ceases to amaze me that the medical establishment and parents of intersexed children are willing to subject infants to a series of radical surgeries in order to force the child into one category or another, all because of the fear that the child will be teased in school or that they will never have good, stable relationships. in fact, the surgery itself not infrequently makes it impossible for the intersexed individual to experience sexual pleasure as an adult.

if i were an adult who discovered that i had been coerced into one gender or another because it was unclear whether i was male or female at birth, i would be livid. something so fundamental as gender identification cannot be coerced, and it shouldn't be. the shame is not in the condition, it's in the way people treat it. subjecting a small child to years of unexplained trips to the doctor where their privates are examined repeatedly is a surefire way to ensure a lifetime of shame and stigma related to their gender identity and sexual function *anyway*.

oldest noodles unearthed in china

4,000 year old noodles discovered at archaeological site. yes, they are even older and drier than north carolina k-12 public school cafeteria spaghetti. imagine that!

It's Official

we've reached the end of culture:

The soap opera-like saga that followed the knee-bashing of Olympian ice princess Nancy Kerrigan 11 years ago has been adapted into a musical opera, with Kerrigan's cry of "Why me? Why me?" providing the performance's climactic moment.

... more ...

day of atonement and oprah winfrey

a conversation i had with my girlfriend yesterday after 6:17pm (sundown):

gf: go get the remote.

me: it's right next to you.

gf: it's a day of rest. i'm not supposed to do things like fetch remotes and operate electronic appliances. you're not jewish. get the remote.

me: [realizing that if i don't get the remote, no one will get the remote] okay, fine. [flips on television. "martha" is on.]

gf: rub my feet.

me: you're not supposed to do anything pleasurable.

gf: it will help me relax. i am supposed to relax and reflect spiritually on the past year.

me: you are getting a foot massage from your girlfriend and watching martha stewart get chummy with gloria estefan on TLC.

gf: after you're done with rubbing my feet, can you change the channel? oprah is coming on next. oh, and can you do the dishes? i'm not supposed to wash things either.

grim fin-headed arserape

WARREN ELLIS rides again to our dark wednesday's rescue in today's bad signal.

The New York Times' arts section today has a large feature on the new DC, home of Grim Fin-Headed Arserape. Rather than Mark Waid's happy shiny take on it -- which is essentially that once they get through all this Dark Stuff things will be lovely again -- grim fin-headed Greg Rucka is heard to say that when the fans call it too dark, it means they're scared.

(And I'm sorry, Greg, but I cannot resist the comedy of applying the prefix "grim fin-headed" now.)

They're an odd mix, the four DC guiding lights of the moment. Grant's superhero stuff operates on what he *thought* Silver Age comics were like, not what they were *actually* like. Waid talks a good happy shiny game, but his work is often remarkably bitter. Geoff Johns comes off as the classic DC "respectful" guy. Greg, as a storyteller, is incredibly egoless -- it's almost impossible to find a signature to his writing. It's a far weirder mix than it looks at first glance.

i don't write about comices much, o my henrys and em'lys, but you might have gathered from my froth-mouthed adoration of señor "happy" ellis' writing that i am, in fact, a crazed fan of the modern comic. that it to say, i have read no batman outside of arkham asylum and i have read no other "klassik komik" titles at all, i am a wild enthusiast of y: the last man, carla speed mcneil's ginormously brilliant finder (w00t! she's working with warren ellis on his next project!), our homegrown hero james kochalka (of peanut butter & jeremy and monkey versus robot fame), the original sin of preacher, global frequency - the list runs on.

brian wood is one of my favourites: his creepily predictive bush-jr.-crossed-with-atwood channel zero is one of the best. evar. and i mustn't forget that most inspirational of works, transmetropolitan, neither.

so i don't talk about the comices much. but i reads them, o yes. every month or two, i go to the (in)famous million year picnic and go on a rampage. i only like perfect-bound works, not individual comices; i can't keep the individual ones, they make me mad. (the only exception i've made to that rule is during the tortured period when joss whedon's "future slayer" series fray had one issue out every five months and i couldn't wait five years to read it. and i might buy the perfectbound now that it's out so i can lose the individual ones from Long Ago.)

yes, comices are the bomb. they make me happy. they let me escape. they are of fine quality; they catch your breath something between a television series and a good work of fiction. visuals with actual writing?!? qué milagro! in these days of shit-ass movies and rarely well-written shows, a good comic will make your smart brain happy and keep your looking-at-pritty-things brain sated as well.

oh, for more fray. joss, o joss! write me some more fray!

andrew sullivan H4XX0R3D

thanks for this discovery come via insulted.org - thanks, em2!

click on photo to zoom

EDIT

thanks to how does one deal, we now know what it was supposed to look like - until our hacker's limited bandwidth gave out, anyway! ha ha. you think the moron'd flickr under a throwaway addy or something to ensure he didn't crash his own H4XX0R

click on photo to zoom

National Coming Out Day

dear kind readers,

i would like to let you know that

I AM A BIG GIRL-FAGGOT

happy national coming out day!

no longer a desperate housewife

i received my birthday present a week early, and i'm doing cartwheels. what is it, exactly?

a 7" henckels hollow edge santoku knife. yeah, one of those knives that cost more than your last pair of shoes - and that you wish you had when you're attempting to slice anything as dense as or more dense than a carrot with a knife purchased in chinatown. "it's the one that rachel ray uses!" proclaimed my girlfriend, who was very proud that she knew which knife rachel ray uses. i don't know if rachel ray actually uses that knife, but i really don't care. the thing is SICK! i love my girlfriend! i don't care if this is a stealthy way for her to get me into the kitchen more often. the knife is SWEET!

i just sliced through an ear of corn with no trouble. i chopped up a parsnip twice as thick as my forearm with nary a "ho hum." (emily1, we totally have to cook with it! no more ghetto $5 chinatown knives!)

it would also look cool if i dressed up as a ninja and went slinking around hedges carrying that fine tool, but i'd probably get arrested. (and no i'm not angelina jolie, so the thing stays in the kitchen.)

yes, my life is exciting, isn't it? anyway, i have another interview tomorrow. week after week. same old, same old. "you have an impressive resume, but we need someone with more experience."

*yawn*

okay, back to the big pot o' stew. and my ninja weapon.

There's Not Much To Say...

except that human beings are doomed. the global warming that is melting the arctic icecaps is causing some to lick their chops eagerly, not just because it possibly opens the door to a longer shipping season and shorter routes, but because there might be oil in the arctic.

the social logic of ivy league admissions

this has been making rounds in the blogosphere.

the fifteen second overview: i'm canadian, and canadians have a pretty cool college system. then i met someone who went to harvard, and boy was he wack. that harvard thing is pretty exotic and strange, isn't it? once upon a time, harvard decided to make the admissions process a meritocracy, but then a bunch of jews and catholics and public school people streamed in, and that messed up the harvard brand. so then they started looking at other stuff, like character and fitness. like, whether you were manly. and if you were "conclusively jewish," that was bad! but if you could bounce a ball, that helps! and in the 1980s, all those asian people decided to show up and mess up the harvard brand. AIYEEE!!! shy short people with big ears suck!

update: okay, i just drank my daily dose of dunkin' donuts coffee, so i'm going to comment on this article like a normal person. there is no doubt that top colleges and universities have exercised questionable admissions policies, whether they are overt (labeling applicants "j1" for being "conclusively jewish," or the admission policy of the university of michigan that was litigated in gratz and hamacher v. univ. of michigan where automatic "pluses" and "minuses" were assigned to applicants on the basis of race) or more subtle (such as the silent quotas intended to keep asian american enrollment at top universities at a "manageable" level in the 1980s and 1990s). however, i thought the portrayal of the ivy leagues was just a little skewed.

Wherever there was one Harvard graduate, another lurked not far behind, ready to swap tales of late nights at the Hasty Pudding, or recount the intricacies of the college-application essay, or wonder out loud about the whereabouts of Prince So-and-So, who lived down the hall and whose family had a place in the South of France that you would not believe. In the novels they were writing, the precocious and sensitive protagonist always went to Harvard; if he was troubled, he dropped out of Harvard; in the end, he returned to Harvard to complete his senior thesis. Once, I attended a wedding of a Harvard alum in his fifties, at which the best man spoke of his college days with the groom as if neither could have accomplished anything of greater importance in the intervening thirty years. By the end, I half expected him to take off his shirt and proudly display the large crimson “H” tattooed on his chest. What is this “Harvard” of which you Americans speak so reverently?

don't people who were at duke and carolina reminisce about the early 90s, when both schools dominated ncaa basketball? don't they speak about the wild bacchanals after each win, as if franklin street / ninth street were still streaming with drunken revelers? speak to a carolina alum from the 1980s and mention "dean smith". his eyes will glaze over, and he will be taken back to "the good ol' days." in my home state, people wear the light blue / navy blue jerseys loudly and proudly.

as to the groom and the best man in the snippet above, why wouldn't they reminisce about their college days? reunions are always prime for rehashing a time when life was simpler and more carefree. my girlfriend always gets together with her friends from george washington, and "remember when..." is pretty much the only topic of conversation. why? because after college, people grow apart and lead separate lives. talking about those crazy times in the past reinforces the bonds of friendship. plus, the time when all your roommates got drunk and formed a six foot tall pyramid of furniture on your bed is more likely to elicit laughs than the latest project your humorless boss handed down to you in your cubicle where you spend 60% of your waking hours.

i read one L by scott turow, which documents the author's first year at harvard law school. guess what, people. i had the exact same experience at my crappy 2nd tier law school. we're all taught the exact same way (i.e. the socratic method). some professors are especially brutal, run their classes like a "cambodian death camp" (a classmate's words), and become immortalized in legend. there is always one precocious nitwit with his nose stuffed so far up the professor's ass every day that there is a good chance the professor hasn't shit all semester. people can be stressed out, desperate, and backbiting. it's the same old, same old, same old at every school.

anyway, i think the author buys into the myth of the ivy leagues, when there really isn't anything exotic or special about these old colleges in the northeast except they are ranked high on the u.s. and news and world report. so here's the deal. yeah, i went to harvard. we slept in, streaked, skipped class, blew things up in chem lab because we weren't paying attention - we had to commandeer the cd changer since the other students were playing crappy music, ate crappy food in the dining hall, drank crappy beer that foamed up because we were stupid enough to roll kegs down the hall, sat around drinking said crappy beer all night gossiping about dormmates, did nothing all semester until finals, traded files over the internet, went dancing, dated, mated, and battled roaches and other vermin in the residence halls. sound familiar? and yeah, we went to the hasty pudding. it's just a building, like the astrodome. we went to the harvard/yale game, just like duke and carolina students go to duke/carolina basketball games.

and we reminisce about college, because we had a good time in college. just like you.

that christian thing again...

this michigan senator makes rick santorum seem like a care bear.

all right, someone give me an answer. if the ministry of jesus christ supposedly superseded the old laws, why do christians obsess about that one squib in the book of leviticus?

a random story

were my parents insane for allowing me to hang a spuds mackenzie poster on my wall when i was 12? i just thought it was cool that a dog was riding a surfboard. i don't think it even occurred to me that spuds was a beer-selling mascot for anheuser-busch. even if i had been drawn to the product, beer was pretty disgusting to me until i was in college.

i had my first real drink when i was around 19, which is a lot later than most people. i was at a random leverett house party, and people were mixing drinks. i had never seen most of the liquor before, so i had no idea what goldschlager, jagermeister, absolut, or triple sec meant. i didn't want to look like a complete moron, so i just mixed goldschlager (hey, the gold flecks were cool) and cranberry juice together. some guy looked at me and said, "um... that's interesting." i probably should have taken that as a sign NOT to lift the cup to my lips, but i did so anyway. the taste of acidic jet fuel met my palate, but i continued to drink it, because you know, you just don't throw away alcohol if you're underage. plus, i didn't want to be "that stupid freshman" who mixed goldschlager and cranberry juice out of ignorance, and spat it out everywhere in horror (which was exactly what i wanted to do).

needless to say, i never mixed that concoction again.

then i learned to brew beer a year later, and it was all over!

pat robertson gets jiggy with it again

jesus is coming! look busy!

okay, listen. this little rock on which we live has continuously vomited, shivered, shaken, pissed, and has even been beaned with galactic baseballs. even before that hippie rabbi showed up and made birkenstocks famous.

on an unrelated note regarding religious insanity, some people think madonna is gonna get bitch-slapped by the heavens! run, biatch, run!

the nerdy klingon paladin

OKCupid has the strangest tests. This one amused me, because while I get a kick out of the Klingons, I hardly see myself as one. But maybe that's the point?

* * * * *

What Trek Character Type Are U?
Written by Emperor_Caine

Klingon

You scored 48% on these questions! (That's not a bad thing, mind you.

Aggressive, straightforward & strong-willed, that's you!

If Klingons ever decided to invade our planet, they'd probably want to breed with you. Not that it's a bad thing. Well, maybe.

* * * * *

On the other hand, I do have that troll blood on my Irish side innit. What with the urge to roast a nice baby and live in cold, damp places near to water.

HOWEVER, given the results of the next test, I have to wonder if perhaps the Klingon assumption is a bit accurate.

* * * * *

The RPG Class Test
Written by MFlowers)

Smart Paladin

59% Combativeness, 16% Sneakiness, 88% Intellect, 63% Spirituality

Valorous! Noble! Or possibly just a self-righteous jerk (but with the brains to keep you alive!)... You are a Smart Paladin!

Paladins are holy warriors. They are valorous defenders of the light. Unfortunately, most of them are so ardent in their defense they tend to meet sticky ends faster than you can say "rampaging red dragon". Many people look up to paladins, while others just consider them stuck-up, overbearing, or self-righteous.

Fortunately for you, unlike most you are pretty smart, which means that you're more likely to fall into the "admired" category rather than the "obnoxious" or "dead" categories.

Much like the Crusades, you manage to combine violence and religion, though unlike the Crusades, you add a healthy dose of intelligence. You may be a staunch defender of the faith, a valorous champion of the weak or the stuff that jihads are made of. Whichever you are, just be happy that you’ve got the smarts to back it up and make it work.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 66% on Combativeness You scored higher than 0% on Sneakiness You scored higher than 66% on Intellect You scored higher than 83% on Spirituality

On the other hand, I'm also apparently a WICKED NERD: What type of girl are you?!! You scored as Nerdy Girl Nerdy Girl 94% Loser 75% Goth 56% Hippy 50% Slut 50% Athletic Tomboy 31% Popular Bitch 6% Preppy Girl 0%

our commander in chief hears voices

from Haaretz

"God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East..."

if i were to pick a commander in chief who hears voices from god, i'd rather have joan of arc. she was infinitely more successful. however, i doubt the american people would agree with my suggestion. first of all, she's dead. but the more serious liability is that she is french. that would never fly.

and now i am hearing voices telling me to go to dunkin' donuts. mmm... donuts.

can't stop the gay posts!

in taiwan, queer activists march down the streets of taipei. actually, i just wanted to point out this guy's name: vodka wang. his name is VODKA WANG. rockin'!

harry potter is a big ol' queer!

not to be outdone. ;)

condi rice is a big ol' dyke!

just when you thought it was safe to mock the beltways with intimations of faggotry...

Is Condoleeze Rice a lesbian - and was Fox News correspondent James Rosen trying to fix her up on a date with "Fox & Friends" anchor Lauren Green?

The former Miss Minnesota is "single" and "beautiful," Rosen said, encouraging the secretary of state to get in touch.

The September 27 interview from Port au Prince, Haiti, started out seriously enough, with Rice expounding on Haitian elections and security, but the end of the interview took an interesting turn.

more.

n.b. can i note how creepy it is that Faux Nudes has a show called Fox & Friends? c'mon, people. WTF is that?

kelo revisited

so ya think the kelo decision only hurts those living in blighted communities and the working class? think again. state governments are now emboldened to exercise eminent domain over anyone. if new jersey is considering exercising eminent domain over this rich muthafucka because he didn't agree with their suggestions for developers, what makes you think the middle class is safe? then again, it's new jersey, where corruption is a virtue.

okay, lemme ask a question. why is the broad reading of eminent domain powers associated with liberal thought? i mean, these are jersey democrats considering exercising eminent domain over this dude. also, the "liberal" members of the supreme court were the ones who decided kelo in the first place. even if you're the leftiest of lefties and you believe that seizing things for the "public good" is justified, how does taking land to benefit private developers advance the "public good"? can someone explain this to me before my head pops?

nasty, brutish & short

No arts, no letters, no society & which is worst of all, continual fear & danger of violent death & the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish & short. — Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

overuse of hobbes' quote makes citation of it inane, even trite, but it seems a decent jumping-off point for the subject at hand.

the subject at hand is our most ancient precessors &/or ancestors here in the new world, the so-called palæo-indians. since 1996 and the discovery of kennewick man and the ensuing battle over how and why you can repatriate the body of an almost 10k year-old human to a modern tribe for reburial under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the issue of the palæo-indian peoples has been a sharp one for scientists and laypersons alike.

i'm not going to delve into this issue today except to observe that while we must respect the bones of our dead, and there has been widespread looting of recent ancestral burials by non-native peoples, the situation starts to become ludicrous once you pass, oh, say, 3000 years, and an utterly untenable situation when dealing with the pre-5000 BCE (7k ago) specimens.

*ahem*

the skeletons discovered in north and south america that date back to before 5000 BCE do not resemble those of modern native peoples. in fact, reconstructions of the skulls of these persons using modern techniques used to reconstruct the faces of anonymous murder victims for identification show that, for example, kennewick man looks superficially like patrick stewart. (see top photo; the next one shows a computer-generated image complete with potential hairstyles.) this is not to say kennewick man was european. please do not misunderstand: i merely wish to point out that what we find in the palæo-americas is a wide range of physical appearances, of which there are many highly-distinct groups, none of which close onto modern native types.

in fact, there are more similarities between modern native peoples of the new world and any other group than between the palæo-indian groups and the post-5000 BCE populations. it seems the earliest settlers of the new world were independent and variable ethnic groups that arrived from asia, perhaps in north america most closely related to the prehistoric jomon people of japan (such as the yemishi, the 'native' people of the main character of princess mononoke) and premodern ainu. overwhelmingly large noses, tiny faces and long skulls, as well as long limbs showing they had not adapted to cold environments over time, are the commonalities in north america; in south america, we find an entirely separate norm, one that closes in on the populations of certain subsaharan african groups (which is also not a suggestion that the new world was colonised from africa).

genetics and DNA demonstrate that there remain previously unexpected mtDNA groups in modern native populations; one group is only found after 5000 BCE and is far and away the dominant group found in modern native peoples of north america.

here, i come back around again the topic i wish to discuss today in my famously circular zilchist way: nasty, brutish & short. what do the skeletal analyses of these earliest inhabitants of the new world show us?

first, while i do not claim the moral statement of brutish, clearly brutal applies. the bodies of menfolk show a remarkable similarity to those of two other populations: those of the neandertal and those of rodeo riders. this indicates that palæo-indians suffered terrible physical wounds. in the case of palæo-indians, these apparently stem from violent encounters with animals - but in the case of the americas, this was due to an appalling level of interpersonal violence between males rather than from prey animals or playing up close with bulls and horses. james chatters, who first worked on kennewick man's skeleton, describes in his book ancient encounters : kennewick man and the first americans the startling facts:

Injury in 67 percent of the men is a remarkably high proportion for hunting and gathering peoples. In fact, in a study of 209 skeletons from southern France, who died from 10,000 to 100,000 years ago, Mary Brennan, a New York University doctoral student, found just five fractures, only two of which were in anatomically modern humans. (p.208)

[snip]

[T]he pattern suggests that the large, dangerous animals with whom these fellows were interacting violently may have been other men. (p.210)

in fact, kennewick man himself was the worst-injured of all the skeletons:

Although he may have been healthy early in life, Kennewick Man seems to have had a rough time in adolescence and adulthood. I have seen only one man with more injuries. That unfortunate, a modern forensic case, had been in a helicopter crash during the Vietnam War, a head-on collision between a motorcycle and semitruck after he recovered from the war injuries, and at least one later accident. Then he had been beaten to death by a neighbor.

As I looked over Kennewick Man's remains, I saw a man who had been damaged almost as badly. Starting from his head and working down, the defects were a small depression in the left forehead, damaged and healing bone in the left temple, arthritis in the upper neck, a chip off the socket of the shoulder blade, at least six broken ribs, injuries to the left elbow, and finally the most unusual injury, the spear point in his hip. (130)

all of these injuries, mind you, were healed except for the chip off the shoulder, an injury i myself sustained playing varsity men's lacrosse in high school (FYI i received this injury while blocking the charge of an opposing team's prized player, whom we nicknamed "thor" because he was like 6'13" and had a full, flowing yellow beard that reached down his chest. in high school.)

kennewick man lived half his life with a long stone spearpoint running in one side of his hip and out the other, constantly leaking pus and blood out of a well-established 'drainage channel' and undoubtedly stinking like rotting meat. he could not use his left arm well, probably due to nerve damage, and those broken ribs never healed properly, sustained perhaps by the kick of an elk or by a particularly horrific "sabre"-style cut. every breath meant his ribs collapsed inwards along the line of the injury, causing terrible burning pain.

now for short. consider again chatters' writings:

[T]he average age at death for males who had survived early adolescence was thirty-two to forty years. [snip]

Women did not fare so well. Their remains show few bone-damaging injuries or infections but [...] [t]heir average ages at death [...] were between 18.8 and 23.3 years. Only two women, from Gordon Creek and Whitewater Draw, Arizona, appear to have been older than twenty-five, and none reached what we would now call middle age.

I have no idea what killed them but infections - of the bladder, or related to childbirth - are perhaps strong possibilities. It is also possible that the technology of these early peoples placed a disproportionate amount of physical stress on the women. Moving camp frequently, carrying equipment and a young child, cannot have been easy for mothers in the societies of early America. (211)

ah, short. the lives of women sucked, it appeared. their livespans were half that of men.

which leads to a point i've wanted to observe all along: without children, societies cannot survive. it is likely that better-adapted people from similar environments in asia were able to replace the ancients, leaving little evidence they ever existed as a unique population, simply because the population was barely holding its own. estimates of childbirth show that, with infant mortality estimated at 1/4, reproductive success for a woman was about 2.08 children under those circumstances. that's barely sufficient to replace the existing population!

in fact, some believe the high levels of violence among men was directly due to a resource shortage - that specifically being living women.

i can't imagine what life was like for women of that period. certainly in the historic period, we find north american women with significant independent power and respect - there's no coincidence that the birth of the women's movement was in seneca falls, nor that the american democratic system appears to have been influenced by the league of the iroquois. but when women died at twenty and were worth dying over, they must have been treated terribly, as possessions guarded jealously.

so that's it. i wanted to pick up a moment in time, a long one in this case, and lay it out for you: life in palæo-america, between arrival (perhaps 12500 years ago) and the appearance of the "A-haplogroup" modern peoples in about 5000 BCE from a cold, north asian homeland similar to that of north america.

questions, comments?

the srebnica massacre remains unresolved

things that make me off my breakfast in the news today are plentiful. at the top of the list - which is looooooong - is this one.

Srebrenica massacre list compiled

The Bosnian Serb government has drawn up a list of 19,473 Serb soldiers who operated in the region of Srebrenica at the time of the massacre there in 1995.

The secret list, compiled since 2003, includes almost 900 people still thought to be working for the Bosnian Serb government, army or police. [emphasis mine -ed.]

It will be forwarded to the state prosecutor's office for review.

More than 7,000 Muslim men and boys died when Bosnian Serb troops overran the UN-protected enclave in 1995.

[snip]

Authorities have pledged to investigate the roles of the 892 people who are still understood to be holding official positions in the autonomous Bosnian Serb republic.

The list is also supposed to provide Bosnian prosecutors with a fuller picture of how the crimes were perpetrated.

The head of the Bosnian Serb army at the time, Ratko Mladic, and his civilian counterpart, Radovan Karadzic, have been charged with genocide over Srebrenica. But they remain fugitives thought to be hiding in Bosnia or neighbouring Serbia and Montenegro.

The massacre in eastern Bosnia is considered the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II. [emph. mine -ed.]

announced on the second day of rama6aan, no less. it's been ten years since this anti-bosnian/anti-muslim pogrom, and the bodies are still being identified and reburied and their killers remain IN POWER. as the latter article says,

DNA samples are being used to put names to the remains of as many as possible of the 8,000 Bosnian Muslims killed and dumped in mass graves by the Serbs 10 years ago this month.

[snip]

One of the scientists leading the task is Dr Eva Klonowski, a forensic anthropologist born in Poland who later took political refuge in Iceland. Her name has just been added to the list on a joint application called 1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005.

i can't go into the other things, it's too much for one emily.

Reason #495756261721734 I Won't Vote For Republicans

jesus h. christ on a stick.

harriet miers is a big ol' dyke

the speculation has started. maybe that other prominent older bachelorette among bush's cronies is a big ol' dyke too! wow, every single older woman MUST BE A BIG OL' DYKE! help! someone call the pope! tell that big ol' queen in the shiny hat to say something!

more inappropriate theological musings

yo, welcome to the year 5766, bitches. to celebrate, some of my non-jewish friends will come over and watch harold and kumar go to white castle, a film where harold and kumar's jewish friends smoke weed out of a shofar. that gives new meaning to the phrase "high holidays."

anyway, so emily0 says that rosh hashanah applies to humans, critters and crushingly boring legal agreements. so i has a question, foos. does yom kippur also apply to critters? do your dogs have to refrain from partaking in the consumption of kibbles and bits? if so, i have come upon a brilliant plan for easing into the delicate art of child rearing. hear me out.

so my girlfriend has been talking about these future incarnations of rugrats, and said rugrats are to be raised in the jewish tradition. now, i'm thinking there should be baby steps before the baby steps, know what i'm sayin'? like, start small. like a pet. if we can take care of a goldfish, then we move up to a hamster. if we can take care of a hamster, we move up to a guinea pig. next is a puppy. and then, perhaps a small human being. however, if the pet dies, we don't move forward.

so if animals are also required to respect the high holidays, here's what's gonna happen. we start with a goldfish. on yom kippur, the goldfish gets no food or water. we empty the fishbowl and put it on the countertop from sundown to sundown. if it survives, then we move up to a hamster, and then up the chain. if it dies, then we get another goldfish and try again. (come to think of it, maybe the goldfish should also celebrate purim. replace the fishbowl water with beer and see if it lives.)

ha ha, okay. i'm JUST KIDDING! happy holidays!

New Year, Ramadan

ya'lLâh,

Sundown today marks the arrival of ראש השנה (Ro'sh hash-Shånåh), the Jewish New Year for "people, animals and legal contracts", which begins the 10-day period called "the High Holidays" in English and "The Days of Awe" in Hebrew.

Sundown today also marks the arrival (in North America) of رمضان (Rama'9ân, or "Ramadan"), a month devoted to fasting, prayer and good will. It ends on 3 November with a spectacular holiday, عيد الفطر ("Eid ul-Fitr" 3îdu-'lFi6r), the first day of the next lunar month.

If you practice either of these traditions, happy holidays!

the tenth planet in the solar system and its moon

are named xena and gabrielle, at least for the time being. XENA AND GABRIELLE?! ha ha ha.

books!

auction today & tomorrow! check it out! click on image for more info! catalog available here!