The Cody News (May 31, 2005)

Bush Reaffirms Confidence in Iraq Gov't
ABC News - 1 hour ago
New Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza, left, meets with US President Bush in the Oval Office of the White House ...
Yeah, yeah, I agree, things are indeed coming along there pretty well, all things considered (you know, destroying one government and replacing it with another is never exactly "easy"), but then again -- what's Bush supposed to say, "Things are terrible and we're in big trouble?" I don't think so.

France's big 'non!' rattles Europeans
San Francisco Chronicle, CA - 6 hours ago
Paris -- The shock waves of France's rejection of a constitution for Europe reverberated throughout the continent Monday. Britain ...
Oh boy. Regardless of whether the EU itself survives, how incredible is the length of time no major European wars and the utter cooperation between these long, long time enemies? It's a frickin amazing time to be alive, people!

Russia's Khodorkovsky jailed for 9 years, to appeal
ABC News - 1 hour ago
Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky (2nd R) is escorted from the court after his trial in Moscow, May 31, 2005. Khodorkovsky ...
Put another way: From one crony to another: Ha! We have more guns and power. Off to prison with you!

Canada Red Cross Pleads Guilty of HIV Blood Use
Prensa Latina, Cuba - 2 hours ago
... May 31 (Prensa Latina) The Red Cross in Canada has pleaded guilty to supplying contaminated blood which infected thousands of Canadians with HIV and hepatitis C ...
Oh dear god. What a nightmare. I used to date a woman who's father was a hemophiliac and he'd been infected with HIV in a blood transfusion back in the 1980s. Just a nightmare for everyone.

Of Cranberry Juice and Happy Endings

And speaking of jokingly lamenting about illegal activities -- I've almost never even been propositioned by a hooker. In fact, when I was at UNM in Albuquerque in the mid 1990s, I really was never sure if those women in their horrid outfits on Central were prostitutes or not.

I think the first time one of my friends ever admitted interacting with a hooker was on a trip to play Hawaii with the UNM Lobo basketball team. One of our best players -- who was a wild partying kinda guy -- came back from a late night out telling us about how he'd been talking to the "most beautiful hooker" he'd ever seen. He said midway through the conversation "she" told him she was a man (yeah, like the great Kinks song), but he didn't believe her. So, he told us, he reached in her pants and did indeed find...well, you know. Have to wonder how much of that story is true vs. oh-what-was-that-Irish- movie-where-the-guy-finds- out-too-late-that- that-woman-is-a-man thing?

Anyway, until a couple years ago, I'd never once been propositioned, at least that I knew of. Then one night after drinks after watching my friend, Neil, in a show on Broadway, I'd decided to walk home to sober up a little bit. As I walked through mid-town at like 1am on a Thursday night, a car pulls up next to sidewalk and the window rolls down. Like a good citizen should, I step over to the car figuring somebody's needing directions or something. Nope, some nasty ass lady asks me if I "want to party". Uh, no thanks.

Believe it or not, by the time I got back to my apartment in the 60s on the east side, I'd been propositioned two more times! From zero to three in one night!

The only other time I've been propositioned that I know of was one early evening also in midtown Manhattan. My friend and I were walking out of a hotel, and some pretty, young woman asks us if we're "looking for a good time". We weren't but I was curious how much it'd cost, so I asked. I don't remember her answer.

A friend of mine who does frequent hookers when he's traveling told me one night when we were at a hotel bar in Manhattan (he travels to Manhattan, which is one of the places he frequents them) told me that the best way to tell if a woman's a hooker is if she orders a cranberry juice, no alcohol in it. Wonder if that's true. Never seen a woman order a cranberry juice no alcohol that I can recall anyway.

Finally, I do love getting massages (needing one right now, actually, as my neck is killing me this morning), and I've been to many different places in NYC and have had massages in New Orleans, Puerto Rico and other places. Never once, not one single time, has anyone ever offered me the "happy ending". Like my lament about the homeless drug dealer below -- it's not that I'd accept it anyway. But couldn't they at least offer it?!

Then again, maybe, like the cranberry juice, they are offering it, and I just never picked up on whatever the underground signal is.

Hacker Hunters Unite!

Good article from Bizweek about cybercrime.

What a crock: The FBI will spend just $150 million of a $5 billion fiscal 2005 budget on cybercrime -- not including personnel -- in spite of its being given the third-highest priority. (Terrorism and counterintelligence come first.)

That's 3% of their non-personnel budget. Meanwhile, the government puts a gun to our head to make sure we recycle those plastic bottles so the mafia (that the FBI uses, I'm sure, much more than 3% of their budget to chase) can boost those garbage collection margins.

Needing a New Barber...er, Hairstylist

Speaking of illegal drugs, I sometimes jokingly lament how I've almost never been even offered drugs in my life (older brother trying to get me to smoke pot with him when I was 12 or whatever notwithstanding). I mean, I do happen to wear my heart on my sleeve most of the time so maybe people who know me just know that I'm not interested or something.

But a few weeks ago, I was in Washington Square Park watching my boy, James Altucher destroy some wannabe chess players, when some homeless-looking dude sitting across from me at a vacant chess table hollers out to somebody walking by, "Yo, come over here, I know you're looking for me."

So some dude comes over and sits next to this homeless-looking dude. "How much?" he asks? Homeless guy says, "Five."

"Okay," says the other guy. Homeless guy: "Scoot over here close, man. Closer. Closer, I don't want nobody seeing nothing."

Now, I, as this supposedly worldly experienced and traveled person, start freaking out, thinking these two guys were about to engage in some discreet sexual act or something! I mean, I had no idea, all I knew was some guy was scooting in really closely to the guy across from me for five bucks. So I like get up and am trying to watch James as I walk away from that bench.

Then the homeless dude's customer gets up and the homeless guy starts hollering at someone else. And I finally get it -- he's dealing some sorta drug. I sit back down and watch James play a couple games over a 15 minute or so span of time. I'm sitting there in jeans, a jean jacket and some trendy T-shirt with my long hair and all. And would you believe, the homeless guy must have done 3 or 4 deals in that time span...yet he never bothered to even ask me if I were interested (I wouldn't have been, of course, but, come on, how could he not even ask!)

In the be-careful-what-you-wish-for category, a couple weeks ago my hairstylist (gawd, I can't bring myself to call that guy a barber, you know? Too trendy, and all -- what have I become...a metrosexual? Alas, I digress.) tells me story after story while he's cutting my locks about him doing coke and "banging" customers and students in the neighborhood. I suppose that was my cue to ask for drugs. I didn't. And I won't be going back there again. I wonder why he thought I'd be interested.

Anybody know a good barber?

Legal vs. Illegal Drugs -- Hard to Tell the Difference Sometimes

Either the several obnoxiously loud and irritating people at the Starbucks in LA that I've stopped at for a couple hours are all having triple shots in the no fat lattes....or there must be an H/coke dealer around the corner.

Fascinating Article About Blogs

Paper's Aim: Building Blog For Success

The blog revolution continues.

Calling Star Wars Fanatacism Like He Sees It

http://seanism.com/dlarea/?action=watch&id=43

Gets a little old by the end, but hilarious overall.

The Cody News (May 20, 2005)

US protests British tabloid's photos of captive Saddam
Globe and Mail - 3 hours ago
London — The US military condemned on Friday the publication of photographs showing Saddam Hussein in his prison cell, including of him only his underwear. Friday's publication in Britain's mass circulation ...
These photos seem to me to be a rather clear violation of the Geneva convention. Horrid that they were taken and worse that they were published. Even as we all know that Saddam is guilty of mass murder and should be put to death.

Interest groups pick at stalemate on filibuster
San Francisco Chronicle - 52 minutes ago
Washington -- Senators commonly refer to each other as distinguished. This week, the distinguished Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., compared Democrats to assassins. The distinguished Minority Leader Harry ...
Shame on both parties for politicizing our court system.

Uzbekistan rejects international probe
ISN - 1 hour ago
ISN SECURITY WATCH (20/05/05) - Despite mounting pleas for an international investigation into the bloody crackdown last week against an anti-government demonstration, Uzbek President Islam Karimov on Thursday rejected the idea. ..
Never a good sign when someone rejects a probe into something like deaths.

New Perelman blow to Morgan Stanley
Times Online - 43 minutes ago
By Tom Bawden. MORGAN STANLEY suffered a further setback last night after the billionaire financier Ron Perelman won his second damages claim from the investment bank this week, bringing the total payout that he is due to $1.45 billion (£790 million). ...
I can't get over the irony of how this Perelman creep, who's washed more shareholders and ditributed more money into his own pockets in questionably ethical ways than even Anti-Ethics poster child, Donald Trump, is getting paid for MWD idiocy.

Netscape 8 Goes From Zero Bugs To 41 In Just Hours
WebProNews - 55 minutes ago
So much for the highly-touted cross-site scripting, or phishing, security measures. But the update to Netscape 8.0.1 makes it as safe as Firefox 1.0.4. What exactly were the beta testers doing? After a lengthy ...
Yeah, open source is the answer to all the world's problems. Not.

More sleep, less TV fends off child obesity -study
Reuters AlertNet, UK - 14 hours ago
By Patricia Reaney. LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - Scientists have drawn up a check-list of early warning signs of child obesity, among ..
Cause...or effect? Does more sleep, less TV fend off child obesity. Or do non-fat kids simply sleep more and watch less TV because they're so active?

Bringing a New Word to the Trash Talking Lexicon

If you're offended by the the manor in which certain words are formed when describing certain acts, also known as cussing, please stop right here and don't finish this post.


------------------------------



But, out on the street courts Wednesday night with some older kids, we were talking trash to each other, and of course, everyone is still using the ol', "Beeatch" term when talking trash. As in, "Go ahead and try to bring that shit in here, beeeatch."

So at some point, after I scored and I was in the middle of making three threes in a row from the top of the key in a game of 21, I was talking some trash to someone who was saying I couldn't make the third one. So I said, as I released it: "Give it up, punk. You can lick my beeawls."

We all cracked up and used that saying the rest of the night. I think it's a keeper.

"Beeawls"

And yes, I won the game against these HS seniors. And no, I can't throw games against even kids, as I don't ever want to let losing get in my head if I don't have to. LOL Sorta' kidding. Sorta.

60, Going on 15

My mom crashing her own 60th birthday party in White Sands, NM. I only hope I'm having that kind of fun when I turn 60. Rock on, mom!

PS. Sore neck aside, Mom's fine. I told her a jarring action like that is probably good for both the body and the soul anyway. And how about the timing of this picture!

Exceptions to Being Anti-Recycle

Given that there'll be a paucity of posts for the next couple weeks, as I'm subbing for the good Reverend Shark this week and will be on the road next....here are a few of the most popular recent posts on the site:

Protectionism is the New Racism

Hunter S Thompson: The Original Blogger

Denim is the New Black

Subsidies Don't Help; Punishing Litterbugs Does

60, Going on 42

Cody Jams On Friday (April 1, 2005)

But don't worry, stay tuned, I'll have more anecdotes and social rants like the one below.

P.S. I'll explain that title soon too.

The Supreme F and Avoiding Confrontation Thru Respect

So I'd put in a 65 hour work week by last Friday night, and I was beat. I went out for a workout and then stopped at my favorite Mexican food restaurant in NYC on the way home for a take out order. I go there all the time and the owners is from New Mexico, so I've gotten to be friends with her. She pours me a big ol' classic margarita (rocks, no salt) and I'm sitting at the bar waiting for my food when some ridiculously drunk dude sitting next to me taps my shoulder.

He slurs something out about the size of the margarita and we chat a little bit when I mention that I'm from New Mexico. He's like, "You must have had a tough time being raised there."

Me, realizing where this is going: "Uh, gotcha." And I turn away hoping to stop the conversation.

Him: "I'm saying, bro. You know all the Mexicans. That must have been tough. I've been to New Mexico, man. I know."

Me: "Listen, dude, let's drop this. I've had a long week, I just want to chill with my tequila." And I turn away again.

Him: "Look, man, I'm not trying to be racist, you know? And if you don't get that you're stupid."

Oh yeah, the "you're stupid" comment.

Me: "Excuse me?"

Him: "You're stupid."

Ever notice how final and aggressive it sounds when you put "the" in front of "F#*k"? It's not just any adjective that way. Not when you put "the" in front of it and make it noun. This ain't no gerand. This is the supreme F. The one and only F. As in...

Me: "You better just shut the F up. Just back the F up and let's drop this."

Him, now a little nervous (you know, mainly cuz I put "the" in front of F, meaning that we're not messing around anymore): "Dude, can't you see I'm just trying to play with you a little bit?"

Me (feeling nervous myself and feeling adrenalin flowing through my veins): "Can't you see I don't want to be played with? And can't you respect that?"

Ah, the respect term. Amazing how powerful asking someone to respect your wishes can be. This guy immediately said, "Yeah, you're right." and turned away, leaving me alone. I finished my drink, got my food and tapped him on the shoulder giving him a friendly nod as I walked out and went home.

Coulda been worse -- coulda ended up in a physical fight.

Coulda been better -- I didn't have the energy to fight for what was right at that moment (discussing the nuances of racism and what not), which probably would have been a waste anyway, as the guy really was hammered.

Tough Two Weeks

I'm gonna be subbing in for the good Reverand Shark on Realmoney.com for the next few days and then I'm gonna be in LA next week. I'm afraid I probably won't get The Cody News out for the next couple weeks, but I will post a personal story or social rant or some such on occassion. So stay tuned.

Why To Go Salads Can't Go Mainstream

For a span of a few years, from 1995 to 1998 or so I didn't drink cokes or eat candy bars. Sugar was the enemy, and I ate very healthy in general.

Then one day I had lunch with a good friend of mine and his father. The two of them are two of the coolest and most fun dudes I know. His father, a 60ish years old guy, says to me, "You know there's just nothing better to wash a lunch down than a classic ol' coke." So I ordered a coke. And I haven't eaten as healthy ever since (though I still am far on the "healthy" side of the spectrum).

Anyway, lately, I've been cutting the cokes back out and even trying to eat more salad. Today I bought this stupid salad for lunch and it's so frickin overstuffed in the container that when I open it, veggies spill all over my desk. I kept spilling it (and the vinegar dressing) all over my desk and computer with every bite. Had to throw like half the salad out just to make it manageable. Ugh.

Every time they do that. Is there some law that says they have to stuff those packages with twice as many veggies as they should?

Roast beef sammich, anyone?

The Cody News (May 12, 2005)

UK politician targeted by US Senate is local hero
Wired News - 50 minutes ago
By Peter Graff. LONDON (Reuters) - To the US Senate he may have been receiving favors from Saddam Hussein, but to the inner London voters who elected him to parliament last week, George Galloway is the only one who speaks their language. ...
What an utter crock that these entities like the UN shift billions upon billions of dollars from taxpayers around the world into their cronies pockets -- and the public doesn't grasp how out of control it is.

N. Korea unloads nuclear fuel rods
Berkshire Eagle - 42 minutes ago
By James Brooke. TOKYO -- North Korea said yesterday it has removed 8,000 spent fuel rods from a nuclear reactor, a step that could provide the communist state with more plutonium for nuclear weapons. "The ...
Gulp.

Gates sees mobile phones overtaking iPods - paper
Reuters - 1 hour ago
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Microsoft founder Bill Gates sees mobile phones overtaking MP3s as the top choice of portable music player, and views the raging popularity of Apple's iPod player as unsustainable, he told a German newspaper. ...
What's he supposed to say? "Apple's won the digital music wars before we even got on the battlefield"?

Michael Jackson never molested me: Culkin
CBC News - 2 hours ago
SANTA MARIA, CALIF. - Actor Macaulay Culkin denied that pop star Michael Jackson ever abused him as he took the stand at Jackson's child molestation trial Wednesday. Culkin, who is now 24, made many visits ...
Jon Stewart's Daily Show is sorta' the model for most of these blogs that pull headlines and then bashes them. Jon commented the other day that if your best defense in a child molestation trial is that you've slept with lots of other children whom you didn't molest....well, you might have problems with that defense.

Birth Month Could Determine When Menopause Hits
WBAL Channel.com - 2 hours ago
Italian researchers found women born in March have the earliest age of menopause at 48. It is years later for women born around October. For them, menopause starts at about age 50. The findings, published ...
This just in -- the month that you're born in determines your personality type too. Really. For example, I was born in late August, and some researchers over the past few thousand years have determined that makes me :

have an eye for detail and good powers of discrimination. Your intellectual ability, loyalty, honesty, flair for analysis, and love of work marks you as an expert in your chosen profession. A sense of harmony comes from doing something useful, preferably for others. Although you give the impression of being unemotional, reserved and cool, in reality you have a kind heart and a real sense of service - more so than most! Hygiene in all things is another strong point. On the negative side, you can be finicky, worried over trivia, highly strung, inhibited and unable to relax or relate to others in a balanced way. Your main task is one of overcoming hyper criticism and learning to relax in order to rule out any possibility of nervous or physical strain.
Career
Likely occupations are all professions related to writing, scientific work, psychology, or all businesses dependent upon analysis.
Love
You are very attractive sexually because you have an aura of quiet strength but this doesn't hide a fiery passion underneath as expected. Despite this you are affectionate and make an excellent lover but need a partner who is satisfied by an immaculate performance with no emotions. Although unemotional you are faithful and once in a relationship you expect your partner to become part of the plans you have mapped out for yourself.

Scientists around the world unite!

The Cody News (May 11, 2005)

White House, Capitol evacuated
USA Today - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — The White House and the Capitol Building were evacuated about noon Wednesday after a small plane entered restricted airspace, but the evacuation was lifted about 20 minutes later. A senior law ...
I wish I could say that I think worrying about stuff like this is silly. But my stomach drops and I get very tense everytime news like this hits.

White House focus on N.Korea returning to talks
Reuters AlertNet - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - The United States is focused on having North Korea return to six-party talks to curb its nuclear ambitions and provocative actions only further isolate Pyongyang, the White House said on Wednesday. ...
Amazing how long we continue to go without a nuclear accident. Statistically, it's pretty much just a matter of time -- hopefully centuries though.

By definition, a terrorist
San Francisco Chronicle - 5 hours ago
WHEN is a terrorist not a terrorist? When he's an anti-Castro "freedom fighter'' hiding in Florida. The White House should lose no time in deporting Luis Posada Carriles, a prime suspect in the midair bombing ...
This man, if he's guilty, is a treacherous murderer. The guilty party(ies) for these mass murders have forfeited their right to life and should be put to death. Agreed -- by definition, a terrorist.

Swedish teen suspected in Cisco source code theft
Globetechnology.com - 5 hours ago
Authorities in Sweden had detained a person for stealing Cisco Systems Inc.'s source code, the basic instructions for the machines that direct Internet traffic around the globe, the company said yesterday. ...
Another crime that should be severely punished.

Arena obesity drug yields good data
BusinessWeek - 5 hours ago
MAY. 11 7:51 AM ET Biopharmaceutical company Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Wednesday that obese patients taking the highest dose of its weight-loss drug candidate in a mid-stage clinical trial lost significantly ...
I know I'll get in trouble with you readers for this one....but come on. The ridiculous percentage of obese Americans isn't a medical problem that should be treated with drugs. You know it, and I know it. How about watching what we eat and doing something active on a regular basis? Email barrage begins now.

Cisco Kid is Jam of the Day

The Cody News coming up in a bit. In the meantime though...

I've got a big position in Cisco Systems, which reported last night. Gonna be listening to Los Lonely Boys' and Michael Brown's covers of War's "Cisco Kid" and Sublime's own wacky "Cisco Kid" song too.

Forwent (love that word) the latte for a cup o' joe from the steet this morning.

The Cody News (May 10, 2005)

Russia, EU Strike Partnership Accord
Washington Post - 3 hours ago
By HENRY MEYER. MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and top European Union leaders hope a new partnership accord will draw a line over an acrimonious year since the EU expanded further into Russia's traditional sphere of influence. ..
Colloboration and partnerships around the developed world. I rightly complain about how messed up most of these deals are, but on the other hand...does anyone else out there realize how amazing it is that we've gone nearly 2 generations without a major war in Europe?

Similarly:
Remember the Kremlin
Washington Post - 54 minutes ago
By Howard Kurtz. There was a time when a meeting, any meeting, between the POTUS and the leader of Russia would be the top story across the media landscape. That's no longer the case, and only in part because ...

Similarly:

Xinhua

North Korea Steps Up Rhetoric Over Nuclear Talks
Voice of America - 1 hour ago
By Luis Ramirez. As the United States and China renew their calls for North Korea to return to nuclear talks, Pyongyang is stepping up its rhetoric and pledging to defy any pressure for it to disarm. Throughout ...
Let's hope this truly is mostly rhetoric.

Critical flaws found in Firefox
BBC News, UK - 4 hours ago
The Mozilla Foundation has said it is "working aggressively" to fix two flaws in its open source Firefox browser. The vulnerabilities ...
I've been using Mozilla since my first major attack from the spyware evildoers. Mozilla's too slow and too cumbersome and doesn't work as well overall as Explorer. But I'm not going back to ME.

EU Parliament Asks for Legal Aid for Slain Belfast Man's Family
Bloomberg - 17 minutes ago
May 10 (Bloomberg) -- The European Parliament today called on the European Union to help pay for a civil suit planned by the family of a man killed in Northern Ireland against the Irish Republican Army members they say are responsible for his death. ...
The state can and should pay for a criminal suit. Don't ask taxpayers to foot the bill for a civil suit too.

Video Is About to Kill the Radio Star...Again

Tough to improve on perfect lyrics, even if they were about MTV and not iTunes/iShows:

I heard you on the wireless back in Fifty Two
Lying awake intent at tuning in on you.
If I was young it didn't stop you coming through.
They took the credit for your second symphony.
Rewritten by machine and new technology, and now I understand the problems you can see.
I met your children
What did you tell them?
Video killed the radio star. Video killed the radio star.

Pictures came and broke your heart.
And now we meet in an abandoned studio.
We hear the playback and it seems so long ago.
And you remember the jingles used to go.
were the first one.
You were the last one. Video killed the radio star.
Video killed the radio star.
In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone to far

Video killed the radio star.

-- The Buggles

PS: If you love this song, check out the Presidents of the United States version.

David Jams Eclectically

I haven't forgotten about the Cody Jams iMixes (iMi, should be plural form, no?), but those write ups take time to format, and while I can crank out the words, I hate formatting stuff. I'll have more help this summer for such things, so hang tight.

Anyway, check out this site -- I can't touch David Byrne's style. What a great selection of songs. I've listened to it twice through today.

http://davidbyrne.com/radio

The Cody News (May 9, 2005)

Poll: Americans Searching for Pain Relief ABC News - 2 hours agoMay 9, 2005 -- More than half of Americans live with chronic or recurrent pain, with broad numbers saying it interferes with their activities, mood and ... Oh, waaa. Poor us, let's all get on a bunch of mind-numbing, body-numbing pain drugs to relieve us from this torture called life. Not.

Court says FCC exceeded authority USA Today - 7 hours agoBy Paul Davidson, USA TODAY. Hollywood plans to turn to Congress in its bid to add anti-piracy technology to digital TVs after an ...
You have to love it when the courts rule against bureaucratic, crony, entrenched powers. And this one's important for the coming video revolution.

Nash says MVP award beyond wildest dreams CTV - 1 hour agoA humble Steve Nash says he's trying to get used to being in the spotlight, after becoming the first Canadian to be named most valuable player of the National Basketball Association. "I think it was wishful ...
I don't watch much hoops whatsoever, but how do you not cheer for this dishing point guard getting the MVP.

Twelve New Moons for Saturn Wired News - 3 hours agoAstronomers trying to perfect a model for how the solar system formed got a dozen tiny steps closer to their goal last week, thanks to the discovery of 12 additional moons around Saturn.
Yeah, really, now I'm sure they'll have all the answers to the formation of the solar system. What a crock.

Sober worm hits new heights ZDNet UK - 1 hour agoThe Sober.P worm is circulating the Internet in greater quantities than ever, according to an antivirus company on Monday. Sophos has reported that the mass-mailing worm now accounts for 5.4 percent of all ...
Sigh.

Belgium Students Break Pillow Fight Record Washington Post, DC - May 3, 2005-- Thousands of students from Leuven University in Belgium had a great time breaking the world record for the largest pillow fight on Tuesday. ...
Read on a blog from an attendee that everyone was just outright hammered -- not with pillows, if you know what I mean. Pretty funny stuff, regardless -- and ostensibly for a good cause.

Beware the Video Waves!

There be some nutty people in this city. Saw this down the block from my house in lower Manhattan.

The Cody News (May 6, 2005)

News analysis: What's in stock for Labor's unprecedented win? Xinhua - 57 minutes agoLONDON, May 6 (Xinhuanet)-- Britain's ruling Labor Party on Fridaywon the general election, securing so far 353 of the 645 seats in parliament, with its leader Tony Blair stepping into his third successive term as the prime minister, unprecedented in the ...
Entrenched political parties -- enjoy your final years!

Putin Says Nazi-Soviet Pact Over Baltics Condemned Long Ago MOSNEWS, Russia - 38 minutes agoRussian President Vladimir Putin, in response to growing calls for Russia to renounce the secret Soviet-Nazi pact that led to the Soviet occupation of the ...
Is it me or is this whole "demand the government currently in power to apologize for past government actions" thing out of control lately? Like Putin and his cronies, for all their horrors and mistakes, have anything to do with the Nazis.

Polio cases in Indonesia raise fears of wider outbreak - UPDATE Forbes - 2 hours agoJAKARTA (AFX) - Indonesian health authorities said they are treating four cases of polio, raising fears of a wider outbreak more than a decade after the ...
This is truly a tragedy. That said, you do realize how remarkable a time we live in that we can and have almost eradicated such diseases that used to devastate entire peoples.

Murky weather does not hamper Indian double Satellite launch Earthtimes.org - 9 hours agoThe Indian Satellite Research Organization (ISRO) today successfully launched two remote sensing satellites from Second Launch Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. ISRO announced ...
America's NASA = India's ISRO. Makes me so proud that we have so much in common. Not.

Irony at the Corner of 23rd Street and Second Avenue

Or in this case, as the building is boarded up and empty...

No Peoples.

Wonder if the building is condemned.

The Cody News (May 5, 2005)

Not quite so "daily" lately, is it?

2 Blasts at British Consulate in NYC ABC News - 1 hour ago New York City police and other law enforcement agencies surround the building where the British Consulate is located in New York, Thursday morning, May 5, 2005, after two small makeshift grenades exploded in a sidewalk planter. (AP Photo/Richard Drew). ...
This, frankly, freaks me out. Terrorist strike on our own soil. Ugh.

Starting over in Lynndie England case KESQ - 4 hours agoFORT HOOD, Texas The commander at Fort Hood in Texas has some decisions to make in the Lynndie England case. Yesterday, a military judge tossed out the Army private's guilty plea to charges of abusing Iraqi prisoners. ...
I dunked on some guys from Ft Hood before.

No call for US apology: Berlusconi Times Online - 1 hour agoBy Chris Johnston, Times Online. Silvio Berlusconi has not demanded that the United States apologises for the death of an Italian agent in Iraq or called for the soldiers involved in the killing to be punished. ...
I've mentioned this bureaucratic apology concept stuff before and how it confuses me. Still does.

FBI Will Exhume the Body of Emmett Till for an Autopsy New York Times, NY - 12 hours agoCHICAGO, May 4 - The FBI said on Wednesday that it would exhume the body of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old black Chicagoan whose killing 50 years ago in the ...
I hope they have correctly captured and punished everyone who's involved with this and nobody who wasn't. On a separate note, while we've still got so much more work to do with race relations in this country, what a remarkable improvement we have seen in the 50 years since this tragedy took place.

Quotes on the Wall

I have these on my wall above my computer screen:

Never give in -- never, never, never, never in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. -- Winston Churchill

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go. -- T.S. Eliot

Two Random Thoughts

Why does a plaid lid on a jar indicate only jelly or jam or preserves and nothing else. How about a plaid lid for mayo?

Why do they always use beams of light instead of a sheet of light to protect goods in museums and movies?

A Not So Blind Date

Dare you to email her.

Virus Killer, Etymology and Conservation too

No Cody News today, as I got yet a new virus issue on my PC via an IM link from a fellow RM contributor. Sigh.

I think viri should be the plural of virus. Cacti, cactus, you know? For that matter how about we make bi the plural of bus.

How about these celebs who are all over energy conservation and environmentalism so they drive their hybrid cars....and then go fly around in chartered and/or private jets?

The Cody News (May 2, 2005)

Mass grave may hold remains of 1,500 Iraqi Kurds The Tribune, India - April 30, 2005 US investigators have exhumed the remains of 113 people — all but five of them women, children or teen-agers — from a mass grave in southern Iraq that may ...
Whether you're adamantly for this war or adamantly against it, repeated findings like this underscore how much better life in Iraq is (already, right now) than it was under this mass murderer named Saddam.

DA Mulls Charges For Runaway Bride CBS News - 1 hour ago(CBS/AP) A jilted bridegroom and a town full of puzzled residents may not be all that Jennifer Wilbanks faces as she tries to restore her shattered life. ...
"Mulls" charges? Excuse me? Book her! If this was a 10 year old kid who decided to lie after skipping school, he'd sure be in trouble.

Speaking of New Mexico:
Retirement dream sadly may be real San Francisco Chronicle - 2 hours agoWhen people ask me about my retirement plans, I always give a stock wise-guy answer: I tell 'em I plan to buy a double-wide trailer, move it to Las Cruces, NM, and regard any varmints strolling about the premises as a potential fricasseed lunch. ...
Elitist pig...what's wrong with LCNM? And as if eating rat is a bad thing. Oh, I mean, uhm, oh.

Sixers' 'kids' learning on the fly Allentown Morning Call - 1 hour agoBy Jeff Schuler. PHILADELPHIA The 76ers were five minutes away Sunday afternoon from accomplishing everything they set out to do when they returned from Detroit early Wednesday morning. But five minutes for ...
I'm not much of a traditional sports fan -- never have understood the concept of cheering for a team regardless of who's on it. But I am a huge fan of individuals like Allen Iverson. The man.