My Archives: June 2003
Friday, June 27, 2003
Cartoon de jour..."Who Pays for Prescription Drugs?" by Gary Varvel.
I finished the remainder of the new Potter book in one gulp after waking up a little pre-midnight. I already miss the characters, as tho' they were departed friends, but it would be churlish of me to insist upon re-reading the book immediately when Brad's understandably grabby fingers ;-) have been behaving themselves so well. Besides...it would be nice to have him to talk with about the plot twists, unexpected revelations, new characters, the foreshadowed events, and the one or two plot disappointments. It is like seeing a *great* movie then having no one to have coffee with afterward so you can talk on and on for hours. [more]
Posted by mac @ 10:40 AM EST [Link]
Thursday, June 26, 2003
3:00 a.m. One of my favorite hours. If it were not for a small fan stirring up air in my workroom, it would be absolutely quiet...no wind at the window, no sound from Brad's computer, not even the sound of a dog on the floor softly breathing. They are both up in bed with Brad, taking up the space I've relinquished. A good night...for several reasons. Larry, one of the "three stooges" barn cats we adopted and promptly made into house pets, went missing a few days ago. Rural Ontario can be a dangerous place for domesticated animals, especially on our farm that abuts about 150 acres of wild forest. It makes a walk about the fields interesting, what with the spilling-over of wild turkey, wild pheasant, deer, foxes, racoons...you name it. But 5-lb cats, which is as tiny as Larry is, can easily get chewed up by the "system." She is Brad's cat so I was doubly pleased when she howled at the door, accusingly, about 20 minutes ago, then ran directly to the catfeeder behind Brad's desk. I thought about waking him...but it has been so hot for the past few days and he is sleeping deeply at last. Time enough for good news over coffee. [more]
Posted by mac @ 03:16 AM EST [Link]
Tuesday, June 24, 2003
A fascinating article from Christian Science Monitor entitled "Proliferating Iranian weblogs give voice to taboo topics." It begins, "In a recent entry, LadySun - the handle used by a feisty online diarist - takes aim at the strict dress code for women, grumbling about a guard who wouldn't let her into a hotel, "cuz I wasn't wearing socks!!'" Another Iranian blogger's link is also provided. Apparently, these blogs are being used by major news sources as windows into the rather closed Iranian society and some candid reaction to events such as the student protests.
Posted by mac @ 10:44 AM EST [Link]
Sunday, June 22, 2003
From the cartoon department: The latest from Drew Sheneman entitled "Criticizing the Patriot Act Is Against the Patriot Act" is worth a gander. Mark Fiore's "Recall the Governor!" is a bit disappointing -- perhaps because I rather like the campaign to oust Davis. Meanwhile Ted Rall's offering, "The Angriest Liberal in the World," is a good chuckle. And there is always the inimitable Tom Tomorrow with "Christians -- Not All Bad!" [more]
Posted by mac @ 05:33 AM EST [Link]
Friday, June 20, 2003
According to an article by Thomas C. Greene entitled "US Senator pauses on PC destruct button," Orrin Hatch (Republican, Utah) has "backed down slightly from his bizarre remarks Tuesday advocating the remote destruction of computers belonging to copyright scofflaws." Could one reason be that the Senator was outed by a blogger re: his site being "in violation of a software license requirement related to the javascript menus he's using"? O the humanity! Wired has also picked up on the story. [more]
Posted by mac @ 02:30 AM EST [Link]
Sunday, June 8, 2003
This one comes from the blog of privacy-advocate extraordinaire Claire Wolfe: "OKAY, YOU WERE RELUCTANT, BUT YOU WENT OUT AND GOT A SAFEWAY CARD. After all, Safeway is the most convenient place to shop and you didn't want to be aced out of all those members-only deals. So you either surrendered your privacy to get into Safeway's "consumer" (don't you hate that word? sort of like you're a pod or a blob or something from a really bad 1950s movie) database. Or ... well, you lied. You signed up as Percival Blakeney or John Singleton Moseby. That's good. So is signing up as Ambrose Bierce or James Hoffa. But here's something even better: The Ultimage Shopper. Clone yourself! Or if he's still playing this prank, become a database clone of Rob at Cockeyed.com. Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!! William Kane, who found and sent this delicious datawrenching tidbit, has also started his own list of 101 Ways to Monkeywrench the Government. He invites you to submit your own monkeywrenches. You contribute, he'll add."
Posted by mac @ 07:17 AM EST [Link]
Saturday, June 7, 2003
Cartoon for today...Bush the Pied Piper by Ann Telnaes.
A friend asks what I think about the partial-birth abortion ban passed by Congress last week. A fair question and a reminder of the necessity to write about abortion once more even tho' the issue has become more complex and difficult for me to enunciate. [more]
Posted by mac @ 10:26 AM EST [Link]
Friday, June 6, 2003
I'm back, Baby!, I'm back! and I will be blogging daily for the foreseeable future even if the blog entry is abbreviated. So stop in on a regular basis to say "hi."
Recommended cartoons include Mark Fiore's Kinder, Gentler Spying, Tom Toles' latest, and Tony Auth's latest.
this link no longer works tho' the now-deleted article can still be obtained here.. When it did work, the June 4th Guardian article entitled "Wolfowitz: Iraq War Was About Oil" opened, "Oil was the main reason for military action against Iraq, a leading White House hawk has claimed, confirming the worst fears of those opposed to the US-led war. The US Deputy Defense Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz - who has already undermined Tony Blair's position over weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by describing them as a "bureaucratic" excuse for war - has now gone further by claiming the real motive was that Iraq is 'swimming' in oil." [more]
Posted by mac @ 03:32 AM EST [Link]