Future American lawyers to be proud of.
... and Alberto Gonzales.
Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, spoke before law students at Georgetown today, justifying illegal, unauthorized surveilance of US citizens, but during the course of his speech the students in class did something pretty ballsy and brave. They got up from their seats and turned their backs to him.
To make matters worse for Gonzales, additional students came into the room, wearing black cowls and carrying a simple banner, written on a sheet.
Fortunately for him, it was a brief speech... followed by a panel discussion that basically ripped his argument a new asshole.
And, as one of the people on the panel said,
"When you're a law student, they tell you if say that if you can't argue the law, argue the facts. They also tell you if you can't argue the facts, argue the law. If you can't argue either, apparently, the solution is to go on a public relations offensive and make it a political issue... to say over and over again "it's lawful", and to think that the American people will somehow come to believe this if we say it often enough.
In light of this, I'm proud of the very civil civil disobedience that was shown here today."
- David Cole, Georgetown University Law Professor
http://explore.georgetown.edu/blogs/?id=11971
It was a good day for dissent.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Animated GIFs
Click on the picture to see it in all it's glory
Animated gifs are bad. Bad, bad, bad! This animated gif is so bad, I don’t have the words to describe just how mind-numbingly, jaw-droppingly bad it is.
If it has one useful purpose it is to serve as a cautionary sign to all those contemplating using an animated gif on their website. A kind of a modern-day "Abandon all hope ye who enter this place" – accompanied by a partially decayed, shrunken head on a spike.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Word Of The Day
sesquipedalian \ses-kwuh-puh-DAYL-yuhn\, adjective:
1. Given to or characterized by the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; having many syllables.
noun:
A long word.
As a sesquipedalian stylist, he can throw a word like 'eponymous" into a sentence without missing a beat.
--Campbell, Patty, "The sand in the oyster," The Horn Book Magazine, May 15, 1996
Plus he has a weakness for what we can mischievously call sesquipedalian excess: Look out for such terms as "epiphenomenal," "diegetic" and "proprioceptive."
--Jabari Asim, "Reel Pioneer," Washington Post, November
19, 2000
They walk and speak with disdain for common folk, and never miss a chance to belittle the crowd in sesquipedalian put-downs or to declare that their raucous and uncouth behavior calls for nothing less than a letter to the Times, to inform proper Englishmen of the deplorable state of manners in the Colonies.
--William C. Martin, "Friday Night in the Coliseum," The Atlantic, March 1972
... her eccentric family's addiction to sesquipedalians (that big word for "big words"), and her furtive passion for flossy mail-order-catalog prose.
--David Browne, "Books/The Week," Entertainment Weekly, October 23, 1998
Sesquipedalian comes from Latin sesquipedalis, "a foot and a half long, hence inordinately long," from sesqui, "one half more, half as much again" + pes, ped-, "a foot."
1. Given to or characterized by the use of long words.
2. Long and ponderous; having many syllables.
noun:
A long word.
As a sesquipedalian stylist, he can throw a word like 'eponymous" into a sentence without missing a beat.
--Campbell, Patty, "The sand in the oyster," The Horn Book Magazine, May 15, 1996
Plus he has a weakness for what we can mischievously call sesquipedalian excess: Look out for such terms as "epiphenomenal," "diegetic" and "proprioceptive."
--Jabari Asim, "Reel Pioneer," Washington Post, November
19, 2000
They walk and speak with disdain for common folk, and never miss a chance to belittle the crowd in sesquipedalian put-downs or to declare that their raucous and uncouth behavior calls for nothing less than a letter to the Times, to inform proper Englishmen of the deplorable state of manners in the Colonies.
--William C. Martin, "Friday Night in the Coliseum," The Atlantic, March 1972
... her eccentric family's addiction to sesquipedalians (that big word for "big words"), and her furtive passion for flossy mail-order-catalog prose.
--David Browne, "Books/The Week," Entertainment Weekly, October 23, 1998
Sesquipedalian comes from Latin sesquipedalis, "a foot and a half long, hence inordinately long," from sesqui, "one half more, half as much again" + pes, ped-, "a foot."
I've been tagged
The rules (apparently): reveal five weird habits about yourself, and then 'tag' five other bloggers. Here goes:
1. I pick my nose so much it bleeds sometimes.
2. When walking down a road or pavement with a line of bollards on it I have to smack the tops of the bollards. If I need to change direction before reaching the end of the bollards it makes me very anxious. Sometimes I carry on even though I have to go back to go the way I need.
3. I crack my knuckles, my wrists, my ankles, my chest and my neck.
4. I don't tidy up generally, merely arrange things into neat piles for later tidying.
5. Every so often I trawl through the mountain of paperwork in order to sort it and make important documents easier to find. This doesn't actually produce any good results and more often than not I have spent four hours to throw away a half dozen sheets of paper, but it makes me feel good.
Right then, time to tag five other bloggers. I don't know many bloggers, but the one I'll tag is Attu
1. I pick my nose so much it bleeds sometimes.
2. When walking down a road or pavement with a line of bollards on it I have to smack the tops of the bollards. If I need to change direction before reaching the end of the bollards it makes me very anxious. Sometimes I carry on even though I have to go back to go the way I need.
3. I crack my knuckles, my wrists, my ankles, my chest and my neck.
4. I don't tidy up generally, merely arrange things into neat piles for later tidying.
5. Every so often I trawl through the mountain of paperwork in order to sort it and make important documents easier to find. This doesn't actually produce any good results and more often than not I have spent four hours to throw away a half dozen sheets of paper, but it makes me feel good.
Right then, time to tag five other bloggers. I don't know many bloggers, but the one I'll tag is Attu
Monday, January 09, 2006
you've been tagged
I was tagged, and now you have been too. As a result, you have to tag some people - that's the law.
So there.
So there.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Simpsons creator praises Gervais
The Simpsons creator Matt Groening said Ricky Gervais did such a good job writing an episode of the hit US comedy show that he wants him to do more.
The Office star wrote and appears in the episode, which is due to be screened in the US in the spring.
Groening said Gervais was good enough to be a regular character, according to reports in the UK press.
"He caught our tone exactly, and then added his own Ricky Gervais/David Brent patheticness," Groening said.
"Everything you could ever possibly want from Ricky Gervais you get.
"It's possible we'll collaborate again... he should be a regular character. In fact, he should have his own cartoon series."
Gervais' character in The Simpsons is based on David Brent from The Office sitcom.
He moves into The Simpson household with Marge as the family take part in an episode of Wife Swap, while Homer moves in with his wife.
Gervais was invited to pen the episode by Groening, who is a fan of The Office.
He described writing the episode as a "dream come true".
The Office star wrote and appears in the episode, which is due to be screened in the US in the spring.
Groening said Gervais was good enough to be a regular character, according to reports in the UK press.
"He caught our tone exactly, and then added his own Ricky Gervais/David Brent patheticness," Groening said.
"Everything you could ever possibly want from Ricky Gervais you get.
"It's possible we'll collaborate again... he should be a regular character. In fact, he should have his own cartoon series."
Gervais' character in The Simpsons is based on David Brent from The Office sitcom.
He moves into The Simpson household with Marge as the family take part in an episode of Wife Swap, while Homer moves in with his wife.
Gervais was invited to pen the episode by Groening, who is a fan of The Office.
He described writing the episode as a "dream come true".
SETI and Intelligent Design
If you’re an inveterate tube-o-phile, you may remember the episode of "Cheers" in which Cliff, the postman who’s stayed by neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night from his appointed rounds of beer, exclaims to Norm that he’s found a potato that looks like Richard Nixon’s head.
This could be an astonishing attempt by taters to express their political views, but Norm is unimpressed. Finding evidence of complexity (the Nixon physiognomy) in a natural setting (the spud), and inferring some deliberate, magical mechanism behind it all, would be a leap from the doubtful to the divine, and in this case, Norm feels, unwarranted.
Cliff, however, would have some sympathizers among the proponents of Intelligent Design (ID), whose efforts to influence school science curricula continue to swill large quantities of newspaper ink. As just about everyone is aware, these folks use similar logic to infer a "designer" behind such biological constructions as DNA or the human eye. The apparent complexity of the product is offered as proof of deliberate blueprinting by an unknown creator—conscious action, presumably from outside the universe itself.
What many readers will not know is that SETI research has been offered up in support of Intelligent Design.
The way this happens is as follows. When ID advocates posit that DNA—which is a complicated, molecular blueprint—is solid evidence for a designer, most scientists are unconvinced. They counter that the structure of this biological building block is the result of self-organization via evolution, and not a proof of deliberate engineering. DNA, the researchers will protest, is no more a consciously constructed system than Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Organized complexity, in other words, is not enough to infer design.
But the adherents of Intelligent Design protest the protest. They point to SETI and say, "upon receiving a complex radio signal from space, SETI researchers will claim it as proof that intelligent life resides in the neighborhood of a distant star. Thus, isn’t their search completely analogous to our own line of reasoning—a clear case of complexity implying intelligence and deliberate design?" And SETI, they would note, enjoys widespread scientific acceptance.
If we as SETI researchers admit this is so, it sounds as if we’re guilty of promoting a logical double standard. If the ID folks aren’t allowed to claim intelligent design when pointing to DNA, how can we hope to claim intelligent design on the basis of a complex radio signal? It’s true that SETI is well regarded by the scientific community, but is that simply because we don’t suggest that the voice behind the microphone could be God?
Extract from http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_intelligentdesign_051201.html
This could be an astonishing attempt by taters to express their political views, but Norm is unimpressed. Finding evidence of complexity (the Nixon physiognomy) in a natural setting (the spud), and inferring some deliberate, magical mechanism behind it all, would be a leap from the doubtful to the divine, and in this case, Norm feels, unwarranted.
Cliff, however, would have some sympathizers among the proponents of Intelligent Design (ID), whose efforts to influence school science curricula continue to swill large quantities of newspaper ink. As just about everyone is aware, these folks use similar logic to infer a "designer" behind such biological constructions as DNA or the human eye. The apparent complexity of the product is offered as proof of deliberate blueprinting by an unknown creator—conscious action, presumably from outside the universe itself.
What many readers will not know is that SETI research has been offered up in support of Intelligent Design.
The way this happens is as follows. When ID advocates posit that DNA—which is a complicated, molecular blueprint—is solid evidence for a designer, most scientists are unconvinced. They counter that the structure of this biological building block is the result of self-organization via evolution, and not a proof of deliberate engineering. DNA, the researchers will protest, is no more a consciously constructed system than Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Organized complexity, in other words, is not enough to infer design.
But the adherents of Intelligent Design protest the protest. They point to SETI and say, "upon receiving a complex radio signal from space, SETI researchers will claim it as proof that intelligent life resides in the neighborhood of a distant star. Thus, isn’t their search completely analogous to our own line of reasoning—a clear case of complexity implying intelligence and deliberate design?" And SETI, they would note, enjoys widespread scientific acceptance.
If we as SETI researchers admit this is so, it sounds as if we’re guilty of promoting a logical double standard. If the ID folks aren’t allowed to claim intelligent design when pointing to DNA, how can we hope to claim intelligent design on the basis of a complex radio signal? It’s true that SETI is well regarded by the scientific community, but is that simply because we don’t suggest that the voice behind the microphone could be God?
Extract from http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_intelligentdesign_051201.html
Don't KNow What I'd Do
Last thought
in my head
Last phrase
'fore I go to bed
I send out to you
What else is new?
Cliche notwithstanding
Say 'bout love
You can expect to fall
In your case, baby
in spite of all
's always
a three point landing
Don't know what I'd do
I don't know what I'd do
without you
A wise old poet
he once said
'less you love somebody
nothing makes sense
Hard to admit
when you need someone
who knows you
Don't know what I'd do
I don't know what I'd do
without you
- Shelley Winters Project
in my head
Last phrase
'fore I go to bed
I send out to you
What else is new?
Cliche notwithstanding
Say 'bout love
You can expect to fall
In your case, baby
in spite of all
's always
a three point landing
Don't know what I'd do
I don't know what I'd do
without you
A wise old poet
he once said
'less you love somebody
nothing makes sense
Hard to admit
when you need someone
who knows you
Don't know what I'd do
I don't know what I'd do
without you
- Shelley Winters Project
Sexy Women with Machine Guns
Well all agree they are sexy, ok, but instead of sexy women what about OAPs in wheelchairs?
What the fuck is a toodle?
http://www.break.com/index/grannymachinegun.html
What the fuck is a toodle?
http://www.break.com/index/grannymachinegun.html
Eyw
http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=lmLymLS-k0k
There are some things the world is better off without seeing. This is one of them.
There are some things the world is better off without seeing. This is one of them.
201 Ways To Say You're Pissed
Beer, wine, and spirits come in all flavours – why shouldn’t our descriptions of their pleasant effects do the same? The National Pist proudly presents as many ways to say you’re drunk as we could think of while sitting around getting good and Guinness-headed. If there are any notable omissions, by all means rescue us from our ignorance and let us know!
Enjoy!
A. Addled, Ale’d, Alight, A few shades to the wind.
B. Bagged, Badgered, Ban jaxed, Bashed, Battered, Been drinking, Bent, Bladdered, Blind, Blasted, Blathered, Blitzed, Blotto, Boiled, Bombed, Brahms & Liszt, Buckled, Buzzed.
C. Cabbaged, Campaigning, Canned, Chevy Chased, Clobbered, Creamed over, Crocked.
D. Dead drunk, Dean Martinized, Decimated, Discombobulated, Dipsomaniatic, Dizzy, Drowned, Drunk, Drunk as a Lord, Drunk as a skunk, Drunken.
E. Etched, Ethanol engorged , Ethanolized, Etherized, Euthanized.
F. Fecked, Feeling it, Finished, Flushed, Flying, Frothy, Fruit looped, F*cked, F*cked up.
G. Gassed, Galvanized, Gin rummied, Glazed, Goosed, Green, Groged, Groggy, Guinness headed.
H. Had a few, Haggard, Hammered, Hanging, High, Hosed, Howling drunk.
I. In with Bacchus, Inebriated, In orbit, Intoxicated, Irish eyed.
J. Jagged, Jaxied, Jiggy, Jolly, Jugged, Juiced.
K. Killed, Kinked.
L. Laced, Lamped, Lashed, Leathered, Legless, lispy, Lit, Lit up, Liquored up, Loaded, Loo la, Looped, Loopy, Loose, Lubricated, Lush.
M. Mad, Mangled, Mashed, Melted, Merl Haggard, Merry, Minced, Monkey-full, Mottled, Muttled.
N. Newcastled, Nippy, Nailed.
O. Off me pickle, Off me trolley, Off my rocker, Oiled, On a campaign, On assignment for The Pist, On a piss-up, On the bottle, Out of it.
P. Painted, Paralytic, Past .08, Pickled, Pickwicked, Pie-eyed, Pished, Pissed, Pist, Plastered, Ploughed, Potted, Pole axed, Polluted, Puking.
Q.Quitted, Quintessential.
R. Ratted, Ravaged, Razzled, Reading The Pist, Rosy glowing, Rubbered, Rubber legged, Ruined, Rummed, Rummy.
S. Screwed, Scuttered, Sh*t faced, Shot, Silly, Slaughtered, Slammed, Slewed, Sloppy, Sloshed, Smashed, Snatered , Soaked, Sotted, Sous, Soused, Sozzled, Spangled, Spannered, Squiffy, Steaming, Stewed, Stitched up, Stiff, Stinking, Stink-o, Stone drunk.
T. Tanked, Tight, Tipsy, Toasted, Totalled, Trashed,Twisted.
U. Ugly, Under, Under the influence, Unsafe to drive, Unsober.
V. Vinic, Visiting the vicar.
W. Warped, Washed out, Wasted, Wellied, Wet, White washed, Wined, Wiped, Wired, Wrecked.
X. X’ed out.
Y. Yodeling out of tune.
Z. Zombied, Zonked.
Enjoy!
A. Addled, Ale’d, Alight, A few shades to the wind.
B. Bagged, Badgered, Ban jaxed, Bashed, Battered, Been drinking, Bent, Bladdered, Blind, Blasted, Blathered, Blitzed, Blotto, Boiled, Bombed, Brahms & Liszt, Buckled, Buzzed.
C. Cabbaged, Campaigning, Canned, Chevy Chased, Clobbered, Creamed over, Crocked.
D. Dead drunk, Dean Martinized, Decimated, Discombobulated, Dipsomaniatic, Dizzy, Drowned, Drunk, Drunk as a Lord, Drunk as a skunk, Drunken.
E. Etched, Ethanol engorged , Ethanolized, Etherized, Euthanized.
F. Fecked, Feeling it, Finished, Flushed, Flying, Frothy, Fruit looped, F*cked, F*cked up.
G. Gassed, Galvanized, Gin rummied, Glazed, Goosed, Green, Groged, Groggy, Guinness headed.
H. Had a few, Haggard, Hammered, Hanging, High, Hosed, Howling drunk.
I. In with Bacchus, Inebriated, In orbit, Intoxicated, Irish eyed.
J. Jagged, Jaxied, Jiggy, Jolly, Jugged, Juiced.
K. Killed, Kinked.
L. Laced, Lamped, Lashed, Leathered, Legless, lispy, Lit, Lit up, Liquored up, Loaded, Loo la, Looped, Loopy, Loose, Lubricated, Lush.
M. Mad, Mangled, Mashed, Melted, Merl Haggard, Merry, Minced, Monkey-full, Mottled, Muttled.
N. Newcastled, Nippy, Nailed.
O. Off me pickle, Off me trolley, Off my rocker, Oiled, On a campaign, On assignment for The Pist, On a piss-up, On the bottle, Out of it.
P. Painted, Paralytic, Past .08, Pickled, Pickwicked, Pie-eyed, Pished, Pissed, Pist, Plastered, Ploughed, Potted, Pole axed, Polluted, Puking.
Q.Quitted, Quintessential.
R. Ratted, Ravaged, Razzled, Reading The Pist, Rosy glowing, Rubbered, Rubber legged, Ruined, Rummed, Rummy.
S. Screwed, Scuttered, Sh*t faced, Shot, Silly, Slaughtered, Slammed, Slewed, Sloppy, Sloshed, Smashed, Snatered , Soaked, Sotted, Sous, Soused, Sozzled, Spangled, Spannered, Squiffy, Steaming, Stewed, Stitched up, Stiff, Stinking, Stink-o, Stone drunk.
T. Tanked, Tight, Tipsy, Toasted, Totalled, Trashed,Twisted.
U. Ugly, Under, Under the influence, Unsafe to drive, Unsober.
V. Vinic, Visiting the vicar.
W. Warped, Washed out, Wasted, Wellied, Wet, White washed, Wined, Wiped, Wired, Wrecked.
X. X’ed out.
Y. Yodeling out of tune.
Z. Zombied, Zonked.
Word Of The Day
sine qua non \sin-ih-kwah-NON; -NOHN; sy-nih-kway-\, noun:
An essential condition or element; an indispensable thing
Women's enfranchisement was crucial to them -- indeed, a sine qua non, since all other progress for which they worked, such as higher education and entrance into the professions, would be meaningless if women continued to be second-class citizens.
--Lillian Faderman, To Believe in Women
"Of the various attributes we fiction-writers require," he said, "one of the most important is detachment. Of course tenacity of purpose is the sine qua non, otherwise we'd never keep on with it for the year or two years or longer that it takes to finish the work."
--Barry Unsworth, Sugar and Rum
However we choose to define a classic, a sine qua non is that the material lend itself to reinterpretation in the light of changing circumstances.
--Matthew Gurewitsch, "A Country of Lesser Giants," New York Times, April 4, 1999
Sine qua non is from the Late Latin, literally "without which not."
An essential condition or element; an indispensable thing
Women's enfranchisement was crucial to them -- indeed, a sine qua non, since all other progress for which they worked, such as higher education and entrance into the professions, would be meaningless if women continued to be second-class citizens.
--Lillian Faderman, To Believe in Women
"Of the various attributes we fiction-writers require," he said, "one of the most important is detachment. Of course tenacity of purpose is the sine qua non, otherwise we'd never keep on with it for the year or two years or longer that it takes to finish the work."
--Barry Unsworth, Sugar and Rum
However we choose to define a classic, a sine qua non is that the material lend itself to reinterpretation in the light of changing circumstances.
--Matthew Gurewitsch, "A Country of Lesser Giants," New York Times, April 4, 1999
Sine qua non is from the Late Latin, literally "without which not."
Random Blog Site
So I was looking at my blog after posting and the next random blog was this
http://sellitaire.blogspot.com/
Which talks about the Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR).
It's a sign.
http://sellitaire.blogspot.com/
Which talks about the Mavalli Tiffin Room (MTR).
It's a sign.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
I've checked my email account about 30 times today.
Empty.
What the hell else did I expect? Dickhead!
:(
Empty.
What the hell else did I expect? Dickhead!
:(
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
My Journey
Today I begin a new phase of a potentially arduous and frightening journey. I am, all at the same time, excited, scared, and very unhappy. I am excited by what I may achieve, scared by what I will have to encounter, and unhappy about what I have to leave behind, even if only for a short while.
What I have to achieve is a greater sense of self and an improved level of happiness. An understanding of what I require in order to be happy. An ability to make my own decisions - decisions that will be well-informed, true to myself, and that feel right, at least right for me.
To achieve this I know I will have to encounter many things that I have not had to face before. One of these things is a new level of honesty with myself. I now have to be brutal in acknowledging what I do well and what I do badly, and not to dwell on the things I do badly, but to improve on them. And not just to understand what I do well, but to go and find new things that I can do too. Not just things that I can do well, but things that I can't - things that I can fail at doing, things that scare me, but that I will do anyway.
Ultimately I need to change. I think I have known this for a while, because I have known that I am not happy. And I think I am not happy because I am not happy with myself.
I feel cut-off and insular, and right now I don't understand why because I think I have alot to give. And I certainly want alot more than I have. Not in a materialistic way, but in a "spiritual" way. I have been guilty of laziness and apathy with my own life.
I have already made the decision that something needs to change, now I need to search both within myself and out in the big, wide world to understand what and why.
Wish me luck, I think I am going to need it.
What I have to achieve is a greater sense of self and an improved level of happiness. An understanding of what I require in order to be happy. An ability to make my own decisions - decisions that will be well-informed, true to myself, and that feel right, at least right for me.
To achieve this I know I will have to encounter many things that I have not had to face before. One of these things is a new level of honesty with myself. I now have to be brutal in acknowledging what I do well and what I do badly, and not to dwell on the things I do badly, but to improve on them. And not just to understand what I do well, but to go and find new things that I can do too. Not just things that I can do well, but things that I can't - things that I can fail at doing, things that scare me, but that I will do anyway.
Ultimately I need to change. I think I have known this for a while, because I have known that I am not happy. And I think I am not happy because I am not happy with myself.
I feel cut-off and insular, and right now I don't understand why because I think I have alot to give. And I certainly want alot more than I have. Not in a materialistic way, but in a "spiritual" way. I have been guilty of laziness and apathy with my own life.
I have already made the decision that something needs to change, now I need to search both within myself and out in the big, wide world to understand what and why.
Wish me luck, I think I am going to need it.
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