yesterday... | ...all my troubles were so far away

Thursday, August 29, 2002

...and now there's a commercial for Turkey. It just seems strange to me that Turkey (of all places) has decided that those of us who are so obsessed with basketball that we're watching the US pound Algeria into bits. Are we really the target audience for Turkish tourism?
9:50:37 PM

On the rolling-ad backdrop at courtside at the US-Algeria game I'm watching right now:

"Turkey Welcomes You"

Really? Well, isn't that friendly?
9:48:13 PM

Strange commercial seen while watching the World Basketball Championship game tonight - Kobe Bryant endorsing a basketball that's given to him by some British guy he calls "Professor" - it's got a pop-out pump thingie. Rrrright. This is just strange by any measure. Kobe Bryant has no ability to choose good endorsements at all, especially not compared to Jordan. Then again, Shaq's not much better - what the hell was with that Shaft/Shaq themed thing from Burger King? Oy.
9:34:14 PM

posted by worldcup2002 to Soccer August 29 6:32 PM. Champions League: Where the best in Europe come to play.The groups have been drawn, and it looks like a fairly balanced distribution. The English teams (Man. U., Newcastle, Liverpool, Arsenal) fared pretty well; they were kept apart and out of "ghastly" Group G, which includes Bayern Munich and AC Milan. [SportsFilter]

...and as of this weekend, I get to watch Euro football...Arsenal! Bayern whatever! (what with the last name and all) Anyone but Man. U.! (they've got that deal with the Yankees. Boooo.)
9:31:28 PM

As noted here on Sunday, the link to Chairman Coble's bio is still broken. [Scripting News]

I only link this because Dave's usage of "Chairman Coble", with implied Mao reference, amused me.
6:49:13 PM

Rollin' Reich: Dem closes on Mitt. Boston Herald Aug 29 2002 1:11PM ET [Moreover - Boston news]

I find it interesting that the true liberals (Tolman, Reich) fare better against the conservative (by Mass. standards) Republican than the moderates (Birmingham, O'Brien). Gives me faith in my fellow Massachusettians, I guess...
4:27:09 PM

Joe Conason's Journal. A worrisome barometer for Republicans. Plus: A hopeful forecast for baseball? [Salon Headlines]

Conason's journal is always worth reading, but his paragraph on baseball is particularly interesting - looking at the issue of owners vs. players as employer vs. unions. Great quote at the end:

"What I always find puzzling about this situation is that so many fans fail to understand how collective bargaining could improve their own wages and conditions, just as the MLBPA has done for their diamond heroes."
2:21:58 PM

Best search query that referred to this page ever:

http://google.yahoo.com/bin/query?p=Boston+Sam+Adams+Beer+angry+sex&;hc=0&hs=0

Yes - someone searching for "Boston Sam Adams Beer angry sex" got my blog. I feel so lucky.
12:40:21 PM

Making History - fun with counterfactuals
I'm a self-confessed geek for alternate histories, which more academic types call "counterfactuals" - "What if Napoleon hadn't invaded Russia?", that sort of thing. There are two recent books by military historians on this subject - What If?, and What If? 2, both of which I found quite entertaining. Now I find a webpage - linked above - that features a lot of alternate history fun. The big star of this site is the author's timeline of the world from 1822-2000, based on the idea that Babbage actually got the Analytical Engine to work. Fun stuff - even if he has a horrible background image on the main page - ow.
12:37:54 PM

Cyber-Attack Fears Stir Security Officers [SecurityFocus]

A message to all computer security experts/pundits and all reporters who write articles about computer security:

STOP SAYING CYBER.

Thank you.
12:09:32 PM

States divided over Indian bandit talks [BBC World]

I heart Indian bandit stories.
12:06:08 PM

One-a-Day Plus. I was surprised to read that Wired chastised Michael Rogers for only updating his Practical Futurist blog once a day. Isn't once a day plenty? I don't promise to even manage that. Sure, I've been posting four to seven times a day in this blog, but face it: I'm in the enthusiastic phase and I've got some pleasurable momentum going here, with referrers, commenters, email, and those other things that spur you on. But daily sounds good, and any rhythm would work, I believe, if managed consistently. Of course quality matters as much as quantity, right? [Radio Free Blogistan]

I wonder about this myself...I blog a lot, yeah, but I miss days here and there. I may end up missing most of Saturday - midmove and all - though I plan to set up my laptop at my new apartment once the cable modem's up, and blog updates from there and via IM from my current apartment while moving. I like to be blogging all the time, but I do feel guilty when I don't. =)
12:02:00 PM

Shut out. Boston Globe Aug 29 2002 5:43AM ET [Moreover - Boston news]

Damn Red Sox...I'm actually rooting for a strike now.
11:58:10 AM

My new apartment is right next to Kerouac Park in Lowell, MA, celebrating the life and work of Lowell's most famous son. I was walking by it yesterday to the bank in the late afternoon, when I smelled the tell-tale scent of pot wafting from a group of teenagers sitting at a bench. I wanted to walk over to them and compliment them on their choice of pot-smoking locations, and suggest that they all read "On The Road", but decided against it. =)
8:39:58 AM

Warren Ellis, comic writer, web community lodestone, and multimedia junkie, has a blog - die puny humans. As he puts it - "It's all my brain shit". He's become fascinated with the Blogger bookmarklet - can't blame him, though I'm personally more addicted to Radio's news aggregator. He's also the driving force behind a sort of blog community at the OPI8 Forum, a collection of a number of weird-thinking people writing about whatever strangeness bounces through their head. Warren is very much a visionary, even if sometimes his vision is clouded - he's done a lot to drive worthwhile work being done in comics, and created the largest English-speaking comics community on the web with his soon-to-close Warren Ellis Forum at Delphi. Go buy Transmetropolitan: Back On The Street, the first collection of his brilliant (and ending next month) sci-fi journalism comic.
8:32:24 AM

Canada-US troop deal 'close' [BBC World]

I support this. Then again, I support most Canada-US partnership issues. I'm an advocate of a monetary union, moving towards an actual union. I believe that a union between Canada and the US would strengthen the various regions that currently exist in the two countries. For example, the Pacific Northwest would be closely tied to Vancouver and British Columbia, while New England would have obvious connections to the Maritimes. I think you could preserve cultural autonomy in Quebec and the other areas of Canada that want it, while more or less saving the Canadian economy by using the American dollar everywhere, with Canadians getting a 33% to 40% share of the Federal Reserve Board.

Of course, I'm not an economist. I'm just a guy who wants to move to Montreal. =)
7:56:28 AM

Memetics Experiment. It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it.

A memetics experiment — pass it along.

Life in the Aggregator. An Experiment: Life in the Aggregator. How far can it travel?  Please play by passing it along, including all source links... [jenett.radio]

I'm willing to play [McGee's Musings]

There we go. [via Seb's Open Research]

(via both2and)

[Radio Free Blogistan]

Tag - you're it.

 
7:52:07 AM

I was interviewed for an article last week at Darwin Magazine, and the article is now up with a link here. So if you came from there, hi, corporate executive-type people! =)
7:48:10 AM

Powell's Awkward Position [Washington Post: Editorial]

The editorial is mainly about human rights issues, but I found the opening quote to be an interesting look at our current administration...

"Secretary of State Colin Powell goes to South Africa next week to represent the president at a global warming parley, which is being heavily attended by world leaders. Powell's position is awkward because his leader does not believe in global warming."
7:45:33 AM


7:41:04 AM

Iran's President Trying to Limit Power of Clergy [New York Times: International News]

And it's really helped him in his goals that we called Iran a member of the 'Axis of Evil'.
7:35:15 AM

Germans Issue First Indictment in the 9/11 Plot [New York Times: International News]

US charges six with plotting terror [BBC World]

I find it strange that, all of a sudden, there are criminal proceedings involving terrorism in the US and Germany...the German case is the strangest. I haven't read enough about it yet, but the fact that they're charging the guy with 3,000+ cases of accessory to murder just feels weird. I know that he's been accused of involvement with 9/11, but still - 3,000 cases of accessory to murder is just jarring.
7:33:01 AM

A picture named 29STAT.2.jpgNY Times: "The iMac, a graceful piece of art whose astonishingly thin screen floats in air on a gleaming chrome elbow, sells well enough. But whenever a Windows PC maker tries something similar, buyers stay away in droves." [Scripting News]

If I had the money, I'd buy the super-juiced-up version of Gateway's Profile 4, shown here. I love the idea of a powerful flat-screen all-in-one PC. I'd buy the iMac - but it won't run my games. =)
7:28:08 AM

the sun will come out... | ...tomorrow