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Thursday, July 22, 2004

Attorney: Yates Thinks Children Are Alive Attorney, Husband Say Hospitalized Andrea Yates Believes Children She Drowned Are Alive The Associated Press   HOUSTON July 21, 2004 — Andrea Yates, serving a life sentence for drowning her children in a bathtub, asked her husband why he didn't bring them to visit her in prison last weekend, her attorney said Wednesday. "She thought the kids were still alive," attorney George Parnham said. However, under further questioning, Yates admitted that even she didn’t still believe in the al-Qaeda/Iraq connection.     7:35:31 PM    comment []

‘Ove’ Glove sensuously fondles his latest food project – a few Farmers’ Market cukes vacuum gestating in pickling lime to make them nice and crispy. The goal here is some half sours to be ready in about 3 days after they leave the lime and hit the salty brine. 6:39:08 PM    comment []

The musical world, still reeling from the death of soulful genius Ray Charles, is whistling dirges once again with the passing of Sacha Distel, “the French B.J. Thomas.”   (apologies to, no!, cut that!, no apologies to Walter Winchell) 6:19:26 PM    comment []

Another Story Problem   Since casualties in Iraq are now page 10 news, only numbers in some morbid but distant game, and photographs of caskets and attendant displays of emotion are prohibited, I thought it might be an interesting exercise in the ultimate abstraction, math, to calculate when the round number 1,000 might be reached. Snake doctors, stock market analysts, and third-rate politicians always make a big deal about round numbers, though even Indiana politicians were wise enough not to legislate 3.14 as legal pi.   1,000 adds a digit, so it does signify a degree of magnitude, therefore it might be worthwhile to calculate the date on which the abstract variable “causalities” reaches it. According to this website, there have been erratic fluctuations in the “casualty rate,” the number per day, since the war began. On average, it has been about 2.08 per day, with a high of 7.67 in March 2003 (when the war began, in case you’ve forgotten) and a low of 0.79 in February 2004. Since the transition of sovereignty to Iraq on June 28, 2004 to July 21, 2004, there have been 46 casualties in 23 days, making a nice round number of 2.00 per day - and close enough to the average of 2.08 that we’ll use that number. Besides, it is is the most recent sample since a significant date.   Tomorrow is July 23 so we’ll start counting from there. As of the 21st (previous source), there were 901 total casualties. 1000 minus 901 gives us 99, which when divided by the casualty rate of 2.00 per day gives us 49.5 days. That isn’t a nice round number, so let’s round it up to 50.   Then we add 50 days to July 23 and – presto! – we come up with September 11, 2004 as the date on which US casualties will surpass 1,000.   Next problem?   5:55:59 PM    comment []

Yet another World Leader cleared of being a “Warmongering Asshole” by an independent commission, this time in the Land of Oz!   Australia relied on "thin, ambiguous and incomplete" intelligence to go to war in Iraq, according to an inquiry. But the independent report by Philip Flood, a diplomat and former spymaster, clears Prime Minister John Howard of "politicising" intelligence In just the space of a few weeks, all these reports coming out saying that while all our leaders are gullible and easily hoodwinked by malicious and incompetent intelligence agencies, none of them are actually liars. Amazing, all these reports, coming out in July. 5:56:18 AM    comment []

Silvio’s Brother is a “Waste Management Consultant!” Silvio Berlusconi's younger brother Paolo, 53, emerged briefly from the Italian prime minister's shadow this week when a judge in Milan sentenced him to four months and 15 days in jail for false invoicing. The case dates from the mid-90s when he and his colleagues made a fortune from over-charging the Lombardy region for disposing of its rubbish.   2:59:54 AM    comment []