i saw this today:
Far be it to quote from the egregious Eleanor Roosevelt, but on the principle that even a women who looks like a monkey will eventually tap out a worthy sentence if she sits at the keyboard long enough, I will.
"Great minds discuss ideas," she said. "Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."
it described exactly what has been bothering me lately - i've got noone to talk to! during the past month, i've noticed that while spending time with people i begin to get anxious and then agitated. i figured out what's causing it: anecdotes. tale upon tale about mundane events in another person's life - minutia so inconsequential that i wouldn't even take notice if it happened to me. petty bitching about bad people, dumb people, ugly people, mean people. and heaven forbid my eyes glaze over, for then i am accused of "not paying attention."
i wish there were a universal code for "i couldn't possibly care less...next topic?"
Posted by ash at 05:47 PMcould mobil speedpass get any cooler? yes! now timex makes a watch with speedpass inside. only a limited number are available, so i put in my order before telling you about it.
from the timex site:
Your Speedpass-enabled Timex Watch is the fastest and easiest way to pay. No reaching for your wallet, or fumbling with change. Speedpass is accepted at over 7,700 Exxon and Mobil stations nationwide and at over 440 participating McDonald's restaurants in Chicago and Northwest Indiana.
there are so many reasons i would like to hate mobil-exxon, but when they are this far ahead of the game, i just can't.
Posted by ash at 02:34 PMon the tenth anniversary of the tragedy at waco, i watched the award winning documentary "the rules of engagement". the storming of the branch davidian compound by fbi/atf agents looks very different on video than they described it in senate hearings. i can remember how angry it made me at the time, watching those buildings burn. it was one of the first times that i felt distrustful of the government, believed that they would actually do physical harm. which leads to the other event i remember each april 19, the bombing of the murrah building in oklahoma city in 1995.
andrew cohen wrote this morning about the bombing, sept. 11, and timothy mcveigh:
Anyway, McVeigh now is gone-- executed by the feds three months to the day before the September 11, 2001 attacks. I have often wondered whether he would have cheered Al Qaeda's audacity and brazeness from his jail cell or whether he would have deplored it. And I have wondered recently whether McVeigh-- had he not gone sour-- would have returned to the Gulf to fight a second battle against Iraq like so many of his fellow Gulf War I vets. McVeigh, remember, was a brilliant soldier during the 1991 conflict; a decorated gunner on a Bradley fighting vehicle. Had he kept it together-- had he not allowed the bitterness over the Branch Davidian conflagaration to consume him-- would we be seeing features about McVeigh on the news as he fought his way into Baghdad?
Posted by ash at 08:39 PMmore evidence that passing laws to ban smoking in public are a bad idea.
my company just moved into a new building. it's in the same office park, but 12 buildings down the street. now we share a building with a health insurance company. no more stepping out the back door for a cigarette. the "designated smoking area" is about 200 feet behind the building, in a small gazebo designed to make the smokers sit so close together that they will either suffocate one another or accidentally catch another smoker on fire. these insurance people, they are sneaky. i wouldn't be surprised to hear they are behind all the legislation.
Posted by ash at 12:00 AMwhat a thrill to hear that the seven POW soldiers were rescued this morning when the military officers that were holding them abandoned the job. it is truly a credit to the humanity of the junior officers that they ensured that the soldiers were returned to us.
also, there is evidence that the war has resulted in even more than the liberation of iraq: sharon is suddenly feeling conciliatory.
Posted by ash at 04:00 PM
in the midst of a bunch of dorky peace signs, suddenly this stunning image appears. who thought this would make a good peace sign? i guess maybe if you think laughter brings people closer together it could work.
if jesus were here, i think he would bomb north korea next. however, knowing his penchant for destruction on a much larger scale, he might just turn the entire middle east into a giant sheet of glass.
Posted by ash at 11:55 AMnew zealand would like to be involved in mine clearing in iraq once the war is over, reports the nz herald.
"Everyone is trying to work out a way in which they can help despite not having been part of a war and not being part of an occupying force," said prime minister helen clark.
well, everyone except the people who *have* been part of a war...they don't need to work anything out.
Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said he was sure the United States needed a multilateral involvement in post-war Iraq.
"The United States is the only superpower economically and militarily," he said. "But I am sure the United States does not want to take on singe-handedly the role of trying to create a new administration in Iraq and will want to have a mandate from a multilateral organisation."
a mandate? like from the nearly fifty other countries who are already supporting us in our efforts to liberate iraq? i think we can probably count on those guys for all the help we need. but thanks, mr. goff.
and shame on helen clark for insinuating that australia is only supporting the united states so they can lock up a free trade agreement. perhaps she will regret her remarks next time she comes around looking for one herself.
Posted by ash at 07:57 PMCAC Announces ‘Monster Truck’ Effort to Bring Capitalism to the Masses
Alexandria, VA—Today the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism (CAC) announced its recent acquisition of a 1976 3/4 ton Ford Highboy and its plans to use the vehicle to illustrate the principle of individual rights to crowds at monster truck rallies throughout the nation. The vehicle, named "The Capitalist Avenger," will highlight the Center's belief that capitalism is the only moral social system.
In response to criticism that the Center’s monster tuck is not actually a monster truck, but just an elevated truck, Provenzo said that he was going to focus strictly on the positive. “To the Center’s competitors: stand by. The Center is muscling for rank, and bowel-shaking earthquakes of doubt and remorse will impale you, and flail you, with monster truck force.”
"You'll know Objectivism is winning when we drive over your dumb ass with our monster truck"
that is *awesome*.
Posted by ash at 10:41 AM