Big Brother is approaching

Our wonderful U.S. government is once again pushing for a method of checking the backgrounds of all airline travelers and it is setting up a database to track all foreign students. In themselves they are probably OK however they are also stepping stones to further intrusions into our lives.

I guess George Orwell was only off 19 years when he wrote a book entitled "1984". I never read the book but did see a movie based on it so perhaps it is time that I actually read it. First, though, I will read Gore Vidal's "Dreaming War" (Blood for Oil and the Cheney-Bush Junta) which I purchaed earlier this week.

I need some rest however or reading anything will put me to sleep. It has been so busy at work that I am fatigued when I get home and feel like dong nothing. Mornings are best for me for reading so I try to do a little before going to work plus on Sunday mornings when I have a lot of time.

Assassinate John Wayne? Really? Read on...

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LONDON (Reuters) - Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was so outraged at the anti-communism of film star John Wayne that he plotted to have him murdered, according to a new biography of the American icon.
"John Wayne -- The man behind the myth" by British writer and actor Michael Munn says there were several attempts in the late 1940s and early 1950s to kill the man known to audiences around the world as "Duke."

In the first attempt, two Russian assassins posing as FBI agents tried to kill Wayne -- born Marion Morrison on May 26, 1907 -- in his office at Warner Brothers studios in Hollywood.

But the plot was uncovered and the would-be killers captured, the book says, citing several sources including director Orson Welles.

The book says the Soviet plots were canceled after Stalin's death in 1953, by his successor Nikita Krushchev, who was a fan of the larger-than-life star of more than 100 films.

"That was a decision of Stalin during his last five mad years. When Stalin died I rescinded that order," the book quotes Krushchev as telling Wayne during a private meeting in 1958.

But it says American communist groups took up the cudgels against Wayne who was a supporter of the anti-communist witch-hunt led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, citing an attempt in Mexico on the set of the film "Hondo."

Wayne survived these attempts and another by a sniper during a trip to visit American troops in Vietnam in 1966. He eventually died of cancer in 1979.

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And with that bit of news I am outa here for now.

It's me again.

Well, if I didn't know better I would think I had never stop writing this drivel. Well, perhaps I did and perhaps I didn't. I just took awhile to resume the practice. Life has been so frantic and depressing at times that I am never sure what to write about next. Certainly the idiots in Washington D.C. are not helping matters and that proposed futures trading on terrorism hit a new low. I hope by now that all concerned have been relieved of their duties. Life is dangerous enough without having some mental retards in the pentagon betting on what terrorists are going to do next and where. I can only hope at this time that all of these blunders will provide the ammunition with which the Democratic party can successfully challenge George, Dick, and whats-his-face Rumsfeld.

Now Secretary-of-State Powell is calling Saddam Hussein "a piece of trash waiting to be collected". Perhaps he is but this is a not very statesman like comment from Mr. Powell. If someone referred to him as a nigger waiting to be hung, that would not be very nice either and neither comment would serve any purpose. This is a good example of our current leaders not setting a high moral tone in their dealings with the world and those who oppose them or us.

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Here is a new WMD:

LONDON (Reuters) - An advertisement for budget airline EasyJet featuring a picture of a woman's breasts in a bikini top with a headline "Discover weapons of mass distraction" was not offensive, Britain's advertising watchdog said Wednesday.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had received 186 complaints about the advert from some who said the it was demeaning to women and from others who said it trivialized the war in Iraq.

One of the reasons Britain used to justify taking military action was Iraq's development of weapons of mass destruction.

Easyjet denied the ad was sexist and said it was one of a series of "topical, humorous and irreverent" ads.

The ASA agreed that, although the headline was distasteful, the ad was light-hearted and unlikely to cause any serious or widespread offense.

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Anyway, politics here in sunny and/or foggy California, stumbles along and now we have a re-call election slated for Oct. 7th. Will Gov. Davis be re-called and if so, who would take his place? There will be candidates on part two of the ballot but since the state constitution specifies that the Lt. Governor would take over the post of governor should the position become vacant or the governor unable to perform his or her duties for any reason whatsoever. So what happens if Davis is recalled and candidate B gets the most votes? Does this mean that Lt. Governor Bustamente cannot take over or does it mean that candidate B can't take over because the constitution already spells out who takes over. Oi vay...such a mess!?!?

And with that I think I will go play tiddlywinks.

Au revoir...

Whoa...not so fast there!

This may not be the end...just a brief vacation and re-assessment of what I am doing with this and where I am going with it. Perhaps less frequent entries would be easier, at least while I am working full time. Perhaps after retirement I can devote more time and energy to this. In the meantime, I will mull over the situation.

THE END

Due to insuffient time, ideas, etc., I must bring this to a close. Thanks for your interest during the past few weeks. Perhaps you can find other BlogSpots of interest on this site or others.

A good column

Mark Morford writes some good and interesting columns which appear in the San Francisco Chronicle. Today's column is one I find especially good. Check out Nothing More to Lie About.

Careful what you put in that resume

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Returning to work took on an unexpected meaning for an unemployed Australian man when the government's job network told him to apply to an agency looking for female escorts. The Australian Broadcasting Corp said an employment agency contracted by the government to help the unemployed find work matched the man to two advertisements seeking "Ladies of all Ages." "I don't think the government should be expecting jobseekers to apply for a job as a prostitute," the man, who asked to be identified only as Tom, told the ABC on Tuesday.

The ABC said the advertisements had been included in Tom's list of possible options by mistake. Prostitution is legal in some parts of Australia but strictly licensed.

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Ah, v-e-r-y i-n-t-e-r-e-s-t-i-n-g, but shtoopid. heh heh heh

Anyway here at home everything is peaceful and quiet. It is almost dull at times. No juicy scandals have emerged from City Hall recently anyway. Most of the action is in Washington where the Bush regime seems to be doing a good job at self destructing.

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Wed. 16 July 2003

Got interrupted yesterday so I did not finish which might be a good thing however I will attempt some sort of drivel here.

Saw the following item on the news this morning and wonder why the guy did not just sleep on the lawn or on the sidewalk.
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BERLIN (Reuters) - The heatwave sweeping Germany claimed an unlikely victim when a man sleeping on a roof to escape the high temperatures rolled off, suffering fatal injuries, Berlin police said Wednesday.
A tenant of the building found the 28-year-old still alive after his 70-foot fall, but he later died in hospital. The man had bedded down with two friends as temperatures neared 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) in the German capital.

The friends only learned of the man's fate after being awakened and informed by police.

"The man must have ended up on the steep part of the roof and fallen off," said Berlin police in a statement. His sleeping bag remained hanging off the gutter of the tiled roof.
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Somehow I think that guy's elevator did not go all the way to the top floor.

Anyway, not much going on at work this morning as the national network is handicapped by some sort of outage in Montvale which is effecting e-mail and some other programs. As a result I sit here dead in the water waiting for services to be restored. As of 8 AM PT they thought services would be back in 4 - 8 hours. Yikes! Scrabble anyone?

I saw another headline out of London this morning about "TV Swearing devasting communication skills". This reminds me of the time I caught a portion of one of George Carlin's shows on one of the cable channels in which nothing was censored. Well, let me tell you, I have nothing against using the f-word under certain circumstances when I am angry however that seemed to be the only adjective George Carlin knew and I quickly grew tired of his act. The constant use of the word took all meaning out of his routine although it did point out what an idiot the guy is.

And with that I am out of here...

A bridge for sale?

President Bush continues to insist that he did not hype Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction. Well, if you believe that I have a wonderful bridge or two to sell you. Would you like one of those from the Bay Area or one from Sydney? They are all lovely works of construction. Tony Blair, too, is in hot water with the public and with parliament so the coming year in politics at home and abroad is going to be interesting. Who will survive? Perhaps this is a new version of the reality TV show "Survivor". Blair will be in Washington this coming week for talks with Bush. Perhaps it is time for a new script as they won't survive long on the current one. What had looked like a dull campaign in '04 looks like it could get very heated and contentious.

Say, do you get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom without turning on the light? Well, you might want to think twice about it after reading the following.

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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A pet python missing over the last two months made its reappearance by scaring a Dutch woman when it slithered out of her toilet bowl. The constrictor snake, which kills its prey by coiling around it and squeezing, had been on the loose for more than two months after breaking out of its terrarium in a town near the port city of Rotterdam, Dutch news agency ANP said on Thursday. As police and vets came to catch the two-meter long fugitive python, it slid under a bathtub that they had to demolish to capture it.

The snake was returned to its owner, but local residents were unhappy to hear the owner admit that a second pet python, this one almost one-meter long, had also escaped and was still on the loose.
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So ends a quiet weekend here in the City by the Bay. It was a surprisingly warm day and I have noticed recently that when they predict a cooling trend it warms up and when they predict a warming trend it cools off. Well, today's "cooling" trend was marvelous. We need more like them.

Back to work tomorrow so I hope everyone has a great week ahead.

Average day

What can I say other than I am glad tomorrow is Friday. The week has not been too bad all things considered, at least not here. Other people around the world though, have had difficult times with shootings, plane crashes, ferries capsizing, and more soldiers being ambushed in Iraq. Perhaps some good will come out of that in that it might make George Bush's re-election in 2004 not so certain. Perhaps if enough of the truth can come out during the next year, he will also be a one-term president. Did I hear anyone say HOWARD DEAN FOR PRESIDENT?

Disklike mosquitoes? Well, a company in Korea might have the answer to those pesky little bugs.

SEOUL, South Korea - South Korea's largest mobile phone operator said Thursday that it will offer cell phone users a new noise service that it says will repel mosquitoes.

SK Telecom Co. said subscribers can pay 3,000 won (US$2.50) to download a sound wave that is inaudible to human ears but annoys mosquitoes within a range of three feet. Customers can then play the sound by hitting a few buttons on their mobile phones.

The company claimed that the service worked during tests.

The service, which begins Monday, has one drawback: it consumes as much battery power as normal cell phone rings.

SK Telecom has 17 million subscribers and controls a little over 50 percent of the domestic market.

Golly, I wish I could do something to eliminate the noise of the heavy footsteps of my upstairs neighbor. He sounds like a 500 gorilla at times. Sometimes it sounds like he is remodeling the apartment late at night. Sometimes he does have late night parties. Sometimes I hear him early in the morning. Doesn't he ever sleep or does he alternate usage of the apartment with his friends???

No plans for this weekend. I guess that is good as I couldn't afford anything if I had plans. My budget seems to be shot. Must be the result of Democrat overspending so I must institute some Republican cutbacks. Ouch!

Catch y'all later.

Another Oops story.

Have you had a bad day recently? Well, whether or not you have, consider this woman's plight.
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MELBOURNE (Reuters) - It's every air traveler's secret fear: minutes from landing, you suddenly realize you're on the wrong plane and are about to end up thousands of miles from your intended destination.
That fear came true for an unidentified woman who mistakenly boarded the wrong plane in Los Angeles. Instead of arriving in Hong Kong as she planned, the woman found herself in the southern Australian city of Melbourne on Sunday.
The woman had a boarding pass for a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong but instead boarded a Qantas flight to Melbourne which left earlier from the same gate at Los Angeles international airport, a Qantas spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
She said the mistake happened because a computerized system used to check boarding passes was out of order and ground staff in Los Angeles missed the error.

The woman then sat in an unoccupied seat and did not realize her mistake until minutes before landing, the spokeswoman said.

Australia's Courier-Mail newspaper reported that the Asian woman slept quietly in seat 8C for most of the flight.

The woman arrived in Melbourne without her luggage, which was left in Los Angeles after she failed to board her scheduled flight. Qantas arranged for her to stay in Melbourne on Sunday night and then put her on a flight to Hong Kong, where she was to be reunited with her luggage.
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That is what I call taking the scenic route but at least she got home safely.

What is wrong with this world?

The past few days as I walk around the city to and from work or on errands I have witnessed a number of drivers who can't be bothered with slowing down to city speed limits or slowing down or even stopping at corners to let pedestrians pass or who honk at drivers who are courteous and law-abiding. Is there something in the air? No, it must be in their minds but why are they so hell-bent on getting nowhere so fast? The younger generation, especially those who seem to drive black sports cars with heavily tinted windows, or large pickups of similar descriptions (and that includes noisy tail pipes), who are the most rude and impatient and when they do get past an obstruction they seem to put the "pedal to the metal" and roar off into the distance where we can only hope they have not hit someone or something in their flight to nowhere. They are obviously uptight and angry but why can't they relax and slow down and give an inch or two to their fellow citizens? Perhaps their mentality is exemplified by the snot-nosed kid I heard complain on the 11 PM news one night that he could not get into the sold-out sneak preview of some hot new movie. He complained that he was being cheated out of seeing it. Good grief, what was wrong with going the next day at a more reasonable hour anyway? Why must it always be me-me-me-now-now-now? When I sometimes get to feeling that I wish I were younger I am reminded of these incidents and then realize that I am glad that I am the age that I am and won't have to live through the even worse times ahead. The even scarier part is that some people will justify it by saying, "Oh we have always had wars, or this or that, and it will pass." Unfortunately they don't have the life experience of knowing that it wasn't always this way. There were kinder, gentler times when you did not always have to be looking over your shoulder or around the corner before you approached it. I do not know where this will all end but hopefully I will not be around when it does.

Well, enough of this rant for now.

Never on Sunday

Is that the reason I did not write anything yesterday? Dunno but I guess it is good a reason as any.

Oh great, I see a article in the newspaper today that George Bush talks with God and God tells him what to do. Strange, I thought God was on our side. Nothing George has done would prove that. I wonder how his father deals with the shenanigans of his son? Does he approve? Does he disapprove? Or, does he even care?

Well, there are protests and there are protests. He is one that is a little different...

PAMPLONA, Spain (Reuters) - Animal rights activists stripped naked to protest against the running of bulls through the streets of Pamplona, condemning one of Spain's most famous traditions as cruel to animals.

Activists from all over Western Europe had planned to run nude along the route for the annual bull runs, but police in the northern Spanish city said the protest was unauthorized and blocked their way. About 20 men and women went ahead with the protest near the city center however, stripping completely. Some put on plastic horns or fake bull's heads. They were joined by scores of other protesters who kept on all or part of their clothing.

"In the running of the bulls, you have terrified animals slipping and sliding along the cobbled stone streets. Many of them suffer from broken bones," said Sean Gifford, of the U.S.-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals group that organized the Saturday protest.

"At the end of that terrified stampede, a gruesome death in the bullfighting ring awaits them," he said. "Forty thousand bulls are slaughtered in Spanish bullrings every year in the most horrific of ways. This is a tradition that needs to end." The ancient San Fermin festival began on Sunday, kicking off a week of celebrations that attract thousands of tourists from around the world.

Well, I agree with the protesters but running nude with bulls. That is a bunch of bull (pun intended I guess).

Here in San Francisco we get a few nude runners in the Bay-to-Breakers race each year and this year there were a few nude marchers in the Gay Pride Parade. I saw them and they had nothing to be proud about. If I might paraphrase the late Herb Caen, why do all the wrong people feel the need the strip down? I liked what David Niven said when he was streaked at the Academy Awards, "Why do some people like to show off their short comings?", or words to that effect.

Guess I better knock it off here.

Bonne nuit.

Day 2 of 3

The fourth of July was a quiet day here. Did not go anywhere, did not do anything. Watched fireworks on TV from New York and San Francisco. Had brunch in the morning with a friend and then spent the afternoon trying to create a video CD with my Roxio software. It worked...sort of. I can't seem to connect the title and introduction clips to the slide show however. I don't know if I am misunderstanding what can and cannot be done or if I am actually doing something wrong. Something tells me I may waste a lot of blank CD's before I figure this thing out.

I see an article on Reuters this morning about President Bush defending his use of American military might to spread freedom and relieve suffering around the world. Good grief...that man is a complete blithering idiot and needs to be locked up or hospitalized before he "helps" anyone else. He did not get rid of Saddam Hussein, only sent him into hiding. He gave the people in Iraq enough warning about a possible invasion so that, if they actually did have WMD's, they they had plenty of time to move them. Does he really know who is in charge there? Will anyone ever know? He has just exchanged one set of problems for another set. THIS MAN DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING! How did we ever end up with such a stupid person in the White House anyway?

He is quoted as making the following statement on his weekly radio address: "Without America's active involvement in the world, the ambitions of tyrants would go unopposed and millions would live at the mercy of terrorists." It is sad to think that someone could be in such a powerful position who thinks that all we have to do is send in the troops to get rid of this or that person and everything will be alright. He certainly had no plan before invading Iraq and he has no plan now about what to do. You simply cannot impose a U.S. type government on a country that has little or no experience with such models. He apparently feels that might makes it right. Well, bullshit. The thing I fear most now is that he might be elected to a second term. That would be the scariest thing I could think of at this time. He is dangerous and needs to be replaced by someone who can work together with other countries in solving world problems.

His radio address was even more pathetic in that he said "We value the freedom of every nation because we are committed to the God-given worth of every life, we work for human dignity in every land". How? By blowing up those you disagree with? Bullshit!

Enough of politics for now. Enough of this war mongering by Bush and his cronies. Let us eat cake and be merry or gay or whatever.

Cheers...

Friday at last - one day early!

This week is ending well, having be reassured by someone I trust, not to worry about impending changes at work. There are storm clouds around but I apparently will weather this storm.

I'm not sure what to do with this three days weekend but I will probably have brunch with Donn on Friday morning. Friday evening I might go out but that decision will not be made until that time. I would like to go to Vallejo to see Richard and his new car. If I do that I will take the Bay Link Ferry this time. That is one route I have never ridden and it would mean less driving for him as the ferry dock is fairly close to his house whereas taking BART would necessitate that he drive to El Cerrito del Norte stationi instead.

The Giants keep winning with their two ace pitchers, Schmidt and Williams. Hitting is coming along well now too as the Dodgers and D'backs stumble along. To be fair, they have their moments. Moments of winning and moments of losing. The pennant race this year could be a very interesting affair.

Our weather is very pleasant today. Not too warm and not too cool. I really hated to go back to work following lunch today. Apparently the next few days will be similar.

I hope everyone has a safe and sane 4th of July. If you drink, please leave the driving to someone else. Also, go to public displays of fireworks. Don't try it yourself even if they are legal in your area.

Bye for now...

Wednesday blahs


Why do I feel so down today? Was it the two beers during Karaoke last night and not getting to bed as early as usual? Hardly seems likely. There is a lot of concern at work lately about changes taking place within the firm and various "budget constraints". I just learned that one of the managers in our area will be leaving the firm within two months but he says this is voluntary as he has found an opportunity that he could not pass up. Still, I wonder how many involuntary departures there might be. There is a new summer intern in my department which seems silly at best if they can't afford to hire her permanently and/or might be cutting back on other staff. It makes me wonder what goes on in the minds of those in control, or, are they really in control?

OK, here is today's odd bit of news.
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BERLIN (Reuters) - Having sex while driving down a highway at 60 miles per hour is not an offence in Germany. But if you hit something, make sure you don't run off.

A Cologne court fined a man who admitted he was having sex with a blonde hitchhiker sitting astride him when he drove his car into a road sign. But only because he fled the scene of the accident with his naked accomplice.

"The man was convicted of hit-and-run and sentenced to a fine of 600 euros," court spokesman Juergen Mannebeck said on Tuesday. "It's hard to believe but in fact no law was broken with the intercourse on the motorway. It's a situation lawmakers never thought about."

The 23-year-old man, who was tracked down through the car's registration, was also ordered to pay 400 euros to repair the sign. He did not know the name of the woman who left her clothes behind in the car.
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He was only doing 60?

Well, that's all folks.