This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter).
Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon
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As usual, W and company are taking situations that while not necessarily good, could have some potential for improving things in the future, and instead are taking the road that will lead to the most resentment of us in the future. Good job!
Jobs for the boys—and for foreigners (Economist)
The mass import of migrants to service the American-led armies further fuels resentment. Saudi caterers contracted by Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, an American oil-services company, have shipped in hundreds of Indian and Bangladeshi cooks to avoid, they say, the risk that Iraqis might poison the food. Filipina maids hired in Jordan do the cleaning. […] To cap it all, a new investment law lets foreign contractors bring in labour from abroad but export all profits. Those Iraqis who do get contracts are often just back from exile. A recent tender for a mobile-phone franchise for southern Iraq was won by a consortium led by the son of the media director for Ahmed Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress, who had just returned from Canada. And Iraqis fret at the lack of auditors and openness in Iraq’s Governing Council and over the UN’s Development Fund for Iraq, where Iraq’s oil revenues are supposed to go.
(via Nathan Newman)
OK, a few substitutions on the Tivo wishlist front. I had a few suggestions before, but these are mostly my own:
The “Emmy” determined ones of couse stay the same. But…
First, since the guide listings finally include “Star Trek” in the info for “Enterprise”, I am broadening the wishlist to include all Star Trek.
Then in the “Shows” section of my method, I am eliminating Doctor Who and Queer Eye, and replacing them with Nova and 24. Doctor Who will come back when they actually do make more. Nova is because I have missed a good Science documentary show lately. 24 is because I have heard good things about it, and Season 3 hasn’t started yet, so I won’t miss the begining.
In the keyword section am killing the Egypt* and Syria* lists in favor of Ancient and President*. Ancient should get some good documentaries on ancient history. President* should get more and more stuff about the presidental race as that heats up.
In the Actors section I am eliminating Drew Barrymore and adding Janeane Garofalo.
And finally I’m switching my local news provider from “Action News” to “Eyewitness News” for variety.
The Tivo is processing the changes now. We’ll see how it goes.
In the mean time, I’ll make myself some dinner.
A week ago right now, I was at the wedding reception for friends Al and Kim. Although I neglected to bring my camera for the rehersal dinner and the evening of debauchery that followed, I did bring the camera to the wedding itself and the reception. Being in the wedding, I couldn’t take pictures there, so gave the camera to Chris. They had said no flash in the church, so I’d turned off the flash to be good. So a lot of the pics came out too blurry to show. And some of the ones hewre are still a little blurry. And then a bunch of people were using their flashes anyway! Oh well.
In any case, there are a few fun pictures from the wedding and reception. For those of you who have been bugging me to get these out, here ya go.
Al / Kim Wedding Pictures
If anybody wants full resolution version of any of these for printing or whatnot, email me which ones and I’ll send them to you.
Several people have suggested that I should apply. Thoughts?
Queer Eye Contact Us
We’re looking for straight guys, both single and married, of all ages and backgrounds to help become more stylish, more cultured and more desirable straight men.
They say Metro NYC though, and I’m not Metro NYC any more. I’m Metro Philly now. Oh well! :-)
[Edit: Fixed Typo. Title is Queer Eye, not Queer Qye.]
Been meaning to blog this for a few days, but keep forgetting…
I met one of the neighbors the other day!!! Specifically, the woman who bought the house next door… the other end unit right across for mine. I had actually looked at that house first, then the one I bought. They are mirror images of each other… except… mine has a basement and that one does not. So I bid on this one. But right before I put my bid in and made it final, I found out there were two other bidders, so I raised my offer about 6.6% from what I had initially planned. I won. I got the house with the basement.
Well, when I had looked at the house, there was a couple who came in to look at it right after me. They also bid on it. I beat them. They proceeded to bid on the house next door, and got that one.
Yup, my neighbors are the ones I out bid. Oops. :-)
She was coming over because they had gotten some of my mail. She seemed very nice. Said I was lucky to get this house, and they had looked at it too and loved the basement. We chatted for a minute about how they are redoing their house. Contractors have been there almost every day since they moved in. She mentioned that her husband had seen my projector TV through the window and really liked it. I invited them to come over any time to check it out more.
Anyway, they seem nice. I feel kind of bad that I out bid them. But then, on the other hand… I like the basement a lot too, and am really happy with this house. And I guess this gives them more cash to refit the other house the way they want.
Anyway, haven’t talked to them again since. But they seemed nice.
Before I watch or listen to any of the pundants and get “spun” here are my initial thoughts on all nine candidates in the debate. This is NOT about how much I agree or disagree with any of them, or who I might consider voting for if I were to vote in the Democratic primary (which I will not, I am a vehement independant). These are just my short summary thoughts on the impressions they left after the debate:
Here are my overall thoughts of all nine:
Mosely-Brown: Came off as a nice lady, but too mushy to be president. Not of any substance or weight.
Kucinich: What a joker. Get him off the stage. He has no grip on reality at all.
Kerry & Gephardt: Almost like twins. Both came off as pompus blowhard assholes.
Sharpton: Was fun to watch. Not a serious candidate in the end, but came off like he thought he was, not like a joke. Made some good points where others were afraid to go. Not having watched the last debate yet, he came off a lot better than I expected.
Clark: Took a couple hits, did not rebutt them well, did not bring anything new to the table, or show anything of his own. He didn’t do anything horribly bad, but gave absolutely nothing on the positive side to speak for him. He didn’t seem really comfortable with himself either.
Leiberman: Personable and serious. Knew what he was talking about. Seemed to have weight behind him. Was a little whiny and annoying, but not too bad. Did not quite pull off the “presidential” vibe, but I’d say he came in 3rd.
Dean: Came off second best behind Edwards. Came off serious and presidential for the most part. Knew what he was talking about. Was sure of himself. But he came off a little, um, I dunno… twitchy… So I don’t think he did quite as well as Edwards, but between them it was close.
Edwards: Best of the bunch I think in terms of performance. Was sure of himself. Knew what his message was. Serious and presidential. And also likable. I’m surprised actually. Hadn’t spent much time looking at Edwards before. I’ll pay a little more attention to him now.
Anyway, the only two of them that left me with a really solid and positive impression where Dean and Edwards. I got very negative impressions from Kucinich, Gephardt and Kerry. The rest were just neutral.
Now, again, this is soley based on how they came off in the debate to me. An evaluation of the actual issues and their positions on them is a completely seperate exercise which I have not looked at in the slightest yet.
[Edited to fix problem pointed out by mithras in the comments.]
Kinda sad. I remember watching this guy on Letterman. He was kinda funny. He spent a lot of time talking about how to be safe around bears. Oops.
Bear Mauling Kills Grizzly Advocate, Friend (Reuters on Yahoo! News)
The deaths were discovered when an air-taxi pilot flew to the site Monday afternoon to pick up the campers. He found the campsite damaged and a brown bear atop what appeared to be a human body, eating the remains.
OK. Well, the counter will have changed by time anybody sees this. Apple has updated their website and is now counting down to Panther and offering preorders.
Apple.com Panther Information
Mac OS X has evolved. The fourth major release in just three years, Panther offers breakthroughs in innovation, ease of use and reliability that won’t be seen in other operating systems for years, if ever.
(via fahlman on AppleInsider)
The only question for me now is if I pre-order now, or actually go to the Apple Store and fight the throngs and feel the excitement of getting it right there on the spot at the first possible moment rather than getting it the next morning FedEx.
Hmmm…
Anyway, all the reviews of pre-release versions of Panther that I’ve seen say it is pretty damn awesome. Adds a number of new useful features, and runs faster than Jaguar on pretty much every machine… including almost 3 year old Powerbooks like mine.
I’ll need to be getting copies for both my machines at home and for my mom. I hope they offer the “Family Pack” thing again this time, and right away… looks like they do. Good. Last time I ordered the multiple copies individually at a much higher cost, then they announced the family pack a few weeks later. Grrr! Anyway, I’m leaning toward just doing the pre-order, but going to the Apple Store might be fun! It will be a madhouse!
OK, maybe that wouldn’t be so much fun.
A gallery of really funky optical illusions which I had not seen before. The first one especially freaked me out. It so completely looks like it is moving. But it is not.
The Latest Works
(via Merovingian on AppleInsider)
Rebecca, can you give this a proper literary critique?
Writen by commander in Chief W, for first lady Laura’s return from Europe a few weeks ago.
President Bush pens a poem (AP on CNN)
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Oh my, lump in the bed
How I’ve missed you.
Roses are redder
Bluer am I
Seeing you kissed by that charming French guy.
The dogs and the cat, they missed you too
Barney’s still mad you dropped him, he ate your shoe
The distance, my dear, has been such a barrier
Next time you want an adventure, just land on a carrier.
— George W. Bush
(via BlogDex)
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