Remind me to put these dates in iCal to make sure I don’t miss these anime.

Inuyasha: Love that Transcends Time (movie) will air on Oct. 23rd @ 12am; Read or Die (OAV) will air on Nov. 6th @ 12am; Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex will premiere on Nov. 6th @ 11pm and Fullmetal Alchemist @ 11:30pm.

This has been a public service announcement for the benefit of my bishie viewing pleasure.

Sides must watch more anime, probaably won’t be making any Cons this year due to health concerns.

Just read this excellent essay by Nathan. My favorite part, quoting:

The Left & Moderates (through Establishment) tells us that if we don’t like foul language and unnecessary sexuality, turn off the TV (knowing that most people won’t). … It’s getting more difficult to go to any public event in large cities without seeing excessive sexuality on display (both hetero- and homo-). The pro-crudity lobby (my term, not theirs) pursues those of us who want to protect our children into every facet of our lives. Why do the the Gay Pride parades Dawn describes have more right to display in public than a nativity scene?

And when a conservative family does withdraw and homeschools their children, or to choose a private school where traditional values are easier to enforce, the Left derides them as naive and reactionary and trying to avoid the “real world”. They fight to prevent vouchers and to outlaw homeschooling, mostly because they want to continue expanding funding to public schooling, sure…but making sure children are steeped in the Politically Correct liberal and atheistic ideology is a nice bonus, at the very least, if not the actual goal.

No, Britney Spears isn’t a good example for Andrew Sullivan, et al, to bring up. Her marriage is a symbol of what is wrong with American society. Her marriage was the result of the same ideological force that is pushing SSM: a Godless, lawless, standardless, amoral, vapid sub-society that worships the unholy trinity of Money and Celebrity and Hedonism. The pro-SSM lobby using a Hollywood marriage as a portion of their argument is like a socialist saying the United States should be more socialist because Mao’s and Stalin’s ideas of Capitalism didn’t work out.

Touche, bingo, spot on. I still stand for a society with morals thankyouverymuch. For that, I am voting for Bush. He’s our best chance to keep some values in our lives. You might consider volunteering and/or donating to the Bush campaign. I have. (more…)

Been reading several blogs, pros and cons about the Iraq turnover of power to the Iraqis. Michele has some of the nicer comments. There are others, less complimentary, even going so far as to prefer life under Saddam. A clue to the negative is the press served up, exposing article here. It’s a bit long but the gist is that coverage is very negative, no surprise. A quote to when your appetite about Rajiv Chandrasekaran, the Baghdad bureau chief for the Washington Post.

Chandrasekaran’s crew generates a relentlessly negative stream of articles from Iraq – and if there are no events to report, they resort to man-on-the-street interviews and cobble together a story from that. Last week, there was a front-page, above-the-fold article about Iraqis jeering U.S. troops, which amounted to a pastiche of quotations from hostile Iraqis. It was hardly unique. Given the expense of maintaining an Iraq bureau with a dozen staffers, they have to write something to justify themselves, even if the product is shoddy.

…Before major combat operations were over, Chandrasekaran was already quoting Iraqis proclaiming the American operation a failure. Reading his dispatches from April 2003, you can already see his meta-narrative take shape: basically, that the Americans are clumsy fools who don’t know what they’re doing, and Iraqis hate them. This meta-narrative informs his coverage and the coverage of the reporters he supervises, who rotate in and out of Iraq.

There’s a lot more to the article. What saddens me is basically U.S. policy may be influenced by such reporting and as debunked later, his reporting is not to be trusted. If the reporting the U.S. is relying on to make decisions is biased, no wonder we have problems. As to the bloggers, doubt anyone is paying any of them pro or con. I do expect opinion in Iraq to be quite polarized all things considered. It is here in the U.S. too. Just take it (opinions/reportage) with a grain of salt, maybe more. Best stock up in any case.

Hat tip, Glenn who neither links Frank J. nor myself. Money doesn’t work with the bigwigs, they can’t be bought, except for a BlogAd which just gets an ad, no linky love. Incidentally, buying not one but two IMAO t-shirts doesn’t get a link, just the t-shirts. So people that says bloggers are being paid to post are all wet.

In their legal custody according to Yahoo quoting Jim Krane, Associated Press Writer.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis and the world will get their first glimpse of Saddam Hussein since his capture in December when he and 11 of his top lieutenants are brought to court Thursday to face war crimes charges likely to include the 1988 chemical weapons massacre of Kurds and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Already there are pretrial negotiations over permitting Saddam’s foreign legal team to work in Iraq, whether to televise the proceedings and whether to reinstate the harshest penalty in Iraq’s legal code: hanging by the neck until dead.

Iraq will take legal custody of Saddam from the U.S. Army on Wednesday and the former dictator is to make his first court appearance Thursday, where he will be informed of the charges in his arrest warrant, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced Tuesday.

Salem Chalabi, director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal that will try Saddam, said Thursday’s appearance at the tribunal, housed in a courthouse with a prominent clock tower inside Baghdad’s sealed-off Green Zone, is expected to be filmed for public release.

He does have a few crimes to answer for, to wit.

The crimes against humanity for which Saddam is expected to be tried include the 1988 chemical weapons massacre of Kurds in Halabja, the slaughter of Shiites during a 1991 uprising in southern Iraq, the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

That will keep them busy for quite some time unless there is a massive terrorist attack on said courthouse with a prominent clock tower killing all within. We’ll see, not holdimg my breath here.

Supposed to be those in the individual ready reserves, what they used to call Control Group, will be called back according to MOS’s. They are not calling those completely retired, discharged (was discharged 20 years ago), out, kaput, over the age, suffering from degenerative disc disease and multiple sclerosis.

Sucks doesn’t it that I have very desirable MOS’s too. Courtesy of the Army, I have…

91K - Medical Laboratory Specialist (Converts to MOS 68K in Oct 06) used to be 92B had M4 modifier too - Blood Donor Center Operations.
31E - Correctlons Specialist used to be 95C - peeps that guard inmates at such places as Abu Ghraib

But my civilian job is a killer a 66H. You’ll have to look that one up.

I am safe not that I wouldn’t be willing to serve but with my various infirmaties just couldn’t hack it so don’t even try it.

Cat made some good points. I didn’t analyze the video myself. I am not sure just how dangerous Saddam was unless he had something to do with West Nile Virus but I do expect his weapons to show up in the most interesting places at the most inappropriate times. If you look at where Iraq is geographically, going to war with Saddam makes very good sense. See, Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan surround Iran, one major and very dangerous enemy. Iraq was a far easier country to overthrow than Iran, there were all those ignored resolutions and Saddam’s less than stellar treatment of his people. I do wonder if it’s all a setup to surround and then overthrow Iran.

Note this map of Nato countries and PfP countries and note what I did to it, little labeling.

Strategically, if Iraq were to end up an Islamic theocracy like Iran, and ally with Iran and Syria, it would be quite dangerous. Now if Iraq becomes a democratic wedge full of our military might (unlikely to leave soon), it will make a nice staging area. Sides, there are other benefits, if we control the flow of oil between the Middle East and Russia and the Far East, will make for some interesting possibilities.

Then there’s the bit of surrounding Syria, they are ripe for change U.S. style.

Psycho Cat is a very bad cat. It’s either that or she’s working undercover for my kid who wants to redecorate my house. Guessing curtain is not feng shui enough for her tastes.

Not expecting a quick fix, med works slow but even slow is better than none. Tired of feeling like my legs are rubber and since my left leg went numb and weak on the 20th and my right side went weak on the 27th after my face went numb night before, it’s a challenge to even want to get up. Very, very weak.

Although it is a hoot to watch me attempt walking.

And when I get around to it I will be making a new category and moving all my MS posts into it for those morbidly curious about my disease.

1. Have you ever blogged something you’ve regretted in the morning? Do you leave it? Delete it? Pray that no one reads it?

Oh yes at least once and most likely more, commented on something without knowing the full story and had to go back and fix it.

2. Last week, RE: Blogs asked about the location from which you blog. This week, RE: Blogs asks for a photo of your favorite blogging environment. If you don’t have a camera ready - or aren’t willing to share a photo - - describe your favorite blogging place to the best of your ability

Must check to see if battery is recharged. Is so…

3. What do you like most in a blog post by another blogger? Personal experiences? Fictional stories? News/Current events? Tech advice? Share some of your favorites from this week (either yours, or someone elses).

susu’s ability to get a cat into any situation
Getting the last laugh
Yummy food - peppers
Witty writing er Photoshopping
Turkey served with a big heaping pile of nuance , yeah back to the food.

Week 73

Late due to work and health problems

Lounge:: iPod lounge

Photograph:: they go in iPhoto

Catacomb:: finding anything at Apple Support

Crucifix:: The Passion inspiring movie

Fire drill:: leave the building and head for the Apple Store

Tube:: display, cinema display, Apple’s new drop dead gorgeous 30in Cinema Display and they are adjustable too.

Dropped:: Irrevocable Hype like a rock, people have been leaving in droves.

LTD:: long term disability something I think about a lot cause I want to be able to afford that G5.

Panther:: OS X 10.3, next up Tiger 10.4

Formica:: counter is white, matches my iBook

This is awesome, link thanks to Blogs for Bush.

Sure it’s a little long and would have to be trimmed for a TV spot, but it does bring back memories of all Bush has done.

Think it’s the combination of two hours sleep (would have been three if not for the phone calls) and the Ativan. I’m rather mellow and quite tired, so…

It’s bedtime.

Blogs for Bush is now requiring Typekey registration for commenters which is a feature of Irrevocable Hype 3.0. As I was unsure whether I, a registered poster, had to register for Typekey, I did. And not only did I register, I made a profile page.

Cool thing about the profile page is the ability to make a comment and add favorite sites. I had fun with that yes I did.

Bent, not just bent as it is possible to roll it without creasing, but creased another picture of President and Mrs Bush. Hopefully not fatally, will see what framing it will do. Hey, they are nice enough to frame.

Mailman is either stupid or a Democrat, can’t think of another reason for repeatedly bending my pics.

I can see it now, my house decorated with pictures of the President. :-D

Little more sure it is MS as I was definitely worse, worse than first attack even. Think trigeminal neuralgia on both sides of my face at the same time. Thankfully the Neurontin dulled the attack. Not bad enough IMHO to go to the ER sides had a clueless person in charge last night. Would have been inadvisable to leave my work in her hands not just cause of her cluelessness but cause she had a smart ass sidekick we both felt like kicking.

So I did the sensible thing, called the doc back after his office opened. And since I had to wait anyway, went to the lab to get my blood drawn for tests. He was quite pleasant for so early in the morning and, as I fully expected being extensively read up on MS by now, ordered for me to have 3 doses of IV Solumedrol, Pepcid (which I already take) and Ativan so I won’t be all wired. That was quite thoughtful of him.

So it was up to the idiot at the scheduling desk to set up the IV infusion with the Infusion Clinic. Naturally, I informed her I was waiting, had been up all night, and would like to be worked in sooner rather than later if that were possible. So I waited and waited and finally called her back at which time she coldly imformed me my appointment was for 1PM, no chance of another time. She said they would be calling to confirm which they didn’t so I called them and found out they would have seen me right away had they known. Person there rescheduled for a more convenient time allowing me to take a nap which I will do soon as I check out something very important….

Nekkie pussy dancing at The Carnival of the Cats.

I was surprised when my coworker told me they already handed over sovereignty to the Iraqis. From CNN, the news.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) — Officials in the United States and Iraq talked for more than a week about the idea of handing over sovereignty before the scheduled date of June 30, and the ultimate decision came at the urging of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a senior administration official said Monday.

The decision was based on two factors: the readiness of Iraqi officials and security concerns, the official told reporters in Istanbul, where President Bush is attending the NATO summit.

“Prime Minister Allawi strongly advised us that today would be the right day to do it,” the official said. Allawi made a final decision Sunday night.

President Bush knew about the possibility for several days, and received final word Sunday evening, the official said, speaking anonymously as part of a “background briefing.”

Other members of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq were notified early Monday, the official said.

“The main reason that Prime Minister Allawi gave is that he believes it would strengthen his hand in dealing with the terrorist threat in his country and that it would demonstrate to the Iraqi people and to the world that this new government is capable, willing and ready to run their country, to improve the daily lives of the Iraqi people and to improve the security environment in their country.”

It was a brilliant move IMHO and I hope it saves some bloodshed. Sides, now I won’t have to do nightly updates before leaving for work (yes they were postdated - cool WordPress feature).

And, according to CNN, there’s a bit more death and destruction.

Two car bombs exploded near a mosque, killing 40 people and wounding 22 others Saturday night in the southern Iraqi city of Hillah, a coalition military official said.

The bombings took place near a building formerly known as the Saddam Mosque. The Polish-led multinational division responded.

Hillah is a largely Shiite town near the ancient city of Babylon and is along a road where many ambushes have occurred.

And militants who kidnapped three Turkish citizens are threatening to behead them in 72 hours if Turkey does not pull its companies out of Iraq, the Arabic-language television network Al-Jazeera reported Saturday.

Does anyone doubt they will whack their heads off?

Doc called back, on call doc was the one I am seeing so that is good. Anyway, I’m to see if the symptoms stay the same or get worse and call him in the morning.

Course, if they get lots worse, I’m to go to the ER. So far, laying in bed, they are the same. I’ll see what getting up and actually doing something does.

Last night I worked and it wasn’t a good night. Might remember my writing that last Sunday my left leg went numb and, no, I never followed up on that cause, despite the weakness, numb is less painful from a low back standpoint. I’ve needed less pain meds for my back. Well, last night the right side of my head went much number, vision got a lot more blurry. I was already seeing double so I didn’t notice much change there. Coworker noticed my speech was a bit more impaired. But…

As there weren’t two supervisors hovering over me insisting I go to the ER, weren’t any to speak of actually, I just worked thru the night. Coworker trusted my judgement, the fool. Actually, I was hesitant to do anything as it wasn’t exactly a life threatening emergency. I could still walk, talk, and make a general nuisance out of myself. I did make it but no change in my condition.

I did call the doc and left a message. I’ll leave any decision making to the pros provided they call me back today. Might not. Might mention the stuff I read on the net was unhelpful in whether this constituted an exacerbation and needed the requisite doses of IV Solumedrol to make me all better. So, for the moment, I am going to do the cat thing ie. nap.

Til we turn over this mess to the Iraqis. Will the violence stop after the switch? Place reminds me of a song titled, “Nonstop Violence” by Apoptygma Berzerk. Hmm, I’ve got the Croatia mix. Thinking… they will need to mix a new version just for Iraq.

Do love iTunes.

Ooo, geesh, not again. According to CNN, they got another hostage situation.

And militants who kidnapped three Turkish citizens are threatening to behead them in 72 hours if Turkey does not pull its companies out of Iraq, the Arabic-language television network Al-Jazeera reported Saturday.

Al-Jazeera broadcast a video showing three people seated, holding what appeared to be identification documents, while two armed, masked men pointed guns at them. The network did not broadcast any sound from the tape.

The broadcast came hours before President Bush was due in Turkey for a NATO summit.

According to Al-Jazeera, the video is from a group that calls itself Unification and Jihad. The group is believed to be linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whom the coalition blames for a string of recent attacks and who is believed to have ties to al Qaeda.

Guessing all the PR is working in their favor. If not maybe some MOABs will.

Yesterday I was suffering a severe case of sticker shock when my kid presented me with the receipt for the car repairs some $484.85 worth that came out of my bank account until…

I got enterprising and decided to add up all these insurance receipts for my hospital stay last month.

$29469 and I’m not sure I’ve got it all, bit more expensive than last time. Course, seeing as I had insurance I didn’t have to pay that much, something around $0 to be exact. Good insurance. Actually, thinking about it, if I didn’t have the insurance, I wouldn’t have gone to the ER no matter what my supervisor said. Just wouldn’t have told anyone is all.

And seeing as my employer provides said insurance, they didn’t make a fuss either. Neither did coworkers who were all wonderful, not one of them griped that my going to the ER was going to raise their insurance rates. I once worked for a place where my coworkers did gripe just cause I went to the doc not something big like this. Never forgot it either.

Til the turnover of power in Iraq. Wonder how many will get killed before then? Thursday there were more than 100 kiled and 320 wounded. Friday, we struck back in Fallujah. Not sure of the total death toll there.

Don’t expect a smooth turnover thou.

Aaron has a caption contest as does Kevin. Both seriously need a prettier model for their contests. Aaron also has, with said overused model, some nice clean Photoshop fun.

Then again, maybe not. However…

He is having a Gmail contest with some rather interesting scoring. He wants to get noticed by the allmighty Glenn. Can’t help him there. He does have other top quality blogrolls he’d love to be on too, all not Glenn. Can’t help him there either.

Added more pics to the cat gallery, still need to customize that some more. Something else to do.

Probably should get up and see what the cats are up to. Nap was a total loss.

Added a plugin, the witty text one. Works great. One great thing about WordPress is the ease with which one can add plugins.

Mind you they don’t always work with the latest nightly but that’s my fault for being cutting edge here.

Yum and yummy, Matt sure knows how to take tantilizing pics, such pretties indeed.

Napping, wouldn’t you know it I have a splitting headache. Makes it hard to sleep. So while I suffer, I’ll share the email I got so you all, well Windows users anyway - Mac users can gloat, can suffer too.

NEW YORK - A mysterious Internet virus being spread Friday by hundreds and possibly thousands of infected Web sites may be aimed at stealing credit card and other valuable information, security experts warned.

The infection appears to take advantage of three separate flaws with Microsoft Corp. products. Microsoft said software updates to fix two of them had been released in April, but the third flaw was newly discovered and had no patch to fix it yet.

Experts said the infection, detected by Microsoft on Thursday, was unusually broad but wasn’t substantially interfering with Internet traffic

Security experts at Microsoft and elsewhere worked Friday to pin down how the infection spreads across Web sites. It appears to target at least one recent version of Microsoft software for operating Web sites — called Internet Information Server. (MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.)

The infection makes subtle changes to the Web site so visitors get a piece of code that’s designed to retrieve from a Russian Web site software that records a person’s keystrokes and can send data back, experts say. Such software “Trojan horses” are routinely used to fish for credit card numbers, bank accounts, passwords and the like.

Now that the code is out, other hackers are likely to adapt it to distribute software for spamming and for launching broad Internet attacks against popular Web sites, said Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering at security company Symantec Corp.

“Users should be aware that any Web site, even those that may be trusted by the user, may be affected by this activity and thus contain potentially malicious code,” the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team warned in an Internet alert. [not mine, runs on Linux]

Stephen Toulouse, a security program manager at Microsoft, recommended that computer owners obtain the latest security updates for Microsoft products and their anti-virus and firewall programs.

Because one flaw has yet to be fixed, he said, users should also turn up security settings on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browsers to the highest levels.

Security experts noted that users can avoid the exploit by using alternative browsers such as Mozilla and Opera [and Safari, don't forget Safari]. Users could also turn off the “Javascript” feature on their Microsoft browsers, though doing so cripple functions on some sites.

The infection does not affect Macintosh versions of Internet Explorer.

Or Macintoshes, I love my iBook, yes I do.

They nap a lot, and it does look so inviting especially since I got the featherbed, I will do the same. Inspiration.

Finally, they did something good for a change. Working on outlawing spyware. According to Wired, they are close to passing a law against spyware.

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives moved closer on Thursday to passing a law that would ban companies from installing spyware without getting computer users’ permission.

In an often contentious proceeding, the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday approved HR2929, the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass, or Spy Act, bill by a 45-4 margin.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono (R-California), aims to prevent spyware purveyors from hijacking a homepage or tracking users’ keystrokes. It also requires that spyware programs be easily identifiable and removable. The programs would be able to collect personal information only with permission from the user. It also would increase fines against abusers.

Course, with any luck, if it passes, you PC users will get a dialog box that pops up that will confuse you as to what you are installing or, even better, one that doesn’t take no for an answer and blasts you with popups that just won’t close and sticks you in an endless loop for which the only way to escape is ctrl-alt-delete. Coworker got one at work and I had to fix the PC afterwards.

For those with firewalls, there the numerous requests for an outgoing connection for who knows what and one is never sure just what to allow so the choice is to allow all and risk spyware or deny all and risk the PC not working. Stuff, processes, on the PC is named to confuse, convince of that.