The Friday Ark is up as is the Carnival of the Recipes. What a choice, cats - food. Ah, cat food. Must feed cats. (more…)

There is such a place or a reasonable facsimile in Sumatra. From the Guardian again cause that’s what’s in NewsFire, yet another news reader, trying them all..

It is almost impossible to escape the stench of decomposing bodies in Banda Aceh. It has enveloped the city on the northern tip of Sumatra like a sticky slime, carried on the wind to even the few places that survived last Sunday’s devastating earthquake and tsunamis.

Five hundred soldiers are working from dawn to dusk to try to clear the corpses. Around the city work parties clad in rubber gloves and masks are using anything they can to complete their grim task.

Most teams have run out of body bags and have no proper equipment to lift the corpses so they are using debris from the street to lever the remains on to black plastic sheeting and trussing them up like parcels ready for posting.

No attempt is made to identify them. They are just dumped 30 at a time on trucks and taken off to one of several mass graves that are being dug just outside the city. No one has any idea how long the task will take because no one has any idea how many bodies there are.

I do believe the death toll will rise, that is if they bother to count them. I can’t even begin to imagine how horiffic that is, the smell, the work of identifying, removing and burying the dead.

123,000 dead and counting. From the Guardian, some of the horrific details:

Indonesia’s Aceh province on the island of Sumatra - the landmass closest to the epicentre of Sunday’s seismic activity - bore the brunt of both the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tsunamis.

Aid workers arriving in region have encountered devastation - entire towns and villages razed, and countless people - some of them with cuts and broken bones - searching desperately for clean water and food on streets covered in debris and dead bodies.

Emergency workers and soldiers have come across countless bloated bodies, many of them young children, strewn on the streets and floating in the rivers of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital.

Some survivors have not eaten since Sunday and risk infections and diseases such as elephantiasis, cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, malaria, meningitis and haemorrhagic fever.

It remains to be seen how high the death toll will rise before the aid arrives. And it will as we, the people and companies, in the U.S. have donated lots. We’re not “stingy.” Still don’t trust the U.N. with our money.

Spam Karma is still catching legit comments so fiddled with the settings again hoping that will fix it. The spammers have been overwhelming it with garbage spam just to clog up the blacklist. That may be part of the problem. I don’t know. I do know others have had the same problem I have. Sorry bout that.

This is what it gives me.

=+ Comment #15
Reason(s):
OSA: Code invalid/forged (IP potentially different).
KARMA: -9
Treatment: hell
Comment posted on Post ID: 3735
Added Author IP to auto-ip list (24.17.36.188).
Added URL to auto-url list (www.softgreenglow.com).
Author : AnalogKid
Email : analogkid@softgreenglow.com
URL : http://www.softgreenglow.com
IP : 24.17.36.188
Comment:
Thanks very kindly for the linkage, Mog. +=

So I unchecked OSA. Hopefully that will work.

Update: It is now moderating legit comments so there may be a lag between the time you comment and the time it shows up depending on how soon I get to them. I do work and am not available during work to approve them til I figure out what to do next.

As usual Lair dissects the pronouncements from the need to be removed heads of the U.N..

Sissy puts it all in perspective. While the MSM are trying to blame Bush, bloggers are trying to help.

Notable, the The South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami was created just for the tsunami with helpful and up to date information and just about all the links one could want to aid in looking for a lost loved one, getting and giving help and more.

Random Nuclear Strikes has a whole raft of links on the tsunami including satellite pictures, donating, and some astute observations on the politics of it all.

And over in Australia, Ozguru gives a few facts about disaster relief that one might want to know before donating. Note, don’t give any money to France.

The Command Post always comes thru, in this case a whole raft of organizations to donate to, some you wouldn’t expect. Read the comments.

Just got back from the Apple Store where I got my third remote for my iPod, all under warranty. First one lasted about six months, dragged my feet getting that replaced, did just before warranty was up and then the replacement didn’t even last three months. Seems that the wiring inside the remote broke cause one channel kept going out especially when I moved either the iPod or the remote.

I must say that, despite the store being packed, I got fast service. Had to go to the Genius Bar to get service, log in on a Mac and wait. Didn’t wait long, didn’t take long to get the replacement. Didn’t do much other shopping. Took the usual shortcut thru Pottery Barn, looked longingly at the furniture (cause none of the sofas were clawed to death by cats) and picked up a catalog.

Alas, no furniture til kid and cats go bye bye. Still, there is the Apple Store.

Update: Best things in the Pottery Barn catalog were the Apple computers they used in the photo shoots. Ikea is loads cheaper anyway.

It’s not just that the quake and subsequent tsunami caused untold damage and killed over 68,000 people at last count. It’s that the quake had far reaching consequences. From Yahoo.

The ocean surge was triggered by a 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, spreading in an arc of death across the Indian Ocean and striking nations from Indonesia to Sri Lanka, and beyond to Africa.

U.S. scientists said the quake that set off the killer wall of water permanently moved tectonic plates beneath the Indian Ocean as much as 98 feet, slightly shifting islands near Sumatra.

That’s not the preferred method of the earth moving by any means. Moving islands, that’s one powerful quake. And that’s not all.

The tremor, the biggest in 40 years, may have caused the Earth to wobble on its axis, permanently accelerating its rotation and shortening days by a fraction of a second, U.S. scientists said.

The quake ripped a chasm in the sea bed which set off the tsunami, perhaps the deadliest for hundreds of years.

The earth really moved. Wonder what the next big quake will bring? Best to be prepared for whatever disaster may happen. After all, that quake killed more people than Al Qaida. Bin Ladin must be so jealous. Point is terrorists aren’t the only threat we face. There’s Mother Nature. Making the point for proper preparedness most eloquently, Lair.

Note he mentions in passing certain comments regarding who is stingy with their donations. This stinginess is elaborated more fully by Jay. Personally, considering how well the U.N. administered the Oil for Food program among other fiascos, I wouldn’t trust them with so much as a dime.

Spent the day cleaning and I’m not yet done. Not sure I got up all the glass from the candle Meowza knocked over. It was a lovely thing, turquoise, quite heavy and the cats had left it alone. I should have put it in my room. Trouble is there is no room in my room. Been cleaning that too. Anyway, Meowza and Izzy were chasing each other all over the house, knocking what little was left atop the bookcase over and knocking that candle to the floor with a loud crash.

After all the destruction, topping $8500 in damages here, that did it. I have had it and told my kid so. This house is too small for eight cats sides which I am too sick to do all and I mean ALL the work caring for them. I feed them. I clean up after them. I take them to the vet. I have paid for everything. She pets them when she is home which is rarely.

I want my home back. I want my sanity back. Now excuse me while I have a nervous breakdown.

Note, no way do I think my disaster is of importance just I am extremely frustrated with both the kitties and my kid. The big disaster is in Southeast Asia and I have already donated. You can help people that suffer from a real disaster at Mercy Corps.

Update: CNN has a list of aid agencies for those wanting to donate to help the earthquake/tsunami victims.

Voting is open in the Carnival of the Cats Model Poll and the little monsters are in it. Here’s your chance to show your devotion and love to Psycho Cat, Izzy, Jezi, and Bazel.

Maybe you’ll be so enthralled with them you’ll want to take them home. Probably be smart and pick one of the other, better behaved cats.

Hat tip, who else.

Best new blog (2004) embracing Christmas, according to the Blog Herald’s Christmas Blogging Awards, how about that. And it was brought to you, created and conceived by…

a Jew.

So was Christmas

The original one. I see a trend here. Watch those Jews, they’re on to something.

Well when I upgraded on the test blog, it worked perfectly. No difference as both blogs are running the same version. I get an error about a nonexistent file on the main blog.Warning: main(./wp-blog-header.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /… …/mindofmog.net/wp-content/plugins/index.php on line 3

Fatal error: main(): Failed opening required ‘./wp-blog-header.php’ (include_path=’.:/usr/local/lib/php’) in /… …/mindofmog.net/wp-content/plugins/index.php on line 3I am clueless. Probably should have tried sleeping which I failed at miserably too. Dashboard is cool too, has the latest posts, comments, blog stats and news from the WordPress developers. One click and you know what’s happening so you know what to update and play with so you don’t get anything else done.

Like sleep. Hope the rest of the site works as I just may yet sleep.

Update: All fixed now. Removed the index.php file that I had inadvertently uploaded I think. Memory isn’t what it used to be. And noticed it is now version 1.5-alpha-6. Notice it fixed a few other things like this edit page.

Lair has the Christmas, not holiday, Carnival of the Cats up. It is a joyful collection of kittycats. Go forth and enjoy all this holiday cattiness. Now…

must go feed cats.

Since they are sofa cats and most were laying on the sofa, that’s where I put their presents. It didn’t take them long to investigate.

They needed a little help getting things open. Human to the rescue.

Izzy is getting the idea. Meowza had taken a bow off and batted it around but didn’t get that he had to unwrap the gifts.

Mmm, shrimp treats yum. I can hardly wait to see them eat those as the shrimp is laced with catnip.

Jezi found the mousies, the ones sticking out of their wrap so I opened it up and it was mousie play time. Treat time. Time to get ready to go out to dinner for the humans.

I gave in and themed it just for one day of course. Used a tag made for me by a very nice person. She’s made a few for me, soon to be a lot, and you can beg tags off her too at her website. Some people like to put them in their Incredimail. Well, just about everyone that uses that program does. It had a cat in it is why I chose that.

And speaking of cats, check out Edloe in the snow and… (more…)

Reminder, one week to turn in your Dead Pool picks and only two days to submit your cat photos in the Carnival of the Cats photo contest. Combing the two in one.

No not dead cats, one post. Lair has two of my favorite things on his site. I admit to spending way too much time at his site and have downloaded most all his big kitty pics for my desktops. However, my last post got me thinking about the perfect gift or gifts for a cat person… (more…)

No, not that dizzy girl, this dizzy girl. Past two days, I was so dizzy and unsteady I barely got out of bed…

so I wouldn’t hurl. That coupled with an incessant ringing in my ears, more on the right, led me to the decision to stop the Baclofen which I’d restarted after the accident if memory serves me correctly. My memory has improved back to what it was before the accident… I think. But nothing’s done.

No tree, spot where it would go if I dared put it in the living room has boxes overturned by the cats and that I haven’t picked up. And the back bedroom is still serving as a storage place for one of her friend’s stuff. Hard to get in there to get to the PC. Climbing over boxes, which isn’t fun to start with, becomes even more of a challenge when dizzy.

Shopping, I haven’t done it. Mind you considering what my kid wants, shopping isn’t involved although I did get her something…

online and I had a lot better luck than Sissy had. Stuff arrived in six days, that’s days not months. That reminds me I need to resize images if I want to fit the other templates (everything has it’s own template) so I can sell more stuff, had forgotten all about it with all my medical stuff.

Which brings me back to the dizziness which has improved enough to go get some food including a turkey which I’ll cook when it thaws out. Thawing it in fridge cause of them. Cats.

But one look at them and how can I resist. Now I need to either find or go buy the wrapping paper, something a cat can open er shred, ok, no kevlar paper.

Update: After midnight, now Christmas, was late posting my Friday cat blogging cause I was out buying that wrapping paper, late wrapping their presents cause I was updating the site, and late going to bed cause I was wrapping their presents and forgot to put the laundry in the dryer, so if you want to see cats, like who’s going to stay up looking at cat photos, check out the Modulator’s Friday Ark. It’s got cats, dogs, all kinds of critters. I’ll be checking out the cats while I wait for the laundry. No, I don’t want to get it in the morning when it will be all cold and wrinkled.

Week 99
1 day, 1 hour, 47 minutes ago it was posted before I started this
5 days, 1 hour, 56 minutes ago and when I finished

I had trouble thinking of the perfect gift.

Perfect Gift:: a cure for MS
Santa:: Claus gets around
Lucy:: in the sky with diamonds
Buckets:: of cat poop
Recital:: music:: iTunes:: iMac:: iPod
Stamp:: PC Holiday stamps
Teacher:: leave those kids alone:: Pink Floyd:: iTunes:: iMac: iPod:: Apple
Matchbox:: cars
Spit:: polish
Feeling:: tired, dizzy

Week 98
8 days, 1 hour, 47 minutes ago it was posted when I started this
12 days, 1 hour, 56 minutes ago and when I finished

Plot:: no plot yama-naashi, owari-nashi, imi-nashi
Farce:: elections in Ukraine
Unexpected:: $50,000 cloned cat, what a waste when so many cats get destroyed.
Siren:: police
Ben::’s World
Freshman:: college
Quicksand:: my very first Taz game where he fell in the quicksand multiple times before I figured it out
24 hours:: beats 48 Hours
Spunky:: Rummy
Vicious:: smear campaign

It is happening. The loss of freedom, the surveillance into every aspect of our lives, big brother and, as anyone should know, big brother can’t be trusted. Sure this is happening in Britain but it could happen here.

…the infrastructure of tyranny is now well and truly in place, all of which came to pass with a soundtrack of a faint bleating sound of an indifferent public in the background. …a authoritarian panoptic state is coming. If this is what the majority of British people want, then may they get exactly what they deserve…

I realise most people will just shrug their ovine shoulders and find my worries inexplicable, crazy even, as it is not like Blair and Howard are setting up Gulags, right? No, of course not. Who needs those when there is a camera on every corner and your every purchase and phone call will eventually be logged on a central government database? As far as I concerned, the war is over and my side lost.

Sad and to think I wanted to visit Britain at one time. Oh, I wouldn’t have to have an ID (my passport would have the requisite biometric data in it) nor would other people visiting or there illegally. It might catch asylum seekers if they apply with a different identity. It will give people a number and they will be tracked. Instead of asking for a drivers licence, stores will start asking for the ID’s or use biometric scanners which will be tied into your data. It will be much easier to track a person and governments will be tempted. They already collect data on us here. This makes it easier. For them. Wonder how long it will take Canada and Australia to follow suit. The U.S. is working on it, states requiring biometric data and linking the Social Security number to one’s drivers licence. Amounts to the same thing.

Hattip Trey, thanks.

I haven’t flown in so long I totally missed this, the patdown. Won’t be flying anytime soon. I can do without someone patting down my boobies or grabbing my crotch. Now if they do it like the County did it when I was on jury duty, it would only be slightly insulting instead of sexual harassment.

Nother thing, I was checking my stats and found people had done a Google search on these words abdelrahman sudais so I checked and found my site ranked 17th right after Jihad Watch.

On the first page even.

Checked another search word and spent the morning rewriting my robots.txt file as Google was indexing everything. Hope I got it right this time. My page rank should fall if Google stops indexing the stuff I don’t want indexed. Page rank calculated to be a 6 with three, now four including the one for Firefox, page ranking tools, yes I checked.

Didn’t know cell phones scrambled one’s DNA, might have some effect on one’s brain too.

Some good info on spyware here. Must check the PC.

17 programs, 27 windows, 12 tabs in Camino, 28 tabs in Safari, 13 tabs in Firefox. 7 tabs on OmniWeb all open. Included are two mail programs that fetch the mail regularly and two newsreaders that update hourly. I can’t do this on our PC. Piece of Crap PC.

Maybe I could with one of these. Yummy!

Can’t forget the kitties, seems someone likes my kitties. And I like her kitties. *hint**hint* Her kitties would be sure winners if they entered the cat model contest, winner gets to be the honored pussy in the Carnival of the Cats margin for the month of January. Good thing Lair has been reminding people cause I almost forgot to enter.

Been rather dull here today, spent the better part of the day getting goodies at Freshly Squeezed, got PulpFiction and configuring it. It’s a newsreader competing with NetNews Wire. Looks just like Mail. Going to check their mail program too as it handles html mail. I can compare it with Apple’s mail and Thunderbird, both of which I use.

Update: No I’m not, after reading more, it is a mass mailing app not an email program.

Seriously in need of amusement here which I found so, without further ado, I present this observation. Warning: drink alert! (more…)

And continuing in the Christmas theme, this sums up rather graphically what’s wrong with people today. For a more in depth (and G rated) read, this post, which was written originally in 1995, is still unfortunately applicable today. One has only to turn on the news, FoxNews that is, to see that. If anything, things are only getting worse.

For Christmas, my darling child only wants her wisdom teeth removed (by an Oral Surgeon under anesthesia cause she is a wuss), oh, and her state license (only has city).

Which license she has done nothing about, has 10 days left to get the paperwork in so she’s hanging out with friends.

She asked what I want and, naturally after being rearended, said a massage. After all, she expects me to fork over $300 for her state license. She replied, in a snippy, b*tchy voice, that she isn’t doing them and I’ll get a massage only after she gets her teeth removed.

I lost what little spirit I had. I am so not in the mood for Christmas. My Christmas is full of crap. However… (more…)

My cats aren’t the only ones that go wild over the little mousies, Lair’s cats do too.

Chasing mousies is so much more fun than chasing spam. Spam Karma works great in WordPress 1.3 but I couldn’t get it to install in my Pictoralis install, a hacked version of 1.2. Keep getting Fatal error: Call to undefined function: __() in /…/spam-karma.php on line 904. That function involved creating and updating the blacklist table. I had a further problem in that, even when I added sites to WP’s built in moderation, spam was still getting through from the blocked sites. So, I chanced upon a novel solution.

I edited index.php. First I added meta name=”robots” content=”nofollow” and meta name=”robots” content=”noarchive” then I deleted the php for adding comments. No one comments there anyway. I haven’t updated it as I am contemplating a switch to a newer version which will be a bit different. Now I won’t have to deal with the spam.

Ah! A weblog awards that is pleasing to the eye, Design-Foo Budokai. Michael is most deserving of winning. He set the bar in WordPress design, and giving us the pleasure of having Kubrick (which I’ve yet to design a title graphic for). I also found some new sites which give css Zen Garden some stiff competition, much linkage which kept me busy reading and new software to try out.

Is essential to keep from spreading germs and kitty litter all over the place. Krissie demonstrates proper technique. Take note.

In increasing the risk of heart attack. This time, Aleve, the one I have been taking, now taking the prescription form, Naprosyn. Still it’s a concern as I’ve taken it for over a year. Maybe. I don’t want a stroke which is why I take Aspirin 81mg/day. Quoting from the New York Times.

The study, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, was intended to measure whether Aleve and Celebrex, made by Pfizer, might prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Nearly 2,500 patients were given one of the two drugs or a placebo and were followed for three years. Those taking Aleve had a 50 percent greater rate of heart problems - including heart attacks and stroke - than those given a placebo. The Celebrex patients saw no increase in heart events.

…Federal drug officials said that the entire class of painkillers known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories - drugs that include Celebrex, Advil and Mobic - could cause worrisome effects on the heart. Sales of Celebrex, along with other anti-inflammatories like Advil and Mobic, are expected to fall as a result.

Note, results are preliminary and still have to be checked. I’m not going to stop taking pain meds cause I need them. Not much I can take, well there are some that may help the nerve pain and I’m slowly working my way thru them. Still have agonizing nerve pain.