Archive for August, 2004
Tuesday, August 31st, 2004
Oz (my 4-year-old son) has a "Wiggles" video he watches which is mostly live action, but one of the segments is kind of crappy (you know, pre-Toy Story quality) computer-rendered animation. He insists that these are puppets. At first, I wondered why. But you know, he's right; ...
Posted in personal, tech | No Comments »
Sunday, August 29th, 2004
Yes! Federal Judge Strikes Down Partial Birth Abortion Ban, "saying the measure was unconstitutional because it failed to provide an exception to protect a mother's health." U.S. District Judge Richard Casey of Manhattan "said the law violated a Supreme Court ruling that abortion bans must contain provisions that take ...
Posted in politics, society | No Comments »
Saturday, August 28th, 2004
Watching television is the truest zen-like state. Its overwhelming mundaneness negates all emotional involvement. Because nothing which happens is inside the watcher's control, all motivation to act evaporates. The distinction between self and world then disappears; one is not even conscious of oneself as passive observer, but is instead conscious ...
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Friday, August 27th, 2004
Last week day before classes start on Monday -- copying syllabi, getting readings online, all the last details of preparation. 200 frosh on Monday morning; 15 weeks to get them to reject everything they thought they know. Well, at least some of it. 15 weeks to show ...
Posted in academia, personal | No Comments »
Friday, August 27th, 2004
Census Bureau data released yesterday shows poverty continues to rise under the current administration (for now the 3rd year in a row), along with the number of people without health insurance. And the income gap between the working poor and the middle class is growing.
Last year, the US economy ...
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Thursday, August 26th, 2004
Another recent Gallup poll, while I'm at it: Currently, 31% of American adults say they believe in ghosts, and 22% say they believe in witches. In 1978, just 11% of the public said they believed in ghosts and the same percentage said they believed in witches. Men were more likely ...
Posted in society | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 25th, 2004
Bush Campaign Lawyer Quits Over Ties to Ads Group.
A top lawyer for President Bush's re-election campaign resigned on Wednesday after disclosing he provided legal advice to a group that accuses Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry of lying about his Vietnam War record. Benjamin Ginsberg was the second person to ...
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Wednesday, August 25th, 2004
From Boing Boing: Virtual cellular girlfriend
Hong Kong-based.. company... is launching a sort of persistent, quasi-reality game in which a virtual girlfriend appears as an animated figure on your phone display. Kind of like a tamagotchi with tits. There is a direct correlation between her level of romantic activity output and ...
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Wednesday, August 25th, 2004
The "Albany Terrorism" bullshit case continues to unravel: Judge sets bail, citing 'serious questions'; Evidence tying suspects to terror called lacking. Tidbits:
U.S. Magistrate Judge David R. Homer said that more than a year after the undercover investigation began, federal prosecutors and the FBI have no evidence the men ...
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Tuesday, August 24th, 2004
The Kerry-Edwards website has a really great piece about the "Swift Boat" slur campaign against Kerry, reminding us in detail of the incredibly nasty hack job Rove-Bush did on McCain in the 2000 primaries. It's really worth a read: New Internet Ad: George Bush is Up to His Old ...
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