Michael's Mind

30 Days

I just finished watching "30 Days: Muslim in America".

Verdict? I liked it. I think Spurlock probably cherry picked his interviewees for maximum effect, but it's his show, so he can do that. The main message was that "ordinary" Americans don't know much about Islam, which is certainly true, and that Muslims in the U.S. are a pretty ordinary group of people themselves.

The subject of the episode, a devout, conservative Christian fellow named Dave Stacy who agreed to live as a Muslim for 30 days, was treated with respect and dignity with no sidebar comments on his faith. And the instructional segments were pretty well done, albeit very simplified.

He spent his 30 days with a Pakistani couple, so the issue of Wahabbi extremism never came up. This is reasonable since the Wahabbi sect is not a majority among Muslims in the U.S. So the Muslim experience was kind of boiled down to scenes of exotic (and delicious looking) dishes served for meals, and lots of attendance at prayer in the mosque, something that Dave had serious problems with.

Dave felt that total participation in Muslim prayer might compromise his Christian faith, but in the end participated in a juma, holding a crucifix in one hand.

I had to wonder if the airport scene, with Dave in his Muslim role for barely an hour being stopped for a search by security, wasn't staged for the camera. He maintained that he had never been stopped for a search before, but I have been searched numerous times and I don't look anything like a Muslim. So perhaps there was some stagecraft at play in places.

Overall, it was an entertaining hour. Serious questions about Islam and America were glossed over, but the presentation of a West Virginia hillbilly learning about what it's like to be Muslim in America was well done.

Spurlock seems to be avoiding the errors that Michael Moore made with that dreadful movie of his, carefully steering a neutral course and letting the story tell itself. I hope he can keep that up.

Disaster? I didn't even know her.

All right, class. We've looked at asteroid collisions, supervolcano eruptions at Yellowstone, and biblical-sized tsunamis from the collapse of Cumbre Vieja.

Now let's look at another apocalyptic scenario: the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Eugene Linden ANTARCTICA: endangered animals, rapid climate change, global deforestation, fragging

And at the other end, geographically speaking, we have the collapse of the North Polar Ice Cap and the coming Super Winter: An Ice Age From Global Warming. And another take on it: How Global Warming May Cause the Next Ice Age.

So apparently we're doomed. We just don't know yet what will get us. But with the Bird Flu coming this fall/winter (too many references, just Google for "Avian Influenza"), there won't be too many of us left to worry about it, anyway.

Update: that chilly goodness just keeps coming: Britain faces big chill as ocean current slows

If you can't play nice, you shouldn't get to play at all

More sophomoric, infantile bullshit from Microsoft: Libervis.com - Latest Microsoft Oppression - Featured News - Featured News

They have disabled right-click functionality at MSN - but only for Netscape and Firefox users.

Guys, that is sooooo 6th grade. Most people pretty much grow out of that type of infantilism by, say, age 16?

So what is taking you so fucking long to show some maturity, you worthless pukes? This is the behavior of a software company that we're supposed to trust? A company that can throw a tantrum anytime they feel out of sorts and try to disable functionality of rival browsers?

Can't you idiots even get a clue: that's why nobody likes or trusts you! Except for your crew of toadies, like Wallace and the fun bunch at SCO.

Grow up, Microsoft. Or die. Your choice. Works the same for me, either way.

Update (July 2): MSN is playing nice again. Right clicks are allowed to act normally.

Ewww, weird...

Boffins create zombie dogs | The Other Side | Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au (27-06-2005)

Might be useful on humans, after the government has seized your property for a shopping mall, they can freeze you until they find a place to put you.

No More Officer Friendly

Remember back when your parents would tell you, "if you are in trouble, go to a policeman, he's your friend and he will help you"?

Bullshit. I tell my kids to avoid cops like the plague because the best you can expect from them now is some time in jail; if you call a cop, somebody is going to be arrested. And you may just get TASERed for your effort, to boot.

Cops all over the country are out of control bullies who want total subservience from any citizens who have the misfortune to cross their paths; prevalence of TASERs has given them legal cachet to torture people and they use it with gusto.

See this, for axample.

And here's an example of legally sanctioned murder of an unarmed 18-year old boy: texascivilrightsreview.org - Dove Springs Speaks about Rocha: Who Will Listen? (From Grits for Breakfast)

And it just gets worse.

Batteries Not Included

Saw the reference to this at Commons Blog:
In Halls of Albany, a Decidedly Unsqueaky Pair of Wheels Get the Grease - New York Times

Here's what jumped out at me:

Uh, I thought the tree huggers thought electric cars were the bee's knees. Now, they show their real goal: take technology back to the late 1700's, when transportation ran on hay.

The problem is, technology is the razor thin shield that protects us from the way humankind lived for 30,000 years (and still does in parts of the world): short, brutal, dirty lives filled with disease and death, watching most of your children die before their 5th birthdays, a life expectancy of perhaps 45 years if you were unlucky enough to last that long in your miserable existance. Like the ozone layer thinning, technology can be broken so that we can no longer benefit from its protection and we will be back to using fire for light. And that's just where the environmentalists want us.

What Can You Say?

Not content to just be thought of as treasonous opportunists, the Democrats get in some practice being actual traitors: Democrats Play House To Rally Against the War

If we let the Party of Treason get the upper hand, this is what we can look forward to. If we let the Party of Treason get the upper hand, you'd better start learning Chinese. And the Arabic phrase for "I surrender" would be useful, too.

Oh, and Senator Dick Durbin is still a moronic fucktard moonbat twit who couldn't find a clue with both hands and the instructions pinned to his ass.

(Hat tip to Varifrank)

ID, I see

Here's a wierd item: ABC7Chicago.com: Identity theft victim steals suspect's identity

I mean, guy A steals guy B's identity, gets a bank account, and goes about his business. Guy B figures this out (probably because of some detrimental effect of guy A's activities), tracks down the account, which is in his name, remember, and takes some of the money out of his (stolen id) account.

And now he's charged with identity theft? For accessing an account that was created with his identity? WTF?

I think if someone "borrows" your identity, you should be entitled to the fruits of that borrowing. You are held responsible if the borrower does something evil with it, after all.

Big D means Dirty (with a capital D)

More reasons not to have a business, or for that matter, do business, in Dallas, Texas. (Hint: the cops are crooked, the city council is crooked, and the mayor is a queen bee who is concerned only with her image and not with the fact that she is presiding over a criminal gang)

dallasobserver.com | News | Stuff It | 2005-06-16

I Know I'm Embarrassed

Patrick Leahy says Guantanamo is an international embarrassment.

By odd coincidence, I think Patrick Leahy is an embarrassment. And a fool.

Not Right, Indeed

komo news | 'This Is Not Right'

We really need to kick these stupid fucking "screeners" out of our airports and take our chances with the terrorists. And throw the morons who made this possible in prison. When a bunch of supercilious imbecile "screeners" can threaten a 57-year old middle school principal with a felony record and a $500 fine over a 5-inch bread knife, something is seriously fucking wrong.

I used to fly quite often, but have cut it to the absolute necessary minimum since these idiots have been in charge.

My God, what have we done? We used to be free.

Playing With It

If the page looks strange for the next few days, with odd colors, lines, and such, I am experimenting with the style sheet to see if I can come up with something really cool. Since I am about as cool as a can of vienna sausage, this could be a challenge. But that's what's happening.

I will try to always leave the page in readable condition before I quit (give up) for the day, so that my two readers will still be able to read the blather.

Pathetic

Roger L. Simon: Democracy is Forbidden Speech to Microsoft

As if we needed another reminder of just how morally bankrupt and ethically challenged Microsoft really is.

Gots to Read

Loved this: Que Sera Sera: Dawn at Weehawken, if for no other reason than that she hates Bright Eyes just like I do.

Sweet.

Fun with Networks

I've been playing with Whoppix. I use an SMC2635W card usually, but that is an Atmel chip which doesn't come supported in the Whoppix distro. But my daughter's card is a Linksys which uses the Atheros chip and that is supported. It even finds it during boot probe.
I was able to get kismet running so I took a drive this evening:

And that's just the last page of four pages of networks. And there were three more factory configuration nodes in addition to the one on the screen.

Cowboy Spirit

Tonight's news had an item that shows just how big a man Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is.

Back in 2000, when the Cowboys were struggling, San Francisco wide receiver Terrell Owens sprinted to the midfield star after a touchdown, an in-your-face move that was not appreciated much. Shortly after, Emmitt Smith scored a touchdown and also sprinted to midfield where he kneeled on the star. His moment was captured by photographer Walter Smith, making for a dramatic picture.

Subsequently, on a visit to the Cowboys merchandise display at the state fair, photographer Smith saw his photo had been turned into a Cowboys jersey for sale. The problem was he had copyright to the picture and had never given the Cowboys permission to use it for the jersey, of which thousands had been sold for $20 to $30 each. When he pointed this omission out to the Cowboys, he was offered $1000 in Cowboys merchandise as compensation.

He wasn't exactly satisfied at the offer, and sought recourse in court. He settled for $275,000.

Here's the part where Jerry Jones' big heart comes in: Smith has been permanently banned from working in Texas Stadium when the Cowboys are playing. Way to show class, there, Jerry. That level of sophomoric petty vindictiveness takes real talent and effort to display. Sort of 'you can take the guy out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the guy', I guess. I suppose you really can't expect better of Arkansas.

Sometimes Style Just Isn't Enough

My two children got IPods last week, my son for his graduation, and my daughter who bought hers at Best Buy.

You know all those ads that show the silhouetted guy dancing with his IPod? It would be more realistic to show him suddenly stop and look at it in confusion when it suddenly freezes.

Both brand new IPods have frozen at least once in the one week since they were bought. I thought IPod was a mature device with all the bugs worked out?

My Archos Jukebox freezes, too, when the battery gets low enough, but a recharge fixes it. And if the battery is kept charged, it never freezes at all. It's ugly as sin, no style at all, but it works. And I can change the batteries myself, if I need to.

When Unions Go Wild

FAA looks, finds featherbedding at New York TRACON: N90_Ex-Summ.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Schumer, Clinton see no problem:

Note that Schumer is so clueless he refers to "one of the busiest towers in the country" when the report is about the New York TRACON, a totally separate facility. How about STFU, Senator, before you remove all doubt how big a fool you are? And Clinton's response is pure autopilot phone it in politi-garbage, per usual. She probably asked an aide afterwards, "What is the FAA again?"

They Eat Their Own

Democrats Criticize Dean Attacks on GOP

Ha, Demo-rats are starting to disavow the chairman's remarks. That's probably a good idea since Dean is demonstrably barking mad.

But he does make Terry McAuliffe look like an elder statesman.

Confederacy of Dunces

Al Gore declares world in 'planetary emergency'

He says in 15 years there will be no more glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro. Well, no, not if the locals keep cutting the forests off the mountain that provide the moisture that replenishes the glaciers. Duh.

Nobody in the room pointed that out, hence the title.

Reboot!

IT-Analysis.com - There's No Business Like SCO Business

Ha! Reality has some bugs and needs a reboot. Love it. Another analyst who finds SCO's case, um, strange.

Gotta Laugh

In Shadows of doubt the Rocky Mountain News looks at Ward Churchill's evaporating credibility.

One thing I found hilarious:

My great-grandmother was Cherokee, born during the migration from Georgia. That makes me more Indian than Churchill!

Schwarzenegger has lost his mind

Schwarzenegger to Unveil Emissions Plan - Yahoo! News

Clearly, Arnold has lost his mind. Maybe the greenies put something in his drinking water.