Controlled democracy: A political analysis of Iraqi freedom.

Post-Saddam Hussein Iraq will be a new country and will be a possible confederation between Kurds, Shi'ites and Sunnis. Iraq, with its huge reserves of oil, has the potential and possibility of a potent secular nation proving to a strong counterweight to Saudi Wahabi led government. The grip of Middle Eastern oil will loosen up with a "Karzai" type government in Baghdad. A Chelabi, Hakim and Talebani led Iraq may achieve its full potential of churning out 8-9 million barrels of oil in five years time.

So I'm hearing that the new leader of Iraq has already been chosen and his name is Chelabi.

National Missle Defense.
It's not a game.

Well, this is a game, but...

Jump to non-hyperlinked URLs in Safari.
Yay!

Has CMJ Become the Monster That Ate College Radio?

CMJ.

dusted magazine.

BBC America: The Office.
Brilliant!

Chris Ballew, of the Presidents of the United States of America, also had a band called The Giraffes.

I really liked them, and just came across this FREE MP3 file for you to enjoy: The Giraffes: Some Postman [mp3] recorded live at Bumbershoot 11/21/2000 in Seattle.

Big up to Sacha Baron Cohen for his DA Ali G SHOW on HBO it's for real wicked aight.

German Priest Brews Beer In Washing Machine.

Hmm.. I wonder if it's Light or Dark?

Buy some magazines from me or I'll ring your doorbell for 15 minutes.
via [ Joshua Schneider ]

Zora Andrich Posed For Powerco Inc. Bulldozer Calendar.

Evan: Do you believe in fate?

Zora: Yes! You see, I did that Bulldozer calendar, and then we saw those bulldozers in France and I pointed them out!

Evan: Uh huh.

via [ Karlson and McKenzie ]

PETA Wants Beer As Wisconsin State Beverage.
Mmm...Beer.

Shouldn't John Ashcroft be concentrating on other things?

Now it's time for some Pen Spinning.

Dave Barry likes this Kikkoman Flash movie.
Show Me, Show You.

Pow!

American Hi-Fi's Website is cool.

It plays songs.

newsQuakes.
After thinking about it, I guess California is the best place to put the Quake symbol for US news.

Grunthead.

New York City's hottest new band is Grunthead, a four-piece hard rock group from Maspeth.

See what their take home paycheck is.

Ravi Shankar Does Not Deny Being Norah Jones' Father.

Your FREE Chinese name.
via [ The Presurfer ]

Phil Ringnalda's Blogger archive script generator.
Let's you customise your archive link list.

Works great.

Bill Simmons: The Boston Sports Guy's Grammy Diary.

Wil Wheaton's friend wrote a fark clone called blinktag.

Grammy Quotes.

Best Quote.
 "I'm just a 16-year-old kid in this moment, and this moment is kickin' my (butt)." -- Male pop vocal performance winner John Mayer ("Your Body Is a Wonderland")

Is That A Word Quote.
"I just really hope we are in agreeance that this war should go away as soon as possible." -- Limp Bizkit grammarian Fred Durst, the first performer to make anti-war remarks during the telecast.

Between Iraq and a Hard Place.

image*after: Free Images!
That's right, free!

You can help them by submitting yours. Right now they need pictures of relish, in a jar or on a hot dog.

Idle Words is featured on technorati's Interesting Recent Blogs List.

Nice fish!

Nissan Micra: Volkswagen New Beetle Wanna Be.

Justin Rates Kylie's Bum a 58!
via [ meaning of the life ]

Paul English's Web Page.
I stumbled across Paul English's Web Page while looking for information on phone stuff. He's got more things there too like a chocolate cake recipe, things he learned at work, and more.

Paul's web site is one of those personal sites that you can enjoy spending some time at, just keep clicking the menu items.

Anonymous Call Rejection.

Anonymous Call Rejection (ACR) allows you to reject calls from callers who have blocked the display of their telephone numbers from a Caller ID device.

I just turned turned this on, by pressing *77 on my telephone. (*87 turns it off)

It's included with Caller ID.

Why pay the $5/month for Call Intercept? Why would I pay to hear a recording like this, "Hi. This is the Time-Life Operator calling to sell you magazines."

I'd rather not hear from them at all.

Unless they have a deal for Sports Illustrated that includes a football phone with caller ID.

Only kidding.

Acda en de Munnik.
I have no idea what they are singing about, but I love their music.

Check out their music videos. Niet Of Nooit Geweest is a good one.

Send a message to John Walkenbach via Google.
He reads his referrer logs.

SLATE: Who's for war, who's against it, and why.

Ben Karlin is co-executive producer of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.
Do I favor a U.S. invasion of Iraq? I am only in favor of war with Iraq if the entire affair takes place between the morning of February 21st and the evening of Sunday March 2nd. This is because The Daily Show will be on hiatus during this period, and, historically, massive loss of life has proven not conducive to producing a comedy news program. I would remind the president as he and his generals go about their plan that in a war, the first casualty is the ease of my job.

Go see what's In the mind of Laquidara, a former Boston radio DJ, now living in Hawaii.

Massachusetts Error with Turbotax 2002.
I hate taxes. I hate taxes. I hate taxes.

Entertaining America.
Not that there's anything wrong with it.

Public Service Announcement.

The City of Baghdad.

The Pentagon's plan for an attack on Iraq calls for 3,000 precision-guided bombs and missiles to hit Baghdad hard in the first two days.

War is not pretty.

Anti-Bush T-Shirt Banned at Mich. School.
Bretton Barber wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "International Terrorist" and a picture of President Bush, and was sent home from school.

The Supreme Court says he should be able to wear the T-Shirt.

First Amendment rights are available to teachers and students.

A prohibition against expression of opinion... is not permissible under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

FREE Bretton Barber NOW!

Evan Coyne Maloney: Protesting the Protesters.

Trista's Dad to Ryan on Good Morning America.
[ Fill In the Blank ], we are so happy to welcome you to our family.

Boot camp — Hollywood style.

Attention to detail counts. Meyer always reminded his charges that if their boss ordered a tuna on rye with ketchup from Louis' Deli, they should peek in the bag to make sure there was ketchup, not mayo, on the sandwich when they picked it up. "Your boss isn't going to blame Louis," he says. "He's going to think you're an idiot. Do what you say you're going to do. People may not always appreciate that you do, but they will always remember that you didn't."

Great quote from the new book: The Mailroom: Hollywood History From the Bottom Up.

Democracy Now has an amazing speech by Dr. Helen Caldicott, on today's broadcast.

You can listen in the Boston area on WZBC 90.3 FM, weekdays at noon.

It's a wee-mee with a beer!

Reality TV World could keep you reading for a long time.

Get info on shows like:

· The Amazing Race
· American Idol
· The Anna Nicole Show
· Are You Hot?
· The Bachelor
· The Bachelorette
· Eco-Challenge
· Extreme Makeover
· Fear Factor
· High School Reunion
· I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here!
· Joe Millionaire
· Meet My Folks
· The Mole
· The Osbournes
· The Real World
· Road Rules
· Sorority Life
· Star Search
· The Surreal Life
· Survivor
· Temptation Island

That's a lot of Reality TV news!

Vote Vanessa. 1-866-436-5703.

Protest Video: Evan Greer - You'll Understand When You're Younger.

The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing
[ Amazon.com Link ]

Everyone has been telling me to get this book and read it. They kept saying, "Get the Walter Murch book." "Have you read the Walter Murch book?"

So I did.

They were right.

If you are in any way interested in how movie editing is done, buy this Walter Murch book.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I found out that Walter enjoyed playing with an audio tape recorder as a child. So did I.

I used to make tapes of songs and comedy bits with my first tape recorder. I'd spend hours with the record player and tape recorder.

It would sound something like this:

I'd say, "So Dick Nixon how do you feel?"

Then I played The Beatles, "I'm a loser."

I thought it was great.

Murch suggestes that what you enjoyed doing when you were between the ages 9 and 11 is what you should be doing now.

Looking back on it, my interest in editing audio, at an early age, lead me into a career in radio production and now into video production.

Cut, Print, That's a wrap!

Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America
[ Amazon.com Link ]

"Pigs at the Trough," for the first time, presents the whole ugly picture of what's really going on -- a blistering, wickedly witty portrait of exactly how and why the worst and the greediest are running American business and government into the ground.

At least it's presented in a funny way.

Lindsay Robertson at Flak Magazine reviews Joe Millionaire — Part 7

Fox delivers the sweet, heartwarming twist that all of us were hoping for. Because what kind of hardened cynic would watch this show for the cattiness or schadenfreude?

Not me.

Joshua would though.

Amid onslaught of hype, 'Joe Millionaire' has choice moments.

''I have big knuckles,'' she told him, as he slipped a ring on her finger.

''I have big knuckles, too,'' he replied.

Making Music With Voice Mail
My friend Ravi is doing a Concerto for Voicemail.

Here are some instructions for leaving a musical contribution if you want to participate.

Fullscreen Quicktime VR panorama of a Peace Rally San Fransisco.
via [ boing boing ]

snapGallery.

Example: Cat Gallery.

Reversible.

Jason suggested I link to reversible with a list like this:

I like Paris in the fall
I like Alias
I like Frutibix
I like taking photos with my GL2
I drink Beer
I like The Clash
I don't think the US should go to war with Iraq right now
I like scented candles
I like my TiVo
I like typography
I like weblogs
I like BoingBoing

OK. I modified the list.

I'm not sure what's happening.

Typeit4me: Bye Bye hte.

I am so happy.

Happy, happy, happy.

No longer will I have to type: hte [backspace] [backspace] [backspace] the!

Typeit4me, types it for me! It fixes the one typing typo I have been typing over and over and over again, day after day, year after year!

Bye Bye hte!

Note: I had to shut off Typeit4me to be able to type hte for this post.

Found Objects.
Harry Shearer thinks Comedy is good, reality better.

Includes:
Tom Brokaw attempts to ad lib a promo.
Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer walking onstage and ad-libbing.
Dan Rather: I'm A Little Confused.
ET's Mary Hart gets all hot and bothered.

Funny.

Carol Moseley-Braun: I Knew There Was Only ONE PERSON there.

Hanson was the only soul - besides a dozen members of the local news media and half as many event coordinators - to brave a foot of fresh snow to hear the former U.S. senator from Illinois speak in Des Moines on Saturday afternoon.

The Drudge Report said only one person showed up, yet the TV news report showed a handfull of people and even said something to that effect.

Axis of Justice.

LA Weekly: Where are the new protest songs?

Answer: Over Here.

Hey! Are you taking roughly 64 low-resolution images per minute of me?
via [ milk and cookies ]

Cambridge 2/16: NOT MY PRESIDENT's DAY: A Rock' n Roll Peace Rally.

Musician and freelance journalist David Wildman has organized a free, all-ages peace concert of rock, rap, reggae and avant-garde musicians. There will also be comedians, performance artists and political figures throughout the Boston music and arts community joining together for this spirited statement against the impending war in Iraq.

UPDATE: Here's a link to some video I shot.

Before.

"Please be patient as each meal is individually prepared," at the bottom of a menu, is no excuse for slow service.

Harvard Redhead.

PINK!
We went to a nice place in Florida for dinner the other night, Big City Tavern. Everything was going so well until the bartender spilled a full glass of red wine on me!

Another bartender said I should take my sweater off immediately and put white wine on it. Don't they watch Curb Your Enthusiasm? I asked if they should be using salt, but they were intent on using white wine. After pouring a bottle of white wine on the sweater, the general manager of the bar came over and gave me a card good for a free dry cleaning at a nearby dry cleaners. He also bought us a new round of drinks and and paid for our dinner. That was nice.

Today, my wife called the dry cleaner and asked if the sweater was ready. They said it was, and that it looked great.

I thought it would have been funny if they said that the sweater came out great and was a nice shade of pink. It was originally beige.

My wife said whe'd thought of that, and if the sweater came out pink, she'd have a new sweater.

TTR2: Viral Blog Of Things We've Found On The Web has this timely 404 Error: These Weapons of Mass Destruction cannot be displayed.
via [ The Ultimate Insult ]

Mac OS X: About the Mac OS X 10.2.4 Update

Improves wording in the progress indicator window when copying a large file to an iDisk or WebDAV volume ("5 seconds remaining" could previously for much longer than five seconds).

That's a start, but I think the wording still needs some improvement.

The Traditional Chinese Input Method now includes Hanin; using Hanin with either Zhuyinfuhao or Pinyin results in significantly more accurate typing.

Yao Ming must have put in a new feature request.

The Flash Mind Reader is a cool trick.

Here's how the Flash Mind Reader works.

spamradio.
Joshua knows that I hate spam, but listening to it on the radio makes it fun to listen to.

Addictive even.

Sex Appeal = 9.9.

Why would SOPRA Restaurant and Bar have a website that is non operational?

Sopra is located at 110 East Atlantic Ave in Delray Beach, Florida. It's a hopping place. We had two dishes made with their homemade pasta. It was very good. If you are looking for all the young people in Florida, they are here.

The music on the sound system was amazing. It was even more so when we discovered that the music was LIVE, being played by Will Bridges.

Is Joe Millionaire Really A Scripted Show Starring Pro Wrestlers, Porn Stars & Other Bad Actresses?

He went to Dave Winer's Live Weblogging event at Harvard.

A guy named Peter who runs reinvented.net said that no one has ever linked to him. Dave immediately asked for his URL. "Donna, you got that? OK, You've just been linked to." Peter went on to say that he doesn't care who reads his weblog (he's been writing it since 1998). The purpose of his blog is soley for his 2 year old son -- so that he will be able to read it when he's older to see what his Dad was thinking during the time he was growing up. What a motive for blogging. A great reason.

I want to go to the next one.

HELLO, my name is SCOTT.

Hi Scott!

The Smoking Gun: Frenchie Davis Bounced from American Idol.

For Mac Users.
Command-click opens links in new windows.

Konfabulator.

Cool.

BBC Talking Point: Your Pictures.
The BBC News web site has it's own little moblog using your photos.

Boston's Hotest Single: Kaydee Lombardy.

Joe Millionaire: I Wasted My Time Watching TV.

Fox TV, you suck. I can't believe I just wasted 45 minutes (thank you Tivo) watching a 're-cap episode' of Joe Millionaire when you told us it would be decided tonight.

Next week, the most exciting rose ceremony ever!

I feel cheated.

This Just In: The Butler is the Millionaire.

What!?

Joe Millionaire is a scripted hoax.

Poop is good.

Thunderbirds: Calling International Rescue... - The 60's TV show starring puppets.

Thunderbirds: The Movie - Coming soon to a theatre near you.

Now Playboy.com is capitalizing on the popularity of Kitana Baker and promoting her as the Miller Lite Catfight Girl.

How opportunistic.

Jesus Christ: Sundays 5-7 AM on KFI AM 640.

"What are the pressing scientific issues for the nation and the world, and what is your advice on how I can begin to deal with them?" — GWB

Down here in Florida, ladies get permanent make-up drawn on their faces while shopping at the flea market!

frou frou makes music with Macintosh PowerBook's.

This station rocks! I didn't even know I liked dance music.

You can listen too, on the web.

Entertainment Weekly's Top 25 Best Simpsons Episodes Ever.

'Call Mr. Plow, that's my name/That name again is Mr. Plow!'' Those 12 words of insipid brilliance stand testament to one of the few times Homer has actually succeeded at something.

via [ fimoculos ]

I'm Yuengling while I'm in Florida since I can't Yuengling in Boston!

I'm down in Florida and it's warm and sunny, 80 degrees!

I signed up with AOL to be able to dial in.

The package I picked up at Circuit City says, "NO CREDIT CARD REQUIRED."

Guess what happens when you sign up?

It asks you for a credit card.

Here's what kids are listening to these days.

It's based on online file sharing statistics.

Internet killed the video star.

Taxes: Headache #424: TurboTax Deluxe 2002 Mac Version can't even display a clean screen.

Are any of you seeing these black blotches on TurboTax Deluxe 2002 for Macintosh.

Ugh!

How annoying.


It's getting worse.

You guys are giving software development a bad name.

Taxes: Headache #423: TurboTax Deluxe 2002 is still wrong.

I emailed the Intuit support team last year and explained that, in Massachusetts, out of state bank interest is no longer taxed at 12%!

Someone else noticed too.

Blech.

Taxes: Headache #422: TurboTax Deluxe 2002 Mac Version does not see 2001 Windows Data.
I hate Taxes!

Apple's rendevous is cool. It lets me look at my PC files, over the network, with my Mac. The reps from Intuit told me that I could import last years tax return from my PC into my Mac using TurboTax Deluxe 2002. I tried it. It doesn't work.

D'oh!

Here's what they say on the TurboTax web site:

When attempting to transfer last years tax file into 2002 TurboTax for Mac, the file is not visible in the transfer window.

This sometimes occurs when transferring from Windows or a prior Mac OS to an operating system using OS 10. To transfer your prior year return, do the following:

Insert the TurboTax for Mac CD.
Double click the installer titled TurboTax Deluxe for OS 8/9. This will launch Classic Mode in OS 10 if it is available.
If Classic Mode is not available you will have to transfer using a system with OS 8.x (above OS 8.1) or using 9.x.
After installation, open the classic version of TurboTax and attempt the transfer again. The prior year tax file should now be visible.

Note: To launch the OS 8/9 version of TurboTax, you need to [Get Info] on the Turbo Tax OS 8/9 file and click the 'Open with Classic Environment' check box. Then the application will open.

This suggested fix made no difference to me. I still can't see last years tax return.

Help!

1000 Anytime Mobile to Mobile minutes works out to about 33 minutes of free phone calling per day between Verizon cell phones.

I'm going to have to start writing down things to talk about to use up all these minutes.

Birth control in cat food.

It's mentioned in today's Boston Globe. I just wanted to link to it because it's so silly.

Pagoda Red's Website has a songs page.

I love their song Superhero and play it when I fill in at WZBC 90.3 FM in Boston.

I like the Lifestyle song, You're Gonna Make It Today, too.

Irritating Rainbow's Priest 85 would also fit into that set.
via [ bitter girl ]

Off On A Tangent has been added to the PBS BLOGOSPHERE list!

The Barcode Trashbin.

The Barcode Trashbin is what made Icepick famous. Whenever something is trashed in the house, the barcode is scanned. The information regarding the product (name, barcode, date and time) is sent to the internet.

KARVAN BOSVRUCHTEN?

I'm going to see Bridget Moynahan this afternoon.

Your whole DVD collection could be rotting away.
via [ boingboing.net ]

Corbin Motors: Merlin.

Douglas Herrick, Creator of the mythical 'jackalope', Dead at 82.
What do they mean creator?

Pamela Anderson: In Talks To Join Miller Lite Catfight Girls.

Now that's a good looking Leather Belt Clip for a cellular phone.

Or maybe you want a sideways one? Or maybe a Pierre Cardin Mahogany Horizontal Pouch?

Bachelorette Guy #4 Greg: Denies Drug Use.

"He said the last few days have been such a whirlwind for him, that all he wanted to do was get on the plane, take the pill and go to sleep."

He'd better start thinking about cleaning his apartment after he wakes up.