|now candy|

One more thing before I head out. I'm both updating my listing on a few blog listings and submitting it fresh to others.

In twenty words or less, how would you describe |now candy|? (i.e. you'd click on it if you saw it *and* the description turned out fitting.)

Thanks to ratboy for this delicious background post on Karl Rove. What a fantastic note to wake up to!

(Want more? Try here.)

Also, my commenter seems to be misbehaving. The posted comments aren't wrapping. This is probaby something I mucked up last night, but does anyone know how to fix it?

Quiz:

I'm posting now because I'm

(a) studious and efficient and am up and ready to start my day
(b) an insomniac
(c) a garbage truck driver
(d) haven't gone to bed yet because I made the mistake of sitting back down at the computer

(Answer at bottom of post. It's not upside down because I can't make the type do that.)

Friday night I scored a 40% on the Productive Scale and an 80% on the Lame-Ass Indicator Scale.

Productive: got some of the stuff done that I've been a) letting slide and b) just got but needed to do.

Lame-Ass: I did not get out & about in PGH.

I almost did, though. Speaking of which, WTHHLN is a nice warm pumpkin pie of a site. Served with beer, a Steelers jersey, and hummus. *Highly recommended*.

"But wait, 40% + 80% = 120%. That's not possible." Sure it is. You see, the sun is about to come up. When you cross into the next day's sunrise and you weren't out doing something more exciting than HTML, you get surplus Lame-Ass Indicator points that go toward the next day. ("Next day" simply being when you wake up next. Technically you are *already* in the next day and hence the extra points.)

OK. The alarm clocks are going off in the bedroom for me to get up. They don't know it's Saturday. So, with that, I'm off to bed.

Answer to quiz:
d.

itsfallanditscoldoutside
thesunriseswiththecoffee
anditsetswiththehotcocoa
heatersarehummingoutheat
andmorningshowersturnhot
sothebathroomshotsteamy&
perfectforbaretoestostep
outintowhenitsicyoutside

Due to my quick moves and efficient actions, I accidentally deleted yesterday's post. I happened to still have it on file, so it's reposted below.

The accompanying comment is also reposted, sort of.

Karl Rove, CIA leaks, & Bush Administration

(Yes, it's spelled with a "K")

I have updated this post tonight to bring you the following:

- Articles answering who Karl Rove is
- Articles on the White House CIA leak
- Non-Newspaper articles on the above
- Analytical blogs focused on the White House CIA leak, Karl Rove, and hard core politics
- Posts from other blogs on the above
- A special treat after all of the above

[I do not necessarily agree with every thing listed below. As always, read at your own risk.]


--Newspapers--

22 April 2003 Time: The Busiest Man in the White House (Karl Rove)

6 July 2003 New York Times: What I Didn't Find in Africa

7 Aug 2003 New York Times: Iraq Arms Critic Reacts to Report on Wife

1 Oct 2003 The Guardian: Bush Aid Accused of CIA Leak (Karl Rove)

1 Oct 2003 The Guardian: Bush's fixer (Karl Rove)

1 Oct 2003 BBC News: US media's leak feeding frenzy

2 Oct 2003 The Guardian: What the Papers Say

2 Oct 2003 The Scottsman: Bush's guru is prime suspect for leak (Karl Rove)

2 Oct 2003 Washington Post (Associated Press): Leak Probe Likely to Expand Beyond White House

2 Oct 2003 New York Times: Inquiry Into Leak About C.I.A. Officer Is Said to Widen

2 Oct 2003 The Guardian: Pressure grows on White House over CIA disclosure

2 Oct 2003 The Guardian: Leak risks US security

2 Oct 2003 The Guardian: Boy Genius or Turd Blossom? (Karl Rove)


--Other--

Find Law Section 421

1 Nov 2002: Wayne Madsen: Exposing Karl Rove

24 January 2003 The Christian Science Monitor: Bush's alter ego with a sense of history (Karl Rove)

5 June 2003 Free Republic: What a way to make a living (Karl Rove)

14 July 2003 Townhall.com: Robert Novak: Mission to Niger

17 July 2003 Time: TIME.com: A War on Wilson?

1 Oct 2003 Townhall.com: Robert Novak: The CIA leak


--Weblog posts--

19 Jan 2003: ratboy's anvil: Exposing Karl Rove

27 Sep 2003: Mark A. R. Kleiman Right now, this site is all Valerie Plame Wilson all the time. Tired of Karl Rove? There's plenty of other flavors to enjoy. It's like a candy store for political wanks. (If you'd like to go to the most current post, it's here.)

28 Sep 2003: Daniel W. Drezner :: What could cause me to switch parties

28 Sep 2003: JustOneMinute: Valerie Plame Wilson - Shit Hits Fan (So Why Am I Smiling?) Also all Valerie Plame Wilson all the time. You can also just head right in. Not just Karl Rove, it's a political cornucopia.

29 Sep 2003: Random Neural Misfirings: More shit-fan imact

29 Sep 2003: Open Source Politics: The Valerie Plame Affair: Whodunnit? And Why? This particular post focuses on Karl Rove, but here's the rest of the site.

1 Oct 2003: Fuck Everything (Do a "find" for "Niger" and it'll take you right to the post. Otherwise, it's about the 13th post for 10/1/03.)


--Carl vs. Britney--

5 Sep 2003: danieldrezner.com :: Daniel W. Drezner :: Karl Rove's dream voter


--As promised--

A Special Treat


--Surprise--

Bonus Special Treat

::::::::::::
::::::::
::::

[Since Google doesn't filter out blogs, guess who's little website came up ranked 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in searches all day today... Of course, it was for "Carl Rove" because I am an idiot, but we'll let that one go. Anyway, figured I might as well actually provide some information on the subject vs. just throwing a tantrum. I even linked the Christian Science Monitor. Even I didn't see that coming.]

Karl Rove: Bringing a Republican to office near you.

Fall has slid into Pittsburgh like a knife: it's 30 degrees this morning. This breaks the previous record of 31 degrees set in 1975.

Of course, the dew point is also 30 degrees this morning, so there is a soupy cloud of fog clinging to everything outside this morning.

For those living in Pittsburgh, I heard on the radio this morning about this neighborhood adventure. It'll kick off at noon Sunday and seems an enticing way to check out the South Side Slopes

Factoid (from above link): "Pittsburgh has 700 public stairways with a total of 44,226 steps. When tallied in full, they number 23,982 vertical feet, or over four miles in height. To put it into perspective, that’s higher than Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, the tallest mountain in the Western Hemisphere... Of the three cities in the United States with the most public stairways, Pittsburgh with its 700 has more than the next two cities combined. Cincinnati takes second with 400 stairways, and San Francisco a distant third with 168 stairways."

Also, it is *Friday* and it is good.

Finally, an online tutorial for the tough subjects:

Britney Spears Guide to Semiconductor Physics: Semiconductor Physics, Edge Emitting Lasers and VCSELs

I came across this during tonight's Million-Site-March across the internet looking for informative links to post. The tutorial, however, is actually much more informative.

Google not doing it for you? Yahoo, neither? Try these:

Teoma

maMMa

AltaVista

Inktomi

-Enjoy-

Late to bed,
early to rise.
This is what puts
years on the eyes.

In case you've just woke up from a coma, here's a news flash:
Identity of the wife of a former US diplomat leaked as being an undercover C.I.A. operative. Justice department launches full criminal investigation into Bush Administration officials.

Oh, this is so __maddening__. I'm sitting here fuming. Mad.

[[2 Oct 2003 UPDATE: Pleas also see here for resources on Karl Rove.]]

Let me launch into a steaming screaming session on how vile Karl Rove is and the entire damn Bush Assminstration, I mean Administration.

---> Chief White House spokesman, Scott McClellan stated in the NY Times that

"The president knows that Karl Rove wasn't involved." <---

What, W. rides around in Karl Rove's shirt pocket and knows every thing he does? My ass. Not a damn thing happens in that White House without Karl Rove scripting it out. It's like Java for Politics, created by CarlRoveMicroSystems.

---> Pressed on just how the president knew that, Mr. McClellan said,

"Well, I've made it very clear that it was a ridiculous suggestion in the first place," adding, "It is simply not true." <---

Oh, that settles it then. WHAT THE GODDAMN HELL?!

By the way, if you haven't heard, it's really super-uber-illegal for officials to disclose the identity of Americans who work undercover for the C.I.A.

---> AND in the Washington Post, our mighty President assures us that

"There's just too many leaks, and if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is... If the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of. And so I welcome the investigation." <---

Let's just look at this.
"There's just too many leaks." OK. So Bush *knows* he's the captain of a swiss-cheese Titanic that's shored up with balsa wood. Ya think maybe if he actually cared more about the country he'd chase the wood-eating worms out of there and nip this *before* the FBI has to be called in?

Oh, wait, Karl Rove has a little FBI fairy dust in his pocket that he can sprinkle over this and make it somehow blow over. With cooperation from the media news conglomerates, this'll be nothing more than recycled news print a month from now.

The best I can hope for is Karl Rove has to dedicate so much time to this that he can't devote all of his blood pressure to orchestrating the world take over by the republican party.

:::::::::::::::

UUUrrrgghhh. I'm so pissed about this Administration I actually have a headache. I just poked around online for links on the evils of Karl Rove. You know what, you can find your own articles. There are plenty. Just because I think he is the most vile source of political monism within our country today doesn't mean I have to shove this post full of articles saying as much. You can look yourself.

Also, this post isn't very cooherent.

:::::::::::::::

Oh, and as far at hoping the Democrats will actually lever this to their advantage, don't get your hopes up. They can't seem to find their way out of the political paper bag they've been in since, oh, say November 2000.

A delicious local PGH site. I'm tellin' ya, Pittsburgh is the uber-secret hipster city. Just think "hipster" before the word came back.

Besides, he saw the same rainbow I did for Saturday's.
sunset.

This may come in handy next time you are a unwilling participant to an uncomfortable conversation.

The above pleasure is thanks to the UK lovely who, despite moving house, always has gems.

[Words in posts keep getting linked to this. Interesting. They don't, however, have the history of fingernail clippers.]

::::::::::::
::::::::
::::

Small rant:
Quizilla. After falling for this little internet break, I'm torn between feeling (a) superiorly unique and (b) disappointed. Not disappointed in myself, my parents, or my childhood, but disappointed in the extremely narrow choices provided by Quizilla.

Two out of six cases in point:
Case 1.
Q: How did adults describe you as a child?
My answer: Five going on 30.
Closest available answer: I played a lot of make-believe. [Come–on! It was just me–it was either make-believe or talk to yourself.]
Next closest: Running around outside/playing sports. [Why o why does running around outside have *anything* to do with playing sports. They are two separate activities.]

Case 2.
Q: Who is the Sesame Street character you most identified with?
My answer: The Count.
Closest available answer: None. [Cookie Monster was a big waste of TV space and blue pixes. He was dumb as a spoon and wasted more freaking cookies than I could sneak from the cupboard.]

::::::::::::
::::::::
::::

Small follow-up.

Last night I posted more pictures and noted on here that I would comment on them tonight.

Well, I've decided that there's not much to comment, so here's some bullets:

1. Rain dampened the photo mood a bit since I was itching to take outside shots.

2. When it's after midnight and you are approached by a post 9/11 security guard informing you that "you can't take pictures of the buildings, just the fountain and water display" the proper response is indeed "Oh, I know. Thanks. The fountain looks so good at night! Take care!" Thankfully my quick thinking prevented me from saying my first thought, "Fountain? Water display where?"

3. Always bring the camera. Even to Wal-Mart. My trip to our Wal-Mart on the Mount ended in my coming out to the car under a fantastic sky. The new WM was built pretty much on the highest hill in West Mifflin... the clouds were amazing. The camera was at home.

4. The weather changes faster than you can run home and grab the camera. Changed mind and went to cemetery.

5. Factoid: The Lebanon Church Cemetery was established in 1776.

6. Bonus Factoid: Number of photos taken this weekend from the following categories: Downtown: 159. Cemetery: 82. The call box: 100.

OK.

Here's a quickie tonight before I get back to doing what it is my job sent me here to PGH to do.

::::::Begin Quick Story::::::

Location: Smallish presentation room where four male coworkers and I spend at least 8 hours a day and will continue to do so for the next five months.

Date: 25 September 2003. Last Thursday.

Reason: To see a presentation, of course.

Time: After lunch.

Duration: Two hours.

Media: Overhead projector with transparencies.

Topic: It doesn't matter.

Enter: Forty-something man, medium hight and stature with a more-than-medium belly. Man also has sweat/deodorant/brown pit-stains that are quite distracting.

Story (per usual, not fiction):
Man starts presentation. He is knowledgeable and presents with decent humor and fascinating bits of history and factoids. Man finds the wooden pointer (about three feet long, quarter-inch thick, and taped in the middle where it gave way from previous abuse) and proceeds to utilize wooden pointer to point at things on the screen.

While working her way past his pit–stains and enjoying the factoids, girl seated in front row (yep, that's me) is sidetracked by just how more-than-medium his belly is and she begins to focus on the collection of details that summarily give the first impression of "engineer, sloppy, and may smell." Contributing factor: his pants don't fit particularly well. Girl in front row also wonder's why she has the impression that the speaker is hung well. Could it have been the labor with which he very clearly undid his belt (with his back to the audience and talking to the introducer just before the presentation began) and exaggeratedly tucked his already tucked-in shirt? Could it have been the deliberate (yet perhaps unconscious) moves he made to re-adjust his man-parts once he turned around from tucking his shirt in?

Could it be that he kept leaning his crotch – no – actually setting his crotch – on the back of the chair at the front of the room during the presentation and sort of, well, re–adjusting with the chair back? He either (a) didn't realize he was doing it or (b) meant to do it but thought he was being inconspicuous. He thought wrong.

Fast-forward: Question and answer time after presentation. With nothing more to point at with the wooden pointer, the presenter: held it in both hands, pretended it was a golf club and practiced his swing, flexed it (mind the tape!), leaned on it as a cane, scratched his balls. !

Standing, oh, about three feet from girl in front row (noted, location of girl or mere presence of girl likely had nothing to do with all of this oblivious maneuvering), he took the pointer in both hands: hands together and sort of resting on chest and at one end of the pointer with other end pointing down, near his thigh, he fucking scratched his balls. Very obviously scratched is balls. Not just a poke. He got the pointer around his belly and moved that poor taped-up little wooden pointer back and forth and alongside his boys/business/man-parts. He didn't miss a beat with the question he was answering.

::::::End Quick Story::::::

Thoughts: Girl in front row was not offended, nor upset, but found great heights of humor in all this. The pit-stains,the belt-unbuckling and re-tucking of already tucked-in shirt, the package-propping, the ball-scratching-with-pointer – it was subtle commentary on how oblivious one can be about just what the audience will and will not notice. Maybe he didn't care. Doesn't matter. It was as though this forty-something just got new equipment in the mail and he hadn't quite broke it in yet. And he was breaking it in with all the easyness of rubbing an itchy nose. With a pointer.

Lesson to people with man–parts: If you think your scratching/adjusting/proping of balls during a presentation which is not titled "MY BALLS" is discrete, just know that it is not.

Please let me know if my sidebar has shifted to the bottom of the page, it seems to be on the move.

Thanks.

More pictures. I'm going to bed. More explanation tomorrow.

Enjoy.

Hmmm... I've only begun to look this over, but it looks good. Here's a few week old review of hott blogs a few of you might enjoy.*

Figured I'd go ahead and post for those with a quiet evening in planned...

* Site may not be appropriate for work. Unless you work in a sex shop.

Note: there is at least one iBogger out there who figured out how to personalize the thing so that it doesn't look off the shelf from Blogs-R-Us. Congradulations.

I updated the sidebar under www:bloghelp to include a few free trackers. If you can't figure out where to paste the html code they generate and if the FAQ hasn't cleared it up, check out the source of other people who have buttons in their sidebars or page bottoms.

Continuing the search for the history of fingernail clippers...

When the search engines fail you, go to eBay. I figured if there were antique fingernail clippers, someone would be selling them on eBay. I just want to see some old clippers.

I love eBay. People are undaunted by the possibility they have no idea what they are talking about. In one 15 piece dresser set that included manicure items, there was very clearly a button hook.

I learned about button hooks when I was, oh, we'll say nine. I was fascinated by the thought you needed a shoe horn and button hook to get your shoes on. Laces were a low tech marvel to me. Button hooks made me glad for velcro.

So, this person has this eBay item and has in the write-up: "actually, one of the manicure tools looks like a crochet hook." Was this comment necessary at all? Does it make any damn sense that a crochet hook would be in a manicure set? As far as eBay goes, if you don't know what it is, don't guess and prove to folks you have no idea what you are selling.

I suspect fingernail clippers as recognized today weren't invented until maybe when the stapler was, around 1900. Wanna staple?

Thanks to AltaVista, there is a Detroit article from two years ago on Nicholson Baker. Nicholson Baker apparently wrote an article for the The New Yorker on the history of the fingernail clipper–Hurray!

However, you can't search the New Yorker.

The saga continues.