Year: 2005

11/04/2005

Today President Bush went to the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, where he faced a room full of press people. After a brief introductory speech, he fielded questions. Here are some of his actual responses:

Question: Hi, Mr. President. Thank you. Did Karl Rove tell you the truth about his role in the CIA leak case? And do you owe the American people an apology for your administration’s assertations that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby weren’t involved?

Bush: We’re going through a very serious investigation. And I will — have told you before that I’m not going to discuss the investigation until it’s completed. And we have got a — my obligation is to set an agenda, and I’ve done that. And the agenda is fighting and winning the war on terror, and keeping the economic vitality and growth alive, dealing with the energy problem, nominating people to the Supreme Court that adhere to the philosophy that I can depend on — Judge Alito being such a person. I noticed today that they’ve got a date. I’m disappointed in the date, but happy they do have a firm date for his confirmation hearing. We’ve got to recover from the hurricanes. So I’ve got a lot to do, and will continue to focus on the people’s business.

This is funny. He didn’t answer the question, which I think is perfectly okay. It’s true that an ongoing investigation doesn’t warrant commentary from someone at his level. But then he launches into some kind of weird rhetoric: war on terror… Supreme Court… hurricane.

Let’s see how he answers the very next question:

Question: You’ve taken a beating in recent weeks, sir. What are you going to do for a fresh start? Are there going to be any staff changes? Would it help if the special prosecutor would wrap up his probe quickly?

Bush: Well, again, you’re trying to get me to comment on the investigation, which I’m not going to do. And I hope you understand that. It’s a serious investigation, and it’s an important investigation. But it’s not yet over. I think it’s important for the American people to know that I understand my job is to set clear goals and deal with the problems we face. Now, look, we’ve got an ongoing war on terror. And my administration is working with friends and allies to find these terrorists and bring them to justice before they strike us again. We’re fighting the terrorists in Iraq. And, as you know, we’ve got a two-pronged strategy, an important strategy, that one — on the one hand, has a political solution to it, on the other hand has a security solution to it. And we’re working hard to achieve those objectives. We’re laying what I have called the foundation for peace, because democratic nations don’t war; democratic nations will be allies with each other in fighting off an ideology that is dark and grim in its vision, and is willing to use murder as its tool.

Wow. Once again he doesn’t comment (still okay), and once again he fires off the catch phrases: war on terror… terrorists… terrorists in Iraq.

A few questions later:

Question: The American people are beginning to question your honesty, according to the polls, 58 percent. And your approval rating is at an all-time low, primarily because, it seems, of this investigation. They are wondering whether you can keep on track and whether to believe you, sir.

Bush: Well, no, I understand there is a preoccupation by polls and by some. I think this may be — I think we’ve got — this is maybe the fourth or fifth consecutive semi-press conference — press conference or semi-press conference that I’ve been asked about polls. The way you earn credibility with the American people is to declare an agenda that everybody can understand, an agenda that relates to their lives, and get the job done. And the agenda that I’m working on now is one that is important to the American people. First of all, it’s to protect our country; it’s to understand that we’re at war with a radical ideology that wants to inflict harm on America and, at the same time, use that harm they inflict to achieve territorial ambition. I’ve talked a lot recently about the Zawahiri letter to Zarqawi, which is a clear statement of purpose by these terrorists. It should be viewed for what it is: an open warning to the free world that this is a very vital war and we need to win it. So I spend a lot of time talking about that — and more than talking about it, acting on it. Secondly, you know, our economy has shown amazing resilience in the face of natural disaster, as well as rising energy prices. But we’ve got to have policies in place that make it possible for the economy to continue to grow.

Surprise! A little side-stepping, and then we see those key words… protect our country… terrorists… vital war… natural disaster.

Clearly this is a guy with a very small bag of tricks, and people are getting tired of him pulling them out one after another, completely ignoring the whirlwind around him. Not only are his answers completely meaningless and vacuous, but this word-for-word transcript shows that he’s a terrible speaker when he’s not being teleprompted. He stumbles over words, stammers through sentences, and says things that are simply non-sensical. What, for example, is a “semi press conference”?

To all those people who voted for this man and think he’s qualified to lead our country, I point to this as one more piece of evidence that we’ve got someone at the helm who looks like a moron and avoids the real issues by falling back on material he’s been using for over four years.

Time for some new tricks, Mr. President.

11/02/2005

Most of the time, spam e-mail is easy to understand. It’s someone attempting to sneak past the filters by making their message look legitimate, and then snare you with some idiotic offer or product.

But today I received one of those very rare– but very funny– spam messages that just don’t make any sense. There’s no product, no link to click, nothing useful or actionable at all. Hmm.

(Of course, an alternate theory is this is some potential new client trying to contact me…)

10/31/2005

Interesting things are afoot in the far dark reaches of the solar system.

Scientists (including my friend Andrew) have announced the discovery of two more moons orbiting Pluto. They’re very small and hard to spot, but they’re real. As our ability to see things in distant space increases, so does the number of new and often amazing things we find.

I wonder what my kids will learn in school when they talk about the solar system. For all of my life, we had this comfortable notion that there are nine planets, and everything was orderly. But now we’ve learned there are other planets on the fringes: Sedna and Quaoar, to name two, and probably many more. They’re bigger than Pluto, and if we call Pluto a planet we must rightfully do the same for them. But some astronomers say Pluto isn’t really a planet– it’s a “Kuiper Belt Object”. There’s no rigid definition of what a planet really is, making the debate quite lively.

I always love seeing scientific knowledge expand, and watching as we change our view on the world to match it. My kids are definitely going to learn some new things…

10/30/2005

I’m poking around on Amazon looking for a few new books, and saw this banner ad.

Now that’s a scary item to have to own. I wonder if I should put it on my Wish List or something? Because, as they say, “every minute counts!”

10/22/2005

Since I had a spare LCD screen (it had been Craig’s, but now he’s working from his house instead of mine) I thought it would be super geeky– but also cool– to buy a second video card for my main development computer and set up a dual-head configuration.

The video card was a cheap $30 deal, and after a bit of twiddling I was able to get both screens working nicely. As it turns out, having that much real estate is a boon to productivity. I’m amazed at the usefulness of a setup like this… I really feel like I can do more because I can scatter windows all over the place while I’m working. Keep in mind that I also have ten different “desktops” I use within my windowing system, switching between them on a minute-by-minute basis as I hammer out software and databases.

Truly, a geek nirvana.

10/21/2005

I just skimmed a fabulously funny list at TV Cream that reminisces about the top 100 toys of yesteryear. It’s not only a trip down Memory Lane, because I remember many of these goofy toys, but also a hilarious look at some of these games.

Take, for example, the write-up about Mastermind:

It was always a slow Sunday at grandma’s if the Mastermind had to come out.

Or Sorry:

The politeness of the title is only a front, as this otherwise unremarkable plastic pawns ‘n’ Ludo-style board game holds an appeal to the nastier side of childhood nature. It’s gloriously mean-spirited, in fact. Kind of Lotto meets Russian Roulette. The magic ingredient– the ability of players to directly, deliberately and with malice aforethought, bugger up the game for their opponents by– in the words and typography of the instruction leaflet– BUMPING their pawns all the way down SLIDES back to the START– a hugely satisfying aspect which, short of kicking the table over and sodding off home, is sorely lacking from most other board games.

How about Perfection?

Where Perfection really scored was with the inclusion of a distractingly loud clockwork timer. If you hadn’t got all the shapes safely home before this thing wound down, the board would ping up, spewing plastic stars, circles, squares and pieces of cheese all over the shop. And that’s when the screaming would start.

Good times.

10/21/2005

Justin Mullins is an artist who considers mathematic equations so beautiful they can properly be called art. To this end, he’s created framed prints of famous equations. While many would consider this to be geeky beyond compare, I find it strangely fascinating.

The print shown on his home page, appropriately titled Beauty, is my favorite equation (if one can have a “favorite”). The relationship between one, zero, pi, e, and the imaginary base i is perhaps the most sublime of all equations: