They'll do that...

Acidman tells the tale of his brief run-in with the law years ago. What struck me was this:

I was electronically fingerprinted, mug-shot and allowed to leave after a brief hassle at the exit window when the police tried to steal all my money. Yes, they'll do that.

Yes, they will. I had a party at my brother's apartment sometime the first couple years after high school. A friend of my cousin's was there. Nice enough guy. Mellow, kind of boring. Not a wild bone in his body, and his father had been a state cop.

He freaked out, got kind of crazy, and got himself arrested. Luckily my brother got in no kind of trouble, and at that point I wasn't even there to witness what happened. He either had a strange reaction to drinking, or, we always figured, did some kind of drug.

In any event, he spent a few hours in the lockup before his father went and got him, but it cost him all the money he had on him. The cops relieved him of it, and it was one of those things you just let pass because you're getting off pretty easy otherwise. I've always taken that as a cautionary tale, telling me to expect not to get all my cash back if I am ever in that situation. Then again, my last traffic ticket was in 1979 or so, and that's been the height of my legal entanglements.

Comments

Looks like comments are down, for what it's worth.

Can Men and Women Be Friends?

This discussion along those lines at No-Lyfe Journal is interesting. Forget who I got the link from, sorry. Also, small font alert. It is almost impossible to read, and not adjustable through IE settings.

Fow what it's worth, my friends tend to be disproportionately female, but I still ask the above question, and still come up with an answer of "maybe." Probably yes, it is possible, but as a guy, I never completely forget they are the opposite sex.

Axis of Freedom

Via the Rottie, Unigolyn has lots of good stuff, including pictures of a pro-U.S. demonstration he organized in Estonia.

You know, there are certain things I remember from when I was fairly young that really influenced or indicated where I stood. For instance, I can remember the first time I ever learned of the concept of eminent domain. I was outraged that the government could just take your property if they wanted.

Another thing I remember being outraged by in my youth is when I found out about Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania being absorbed and held captive by the USSR. That is perhaps the first time I was cognizant of how evil the empire was.

Humor at French Expense

Jesse at Alternate Voice gives us this gem, courtesy of her daughter.

Hypocrisy Unleashed

Slackergurl has an excellent ranty kind of post about, ultimately, a resolution in the South Carolina House saying the Dixie Chicks ought to apologize for what they said. I agree that this resolution is way out of line, however stupid it was for the Dixie Chicks to offend their core market. Go read her post; she says it all well and touches on related stuff.

ThankYou Stevie!
Via Gut Rumbles, who in turn credits BlogoSFERICS.

Change Not Always Good

Blogrolling has a new, prettier interface. It requires more clicks to get things done and is less usable. That makes it not worth prettying, unless there is something I am missing.

Ohio

My brother is moving to Ohio today. That's going to seem very strange, as he's been crashing on my couch for 6 months after he and his wife separated. When he's not sleeping or at work, he's mostly been at my office, where he was able to setup his computer and have an internet connection.

While I have cousins in, at least, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Germany, and of course Massachusetts, none of my siblings have ever moved out of state. The closest was when I lived in Florida for six weeks.

Medium Nostalgia

Michele has a remembrance and discussion of 8 tracks. Remember those?

SARS and... Trademarks???

In this post, Trademark Blog refers us to this article on designer knock-off surgical masks, so people can make a fashion statement while protecting themselves. That didn't take long!

The Cost of Freedom

Moving essay by James Finch, via the Rottie. In part:

Some wars extracted a greater toll than others. Regardless, no death is less important than any other. Right now, close your eyes and think about yourself; your whole self. Who you are, where you’ve been, your dreams, your fears, your hopes, your loves. Imagine all of that wiped out in an instant. Bam! Gone. One minute you’re fine and the next your life is extinguished. No chance for preparation, no chance to say goodbye. Your family and your friends will never see you or talk to you again. Would you give that for your country? All the numbers listed above are heroes who have. They did not give the last full measure of their devotion to anyone or anything but you. You.

You know what to do!

Get on over to Acidman's site for more...

This is the part that started me laughing uncontrollably:

Researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every 10 seconds. Us old guys only think about sex a couple of times a day, leaving us more than 28,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy.

Go read the rest!

Baghdad

This seems like a pretty decent map of Baghdad. It's about 1.6 MB. Via Jerry Pournelle's mail page today.

SARS

Turkey Blog points out an article about China's apology for covering up SARS initially. The article is loaded with other details, such as the fact that they believe they have found patient zero and are working to determine what might have happened at the outset.

Humor

Silliness received in e-mail, some new towns in Iraq...

US Central Intelligence has discovered SOME NEW TOWNS...

1. Wherz-Myroof
2. Mykamel-Izded
3. Oshit-Disisabad
4. Waddi-El-Izgowinon
5. Pleez-Ztopdishit
6. Kizz-Yerass-Goodbi
7. Ikantstan-Disnomore
8. Wha-Tafuk-Wazi-Tinkin
9. Myturbin-Izburnin

Almost Instalinked

Well, Dawn posted a SARS link to Futurepundit, with credit to me for the link from this post, and then in turn Glenn got the SARS link from her. Perhaps I'll get some echo visitors...

Again I say visiting FuturePundit generically and reading on through is another good source on SARS. Add him to Gweilo, Medpundit, and Medrants for that.

Gender Test

I took this entertaining gender test once before, sometime last year. That time, it guess I was male. Obviously I changed what I answered this time, because it guessed I was female. I mean, really, just because I like blue or something? Sheesh.

Maybe it's just me, but...

Every time I see the acronym SSDB, whatever pattern reconition or neural expectation thingie does its magic in my brain expects it to be "SSDD" instead. I still do sort of a double-take and make myself read it correctly every time.

Probably it's just me being warped.

Those Goofy Quizzes

And I mean really goofy this time. I'm putting this up despite the result, but the test has two flaws. One is to account only for the traditional left-right continuum. The other is to focus entirely on the social issues side of things. That said, the result actually makes sense. I consider myself a conservative-leaning libertarian. Anywho, here it is:


Where do you fall on the liberal - conservative political spectrum? (United States)
brought to you by Quizilla

Since the pictures for these things don't show half the time, and it didn't show in preview before posting, here is the actual text on the graphic:

Liberal - You believe that some things in society could definitely stand to be improved, and you view social progress as the key. You admirably manage to hold that view without becoming rabid about it, which ironically shows you as having far more genuine tolerance for differing views than your Far-Left Liberal cousins.

For perspective, I refer you back to this post, which had these results:

Libertarian - You believe that the main use for
government is for some people to lord it over
others at their expense. You maintain that the
government should be as small as possible, and
that civil liberties, "victimless
crimes", and gun ownership should be basic
rights. You probably are OK with capitalism.
Your historical role model is Thomas Jefferson.

Which political sterotype are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Oh yeah, spectrum quiz was via Geographica, which you all should visit regularly.

The Answer is...

Nope. Got up to 988 on the third, so unless I scare people away and my traffic drops off precipitously, first millenial hit day will be today, April 4th. Probably while I am sleeping. It might not be as good as waking up to find Sandra Bullock in my life, but it'll have to do.

The question is...

Will I hit 1000 today on ye olde meter, or will I fall just a little short? Fifteen to go and counting...

This Day is Getting Crowded

Here I am, trying to arrange a birthday dinner at Legal Seafood with three of my friends, to celebrate two of our birthdays. For the other two we went to La Storia two weeks ago. Two of us were suggesting Saturday. As it turns out, my friend Sherri's mother's birthday is also today, along with mine and my mother's, so she's going out with the family Saturday. So Friday it is! For me the family thing is Sunday, at my grandmother's house.

It's also the birthday of Eddie Murphy, who was even born the same year. Not like I'm a huge fan, but I always thought that was cool. On the other hand, he made me feel like a slacker, being rich and famous before I even had the slightest clue what I might do with my life.

Woohoo!

I weighed myself today and found I've lost 10 pounds without any conscious effort. That's always cool.

Outside the Beltway has moved off BlogSplat

New URL is http://outsidethebeltway.com/. I'll try to remember to update next time I play with links.

Iraqi Cookbook

Perhaps not the best time, but then again, when will people be more focused on and perhaps fascinated with Iraq than now and in the next few years. From Moorish Girl come this link to a NY Times article about a new Iraqi cookbook, Delights From The Garden of Eden. The article is more an article about and interview with the author, who fled Iraq just as the Kuwait invasion was beginning, than a discussion of the recipes. That makes it no less interesting.

SARS and SMS

Dan Gilmor tells the story of how word of the SARS outbreak first spread by text messaging. Link via Ernie the Attorney here.

The Answer

I forgot to mention, in my birthday post, that for the next year I get to be the living embodiment of The Answer. One of my friends pointed that out last week.

Now what was the question again?

MSNBC Covers Arnot Incident

MSNBC has an article on the Bob Arnot reportage under fire that was impressively reported play by play on the Command Post overnight, as it unfolded on cable TV. I'd love to see the video footage one day. (Note that it's this second link that now has the best bulk of the play by play.)

French Reasoning

Or is that an oxymoron?

Anyway, Samizdata has a good response to Megan's question about what the French have been thinking.

SARS and Tech

The Register has an article on SARS and its impact of tech travel and supplies.

SARS and more

Future Pundit has impressively extensive SARS coverage, taking most of the current blog page in multiple long posts, so I won't even try linking individual ones. Just go there if you can't get enough SARS and want so stuff I haven't yet seen elsewhere. For instance, the issue of "silent carriers," DNA mixing that may have led to it, and the use of gamma globulin from recovered patients to treat infected ones.

Ah, my old friend gamma globulin!

As I mentioned before, I had meningitis when I was 17 days old, and consequential nerve/coordination damage. What I didn't mention is how I was chronically sick through my early years. If there was a contagious disease even thinking of going around, I got it, well before I was school age. Ear infections, that kind of thing, all the time. All the childhood diseases, early and often.

Finally they experimentally gave me gamma globulin injections. For several years after that I had not so much as a cold. I did get poison sumac all the time. I could do that by being within shouting distance of the pesky plants. My sister was the same with poison ivy, which I had to work at getting. Talk about feeling miserable. But I digress. Gamma globulin for me was like a wonder drug.

When I got chronically sick my last two years of high school, it seemed like a throwback to my pre-school years. It always surprised me that nobody ever said "gee, he had immune problems (or whatever) then, and this seems similar." Sheesh. No continuity. No faith in the fundamental interconnectedness of all things.

Salam Pax in Hospital?

John Quiggin reports, via Peoria Pundit, and including a link to this site, that Salam Pax, of Where Is Raed fame, may be in the hospital. Obviously that would explain the lack of posts.

Happy Birthday Mom

From your best birthday present ever... me!

(Not that she'll see this, but hey, it beats saying "happy birthday to me" outright.)

Vocabulary Lesson

Received via e-mail:


1. Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absent mindedly answer the door in your nightie.

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence (n.) the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question in an exam.

12. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddish expressions.

13. Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of boxer shorts.

14. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your soul goes up
on the roof and gets stuck there.

15. Pokemon (n), A Jamaican proctologist.

This sounds like good news

There's a treatment that appears to help with alzheimer's in its later stages. Anything they can do to treat that is awesome news, in my opinion.

What were the French thinking?

Jane Galt poses this question, in a verbose and thoughtful way, and invites discussion, sans French bashing, in the comments. Antics Thoughtful discussion ensues. Check it out and add your 2 francs euros on the matter.

SARS

I'm getting a ton of hits (well, relative to my overall hits) on SARS from MSN and Google searches. For convenience, maybe I'll create an entry that lists links to everything I've posted before, and other resources, then give it a permalink up top in the blog template. For now, feel free to scroll, and go to the archives. The one biggest link post I did on SARS so far was:
http://jaysolo.blogspot.com/2003_03_23_jaysolo_archive.html#91610532

That points to some better resources than I am, as far as keeping up and knowing what they're talking about. Also, MSNBC has regularly updated coverage, and you can search for SARS on Google News for links to the latest news articles from all over.

While you're here, feel free to read and enjoy the rest of the ramblings I've posted over the course of several weeks. Hope you like it and return sometimes.

History

Mapchic has a wonderful post that is in part on the cemetary vandalism in France, but also includes excerpts from her grandfather's letters from WWI. I can see where she got her writing talent, and can't wait to see more from those letters.

Well, since the archival linkage seems to be broken, just go to her site ASAP and scroll down as needed for "Lessons from History" posted April 2, 2003.

Patriot II is Indeed Evil
Via the Bloglord

.

Hosting

Question for longer time bloggers:

Any special recommendations for hosting or for what to look for in a hosting plan if you're planning to put a blog under your own domain?

Obviously I know who my business domain is hosted with, and how they are, and what they cost. However, they aren't actually the cheapest available, and are probably more business oriented anyway. So I'm interested in the feedback. For the business we have 100 MB disk space, including e-mail, web, logs, and any storage we might want to do. We've never exceeded 50 MB by much, and that's with my accumulated e-mail at its worst, and the e-mail in the other accounts that hasn't been deleted off the host. Our bandwidth is 5000 MB a month. The site gets a few hundred hits a day and we barely touch the bandwidth we have available.

I have 9 domains with ZoneEdit, all set to web forward. One is personal (long story to it) and the rest business. They all used to forward to the business site one way or another, but I changed my personal domain to forward to my blog when I started it, so I can use it as a shortcut.

Anything else I would have to know, when getting hosting? Does it depend what I use (for instance, I see Movable Type mentioned constantly)?

I've also thought about setting up a blog for the business at some point, even if only for internal consumption, but I also have it in mind in support of a pending software release. Some of the above applies there too.

Thoughts? Thanks!

Super DMCA

Derek Slater has multiple entries on super DMCA legislation, including confirmation that they were drafted by the MPAA. Very dangerous stuff. Go there and read through them. It's too extensive for me to link to each post specifically.

SARS

Gweilo Diaries has a new report of the nature of the SARS virus. Likely the source was an animal borne illness, and one of the symptoms is reminiscent of hemorrhagic fever viruses.

Gweilo also has a second post on SARS, mainly on the quarantine situation in Hong Kong.

Screw The Music Industry!

Last night I spent way too much money at Wal-Mart. I finally broke down and bought a couple music CDs, which I never do because I even consider Wal-Mart prices to be excessive for them. I am the industry's nightmare, because I could go for years just listening to the radio and the old stuff I already own. I bought a 2-CD Best of Chicago album for waaaaay too much, mainly because Question 67 and 68 is one of my favorite songs and gets almost no airplay. Love the album! Happy I bought it.

I also bought Camino Palmero by The Calling, mainly because Wherever You Will Go is one of those rare newer songs that really grab me. It was more than I'd prefer to pay, but not ridiculous.

It's BROKEN!

I popped it in the CD drive and suddenly a program ran, popping up and taking the full screen, offering to play a video or whatever. Now, here I am, expecting Winamp to start playing, oh, maybe the songs that are on the CD. Yes, I do not have a CD player. No, I take that back. I have a little portable I bought to use in the Sentra, because driving all the way to the Quebec border with no radio was too much for me to take. I don't use that when sitting at the computer for hours. I use the drive in the computer, and a headset so as to be a good, neighborly apartment dweller. Duh. There's also a boombox at the office, and I took some of my CDs there.

A music CD that will not play music in a standard CD drive is defective. EOF.

It was not clearly labeled as defective. If the industry is going to sell fraudulent merchandise, they should label it boldly so a decision can be reached in the store and their sales will go down more, but at least people won't be pissed off at them the way I am now. Not acceptable.

So do I want to return it to Wal-Mart and make a fuss, or do I want to keep it because the video is kind of cool to have, and it presumably will play on another device? Principle says return it. My primary place for playing it won't work with it, rendering it marginal, and they should not be allowed to get away with this shit. It's just a pain to get to the Wal-Mart in question just for that purpose.

Argh! Die industry scum, die! Napster was largely an enabler of theft, but it was a wakeup call you morons in the industry failed to get, so now you're going to suffer.

Good dog!

This is so cool. Buster - The Dog of War, via Command Post.

September 11

Sasha Castel-Dodge writes of September 11, the memories flooding back on finding the newspaper clippings, and her experiences of the day. This via Vodka Pundit.

My September 11 started with getting up, turning on the computer and dealing with e-mails. That done, I brought up IE to my home page, which is MSNBC. There was the picture of the first tower and the headline. I said something along the lines of "oh my God! This must be on TV too!" I went in the living room as fast as practical and turned on the TV. Sure enough. At that point nobody knew what kind of a plane, or that it was not an accident, and there was no film yet of the first plane actually hitting.

Thus I was one of the millions who got to see the second plane live. I had been watching for a few hours before it occured to me to toss in a blank tape and record what I was watching. Never play it, but I have several hours starting a few hours after it all started, for posterity.

I never went to the office that day. I went back and forth between the TV and the computer, hitting the web, hitting newsgroups. The latter was a great source of firsthand news, as well as rumor and aggregation of what different people were seeing on different web sites. I also exchanged e-mail with people, but mainly the receptionist at my biggest client. They didn't work much that day. The TV was moved from their breakroom on the 2nd floor to the large conference room on the 3rd floor, and everyone gathered around it. Most people went home early. I was feeding the receptionist news and rumors, as she couldn't leave her post.

Mostly I sat on the couch crying and watching TV, channel surfing for different perspectives. All it takes to know how big it was is to realize that every broadcast channel covered it. There were feeds from places like CNN on places like the shopping channel. I may as well have been watching cable that day.

I didn't know anyone who was a victim. There were people who worked with friends, or people who were the friend of a sister of someone, but none I knew. That doesn't matter. It still hurts.

Shake It Up

Well, I woke up with a raw throat and couldn't stop shaking, so went back to bed and got up again at 2:30 feeling better if not perfect. Responded to client e-mails, then other e-mails, and now here I am trying to post again. I think I am up to around 10 posts that haven't published since Robin Williams. If BlogSplat is working again, posting should force all the preceding stuff to publish. Here goes...

WTF, Over?

What is UP with BlogSplat!? It won't publish anything. This is a test in the form of a grumble. Here goes...

Blargh

The cold is back. Annoying.

Massachusetts DMCA

We're such a high tech hotbed, after all. Why not have the legislators pass a destructive bill they don't understand. Anyway, LawMeme has a post on the topic, pointing the info and hearings. Ah, and here's an earlier post on the same, mentioning Texas as well. The Register had an article the other day as well.

BlogSplat

Argh! I have made multiple posts, and even through Blogger itself they are not being fully published. This is my 6th post since the Robin Williams one. None of the last 5 posts will show on the blog, even though they are posted and a matter of record with Blogger. Very frustrating. It seems like anything that's connected to blogging itself is slow; normally energetic signals being brought to a standstill by traveling through a Hose-Blogstein Condensate.

Is this their idea of an April Fool's joke or what?

Well, back in the morning or whenever, at which point no doubt all the posts will catch up with the rest of the universe.

"Where Comrade Lenin never died"

Quick! Go over and see the Proletariat of Inoperable Terran have fun with this fine Jour du Poisson.

Poignant Desertion
Via that other Jen, who has other good stuff too so don't be afraid to hop on over and nose around.

For the Doggies! And the Cats, and the Bunnies, and...

On Home Fires Burning there is a post by mrs. du Toit regarding the need for dogs (perhaps other pets?) to have new or temporary homes; an unfortunate side-effect of having sent their people off to war. While this specifically mentions Kentucky and Tennessee areas, no doubt the scenario exists in other parts of the country.

I've also passed it along to a dog rescue list I subscribe to inactively. The same friend who came up with "Jay Solo" started the particular list, and has been heavily involved in rescue. While I don't play an active role, I keep an eye out. For instance, I arranged donation of a Rottie crate from someone who was looking to get rid of it to a rescue organization. It's not much, but things like that help.

Timeout

I am using w.bloggar to post, as usual, and tonight every post is timing out. Then after I make a subsequent timeout post, it appears. Quite annoying. Had a bout of this before, but for days it's been flawless.

Don 't Get Fresh

Ernie the Attorney posted about the need for fresh content and the lameness of many law firm web sites. Since I am in a position to have a fairly strong opinion on the subject, I posted the following lengthy comment (except here I won't repro the broken italics tag I managed to slip in there):

Heh. I have a client, about 25 attorneys in a single owner firm, whose web site is nothing more than okay. I basically tossed it together so they'd have something. It looks reasonable and not completely stupid, but has nothing fresh or interesting or appealing on it. Nobody cares.

Except once in a while they will say "our web site sucks!" So I'll get all excited and tell them things they can do, and show them a proposed, far nicer design someone did, which would cost them a few hundred bucks to adopt with minimal content improvements otherwise. I seek feedback. I get a couple of "that's nice" responses from people who aren't responsible for spending or marketing-related matters, otherwise it's deafening silence wafting to the ground with a wretched, thud of apathy.

I consider it bizarre. They also have yet to put the URL on their letterhead as I have suggested. They got goodies like coffee mugs and magnets made up for a regional chamber of commerce business fair... and didn't think to have the URL printed on the stuff. Most of the new batches of business cards haven't gotten the URL on them. Some haven't even gotten the attorney's e-mail address, and I got them on the internet three years ago. Nobody thinks to have people go to the site for driving directions, instead still reciting them over the phone or faxing them. Most of the attorney bio/experience blurbs are from a 5+ year old firm resume they did last time they thought about marketing. Requests for edits or more info mostly landed with the aforementioned thuds.

Posting articles or legal commentaries? Updating routinely? Never gonna happen.

Not that I keep my own business site exactly free of virtual cobwebbery... houses, stones, emergency glazier calls... well, tough.

I Always Liked Robin Williams

One of the many good items on Betsy's Page currently points to this column with a snippet on misguided remarks by Williams. Perhaps I should start keeping a list and a ranking system for this sort of thing, so I can remember whose movies to avoid, and how vehemently to stick to doing so. Is anyone already maintaining such a list?

Bend It

I watched the online trailer for Bend It Like Beckham today and now I'd definitely like to see it. Which I will, if it migrates out of a single theater in downtown Boston and starts appearing in some of the suburban theaters. Kind of like My Big Fat Greek Wedding did.

Linkage

Very cool. Someone I hadn't linked to first has added me, at least in a probationary sort of way, to his links. That would be JimSpot, and this is as much as anything a reminder to self to reciprocate. "Self, don't forget!"

Japan's Nuclear Weapons Program

Fascinating TCS article by Patrick Cox today, on what's come to light about Japan's quest for the atomic bomb, and how close they came to having one first.

Northbound Big Dig Tunnel Opened

My brother missed being able to go through it, since he went that way Saturday. Unfortunately, that was the day they had the northbound side down to one lane preparing for the opening of the tunnel Sunday. That added an hour to the drive to Vermont.

I think I'll pass, the first couple days, until people are less confused. I can't wait to drive on the bridge though. I gawk at it every time I go that way, it looks so cool.

The Future and Its URL

Virginia Postrel, one of the first "bloggers" I read, has a new URL and spiffy site design. I will change it in the blogroll next time I update things there.

I can still remember vividly, when I subscribed to the paper edition of Reason, before there was a web, Virginia taking over as editor from Bob Poole. They printed her picture, and her eyes struck me as having an intense yet far away look; like someone with great intelligence and focus. Or religious-like fervor. Strange thing to remember, huh? Especially so many years later. Hers was one of the first blogs I read. I don't remember if I read her or Jerry "not a blog" Pournelle first, but I think it was the latter. Then I found Virginia either through mention by Jerry, or through a post she made to a mailing list we both were on. I can remember vividly when I first heard of her, eons ago, but not when and how I first saw her "blog" a few years ago. Go figure. For the record, the next ones I discovered were Joanne Jacobs and Andrew Sullivan. I believe both of those were through Virginia, but Joanne may also have been mentioned on the RFF list.

Time Keeps on Slipping

I checked my time and looked up when Daylight Savings starts in most of the U.S., which turned out to be this upcoming weekend. All I remembered is I could expect it near my birthday. From there I found this site, basically a history of timekeeping, which is kind of cool.

Great T-Shirt

Excellent T-Shirt concept at flyingchair.net.

Who's Next

Over on Command Post the question is posed, inviting answers in the comments, who's next after Saddam? Choice are Iran, Syria, N. Korea, or fill in the blank none of the above.

SARS

Gweilo reports that it may be airborne after all, with a couple relevant links.

NY Times Front Pages You'd Like to See

Courtesy of Dawn, we are directed to Carthaginian Peace for a couple of great NY Times covers.

Business Blogging

Justene, of Calblog, questions why there aren't more business blogs. In part:

Blogs are a vast network. Go to the blogs in your blogroll and link to the blogs in their blogroll and then so on and so on. You end up traversing on the same ground over and over again. In the old days (now defined as anything before last week), we called this networking.

She welcomes other views on the topic.

Results Are In

Acidman has the poll results up! Go see, even if this is the first you've heard of it.

Brandy

Brandy, my father's beautiful, sweet dog, his baby, has died. I mentioned a while back that they'd found a growth pushing on her heart. Subsequently, on antibiotics, she seemed to be back to her old self. My father thinks she'd been exerting herself to stay with them.

What I wrote in that post was:

My father and stepmother have had Brandy since she was a puppy. Later they adopted Kashmir, who was retired from the big time, so to speak. She was the mother of a national champion golden retriever. It was Brandy who spurred my stepsister on the road to getting goldens of her own.

Anyway, Kashmir died a couple years ago. Very sad. In the past week it looked like it would be Brandy's time to go. She wasn't acting herself; breathing hard and looking lost. And X-ray showed a growth next to her heart. I've been expecting the bad news any day now. Now she seems better! She's on antibiotics and something else, and it may have been just an infection. Or it could be a temporary recovery.

Apparently whatever it was burst overnight and started killing her in earnest. I'd largely relaxed about it, and now here it is. It'll never be the same, visiting there and not seeing Brandy, aka "Bran Muffin."

So here are some pictures, in addition to the picture of Jake as a puppy, with "Mrs. Lamb," I posted a while back:

This is Brandy, in the yard at the old Vermont house, holding "Mr. Lion."

This is Brandy, in the kitchen of the old Vermont hose, at Christmas in 1999.

This is Brandy helping my father in the garden at the new Vermont house.

Bonus, non-doggie pictures:

This is part of the view from my father's house.

This is the sky at sunset from my campsite at Blomidon, in Nova Scotia, almost 5 years ago when I was last up in the ancestral part of Canada. My grandfather was born near here. I always loved this picture, and couldn't believe how nice it came out with my modest camera. It somehow seems appropriate today.

The Primary Main Objective

Check it out if you haven't. He has some cool pictures and commentary. Today as an intro for new readers he says, in part:

I have minions here, but they're not evil. Or are they?
I don't have minions in my regular job.

Apparently he also has a lot of non-American fans. For instance, an Italian fan comments in part:

...my grandfather was hiding in the muontains and fightint the nazi during world war second. so if he was alive now, he wuold have thanked you for the support your country gave to them that time and I'm lot thankful for the job you are doing now...

Go, enjoy.

Our Baltic Friends

Baltic nations, which already support us, will be sending peacekeeping troops.

That, and a great story of past Latvian support, via Baltic Blog.

Betsy

As usual, tons of good stuff over at Betsy's Page today! Check it out if you haven't already.

WHO Ingored SARS in Taiwan?
Via the Bloglord.

Wash Your Hands Of SARS

Well, yeah. Makes sense. MSNBC says frequent hand washing is key in helping prevent infection with SARS, just as with cold and flu viruses. Current belief is that most transmission has been through close contact, though they haven't ruled out other ways too.