April 29, 2005
Google one step closer to world domination
Google has launched a beta version of their new program, Google Print, which allows you to search and read actual book pages. This is the coolest thing from Google since Google Scholar.
Posted by Elyas at 02:27 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack
April 28, 2005
Bush Press Conference Drinking Game
Tonight, President Bush will do something he has only done 3 times since taking office: He will hold a prime-time press conference. In the past few weeks, Republicans have lost support on everything from Social Security to John Bolton to the "nucular option," and it's time for Bush to stop the bloodloss. To help you get through this interuption of your regularly scheduled programming, Acinom the Intern and I present the Official Bush Press Conference Drinking Game.
Take a drink if:
- Bush refers to reporters by nicknames he's assigned them
- Bush uses the phrase "personal savings account"
- After a particularly difficult sentence, Bush finishes with a self-congratulatory nod and smirk
- Bush uses the phrase freedom or liberty
- He forgets the second part of a two-part question
- Bush accuses Democrats of being bipartisan in blocking his judicial nominees
- Bush pronounces nuclear, 'nucular'
If at any point during the press conference you begin to realize that Bush will be in office until 2008, go ahead and finish what you are drinking. We probably could extend the rules to cover the post-conference analysis by the media pundits, but that's another game altogether.
Posted by Elyas at 03:05 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Vast limp-wrist conspiracy
I doubt Alabama State Representative Gerald Allen (Republican) is much of a reader, given his recent bill to ban from public libraries any books written by gay authors or featuring gay characters. "I don't look at it as censorship," says Gerald Allen. "I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children."
But in book after book, Allen reads what he calls the "homosexual agenda," and he's alarmed."It's not healthy for America, it doesn't fit what we stand for," says Allen. "And they will do whatever it takes to reach their goal."
I don't get this hysterical fear of the "homosexual agenda" by some social conservatives. Does this guy really think that an organized vast limp-wrist conspiracy has been injecting literature with homosexuality for hundreds of years, secretly hoping to turn the whole world gay? I mean, I knew The Gay was contagious, but I didn't know it could be spread by simply reading about it.
The CBS article lists Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, and Alice Walker as possible bannees, and Andrew Sullivan names Shakespeare, Wilde, Auden, and Proust. I couldn't think of any other authors or books that would be banned off the top of my head, but if Allen wants to ban any book that has a gay scene or gay character, I seem to remember a few references to homosexuality in the Bible.
Posted by Elyas at 11:44 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Guess who's back?
Before the U.N. testimony, before the Bush administration latched on to his reputation and dragged it through the mud, I liked Colin Powell. If he had run before serving under Dubya, I might have voted for him in a presidential election. He was a nice guy, and he never really fit in with the rest of the Bush crowd. But being nice was his downfall. He was like a loyal dog that kept running back to his master, tail wagging, while the master keeps pretending to throw a tennis ball and laughs at the stupid dog for falling for it every time.
But he's back. And he's out for revenge. Apparently, Powell agrees with most Democrats and some Republicans that John Bolton has no place in the U.N. He has been working to convince undecided Senators to vote against Bolton's confirmation. Of course, this has caused him to butt heads with his successor, Condolezza Rice.
While a Rice, Powell showdown would be entertaining, Colin wouldn't stand a chance. Rice is just too vicious. She'd bite his smiling head off and deliver it on a platter to the president without breaking a sweat.
[Talking Points]
[Salon]
Posted by Elyas at 09:55 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
April 27, 2005
Smallpox
I had planned on saving this post for May 8, the 25th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox. But I came across this article and decided to go ahead and comment.
A few years ago, around this time, I came across an article commemorating the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox. I don't remember which anniversary it was: the World Health Organization (WHO) declared smallpox eradicated on May 8, 1980, but the last reported case was three years earlier.
I also don't remember who wrote the article or where I read it. The actual article is lost forever. But something about it has stuck with me since then. It has helped shape my worldview and provided an analogy with which I can explain my perspective. Every spring the article enters my mind and renews my twisted mix of optimism and cynicism.
Many regard the eradication of smallpox as one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century. And they're right. This was the first time an entire disease had been eradicated from the planet. At the height of the Cold War, in a time when the threat of a global nuclear war haunted minds across the planet, the eradication of smallpox symbolized the best of the human spirit. The world's two superpowers, the United States and Soviet Union, set aside differences and worked together to eradicate this viral menace. For once it seemed like the world was able to look beyond imagined barriers of religion, race, and nationality and recognize the ties that bind us as a human species.
From the superpowers to the third world, humans battled virus. The WHO struggled through civil wars, natural disasters and reluctant civilians to vaccinate in some areas of the globe. In some cases, officials vaccinated people against their will in order to stop the spread of the disease.
The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was in 1977. At a cost of merely 300 million dollars (a fraction of what it costs to wage most wars), humanity had defeated one of its greatest threats. The only greater threat to humanity would turn out to be itself.
The remaining post-eradication stocks of the smallpox virus were divided between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Cold War was still going on, and it's hard to say what was done with the virus. Soviet defectors claim the Soviet military developed biological weapons using the smallpox virus. In 1999, Russia and the U.S. backed out of an agreement to destroy the last remaining stocks of the virus, and now the U.S. has accelerated smallpox research, with possible plans for genetically engineering the virus.
And now we're back at square one. The majority of the U.S. population is no longer immune to the virus, with the last vaccinations occuring in the 1970s. The breakup of the Soviet Union left many stocks of the virus unaccounted for. After the September 11 terroist attacks and the 2001 anthrax mailings, the prospect of terrorists using smallpox as a biological weapon is as haunting as the Cold War threat of nuclear annihilation.
Thus, the paradox of the human brain. We are capable of understanding the most complex mysteries of the universe, yet sometimes our minds are so simple. We split atoms and traverse every obstacle on the planet, but we overanalyze our differences and wage war over abstractions.
On the universal stage, we are both the villan and the hero. While there are ideological differences between the various religions and nationalities, we all share the same genetic matieral and the same human plight.
Some say this view is pessimistic. Afterall, humans have made vast technological advancements and have overcome many injustices throughout history. But optimists and pessimists have simply picked sides in a battle of ideas in which both parties are wrong. While a global catastrophe like a nuclear war or smallpox outbreak is unlikely, it is something that has entered into the world dialogue in the last century. As Kurt Vonnegut points out in his novel, Galapogas, with something like that on the table, it remains to be seen whether the human brain is the history's greatest evolutionary success or its greatest failure.
Posted by Elyas at 01:41 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
OHarmony
There's a new dating service for world leaders.
Posted by Elyas at 01:27 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
April 26, 2005
Somewhere over the rainbow
In Kansas, if an 18-year-old boy has consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl, the maximum sentence he can get (if for some reason the state decided to prosecute him for statutory rape) is 15 months in prison. He is protected by the "Romeo and Juliet" statue, which is designed to protect young couples, who are both teenagers, but one of them has passed the pivotal 18th birthday. It's a logical law, that gives comfort to anyone who turned 18 a few months or years before their girlfriend.
But when 18-year-old Matthew Limon had consensual oral sex with another 15-year-old boy in a boarding school dorm room in Kansas, he received a 17-year prison sentence for "criminal sodomy." Because Limon chose a male instead of a female for his teenage sexual experimentation, the next two decades of his life are ruined. If not more.
One can only imagine what life is like for him in there. Young men like Matthew are prime targets in jail. Gay prisoners are more than twice as likely to be the victims of rape in prison, and young gay men are particularly vulnerable. Worse, the rate of HIV infection among the prison population is higher than in the general population, so prison rape carries with it the added risk of HIV transmission.
Read the full article at Salon, it's worth the Site Pass.
Posted by Elyas at 11:21 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
From the Department of Redundancy
The CIA released another report tellings us what we've known for years now: "WMD investigation has gone as far as feasible." They also recommend releasing an unspecified number of detainees who are in custody for their supposed knowledge of Iraq's weapons.
The only WMDs these days are in the hands of Senate Republicans. Their attempts to change the rules on filibusters is being referred to as the nucular option, and it's not getting much public support. ABC/Washington Post:
The Senate has confirmed 35 federal appeals court judges nominated by Bush, while Senate Democrats have blocked 10 others. Do you think the Senate Democrats are right or wrong to block these nominations?Right 48
Wrong 36Would you support or oppose changing Senate rules to make it easier for the Republicans to confirm Bush's judicial nominees?
Support 26
Oppose 66
Terry Schiavo, Social Security, and now the Nucular Option: Poll numbers haven't been looking good lately for Republicans. Five months too late.
Posted by Elyas at 08:35 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
April 25, 2005
A picture's worth a thousand words
Posted by Elyas at 03:09 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
Numbers game
From David Brooks:
The release of a report in The Journal of the American Medical Association indicating that overweight people actually live longer than normal-weight people represents an important moment in the history of world civilization. It is the moment when we realize that Mother Nature - unlike Ivy League admissions committees - doesn't like suck-ups.It turns out she doesn't like those body-worshiping, multi-abbed marvels who've spent so much time at the bench press machine they look as if they have thighs growing out of either side of their necks. She doesn't like those health-conscious rice cake addicts you see at Manhattan restaurants ordering a skinned olive for lunch and sitting there looking trim and fit in their tapered blouses while their buns of steel leave permanent dents in the upholstery.
If I gained nothing else from four years of studying Sociology in college, I at least learned that statistics can lie. And the media's interpretation of statistics can twist a little lie into a far-fetched fantasy that doesn't resemble reality. Now, normally I can tolerate David Brooks, but he's so eager to gloat over the AMA's report that overweight people live longer than normal people, that he forgot to read the actual report..
Brooks does a disservice to the scientists who worked hard on the report, when he claims in his first sentence that the report says, "overweight people actually live longer than normal-weight people." The actual report compares mortality rates in three categories - overweight, obese, and underweight - with normal mortality rates. The study finds, as would be expected, that being obese or underweight increased mortality. But, being "overweight was not associated with excess mortality."
So Mr. Brooks wastes 750 words babbling about the good news for overweight people, when the report basically just reinforces common sense. Being a little overweight (like Brooks' multi-abbed marvels) isn't going to be devastating in the long run, but it's certainly not Mother Nature's secret fountain of youth.
Unfogged has more a more detailed BMI analysis, as does Tom Maguire.
UPDATE: According to this association of restaurants and food producers, not only is overweight the new healthy, but obese isn't half-bad either.
Posted by Elyas at 10:42 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
Proof God doesn't exist?
Apparently, the newly elected Pope Benedict XVI prayed to God during the conclave, asking not to be elected pope. If the Pope can't get a prayer answered, what hope is there for the rest of us?
On a related note, I turn it over to the intern:
Disclaimer: This piece is not intended to insult or offend anyone. Acinom understands that for billboards and road signs there is no spell-check, grammar-check, or does-this-mean-anything-in-any-known-language-check. I would merely like to point out that sometimes when driving by these signs, I put myself and everyone around me in danger during my violent convulsions of laughter. So. Without further ado, I present my list of favorite church road signs seen in the past month or so on my drive in to work. (Misspellings theirs, not mine)1. Jesus died from your sins. Everyone welcome. (My bad Jay-Cee. Didn't mean to sin and kill you and stuff [I thought Jesus died for your sins]. And I'm still trying to figure out the second part.)
2.What will you say when Jesus return? (Honestly, if it means the world is ending I will probably say, "Oh @#$&!!!!)
3.You are a child of God whether you like it or not. (Isn't faith supposed to be uplifting?)
4.When you go before Him, what choise will you make? (The red pill? A number three with cheese? Low-Fat Milk? I thought when I show up at the gates ole' St. Pete "choises" what happens to me. Dangit should have paid more attention in Sunday School.)
5.Jesus Church. Sat 9 AM--Sun 9 AM. (I've never seen "Jesus
Church" before. Economy of Words.. As for the second part..Wow. That's a lot of Jebus. If the average Sunday service goes for 1 hour, "Jesus Church" could do in one sitting what average churches do in 24 weeks. Let's hope they mean one service on Saturday and one on Sunday.)
Posted by Elyas at 10:41 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
April 22, 2005
Having solved all other problems...
Senator Rick Santorum (R) from Pennsylvania submitted a bill that would limit the National Weather Service's free weather forecasts to emergencies only. Although federal meteorologists would still collect data on sunny-day forecasts (funded by tax dollars), they wouldn't be allowed to publish the information. The Palm Beach Post reports:
The bill, introduced last week by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., would prohibit federal meteorologists from competing with companies such as AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, which offer their own forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported Web sites.Supporters say the bill wouldn't hamper the weather service or the National Hurricane Center from alerting the public to hazards — in fact, it exempts forecasts meant to protect "life and property."
Coincidentally, Santorum has received nearly $4,000 from Barry Myers, VP of AccuWeather, a for-profit weather service based in Santorum's home state.
Also last year, the weather service began offering much of its raw data on the Internet in an easily digestible format, allowing entrepreneurs and hobbyists to write simple programs to retrieve the information. At the same time, the weather service's own Web pages have become increasingly sophisticated. Combined, the trends threaten AccuWeather's business of providing detailed weather reports based on an array of government and private data.
Did I say this was a coincidence? What I meant to say was this is shameful example of pork-barrel politics that would lead to a further waste of taxpayer dollars. [Daily Kos, Burnt Orange Report, Wonkette]
Posted by Elyas at 03:15 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Filibust or Feel-A-Bust?
A reader in China on Democrats' attempts to filibuster Bush's judicial nominees:
Sixty votes are needed in the 100-member Senate to end a filibuster. But just 51 would be needed to change the rules to ban them. Republicans hold 55 seats [YahooNews].
But Republicans are being dangerously short-sighted if they ban a procedure that was designed to protect the minority party (whoever it is). Someday Republicans won't control the entire universe, and when that time comes, they'll need the power of the filibuster to slow down the rampaging Democrats who are hungry for revenge [FTimes].
On a somewhat related note (see the post's title): 16 mothers held a "nurse-in", breast-feeding their children in public to support a city commission candidate who was criticized for breast-feeding her daughter during a public meeting. Only in Florida... [MiamiHerald]
Posted by Elyas at 10:45 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
More from the Intern
Ablogistan's Intern, who insists on being called Acimon, sent this in.
Where have I been for past couple of years? Apparently Google is a multi-BILLION* dollar enterprise. Now I use Google just as much (if not more) than the next guy, so this really stumped me. I mean I have never bought anything from Google or off of one of their ads. Heck, I didn't think anyone did. Apparently someone does-- 2.5 BILLION* bucks says someone does.Honestly this makes me rather angry.** Someone makes a search engine and gives it a "creative" name like a "google"??? I mean come on. What makes it worse is that Google is now a modern verb.*** Which is why I have decided to trademark the word "Dakipkle." I mean I don't know what Dakipkle will be yet but it's a heck of a word. So when somebody comes up with some cool new thing and tries to name it Dakipkle, I'll show up and say, "Not so fast. Before you Dakipkle anything, we got some bid'ness to discuss."
* Finger to the mouth, Dr. Evil style
** Ok so substitute "angry" with Stark-Raving-Mad-Envy. Absolute JEALOUSY.
*** 1. "I can't find it anywhere!" "Did you google it?"
2."My dog is lost. I must google it!!!"
3."Our forces remain vigilant. The google goes on for weapons of mass
destruction."
I know Google's raking in the money from its advertising programs, but what about the webmasters who actually host the ads? Does anyone really make much from the pay-per-click system? I can't even get my ad (to your right) to stop showing PSAs.
Posted by Elyas at 10:22 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
April 21, 2005
Follow up
Blaming his faulty English, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday said he misspoke when he suggested that California's border with Mexico should be closed to help solve the nation's illegal immigration problem.[YahooNews]Schwarzenegger made the remark while speaking to newspaper editors and publishers Tuesday. He said he intended to say the border should be secured.
"Yesterday was a total screw-up in the words I used," the Republican said at a news conference. "Because instead of closing, I meant securing. I think maybe my English, I need to go back to school and study a little bit."
Posted by Elyas at 02:14 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
E-pope
From Ablogistan.com's intern about the new pope's e-mail address:
Apparently they are going to let you do e-mail confession from now on. Not really but how handy would that be if you screwed something up and then just confessed it on your blackberry two minutes later. Great, now only rich people with PDAs can confess their sins and go to heaven.
At 78, I doubt the pope uses the Internet on a daily basis. Most likely a group of unpaid Vatican interns handle all the e-mail requests, which makes an e-prayer about as useful as a letter to Santa Claus. Still, I wonder how many offers to enlarge his penis the pope gets in his inbox daily. [MSN]
p.s. E-mail the pope at benedictxvi@vatican.va
Posted by Elyas at 01:26 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
Shameless self-promotion
My latest articles in the Current are out today, although they probably aren't that interesting unless you know a little about San Antonio politics. The first is a Q&A with (almost) all of the candidates running for City Council in District 6 (Growth, crime tops in District 6). The second article is about the internal power struggle that is crippling the local Democratic party (The fight club).
Posted by Elyas at 12:00 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Blogger tipjars
Wow. Blogger tipjars yield a lot more income than I would have imagined, at least if you're one of the elite blogs pulling in hundreds of thousands of visitors a day. Andrew Sullivan has raised up to $120,000 in beg-athons, and says "My critics think I did much better overall than I did." And he still asks for donations to "help defray rising bandwidth costs." Is he kidding? Bandwidth? If I could pull in $120,000 in tips I wouldn't be bitching about bandwidth costs. Of course, if I could pull in $120,000 I wouldn't have to work two jobs and blog on the side.
Posted by Elyas at 09:57 AM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
April 20, 2005
Girlie-man
I'm still having trouble accepting the fact that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a governor (Yes, it's been almost two years, but this is a guy who was pregnant in Junior). I'm a little bothered by any actor in politics, especially action-heroes who've based a career on cheap catch-phrases.
I mean, it's obvious why actors make good politicians: They are trained to lie. By their very nature, they can read a few lines and transform themselves into virtually any character (assuming they are talented). That's why I'm so suspicious of them. Everyone loved Reagan for his grandfatherly character, but who's to know if that persona was real? What if he was acting for 8 years? This is the same reason I would never date an actress. Most women can fake it a little, but with an actress, you'd never know.
The reason I bring this up is because a reader (Yes, I'm going to refer to everyone as "a reader", even if you're my best friend. It makes me sound important.) commented on the irony in *gulp* Governor Schwarzenegger's harsh criticism of the nation's immigration policy. While there are a few intellectual reasons that an immigrant could want a very strict immigration policy, odds are Schwarzenegger is just reading the script for his next movie Arnold: The Road to the Whitehouse. Apparently his popularity has dropped in California recently, and before he can lobby for an ammendment allowing foreigners in the Oval Office, he must win reelection by pandering to California's Republicans.
Come on, this is the guy who has called his opponents 'girlie men' on more than one occassion.
Posted by Elyas at 01:43 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
April 19, 2005
Where's the punchline?
Apparently CNN thinks the idea of tourism in Afghanistan is hilarious, but I didn't laugh. The article is actually optimistic: It talks with several Afghans who have high hopes of someday revitalizing their country's tourism industry, and the author paints a peaceful picture of a nation struggling to rebuild.
So why is this article in CNN's "Funny Money" section? I mean, the url actually has the word "funny" in it, and other stories on the page include a video of a dancing poodle and an article about US Air accidently selling airline tickets for $1.86. If it really is that far-fetched to think of tourism in Afghanistan, shouldn't that be in CNN's "Sad" section, since the country is supposed to be an example of success in the War on Terrorism?
But the author of the article doesn't make the idea sound that far-fetched at all. Maybe the editors at CNN have a unique sense of humor. Or maybe I just don't get it.
Posted by Elyas at 11:01 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
April 18, 2005
This one's for Mark
Saying Texas Hold'em poker is "growing in popularity" is like saying Wal-Mart experienced a minor growth spurt in the last 20 years. Poker isn't just becoming popular, it's becoming a cultural fad, a decade-defining movement. And while I'm usually very reluctant to openly swim in the mainstream, this is one bandwagon I am not ashamed to have jumped on.
Hold'em poker is the ultimate sport, minus the exercise. It combines the intellectual stimulation of chess with last-minute excitement of March Madness basketball. With professional baseball being dragged through the mud over steroid scandals, Texas Hold'em is America's new pastime. What could be more American than a game with "Texas" in its name?
Cleverly marketed Internet poker sites and dozens of timeslots for poker tournaments on cable (most notably, the World Series of Poker) have given Texas Hold'em more cool points than Jon Stewart. It seems like only a matter of time before the honeymoon ends and it all comes crashing down. I didn't really want to bring politics into a poker post, but with social conservatives in charge of every branch of government imaginable, I don't expect gambling to remain a cultural icon for very long without taking some heat.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the government is too concerned with nipple flashes and feeding tubes and poker will fly quietly under the radar. Personally, I hope this is one fad that sticks around for a long time, and I take comfort in knowing that we now have one less reason to be ashamed of the species:
"There are few things that are so unpardonably neglected in our country as poker. The upper class knows very little about it. Now and then you find ambassadors who have sort of a general knowledge of the game, but the ignorance of the people is fearful. Why, I have known clergymen, good men, kind-hearted, liberal, sincere, and all that, who did not know the meaning of a "flush." It is enough to make one ashamed of the species." -Mark Twain
Posted by Elyas at 01:24 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 16, 2005
Winning the War on Terrorism
Everyone knows the best way to make a problem go away is to completely ignore it. For example, the State Department recently decided to stop publishing its annual report on international terrorism after it received news that 2004 had more terrorist attacks than any year since 1985 (and the statistics didn't include attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq).
Is it just me or is that a little Orwellian? Next, they'll be telling us there never was an annual report on international terrorism. Or maybe they'll publish an annual report on non-attacks to show that the number of terrorist attacks is outweighed by the number instances that we weren't attacked.
Well, enough with the blogging. I need to take care of some bills. Or maybe if I just ignore them, the phone company won't bother me any more. [Seattle Times]
Posted by Elyas at 10:47 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
Kids these days
I have to admit, I listen to Rush Limbaugh on occassion. Not very often. Usually it's when I'm driving across the country late at night. After driving for 10 hours straight, I find that listening to conservative talk radio gets me mad enough or makes me laugh enough to keep me awake through the night.
Now, I don't like political pundits in general, whether liberal or conservative. But some of the things Limbaugh says are just so out of touch with reality that he is far more entertaining than anyone else. Take his latest shennanigans. He recently sort-of, almost apologized after bashing Al Gore's upcoming cable news network, which is aimed at teenagers.
"What the hell is that, Al?" Limbaugh asked. "What the hell is the point of view of young people? Blow jobs, that's what they're doing out there. They're out there getting oral sex all day long, that's what they're talking about."
Does he really think that's what kids are up to these days? Getting oral sex "all day long?" He sounds a little bitter that he's missing out. And to beat it all, he blames Clinton.
"I am going to apologize not for saying what I said, but I'm going to apologize if it offended anybody," he said. "I never apologize for what I say, but if some of you were offended by a graphic term involving actions committed by Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, that have now spread to America’s high schools, I apologize."
So Clinton is solely responsible for a rampant culture of oral sex among young people? I can see why Rush is so popular. How can you not be entertained by this guy? The scary thing is, a lot of people take him seriously.[Related article by James Wolcott]
Posted by Elyas at 04:20 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
April 13, 2005
Hi, my name is...
Ok, forget the fact that he can't read his own name off a que card. Forget that he's talking to birds flying overhead and shooting them with his fingers. I think the most hilarious (yet disturbing) scene in this video is George Bush impersonating Dr. Evil. Oh the irony.
Seriously, I guarantee you'll laugh at this, or your money back. (Watch the video at DNext).
Posted by Elyas at 04:56 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
The first post...
Ok, here it is. The first post. I wanted to write something witty and memorable to commemorate my entrance into the world of blogging. I mean, you only get one chance to write a first post, so there's a lot of pressure not to screw it up.
But then I started thinking about it, and not many people know this site exists yet. Plus, as soon as I write a second post, it's just going to push the first post down out of the spotlight. So it's really not a big deal.
Instead, I'm just going to do what bloggers do and post a few links and make a few comments and call myself a journalist. Ok, here goes:
I have to admit, President Bush gained a few approval points in my eyes when I learned he uses an Ipod (referred to as Ipod One). At first I thought CNN was overanalyzing a bit when they claimed Bush "bares his soul" with the contents of Ipod One's playlists. But when you think about it, the music a person listens to can say a lot about who they are. Below is a sample of the playlist. I'll let you judge for yourself:
*We Are the Champions – Queen
*I Drink Alone – George Thorogood
*Killing an Arab – The Cure
*White Christmas – Bing Crosby
*Working 9 to 5 – Dolly Parton
*Rapture – Blondie
*Dallas Theme – Television's Greatest Hits
*Jesus Hold My Hand – John Ashcroft
*The Winner Takes it All – ABBA
The full playlist was released by The White House, and can be found here.
Posted by Elyas at 04:53 PM | Comments (9)