The Pig has retired

Well, I do believe this will be my last post on the ol' Pig, at least until/if/when I do the Brett Favre/MJ thing and unretire again. I have recently relaunched my personal site, now at http://everdubio.us, which has a Wordpress {horrors!} blog on it. See ya there--maybe. :-)

My dead blog

Ah, I see that it's been *eons* since I posted to this blog. Someone mentioned "creative writing" at work today and that made me remember, oh yeah! I've got a blog somewhere.

So for my three* readers out there, I have not dropped dead of a Zoloft-and-beer-speedball-induced seizure, I have not hit the lottery and retired from public life to my private island in the Caribbean with the hollowed-out volcano, nor have I finally lost my wits and run off screaming into the night (although that may happen if another Republican gets elected president in 2008). No, I've been...well, I've been doing other things. Like, not blogging. Well, okay, actually I've been back in school, on the Masters Degree track, and have really been enjoying it. More later...(maybe).

* and I'm being reeeeally optimistic.

Bad B.O.

Here's a new addition to every geek's lexicon of emoticons: the bad b.o. emoticon. Very useful when IM'ing or emailing a friend about that stinky office mate...

~\o/~

Long overdue...

By "long overdue" I'm not really talking about posting on this blog (as I see it's been three months since my last post), but the resignation of (former) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Not only was this sorely needed, but so was the reclamation of Congress by the Democratic Party. This country has veered off course in recent years, thanks among other things to the Iraq Debacle, and a dose of sanity and change of direction has been called for.

As someone who grew up overseas I have a strong interest in this country's foreign policy, its activities abroad, and our society's impact on other peoples. I care what other people think of this country. And I do believe that there are always two sides to any discussion. Though I will never condone terrorism in any way, shape or form, the saying "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" comes to mind.

I, frankly, have been ashamed of the arrogance and ignorance exhibited by this president and his administration, and I'm appalled by the human and financial costs of our intervention in the Middle East. I feel that invading Afghanistan was justified, but taking on Iraq was the biggest blunder this country has committed in decades.

I think that, once the dust settles, history will not be too kind to Mr. Bush.

Blue Ridge Mountains, NC

IMG_3420
Originally uploaded by jonworth.

Here's a shot I took while visiting family earlier this week. This is my first attempt at using Flickr's "blog this photo" feature to automatically post a photo from one of my Flickr sets onto my blog. Pretty cool!

Lawn Care Nightmares

I've been spending considerable time, energy and money lately on lawn upkeep. This includes planting flowers and shrubs around the mailbox, pruning trees, and resodding about 1/3 of the front yard. The latter has been a real pain in the keister and has inspired some rather colorful language on my part. We had to have a maple tree removed recently, and the roots it left behind have been quite an impediment to the whole process. But I'm nearly done with the front, at long last. Turns out I didn't order enough sod to do all the areas in the backyard, but that can wait for another day. It's too frickin' hot to be out in the yard this time of year anyway.

I've been reading Jerry Baker's Plants Are Still Like People to try to edjumacate myself on the whole lawn care thing. It's a hoot. This guy would have me practically live in my yard, spending several hours a day "shampooing" the grass, feeding it weird concoctions (beer and gin?!) and doing a little tap dance all over the place with cleats or golf shoes to aerate the soil. I mean, please. Makes my blood boil.

I'm thinking a rock garden might be a viable solution. But then, my neighbors probably wouldn't be too thrilled with that idea.

No matter how much I grumble about yard work, at least we aren't going through this.

"What is a terrorist?"

Anderson Cooper invited visitors to his site to answer the question, “What makes a terrorist?” The responses varied greatly. Some people were angry that he would dare to ask such a question because for them the answer was obvious. Some felt such an effort is futile because it all depends on which side you’re on.

For me, the word "terrorist" connotes any individual, either acting alone or as part of group--and this could be anything from a loose coalition of small "cells" to large groups of organized, uniformed regulars--that aims to influence political action (such as the withdrawal of an occupying force or political self-determination, ethnic cleansing, etc.) through a policy of attacking soft targets, i.e. unarmed civilians. (Terrorism for financial extortion is so rare, I won't go into it here--I'll leave that to Hollywood.) In short, terrorism is a weapon of the weak. It is a blunt-edged tool of those lacking the firepower, organization and technology to directly confront an opposing military force or government.

I'm not very well versed on the subject, but I think comparing the U.S. Revolutionary War with the Hezbollah rocket/suicide attacks on Israel is like comparing apples and oranges. As far as I know, the American revolutionaries did not embark on a policy of attacking unarmed (Loyalist) civilians (although this may have happened on a small scale), and they were logistically incapable of attacking civilians in England even had they wanted to.

So, by my definition, by its policy of targeting unarmed civilians Hezbollah *is* a terrorist organization, no matter what kind of social services are provided to the public. The same applies to the IRA.

At the same time, I would hesitate to lump all of the sectarian insurgents in Iraq in the "terrorist" camp. Some are targeting the U.S. military because they see us as occupiers and, no matter how much Shi'ites and Sunnis may hate each other, they will *never* accept being ruled by infidels, and they see their nascent republic as nothing but a puppet of its American masters. By extension this means that individuals in the Iraqi government, military and police are eligible targets (of course, much of this attitude is sectarian in nature--the Sunni insurgents are a case in point). At the other end of the spectrum are those who simply will kill anyone not of their sect. I'm sure there's a lot of overlap of intents here, which just complicates the picture further.

The bottom line is, because modern warfare increasingly involves street fighting in densely populated urban areas the propensity for collateral damage is increased. Innocent civilians are going to be killed, no matter what. What makes a terrorist a terrorist in my book is whether or not he is directly attacking civilians to further his own agenda.

The Framing of Immigration

Framing is at the center of the recent immigration debate. Simply framing it as about “immigration” has shaped its politics, defining what count as “problems” and constraining the debate to a narrow set of issues. The language is telling. The linguistic framing is remarkable: frames for illegal immigrant, illegal alien, illegals, undocumented workers, undocumented immigrants, guest workers, temporary workers, amnesty, and border security. These linguistic expressions are anything but neutral. Each framing defines the problem in its own way, and hence constrains the solutions needed to address that problem. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we will analyze the framing used in the public debate. Second, we suggest some alternative framing to highlight important concerns left out of the current debate. Our point is to show that the relevant issues go far beyond what is being discussed, and that acceptance of the current framing impoverishes the discussion.

Although the author doesn't acknowledge that one of the main arguments for tightening the border is to (theoretically) prevent terrorists from entering the U.S., this is a really great article that will change the way you think about politics.

Read more...

British Special Forces Caught Carrying Out Staged Terror In Iraq?

This isn't exactly recent news, but I wonder why I never heard anything about it in the U.S. media?

U.S. military acknowledges Iraq anti-gay killings

This is bad.

Source: Juan Cole

Geographical Illiteracy 101

I had an email exchange with my former Middle East Geography teacher, who is an Iranian expatriate, about the problem of geographical illiteracy in the United States. He wanted to know my take on why so many people over here can't point out places like Iraq or Afghanistan on the map.

Yes, geographical illiteracy is indeed a problem in the United States. This could be due to any number of reasons, but there are a couple that come to mind, which may or may not be any news to anyone.

Primarily I would say that our relative lack of awareness of other places in the world is clearly a function of the geographical isolation of the United States. One can get in his car and drive a couple thousand miles across the continent and never encounter a (significantly) different culture or language. Aside from Canada and some of the Caribbean island-states, no other country in our hemisphere claims English as a native tongue.

It would be interesting to compare global geographical knowledge in a similarly isolated country such as Australia. My bet is that the percentages who know where Afghanistan is would be pretty similar (although because of Australia's historical ties to the United Kingdom and its colonial domains perhaps more people would know where it was).

But sameness of language and culture in the U.S. isn't the only culprit, it is also the fact that the U.S. is one relatively homogeneous country. Getting from point A to point B in the continent does not require going through a number of countries to do so as compared to, say, the various Spanish-speaking countries of South and Central America. I would argue that because those countries share culture, people, ideas and economies through a common, Latin heritage, more people there would be more geographically literate.

It goes without saying that, right or wrong, as the sole superpower in the world the U.S. is able to project its power and influence into the lives of the people in the far-off places of the world on an unprecedented level. People in those places feel more acutely the impact of American influence; until Afghanistan develops a navy capable of anchoring off U.S. soil, weapons at the ready, it will remain an abstract, ambiguous place to most Americans.

Finally, American innovation, culture, economic opportunity and democracy appeal to many (though, obviously, not to everyone). This may seem overly ethnocentric, but just think of the vast numbers of Arabs who wear blue jeans, for starters.

Understanding is a two-way street, though. While people in other countries are better-informed about the U.S., both geographically and culturally, I have run into a LOT of stereotypes and misunderstandings of America and Americans in my travels overseas.

Life in a Retirement Community

This was forwarded to me by my mother, who saw it in her town's local paper.

REWARD $100

For information leading to the individual that hit my 2005
Chevrolet Uplander at the Belle Aire gate causing $1,700 damage.
The 4-seat, high-speed, cream color golf cart had a Green Bay
Packer emblem, one set of clubs in an all-black bag. The man
driving was in his mid-60's. Hit and Run. The cart was north
bound on Buena Vista. Thanks to two ladies who followed the cart
to the next tunnel north and reported back that the cart did not
come out. Call ...... or ....... (352)...-.... for reward.

Extra! Extra! Higher Gas Prices Make SUV Owners Pee in Their Pants

Oh, please. "Families are gripped by the fear of rising gas prices?" What? I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly "gripped by fear" over this. But that's what Democratic Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (MD) said in response to Bush's proposal to ease environmental restrictions in an effort to lower gas prices at the pump.

Partisan ploys and political histrionics such as was evidenced in the statement by the honorable senator from Maryland just irk me. The real issue here is not the increased hit on the wallets of people who drive oversized, inefficient vehicles (they made that bargain with the devil when they bought their shiny, big Billy trucks), it's the environment, stupid. We've enjoyed underpriced oil for too long. Let's quit screwing up the environment and put our efforts into renewable energy.

sCrAmBlEd?HaCkZ!

Wow, it's almost May and I have done a post in awhile. Been kinda busy with class and a couple of out-of-town trips.

You can't really dance to this, but the concept is kind of neat. (Read more here.)

Really?!?

I love it. Now Rumsfeld is saying that there has always been the chance of a civil war in Iraq and the only reason why it hasn't happened already was because Saddam had held it together. No duh. What did we think would happen after "liberating" Iraq from Saddam and foisting a Westernized democracy upon it? Square peg in a round hole.

I'm not saying Saddam was a nice guy, but a comment like this just makes me seethe when I think of the thousands who've died over there in this ill-advised war.

Court rules Google thumbnails infringe on copyright

Wow, this could be big. While this suit was brought on by an adult content provider, the way we search for images--any images at all--on the Web could be changed in a big way. We'll see what happens when Google appeals the ruling.

It's about time!

It certainly took Dick Cheney long enough to speak publicly about his little shooting incident last weekend. I wonder if there's a lesson in humility in this.

Islamiacs rage on!

So now the Islamiacs in Damascus have torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in protest over the publishing of caricatures of Mohammed. Hey, you liberal and decadent Danes, how does it feel to get the brunt of the latest round of Islamofascist outrage? We Americans have been on the receiving end of such ire for as long as I can remember, (part of it our fault, part of it not) it's about time someone else had an embassy bombed/burned down/taken over.

I'm not saying the caricatures should have been published; I think they shouldn't have been. Putting on image of Mohammed in any form in your newspaper is like running a front page headline that says "F--- GOD." You just don't do it. I'm all for free speech, but within reason. You have to respect people's religious beliefs as much as possible. Having said that, there's no excuse for the offended parties to act like barbarians in response.

Anyway, it's mighty nice of Yahoo to list the other countries whose newspapers also published the cartoons. Makes it pretty convenient for the Islamozealots to figure out whose embassy to target next. (Hey, how about New Zealand? Those Kiwis sure pose a threat to Islam.)

S&M Court Case

I wish I could have been in the courtroom to see the prosecution's reenactment of the bondage scene in which a Massachussets dominatrix's subject died of an apparent heart attack. (Or did he? They never have recovered the body...)

Gallery of Demonic Tots and Deeply Disturbing Cuisine

These are some pretty creepy ads from the 50s...

Source: BoingBoing

My mother, the activist!

Never let it be said that my mother doesn't stay active in her community, both socially AND politically.

THE VILLAGES - Villages residents and others from Sumter County rallied
against the proposed Sumterville landfill before the Sumter County
Commission meeting and spoke against a policy tightening rules against
protests and other gatherings in The Villages Center Districts.

Signs like "Dump the Dump," "Save money no landfill," "No 300 trucks,"
"Preserve Pristine Sumter County," and "No other people's garbage in my
county" were paraded in front of Laurel Manor Recreation Center, where
Sumter County commissioners would pass by to get to their first meeting
in The Villages.

Read more...

A Scary Thought About Our 'Hood

Just received this in the mail from someone in my housing development:


I don't know what's scarier: the fact that cars in my neighborhood are getting burglarized, or that people are packing heat in their vehicles (and this guy's a realtor—maybe that's saying something about the area we live in). I mean, come on, what the hell do you need a gun in your car for anyway? It's not like we live in Baghdad. Although now that Florida has relaxed gun laws we may yet get to the point where everybody carries a gun.

Anyway, one thing is for sure: it wasn't too bright leaving car keys and all that camera gear—not to mention a loaded weapon—in his car after he'd already had it broken into before.

I want my mummy!

Yep, for the low price of $67,000 you can have yourself mummified when you croak. Check out the gallery page and the section on animal mummification. Pretty bizarre stuff!

Google flip flops on personal freedoms

Google is standing firm on privacy—this time. Seems the Bush administration wanted Google to turn over records of millions of search requests made during a particular week as part of its "effort to restore online child protection laws that have been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court." Sounds like potential privacy invasion to me.

That's great that Google is standing up to Bush on this issue, but before we go gaga over Google's lofty sense of ethics I seem to recall Google caving in to China's demands for the removal of a number of activist Websites banned by China's government from its search engine.

Having said all that, I still use Google. Sigh.

2005 Jacksonville Sea and Sky Spectacular

Well, it took ages but I finally edited what little video I shot at the airshow back in early November. Nick and I had a great time although we missed the amphibious landings (again). Better luck next year when the show is at NAS Jax. It was a good time all the same and I really enjoyed Gene Soucy and his wing walker! (Man, that old Showcat sure seemed louder than the Blue Angels.)

See some video here (choose your bandwith):

Dialup (56k) - 700K Windows Media file
Lo Broadband (256k+) - Windows Media file
Hi Broadband (1.5 Mbps) - Windows Media file


Here are some great pictures that someone took at the show. Regrettably, I only had my point-and-shoot as I was busy with the camcorder. Maybe next year I'll bring my good camera kit and let Nick take over with the camcorder.

Two great actors in two great movies you've never heard of

Mel and I recently watched a couple of DVDs that contained some flat-out brilliant acting. I was blown away by the way the actors in the starring roles embodied their characters; I was completely absorbed by the performances. Having said that, both films were pretty difficult to watch as each gave a vivid account of a personal tragedy.

"Wit," starring Emma Thompson as a college literature professor dying of ovarian cancer, takes us through the protagonist's endgame from diagnosis to demise. Thompson is so convincing in this role that you almost feel as if you're watching a documentary about a real person. Powerful. And not easy to watch, by any means. I put it in the same class as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List" -- great films that really challenge the viewer by their intensity and honesty.

The other film is "Love, Liza," which stars Philip Seymour Hoffman (a favorite of mine and Mel's) as a techie dealing with his wife's recent suicide. We don't learn anything about her reasons for taking her own life, but we bear witness in excruciating detail to the havoc wreaked on Hoffman's psyche as he spirals out of control. If you thought Nicholas Cage was good in "Leaving Las Vegas," you would appreciate Hoffman's work in this film.

I knew these two actors were talented, but they really blew me away. I can't recommend these two films enough.

Celebrity skin for sale

No, not that type of skin. Well, sort of. Apparently an "anonymous collective of former Hollywood personal assistants" sells "celebrity waste and bacteria" on the Web. Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr., Sarah Jessica Parker; they've got it all.

Yes, the gross-out quotient is rather high for this one, but I just had to share the link with everyone. I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars for verbally implied crudity.

Yikes!

Be glad you never dealt with this guy on eBay!

"Pop Quiz: Politics, Patriotism and Protest!"

Just how patriotic are you, anyway? Find out through this little quiz, and don't forget to turn it in to your teacher at the end of class because it has to be added to your file...

Warp speed, Mr. Sulu!

It now appears that warp engines are in development (thanks, Slashdot.com).