all quiet on the job front - okay - still nothing. this is ridiculous. annoying. i've started thinking that since pops has been talking about buying a houseboat in new bern, i should look for jobs in that area. most of the math teaching jobs were more middle school, but there were also a few high school. i guess that's a projet for tomorrow. living on a houseboat would be interesting. of course classes start in like a week.

yes i know i've not been posting much lately. so if you're an aim user and don't want to check needlessly - or just to be the first to comment about something, check out the blog change bot. i've been trying it out the past couple of days - seems to work pretty well. all it requires is you sending an im to the screenname blogchangebot withe the message "subscribe url". to subscribe to roseblog, click here click here. it does seem people have been warning it and interfering with it lately.

i've accumulated quite a collection of mediocre links. maybe some are interesting. i dunno. i usually surprise myself when reviewing them. since i doubt anyone followed friday's links, i'll probably go back and make em look nice in a day or two.

• fucking funny - pardon my french, but this motion to dismiss is quite humorous and well researched. an article about the case and the motion is here also. [eric d's band]
• while i'm on the subject - of unsavory actions ending up in courts...it's time for a tucker max update. the miss vermont issue has been somewhat resolved - in his favor of course. i'm sure she's quite pleased to see the addition of media to the story.
• seamstress for the band - i know i've linked to a few blogs lately, but here's one more - i don't know much about her, but i figure anyone from nc, has a team for a trivia night, and doughnuts are the first thing she thinks of about homer price can't be too bad.
• hey are ya'll really this pissed? - ran across this post by a pretty together woman/mother/wife [her site] in response to a warning to men to not marry american women. (she sounds up your alley, mo.)
• key largo, montego, baby why don't we go - i tend to think if women are pissed, men are also pissed. maybe if there was more vacation, stress levels would go down and more marriages would last. (not vacations taken to keep a marriage together - that sounds like an extremely stressful situation.) parents might also be able to spend some of that quality time with their kids that they desire.
• 3 reasons for being a teacher - while not paid vacation, there is at least a break. this article discusses if they're paid what they're worth. i need to find out what state is paying that much.
• teach, whitey! - it seems one teacher should use the summer to get a good tan. some parents are protesting that a white teacher may end up teaching black history due to a scheduling conflict for the previous teacher. i don't see what the problem could be; black people love us.
• vacation ended; hopes sunk - it seems i wasn't the only one perturbed by the coast guard's actions.
• knot good for the eyes - reportedly ties may promote glaucoma.
• the celebrated froghoppers of calaveras county - apparently fleas may no longer be considered the top jumper. they're also known as spittlebugs.
• making a moess of things - i wonder if any legislators have seen this. after the hoopla about having students actually read, i'm guessing they haven't or there'd be press conferences.
• friendly fire - what do soldiers do to relax? they kill other soldiers online. us air force has installed 17 xbox live gaming centers in 14 bases across europe. it seems they're not the only ones who like xbox for online gaming.
• i'm a reporter, i'm a reporter - but if i say i am, i get it. joshin' blair is back writing again. no really. i'm not making this up. if you don't believe me, just see what mr. blair has to say: "he's telling the truth, and it's really pretty here in...uh...wherever he says."
• enter the tinman - recent rumors and reports have gore's supporters pushing him to change his mind and run. they feel he bowed out too soon. i don't think this affects edwards as he's clearly running for vp or a cabinet position.
• hp at ae - i think american eagle or gap is dressing the actors for the next harry potter movie. are those low-ride jeans on hermione? article includes some info about the movie y el director's political views tambien. i think michael gamborn wants to play harry instead of dumbledore
• don't look at the evidence - on second thought give it back or go to jail. las vegas defense attorney was threatened with arrest by the prosecutor for possessing copies of photos he received in discovery for a child pornography case yet to be tried.

la playa hata - well since it's not sunday, i figured i'd post a bit. this weekend was a memorable one. i had a feeling it would be such so i delayed the decision to attend. once i was sure it was really happening, i did commit (though as the last post attests, i did so quite belatedly) to attend. i did so mostly to make the weekend more fun for others. (apparently my attempts at levity are somewhat succesful.) it was not some purely noble act of course; i was still getting a free trip to the beach.
four of us went to professor hacker's lost treasure golf. abby asked the attendant it was a putt-putt or a mini golf. she said "mini golf. what's the difference?" while i thought the answer should have been obvious to abby - the response i found much more annoying. why do people answer questions and then ask for more information? this happened several times this weekend. another incident happened saturday. the television was on and i believe while flipping channels there was a clip of bob hope (he could have just come up in conversation, but i don't know why he would have). someone asked if he was still alive. the weird thing was that i knew he'd recently turned 100 and i knew i'd have heard if he was not, yet i still could not answer in the affirmative. it was rather odd and became much more so when i returned and found out that he did pass away this weekend. as i am not sure who all visits this site, i think i'll stop the recap here for now.

riding the seoul train - as i've still hadn't heard back about the contracts, i wrote the recruiter for an update.
the response:
Hi:
The revisions are still being deliberated and we should hear back by Monday.
As soon as a decision has been reached I will email you immediately.
Sincerely,
Elaine Ramos
Recruiting Director
unless the international dateline someone screws me up, i think i should have heard by now. i've checked hotmail like 30 times today. no info. allll i've learned is that i really don't care to have my spam revealed one by one. it's like taking a bandaid off slowly.

well as my attendance is desired on a bit of a sojurn to the beach, there won't be any update until sunday. (sorry - i haven't packed and i'm to leave in 15 mins.) i'm a little hesitant about this excursion. i kinda feel like we could all get down there and there will be nothing to do. i want to pack up a bunch of dvds, but i don't have any idea if i'll be able to use them. where's mo's books when you need them. i might even get around to reading "everything is illuminating" despite the nauseating cover. here are some links that i intended to post about.

i promised mo a good headline so i'll do one.

• penis fly trap - update on that unfortunate indian boy. (i'm sure i've posted about this before, but a cursory search didn't find it. have i used the headline before?)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23109558.htm - freakin germans 9/11
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=15762&archive=true - bored military personnel
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/36/features-frauenfelder.php - island
http://boingboing.net/island/
http://www.sfgate.com//cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/07/22/national1417EDT0629.DTL - budget california dems
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,92911,00.html - bodyguard
update: this is what it could have looked like:

• germans love to blame david hasselhoff - roughly 20% of germans think the us may have been behind the sept 11 attacks. that would seem to affect the public support for efforts to combat worldwide terrorism.
• air force hard at work combatting itself - i think i ended up posting about the xbox live centers at air bases in europe some other time, but oh well.
• island in the sun - for those who have not been following the island chronicles over at boingboing, here is an article that should get you up to speed about this relatively normal couple who decided to sell their house and move to an island nation. (i really don't think you need an excuse.) i wonder if there's a need for an english/math teacher.
• don't they know they're to leave the state - california dems overheard discussing extending the budget crisis for political gains. it's sure helping their fellow democrat davis.
• hey saddam, i thought you said we were going to win - rather informative interview with one of saddam's former bodyguards.

well i've yet to hear from the recruiter since i sent the second contract back. this is rather annoying. as i seem to have distributed a few of these links already, i might as well post them. (btw, if you have something you think others would like...go ahead and send em.)

i've looked over my backlist and found many of them to be rather unfunny. i've put the more lighthearted ones at the beginning so those who don't make it through all of them won't find them as much of a downer. i guess i'll publish it as i go since i take so long.

• nother natalie - welcome to the blogosphere. at least from her first two posts, mo should be happy. these have some length. in her honor i'll do my own "current song" - mountains so grand. i blame chethan. since he put it as the subject of an email i've been wanting to listen to it. i finally transferred it to another comp that actually works so i could listen to it. actually right now it's on to pink lemonade. (i've got time to relax and just chill....)
• they don't mention cheerwine ice cream - a rather informative, entertaining, and mouthwatering article about regional sodas. (i highly recommend cheerwine ice cream btw; it's much better than sundrop ice cream. sundrop i.c. is fine, but cheerwine is much better. thanks susan for introducing me to it!)
• mmm...babyback wafflecone - so if you care about eating healthy and the ice cream mention has whet your appetite you might want to check the nutrition information.
• or if you don't check - you can get into wraslin.' i'm sure mcdonald's really likes being associated with extremely obese children.
• i thought the stones were out of favor - i guess jack sparrow has brought them back. if you're like ash and i and have never used stone as a measurement of weight, check out this site. there is a particularly interesting page about the differences in american and english measurement.
• 8 miles an hour so everbody seas ya - a rather inventive attempt by some cubans trying to get to america by truck. yes, by truck. i'm quite upset in the coast guard's actions. couldn't they have saved the truck?
• someone should sue for false advertising - trial of shawn jenkins, owner of tip top magazines, on one count of pandering obscenity ends in mistrial when one juror falls asleep and another averted her eyes during a viewing of maximum hardcore extreme, vol. 7.
• i thought monsters, inc wasn't real - pretty pictures of purple polar bear in argentina.
• butter so grand - kansas is flatter than a pancake. once again a geographist (?) tries to prove his worth and create something with a hint of academia and only comes up with something with a whif of maple sugar. i wonder what recipe they used for the pancake. i have a feeling he'll be applying for a job with mapquest soon.
• seniors and handicapped - sounds accurate to me but it seems cher thinks otherwise. does anyone else think that is a rather boring mug?
• great feets - as i have been barefoot for the past 3 days, i welcome this but it doesn't seem gender neutral.
• feel free to ignore this - i thought it was interesting and meant to send this to someone else but since i've yet to do so, i'm posting it here as a way to not forget.
• impromtutu fun - i'm not sure why they were upset. i think this is a great idea. i think all attendees willing to don a tutu should be able to do cannonballs in the middle of the event. it'd be a great halftime show. they could do them altogether and attempt an improvised synchronized display.
• i guess he didn't retire from s&m - 55 year old recently retired teacher at nc school of science and mathematics is arrested for first-degree kidnapping, simple assault and crimes against nature with a 20 year old guy. anyone else shocked - shocked to find that he graduated with an english degree from chapel hill? (yes the less lighthearted links start here. i rarely get sent the same link by different people, yet i was sent this one by four different folks.)
• throwing things - if you haven't been reading before, today is a good example why you should. it takes a huge ego to believe marilyn monroe couldn't have had a sexual relationship with the kennedys because she would never be unfaithful to you. (make sure you also find out how jerry lewis takes credit for life is beautiful.
• bring out ye pics of the dead - so odai and qusai are dead. why did the military use overwhelming force?!! these guys would know where any wmds would be. instead of a siege...let's just blow em up. this just seems so wrong. while a siege would be more dangerous short term - the intelligence they could have provided would have definitely made things much more safe. so we knock off the sicko kids but then seem to be shy about it. bizarre. the iraqis want to know if this is true. they should have just made sure al-jazeera got some footage. they'd have no problem showing it. (i guess i need to post more often. it appears salem had the same idea today.) here are the pics for those who want to see. pics of odai the film star.

roscoe's had pity on me, so i've removed the contracts from this page. now you just have to follow your mouse.

here's the contract from lci kids club language school in gwangju. here's my revised version.

since the recruiter responded so positively "We spoke with the school director and he will review the changes you requested. The odds of having all of the changes agreed and made are probably slim so..." , I figured a few links would be good.

they might appease mo at least.

• that wasn't tinkerbell - disney workers are finally allowed to use and launder their own undergarments. there have been cases of workers getting public lice from the shared clothing.
• me, published author - well if you count a bound copy of blog links. you can have your own book printed on the cheap as well.
• some people call her the space cowgirl - cosmonaut to be married while on the iss. in other news, elisabeth shue and i are engaged. we are going to be married in texas, but unfortunately she won't be attending since she doesn't know.
• no, she didn't play andy's little sister - of which john's girl was kind enough to firmly remind us. no. she's not the rooster. even so, the grey lady felt like picking through her stuff and junk.
• must see tv - osbournes lose a member of the household. i so hope the fight was caught on camera.
• koreans are crazy, but they crazy online - forbes article about the extensive use of broadband and online activities as well as some effects in korea.
• dimwit:2003 - coverage of the first adult harry potter convention. at least they didn't all think of themselves as 12 year olds.
• mandela parties with oprah and clinton - really. among his birthday presents included a bridge connecting a wealthy area to slums. i guess the rich folks were really getting annoyed at how long it was taking their help to arrive in the morn.
• insert your own headline - "to your health" "hands on medicine" "head off cancer" all are too hard to pass up - frequent masterbation cuts prostate cancer risk in men.
• indian girls not surviving - not only is it true that for every 1,000 male babies born in india, there were just 933 girls, but autopsy reports of babies in three socially deprived parts of delhi over a five-year period revealed that the overall death rate for girls was almost one-third higher than that for boys. interesting how the most populous countries are so skewed towards males. my guess this is because they are still developing countries with an agrarian past/present.

I spent some time trying to combine the crappy contract i was sent (a couple of posts below), with efl law's sample contract.
this is what i came up with:

i've read a few rather poor reviews of different bcm franchises. i'm thinking this is probably not the best place for me. maybe i should just teach in japan.

i've been reading lots of websites about korea and teaching english there. i figured i'd collect them for later use by others as well as me.

• efl law - the tefl's teacher's legal resource.
• foreign english language school watch - the watch focuses on providing information about teaching efl-esl in south korea and other countries worldwide.
• korea blacklist - i love the idea behind this site. when people have bad dealings (and a few are on the "whitelist"), they warn others. efl law also has a whitelist.
• us consular information sheet - standard information about south korea from the us state department.
• teaching english a guide - also by the state department. complied by american citizen services, u.s. embassy, seoul.
• korea consulates - here's a list of the korea consuates in the us so you can get an official copy of your diploma and not have to use the original.
• hogwan - site has a veracity review for schools and recruiters. one can rate them, report about them, and view others' reports.
• korean legal research resources - compiled list of korean legal resources available online in english.
• teaching and living in korea - one person's site about their experiences with links and information.
• jon's site - a rather extensive site about esl and teaching in korea. plenty of links, and a wonderful page entitled "don't teach in korea."
• links thread - many, many links suggested on this eslcafe thread.
• historical weather - for seoul. covers rain/hot/cold, etc.
• another site - by a friend of an american teaching english in south korea.
• currency converter - standard converter from xe.com

okay. updates on korea. first job fell through. talked with another school. received contract offer from yet another school. they want an answer today. (they also want me to send my original diploma to korea today.) the contract is quite a bit different than how the school's website describes things.

today i really wish i had real webspace and different pages to post this stuff on. below is the contract I received by email today from kondae bcm language center. I'll make my notes elsewhere. This blog is going to be korea dominated for a while i'm guessing (despite my backlog of links.) the contract reminds me quite a bit of the sample bad contract on efl law. this is why i'm trying to merge it with their sample good contract. [edit] here's the link to the contract from kondae bcm.

well since abruptly leaving the country for a year with relatively little information only prompts one comment, i guess it's time for backlinks.

• serve yourself, raleigh - mcdonald's is to install ordering kiosks in raleigh and denver. while i do like being a customer, there are some benefits. i truly detest waiting in a long, slow moving line. as long as it's user friendly, one should be able to order exactly what they want and what they want on it. if they made them cheap enough they could have little displays at every table. i would like to be able to sit outside on a gorgeous day and have a large shake brought out. yum...shake...
• west coast pals - are kinda nutty. i wonder how many caches are lost each year due to falling in cracks during earthquakes, buried in mudslides, or destroyed by wildfire.
• i wonder if the parrot will now call for the cops - statesville pet store owner arrested after spanking an unruly child who was teaching his parrot to curse.
• might not be making beautiful music together - there seem to be growing doubts about the merging of the philharmonic and carnegie hall.
• bill sliced in half - tarantino's roughly 3 hour new action movie turned into two movies.
• a city on a hill...on an island - article discussing the supreme court referencing foreign law and courts in recent decisions and objections including scalia's.
• who dances on grant's tomb - and who cares? - both of these questions which previously thinkers (and nations) bitterly fought over are definitively answered for all time.
• svelt rush on nfl countdown - seems odd that he gets this job after losing all that weight. either way it was not a trivia question last night. it would have been much better than "who won the tropicana 400?"
• sprite: rebrush? - apparently brushing after drinking sodas and juices can be damaging to your teeth. now i don't feel so stupid when drinking orange juice after just having brushed...ugh.

iRAQ jumble:
• salem's post - new guardian column (what's with all the guardian links today?) and blog updates.
• flag bearer - salem returns with another guardian article and a few updates as well. (is baghdad now a free call for those with free nationwide calls?) [note: this was the original post but then i ended up thnking i hadn't posted about it yet. i kinda liked seeing how different a post could be just a few minutes apart. now reading it again i actually think they're quite similar. rather boring. nothing to see here. move along.]
• see the sun going down - seems salem hasn't read the guardian's primer on primary postwar politicos.
• hit or miss - since i've been sent this url three or four times in recent days, i guess i should have posted this column earlier.
• disinformation update - former iraqi minister apparently is now in exile in the united arab emirates. he had surrendered to the coalition but was released when they determined he really did know nothing. there was some internal discussion about letting him do some uso tours.

i weeded out most of the stale links, but i have a few decent articles left. i figure few read all the links anyway, might as well save a few for a more boring day.

well that news backlog hasn't gone anywhere, but i have something else on my mind. (i also added a blogroll and a "blogroll me" link.) i've been thinking about teaching esl abroad for a while. i applied to a recruiter a week or two ago. today i talked to the recruiter (several times) as well as the director of a school (bupyong kids club). well it's quite likely i'll be receiving the contract by email tomorrow. they want a determination...tomorrow. i'd be leaving in about 2 weeks. i'm trying to decide if i'm doing this since i can't stand living here anymore or if i really want to do this. while they could be lying, the school situation didn't sound horrible. i'm not the most comfortable around young kids, but i'm okay with that. i can't help but think i should have done this last february. if i had, i should have made it back in time for ashley's wedding. as it is, i have a feeling that would be somewhat tough. (i've gotten conflicting information about this.) either way, being back for good would have been much easier.

one friend mentioned that it's just darn far. no argument, though i did point out that i wasn't doing anything while "close." (although i do intend to attend quiz night - might as well use my current events knowledge while i can.)

well that's what's been on my mind. if i decide to depart, you should be able to find out here tomorrow or wednesday.

eh, i've once again allowed a backup of news. as to my news - i'm trying out a new chair. it's a la-z-boy chair. i am quite partial to my old chair, so we'll see if i keep it. while it's a bit larger than i'd like for the room, it does roll much better than the old one.

• reuben won again - apparently the american idol folks were looking for fallback careers as hooters' waitresses.
• miss misty/mississippi - i knew you couldn't wait any longer to find out if she won.
  • kiss of the singing woman - she won a preliminary talent competition. [another article with pics]
  • 2nd runner up isn't third? - she ends up a respectable 2nd runner up.
  • whole story - good coverage here. also has links to video at the bottom.
• covering google's cache - apparnetly google's cache could be violating copyright protections. i found it surprising that so few people know it exists.
• lewis in car - explains how mapquest and the like keep their info up to date. it also seems to show there are career opportunities for graduates with geography degrees. i feel better knowing that michael jordan has a future.
• eminem and moby - like the rap game, the whitey is in high demand. pictures of the whale: [here, here, and here. older but cool pic jimmy found]
• the guardian invades - uk daily plans us weekly. we'll see how well anti-americanism sells in america.
• stop shooting - us seems to have made a much bolder step to creating an iraqi interim council with authority. having top people from various groups can give it immediate legitimacy, but if the members become disgruntled and rail against it, so could most of the populace.
• hopefully it won't require demonstrations next time - us moves out of a police station after the police march to protest their presence. they feel that the american presence is a threat to their security. a much better policy would seem to involve having an open dialogue with the police (and other groups), so that they don't feel they must demonstrate to get their point heard.
• larry legend - i've been wondering what bird's been up to. i knew he tried to become an owner of the charlotte expansion team (do you prefer "larry's birds" or "bob's cats"?); but with all of jordan's well-documented attempts to run/own a team and with magic's recent luring of payton and malone to la, i figured it was time for larry to get back in the game.

no real update. on to the shew.

• you drive me crazy - natalie posts about being able to send messages to other drivers. the millions who participated in the cb crazy of the 70s make me think there's a market. i've been thinking about this since i was little. i posted some of my thoughts on it. what do y'all think?
• simon stupid - pittsburgh pirate is arrested after baseball game for hitting with a bat one of the participants (dressed in a sausage outfit) in a sausage race at miller park. link has much better headline.
• stand united - efforts of former nba player kevin johnson to turn a failing school into a charter school are discussed in this article. it shows clearly how the teachers' union fights for its members - not for the schools or students.
• top athletes - espn article provides an update on the tillmans. they are the brothers who after septemter 11th gave up lucrative careers as professional athletes to volunteer for military service.
• aintquiteasbadistan - usatoday has an article detailing recent developments in afganistan, several rather positive.
• sneaky women - apparently vinney wants us to know that the whole one egg a month thing for women wasn't true. often there are multiple eggs in a month and they do not necessarily coincide with ovulation. right as i started reading, i immediately thought about an article roscoe sent me about twins. i was surprised that twins were fraternal 80% of the time. (some images can be disturbing.) this would seem to help explain their predominance.
• luckily he didn't ask for new coke - man in a coma for 19 years wakes up - asks for mom and a pepsi.
• air taylors - nike buys converse. maybe nike'll threaten to make kobe, lebron, etc wear converse to keep them in line.

it seems rather clear that if i post more than 5 links or so, i'm quite unlikely to have any comments. interresting.

• access denied - my school email/ftp/webspace is no longer active. if someone wants to provide some nice webspace, let me know.
• zoom, zoom, zoom - rather nifty, quite fast walkway inside a paris metro station. info: length: 180 meters, top speed: 7 mph, capacity: 110,000 people per day.
• karl rove for howard dean - apparently he was overheard cheering for dean during a washington independence day parade and exhorting others to do likewise.
• mick foley, novelist - former champion wrestler pens his first novel, tietam brown, published by knopf no less. (he's written two autobiographies as well as children's books.) i readily admit to being a fan of his. i find him quite intelligent and creative and hope the novel is good. here's an excerpt and here are some reviews on amazon.
• "you wouldn't like me when i'm horny" - or maybe you would. some girl decided to look under the purple pants on her hulk doll. (no, i won't vouch for the legitimacy - in any way - of this story.)
• once again don't sue me - apparently the so called libel protection for bloggers is not for what the blogger posts but for what others post - or that's how i understand it.

i've got at least 5 more links (plus a misty update). i think i'll hold off to keep a little longer.

well i've moved in more stuff into the closet. it's now rather full. i've also rearranged my room. i don't think it'll be as comfortable as it was. more tinkering will follow. i've determined that i have way too many tshirts. i remember helping one guy moved about 10 years ago who was about my age and laughing at the number of tshirts he had (two closets full). while i'm not that bad (he did have a remarkable collection of jimmy buffet concert shirts), i've counted 23 tshirts on hangars and likley that many folded. (undershirts were not included in the count). so if anyone is looking to help advertise wachovia or pan-african, let me know.

(btw, i've determined that this blog can be rather dull and impersonal. while you may find this appropriate, i think i might make personal comments like this more frequently. they will likely be above the news links so you can easily ignore them if you want.)

i've collected a rather extensive list since the last post. we'll see how many are included before i'm bored.

• a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad small world - with the advent of disney movies based on disney rides, other movies are proposed - like "mad tea party": a spike jonze directed experimental art film for children.
• warning: roseblog can be addictive - multitasking/information gathering may be addictive.
• spaceblogging: the final frontier - astronaut ed lu on iss is blogging about his experiences. quite well written and entertaining. he somehow made my mouth water reading about eating only canned food and mres.
• depends on what your definition of government is - a city council for baghdad has been formed. it can only advise. while not a big step, it's important and it's good to see one is in place.
• you don't need to decide economic policy or budgeting, just the important stuff - iraq is to get a new currency and an "autonomous" central bank. also the budget for the rest of the year is released. i wonder how many gardners it will take to equal a bremer. all this is to be implemented just before an actual "governing council" should be selected.
• good price? - saw a 128mg usb flash drive for $40 ($30 with mail-in rebate). looked pretty decent - post a comment if you know of better. also came across a rather belated movie related item.
• take that, paula abdul - recent study says that individuals seek what they see themselves as having. so those that find themselves to be quite attractive, look for that in their significant other. while there are some small differences - like rich guys are slightly more likely than rich girls to desire a highly attractive opposite, it's rather consistent across sexes, or so they say. so i wanted to date a hot girl, i'd just need to find one who finds me hot?
• doesnotstopcalls.gov - if you thought that signing up for the new national do not call list would stop calls during dinner, you might want to check out some of the exceptions.
• watching the watchers - if you've heard something about the government information awareness project at mit but aren't sure what it's all about, this is a good article that explains it.
• george democrat or hillary republican - i took a quiz which ostensibly can show which presidential candidate (rumored or otherwise) most matches your preferences in a variety of ares. however, the results made me question the accuracy.
  my top four:
  1. Bush, George W. - US President (100%)
  2. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (99%)
  3. Lieberman Senator Joe CT - Democrat (99%)
  4. Clinton, Senator Hillary Rodham, NY - Democrat (95%)

eh, that's enough for now.

well it's been a while since my last post. friday - food, folks, fun, fireworks and a drive to virginia beach. saturday - food, folks, fun, beach, and a drive back. that's about it...except for a closet update! last night around 7 i had what felt like a migraine and fell asleep. i'm not sure when it happened, but i awoke and soon realized that the door in the closet was hung. it's possible this happened when i went to see whale rider. anyway, so i've also put up 8 shelves of varying length. once i determine how well the door keeps out the attic heat, i may move in my clothes from matt's room. hmm...now that i think about it, i will likely just hang up my tshirts and see how well everything fits. once the carpet is in, i'll move the rest. so news i've come across and remembered to post it.

• i blame a deconstructionist - falling beam barely misses o'connor at a dedication ceremony at the national constitution center in philadelphia.
• what women want - 51% of women surveyed said government should prohibit abortion or allow it only in extreme cases. 30% said it should be generally available. research was done by a pro-choice women's group. the results are located at their website.
• strom's women - slate has a pretty interesting article which mentions strom's wives, daughter, and his likely daughter (who happens to be black).
• french now spoken most often on condiment aisles - they realize that its popularly is declining in most other areas. also discusses a desire for a "cnn a la francaise." i'd think the french would prefer a "bbc a la francaise."
• aw craps! - new atlantic city hotel/casino does not allow entrance to those under 18 unless they are guests of the hotel. this seems like a reasonable policy to me; however many parents were surprised and angered.
• good effort - cnn article about bob newhart tries to be funny. it succeeded in making me remember a few of bob's routines and therefore made me laugh.
• it's okay. she's still wearing black. - i remember googling avril before her album was released and finding several pictures of her at a radio station from about 6 months previous. when i subsequently saw a video and other more recent images, it was clear she'd lost more than a few pounds. i was reminded of all this when i recently stumbled across this photo; i'm guessing her label is quite pleased.

• what's up with g - g. has finally added a couple of new posts. the latest concerns visiting a hospital and conversing with a detained 18 year old syrian. while interesting, i found the previous post more thought provoking. it concerns what he describes as a "rhetoric channel" made up of "a mixture of self-denial, conspiracy theory [apologia] and propaganda."
• didn't i meet you last year at the peninsula club? - i think it says quite a bit about the political attitudes of pakistan that they were one of only two countries to recognize the taliban, but they don't recognize israel.
• the column humorous - column about the affirmative action decisions included rather accurate names for the justices. "O'Connor's majority opinion in the Grutter case evoked a familiar reaction -- from Scalia, the Dissent Sardonic; from Rehnquist, the Dissent Temperate; from Justice Thomas, the Dissent Passionate; and from Justice Kennedy, the Dissent Tentative. On the other hand, we heard from Justice Stevens, the Dissent Fussy; from Justice Souter, the Dissent Boring; from Justice Ginsburg, the Dissent Irrelevant; and from Justice Breyer, the Concurrence Inconclusive."

there was news today, but i cheated and actually looked for some of the news less trodden.

• the nosights and sounds - one minute audio recordings from around the world. a vacation i can afford.
• obituary for robert - with the recent spate of high profile deaths, this one saddens me almost as much as buddy hackett. author/illustrator robert mccloskey died at age 88. i was a fan of make way for ducklings, but i think i always enjoyed blueberries for sal more. homer price was my favorite of his.
• security dossier reveals undesired information - apparently blair's security folks posted a dossier on iraq's security and intelligence organizations. they posted it as a .doc file. just plain dumb. this guy went through and tried to find out what wonderful hidden info word had put in the file. it just seems stupid that anyone involved in security would be saving as a .doc file.
• mr. smiths go to tokyo - apparently they had lots of fun in japan with the june 29th release of the matrix reloaded.
• appears someone else in nc is looking for work - whatever the reason, they were able to compile a "catalog" with a complete list of acme products from wb cartoons.
  "For the first time ever, information and pictures of all ACME products, specialty divisions, and services (from 1935 to 1964) are gathered here, in one convenient catalog. For more information about any ACME product, simply click on the thumbnail picture. Thanks to Warner Bros. studios and their fine animation department for advertising ACME products in their cartoons!!"

• maybe brandi will follow his lead - in yet another powerful display of demi moore's comeback fifa bans stripteases. they will however be able to shave their heads and do one arm pushups.
• wie's summer camp expenses - i guess it doesn't pay to be a terrific 13 year old amateur golfer. she'll be playing in the us women's open which starts thursday.
• palabra not. palabra not. - i figured with the dearth of wit of late, i'd have gotten some response to "basra jot," but nope. maybe i haven't lowered expectations enough.

• don't sue me either - apparently bloggers gain libel protection. it does not seem to cover original content however. so that bit about the closet is now satire.(found at as).
• ashley pulls rank - i'm jealous. he's got a google pagerank of 2.
• basra jot. basra jot - salem's got another column up about life in iraq. this time he's talking about going to basra and blood money.

• national blonde day - was going to be a huge event, but it seems they all forgot.
• first windows desktop replacement with 17" screen - anything apple does, we can do later.

closet update - walls are fully painted. i've started cutting the wire shelving.
so what's left?

put the door on.
paint the molding.
put up the shelving (finish designing, cutting, etc).
install the carpet.
move everything in.