Category: Uncategorized

Here’s an addictive number – pong – you are doomed. Kiss your productivity goodbye.

A wonderful AP photo of the proceedings of the presidential pardon of the turkey.

Bush has insisted that only he shoud decide who should stand trial and how they should stand trial for the. The tribunal document gives the government the power to try, sentence — and even execute — suspected foreign terrorists in secrecy, under special rules that would deny them constitutional rights and allow no chance to appeal. Folks, this is not good. Support for the president and all of that set aside, this smacks of the same sort of draconian and fascists principles many people have died to fight against.

(AP) Taliban Said to Offer Up Stronghold

BANGI, Afghanistan – The Taliban offered on Sunday to surrender their last northern stronghold if Arab and other foreign fighters loyal to Osama bin Laden in the city are spared, an anti-Taliban commander said. The northern alliance, meanwhile, agreed to a conference on neutral ground to plan a multiethnic government.

The offer to surrender Kunduz came after U.S. bombers unleashed their heaviest strikes so far on the city. Warplanes were also reported in action near the Taliban southern stronghold of Kandahar and areas of eastern Afghanistan where bin Laden is believed to maintain camps and hide-outs.

The search for Bin Laden narrows to 30 square miles.

Refugees fleeing skirmishes around Kandahar spoke of British and American special forces searching for Bin Laden in the mountains. One refugee said he had seen a British man questioning a Taliban deserter. Other Afghans crossing into Pakistan at Chaman said soldiers of western appearance were near the outskirts of Kandahar, a base for Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda organisation as well as its Taliban hosts. Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces appeared yesterday to be preparing for last stands in the two cities still in their hands, Kandahar in the south and Konduz in the north. At Kandahar, tribal leaders opposed to the regime agreed to allow Taliban forces to leave the city but said thousands of Arabs, Chechens and Pakistani supporters of Bin Laden were staying to fight.

Thousands more were standing their ground in Konduz in the face of a Northern Alliance offensive expected today. They threatened to massacre civilians if the Alliance attacked.

CNN.com – Konduz surrounded Taliban urged to defect. “One source inside the city said some 60 Chechen fighters, Taliban soldiers, drowned themselves in the Amu River rather than give up. A Northern Alliance commander told CNN of 25 trapped Taliban fighters who fatally shot one another when they saw opposition troops advancing toward them.”

Douglas Adams has one final novel that will be published next year according to the BBC and slashdot. Douglas Adams books meant quite an awful lot to quite an awful lot of people. Myself included. I got started late on the Hitch Hikers Guide series. My late friend Joe introduced me to them while I was in college. I read the first book in less than four hours. I was entralled. I got them all and consumed them with great glee. I went on and read the Dirk Gently series and loved them as well. I must say, I would like to see another, final, chapter in the H2G2.

This is intersting to me because I’ve been hearing rumors floating around about this for 10 years. This brings up an intersting dilema: should the dead be allowed to rest and not have to produce new works even though they are dead (ala tupac and V.C. Andrews)? Funny, we were just talking about this sort of thing yesterday while browsing in Walmart… Speaking of which Sam Walton is producing quite nicely even in his death.

The 2001 Leonid Multi-instrument Aircraft Campaign or, the Leonid MAC is the only way that I will be able to see the Leonid Meteor shower. I stayed up until now to see them. But, was very dissapointed. I couldn’t see a damn thing except the sodium vapor afterglow from the G.M. Truck and Bus plant.

Straigt overhead, I can see stars… but, in the area where the shower is supposed to be seen most… G.M. glowing lights. Or, is that the Flint river? Probably the river. Nevermind, I’m going to bed…. hells bells.

Jameel Joseph Farah Jamie Farr, is the only person on M*A*S*H to have actually served in the military during the Korean War.

Yes, today is November 16th, the first day or Ramadan. Newark, NJ – detainees hold Ramadan hunger strike Angry at being jailed on immigration charges during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, some Arabs detained after the Sept. 11 terror attacks have started a hunger strike, their lawyers say.

The search page is working. Let me know if you see any bugs and stuff. Also, I’ve migrated all of the rest of the blogger entries into the new CMS system. I’ll get the remainder of the files soon. paxtonland text files alone now take up nearly 50 megabytes. I never knew I had so much to say about so little.

A Chicago girl died after being beaten with an electrical cord 160 times by her parents. Following the biblical formula “40 lashes minus one, three times”

“Do you know how hard it is to kill a 12-year-old?” said Demetra Soter, a physician who is coordinator of pediatric trauma at Cook County Hospital.

Larry and Constance Slack, described by neighbors as devoutly religious, delivered 160 blows to their daughter Laree, according to the charges, stuffing a towel in her mouth at one point to silence her screams. The parents had the other children tie the girl down, gag her with a towel when she screamed, and help to disrobe her for the beatings. Beaten until she bled, she was then flipped over and beaten about her chest and stomache. She later, of course, died.

Larry Slack, who weighs 350 lbs. had hidden a kitchen knife in the folds of his skin and attempted suicide while in custody. He was treated for minor lacerations and released back to the police. Want more irony? Constance Slack, the mother, is a registered nurse for gods sake.

Tip from paxtonland – when you only have a 6 inch knife, you are 350lbs, and you want to kill yourself… you’ll have to pick a major artery and sever that. The carotid in the neck is a good choice or, perhaps the minor aorta in the inner part of your upper thigh. But, you can’t just poke yourself in the chest like they do in the movies. In fact you could stab yourself well over… ummm… 160 times and not die, perhaps that should be his penalty?

Well, the paxtonland move is mostly complete. The comments system is updated and working properly. I’ve also moved about 80% of the archives which is 1000+ entries. There are still another 800+ entries that will need to be moved, but I’m sooooo tired and I’ve run out of the time I’d allocated to complete this project.

I’ve moved the about, resume, systems, and the software pages. I’ve still got to move the pictures over (which I’m reworking into a database), and migrate the discussion forums.
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Okay, the forums are working again. I had to take them down for a couple of days for maintenance, but they are online once more. I’ll be working this weekend (while I still have some free time) to transfer material from here to the new paxtonland servers. The transistion will be something of a pain. Mostly because I’ve had stuff on this server since 1995. Like with any house, the longer you live there, the more junk you accumulate, thus… the harder it is to move. Sadly, one of the things that may not survive the move is the forums. So, I’ll leave those where they are for the time being. Wish me luck on this evolutionary phase of paxtonland. For those of you that are authors here. There are more details here. I’ll also be sending you all an e-mail.

Man Drives Self to Funeral Home to Die “He said many times he would do that,” Saber’s wife Sylvia Robinson told Reuters. “He never wanted to bother anybody. He felt evidently it was his time and he drove himself there. … It was a heroic act of love,” she said.

Some amazing photos from inside World Trade Center. Sent in by Tom Nusbaumer.

Laugh Lab is an experiment to find the funniest joke in the world. They are arranged by different categories and age groups. Founded and funded by Science Year it is the largest experiment in humor in history.

Halloween favorite from paxtonland – Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:

1 1/2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons butter, melted
1 pinch salt (I use Kosher salt)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Toss seeds in a bowl with the melted butter and salt.
Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown; stir occasionally.

St. Louis (again) – Anthrax joke is traced back through trash. Mark Emory was going for a laugh from his boss when he put up a sign in his office saying “Caution, Anthrax Inside.” The boss got the joke and Emory removed the sign and threw it away. Discarded in a recycling bin, it was found by the recycling center who called the police. They traced it to Emory and arrested him and charged him with third-degree assault and harassment. He should have shredded it.

“St. Louis Circuit Attorney (whom I won’t give the grace of naming and giving her more publicity) said that while she wanted to send a strong message that jokes which genuinely alarm the public would not be tolerated, she doubted she would enforce the fines or jail sentences. “It’s not the crime of the century,” she said. ” Not by a long shot.” (while thinking) “but I got my name in the news again!!! whoo!!!”

Despite all of this, he still lost his job. Over what other people don’t like. Imagine that the same prank in another county with a prosecuting attorney who is even more driven to seek fame will go for much stiffer charges. I didn’t realize that it was illegal to play with talcum powder and generally be stupid, but it is. Now, if those are the rules, can someone please go down to my bank and arrest the dumbasses that are managing and screwing up my accounts. I consider that to be harassment, terrorism, and certianally stupidity. All three of which seem to be illegal, let’s get this shit straight people. Now, that we’re no longer interested in camo wearing white trash, trench coat wearing teenagers with black fingernail polish, or baggy pant clad gangsters in blue or red bandanna’s… can we safely assume that war, the newest zero-tolerance effort has been declared upon the stupid? If so, when I can I begin shooting in self defense?

‘Gaydar’ device clears up mixed signals – This is very similar to a japanese device that debuted a couple of years ago that worked on a similar premise. One would fill out specific information about what he/she liked, was like, and was looking for. Devices that registered matches would indicate so. The people could then choose to ignore the alert or use the device to “zero” in on the prospective match.

Sounds like great fun for large cities. I’d imagine that in Bucktooth Missouri the batteries would die in the thing and turn green before ever registering so much as a hiccup. Also, I’m sure that some singles bars have employed similar “games” for finding a potential matches.

Several news agencies in China are reporting that Osama Bin Laden is dead. It’s slowly being picked up here but, there are no confirmations yet. We’ll see.

Paxtonland retraction – Flint GM UAW members were the FIRST to plant anthrax hoax!!! Indeed, the St. Louis UAW did not beat the Flint UAW to the punch! On Oct. 15th, Joseph Younce, 43, of Grand Blanc; Kathy Lester, 42, of Durand; and Michael Rhyne, 46, of Byron are fired today.

“…Flint police said Younce brought a white envelope containing baby powder to work with him Oct. 15 and recruited Lester to write something in Arabic on the envelope.

Lester allegedly copied a sample of Arabic that she saw in the newspaper, police said.

The two workers then placed the envelope at the work station of Rhyne, who put it on the windshield of a truck on the assembly line, police say.”

Since the St. Louis UAW did their prank on the 17th., the Flint UAW wins by two days! Great news, my confidence and faith are now restored in the workers and residents of Flint.

Scrubbing is the new word for removing stuff from website that terrorists may find useful in planning attacks against the US.

Surfin’ with Saddam: Some regular Joe in Philly send Saddam an e-mail asking him to set aside diffrences with the U.S. and help nab Bin Laden. Well, much to his suprise Saddam replied: “He who sees himself as a man, who revenges his dignity, should not deprive other men from their dignity, and he who calls for the respect of his people, men and women, should respect the people of other nations.”