Sadness

It's 7:03 and nary a trick-or-treater. What the heck's wrong with this country? Don't parents want their kids wired up on sugar any more?

Speaking of, great moment at Caffe Ladro the other morning: a mother comes in with her son and orders him a hot chocolate with whipped cream and a chocolate muffin. (This is apparently a special treat negotiated the night before and not a regular occurrence, so don't judge her too harshly, please.) When the gal serving her informs her that the muffin containes espresso, her reply is something along the lines of, "That's OK, he's going to school in 15 minutes. Not my problem." Pity the teachers! And she seemed so nice and West Seattley!

Experience and judgement

Gotta love Colin Powell sometimes. Re Obama:

“Experience is helpful,” he says, “but it is judgment that matters.”

An a NY Times editorial Re McCain:

"His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress."

Pumpkin simulator

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I ... can ... not ... wait ... to ... greet ... my ... first ... trick-or-treaters ... in ... 13 ... years!

To keep me busy in the meantime: Even the greatest minds need a little silly diversion. Check out the pumpkin simulator. Oddly addicting...

Thanks to Muffin for the link.

Robots calling

Gotta love the old use-an-old-time-black-and-white-movie-footage-for-humorous-effect thing. I personally can't never get enough of it. That's some fucked up strategy the Repubs have got going. Glad I'm on the Do Not Call list, because I'd make myself hoarse yelling at the damn robot to stop being so stupid.

CCXXII

September 2005

Spc. Lee A. Wiegand 20 [Pennsylvania Army National Guard]
Sgt. Eric W. Slebodnik 21 [Pennsylvania Army National Guard]
Staff Sgt. George A. Pugliese 39 [Pennsylvania Army National Guard]
Sgt. Steve Morin 34 [Texas Army National Guard]
Airman 1st Class Elizabeth N. Jacobson 21
Pfc. Oliver J. Brown 19 [Pennsylvania Army National Guard]
Staff Sgt. Daniel L. Arnold 27 [Pennsylvania Army National Guard]

October 2005
Sgt. Marshall A. Westbrook 43 [New Mexico Army National Guard]
Staff Sgt. Jens E. Schelbert 31
Spc. Joshua J. Kynock 23

Source: CNN.com

Contractors and Journalists, August and September 2005

Contractors killed September 2005
Mounir Chamoon, Lebanese interpreter
Keven Dagit, American truck driver
Christopher Lem, American truck driver
Sascha Grenner-Case, American truck driver
Kenneth Webb, American security contractor
Peter J. Tocci, American security contractor
David Robert Shephard, American security contractor
Marlin "Mo" Robert Carnes, American convoy commander
Robert Pole, American security consultant
Robert McCoy, American security consultant
Ronald Hyatt, American security consultant
Ryan Young, American security consultant
Husey in Ozturk, Turkish truck driver
Vince Kimbrell, American international police liaison officer

Contractors killed August 2005
Federico Samson, Filipino engineer
Mike Dawes, American international police liaison officer
Carl Carroll, American military contractor
Larry "Crop Duster" Stilwell, American truck driver
Solomone Cabelutu, Fijian security guard

Source: icasualties.org

Journalists and Media Assistants killed September 2005

Sabah Salmane, Bagdad
Firas Al-Maadhidi, Al-Safir
Hind Ismail, Al-Safir
Fakher Haydar Al-Tamimi, New York Times
Ahlam Youssef, Al-Iraqiya TV
Sabah Mohssin, Al-Iraqiya

Journalists and Media Assistants killed August 2005

Rafed Al Rubaii, Al Irakiya
Steven Vincent, freelance journalist

Waleed Khaled, Reuters TV

Source: reporters without borders

Pandering pictures

Well, they don't call it the Torygraph for nothing. Funny pictures of Bush intended to make you think he's not really the Satan's spawn we all know him to be. (No wait, that gives Hell a bad name.) I will miss nothing. I will especially not miss the irresistible urge to scratch his eye out on any image I see, which is why no piccy accompanies this post, as is my wont.

Viral video goodness

It's so viral, I'm sure most of you have seen it, but for a bit of let's-move-to-Canada silliness, check out the ELITE program. (Or should I say "programme"?)

CCXXI

September 2005
Sgt. Andrew J. Derrick 25
Sgt. Brian E. Dunlap 34 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Sgt. Shawn A. Graham 34 [Texas Army Nat'l Guard]
Spc. Michael J. Wendling 20 [Texas Army Nat'l Guard]
Sgt. Andrew P. Wallace 25 [Wisconsin Army Nat'l Guard]
Master Sgt. Tulsa T. Tuliau 33
Pvt. Elijah M. Ortega 19
Sgt. 1st Class Casey E. Howe 32
Sgt. Howard P. Allen 31 [Arizona Army Nat'l Guard]
Staff Sgt. Jason A. Benford 30

Source: CNN.com

Spallation Neutron Source

Say that 10 times quickly. What has been making my head spin round and round for the past week. Editing pages and pages of "English" text in PDFs on the proposed Spallation Neutron Source, to be located in Bilbao. And no, I still don't really know what it is. Just wanted to give you all an idea of the diversity of subjects I come across in my job.

Contrast this with More Than Tapas (which I wanted to call Beyond Tapas), a project I worked on a few months ago, this time as the translator. Apparently, there's a shiny new (and very heavy) copy awaiting me in Spain, which I shall collect on the occasion of my next visit. Unfortunately, I felt the client did not allow enough time for the translation, but on the whole, I was pleased with the result. Will be nice to see it in print and not just on my computer screen.

CCXX

September 2005
Sgt. Michael Egan 36 [Pennsylvania Army Nat'l Guard]
1st Lt. Mark H. Dooley 27 [Vermont Army Nat'l Guard]
Staff. Sgt. Willam A. Allers III 28 [Kentucky Army Nat'l Guard]
Sgt. Travis M. Arndt 23 [Montana Army Nat'l Guard]

Spc. Mike T. Sonoda Jr. 34 [California Army Nat'l Guard]
Spc. Scott P. McLaughlin 29 [Vermont Army Nat'l Guard]
Spc. Kevin M. Jones 21
Staff Sgt. Daniel R. Scheile 37 [California Army Nat'l Guard]
Sgt. Larry W. Pankey Jr. 34 [Army Reserve]
Sgt. Paul C. Neubauer 40 [California Army Nat'l Guard]

Source: CNN.com

Easy Palin digs you've probably already seen

Can't remember who sent me a link to this the first time. It has even been translated into Spanish!

----------------

Thanks to Kaffrun for the second link. Always love Cleese's honesty.

Block the Vote

Rolling Stone's got a long article on Republican vote-blocking tactics. Scary shit. A few sentences express just one of the many reasons why I simply could never vote Republican. I think true, patriotric, conservatives should rise up en masse and form their own new party. The Republican party has obviously gone so far astray that in my opinion it fails to truly represent many of its own members, who have precious little other realistic choice, not to mention the rest of the country.

Palin as president

This click-fest picture of Palin in the Oval Office is amusing in a my-brain-needs-a-break-from-neutron-spallation and a trying-not-to-cry-in-fear kind of way.

Thanks to Mir for the link.

Jonathan Carroll

Miss Darcy and I attended a book reading tonight at the Elliott Bay. Now, I'd never been to a book reading before, and it was a great treat to have it be by one of my all-time, absolutely most, super fabulously favorite authors: Jonathan Carroll. If you've not yet had the pleasure, I am most pleased to introduce you. You are in for a treat. For a sample, check out the first chapter of his latest, The Ghost in Love. I'll even lend it to you so you can read the rest, signed copy that I do have.

One of the best parts of the evening was how charming and at ease he was. But the absolute mostest [and yes, I am channeling the Darce tonight] was his reaction to my name, which was quickly followed by a most enthusiastic and exhorting book recommendation for James Salter's Light Years, which I also now own and one of whose main characters is named after me. Or so I would like to think. Most excellent.

P.S.: Could this really be the first post worthy of the "books" label? Something is clearly wrong in Nedland. Must commence to read copious amounts post haste.

CCXIX

September 2005

Lance Cpl. Shane C. Swanberg 24 [Kirkland, WA]
Sgt. Alfredo B. Silva 35 [California Army Nat'l Guard]
Sgt. Pierre A. Raymond 28 [Army Reserve]
1st Sgt. Alan N. Gifford 39
Spc. David H. Ford IV 20
Sgt. Matthew L. Deckard 29
Staff Sgt. Regilio E. Nelom 45
Sgt. 1st Class Lawrence E. Morrison 45 [Yakima, WA]
Spc. William V. Fernandez 37 [Pennsylvania Army Nat'l Guard]
Spc. William L. Evans 22 [Pennsylvania Army Nat'l Guard]

[The young age of some of these soldiers really gets to me, and then every once in a while one will come along who looks about nine, and that just blows my mind.]

Source: CNN.com

Keating Economics video

Sorry to be a one-note Mary, but the election's occupying a lot of my thoughts right now.

Watch Keating Economics: John McCain and the Making of a Economic Crisis.

CCXVIII

September 2005
Fusilier Stephen Robert Manning 20 [British]
Sgt. Matthew C. Bohling 22
Sgt. Franklin R. Vilorio 26
Hospitalman Robert N. Martens 20
Staff Sgt. Jude R. Jonaus 27
Staff Sgt. Christopher L. Everett 23 [Texas Army Nat'l Guard]
Spc. Jeremy M. Campbell 21
Maj. Matthew Bacon 34 [British]
Sgt. Kurtis D. K. Arcala 22
Seaman Apprentice Robert D. Macrum 22

Source: CNN.com

Obama-Biden Tax Calculator

While personally, I'd be willing to pay a little more tax for things like universal health care and higher educational opportunities that don't bankrupt you, everyone likes to save money. And so, I offer you a linky link to the Obama-Biden Tax Calculator so all you not-so-rich folks can calculate your savings under our new administration.

Thanks to Kaffrun for the link.

The first moment we've all been waiting for

Can't wait to run this puppy over to one of the drop boxes.

New Musical Tapa - 'Let's Get Radical'

Well I never meant for the Neville Brothers to hang out in the Musical Tapa section for so long, just kept forgetting to upload something new. When I first heard Gogol Bordello, I thought they were an unknown gem. Alas, turns out all the cool kids were already on to them. Never mind, though, they're still the coolest thing I've discovered recently. Could not get this song out of my head for two days.

Let's Get Radical

She says let's go to Brighton Beach
And tap our foot to disco
Just eat the food and tap the foot
Vsjo budet korosho'
That would be great fun of ironic kind
For your self-collapsing ironic mind
But hey girl we got a cure for you
Provided of course you will ever make it through
Let's get radical
And not sporadical
Not ironic sardonic
Catatonic ceremonic
But radical
You know mother some things are actually sacred
And tapping your foot to the ceremony just won't do
So hey girl we got a cure for you
Provided of course you will ever make it through
And hey boy we got a cure for you too
Provided of course you will ever make it through
Let's get radical
And not sporadical

CCXVII

August 2005
Maj. Gregory J. Fester 41
Sgt. Monta S. Ruth 26
Capt. Lowell T. Miller II 35 [Mississippi Army Nat'l Guard]
Spc. Jason E. Ames 21

September 2005
Sgt. 1st Class Robert L. Hollar Jr. 35 [Georgia Army Nat'l Guard]
Staff Sgt. George R. Draughn Jr. 29 [Georgia Army Nat'l Guard]
Sgt. 1st Class Lonnie J. Parson 39
Spc. Luke C. Williams 35
Spc. Jeffrey A. Williams 20
Fusilier Donal Anthony Meade 22 [British]

Source: CNN.com

ACORN

Read what ACORN has to say about their voter registration drives.

Dang! I wish I knew more folks in Colorado, Florida, Ohio...

Angel card of the day - Flexibility

My 'angel card' for today is Flexibilidad. If you'd like to know what yours is, just pick a number between 1 and 52.

Flexibility, the quality or state of
being capable of being bent or flexed; pliable
being capable of being bent repeatedly without injury or damage
being susceptible to influence or persuasion; tractable
being responsive to change; adaptable.

Spanish judge to probe Franco era

While Judge Garzón is a bit of a fame hound in my opinion, as an investigating judge, he does have the guts to tackle some pretty big stuff. I wonder has Spain been able to make so much progress since Franco died because they are essentially a pragmatic people: what's done is done, now let's move on. And is now the time to start digging things up because healing these wounds can no longer rock Spanish society so hard as it once might of? Just thoughts...

... and then there's always

'Nuff said

Sorry, Nina

My apologies go out to Nina Simone, whose version of 'Wild of the Wind' I publicly criticized last night, in favor of Bowie's. Now, as a good and faithful Bowie fan, I should have known he didn't write it, and that Nina did her version long before he ever got his grubby mitts on it, but I was ignorant. I have now been enlightened, thanks to the kind ministrations of Wikipedia, and stand before you chagrined, but still not prepared to not say I don't much care for her version. This is odd, because on balance, I'm a big Nina fan, so I do voy to faithfully try to cultivate an appreciation for said rendition.