So Paul Wolfowitz is apparently going to resign at the end of June, according to a written statement released by the World Bank board of directors. He's basically in disgrace over the fact that he got his girlfriend a cushy job at the US State Dept making $180k/year, which incidentally is more than the Secretary of State makes.
What I want to know is... why the fuck do these people always get to resign?! He's basically lost the confidence of the World Bank board, and of most of the world itself. He also happens to be one of the chief architects of the debacle in Iraq, which on its own should be enough to guarantee that he never works again. And yet, for jackasses like Wolfowitz... for guys like him, who are part of that upper echelon of power mongers in this world... they never really get held accountable for the shit they do. They can be indirectly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, or even directly responsible for corruption... but they are never, ever fired.
Yeah, this is Bush's administration, which is notorious for supporting incomptence... remember the head of FEMA during Katrina, Michael Brown? Or Donald Rumsfeld 6 months ago. Or Alberto Gonzales now. Or the heads of the EPA, the Dept of Fish and Wildlife, NIH... the list goes on and on and on. Most you haven't heard about, unless you've been following the watchdog press (note: that's not Fox, CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, or MSNBC... try salon.com, or the Nation, or most center or left-wing political bloggers).
The most annoying thing for me is that these jerks just end up with cushy consulting gigs that pay hundreds of thousands. No consequences... just more rewards. One day, I'd like for one of these assholes to get fired so hard and so fast his head spins round 360 degrees. I'd like him to be ostracized by the Washington crowd. And I'd like for him to walk away with such a taboo on his head that he never works again, except maybe at a minimum wage job at Wal-Mart. No 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th chances... no easy money on K street... no more golf clubs or international 1st class travel or giant mansions. Just $6/hour and the comfort knowing that he's where he is because he earned it. Now *that* would be justice.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Accenture's on the DJSI and FTSE4GOOD!
... wtf?!?!? It turns out Accenture's on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and the British parallel known as FTSE4GOOD. I'm so confused as to why... we're still trying to figure it out. Our carbon footprint is pretty huge from all of the travel... and to my knowledge we haven't made any corporate-level commitments to environmental or social sustainability, at least not publicly, at least not yet. But I take heart knowing that there are a lot of people working to change that... so yeah, while I don't understand what we've done to deserve a place up there right now, I do think we'll have earned a place there very very soon.
Jerry Falwell's dead
... and I can't be happier. I feel bad saying that, because despite how evil and fucked up he was, he was still a person with family and friends who loved him.
But seriously, let's not forget just HOW evil and fucked up he was. Check out what he said during an interview with Pat Robertson on the 700 Club, on September 13, 2001. They were talking about the 9-11 attacks that happened just 2 days earlier, when he said: "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen.""
So yes... basically he said 9-11 was the liberals' fault. Damn gays and their alternative lifestyles... it's our fault Osama attacked!! .... Oy fucking vey. What a nutjob.
So yeah, I'm really happy to see this windbag leave us and face his judgment. I have no doubts that God will be rather harsh with him for spreading so much hate and discord in his time.
Edit: A great opinion piece on Falwell's legacy can be found here on salon.com, written by Alan Wolfe. I <3 salon.
But seriously, let's not forget just HOW evil and fucked up he was. Check out what he said during an interview with Pat Robertson on the 700 Club, on September 13, 2001. They were talking about the 9-11 attacks that happened just 2 days earlier, when he said: "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen.""
So yes... basically he said 9-11 was the liberals' fault. Damn gays and their alternative lifestyles... it's our fault Osama attacked!! .... Oy fucking vey. What a nutjob.
So yeah, I'm really happy to see this windbag leave us and face his judgment. I have no doubts that God will be rather harsh with him for spreading so much hate and discord in his time.
Edit: A great opinion piece on Falwell's legacy can be found here on salon.com, written by Alan Wolfe. I <3 salon.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Movie: Spiderman 3
OK, so I just saw the midnight sneak preview of Spiderman 3 at the Metreon. The theater was sold out, and we ended up in seats in the 3rd row. It was a little close, which made the action scenes hard to follow at times. And shits to the Metreon for crappy audio... the soundtrack was regularly pitchy throughout.
As for the movie itself... hmmmm. It was kind of a mess. There was so much going on, so many villians, so many little plots, and they were all poorly stiched together. The scenes didn't flow from one to the next very well, and a lot of the dialogue seemed written by a 10 year-old. Continuity was a problem... Harry Osborne has short-term memory loss at one point, yet he tells Peter "I wish I could remember more about my father." Wtf?! Did he lose ALL of his memories, or just the ones from the last 2 days?! It made no sense, and that's just one example of many.
The best parts of the movie were without a doubt the comedy bits... J. Jonah Jameson, Dark Peter when he's high on life, Harry Osborne when he's high on painkillers. Harry's line right after he breaks Peter's heart over MJ was phenomenal. The waitress walks up and asks, "How's the pie?", and his response: "it's sooo good." Not inherently funny, but delivered sooo well. And Venom's line as he's holding MJ captive and looking at her lasciviously: "My spidey sense is tingling. If you know what I mean..."
I think in the end, what made the movie work for me was the eye candy. James Franco and Topher Grace... O.M.G. Both are sooo hot. But after walking out of that theater I was shocked at the crush I've got on Topher Grace now. He looked incredible: fit, tan, great hair... and he was terribly witty with his lines. I keep fantasizing about how much fun he would be to date. I seriously had to google him as soon as I got back, and that's when I learned he's a total nerd, too... like me! hahaha. So while I crawl into bed for ~3 hrs of sleep before a day of volunteering at Habitat for Humanity despite my still-healing broken collarbone, I'll be thinking of him. Here are some pics of him to illustrate my points...
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Sony Sorry About Bringing Dead Goat to PlayStation Party
This is from my friend Leah, who is in PR. It's inspired me to come up with a new game: invent insane PR stunts for Leah to try with her IT clients.
Note: this is a reprint of a Fox News story. Yes, I'm intensely embarrassed that I would refer to Fox for anything, as they are actively working to destroy US democracy. But alas.
==================================
Tuesday , May 01, 2007
LOS ANGELES — Sony Corp. (SNE) on Monday issued an apology for using a freshly slaughtered goat as a prop at its "God of War II" video game launch party in Athens, a publicity stunt that has outraged animal rights activists.
Sony hosted about 20 journalists at the March 1 event, which it called a theatrical dramatization with a Greek mythological theme.
The goat, provided to the production company by a local butcher, was part of the set dressing, the company said.
The U.K.'s Daily Mail newspaper on Sunday published a story on the party, where female hostesses with breasts covered with nothing but body paint fed grapes to guests, who competed to eat the most "warm entrails" — a meat soup made to look like the goat's internal organs.
The Daily Mail's story quoted the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which said it was "outrageous" that the animal's death had been used "to sell a few computer games."
In its mea culpa, Sony said: "We recognize that the use of a dead goat was in poor taste and fell below the high standards of conduct we set ourselves."
The company said it has launched an internal inquiry into the circumstances of the event and that it will put measures in place to make sure it does not happen again.
Greek mythology-inspired "God of War II" for the PlayStation 2 console was the best selling game in the United States in March. The game has a mature rating, and Sony said party attendees were all over the age of 18.
While sales of the PS2 remain robust, sales of Sony's new PlayStation 3 are lagging those of rival consoles from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Nintendo Co. Ltd.
This is not the first time that the Japanese electronics maker's video game marketing has inflamed critics.
Last year, the company pulled a Dutch billboard advertising campaign for its the white version of its PlayStation Portable handheld player. It portrayed a white woman aggressively grabbing the face of a black woman and was dubbed racist by critics.
Note: this is a reprint of a Fox News story. Yes, I'm intensely embarrassed that I would refer to Fox for anything, as they are actively working to destroy US democracy. But alas.
==================================
Tuesday , May 01, 2007
LOS ANGELES — Sony Corp. (SNE) on Monday issued an apology for using a freshly slaughtered goat as a prop at its "God of War II" video game launch party in Athens, a publicity stunt that has outraged animal rights activists.
Sony hosted about 20 journalists at the March 1 event, which it called a theatrical dramatization with a Greek mythological theme.
The goat, provided to the production company by a local butcher, was part of the set dressing, the company said.
The U.K.'s Daily Mail newspaper on Sunday published a story on the party, where female hostesses with breasts covered with nothing but body paint fed grapes to guests, who competed to eat the most "warm entrails" — a meat soup made to look like the goat's internal organs.
The Daily Mail's story quoted the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which said it was "outrageous" that the animal's death had been used "to sell a few computer games."
In its mea culpa, Sony said: "We recognize that the use of a dead goat was in poor taste and fell below the high standards of conduct we set ourselves."
The company said it has launched an internal inquiry into the circumstances of the event and that it will put measures in place to make sure it does not happen again.
Greek mythology-inspired "God of War II" for the PlayStation 2 console was the best selling game in the United States in March. The game has a mature rating, and Sony said party attendees were all over the age of 18.
While sales of the PS2 remain robust, sales of Sony's new PlayStation 3 are lagging those of rival consoles from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and Nintendo Co. Ltd.
This is not the first time that the Japanese electronics maker's video game marketing has inflamed critics.
Last year, the company pulled a Dutch billboard advertising campaign for its the white version of its PlayStation Portable handheld player. It portrayed a white woman aggressively grabbing the face of a black woman and was dubbed racist by critics.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Bush on American Idol?
omg, seriously....?! Dubya and Laura were just on American Idol... thanking the audience for raising $70 million last week for African charities. Which is admittedly awesome for the AI audience to have done, but fucking shitballs, what the hell's the President doing on there??!?!?! Maybe if he didn't drop half a TRILLION on needless wars he could divert a couple $70 million to Africa himself.
Ugh.
Ugh.
Retirement Estimator
So this is pretty cool. It's an online calculator you can use to see how you're doing with your retirement savings. http://www.choosetosave.org/ballpark/index.cfm. I entered in all of my data (and I was relatively conservative, I believe), and got the following result:
RESULTS
Congratulations! Based upon all the assumptions you entered you have saved enough to allow you to replace 99.71 percent of your final wages.
Wow... hot damn! I must have done something wrong... but assuming 3% inflation, 5% wage growth, and 10% investment returns... ok, maybe those aren't as conservative as they should be. Where's Stefan when I need him?!
RESULTS
Congratulations! Based upon all the assumptions you entered you have saved enough to allow you to replace 99.71 percent of your final wages.
Wow... hot damn! I must have done something wrong... but assuming 3% inflation, 5% wage growth, and 10% investment returns... ok, maybe those aren't as conservative as they should be. Where's Stefan when I need him?!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Global Warming is an issue of National Security
I've been saying this for a while now, though maybe not here... but here's a great excerpt from the daily Talking Points e-mail I get from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, citing the growing concern our nation's military experts have around the security issues posed by Global Warming...
"Global warming is not just an environmental issue any more -- our national security is at stake. A team of retired military generals, including the former Army chief of staff and Bush's former chief Middle East negotiator, released a study last week on how "global climate change presents a serious national security threat that could affect Americans at home, impact U.S. military operations and heighten global tensions." "The report warned that in the next 30 to 40 years there will be wars over water, increased hunger instability from worsening disease and rising sea levels and global warming-induced refugees." But while national security is threatened, the Bush administration has continued to pay only lip service to combating the problem. Shirking his electoral promise to curb carbon dioxide emissions, greenhouse gas emissions have steadily increased during Bush's tenure, giving the United States the dubious title of being the "world's largest source of greenhouse gases.""
"Global warming is not just an environmental issue any more -- our national security is at stake. A team of retired military generals, including the former Army chief of staff and Bush's former chief Middle East negotiator, released a study last week on how "global climate change presents a serious national security threat that could affect Americans at home, impact U.S. military operations and heighten global tensions." "The report warned that in the next 30 to 40 years there will be wars over water, increased hunger instability from worsening disease and rising sea levels and global warming-induced refugees." But while national security is threatened, the Bush administration has continued to pay only lip service to combating the problem. Shirking his electoral promise to curb carbon dioxide emissions, greenhouse gas emissions have steadily increased during Bush's tenure, giving the United States the dubious title of being the "world's largest source of greenhouse gases.""
Superman beware! Kryptonite discovered in Serbia!
zomg! Superman's dewmed!!!
From salon.com's AP feed: http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8ON3J900.html
New Mineral Has Kryptonite Composition
- - - - - - - - - - - -
April 24,2007 LONDON -- A mineral recently discovered in Serbia has the same composition as kryptonite -- the fictional substance that robs Superman of his powers -- the British Museum said Tuesday.
While the material is not a perfect match, its chemical breakdown is strikingly similar.
A drill core of the unusual mineral was unearthed in Serbia by the mining group Rio Tinto PLC, which turned it over to mineral expert Chris Stanley at the Natural History Museum for analysis.
"Towards the end of my research I searched the Web using the mineral's chemical formula, sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide, and was amazed to discover that same scientific name written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luthor from a museum in the film 'Superman Returns,'" Stanley said.
The material is white, powdery and not radioactive -- unlike the glowing green crystals usually depicted in the Superman comics. It will be formally named Jadarite when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.
Approximately 30 to 40 new minerals are discovered each year, the museum said, although usually only in the form of a few grains only visible under the microscope.
--__
On the Net:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/
From salon.com's AP feed: http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8ON3J900.html
New Mineral Has Kryptonite Composition
- - - - - - - - - - - -
April 24,2007 LONDON -- A mineral recently discovered in Serbia has the same composition as kryptonite -- the fictional substance that robs Superman of his powers -- the British Museum said Tuesday.
While the material is not a perfect match, its chemical breakdown is strikingly similar.
A drill core of the unusual mineral was unearthed in Serbia by the mining group Rio Tinto PLC, which turned it over to mineral expert Chris Stanley at the Natural History Museum for analysis.
"Towards the end of my research I searched the Web using the mineral's chemical formula, sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide, and was amazed to discover that same scientific name written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luthor from a museum in the film 'Superman Returns,'" Stanley said.
The material is white, powdery and not radioactive -- unlike the glowing green crystals usually depicted in the Superman comics. It will be formally named Jadarite when it is described in the European Journal of Mineralogy later this year.
Approximately 30 to 40 new minerals are discovered each year, the museum said, although usually only in the form of a few grains only visible under the microscope.
--__
On the Net:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
My dance with Vicodin
Hooboy. So I had my bike accident 2 weeks ago now, and I've been off work (on short-term disability) and on vicodin for the pain since. I was supposed to return to work this week on a 50% basis, which required me to travel to DC and San Diego. Now, vicodin is a highly addictive narcotic, apparently, and that's had me a bit worried. The last thing I want is to become a junkie. =P So in an attempt to stave off an addiction, I decided to stop taking vicodin after popping one on Sunday morning before my 5-hr flight from SF to DC.
And yeah, that only lasted ~48 hrs. I spent Monday in pain, experiencing chills and slight nausea during the day. That night I napped from 6-10pm due to exhaustion and pain. But then I couldn't fall asleep again till 5am, and lay there, a slightly twitching, nervous wreck until I finally fell asleep. I had to fly out on Tuesday morning from DC to San Diego, and a couple hours into the flight I caved in and popped a vicodin. I couldn't fall asleep because of my general discomfort, and I knew I had a day of work ahead of me. So I decided sleep would be critical for me to be successful with my rough week, and thus took the pill. Good news is I slept like a baby.
Bad news... I may have made things worse. I couldn't fall asleep on Tuesday night (or rather, slept fitfully with weird paranoia and nightmares) until I popped a vicodin. And then I slept in majorly on Weds. So Weds morning I talk to my boss about whether I should be returning to work so quickly. He's had numerous back surgeries and based on his experience he thinks I shouldn't be rushing back to work. He also tells me that it only takes 2 weeks to develop a vicodin addiction. Oh, what a coincidence... that's how long I was taking it!
So... I'm going to start pounding Advil for the next few days, and keep off the vicodin. I'm also going to schedule an appt with my doctor to see about the best way to manage the pain for the next few weeks while I continue to heal. My shoulder/collarbone still hurts, but the main pain is in my lower back (though that could be phantom... hold on and I'll tell you why). So I want to figure out what the root of the problem is and attack that. But meanwhile, I'm going to do 50% work schedule until mid-May, just to make sure I'm not pushing myself so hard I end up with permanent damage. So... wish me luck!
Here are some fun facts about Graeme on vicodin, based on vicodin's wikipedia entry.
Side effects include: decreased sex drive and constipation, both of which I’ve experienced. Yes, right as I'm having my first real relationship with Daywalker... more on him to come, I swear.
Withdrawal symptoms include: restlessness, muscle pain, bone pain, insomnia, runny nose, loss of appetite, irritability, panic, depression, chills, and sweating. All of which I’ve experienced in the last few days.
The withdrawal symptoms haven't been too bad, so I doubt I'm addicted yet. And honestly, I haven't felt any of the euphoria that vicodin's supposed to induce; I've only noticed the painkilling. I haven't once wanted to take the vicodin because it makes me feel good; only because I wanted to numb the pain. So I expect that psychologically I could sub in high doses of Advil or Tylenol and do just fine. It's likely my body won't like that, but if I made it through 48-hrs of no vicodin after 2 weeks of using it, I should be able to stop by the end of this week of minimal usage as long as I can sub in something else for the pain. Right?
It's the end of the world as we know it...
... and I feel fine!
New favorite website: http://www.armageddononline.org/ Why? Cause it's fun to speculate!
New favorite website: http://www.armageddononline.org/ Why? Cause it's fun to speculate!
Why I don't live in the Marina!
So back in October when Leah and I were looking at places to live in the city, I steadfastly refused to live in the Marina. I wasn't interested in risking liquefaction during an earthquake and being swallowed whole by the earth beneath, as actually happened in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Of course, Leah totally made fun of me, saying that only non-Californians think about that sort of thing, and that it'd be like her being afraid of tornados if she moved to Illinois. Of course, there are never tornados in Chicago, so it's something you can avoid by living there. But whatever. =P
Anyways.... I've been watching this documentary on the Loma Prieta earthquake that hit NorCal in 1989, and it's been really fascinating. One of the things I knew is that the Marina district was created by landfill. But why? Well, in 1915, San Francisco wanted to change the world's opinion of SF from victim-of-massive-earthquake to, well, anything else. So the city hosted the Panama Pacific International Exposition, a major world event that required massive construction of both temporary and permanent buildings. Actually, one of the goals was to make SF a major Pacific port, and for whatever reason, to do this they needed to fill in the marshy Marina. So they did... and they filled it in with... wait for it... debris from the 1906 earthquake.
OMG, the irony. So 83 years later, when an earthquake hits 70 miles south of SF, the Marina is one of the hardest hit in the entire Bay Area, because it was built on landfill... landfill created from the remains of the last major earthquake to hit SF. Insanity!!!
So yeah... instead I now live in South Beach, which is also landfill. =P But we're in a high-rise which was built in 2005 or so, and it's allegedly been pile-driven down into the bedrock. So as long as I'm in my apt when the big one hits, I should be ok. =D
Monday, April 16, 2007
Google Maps: Crossing the Pond
I got this forward from my friend Sue... try it! Hi-larious!
===============================================
This is too good not to share, enjoy! This is actually not a joke, but is pretty funny.
Follow These Steps [in order of course]
1. go to www.google.com
2. click on maps
3. click on get directions
4. go from "new york" to "paris, france"
5. scroll down in the directions to number 23 and read
It's just that easy! LOL
Friday, April 13, 2007
Fucking Shitballs
Yeah, that's a new phrase I've been using a LOT lately. And I totally made it up. Let's see how far I can get it to spread!
And I just told Daywalker that, and he was like, "oh.... kudos?"
So maybe that's how all of you are feeling right now, too. If so... fuck you! Hahaha. =P
And I just told Daywalker that, and he was like, "oh.... kudos?"
So maybe that's how all of you are feeling right now, too. If so... fuck you! Hahaha. =P
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Coffee: you've won, damn you!
OK, as of 2 weeks ago, I officially gave in to one of my long-standing enemies: coffee.
For years, I fought the addiction. In college I would only drink coffee when I had to pull an all-nighter, and then I'd only need like 16 oz to keep me wired for 18 hours straight (since I never really drank pop or other caffeinated bevvies, coffee easily affected me). I was determined to be my own man... I didn't want to submit to coffee's siren lure, and be like everyone else on the planet: useless and cranky without a cuppa joe.
But... over the last few years of work, I'd slowly started to give in... a cup here to perk me up, a cup there as an excuse to socialize with co-workers. Usually, I'd order chai lattes in lieu of the demon brew, but the occasional mocha would slip in.
A year or 2 ago, I started to order cappucinos after dinner out at a nice restaurant. It seemed like a great companion to a slice of chocolate cake, or some palate-cleansing sorbet. I didn't realize that coffee's strategy had changed from the standard brute-force morning assault to this more insidious evening ploy.
But coffee was smart. With the occasional morning drink, and the ever-more-frequent daytime socialization cup, and the increasingly common after dinner cappucino treat, coffee was slowly insinuating itself into my life. A few weeks ago, it finally struck me: I've become a regular coffee drinker.
I swear I have no idea when I crossed that threshhold from casual user to regular abuser. Maybe it was when I started relying on coffee to help me stay awake at work in the mornings. Maybe it's when I read that 8 cups a day doesn't actually raise your blood pressure. Or maybe it was when I bought that grinder and french press for my house (better than a drip brewer; but I swear I bought them for guests to use!).
But once the realization hit, it was like a giant weight had lifted from my shoulders. The decades-long struggle was over... and I had lost. I feel a small sadness that I've conceded defeat... but as I sit here drinking a home-made mocha brewed in my Bosum french press, with beans I bought from Peet's... I'm really not sure I care.
For years, I fought the addiction. In college I would only drink coffee when I had to pull an all-nighter, and then I'd only need like 16 oz to keep me wired for 18 hours straight (since I never really drank pop or other caffeinated bevvies, coffee easily affected me). I was determined to be my own man... I didn't want to submit to coffee's siren lure, and be like everyone else on the planet: useless and cranky without a cuppa joe.
But... over the last few years of work, I'd slowly started to give in... a cup here to perk me up, a cup there as an excuse to socialize with co-workers. Usually, I'd order chai lattes in lieu of the demon brew, but the occasional mocha would slip in.
A year or 2 ago, I started to order cappucinos after dinner out at a nice restaurant. It seemed like a great companion to a slice of chocolate cake, or some palate-cleansing sorbet. I didn't realize that coffee's strategy had changed from the standard brute-force morning assault to this more insidious evening ploy.
But coffee was smart. With the occasional morning drink, and the ever-more-frequent daytime socialization cup, and the increasingly common after dinner cappucino treat, coffee was slowly insinuating itself into my life. A few weeks ago, it finally struck me: I've become a regular coffee drinker.
I swear I have no idea when I crossed that threshhold from casual user to regular abuser. Maybe it was when I started relying on coffee to help me stay awake at work in the mornings. Maybe it's when I read that 8 cups a day doesn't actually raise your blood pressure. Or maybe it was when I bought that grinder and french press for my house (better than a drip brewer; but I swear I bought them for guests to use!).
But once the realization hit, it was like a giant weight had lifted from my shoulders. The decades-long struggle was over... and I had lost. I feel a small sadness that I've conceded defeat... but as I sit here drinking a home-made mocha brewed in my Bosum french press, with beans I bought from Peet's... I'm really not sure I care.
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