Gentle Reader -- You are welcome to peruse my web-based journal. I assure you that my contributions to this medium will be both infrequent and inconsequential. Read on!

ACTION WEEK

Did I mention that my boy won Iowa? Did I mention that my other boy came in second? It's old news now, but it was a big deal at the time. Tuesday should be exciting!

The big news of all this is that the Democrats have four strong candidates. Each has his weakness, but I think that any could be a good president. And of course, any would be better than GWB.

And no, I'm not talking about you, Joe. posted by Carlton at 10:33 PM

STAR STRUCK

Ms. Twink and I went to see Cold Mountain this weekend, which was a better-than-decent movie. I am a fan of both of the female stars, Renee and Nicole, and there were a number of really interesting performances from the supporting cast (particularly PSH, and I am coming to agree with the notion that he should be in every single movie produced henceforth).

But the real draw for us is that our friend Emily Deschanel was in Cold Mountain. She had a big part in one relatively important scene -- when Jude Law's character is in the hospital, she reads him the letter from Nicole Kidman. Emily and I were roommates at Hooker Street (for about two years, I guess?). I always liked her, although we were never what you'd call close. Emily and Ms. Twink were roommates all through college, and even at Hooker Street (Molly moved out just before I moved in -- funny, huh?).

It really affected me to see Emily on the big screen. To see someone in the movies that you actually know -- to have that same sense of recognition as when you see your lost friend in Starbucks or on the street, except that she is in one of the biggest movies of the year, is indescribable. It was a very strange, exhilarating feeling.

Congratulations to Emily. Good luck to her. posted by Carlton at 10:30 PM

IMPORTANT EMAIL

Does anyone fall for this?

_Dear _Citibank _Members_,

This leter was sentt _by the Citbiank server to
veerify your_ E_Mail adderss.
You must clmoptee this prcseos by clicking on_the_link
beelow and enntering in the litlle window your CITI-bank
Debit_ full_card nummber and pin that you use in local ATM Machine.
This is done for your peortction -j- because some of our
memmbers no loengr have acsces to their email adeedsrss
and we must verify it.

[link deleted]

To veerify your_ _EMAIL_ _address_ and akcess your Citi-Card
account, clik on_the_link below_.

bWaN344v posted by Carlton at 11:52 PM

CITING GEORGE ORWELL . . . AGAIN

Since we are living in times that constantly evoke the dystopia of a certain book with a numerical title, I thought that I would put up a quote from the book that has been running through my mind of late:

The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent. Even when weapons of war are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is still a convenient way of expending labor power without producing anything that can be consumed.

. . .

In principle the war effort is always so planned as to eat up any surplus that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population. In practice the needs of the population are always underestimated, with the result that there is a chronic shortage of half the necessities of life, but this is looked on as an advantage. It is deliberate policy to keep the favored groups somewhere near the brink of hardship, because a general state of scarcity increases the importance of small privileges and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another.

How closely does this describe our current war? How closely does it describe the proposed Mars mission? (For God's sakes, let's hope it has SOME purpose.) Is it plausible to think that the aim of the administration (or whoever controls the administration) is really to transform us from a land of plenty to a land of scarcity, in which those of us in the general public cannot organize because we are too busy fighting over the scraps? posted by Carlton at 11:32 AM

NICHOLE

I have been trying to reach you for a while, but can't seem to do so. Send me an email at carltonwking@yahoo.com -- please! posted by Carlton at 4:20 PM

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO


Speaking of famous assholes that we have met . . . . posted by Carlton at 8:19 PM

HUBBLE TROUBLE

This is of a piece with Bush's directive, that anything that doesn't support his new moon and mars missions is to be cut. So likely Hubble won't be the only thing that does deep space science that goes, and quite possibly some of the stuff that does near earth science will also be trashcanned (like for instance, all the stuff that provides data about that pesky global warming that isn't supposed to be really happening...)

The end of an era in deep space exploration draws to a close. The era of the total militarization of space dawns.

How 'bout that? posted by Carlton at 8:13 PM

OBSESSIONS

Do we remember when a certain person of our acquaintance was obsessed with breast milk? Wanted to try it? Make breast milk cheese? posted by Carlton at 8:11 PM

BEST PRISON CAMP MOVIES

1. Stalag 17
2. Bridge on the River Kwai
3. The Great Escape
4. Victory
5. Uh . . .

and then number LAST . . . Hart's War. posted by Carlton at 8:09 PM

HERO WORSHIP

Josh Marshall meets his hero.

UPDATE: Link fixed? posted by Carlton at 10:57 PM

NUMBERS NUMBERS

Recently the number in the "ten thousands" column of the amount that I
owe to the government in student loans went down by one. I admit, the
difference beween $70,000 and $69,999 (not the actual numbers) is
exactly $1, but it is psychologically significant nonetheless. Think of how
psychologically significant the $1 between $100,000 and $99,000 would
be. Luckily, I didn't have to actually borrow that kind of scratch.

I hate the student loans, though. I pay them very aggressively, even
though it probably doesn't make any sense to do so. When they are
finally gone, someday in the barely foreseeable future, I will dance a little
dance of joy.
posted by Carlton at 1:51 PM

CITY ON FIRE

Ever wonder what it would be like to drop a bomb on Washington D.C.?

All combustible materials illuminated by the fireball would spew fire and black smoke. Grass, vegetation, and leaves on trees would explode into flames; the surface of the ground would explode into superheated dust. Any flammable material inside buildings (paper, curtains, upholstery) that was directly exposed would burst into flame. The marble on the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials would crack, pop, and possibly evaporate. If the light from the fireball illuminated part of the bronze statue of Jefferson, its surface would melt.

Trees and telephone poles would recoil from the flaming gases. Birds in flight would drop from the sky in flames. The air would be filled with dust, fire, and smoke. Visitors at Arlington National Cemetery or the Lincoln or Jefferson memorials who were directly exposed to the fireball's light would be killed instantly. Others would not survive long.

It would take about four seconds after the detonation for the shockwave to arrive at the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. They would collapse instantly. As the shockwave passed over, it would engulf all structures in high pressure and crush all but the strongest. The blast wave would generate ferocious winds of 300–400 miles per hour that would persist for about a second and a half.

Keep in mind that this is one bomb. The article notes that, at the height of the Cold War, we had 400 such bombs aimed at Moscow at any given moment. posted by Carlton at 9:55 PM

HEY

I have been meaning to post a couple of things, but I have been so sick. I fell ill on New Year's Eve -- the flu, I think -- and I am just now starting to feel human again. Good think I don't have to work, huh?

Thank goodness for Molly, who has been very Florence Nightingale-ish in my time of need.

posted by Carlton at 9:51 PM

UNTHINKABLE

So, where do the following statements rank on your Unthinkable-meter?

1. George Bush et al. actively allowed the 9/11 attacks in order to have their "Pearl Harbor moment" and implement their militaristic agenda.

2. George Bush et al. deliberately ignored pre 9/11 warnings of outgoing Clinton Administration officials and intelligence agencies of other nations relating to terrorism because of prejudice against Clinton as a person and internationalism in general.

3. George Bush et al. have no intention of capturing Osama bin Laden, as he is more useful as an enemy than as a prisoner.

4. Major points of the current administration's domestic agenda include: eliminating public schools of all types, eliminating publicly-funded health care of all types and eliminating Social Security.

5. The current administration intends to reinstate the draft immediately following Bush's re-election.

6. George W. Bush is so sheltered from current events by his handlers that he is honestly unaware of the opposition to his administration.

7. George W. Bush is not aware of the difference between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims.

8. John Ashcroft, whose opponent in his last (unsuccessful) race for Senate in Missouri died shortly before the election in a mysterious small-plane crash, engineered the death via small-plane crash of the incumbent Democratic Minnesota Senator, Paul Wellstone, shortly before the 2002 election.

9. The current administration intended to wage war against Iraq at the time of the 2000 election.

10. The current administration intends to provoke a war with North Korea in a second term.

posted by Carlton at 12:34 PM