Category Archives: Aside
NORAD celebrates its 50th year of tracking Santa – It is good of them to do this, because we wouldn’t want Santa’s incursion to cause panic or a rise in the color-coded terror alert level.
California still working to implement huge solar energy initiative – Devil’s in the details, but I think everyone who had to experience the energy problems of 2000-2001 supports this in theory. California continues to stay on the cutting edge.
Finishing finals, seeing Ocean’s 12, packing for home and Hawaii.
A new way to fold shirts – It’s like magic! (via Nat)
Apparently, birth control pills are now considered a form of abortion – Our country has gone mad.
After waiting an hour and a half for his $3000 meal at a charity banquet, man goes across the street to get some Indian takeout – Sadly, no comment on which food was better.
Jon Stewart’s 2004 William & Mary commencement address – Good stuff.
This guy says the last guy is completely off-base – Aww, don’t fight over little old Y!
Brief backgrounder on Brian Sykes’s theory that the male species is doomed thanks to problems with the Y chromosome – His proposed solution: some fun genetic engineering to circumvent the Y. Or a move to a society made up only of women. Both would require a fair bit of science, and his willingness to suggest “fairly simple” and “straightforward” changes to the human genetic code seems a bit unsettling. Hasn’t this guy every seen the Twilight Zone — or any other scifi TV show that has addressed this issue at some point or another?
Eighteen months later, PeopleSoft is no more – It was a valiant fight against Oracle’s hostile takeover attempt, but one doomed to failure.
Has Iraq stretched the U.S. military to its breaking point? – Because they’ve used up “pre-positioned” assets around the globe, the US must now transport equipment to Iraq along with troops. This raises the cost to deploy an entire unit, such as the 3rd Infantry Division, to as much as $1 billion. Additionally, the Iraq action has put the military in a place where a war or significant action in the next several years could cause the system to collapse. They’re running out of supplies, hardware, and, of course, trained, willing troops. Meanwhile, the latest Pentagon budget still includes massive spending on new, advanced weapons and an untested missile defense system that won’t be ready for field use for years — if ever.
Barlow gets busted by the TSA – Supposedly mandated to “fight” terrorism, their incredibly thorough search of his luggage reveals a small amount of controlled substances and lands John Perry Barlow in jail. Fourth Amendment does not apply, apparently, to national security. And by “national security” I mean the failed War on Drugs. First they came for the rock stars, and I did not speak up, for I am not a rock star…
The Plot Against Sex in America – Great, sad column about the sorry state of sex politics today