Hello?.... Hello?.... (tap tap tap....) Is this thing on?


We had a little problem with the posting system. Everything should be back in order, but let me know if you see anything weird.

As long as we're talking politics - what's the story in the middle east? I have very little intuition on this one (stemming, no doubt, from the fact that I know very little about the history of the region.) I can tell that I'm supposed to back Israel (as a good US media consumer,) and my intuition usually has me siding with them, but then I read things like this seemingly reasonable piece. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Specifically, what's the deal with the 1967 borders? Is it true that the violence could be ended if Israel would agree to those borders? And why won't they? I have to think that in the next few (or at least 5 to 10) years both sides are going to have very nasty weapons at their disposal (bacteriological, nuclear, genetic, and eventually nanotechnological.) It seems crucial to work these things out now. Is there any hope?

My break away space colony plans aren't looking so stupid now, are they? ;-)

There it is again, on the front of the Post; out of politicians' mouths; "COWARDS!" This comes after every terrorist action. How can you call people who give their lives for a cause cowards? They may be fanatics, some may be crazy, but they've got legitimate concerns, and no matter how much we may disagree with their means, they certainly aren't cowards. As long as we use false language to talk about these matters, we will never say anything true about them, and we will not move towards any amelioration. Coming to terms with Islam is one of the great challenges for the West in the new century. Do we expect them to become like us, crying crocodile tears, and lamenting the loss of our Traditional values in the face of our own capitalist expansion? These are people trying to fight that trend, using the resources of the powerless. If we want them to act like us, we're going to have to pay them a lot of money to give up their values (it works here). If we want them to at least behave themselves, we'll have to find honest ways of talking with them. Reactionary rhetoric cannot support progressive policy.

Alas, that I could say I knew you all: so many monkeys, so little time.

i saw an undercover give a ticket to someone whom threw thier metrocard on the floor after failing to respond to two commands to pick it up from some stranger (whom happened to be an undercover cop)--now i never litter but i also never respond to "hey buddy come back here and pick this up" from a stranger even if he said it 3 times

walk me out in the morning brew--is that a good name for a coffee or tea shop??

requiemforadream. Give it a chance. (from here.)

"This site showcases the printed program for Stanley Kubrick's film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. My thanks go to Mark Hodgson for the loan of his copy. The program was available in UK cinemas, accompanying the first release of 2001, circa 1968." Amazing. Great pictures.

bob weir sang the national anthem last week in SF

does dratfink look messed up on peoples machines today or is it just me? my right column of links is layered over the text and the first block on the right is gone while the text extends further to the right than is normal just for the first post. anyone see that?

Any one smell dead phish ? Todays Times says : "Phish Phinishes an act bidding phans pharwell" and that it will be a boom for String Cheese Incident who will now take on all ex-phish phollowers.

my first cousin is a lesbian and owns a few retail stores in Mass., she decided to make her own campaign bumper sticker this year and thier selling like hotcakes..."Lick Bush in 2000"

my 2nd annual hero of year award goes to paul newman and his wife nell (i cant remember one of his movies except that one where he was a gambler??) for thier "newmans own organics" food line with 100% profit given to charity--they crossed the $100 million mark this year!! please buy thier stuff!! last year's winner was woody for his war on the "war on drugs" he is on the cover of high times this month and his case was dropped but he has not dropped the case...

we need to do a simple white truffle meal at some point--fresh eggs / truffle's + simple pasta / truffle's--jmb can you find out if we can get some wholesale??

bored?? from the (a)buddha's mem(es)brain

lokks like a great Mass weekend for me and we should plan for sunday 15!!

another one for you to svet about.

here

Here is a little language trivia from Riothero:

What is the longest word you can spell without repeating a letter?

What is the longest world with just one vowel?

What is the only English word with a triple letter?

What is the longest commonly used word with no letter appearing more than once?

What is the word with the longest definition, in most dictionaries?

What is the longest common word without an a, e, i, o, or u?

What is the shortest -ology (study of) word?

What is the only two common words with six consonants in a row?

What is the longest English word with letters appearing in Alphabetical order?

Check out his post for the answers.

check out the bottom 2 works

Poor George W. Everybody makes fun of him. (Let the page load, it's worth it in a really juvenille sort of way.)

Mike said the site was boring yesterday, so I'm trying to come up with a lot of links today. Because I don't really have time to scour the whole net, I'm just stealing a few from memepool (this one, and the last two.)

Anyway, here's the Hacker FAQ which will help answer any questions you might have about hiring a hacker.

Here's the first three chapters of a graphic novel about the Presidential race: S2K. The author (artist?) says:

If there was ever any question of how I view the common voter, politicians and modern American politics, this serialized graphic novel should make everything clear by page 4. S2K is my hate filled manifesto, my ultimatum, my revealed contempt, and my pie smashed into the face of the political machine. Read it with gritted teeth. This election year, the American political system goes all to Hell...

Did you know the CIA bought the film rights to Orwell's Animal Farm?

Maybe Wheel will comment more fully, but here's my quick take. We went to ESCA last night, which is the all seafood restaurant in the Mario Batali empire (you know, the guy with the food show, the long red hair, and the funny shoes who brought us Po, Lupa, and Babao.) The menu had us absolutely dizzy. We literally wanted to order evey single thing (well, O.K., only MB and I wanted to order the sea urchin.) All Italian wine. A great Northern Italian white from the area (Tirol) we traveled through last year, and an amazing example of the elusive (red) Lagrain (sp?) grape which we searched for in Italy, but now it seems finally found the one we wanted right here in NYC. With the Quinterelli for dessert we were feeling no pain. Oh, the food? Great. The fried fish was amazing (vongole and the frito-misto (sp?),) maybe the best I've ever had. Pasta's (as you might expect at a Mario restaurant) were perfect, although the perriwinkle and chilie was not as amazing as we had hoped. The eel (appetizer) was also not a favorite (although surely not bad.) The beet and botarga salad was a winner, as was the big stuffed clam (anyone remember what that was called?) I'd say: order lots of appetizers. Expensive; sure. Weird location - 43rd and 9th; for sure. Good time; good bet.