From Google Street Maps

Telegraph & Derby, Berkeley

What You Need @ Middlespace Dot Com!

So, even I sometimes have trouble finding my way. Look to your left. I accidentally typed in "middlespace.com". Middlespace isn't a dot-com, it's a dot-net. So, as you can see, I was in the process of changing it to dot-net (so I can see what the hell I have up anymore--management).

As you can see -- and what I discovered -- is that middlespace.com is owned by one of those wholesalers hoping that some sucker will want that URL so much that they'd pay just a little bit extra (per month or whatever) and the wholesaler gets a nickel a month in perpetuity or whatever. Something like that. I mean, it ain't no real site even though it's all copyright and stuff.

No big deal.

But, I do like that 1) it's simply format as a little site. See, there's the header titled "main" and under that are the words "Ty Hardaway." Damn, that's funny! Because that's me! So, whatever, their application crawled around a bit and attempted to make this inclusive and such. So, whatever. The rest is gibberish like"Mp3 Player" and "Downloadable Music."

But.

But, "Space Travel" is an interesting topic, isn't it? WTF? Random? Omen? Science? God?

WHAT YOU NEED - WHEN YOU NEED IT!

Note (FL): If you keep reloading the page it comes up two different ways - one with the four color squares and the more official looking one.

Joe Lieberman Says...

He said he "was happy with the progress... [and] he did believe that this surge eventually would pay off and it would start to break the insurgency."

From the papers:

On Memorial Day, 10 U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq — eight of those died when an American helicopter was shot down north of Baghdad. And yesterday, “gunmen dressed in police uniforms staged a well-coordinated kidnapping at Iraq’s Finance Ministry and abducted five Britons. Two vehicle bombings in Baghdad killed at least 44 people and injured 74. And the bodies of 32 men — all shot and tortured, some handcuffed and blindfolded — were found in two locations north and south of the capital on Tuesday.

U.S. officials have warned that the strategy of putting more American troops on the streets and in small combat outposts, part of a security plan launched in February, would lead to higher U.S. casualties. But Tuesday's carnage suggested that the effort had not created a safer security environment.

Also, the complex operations launched against U.S. and allied forces Monday and Tuesday demonstrated that the insurgency here also is adopting more sophisticated tactics and weapons.

Oh, Joe!

The Queen of Everything Slays the King of Leisure

OK. Florence. I love Florence. She’s genius-smart (if B gets any genes, getting Florence and Rebecca’s would do her just very well, thanks) and was onto my sorry act from the beginning. I respect that. She knows more about me than I do. We’re checkmated though since I know more about her than she does. She knows that too. So, yeah, we’re cool.

So, to make this story short, She was watching – over the weekend – when I was oohing and awing over Henry’s box of old letters and his old school Nikon lenses. She saw all that. She shot me the look of too-easily-impressed pity and I didn’t even realize it.

When I was looking for a book to read and had the nerve to poo-poo some of the titles around her house (she, my friends, is a serious reader in terms of quality and quantity, gets it from her father, the good Judge Brennan) all making fun and such, she finally after eleven years, whipped out her can of nuclear. She finally decided to blow my head. And she did.

She says, “Huh! You don’t like any of my books, I see?” and she opens a cabinet in the built-in bookshelf. She pulls out a white plastic bag and sets it on my lap. “Take a look at this,” she says without irony, excitement, or malice. A white plastic bag….

I’m thinking, oh, maybe some old photo album. Maybe the family bible. I pull a book out of the bag. It’s obviously an old book and it’s kind of falling apart. I smells old. It’s heavy to the touch. It feels like no book I’ve ever held. Wow, maybe it’s the oldest book I’ve ever seen. I’m confused.

I open it up and it and it’s a book of poems…old English…Milton…1692?! Holy shit! [sound, smell, sight of head exploding]. I’m holding an original John Milton fifth edition, fully illustrated book of poems published in 1692.

I look at her and she shrugs. She shrugs! Like, hey you like old stuff, junior? There you have it. Makes those lenses look pretty new, huh?

So, there I was gingerly paging through a 315-year-old book. Three hundred year old crap getting on my shorts (she shrugged). I’m sure a rare book expert would kill me for even touching it with my bare hands. But, I had to feel the words, the illustrations, and the leather. I had to soak it in.

Then to add insult to absolute injury, she goes, “oh, these are a little old too” and pulls out the two volume set of John Gay fables, “Fables by John Gay: with a life of the author.” Uh, 214-years-old (publication date: 1793).

Keep in mind, these are original editions.

I was floored! What next, the Magna Carta? The teeth of Jesus in a Mason jar?

Oh, that Flos! She blows my head. Does it with absolute style and does it as casually as swatting a fly.

In & Around

Florence Blows My Mind

Damn & Damn!

What Would Trace Do?

Knows It All

Flos & Hank

Ithaca, America

Frackville, America

Back Wednesday

1) I'm getting away for a few days.

2) I'll probably delete all (most) email.

3) This'll keep you busy in the interim: clicky

4) I'll take my camera.

Why I'm Not A Democrat

Because they suck!

When Democrats Collapse

After Jimmy Carter caved to the Republican noise machine and took back his blast at President Bush, it's no surprise the party wimped out on the war.

"As usual, we've been sucked into a phony controversy about who said what and how it hurt George W. Bush's feelings. Because when you hurt George W. Bush you hurt America's feelings, and when you hurt America's feelings, you hurt the troops. And when that happens, Tinkerbell's light goes out and she dies."

- Bill Maher

...and the baby Jesus cries.

[clicky]

"Now, is it possible for a future president to perform as badly as Bush has? I suppose, theoretically, if we elect someone totally off the wall, like R. Kelly, or the reanimated corpse of Ted Williams, or Rudy Giuliani ... But let's be honest, we would have been better off over the past six years if the Oval Office had been occupied by an orangutan with a Magic 8-Ball. And that's why it's so depressing that when the right-wing noise machine pretended to get upset at what Jimmy Carter said, he did what Democrats always do and backed down. He said his remarks were careless and misrepresented and the sun was in his eyes and his hearing aid went out and he was molested by a clergyman.

They confronted him, and he took it all back. Which is what Democrats do. Why couldn't he have just said, "No, I meant what I said. And speaking as the first citizen of Habitat for Humanity, let me take out my toolbox and build you a house where we can meet and you can blow me." If a Democrat who's out of office and 100 years old can't speak out, what chance do we have for the ones who are in office? Like the ones who are in Congress now who, emboldened by widespread public approval of their plan to bring the troops home ... this week abandoned that plan. You see, you don't get to become the worst president ever without a little help from the other side."

- Still Bill Maher

Three (In Reverse Order)

Leprechauns and Unicorns

It's casual/eat-lunch-out Friday! And, I'm reading the Washington Post ™, dammit (because it's in the free bin)!

1) It screams (that's what headlines do), "Books Print Critical Portraits of Clinton." Here ye, here ye! Washington Post, print (and online for a while), May 25, 2007. The headline is, in essence, an ad for two more books that are critical of Hillary Clinton. So?

She's apparently described as "brilliant and controlling, ambitious and victimized." Right, we knew this, remember? "Two biographies challenge image the presidential candidate has presented on the campaign trail." Sigh.... There's nothing left to stick.

Well, no shit.

2) Speaking of shit. Yesterday, a bird shat upon my president during a press conference.

"It happened midway through his news conference in the Rose Garden yesterday morning, in between his 10th and 11th mentions of al-Qaeda: A bird flew over the president and deposited a wet, white dropping on the upper left sleeve of his jacket. Bush wiped the mess off with his bare hand."

[clicky]

Perhaps there is a god.

3) Speaking of god, Hanna Rosen writes about The New Establishment: How Evangelicals Became Part of Washington's Fabric. Basic argument is that Monica Goodling is neither a mope nor alone. They're everywhere, like bedbugs in a cockroach crackhouse.

Remember, as wrong as you believe Goodling and he cadre to be, the beauty is, she and her cadre believe that we (you and I) are way more wrong. They are an army for christ and they aren't playing around. [Who's the sucker now?]

"Fascinating" is the only word I can think of. Maybe some day I will be proven (key word) wrong, but this belief-in-religion thing is straight-up goofy to me.

Faith! They shout it. Faith! (How's that again?) Faith, my brothers, sisters and children. Have faith and ye shall enter the kingdom of heaven.

I was spending some rare time fooling around in Netflix ™ and ended up watching the trailer for Jesus Camp. Whoo-boy!

And they give shit to muslims for "indoctrination?" Whoo-boy! What did I call those kids before, "goofy?" Sure, lots of that, but add a gogolplex of "loony" and we're closer.

Maybe this could be my audience for my new low-cost policies in Therapy Insurance. My four-word pitch:

What if you're wrong?

Electronical Mail Chumps

"Professor Sherry Turkle said she came up with the concept after researching e-mail and discovering that some people harbor fantasies about escaping their e-mail burden...Turkle, who estimated that she has 2,500 pieces of unread e-mail in her inbox."

E-Mail Reply to All: 'Leave Me Alone'

[clicky]

When I was working in an office, people would always be amazed that my electronical mailbox would only have like seven messages in the inbox. They would always tell me how I must have immaculate archives. I would tell them that I don't keep archives and that what they see -- the seven -- was it.

Why would anyone ever have more than, say, 10 messages to ever even appear on their radar? Let me look.... OK, my Gmail account presently has seven messages (and full-disclosure, Gmail keeps mail as threads, so it represents more than seven individual mailings, but trust me I would probably never have more than 15. Oh, none are unread. I've been this way forever. My 2,856 megabytes of free Gmail space rarely moves past 0% usage [You are currently using 0 MB (0%) of your 2856 MB].

People have thresholds. I've watched people fuss with their inboxes with frustration and embarrassment. Me? If I don't have it -- I don't have it. Nothing t freak about. I do sometimes ask someone else (an Electronical Mail Chump - EMC) to pleas forward me a particular note. They suggest that I carelessly deleted the mailing. I explain, "No. I just figures you'd have it if I ever needed it." EMCs!

People have asked, "What about vacation? What do you do when you come back from several days away from your mail?" Well, that's easy. First, when are we ever away from our mail anymore. But, if I were to be, I generally do one of two things (dependent on how I'm feeling about the number of mail stacked). I either (I've done this for years too):

A) Pick through to see what may be important (or, really, amusing or somehow satisfying) and delete all of the rest, but this requires thought.

or

B) Chuck it all. Select-all > Delete. That's it! If something important is brewing, someone will contact me. This is what I usually do. No thought involved.

Here's a free hint people (because I could charge for this shit): Use the following message for your vacation reminder:

For Work

"Hi. I'll be away from this account for a few days. When I return I will delete the entire inbox. Feel welcome to catch me up when I'm back."

Man, You Guys Are Suckers!

Remember when Colin Powell went the UN and was all lying about the Saddam Hussein threat? Remember that theater? Here’s what he said way back then:

• We have no indication that Saddam Hussein has ever abandoned his nuclear weapons program.
• We have more than a decade of proof that he remains determined to acquire nuclear weapons.
• Saddam Hussein already possesses two out of the three key components needed to build a nuclear bomb.
• Since 1998, his efforts to reconstitute his nuclear program have been focused on acquiring the third and last component, sufficient fissile material to produce a nuclear explosion.
• Saddam Hussein is determined to get his hands on a nuclear bomb.

Dang.

And, up until that point (and generally afterwards), people described the good (negro) General as “honorable,” “professional,” and “honest.” But, people were surprised that he would do that for this administration. The Colin Powell would “risk his honor” and go and lie to the world.

So, who in their right mind thought Ms. Monica Goodling (pictured with "Baby Karl" Kyle Sampson) was going to go into a Congressional hearing and either break down or give up, what, Bush and Cheney? Yes, Monica Goodling was going to tell the truth and I'm going to be the next president. I’m not believing all the surprise and outrage. This is what she does; sticks to the script under oath, torture, or threat of demise. Despite her less than prestigious undergraduate (Messiah) and law education (the fourth-tier Regent) she is a professional, a trained assassin, educated on-the-job (and subsequently coached) under some of the best crooks in the history of crooks.

From Wiki:

Ms. Goodling worked alongside Tim Griffin as an opposition researcher for the Republican National Committee during the 2000 presidential campaign. She joined the Department of Justice's press office after George W. Bush was elected president. She moved to the department's executive office, which is responsible for budgeting, management, personnel management and evaluation, later becoming deputy director of the executive office. After less than a year, Goodling moved again, to the attorney general’s office, working as the White House liaison. According to David Ayres, senior chief of staff to Attorney General John Ashcroft, "She was the embodiment of a hardworking young conservative who believed strongly in the president and his mission". But according to Bud Cummins, one of the fired prosecutors and an Arkansas Republican, “She was inexperienced, way too naïve and a little overzealous".

So, Monica Goodling was going to single-handedly bring down this despicable house of cards. The headlines tell me that “Goodling ‘Crossed the Line.’” Wow! Better than the contents of Nixon's blank tapes. Turned a corner, crossed a line, stay the course and nobody has stepped on a crack. What the hell, people? This is all we got? You put, "Crossed the line" on the front of you newspapers? What. Ever.

And, clearly all knives are out for McNulty. Both Gonzalez and Goodling have thrown Paul McNulty under the old bus (can you say “Scooter”?). So, were back where we started with this whole mess and Karl, Harriet, George, and Dick are nowhere near the heat.

Good. I always admire competence. The GOP has loads of competence and The Democrats (you remember, “a bold new direction for a secure America”) are still like retarded, drunk, blinded mimes racing across freeway traffic (reminds me of a story from just this morning*). No wonder Dick and George remain so arrogant. There's not a power in the universe to humble them. I mean, seriously, Karl is the dope pimp mack daddy of the highest order (second only to Dick Cheney), right?

File this one under “Duh!” And know that all the will she or won’t she cry suspense and anticipation was part of the play, dummy.

If they can make the good general lie, mopes like Gonzalez, Goodling, and Scooter – who all probably don’t know a truth anymore – are going to stay the proverbial course.

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

* A Short Story: This morning a beater pick-up truck caught fire on the freeway in the center divide. The fire trucks were on the right shoulder. A cop walked out onto the freway and stopped the traffic. He yelled at me.

Woman on Woman

The stay-at-home and working mom interaction is fascinating. Both sides are convinced that the other is wrong.

Read this article this morning:

The Invisible Mommies, by Sharon Lerner

A spate of new books about opting out adds more fuel to the mommy wars. But will our focus on educated, well-paid women ever trickle down to less fortunate moms?

Like I said, fascinating.

Untitled (weeds)

In & Around