Posted 2/15/2003 12:48:00 AM by Sid link


R.E.M.

Ngnat just woke up crying. It took ten minutes to console her, laying down beside her on my old single bed while she sucked her thumb and calmed down, the tracks of her tears slowly drying up as she tossed and turned. I stared up at the ceiling. She kicked me in the stomach, repeatedly. Not hard, though not particularly soft, either. I imagine it felt something like what the Sainted Wife used to complain about when fetus Ngnat would brace against her ribcage and stretch.

She was assuring herself that I was still there on the bed beside her, extending a foot just to make contact every few seconds, as if I could just levitate away without her noticing, in the blink of an eye. If a kick missed, then she opened her eyes and looked around, making sure I was still there. Fifteen seconds later they started again.

Thanks to beverages like the Baron, which I'm having more than one of tonight, she didn't miss often. No, I don't know what the site I linked to is actually saying about the beer. For all I know, it could be "This is the stuff we scrape off the bathroom floor to sell to the American yuppies. They pay eight dollars a sixpack to taste Yongo's flop sweat!"

If so, then more power to Yongo. This is some tasty effluvia.* I can tell you that the beer namesake was Chamberlain to the Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I, but Google failed me afterwards. Or I failed it. I've had the feeling for a while now that all human knowledge is accessible through Google, and the only secret is how to phrase your search.

That's what I think about while Ngnat kicks, there in the dark. Eventually the kicks slow down to one every thirty seconds, then one every minute, then she falls back asleep and I get up, ever so slowly. I can testify, as can the wife, that the kicks never stop entirely. Every night that she has slept with us is punctuated by feet. We move farther apart, and she goes horizontal in response, straining to make contact, until the morning, when we wake as the letter H; a parent hanging off each end of the bed, and a fully extended toddler in the middle, occasionally kicking one parent, then punching the other. It was a pretty regular practice until the SW reached her current state of gravidity. Now bad dreams are dealt with in situ, and we retreat to our bed afterwards.

And that's what it was, though she never said what it was about. She never does. I'd like to know, even if the knowledge would only depress me, for who can guard their daughter's dreams? It's not monsters, I know that. She'd absolutely love seeing Sully and Mike, or any of their ilk. I hope it's not me she dreams of, when she has bad dreams. There's no reason she should. But I spoke rather sharply to her earlier in the evening when she stuck her hand in the kitty litter, and who knows what that could turn into?


*Good beer, though not a lot of head on the three that I've had. It's a dark lager, which I've always thought is a great way to lure people into drinking the darker beers and ales. It's not as thick as they expect, so the mouth feel is reassuringly normal, and the taste is on the pleasant side of exotic for someone used to American macro brews. The Baron in particular has a nice overtone of spices to it. I won't call it spicy, to me that implies a heat that isn't found is this beer. I also won't go on any further; I'd just be making it up.

Posted 2/14/2003 04:24:00 PM by Katie Bug link


Ooooohhhhh.......Aaahhhhhhhh

Wish my "flowing knots of gas" could be this pretty.

Posted 2/14/2003 02:23:00 PM by Katie Bug link


Hello, Dolly............I Mean Goodbye, Dolly

Another reason it is not good to be a sheep today.

UPDATE: Fearing an attack from a cloned sheep army, France surrendered.

Posted 2/14/2003 02:14:00 PM by Katie Bug link


Pulling Off The Bandaid

Another day closer to war, at least that is how I feel, and I am past the arguments of whether or not we should go to war. Part of me feels there is no point arguing about what has already happened, and in many ways I feel that is the case with our war, or impending war with Iraq. For me, these days of terror alerts, military buildups and French bashings, are like waiting for someone to pull the bandaid from your wound. You know that it is coming, so you grit your teeth and wait for the ripping sensation as the bandaid is quickly removed from your arm. My teeth are clinched and I am waiting for news that the first bomb has dropped on Iraq.

Part of me does worry. Who knows what will happen to our world when we fight Iraq this time around? A lot of people act as if they know the results and how it will all play out, but they don't. Part of getting people to buy into the idea of war is saying things as if you believe they are fact and not debatable. Inevitably, people will fall into line and believe you.

Sometimes, especially as an alcoholic undergraduate student, I would take a test, and even if I knew I failed, I felt better just knowing that the test was behind me. I am getting some of those same feelings again as I wait for war to start. Whether I agree with it or not doesn't matter, I may just feel better once it has started. War blows. Waiting for war blows as well.

Posted 2/14/2003 11:49:00 AM by Sid link


Holy Non-Attribution, Batman!

Does this look familiar to anyone else?

Thanks to Dean Esmay for the spot. Busy morning, more later.

Update: There's a link there now. Thanks go out to Laurence and Bill for posting about it and giving the story some much needed publicity. Laurence in particular knew exactly what we were going through, as he went through almost the exact same experience after 9/11. I even remember seeing his post show up in my email at the time. If anyone else posted about it, let me know so I can thank you personally.

Now there's just Neal, and Ehowa. And God only knows who else. I could spend all my time tracking down this meme, but I suspect/hope these are the last electrons I spend on it. Night, ya'll.

Posted 2/13/2003 10:42:00 PM by Sid link


Please Don't Throw Me in Dat Dere Briar Patch

In a stunning show of political obtuseness, six Democratic house members have filed suit in Boston to prevent George Bush from launching an invasion of Iraq without an explicit declaration of war from Congress.

Now they have to pray that he doesn't do what they seemingly want him to do. George Bush could go before Congress tomorrow and ask for a declaration of war, and have it passed by a substantial majority in both Houses of Congress by the end of the day. Even if no Democrats voted for war, the declaration would pass, and there's just not that many suicidal Democrats.

H.J.Res. 114, "Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq" was passed in the Senate with 77 for and 23 against, and in the House with a 160 vote majority. Does John Conyers really think that the anti-war arguments have gained strength in the days since? Does he really believe that his Democratic associates have suddenly grown the spine necessary to stand opposed as a group to a declaration of war that would pass anyway?

He should be publicly drummed from the party on the grounds of stupidity alone. Nothing good can come of this for the Democrats, and worse things happen if George is feeling his oats one day and decides to go before Congress and demand a war. Let's suppose that he does, and the motion passes with about the same numbers as H.R. 114 did.

For Republicans, nothing much changes. Everyone expected them to vote for the war anyway, but each and every Democrat now has a huge target on his(or her) back. Any Democrat that had the temerity to vote for war is now likely to face a challenger from the crazyleft in the 04 primaries. Any Democrat that voted against the war has inoculated himself in the primaries only to face accusations of being soft on terrorism, if not outright treason, in the general campaign. If the war goes well, they have to run against pictures of jubilant Iraqis released from Saddam's prisons. They'll have to run against the equivalent of Holocaust photos. If the war goes badly, they'll have to run against pictures of dead American soldiers with the words "When I went to war, John Conyers didn't cover me. John Conyers didn't support me. And my parents had to bury me."

Admittedly, if things go amiss in Iraq it's not great for the Republicans, but George will suffer the consequences, not them. A war in Iraq isn't going to be seen as as Republican War, it's going to be seen as George Bush's war.

Just when it looks like the Democratic Party has reached the nadir of its political, it breaks through to a new sub-cellar. At this rate I expect their Presidential candidates will start publicly jockeying for the NAMBLA endorsement by the end of next week.

Posted 2/13/2003 10:39:00 AM by Sid link


Fumble Fingered Geeks Sink Ships

FYI, the command

#cd vi > /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

is a very bad thing to accidentally type on a Unix box.

I blame the SecureCRT "paste as quotation" functionality, myself.

Posted 2/12/2003 08:58:00 PM by Sid link


Children of the Mind

Throughout our recent and possibly continuing bout with Viral Gastroenteritis (You certainly can tell what I've been googling lately, can't you?), there was one concern, paramount in its importance, and constantly in the back of my mind, whether shivering under a mound of blankets in the LazyBoy or perched over the kitchen sink thinking "You know, ranch dressing really doesn't look that much different the second time around."

Was it rapidly growing pile of work assignments? No.

Was it the health of my child, who has had this virus for a week, and who, but for the grace of her birth in a first world country, might have already died of it by now? No.

Was it the health of my pregnant wife and future son, the guarantor of my name? Nooo.

Was it blog traffic? Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding!

It's nice to know that, even when battling a deadly virus, my essentially shallow nature is strong enough to muddle through. Otherwise I'd be forced to undergo some sort of spiritual awakening, becoming even more of a bore at parties, as I recount my passage through the fire to people desperately looking for a way round me to the chips and dip.

It's was also nice to discover that traffic stayed about the same, mostly due to the the post that keeps on giving, Hoist by Their Own Petain, the joke post I wrote back in January about France and its valiant military history, or lack thereof. Sergeant Stryker picked it up, and Pejmanpundit, and that was great, and then The Corner sent us about 4,000 visitors a week later, which was unexpected, to say the least. I need to start brownnosing Glenn again so I can compare those numbers with the ones an Instalanche brings, now that we've found a counter that actually counts.

The most valuable link over time has been from the Strategy Page, which has sent a couple hundred visitors our way every day since the link was posted a couple of weeks ago. In the "what have you written lately" country of Blogistan, a link that keeps on giving like that is beyond gold and diamonds in value.

And as Josh Heit has noted, the meme keeps spreading. It's been weirdly attractive to football fans, drawing visits from the football discussion boards at LSU, Auburn, Missouri, Texas Tech, and Purdue. I've stopped copying down the urls, but discussion boards at Sissyfight, FuckedCompany, the Free Republic, ESPN, Fark, free-porn site The Stile Project, glocktalk.com, Hot Wheels collectors.com, The Motley Fool, Elite Trader, Baen's bar, battlerifles.com, Graybeard Outdoors, an online site dedicated to hobbyists who make their own armour, as well as several online gaming sites* have also sent people our way, many of whom seemed to think it was intended to be a fair and accurate history. Their reactions were.....pleasing to me.

Back in the first months of Hraka's existence, I wrote "you never knows what's going to happen when you create a meme. It will probably die, but sometimes, rarely, that meme goes on, and the person that created that meme would have made a big difference in the world. It's like being a butterfly. One flap of a butterfly's wing at the right time, and that little gust of air eventually becomes a gigantic storm."

The post certainly hasn't stirred up a storm. If anything, I suppose it might be classified as a gentle zephyr amidst the currents of the world, but it's oddly gratifying to see it still turning over leaves so far away from its origin.



*If for some reason you desire to visit one of the above named yet unlinked sites, and cannot find them on you own, let me know and I'll give you a link**. It's too much to expect a convalescent such as myself to go through the horrible toil necessary to link back to every one of those sites. I get breathless and wheezy just thinking about it.

**Except for the Stile Project. You'll have to find that one yourself. Think of it as a prerequisite for being able to surf one-handed.

Update: Thanks once again to the eagle-eyed Josh, who found it again at the letters to the editor page at World Net Daily (uncredited, i might add). This led me to the next obvious step, googling this sucker.

We're not even in the top 20 results. Also, as this post at Frontpage shows, the language is beginning to change as the meme evolves. And it's getting on some froggie nerves.

Posted 2/12/2003 08:32:00 PM by Sid link


Anything Dirty Or Dusty Or Dingy

Hell, Oscar, of course I'm right.

Zod: You think he might be a little......special?
Well, anyone who doubts me has got to have a least a little short bus in him somewhere.

Update: Oscar's links appear to be down. Use this one, instead

Posted 2/12/2003 08:31:00 PM by Sid link


Only 96 To Go

The Doggerel Pundit sent us the latest member of the pro-war poem posse, which you can also peruse over at his place.

Why We Fight

We've not been tamed since we began.
Across our years of strife we know
Has ever been two sides of Man
In conflict, handed histories show.
Our nature's law for now as then
Is guard to grow, and fight to win.

Man can think of any thing,
Will form it with directed hand;
From furrow plough to benzene ring
And forward far to Earth-lit sand.
From brain and arm and heart within
Flows all made good that's ever been.

Another Man will steal and kill,
And grow to love the forcing power.
Threatening your grave to fill,
Let you and other legions cower.
Oft times fear gangs will grow, akin
To armies, bringing battle din.

Locked in clash Man sheds their tears.
Still, dragging forward, upward, more,
Though halts have seen a thousand years
While growing spread on different shore.
Any shore or color skin,
Best guard to grow, and fight to win.

The legacy of guarding's plan
In winning fights though dearly bought;
A newer higher force for Man
Of freedom---such a wonder wrought!
Let sharpest rise of Man begin
With such a prize and goad to win.

Some will, must, ignore the path
By how Man rose to where we are.
The peaceful lash out in their wrath
Inflicting irony's bitterest scar.
And borne along they've always been
When we have had to fight and win.

We'll not be tamed for future's span.
Dispute we must each tyrant's turn.
We'll raise, raise more the state of Man,
And peace and freedom forever yearn.
Good Man is best our kith and kin.
Here's why we fight, and why we'll win.

Now c'mon people, ya'll wanna be outdone by a bunch of sandal wearing jew hatin' pacifists? Get out there and make up a rhyme. It's not like it's hard. Here's a template, even;

Roses are red
Violets are blue
If I were Saddam
I'd of already killed you.

Best foot forward now. Spit-spot!

Posted 2/12/2003 08:28:00 PM by Sid link


More Bird Blogging, Because I'm Anal About Some Things

I think these cover the remainder of the most common winter species in this area of N.C, save for woodpeckers. Any new species after this will come as at least a mild surprise.

Zod: Woo-hoo! There's nothing anyone likes more that a nice, mild surprise! Non-threatening and uninteresting.
Piss off, vagrant synapse.
Zod: Well, if you're going to get nasty....

New Birds at the feeder;

Eastern Bluebird- Three at a minimum, one female and two males
Brown Thrasher - Just the one. The juncos on the ground below loved him, as he knocked 10 seeds out of the feeder for every one he ate.
Brown Headed Nuthatch
Yellow-Rumped Warbler - After the suet

Update: Not a feeder bird, but we did get a visit from a Barred Owl last night, one under the impression that just outside our window was an ideal place to call from between 1 and 3 in the morning.

Posted 2/12/2003 08:03:00 AM by Sid link


Caught 22

This week's Carnival of the Vanities is at The People's Republic of Seabrook,

Upcoming Carnival stops include;


February 26th Kesher Talk
March 5th Gut Rumbles
March 12th The Daily Rant
March 19th Wylie Blog
March 26th Dancing with Dogs
April 2nd Go Fish
April 9th Solonor's Ink Well
April 16th Billegible
April 23th The Kitchen Cabinet
April 30th Clubbeaux
May 7th Common Sense and Wonder

If you'd like to host the Carnival, drop us a line. Information on how to join the Carnival can be found here.

Posted 2/11/2003 10:54:00 AM by Sid link


Leaving a Trail of Slime Wherever We Go

We've been Norwalked, Ngnat and I. What the doc thought was anemia yesterday was just the onset of the virus, the point at which the viral load was large enough to start draining away my energy level. I went home and wrapped up in damn near every blanket in the house, not that they did any good. 12 hours later my pipes were finally clean, and I was able to start anticipating the benefit of Norwalk; weight loss through starvation.

Ngnat came down with it this weekend, so I know the source of my illness. Sainted wife has been paranoid ever since, convinced that she's only a sneeze away from the misery. She's starting to jump at the sight of bodily fluids like a vampire at the garlic harvest. After determining this morning that I was at least minimally able to move around and parent, she fled the house for the relative comfort of her job.

Ngnat's gone down for her nap now. I suspect she's not totally over the virus yet, as she announced that it was time for a nap, something she normally fights tooth and nail against. I hope she's down for a while; I was getting really tired of the Disney channel.

Posted 2/10/2003 09:19:00 PM by Katie Bug link


Dude, You're Getting a Cell

Dell Dude Busted For Pot
NEW YORK (Feb. 10) - Dude! The actor who gained fame and a cult following as the slacker ``Steven'' in commercials for Dell computers was arrested buying a small bag of marijuana, police said.

Benjamin Curtis, a 22-year-old New York University drama student, awaited arraignment Monday on a misdemeanor drug possession charge.

Police said he was arrested Sunday night on the Lower East Side after officers on a drug detail spotted him buying a small bag of marijuana from Omar Mendez, 19. Mendez faces drug sale and possession charges.

Posted 2/10/2003 04:39:00 PM by Sid link


Doin' The Butt

Illish today, being tested for anemia after a surprising trip to the restroom earlier in the morning. All I can say, and perhaps all I really should say given the delicate nature of the subject, is that when the doctor that walks into the room is a blonde female wearing a mini-skirt and knee-high leather boots, that's when you know you've won the rectal exam lottery.