Things I’ve Seen

I expect most people have already seen this photo of Bush’s response to the destruction of a major American city:

Yes, that photo was taken on August 30th, more than 24 hours after Katrina had struck New Orleans.

[update] Boing Boing juxtaposes this with another photo taken at the same time.

And yes, I’m enough of a guitarist to know that he isn’t even playing a legitimate chord. I think the musician might be trying to move his hand down one fret…

It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us.

– Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004. Source.

****ALL RESIDENTS ON THE EAST BANK OF ORLEANS AND JEFFERSON REMAINING IN THE METRO AREA ARE BEING TOLD TO EVACUATE AS EFFORTS TO SANDBAG THE LEVEE BREAK HAVE ENDED. THE PUMPS IN THAT AREA ARE EXPECTED TO FAIL SOON AND 9 FEET OF WATER IS EXPECTED IN THE ENTIRE EAST BANK. WITHIN THE NEXT 12-15 HOURS****

http://www.wwltv.com/, August 30, 2005.

One of the funnier captions on the CNNNN spoof news ticker was “George Bush Senior wishes Martin Sheen was his son”… today, Martin Sheen once again showed himself more Presidential than the real thing, visiting Camp Casey to meet with Cindy Sheenan and lead a vigil:

Sheen then rejoined Sheehan on stage, and along with about 10 other people, they began a Rosary vigil. After each prayer of the Rosary that Sheen said, Sheehan called out the name of a fallen soldier. Many tears were shed during this vigil, which lasted nearly an hour.

We have a very good friend called Katrina. Not this one though (capitals and ellipsis in original):

EXTREMELY DANGEROUS HURRICANE KATRINA CONTINUES TO APPROACH THE
MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA

DEVASTATING DAMAGE EXPECTED

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS…PERHAPS LONGER. AT
LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL
FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL…LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY
DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL.
PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD
FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE
BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE…INCLUDING SOME
WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY…A
FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD…AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH
AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY
VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE
ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS…PETS…AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE
WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

From National Weather Service; the page is regually updated. This advisory was dated “413 PM CDT SUN AUG 28 2005″

This is interesting: Beloit college publishes, for the benefit of the faculty, a “mindset list” for the new intake of students. For instance, the class of 2009, starting college now, were mostly born in 1987, so, for instance…

• They don’t remember when “cut and paste” involved scissors.
• Iran and Iraq have never been at war with each other.
• Condoms have always been advertised on television.
• Les Miserables has always been on stage.
• Jimmy Carter has always been an elder statesman.

The kids in the youth group Sureka and I run are all this age or younger…

A work colleague sent me this. The more I think about it, the more I like it…

Version 1 of a product should crawl. This means it should do the bare minimum to be recognizable as what it’s intended to be. If it’s supposed to be a foo, and someone could look at version 1 and say, “That’s a foo,” you’re done. Ship it.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been weighing up recently what VoIP system to recommend for my parents (in the UK) to use to talk to (and maybe see) their grandchild here in Sydney. The Gizmo project was looking good - but now there is a new serious competitor.

All fo them are here…

“Goldilocks Dies With Honor at the Hands of the Three Bears”

… “The Three Little Pigs Build an Improvised Explosive Device and Deal With That Damned Wolf Once and for All”

… “Little Red Riding Hood Strays Into the Neutral Zone and Is Never Heard From Again, Although There Are Rumors … Awful, Awful Rumors”

Cindy Sheehan, writing a diary at Kos

Constant war is not a family value

Sureka and I finished “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” on Monday night (slow, I know - we didn’t take it on holiday with us!) - and by Tuesday, I was having withdrawal symptoms.

Spoilers below. Really.
Read the rest of this entry »