Ultranormal

Author: Kevin Lawver

  • Ahhhh, finally. Ximian GNOME is

    Ahhhh, finally. Ximian GNOME is finally available for YellowDog 2.1. Let the geekRejoicing begin.

  • Unlawful Combatants

    Our government continues to classify the “detainees” in Cuba as unlawful combatants, and therefore are not covered under the Geneva Convention. While I agree that they may not be traditional POWs, I still think we should go out of our way to afford them every privelage given to POWs under the Geneva Convention. What?! Yes, I know. Just yesterday I was all for stringing them all up by their toes until they tell us everything they know. I realized that in all of the future, yet-to-happen fighting, undoubtedly some of our troops will be captured. We don’t want to give the other side any excuse to not extend the same privelages and treatment to our soldiers.

    We have to be beyond reproach in this respect. We’re America – the biggest, the strongest. We can’t go gathering up the angry little guys and putting them in cages. We have to treat them like soldiers even if they’re just terrorists. Just because this is a “new kind of war”, we shouldn’t stoop any lower than we have to. Treating the captured Taliban and Al-Queda fighters as POWs is an easy and internationally visible way to start.

    Crappy Segue

    If I hear anyone else from the Bush administration call Al Queda “the evildoers” one more time, I’m going to lose it and start throwing things. It’s President Bush’s favorite phrase, and just yesterday on Meet the Press, I heard it from Andrew Card, the Chief of Staff. Come on. Don’t you think that over-simplifies what they are and what they’re trying to do? Al Queda is not Doctor Doom, or Boris and Natascha or Muttly. They’re fanatics who believe that America is the Great Satan. And that’s just the beginning. Calling them “evil-doers” and “the bad guys” turns this into an episode of Starsky and Hutch. It minimizes the threat into a two-dimensional comic book instead of a global ideological war, a bloody culture clash that could drag on for decades. So, stop it, you poops.

  • If the people who play

    If the people who play EverQuest have too much time on their hands, what does that say about the people who spend months researching them?

  • Yesterday afternoon was all REM

    Yesterday afternoon was all REM and for no other reason than I listened to my Randy Newman stuff and REM was next in iTunes’ playlist. I didn’t have the heart to change to something else. There’s something comforting about REM (the old stuff). It’s safe and sweet and innocent and reminds me of junior high parties in basements, games of sardines and hours spent trying to sing along with It’s The End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine).

  • I used to work with

    I used to work with this guy, I swear!

  • The Little Man

    We were going to the doctor this morning, Jen and I. We were early and decided that we should check out the mysteriously named Yas Bakery on the way. We entered to the smell of fresh mint and exotic fruits and spices. After passing a refrigerated glass case filled with assorted strange loafs and pans of tofu, we came to the pastry case, filled to overflowing with baklava, dozens of different small cookies, odd but tasty looking gooey treats, rock candy and a little woman in a white apron with olive skin and a gigantic smile.

    I decided to try the baklava and asked for six pieces (not all for me, of course). When she asked if there was anything else, I spied the gooey tubes. About the size of cocktail wienies, they glistened with what looked like corn syrup. I asked what they were, and she quickly took two out of the case and her small hand came over the case to offer them to me. They were sticky, but the pastry was still slightly crunchy when I bit into it, releasing the honey inside. It was amazing. I added six of those to the six baklavas, and the bag of “super seeds” I had picked up from the “seed table” in the middle of the small store.

    When I went up to the register, the little man came out from the back. He asked us with a thick Greek accent if this was our first visit to his bakery. It was. He threw up one hand in a triumphant salute and scurried behind the pastry case where he produced two almond cookies, one for Jen, one for me. The small shortbread was covered with paper-thin slices of almond and garnished with what I think were ground pistachios. It was very dry, the almonds slightly sweet and woody, but delicious. He then came around the case to face me across the counter where he promptly rattled off all of the amazing confections he could create and then produced a photo album. He proudly displayed pictures of baklava towers, three-tiered wedding cakes, a picture of the little man wearing an apron holding a frosting sleeve at the ready above a half-finished masterpiece.

    We paid, and I decided never to pass up the chance to visit the little out-of-the-way on the way to the doctor’s places of the world. I will always remember the little man and his family in their little sweet-smelling bakery and the cookies. Trips to the grocery store for milk and bread are quickly forgotten.

  • I really wish I had

    I really wish I had something to say. Work is crushing my spirit, and my lack of caffeine is sapping my strength. I’ll hopefully be back tomorrow full of vim and vigor (and caffeine).

  • Connie Chung is joining CNN

    Connie Chung is joining CNN, and will host an hour-long show at 8pm in the Spring. The show hasn’t been named yet. In an attempt to be as helpful as possible to the newest member of the AOL-Time Warner family, I’ve come up with a list of possible titles for her show:

    • On The Bottom Rung With Chung

    • She could get together with Wayne Brady from Who’s Line and have a Crossfire-like: Wayne-Chung Hour (sorry, I really couldn’t help it)

    • In the same vein, she and Larry King could combine their shows for the canned Chung King Show (does anyone else remember Chung King canned Chinese food?)

    • In the spirit of ESPN’s new design treatment, they could call it just CONNIE

    • Pro and Connie

    • On The Down Low with cChung

    • She could get together with Aaron Brown and Wolf Blitzer and call it The News, Brought to You By A, B and C

  • Happy anniversary, sweetie. The past

    Happy anniversary, sweetie. The past four years have been the best times of my life. From our little apartment in Tucson to our adventure in cross-country travel to get here. The day you surprised me at the front door when I came home and asked if I wanted to take my pregnant wife to dinner. The day we brought Max home from the hospital and all the times you’ve taken care of me. I love you.

  • After the RedHat rumor was

    After the RedHat rumor was debunked, I was wondering if I would get any good news today. Here’s the answer to my prayer: Netscape is suing Microsoft.