Sidepipe is a kinda neat little prog where you can create a list of sites like a favories list that lots of folks can add to and play with. You can also leave messages on any site with it. Kinda neat. It’s a small download well worth getting and playing with.

drum’m'bass

Beer Clock Is it time yet?

Otters

DANCE BOY!!!!

Be David Still

A Women’s Guide on How to Pee Standing Just incase you wanted to know. (liberally borrowed from crakreport).

Whisper the Songs of Silence

Music generated on a computer is usually associated with the thumping beats of techno. But a quieter aesthetic is emerging.

It’s so subtle you can hardly hear it.

Blogtoday is a portal like blog, somewhat like eatonweb portal. it contains links to weblogs, web blogging related news and other web log related items.

Blog About Blogs

Weblogs Compendium

The official Taliban website.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder linked to piety

The notion that a strict, possibly even God-fearing, upbringing may contribute to obsessive-compulsive disorder has been boosted by a survey which discovered that devout Catholics were more likely to show symptoms than less religious people.

Patients with OCD get caught in a vicious mental cycle that can take over and cripple their everyday lives. For instance, a sufferer may become convinced that everything around them is dirty, and in extreme cases spend up to eight hours a day cleaning in a bid to banish the thought.

The causes of the disorder, which affects at least five million Americans and a million Britons, are still obscure. But genes, upbringing, head injuries and emotional trauma have all been implicated.

Now Claudio Sica at the University of Parma in Italy and his team have found that committed Catholics are more likely to show symptoms of OCD.

New look as promised. And it’s completely new really, well, completely new for J’s Notes, instead of a simple variation. It should be completely cross-broswer now.

(NOTE to Netscape users: if you’re using anything before NS6 you’re not going to see the page exactly as I want it to be seen. Oh, you’ll get all the content in a pretty manner and what not, but I used CSS to designate colors all over the place and NS is funny with style sheets. Well, was. Oh well.)

What do you all think?

It’s THURSDAY!!!! Wow, there are a lot of these question thingys for Thursday now.

Thursday Threesome

Onesome. Healthy. Tell us about one thing you did for yourself that’s healthy - and not just physical, mental and emotional health matter, too!

I try and get out on the weekends instead of sitting around the house all day doing nothing. I can’t even get myself to do chores, really, if I don’t get out I get bored and bummed. Lately Jenn and I have been making ourselves busy. Good times!

Twosome. Wealthy. What in life makes you feel wealthy in your heart?

Jenn. Cause she loves me and I know it and I love her and she knows it and what more could I ask for?

Threesome. Wise. Share your favorite proverb or motto… or just make one up yourself.

I’ve always liked the whole “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” thing and I firmly believe in it. Be good to people, damn it!

May 30, 2002-blah: SHT (Stupid Human Tricks) edition

1. David Letterman has invited you to do a “stupid human trick” on his show. You are invincible and can try any kind of stunt imaginable without fear of death and injury. Please describe your fantasy stunt on “stupid human tricks.”

Swan dive from an airplane into a thimble of water, just like in the cartoons.

2. Apparently you are not invincible because during your “stupid human trick” you have seriously injured yourself. You’re in the hospital with multiple broken bones and other injuries; you’re likely to be in the hospital for months. How do you pass the time?

Telling stories to the other patients about the time I threw myself from an airplane in an attempt to dive into a thimble of water.

3. You have died of your injuries. Please tell us about your own personal version of what happens when you die — where do you go, what do you do, who do you see?

AAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!

I DON’T KNOW!!!!

(What a coinky-dink! See post from earlier today.)

Thursday Thumb-Twiddler

1. With a poof of inky black smoke, the Devil appears before you and offers you long years of success and fortune, all in exchange for that little intangible he calls your soul. Do you prick your finger and sign on the dotted line?

Nope, sorry, this soul’s mine and it’s worth a hell of a lot more than long years of success and fortune. Now, if you threw Nicole Kidman in the deal…

2. If you walked out of your house tomorrow morning and saw a bird with a broken wing huddled in some nearby bushes, what would you do?

Awww…. um, I don’t know, really. I’d probably look to see if there was a nest nearby and maybe try and put it in there, but knowing my luck it wouldn’t be that bird’s nest and the real owner would come in and eat him or something. If I couldnt’ find anything I’d say, “sorry, birdie,” and keep going. What can you do, right?

3. What’s the best use you can think of for snow?

Day off of work.

76%

I am 76% worshipable! And you? Find out!

Identity theft sucks

Is it wrong to be only 23 and have a very strong and distinct fear of death? I mean, this isn’t recent for me, I’ve been afraid of death for years now. It’s not like I obsesses on it, but it’s always there, lingering in the back of my mind, really scaring the shit out of me.

And I think that fear is what led to my crisis of faith with the Catholic Church, really.

I mean, one of the fundamentals of the faith is that there’s something after. Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, there’s something. And not just that there is something but that we should look forward to it. You die, you see Saint Peter at them big ol’ pearly gates, and he pulls out The Book, rubs his chin, nods a few times, maybe arcs and eyebrow or two, and then says “GO TO HEAVEN!” or the opposite or something like that.

But what if that’s not the way it works?

What if there’s nothing?

Dark, black, nothing, the total absense of everything, no sight, no sound, no feelings, nothing.

THAT scares the crap outta me.

I mean, I always picture it, but that’s not accurate, that’s me SEEING nothing and CONTEMPLATING nothing, and if all there was was nothing, that wouldn’t be right. I wouldn’t see or contemplate anything, I’d simply cease.

So what happens to me, to all of this in my head, these thoughts, these memories, these emotions, the love and the hurt, the feelings of everything, what happens to it all? Nothing?

Really, at it’s source, it’s all chemical reactions, nerve impulses.

My eyes focus on Jenn, my mind computes that, “hey, that’s Jenn! Jenn = good,” so it releases some chemicals that make me giddy and also sends little impulses to nerves and then muscles that make me smile and think I’m in love.

And, not to belittle that emotion, but it’s chemicals and impulses, it’s all like a machine, a computer.

So, like a computer, can it just be turned off and cease to run? The stuff in the computer stays there, all of the bits of data, they don’t go anywhere, they just stop. Is that death?

All of this is pretty big stuff for a fourteen year old to contemplate while walking his paper route one summer afternoon.

It used to keep me up at nights, the thought of nothing. It’s not like sleeping, the brain’s still working. It’s not like closing your eyes because you’re seeing the darkness behind that and contemplating it. It’s not like anything we can simulate here because in order to observe it, your mind has to be working.

And would it matter at all, considering you’re not even going to notice?

I think it’s the ceasing to be that frightens me the most. It’s gone, all of it. Nothing left but a shell.

AAAAHHHH!!!

Now I’m thinking about it.

And I have no idea what brought this on. Now, in the first place, at all. I can’t recall any sort of situation where I’ve almost died. I was just walking and thinking. I think too damn much.

Death sucks. And that’s an understatement. I want to believe that there’s something after, that there is a nice cloud waiting for me or even a firey pit or, hey, while I’d be shocked, if I die and there’s Zeus shaking his head going “you should have known better” or if I come back as a rock, it’s something more than nothing (though, that rock thing would suck, if you ask me). It’s the thought of nothing that worries me.

Heh, I’m worrying about nothing.

Anyways, that makes me afraid because I don’t know. And maybe it all leads back to the lack of control in the situation because I don’t know, and therefore I flip out because on a personal level I’m a control freak. But the thought of nothing makes me wonder, the Catholic in me goes, “wow, what a complicated thing this brain is, someone really big and powerful and all knowing must have designed this thing because it really can’t be by accident,” but the scientist says, “but what if it was by accident and all it all goes away in the end?”

What if there is no soul?

Death.

Ugh.

Hello, my porn name is Salvadore Carrington. What’s yours?

The American Times looks very cool and well worth a regular viewing.

And let’s help Oliver Willis become the official blogger for Maxim.com

drudge or instapundit or welch or layne may not repect you enough to write about you, but i do, miss universe, whoever you are.

How ’bout that? The Invisible Hand now perma links to me and I think that’s swell. Run by Philip Murphy, the site’s very nice and well worth a read. I’m there right now and you should be too! (I’ll perma link to it shortly as I’m working on a redesign and what not).

Forgiveness was a topic AKMA thuroughly discussed Sunday and Monday and even Tuesday. He may even keep going today. Good stuff. I need to read it again before I can go in on it.

I always find it interesting to note the obvious bias of some reporting. I mean, at it’s foundation it’s no body’s fault, really, it’s simply human nature to write based upon your own observations and conclusions, all shaped by your own personal views and opinions. But the media likes to hype itself as impartial and delivering the straight facts, no bias here, nope.

So, yeah, it’s neat when it’s right there smacking you in the face.

Let’s go back to this past Friday, May 24th.

The Washington Post reported:

White House-Enron Ties Detailed

Papers Show Aides Seeking to Limit Bankruptcy’s Damage

On the same issue, the Washington Times said:

White House Aids Weighed Enron End

No action taken to save failing firm

This is all just going on the headlines, but it seems the Post wants to highlight what the administration tried to do to help Enron while the Times wants to focus on what the administration didn’t do.

But they focus on different aspects.

The Washington Post speaks of the public relations push for damage control on the eve of Enron’s bankrupcy more than anything, but also spends time on all of the administration’s efforts to help Enron while giving only one line that reflects well on the White House:

Nothing in the report refutes the White House’s contention that no official did anything or suggested doing anything to bail out Enron.

It’s almost as if they’re grudgingly giving the administration that much.

Ultimately, the Post is trying to convey that the Bush administration was closer to Enron than they admit, a stance that could greatly help the Democratic party come November as they try to find something, ANYTHING to make a significant dent in President Bush’s popularity.

The Washington Times, on the other hand, wants the world to see that, yeah, sure Bush knew Kenneth Lay and other Enron folks, but the administration wasn’t run by them. They take what the Post gave one sentence and write their whole article on it. Though, the times does point out:

Mr. Lay had more luck getting the White House to look favorably on nominees he supported for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the principal regulator of Enron’s natural gas pipelines and energy trading activities, the documents show.

Mr. Bush not only appointed Mr. Lay’s top choice, Pat Wood, as chairman, but he also heeded the Enron founder’s advice in appointing a second commissioner, Nora Brownell.

But they’re very quick to also say:

Even so, within weeks of joining the commission, the Bush appointees voted to put caps on wholesale power prices in California, defying Enron’s wishes and dealing the company a third major blow.

All of this comes “according to a chronology the White House provided to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) on Wednesday evening after he subpoenaed the White House for a broader array of Enron-related documents” says the Post and “documents, released hours after the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee issued subpoenas for the information Wednesday, [that] show the White House was aware of the damage that might come from the demise of the nation’s biggest energy trader and seventh-largest corporation” according to the Times.

It’s amazing that two papers can find two completely different stories from the same source.

But, who’s right?

Both of them are, and while they are reporting the news, neither paper is giving you the full story. It’s all about focus and spin, something that everyone does in their own little way.

This is a case of seeing and hearing what you want and ignoring anything that might get in the way or your point. The Devil is in the details, so let’s leave that part out.

In doing so, are these papers doing a disservice to their readers? Overall, hells yeah. They’re misleading, presenting their own opinion and their own news and that’s all you’re going to get. It’s half truths that ignore the whole truth.

But, I say overall and not definite because, well, look at the reason people read one paper over the other. And it’s more about the Times here, so I’ll focus on that as my example.

The Washington Times is pretty damn conservative, perhaps one of the finest examples of yellow journalism and sensationalism this side of tabloids. But it gets plenty of readers becase it’s conservative, it’s not the liberal drivel it’s readers could get anywhere else (in their opinion). They buy the Times because of it’s conservative slant, because they’re going to hear what they want to hear, yea, Right! Their readers are pleased as punch but they’re doing a public disservice by isolating the facts to make it seem like the big, bad Democrats are out to get Bush43.

The Washington Post isn’t in the same boat, though. It’s a larger paper, more widely read world wide and therefore held to a slightly higher standard by the public at large. Hell, everyone knows the Times is a rag, it admits that it’s biased. The Post still attempts to present an air of neutrality, and being an older, more esteemed paper, and it must strive to keep up that premise.

So, the Post fails it’s readers more than the Times because many of its readers read it because they believe that they’re neutral and that the Post is the best source for even coverage.

What they are both saying, and no matter how hard the Times tries to downplay it, is that the Bush administration was a little more involved with Enron than it is telling us. It’s just simply a matter of how they present that association. One says it was nothing, the other says there was more than you think.

Either way, they’re both not giving their readers the full picture.