The King of Pointland

Fear and Loathing

An Indian friend of mine sent me this piece. The author is obviously a nut job, but it's frightenning nonetheless, and worth reading. Here we have an ultra-right wing Hindu nationalist threatening Indian ex-pats in America with deportation under the Patriot Act, for the sole crime of having once been a member of the Communist party.

A few weeks ago, this Indian friend of mine confided in me that he refrained from joining at least one left-leaning organization because, in the current political climate, he was worried about deportation. Now he is wondering whether he needs to unsubscribe from the Yahoo groups in which he participates, and remove various political writings posted on his cubical wall.

I wanted to tell him not to do it, but I am not the one in jeopardy. How sad is it that he feels he has to worry about this at all?

That Is

While we're bashing Internet Explorer, here's more about IE/Windows and transparent PNG support.

Party Hardly

This is a riches to rags story.

Last weekend I attended three, yes, three parties -- two on the same night! David Eisner from the sticks at three parties! Who knew? Now I find myself the prisoner of a party-less weekend. To be fair, there was a gathering at Andrew and Maureen's last night, but, as Andrew would be the first to admit, it was not a "party" per se.

The more I think about it, though, the less concerned I become. It's nice to have some free time to myself. As Mark Twain once said, "Life is what happens to us in the space between House Parties."

By the way, I purchased this album after hearing a song on KEXP. This is perhaps the most mellow folk music I've ever heard. When I accidentally listened to the entire album in one sitting, my pulse dropped to 3 beats per minute. In fact, I'm listenning to it now and I just want to lie down in a field of tall grass on a warm summer day and go to sleep.

I like it.

Psyche! (for now)

From today's NYT:

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 16 -- In an abrupt reversal, the United States and Britain have indefinitely put off their plan to allow Iraqi opposition forces to form a national assembly and an interim government by the end of the month.

Instead, top American and British diplomats leading reconstruction efforts here told exile leaders in a meeting tonight that allied officials would remain in charge of Iraq for an indefinite period, said Iraqis who attended the meeting. It was conducted by L. Paul Bremer, the new civilian administrator here.

"Special" Intelligence

Donald Rumsfeld has his own special sources. Are they reliable?

Here's that article, Andrew.

Sorry Charlie

As I sit here watching Charlie Rose interview Christopher Guest, I'm more certain than ever that Rose is an utter moron. It's painful to watch. Why do people consider him to be such a wonderful interviewer? Maureen: Charlie Rose is my Bob Levey.

The clips he's showing do remind me how freaking hillarious Guest, Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, et. al. are. That's something.

I can't take it anymore. Where's Conan?

Tea

Tea Reader updated.

Transparently Bad

Under Mozilla and Safari, that gun picture has a nice transparent background. But with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, it is pale blue. See for yourself:

Mozilla (Windows XP)

Mozilla (Solaris 7)

But on IE, we get:

Internet Explorer (Windows XP)

How long will it take MS to fix this? Ah, there's a petition for everything.

Tool

Yael has kindly (and patiently) lent me a few books on the subject of typography. One chapter begins this way:

You already have some mental tools to begin work. Now you need the physical tools. No matter how much imagination and enthusiasm you have, you will depend on your tools to convey your ideas. Often the difference between a good design and a poor one is not confined solely to the designer's creative abilities, but also extends to the tools and their proper use.
... Buy only the best and you won't regret it. The extra money you spend on top-quality equipment and materials is a good investment. The tools pay for themselves by allowing you to produce professional work. Since you depend heavily on them, be sure they are the best.

This evening, for the first time in my life, I held a handgun. This is a tool designed for one purpose: killing a human being. It looked like it would do a pretty good job of it, too. The owner of the gun explained that it uses ammunition commisioned by the FBI to combine the accuracy of a 9mm round with the stopping power of a .45 caliber round. The gun is loaded with hollow point bullets which either fragment inside the body, or, ideally, mushroom to form a gaping exit wound.

There are times when one needs to end the life of another human being. In such situations, one wants the best tool for the job. God help me if I'm ever in such a situation.

Did you know . . .

It has come to my attention that while in some parts of the world May 1 is a day to honor laborers (similar to our Labor Day), here in America it is Loyalty Day.

I was ready to throw a fit, but apparently we've been celebrating Loyalty Day since 1958, and Dubya isn't the first president to make such proclamations.

Type Nerd Positive

Yael mentioned this at Tea awhile ago, and I finally got around to watching it. It's very amusing.

My Little Friends, Jim and Borris

Speaking of The New Yorker and animals (cf. comments in previous entry), a friend would like to visit my bathroom once a week to read the latest issue of said magazine. Loafer!

This is what I told her:

Dear Friend,

You're welcome to, but watch out: there are little animals in
my bathroom, too!  Seriously, I woke up at 4 AM this morning to 
make P.P. (that's short for pee pee), and there waiting for me were 
two visitors.  First, I saw the cricket, and thought, "Hello, little
friend.  You will jump on me, so I better sma-- oh, what's this?"
Looking down on the floor I espied a *huge* velvety spider!  I swear,
it looked like it was covered in dark purple velvet.

I put a clear glass flower bowl over him (her?), and I remember
saying to the spider, "I'm sorry, but I have to do this, because . . .
well, I think it's self-evident."

It's stil there. I'm going to set it free.  Wish me luck.

Yours,
David

As of this writing, I have not yet released the spider. I am worried it will jump on me and bite me in the eye. I need a long stick.

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