Living in fear is no good to anyone.

This is pretty neat

At that time that this essay was originally written, this was the only religious movement in North America of which we were aware which advocates genocide for followers of minority religions and non-conforming members of their own religion.

The Christian Right and the Rise of American Fascism:

"Secular Humanists," the popular Christian Right theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote in one of numerous diatribes, "are the greatest threat to Christianity the world has ever known."

The ideology of the Christian Right is not one of love and compassion, the central theme of Christ's message, but of violence and hatred. It has a strong appeal to many in our society, but it is also aided by our complacency. Let us not stand at the open city gates waiting passively and meekly for the barbarians. They are coming.

I'd like to be able to do something, but I don't know what I can.
Here's another article on the topic.

Do they see what the Bush administration has brought to our government? Are we supposed to accept torture and prisoner abuse as simply a new way to fight war? Do we accept the corruption found in our Social Conservative legislators simply because they were elected? This exposure of corruption is too vast to accept as the norm. By 2008 will the voters look at the GOP and think "corruption" and throw the rest of them out of office? They should! Damnit they should! Can we even try to locate anyone from the old Republican Party and ask them to return and help us eliminate this new corrupt mess? I think it would be a waste of time.

This was supposed to be a limited engagement in two countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, to be fought by regular career troops. The fact that it is now being undertaken by a disproportionate number of part-timers is, as Huckabee noted, testimony to the bad planning that went into this exercise.

I don't know much about any of the Republican candidates, but the small amount of info I have makes me like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee the best from the Republican list.


I don't agree with this argument for paying for a national health plan with increased fuel taxes, but there is some interesting stuff there and in the comments:
A call for universal health care

Japanese honey bees killing a hornet in a really neat way.

Last Saturday, I drove the jeep to Albuquerque with lalabob11. We didn't drive on I-25 at all. We took dirt roads all the way from Socorro to US-60 between the Blue Springs and Mountainair and then up various back highways until we got to the cement factory on I-40. It took us 7 hours to get up there, but was fun, and that was the point. It'll be a much more fun drive in the summer, with the top down.

On Sunday, houdini_cs and niap_si_efil came over and we did some maintenance stuff to houdini_cs's WRX, installed his front strut brace and also put the air compressor in my Jeep. Now I can air-down and air-up my tires out in the middle of nowhere if I need to. :)

I've taken the first step to deal with my sleep apnea: I have an appointment with my GP tomorrow afternoon so I can get a referral to have a sleep study done. Wheee.

I pretty much back this position:
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/news2/2007/01/time_to_remove-print.html

"They helped us load our van," Kutz said. Investigators used a fake identity to access a surplus Web site operated by a Pentagon contractor and bought still more, including a dozen microcircuits used on F-14 fighters.

The undercover buyers received phone calls from the Defense Department asking why they had no Social Security number or credit history, but they deflected the questions by presenting a phony utility bill and claiming to be an identity theft victim.

Elementary teacher Derek Porter witnessed 15 different car collision on icy roads outside his Portland apartment Tuesday morning and caught several on home video.

niap_si_efil posted this the other day:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/040405fa_fact?040405fa_fact
It's a really interesting article about average human heights over time and why the U.S. height average isn't going up.

This service looks neat, but is only available in the Seattle area right now. There might be something similar out here in NM, but probably not in Socorro.

Webcomics: Lunchbox Funnies

I've met this cat:
http://www.stuffonmycat.com/index.php?itemid=2904
It's milkmandan's cat Aleph.

Dealing with the 'we' and 'they' of 'our' Iraq war
Dems reject Rangel's call for a new military draft
I'm a hypocrite as regards a draft. I think there should be one and all persons over 18 and below some certain age, regardless of sex, should be in the pool. I also think there should be ways to get removed from the selection pool, but I'm not sure what possible ways to get out would let someone like myself get out without unfairly advantaging the rich or disadvantaging the poor. If there was a draft and I was below the certain age, I would likely do my damnedest to get out of the pool.

This is silly: Stooge Sort

Animations (SFW):
Minilogue/hitchhikers choice
Kiwi!

10th Annual Festival of the Crayons.
Originally uploaded by jarrodlombardo.

royal_spice came down to Socorro Saturday night and we went to the Festival of the Cranes on Sunday. I didn't really get any good photos of cranes, but I got lots of snow geese. Photos from the Festival of the Cranes

I also uploaded the panoramas from last week's North Baldy Trip.

( Read more... )

I meant to post this last Wednesday. Then on Thursday I realised I hadn't posted it yet, so I added to it and promptly forgot to post it again. The same happened Friday. Today, I haven't added anything to it other than this intro, but I'm actually remembering to post it now.

Rather than going to Congress and trying to negotiate changes to the law that regulates such activities, the administration simply grabbed that authority for itself, saying, in effect, "Trust us: if you knew what we know about the threat, you'd be perfectly happy to have us do what we're doing." In other areas, like the holding of prisoners in Guantanamo and interrogation methods used there and in the Middle East, one can only quote Moynihan on an earlier era: "As fears of Communist conspiracies and German subversion mounted, it was the U.S. government's conduct that approached the illegal.

Both political parties consider truth an expendable commodity in the pursuit of power. Neither party gives a damn about what's best for the country because the overriding consideration is always what's best for the party.

Need an election rigged?
http://www.fixavote.com/





Paint-spolsion commercial
Behind the Scenes commercial

Can't sleep? (totally safe for everywhere)
http://allenec.livejournal.com/93780.html

I got support points. Wheee!
http://www.livejournal.com/support/see_request.bml?id=650251
I'm not really into doing the support thing, but I do use some the more complex mobile features, so I answer questions when I can. This is the first support request where my answer was unscreened and the user closed the request, awarding me the points. The only other unscreened answer I have is awaiting close. The user may ask another question instead of closing the request though.

It makes me a huge silliness nerd that having a Babbit (bat + rabbit = Babbit) hanging from my neck makes me really happy, right?

I don't often read Wonkette, but this one about the Iran War (yes, Iran) is particularly interesting:
http://wonkette.com/politics/iran/war-all-the-time-204928.php

I sent Ronald L. Rivest an email today and had to deal with his spam filter:
http://theory.csail.mit.edu/~rivest/rsf/
It looks interesting, though I don't think it would easily work for me. I would definitely like to see the code whenever he releases it.

"Wombat Land" is a cool shirt:

I found this article in a roundabout way from royal_spice:
http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/monkeysphere.html
I'm surprised I didn't hear about it before. It makes sense overall.

Also, I'm feeling a lot better than I was a few days ago. Life is generally pretty good right now. The only real negative is the tedium of my job.

Another answer:

This is a really hard question for me. I've never been much of a pet person. I find badgers and porcupines to be especially interesting, but I haven't ever spent much time around/with them. I've kept tropical fish as pets, but never really felt any closeness with them. Most animals don't interest me.

I've tried my hand at gardening in the past, but never really had any success until my current tomato endeavour. I treat plants only for their utility though (this includes the utility of beauty or smell in the case of many plants).

The various other kingdoms interest me less than plants and animals. I have some interest in viruses, but they're only considered life by some, though this make them interesting.

I do have a large amount of interest in one organism not listed above. I've studied and continue to study many elements of their behavior. One of my greatest joys is to enable certain of their behaviors. My favorite organism is humans. I love creating fun environments for people to play in. I enjoy learning about and discussing their behaviors such as politics, philosophy and love.

I may have taken what can be considered a "cop-out" choice but I do honestly find humans as the most interesting organism I have ever studied.

http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/004457.html

A website that does it's best to post the full text of all of Bush's signing statements:
http://www.coherentbabble.com/signingstatements/TOCindex.htm

An article about signing statements and scandal that I somehow missed:
The Case of the Missing $21 Billion
Who's Following the Iraq Money?
By DAVE LINDORFF
Ths signing statements limiting the Inspector General from investigating:
http://www.coherentbabble.com/signingstatements/pressignstate.htm#2003-15
http://www.coherentbabble.com/signingstatements/pressignstate.htm#2004-14

Losing the War on Terror:

The Center/Foreign Policy team divined a consensus among top experts about terrorism and U.S. national security: "A vast majority think that the world today is more dangerous for the American people. Fewer than two in 10 believe the United States is winning the war on terror. More than eight in 10 believe we are likely to face a terrorist attack on the scale of September 11 within the next 10 years. Over half list Islamic animosity and the Iraq war as the main reasons why the world is becoming more dangerous. The experts put nuclear weapons and materials as the top threat, followed closely by weapons of mass destruction (WMD) as a whole and then terrorism. Only 4 percent rank Iran as the greatest threat."

Defining Drugs:

One measure of a drug's dangerousness is the gap between the typical effective dose and the typical fatal dose. By this measure alcohol, which is fatal at a dose about ten times greater than that that produces the initial desired effect in users, is about as dangerous as cocaine and heroin, and vastly more dangerous than LSD or marijuana.

Ben Goldacre writes some pretty good, often humorous, science columns:

Imagine a two-headed monster called "The Nutrition Society". On the one hand, they are a respectable and august research body, representing some of the sharpest academics in the country, doing research work on nutrition in both people and laboratories, publishing academic journals, and so on. That's science. On the other hand, they "run" a "register" that I suspect consists mostly of those commercial "nutritionists" who make good money peddling lifestyle advice to the public. That's inviting trouble. I am trouble.

Cute, Silly: Of Mouse and Toad

I saw and purchased some silly/appropriate shirts for eparchos, greyvorfeed, two_pi_r and myself (not all the same shirt design). I need one of them in time to wear on August 18th; I expect they will all arrive much sooner than that though.

I sent a comment to Amazon today:

I am not a member of Amazon Prime. Every time I place an order, the checkout page has a bunch of ads on it telling me to become a member. I find the ads annoying. I haven't joined already because the service is not worth it to me. I get free super-saver shipping on nearly all of the orders I place. I see no need to pay for an Amazon Prime membership to get items shipped faster for "free" when I already get items shipped free and a faster arrival is useless to me. It would be nice if you could give each user an option like "I am not interested in Amazon Prime; stop showing ads for it at checkout." somewhere in their account settings.

I wonder what their reaction will be.

I was thinking about music today, particularly love songs. All of the evocative love songs I know of invoke religion in some way (usually the Christian religion since it dominates the English and Spanish speaking worlds). Do any of you know any really strong love songs that don't invoke religion in some way?

Some of you know about it, and some don't, but there was some tension between lalabob11 and I for the past ~week. We have mostly worked it out, putting us on strong ground again. It was a different type of hardship than we've encountered before, but we're learning.

Why Do People Only Love Cute Animals?
The ethics of meat eating.
I am a callous person as regards this issue (and animal treatment in general), but I overall agree with Barbara.

Mas Que Nada FTW!!

Merlin Mann is sometimes awesome.

I read about the Supreme Court decision the other day but there wasn't a straightforward enough article to link to. No there is:

Stephen Kohn, chairman of National Whistleblower Center, said, "The ruling is a victory for every crooked politician in the United States." A person who burns a U.S. flag is protected from retaliation; a public employee who exposes waste, fraud and corruption can be fired, he said.

Everybody loves singing karaoke to Journey (Family Guy clip).

Margot & The Nuclear So and So's - "Quiet As A Mouse"
The song isn't great, but the video is a cool style of animation I haven't seen before.

http://www.climatecrisis.net/
An Inconvenient Truth (trailer) will be playing at the Century 14 in Albuquerque starting on June 16th. Who else wants to go see it?

Supply Side Economics is probably bad for the economy/you.

Lessig describes the similarities between Fair Use and Net Neutrality.

A good, free eBook:
The Conservative Nanny State
How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer

The other day, I was talking with a long-time (>25 years experience) defense contractor about the economic future of the U.S. The rough sum of what he said was:

Baby Boomers are turning 60. The total cost of Medicare and Medicaid is estimated to surpass the total income of the federal government in less than 6 years. Baby Boomers vote, so the U.S. will have a major demilitarization to help economically support their old age within the next few years and there won't be much of any business in defense contracting.

I'm not sure on his statistics, but the overall story seems reasonable. What do you all think about this?

Some examples of the FBI spying on the press. The National Security Letters (NSL) really piss me off. If I were anywhere that one came down, I would definitely tell the target and possibly publicize it, even though both are felonies. Thompson's response was totally reasonable and justified:
"I told the company to send the [NSL] over to my lawyer and then told him to send the following message to the feds:
'Fuck you. Strong letter to follow.'"

"They lie. They lie all the time. And they will continue to lie. Why? Because they can. Because no one will do anything about it. Because that's all they know how to do."

I Love To Singa!

A very cute website and book about Hinduism (thanks awillowweeping):
http://www.gheehappy.com/default.htm

All 39 episodes of the "Mysterious Cities of Gold" are on YouTube I only saw a few episodes, out of order, on Nickelodeon when I was young, but it was cool in a complicated soap opera/adventure sort of way. I'll watch all of them eventually.

( Political Philosophy Quiz )

( Mind Sex Meme )

The culture of 'national security' in which as much as possible is classified has proved itself to be dysfunctional. It does not protect us from our enemies. It protects bureaucrats and politicians. It is the perfect place to hide incompetence and even malfeasance. It is a tool for turf wars and in-fighting and false prestige. Clearly the Senators and Congressman who are supposed to perform intelligence oversight are so thrilled at being part of the top security clearance club that they don't notice how much has gone wrong or understand why.

When making decisions about other security systems, it's important to look for these two characteristics. Imagine a "panic button" in an airplane cockpit. Assume that the system was designed so that its publication would not affect security. Should the government publish it? The answer depends on whether or not there is a public community of professionals who can critique the design of such panic buttons. If there isn't, then there's no point in publishing.

Missile guidance algorithms is another example. Would the government be better off publishing their algorithms for guiding missiles? I believe the answer is no, because the system lacks the second characteristic above. There isn't a large community of people who can benefit from the information, but there are potential enemies that could benefit from the information. Therefore, it is better for the government to keep the information classified and only disclose it to those it believes should know.

It's been about a year since I got incredibly excited about a new artist (Jem). I just discovered Lily Allen, who has a somewhat similar feel (British girl, fairytale hip-hop), but jazzier. She doesn't have an album out yet (I think), but I'm buying as soon as I can.
http://earfarm.blogspot.com/2006/05/lily-allen.html
http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic

This is kinda slimy, but reasonable at the same time:

Always enter a conversations[sic] with a drink you are about to finish. If things don't go well, all you need to do is take one last gulp from your drink and excuse yourself to get another, never to return. If the conversation is going well, finish your drink and ask the other person if you can get them anything when you go to get another. They will appreciate the gesture even if they decline, and it impies[sic] that you'll be returning for a longer conversation.

An animation about a badger and some crows:
http://www.beam.tv/beamreels/play_clip.php?reel_file=QyqWJvFcVH&action=open

[Scott McClellan] wasn't put there to brief the White House press but to frustrate, and belittle it, and provoke journalists into discrediting themselves on TV. The very premise of a White House "communications" office gets in the way of understanding the strategy that prevailed from July 2003, when McClellan took over from Ari Fleischer, until this week, when he announced his resignation.

"They terrorize other government officials, and they're so secretive that their names aren't even revealed to a harmless federal employee directory. And they've helped ruin the country. Meet Dick Cheney's staff."

Ahmadinejad's Demons (bugmenot.com for logins)
An article is about the new President of Iran and the gruesome events leading up to his term.

William Stuntz's Misguided Theory of Privacy and Transparency
by Daniel J. Solove
Stuntz wrote an article arguing that privacy and transparency are bad for government and citizenry. This is Solove's counter-argument.

http://www.petefagerlin.com/
A bunch of cool "helmetcam" mountain-biking videos.

Paul Anka Spins Pop His Way with 'Rock Swings'
I ordered this CD, which should be silly/fun. The link has 3 tracks you can listen to (RealPlayer).

The Smiths. Live. 1985.
A whole concert you can download.

From http://www.overheardintheoffice.com/

2PM Mentoring Session
Tenured faculty guy: You know you really should start attending faculty meetings.
Non-tenured faculty guy: Why? I'm not allowed to vote on any departmental issues.
Tenured faculty guy: It would still be professionally instructive for you to attend.
Non-tenured faculty guy: But I'm already aware of the fact that this department is full of petulant egomaniacs.

Department of Mathematics
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Overheard by: mark mccombs

Firefly Squid

Although the state curriculum guide mandates the teaching of biological evolution, teachers in Arkansas aren't doing it because of local controversy and lack of knowledge.

The usually very conservative Cato Institute released a report supporting the repeal of the DMCA:
http://doc.weblogs.com/2006/03/22#bravoCato

"One of the most venerable and well-known bylines in Vermont media was silenced today, as Vermont AP Bureau Chief Chris Graff was said to no longer be with the world's largest news gathering organization." The article goes on to say:

Mr. Graff's firing is directly linked to a certain news item he moved out to client newspapers on the Associated Press wire two weeks ago.
According to sources in the Vermont media, the item was a column written by Vermont Democratic U.S. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy. The subject was the growing threat to our democracy by infringements imposed by the Bush administration on America's hallowed Freedom of Information Act.

The death of newspapers?

Be smarter at work, slack off
In a world of too much work and too much multitasking, the best way to beat the competition may be to do less.

A cool/gross creature:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacculina

I'm back in NM. I posted a bunch of photos to my LJ scrapbook thing. More are coming. They are all unedited. I think I am too lazy to work on any but the best ones.

I had a good time overall while in NJ. The emotional highs and lows were more extreme this year than usual, but the average was still good.

This is very cute if you haven't seen it already:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/riotclitshave/266164.html

A bunch of "important" links today:

Digital Restrictions Management:
"Imagine for example if Ford told us we could put Ford-approved gas from Ford approved gas stations into its automobiles while GM told us the same thing with respect to GM-approved gas stations and its cars. Consumers would put them out of business in a heartbeat. So, why do we put up with this crap here? Want to put an end to this shameless behavior on behalf of our technology and content providers? Stop buying the technology and the content. Stop now, before its too late."
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2157%E2%88%82=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdblog

Another article on DRM, this time explaining the recent history of proposed laws and how they affect you:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2161%E2%88%82=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdblog

More DRM, but this time about the Sony rootkit:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/11/still_more_on_s_1.html

"In what is practically a requiem to the Internet because of what it forecasts, Doc explains how our most beloved public technology is about to succumb to privitization and big business in ways that will destroy everything that it has ever stood for, and everything it has the potential to be."
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2168%E2%88%82=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdblog

The SaveTheCourt.com Stop Alito petition:
http://petition.savethecourt.org/fwd/campaigns/savethecourt/register/ecbd276ddb48f485f8bc94a47144ead9/

scottbateman animated "Uptight Maggie":
http://www.batemania.com/bateman365/day091.html

Depeche Mode - Violated:
http://www.depechemodeviolated.com/
It's not as good as I hoped it would be, but it is interesting.

Cute dog + Yoda =
http://www.livejournal.com/users/riotclitshave/227176.html

When the train is moving: be careful of boiling water. (WTF?)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/elysesewell/35339.html

The NSA wants you to become a furry haxxor:
http://www.nsa.gov/kids/

Life Content:

I haven't updated about my life recently, so I figured I should.

I'm very happy with most things. Things with lalabob11 are good. We scheduled a trip to NJ in December so I can visit with my family/friends there and also so she can meet them and see cool NYC touristy things. I'm not happy with my job for many reasons, but the insurance and salary are so good that I can't just quit and be happier. I can generally keep myself in the mindset of "work is a thing I do just for money so I can use the money to have fun/be happy."

My leg is doing fine. I have had full use of my leg since about 5 days after I first went to the doctor. Giving myself injections was weird. The last of the bruises from them is almost totally healed. I'll be taking Coumadin (a blood thinner) until at least the end of November though.

I finished the PAX report that Fehlauer asked me to write. He hasn't commented on it yet (he's probably busy doing lots of other things related to his job, such as setting up some of the stuff for this year's Child's Play), but a few of the Enforcers who've read it have. They've been positive. You can read it here: http://infohost.nmt.edu/~jarrod/PAX05.pdf

I'm going to Nan Desu Kon this coming weekend, which should be really fun (since I love working at conventions and I'll get to spend some time with some cool people that I don't get to see very often (e.g. NDK People: Cary, Fred, Guy, Tammy, etc. and also baronj, ladymarguerite and others)).

"Katamari Damacy" is crazy-fun. I just pre-ordered the sequel, "We Love Katamari," which will be released next week. If you haven't played it, the object is to roll a sticky ball around, picking up random crap (like thumbtacks, crackers and strawberries), which makes the ball get bigger, which allows you to pick up bigger random crap (like people, elephants and, eventually, large islands). It is really weird and very fun.

News/Random content:

Computer Security: 6 Dumb Ideas:
http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/dumb/
I especially liked #2 and #5.

An icon I saw:


Crooks and Liars:
Do any of you have trouble viewing movies/posts from http://www.crooksandliars.com and http://movies.crooksandliars.com ? I have had a nearly 100% name lookup failure rate over the course of the last ~4 months from multiple computers (PMC (SDC DNS) and home (Qwest DSL DNS)).

Subaru cat:
http://www.stuffonmycat.com/index.php?itemid=251

You've likely heard this audio sample before:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Apollo_8_genesis_reading.ogg
I've wondered which astronaut said it. Based on this wikipedia entry and the audio files inside, I now know that the first part of the sound file, which has been used as a sample in electronic music many times, is spoken by William Anders. The second and third parts are spoken by Jim Lovell and Frank Borman, respectively.

2nd Amendment:
http://www.reason.com/hod/dk091005.shtml

This is really silly:


"Newsweek Castrates Bush":
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/11/101312/486

Personal observations on the reliability of the Shuttle, by R.P. Feynman
http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/dumb/feynman.html

Pre-Katrina FEMA Order (read both, in order):
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html
http://www.bobharris.com/content/view/637/1/

Bush eliminated the minimum wage in most of the areas effected by Katrina:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050908-5.html

I don't know what it is, but it's very happy:


The September 5th DigitalStrips show has a really good interview with Gabe and Tycho. They talk about how they run their business and a lot about PAX and Child's Play organization. You can download an mp3 of the show here:
http://www.digitalstrips.com/show.html

Health Care:
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/fact/050829fa_fact

When I comment in Bruce Schneier's blog I put down my full name and website. This other "Jarrod" guy is pretty good though:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/09/a_us_national_f.html

Medical theft:
http://www.sff.net/people/lucy-snyder/brain/2005/09/united-collections-bureau.html

http://catsinsinks.com/

White House Press Briefing: Angry Reporters Hit McClellan Hard on Hurricane, Ask if Heads Will Roll
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001055403

Why the Federal Government Should Watch PBS
http://www.drinkatwork.com/2005/09/why-federal-government-should-watch.html

I'm about to complete my objective:
http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/archives/002569.html

Baby Hedgehogs for sale in Seattle:
http://animal-talk.com/page49.html

I loved watching this show when I was little ("No Whammies! No Whammies!"):
http://www.rotten.com/library/conspiracy/Press_Your_Luck/

Anti-Anxiety Drugs:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php?date=2005-09-07

On the south side of the street between Bullock and College, in the irrigation ditch there are lots and lots of fish (at least 3 species: minnow, catfish and something else) and also a crapton of crawdads, some of which are almost 6 inches long.

overheardnyc:
Thug: Paisano?...It's like "my nigga" but in Italian.
--Times Square

overheardnyc:
Homie: Yo, you see that shit on Family Guy? That nigga Quagmire be funny, son! That "giggity giggity" shit! Yo son, that nigga tied up a cheerleader and shit and always be trying to nail the little bitch.
--N train

Have zex tonight:
http://spamusement.com/index.php/comics/view/275

The Crawford Bunker:
http://www.americanpolitics.com/20050816Bisbort.html

Meer for beer!:
http://twolumps.keenspace.com/d/20050812.html

When Numbers That Don't Exist Make It Into the Story:
http://www.cjrdaily.org/archives/001743.asp

What went wrong in Ohio (I haven't read this yet, it's long):
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohiostatusrept1505.pdf

The "lake" across the street from Casa Imbri has a "canal" that connects it to the curb, passing under the wall. The water level is high enough that the "canal" is partly full of water, so, without climbing the wall you can see some of the big tadpoles up close.

There are tadpoles in the other "lake" the development created next to the ditch and Bullock. The are much smaller (only about 0.5 inches), but you can get right up next to the water if you walk around the back without climbing over a wall like you would have to do for the first "lake" mentioned.

In the "lake" across the street from Casa Imbri there are hundreds of tadpoles swimming around. They are pretty big; most are about 1.25 inches long or more.