Wednesday 27 October 2004

Sidebar Problem

Yes, there is a sidebar. Except it's down at the bottom instead of sitting nicely down the side starting from the top. Not much spare time to fiddle with template, but I'll see whether it's possible to get this corrected.

Will start by shortening all the long lines in both the sidebar and body.

Wednesday 20 October 2004

And this one from Doonesbury

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2004/08/19/ letters/doc412532f09fbbe438621096.txt

[NOTE: I've put spaces into very long links to let them wrap around. First check if there is one in a link you've copied if there is a problem with it.]

NY Times reacts to Jon Stewart

www.nytimes.com/ 2004/10/20/arts/television/20watc.html

Wednesday 13 October 2004

Shocking Story: Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed

I was truly shocked at this story, at www.klas-tv.com/global/story.asp?s=2421595 -
Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed, about "Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes", saying that "The company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee." That, if true, is just banana republic stuff.

It does completely make my jaw drop, that people's voting registration can possibly go through an unaccountable & possibly partisan group rather than an independent body of some kind - especially if you actually register as being of a particular party. This has always worried & puzzled me about that system, presumably based on the older English system which didn't have secret voting (an innovation from Australia in the nineteenth century).

Here are some extracts from the story:

www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2421595

www.klas-tv.com/global/story.asp?s=2421595&ClientType=Printable

Eyewitness News
klastv.com
Las Vegas, Nevada

George Knapp, Investigative Reporter
Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed
(Oct. 12, 2004) -- Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day ... Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected ...

The focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes.

The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering
voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.

Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats ...

[a former employee] managed to retrieve a pile of shredded paperwork including signed
voter registration forms, all from Democrats. We took them to the Clark County
Election Department and confirmed that they had not, in fact, been filed with the county as required by law ...

We attempted to speak to Voters Outreach but found that its office has been rented out to someone else.

The landlord says Voters Outreach was evicted for non-payment of rent. Another source said the company has now moved on to Oregon where it is once again registering voters. It's unknown how many registrations may have been tossed out, but another ex-employee told Eyewitness News she had the same suspicions when she worked there ...

The company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee. Similar complaints have been received in Reno where the registrar has asked the FBI to investigate.

Saturday 9 October 2004

Earth, Mars, and Beyond

www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/29/1096401656275.html
Mars Express camera delves into Martian chasm
September 30, 2004
The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe has sent back stunning images of a 5000-metre-deep chasm on the Martian surface, scientists at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) said.
The images showed with remarkable sharpness and clarity how landslides and avalanches have occurred on the rim of what is called Ophir Chasma, an enormous gorge along part of Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system...

www.smh.com.au/photogallery/ 2004/09/30/1096401659304.html
Ophir Chasma - Pictures taken by Mars Express from 250 kilometres

Earth from Above - one small portion from ww.yannarthusbertrand.com Pripiat (former population 50,000), 2 miles from Chernobyl, & near the Pripet River. There are two other photos of it.

Sculptures Mosaic
artgraine.free.fr/SCULPTURES/sculptureseng.html

('Higher' page is artgraine.free.fr/ENGLISH/english.html )

www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm
It’s the Oliver North/Guns for Hostages scandal, seen from the viewpoint of a CIA bureaucrat, in a Cthulhu Mythos universe.

Cooking for Engineers (others should also enjoy it).
Grading Maple Syrup
www.cookingforengineers.com/2004/09/ maple-syrup-grades.html

The Invalides in Paris
www.invalides.org/pages/menu.html
We went past here while we were in Paris, but didn't get in; also missed S. Denis, but there's a limit to what you can do.

www.wordiq.com/definition/George_Nathaniel_Curzon
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston (January 11, 1859
- March 20, 1925) (from www.wordiq.com, a quite handy site.)

and, speaking of history, here is an interestingly conflicted piece by "the
War Nerd" on French military history www.exile.ru/175/war_nerd.html

Thursday 7 October 2004

Blush

ang
You are Form 2, Angel: The Pure.

"And The Angel rose as holy protector for
all that was created. She fought with honor
and valor to serve the good of the world. But
the coming of the mankind was her downfall; and
end to purity."


Some examples of the Angel Form are Michael
(Christian) and Hercules (Greek).
The Angel is associated with the concept of virtue,
the number 2, and the element of wind.
Her sign is the zenith sun.

As a member of Form 2, you are a person of your
word. You generally keep your promises and
give everything you do your best. Although
some people see you as overbearing sometimes,
you know that you have to stay true to yourself
and do what's right. Angels are the best
friends to have because they are brutally
honest.


Which Mythological Form Are You?
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