Thursday, 27 September 2001 -- Tornado

Well, a huge tornado came through the DC area on Monday. It tore through The University of Maryland and then touched down in Laurel about half a block from my house. There's an historic firehouse nearby that may not be salvageable.

I wasn't allowed back home until Tuesday evening, although I had to park two blocks away. I had power when I got home, which I think was pretty amazing under the circumstances. I'll try to get some pictures up here soon.

Saturday, 22 September 2001 -- A Very Long Post

Probably the longest I've done to date.

Let me start off today by discussing George W. Bush's speech to congress on Thursday night. It was getting to the point where I was going to criticize Bush for not speaking out against attacks and harrassment being carried out against Muslims and Americans of Arab descent in this country. However, he's done a much better job the past few days in speaking out about that, and he did very well to touch on that issue is this speech. I've noticed that Republicans don't tend to be very good at speaking out against intolerance. Well, I think he's done a pretty good job of it lately.

As far as the rest of the speech goes, this was the best part:

Americans are asking "Why do they hate us?"

They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.

They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They want to drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa.

These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking our friends. They stand against us because we stand in their way. We're not deceived by their pretenses to piety.

We have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies.

I'd also like to touch on the Tribute To Heroes telethon. I watched this last night and was truly stunned by the sheer number of networks that donated their airtime to this effort at very short notice.

Here's something interesting. Clear Channel issued a list of "lyrically questionable" songs that they're telling their radio stations not to play for the time being.

In personal news, I finally have a job interview on Monday! =)

Friday, 21 September 2001 -- Jon and Stevie

So, I saw Stevie Nicks in concert Wednesday night and it was wonderful, of course. She did touch on the attacks briefly and getting past them. Standing with her band at the end of her show, she said, "Our advice, listen to lots and lots of music. It's worked for us."

She really is a tremendously generous person. With a lot of solo artists, it's all about them. Stevie let her keyboardist, drummer, percussionist and lead guitarist all have their spotlight moments with solos leading into her songs. She was off-stage during the solos, too. Of course, she was doing some of her famous costume changes. But she used that opportunity to share the spotlight and let her band shine.

One of my favorite programs returned to the air last night. The Daily Show started back up, with a tremendously emotional speech by Jon Stewart. He spoke about the call by the President and others to get back to work. Jon returned to The Daily Show, because "There weren't any jobs available for someone in the fetal position under their desk crying." It was a clip show, which frankly, is understandable. I'll have to wait and see what they do when they return on Monday.

UPDATE: 10:45am EDT

Hey, if you're free this evening, watch the America: A Tribute To Heroes Telethon tonight at 9pm eastern time. Actually, if you're watching TV, it will be hard to avoid. Almost every network, both broadcast and cable, will be showing this.

Wednesday, 19 September 2001 -- Stevie And Stuff

I plan on getting my mind off of some of this tonight. I'm going to see Stevie Nicks at Merriweather Post Pavillion. I'll let you know how the concert is.

In other news, read all about why Jerry Falwell is a complete and utter asshole. On a positive note, here's a page with photos of reactions to the tragedy from around the world. Finally, here's a page of statistics related to the attack. I would like to add a statistic to that list, though:

Number of American Flags seen today along Main Street in Laurel, Maryland between U.S. 1 and Seventh Street (a four block stretch): 78

Saturday, 15 September 2001 -- One Thousand Words

I have one thousand words to say today. Here they are:

Thursday, 13 September 2001 -- The Next Day

Here are a few links that I've seen in the last day or two that I found interesting. Take a look at Amazon.com's Red Cross Donation Page. Look at it for a minute and then re-load it. The donations have been piling up at the speed of light.

NATO met yesterday, and invoked Article V of the NATO charter. This section, as I mentioned yesterday, says that an attack on one member nation is considered an attack on all of them.

On another note, I've found something that I can laugh at amid all of this horror. Take a look at someone's proposed design for a new World Trade Center.

UPDATE: 10:00am EDT

I've decided to remove the older entries from this page and move them into some new archive pages. The links are at the bottom, just above the counter. This should keep the page loading super-fast, which is just how I like it. =)

Wednesday, 12 September 2001 -- A Day Beyond Imagining

No one could have imagined what happened yesterday. There's no way to know how many are dead, but it will certainly be in the thousands. If you would like to help, please visit The American Red Cross or The Salvation Army.

I think we may very well go to war over this. I mean real war. Real declared war, like we haven't had in more than 55 years. And I really don't have a problem with this. Especially if some nation won't give us those responsible. I have no problem declaring war on a country that protects these people. It is time for someone to learn what it means to have the United States Military putting its boot on their throat.

I'm normally a pretty pacifistic guy, but I want these people caught even if we have to obliterate a small nation to do it. I no longer have any pity for anyone who protects terrorists through action OR inaction. If you don't stop these people, you're a fucking accomplice.

One more thing. I expect our NATO allies to back us up on this. Per the NATO treaty, an attack on a NATO country is an attack on all of NATO. I expect them to have our backs, just as I would expect us to back them up if this was done to one of them.

Monday, 3 September 2001 -- Farscape Rocks

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

After watching a bunch of episodes of Farscape on Sci Fi, I've come to the conclusion that it really is as good as I've been told. It really is the best science fiction on television right now. What I did not know about the series is that it's a co-production of The Jim Henson Company, which explains all the extra-freaky looking creatures on the show. Brian Henson is one of the executive producers, as well. So, it still seems that anything the Henson family does, I like.

Sunday, 2 September 2001 -- Random Crap

So, I sent out about half a dozen resumes on Friday alone. I'm probably going to get a part-time job somewhere, because I'm afraid that this is going to go on for a while.

In random Internet crap, if you haven't started using Google as your primary search engine, you need to start using it. There's just no comparison in speed and sheer number of indexed pages.

I've loved Tumbleweed Pottery jars for a long time and I still need to pick up a few. I really need this one and maybe this one and just for laughs, this one! I'm sure that they used to have one that said "Moonbeams" on it, but I can't find it on their website. =(

This only proves to me that being unemployed gives you more time to shop during the one period when you can't afford to buy anything. Figures.

Go back to the main page.

Send me an e-mail!