This looked like a worthwhile enough exercise when xamses did it, so here goes:

( 2005 Year in Review )

"[Fallujah] grew from an unimportant town in 1947 to a pre-war population of about 350,000 inhabitants in 2003. The current population is unknown but estimated at less than 200,000."

We've cut the population of a city the size of St. Louis in half. One hundred and fifty thousand people whom George W. Bush says we are democratizing are now either ( Read more... )

( I attended my sibling's college graduation today. )

"Somehow after a long day's work riding the sleigh, nothing relaxes Santa like a cocktail and watching a pole dance."

I propose that volunteerism and in-kind donations are inherently superior to cash donations with regard to assisting charitable groups ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

I spent most of last night "playing" the SNES Shadowrun game.

I presume that's why I dreamt I was having a friendly squirtgun fight with Hulk Hogan, during most of which he was chasing me because he is immune to water.

Attention fellow KGB operatives!

Eric Raymond is on to usHave no fear, however. Comrade Stalin has just announced that the orbital mind control lasers are being upgraded as we speak. By the end of this week, no one will be able to resist the understated charm of noted linguist and anti-war activist Noam Chomsky ( Read more... )

Many progressive commentators of color have recently condemned the use of the term "refugee" to describe New Orleanians who have been forced to flee their homes. Most of the objections I've heard have been in Pacifica webcasts*, so I can't really link to them at the moment. However, I'm not shitting you; people really have complained, and it's ( Read more... )

I realized on my way home today that in order to be able to make eye contact with black people and not feel weird, I need to talk to some of them (though preferably not gangsta rappers (non-gangsta rappers, on the other hand, would probably work fine)) about what it's like to be black, to establish a visceral empathy and thereby force my lizard- ( Read more... )