I’ve got a University of Lethbridge Alumni swim meet tomorrow morning. Should be loads of fun—I can hardly wait, but I’m not too thrilled about being on deck at 7:20am—At least the events are only 25’s and 50’s.
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Month: September 2006
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Legalizing Torture?
Seriously, there is something wrong with the United States. They are considering legalizing TORTURE! See this Metafilter post and its many links.
This has me blown away. So here’s your chance (yes you) to tell me (and everyone else), what you think about the USA trying to legalize torture.
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Vector Art
Here’s some photoshop artwork that I made today. I was just playing around with the brushes and then decided I would keep the end product.
Click for larger image.
YouTube is hosting Keith Olbermann’s special commentary on Fox’s ambush (see CNN report or Crooks and Liars post with video) of former American president, Bill Clinton.
I have to say, I never agreed with Clinton’s questional behavior behind the scenes, but I certainly felt that the media’s reaction was worse than what he did.
Here is Bush’s [non]response to Clinton’s accusation that the Bush administration had no meetings about Bin Laden for nine months after he left office.
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G4 Attack of the Show
Feeling mighty bored this evening, I decided to watch the premiere episode of G4 Attack of the Show on YouTube. As coincidence would have it, the very first segment they had on the very first episode was about my backmasking website. One of the guys could see how cool it is, the other guy, well, not so much.
There is a video I saw today of a remote controlled airplane equipped with a camera broadcasting in realtime to the owner’s virtual reality goggles that made me green with envy.
It’s a do-it-yourself project, but I could easily imagine this would be popular if it were massed produced.
I’ve never actually flown a remote controlled aircraft before, but I understand learning how to land them is one of the most difficult aspects to becoming a good RC Pilot. I would assume that having a view from the cockpit would make things a lot easier.
Check out the video.
A fascinating first hand experience of what it’s like to be an astronaut. Anousheh Ansari posts to her website from space.
Update: She called Google.
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Dreaming of Sunshine
My friend Brock writes from Australia to inform me how hot the weather has been where he’s staying and to share this short amusing story.
Brock says:
It’s smoking in Byron Bay (just thought I’d tell you because I heard that it was snowing and 5 below back home). It was 30 above here and I thought that it would be a good idea to get up early so that I could spend the whole day at the beach. I got up at 7:30 and was at the beach until sunset—unfortunately I neglected to put on any sunscreen—everyone at the hostel was like holy shit and this one girl even wanted to call an ambulance. Needless to say I was in a lot of pain, but after lathering up in aloe vera I feel a lot better. Moral of the story is, enjoy the snow!
Hope you’re feeling better soon Brock, and P.S. it hasn’t actually snowed here yet.
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Line Rider
Crazily addictive flash game, Line Rider.
Pictured here is a jump I made for the line rider that had him doing a back flip everytime.
(via Waxy)
Update: Some folks have uploaded their Line Rider attempts to YouTube.
Update: Flash is gone, so here’s an updated version of Line Rider.
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Is Osama Dead?
I’d heard the rumour floating around, but I didn’t believe it—this Reuters article (archived link), France to probe bin Laden death report leak, makes me wonder.
From the article:
France’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday a secret service report saying al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died could not be confirmed but said it would launch an inquiry into the leak of secret documents.
The Defence Ministry issued the statement after a French regional newspaper, L’Est Republicain, published a report quoting a French secret service report as saying Saudi Arabia is convinced al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan last month.
And this:
U.S. cannot confirm bin Laden death report
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government is unable to confirm a French newspaper report that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is believed to have died last month in Pakistan, the U.S. State Department said on Saturday.
“We don’t have any confirmation of those reports,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
“We have no confirmation of that report,” echoed White House spokesman Blair Jones.
A U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, came closer to an outright denial, saying Washington had no evidence to suggest the French report was true.
“We don’t have anything to support it,” the official said.
“We’ve heard these things before and have no reason to think this is any different. There’s just nothing we can point to, to say this report has any more credence than other reports we’ve seen in the past.”
The French regional daily L’Est Republicain reported that, according to a French secret service report, Saudi Arabia is convinced bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan in late August. The French government has said it could not confirm the report and would investigate the intelligence leak.
Media reports suggesting bin Laden was dead, seriously wounded or in ill health have surfaced periodically over the years, especially during lengthy periods of time without taped messages from the al Qaeda leader.
U.S. officials have suggested that his death would be accompanied by a surge of e-mail and telephone chatter among bereaved al Qaeda members, if not an actual announcement from the militant network.
But officials said they were not aware of any such chatter in recent weeks.
Still, a U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke off the record, declined to completely rule out bin Laden’s death.
“It’s quite possible (that) there was some talk of this, but in terms of being able to confirm this, that I can’t do,” said the official, who declined to be identified.
A factor fuelling persistent speculation about bin Laden’s health is that he has not been seen on a new videotape since late 2004, while his second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, has made a number of videotaped appearances.
But bin Laden, 49, a Saudi-born fugitive with a $25 million (13.2 million pound) price on his head, has released several audiotapes this year, which U.S. intelligence has authenticated.
His latest audiotape surfaced in July. In it, he warned Iraq’s Shi’ite majority of retaliation for attacks on Sunni Arabs and said al Qaeda would fight the United States anywhere in the world.
(Additional reporting by Sue Pleming in New York and Caren Bohan in Washington)