Archives » 2004 » March

Gas Prices are Low!

Whaa?!

So you thought that the current gas prices were the highest ever? Technically, they are the highest dollar amount, but people seem to have forgotten about inflation and the increase in fuel efficiency.

Posted by Mark | March 31st, 2004 @ 8:20 PM | "Commentary"
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Waldo at it Again

Waldo Jaquith, who is a distant cousin of mine (as far as we can tell), has again stepped on some rather big toes. This time, instead of pissing off Mattel, he got some special attention from Microsoft.

State agencies largely use commercialy availible software products, at a huge expense to taxpayers. This seemed rather piggish to Waldo, who wondered why they didn’t consider using open source software, which is availble free of charge. So he did something. In January, a bill was introduced in Virginia that would have encouraged the Virginia Information Technologies Agency to consider open source software. Microsoft flew in a representative and some lobbyists, and the bill was squashed.

Go check out The HooK’s story, or read Waldo’s post.

Posted by Mark | March 31st, 2004 @ 7:55 AM | "Politics"
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They did it again

About a year and a half ago, I received an e-mail from the business college at my school that had a subject line of “Paid Summer Internship!!!” I was definitely interested when I saw that. Upon opening the e-mail and reading halfway through it, my excitement had turned to anger. The internships were only available to black students, and even if I spent the rest of my life in the sun, I’d never qualify. So why had this been sent to me?

When I arrived at the university, I got a note in the mail saying that the university was required by law to report ethnicity information about its students to the state, and they didn’t have any ethnicity information about me (I purposely left it off my application). I wrote “It’s none of your business” on top of the form with the nice little check boxes and sent it back to them. And they didn’t bother me about it again.

So why was I getting an e-mail with an opportunity that excluded me? My racial status was “unclassified,” not “black.” I was angry, and in my anger I sent a reply e-mail that was perhaps not as nice as it could have been.

Posted by Mark | March 30th, 2004 @ 12:42 PM | "Rants"
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Rice Set to Testify Publicly

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House reversed itself on Tuesday and offered to have national security adviser Condoleezza Rice testify publicly under oath about the Sept. 11 attacks before the 9-11 commission.

The White House released a letter to the independent commission from legal counsel Alberto Gonzalez outlining the offer. It also said it would make President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney available to speak before a joint private session of the full panel.

Both offers were on condition that they would not set a precedent under the constitutional separation of executive and legislative powers, an administration official said.

A lot of people are going to be saying “I told you so!” about this. It’s almost funny how easily Democrats fell into this trap. They started yelling about how the fact that she wouldn’t testify meant there was a big evil conspiracy, and the Bush administration let it get to a fever pitch before agreeing to let her testify. She’s going to come out squeaky clean and make them all look like flaming idiots.

I love it.

Reuters: White House Offers Public Rice Testimony on 9/11

Posted by Mark | March 30th, 2004 @ 10:36 AM | "News"
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I’m Highly Selective

I saw this Physical Attraction Test linked on samaBlog and thought it might be fun. The test has a few different methods, but mostly it consists of clicking pictures that are exceptionally attractive, or exceptionally unattractive, and rating pictures on a scale. My suspicions were confirmed. I’m attracted to hot, skinny girls with medium to large breasts. I also like natural looking lips.

Very Selective: You are very selective, compared to most men, in the types of women you find appealing.

One type of body you seemed to like is scientifically called an “Ectomorph,” which is a fancy way of saying you like “skinny” women. Since these women don’t get as much attention as the cheerleaders, she’d probably be surprised to know that for you skinny is sexy. Women with this body type are long, lean, and lanky, with a small, delicate bone structure, narrow hips, and a flat stomach. She doesn’t have as many curves as some of the other body types, but these women tend to stay thin throughout their lives.

You preferred women to have nice average-sized lips; not too thin and not too full. Even though thicker lips are more popular, you were not especially drawn to them. Perhaps it’s because you like very natural-looking women, without a lot of makeup.

Some other observations: I don’t give a crap about hair. I’ve always known this. Long, short, brown, blond, straight, curly… I really could care less.

I think Sarah, my girlfriend, should be happy about these results for two reasons:

1. It means that not only do I find her very attractive, she is very attractive to others too (I’m picky, I picked her, QED.)
2. She doesn’t need to worry about me “finding another woman” because I’m only attracted to the upper 4% and let’s face it… most of them are out of my league. Well, that and the fact that I love her to death and wouldn’t trade her for anyone in the world.

My Favorite
(not the cat, I have a different favorite cat)

Posted by Mark | March 30th, 2004 @ 8:34 AM | "Personal"
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I’d like to shake Kerry’s hand

Reuters reports that presidential candidate John Kerry will be having minor surgery on his shoulder, and could possibly be re-injured if he shakes too many hands.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who will undergo minor shoulder surgery on Wednesday, faces a politician’s worst nightmare while recovering — no shaking hands.

For the first time, I am feeling an insatiable urge to shake the Massachusetts Senator’s hand. Vigorously. Maybe even give him one of those rough and fancy handshakes that ends with a high-five or a bumping of chests.

Reuters.com: Candidate Kerry Faces Hand-Shaking Restrictions

Posted by Mark | March 30th, 2004 @ 2:32 AM | "Politics"
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Election Contest

At last, my pet project for the last month has made its public debut.

Maybe I Think Too Much’s Election Contest, for which I did all the coding, is now open to your entries.

This is a free online contest to see who can most accurately predict the outcome of the 2004 presidential election.

The prizes aren’t too shabby either! A month of free advertising on BlogAds’ Weblog, a year’s subscription to either National Review or The American Prospect, and a copy of Cox and Forkum’s new book, Black & White World all go to the winner, as of right now.

What are you waiting for? It’s free!

Posted by Mark | March 29th, 2004 @ 11:38 AM | "Announcements"
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Smoking makes for healthy babies?

Smoking while pregnant leads to low birth weight.

And according to Dr. Richard W.I. Cooke, low birth weight has some positive statistical trends associated with it.

I hope Philip Morris is listening… I’d kill to see a commercial urging women to smoke “for the health of their child.”

Reuters.com: Tiniest Babies Grow Up to Be Mostly Healthy Adults

Posted by Mark | March 28th, 2004 @ 4:36 AM | "News"
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20 Minute HIV Test

The FDA just approved a new HIV test using saliva that generates results in 20 minutes. OraSure Technologies Inc. claims that the results are 99 percent accurate. There have been other fast tests for HIV, but they worked using a blood sample.

WashingtonPost.com: Rapid Oral HIV Test Approved

Posted by Mark | March 27th, 2004 @ 12:57 AM | "News"
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Who’s antisemetic NOW, huh?

In the wake of Mel Gibson’s tremendous financial success with “The Passion of the Christ,” furthering his interest in Biblical scriptures, and perhaps to make Abe Foxman shut the hell up, Gibson has announced his intention to make a movie based on the books of the Maccabees. These highly entertaining books of the Bible have a hero, a villian, and plenty of Braveheart-esque action. They describe the events leading up to the Jewish holiday of Channukah, when a small ration of oil lasted for 8 long days.

The Miami Herald: Gibson Planning to Make Movie on Jewish Holiday

Thanks to CTH for the heads up.

Posted by Mark | March 22nd, 2004 @ 1:45 PM | "Announcements"
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