FARPOINT.FACTOID

Merriam-Webster Online's list of the top ten most looked-up words of 2005. In order of popularity: 1) integrity, 2) refugee, 3) contempt, 4) filibuster, 5) insipid, 6) tsunami, 7) pandemic, 8) conclave, 9) levee, 10) inept.

zoundryt needs to hear about this

how the focus won't stay in the title field. that popup helper 'enter post title' keeps makin the focus move back into the body field. i use zoundry too much for this to be a simple pest of a feature.

plus, the fact that you can't press OK on the post dlg box. how lame is THAT.

here's a bullseye into how American

It's sadly ironic when people in America, the wealthiest country in the world, go into debt while trying to pay for a basic need such as health care. Then that debt prevents them from securing other basic needs, such as housing and car loans. This has become, unfortunately, the American way.

--source

today's MUST READ

it's a long thread, but one worth reading and getting a jest of what North Iowa is all about.

saw on irc today

"In this season finale episode, which first aired on December 7, a local statue of the Virgin Mary bleeds from its ass. Townsfolk think it's a miracle. Emperor Palpatine Pope Benedict XVI visits to inspect the statue in person, determines that it is instead bleeding from its vagina, and declares: "A chick bleeding out her vagina is no miracle. Chicks bleed out their vaginas all the time.""

from

saw on irc today

"In this season finale episode, which first aired on December 7, a local statue of the Virgin Mary bleeds from its ass. Townsfolk think it's a miracle. Emperor Palpatine Pope Benedict XVI visits to inspect the statue in person, determines that it is instead bleeding from its vagina, and declares: "A chick bleeding out her vagina is no miracle. Chicks bleed out their vaginas all the time.""

from

does this say more than it reads?

The House has a mortgage-lobby-friendly bill pending; one of its two sponsors is Bob Ney, R-Ohio, perhaps better-known these days as the "Representative No. 1" cited in an indictment revolving around fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

i see civil war

i just can't tell what the time frame is. but there is civil war being brewed in the middle east.

and like all things bush, this will be a disaster. both for the region, and for the world. too much is at stake. and too little available.

cbs news isnt very full of good news tonite. story after story. misery everywhere. and some would have you believe that i would blame bush for it all.

and after that, i've got a bridge to sell ya.

any question on who's the president now?

A front-page article last Tuesday about foreign governments' security concerns regarding satellite photography available through Google referred imprecisely to security measures applied to some of the imagery. Although images of the White House and its environs are now clear in the Google Earth database, the view of the vice president's residence in Washington remains obscured.
(go to article)

--nytimes

i just had to reprint one last letter

because this one hits the nail on the head without even swinging.

According to the Army Times, the Army and Marine Corps are recalling more than 18,000 body-armor vests because they failed ballistic requirements when they were manufactured in 1999-2000.

Many of those vests may now be in the war zone. The Nov. 16 recall order is the second in six months for the Marines. The Corps recalled more than 5,000 vests in May. All of the vests involved were produced by the same manufacturer, Point Blank Body Armor Inc. of Pompano Beach, Fla., under contract to the Marine Corps.

The first recall, and a subsequent investigation that led to the second recall, came in response to a Marine Corps Times investigation that showed that the Corps knowingly accepted vests that failed to meet requirements in 2003 and 2004.

This is the Bush administration's version of "support the troops."

—Frank P. Belcastro, Dubuque.

Letter of the WeeQ

It is said that if we leave Iraq now, Iraq will sink into a civil war. I thought that I knew the definition of civil war, but I looked it up just to be sure. Iraq is already engaged in civil war. The politicians say that the insurgents now concentrate on Iraqi civilians. That is civil war.

—Paul Jensen, Ogden.

attribution

Letter Of The Day

comes today from my hometown newspaper, and there were several that made the short list of contenders. you should really read them all.

By KEVIN YOUNG, Sheffield

And so we have come to the end of the long, sad, sordid story of Angela Johnson and Dustin Honken.

If there is an appropriate comment to make, it would have to be the words of wisdom we used to have on a sign that sat in our living room which said, “No one is completely worthless. They can always serve as a BAD example.”

this is a test, this is only a test

and no, there's no need to contact your local DHS snitch.

what it means

was the first header of the letters to the editor in today's des moines register:

"Substantial stability has been achieved in the north and south," Dec. 19 editorial). English translation: The Kurds and Shiites have established de facto independent states complete with secret prisons and torture chambers in the oil-rich north and south while retaining joint control of the central government.

—Ian Binnie, Des Moines.

i am amazed at the letters today

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051225/OPINION04/512250320/1035/OPINION

under the heading eavesdroppers.

and not one thought it was ok for the president to spy on Americans.

i'm sorry

i'm sorry to all the catholics out there who might be offended by my next statement:

pope benedict looks like he's saying to himself: gee, all this for me, i'm the king, i get to sit on the throne, they come for ME.

Letter Of The Day

The president says he has allowed spying on United States citizens to protect U.S. citizens. My question is who, or what, is going to protect us from the president?

attribution