October 2000

• The Yellow Dog Greens for Nader Petition asks Al Gore to withdraw from the presidential race, since he's ruining Ralph Nader's chances.
• The Rip Rense Election guide will help you decide between the two major candidates. Or maybe just convince you to stay home on November 7th.
• Mother Jones says that US Elections Need International Observers. I'm pretty sure that's the wrong answer, but it's hard to deny that the ruling parties in the US have denied opposition candidates access to the media. Or did I just dream that the Commission on Presidential Debates wouldn't allow Ralph Nader into the debates, even though he held a valid ticket?
• For Democrats, gun issue losing fire -- apparently they've finally figured out that the NRA is a powerful lobby because its members take freedom seriously. I particularly like the NRA Political Victory Fund's Vote Freedom First campaign.
• An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought. Using this metric, here's my take on the honesty level of the various candidates (in order of campaign contributions reported this time around):
  • George W. Bush: He's been bought by big oil and shows no signs of wavering. He looks pretty honest. The only cause he's sold out is the party-animal caucus, but they don't contribute a lot of money.
  • Al Gore: Not very honest at all. He was previously bought by the NRA, and received an A+ rating. Recently that's slipped to an F. He had also been bought by big tobacco, but seems to have sold them out, as well. It's not Ralph Nader who hurt Gore, it's Al Gore who hurt himself.
  • Pat Buchanan: Pat hasn't much changed his message, but it's hard to figure out who's buying him. Other than the milions of dollars he got from the Reform Party, most of his money still hasn't been coded by profession or industry, and what has been classified comes from other. He's not much of a Washington outsider though, which doesn't make him seem like much of a Reformer.
  • Ralph Nader: He's being relatively true to the Green Party and pushing for election reform. Most of his money is classified as coming from other. There are some who say there's a dark side to Ralph Nader. And interestingly enough, Ralph owns a lot of stock in Occidental Petroleum. More at Inside Nader's stock portfolio.
  • Harry Browne: Communications and Finance are the big two. Both would like to see smaller government and less regulation, which is what Harry's about. I think Harry's pretty honest, but there have been allegations of financial funny business within the Libertarian Party. Sigh.
• Some of the above information comes from the People for Real Change Skeleton Closet. You might want to check it out.
• There's also a discussion of Protest Votes over at Flutterby. It covers most of the issues I've heard about elsewhere.

Weather in Minneapolis for October 30, 2000     October 30 in History

• Net 'privacy' bill rewards data marketers and will probably get tacked onto an appropriations bill so it'll pass without further discussion. More Land-Mine Legislation.
• British Study Shows Curry Can Be Addictive. At least compared to traditional British foods.
• What a wuss! talks about Roger Clemens throwing a bat fragment at Mike Piazza and then hiding behind his catcher and the home-plate umpire. I didn't see it, so I can't say for sure, but that's just the kind of crap that keeps me from watching any major league baseball. And Clemens didn't pitch in the NL park, so the Mets couldn't throw at him in return. Oh well, that wouldn't have been sporting.
• Chapter and Perverse is a fine humor article about sex and the things that can (and will) go awry. You will never be able to get out of the knots as fast as you thought you could, and now your priest will never visit your house again.
• The Register has a few articles on How Cisco and MS avoid tax, which are interesting. The two part series: IT Giants: Cisco and IT Giants: Microsoft also contain information on the trouble these two companies could find themselves in if their stock remains at current levels instead of continuing up as it had in the past.
• Camworld has a list of Content Management Systems. That's a resource I need to remember, since I'm still looking for a better answer.
• It's not time for the moment of silence yet, but it's nearly the End of era for Mir. Expect it to go splash around the end of February.

Weather in Minneapolis for October 27, 2000     October 27 in History

• Government and the little guy - Why does the quote Hello, I'm from the Government and I'm here to help. send shivers down my spine?
• Panel faults Reno, Clinton on Waco. I'm pretty sure the government wasn't there to help in that case.
• Judicial Watch hosted a Debate on Ethics in Government. Al Gore promised to show. Bush declined. As it turns out, there were four empty podiums with the names Bush, Gore, Nader and Buchanan on them. More on the story at Three Show at Judicial Watch Debate.
• Why is algore dropping in the polls? It's the character, stupid.
• FBI's Carnivore Just the First Step In Cyber Surveillance. Well, duh. Anyone who's ever worked in the software business knows you don't use version 1.0 for very long.
• Wanna know Why L. Neil Smith is running in AZ? Because the Libertarian Party is full of crooks, theives, and liars. Hell, they're nearly as bad as the Demopublicans. LNS has nearly convinced me that I'm either voting for Howard Philips or the Shrub.
• Don't Rush Me! examines why some of us are still undecided about who to vote for in the presidential election.
• Towards a New Paradigm of a Nation discusses the case of the Roma (aka Gypsies) and whether they constitute a nation. Having read a lot of Polish history recently, and knowing that the country was effectively gone from the map for about 150 years, only to be reconstituted after World War I, maybe there's a chance for the Roma. Then again, they don't really have an ancestral homeland which makes things a bit dicy. Some of the questions raised are similar to issues that are currently stirring things up in the Middle East, though.
• In local politics, I've been working on the Marcy-Holmes Neighborhood Association website. I'm pretty happy with the overall design (thanks for the help, Steph), and the content is starting to shape up.
• Finally, a moment of silence, please. Pioneer 10 dead after 28 years.

Weather in Minneapolis for October 23, 2000     October 23 in History

• Falling in love makes you crazy. Apparently, it's an awful lot like having obsessive compulsive disorder.
• In a case of herd-thinning, Teen dies after drinking antifreeze.
• Here's One way of dealing with rape. Ouch. That'll leave a mark.
• High-Tech Nomads Adopt an Old Way of Life - the rich, the geeky, the homeless.
• The Register has an article explaining Why ludicrous patents are wrong.
• The man who knew too much is living as a political refugee in Australia. Apparently that's the fate of someone who crosses Janet Reno.

Weather in Minneapolis for October 20, 2000     October 20 in History

• In local news, Union Claims St. Paul Police Have Ticket Quotas.
• Everything you wanted to know about The Order of Skull and Bones, but were afraid to ask. Sure it's a conspiracy theory. It might one day even be proven true. And heck, it's even got a connection to the Illuminati.
• This land was your land - A fine political cartoon. It's a bit dated, but I was slow finding it.
• The Dublin Corporation is proposing to put up office blocks directly opposite Kilmainham Gaol. I received a Letter in opposition to Kilmainham development from John Callery. More information is available in their Objection to Proposed Office Blocks opposite Kilmainham Gaol website.
• 'To Beg the Question' Stirs Questions is a grammar rant I found recently. Of course it's one of William Safire's On Language columns.

Weather in Minneapolis for October 16, 2000     October 16 in History

• GUNOWNERS - We've been had - Linda Hamilton was promised help by both the NRA and Gun Owners of America. Neither has come through. Bogus.
• The Man Who Let the Air Out of Firestone and why their tires fall apart.
• Was it Al Gore or the Unabomber? who said that? It's pretty tough to say.
• Some engineers in Australia have developed a Microwave Emissions Converter that could reduce emissions by 70 percent over a standard catalytic converter.
• The True Food Shopping List was put together by Greenpeace and lists what foods have genetically engineered ingredients. Just about everything I eat has genetically engineered ingredients. Huh.
• Speaking of food, Jodi over at iwilldare called me a Fruitcake. And she's busy having smoochy dreams about midgets, Matt Dillon and football players. Have a very fruitful day!.

Weather in Minneapolis for October 13, 2000     October 13 in History

• Ya Gotta Wonder about what the police are thinking when they dress up like ninjas. That sure ain't officer friendly wearing the black uniform.
• Exit Interviews of those in Congress who are sticking to their promises to leave after a given number of terms.
• Hunter? Shooter? Who is the Good Neighbor? Not State Farm, it appears.
• The list of Winners of the 2000 Ig Nobel Prizes is out.
• All's not well in California: Dot-Com Boom Makes S.F. a War Zone and San Francisco 'dot-commies' hire guards to stop art attacks.
• There's a discussion on kuro5hin about Changing the balance of power in job seeking that's got a few interesting comments in it.

Weather in Minneapolis for October 9, 2000     October 9 in History

• So I'm reading through a weblog I discovered, where the gal talks about an encounter with a cowboy (it's the last bit on cowboy archive at iwilldare). It meshed with some thoughts I've been having, since meeting a gal recently who ended up checking out my website (after we met). At the time I didn't think much about it, but when I read the bit about the cowboy, I started wondering if I had anything like that in the archives. It doesn't really worry me, but it made me think. I'm pretty strongly against revisionist history on the web (I seldom go back and edit something once it's been posted, unlike some people), but I also realise that there are some things I might say today that won't reflect what I think a couple years from now. Without going back and adding a footnote to the effect of Yeah, this is what I wrote back in 2000, but I was insane that year. or some similar disclaimer, how's someone to know? No real answers. Just some questions I'm pondering.
• And Jodi (of iwilldare) was wondering what grocery stores I patronize:
  • Brothersons Meats, Inc. - steaks, jerky, other meats
  • Annamarie's Bakeshop & Eatery - bread (next door to Brotherson's)
  • Kramarczuk Sausage Company, Inc. - Polish ham, cheeses, sausages, bread
  • Delmonico's Grocery - Italian sausage, cheeses, pasta, fruits and veggies
  • North Country Cooperative - Bread, flour, fruits and veggies, bulk foods
  • Kim's Oriental Market - Oriental stuff, including kimchi, sauces, and oriental veggies
  • Coastal Seafoods - Fish.
  • Nicollet Mall Farmers' Market - Fresh fruits and veggies on Thursdays.
  Of course sometimes I just break down and hit the huge warehouse store to stock up on canned and dry goods, but I don't especially like that.
• Have you played Jesus Dress Up! yet? so wrong...and yet so fun.

Weather in Minneapolis for October 6, 2000     October 6 in History

• Bug-Eyed Earl: Overly-enthusiastic pundit of borderline reality.
• Minor Party Candidates To Debate. Well, it happened on Thursday, 28. September. I just found out about it now. D'Ohh! It was on C-Span, so there's likely to be reruns, at least.
• Are tech workers really in short supply? Or are they all just fed up with bad management? That's one reason I'm independent, rather than working for some other company.
• University recreates golden grog of King Midas, which sparkles like champagne and tastes like hard cider. It sounds somewhat like brews I've made in the past, but I may have to research it further for the next edition of Mead Made Easy
• Heard (or seen) In Passing... There's some pretty funny things there.
• How to post about Nazis and get away with it is a discussion of Godwin's Law.

Weather in Minneapolis for October 2, 2000     October 2 in History