Dang… Where do these Mondays keep coming from?

I foresee more of the same sort of Monday shenanigans. Terribly long morning meeting, and then spend the rest of the day playing catch-up.

The opening crew is headed to Alabama for training next week, so it’ll be much lighter in that respect, next go-round.

Newt’s been in gabby-chatter mode quite a lot lately.I’m happy to give him all the attention he might like and probably more, though he like to be doted on for the most part.

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It feels like my emotional gravity is out of whack. Parts of me are light, others dense, and drawn to the center of my being. Some sort of personal vibe version of solar flares.

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Wikipedia article on War Elephants

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30th anniversary of Nixon Resigning. I can think of a few presidents, both republican and democrat that probably should’ve stepped down in like fashion, since. People guilty of known criminal activity both prior and during office… and probably since then.

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World Audit: ranks countries. Shows the U.S. as 9th in freedom, 12th in democracy. Interesting how Finland, the most democratic and thirdmost free on the page is also considered the most corrupt. How it’s measured.

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Quick reference – Why do Muslim women cover their heads?

For Future Reference, Male Hijab info, too. Interesting that bit about yellow / orange clothing. No red, unless it’s combined with another color.

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According to Newsday, live video from the Olympics will be viewable online. However, ‘the footage will be highly restricted to protect lucrative broadcast contracts, which are sold by territory – $793 million paid by NBC alone. Web sites must employ technology to block viewers from outside their home countries, so U.S. Web surfers won’t benefit from the BBC’s live coverage. They’ll have to settle for highlights posted after NBC broadcasts, which are already largely tape-delayed.’

via

See instead – Pirating the Olympics via Time to warm up my Torrentstorm software… if only to check out Archery and Judo.

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S.F. Man Says Beheading Video Is a Hoax

By RON HARRIS, Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO – A video aired Saturday that purportedly showed an American being decapitated in Iraq (news – web sites) was a hoax.

Slideshow: American Fakes Beheading Video

The American, Benjamin Vanderford, reached by The Associated Press in San Francisco, said he videotaped the staged beheading at his friend’s house using fake blood.

Vanderford, 22, said he began distributing the video on the Internet months ago in hopes of drawing attention to his one-time campaign for city supervisor. When his political aspirations waned, he thought the video would serve as social commentary.

“It was part of a stunt, but no one noticed it up until now,” Vanderford said. “I did this for a couple of reasons. One is to attract attention. But two is to just make a statement on these type of videos and how easily they can be faked.”

On the tape, Vanderford, 22, sat on a chair in a dark room, his hands behind his back, trembling and rocking back and forth. The tape showed a hand with a knife cutting at the motionless man’s neck, but did not show any militants.

“We need to leave this country alone. We need to stop this occupation,” he said on the video, adding that he had been offered for exchange with prisoners in Iraq. “Everyone’s going to be killed this way.”