I was driving out of the parking lot of the grocery store tonight and noticed a pickup's license plate:

DYX 668

Now, being endowed with a razor-sharp intellect and some spare cycles, my brain decided to entertain itself by looking for patterns, mnemonics, and hidden meanings.
Well, my 15 seconds of contemplation produced these items:

1. 668 is the neighbor of the Beast.
   • (houses are even on one side, odd on the other - 667 would be across the street, 664 and 668 are the next-door neighbors to 666.)
2. DYX is like STYX, but in a QWERTY typo kind of way. D is next to S.
3. Styx is related to Hell, which is related to the Devil, whose number is 666.
4. So... this car's license plate refers to the river next to Styx, whichever that one is.
   And probably the one just a touch north (streets and addresses normally increase from south to north).

I laughed, and decided I had to write a JE about it.

Impressed? Scared? Nonplussed?
Tell me.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=541&e=1&u=/ap/wristband_safety

Hospitals Cover Up LiveStrong Bracelets

TAMPA, Fla. - A hospital chain is taping over patients' LiveStrong wristbands because they are yellow -- the same color as the "do not resuscitate" bands it puts on patients who do not want to be saved if their heart stops.

Heh, whoops.

I wonder if my neighbors heard me laughing just now...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041206/ap_on_el_pr/ohio_vote

Ohio has certified the results - President Bush has officially won by nearly 119,000 votes.

We have a reasonably active "Unofficial Political Mailing List" here at work. A few conservative viewpoints, a few liberal viewpoints, and the fun begins.
Anwyay, Coworker A sent this out yesterday:

The media has not covered the Bin Laden tape much. Some interesting stuff
here, especially what the Iraq citizen had to say.
http://www.truthlaidbear.com/archives/2004/11/01/bin_laden_or_alaa.php#001542

This is one of the responses from Coworker B:

<rant>
I think it will be interesting what people will say about liberal cowardice if Kerry manages to undo the unilateral actions of the current administration and gets a bunch of larger countries (one's with real armies) to toss their troops into Iraq with us and we can get Iraqis to work.

I have a general question that I put to a friend the other day.
Everyone seems to think that the people shooting at our troops in Iraq are 'terrorists'. Why?
Consider what we're doing...
1) We are driving around their cities in armour, with guns, having whipped their army twice now.
2) We are acting nearly alone.
3) We're protecting and rebuilding the oil-fields to the near exclusion of the things that make life normal to the average citizen, so it sure looks like we're there for our own gain.
4) We claim that we're going to give them the best government (Democracy) that exists.

Now, just think about it. If France or someone invaded northern Minnesota with the 'intention' of saving us from our insane form of government, just how long would it take before you had a gun in your hand? Me (a liberal)?... 'bout 10 seconds.
So if I'm willing to kill people trying to change my country/give me something I didn't ask for/ruling me, why would I think the average Iraqi would not do the same.
I agree that the world is a better place without Saddam, but we could have isolated him for the rest of time at almost no cost or just tiny military injunctions. We don't belong there and have only our own interests driving us.
</rant>

Well, after my period of relative silence over the past few weeks, I deemed it suitable to respond:

The main difference is that the US has not violated militarily-enforcable U.N. resolutions. Iraq agreed to all of this by joining the UN. Saddam's government schemed to deceive weapons inspectors and fired on coalition (not just US) planes for the last 12 years. The war was never over. Until Saddam would have fulfilled the terms of the resolutions ending the '91 war, it wasn't a done deal. He just reopened the can of worms.
        http://www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/01fs/14906.htm
It wasn't just the US that thought measures were necessary - the entire UN Security Council passed resolution 1441 - even though that wasn't needed, he'd never fulfilled the terms of the others, primarily Resolution 715.
Regardless, what would you do if a "bunch of larger countries" invaded Minnesota? Would you specifically attack other Americans in the process? Is there a scenario in which you would accept and welcome "invaders"?

I take exception to point #3. All services are increasing - but that's not exciting, Fallujah is. So guess what gets reported? It's not the additional ~1 GW of capacity the Iraqi power grid has. It's not the rebuilt wastewater treatment center that now serves Baghdad. It's not the improvements in healthcare. Very little good gets reported. "No news is good news"? Apparently the converse is true, at least. Good news is no news.
Here's some info about the Iraqi reconstruction:
        http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/updates/oct04/iraq_fs04_102804.pdf
with a table of contents at
        http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/updates/
Also, as I understand it, the US isn't seeing any proceeds from the oil - the Iraqis are.
        http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-06/01/content_335435.htm
Besides, from the conspiracy-theory point of view, wouldn't Bush want to isolate the Iraqi oil fields to ensure that his Texas oil buddies got higher prices?
But anyway. Even if the media was reporting good things and humanitarian progress with as much fervor as they were reporting the MDKs, it's still apparently a bad bad thing because the US has too much of the burden.
Our GDP is 10-11 trillion, compared to Russia's 1.2 and France's 1.5, and Germany's 2 trillion. So would it be fair when we share an equal monetary share, or only when we have a share equal to our relative GDP? Or maybe as a percentage of our total foreign aid? Who knows.
China (6 trillion), Japan (3-4 trillion), and India (2-3 trillion) have the highest GDPs after the US (then follows Germany and France) - but I can't see China footing a third of the bill at the moment.

Point #4, as I understand it, is something that the Iraqis agree with. No one is clamoring for a new sadistic dictatorship - nor are they being denied that, if they want to elect officials that will reenact a despotic leadership via legislation as opposed to civil war or a coup.
Of course, feel free to postulate about the likelihood of the US going back in if Mr. Unpopular gets elected. We don't have anywhere near enough cynicism going on yet.

Isolating Saddam was impossible. It was not possible to seal his borders - we can't even seal the US-Mexican border or the US-Canada border. That's not a sign of incompetence, it's a reality. The biggest thing controlling large-scale support of terrorist groups are a terrorist-friendly governments providing shelter and funding.
If we hadn't fulfilled the obligations of the Security Council, Saddam would've not only gone on unilaterally killing anyone he pleased, he would be able to continue sheltering, training, and funding terrorist groups.

I was going to send this in a seperate email, but it seems appropriate here:
        http://www.voicesofiraq.com/
I heard about this on NPR - I'm kinda interested to see it.

No responses yet. I don't know if it needs any, or if it'd get to be a wild, sprawling debate that no one has time for. In any case, I was pleased with most of it, and I wanted it preserved here.

I just got this emailed to me by a coworker... I love it.

I must've missed it when it hit the front page, so here it is for all of you that missed it as well.

So far this is one of the most useful things I have ever found that works with a cell phone. For example, I put in Subway 55427 and got back the address and phone number of the one just off 55. Definitely adding 46645 to my permanent directory...

Read about how to use it here.
http://www.google.com/sms/

From: ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman's Weblog
Posted At: Thursday, October 07, 2004 7:16 PM
Posted To: ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman's Weblog
Conversation: Google SMS launches
Subject: Google SMS launches

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/PermaLink.aspx?guid=addec052-da9c-4eac-8f4e-a919ec305366 | Comments
Wow...on a Blackberry this is WAY faster and more useful than the WAP browser. I did a Google 97229 and found my local Target. :)

How cool is this: With the new Google SMS service, you can do basic Google queries from any SMS-capable phone (which is darn near all of them) by sending text messages to 46645 (GOOGL). Results usually come within a minute, and are text-based only - no links or other craziness that could screw up an SMS. So far, you can get local business listings, product prices and comparisons, dictionary definitions, and more is planned soon (or already there and they just haven't told us about it yet). So, for instance, enter something like "Starbucks 10016" and you'll get a response with nearest place to get burnt-tasting, overpriced coffee. Well, near us, anyway, unless you change the "10016." Give it a go and let us know how it works for you. So far our results have been positive.
[Engadget]

CAMERON DIAZ ELECTION SCARE: 'IF YOU THINK RAPE SHOULD BE LEGAL, THEN DON'T VOTE'
Thu Sep 30 2004 12:12:11 ET

On Oprah's Wednesday 'voting party' show featuring important celebrities like P. Diddy (Vote or Die!), Drew Barrymore and Christina Aguilera, svelte suffragette Cameron Diaz took to shock tactics to get the female vote out.

After a discussion on lynching and the vote with Oprah, Diaz spoke of the dire consequences for women if they sit out this election:

Ms. DIAZ: We have a voice now, and we're not using it, and women have so much to lose. I mean, we could lose the right to our bodies. We could lo--if you think that rape should be legal, then don't vote. But if you think that you have a right to your body, and you have a right to say what happens to you and fight off that danger of losing that, then you should vote, and those are the...

WINFREY: It's your voice.

Ms. DIAZ: It's your voice. It's your voice, that's your right.

I'm continually amazed by the lack of cognitive dissonance regarding the ~50 percent of developing humans that are female, and thereby deserve those same highly-vaunted women's rights.

Rape is uninvited violation of one's body... and that's what abortion is to the unseen human.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/27/leisure.leno.reut/index.html

Woah. This has potential.
I wonder if they'll keep Kevin Eubanks (who is a better musician than I had given him credit for, dang!), or if the Max Weinberg 7 will make the transition, as well.

I wonder if Andy will be his McMahon again...

Burnout 3 is an awesome game.

I've been sitting here giggling.

Oh man. Speed and crashes. What could be better?

Turbo mode, driving dangerously... this is great!

Apparently Pamela Anderson has a case of KFC-spite. She's urging everyone to boycott KFC.

"KFC stands for cruelty," Anderson said in a statement.

Which part? Is it "Kruelty" or "Cruelty"? This opens up a world of speculative acronym possibilities.

Anyway, in a giant coincidence, I went to KFC earlier today for lunch. I even got a free extra biscuit. w00t!

So nyaah, Ms. Anderson.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/08/27/jaw.transplant.ap/index.html

"According to this week's issue of The Lancet medical journal, the German doctors used a mesh cage, a growth chemical and the patient's own bone marrow, containing stem cells, to create a new jaw bone that fit exactly into the gap left by the cancer surgery."

So... wait. We can get stem cells from other sources than just embryos?

No, that can't be. The Democrats and the media have been making a stink about President Bush limiting stem cell research - but all he's done is limit federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
So there's other research that can be done?

Amazing.
</sarcasm>

As I mentioned in yesterday's JE, I split my eyebrow open yesterday.

I woke up this morning, and my eye was pretty much swollen shut. It's 3 hours later, now, so the swelling has gone down somewhat - but it's much more colorful than yesterday.
Check it out:

http://www.mskf.org/temp/smash/smash_30h.jpg

w00t!
Makes it fun to walk around. I should dye my hair again to go along with it.

Well, I took a little unplanned trip down the stairs this morning.
About 6:45, I went downstairs to put my laundry in the dryer (I went to sleep before it was done last night), and I started to slip about 5 steps up. Painted stairs, bare feet - bad combination. That'll be fixed soon.
Anyway, I was face-down on the floor, feeling the shock of having my face bounce off the floor... the coolest part was that some people may curse and swear when something like that happens - I'm in the practice of praising God all the time, so that's what leaked out instead.
I started to get up - then I noticed the blood spattering on the floor. I thought, "Well, that doesn't usually happen..." I put my hand to my eye, and went up to the bathroom. It was great - blood all down my arm, covering part of my face on that side, it was spectacular.
I got myself cleaned up, and investigation revealed that my eyebrow was, in fact, split - so I couldn't fix it on my own. So once I'd decided I had to go to the ER, I figured I may as well get presentable. I threw my laundry in the dryer (bah!), shaved, brushed my teeth, etc...
Then I got to drive down highway 100 during rush hour to get to North Memorial hospital in Minneapolis. I was dabbing off my eyebrow while driving... pretty fun. :)
Once I got to the hospital, I walked in to see the triage nurse and got admitted to the ER. Everyone there was really nice, and the service was top-notch. And I got my tetanus updated.
4 stitches and 45 minutes later, I was driving to work. After all that, I got in before 9. Not bad.

So, here's the fun part - the pictures I just took.
My eye's starting to go black and blue, and the abrasion on my cheek looks pretty nice.

http://www.mskf.org/temp/smash/smash_face.jpg
http://www.mskf.org/temp/smash/smash_closeup.jpg
http://www.mskf.org/temp/smash/smash_er_band.jpg

So, that was my morning - how was yours? :)

Update (2004-08-18 17:35 GMT): Oh yeah, I should mention that the "Maple Grove" listed on my armband is from my original "preferred" clinic when I was living in Plymouth (despite that I never went there). I hadn't bothered to update it since I moved, even though there's a clinic on the ground floor of the office building here. I changed that this morning. However, one of the guys here at the office offered the services of his fiancee - who works in the ER at North Memorial, just not this morning - so it looks like I'll get to avoid a co-pay. :)

Saturday, President Bush was at the Tyson Event Center in Sioux City. So was I.

Here are two of the pictures I got:

My best:
http://www.mskf.org/temp/best_gwb.jpg

A pretty representative shot of the rest of them:
http://www.mskf.org/temp/gwb_01.jpg

Anyway - the pep rally part of it was pretty lame (I fly by my convictions, not by my feelings)... I don't want to chant "four more years." When the President entered the room, though, the electricity was incredible.

Then, I settled back for the policy speech... nothing new, really. But whereas I used to be nervous when watching him speak, I had no problems listening to him now. I think he made two mistakes in a 40-minute speech... better than me, that's for sure. :)

Anyway - it was a cool experience. And he's coming to Saint Paul on Wednesday or Thursday (can't remember)... will I go? No, two times in a week is too much.

So I found a site called You Have Bad Taste in Music via a post on Metafilter.

It's fascinating to read the Metafilter thread - they are confused at how much effort has been put into the videos, et al - and NONE of them realize that the initials of the site are YHBT.
This rules. :D

Update (2004-08-09 00:23 UTC): Ha! The videos are even more awesome, having known that he's trolling in meatspace.
I just watched the Evanescence one - he's gotta be so pleased with himself as the people are taking the offered bullhorn to respond.
YHL. HAND.
Ha!

A story on the front page two weeks ago pointed out Verisign's intent to speed up DNS updates. The stated date was September 8.

Well, I just registered http://www.mattfisher.name/ tonight - the whole process, including name server propagation (to my location, anyway) took less than 20 minutes.

I'm impressed.
So, that begs the question - does it work for all of y'all? Or was I just in a fortunate corner of the 'net?

I'll even make it a poll:

• a) Got it.
• b) Don't got it.
• c) Don't have the ability to look up name records... as far as I know, this site is named 1109654166, you insensitive clod.