Thursday, December 30, 2004
Amateur Tsunami VideosNo direct link today. Simply copy and paste
http://jlgolson.blogspot.com/2004/12/tsunami-video.html
The hosts of these videos are getting his with amazing bandwidth bills. So if you're feeling generous enough, donate a dollar one of them.
Due to the amount of bandwidth that would be involved in hosting the videos, PSO has decided not to be a mirror site. We were thinking about it, but the amount of bandwidth being used through the current mutlimedia is enough to keep us honest for now. Thanks for reading.
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
What? There's a war in Iraq?Tsunami Death Toll Soars Past 77,000
By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - As the world scrambled to the rescue, survivors fought over packs of noodles in quake-stricken Indonesian streets Wednesday while relief supplies piled up at the airport for lack of cars, gas or passable roads to move them. The official death toll across 11 countries soared past 77,000 and the Red Cross predicted it could exceed 100,000.
AP Photo
Reuters
Slideshow: Asian Tsunami Disaster
Bodies were piled into mass graves in the belief that burial would ward off disease. Paramedics in southern India began vaccinating thousands of survivors against cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and dysentery, and authorities sprayed bleaching powder on beaches where bodies have been recovered. In Sri Lanka, reports of waterborne disease such as diarrhea caused fears of an epidemic.
President Bush (news - web sites) announced the United States, India, Australia and Japan have formed an international coalition to coordinate relief and reconstruction of the 3,000 miles of Indian Ocean rim walloped by Sunday's earthquake and the tsunami it unleashed.
"We're facing a disaster of unprecedented proportion in nature," said Simon Missiri, a top Red Cross official. "We're talking about a staggering death toll."
On hundreds of Web sites, the messages were brief but poignant: "Missing: Christina Blomee in Khao Lak," or simply, "Where are you?" All conveyed the aching desperation of people the world over whose friends and family went off in search of holiday-season sun and sand and haven't been heard from for four days.
But even as hope for the missing dwindled, survivors continued to turn up Wednesday. In Sri Lanka, where more than 22,000 died, a lone fisherman named Sini Mohammed Sarfudeen was rescued by an air force helicopter crew after clinging to his wave-tossed boat for three days.
Indian air force planes evacuated thousands of survivors from the remote island of Car Nicobar. Some of them had walked for days from their destroyed villages to reach a devastated but functioning airfield, where they were shuttled out 80 to 90 at a time.
Journalists were not allowed to leave the base to verify reports that some 8,000 people were dead there, but at the base alone, 67 officers and their families were missing and feared dead.
India's death toll rose to nearly 7,000, while Indonesia's stood at 45,268, but authorities said this did not include a full count from Sumatra's west coast, where more than 10,000 deaths were suspected in one town alone.
In Sumatra, the Florida-sized Indonesian island close to the epicenter of the quake, the view from the air was of whole villages ripped apart, covered in mud and seawater. In one of the few signs of life, a handful of desperate people scavenged a beach for food. On the streets of Banda Aceh, the main town of Sumatra's Aceh province, the military managed to drop supplies from vehicles and fights broke out over packs of instant noodles.
Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, military commander of Aceh province, said after flying over the stricken region that 75 percent of the west coast of Sumatra was destroyed.
Footage shot by an Associated Press Television News cameraman on the military helicopter showed town after town covered in mud and sea water. Homes had their roofs ripped off or were flattened.
A solitary mosque and green treetops were all that broke the line of water in one town.
With tens of thousands of people still missing across the entire region, Peter Ress, Red Cross operations support chief, said the death toll could top 100,000. More than 500,000 were reported injured.
"We have little hope, except for individual miracles," Jean-Marc Espalioux, chairman of the Accor hotel group, said of the search for thousands of tourists and locals missing from beach resorts of southern Thailand — including 2,000 Scandinavians.
The State Department said 12 Americans died in the disaster — seven in Sri Lanka and five in Thailand. About 2,000 to 3,000 Americans were unaccounted for.
Bush, at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, talked by phone Wednesday with leaders of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India.
"We're still in the stage of immediate help. But slowly but surely, the size of the problem will become known, particularly when it comes to rebuilding infrastructure and community to help these affected parts of the world get back up on their feet," Bush said afterward.
The Pentagon (news - web sites) says it will divert several U.S. warships and helicopters to the region, some of which can produce up to 90,000 gallons of drinking water a day.
Without clean water, respiratory and waterborne diseases could break out within days, putting millions at "grave risk," the U.N. children's agency said. "Standing water can be just as deadly as moving water," said UNICEF (news - web sites) Executive Director Carol Bellamy. "The floods have contaminated the water systems, leaving people with little choice but to use unclean surface water."
Near Banda Aceh, trucks dumped more than 1,000 bloated, unidentified bodies into pits. Military Col. Achmad Yani Basuki said there was no choice, given the danger of disease and the difficulty of identifying any of the dead.
But Dana Van Alphan of the Pan American Health Organization issued a statement declaring there was no danger of corpses contaminating water or soil because bacteria and viruses cannot survive in dead bodies. The organization said it issued the statement, hoping to avert mass burials of tens of thousands of unidentified victims.
Van Alphan said it was important for survivors to be allowed to identify loved ones and urged authorities in tsunami-stricken countries to avoid burying unidentified corpses in mass graves.
"I think that psychologically, people have to be given the chance to identify their family members," she said. "Whatever disease the person has while still alive poses no threat to public health in a corpse."
The World Health Organization (news - web sites) has also said dead bodies are not an immedieate threat to health.
"The health hazard associated with dead bodies is negligible. The collection, disposal, burying and/or cremation of corpses requires important human and material resources which should instead be allocated to those who survived and remain in critical condition," the organization said in a news release after the 1999 earthquake in Turkey.
Thailand said it had more than 1,800 dead and a total of more than 300 were killed in Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya.
In Sri Lanka, four planes arrived in the capital bringing a mobile hospital from Finland, a water purification plant from Germany, doctors and medicine from Japan and aid workers from Britain, the Red Cross said.
Supplies that included 175 tons of rice and 100 doctors reached Banda Aceh but officials said they were having difficulty moving it out.
Widespread looting was reported in Thailand's devastated resort islands of Phuket and Phi Phi, where European and Australian tourists left valuables behind in wrecked hotels when they fled — or were swept away.
An international airlift was under way to ferry critical aid and medicine to Phuket and to take home travelers, some with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. France, Australia, Greece, Italy, Germany and Sweden were sending flights.
The world's biggest reinsurer, Germany's Munich Re, estimated the damage to buildings and foundations in the affected regions would be at least $13.6 billion.
___
Associated Press reporters Lely Djuhari in Banda Aceh, Manish Swarup in Car Nicobar, India, Dilip Ganguly in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Alisa Tang in Phuket, Thailand contributed to this report.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Pick One.
courtesy REUTERS/Luis Enrique Ascui/©2004
10 thousand, 22 thousand, 33 thousand, 52 thousand, 60 thousand. ..
Perhaps one hundred thousand when it's all said and done. So, here's to Christmas--one of those holidays I'm not entirely fond of, and perhaps I make the vain mistake of finding reason to shy away from it. But then you saw the news story too. And you probably saw the videos on CNN (because let's face it), it's way more sensational than what your local news stations are handing you. And in watching the news and reading Yahoo and CNN and talking to the blurbsters of the world this one questions comes to mind:
Anyone out there still making a stink over the number of people who died on 9//11?
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
The Little Confederate Dress...So there's this story on Yahoo right, [ Clicky. ].
I hope you clicked on that link so to spare me having to regrudge it all up. Basically, I have the following opinion on the matter:
Why didn't this chickenhead just put on a white dress and sharpie "I am a RACIST" across her chest and ass? Forgive me for the bitterness, but it's the $50,000 she's seeking in *cough* punitive damages that's got me worked. How ridiculous is this? You:
1. Start working on a dress your freshman year of high school that you know you won't be able to wear to your senior prom...
2. You have the decency to ask your school administration just before the prom if you can wear it to see if they changed their mind... and ...
3. You wear the dress to the prom anyway *cough cough* to see if...once again, they might change their mind...
4. Since nobody changed their mind you sue for $50,000 because it took you 4 years to make a dress to specifically wear to an event you knew you couldn't wear it.
That's like me spending 10 months saving up for a set of latex tits to wear to a company halloween party that gave me a costume dress code in advance. And of course, all of this has to go to court, and the *COUGH COUGH COUGH* Sons of the Confederate Veterans [aka we don't quite have the balls to call ourselves the KKK] have gracefully stepped up to pay for her court fees. I can just imagine their conversation as they watched this on the news:
Cletus: That der girl is suin' the man 'cos they won't let her wear dat der dress!
Johnny Boy: Ay, dat der is a tried an true Americun!
Cletus: She takin' dem der to court!
JB: Call Frankie up 'n tell 'em we're gonne pay dem der court fees!
Cletus: ...tellin' her she can't wear dat dang dress. 'N it was probly beautiful too.
JB: I becha she's one of dem gorgeous girlies, too...
So, of course the tax payers in ... (what state was that?) Kentucky! are mad glad they get to see this. If judge Simbarashe were presiding he'd say something like:
The Honourable Simbarashe: Ms. Jacqueline Duty, it is with the utmost pleasure that I declare this day in court that you have made a complete ass of yourself and the justice system. Since you feel like you're entitled $50,000, I am moved to say that I feel you're entitled to a kick in the ass. Not only should you be forced to pay all of the legal fees involved in this matter, but I'm also sentencing you to go on primetime TV and apologize to the entire community for being such a stupid bitch. And if you decide to go on TV and be rebellous for 'your cause' I'm going to order you to pay $50,000 to that little black school down the street from your mother's house for being so damn selfish. Of course, if you don't have the $50,000 to pay, you can always get your Confederate brothers to help you with that matter as well. [gavel gavel]
thank you, you are dismissed.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
Time Time TimeTime is not one of those things that
I have a lot of time to deal with
Time's up before I've made time
To take care of things in due time cos I'm
Out of time that I never had
And I'm wasting time I never knew I had
Time only laughs when I'm trying to
Finish important things on time by
Deadlines.
I can do a few things with time that's
On my side though,
And with this time I call it "My Time"
But my time is always neglected when
Nobody pays attention because
People treat my time like I have loads
Of it -- all kinds of time all the time!
If I had a penny for every time
Somebody disregard my time I'd have
millions of pennies,
But no time to spend it with
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Need help? Call the Ashbury Line!Last night I was sitting at work in our little 'techie hole' when I came up with this fantastic idea. Probably not entirely orignal but I still think it's pretty brilliant...
• Have an upcoming party or social event you will be attending?
• New in town and wanting to meet new people?
• Interested in climbing the social ladder in your area?
If you answered yes to one of these questions, then you're going to need a wingman. Now everyone knows what a wingman's job is, but has your wingman ever been guilty of the following:
• Swearing that they'll get you talking to people when then won't
• Competing with you on the person you wanted to get to know
• Makes a complete fool of themselves and destroys any chance you have at making an impression
• Turns out to be even more shy than you are
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need a Professional Wingman. What's the difference you ask? Well, your ametuer wingman friends sincerely want to help you out. Some of them are even good at getting you that phone number by the end of the night. But why have a phone number when you can get so much more? Realistically speaking, if you're just looking to hook up and score, then you don't need a wingman. Just go out and get someone hella drunk [yes, I said hella drunk] and let that be that. But what good is that phone number even if you call in the morning and they don't remember who you are, or don't care to speak to you? Ask yourself the following questions:
“ If you were at a club, would you rather wait an hour (with liquor in your system) to start being social, or would you rather be the type of person who shook hands with several people on your way in the door?
• Would you rather be the wallflower, or the centre of attention?
• Would you rather spend an entire night trying to meet one person, or would you rather spend the entire night having met tons of people?
If you prefer the second part of these questions, then you need a Professional Wingman. A Professional Wingman works to ensure that everyone knows who you are. A Professional Wingman will steer conversations with new people in a direction that is tailored to your likes and interests. For example, if your Professional Wingman has introduced Sally to Ben, and Ben likes politics, his Professional Wingman will bring up politics and try to get Sally initiated. If it works, Ben will be able to smoothly transition himself into the conversation. That's just one example of a Professional Wingman. .
Your Professional Wingman offers several social plans that cater to you. Book one event, or purchase one of their attractive social building campaigns, aimed at turning you into a noticeable, likeable individual in only a few short weeks. Your Professional Wingman will even help you by sending you to a hair salon, checking your wardrobe and making upgrade suggestions, teach you about what accessories to wear for certain occasions, and even help you plan the perfect cocktail party for your friends or accosiates. By the time your Professional Wingman is done with you, you'll never be afraid of flying solo again. Know why?
BECAUSE YOU WON'T HAVE TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you need a Professional Wingman, call the best in the business at 1.900.555.WING and sign up for a free consultation!
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Ear's a crowd...When you're the leader of the free world, you have all of these people who have a niche at something whispering their expertise in your ear. What separates the leader of the free world with everyone else in a similar position is that, if you ARE the leader of the free world, then you have to believe that your ear whisperers are the best on the planet. They have to be--I mean, they understand as much as you do that the job is not to build the best empire, but to protect it, and keep it head and shoulders above everything and everyone else.
Right?
People who whisper in one's ear's don't have to be politicians; they don't even have to work for them. Yet everything that ever gets whispered in an ear (along the accord of advice) is always, without discrimination, political. Now, if it's not your ear, and you're not the leader of the free world, but you feel that the advisors to the leader of the free world have their silos pointed at you, what do you do? You could crumble to the pressure and do whatever they want you to do. We'll call that person Holland. Or, you could do nothing, but smile a lot and hope they like you, to a distance where no strong-arming is involved. We'll call that person Canada. Or, you could do nothing, to the point where they don't like you because of your impotence. We'll call that person Mexico. Or, you could speak up, agree with what you think they want to hear, tap dance on the table and smile as they walk by. We'll call that person Romania. Or, you could tell everyone that you're doing something so the whispers go your way, when you are in fact doing something completely different with a middle finger up behind your back. We'll call this person China. Or, you could speak up, agree with them (because you think you really do), roll up your sleeves and rub elbows, sharing Newcastles with them at the local pub before being off to hear all of your [real] friends bash you because you're being a pussy. We'll call that person England.
Or you could speak up, speak your own mind, follow your own agenda, do what you want (not because it's right) but because it's what you believe, become the minority at a rather large lunch table and put up with the old boys whispering about you at an inaudible level. We'll call this person France. Of course, to be France, you will have to endure the spitwad, the sticker-note on the back, the gum on the seat of the chair, the spit in the sandwhich, the anti-France gossip that goes on indiscreetly in the halls, and the general (or global) notion that you are indeed, unworthy.
I am France. Who are you?
Saturday, December 04, 2004
November was like...fallout with mum.
found an old guitarist.
gained 4 pounds.
procrastenated on the budget.
breakthrough on progess with donica pine.
no melodies.
3 songs.
no sale of the les paul.
stephanie yes.
bianca no.
patricia's sprained foot.
food poisoning.
made up with mum.
broke plans.
yelled a little.
fast food tacos for thanksgiving.
cowboys won!
tottenham lost!
romania tied!
no thanks.
made new plans.
directions how to dismantle bombs.
ashbury invitation.
anger.
'hennifer lopizz' and taco flavoured kisses.
the o.c. on fox.
christian o'mallery's birthday.
glad it's over.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Page 2.So I know most of you don't watch basketball, or follow a lot of American sports for that matter, but take a look at this excerpt from ESPN.COM regarding the NBA's all-time losingest team:
So how would you describe the atmosphere at Clippers games? Quaint. Respectful. Supportive. The team doesn't bother blasting scoreboard prompts or fake crowd chants; a boisterous fan named Darryl in Section 107 starts "Let's go Clip-pers!" chants that echo through the arena. He's good enough. On a game-to-game basis, it's the most positive, laid-back crowd I have ever experienced. Like sitting with 15,000 soccer Moms, all of us watching their kids running around.
Here's the rest of the article if you want to read something that might put a smile on your face. You don't even need to know about basketball- just understand that the team he's hired to write for is really, really, REALLY bad.
Page 2 with Bill Simmons