I have been using Firefox full time instead of Internet Explorer these days, this is one reason. With default popup blocking already taken care of by the browser, I just needed to find an ad blocking program.
Then I found Adblock. I added in a default adblock script, and my browsing is quite nice now. The default google search bar, tabbed browsing, and the ability to search highlighted text in a new tab all make firefox a pretty slick solution.
Watched Fahrenheit 9/11 last night at the GasLamp downtown. I love the GasLamp Theatre, but the poor place is usually dead, not many people want to bother with parking downtown. Not last night though, the place was packed, and the theater was packed to see 9/11.
The movie? Ultimately, I liked it. But I was a little disappointed in the way Moore did a couple things. For example, not much was said of Iraq and Saddam. The commentary of the movie implied that he was not a threat. While this is true in a global scale, Saddam was a real bastard to the Kurds and Iraqis. Moore could have asked, why Iraq? Why not the other dictatorships around the world that screw over their people and sell weapons to terrorists? North Korean, I’m looking at you. In taking cheap shots he polarized the film, and made it much easier to write off as conspiracy theory or propaganda.
Moore did one thing well, he had great film footage. Bush warming up before the cameras, him reading to kids for 9 minutes after the plane hit the 2nd tower, interviews with troops, poignant news clippings, Marine recruiters in Flint, etc. All of it showed just how absurd the whole situation was.
Anna and I caught part of the soap box derby in Sherman Heights while on our way to Chicano Perk. It looked like a lot of fun, and it was great to see the community out. One of the racers brakes failed, so we got to see that, yes, they had thought about safety.
On our way out to the OB Street Fair we passed by a big party at the Sherman community center. Sherman seems to have a strong community feel to it, where as Golden Hill has been a little bit fractured by the class and language differences. But.. That is what makes Golden Hill great, can’t have your cake and eat it too I guess.
More bugs with IE have allowed for this nasty data theif virus. Recently I have switched over to firefox at work and home. I have to say, I am quite impressed. Speed is good, no page errors (other than windowsupdate, but that is to be expected), popup blocker, and built-in google search.
The Supreme Court ruled narrowly Monday that Congress gave President Bush the power to hold an American citizen without charges or trial.
The U.S.-led coalition transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days early Monday in a surprise move that apparently caught insurgents off guard, averting a feared campaign of attacks to sabotage the historic step toward self-rule.
I believe it is good that they did not delay it because of the conflicts – if they had, it would have been seen in the Arab world as more proof that the US wants control of Iraq. Mind you, the US will still be there a long time…
When the war began 15 months ago, the president’s Iraq policy rested on four broad principles: The United States should act preemptively to prevent strikes on U.S. targets. Washington should be willing to act unilaterally, alone or with a select coalition, when the United Nations or allies balk. Iraq was the next cornerstone in the global war on terrorism. And Baghdad’s transformation into a new democracy would spark regionwide change.
The WashPost takes a look at how well Bush’s foreign policy has done over the last year and a half.
Ah yes, the wonderful life of the IT nerd; 20 hour days when servers fall down.
Pigeons fluttering through a hole in the ceiling of a Spanish cathedral led an art restoration team to discover a hidden Renaissance fresco of winged angels that had been covered by a false ceiling for more than 300 years.
People have been freaking out about gmail. The storage space, the privacy issues, and more recently, about the usability of the web client. People were offering up gmail invites as prizes or favors. It is all a bit silly.
The gmail link has been sitting on my blogger account page for months now. I finally decided to give it a go. I can now say Google is by far the best web email out there. Uncluttered interface, keyboard shortcuts, great search features on your own email, and a whole lot of space. I can see it being my primary web mail account..
Delta, Continental, America West, JetBlue and Frontier Airlines secretly turned over sensitive passenger data to Transportation Security Administration contractors in the spring and summer of 2002. In addition, two of the four largest airline reservation centers, Galileo International and Sabre, also gave sensitive passenger information, including home phone numbers, credit card numbers and health data. Nothing to see here, just the government compiling secret databases on Americans.
About time: Black Box Voting has formed a nonprofit consumer group that plans to investigate election officials who may have conflicts of interest with voting companies.
My bus stop is near a seniors center downtown. That is a good thing. However, there is no outside seating for the center. This means that the seniors who still smoke (and there are a lot of them) come over to hang out around the bus stop. Uhg. This morning I counted 10 people smoking within a 15 foot area. When you add in the exhaust from Broadway it becomes one of the most unhealthy places around. It is sad that the people who pollute on the low end of the scale (regular bus commuters) have to sit around the most pollution (smoke, exhaust, noise).
In San Diego and LA there are a lot of cell towers that resemble bad plastic palm trees. They sort of blend in.. the shape and color is quite odd when next to a real palm. Well, apparently use the camo technique in Europe as well, including antenna disguised as crucifixes. Haha. Jesus Christ, this reception is horrible!
Story on Imperial County, where more people from San Diego are moving. I just can’t imagine living out there, but for some people it is a sacrifice for their family.
“To have somebody who is literally following you a foot and a half away everywhere you go … it seems to be getting a little carried away,” said Obama as Warfel held a camera inches from Obama’s face. “It’s this kind of incivility in politics that turns people off to politics.” Man, Jack Ryan sure is an ass.
Finally watched City of God last night. I had heard great things about the movie, but finally got around to renting it. The movie is about a photographer growing up in the infamous ‘City of God’ slum in Rio de Janeiro. I thought it was extremely well done; beautiful and disturbing. The subject matter involved a lot of kids, and the kids they got to portray them were quite amazing.
A great story from NPR and Slate; First Into Libya. A group of 16 American tourists, the first to tour Libya in a long time. They did a good job on the story, it seems like an amazing place.
Our main goal was to create a voice to prove that San Diego was not a cultural void-or maybe that it was a void but that with our combined goodwill and heart we could make it something bigger and better. Whether that happened or not remains to be seen. SD Fahrenheit is dead. Now we get to enjoy even more of the plastic surgery ads in sdreader.