Clancy's View

Don't Call Us, We'll Call You

Before the national Do Not Call list was enacted, I would receive upwards of 20 calls a week. The transition the week it became law was amazing. I've grown to absolutely LOVE the Do Not Call list, and the relative peace and quiet it affords us. Except for one tiny little problem. For some reason, it doesn't include survey companies. In the last month or so, we've had at least a dozen calls from various survey companies. I'd love to tell you more, but I've never heard more than two or three words after they identify themselves. I don't interrupt, I don't ask them to repeat themselves, and I don't tell them not to call back. I do the only thing I can to make my point. I simply hang up. Maybe, one day, my phone will be mine again.

(There is one exception to this rule - If Zogby is calling, I'll tell them I'm voting for Dean.)

Shamless Plug

On the way to work yesterday morning, GF and I heard the most incredible song. Tears for Fears originally wrote and recorded “Mad World,” but this was a cover by Gary Jules. Gary’s version is very organic and played at half the speed of the original (maybe even 1/3 speed). It’s a stark contrast of the original – that GF knew it was a Tears for Fears song surprised me. (Although it shouldn’t.)

Aside from thinking that Gary needs a new stage name (Gary Jules makes me think of Gary Glitter), we both instantly wanted to hear more of this guy. We found out that Gary’s latest album is "Trading Snakeoil for Wolftickets." So when GF was out running errands last night, she stopped in at our local independent cd shop to check on it. They didn’t have it, but said they could order it … for $35.00! It seems that although Gary is American (based in LA), this album is an import.

She didn’t order it, but when she got home I checked online. Amazon has it for 34.49 (plus shipping). Surely someplace should have it cheaper – I mean, this is the internet, right? Not only did I find it cheaper ($14) – I found it better. Better you say? How's that? Check out CdBaby.

Here’s some of what they say about themselves:

CD Baby is a little online record store that sells CDs by independent musicians.
[In•de•pen•dent: (adj.) Not having sold one's life, career, and creative works over to a corporation.]
We're just a few people (details here) in a cool Portland, Oregon, CD warehouse that looks like a playground. We listen to every CD we sell before we sell it, so we can help you find other albums you'll like.
We only sell CDs that come directly from the musicians. No distributors. Musicians send us CDs. We warehouse them, sell them to you, and pay the musicians directly.
Cool thing: in a regular record deal or distribution deal, musicians only make $1-$2 per CD, if they ever get paid by their label. When selling through CD Baby, musicians make $6-$12 per CD, and get paid weekly.
In business, and thriving, since March 1998. We're the largest seller of independent CDs on the web.

I’m impressed beyond words.

Support Indy musicians. They rock!

p.s. If you haven't heard "Mad World" by Gary Jules - click here to listen to a 2 minute clip. Nevermind that it's a mp3...

Spirit Lives!

The first Martian rover came back to life and resumed transmitting. The problem appears to have been related to the onboard computer.

The rover's computer rebooted itself more than 100 times over a two-day period and, at first, sent back beeps but no data. Engineers have since determined that the problem appears to involve too many files overloading the onboard computer memory.

Over 100 reboots in 2 days. Hmmm. Sounds like the operating system came from Redmont. And what’s up with this - we spent 820 million on this thing and it’s running out of onboard memory? For 820 Million you’d would have expected at least 50 GB of RAM…

Bloglove?

Don Watkins, the blogospheres funniest objectivist, has something cooking over on his site. Yesterday he wrote about a philosophy video he was watched and a beautiful women he saw in the video. After reading the post this morning, I googled the girl and quickly find an email address for her. I left a comment to that effect and suggested that someone anonymously email her with a link to the post.

Now suddenly, Don has turned off the comments to that post. And I suspect that means something… Did Kira see the post? Is she already a fan? Is Don finally going to find love?

Stop reading this – go check it out!

Body Slamming for Free Speech

Al Franken body slammed a heckler at a Dean rally Yesterday.

"I got down low and took his legs out," said Franken afterwards.

Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely. "I would have done it if he was a Dean supporter at a Kerry rally," he said.

"I'm neutral in this race but I'm for freedom of speech, which means people should be able to assemble and speak without being shouted down."

Al Franken, who is purportedly an intelligent human being, has yet to understand the irony of his own statements.

New Hampshire

I would LOVE to see John ‘Effin’ Kerry lose tomorrow. And I would love to see Dr. Dean win. That would be funny. All the major media political pundits say Dean’s out of it and suddenly they all think Kerry walks on water. Where were they a month ago?

UPDATE: Dean appears to be running second at the moment. I've resigned myself to Kerry winning New Hampshire. He has better hair.

FINAL UPDATE: Kerry 39%, Dean 26% According to this. That's not a bad showing for Dr. Dean. Perhaps Dean needs a new Hairdo.

Why?

I just finished reading a print article in the November issue of Fast Company magazine in which the author, Seth Godin, says this about Weblogs:

“The typical blog contains uninformed opinion about world events, or overlong posts about the weather or your uncle Bob. The typical blog is narcissistic and often focused on how to get other people to link their blog to your blog, so that both blogs will rank higher in Google searches.”

Yeah, Seth, about that uninformed opinion stuff… Anyway, Seth really just used that as a lead-in to then introduce and describe Joi Ito’s Blog, and how he purportedly uses it for legitimate work. While I disagreed completely with his lead in to this article, his writing on Joi Ito inspired me to log on and check it out. Go ahead, click the link above and go check it out. I’ll wait here.

Back already? Yeah, I really just scanned it myself, but I’m betting that you saw what I saw. It’s an interesting blog, his writing is good, and his subject matter is current events. BUT IT'S NOT ONE FRICKING WIT DIFFERENT FROM HUNDREDS OF OTHER BLOGS I READ! Of course, please remember that this is all my uninformed opinion. OK, I’m over it already, really, but this all provides a lead in for my real purpose behind this entry which is…

Why did I create this weblog? Well, #1, it was not to gain high rankings in a Google search. And while I have an uncle Bob, I don’t think I’ll have too much to write about him. I do have a former (and now also deceased) Uncle Pat whom I could write reams about, but none of that would be very flattering and I won’t use this blog to deface or otherwise harm my family (or, in this case, former family). And I assure you that I’m not writing this blog for narcissistic purposes. In fact, I’m more likely to tell you about the stupid sh*t I do as it is eminently funnier than the good stuff. I know, I still haven’t answered my own question here. I guess I would have to say that this blog exists because I write. Next question.

Why do I write? Ha, ha, very funny. You knew that was coming. If you would have asked me this question 3 or 4 years ago I would have laughed. Because I didn’t write. Not anymore than I had too, anyway. But after a particularly hard break up I started a lot of introspection and I started journaling. Most of these writings took the form of emails to a long lost high school girlfriend. There was no romantic interest there – she was (and still is) happily married with two kids living halfway across the country (even farther now!). So, she was safe, but truly interested and she helped me when I needed it. I told her everything. And I found that in telling her everything, it helped me to understand better what I was feeling and what I believed. I was constantly amazed when I would sit down to write and this stuff would just pour out of my fingertips. Moments later I would be reading it on the screen thinking, “Really? - Is that really what I think/feel/believe?” I tried writing it just for myself, but somehow, if I didn’t share it, if it didn’t see the “light of day”, I didn’t believe it myself. Something about sending it to another person made it more real and made me more honest with myself.

I also started writing more to friends. Interjecting humor into simple emails. I even played with writing short stories (One of which is worthy and will be posted). Then, one day in a phone conversation with another friend, I lamented that I felt like I needed an artistic outlet. And despite the fact that she and I played guitar together (In fact she was the closest thing I ever had to a teacher), she said, “You have your writing. You’re a writer.” I had never considered that before. It took me a week or more of thinking about that conversation to finally admit that, yes, I am a writer. And with a little more practice I might even be half decent. It took slightly longer for me to realize that if she considered my writing artistic, then whatever it was I was doing with a guitar was not. :-)

So… why do I write? Well, one is for practice. I harbor high hopes that one day I might achieve mediocrity. The other is to learn things about myself and my worldview. Making my writing public, bringing it into the light of day, makes it more honest. Hence this blog. The tagline at the top of this site is “Explorations of the world around us through writing…”

p.s. The “…” at the end of the tagline leaves me open to amend, modify and expand this purpose at will. Come to think of it, so does the name in the url…
p.s.s. My guitar playing has gotten better, but I still don't think anyone would describe it as artistic.
p.s.s.s. If you think that last ps was sorta' narcissistic of me, the see the ps prior to it.

Yeti 593.5, Penguin’s 0

Jim at SnoozeButtonDreams is to blame for my addiction to the Yeti/Penguin game he found earlier this week. The problem is that the game keeps moving! Even the second link Helen found is broken now too. Fear not my fellow citizens, I managed to engage my brain long enough to copy it to my desktop so I can play it anytime. And now I’m sharing with you - as long as you have flash installed! (Sorry, I don’t have the page with the proper macromedia links and I’m too lazy to go find them right now – maybe later.)

Without further ado, here’s the game. Right click and “Save Target As” or play it here! (If someone owns the rights to this game and doesn’t want me hosting it, please contact me and I’ll remove it!)

I’ve topped out at 593.5. GF has duplicated my efforts.

Oh – and here’s photographic evidence in case it’s needed. And no, this hasn’t been photoshopped.

Another Great Business Model

Michael Rowe, a 17 year old high school senior in Victoria, British Columbia, started a part-time business online designing websites. Given that his name is Mike Rowe, he came up with a pretty catchy little name for his venture. Now he’s in trouble…

Via Say Anything and Fox News

MP3's Suck

If your name is John Doe, you might be in trouble. RIAA is back at it again, trying to attract more customers by suing their existing ones. (Great new business model, btw).

I have a whole tirade against RIAA that I promise I will share soon, but for now I have something I want to state for the record. MP3’s suck. They really do. Even at 256 KB/sec they still suffer from a loss in quality (and at that size, they are often too big to trade). They are today’s version of an 8-Track except they don’t puke their guts out. The cool thing about holding this opinion is that online music trading, at least the kind RIAA is looking for, holds absolutely no appeal to me.

However, I am a heavy online music trader. The difference is that I collect and trade live shows from Bands That Allow Taping. (Who, btw, shun lossy formats like mp3’s.) Yes, did you know that even existed? Some bands actually allow their fans to record them live, and then trade those live tapes/cd’s for free. And while a great many names on the list of the attached link are unknown, there are some surprises. (To find out more, check out etree.org.)

I’m sure I look like a target to RIAA and their lawyer goons since my IP address probably saw over 20 GB going up and down in the last month. And the prospect of spending tons of money to defending my legitimate trading scares me.

Posting and Proofing

I’m a horrible speller and I’ve been known to string together some pretty lumpy structures and call them sentences. I also have a problem with some homophones. (Not to mention the excessive use of commas, dashes, and parenthesis – case in point.) Basically, I’m a mess.

I use MS Word to compose and proof my posts and then I just cut & paste it to the movabletype input screens as I assume most bloggers do. But no matter how thoroughly I proof-read a post, I always find the errors after I've saved in publish status. Why? Is it a mind set issue? Am I just an idiot? Does anyone have any suggestions?

And for some unexplainable reason, the preview screen in mt is useless to me.

About Clancy

Television, movies and even music videos feed so much content that our imaginations are no longer challenged the way they were when entertainment consisted of stories told ‘round the campfire. Books, and later radio removed a degree of the imagination factor, but still left us to construct our own visual pictures of places and characters. In a weird way, the internet has helped us to re-spark our imaginations. Out here we “meet” other people and we rarely ever really know if what we read is real or fiction, if these people are who they say they are, and often even our visual representations of these individual characters is often times left up to our imagination. Even when there are pictures, how do we really know? It’s highly unlikely, but conceivable that Helen is really a very imaginative and talented writer clad only in dingy tighty-whities sitting in front of his computer in a dirty apartment in Brooklyn. The only one who really knows is Luuk, and he can’t talk.

I was going somewhere with this, I swear. Oh yeah, names. Out here, we can be anyone we want to be, so what we call ourselves is often revealing. I often wonder what people think when they read the name Clancy.

As if you haven’t guessed (or done a dns lookup), my real name isn’t Clancy, its Shawn. And that weird word between the 3w’s and the dot net up in your browsers address bar is my last name, except in the non-cyber world there’s an apostrophe between the O and the F. (And yes, I know, the E and the A are reversed – that’s the way its supposed to be.) Anyway, it is a good German name, don’t you agree?

So… Why do I go by Clancy? Well, that’s actually a question you would have to ask my Dad. It was all his idea. You see, almost 35 years ago, my mother was waddling around very pregnant and she and my father were discussing baby names. My father suggested that if I was born a boy, I would be named Clancy. My mother, although horrified, was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would be born a girl and didn’t put up a single protest. Until I was born that is. And fortunately for me, she won. Ironically, neither remembers what the girls name was to have been.

Many, many years later I was posting quite frequently on several bulletin boards and going by the incredibly creative moniker of “Shawn.” Everybody else had cool names – Mephesto, Bubbles, Gryphon, Marina Bambina, Ariel, Roadguy, & Faceman – to name but a few and I secretly wanted a cool cyber-alias. One day the discussion turned to names and I told the story above about how I was almost named Clancy. Someone suggested it as a cyber-alias and it’s been that ever since.

One of these days I’ll finish building the front-end to this url and you’ll be able to learn more about that Shawn guy. Until then you’re stuck with Clancy.

Oh – and if you’re ever inclined to reach be by email you can use Shawn at my url above and after I get home I’ll give Clancy his own address too.

Bound

I always prowl the cheapie DVD selection in most stores on the off chance that I’ll find something I have to have. More often than not, I don’t find anything. But yesterday, I scored the widescreen version of Bound in Comp USA yesterday for $10.

As the story goes, when the Wachowski Brothers first tried to sell The Matrix to the studio with themselves as the Directors, the studio questioned their direction ability and recommended that they actually make a movie first before they come back. Bound is the result. <disclaimer> I read the above some time ago but in a quickie internet search I’ve failed to find a reference so it may or may not be true.</disclaimer> Either way, it is an amazing first effort.

If you haven’t seen it, and you’re in the mood for a thriller, this is your next rental.
(It’s not the kind of movie that’s kid safe.)

Teach your Children Well

Yesterday as I came out of my local department store those evil little girls hocking their evil and sinfully good cookies accosted me. You know the ones I mean, the ones that belong to that weird cult where they dress in silly uniforms, make crafts, go camping and basically run a multilevel marketing organization that has the corner on yummy cookies. OK, I’m totally kidding (except for the yummy part), but you do have to wonder how aliens would view the girl scouts.

Anyway, I bought a box of cookies. Never mind that I go to great lengths to keep myself from bringing such things home; I still bought a box. And I know I’ll buy more before their selling season is over. And I encourage everyone reading to go buy a box too. Why? Surely $3 for a box that has maybe 14 cookies in it is ridicules, right? Well, yeah, but at least it’s something. At least you get something for your donation to help the girls scouts, and you know that in doing so they are learning valuable lessons about how the world works.

How many times have you been accosted coming out of a store by children in baseball, football, cheerleading, etc uniforms? “Please give to help the Springfield little league” they beg as they shake a can wrapped in paper with “Springfield Little League” on it. Or how about the guys patrolling the big busy intersections wearing the cardboard signs that say, “Give to Help fight Cancer” (or Leukemia, Rets Syndrome, etc.).

In most places that I know, wanton begging for money is called pan handling and it’s illegal. Never mind that it’s illegal, that’s not my point, my point (question rather) is, what are we teaching our children? That it’s OK to beg? Just asking people for money is a good and honorable way to raise money?

Ummm. I think it’s not OK. I don’t believe we got to be a great Country by begging our neighbors for money. We got to be the greatest and most powerful Country through hard work and innovation, not by sitting on the street corner with our hand out.

So go buy some cookies and next time you’re accosted by beggars tell them (and their parents) to go have a bake sale.

(This in no way means that you shouldn't give to your church or other charities - that's something else entirely and I would argue that our generosity in that way has contributed to the making of this great Country. All that is for a later rant.)

4th and 26

Time again for another football prediction, from a guy who knows exactly '' about sports. Actually, I have seen a lot of the Eagles this year but I didn't see the earlier match-up with the Panthers and, in fact, I haven't seen the Panthers play all year. That said, I'm still confident that the Birds will win this one. (I'm just worried about the Pat's 2 weeks from now.)

The Eagles have a huge heart. They can make the impossible happen (hence the title, although some may argue that that was a miracle.) But the key to this game is McNabb as his performance dictates the beats of the heart for this team. If McNabb has a good day they're in. If McNabb peppers his receiver's feet with the ball, and if he starts playing like he's a pocket quarterback, they're done.

UPDATE: And this is the pain that is being an Eagles fan. 3rd year in a row. Remember when the Bills lost 4 superbowls in 5 years? Yeah, well, we're worse...

Busted

After spending the day out, GF and I came home this evening and while I was checking my email, I accidentally exclaimed out loud “Wow, cool, I’ve been blogrolled!” GF asked, “What does that mean?” I calmly explain that it means that Rob at XSet has linked my blog from his. “Your blog? ... Huh?” She knew I was playing with movabletype and this page, but she didn’t know that it was out here in the wild land of the internet yet. And now she does. Of course, this only increases the pressure on me to start writing some real content.

Speaking of content, it’s amazing how that now that I have an outlet for some of my writing ideas I suddenly don’t have any ideas. And those that I do wind up rambling around like this post and ultimately going now where…

Smoking Capitalism

Jim at SnoozeButtonDreams is literally having a cow because Gwinnette County (GA) is enacting an indoor smoking ban in all public building effective this April. This includes bars, pubs and restaurants.

I though I’d weigh in on the subject...

...since I live and work in the great state of Delaware. Delaware enacted a state-wide indoor smoking ban a little over a year ago. And this included bars, pubs and restaurants. Yes, as you’d expect, smokers and bar/pub/restaurant owners went nuts and lost their minds over the ban. It was fought, refuted and even ignored in some instances in the beginning. As an aside, I read an interesting speech by Michael Crichton which calls into question (among other things) the dangers of second hand smoke

As a smoker, I too was quite upset. I mean, drinking a beer at a bar and NOT smoking a cigarette? Finishing a spectacular meal and not lighting up? Just exactly how insane is our esteemed Governor???

Trust me Jim, I know and agree with every one of your arguments.

Here’s what life is like in Delaware now that the ban has been in effect for over a year. A couple of bars closed. Not many as far as I can tell. Most adapted. Most have created outdoor shelters complete with heat (It is 12 degrees outside right now) that are attached to the bar / restaurant. A couple of restaurants closed too, but in Wilmington that happens all the time anyway and I seriously doubt that the smoking ban had much to do with it. People really bent on having a ciggie-butt while drinking a beer now drive to Maryland, Pennsylvania or New Jersey - Delaware is a small state after all. Again, I don’t have any numbers, but I suspect that the majority of these folks all live within 5 miles of a border so they were likely to have frequented the out-of-state bar before the ban.

And I quit smoking. And I actually like the ban now. If I walk into a bar / restaurant and smell a cigarette it gives me pause and I actually look around (usually to come to the realization that I’m on Pennsylvania).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still opposed to the ban on principle. I don’t want a nanny state. I can take care of myself and be responsible for myself. If I don’t want to eat or drink in a smoke filled room, then I can go somewhere else. Likewise, I don’t have to work in one either. (Someone who has an issue with breathing second hand smoke wouldn’t choose to be a waitress or bartender – I mean, come-on, really!)

Anyway, the point I’ve been trying to get too is this. Despite all the opposition and fighting in the beginning, Delaware is now a non-smoking state. And it’s not likely to change. You see, one of the problems with a democracy is that over time it can become a mobocracy and in this case the mob [majority] is non-smoking. The poor minority smokers are screwed.

Wifespeak

A friend of mine sent this to me in an email:

Wifespeak: Translation

* Do you want to?: We're going to.
* We need: I want.
* It's your decision: The correct decision should be obvious.
* Do what you want: You'll pay for this later.
* We need to talk: I need to complain.
* Sure...go ahead: I don't want you to.
* I'm not upset: Of course I'm upset, you moron.
* You're so manly: You need a shave and you sweat a lot.
* You're attentive tonight: Is sex all you ever think about?
* Be romantic, turn out the lights: I have flabby thighs.
* This kitchen is so inconvenient: I want a new house.
* I want new curtains: And carpeting, furniture, wallpaper...
* I need shoes: The other 40 pairs are the wrong shade of white.
* I heard a noise: I noticed you were almost asleep.
* Do you love me?: I'm going to ask for something expensive.
* How much do you love me?: I did something today you're really not going to like.
* I'll be ready in a minute: Kick off your shoes and find a good game on TV.
* Is my butt fat?: Tell me I'm beautiful.
* You have to learn to communicate: Just agree with me.
* Are you listening to me!?: Too late, you're dead.
* Yes: No.
* No: No.
* Maybe: No.
* I'm sorry: You'll be sorry.
* Do you like this recipe?: It's really easy to make, so you'd better get used to it.
* Was that the baby?: Why don't you get out of bed and walk him until he goes to sleep?
* I'm not yelling!: I'm yelling because I think this is important.
* All we're going to buy is a soap dish: It goes without saying that we're stopping at the cosmetics department, the shoe department, and I need to look at few new pocketbooks, and, oh my God, there's a sale in lingerie, and wouldn't these pink sheets look good in the bedroom? Did you bring your checkbook?

I thought it was cute so I forwarded it to GF (expand below to see her response)

This was her response:

"I like it: Study it well as there WILL be a test"

The Birds

One more quickie... It's just about kickoff time for the Birds and the Packers. I've been a closet Eagles fan for 7 or 8 years now. I'd love to see Philly win this game, and I'm sure they are capable, but I unfortunately, I'm a realistic Eagles fan and I just don't know if they can do it.

As long as McNabb doesn't suddenly start thinking he's a pocket quarterback, and as long as they keep their heart in the game, the packers should go home losers. If not, well, then at least all the annoying "Go Birds" commercials on the local channels will cease.

Paycheck

After GF's big purchase yesterday, we went out for a celebratory Sushi dinner and a movie. As always, the sushi at Utage was awesome.

There are so many movies out there at the moment that both of us want to see, and having arrived at the theater too late for "Something's Gotta' Give" we settled on Paycheck. To be honest, I didn't pay that much attention to the acting or cinematography, I never got beyond the plot line. The plot (as you can tell from the trailers) has awesome potential, but the director fails to capitalize on that potential. It's a decent movie to pass the time, just don't expect too much from it. I'd give it 3 stars (out of 5). Rent it or wait for it to come on cable.

There's a new car in the family!

My GF (Gorgeous Fiancé - who may also herein be referred to as "Pookie") has been car shopping for a couple of months now. Her lease on her car is about to expire and after 3 years of driving a car she absolutely hated, she's ready for something she will really enjoy. Except we are planning on buying a house this summer, so we are being very conscious of our financial situation.

We drove a couple of cars and she finally got serious and set up a spreadsheet listing each car, it's price, and their persuasive allure. The dream car (on the list at least) was a G35X sedan. The G's are rear wheel drive and in the winters of the great northeast that wouldn't be practical. Fortunately, Infiniti figured that out and just started offering a 4-wheel drive version, the X. And naturally, the X is more expensive than the regular G - somewhere up in the 33K range. Well, unfortunately for the G, also on the list was the Mazda 6. And we drove the Mazda 6. Although it is a bit tighter feeling on interior space, for almost 10k less, the G no longer stood a chance. Also on the list was the VW Passat, Audi A4, and Nissan Maxima and two SUV's also graced the list - they were the Nissan Murano and the Mazda Tribute. I know - it's a weird set of vehicles to compare against each other, but they did met a very specific list of requirements. That being, front wheel, or 4 wheel drive, a V6 with at least 200hp, not too big or too small (that's a very specific requirement) and finally it had to look good. The Murano definitely looks good on the outside, but after driving it we were left with the impression that the exterior wrote a check that the interior couldn't cash. Inside it just seemed too plasticy and cheap. Same with the Max. The Germans are both very nice cars, but they seem to lack emotion.

In the end it wasn't even a fair fight. Neither GF or I are affected by the bling factor, and with the aforementioned home purchase on the horizon, the price was a big factor. But even if there had been something on the list less expensive, I don't think it would have changed her decision. One drive of the Tribute and suddenly our car shopping adventure was over. Meet "Tribbi" - the new family truckster:

To all the “Bush Lied” people out there...

It has been proven time and time again that based on the real evidence available at the time, Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. And as recent as October of 2003, even former president Clinton agreed that "…given his years in the White House and the access to privileged information which he had, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction until the end of the Saddam regime."

Other powerful and influential democrats have also agreed that Saddam had WMD.

UPDATE: Apparently, we have found WMD, it’s just not being reported. Steve has some good commentary.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Again from Steve. They're claiming that there rounds were duds, as it that makes it OK. "Sure Saddam had WMD, but they didn't work so it doesn't count." Yeah, right.

Is this thing on?

This is it - the first post.

And this would be the extended entry.

This was all a test. This was only a test. Had this been an actual post, it would have contained something useful. This was only a test.