Sheryl Fred has an interesting article, Postwar Profiteers, about who stands to gain by war with Iraq and their ties to the Republican party at Capitol Eye.

I got this from a friend...

Upcoming Twin Cities Anti-War Event and a Joke

A Funeral Service for the Not-Yet-Dead in War. Gather at the St. Paul Cathedral for a brief interfaith service of prayer and a procession to the State Capitol at 2pm, Sunday March 16. Sponsored by Urban clergy and Churches, ISAIAH Church-based organizing clergy, Islamic Center of Minnesota and others. The demonstrators will show concern for all who might be killed, including: U.S. troops and civilians, Iraqi troops and civilians, British troops and civilians, Israelis and Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Africans, Indians, and others who will die of hunger, homelessness, polluted water and air as a result of money spent on this war instead of healing the sick, feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and protecting the earth plus...

a little sad but true humor...

The U.N. asks President Bush: "What proof do you have that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction?"
Bush replies: "We kept the receipts"

Has anyone not seen the resignation letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell from career diplomat, John Brady Kiesling? If so, here's a link. It's interesting reading.

We have volunteer dinner groups come in each night to the shelter to prepare and serve dinner. The groups plan and purchase the food themselves. On lottery nights, when we give away the shelter beds in a drawing, they can serve up to 120 people, but most nights it's about 55 people. It saves us over $60,000 every year in food costs. Part of my job is to greet the groups a few nights a week and provide tours for anyone who is new. Most of the groups are from churches, but we also have families, scout troups, businesses and other organizations. Last month I was interested to see that the high school a few blocks from my house had signed up for a meal. When they came, I gave them a short run down on what we do and then a tour. It was a large, enthusiastic group, which makes my job more fun. After I was sure they were all set for the meal. I said good-bye. They'd signed up for a couple more dates, so I knew I'd see them again.

We got a call last week from the teacher who helps set-up the meals. Someone had seen an article in the paper about the death of one of the shelter guests they'd spoken with the night they'd served dinner. She'd been found out under an overpass and had probably died of exposure after drinking with some friends. The woman, Flora, had made a big impression on a few of the kids and they were pretty upset. Since I was going to be meeting the group anyways, I said that I would talk to them a little about death and homelessness. I've always thought it was important to be honest with teenagers about the reality that many of the people we work with face whether it's drug abuse, alcoholism, mental illness, violence. The life expectancy for someone who is homeless is around 56, if I remember my statistics correctly. Flora was right about that age. So, I talked about all of that and then asked if they wanted to take some time to share some thoughts or maybe have a moment of silence for Flora. We'll be remembering her again at the annual memorial service next December and I invited all of them to that. Two of the girls had written something they wanted to share. The gist of what they said was, "We came here to do a good thing. We thought we'd be making a difference for some of the people staying here. We met Flora, who was a wonderful, interesting person. She took time to share some of her life with us. She had much more of an impact on us than we had on her. Now she's gone but we'll never foget her."

Ms. Bond pointed out that the below phenomenom actually has a name, Street Light Interference, and that there are discussions of it going on all over the 'net. (Check out her 1:29 p.m. March 4th entry for many, many links - is she the queen of blogsters or what?!) So, I'm not alone, but am I one of many bored, paranoid people or is it just part of the squirrel conspiracy?

I've been conducting a study of sorts over the last three months on my effect on streetlights. This fall I noticed that lights were going out frequently just as I passed them or approached them in my car. I think it's always happened, but I just decided to pay attention to it. Since I don't normally get out of work until after 7:30 p.m., I've had a lot of night driving to watch. I've been averaging three to five streetlight shut offs per week, sometimes with more than one in an evening. It's happened on the freeway and on back streets, and in different parts of the Twin Cities. Once in a while, it's the same streetlight but often it's one further down the street or around the corner. Twice it was a stoplight that shut off. I wondered if it could be my car and not me, but then I noticed it happening when I was a passenger in someone else's car. It's even happened a few times when I was out walking the dog. It reminded me of the problems my grandmother has with watches. Any watch that she's worn stops working within a short period of time whether it's a wind up or battery run. The watch just dies. I always thought it must be some sort of magnetic field she's giving off. Do magnetic fields affect streetlights? Could they be hereditary?

Over the past few months, I've been struggling to understand Bush's recent illogical (almost insane) foreign policy. Last night, I got a few answers when I watched a Frontline on PBS about the ten year history of Bush's foreign policy. The show, Chronology: The Evolution of the Bush Doctrine, traced the battle between the evangelical Hawks, epitomized by Paul Wolfowitz, who support pre-emption and the more moderate Republicans, epitomized by Colin Powell, who support containment and international cooperation. The rivalry started at the end of the Gulf War when Saddam Hussein was left in power and, although the U.S. had encouraged rebellion, U.S. forces were told not to intervene when the rebellions were squashed. Partly in response to what they considered failed U.S. policy, the Hawks developed a defense strategy of pre-emption and regime change using American hegemony focusing on countries like Iraq and North Korea. Bush Senior, firmly in the moderates' camp, had the plan re-written focusing on containment and cooperation. The plan resurfaced after September 11th. The disaster seems to have changed Bush into a Hawk. While Colin Powell and the other moderates have been arguing that moving on Iraq at this time will inflame the situation in that area, pull us away from our true target of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and erode international support for the United States, the Hawks have been arguing that Iraq is a major threat, that containment of Saddam Hussein hasn't worked and that regime change is the only solution for bringing stability to the area. One interesting point that Alan made during the show was that Colin Powell and Gen. Richard B. Myers, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, both soliders, supported the moderates and the Hawks at the Dept. of Defense like Wolfowitz didn't have combat experience. While I still don't completely understand where the urgency is coming from and I definitely don't agree with the policy, I feel like I have a little more insight into Bush's decision making. The full show, The War between Closed Doors, should be available on the website starting February 25th.

Alan's science fiction essay, "The Dream of the Unified Field." is up at Fantastic Metropolis. It's already sparked some good discussion elsewhere. While you're there you can check out Robert Wexler's very good bread porn story, "Tales of the Golden Legend."

Just when you thought there wasn't enough speculative fiction attitude on the Internet, Nightshade Books has added a Ratbastards discussion. To celebrate, send a Virtual Squeak Ratcard to your friends and loved ones.

Our Minneapolis F15 protest attracted 10,000 people today. We marched from Uptown to Loring Park, closing half of busy Hennepin Avenue. It was a little cold (a high of 19 today), but we had bright sunshine. At the end of the march, before we turned into the park, the Basilica rose above us with its bells ringing - very beautiful. It was the largest protest I've ever been part of and the most diverse. The war with Iraq doesn't seem as inevitable now with so much oppposition.

Happy Valentine's Day!

While a certain someone watches Lizzie McGuire, I thought I'd sneak away to update the blog. Don't worry, he's sneaking in periodically (whether I want him to or not) to give me updates. I had a lovely day with very nice gifts from my significant other. They included a couple of CDs and a book about the neuroscience of Love. The book might not seem romantic to most people, but he must know me well because I thought it was sweet. I can't wait to read it.

Yesterday, someone came home with a new writing notebook...
I am the perfect writer's notebook. I am just the right size so you carry me with you always. I am green with snails and beautifully retro. Open me. My pages are the perfect width, so pretty and inviting. Your sentences will flow across me. My spiral binding lets you place me flat, but unlike regular spiral notebooks, my pages never catch. I am peerless. You would pay anything for me, but you don't have to as I'm reasonable priced. Once I'm yours, you are in Heaven. But wait. I am from Spain. You will never be able to find another one of me. Open me again. Look at the first page. Each word you write needs to be worthy of me. Think carefully. There's no space to waste. It is the beginning of the end.

Last Thursday, I finally had to admit that the winter cold had kicked my butt so I went to the doctor for the second time. The antibiotic prescription I got helped with the sinus infection but all the other parts of the virus continue. I'm still congested and I feel like sleeping all day long. I've spent most of the time that I wasn't working, doing just that with little bouts of reading and T.V. in between. Despite a series of sick days, I somehow managed to upgrade the server and several workstations to Windows 2000 at work. I spent so many hours troubleshooting, that I burned myself out and stayed completely away from the computer when I was home. Those are my excuses, and thank you to those of you who e-mailed to say you missed me.

Our cable was installed just in time for the virus induced veg-fest. I'm now completely addicted to The Osbournes (it makes me laugh) and Made (I'm a sucker for an underdog) and Farscape (Yay, for SciFi channel holiday marathons which allowed me to catch up on the series!) which were all new to me. I'm not sure I can go back to pre-cable days when my only addictions were Eastenders, Stargate and Angel. Alan's also got me watching The Shield. Too much TV!

All the veg time was not wasted, though, because as soon as the sinus headache and fever periods passed, I could read. The recommended reads from my sick bed include: The Translator by John Crowley (wonderful), Things That Never Happen by M. John Harrison (The stories are in order chronologically. I found his earlier work a little slow but was wowed by his later work.) and Philip Pullman's Dark Matter series (I'm on the second book and loving it). I also enjoyed the latest book in Cherryh's Foreigner series. It's my one ongoing series addiction other than the Anita Blake books.

Other news: Susan's added a comment section to her blog. There seems to be a lively discussion on speculative fiction going with many, many posts.

Go out and buy the latest Third Alternative. It looks great and includes new stories by John (Johnzo) Aegard and Brian Aldiss. I'm going to read it tonight if I can tear myself away from The Subtle Knife for a little while.

We got a little snow last night. It seemed almost retaliation for my rant. We'll give you snow, just a little, just enough to remind you how pretty everything can be in winter. It did snow long enough for my retired neighbor to go out and shovel twice. I'm not sure if he got more than an inch of the shovel wet.

The dreaded winter cold remains about the same. I slept a little better last night because I was under the influence of an assortment of over the counter drugs. I spent the daytime hours of the last two days watching T.V., because I'm unable to concentrate or sleep. Most of the time I stared at the wall around the T.V., dreaming of the funky, built-in shelves I want there and the power tools I'll need to build them. I've probably been watching too many of those trading rooms decorating shows and have gotten too ambitious. Yes, I can make anything out of MDF!

To the rest of the country: We scorn your snow. Here, we know that winter isn't snow. Snow usually means balmy days above zero. Nights with clouds are warmer than clear nights. Here, true winter is the bright, sunny two weeks in January when we enter the deep freeze. We measure these days by the wind chill. Without wind, we can convince ourselves it's not so bad. You step outside and your nostrils instantly freeze shut, thus preventing the dry cold from sucking all the moisture out of your body. Gloves and boots that normally keep you toasty warm, barely keep you from frostbite as you wait for your car heater to catch up or as you sprint into the nearest building. You can keep your stupid snow. The winter carnival will go on. (I wouldn't mind the cold so much if we weren't all sick. Cough. Cough.)

We received a very nice memo at work today outlining the measures management was taking to address our fundraising/budget shortfall. One was that full-time staff will have the option of going down to 36 hours per week while keeping full benefits. With a few other cuts, we're hoping that that enough people take advantage of this to make up the shortfall. I would like to do it, but the pay cut is a little scary. Four extra hours a week for writing would be very nice. Anyways, for those of you who are doing well, please don't forget that nonprofits all over the country are facing decreased individual and foundation giving as well cuts in government funding. We need your support more than ever.

In keeping with the budget cut theme, I'm jumping on the list bandwagon and sharing my favorite free utilities for PCs. These programs make working with donated PCs and no technology budget to speak of a lot easier. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Pdf995 You can create .pdf files from MS Office applications with this program. The free version gives you an Internet pop-up ad every time you use it. For $9.95 you can get a license key to turn the advertising off. Since Adobe doesn't provide a nonprofit discount on Acrobat, this is a huge savings.

2. Adobe Acrobat Reader
For most people, this one's been an essential for years. Even if you don't need to create .pdf files, if you use the Internet you're going to need to be able to read them. I'm constantly amazed by the number of I work with who aren't familiar with .pdf files until they need to download and read them.

3. Aladdin Stuffit Expander
This program unzips compressed .zip files and will run on a variety of platforms. If you haven't got a program like Winzip preloaded, this is the free alternative. I'm still running into people who don't know what this is until they receive a zipped file attached to an e-mail. You can purchase the full version, Stuffit, that allows you to zip files starting at $24.99 for the home version.

4. Diskeeper Lite
Windows NT and 2000 need defragmenting just like earlier Windows version even though they say they don't. I noticed an immense difference in speed the first time I ran Diskeeper Lite on a Windows NT machine. You have to register to use it but it's worth it. I dream of someday installing the full version which automates the defragmentation on all the PCs in our network. Diskeeper starts at $29.95 for the home version.

5. Sysinternals PageDefrag
Diskeeper Lite can't touch the paging files and registry hives which also tend to bloat on Windows NT, 200 and XP. Pagedefrag will defragment those files on start-up.

6. Spybot Search & Destroy
I've used a few different spyware detectors/removers but found this one the easiest and fastest. I used it last week to clear up a Xupiter infestation on a workstation. I'm still not sure how it got through our safeguards, but it was gone in minutes with Spybot. Patrick M. Kolla and his PepiMK Software have made this available as freeware but it works so well, I think everyone will want to make a donation to him. He needs it to pay for bandwith, etc.

7. DriverGuide.com
Okay, this isn't a program, but it's been my most visited website (outside of Compaq and Miscrosoft - ewww!) while working on donated computers. It's never let me down in a search for a device driver I needed, no matter how obscure. You have to sort through some chaff but it's well worth it to search their driver listings before going anywhere else for older PC drivers. You have to register and then sign-in to use it.

I had the kind of weekend you can only have when you know you have Monday off. Hardly accomplished anything. Can I still blame it on the pleurisy? It's still there lurking, a dull ache that will grow as soon as I go off the anti-inflammatories again. I slept a lot. Dreamt of kitties, reconciling with estranged friends, and getting yelled at for walking around in an elegant, old mansion barefoot. In the mansion dream, I lied and said that the sole fell off my sandal and I was waiting for the glue to set. The woman scolding me wasn't buying it for a second.

I found the Viking kitties doing a search on Led Zeppelin's Immigrant's Song. Alan says, "basically a step up from dancing hamsters," but it made me laugh. If you like the Vikings, you should check out the other kitty bands.

Another good quote that I couldn't resist sharing.
From the editors at Scientific American in their Feburary 2003 issue editorial on the politics of vaccinations, "Critics may gripe about whether the new Homeland Security Act fights terrorism well, but no one can say it doesn't do a great job of protecting drug companies from autistic children."

Minnesota Public Radio played a portion of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Beyond Vietnam speech from April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York in honor of Monday's remembrance. It was given a month before I was born, over thirty five years ago, but it's as relevant as ever. Here's my favorite quote, "... A few years ago there was a shining moment in that struggle. It seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor -- both black and white -- through the poverty program. There were experiments, hopes, new beginnings. Then came the buildup in Vietnam and I watched the program broken and eviscerated as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war, and I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such..." You can listen to archives of the show on MPR.

Rain Taxi has posted Alan DeNiro and Kelly Everding's interview with Jonathon Carroll from World Fantasy last fall. What a treat!

I spent part of my vacation reading Jack Cady's The Hauntings of Hood Canal (St. Martin's Press - 2001), a damn fine book. I drove Alan crazy by constantly stopping to read him lines of dialogue and excerpts from the novel. I snuggled into bed to read each night with a sense of expectation that I haven't felt in a long time. I was reading good collections by Millhauser and Brockmeier at the same. I enjoyed them, but they didn't pay off in the pure pleasure department like Cady did. I also recommend Cady's short story collection, The Night We Buried Road Dog (DreamHaven) -- one of the highlights of 1998. I'm going to the bookstore tonight to see what else of his I can find.