Posts from — January 2005

The BBC World Service reported that during the Saudi telethon for disaster relief King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz pledged $5 million and Crown Prince Abdullah ibn Abdul Aziz Al Saud pledged $2.5 million. The event raised $82 million. It would be a serious breach of etiquette for anyone to pledge more than the King. The government of Saudi Arabia is still offering its $30 million pledge.

By holding the telethon, the kingdom gave people a way of avoiding some of the charities that are on the international list of contributors to terrorism. It also provides those organizations with a reason to complain about being listed. Wheels within wheels, reflections of mirrors within mirrors, more layers than a Vadalia onion.

Princes William and Harry, Queen Elizabeth’s grandsons, wanted to do something for the tsunami relief so they volunteered at a warehouse in Bristol, England loading boxes with supplies and stacking them on pallets for shipment. Their grandmother would approve; she drove an ambulance during WWII.

Prince Harry will be joining the Army later this year and will probably become a career military officer, like his uncle, Prince Andrew.

ABC News has a story from the initial medical response teams reporting a Civil War level of medical care. With a shortage of medications and equipment, and a general lack of facilities even before the tsunami struck, medical teams are resorting to amputation as a last resort technique to save lives.

Aid can arrive in hours from thousands of miles away, but the last ten miles can take days. The lack of roads, bridges, trucks, boats, and helicopters is the current problem that people are trying to solve.

My older brother is officially one year older, as is Stephen Hawking.

A Democratic President won the acclaim that would make his election possible, even if it was winning a battle in a war that was already over. Yes, in 1815 Andrew Jackson took a little trip to New Orleans and beat a British force that was also unaware that the war had ended.

On this date in 1992, George H.W. Bush threw up on the Japanese Prime Minister. I mention this because this is also the birthday of the current Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi. Must be karma.

Check out the link for Wikipedia’s flood of information on this day.

You must build the Iraqi security force to stop the insurgency from killing the Iraqi security force you must build to stop the insurgency from the killing the Iraqi security force you must build to stop the insurgency from the killing the Iraqi security force. . .

Print this on a Mobius strip and run it through a text reader.

See No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, and/or Catch-22 by Joseph Heller for further instructions.

Inspired by Ntodd of Dohiyi Mir, who may have mentioned that he would like a vote for the Koufax Awards.

To all of my Orthodox and Eastern Rite friends.

Friday Cat Blogging^TM [Kevin Drum]

Welcome wherever she goes, or else. Queen of feral cats.

From the BBC: A new version of the Nigerian 419 e-mails.

An organisation calling itself the Solid Foundation Humanitary Fund Asia has sent e-mails asking for donations by international money transfer.

It originates from Nigeria – where the notorious “419” e-mails came from.

Tired of appealing to greed, now they’re working on compassion. There really isn’t a level in hell low enough for scum like this, unless they room with DéLay.

From the Australian Broadcasting’s news site: Shareholders’ group opposes tsunami donations.

The Australian Shareholders Association has expressed disapproval at companies pledging money to the tsunami relief effort in Asia, saying they have no approval for their philanthropy.

Association spokesman Stephen Matthews says firms should not generally give without expecting something in return.

Unless Australian balance sheets are extremely different than American balance sheets, which I doubt, there is an asset line titled: “Good Will”. For large, long established corporations, this is often a very large amount, and reflects the value of the corporation’s image. This isn’t funny accounting, corporate image is the reason for public relations departments. Does anyone think that WalMart is running ads on NPR because it thinks its customers listen to All Things Considered?

It is easier to explain in the negative: Ford Motor Company will never name another car line “Edsel”, there will never be another “New Coke”.

The corporations who are donating to tsunami relief are getting tax breaks and adding to their “Good Will” account. Corporations may also benefit from renewed interest from socially conscious investors, including some large pension plans.

Australian companies would naturally do a lot of business in the affected region, and companies that don’t donate will be noticed. If Mr. Matthews and his group don’t understand these business realities, they should shift their money to passbook savings accounts.

“The screens may be tiny and the batteries overworked, but the wireless industry is bringing TV to a cell phone near you.”

This Canadian is a bit of a maverick in the auto industry. He built an ill-starred sports car, and then imported Yugos. The best thing you can say about Yugos is: “I never owned or drove one”. Oh, also: “they were cheap, in all meanings of the word.”

According to the CBC Malcolm has a new venture, he going to import and sell cars made in China by the Chery Automobile Company.

He just needs to sign a deal with WalMart Tire Centers and they can sell them with offers like: “Buy four tires and we’ll throw in a Chery.” Maybe the deal should be with Baskins-Robbins?

Len at Dark Bilious Vapors has an example of why Kelly Freas will be missed. If you have never seen his work, go, enjoy.

The BBC reports that Microsoft is debuting security tools, virus software and spyware software. The programs will be free initially, but, of course, after you have installed them, they will start charging you for up-grades.

They wrote the buggy operating system and tools that make easy virus writing and spyware possible, and now they are going to charge you to deal with the problem.

There is a reason for not paying fire departments based on the number of fires they put out.

Just read this CNN report on a Texas murder trial to understand why neither George Bush, Alberto Gonzales, or any other politician or lawyer from Texas should be allowed a position of trust with the laws of the United States. If this is “justice” in the state of Texas, they can keep it.

I’m particular about the people I will loan my tools. There’s nothing worse than letting someone have a wrench that you inherited from your grandfather and have it returned bent. I only trust them to people who know how to use them properly.

According to this Reuters story the Reserve forces are in trouble.

The U.S. Army Reserve, tapped heavily to provide soldiers for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is “degenerating into a ‘broken’ force” due to dysfunctional military policies, the Army Reserve’s chief said in a memo made public Wednesday.
“I do not wish to sound alarmist. I do wish to send a clear, distinctive signal of deepening concern,” Lt. Gen. James Helmly said in a Dec. 20 memo to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker.

You go to war with the army you have and then you grind it to dust. Nice going Rummy.

The Australian Prime Minister announced the commitment of one billion Australian dollars for a five year program to help the nations struck by the tsunami.

Mr. Howard announced the package early this morning, calling it “the single largest aid contribution ever made by Australia”.

The package consists of equal parts grant assistance and highly concessional funding, and is in addition to previously announced aid to Indonesia and other nations hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

I’m sure that CNN wasn’t being petty publishing this report on Fox News generosity.

Media conglomerate News Corp. also announced a $1 million contribution to tsunami relief and reconstruction and pledged to match employee donations dollar for dollar. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch called on his U.S.-based media companies to make print and air time available to solicit donations.

Oh, the White House has said that George W. Bush has donated a total of $10,000 to various charities.