Somali Pirates(!) and Small Children
Bollocks. Seriously. Okay, I know I keep saying that the economy isn't that bad, but I think it may be entirely possible that the market could get that bad through sheer idiocy on the part of our government. The Republicans and Democrats spend all weekend hammering out a deal, it's endorsed by the President, it's endorsed by the Senate (Republicans and Democrats), and what happens? Speaker Nancy freakin' Pelosi bad-mouths it, and many attribute the bill's failure to pass to those very remarks. This is why Californians shouldn't be allowed to be Speaker of the House. Unbe-freakin'-lievable. Okay, now for some other chaos that doesn't involve the Congress being crewed by a bunch of damned chimps in people clothes...
I realize that most of you have probably never heard of Turkmenistan, unless you remember hearing about it during the course of Borat. Well, anyway, the Turkmen government is reforming its constitution to usher in a market economy and open elections up to multiple parties. Is it legit? Who knows, but it's probably still an improvement. Turkmenistan used to be ruled by this ex-Soviet strongman named Saparmurat Niyazov. He had absolute control of Turkmenistan, and had erected a massive, rotating, gold statue of himself. Then, he just up and died in December of '06, and they've sort of been trying to figure things out ever since. Like I said, hopefully this is progress.
There's been a VBIED attack in Dellys, east of Algiers. Three people were killed, six were injured, and the target was an Algerian military traffic checkpoint.
The Jerusalem Post has an interesting article about anti-Semitism in American textbooks. Did you know that textbooks read by American students claim that Jesus was a "Palestinian"?
I reported yesterday on Somali pirates(!) who hijacked a ship carrying tons of weaponry, including thirty tanks. So, since that story broke on Friday, the Somali pirates(!) demanded $35M in ransom for the ship and the crew. Then one of the crewmen died, and they dropped their demand to $20M. Now, an American ship, a Russian ship, and an unidentified ship, have surrounded the hijacked freighter. (Us, working with the Russians. Imagine that.) So, what now? Well, apparently, one of the Ukrainian passengers basically asked for the Navy SEALs by name to come in and rescue them. You may remember that the French commandosrescued some hostages a couple of weeks ago, so it's not out of the question. In a tangentally related story, a bunch of Somali pirates(!) who hijacked an Iranian ship started getting sick and dying. There's some question as to whether or not the Iranians are sending weapons to Somali terrorists. Smoking gun? Could be.
Okay, so the next Bond flick is coming out in mid-November. Expect more Bond-related content here on TSTF. Today's item is a video from VideoJug: A Business Guide for James Bond Villains.
Okay, am I evil for totally wanting to cuddle with the girl in the striped blouse? Or just a regular dude?
Speaking of which, I was talking with Olive Oil yesterday, and I think I've made a decision: if I'm not dating anyone by the end of the 2008, I think I'm going to give up dating in 2009. Yeah, I'm totally not making this up... Well, I mean, I am making this up, but I'm not kidding about it. In a couple of weeks, I'll have been at my current job for the same amount of time that I was at my last job, with no real sign of leaving. The later I allow myself to get involved with some succubus, the harder it could be to leave; which is to say, if I was dating a young lady when the next job comes, I'd break her heart by leaving without any second thoughts. I've done it before, and I'd do it again. So, there it is. So, if I make that decision, I will not only keep you all posted, but I'll probably whine a lot, too.
Alright, it's time for a short rant. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I joined the YMCA in an effort to get myself healthy. The primary reason for joining is that my best physical activity is swimming - I can do it for a long time without stopping, as opposed to running which I'm horrible at. Last night I showed up for the third time, and for the third time, the pool was crammed full of children at 20:00. Now, I have no problem with children swimming... But that late? And in that much of the pool? There was basically one lane that was open to non-children, and it had about four people swimming in it. I was in and out of the building in about two minutes. How can you call it "lap swim" when ninety-five percent of the people doing the laps are kids? As much as I love kids, if you're an organization that charges in excess of fifty bucks in membership fees each month, I think there's an obligation to set the pool aside for grown-ups during the hours in which adults are most likely to be there. It's bordering on mental retardation for such an organization to have two lap swims, one of which lasts from 14:00 to 16:00, and then have the later one be full of children. I honestly don't think that I'm out of line on this one. They should have had at least two lanes reserved for adults. Tonight, assuming I have the patience to try, I'm going to see if another area location is a bit better off. If not... Well, there's a Bally Total Fitness right by my house, and even though it could be a bit more expensive per month, it might be worth it to dump the Y if my swim regimen isn't dominated by dodging small children.
Check back tomorrow, folks. I'm sure that the Somali pirates(!) will do something worth reading about.
I realize that most of you have probably never heard of Turkmenistan, unless you remember hearing about it during the course of Borat. Well, anyway, the Turkmen government is reforming its constitution to usher in a market economy and open elections up to multiple parties. Is it legit? Who knows, but it's probably still an improvement. Turkmenistan used to be ruled by this ex-Soviet strongman named Saparmurat Niyazov. He had absolute control of Turkmenistan, and had erected a massive, rotating, gold statue of himself. Then, he just up and died in December of '06, and they've sort of been trying to figure things out ever since. Like I said, hopefully this is progress.
There's been a VBIED attack in Dellys, east of Algiers. Three people were killed, six were injured, and the target was an Algerian military traffic checkpoint.
The Jerusalem Post has an interesting article about anti-Semitism in American textbooks. Did you know that textbooks read by American students claim that Jesus was a "Palestinian"?
I reported yesterday on Somali pirates(!) who hijacked a ship carrying tons of weaponry, including thirty tanks. So, since that story broke on Friday, the Somali pirates(!) demanded $35M in ransom for the ship and the crew. Then one of the crewmen died, and they dropped their demand to $20M. Now, an American ship, a Russian ship, and an unidentified ship, have surrounded the hijacked freighter. (Us, working with the Russians. Imagine that.) So, what now? Well, apparently, one of the Ukrainian passengers basically asked for the Navy SEALs by name to come in and rescue them. You may remember that the French commandosrescued some hostages a couple of weeks ago, so it's not out of the question. In a tangentally related story, a bunch of Somali pirates(!) who hijacked an Iranian ship started getting sick and dying. There's some question as to whether or not the Iranians are sending weapons to Somali terrorists. Smoking gun? Could be.
Okay, so the next Bond flick is coming out in mid-November. Expect more Bond-related content here on TSTF. Today's item is a video from VideoJug: A Business Guide for James Bond Villains.
Okay, am I evil for totally wanting to cuddle with the girl in the striped blouse? Or just a regular dude?
Speaking of which, I was talking with Olive Oil yesterday, and I think I've made a decision: if I'm not dating anyone by the end of the 2008, I think I'm going to give up dating in 2009. Yeah, I'm totally not making this up... Well, I mean, I am making this up, but I'm not kidding about it. In a couple of weeks, I'll have been at my current job for the same amount of time that I was at my last job, with no real sign of leaving. The later I allow myself to get involved with some succubus, the harder it could be to leave; which is to say, if I was dating a young lady when the next job comes, I'd break her heart by leaving without any second thoughts. I've done it before, and I'd do it again. So, there it is. So, if I make that decision, I will not only keep you all posted, but I'll probably whine a lot, too.
Alright, it's time for a short rant. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I joined the YMCA in an effort to get myself healthy. The primary reason for joining is that my best physical activity is swimming - I can do it for a long time without stopping, as opposed to running which I'm horrible at. Last night I showed up for the third time, and for the third time, the pool was crammed full of children at 20:00. Now, I have no problem with children swimming... But that late? And in that much of the pool? There was basically one lane that was open to non-children, and it had about four people swimming in it. I was in and out of the building in about two minutes. How can you call it "lap swim" when ninety-five percent of the people doing the laps are kids? As much as I love kids, if you're an organization that charges in excess of fifty bucks in membership fees each month, I think there's an obligation to set the pool aside for grown-ups during the hours in which adults are most likely to be there. It's bordering on mental retardation for such an organization to have two lap swims, one of which lasts from 14:00 to 16:00, and then have the later one be full of children. I honestly don't think that I'm out of line on this one. They should have had at least two lanes reserved for adults. Tonight, assuming I have the patience to try, I'm going to see if another area location is a bit better off. If not... Well, there's a Bally Total Fitness right by my house, and even though it could be a bit more expensive per month, it might be worth it to dump the Y if my swim regimen isn't dominated by dodging small children.
Check back tomorrow, folks. I'm sure that the Somali pirates(!) will do something worth reading about.
1 Comments:
Yah know, dodging small children might actually help your swim regimin. Like a skier who does the slolum *bad spelling I know* you can use them as poles.
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