Phillip Greenspun's Weblog has the subtitle of "An Interesting Idea Every Three Months; a post every day"

Phillip Greenspun has a new weblog out and thanks to the Ernie the Attorney blog I found it and read it all to great enjoyment tonight! There is a link to a story called "How I Became A Scum-Sucking Yuppie Materialist", complete with photos and links to other related stories, including his trip to NYC and how he had the Porshe for the photo illustrating the post, lol!

Then there is a very serious subject - a writing as a review of a book called "Travels with Lizbeth", about a homeless man and his dog in Austin, TX. The book was published in 1997 and won accolades, but it is unknown to me if the man got himself in better circumstances to his liking. Every bit that Phil quotes from Lars Eighner is so true that it brings a loud "amen" from this corner. This will be quite understandable to those who are American - others may not realize the ludicrous situation those in poverty in the US face. The site Lars put together is here. It has definite sections that will be of general interest; others only to those interested in "adult, gay relationships". The review that Phillip wrote is here.

Those who are into photography will enjoy Greenspun's website http://www.photo.net. He is quite the digital camera buff and there are forums there as well as a great deal of technical help. A fun aspect to the site for non-photo nuts is the travelogues and travel features. Great fun to read the stories and see the photos!

This web author from MIT / Harvard is quite a guy and waaaay multi-talented. In the blog he just began this month, there are several posts about public school teachers. Lots of comments are being added there. Good reading for teachers and those involved with education in US public schools. Using humor is an effective method of pointing out important issues. There are links on his website to much of his writing from tech material about his published tech books, to humor essays, to travel adventures he's taken and photographed.

abuzz thread
This poem is reprinted from a site that logged it online in 1995 in full context from an unpublished work by Mark Twain. Here is the text, but more importantly, read the poem and then read the full context - fascinating and timely! Deja vue -

O Lord our Father,
our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! With them ? in spirit ? we also go forth from the sweet peace of our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it -- for our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts.
Amen.
Mark Twain

War Prayer, Twain (In full context)

(Thanks to Doc Searls, in his weblog, Sept. 13, 2001)

This page includes a transcript called "The Fairy Tale of A Just War".

This is "going around" and actually may have "been around", but it seems quite timely. A post here would usually just go for the link, but in this case, a Monty Python view of the global mess is welcome in full! Thanks to John Cleese or whoever it is that wrote it. John is being credited with it on searches for sources - but who knows?

Other Axis of Evil Wannabes
John Cleese

Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the Axis of Evil, Libya, China, and Syria today announced they had formed the “Axis of Just as Evil,” which they said would be more evil than that stupid Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of in his State of the Union address. Axis of Evil members, however, immediately dismissed the new axis as having, for starters, a really dumb name. “Right. They are Just as Evil... in their dreams!” declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. “Everybody knows we’re the best evils... best at being evil...we’re the best.”

Diplomats from Syria denied they were jealous over being excluded, although they conceded they did ask if they could join the Axis of Evil. “They told us it was full,” said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “An Axis can’t have more than three countries,” explained Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. “This is not my rule, it’s tradition. In World War II you had Germany, Italy, and Japan in the evil Axis. So you can only have three, and a secret handshake. Ours is wicked cool.”

International reaction to Bush’s Axis of Evil declaration was swift, as within minutes, France surrendered. Elsewhere, peer-conscious nations rushed to gain triumvirate status in what became a game of geopolitical chairs. Cuba, Sudan, and Serbia said they had formed the Axis of Somewhat Evil, forcing Somalia to join with Uganda and Myanmar in the Axis of Occasionally Evil, while Bulgaria, Indonesia and Russia established the Axis of Not So Much Evil Really As Just Generally Disagreeable.

With the criteria suddenly expanded and all the desirable clubs filling up, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, and Rwanda applied to be called the Axis of Countries That Aren’t the Worst But Certainly Won’t Be Asked to Host the Olympics; Canada, Mexico, and Australia formed the Axis of Nations That Are Actually Quite Nice But Secretly Have Some Nasty Thoughts About America, while Scotland, New Zealand and Spain established the Axis of Countries That Be Allowed to Ask Sheep to Wear Lipstick.

“That’s not a threat, really, just something we like to do,” said Scottish Executive First Minister Jack McConnell. While wondering if the other nations of the world weren’t perhaps making fun of him, a cautious Bush granted approval for most axes, although he rejected the establishment of the Axis of Countries Whose Names End in “Guay,” accusing one of its members of filing a false application. Officials from Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chadguay denied the charges. Israel, meanwhile, insisted it didn’t want to join any Axis, but privately, world leaders said that’s only because no one asked them.