Sunday, June 30, 2002
Monday, June 24, 2002
Blowback
Apparently, Hamas, a radical group dedicated to liberating Palestine and eradicating Israel was actually funded and supported by Israel as an alternative to Yassir Arafat's PLO.
Israel was certainly funding the group at that time. One U.S. intelligence source who asked not to be named said that not only was Hamas being funded as a "counterweight" to the PLO, Israeli aid had another purpose: "To help identify and channel towards Israeli agents Hamas members who were dangerous terrorists."
But even then, some in Israel saw some benefits to be had in trying to continue to give Hamas support: "The thinking on the part of some of the right-wing Israeli establishment was that Hamas and the others, if they gained control, would refuse to have any part of the peace process and would torpedo any agreements put in place," said a U.S. government official who asked not to be named.
Sunday, June 23, 2002
Those were the eighties
Wondering where all the Saturday morning cartoons went? Me neither but here's the answer.
Thursday, June 20, 2002
Evil for Sale
Welcome to www.villainsupply.com, your best online source for everything EVIL. If you are a supervillain, mad scientist, warlord, dictator, or despot, then this is the place for you. (via Metafilter)
Tuesday, June 18, 2002
Cannabis Culture
A new book tries to chronicle the global marijuana scene. According to the review, the book is a like a travelogue to Nepal, Cambodia, Canada, and of course Amsterdam. (via FMH)
"Until very recently pot was legal in Cambodia," Preston writes. "It was a drug for old people to smoke in the evenings or use in soups as an appetite enhancer. It was a weed. You could buy it in the market for a dollar a kilo. Thanks to American diplomatic pressure it was made illegal three years ago. And now that it's illegal it's worth something. The price is around seventy dollars a kilo in Phnom Penh, which means in three years cannabis has gone from worthless weed to the most profitable crop a farmer can grow. So everyone's growing it."
Thursday, June 13, 2002
Juicy Quotes
There's really nothing special about this article except this quote. That is exhaustion.
"I've fallen asleep with my hands in a woman's vagina delivering a baby because I was so tired," said Dr. Angela Nossett, chief resident of the department of family medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and vice president of the Joint Committee of Interns and Residents.
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Enter the Zone
I'm going to install one of these in my apartment. (via Gammatron)
A machine known as "Lobster Zone" holds numerous delicious crustaceans and is a variation on the old "skill cranes" popular in most arcades. For $2 per try, patrons can use a joystick to move a grasping claw above the desired lobster. If captured, the lobster is swung into position, dropped into a bucket and taken into the kitchen. Those lucky or skillful enough can get a lobster dinner for just a fraction of the menu price.
Thursday, June 06, 2002
A little bump grinds his career to a halt
I've always thought there was something odd about R. Kelly. Now he's been charged with videotaping himself having sex with an underage girl.
A few weeks back at Trader Joe's, I overheard two of the guys stocking shelves talking about R. Kelly. We started talking and apparently one of them hangs out with him and Jamie Foxx. I asked him if Kelly really did all that stuff and he said yeah and that Jamie Foxx is going to rip on him about it on his new album.
Tuesday, June 04, 2002
Media Swarm
Congratulations to Newsweek for breaking the story about the CIA failing to place two of the hijackers on terrorist watch lists until after they entered the country. I'm impressed that they were able to break a story that appeared on Frontline in January, three months ago. This is a perfect example of the pack mentality of the media. Intelligence mistakes were not the story in January, now they are.