Want to know what was said yesterday?

Go here and convert the message:
http://nickciske.com/tools/binary.php

I was checking out the P.O.V. Borders Environment site and found these interesting facts.

Bottled Water

• Americans spend 3 times as much for water as gasoline
• Americans spend $11,000 per minute on bottled water
• of the 100 brands tested by the NRDC, 1/3 failed to meet the clean water standards for tap water

Air

• The top 10 greenest vehicles of 2003 where all Japanese
• There are approximately 600 million cars around the world
• to accommodate its 214 million cars, the U.S. has paved 3.9 million miles of road, enough to circle the earth 157 times

Kind of interesting, if you ask me.

One final thought: The U.S. would save 4 million barrels of oil a day if everyone drove a hybrid car. Just think what that would do to OPEC and it's strangle hold on oil production.

Imagine: It's time for the final game of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament--circa 1776. In the frontcourt for the "Patriots": George Washington (6 feet 2 inches), Thomas Jefferson (6 feet 2 inches), and Ben Franklin (listed at 6 feet, but probably closer to 5 feet 11 inches).

Of course, it's unlikely that Washington could dunk over Cornwallis. But 18th-century Americans weren't particularly small, either. Exhaustive studies of documentary evidence, not to mention cemetary excavations, show that American men born in the 18th century averaged about 5 feet 8 inches. Documentary data for women are harder to come by, but the cemetaries say women averaged 5 feet 2 inches.

That's 2 inches taller than the English team from the period, an inch taller than English Middle Agers, and an inch-and-a-half taller than Americans playing around World War I. What gives? Isn't human height always headed up?In 2004, the University of Connecticut's basketball big man, Emeka Okafor, stands 6 feet 10 inches tall. Georgia Tech's young giant, Luke Schenscher, measures 7 feet 1 inch. Egads, what do they feed those boys? Are raw Connecticut oysters and ripe Georgia peaches the recipe for basketball tall?

In a word, yes. Better nutrition has everything to do with humans' recently enhanced altitude. Height, say most experts, is a function of three factors: genes, nutrition, and health. Scientists combine the latter two into something called "net nutrition"--gross nutrition minus the energy needed to fight off disease or do back-breaking work. And in the developed world, net nutrition has made a great vertical leap forward over the last century.

Widespread health care, especially during the crucial early years of childhood growth, wards off most disease. Adolescents going through their growth spurt no longer work at hard labor. And we eat like kings. The average American, for example, consumes about 3,600 calories per day. Compare that to the English population 200 years ago, which consumed little more than 2,000 calories per day--or to less well-off regions today, such as Latin America, where people consume about 2,700 calories per day.

With better nutrition and less energy spent fighting disease or performing labor, people can more easily reach their maximum genetic potential for height. Human genes around 1800 could make Oliver Twist stand tall, but poor nutrition, prevalent disease, and hard work meant that he got "taxed" a bit in the growing process. In fact, people who paid less of those "taxes" achieved greater height. In 1800, the English titled nobility stood a full 5 inches taller, on average, than overworked and undernourished plebes.

Relative to the English, many 18th-century Americans had it pretty good--and grew tall off their plenty. Not so their grandkids. The rapid industrialization and urbanization of the 19th century may have made the nation, but, on average, it stunted its people. (The same thing seems to have happened in Great Britain.) Only in the 20th century did Americans reclaim their super stature.

But what about genes, the other factor in the height equation? Are we simply eating ourselves into our genetic destiny, or are humans actually evolving into a taller, more basketball-ready species? Are we all going to be like Shaquille O'Neal someday? Scientists say no. Widespread tallness, they say, has happened only recently--and only in industrialized nations where nutrition and health care have improved. No long-term trend toward universally bigger people exists outside the recent ignition of net nutrition.

Americans in particular, once one of the tallest peoples in the world, are not getting taller anymore. The average height for U.S. men leveled off at just under 5 feet 10 inches around 1960 and has stayed there ever since. American ladies have topped out at 5 feet 4 inches. When it comes to height, we may have reached the point where we are all that we can be. (In fact, the U.S. Army reports that the average length of its military uniforms has not changed for some time.)

So, where are all the 7-footers coming from? After all, in the early 1960s, only three NBA players topped 7 feet. This season, there are more than fifty 7-footers on NBA rosters. Well, as any good college coach will tell you, it's all in the recruiting. More than half of today's NBA 7-footers were born outside the United States, as other nations now stand taller. In the Netherlands, for example, today's men average 6 feet 1 inch, and women average 5 feet 8 inches. Even the historically short Japanese have caught up. Figuring out why Americans haven't kept pace has experts blocked.

Michael Himick - Knowledge News

Her father was dying, and the drug company wanted $47,000 for his medication. So she did what any daughter would do: She became a liar and a fraud. In the March/April issue of Mother Jones, Julia Whitty describes how her father called her two years ago to say that a new prescription to fight the cancer he had been battling for years was beyond his reach financially, and that his only realistic option was to forgo further medication. Like millions of frustrated others who illegally buy cut-price prescription drugs overseas, especially from Mexico and Canada, Whitty turned to the Internet to find what her father needed. She got hold of the drug for a fraction of its U.S. cost. Two years later, and a few months after her father died, Congress passed the Medicare drug bill, a welfare plan not for the elderly or the sick, but for the $235 billion pharmaceutical industry, the most profitable industry in America. "In the weeks following its passage," Whitty writes, "it became a matter of morbid curiosity to me to assess whether or not the new law would have solved my father's problems." The answer? He would have paid much less for his prescription, but quite possibly still more than he could afford. "Locked into a fixed income that was in decline along with the stock market," writes Whitty, "he might have decided against it." No such uncertainty dogs the drug companies who pushed for the medicare reform law; thanks to the legislation, they are estimated to see a 9 percent increase in sales, or $13 billion in additional profits per year.
Read: Smuggling Hope

I wonder if I have been drinking to much and would not pass the piss test?

One January 1, 2004, caffeine was removed from the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list, after being a "controlled to restricted drug" in the world of athletic performance for years, and moved to the "monitoring list."

Prior to this change caffeine urine levels of greater than 12 micrograms per millimeter were considered illegal. The reason for this change, notes WADA, is really very practical. This old limit has always given caffeine a unique position as a "potentially" performance-enhancing drug, implying that higher doses of caffeine are required to improve performance. However, this is simply not true. This column summarizes the current research on the performance enhancing effects of caffeine and important considerations of caffeine use in view of its new legal status.

Read More: http://www.velonews.com/train/articles/5800.0.html

There is approximately 3 micrograms of caffeine per 10 to 12 ounce cup of coffee or 12 ounces of soda.

This is from BushGreenwatch this morning:

Last month the Federal Elections Commission voted 5-1 to consider rule changes that could drastically alter the legal status of many activist nonprofits, including environmental organizations.

If the proposal rules are approved, groups across the political spectrum may be forced to give up their core advocacy work or conform to stringent fundraising and financial reporting requirements usually reserved for political committees.

Further, the FEC could apply the rule change retroactively, in the middle of the election year, throwing the legality of nonprofit program, fundraising and reporting efforts into chaos.

According to People For the American Way, "The chilling effect of the proposed rules on free speech cannot be overstated. Merely expressing an opinion about an officeholder's policies could turn a nonprofit group overnight into a federally regulated political committee with crippling fund-raising restrictions."

More: http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000089.php

The Colorado Avalanche look good to win their first round series against the Dallas Stars.

Colorado is 15-7 when winning the first game of a playoff series.

I love the fact that the Avs have change the visitors penalty box advertisement to Waste Management for the playoffs. My question is, why didn't they use it all season?

I still find it a beautiful thing!

Found this informative site, FactCheck.org, while cruising around today. Their mission is:

"We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding."

Sounds pretty good to me! I think I'll be spending some time digging into this site.

Have you been following Over The Hedge recently? It has been running a hilarious Presidential makeover series. If you haven't seen it, here is the collection.

FYI: Dreamworks is in production of a Over The Hedge movie, to come out in late 2005, starring Jim Carrie and Gary Shandling.

DU wins the NCAA hockey championship for the first time since '69. They beat Maine in the first 1-0 game in championship history. It was a nail biter there at the end with a 2 Pioneers in the box for the last minute and a half or so. And Maine pulled their goalie so they where playing 6 on 3 for most of it! There where a couple off the crossbar, but luckily no biscuits made it into the net.

Congratulations Boys!

The following is the text of an Aug. 6, 2001, intelligence briefing for President Bush that outlined al Qaeda plans to strike within the United States. It was released Saturday by the White House.

Declassified and Approved for Release, 10 April 2004

Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US

Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Ladin since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Ladin implied in US television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America."

After US missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, Bin Ladin told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a ...(redacted portion) ... service.

An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told an ... (redacted portion) ... service at the same time that Bin Ladin was planning to exploit the operative's access to the US to mount a terrorist strike.

The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of Bin Ladin's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the US. Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that Bin Ladin lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own US attack.

Ressam says Bin Ladin was aware of the Los Angeles operation.

Although Bin Ladin has not succeeded, his attacks against the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Ladin associates surveilled our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.

Al-Qa'ida members -- including some who are US citizens -- have resided in or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks. Two al-Qa'ida members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our Embassies in East Africa were US citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.

A clandestine source said in 1998 that a Bin Ladin cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.

We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a ... (redacted portion) ... service in 1998 saying that Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Shaykh" 'Umar 'Abd al-Rahman and other US-held extremists.

Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.

The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full field investigations throughout the US that it considers Bin Ladin-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our Embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group of Bin Ladin supporters was in the US planning attacks with explosives.

Found this interesting site today while listening to Live Monsters and wanting to know the words to Bittersweet.

Kind of cool if you like poetry and stuff.

It's your call.

I found this article about bridges to be built in Alaska and the justification for them just mind boggling.

Even by the standards of Alaska, the land where schemes and dreams come for new life, two bridges approved under the national highway bill passed by the House last week are monuments to the imagination.

One, here in Ketchikan, would be among the biggest in the United States: a mile long, with a top clearance of 200 feet from the water — 80 feet higher than the Brooklyn Bridge and just 20 feet short of the Golden Gate Bridge. It would connect this economically depressed, rain-soaked town of 7,845 people to an island that has about 50 residents and the area's airport, which offers six flights a day (a few more in summer). It could cost about $200 million.

The other bridge would span an inlet for nearly two miles to tie Anchorage to a port that has a single regular tenant and almost no homes or businesses. It would cost up to $2 billion.

These "bridges to nowhere," as critics have dubbed the two costliest of the high-priority projects in the six-year, $275 billion House bill, are one reason Republicans are fighting among themselves in shaping the nation's transportation spending.

The rest of the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/10/national/10ALAS.html

The paragraph that blew me away was:

"I'd like to be a little oinker, myself," Mr. Young told a Republican lunch crowd here, taking mock offense at the suggestion that Ted Stevens, the Alaska Republican who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, directs more pork to their state than he does. "If he's the chief porker, I'm upset."

It is very scary what the people we elect to congress are willing to do in spite of the country they are suppose to represent.

I have not been the greatest backer of President Bush, but he is threatening to veto this bill if it is not trimmed down.

FYI: Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, has described the legislation as so laden with pork as to betray the party's principles.

I feel the Republicans tossed the principles a while ago. For that matter, so did the Democrats. This is a nation that is slowly, but surely going down the toilet.

But, that is just my opion, and until J. Ashcroft screws me over totally, I can still voice it in this country.

Three things that caught my eye today:

1. Colorado River named most endangered river in the USA
2. The revisions of the Clean Air Act for Colorado is about to go before a state regulatory board
3. EPA is about to announce that Denver will go back on the list of Dirty Cities because of rising smog levels

Just a fine day for this state with Earth Day just 8 days away.

I took this years Earth Day poster and cut out the tree painting and made a gif image for my desktop.

Desktop Images

In a game that I didn't think they where going to pull off a win in, rookie Marek Svatos scored the winning goal in the second OT to give Colorado a 3-1 lead in their first round series against Dallas.

• The Avs had a two goal lead that they squandered for the second game in a row.
• David Aebischer came up big this game with 43 saves on 45 shots.
• There where just 6 penalties called.
• The Avs where outplayed by Dallas in periods 2 and 3
• This is the second game in a row that a rookie has scored the winning goal. Their first playoff goal.
• Colorado was outshot 14-3 in the third period and 12-3 in the first OT.

Game Recap

Update!:
I found this website today with this description:

Visualize Snoopy of Peanuts fame, sitting on the Roof of his Doghouse, and with his typewriter, pounding out the following Message: “Dear IRS, I’m writing to you to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list.”

The extremely curious part is that, apparently, a large percentage of former taxpayers have done precisely as Snoopy was attempting to do. Only their paperwork was far more legalistic. The best part is that there is allegedly a process by which an individual, aka a human being, can in fact remove themselves from the IRS list of taxpayers. This is one of those areas where anyone who considers this must do their own research, assume their own responsibility for any subsequent actions, and then abide by the outcomes.

Check it out:
http://www.halexandria.org/dward292.htm

I read this in the Rocky Mountain News today:

"I'm not going to pull a Janet Jackson. I'd probably kill about four people in the front row."
- Dolly Parton

They are saying this is quoted in The Star, at her Dollywood theme park's 19th opening day.

Whether this is true or not, I leave up to you. I searched the web and came up empty, but I do have the newspaper in front of me.

But, man, what a great quote !!

A rather shocking and sad story that the NHL really doesn't need this season with all the violence that has been in the headlines. One can only wonder what is going through Gary Bettmans mind along with the St. Louis Blues and the rest of the league.

St. Louis Blues forward Mike Danton was arrested Friday in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme, the FBI said.

Danton, 23, was arrested at the airport in San Jose, Calif., after the Blues were knocked out of the NHL playoffs in a loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Illinois, Danton told a female friend that a hitman from Canada was coming to kill him and asked the woman if she knew someone who would kill the person for $10,000.

Read More

After a good ride I kicked back with some friends, beer and chips and salsa and watched the Avalanche play a good all round game and finish off the Dallas Stars 5-1 in game 5 of the series.

I have to say it has been a good day all around!

Well, the Avs get a little rest to heal those cuts and bruises since the Canucks and Flames still have a game to play. Depending on the outcome of that series depends on whether we play San Jose or Detroit. I don't know if there is a better choice among the two top seeds in the Western Conference. Either one will be tough.

This is the first series since the Avs went 7 games to win the cup against NJ in 2001 that they have finished a series in less that 7 games! Two years ago they played three 7 game series, losing to Detroit and last year they lost to Minnesota in 7 games. In both those series we where up 3-2 and 3-1 respectively and only had to win one game at home and couldn't.

Some Quotes:

• "Going into the series, if you would have said our top goal-scorer would be Therien ... that's all you need to know," Stars coach Dave Tippett said during his terse and brief postgame news conference. "In all aspects of the game, they just beat us. Give credit where credit is due. Colorado played like they were the hungrier team today. That was the case far too often with our club this year, especially on the road."
• "Obviously it feels good to win," Avalanche coach Tony Granato said. "As far as relieving some pressure, it doesn't matter. The bottom line is, the position I'm in and the position our team is in, we expect to win and we want to win. We'll do everything we can to prepare as best we can to try and win the next round."
• "We have been talking about his confidence and poise all year, and that is the way to describe him," Tony Granato said of David Aebischer. "He has been like that all year. He backed it up and played extremely solid and consistent and very confidently."
• "I think we played a decent game," Hejduk said. "We tried to create a lot of scoring chances. I thought we skated pretty well."
• "Their goalie was better," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "We got beat, in all aspects of the game. That's the bottom line."

Inside The Numbers

• Peter Forsberg has recorded at least one point in 11 consecutive playoff games (five goals, 11 assists)
• Joe Sakic has scored nine goals in his past 10 playoff games
• Goalie David Aebischer stopped 146 of 156 shots in the series for a .936 save percentage. His goals-against average was 1.83
• The Avalanche went 6-for-21 on power plays (28.6 percent) in the series and killed 18 of 22 penalties (81.8 percent)
• okie Marek Svatos had three assists to give him six points in the series after playing just four regular-season games.
• Colorado scored nine of its 19 goals in the series in the first period

Game Summary

Man had it been windy here in Denver for the last two days. The bike rides have been interesting, that is for sure. Saw this Calvin and Hobbes and just had to post it.

The first game is tomorrow at 8:00 MDT.

Here are a few articles to get you ready.

• Sharks have mountainous task
• Stanley Cup Playoff Preview - San Jose vs. Colorado
• Avs top players rest
• Avs stay guarded for semis
• Late result captivates Avalanche

The rest of the schedule:
Sat., April 24 Colorado at San Jose 1:00 p.m.
Mon., April 26 San Jose at Colorado 6:00 p.m.
Wed., April 28 San Jose at Colorado 8:00 p.m.
Sat., May 1 Colorado at San Jose 1:00 p.m.
Tue., May 4 San Jose at Colorado 6:00 p.m.
Thu., May 6 Colorado at San Jose TBA

Let's Go Avs!

Finalists for the NHL awards where named yesterday and not a single Av made the list. This is the first time since the 99-00 season that Colorado has not had a nominee on the list.

I thought Liles was a good candidate for the rookie and Blake was a good candidate for the Norris Trophy. But, there I go thinking again.

•HART MEMORIAL TROPHY
(League Most Valuable Player)

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey
Jarome Iginla, Calgary
Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay

• VEZINA TROPHY
(Outstanding goaltender)

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey
Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary
Roberto Luongo, Florida

• FRANK J. SELKE TROPHY
(Outstanding defensive forward)

Kris Draper, Detroit
John Madden, New Jersey
Alyn McCauley, San Jose

• JAMES NORRIS MEMORIAL TROPHY
(Outstanding all-around defenseman)

Zdeno Chara, Ottawa
Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey
Chris Pronger, St. Louis

• LADY BYNG MEMORIAL TROPHY
(Sportsmanship)

Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa
Brad Richards, Tampa Bay
Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay

• CALDER MEMORIAL TROPHY
(Outstanding rookie)

Trent Hunter, New York Islanders
Andrew Raycroft, Boston
Michael Ryder, Montreal

• JACK ADAMS AWARD
(Outstanding coach)

Darryl Sutter, Calgary
John Tortorella, Tampa Bay
Ron Wilson, San Jose

An interesting, and I believe inspiring, story about global warming and what a single person can do.

Three individuals tackle global warming with personal solutions - despite the global reach of the problem.

In the decade after the first Earth Day 34 years ago, people planted trees to fight smog, picketed toxic dumps, slogged through mud to clean up grungy river banks. Being Earth-friendly meant giving $25 to save the whales - or choosing unleaded gas at the pump.

But in the new millennium, using a trash can to "keep America beautiful" is not enough. One of the planet's most pressing problems - global warming - looks to be one of its most intractable. And that is proving frustrating to would-be activists.

Their challenge: How to get individuals to change their behavior for a problem that looms so large and is unlikely to be solved for generations.

"Environment took off as an issue in the 1970s because you could do something personal about recycling and pollution in neighborhoods," says Dale Jamieson, president of the International Society for Environmental Ethics. "One of the dangers of thinking about the global warming issue today is that it can be extremely impersonal, disempowering for people."

More: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0422/p13s01-sten.html

World's top CO2 producers

The following countries had the highest total carbon dioxide emissions in the year 2000 (the most recent data available). Fossil-fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring were major contributors.

Sources: Gregg Marland and Tom Boden of Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and Bob Andres of the University of North Dakota

Armstrong, who finished 66th in the same time, claimed the overall victory in 25 hours, 39 minutes and 20 seondsc for the six-day, seven-stage, 1,051km race.

"It's important," said Armstrong, whose main challenge this season is an attempt at a sixth Tour de France title. "It's always nice to win. It's also nice to come and meet some objectives like doing a good time trial, doing some climbs, working the team well. It was a complete week."

Man oh man. The Avs have dug themselves a deep hole. They lost again to the Sharks last night whose goaltender Nabakov has been outstanding this whole series. It was hard watching the game, because you felt the longer it went the less likely the outcome was going to be for the Avs.

Colorado came out big in the first period, but could not put a puck in the net. They continued to play strong throughout the game with a total of 33 shots on goal.

Sadly, Rob Blake sustained an upper body injury in the first period and didn't return.

If the Avs lose, this will be the first time since moving to Denver they have been eliminated in the second round. They have a 6-0 record going into this series.

According to Buddhist psychology, most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for, attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities. The pursuit of the objects of our desire and attachment involves the use of aggression and competitiveness. These mental processes easily translate into actions, breeding belligerence. Such processes have been going on in the human mind since time immemorial, but their execution has become more effective under modern conditions. What can we do to control and regulate these 'poisons' - delusion, greed and aggression? For it is these poisons that are behind almost every trouble in the world.

- His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Proliferation News: 27 April 2004
A Free Service of the Non-Proliferation Project,
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

For past stories and further proliferation resources, see the Project's web site:
www.ProliferationNews.org

South Africa's Nuclear Free Decade
(Carnegie Analysis)
http://www.ceip.org/files/nonprolif/templates/article.asp?NewsID=6280

Remembering Mary McGrory
(Joseph Cirincione, Carnegie Analysis)
http://www.ceip.org/files/nonprolif/templates/article.asp?NewsID=6264

Gadhafi Urges End to All WMD
(CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/04/27/gadhafi.brussels/index.html

Nuclear Security Fixes Urged
(Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nuke27apr27,1,4446448.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Dubious Threat, Expensive Defense
(Jackson Diehl, Washington Post Op-Ed)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42113-2004Apr25.html

Push to Guard Arms in Russia at Risk
(David Filipov & Anna Dolgov, Boston Globe)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2004/04/26/
push_to_guard_arms_in_russia_at_risk/

Still on Catastrophe's Edge
(Robert McNamara & Helen Caldicott, Los Angeles Times Op-Ed)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-caldicott26apr26,0,7347288.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

The Cost of 'Arrogant Daydreams'
(Chas W. Freeman Jr., Washington Post Op-Ed)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19465-2004Apr17.html

Full text: http://www.larsonsworld.com/library/pro_news/pn_040427.html

Bill Watterson
originally published 4/28/1993

I saw this one in Washington Whispers today. Makes you want to laugh and wonder at the same time.

"Shouldn't we be more concerned about voting in November?"
-Tom Joyner, national radio host, on claims of voting problems with Fox's American Idol

The Fall of Wal-Marts Inglewood Fiefdom

Wal-Mart bites the dust!

The largest, richest, most arrogant corporate bully on the block tried to run over the good people Inglewood, California, but the people rose up, fought back, and knocked the bully on its broad butt!

http://www.jimhightower.com/air/read.asp?id=11349

Now that's a town council I would support!

I couldn't watch all the game last night, but the Avs pulled off the first must win in OT. I kind of knew as my roommate woke me to a cheer of relief at some point. That would have been Joe Sakic's goal 5:15 into the OT. Well, at least they where not swept. Now they just have to win the next 3 games in a row with 2 of them at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.

There is no word on Blake yet, who is still out with an "upper body injury", whatever that means.


-Rodolfo Gonzalez © News

Avalanche teammates celebrate Joe Sakic's game-winning goal against the San Jose Sharks during the first overtime period in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals held at the Pepsi Center Wednesday night. Game 5 is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at the HP Pavilion.

white bird, in a golden cage, on a winter’s day, in the rain.
white bird, in a golden cage, alone.

the leaves blow, across the long black road,
to the darkened skies, in its rage.
but the white bird just sits in her cage, alone.

white bird must fly
or she will die

white bird, dreams of the aspen trees, with their dying leaves, turning gold.
but the white bird just sits in her cage, growing old.

white bird must fly or she will die.
white bird must fly or she will die.

the sunsets come, the sunsets go.
the clouds pile high, the air moves slow.
and the young bird’s eyes do always know.

white bird, in a golden cage, on a winter’s day, in the rain.
white bird, in a golden cage alone.

white bird must fly or she will die.
white bird must fly or she will die.
white bird must fly or she will die.

she must fly, she must fly, she must fly.

she must fly or she will die.

- It's A Beautiful Day