CLEAR SKIES

USA Today is publishing a series on the events of 9/11 from the perspective of the air traffic controllers responsible for flight management, the pilots in the air that day, and a man named Ben Sliney, who was on his first day on the job as national operations manager of the Federal Aviation Administration's command center in Herndon, Virginia.

His first day on the job. Starting a new job is always traumatic, but this guy really drew the short end of the stick.

Anyhow, I recommend these articles. So far, two parts have been posted to the website. The first one is Amid terror, a drastic decision: Clear the skies. The second one is No one was sure if hijackers were on board.

The series seems to be offering a new perspective on some of the events that day and for those like me who still have unresolved emotional trauma about the entire thing, it's very interesting reading.

I have a number of opinions about the leadership (or lack thereof) displayed by the Federal government on September 11 and since (and before, truth be told), a great deal of admiration for Mayor Guliani, etc., but I'm holding off on posting anything about that at the moment. I'm so angered by so many things that have happened over the last eleven months that I just don't have any coherent place to start a rant.

Anyhow. This was supposed to be a place to babble to my friends and occasionally make fun of them and not a political forum. While I debate the subject, I encourage people to occasionally take a look at alternet.org, a site that offers a different look at the news.

This has been today's news-relevant portion of the entry.

Random chatter to friends

Today's spammail:

Hello,
If you are in possession of the Blue, Red or Green Time Warping moon crystals, or a vortex generator accounting for the temporal location settings of (X, Y, Z, X1, Y1, Z1, xq6), please make me an offer. It would be best if you are able to provide the proper shielding from the high level of radiation. Please make me an offer. Send a separate email to me at: (removed)@aol.com.

I'm a little worried about whether or not I need radiation shielding, though.

For the Dockside Dame, I was trying to figure out how to make those nifty second browser windows pop up when someone clicks a link myself, instead of bothering you & friend, but the research I've done suggests it really is a javascript thing, so I guess I'll have to be content with right-clicking on links when I want to go take a second look at something. Hmph. But I appreciate your willingness to help and stuff.

I found some interesting site while I was looking, though. webmonkey is a good site. So is htmlgoodies. I think the very best site I found was w3schools though. I've already used that one a dozen times and it falls into the category of, "sites I'd pay some money to if necessary."

TWM! – National Mole Day was on July 31 and I forgot to give you a present! Still, yesterday (August 13) was International Left-Hander Day and you didn't get me a present, so we're even, right? Because I'm a reasonably good friend, I offer The Naked Mole-rat Colony cam in your honor.

I'm still thinking of my butt. One day this week I actually ran up the three flights of stairs, but other than that my only progress on the exercise front is that I'm starting to consider the possibility that it's time to tackle the stairs to the fourth floor as well. I haven't actually done it, but I've thought about it. No changes in that physical area, though. "Rhinoceros" is what comes to mind when I look in the mirror. That didn't stop me from having fried food for dinner last night, of course.

Cap'n Nasty, in my never-ending search to find weirder and weirder websites for your amusement, I offer nerve.com. You probably don't want to surf this one at work if Danzo & Co. have the intelligence to have installed netwatch software that tracks the names of the links you visit, but I found it very entertaining. There's an article on Full Frontal and I know how you heart David Duchovny.

Opinions have been divided on this movie. Some critics said it was a hopeless mess while others lauded it as brilliant and original. I strongly suspect the parties of the second part of trying to prove how much more intelligent than everyone else they are, but who knows. With Julia Roberts and David Hyde Pierce also starring, it can't be that bad, right? Right? Right? Tell you what. You go watch it and let me know.