6/4     Dam beavers
        http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbowman/birds/humor/beavers.html
        \_ An actual letter, it turns out:
           http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/dammed.htm

6/4     http://www.fuh2.com
        \_ Funny, but interesting how few people are actually doing it
           when a Hummer driver can see them.  -John
           \_ It's a lot harder (and less safe) to take a picture when
              driving.
              \_ Many of these have a second person taking the picture.  No
                 excuse.  -John
        \_ Funny-ish. I hate the H2 too (but I love the H1), but who
           the fuck are these people to hate them just because the H2
           isn't fuel efficient? I guarantee none of the site creators
           drive a Prius or something similar.
           \_ how do you guarantee that?
        \_ I hate H2 because it epitomizes the low and unrefined tastes of an
           'average' American. It seems like for many people, the more pompous
           and obnoxious your vehicle looks, the better. It doesn't matter to
           them that they will never drive H2 off-road, that it has maritime
           handling, and poses elevated danger to other people on the road. I
           don't really care about the low fuel economy. Peole are just
           responding to economic incentives. Just make the gas or large
           vehicles expensive enough and they'll start driving more
           efficient cars.
        \_ I hate suburbs and McMansions because it epitomizes the low and
           unrefined tastes of an 'average' American. It seems like for many
           people, the bigger the backyard and the more pompous your home
           looks, the better. It doesn't matter to them that they will never
           utilize 90% of the space, that it wastes more energy with more
           heating/cooling costs, wastes a lot of water for the lawn, wastes
           a lot of money associated with gardens that one rarely uses,
           and require driving far distances and buy big vehicles to shop for
           necessities far away in the cities. People are selfish assholes
           and just want everything without considering the harm they're
           doing to the nature, and to other people. Just make the gas
           expensive or pay for their part in destroying the environment and
           they'll start living in more efficient manners. FUCK SUBURBS.
           \_ Uhm, what differentiates a regular mansion from a McMansion?
              They sound the same to me based on your vitriolic description.
              Are you sure it's not a matter of mansion envy?
           \_ What suburb are you in?  In mine the lawns can be watered with
              a tea cup, the houses, such as they are, are barely bigger than
              your apartment, the cars are the same cars people in the city
              own (and park on the side walks).  I'd like to live in your
              suburb.  Where should I look for it?  -wannabe selfish asshole
              \_ I grew up in Orange County and San Fernando Valley. My
                 parents' homes are huge, and empty most of the time.
                 Most of the things I grew up with were never used, but were
                 great to show off with when we had guests 2-3 times
                 a year. For example our swimming pools, BBQ, yards and other
                 things were rarely used. I'm older now and I totally
                 sympathize for my parents who had to drive 50-100 miles a
                 day to/from work and to drive us to schools in
                 congested roads. 15 minutes to get grocery, 30 min to the
                 nearest hospital, 35 min to my high school... WHY? Because
                 they didn't know any better and lived their lives like our
                 all the other suburbian home owners.           -pp
                 \_ Your experience is not exactly typical. Sounds like
                    your parents were well-to-do. I guess you can hate
                    them for that, if you want to. Most of us are not
                    living in huge houses with wasted space and pools we
                    don't use.

6/4     http://www.willisms.com/archives/2005/04/trivia_tidbit_o_3.html
        Republican cars: Hummer (52%R 23%D), Porsche (59%R 27%D),
        Democrat cars: Volvo (44%D 32%R),
        Mini-van's kinda weird-- Republicans tend to have more children,
        3.5 on average versus 1.7 for the Democrats.
        \- an associate of mine at the FED was kinda amused to see a
           car listed by BERNANKE. he was apparently selling a Siena
           minivan via the FED WEEB.
        \_ Are you sure about that factoid? Most immigrants are Democrats.
           \_ Not the ones that start/own their own businesses
        \_ I dunno why, but the Porsche seems kinda weird--how about a
           Camaro instead?  Or something with badly done window tinting
           and a moon roof?  -John
           \- there is a saying something like economics/demographics trumps
           \- there is a saying something like demographics trumps
              stereotypes. meaning income type predictors generally win over
              "cultural stereotypes" like "brie eating liberals" ...
              my understanding is the "money <-> republican <-> brie"
              connection is better than "marin county liberal and berkeley
              connection is better than "marin county liberals and berkeley
              grad students <-> expensive cheese". so porsche drivers ->
              few std dev above mean income -> higher probability of being R.
              now if you just compare +$75k cars, it might be interesting
              to see the different R/D compositions.
        \_ Childbearing stat sounds familiar. Cite?

6/5     Tony Snow compares Federal marriage amendment to civil rights
        legislation:
        http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/05/rosegarden/index.html
        I think this guy is even more awesome than McClellan.
        \_ In the new Bush world order, it's "freedom and liberty" when you
           spy on everyone and you get civil rights when they are taken away.
           \_ We have always been at war with Eurasia, and Eastasia is our
              ally.

6/5     YHOO, worse than GOOG and MSFT in terms of helping Chinese authorities
        http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6079478.html

6/5     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060605/ap_on_sc/black_brant
        Fox Kill = good.

6/5     http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060606/ap_on_re_us/reagan_anniversary
        Wake up people. Reaganomics in theory was a really good idea but
        a huge debacle in reality. Let's all celebrate Reagan's death!
        \_ Let's hope Reaganomics and the rest of the conservative movements
           die as well!

6/5     http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1791111,00.html
        UK Guardian reports that intelligence that led to raid on residence
        in which a Muslim guy got shot was wrong, and that the intelligence
        came from a single uncorroborated tip (yet "specific" and "credible")
        from a police informant.
        Official line is that the chemical vest has not been found on premises.