Boston Globe Online: Failsafe, by Elaine Scarry, 9/22/2002

American Airlines Flight 77 was originally scheduled to fly from Washington to Los Angeles. The plane approached the Pentagon at the speed of 500 miles per hour. Two million square feet of the building were damaged or destroyed. One hundred and eighty-nine people died - 64 on the plane, 125 working in the Pentagon. Many others were badly injured.

While we continue to lament the deaths and injuries, one key fact needs to be held onto and stated in a clear sentence: On Sept. 11, the Pentagon could not defend the Pentagon, let alone the rest of the country.

let alone the whole entire rest of the country.

read the article; it's good although sobering.

(thanks to vicki at redbird.org and tony vonkrag at mnstf's natter list for the pointer.)

i am having a birthday party on saturday, october fifth. yes, this upcoming saturday. if you are reading this, are minneapolis local, and would like to come by, email me at betsy@cavort.org! (there's a working mailto link on the side. i am not reproducing it here, because mail to links are tricksy.)

i really don't believe that i'm less evolved because i don't have shallow meaningless relationships. really honestly. i know, what a concept.

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hi mom!

had my last day of training for my leadership excellence training today. had food from vescio's for the graduation luncheon. mmmmm.

went back to work, everyone was pleased to see me, as well.

left at five, because i was caught up on my email and no new projects had been sprung on me in my absence.

came home and cleaned, for the supercon meeting tonight. had the supercon meeting. made the frightening discovery that we are now split almost evenly between drivers and non-drivers on the concom. erp.

and now, everyone has gone home, and the meeting is over, and it's all splendid. that's what i think. yay!

buffy was good, though.

and my new cash cards are here, for my two accounts.

are they cleverly marked which is for which? noooooooooooooooooooooooo.

my mom's doctor's appointment went fine. yay!

i have a headache and am all cranky.

i am up for solving problems, but not up for long indepth discussions about how the problem might have been avoided in the first place.

and i am misanthropic as all get out.

if you like me, and are feeling brave, send me email telling me that.

in not so new news; still not psychic. been trying since fourth grade (hi sara if you are reading this) and it's still not working.

my mom has a big deal doctors appointment on tuesday. i'm a little worried about it. we'll see what happens.

i think i have a cold. oh, the horking. oh, the joy. or lack thereof.

what sort of weirdo are you?

this quiz by belle


i'm actually surprised by this. (heidi, stop yer giggling.)

oh! also, dan savage is publishing a new book, due out the tenth of october.

more birthday thinking: a porkchop bag from timbuk2. a pair of weentsy little chatelaine scissors for crocheting. a bag to put hooks and weentsy little scissors in. oh! and a fleece jackety thing. (like the ones that i have bought my father recently. if you don't know what those look like, don't bother because i can't explain.)

Salon.com Life | HIV-positive Muppet on S. African TV Kami, a mustard-colored furry Muppet, likes nature, telling stories and collecting stuff. She also happens to be HIV-positive.

yay! [does the happy muppet dance]

my birthday is coming up.

i do not currently own a single one of the _boondocks_ comic strip collections.
gift certificates to the reuse center or to home despot would be spiffy.
whichever sort of power saw a person should own first would be spiffy.
big fuzzy flannel or corduroy shirts, size 2xl mens are always appreciated.

my sweetie james is sooooo smart.

we were talking about breaking up with people (as a general concept, folks, not the two of us doing it) and i mentioned that i had broken up with someone who wanted to know the reasons why i was breaking up with zir, so that we could discuss them, and if my reasons turned out to be wrong, then i would not break up with zir.

james said: "But 'I want to break up' is a trump card. Dating is not a debate. It's more like Cosmic Encounter."

anyhow. the smartness bits, and the bits where i hurt myself laughing. just two of the many things i like about him.

today, i am home from work because my knee is so hosed up. i called my rd, and got more drugs (yay) and i should be doing better shortly. mmm, steroids.

this weekend, we helped lauren move into her new apartment. nathan and lauren and i went out for sushi on friday night, and then lauren and nathan went out to _look ma! no pants!_, and then everyone slept, and then we picked up maya. with maya in tow, we went to cap's grille on hiawatha and had a yummy yummy smoke free breakfast. off to lauren's new place, and we cleaned and painted and cleaned and painted and cleaned and painted and then went out for vegetarian indian food, and then over to lauren's old place, and i packed the bathroom and packed some fabric, and then nathan and i went home and collapsed, and lauren and maya stayed up until too early in the morning finishing up.

sunday morning, lauren came over and then she and nathan went and got the truck, and i scooted over to the old place a little bit later. heidi and i packed much of the kitchen, and everyone else did the heavy lifting. i limped around and consoled heidi that people will in fact still like her even though being pregnant and being a pack mule sort of person are incompatible. um. then over to the new place, where the truck was unpacked in record time, and we ordered pizza from luce uptown who lied, lied i say, about how long it would take to get us the pizzas. but they got there eventually, and it was all good.

the end!

9/11 Voices: The Ax Falls, And It Falls Again

That's what brings us together as a nation: a memory we really don't want.

saw _fellowship of the ring_ last night, with sigrid and greg and nathan and pirate and toby and connor and jake. there was much dog wrestling, and a fair bit of running commentary. a fine way to spend the evening, that's what i think.

well, on the bad side, no timtams for me. but on the good side, no timtams for me.

(don't worry; this all makes sense in my head.)

Near-Earth Asteroid 3753 Cruithne --Earth's curious companion--

it doesn't orbit the earth, but instead, shares our orbit, spiralling around in a kidney bean shape, flirting with the earth and then edging away at an angle.

it's name is pronounced "croo-een-ya", emphasis on the "een".

this is just what i needed today.

World Fantasy Convention 2002

minneapolis, minnesota. october 31-november 3.

Yahoo! News - IF YOU HAVE DIGNITY, THE TERRORISTS HAVE WON Op/Ed - Ted Rall

Are you the kind of person who believes that attaching a plastic American flag to your SUV makes a major patriotic statement? If so, you're no doubt anticipating the looming anniversary of the September 11 attacks with the enthusiasm of a nine-year-old on Christmas morning.

Then there's the rest of us.

(not so) repressed snarky comment of the day: i don't know; i kind of liked the planet where you weren't such an insensitive dork.

(relocated counts as repressed, doesn't it? doesn't it?)

The New Republic Online: Stop Him Before He Lies Again

Why does the truth or falsity of this anecdote matter? Because perhaps the key policy issue that divided Bush and Al Gore during the 2000 race was the Texas governor's massive tax cut proposal. Bush claimed there was enough money to continue paying down the debt, fund any additional spending needs that might arise, and still afford his tax cut; Gore claimed there wasn't. Gore was right.

i mentioned the bit where sometimes i can never quite figure out what i mean until someone else says it, and then i say "yes, yes, exactly that!"

well, i'm with pat on this one.

Pat Kight: The Personal

I usually call myself a liberal, if only to annoy people who seem to think that honorable old term is a dirty word. I'm actually more of a small-l-libertarian-small-s-socialist:

I believe the government should stay the hell out of our lives except to ensure that no one goes without adequate food, shelter, health care and education.

And maybe net.access ...

Well, I never aspired to be part of the mainstream ...

(go read the rest of her site. look at the house pictures! what a fabulous house!)

How not to commit suicide, by Art Kleiner

"So when I went to emergency room physicians, paramedics and therapists, I expected to hear of many people who might have needed this information -- people who, faced with a grim illness and no alternatives to it, had tried to kill themselves and ended in the emergency room instead. Wrong. People who plan deliberate suicides usually succeed -- as Humphry said, everything in the suicide manuals can also be found in medical textbooks. People in emergency rooms are usually people who attempted suicide on impulse, in temporary despair or anger. Many decide later that it was a mistake."

painful and difficult to read, but worth it, in my opinion.

my recommendation is that you read it if you are certain that you are or certain that you aren't going to commit suicide soon. if you aren't, it's full of information that i find to be thought provoking. if you are, it'll help keep you from doing it wrong.

it's occurred to me today (thanks for posting something that triggered this, darkhawk) that pretty much anyone who has a set of "rules for relationships" or "tools for healthy relationships" posted on the web is someone who, to put it mildly, i shouldn't date.

it's good that you have your life so well figured out. it's good that you're willing to share your knowledge with other people.

it's good that i've noticed the bit where there's a negative correlation between how much you preach and how together your life actually is, as opposed to how together you'd like people to think it is.

it's good that i know to stay far far away.

Wears Jump Suit. Sensible Shoes. Uses Husband's Last Name. by Deborah Tannen

"To say anything about women and men without marking oneself as either feminist or anti-feminist, male-basher or apologist for men seems as impossible for a woman as trying to get dressed in the morning without inviting interpretations of her character. Sitting at the conference table musing on these matters, I felt sad to think that we women didn't have the freedom to be unmarked that the men sitting next to us had. Some days you just want to get dressed and go about your business. But if you're a woman, you can't, because there is no unmarked woman."

oh, the joy that is linguistic theory. yum!

Health Information About Fatness from sharon curtis, in the uk. sharon says that she changed jobs awhile ago, and no longer has the medline access that she used to. but this is still interesting information, if now a tad dusty.

Newsday.com - Overview of Changes to Legal Rights

stop the world; i want to get off.

i have four bandaids on my fingers and two fingers that i would have bandaids on if that wouldn't put me up to six.

obviously i'm tense about something. i'm not certain what, however.

(i also have a stuffy nose due to allergies and a mosquito bite on my heel that is totally aggravated by my shoes. maybe that's what i'm stressed about? no? i didn't think so, either.)

i was also totally wrong about the sunburn. my shoulders and upper back are mildly burnt, and my cleavage is just pink and rosy.

yesterday i got my hair cut. it's actually short enough in the back, and i only had to ask her twice. however, she nagged me about how i ought to get my hair cut more often, which is enough to make me not want to see her again. i think i'm going to have to buck up and start paying grownup money for haircuts, rather than going to great clips every three months. ah, well.

went out to the minnesota renaissance festival today. we took the puppy. she ate many many things that i don't want to know about off the ground. i bought some christmas presents for the nephews, which is good, and a silly hat/head thing to wear at icon. (i had been thinking a tiara for icon, but this will work better.)

i didn't put any sunscreen on, and hardly burnt at all. my face is a little warm right now, but that's it.

pirate met a full blood chihuahua who was a little tiny wisp of a thing. oh, the cuteness. i also saw my friends sharla and katie and lauren and perrin and jenni and probably some other people who i cannot remember because the sun has addled my brain.

y'know, there's the bit where you know me and based on that information, you try and be respectful and courteous and to do what seems best for me.

and then there's the bit where based on that information and specifically disregarding what i have said and asked on the issue, you do what you think is best for me anyhow.

i'm the one who knows what's going on in my head and what's going to be best for me, not you, and unless i'm paying you good money to pretend that you know what's going on in my cranium, continuing to think that you know better than i do will just piss me off.