Elections-depressed man climbs tower, knocks out power for 30,000
Michael Naczi, who has a history of mental illness, told dispatchers he had climbed the tower to wait for a sign from President Bush, according to police. He suffered serious burns and knocked out power to 30,000 homes and businesses. (Anchorage Daily News)
A has-been actor named Ronald Reagan had just taken office when I first saw U2 on March 5, 1981, during their second ever visit to the US. The played at a club called J.B. Scott's in Albany, and I worked there. The whole band signed my album (LP--as in "piece of 12-inch vinyl in a cardboard sleeve" Remember those?) as did the entire road crew. Bono wrote "Bono--1981" It is my most prized rock posession. They played at JB's twice more in '81 (their first show was a huge hit) and I saw them again in 1983, at a free show at Albany State and at Yankee Stadium in 1992 on the Zoo TV tour, where they phoned the White House from a giant phone on stage. For Steve's birthday last year I got him tickets to their Elevation Tour stop in Austin, and it was spectacular as well.
The band is still making great music, and Bono is still fighting for great causes. Check out their great website, U2.com for excellent mutimedia stuff, including a cool video clip in celebration of their new greatest hits CD.
..I want to wake up the day after Election Day and see that my good guys won. I'm bitterly disappointed in local and especially national election results. With one-party control of the the Executive Branch, House and Senate, nothing prevents rubber-stamp confirmation of extremist judicial nominees, imbalanced tax cuts from continuing or in general provides any sort of desirable checks or balances.
Despite unprecedented corporate scandal and lack of enforcement or pursuit, an expensive, ill-timed tax cut skewed to the most wealthy, a faltering economy, the risk of near-unilateral war with Iraq and significant social program concerns, the Democrats provided no meaningful opposition agenda, nor showed much of a meaningful difference between themselves and the Republicans. The much-vaunted get-out-the-vote campaign of organized labor paled in the face of a well-funded GOP machine. The Greens, Libertarians and other independents were for the most part kept out of debates, unable to match huge advertising budgets or achieve anything approaching equal footing.
At least my Texas Senator Gonzalo Barrientos handily defeated the despicable "Dell-ionaire" Ben Bentzin. His sole qualifications for office seemed to be that he was rich and not Senator Barrientos. His "DWI Video" commercial marked a new low in sleazy attack ads in an amazingly ugly campaign season. Ironically, Democrat Barrientos' margin of victory was close to the same 60/40 split that characterized the victories of most Republican candidates in Texas. At least he and Lloyd Doggett are still representing me.
I need a good escapist movie. Or a good escapist pint of Guinness.
I get some weird spam. So much so that I am about to change my email address of 8-years to one at my own domain, leaving the texas.net one behind to the spammers. But this spam, perhaps received due to my email address being available on this "Fuzz" site, takes the cake. Maybe an offshore supplier for the Lint Lady?
Dear Sir,
We are looking for the fuzz fibres,linters.
Our customers tell us that they will accept all we can
import from foreign suppliers. Pls offer all of that you can offer,
our cotton linters also mean 'fuzz fibres,linters'
We are looking for that very urgently.
We really hope to cooperate with you in the future, we have
strong support from bankers and government.
We are looking forward your early reply,anything,pls let
me know quickly.
Best Regards,
Ken Feng
Company: Guangzhou Youbao Industry Co.,Ltd.
Address: No.1 Huangzhou industrial quarters,Chebei,
Tianhe Guangzhou GuangDong China
Zip: 510660
Tel: 86-20-85698106
Fax: 86-20-85522927
Contact: Ken Feng
Email: gzken@vip.sina.com
Web site: http://www.u-best.com
The show won't go on. I am bummed. I was planning to see The Boss, Bruce Springsteen in Austin tomorrow night, but the band has put the "See Us Soon, We Might Not Be Around Forever" tour on hold for a bit as rotund saxophonist Clarence Clemons recuperates from eye surgery last night after their show in Houston. Details here, but word is the show will now be held in Austin on Texas Independence Day, March 2, 2003. If the band holds up.
There is a punchline in this story somewhere, I am sure.
The USDA’s Sheep Experiment Station in Dubois, Idaho, ... studied 27 sheep — 10 ewes, nine rams that mated only with other rams and eight rams that mated only with females.
The “gay” sheep are strongly homosexual, Roselli said.
“They don’t pair-bond,” he said. “But they are exclusive. They don’t court or mate with females. They only court and mate with males.”
There is a punchline in 
