I needed to pass yesterday’s date to a Windows program from the command line in a scheduled job, so I wrote yesterday to generate yesterday’s date and output it to the command line. I call it from a .cmd script which sticks it into an environment variable which I then pass to the app. Simple, straightforward, slightly stupid, sweet.
This was from my game at Lee Anne’s party last night — my third game of 2010. I was white and when the beautiful dumpling was formed in the middle of the board, I just had to photograph it for the hall of shame.
As it turns out, I ended up winning. Warning: don’t try this at home!
PS: happy new year!
By popular request, this is the recipe for the rich chocolate confection I learned to make from my mother. It’s different from typical “linzer torte” pastries.
Linzer Torte
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
3/8 lb. butter (the real thing) [1.5 sticks]
1 cup almonds, ground (I buy slivered ones & chop ‘em in a hand chopper)
3 hard-boiled egg yolks
1 raw egg
3/4 cup softened semi-sweet chocolate chips
raspberry preserves
Mix flour, sugar and softened butter. Add egg yolks, raw egg (beat), softened chocolate (melt in double-boiler), and finally stir in the almonds and mix well. Batter will be stiff. Put batter in lightly-greased (butter) square baking pan, not more than 1.5″ high. Smooth batter, spread with raspberry preserves, and lattice with remaining batter (remember to leave a little in the bowl for this step — it doesn’t take much). Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Senators John McCain and Maria Cantwell, of all people, are sponsoring legislation to prohibit banks from acting like Wall Street speculators, or “bar commercial banks from undertaking brokerage activities” as reported in The Seattle Times this morning.
Needless to say this is a good idea, restoring the regulation (formerly known as the Glass-Steagall Act) enacted during the Great Depression.
What’s puzzling me is the nature of the sponsors — prominent republicans. Of course they know their party, being financed almost completely by big business, is totally opposed to this idea. These are the same interests who arranged it’s repeal under the Clinton administration.
One can be cynical and speculate that McCain and Cantwell are pushing the bill with the expectation that it will be voted down, leaving them looking like good guys. Do senators ever do stuff like this? Is there such a thing as a clean and/or honest Washington politician?
President Obama today accepted the Nobel Peace prize, a mere nine days after ordering 30,000 more U.S. troops into battle in Afghanistan.
What the heck are the Nobel committee members thinking?
In recognition of this contradiction, Obama delivered an impassioned defense of war in his acceptance speech, tempered with the need to fight war according to “rules of conduct” that reject torture.
Certainly he must be aware of the torture performed by his own administration at formerly secret locations in Poland, Romania and Lithuania. If Obama is so opposed to torture, why did he personally sign a directive to stop public disclosure of photographs of brave Americans torturing prisoners in those spots just a few weeks ago?
This recalls the day when the Nobel Peace prize was awarded to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. How many Cambodians and Vietnamese died for Kissinger’s vision of “peace”?
And how many more Americans will die pursuing Obama’s vision of Afghanistan and who knows where else?
> > —– Original Message —–
> > From: capt.charlesdjacoby@gmail.com
> > To: undisclosed-recipients
> > Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 1:40 AM
> >
> > Hello ,
> >
> > I am hoping as well that we can work together on a better and higher
> > platform. I am a war veteran with the United Nations troop in
> > Afghanistan, on war against terrorism.. I served in the 1st Armored
> > Division in Baghdad Iraq.
> >
> > Based on the United States legislative and executive decision for
> > military action in Iraq, I am among the soldiers that have
> > criticized the U.S. policy on Iraq. Based on this, I have been court
> > martial and found innocent as I have a strong opinion towards peace
> > in Iraq. I will need this car for my purposes as I will be
> > relocating to Europe because of some security reasons and this is
> > why I contacted you so that we can put head together towards my
> > plan to invest in Europe. As a result of this,it will be important
> > for me to reveal to you that I have in my possession the sum of
> > $26.2 million USD. which I got from crude oil deal in Iraq. I have
> > been deployed to Afghanistan but I have this box in Iraq and as soon
> > as I hear from you of your reassurance to assist me then I will
> > communicate for the delivery with the help of a red cross cargo jet.
> >
> > I have this money stored somewhere very safe in our camp in Fallujah
> > Iraq waiting for a moment like this to put the money in good use and
> > now that I have been moved to Afghanistan I want the box moved
> > without delay.. I have a very profitable investment plans on hand.
> > Instead of allowing this terrorists to get the money and spend it on
> > purchasing arms from Russia, it is better channeled to saving the
> > world. I cannot move this money to the United states because I will
> > be in Europe for about 3years, so I need someone I could trust. If
> > you accept, I will transfer the money to Europe where you will be
> > the beneficiary because I am a currently settling some scores with
> > the pentagon so I cannot be parading such an amount so I need to
> > present someone as the beneficiary.. I am an American and an
> > intelligence officer for that so I have a 100% authentic means of
> > transferring the money through diplomatic courier service. I just
> > need your acceptance and all is done.
> >
> > Please if you are interested in this transaction I will give to you
> > the complete details you need for us to carry out this transaction
> > successfully. I decided to find someone that is real and not
> > imaginary and that is why I went to a secured site where I can be
> > sure that the person is real. I believe I can trust you. Right now i
> > am very careful with the way i communicate so as to reduce any kind
> > of risk until this money is finally in your custody. i shall be
> > communicating to you through email and would also give you a call
> > when it is necessary so as to inform you on any important
> > information. I want you to be brave as i have everything under
> > control. I have every proof of this fund in my possession to show
> > you that everything is authentic.
> >
> > I can brief you on further inquiry when I am in a secured place . I
> > am writing from a fresh email account so if you are not interested
> > do not reply to this email and please delete this message, if no
> > response after 3days I will then search for someone else. I am doing
> > this on trust,so i would want you to put aside any act of greed or
> > the thought of cheating as we have a lot to gain in this business
> > relationship. 26.2 million USD is a lot of money which is the dream
> > of anyone. I am in Afghanistan right now and need to secure this
> > money and send it to you if we reach a proper agreement.
> >
> > I wait for your contact details so we can go on. In less than 5 days
> > the fund should have been delivered to you and I will come over for
> > my money. I will give to you 30% of the sum and 70% is for me. I
> > hope I am been fair on this deal.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Capt. Charles David Jacoby
Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest…
How many turkeys died over the past week in order for north americans to enjoy their little feast? Could it be… millions?
Monsanto guilty of lying — Read all ’bout it!
Today is Sunday November 15. This morning’s New York Times front page has the following “above-the-fold” articles: one about Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan (the alleged “Fort Hood killer”); one about “more than a dozen” members of the House of Representatives using the same words about health care (courtesy of lobbyist Genentech); one about President Obama visiting China; and one titled High Costs Weigh on Troop Debate for Afghan War.
The Maj. Hasan story speculates about his motives. Since he’s currently alive in the hospital, hopefully his lawyers will give him an opportunity to speak for himself eventually. However, that hasn’t stopped people from coming up with their own theories. One intriguing theory is articulated by the following quote:
“Some experts on terrorism say Major Hasan may be the latest example of an increasingly common type of terrorist, one who has been self-radicalized with the help of the Internet and who wreaks havoc without support from overseas networks and without having to cross a border to reach his target.”
In other words…his actions were a result of his own thinking. He was not following anybody’s orders but his own. Scary.
The ‘House Record … Lobbyists’ story talks about how corporate lobbyists spoon-feed sound bytes to Washington lawmakers. Shocking. By all means, let’s do something about it…oh wait…bribing lawmakers is constitutionally-protected free speech. And writing your own speeches is so last century.
The ‘Obama Visits China’ story talks about how the U.S. President is being oh-so-careful to not do or say anything that might make our Asian Overlords angry. ‘Nuf said.
The ‘Troop Debate’ story contains a very interesting estimate — “… the rough formula used by the White House…about $1 million per soldier a year…”. So it becomes trivial to calculate rough estimates of how much money our government is spending on the war in Afghanistan. I suspect our soldiers might find it interesting too, when comparing it to their salaries.
There are currently roughly 62,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan (according to the National Priorities Project). The current U.S. population is 307 million. Unemployment just topped 10 percent, which comes to 30 million people without jobs. So just by cutting our current troop level in half — not eliminating it, mind you, just cutting it in half — and giving the money saved to all of the unemployed citizens in America — we would instantly turn all 30 million unemployed into millionaires. Some of them might consider starting small businesses, which would hire other people — driving up wages since there would no longer be unemployment. I personally would consider this a good thing for the economy — maybe way better than giving TWO HUNDED TIMES this much money to bail out Wall Street. But I don’t have a degree in economics, and I consider helping out ORDINARY CITIZENS down on their luck at least as important as helping out the millionaires and billionaires who run Wall Street. So clearly I’m out of touch with federal priorities.
Which brings me to a tiny, six-sentence story on page 22 titled Gates Blocks Photographs of Prisoners. This article notes that Secretary of Defense Gates has invoked new powers, granted by Congress and signed by President Obama last month, to block the release of photographs of foreign detainees abused by American captors. This was a result of the ACLU’s having sued for release of the photographs of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq being abused by Americans, and federal courts having ruled in favor of the ACLU.
Well it’s just another example of America’s proud tradition of censorship and hiding the truth from that most dangerous faction, the public! We certainly don’t want to give our citizens THE TRUTH, especially the UGLY TRUTH! They might start thinking for themselves!
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