girlfriend!

Is there any rhyme or reason to the phenomenon whereby heterosexual women sometimes refer to their same-sex friends as "girlfriends" instead of simply "friends"?

Also, is my question mark at the end of the last sentence supposed to be inside or outside of the quote? [update: outside was right!]

Steal from Work Day!

Is today!

new computer for me

After almost 8 years of faithful service, my Dell desktop is being put out of its misery retired. I finally caved and bought a new computer. Big change for me - I bought a Macbook. So far I like it. If the goal of marketing is to create a blind loyalty to a corporate brand, the Apple people have succeeded. Asking people for advice on whether to get a Mac or a PC is like asking "Jesus or Allah?" But I tried to filter out the religious gunk and get to the substance, so hopefully I made the right choice. If I can make this machine last half as long as the last, I'll be fairly happy.

"Innocent until proven guilty" is meaningless: Captain Hope-n-Change Orders the Murder of an American

So, The Obama has decreed that an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, must be "killed or captured."

An "American Official" who wouldn't give his name says: "The United States works, exactly as the American people expect, to overcome threats to their security, and this individual - through his own actions - has become one. Awlaki knows what he's done, and he knows he won't be met with handshakes and flowers. None of this should surprise anyone."

I think that the American people expect that accusations by cowardly government officials who won't even give their own names as they talk tough about handshakes and flowers aren't the same as a conviction in a fair trial. But he's right that none of this should surprise.

Let's be very clear about this: Obama can simply say that someone is a "security threat" and then order them to be killed. A political leader who issues unilateral death sentences is a despot, not a fucking servant of democracy. I'd say "fuck you, Obama" but that might make me a security threat, so instead I'll just give a big fat YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY AMERICA!!!!!