Dubya

Even funnier in this sequence shot:

Quote:

"The two-wheeled (Segway) HT uses a number of gyroscopes and computers to mimic the human body's sense of balance, making it impossible for the device to fall over when being ridden, according to company representatives."

Our prezdint...achieving the impossible.

He was just searching for WoMD

No brain damage since he appears not to have landed on his rear end.

My latest favorite blogger has a hilarious take. Here:

Chimp vs. Robot: Which is Smarter?

George W. Bush's pinwheeling, headlong fall off the Segway Human Transporter got me to thinking: which is smarter, the chimp or the robot?

It's a field of reseach that many of my colleagues won't address; they keep insisting that it's like comparing apples to oranges.

Which is fine by me; I like oranges a lot because of their sweet citrus flavor, and juicy blast of orangey goodness, and I'm only lukewarm to apples--crisp, and mildly sweet. Besides they turn brown in like 1.6 seconds, so you have to eat them rather quickly. A juicy plate of orange slices, on the other hand, you can leave out for some time, and nosh on them at your heart's content, perhaps while watching your experiments.

But I've wandered off track. Today's subject is Chimp vs. Robot, and I should stay focused on it. For example, a chimp can fashion very crude weapons out of sticks to poke bananas. I read that somewhere once. However, according to cartoons, robots can employ all sorts of fantastic weaponry. I once saw this cartoon called "Tranzor-Z" about a giant robot that lives in a swimming pool and fights for justice or something, and the companion lady robot in that show could fire missiles out of her tits. Later, they would have giant robot sex, crushing hundreds of innocent humans in their frenzied robotic lust. Advantage: Robot.

Now, when it comes to chess, a computer called Big Deep Blue or something once whipped a Russian dude at chess. I saw it on the news. That Russian dude was supposed to be really good at chess, too. They kept calling him a Grandmaster, which to me sounds like an old guy who works the leather scene at the S&M club. But I digress. This guy was young and Russian, so it's probably true that he was so drunk on vodka all the time that he only thought about sex in an abstract, nostalgic way back when his dick worked. Anyway, a chimpanzee can't play chess, but he can manipulate the pieces and throw them, which Big Deep Blue couldn't do--he had a human assistant move for him. So I'm calling this one a draw.

Speaking of flinging things, a robot, having no known solid waste products can't fling feces when threatened. A chimp can. Advantage: Chimp.

Perhaps my colleagues in the scientific community are right; we will never be able to adequately determine if a chimp is smarter than a robot. But I say that we will. Right now, I have an Aibo and a baby chimp locked in a cage, and I won't open the cage until one of them is the winner. I'm just gonna sit here with my orange slices and watch the proceedings and record the events in my notebook......wow, these oranges are delicious. Someone should really compare why oranges are superior fruit. Maybe compare them to apples or pears or something.

Tipping Point
Why President Bush fell off a Segway in Kennebunkport
Eli Kintisch
Yesterday in Kennebunkport, Maine, President Bush managed to tip over a Segway while attempting to ride it -- despite the fact that the recently invented motorized scooters are equipped with tilt sensors and five high-tech gyroscopes, which are supposed to prevent them from tipping over. So how did Bush manage to nearly fall flat on his face? After seeing photos of the gaffe today, I tried to find out by speaking to a number of Segway enthusiasts.
The possibilities were numerous: The ground could have been slippery. Maybe Bush impatiently got on the machine before waiting the few seconds needed for the Segway to warm up. Could the battery have run out? A spirited discussion raged on the chatboards of SegwayChat.com. One Washington resident and Segway enthusiast -- who compared the Segway's effect on his life to "having kids" -- told me he would "put money" on the theory that Bush had thought the machine was in "Power Assist Mode," not the "Balance Mode" that is required to ride it.
The true explanation, it turned out, was far simpler.
"You have to turn it on," explained Segway spokeswoman Stacy Ferguson, whose office had spoken to White House officials after the incident. In all likelihood, she said, Bush "didn't see the display." (That display is green, with a smiley face, if the unit is ready to go. Maybe the president didn't see the blank screen.) The president was holding a tennis racket when he got on, so perhaps he was distracted. "We have been saying that the Segway is great on the sidewalk, but it's not meant for the tennis court," ventured Ferguson -- though the president was on a driveway.
The White House did not return a call for comment.
The "I series" Segway that the president was using was a gift from the Bush daughters to their father, Ferguson said. Earlier yesterday morning, Segway inventor Dean Kamen had delivered two Segways to Bush Senior and Barbara Bush at the compound. Luckily Kamen, among the world's most accomplished inventors, left before having to witness the most powerful man in the world fall off an idiot-proof invention.
In any event, it's now clear that Middle Eastern policy isn't the only area in which Bush can be unbalanced from time to time.

http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2003/06/kintisch-e-06-13.html

All this talk about Dubya being a so-called president starts to get on my nerves. We shouldn't have this discussion. In reality, it's his father doing his third term. Herbert Walker is the real president. No doubt.

This whole thread just gets a big ol' eye roll.

Yeah, saving the world is hard goddamn work, ain't it?

You said it.

It has now become clear that President Bush lied to the American people in order to promote a war.

That war continues and has already led to the death of thousands of Iraqi civilians, hundreds of U.S. soldiers and countless Iraqi soldiers. In truth, Bush's lies are more than just lies. They are high crimes and the President should now be subject to impeachment.

Does anyone remember 1998?

"There is a visibility factor in the president's public acts, and those which betray a trust or reveal contempt for the law are hard to sweep under the rug..."
-- Henry Hyde

"The truth is still the truth, and a lie is still a lie, and the rule of law should apply to everyone, no matter what excuses are made by the president's defenders…Allowing the president to stand above the law opens invitations for more serious and more criminal behavior."
-- James Sensenbrenner

"The president of the United States sets atop of (sic) the legal pyramid. If there's reasonable doubt about his ability to faithfully execute the laws of the land, our future would be better off if that individual is removed.
-- Lindsey Graham

When will House Republicans call for impeachment?

Just as soon proof that he lied shows up. You know, like a dress or something.

President George W. Bush, trying again to explain the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, said on Saturday that suspected arms sites had been looted in the waning days of Saddam Hussein's rule. "For more than a decade, Saddam Hussein went to great lengths to hide his weapons from the world. And in the regime's final days, documents and suspected weapons sites were looted and burned," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

It is believed to be the first time Bush has cited looting to explain the inability of U.S. forces to uncover chemical or biological weapons in Iraq, a U.S. official said.

Bush had previously said weapons may have been destroyed before the war. The U.S. military has been criticized for failing to prevent looting at an Iraqi nuclear facility.

Bush has been widely criticized for misleading the public by asserting that Saddam had stockpiles of unconventional weapons that menaced the world. The allegations were Bush's main justification for bypassing the United Nations and ordering the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Reuters

Actually, it was the tooth fairy.

I hope someone (Leno?) is keeping track of Bush's daily reports: "No, wait a minute, it was..." "Oops, no, it must have been..."

(As I've posted many times previously, I'm not convinced. I think most Americans are -- relatively speaking -- educated, affluent morons.)



Hullaballoo

PDiddie - I heard yesterday about a recent study at Cornell of a) voters attitudes towards civil liberties and b) the (bad) effect of the media in America on ideology. Precisely how the images are skewed, subliminal tactics used. Which is what I've been preaching about... Have found the guy, and will try and get copies of the papers.

I've found some great cartoons so I'm sharing...

Every time you put one of these pics I email them to people I know. Thanks.

OUCH!

Okay, here are some gleanings -- I've emailed the main man for a copy of his paper on ideology and the media, etc. Gloomy stuff...


Survey: Americans say some new federal powers infringe on civil liberties
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/03/1.16.03/civil_liberties.html


About 54 percent of all Americans questioned agreed with the idea that the government sometimes has to lie to the press about military operations. More than 70 percent, however, felt that the media should not be prevented from covering anti-war protests or the comments of individuals critical of the government. "It seems that Americans understand the military's interest in keeping certain information to itself and not make it publicly available. That does not mean, however, that people support censorship, self-imposed by the media or enforced by the government," says Scheufele. People who define themselves as either Democrats or as Republicans differ dramatically in their assessment of measures taken by the Bush administration's war on terrorism, however. About 55 percent of Democrats said they were opposed to the idea that the government sometimes has to lie to the press about military actions, in contrast to about 64 percent of Republicans who supported that idea.

Nearly two-thirds (63.8 percent) of Democrats surveyed said the government should not have greater power in monitoring e-mail and other Internet activities, but 52 percent of Republicans felt that greater government power in those areas is a good idea. Almost 60 percent (59.9 percent) of Democrats also were opposed to outlawing "un-American" actions, even if constitutionally protected, whereas a slight majority of Republicans (52 percent) were willing to sacrifice constitutional protections for security.

[Table with questions and responses re civil liberties]:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/2003/1/CONSTRIG.CNS.html


Freedom losing its grip
CU survey looks into views on rights and terrorism

ITHACA -- More than 40 percent of Americans think it would be acceptable to outlaw constitutionally protected, but "un-American," activities in the name of national security, a Cornell University survey shows.
http://www.theithacajournal.com/news/stories/20030125/topstories/848181.html


FREQUENT TV VIEWERS MORE FEARFUL AND MORE LIKELY TO SUPPORT RESTRICTIONS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES SINCE SEPTEMBER 11, CORNELL POLL INDICATES
http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:tzZgeesmhfIJ:www.comm.cornell.edu/scheufele/911.pdf+Dietram+Scheufele&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


John Zogby's Creative Polls
And a closer look at his methods
http://www.prospect.org/print/V14/1/mooney-c.html