Chris Ullrich @ micro dot blog

ok, this could, of course, be a fake. as many like it have been in the past. however, this looks more real than anything i have seen so far on the web so . . . you never know. could be real.

in other things around the web:

here’s a list of the 50 worst video games ever. at least according to the folks at game revolution.com

in 1939, Disney openly discriminated against women becoming animators in a circulated memo. having worked at Disney with the animation department i can tell you i don’t remember meeting very many women animators at all. and that was pretty recently.

our planet is the hottest it’s been in 2000 years. i wonder if there’s something to that global warming stuff? of course, the brain-trust that is the bush administration maintains that global warming is just a theory and isn’t a real threat. hmmm.

and, the FBI arrested 7 people who may be involved in a plot to blow up, among other things, the sears tower.

last but not least, they are watching you so don’t do anything weird. your tax dollars at work.

look at the picture and then check out the story here. isn’t it hard to sell something when nobody is buying? you bet your ass it is.

you think you do and say dumb things sometimes? well, wired has compiled a list of the biggest technology-related blunders spoken by people in power who are supposed to know better. they also have lots of people around them who are supposed to stop them from saying stupid stuff.

fortunately, these “handlers” were out to lunch several times so we get to laugh at the silly things grown-ups say. if you are not interested in clicking on the wired link, some of the more choice quotes are below (aka my favorites) but at wired, they do provide “context” and some explanation so it might be a good idea to go there anyway. whatever. enjoy!

“Screw the nano.”

– Motorola CEO Ed Zander

“I’m going to fing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I’m going to fing kill Google.”

– Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, in statements attributed to him in court documents by former Microsoft engineer and recent Google hire Mark Lucovsky

“Most people don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?”

– Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG’s global digital business division

“All research up until now has been conducted in strict observance of the government-set guidelines.”

– Korean stem-cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk

“I know what I don’t know, and to this day I don’t know technology and I don’t know accounting and finance.”

– Bernie Ebbers, ex-CEO of WorldCom

“Lightweight, and crank it on, and you shuffle the shuffle.”

– President George Bush

To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:

On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I’m just curious, how does it feel?

How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?

That’s right. Horse shows.

I really want to know – and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect – how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C’mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don’t start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.

I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.

Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?

When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?

When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?

Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?

Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?

With the nation’s debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?

Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn’t he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.

That’s not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.

It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the widow at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read “My Pet Goat” to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying “Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you’re doing a heck of a job!”

My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?

And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?

Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can’t string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can’t pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.

Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you’ve sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?

I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn’t up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren’t up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?

I have an idea, and it isn’t a horse show.

Yours, Michael Moore

I could not have said it better myself. I may not always agree with Mr. Moore but sometimes, he gets it right on the money.

Take care all.

if this is how the most powerful country in the world treats its citizens, we are in deep trouble. there are many people out in the world who are criticizing the government, FEMA, George Bush and anyone associated with the aftermath of Katrina. they will probably express my anger and amazement far better than i can. an article like this does a pretty good job to start.

let me just say this. a government owes its citizens a few basic things. we elect people who are supposed to run our government and provide for those basic things. i firmly believe that one of those basic things is to protect its citizens. when a hurricane destroys a city and the people of that city have to wait days for even the most basic needs of food and water and some who can’t wait end up dying from dehydration or starvation, the government has failed on a massive level.

the people who were elected to run our country have proven once again they do not have an effective plan to manage a crisis. if they can’t handle something as basic as giving water and food to people who need it in an emergency, how can we expect them to be able to manage a war or a “war on terror”. simply put, they can’t.

i am not going to put the blame completely at the doorstep of the white house and the President but surely, some of it should go there. if you cut millions from the army corps of engineers so that the corps cannot complete the levy system, you have a problem. and as we know, the levy system failed in a big way. even if,as some are saying, the funding cuts were not directly responsible, because you can’t now for sure what would have happened, only what did happen, it still looks bad and someone should be accountable for it.

although, the depth and breadth of the incompetence and blame can be spread around to many other people including the director or FEMA, who has actually never had a job even remotely close to the one he has now and was, in fact, asked to resign his last job for incompetence. i also fault the state and local governments of Louisiana for not doing enough. if you tell people to evacuate to a certain location, try having some food and water there for them. make a plan and work the plan. its not really that hard to figure out.

if you live in New Orleans and surrounding areas, you know where you live. you also know that something like this could happen. so, if you know these facts and make a disaster plan which involves directing people to evacuate to a place such as the Superdome, try having some provisions and facilities for people when they get there. you had a day in advance to at least have some sort of provisions for these people and what happened? nothing. only further suffering that could have been mitigated if someone in charge would have had a plan or a clue.

i really didn’t want this to be a rant against the government or against anyone, really. i just expect a few things as a citizen of this great country. i did not vote for George Bush but it doesn’t make me feel any better. the people in New Orleans needed the help and leadership of the people that they trusted to be in charge. the people they trusted let them down. i really hope we learn something from all of this so that the people who died while waiting for food and water didn’t die for nothing.

sadly, it seems our government will not learn anything and they keep having a problem accepting blame for anything or even admitting that something actually is wrong at all. blaming the locals or saying that no one could have predicted a disaster like this is complete bull. man, the balls on these people. i’m sure the President will keep telling everyone that they are doing a great job and defend the director of FEMA forever. in fact, i wonder how long it will be until the President gives William Brown a Medal of Freedom?

Now that its over, here’s my thoughts:

KERRY 3

BUSH 0

ABC News Insta Poll has Kerry at 42% and Bush at 41% with the rest thinking it was a tie . Also, and perhaps more telling, is that participants in the poll were 38% Republican, 31% Democrat and 14% Independent. So, does that mean that some Republicans actually thought Kerry did a better job in the debate? Perhaps. Could these be the elusive and much talked about “swing” voters? I would like to think so. Although I still have no idea how someone could be undecided at this point.

This was the first time that I really thought it was close even though, in the end, I feel Kerry won. Bush managed to come across as more likable towards the end of the debate and Kerry inched a little closer to being animated. Sadly, he still comes across as a bit of a stiff but gets much higher marks for his intelligence and ability to answer complex questions in a thoughtful and decisive manner. Bush did little, if anything, to change the impression that he lacks competence and a clear vision for the future.

What this will do for the respective campaigns is difficult to tell. Both candidates definitely appealed to their base supporters but I think didn’t do that much to appeal to other voters. Kerry actually seemed more conservative on questions of gun control and immigration and definitely gave Bush a stunning blow with his “Tony Soprano” line.

One of Bush’s worst moment came when responding to question about the shortage of flu vaccine. It’s obvious that his administration dropped the ball but he didn’t take responsibility for it which is a common problem for him. His lack of accountability will hurt him when people go to the polls.

When asked who was responsible for higher healthcare costs, he joked, “Well I hope it’s not my administration’s.” It is his administration that’s responsible but he just doesn’t see it that way. He just doesn’t see that he has to be accountable because he is.

Also, I really think that Bush needs to stop saying that Kerry will hand over veto power to other countries when it comes to the defense of this country. Just saying something over and over that isn’t true and contrary to the recorded facts doesn’t make it true. In fact, I think it makes you look petty and a little desperate.

I think it comes down to this: If you feel that healthcare, jobs, the economy and things of that nature are important, you will go for Kerry. If 9/11 changed the face of elections so that homeland security and defense against terrorism are your most important concerns, than I think you would probably vote for Bush.

The Bush campaign has definitely done a good job of driving home the message that a vote for Kerry means that we won’t be as safe and will probably be subject to another attack. They will increase those efforts over the next 20 days. The Kerry campaign will continue to attack Bush on Iraq and the negative direction of the economy.

Both campaign have their work cut out for them and will be hitting the “swing” states hard. If you live someplace like Nevada or Ohio, be prepared for a campaign onslaught. I hope you like politics because for the next 20 days, you will be getting tons of it.

This is a great country we live in despite its flaws and problems. Over the last few weeks it is gratifying to see that so many people are interested in the electoral process and are watching the debates. We are very lucky that we live in a free society and have the right to vote for out leaders. There is no excuse not to vote.

Although, if you plan on voting for Bush, feel free to stay home on election day as your vote won’t count anyway. Kerry is going to win.

Later.

KERRY 2

BUSH 0

ABC NEWS Poll: Kerry 44; Bush 41; Draw 13. I think that gets it about right. Bush was better this time but still, Kerry was the man. He showed that last time was no fluke. He seemed every bit the President. More that the President did.

During the debate, Kerry was strongest when citing Republicans to criticize the president’s war management, giving far more concrete proposals on healthcare than the president and showcasing his fiscal conservatism. I guess Bush, an actual conservative, doesn’t really know what the word means when it comes to spending money. (I’m not convinced he knows very many words at all).

Stylistically, Kerry seemed much calmer than Bush. When the camera cut to him during Bush’s walkarounds, he was generally serene and respectful. His counters were cleaner than Bush’s too. Kerry’s mind seemed more complicated, in a good way, and he comes across as more intelligent and educated.

The contrast between a man who can make an argument (Kerry) and one who can simply assert what he believes to be true (Bush) was blatant. But conviction and belief in what you think is the “truth” isn’t enough anymore. At least not after the events of the last three years. Skepticism, openness to other arguments, thinking outside the box, whatever you want to call it. These are useful qualities in a leader and Bush has none of them.

In some ways, Kerry seemed more experienced than Bush too. Actually, he is. I am really enjoying the debates and learning a lot too. I really think that this is a turning point for America and it is good to see so many people interested in the election process. I know that this is the most I have been interested in some time. And I like politics too. It’s just that important right now.

The truth is, this election won’t be a close one like Bush and Gore. Kerry will win by a large margin. It is rare for an election like this to be close. When a President is running for re-election they usually get re-elected by a large margin or they lose big. People decide to give the guy a second term or they don’t. I’m thinking don’t.

I think that most people don’t want to give Bush a second term but some are just unsure about Kerry. Hence, all of the so-called “undecided” voters. These debates are going a long way to convince those people that Kerry is the right choice. They just need a little more hand holding and they will be ours.

Plus, I still think that they just like the attention. In 30 days they will have voted for Kerry and they can go back to their normal, borning, lives. Sadly, Bush’s only chance now is to go even more negative (if that’s possible) and attack Kerry and try to tear him down. It’s going to get pretty ugly. Fortunately, it can’t last very long and for Bush, its probably too late anyway as his house of Iraqi death cards falls apart.

Oh, the other thing that I wanted to mention was the bombshell revelation by none-other than the guy who was in charge of the Iraq provisional government, Paul Bremmer, that even he felt that we didn’t have enough troops to win the war and that it was planned badly from the beginning. More on that here.

Boy, when your own guys start telling everyone that you don’t know what you’re doing, that’s gotta hurt. Well, too bad. I hope you enjoyed your time in the White House Mr. Bush, because in a few weeks it will all be over. So long. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Later.

Couple things. First, the wife got a new job (hold for applause). It turns out that it isn’t in show business. In fact, she is pretty tired of all that bull and will probably never return to it. I can’t blame her really as she worked really, really, really, really (that’s a lot of really’s) hard and ended up not liking it so much. It wasn’t the people it was just the long hours and grueling nature of it. Nobody needs to work 60 or 70 hours a week to churn out network television. It just doesn’t seem worth it to give up your life for TV.

Anyway, she seems to have found something that she can really get into. She now works for Susan Feneger and Mary Sue Milliken a.k.a. “The Two Hot Tamales”. In case you don’t know, these two women have a few restaurants, cookbooks, a radio show and a whole bunch of other stuff. You can check them out here.

So far, so good and its already week 2. She seems much happier to go to work now so that’s good. Also, Border Grill (their restaurant here in LA) is a very good place to eat. If you are in Santa Monica, be sure to check it out. Tell them I sent you. (They don’t know me but I always wanted to say that).

I think the wife might have found her place finally. The job combines food and organization. Two things she know more about than most people alive. I expect good things will come from this.

Second, a few final notes on the Democratic Convention now that it’s over. At first, I had difficulty with the four days concept as in it just seemed way to long. Now that I have actually watched all four days I find that it was pretty interesting after all. I did record it with TiVo and I admit to fast-forwarding through some of the low-points but all-in-all it was a pretty good show.

Of course, my favorite part was at the very end. Yes, I’m talking about what I like to call the “Balloon Incident”. Thank you CNN for deciding to keep the mic open as the director was cuing the big balloon finale. Priceless. You don’t hear language like that on prime-time cable very often. I usually have to switch over to HBO or something.

Let’s just say that their was a “balloon malfunction” and the director got a little miffed that the balloons were not falling as intended. I also enjoyed Wolf Blitzer trying to cover afterward. He can vamp with the best of them. Good work Wolf (nice name too. If I have a son I might name him Wolf too. Wolf Ullrich, mmmm that sounds pretty cool.)

I liked John Kerry’s speech too. Although, he might be pushing the “I went to war” bit a little too much. I’m more interested in how he really plans to cut the deficit and also cut taxes on the middle class while adding troops to the military and increasing spending on high-tech defense tools. This should be interesting. I hope he gets the chance to show us. I think he will.

Finally, I was working with a new client for the last couple of days and it was a very pleasant experience. I think if I were a woman I would want to be a Lesbian. I say this because I have been working with several Lesbians for the last couple of days and they have been, by far, some of the nicest people I have ever met. They all seemed really happy too. Something to think about.

Later.