I use "someone"'s Firefox extension TribExt, that does Scoop-friendly html and allows you to use Google Translate.

I find you must do some work on the translation or it's gobbledegook. How much work depends. I probably edited 20-30% of this one, a bit less on the Facebook article below (but that was written in English first, I think, and translated into French). Yesterday I had to rewrite most of a piece for the Salon.

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

Here's what Babelfish just gave me for the first paragraph:

Named in July 2007 representative of Four-bit byte (the United States, European Union, Russia and UNO), Tony Blair took her functions in September. Its mission had been defined in a letter of the ten Foreign Ministers of the States of the south of l' Europe members of l' EU.

Four-bit byte indeed.

When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind

Surprised the BBC allowed the ambush really.

Interviewer: What do you believe is behind this recent increase in terrorist bombings? Helpmann: Bad sportsmanship

I'm afraid there are too many votes in the Daily Mail reading constituency. so even though the government commission says that the rules should stay in their "Liberalised" state, the government has decided that the best thing to do electorally is to pander to the authoritarians of the right.

Interviewer: What do you believe is behind this recent increase in terrorist bombings? Helpmann: Bad sportsmanship

any light other than racism for me?

Have you looked at No Quarter lately? See this for example from a few days ago which made me think she'd completely lost it.

Some of it is sour grapes gone way too far.  Some of it, sadly, seems to be pretty obvious racism.  When they call Obama a "thug" and things of that nature, it's obvious what they're getting at.

No Quarter is, as I told Mig, kind of a Hillaryis44.org for the slightly less insane and paranoid, but slightly more hateful.

Many of these people are former Republicans who signed up for the Clinton/DLC brand of moderate Republicanism, and it's only been with Obama's rise that their true colors have shown.

I guess you could square the dump-Obama-for-McCain thing if you truly believed some of the shit they believe (the Rezko fairy tale, the gay-sex-and-cocaine fairy tale, etc).  But it's a whole different level of partisanship and insanity.

Fortunately, I reckon we don't need them at all, doing the math.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

for those that dont know the blazing saddles

Interviewer: What do you believe is behind this recent increase in terrorist bombings? Helpmann: Bad sportsmanship

I understand the whole tribal-identification-with-your-candidate thing, but the likes of SusanHu are meant to be a little more rational than punishing defectors by voting for McCain. I can't see how Obama could be worse than McCain if he tried.

And that's what I just don't get. My WTF? is not a rhetorical question.

OK, you supported Clinton over Obama  - I came close to doing so as well. For those who don't remember the early stages of the campaign, Clinton tacked sharply left on domestic policy, Obama went right. I also have some sympathy for the idea that you want a tough partisan SOB rather than a 'beyond partisanship' let's all get along type. And finally, there was clearly far more sexism in the media directed against Clinton than racism against Obama. Plus, like I've said many times, I have no problem with women wanting to finally have a female president. But how you go from that sort of appeal and critique to ranting on about the scary black terrorist muslim  left wing radical commie who's no good for good patriotic White Christian Americans so let's vote for McCain cause at least he's a real American who loves his country - I just don't get it. Her initial reasons for supporting Clinton and opposing Obama were the kind you'd expect from a partisan liberal democrat, now they're the crap from the cesspool of the American right.

Well, to me it is pretty clear that Obama has much better foreign policy instincts than Clinton. Just like there's a difference between the right wing of the Dem foreign policy establishment and the batshit insane folks that pass for foreign policy experts on the Republican side, there's also a gap between them and the left wing of the Dem establishment. Do you want a who's who of democrats who supported the Iraq war, have few if any regrets, and threatened others with professional death if they opposed it, or those who actually were willing to go against the Washington consensus; the folks who complain about Obama's willingness to talk to oppponents or those who constantly are saying that it makes no sense not to negotiate.

That said, you're right. A sane, competent centrist foreign policy beats the right hands down. Once upon a time sanity and competence existed on the Republican side, not anymore (Bush I may have been an amoral bastard, but his foreign policy made perfect sense in traditional realist terms - one reason he was very popular among European foreign policy circles). Plus as an American domestic policy is pretty important to me as well, and no I don't want more Scalias, more tax cuts for the rich, destroying what pathetic semblance of a health care system we have, and all the other Republican crap. So if Clinton steals this nomination I'll be extremely pissed, but that will not only not prevent me from voting for her, but I'll also be out there knocking doors, making calls and explaining to everyone how she's the best thing since sliced bread.

Maybe there will be a lot of money for whomever designs a programme to automatically port your profile from one networking site from another. Like you could update you base profile to say you liked ice cream, and voila! MySpace, FaceBook, FaceSpace, MyBook, and your dog's auntie automatically know about it.

Member of the Anti-Fabulousness League since 1987.

God's dirty laundry.

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In a fit of geekdom - but mainly because I've been avoiding finishing some work - I listened to some of the press conference.

It was a relatively recent supernova remnant - in the Milky Way, but a long way from here.

Yup, but for me it was a total let down.

From Wired: NASA Announcement of "Success of Long Galactic Hunt".

Scientists using a combination of radio and x-rays have found the most recent supernova remnant observed in our galaxy, located about 26,000 light years from here. It's the youngest, most energetic supernova we know and could shed light on just exactly how the stardust we're made of -- heavier elements and all-- gets created. The finding also lends some support to astronomers calculations that there should be about three supernovae in our galaxy per century, although they still need to find dozens more similar supernova remnants to confirm their suspicions.

Talk about not living up to the hype...

At least he's supporting the troops.

Bush has given up golf for troops
Jonathan Martin, Politico

For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families: He has given up golf.

"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."

He said he doesn't want military families to see the Commander in Chief playing golf.

What a stuck-up idiot he is, letting his Commander-in-chiefdom get to his head like that.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes

Bah!

Have you heard of the 'Golden Section' as a way of composing shots?

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