giza | PowerBooks and Fahrenheit 9/11

I've decided that I'm going to get a PowerBook as my next machine. Between seeing justincheetah's and reading more about the PowerBook tech specs, and I'm getting more and more impressed with the thought that Apple has put into their products.

At this point, I've pretty much narrowed it down to a 15" 1.5 Ghz G4 PowerBook with SuperDrive, getting a 512 MB stick of RAM in it, buying an additional 512 MB stick from someplace else, buying AppleCare, and possibly buying the JBL "Creature" speakers that I saw at the Apple Store tonight. Probably a printer, too. That should keep me in the technology game for the next few years, and hopefully make the new machine be an investment in my career.
Earlier this week, I bought a network card for my current machine (P3-450) and got that working. I was surprised that 10/100 cards go for $10 or so these days. And Linux had no problems seeing the card, either. :-)
Earlier today, I also picked up a WRT54G router from Linksys. This router can do a number of things for me which include: 1) Playing the part of a 100 BaseT switch, 2) doing DHCP and NAT for a Broadband connection, and 3) Acting as a wireless access point. #1 was easy enough to make work, and #3 is working (and locked down) thanks to jouva's help. #2 will be working fully as soon as my DSL circuit is installed. I ordered DSL last week and have to wait 10 business days for ~~the shit eaters formerly known as Verizon~~ Verizon to flip a switch in their CO.
Finally, I got the chance to see Fahrenheit 9/11 over this weekend. It wasn't as graphic as I thought it would be, and I found it to be quite educational. It pointed out the sort of things that the American media didn't cover. Like... how the Bush Family has financial ties with the Bin Ladens and that Osama isn't quite that estranged from them after all. It also covered some nasty things such as the civil liberty-sucking PATRIOT act, and that very few members of Congress actually read this horrible thing that was signed into law.

So yeah, I think Fahrenheit 9/11 is definitely worth seeing. You might not agree with all it, but you might find some parts educational, or at least humorous.

The oil revenues out of Iraq, even if we got every penny of it, havn't covered our expenditures. Largely because of that I'm loathe to attach any value to that particular conspiracy theory.

Haliburton was likely to be involved in the region regardless of whether or not their former CEO was the VP. They're one of the largest petroleum and gas infrastructure companies in the world, by that reason along it's not surprising to see them getting work rebuilding the Iraqi oilfields. Again, in a void of hard evidence to the contrary, I'm loathe to give conspiracy theories the time of day. They fall right into the same people claiming that UFOs from Zeta Reticula are in the Nevada Desert or that the CIA/Israel blew up the WTC.

>The oil revenues out of Iraq, even if we got every penny of it, havn't covered
>our expenditures.

Either I'm on crack, or I cannot properly parse that sentence. My understanding of the process is that us taxpayers are footing the bill for the both the war and the cleanup afterward. The companies that are awarded the contracts for this are the ones getting the money. The taxpayers aren't going to see any money coming in.

Regarding Haliburton, I'll assume that everything you said was true. The problem is is that it still creates the *appearance* of impropriety, and that is bad, as I'm sure you're aware. I'm sure there are other companies that can do what Haliburton does. This 60 Minutes piece (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/25/60minutes/main551091.shtml) goes into it in detail, and there are a lot of interesting questions raised, like why wasn't there competitive bidding, and the cost of the services that were charged. Those are things I'd like to know.

PowerBooks and Fahrenheit 9/11

Re: The Questing Cat

Re: The Questing Cat