Friday, September 24, 2004
Bold emphasis is mine, see my confusion below.
MIAMI - Salsa queen Celia Cruz was removed from a U.S. list of suspected communists in 1965 after she performed and raised money for groups trying to overthrow Cuban President Fidel Castro, according to newly released immigration documents.
U.S. officials suspected in the 1950s that Cruz, who died last year of a brain tumor, supported Castro's communist government. She was refused a visa at least twice starting in 1952 because U.S. law at the time forbade entry to foreigners affiliated with communists.
Documents obtained by The Miami Herald for a story Thursday show she was finally granted permission to stay permanently in the United States in 1965.
"The record indicates that in July 1960 she fled as a defector from the Communist regime of Cuba," according to an Oct. 28, 1965, immigration service memorandum. "Since that time she has actively cooperated with anti-Communist, anti-Castro organizations through artistic performances and by campaigning for funds for those organizations."
The same memo said, "She has presented statements from a number of responsible persons attesting to her active opposition to Communism for at least the past five years."
Cruz kept her blacklisting a secret, and her husband, trumpeter Pedro Knight, has said she never mentioned it to him.
___
Information from: The Miami Herald,
http://www.herald.com
OK, I don't know who Celia Cruz is. She was probably before my time. I was simply clicking links, happened upon this story because I was wondering why, in this day of turning over airline data, the Patriot Act, blacklisting Cat Stevens and all that, they're announcing someone that's been cleared.
It just didn't seem normal, so I clicked the headline. Now I noticed the brief announcement that she was dead (emphasized above) and wondered what kind of headlines I'd missed a few years ago. The reason for this Delusional rant, however, is the ending statement (also emphasized above). Past tense, did you see that? We can gauge that they were not divorced, because he is not titled "ex-husband." Cruz is dead, "her husband...has said...never mentioned." This isn't to say that before Cruz died, her husband was on some television show saying "yah, she was blacklisted, but we've never discussed it." No, this seems to be referring to information a statement that occurred prior to this announcement, but after Cruz died.
My point being she's dead, he's her husband.
If it was an article about a dead man, the ending would have gone like this, "Cruz kept his blacklisting a secret, and his widow, X, has said he never mentioned it to her." Why doesn't the media ever refer to men as the famous person's widower? They use the term widow, why not widower? Widower isn't a common title. Why not? As in, "Cruz kept her blacklisting a secret, and her widower, trumpeter Pedro Knight, has said she never mentioned it to him."
MIAMI - Salsa queen Celia Cruz was removed from a U.S. list of suspected communists in 1965 after she performed and raised money for groups trying to overthrow Cuban President Fidel Castro, according to newly released immigration documents.
U.S. officials suspected in the 1950s that Cruz, who died last year of a brain tumor, supported Castro's communist government. She was refused a visa at least twice starting in 1952 because U.S. law at the time forbade entry to foreigners affiliated with communists.
Documents obtained by The Miami Herald for a story Thursday show she was finally granted permission to stay permanently in the United States in 1965.
"The record indicates that in July 1960 she fled as a defector from the Communist regime of Cuba," according to an Oct. 28, 1965, immigration service memorandum. "Since that time she has actively cooperated with anti-Communist, anti-Castro organizations through artistic performances and by campaigning for funds for those organizations."
The same memo said, "She has presented statements from a number of responsible persons attesting to her active opposition to Communism for at least the past five years."
Cruz kept her blacklisting a secret, and her husband, trumpeter Pedro Knight, has said she never mentioned it to him.
___
Information from: The Miami Herald,
http://www.herald.com
OK, I don't know who Celia Cruz is. She was probably before my time. I was simply clicking links, happened upon this story because I was wondering why, in this day of turning over airline data, the Patriot Act, blacklisting Cat Stevens and all that, they're announcing someone that's been cleared.
It just didn't seem normal, so I clicked the headline. Now I noticed the brief announcement that she was dead (emphasized above) and wondered what kind of headlines I'd missed a few years ago. The reason for this Delusional rant, however, is the ending statement (also emphasized above). Past tense, did you see that? We can gauge that they were not divorced, because he is not titled "ex-husband." Cruz is dead, "her husband...has said...never mentioned." This isn't to say that before Cruz died, her husband was on some television show saying "yah, she was blacklisted, but we've never discussed it." No, this seems to be referring to information a statement that occurred prior to this announcement, but after Cruz died.
My point being she's dead, he's her husband.
If it was an article about a dead man, the ending would have gone like this, "Cruz kept his blacklisting a secret, and his widow, X, has said he never mentioned it to her." Why doesn't the media ever refer to men as the famous person's widower? They use the term widow, why not widower? Widower isn't a common title. Why not? As in, "Cruz kept her blacklisting a secret, and her widower, trumpeter Pedro Knight, has said she never mentioned it to him."
Friday, September 10, 2004
Here's a delusion for you:
The "clean glass" is really clean. I was talking to one of my co-workers in the break room. Co-worker was restocking the plastic cups on the water cooler. Co-worker dropped one. Co-worker picked it up. Co-worker did not A throw it away B put it in the recyle bin (both options are in the same room, within about five feet of where we were standing), or even C leave it on the floor. No, Co-worker picked it up and...put it back in the cupboard. I've decided not to use anything in the break room again. :)
In other news, my spam-testing account is overflowing with...well, spam.
I've never given this address to anyone, have never used it at all, and I've received..as of the moment...524 spam messages in only about six months.
I've decided to revise the experiment. I was planning to keep all my spams forever, or until I got tired of checking to see how many there were. I intended to collect spam without interfering with it, but I've decided that I'm doing people a disservice. I should be reporting all this spam (which I haven't been doing because it takes it away from me when I report it). But that's a lot of messages, so for the record, between March 25, 2004 and September 10, 2004, this account has received 524 unsolicited messages advertising things I neither want nor need (not to mention changes for parts of my anatomy that do not exist) and I'm going to erase all 524 messages for the greater good. I wonder if reporting these spams will actually cause my spam intake to decrease or slow at all.
Wait, before I report them, I should catalogue them. Number, date received, etc.
Never mind, I've got to organize my spam before I report/delete it. :)
The "clean glass" is really clean. I was talking to one of my co-workers in the break room. Co-worker was restocking the plastic cups on the water cooler. Co-worker dropped one. Co-worker picked it up. Co-worker did not A throw it away B put it in the recyle bin (both options are in the same room, within about five feet of where we were standing), or even C leave it on the floor. No, Co-worker picked it up and...put it back in the cupboard. I've decided not to use anything in the break room again. :)
In other news, my spam-testing account is overflowing with...well, spam.
I've never given this address to anyone, have never used it at all, and I've received..as of the moment...524 spam messages in only about six months.
I've decided to revise the experiment. I was planning to keep all my spams forever, or until I got tired of checking to see how many there were. I intended to collect spam without interfering with it, but I've decided that I'm doing people a disservice. I should be reporting all this spam (which I haven't been doing because it takes it away from me when I report it). But that's a lot of messages, so for the record, between March 25, 2004 and September 10, 2004, this account has received 524 unsolicited messages advertising things I neither want nor need (not to mention changes for parts of my anatomy that do not exist) and I'm going to erase all 524 messages for the greater good. I wonder if reporting these spams will actually cause my spam intake to decrease or slow at all.
Wait, before I report them, I should catalogue them. Number, date received, etc.
Never mind, I've got to organize my spam before I report/delete it. :)
Thursday, August 12, 2004
A few things I think have outlived their usefulness (this is the "short list" version):
Labor unions
Political parties
Electoral college
Gender "roles"
Microsoft (haha--please don't hurt me)
Justin Timberlake
Labor unions
Political parties
Electoral college
Gender "roles"
Microsoft (haha--please don't hurt me)
Justin Timberlake
Friday, July 16, 2004
OK, I was going to post this back when I first saw it several weeks ago. I came in all excited, ready to type it up and discovered the internet was down down down. Dead. It was down for a whole day, and then I had to catch up on all the things I should have accomplished online, so that took the rest of the week, and then I moved, and well, my poor little idea got stuck.
So back to the beginning, which was near the end of June, I believe. There was a news clip regarding the 2004 National Marriage Project. It was an interesting little box of facts and figures (one of my favorite types of news clips). It was fun to read statistics and compare characteristics. And then I came to the sentence that made me choke on my morning coffee.
According to "Which Men are Likely to Marry & Why?"
"Men who grew up with both biological parents, whose father was involved in their lives, and whose parents attended religious services regularly are more likely to be represented among the population of men who are currently married….Thus the married men tend to come from more traditional family backgrounds." (emphasis mine)
That's right folks, the National Marriage Project people have discovered--more traditional people (in this case, men) are more likely to engage in more traditional activities (in this case, marriage)--I'm sure you're all as shocked as I was. Hey, I coulda picked that out of a multiple choice test without any prepping. I might have been able to pull it out of thin air for an essay exam.
FYI in case anyone was wondering: your environment may influence your life. Your history/background may influence your future. Your values may impact your life. Just in case you needed any help with that. If I can be of any further assistance, please let me know.
So back to the beginning, which was near the end of June, I believe. There was a news clip regarding the 2004 National Marriage Project. It was an interesting little box of facts and figures (one of my favorite types of news clips). It was fun to read statistics and compare characteristics. And then I came to the sentence that made me choke on my morning coffee.
According to "Which Men are Likely to Marry & Why?"
"Men who grew up with both biological parents, whose father was involved in their lives, and whose parents attended religious services regularly are more likely to be represented among the population of men who are currently married….Thus the married men tend to come from more traditional family backgrounds." (emphasis mine)
That's right folks, the National Marriage Project people have discovered--more traditional people (in this case, men) are more likely to engage in more traditional activities (in this case, marriage)--I'm sure you're all as shocked as I was. Hey, I coulda picked that out of a multiple choice test without any prepping. I might have been able to pull it out of thin air for an essay exam.
FYI in case anyone was wondering: your environment may influence your life. Your history/background may influence your future. Your values may impact your life. Just in case you needed any help with that. If I can be of any further assistance, please let me know.
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Alright! I've been having problems with my Yahoo! account being overcrowded--I delete messages every day, to maintain my account. I try to keep it below 90% full, which is a continual battle. (I've had this email account for about five years, and it doesn't get too much spam, so it's a keeper.)
Yahoo! finally produced that extra space they've been promising--I logged in this morning and went from about 88% of my quota down to about 5%. I'm not really sure how the old size compares to the new size, except for that, the bottom line. When it all comes out, the bottom line is the important part--major increase in space!
I'm not sure how I like the other changes they made, but the space is nice. (Still slower than Gmail, though....)
Yahoo! finally produced that extra space they've been promising--I logged in this morning and went from about 88% of my quota down to about 5%. I'm not really sure how the old size compares to the new size, except for that, the bottom line. When it all comes out, the bottom line is the important part--major increase in space!
I'm not sure how I like the other changes they made, but the space is nice. (Still slower than Gmail, though....)
Thursday, June 03, 2004
I'm not dead. I'm even doing better than usual. (Believe it or not.) I'm posting a brief update to bring everything back to speed.
The concert in the park last week was pretty nice. Half of our expected group didn't show up, so that changed the feel of the evening, but the artists were pretty good and the park was charming.
So "Conspiracy Theory" is a term I'm not allowed to chase. Everyone knows this by now. I have enough theories on my own, I'm not allowed to listen to anyone else's. I try to remember this, but sometimes, it's just so tempting. Anyway, I refrained from clicking two interesting links that were sure to lead to conspiracy theories today. I wanted to see the theory, but I want to reiterate that I refrained. No more theories. Quit the delusions and go home!
I'm trying to choose a distro. If anyone knows what that means, and has a suggestion, please let me know. I've already made some basic decisions, so if your suggestion conflicts with them, I'll disregard it. Sorry. I have to have some standards, though, don't I? The articles I've seen all say "major" when discussing distros (as in "choosing between the major distros") and I'm rather bored with the "major" players, so if you have a slightly off-the-beaten-path suggestion, I'd be thrilled to hear it.
Points to keep in mind, in case you are an expert.
1. I'm an ultra-newbie to this sort of thing. I need something simple enough to follow (no programming or spell-casting knowledge required).
2. I am, of course, rather nerdy and uncool. I do not, however, qualify as the typical user. (Guess why!)
3. I would prefer something that incorporates X.
4. I want to be able to "touch it" but I don't want to have to spend all my time "fixing it." I want to be able to run it without alterations at least half the time. OK? I want it to work...no Harley-Davidson going on here--I want to be able to ride, not just admire and tune.
5. I am in the United States. I only speak and read English. For this reason, I'd prefer information on my distro to be in English. I think it'll be easier that way.
Just a few things to keep in mind. Thanks.
The concert in the park last week was pretty nice. Half of our expected group didn't show up, so that changed the feel of the evening, but the artists were pretty good and the park was charming.
So "Conspiracy Theory" is a term I'm not allowed to chase. Everyone knows this by now. I have enough theories on my own, I'm not allowed to listen to anyone else's. I try to remember this, but sometimes, it's just so tempting. Anyway, I refrained from clicking two interesting links that were sure to lead to conspiracy theories today. I wanted to see the theory, but I want to reiterate that I refrained. No more theories. Quit the delusions and go home!
I'm trying to choose a distro. If anyone knows what that means, and has a suggestion, please let me know. I've already made some basic decisions, so if your suggestion conflicts with them, I'll disregard it. Sorry. I have to have some standards, though, don't I? The articles I've seen all say "major" when discussing distros (as in "choosing between the major distros") and I'm rather bored with the "major" players, so if you have a slightly off-the-beaten-path suggestion, I'd be thrilled to hear it.
Points to keep in mind, in case you are an expert.
1. I'm an ultra-newbie to this sort of thing. I need something simple enough to follow (no programming or spell-casting knowledge required).
2. I am, of course, rather nerdy and uncool. I do not, however, qualify as the typical user. (Guess why!)
3. I would prefer something that incorporates X.
4. I want to be able to "touch it" but I don't want to have to spend all my time "fixing it." I want to be able to run it without alterations at least half the time. OK? I want it to work...no Harley-Davidson going on here--I want to be able to ride, not just admire and tune.
5. I am in the United States. I only speak and read English. For this reason, I'd prefer information on my distro to be in English. I think it'll be easier that way.
Just a few things to keep in mind. Thanks.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
I haven't forgotten about my blog, I promise. Just daily life getting in the way of daily dementia. Er, delusions. We've got May birthdays, preparations for a move, out of town visitors, three anniversaries, more birthdays, Mother's day, extra activities, and all that suddenly swamped me. Plus all the odd news stories. I've decided to head for cover someplace safe. Like Antarctica, maybe.
In hte meantime (I'm sure it's not cheap to get there, and I don't have enough money saved up), I have to find a place to live. I had one. And then I lost it. It had its flaws, but at this point, I'd almost prefer to have a lease on a substandard place than keep looking.
In hte meantime (I'm sure it's not cheap to get there, and I don't have enough money saved up), I have to find a place to live. I had one. And then I lost it. It had its flaws, but at this point, I'd almost prefer to have a lease on a substandard place than keep looking.
