Xb is pure gold

Władysław II Jagiełło had a name change, it is now Jogaila

I haven't written anything in a while, but a Wikipedia article by the name of "Jogaila" forces my hand. Never heard of Jogaila? Well that's because it is the Lithuanian version of the name of one Poland and Lithuania's* most famous kings, Władysław II Jagiełło, a name this King took upon taking the Polish throne. The encyclopedic article on Jagiełło has received the "featured article status" reserved for the best that Wikipedia has to offer.

Let me give you some background, this article was originally named Wladislaus II of Poland, a name properly used in many English language history books. This latinised version of the Polish name has gone out of vogue, as more contemporary works now use the the Polish spelling and pronunciation Władysław II Jagiełło. Of course the Polish version of the name opened a can of worms, since someone somehow saw this as an affront to the fact that Władysław II Jagiełło is Lithuania (I have never seen anyone try to dispute this indisputable fact), and more importantly to this group of folks, he was the ruler of Lithuania. So now it became the "mine is bigger then yours" argument reincarnated as "Lithuania was just as or more important then Poland" argument, therefore some idiot changed the name of the article to Jogaila of Lithuania with a note that this was a "More sensible, less Polonocentric name". As if the popularized version of the name was secondary to the the nationality of the individual. I'm sure the Duke of Lorraine preferred to be called by his Polish name of Stanislaw Leszczynski (I need a roll my eyes emoticon here). After months of gamesmanship the article was finally left with the awful and useless Jogaila title. Is awfl to harsh a word? Well for comparisons sake, should Pope John Paul II's article be named "Karol Wojtyla" the name he was born with in Poland? Should people looking for Stalin have to type in Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili? Or maybe Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov instead of just Lenin?

So to this date the name of the article has never been changed to what it should be, the historically recognized name that the King himself chose to be called by. It hasn't because in Wikipedia a few rabid individuals can make an accepted name into a "controversial" move.

I have abandoned Wikipedia in the past year or so, venturing onto the pages only to get some information instead of participating in building a great reservoir of knowledge. Why participate if some nationalistic editors hijack an article and rename it, and then use Wikipedian rules to enforce the name change? Other things, like the idiotic notion of "notability" for an article to be included, have hampered my enthusiasm as well. (Stephen Colbert's term Wikiality is persona non grata on the great Wikipedia because, as it turns out, not only are many of the editors humorless, but they also hold vendetta's)

Well I think Wikipedia has hit a wall, the numbers of users and growth has peaked and now growth is slowing, statistics show users are putting less time into articles, and I can see why. Having to spend time arguing over whether an article should be called Jogaila or the obvious Władysław II Jagiełło is off putting, only the rabid point of view pushers remain, while the pragmatic middle is forced to jump ship. To bad.

*Jagiełło was Duke of Lithuania

The Westinghouse LVM-47w1 is really, really, really sweet

It's 47 inches in all of its glory, and the picture it produces is superb. I have to say I've been VERY pleased with the purchase. So has my cat, who previously would always ignore the TV, but now when an animal show shows up in HD, he's mesmerized as well.

Damn you Chicago Bulls! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now win one in Chicago for christ sake.

Armistice Day

I wanted to give a shout out to those that did some fighting for freedom in the olden days of WWI.

Jozef Bialynia - thanks for defending Lwów in WWI.

Celestyn - we remember you for fighting and planning the Wielkopolska Uprising in 1846. You made us proud.

Tomasz, Ferdinand, Jozef and Celestyn - thanks for taking part in the January Uprising of 1863.

World Baseball Classic? I'm excited!

Finally, a World Cup for baseball. I keep reading and hearing talk of the WBC being stupid and pointless (Mike Downey for the Chicago Tribune, Boers and Bernstein on WSCR 670), but it's stupid and pointless to those that don't get the purpose of it. Baseball is an international sport, and I can't wait to see how the USA's best stack up against the opposition. It will give many stars the opportunity to play on great teams before they go back to the mediocre teams they are stuck on. I love the idea of seeing players representing their nations. I hope that eventually the WBC becomes more important then the regular season, just as the World Cup trumps anything else in soccer. I hope that players will fight for spots instead of being begged to play. What worries me is that most of the stars may not play in the games, they're dropping out like flies. I hope Hideki Matsui gets ridiculed and humiliated for not playing for Japan, I hope Aramis Ramirez lives to regret his decision for dropping out.
Most of all I hope to see hardnosed competitive baseball.

Want to watch the Turino Winter Olympics live in the US? You're out of luck, unless it's hockey you're after. NBC and its stable of cable channels has decided to once again tape delay the Turin Olympics for your enjoyment. For example, ski jumping occured at 12 pm EST on Sunday, but NBC waited a full six hours to show the event. It wasn't preempted by luge or men's downhill or anything else, it was delayed because NBC wants to show the olympics in primetime. They think that they'll increase ratings this way. What they do is confuse the hell out of the viewer, I missed ski jumping yesterday because I wasn't able to tune into NBC for its full four hour primetime block. NBC doesn't tell you what time a specific event will air, and they intermix events so that you never know what you've missed. Still, I have a solution for those who actually want to see the events LIVE (what a concept!), download the program ppstream and tune into CCTV5. PPstream is a P2P TV streaming program, it is currently limited to channels in Asia, but for the Olympics it does the trick. I was getting 400kb/s constant stream of CCTV5 yesterday, and I got to watch a lot of the events LIVE in the US. Screw you NBC!

He loves us! He really really loves us!

A historic statement was made today by aspiring Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, he said, and I kid you not, that he has high respect for Poland and its "contribution to world culture, economy and the present day affairs of Europe and the world." Okay, what in the world is going on here, and where did they stash away the real Putin? Just months before Polish diplomats were being beaten up in Moscow by what looked like sanctioned retaliatory acts. Polish-Russian relations also hit a lowpoint when Poland aggressively and openly supported Viktor Yushchenko's Orange Revolution in the Ukraine. So to hear Vlad say he has high respect for Poland is, well, out of the blue. Which begs to question, what does Vlad want from Poland? This is, in diplomatic terms, a bribe. We'll just have to wait and see.

The big 29. I only have a year of the twenties left in me, quite a depressing conundrum. What do I do with my last year as a twenty-something? I am quite surprised how unexcited I am at the prospect of turning 29. 28, 27, 26, they were afterthoughts, and birthdays are always fun, but this 29th one is different. I'm not looking forward to it at all. It's like a countdown to 30, and even though they say 50 is the new 30, 30 is not the new 20, or even 25. 30 is what it is, 10 years removed from 40. If you haven't accomplished anything by 40, you probably won't, that's just the way things are. So at 30 you get to feel all that pressure of having to make something of your life by 40. And at 29 you know that all that pressure is just around the corner. Plus, did you know Michelangelo was 29 when he completed David? That really makes me feel good, aughhhh. 16, 18, 21, all those birthdays gave you stuff to look forwards to. 29? It should be called 30 -1.

And now an excerpt from the unfinished masterpiece titled "Idiocy?", currently in its seventh year of being written:

My thoughts switched again to my crumpled suit. It was a cheap one I picked out during my first year at U of C. I wouldn’t let my parents buy me one, I guess I felt guilty that I was wasting their money on an education that I wasn’t using. Regardless, even with my healthy new checks, I never felt like getting up to buy a new suit. I picked the dark olive suit off the floor and tried to straighten it with my hands. I knew it was a feeble attempt, but it was out of habit. I looked in my drawers, great, all out of socks and underwear. Well, I’d been out of socks and underwear for two days as it was, so it was another day of smily face boxers for me. The socks I wasn’t happy about, I turned over old newspapers searching the floor until I found a pair under the bed that looked like they hadn’t been worn in a while. You have to understand my theory on clothes, especially socks. Socks are only good for one day of wear, maybe two if you’re lucky. Now, if your socks haven’t been worn for two or three weeks, I firmly believe that the odor and whatever else your foot projects onto the sock, evaporates. Therefore, I usually have no problem with wearing old socks, the only exception is if you’ve already done this to the sock twice. Then the sock must be washed. Underwear on the other hand is a completely different matter. You can wear underwear as long as it feels good, but you may in no way ever put on an old pair of underwear, it doesn’t work the way the socks do.
So, I put on my navy blue socks, smelled my white shirts that hugged all the corners of the room as if saying “please, please, not me!” I did a smell check and decided which one was the best. I put on the only tie in sight, pulled on my suit, and looked in the mirror. Yes, I was a used car salesman. A little cologne, and I was ready to leave. A little light went off in my head saying “pack”, I hated those lights. So I got my old, worn, brown briefcase, looked over the room and decided I would buy some clothes in Warsaw. I threw in my trusty deoderent/anti-perspirent, and I was ready to go. Getting into my car I could feel my feet, and figured that maybe it was time to amend my sock theory.

Now if that isn't some A-grade writing I don't know what is, I mean Kant, Hesse, Hemmingway, Dostoyevsky, they all come to mind.

The race is on! To find a picture with our President Dubya and "Radioactive" Abramoff that is. Time claims to have seen five pictures featuring Dubya and Radioactive together, unfortunately they're all from the same event. Still, I would like to see these photos, so if you have 'em send them in. I, for instance, have a picture with former Illinois Governor James Thompson's two dogs, and I'm not afraid to use them.

I did not know this, but apparently to prove that cancer isn't that big of a deal, Chuck Norris smoked 15 cartons of cigarettes a day for 2 years and aquired 7 different kinds of cancer only to rid them from his body by flexing for 30 minutes. Beat that, Lance Armstrong.

I also found out that according to the actor's publicist, Jeff Duclos, Norris' favorite Chuck Norris fact is the one about the Boogeyman: "When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris."

The Random Chuck Norris Fact Generator lists the most popular Chuck Norris fact as "Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried."

Does anyone really believe that Cheney was hospitalized for an apparent shortness of breath because of medication he was taking for a foot ailment? What, are we that stupid? The guy has a ticker that would have gone a long time ago had in not been for the pact with the Devil. I did make the prediction of a staph infection for Cheney last year, this year I predict...

I am one happy guy. "Why are you happy?", you may ask yourselves. My answer is "Borat is not Polish". Borat, the Kazakhstani faux journalist guy who appears on the Ali G show which airs on HBO, is very funny, and very insulting to Kazakhstani's. As I said, I'm happy he does not portray a Pole.

Example of Borat in all is glory

I'm back, miss me?

So I was in Poland for two weeks, I had access to email but I decided to be blog free. P3 started up during this time and I plan to take a part as soon as I catch up on some work and some sleep. And some advice, don't mix the Żołądkowa with Żubrówka and Tequila, unless you like to clean up after yourself.

I'm AWOL
presumed having a good time

I should be in and out for the next few weeks. Ca-lick!

Time to impeach Bush?

If you can impeach a president for lying about sexual indiscretions, then you would think that impeaching a president for lying about the reasons for going to war would surely fit the bill. The only question is: does the American populace feel the same way? The answer appears to be a weak yes (which is better then a sharp stick in the eye). As Rawstory.com is reporting, Zogby International has found that 51% of Americans believe Bush should have impeachment proceedings started if he lied about the reason for going to war with Iraq. Zogby International was the most accurate polling company during the presidential elections of 2000, but famously innacurately predicted a Kerry victory on the basis of early polling results during the 2004 presidential election. Zogby is currently the only polling company asking any questions about a possible Bush impeachment, but other polling companies will certainly pick up the slack, and we can be sure to see similair questions asked by Reuters and the AP in the near future.

The NFL has become the Special Olympics

Tedi Bruschi got the NFL defensive player award this week for PLAYING. I rest my case.

Press not so free in Poland, US
Nordic countries top list

The United States dropped by more than 20 places to 44th place in the Reporters Without Borders fourth annual World Press Freedom Index, while Poland also dropped more than twenty spots to tie for 53rd place, behind such notables as Bulgaria and Mozambique. This should come as no surprise to both countries, the US government in the Bush era has led an attack on alleged liberal bias in the media while mostly cutting off a free flow of information from the White House. Polish courts on the other hand have ordered reporters to be jailed for such actions as libeling local officials. Once again leading the pack were the Nordic countries, which is no surprise. Now I'd like to see Bush meet with Putin again and have him lecture how a free press is important. BTW, Russia is ranked 138th, just behind the United States of America in Iraq!

1 Denmark - Finland - Iceland - Ireland - Netherlands - Norway - Switzerland
8 Slovakia
9 Czech Republic - Slovenia
11 Estonia
12 Hungary - New Zealand - Sweden - Trinidad and Tobago
16 Austria - Latvia
18 Belgium - Germany - Greece
21 Canada - Lithuania
23 Portugal
24 United Kingdom
25 Benin - Cyprus - Namibia
28 El Salvador
29 Cape Verde
30 France
31 Australia - South Africa
33 Bosnia and Herzegovina
34 Jamaica - Mauritius - South Korea
37 Japan - Mali
39 Hong-Kong
40 Spain 41 Costa Rica 42 Italy 43 Macedonia 44 United States of America (American territory) 45 Bolivia 46 Uruguay 47 Israel 48 Bulgaria 49 Mozambique 50 Chile
51 Dominican Republic - Taiwan
53 Cyprus (North) - Mongolia - Poland
56 Croatia 57 Niger
58 Timor-Leste
59 Argentina
60 Botswana - Fiji
62 Albania
63 Brazil - Tonga
65 Serbia and Montenegro
66 Ghana - Panama
68 Nicaragua 69 Paraguay 70 Romania
71 Congo - Guinea-Bissau - Seychelles
74 Moldova - Tanzania
76 Angola - Honduras
78 Burkina Faso - Senegal
80 Uganda 81 Lesotho 82 Central African Republic
83 Cameroon - Liberia
85 Kuwait 86 Guatemala 87 Ecuador 88 Comoros 89 Malawi
90 Burundi - Cambodia - Qatar - Venezuela - Zambia
95 Togo 96 Jordan 97 Madagascar 98 Turkey 99 Georgia
100 Kosovo - United Arab Emirates
102 Armenia - Gabon - Guinea - Indonesia
106 India 107 Thailand 108 Lebanon
109 Chad - Kenya
111 Kyrgyzstan 112 Ukraine
113 Malaysia - Tajikistan
115 Sri Lanka 116 Peru 117 Haiti 118 Swaziland
119 Kazakhstan - Morocco
121 Djibouti 122 Rwanda
123 Bahrein - Nigeria
125 Afghanistan 126 Sierra Leone 127 Mauritania 128 Colombia 129 Algeria 130 Gambia 131 Ethiopia 132 Palestinian Authority 133 Equatorial Guinea - Sudan 135 Mexico 136 Yemen 137 United States of America (in Iraq) 138 Russia 139 Philippines 140 Singapore 141 Azerbaijan 142 Bhutan 143 Egypt 144 Côte d’Ivoire 145 Syria 146 Democratic Republic of Congo 147 Tunisia 148 Maldives 149 Somalia 150 Pakistan 151 Bangladesh 152 Belarus 153 Zimbabwe 154 Saudi Arabia
155 Laos - Uzbekistan
157 Iraq 158 Vietnam 159 China 160 Nepal 161 Cuba 162 Libya 163 Burma 164 Iran 165 Turkmenistan 166 Eritrea 167 North Korea

Fitzmas? Fitznukah? Fitztevus!

It looks like Fitzmas will become Fitznukah, since "Scooter" Libby has been indicted (perjury! Obstruction of justice!) and with more indictments to come in the next week. Instead, I propose we all celebrate Fitztevus! The holiday for the rest-of-us. It is, after all, the most appropriate holiday, because it includes the famous Airing of Grievances. Unlike Fitzmas or Fitnukah, Fitztevus can include our Republican friends, who can air grievances like "you're always so damn right!" I would gladly sit Libby, Cheney and Rove at the table, and after all the grievances were aired I would gladly challenge Cheney to a Feat of Strength so that Fitztevus could appropriately end with a Cheney coronary thrombosis.