Today is totally
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Government
A kiss is just a kiss...
Posted at 12:19:08 PM on July 6, 2006
Russian President Vlademir Putin is submitting himself to an unprecedented live webcast interview with the Russian people today. Questions were submitted via the internet, with a promise that the most-asked questions would be addressed by the President.
So what do Russians want to know? Are they concerned with the upcoming G8 summit? Russia's decision not to legalize marijuana? Iran's nuclear capabilities? The economy? The price of vodka? Uhhhh... nope.
“What was achieved by your kissing the little boy Nikita on the stomach?” was one question with 14,470 people voting for it to be forwarded to the President.
Mr Putin baffled Russians and Westerners alike last week when he stopped a young boy who was walking through the Kremlin, asked his name (it was Nikita) and then lifted his T-shirt and kissed his stomach. Some political analysts speculate that it was a clumsy attempt to soften Mr Putin’s image with some “baby-kissing” PR moves.
Oh, but here is my FAVORITE part...
The leading question, with 17,066 votes, was would the President use “giant, humanoid war robots” (!?) to defend Russia? The third favourite, with 11,401 votes, was what he thought about the Cthulhu, a giant octopus invented by the novelist H. P. Lovecraft.
Wow. I wish I could say that the only concerns I have about my President were belly kisses, fictional octopuses and war robots...
If you want to get started doing business in Iraq, the official online resource is apparently Iraqibusinesscenter.org - which oddly enough is owned by Jim Sosnicky. Follow the trail a bit farther to the Baghdad Business Center, and you'll find that it too is owned and operated by the former DJ and very colorful Mr. Sosnicky.
Other interactive Iraqi locations include The Official Website for the Iraqi Government (not updated since September of 2005). This site is owned and maintained (every so often) by the inspired Ekur Services (cool theme song) - a group of Iraqi nationals who moved back to Baghdad to sew up most of the contracts for all the new government websites.
If you want to link up to Iraqi Government Websites, the US Embassy there provides everyone with the grim state of interactive affairs.
Total military and police aid slated to go out to South America in 2006 is 907 million dollars - while social and economic aid tops out at over a billion.
The winner in the race for Military bucks? Columbia (by far the largest producer of Cocaine in the world) who will pull down 641 million in 2006 (over two thirds of all gun money available in South America). With a population of around 43 million, that averages out to almost $15 per person for guns and ammo in the coming year.
Who gets the fattest cash in the Social and Economic money grab? The winner is Haiti (by far the largest trafficking point for cocaine in the western hemisphere and also the poorest) at 181 million dollars. With a population of around 8 million, that's just over 22 dollars each for 2006.
(No, this one isn't dance-related, sorry.) According to the Washington Post...On most of the 365 days he has enjoyed at his secluded ranch here, President Bush's idea of paradise is to hop in his white Ford pickup truck in jeans and work boots, drive to a stand of cedars, and whack the trees to the ground...
First off... that he has now been on his ranch for a FULL YEAR during his presidency? Yikes. But really, what's with his total OBSESSION (!) over the clearing of brush and destruction of trees? Seems like some strange outlet for aggression to me. Glad I'm not a plant on his property, that's for sure.
The 2005 Worst and Best Dressed of Tax Payer Funded Federal Websites. - 4th Place
Posted at 9:16:54 AM on December 29, 2005
The remarkably dysfunctional WebContent.gov is where you go when you need to learn how to design a useless and completely confusing federal website with tax payer money.
Tons of resources for creating and managing federal sites, including the uniquely disturbing Usability.gov, where you can learn first hand why no federal website can actually be used, and why it's costs so much to keep them that way.
This visually challenged site is the clearing house for all things visual from the Department of Defense. A vast collection of really bad photographs taken at tax payer expense.
The 2005 Worst and Best Dressed of Tax Payer Funded Federal Websites. - 6th Place
Posted at 10:38:09 AM on December 26, 2005
If you ever wonder why it's so expensive for the Federal government to accomplish so very little, take a month or two off to look over the most recent rules and regulations that are floating around at Regulations.gov, such as Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado, Use of the Word ``Pure or Its Variants on Labels or in Advertisements of Alcohol Beverage Products, or International Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standard-Setting Activities to point out just a few of the regulations open for comment.
Coming in at 14th place, all we can hope for from this visually-challenged cabinet level site is that it isn't costing tax payers very much. Millions and millions of links on every page, guaranteed to take the inquisitive web surfer to nowhere and beyond.
Best feature: The Google Powered HHS Search, which is the only way to really find what you're looking for. Look for the HHS site to go Google Home Page friendly in 2006 and place in the top four Federally Funded Web Sites next year, or else.
A sad and lonely relic of design and technology, but hey, they got no money! Right?
This, most lonely outpost in the vast chain of Federally funded internet destinations, primarily points the occasional visitor to a 1998 shopping cart, except in this cart you're lending the USA some money, which the government promises to back with interest a very long time from now.
The site does have one brilliant contribution to the web, and that is the frequent updates on the exact debt, to the penny. As of 12/16 it was posted as 8,100,903,302,296.92
The Census Bureau's "Population Clock" provides a second by second update of the number of people everywhere. As of this posting, the USA has a net gain of one person every 10 seconds, but only one US birth every 7 seconds. In order to keep up with this ever changing number, subscribe to their RSS feed today
Just in case you're looking for a list of all things that explode, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (and explosives) released their annual list this week. So far they're up to 238 explosive materials and thought everyone should know exactly what they are
