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directorcommentary | jasonbentley.org

Jason Bentley, Santa Clara, California: writing, photography, graphic design, music, audio, video, technology, life

December 7, 2004

All the Young Übersturmfuhreren

Well, now...who's this sexy, butch lookin' young buck?


Photo courtesy of Princeton University photo archive

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


©Reuters

Yep, that was Rumsfeld, all right, shown here availing his favorite salute to his passing army.

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Still the Original

Today is 12/7, the original 9/11. History just repeats and washes and rinses and spins and repeats.


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Bare-bones animation



Disturbing. Fascinating. Your favorite cartoon characters reduced to their skeletons, courtesy of Michael Paulus.

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Talk Like an Egyptian


Testifying yesterday before a Senate committee investigating the increasingly bloody Iraqi resistance, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told Senate Armed Services Commitee co-chair Carl Levin (D-Michigan): "As you know, we know there are o-way-ohs, which are things we know that do the sand-dance, dont'cha know? We also know there are known ay-o-way-ohs; that is to say where know thare are some things we knock down like a domino. But we know there are also unknown way-e-o-way-ohs - the ones we don't know we-o-way-oh. In any case, the foreign types with the hookah pipes know--way-oh."

Levin pressed Rumsfeld about misstatements made in 2002 claiming that Americans would be greeted as "liberators," to which Rumsfeld added: "I don't see a problem. I can say with reasonable certainty that the kids in the marketplace know-way-oh. They like the punk and the metal band. They sing and dance. You drop your drink, they bring you more. What more can I say?"

When asked about the cryptic nature of Rumsfeld's comments, Department of Defense spokesperson Larry DiRita said that Rumsfeld was, "merely having a manic Monday and wished it were Sunday."

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Klaatu! Barada! Nikto!

I get the weirdest random text messages on my Sprint PCS phone. Now, I've never used this feature in the entire time I've had the phone, but nevertheless, I'll get these messages. Sometimes they're obvious spam, but often they're these weird cryptic messages from beyond the beyond. I used to get them more often than I do, but now the ones I do get are all the weirder for it. In a way they remind me of those odd Cold War "numbers" stations I used to pick up on shortwave radio.

Exhibit A:



Transcription:

From: AmeliaBrittonbp@ae.com
Subject: The secret to going from an empt

Salle ETj datum wham
blurry them.
burton werther
dynamite 458771796 e'er
vitae

Exhibit B:



Transcription:
From: Rich66gyf@bigfoot.com
Subject: We will fix your b ad c
bravo is rT8 of
buffoon in pail out
corcoran of aye.
gravel is matthews of
tinctu

Now imagine what the "chatter" decipherers at the CIA have to deal with. *shudder*

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