Ask TOMBOT

Tom - a) based on whatever you professionally know, do you agree w/ anything i said on the latest "why are we in iraq" discussion; also do u think i killed that thread?

b) what is your opinion of the 2000 movie "Boiler Room"

and

c) is Vin Diesel really gay?

a) of course you killed that thread, wasn't your first post on it "this question is totally moot let me hijack it into an area where I can showcase a volume of expertise that is going to scare everybody else away" - but I will read more into what you said there when I get a chance bcz I really appreciated your contributions re: mumbai. I have not been paying as much attention to iraq in a couple years becase * depressing ** CAN WE GO HOME NOW

b) It is also in my queue, I've seen bits of it and am interested in seeing more; can't go rong with a good sting movie about mediocre scam artists getting theirs.

c) No. I think he's just a huuuuuuuuge dork. Like he probably collected Yu-Gi-Oh cards for a while and I bet his ipod is 70% film soundtracks (not good ones).

a) Haha -no! I said the more important question rather than "why" is "what now, re: the tenuous unity of the country & Iran's influence on the Shia," but then went back into the "why," with the PNAC...and reached a conclusion I myself had not thought out in my mind before: that Ford admin holdovers like Cheney & Rummy that became PNAC/Carlyle group heads probably had designs on Iraq as far back as 1979, after Iran was lost as the US vassal in that area - also bcoz the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan happened that year. Is that reasonable, or speculative/conspirational ?

b) I am working on researching pre & post revolution American involvement in Iran, and wanted to know if due to the Iraq War, in your opinion, I'll have any easier time in digging up CIA documents from this time - for now (this decade), finally, the truth of the 1953 coup has finally become more public.

I will actually be coming to Washington DC to continue to my research in this, it's a serious thing. Do you think I can email you about it?

The character of Riddick is based on Vin Diesel's D&D character fwiw

>if due to the Iraq War,

this isn't clear at all, sorry. but i can explain (later)

Vic, I can tell you that pretty much all declassification dates for US Govt materials are set 30 years from the record - so if you want stuff up through 1979 and into the 80s, your best years for research are still ahead of you. I work in a very different sphere than I used to and don't really engage much with these topics any more, but I'll post any additional thoughts I have to that thread.

it's gonna take you 3 days to drive from long beach to san francisco?

― (jaxon) ( .) ( .) (jaxon), Thursday, December 11, 2008 7:19 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

vacation, yah.

Tom,

do you have any tips for getting started with work. I feel like I have been printing stuff of and sharpening my pencils in preparation for diving into some work all week, and now it's Friday p.m.

buy a propelling pencil

caek,

I have a really hard time with that.
Usually the best thing to get me to do work is a little passive peer pressure - I fired up Ableton this week for the first time in ages because one of my friends just finished up a two-disc concept album he's been recording in his basement for over a year and a half, so I felt like a chump. Most days when I come into the office I generally wind up getting things done because I see others doing so. Perhaps this is why people get out of the house and go to coffee shops, to be around other studious losers so they can be guilted into doing some work themselves.

Good tip. Obvious, but good to hear someone else say it. So I went to the library today and kicked my computer's ass.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f325/caek/NGC_1381-bigbest.jpg

IN YOUR FACE

dear tomboto,

im watching Independence day and it got me to wondering what movies have the best scenes of cities getting destroyed. you seemed like the guy to ask.

thx
j

not a city but a buddhist dude's monastery:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/2012/

wowo thats pretty awzom love this shit imna rewatch cloverfield

wonder where all that water came from

terminator's nuke drop definitely left an imprint on me

independence day is totally bogus btw

deep impact is pretty crucial here i think

independence day is totally rad icey

aside from the destruction of the white house the annihilation related special effects are pretty poor

Dear Tombot,

What kind of pizza are you going to get tonight?

Love,

a better q is what kind of pizza am *I* going to get tonight?

Tombot,

Out of the main cast members on the hit U.S. television program Friends, who do you think is most intelligent in real life? Least?

im not tombot but

a) lisa kudrow

b) courtney cox

Fun fact: Lisa Kudrow briefly dated Conan O'Brien

thanks, we know

caek are u astronomer?

y also v drunk

y also v drunk

― caek, Sunday, December 14, 2008 3:34 AM (14 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

no kidding. feel awful today.

(sorry, this is not a question)

hay tom just watching eagle over here and wondering which in yr opinion movie most accurately portrays yr line of work thx j

eagle eye

Chief O'Hallorhan: You know we were pretty lucky tonight, body count's less then 200. You know, one of these days, you're gonna kill ten-thousand in one of these firetraps, and I'm gonna keep eating smoke and carrying out bodies until someone asks us how to build them.

Doug Roberts: Ok, I'm asking.

Chief O'Hallorhan: You know where to reach me.

weird that's like my job too

is your job also like live free or die hard because that's every day for me

only the part where he wrestles the plane

the plane = montreal's dining scene

john mcclane = slocki

ok so to flesh out my answer a little better:

There is an essential canon to my career field, I have thought about this and pretend to be appalled when colleagues confess to not having seen these movies:

TRON
Sneakers
WarGames
Live Free or Die Hard

Disaster films and generally any movie wherein put-upon civil servants or public officials competently deal with extraordinary circumstances are also pretty cool hence quoting from The Towering Inferno. I also have my personal fetish for movies about systems failure and machine revolt (terminator 3 is the best of the series btw) (colossus the forbin project byaaaaa)

of course since I work in a bureaucratic organization with computer technology my job is also a hell of a lot like Office Space from time to time (working at the NSA was completely like Office Space)

When people try to bring up enemy of the state or stuff like that I politely explain that I swore to protect the constitution not piss on its ashes, I do know people who were involved in the illegal telecom wiretaps but they drive beer trucks in college towns now

my gf has the much cooler job-movie connections, her work is all about The Conversation and Blow Out

they drive beer trucks in college towns now

in frat terror stings right? right?

your gf has the coolest job ever
xpost

thx! i think so too but I try not to brag.
xpost

Dear Tom,

1) Will you be hosting a SuperBowl party in the dc area this year y/n
2) Will your gf help me be a good jew or at least help me cheat on my hebrew homework y/n
3) When is the SuperBowl

?

P.S. Happy New Yearz

1) I dunno I think it depends on who is playing and who wants to come to my house and drink. If I did have one in my apartment that would be a handy opportunity to take your delonghi deep fryer back, and maybe pete could come and return my paul ormerod book!

2) I think you asking this question probably signifies that you still have a lot of degoyification ahead

3) The 1st of February. This is nifty: http://projects.nytimes.com/nfl2009/bracket?hp

thx for answering my question tom that was fun - just for kicks maybe youd care to expand the movie list scope to cover the intelligence industry as a whole - thx j

since videogames, television, the internet, permissive parenting and a ridiculously high standard of living have already completely ruined the next generation of americans, i should pay of my loans quickly, quit my job as a mediocre math & science teacher and retrain as a ______________________

ninja obvs

oh wait did the title change to ASK JOE THE ICE CREAM overnight?
oh I see it did not!!

tell me u disagree w/my recommendation go ahead i dare u

http://www.startuply.com/Jobs/Python_Ninja_or_Pirate__104_2.aspx

i'm not sure i'd want to work for somebody who put "ninja" in the job posting