- I’ve become really interested and fully invested in upping my technical skills, particularly w/ php, mysql, Drupal, etc. More to come on that subject.

- Despite my recent struggles with WordPress I’ve decided to keep this blog on WordPress for the time being. I don’t love WordPress for many reasons, but I don’t hate it either. It makes blogging pretty easy, and as long as that’s all you want to do it definitely works. Redesign forthcoming. I have a ‘real’ website in development elsewhere. I started development on it in WordPress and am slowly moving over to Drupal.

- I also have a pretty fun php project in the works. Launches in early September. Stay tuned.

- Check out centerfieldgate.com, a Washington Nationals blog customized and maintained by yours truly. You may remember a post from last year in which I mentioned my work on river-dogz. I’m happy to say that my skillz are a bit better than back then. Granted I’m using a stock theme but all of it just generally looks better. It’s also a recent addition to the NL East Chatter community. Hawt.

- I helped out a bunch on masspoetry.org and attended the festival last October. I’m not helping as much with it this year given other commitments but it’s still a really awesome event so you should probably go to masspoetry.org. Masspoetry.org. Oh also, you’re only cool if you actually attend the festival!

- I developed and was tech support for vetsforobama.org during most of his campaign until the campaign actually took the site over. That’s probably the site I am most proud of on my resume, given tons of custom design work and functionality, trying to manage a massive petition, and pretty much always being on call for any site issues despite my objections (“I have a job!”). They had to take the site down for legal reasons after the campaign ended, but maybe I’ll find a screenshot and post it later. He won, too, so that doesn’t hurt.

- I also did The Truth About Palin and The Truth About McCain. Tumblr is fun.

- I moved to Boston from DC successfully, with my 2 cats. I’m in the same crappy apartment but moving to a better one soon (September 1).

- Oh, I signed up for Twitter. If you came here from me posting a link to Twitter, that’s awesome. If not, email me if you want my twitter name or just want to stalk me.

- that reminds me, I need to set up a penfall.com email address

- I’m getting a new iPhone, suckas.

- I may start to write those Musings again soon. Maybe musings from Cambridge? Ideas are welcome.

I think that’s it. I’m on the Acela to DC at the moment, it’s 7am, I’ve been awake for 3 hours and only got 3.5hrs of sleep. I have a long day ahead, a long week ahead, and I’ve officially exhausted my want or ability to write (or say?) anything creative at least for the next 24 hours. Time to go check Google Analytics and see if Tweeting about this made any difference in site traffic.

I have to admit – I don’t check w00t.com on a daily basis. Most of the time I’ll check it on a whim, or if my coworkers or friends point me to the site for a cool product. So, it’s for this reason that I point your attention, right now, to w00t.com! We’ve recently been working with a very cool company – Neuton Mowers. Of course all of the people we work with are very cool, but I don’t have a lawn, and never before have I wanted something so badly that I personally have no use for. Neuton sells battery powered lawnmowers, and they’re selling them on woot right now. Now, you might be skeptical – skeptical of the power, the actual ability to cut grass effectively, or even the claim that it’s great for our environment (why would you jump to such drastic conclusions though?). I assure you having used it (and lifted it) myself that it is, simply put, an awesome machine. Click here for a tour of the 6.2 mower.

Let’s skip ahead for a moment. The Neuton lawnmowers releases no carbon emissions – unlike those old gas mowers. All it takes is a charge of the battery and you’re good to go. But what about that battery? Aren’t batteries terrible for the environment too? I’m glad you asked. Neuton has partnered with East Penn Manufacturing to take care of those old batteries and make sure they don’t end up in a landfill never to decompose. They also do some great work in local communities, letting folks exchange their dirty gas mowers for a Neuton.

There are so many reasons why a Neuton is better than a gas mower, even putting aside the immense environmental benefit. Ever feel like screaming at a neighbor who decides they want to mow their lawn at 6am on Sunday? Don’t you just love the smell of gasoline in the morning? Not only does the Neuton only emit the smell of fresh grass clippings, it sounds great too. It’s hard to describe how quiet it is, but I’ll say this – you can carry on a conversation while mowing your lawn. No earplugs necessary, and no angry neighbor (or angry you, depending on the day).

Take a peek at the woots per capita map to see if your neighbors are wooting today. One day we won’t ever wake up to the grinding of gas-powered machines. Woot up!

So I’ve decided to get some real hosting (you know, paid hosting…) for this site so I can install fun things and make it more interesting. But I’m nervous about transferring the hosting for this site. Will I lose data? What if something happens? Is it really as easy as going to bluehost and clicking on “transfer client?”

Suggestions, anyone?

Perry also blogged later on, you can find his post here.

From CNN.com:

The official Press Release:

“Cal Perry, CNN’s award-winning Baghdad bureau chief and producer, has been appointed as the network’s new international correspondent based in Beirut, Lebanon, it was announced today by Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of international newsgathering for CNN Worldwide.

Perry, who has been instrumental in coordinating and guiding CNN’s unrivaled coverage of Iraq over the past four years, takes up his new position in April. In this new role, he will cover Lebanon and also support CNN’s growing presence across the Middle East with editorial operations in Abu Dhabi, Amman, Baghdad, Cairo, Dubai and Jerusalem.

As Baghdad bureau chief, Perry oversaw a staff of more than two dozen journalists and also reported breaking news and produced long-form programming including CNN Presents: Combat Hospital, which won a CINE award in 2007.

‘Cal’s expertise of the region is an invaluable asset for us, and I’m delighted that he is taking up a new role in Beirut,’ Khosravi said. ‘As we continue to strengthen our presence in the Middle East and in other parts of the world through our content ownership strategy adding additional correspondents and resources, having ‘can do’ reporters of his caliber are essential.’

In addition to this appointment, CNN International is also boosting its feature programming in the region with additional resources for Inside The Middle East and the acclaimed and recently launched Market Place Middle East. In addition to tapping into CNN’s planned production center in Abu Dhabi that was announced in January, both programs will have exclusive access to international correspondent Brent Sadler and his considerable knowledge and experience of the region.

This new role for Sadler underscores the importance and commitment to the region by CNN and will allow both programs to plan more in-depth and expanded coverage.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.”

Congratulations Cal!

You’ll notice that my website-building skills are pretty minimal (the header could use some work), but all in all I’m quite proud of myself! I even figured out how to get an image to show up in a text widget – for me, that’s a huge accomplishment. Also, changing the fonts or text size was initially a challenge but now I find myself talking about font families and scrolling through stylesheets. It’s crazy! (for me it’s crazy.)

As for changing colors, well, I’m just not there yet. I mean, can someone please tell me what this means? As I began working with code and trying to figure it all out, the colors seemed pretty self explanatory. Find the ’333′ in the stylesheet for the header color, change it to ’033′ and you’ll get a new color (dark blue), right? Wrong.

Now I find myself working even harder on my own site (I’d link to it, but it’s currently password protected), trying new things, working with code and challenging myself more and more to try to make a website not only look good, but go past the original theme and make it my own. Once I take the password protection off it’s going to be great – not just visually, but it is and will be a full collection of my writing, research, and some photos.

A final note about river-dogz - I think it would be pretty awesome to have an embedded calendar (or something similar) to show the Nats season schedule. Any suggestions for how to go about that?

Since being at South by Southwest and doing my best to blog about all of the amazing panels I have attended (or at least take detailed notes for future posts), I’ve come to the realization that I have deprived my loyal readers (all four of you) of my daily rantings, ravings, thoughts, insights, poems, and everything else.

Well, that’s going to change, starting now. I’m committing myself to at least 5 posts per week, if not more. Welcome back Penfall lovers – I have returned!

“DAMASCUS, Syria (CNN) — Sitting in a room with the top Hamas leader — a man Israel would prefer dead — is not an easy feeling, knowing that at any second a missile could shatter the building, killing everyone inside, myself included.

And, of course, it is no surprise why Israel has Khaled Meshaal at the top of its hit list. He is known to have ordered bombings that have targeted Israeli civilians, blowing up cafés, markets and malls across Israel.

CNN senior correspondent Nic Robertson and I recently sat down with Meshaal in a secret Hamas ‘safe house’ in the middle of Damascus. Hamas security guards were all around, their automatic rifles draped over their shoulders. The walls were adorned with the pictures of Hamas members who have carried out suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis.”

To read the full article, click here

and to see the video, click here.

UPDATE: to see the breaking news interview, click here.

UPDATE: to see all five parts of the interview, click here.

(On a sidenote, with the recent release of WikiScanner, Conflict Blogger posted an interesting piece about changes the Israeli government may have made to certain Wikipedia entries. Though, I’ll admit, everyone and their mother has been altering the facts on Wikipedia…)

Also, our president recently increased the aid we give to Israel, adding up to over $30 billion in the next decade. Good to hear it — that way, if those d*mned a-rabs decide to act up again, we can fund the next war just like we did the last one. It’s okay though, Israel tends to put the money we give them to good use. They don’t misuse it at all. See how far our money can go?

And does anyone remember this from last summer?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5eBrfrWoTk]

Apparently not, or I’d think there would be more outrage over these recent developments. Granted, Sy Hersch is a little out there, but he’s also almost always right. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Today, though, I came across this story

It began:

“As we’ve noted in this space, some have questioned details that appeared in the Diarist ‘Shock Troops,’ published under the pseudonym Scott Thomas. According to Major Kirk Luedeke, a public affairs officer at Forward Operating Base Falcon, a formal military investigation has also been launched into the incidents described in the piece.

Although the article was rigorously edited and fact-checked before it was published, we have decided to go back and, to the extent possible, re-report every detail. This process takes considerable time, as the primary subjects are on another continent, with intermittent access to phones and email. Thus far we’ve found nothing to disprove the facts in the article; we will release the full results of our search when it is completed.”

I immediately wanted to find out what the original story was. Without reading “Shock Troops” but seeing such an intense investigation and reaction from the U.S. Military, I could come to only one conclusion: the entire story, “Shock Troops,” was true.

The article continued with a statement from the author of “Shock Troops:”

“My Diarist, ‘Shock Troops,’ and the two other pieces I wrote for the New Republic have stirred more controversy than I could ever have anticipated. They were written under a pseudonym, because I wanted to write honestly about my experiences, without fear of reprisal. Unfortunately, my pseudonym has caused confusion. And there seems to be one major way in which I can clarify the debate over my pieces: I’m willing to stand by the entirety of my articles for the New Republic using my real name.

I am Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp, a member of Alpha Company, 1/18 Infantry, Second Brigade Combat Team, First Infantry Division.

My pieces were always intended to provide my discrete view of the war; they were never intended as a reflection of the entire U.S. Military. I wanted Americans to have one soldier’s view of events in Iraq.

It’s been maddening, to say the least, to see the plausibility of events that I witnessed questioned by people who have never served in Iraq. I was initially reluctant to take the time out of my already insane schedule fighting an actual war in order to play some role in an ideological battle that I never wanted to join. That being said, my character, my experiences, and those of my comrades in arms have been called into question, and I believe that it is important to stand by my writing under my real name.

–Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp“

I was hooked. I wanted to know immediately what he had written and why it was under such scrutiny. After finding the article in question, disgust rose like bile in the back of my throat.

Read on:

“I saw her nearly every time I went to dinner in the chow hall at my base in Iraq. She wore an unrecognizable tan uniform, so I couldn’t really tell whether she was a soldier or a civilian contractor. The thing that stood out about her, though, wasn’t her strange uniform but the fact that nearly half her face was severely scarred. Or, rather, it had more or less melted, along with all the hair on that side of her head. She was always alone, and I never saw her talk to anyone. Members of my platoon had seen her before but had never really acknowledged her. Then, on one especially crowded day in the chow hall, she sat down next to us.

We were already halfway through our meals when she arrived. After a minute or two of eating in silence, one of my friends stabbed his spoon violently into his pile of mashed potatoes and left it there.
‘Man, I can’t eat like this,’ he said.
‘Like what?’ I said. ‘Chow hall food getting to you?’

‘No–with that fucking freak behind us!’ he exclaimed, loud enough for not only her to hear us, but everyone at the surrounding tables. I looked over at the woman, and she was intently staring into each forkful of food before it entered her half-melted mouth.
‘Are you kidding? I think she’s fucking hot!’ I blurted out.
“What?” said my friend, half-smiling.
‘Yeah man,’ I continued. ‘I love chicks that have been intimate–with IEDs. It really turns me on–melted skin, missing limbs, plastic noses … .’

‘You’re crazy, man!’ my friend said, doubling over with laughter. I took it as my cue to continue.
‘In fact, I was thinking of getting some girls together and doing a photo shoot. Maybe for a calendar? IED Babes.’ We could have them pose in thongs and bikinis on top of the hoods of their blown-up vehicles.’
My friend was practically falling out of his chair laughing. The disfigured woman slammed her cup down and ran out of the chow hall, her half-finished tray of food nearly falling to the ground.”

It doesn’t end there. What is most compelling about this article are not the shocking descriptions of the terrible things soldiers have done, but how this particular soldier, Beauchamp, felt as he was taking part in or witnessing something he considered monstrous. It’s not entirely surprising to me that he has a conscience, what was shocking was that his conscience was seemingly being chipped away at, day after day, and though he was completely aware of it, it didn’t seem to change his actions.

“Am I a monster? I have never thought of myself as a cruel person. Indeed, I have always had compassion for those with disabilities. I once worked at a summer camp for developmentally disabled children, and, in college, I devoted hours every week to helping a student with cerebral palsy perform basic tasks like typing, eating, and going to the bathroom. Even as I was reveling in the laughter my words had provoked, I was simultaneously horrified and ashamed at what I had just said. In a strange way, though, I found the shame comforting. I was relieved to still be shocked by my own cruelty–to still be able to recognize that the things we soldiers found funny were not, in fact, funny.”

Beauchamp defends what he said, and defends the things he allows to happen by remembering a time when he actually cared and had compassion. Clearly the care and compassion is gone. He recalls those times as though they are very far away, as though he cannot believe he once did those good deeds, just as he cannot believe the deeds he is doing now. He is “relieved to still be shocked” — he knows that to laugh is wrong, but the fact that he knows he is wrong is relief enough to keep laughing. To me it seems a vicious circle.

Beauchamp goes on to describe two more memories of his time in Iraq. One recounts digging into the ground and finding children’s graves — finding piles of clothes and eventually bones. He describes one incident in which a fellow soldier decided to don a child’s skull:

“It even had chunks of hair, which were stiff and matted down with dirt. He squealed as he placed it on his head like a crown. It was a perfect fit. As he marched around with the skull on his head, people dropped shovels and sandbags, folding in half with laughter. No one thought to tell him to stop. No one was disgusted. Me included.”

Not disgusted? How sad. Just reading about it disgusts me. I suppose I should consider myself lucky — and so should you — that I am disgusted by a child’s skull being worn by a man who couldn’t give a shit about the life, or death, of that child.

The next incident is of a soldier who drives Bradley Fighting Vehicles “because it gave him the opportunity to run things over.” The soldier driving the vehicles had a particular interest in running over dogs. He even keeps tabs on how many dogs he hits per day. Beauchamp recalls with sickening detail each dog he saw killed, run over, sometimes cut in half by the heavy armored vehicle.

“Funny? Of course not. But many of my friends were laughing anyway. That is how war works: It degrades every part of you, and your sense of humor is no exception.”

This is where Beauchamp gets me. We can all say with great ease, “if I were in Iraq I would never do something like that. Ever. I would never laugh at that woman. I would never wear someone’s skull or laugh at someone who did.” Or, “I would never take joy in running over innocent animals.”

But the fact is, no matter how good a person you are, war can destroy you from the inside out. In war, I imagine there are very few things that will give you a laugh. I’m not attempting to defend what Beauchamp wrote about, but I am trying to understand it. We are, after all, going to have many many Beauchamp’s returning to this country soon, shocked and unable to deal with years of instances like these (and much worse). Though Beauchamp was aware that what he was doing and saying, and what his fellow soldiers were doing and saying, was wrong, he continued to go along with it. He participated in it, encouraged it. His piece describes ” one soldier’s view of events in Iraq” and it is for this reason that what he writes is so incredibly important.

There are some soldiers who really do like killing, who like war. It’s unfortunate, but true. There are those who hate war, who will do anything to avoid killing another human being, and who do not run over dogs but adopt them instead. There are those who do their best to obey both their orders and their conscience. I have a feeling, though, that the majority of soldiers in Iraq are just as Beauchamp described them — they laugh at “IED Broads,” skulls of children that fit perfectly onto their heads, or even running over dogs, and while they still have some understanding that what they are doing is wrong, they just can’t stop themselves.

The final lines of the piece are these:

“‘Did you run over dogs before the war, back in Indiana?’ I asked him.
‘No,’ he replied, and looked at me curiously. Almost as if the question itself was in poor taste.”

MONICA LLOYD, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: You’ve made it to the halfway point of the week with CNN Student News. I’m Monica Lloyd. A casualty of war: Hear the story of an Iraqi boy who’s determined to persevere despite the hardships he’s suffered in his war-torn country. A prediction of the weather: Find out what might be in store for this year’s hurricane season and what you can do to make sure you’re prepared. And a change in cabs: The mayor of the Big Apple announces a plan to turn the city’s fleet of famous yellow taxis green.

Iraq: Children of War

LLOYD: When you hear news about the war in Iraq, it might be hard to imagine what it’s like to experience the conditions there. But there are people your age who live their lives surrounded by the conflict every day. The United Nations says nearly 15 percent of Iraq’s population has fled their homes since the war started in 2003, and half of that group is made up of kids. UNICEF, the U.N.’s children’s organization, is looking to provide aid to Iraqi boys and girls, and the organization says $42 million is needed to help them get access to classrooms and health care. Cal Perry has the story of one young casualty of the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAL PERRY, CNN REPORTER: Boys being boys, playing soccer. But these teenagers in Fallujah are the lucky ones. Though, on this pitch, “luck” is relative. Twelve-year-old Mohammed can no longer play his favorite sport. He lost his leg to a car bomb. His seven-year-old cousin lost her life. The two were together, preparing for Friday prayers last October when, in an instant, their lives changed forever.

MOHAMMED, 12 YEARS OLD: I don’t remember anything, because I fainted and was taken to hospital. Before that I remember everything going pitch black. My cousin died instantly. I still hear her screams before she became a martyr.

PERRY: Now Mohammed is learning how to negotiate the streets of his war-torn neighborhood on one leg, learning to walk all over again. He visits his cousin Hajr’s grave every other day, watering the flowers, keeping her memory alive. Mohammed’s way of dealing with his loss.

MOHAMMED: This is my cousin’s grave. She died a martyr in the incident. I come here always and give her water, water her. Every other day I visit her. I feel pain when I think of her. Every time I remember her we cry.

PERRY: As he makes his way from the cemetery to school, he hobbles through piles of devastation, an everyday struggle to persevere in the hope of a better tomorrow.

MOHAMMED: Despite all that happened to me, and no matter what happens, I will never leave my school. I will never leave school and, God willing, I will continue my education and become an architect and build all schools.

PERRY: Mohammed prays for a better day. Mohamed is one of the lucky ones. Thousands of children have been killed in this war, and with the ongoing violence and chaos overwhelming both security forces and health workers, there is no telling how this war really affects the children of Iraq. Cal Perry, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)