Random Acts of Logic

What We Know About Abiogenesis (So Far)

2009-09-18T00:05:00.004-04:00

This is one of the better abiogenesis videos that I'm aware of. Do not confuse it with evolution, as that is the mechanism for the diversity of species, not the chain of events leading from organic chemicals to the first life. This is what abiogenesis is. Remember, we know that with the Earth's composition at the time, we have already proven in the lab that we can go all the way from the basic elements through amino acids. Hint: Amino acids are the building blocks of DNA. Think we're nowhere near figuring this out? We don't need pixie dust or anything else supernatural to fill in these gaps any more, so why should we? I only ask if you are going to comment and argue with what I or the video say, at least WATCH it all the way through! If you have a similar video with an opposing viewpoint that you want ME to watch and/or critique, let me know and I will do my best with it!

Hilarious little completely unrelated clip:

Jeremiah Wright Had NOTHING On This Pastor!

2009-08-27T00:30:00.002-04:00

I found this on youtube today. Insane. It speaks for itself, but the craziest part is the actual speech by the pastor on tape.

What Do I Think Of Obama's First Few Months

2009-04-22T11:25:00.001-04:00

This is a response I sent to one of my few "theocon" friends on FaceBook to that question:

In terms of social issues, he got rid of the Mexico City doctrine, which no Democrat ever supports anyway, so that was no surprise. Other than that, and potential Supreme Court openings, I don't think abortion is going to come up much. That issue loses ground in terms of importance in every successive election. I don't even hear Rs talking about it much any more.

Guns, I don't think Obama wants it anywhere near the top of his agenda, but some D Senators want to bring it up now. Personally, I think it's a bad idea to make this an issue. Obama might be forced to deal with it though because of his own party.

Gay marriage, public opinion is shifting toward allowing it, despite religious groups managing to defeat it in CA through a landslide of cash and advertising in 2008. Even many conservatives now see it as either state's rights or as a decision to made by individuals. VT now has it legislatively, IA too I believe, and DC and NY look poised to follow suit. It's really only a matter of time before more states adopt it. This is an issue too that cuts across age lines more than anything. Younger people of all stripes are more accepting of it, so over time it will shift even more. I don't think Obama personally is going to get involved in most of it. Theocons have already lost this fight in the long term, but they don't appear to realize this, nor do they seem to realize that this is an issue that is driving young people away from social conservatism that might otherwise be sympathetic.

As far as dealing with enemies, he is handling things just how I want him to and how he said he would. He will engage with these countries, maybe even with a smile, but he's not giving them concessions. Maybe we'll gain some useful knowledge about them. The big stick doesn't mean much if you wave it constantly, and W was always doing that. He obviously will use some force where needed, like with the pirates, so he'll do what he has to do, but won't be landing on an aircraft carrier to flaunt it. We're already re-connecting with our allies, which is excellent as well.

For the financial crisis, he is taking bold action and a lot of action. I do have some serious reservations about the cost. It sounds like he recognizes that this can't be an all the time thing, and that as the economy improves, we have to get the budget back on track. He appears ready to make some cuts. I'm curious about how that will turn out. He needed to take bold action, and he did, but now he needs to pull back on the spending for next year, so we'll see how that goes. The bank situation seems to be improving slightly, but we have a ways to go yet.

So, that's what I think. Got all that? *:-)

Wow, it's been that long???

2009-03-11T13:07:00.002-04:00

Yes, it looks like it's been a few months since I've blogged at all! Dave Bones, I took a glance at RWS' site but didn't see what you referred to. I do see the usual belly-aching but not really sure that I have the time or the will to wade into that right now. I just got back from a business trip to northern California. I am incredibly tired, but I am back to working at home, which is a relief.

What Is An Electronic Cigarette???

2008-12-02T10:04:00.003-05:00

I'm not a smoker, so maybe that's why I'm missing the charms of this product. Apparently it's a metal shell of a cigarette that makes water vapor instead of smoke, and looks like a cigarette. I saw this advertising on a computer game site, of all places!

From their website: "Smoking Everywhere E-Cigarette has no tobacco, no tar, no real smoke and no other chemicals like traditional cigarette that can cause lung cancer. However, It looks like a real cigarette, feels like a real cigarette and tastes like a real cigarette, yet it isn’t a real cigarette... It is also cheaper and healthier than real cigarettes!!!"

Wow, *electronic* smoking looks really glamorous!

Who Is This "Other" Erik Grow And Who Is Looking For Me?

2008-11-20T12:33:00.003-05:00

My name is very rare. First off, there aren't very many people with my last name around. Coincidentally, there was one in my same class in elementary and middle school, but we were not related. There was also one in college, Lisa Grow, who I knew of, and finally met a couple days before graduating. Combine that with my Scandinavian spelling of the name "Erik", and I wouldn't expect that there are very many of me around with the exact same name. Several years ago, in the dawn of the Google Age, I checked around for other Erik Grows, and I found another! He was in California, around the same age as me, and apparently a photographer. I emailed him and he seemed like a nice guy. He seemed surprised as well that there was another with the same name around. I notice that quite a few people find my blog by looking for "Erik Grow" in a Google search, but almost nobody posts here that finds me that way. (Nine of the first ten search results as of right now are me, I believe.) Maybe it's people that haven't bookmarked my blog. Who knows? Anyway, the other Erik Grow is here.

Travel Enriches My Life

2008-11-13T21:33:00.005-05:00

My wife and I love to travel. Since we've been together, we've been to many cities in North America, including San Francisco, Savannah, Las Vegas, Toronto, Charlotte, and Orlando. We've been to Europe three times, visiting Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia. Next year, we hope to take a trip to eastern Europe, as finances allow. As long as our jobs are still safe, which so far they seem to be, then we should be on our way!

I love to travel overseas because it's just so fascinating to see how other people around the world live. I listen to the languages, even if I don't understand them. I observe the people and culture. I take in the sights, and take lots of pictures. Two of our three trips have been escorted tours, but with plenty of free time to explore on our own. Both times we have taken such trips, we have been the youngest on the tour, but traveling with retirees is fun too. It's kind of like having lots of grandparents with us! It's fun when we are on our own walking around a foreign city and a local asks us a question in their native language. That happened to us twice in Stockholm, my maternal grandfather's city of origin! (No, we had not idea where the nearest gas station was, as it turned out.) Apparently we blended in so much that they couldn't tell the difference, which to me is a compliment. You won't catch us walking around in Hawaiian shirts and fanny packs!

It's great to have that international perspective. It doesn't diminish my appreciation for the good old US of A, but traveling reminds me that there are some really amazing countries out there that if I had been born there instead, I am sure I would have been just as happy. I am actually off to visit my sister and her boyfriend on the east coast of Florida tomorrow morning and won't be back until Monday. I may blog a little between then and now, but may not. Here are some of my favorite pics from my travels to enjoy until then.

Tallin, the capital of Estonia.

Helsinki, the capital of Finland.

A mountain goat in the Swiss Alps.

Lucerne, Switzerland, from the top of the Medieval wall around part of the city.

Beginner's Guides To Evolution

2008-11-11T20:33:00.005-05:00

My slightly crazy friend from Mississippi mentioned evolution in his comments. I'm not sure if this is something that he really wants to go toe to toe with me on, but hey, I'm game and it's been years since I have talked about the topic here. Also, while it is contentious to some people that refuse to believe science, it is not really political, so it's a nice diversion.

First off, understand a couple things about evolution.

1. There is no "controversy" about evolution in the worldwide scientific community. This question was largely settled over a hundred ago, and with the addition of modern scientific tools, the complete fossil record, and genetic sequencing, all of which have validated it, it is now considered to be scientific fact by those that study it. Serious research scientists realize that there will always be people that don't believe it on some kind of ideological grounds. They realize that it is a waste of time to try to convince people that simply oppose it for ideological reasons. Those that believe that evolution and religion are an either/or thing will always pick religion and find something to justify it. I am entertaining the subject as if there is some doubt.

2. Evolution is difficult to explain to someone that does not have a very solid grasp of basic biology. Without basic knowledge of biology, it will be very easy to dismiss it as making no sense. There are many, many helpful videos on youtube on the subject though, some of which I will introduce to you here. In return, if there is a video you want me to view that shows the opposing side, post it here and I'd be happy to take a look. I have found that most people that do not believe evolution to be true also do not have a good understanding of what it is, and the mechanisms behind it.

This first video is a very small portion of this complete video that is nearly two hours long. The short clip deals specifically with the genetic differences between humans and chimps. This is brand new research that was just confirmed in the last few years through genetic sequencing. It was one of the final "objections" brought up by the anti-evolution people, and now even that does not exist for them. The speaker is Ken Miller, a practicing Catholic, and one of the scientists that testified at the Dover Trial in Pennsylvania in 2005. I highly recommend "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" if you have Netflix.

This is a debunking of some creationist myths by someone else on youtube. He is quite good, and there are a couple others on youtube that are equally thorough. He is a biology graduate student in NC, and again is a practicing Christian, one of many who do not believe that evolution and religion are in conflict.

Artificially Flavored Apples?

2008-11-08T10:21:00.004-05:00

So, my wife Chris and I were at the store last night, doing our usual Friday night grocery shopping at Wegmans. In the produce section, I saw these apples called "Grapples". On the box it says to pronounce it "GRAPE-L". I had seen these before, and they are always in plastic containers, instead of just loose like the other apples. They claim that these apples taste like grapes, so I decided to give them a try. I smelled them through the packaging to see if they smelled different, and they smelled impossibly sweet, like candy! They smelled like grape-flavored "Jolly Rancher" candy. Chris didn't think they smelled good at all, too sweet, but I thought they would probably be tasty because I have a world-renowned sweet tooth. Ridiculously sweet apples, one of the many wonders of modern genetics! Then, when we were standing in line at the checkout, I took a closer look at the package. "Artificial grape flavoring added." WHAT??? They injected the apples with flavoring and probably lots of corn syrup and other stuff??? I am pretty sure I get my USRDA of corn syrup from other foods already, so I put them back instead of buying them. Apparently according to their website, there is no sugar added, just flavoring and a little water, but the fact that they are injecting stuff into the apples was surprising enough for me to put them back! Maybe I'll try them next time when I'm feeling a little more adventurous, or have gotten a little more used to the idea. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to figure out how I can make cucumbers taste like oranges. Wish me luck.

What Are Right-Wingers Made Of?

2008-11-06T19:15:00.010-05:00

Sugar and spice and everything nice? Well, I haven't exactly found that to be true. Let's just say that some are much spicier than others! Certainly though some are very decent people, and as interested as I am in getting to the bottom of this country's policy challenges. I've mentioned recently my "travels" at Rightwingsparkle, a conservative blog run by a self-described "theocon", a middle-aged wife and mother of five near Houston, Texas. First, a little background about how I arrived there. I wandered over there at the same time I started this blog, at a time in early 2005 when Republicans in general and much more alarming to me, religious conservatives specifically, were suddenly flexing their political muscle. The rest of us hadn't quite gotten "good and tired" enough to do something about it, namely vote against it. Certainly they seemed to think they knew how we should all conduct our lives, so I decided to try and understand them better. Little did I know that the seeds of their decline had already been sown, with the Schiavo case happening at that time, to be followed by more unpopular over-reaching. Disasters, scandals, and more policy blunders led to the 2006 election, effectively ending Bush's political clout. Then Barack Obama was elected President of the United States two days ago.

In a way I'm kind of glad that I didn't know that it would all unravel so quickly when I started blogging in 2005, because if I had, I wouldn't have been so concerned, wouldn't have felt compelled to make my voice heard through blogging, and wouldn't have reached out to communicate and debate with conservatives. I'm better off for having had the experience, and I will continue to do so in a more limited capacity. I am however quite disappointed at some aspects of my experience there, especially during the last couple months. I learned that there are some people in the world that are so ruled by politics that they literally cannot look past it to see a fellow human being. There are actually commenters there that refused to even associate with me outside of that blog when politely offered. There were others that cursed at me, called me part of the "culture of death", and all kinds of other bizarre and creative names, along with unfounded character attacks on my personality and lifestyle just because I disagreed with them politically. The venom itself never bothered me, and I did my best to never sink to their level, but I must admit that the very fact that this sort of behavior is acceptable to so many people that are supposed to have excellent morals made my jaw drop at times. I find it truly sad that so many of these people exist.

In short, I went there for respectful debate, and there has been not much of that for some time now. They are upset about what has happened, and I'm just another target at this point. Even the hostess used to be more positive from time to time, even uplifting every now and then. I still very much respect her as a person, but more and more her posts seem to be about tearing someone else down, and the outrage is very palpable. Even on the night of the historic election, she put up a post calling for "resistance" to a man that has not yet even taken office, with a picture equating him with a mindless machine from the Terminator movies. I truly hope politics is not unwittingly turning her into that same machine, because she is really not that person. Post-election she seems to have softened a bit, and is posting about right to life issues and religion. No matter how careful I am to be respectful though, abortion debates on that site just get uglier and uglier, so I won't say a lot on the subject. I am not afraid of going toe to toe with people on this issue, and I have numerous times in the past, but I no longer feel the need to subject myself to the anger and outrage. I can take it, but it just isn't worth it to me any more.

So, I will be pulling back a great deal from her site, at least for now, and maybe for longer. I have many, many interests outside of politics, and now that the election is over, it's time I turned my attention to them. I will check in and say hello every now and then I'm sure, but it is unlikely that I will ever participate there to that level again. Perhaps I will stop into Mark Goluskin's "Right View from the Left Coast" from time to time once political season comes back around. He's a theocon too, and his blog is less traveled, but he seems to be interested in discussing the whole range of issues that face us in a more analytical way, and that's important to me. Meanwhile, I'll continue blogging and I'll be mixing a lot of my other interests into my blog as this historic election fades into, well... history.

Alaska Itself Is The Political "Bridge To Nowhere"

2008-11-05T11:58:00.008-05:00

First Sarah Palin almost single-handedly destroys the small chances that Republicans have of winning the presidency this year. Then, Republican Senator Ted Stevens is convicted of corruption charges a couple weeks before his re-election bid, (but he WINS his seat anyway). Don Young, the state's Republican at-large house member also has huge ethics challenges (but also wins anyway). Is it something in the water? Maybe in the snow? Thanks a lot Alaska! You provided some much needed comic relief for this campaign and you helped Obama win the election.

*wink* *wink*

You played your part. Now please, please fade away back into obscurity again. The sooner the better.

"You betcha!"

It's not that we don't love you. We do, really we do. We love you SO much in fact that we gave you your governor back. It's the least we could do.

"Say it ain't so, Joe!"

No, I'm afraid it very much is so. Oh, that reminds me... I know he's not from Alaska, but feel free to take Joe the Plumber with you.

Joe the quarter million dollar a year plumber. (I'm in the wrong profession.)

I'm looking forward to no more moose jokes...EVER...

The bridge to nowhere would have been here.

The Exclamation Point On The End Of The Bush Years

2008-11-05T01:02:00.002-05:00

I'm exhausted, but extremely happy, and I'm going to bed! More tomorrow. Virginia is blue, Obama wins, Democrats make gains in the House, Senate, and governorships. We did it!!!

Volunteering In Virginia For Obama

2008-11-04T17:29:00.003-05:00

I arrived at my polling place this morning to vote at 8:54 AM. I had voted and was driving to the local Obama Headquarters at 9:04 AM. The lines were about an hour before work when my wife voted, but by the time I had gotten there, the lines had cleared out. I found it interesting that this time there were electronic voting machines AND paper ballots, and they asked every voter what they preferred. I just went with the touch screen.

Minutes later I was at Obama HQ. I was handed a cell phone and a list of names to call. These lists were confirmed Obama supporters, so they were easy. Some people were happy to hear from me, a sign that we really are that strong to have a solid ground game in VA this year. Most people were not home at all, but later in the day we got clearance to start leaving messages for them. The office was very busy, and as the morning and then the afternoon wore on, it went from a dozen to a couple dozen, to more like thirty people, some of them going to do "line duty", making sure that people had refreshments or umbrellas if they had to wait in the rain. It did start to rain in the middle of the afternoon, but not a lot.

It was great to see all of the volunteers. They were from all walks of life, and every age and race. One guy's wife works for Senator Biden. Another one works for Senator Boxer in CA and has been to several swing states.

Virginia's polls close at 7PM. That is very early, one of the earliest in the country. It's a disadvantage for Democrats because traffic is very bad in our northern VA stronghold. It would be nice to have them close at 8PM instead. I also don't like that some polling places can't have much of the line indoors and out of the weather. Despite the rain, it's not too cold today, so I suppose that's something to be thankful for.

I'll be watching the counties in VA that vote this time and the margins compared to those same counties in 2004. If Obama inches closer in ones that Kerry lost in 2004 and turnout is as high as expected in northern VA, it will not take long to be able to read those tea leaves. My nightmare? Obama wins the popular vote and loses the electoral vote. My best possible outcome dream? A comfortable victory.

Off I Go

2008-11-04T08:39:00.002-05:00

OK, I'm going to go vote and volunteer now. I'm taking little video clips every now and then. I have heard there is going to be rain in some battleground states. Here in northern VA it's just overcast. Normally that is thought to favor Republicans, but with many more Democrats actually EXCITED about the candidate this time, I'm not sure if that doesn't work in our favor. By the way, I love how Republicans knock Obama for being so popular among Democrats. Republicans WISH McCain were that popular. Half are voting for McCain, and half are just scared to death of Obama by some of the right-wing character assassins.

Anyway, enough of that. It's time for the rubber to meet the road. Let's do this, America. Vote Obama.

Thoughts On The Final Hours Before Election 2008

2008-11-03T11:04:00.004-05:00

I feel like I've been holding my breath for the last couple weeks. Now, just to be clear, I have always been confident for the past several weeks that Obama was ahead of McCain, and that "if the election were to be held today" that Obama would win. What I have always been nervous about though was some last-second "October Surprise" (or November Surprise), that somehow turned the tables. At this point, we are at around noon on the day before election day and the time for a big surprise, planned or otherwise, is rapidly running out. It may be too late even if there was one, therefore I am increasingly confident.

I am really looking forward to volunteering for the Obama campaign tomorrow! I have never done that before, and it should be an experience to remember. This is a year of firsts for me for politics. I also gave $100 to the campaign several weeks ago, which is a first for me as well.

My final prediction is Obama wins 311 electoral votes, including all Kerry and/or Gore states, plus VA, CO, OH, and NV. I think the rest of the red states will all go barely to McCain. If there is one of the remaining states that I think we have a decent shot at, it's Florida. If there's one we may lose from the list, it's OH. I don't understand the Republican plans to take PA. That's a play by necessity due to scarce resources. PA won't take long to call for Obama. I also think Obama will win 51.2 percent of the popular vote, which would put him at about 3.5% more than McCain at 47.7 percent, about a point more margin than Bush's margin in 2004.

I want to hear your predictions. What are your predictions for the popular vote and the electoral vote? More importantly, WHY do you think it will be the result?

Why McCain Should Have Trusted His Instincts

2008-10-31T12:14:00.005-04:00

From electoral-vote.com is a very insightful piece about how McCain was convinced to turn to the right during the general election. He still may win, but it looks like this move will cost him every blue state and perhaps more. McCain should have trusted his instincts about how to run as not just another Republican in a cycle where the brand was badly damaged. Most of the base was going to come home to roost with him one way or another. If you were looking at the electoral map on that site prior to the Palin pick, you would have seem that McCain's support was weak in some red states, but he was still leading in nearly all of them. In several blue states he was also leading, tied, or at least very competitive! For this cycle, he really did have a very good chance if he had navigated his message and direction prudently. He still has a chance now, but if he manages to win, it will be by the slimmest of margins and with the most Democratic Congress in decades.

From the site: "A new NY Times/CBS poll shows that 59% of the voters feel that Sarah Palin is not qualified to be Vice President, let alone President. These people question McCain's ability to pick qualified people for his administration. The ironic thing is that the choice of Palin was probably forced on him by Steve Schmidt. McCain barely knew her (he met her once for 15 minutes), whereas he has traveled extensively with his long-time good friend Joe Lieberman. The choice of Lieberman would have enhanced McCain's maverick status, shown that he was willing to buck his own party ("Country first") and given the ticket an experienced politician who most people feel could be President (as demonstrated by polling in 2000). Schmidt undoubtedly told McCain that the base wouldn't accept him due to his pro-choice stance on abortion. The old McCain would have said: "Screw the base" to Schmidt, but McCain V2.0 did what he was told. If McCain loses, the conversation between McCain and Schmidt probably won't be real friendly."

Best... Kool-Aid... EVER!!!

2008-10-30T23:05:00.004-04:00

I expound a bit more on the last couple weeks of right-wing screeching on my favorite blog where I am among the small but vocal resident opposition. This, combined with some cultural references, make up my newest video blog entry! Enjoy.

John Stewart Needs No Introduction

2008-10-29T22:28:00.002-04:00

This is an object lesson on why Republicans shouldn't be given any power again until they get their heads back on straight. I laughed SO hard, despite the fright factor.

Oh, and don't forget Libby Dole's new ad against Kay Hagan in the NC Senate race. This is BRAND new. I didn't really care that much about this race before. Sure, I would have liked to see Kagan win anyway, but hell, now I REALLY want to see it! Nobody should be able to get away with this nonsense. Nobody.

Why Right-Wing Character Attacks Are Now Irrelevant

2008-10-28T17:50:00.002-04:00

I posted this as comments on another blog, but realized it was so wordy that I should probably post it here. It is basically an explanation of why I DO understand all of these attacks on Obama's associations and why I still think they are largely irrelevant. I do believe associations taken as a WHOLE can give some insight into character, yes. I also know that Republicans will try and find the handful of people, no matter how tangentially related to Obama's universe of people, that are tainted in some way. They're not going to find a list of the several hundred or so people that are closest to him and do a really balanced assessment of who has had the most impact on his life because they are not going to help them make the case they are trying to make. So, we know their task is to disqualify him on the basis of being a radical and to do that they need to cherry-pick his associations, no matter how misleading the technique used. If you believe what the right-wingers say, then Rezko, Ayers, and a few other people were his best buddies and closest confidants. Aside from Wright who probably knew Obama better than the others, this just doesn't hold water and it's clear that people are not buying it. They want people to look at 1% of the story and think it's 100%. It isn't working and it shouldn't work.

I believe the stuff that Reverend Wright said is of course way way off base. Unfortunately there is a segment of the population that believes in that AIDS conspiracy nonsense, or even that HIV isn't really what causes AIDS. It's ridiculous of course, but Wright used it to play to some portion of who he thought his target audience was. Some people enjoy being victims. On a side note, I actually believe that a great side effect of a President Obama could be that nobody will have an excuse to not achieve any more. No more excuses. What higher barrier is left than leader of the free world? I am very big on pulling yourself up out of defeatism and self-inflicted malaise. I want a tax code that is geared toward encouraging people to get to the middle class, but not punishing the rich. If 3% more on the top 5% of earners is considered socialist, well, we've had dozens of socialist presidents already then.

I also don't think Obama was a particularly frequent attender of Wright's church. Certainly he was a friend, and people can forgive a lot of faults in a friend. I have friends that I think are half-crazy, and if I ran for office, people might dredge them up, but I know they are good people underneath it all. This spotty church attendance may undercut his "Christian credentials" a bit, but of course most Dems, while around 3/4 of us or so are Christian, don't really care about that in a candidate. I wouldn't even care if he was Muslim or if he was atheist, or agnostic, but I believe he is Christian as he says. Do I honestly think Obama knew the stuff Wright was saying? I don't think he was there to hear the "God Damn America" thing or the AIDS rant. I *certainly* don't think Obama would ever say or even believe to any extent what Wright said about America or about AIDS. I'm not even sure that Wright believes it, but he might. Wright may well have been playing to what he thought the crowd wanted to hear. The bottom line is, if I thought that Obama had heard that speech and was OK with it, or believed these things himself, then I would have a serious problem with Obama. If I thought he had directed Acorn to commit registration fraud, or if I thought he agreed with Ayers' use of violence to achieve a political goal, then ALL of those things would cause me to reconsider. Short of that, and we are far short of that, I believe the country will be better off with Obama leading it, and I will be voting and volunteering in Virginia for his campaign on November 4th.

The Completely Meaningless Quote Of The Day Is...

2008-10-26T21:12:00.005-04:00

...this doozy from Leslie Sanchez, a Republican strategist on CNN.

"SANCHEZ: Look at the Reuters/C-Span/Zogby poll came out last night or basically early this morning, shows within five points, that John McCain is closing that gap with incomes of $35,000 and higher.If he can continue to maintain that, and even if you look at the fact you take out California and New York out of that, you look at the other 48 states, it is really probably closer to dead even. This is still a competitive race. And before people are writing the eulogies, I think you need to focus on the positives."

Emphasis mine obviously. I know it's just silly campaign-speak, but I just had to laugh at that. What in the world does that even mean??? Sure, if we toss out around 17% or so of the entire country's population whose electoral votes will certainly go for Obama, we just might win! While we're playing the "what-if" game, heck, can we just toss out Texas and Georgia? I guess if we gave Texas back to Mexico, immediately making W the President of Mexico, and then Georgia suddenly sunk into the ocean, then McCain might not even get 100 electoral votes! I think some of these commentators are going to be squirming for the next 9 days to try to make things interesting.

One Word: Brilliant

2008-10-26T00:40:00.002-04:00

The guys from the Budweiser commercials from 8 years ago reprise their roles in a new ad. This is some weird combination of heartbreakingly on target with the satire, and brutally hilarious. Thanks Dave Bones for bringing this one to my attention.

The Many Phases Of A Conservative Blog This Election

2008-10-24T17:00:00.002-04:00

The tone on my "favorite" conservative blog that is lately a borderline asylum where I like to go to argue with right-wingers, has gone through several phases over the last several months. This is similar to a comment I posted there today, and thought it was interesting enough to be posted and expanded on a little here. The phases have been as follows:

1. In the primaries, Rightwingsparkle is all for McCain. Most other commenters are against McCain and want a more jowly, disagreeable arch-conservative type like Fred Thompson, or a slick fiscal conservative like Romney, or a religious rightie like Huckabee. Rightwingsparkle is *correct* that McCain was the only Republican with much of a chance this cycle, but many commenters don't want to hear it.

2. After McCain wins the primary, Rightwingsparkle tries to convince everyone to vote for him even though he wasn't far right enough for many people here. Some of her commenters make her look like a centrist, and that's very, very difficult.

3. Palin is picked, and everyone goes wild. McCain jumps in the polls at first and everyone loves her. Rightwingsparkle goes through the roof with McCain/Palin love and donates up to the max of $2,300 to his campaign that day. (Hopefully that paid for some of Palin's $150,000 "populist" wardrobe.)

4. Palin gets a little exposure. Whoops, put her back on the talking points quick! The dreaded mainstream media is blamed for her inability to put two coherent sentences together. How dare they ask what newspapers she reads!

5. Economic crisis hits, McCain parachutes into DC, says he won't debate, but then does anyway. Obama gains traction and wins debates according to debate viewers. Rightwingsparkle and her commenters blame the media, SNL, moderators, Democrats, Hollywood, and sunspots, but never McCain himself or his performance for any of this. What ever happened to the "party of personal responsibility"?

6. McCain campaign announces they're going negative on character issues in the middle of a financial crisis. Her blog follows suit the same day. All we hear about is Ayers, Acorn, and Wright for weeks. Everyone forgets what McCain's platform actually is. People eventually get tired of the attacks. This is reflected in the polls. Rightwingsparkle and her commenters blame the media. Again. Who else's fault could it be that people think the attacks are way over the top, right?

7. Today we have 11 days to go. Now it's all about generalized fear. Today Obama is supposedly a power-hungry egomaniac that will let everyone get nukes. Yesterday his supporters were tearing up the country, attacking McCain supporters and shooting up people's houses. (Well well, that was a hoax by a McCain supporter, as I had suspected!) Tomorrow she'll probably say that Obama will be collecting your guns. Once you call a guy a socialist and friend to terrorists, almost everything seems like fair game, doesn't it? The Republicans have finally and completely lost their compass. Help them go through their period of introspection that they so desperately need to find it again. Vote Obama.

"Pro-America" And "Real Virginia"

2008-10-22T20:45:00.004-04:00

Those wacky McCain surrogates are at it again. These are just from the last couple days. Yes, silly season continues in earnest!

Here's Nancy and her "Real Virginia" comment. I live about ten miles from where she lives. The McCain campaign had better tell me where I'm supposed to vote since if I don't live in real Virginia, I need to know where to go vote for Obama! She also has no clue where the northern VA population explosion has come from. It's mostly transplanted northerners like me, and first generation Americans that are here working in the tech sector (I am also in the tech sector), not DC residents moving outward. Nancy, for someone that lives here, you're utterly clueless.

Here's Palin and her "Pro-America" comment. I will at least give her credit for apologizing for this gaffe a day or two later.

This moron, Robin Hayes of North Carolina, in electoral trouble himself to keep his House seat, is in big trouble over this one. Liberals apparently hate people that work, achieve, and believe in God, according to him. He denied saying it at first, and then the audio came out. Whoops!

John McCain And Mike Nolan Both "Running Out Of Real Estate"

2008-10-21T15:40:00.001-04:00

I think I've heard almost every possible football reference in this campaign. John McCain is throwing hail marys. It's fourth and long for McCain. Obama is at the goal line. McCain kicked a field goal. There is only one footballism that seems to apply now. Sometimes when a running back runs to the left or right, and they are trying to get around the defense to get going straight ahead, they "run out of real estate" when they get to the sidelines before they can turn the corner. This is McCain's problem right now. In past elections, when the Republican brand wasn't so toxic, they could go right at the Democrats, right up the middle, and have as good a chance of making the yards that they need as not making them. This time, McCain is being forced to do an end around. All Democrats have to do is keep containment so he has to stick as close to the regular Republican message as possible, or just string him along toward the sidelines and out of bounds after he goes negative. Either way, he looks more and more like Bush and the conservative movement that has brought us the last eight years, and without an October surprise, it's going to be nearly impossible for him. It's too bad for McCain that his campaign has been so horrible, because I used to think McCain had some honor before the right wing of his own party boxed him into a nearly unwinnable position.

The election is now 14 days away. All of the debates are over. Obama and Biden are four for four on winning the debates according to all polls, and they are up about four to eight points in the polls, depending on which poll you like. Obama is winning comfortably in all of the states Kerry won, plus Iowa and New Mexico which Gore won, and Virginia and Colorado that Bush won both times. If those other states don't change, McCain can't lose either VA or CO, or he loses. Oh, did I mention that Obama is also ahead in Bush states FL, OH, NV, and MO, and probably tied now in IN, and McCain can't afford to lose a single one of those either? It's not over. 14 days is a long time in politics, but I am no longer going to use the word "eternity". Better dig deeper in your barrel of slime, Johnny.

Oh, and in completely unrelated news, the coach of my favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers, just fired their head coach, Mike Nolan. I guess it was to be expected. When you go 18-37, not even winning a third of your games, it's hard to justify. He was hampered by poor talent for some of that time, but right now aside from the major exception of the quarterback and possibly wide receiver positions, I don't think they have any huge problems with talent. I guess we'll see what happens.

Colin Powell Endorses Obama

2008-10-19T22:46:00.002-04:00

In the greater context of the election, I don't think this is going to make a big difference, but on the margins it has the effect of being a positive news story for Obama. Now, it isn't any secret that Colin Powell was always uncomfortable with the social conservatives that are increasingly THE base of power in the Republican party. Powell was a Republican mostly on the basis of economic and foreign policy issues, and on the latter, the W administration burned him badly, costing him a great deal of his personal reputation. If you listen to the reasons for his backing Obama, they had as much to do with the direction the Republicans and now John McCain himself are veering off to as they did about Obama's traits, although he had plenty to say about both. Powell isn't switching parties, he is just calling the recent insanity from the far right what it is, and switching to someone that has it more together right now. You don't even need to consider race to find many, many other more plausible reasons for his decision.

It is sadly predictable how right-wing bloggers are spinning this as being a race thing, like Powell isn't strong enough to make up his own mind and it's somehow about brotherhood and nothing to do with issues. That is an extremely insulting thing to say about someone as accomplished as Powell. They did the same with Christopher Buckley, trying to find other external reasons for supporting Obama. They would never admit that maybe they know everything about the candidates and their positions, and feel that Obama would make a better President. The other narrative that some Republicans are pushing is that this is somehow not counting for much because Democrats revile him for his role in the run-up to the Iraq War. I can't speak for everyone, but I was never one of those Democrats. I always respected him and thought that he was the voice of reason in the W Administration.

Separated At Birth?

2008-10-19T12:21:00.006-04:00

Edited later to add: I KNOW this is totally silly and has nothing to do with issues or whatever, but when I first saw this picture, just before laughing really REALLY hard, I thought of Mister Burns from the Simpsons! It's OK Dave Bones, I haven't gone crazy yet. It's all in good fun. I should have framed it more good-naturedly to begin with. I'm smiling, really I am. You just can't see it from across the pond! (Do Brits call it "the pond" too?) Yes, they really are going ballistic at Sparkle's. I really think there are no lines any more. Whether they admit it or not, McCain's campaign has crossed lines of mud-slinging that have not been crossed before in presidential politics. Anyway, I am pulling back a bit from there. They are scared and there is too much free-floating anger. I'm already anxious enough about this election. I'm just waiting for something insane to happen to somehow save them as it is. I don't need more stress.

If Ann Coulter And Sarah Palin Could Have A Kid Together...

2008-10-18T14:25:00.004-04:00

...the result would be Michelle Bachmann. She has a little bit of the same type of look and the right-wing credentials certainly, and even has a bit of the Palin accent. I hadn't heard of Bachmann until a few months ago. She is a House member from Minnesota, and has been making the rounds as a surrogate for McCain for at least a few months. She is apparently also in some electoral doubt in her own race to keep her job, but it seems her district is Republican enough that she will hold on. This video may change things though.

The attacks from the McCain campaign and his surrogates are getting more brazen, more insane, and more furious. Fortunately, it's not working. I could hardly believe it when I heard about Bachmann's appearance on Hardball. She openly and publicly suspects Obama of being un-American. Well, isn't that nice. We're not talking about supposition here. She actually comes right out and says it! It's fascinating how the line has moved in terms of what is politically acceptable from the anti-Obama crowd. First it was openly accusing a US Senator of "palling around with terrorists", then it was openly accusing Obama of being a socialist, and now a US congresswoman openly suspects Obama of being "anti-American". What was that sound? Did you hear that? It was faint, delicate, and barely audible. You know what it was? It was McCain's last shred of dignity fluttering away, along with the last bit of respect that he has lost with me in the past few months. Seventeen more days and this ugliness should all be over with an Obama victory if there is any justice.

My First(ish) Video Blog

2008-10-17T23:27:00.003-04:00

I've done videos before, even video blogs, sort of, but this is the first one that I've actually embedded right into my blog. In this one, I talk a bit about my experiences arguing with right-wingers recently. I get a couple digs in on Spark and Jill, but it's all in good fun!

Joe The Plumber And Bob Schieffer Win The Debate!

2008-10-16T17:45:00.001-04:00

I thought the debate last night was the best one so far. Bob Schieffer did a fine job as moderator, and actually kept the candidates somewhat focused on the questions that were asked. Joe the Plumber had a big debate. There are lots of interesting tidbits that are now known about him. He voted McCain in the Ohio primaries. I am not shocked. You know what's even more interesting? It appears that even Joe the Plumber himself knows that Obama would not raise his taxes in his situation! Not that it will stop McCain from trying to use him as a bogus example. Here are the choice parts from that article.

In an interview afterward with WTOL, Wurzelbacher acknowledged that he'd still like to eventually buy the plumbing company he works for but that he wouldn't yet be hit by higher taxes.

"I want to set the record straight: Currently I would not fall into Barack Obama's $250,000-plus," he said. "But if I'm lucky in business and taxes don't go up then maybe I can grow the business and be in that tax bracket - well, let me rephrase it. Hopefully, that tax won't be there."

Hm, that wasn't the tune you were singing while you were on camera, Joe. So, maybe if you're really, really successful, and if you make more than $250,000 a year, you might have to pay 3% more on that amount over the 250K. Oh, what most people would do to have such problems, Joe! Go ahead and vote for McCain on silly hypotheticals if you want, but clearly you are smart enough to understand that Obama's plan won't hurt you at all, and will probably help you.

Here is the brand new Obama commercial. All of the funny faces that McCain made last night in the debate are on full display! They mean nothing in terms of their plans for the country of course, but personally, I think they cost McCain the perception of victory in the debate, because he had his best debate so far on the issues.

Taxes and "Wealth Redistribution"

2008-10-14T09:36:00.001-04:00

The whole thing with "wealth redistribution" or "fair taxes" is that no matter what, everyone knows that taxes need to be paid to keep the system we enjoy running smoothly. The question then becomes how much is "fair". Most people think fair should be for them to pay less. If everyone paid what they thought was fair, we would have horrible roads, the elderly would be out in the snow, and our military would be pathetic. Some favor a flat sales tax to replace the income tax as a panacea, but there are significant problems with this as well, not the least of which is that this is also a regressive tax structure. Nearly all first world countries have a "progressive" tax structure by which the more you make, the higher the rate of the tax. The idea behind this is that it takes a certain amount to live, a certain amount to live comfortably, and another amount to live REALLY comfortably. Economists assign value to these dollars in the form of what is called "marginal utility". The concept is that one hundred dollars is much more important to someone making 20K a year than to someone making 200K a year. Therefore, even though the percentage is higher in terms of the income tax, the goal for many is to have roughly the same contribution when adjusted for the marginal utility of that money. You don't want to "punish" success, but you also need to make sure that you are giving the most opportunity to stay in the middle class and not slip under the poverty line for anyone that is employed.

Yes, there are some people that are not elderly or disabled that are on welfare. About 1% of the total federal budget is spent on this, which is a large amount in sheer dollars, but compared to many other line items, it's tiny, and the percentage has been trending lower since welfare reform 14 years ago. There is also Social Security, Medicaid, and other programs that exist to help various people that are elderly or sick. Many of these programs work in a way that the people that get the benefits paid into them during their working years. However, these programs are getting stretched due to longer life expectancies. Eventually I think the retirement age will have to be moved up. It won't be popular, but demographics will demand it.

Now, back to "wealth redistribution". This has become in the last couple decades a Republican code phrase for "the wealthy should pay lower taxes". Then once they are proposed to be cut for the wealthy, it is argued who then should pay more to make up for the shortfall, since even if the economy is stimulated by the cuts, which may or may not happen, it is unlikely to make up for the whole difference, especially in today's conditions. Conservatives will often say that the budget should be cut. There is always "waste" somewhere that can be targeted, but when you are in as big a hole as we are now, there isn't enough waste that exists to make up that kind of deficit. We generally don't want to cut the military of course, since that's vital, and not infrastructure, which we need for commerce to run smoothly, but then most of what you are left with are programs for the young, the elderly, or the sick, and remember only about one percent is really "welfare" as you and I would think of it (able to work but out of work, and/or looking for work). So, one way or another, "wealth redistribution" is a request to re-balance taxes and spending so that those that are already well off will take home more, and those that are retired, sick, or less well off will pay more and/or receive fewer services. This policy then hopes and assumes the rich will use this money to expand businesses instead of taking an extra trip to the Carribbean or buy a yacht. This is what people call "trickle down economics".

So, who should pay what in your opinion, why is it fair, and if you would pay less, who should pay more or receive less government help?

Polls Are Only Accurate When You Agree With Them

2008-10-13T12:36:00.005-04:00

This sounds silly, right? Yes, of course it is, yet this is a frequently held belief, especially in conservative Republican circles. Now, I understand that with conservatives that there is an undercurrent of mistrust of science. These are often the same people that support teaching "intelligent design" in schools (ruled to be warmed-over creationism by a Bush-appointed judge). These are often the same people that also believe that homosexuality can be "cured". Any time I point out that Obama is currently ahead in the polls, they say, "Yes, Kerry was ahead too, but he lost." No, for the tenth time, he was not ahead. Some exit polls had him ahead the day of the election, but those were instant exit polls that were poorly sampled, and they were wrong. The regular polls taken before the election showed Bush with a slight lead. Below are two polls, both from electoral-vote.com. One is Kerry on this day in 2004, and the other is Obama today. The two are not even close. Anyone can cherry-pick a poll that shows the result that they like, but when you take a poll of polls, the end result of polling is that it is very accurate. Dark blue is 10% or more margin for the Democrat, lighter blue is 5% or more for the Dem, white with a blue border is less than 5% for the Dem, and all white is a tie. The red states work the same for Republicans.

Kerry on 10/13/04 - 228 electoral votes, 291 for Bush, 19 tied:

Obama on 10/13/08 - 346 electoral votes, 181 for McCain, 11 tied:

Some McCain Supporters "Going Nuclear"?

2008-10-11T12:49:00.003-04:00

Over the past week, the McCain campaign has been really ratcheting up the rhetoric on the campaign trail and on their TV ads. It's non-stop negative campaigning now, and even one of their own campaign strategists said that they need to change the focus off of the economy. So, their answer was to try and tar Obama's character with suspicious "associations" with people. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances that I enjoy interacting with. Some of them have what seem to me to be some pretty crazy ideas. This doesn't mean that I am going to end an association with them over the issue. Maybe I won't be best buddies with them, but by all accounts Obama was never on that level with Bill Ayers, and there is absolutely zero indication that Obama ever espoused the kind of violence that Ayers espoused. The reason that this is dishonest is that they know Obama does not think this way, but since they are backed into a corner and lagging behind in the polls, they need to change the subject. Thankfully, the cynical tactics are not working. McCain is falling further behind by most accounts, with only 24 days left to go.

This rhetoric, Palin accusing Obama of palling around with terrorists, the constant negative ads, hard-right conspiracy theorists openly discussing Obama being anti-American, or a Communist, or a socialist, or a terrorist, is not helping them in the campaign, but it is getting some of their own supporters very alarmed and riled up. Normally energy at rallies is a good thing for a campaign, but in the last few days we have heard different supporters at his rallies call Obama a socialist, a terrorist, and an Arab, as well as "kill him", and "off with his head"! It has gotten so bad that the anger is *becoming* the story, and now McCain is trying to tamp down the rhetoric a little.

In this first clip, he is even booed *twice* by his own crowd when he tells them to be respectful. Independents are watching this, shaking their heads, and heading to the Obama camp in this election. These are just some of the highlights from the last few days of anger. This one has the nutty old lady that says he's an Arab.

Watch the look on McCain's face 15 seconds into it when someone yells, "Terrorist!", after asked the crowd, "Who is the REAL Barack Obama?" I feel bad for him, but he has to understand that this is the genie that he and Palin helped let out of the bottle when they decided to pound into Obama with the ugly character attacks. Now he has some of the die-hards believing that Obama will destroy the country in a much more literal way than they had intended to convey.

Here is the "Obama is a socialist" guy. He is practically spitting venom at his own candidate!

Pictures Of Crestfallen Stock Traders

2008-10-09T16:27:00.006-04:00

Doesn't anyone else find these funny at all? I mean, yes, this is a very serious financial crisis, and it may well have a terrible effect on you, me, and millions of others. I completely understand that, and I realize that the results are not going to be funny for many people. Maybe it's wrong, but hey, I can't help what amuses me! Aren't all of the pictures of traders gnashing their teeth or holding their heads in their hands kind of funny on some level? It is sort of like the ubiquitous videos of overweight people that they show from only the neck down when there is a story about obesity on the news, except with this issue, they can show the faces! I think we've inadvertently created a new art form: "Crisis Photography"! Here is a sampling.

The "Get Off My Lawn" Moment!

2008-10-08T22:09:00.004-04:00

Wow, those t-shirt makers are QUICK with the comebacks, aren't they? Less than 24 hours after McCain peevishly referred to Obama as "that one", in a debate, we have this t-shirt. Do they make one for guys, and preferably not in pink? The clip from the debate is below. McCain is NOT very good at hiding his obvious disdain for his opponents. He was like that with Romney in the primary and Obama now. McCain, Vietnam is over. You probably could kill them with your bare hands once, but you're going to have to actually out-think your opponents now!

Tackling The Old Republican "Perot The Spoiler" Story

2008-10-06T16:30:00.001-04:00

In 1992. Bill Clinton had just won his first term, defeating the incumbent, George H.W. Bush. Eight years later, After George W. Bush beat Gore in Florida by just a few hundred votes which gave him the presidency after some Supreme Court assistance, Ralph Nader was widely seen as the cause of Gore's defeat. It didn't take a degree in math or statistics to figure out that if even a fraction of Nader's voters voted for someone other than Nader and voted even slightly more for Gore, then Gore would have won. The point of this post is not to re-hash all of that though. It is to challenge the now common assumption among Republicans that the same thing happened to H.W. Bush in 1992 because of Ross Perot being in the race.

This picture is a lot more complex, because Clinton won by a much greater margin in the electoral college than Bush, but Perot also had a lot more support than Nader. First let's start with the states where Clinton won, but his margin was smaller than Perot's support. These states are: CA, CO, CT, DE, GA, HI, IL, IA, KY, LA, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, OH, OR, PA, RI, TN, VT, WA, WV, and WI. These are all of the states Clinton won except AR, DC, MD, and NY. Sounds like this could be a big difference-maker when you look at those lists, right? Maybe, maybe not. Consider also that the only state where the Perot votes were smaller than the margin for Bush was in MS. Let's see how close those margins were and what the Perot voters would have had to do to tip the states and the electoral college to Bush.

I created a spreadsheet that could take into account both the percentage of Perot voters that would vote at all, and the percentage that would vote for either candidate out of that pool. It turns out that if every single Perot candidate voted, and voted for Bush or Clinton instead of a third party candidate, Bush would have needed over 66% of those votes. When switching the percentage from 66% to 67%, Iowa flips to Bush, giving him a 274-264 electoral vote victory. Perot voters were clearly a pretty broad coalition, as evidenced by his fairly even support across the country. Other analyses show that Perot was drawing as many or more votes from Clinton than from Bush, and I have yet to see a poll that says otherwise, much less a two to one advantage for Bush among his voters.

Consider also that Perot's voters, as with all third party voters, have a fair probability of voting third party or not voting at all in the absence of their candidate. Personally, I think 80% is a generous figure to determine how many would have voted for Bush or Clinton, and that participation percentage would have required Bush to get more than a whopping 71% of those remaining Perot votes. So, it is very clear that the Perot Factor in 1992 was not nearly the determining factor that the Nader Factor was in 2000. I don't even know why Republicans would even wish for this to be true other than making it seem like it's "even" because they had bad luck too. For anyone that would like to check my work, I would be happy to send you the spreadsheet. Just email me at egrow and then at the domain cox.net (to confuse the spammer bots).

Funniest Picture I've Seen In Awhile!

2008-06-09T12:41:00.003-04:00

Obama - Finally!!!

2008-06-03T20:10:00.002-04:00

Well, it looks like it's finally going to be over tonight. I've been an Obama supporter from the beginning, and Obama is just four delegates away from victory in the Democratic primary. The polls in South Dakota primary will be closing in about twenty minutes. I think that unfortunately he is practically forced to make Hillary his running mate because of how long and ugly this primary has ended up being. The problem is, I don't know whether taking her as the VP pick is going to help get enough of the people that voted for her to vote for him in the general election or if she will turn people off to voting for him. I think Hillary did a lot of really stupid things in the campaign, such as the ridiculous claims of a popular vote victory. "Tortured math" is what it was called, the idea that they could really come up with a tally that made an assumption that Obama had exactly zero support in Michigan.

Now McCain is speaking. Here come the attacks. "The wrong change", "he'll turn back the clock", "our security will be in jeopardy" and on, and on, and on. I'll be waiting for Obama's speech and listen to that as well.

Why I Can't Be A Republican

2008-05-28T18:09:00.002-04:00

I made a very long-winded post on the prospers.org forums on the subject, and it seemed to encapsulate my feelings on it so well that I decided to post it here too. Original post follows:

I'm a moderate Democrat, and while I'm not happy with everyone in the party and every single platform, I'm absolutely never going to be a Republican, for many reasons. I have something of a Libertarian bent, but not enough to claim it. As much as many of us want to be rugged individualists, there are some things that we have to be in the same boat rowing together on economically.

Reasons I can't be a Republican:

1. Too high a proportion of religious/social nuttery

A. Abortion isn't going to be outlawed on any sort of a sweeping basis. It just won't happen. Pro-choice is the quiet majority. It doesn't mean we love abortion. Many of us wouldn't do it. We just don't like the idea of deciding for someone else what a fetus is considered, and what spiritual repercussions may be suffered. Want to overturn Roe? Great, then *every* state can have a knock-down drag out over it and further divide the country. Careful what you wish for.

B. Intelligent Design is quickly going the way of the Dodo bird after even the most conservative judges in the country have decided it's creationism repackaged. However, a large majority of Republicans are still in favor of teaching kids that we were not evolved, but that it was "magic" of some sort. These scientific illiterates can't even explain how evolution actually works, yet they want to replace it with pixie dust because they see evolution as a threat to religion, which it is not. There's nothing inherently wrong with religion generally, but let's keep science reality-based, please. Evolution is backed by a couple centuries of peer-reviewed scientific research on testable claims, and is "only a theory" like gravity is "only a theory", which is why it is in textbooks. Generate some research that increases our understanding of the natural world, and then you can be in a textbook like everyone else.

C. Stop obsessing about gays. Somewhere around 2% of the population is gay, but to hear the evangelicals tell it, Tim Gunn, the guys from "Queer Eye", and Boy George are threats to the very existence of our society. Let's start agreeing that these consenting adults can do whatever they would like to do and whatever any other adults can do. I know you think it's disgusting. So do I. The difference is that I don't see why I need to care because it is not a moral issue to me. Also, your slippery slope arguments are old and tired. Sheep and children will never be involved in this argument because they are not consenting adults, so stop trying to drag them in. You're insulting the intelligence of the sheep.

2. Economic Issues

A. Regulation is a necessary evil. It's great to talk about how de-regulation would save a lot of money. There are many situations where it surely would. Sure, we could inspect less food, but then you risk huge recalls like last year that ultimately end up costing money from the lost confidence in the product. You could have lots fewer consumer protections, but then what happens when consumer confidence drops? How willing would most people be to buy a car if they had no recourse if the dealer screwed them? I'm a capitalist to the core, but I also know that where there's a buck to be made, there will be a person or company that's willing to cut corners and risk the very lives of others to make said buck. If there is no fear of repercussions for such behavior, it will occur more frequently. There is a balance here, and we definitely have yet to find it in some areas.

B. I don't like paying taxes any more than anyone else, but stop pretending that you're Santa Claus and just giving away money hand over fist while increasing the debt. I know that the national debt feels like no big deal to you on a daily basis, but these chickens will come home to roost eventually. I have a lot more respect for someone that tells me the truth in this regard and tells me that hey, we're in rough shape and we'll need to sacrifice a bit over the short term. To be fair, neither party is doing that right now, however Republicans have been the ones pushing to keep the pain points decades into the future. To their credit, some of their ranks have recently been realizing that this is a poor long-term solution.

C. Stop giving us tax cuts until the budget is balanced. No, I don't even mean everyone necessarily. I mean my wife and I, personally. Dubyah, you're a moron. We didn't get the full "stimulus rebate" anyway because our income is too high, but still, those couple hundred bucks could have been much better spent on someone that is working and barely making ends meet. If you give me free money, sure I'll take it, but I shouldn't have received it. Many Prosper lenders know a thing or two about fiscal responsibility. Well, some anyway. Regardless W, it's time you learned.

Facebook... Fun Or Not?

2008-05-23T21:29:00.005-04:00

I've been on Facebook for a couple days now. I've found several people that I know, but there are probably a few hundred others that I would "friend" if I saw them, so the hit rate seems a bit low. I think I have better luck on linkedin.com, but this is more of a personal site kind of thing, so it takes more maintenance, and not everyone likes to be so "out there" on the internet. I still have some trepidation about whether the site is really a good place to expand the social network. I thought it would be fun to make some virtual friends, but my first conversation with someone that I had not met before, a friend of a friend no less, went like this:

Erik Grow

Today at 8:41pm
Subject: Your religious views...awesome!

I'm 100% going to steal that line for my profile! Nice Palahniuk quote. My wife loves his books.
-Erik (found you through Scott ******, old college buddy) *;-)

Elizabeth ********

Today at 8:58pm

Ha, um, oh... Right.
I wasn't aware that my page was viewable to those outside of the SUNY Potsdam network.

Erik Grow

Today at 9:10pm

Hope I'm not the cause of others not getting a chuckle out of it too now.

Erik Grow

Today at 9:12pm

Oh, and it probably let me see it because you're a friend of a friend of mine!

Elizabeth ********

Today at 9:15pm

That mistake has been duly mended.
& I didn't put it in my profile for a "chuckle". I am a brilliant, intellectual young woman who just happens to be a devout atheist.
Congratulations on your petty theft of intellectual property from college students decades your junior.

Then I couldn't respond because she changed her profile so people that aren't friends couldn't talk to her. Talk about taking yourself too seriously! I really can't stand people like that. I don't doubt she's everything that she claimed, but she forgot to include the part about being a self-important snob. Oh well. I'm not going to use her line anyway. Perhaps there are friendly people to meet on Facebook too. We'll see.

Prospering Or Not?

2008-04-22T20:02:00.002-04:00

So recently I started taking a closer look at peer-to-peer lending, specifically Prosper. I decided to become a lender as an investment, and also a borrower one time as a learning experience. I've been studying the dynamics of the site for about ten days now, poring over statistics, the ebb and flow of bids, and being conscious of what I myself looked for in a potential borrower. I have learned a lot already I think. First, I have found that there is a great deal of power in falling into categories that are a favorite of "portfolio investors". If your risk is low enough, lenders with sizeable chunks of money in Prosper will automatically bid on your listing as a borrower. My listing was funded within a couple minutes, just as much time as it took for all of the portfolio algorithms to hit, and my interest rate was immediately down to 8.50% from an 11.46% starting bid. Then, some lenders put follow-on capital into it because they saw that the loan will be funded and they won't be wasting their bid money on something that will not be funded. People who have canned searches looking for loans that are already funded will then hit, and even more bids will come in. It all cascades from there. I also noticed that the loan amount will make a huge difference in funding. The lender to borrower ratio is about 3 to 1 according to a site dedicated to stats on Prosper loans. With an average bid being probably less than $100 and the average loan amount being many thousands of dollars, you really have to stand out in order to get enough bids for your loan to be funded. High loan amounts are also seen as a risk factor, so the higher the loan, the more automatic investors you lose, and the harder it is to scrape up the total you need for the loan to fund. If you want a large amount, I would say that if you broke it up into smaller loan amounts, one following the next by as little time as the site will allow, that will be your best bet because then you'll get some of the same investors putting bids on both of your loans!

It is also clear by looking at the lending stats site that there are risks to being a lender, especially those who are not very smart about what they are bidding on. Also, there are tax implications. The interest you earn from the site as a lender is counted as regular income, unlike earnings from long-term stock investment. In my bracket, I would need a few percent more return on interest to get the same real earnings as I would for stocks. Anyway, it has been very interesting so far, and I'll post more on the subject once I get the first payments on loans I fund, or start making payments on my own loan!

XM And Sirius Finally Allowed To Merge by the DoJ!

2008-03-24T16:42:00.004-04:00

This is probably not on the radar screens of many people, but it's an interesting story on a few different levels. The Department of Justice has approved the merger after over a year of doing apparently not much of anything (the Exxon-Mobil merger was approved much quicker).

I've been a Sirius subscriber since August 2006, and I love the programming. I chose it over XM for two reasons: Howard Stern and the NFL! I've come to sometimes enjoy Bubba the Love Sponge as well, though the guy is a total hillbilly. It would be nice if you could get the programming for both of them in one package for those that are into baseball (XM only), and football (Sirius only). They both also have different specialty music channels. Sirius for instance has a Sinatra channel and a Springsteen channel.

There are a couple interesting side stories to this. First, the National Association of Broadcasters, the NAB, is dead-set against the merger. This is the group that represents traditional radio. They say the merger would be anti-competitive. They of course have a vested interest in this deal because since both Sirius and XM are losing money, and if they are not allowed to merge, they might both go under. This would be great for free radio of course, since they would again own the radio airwaves. They recently had a big banner on their headquarters in DC against the merger that I believe said "XM + Sirius = Monopoly". Of course, it's OK with them that a few companies, including ClearChannel, own most of the radio stations in the US. They even hired good old John Ashcroft to help make their case after XM turned him down (remember him, the one who put a drape over a naked statue?). I guess Ashcroft doesn't particularly have any convictions on this subject.

Speaking of the religious right, the other undercurrent to this story is that despite the DoJ ruling, the deal now has to be approved by the FCC. Yes, they probably would approve the merger, but they could approve it with conditions, and it has been suggested in some circles that that the FCC may try to put restrictions on content. Then Howard Stern and many of the other channels could be thrown right back into the "what is OK and not OK" hell that any "edgy" show on free radio is in these days. Let's hope that doesn't happen, since most adults like our entertainment uncensored, and we like to have choices.

Eliot Spitzer And My "Alternate Win Condition" Theory

2008-03-18T21:27:00.003-04:00

I was thinking about the Spitzer incident, and what drives people to do what they do (right after I was admiring how hot the escort was). Before I get into all of that, I first want to say that I think that his personal life has nothing to do with his fitness for office, but that I feel bad for his family. As a public figure, he needed to understand beforehand that the chances of this coming back to burn him and his family were high, and it was a bad move. Also, as a crusader against this sort of thing, it puts him into a situation where he immediately looks like a huge hypocrite. Anyway, that has already all been said by others.

My own theory about this has some parallels with gaming. In life, people have all kinds of goals and interests. In the case of many people, varied sexual experiences with attractive members of the opposite sex are of course high on the list of goals. (Let's leave the marriage part out for this explanation. It's important to the story, but irrelevant for my theory.) There are many ways to accomplish that goal, and combinations within those methods. You can be very mentally adept and charming. That scores lots of points. You can be famous. This opens a lot of options, because people are naturally attracted to fame. You can be physically attractive. This one is a no-brainer. Pure physical attraction can make people overlook a lot of flaws. Some of these things feed into each other, and one can lead to having another, but sometimes you will fall short, no matter what. So what if you don't have the right combination of those things to attract the kind of woman that you want to have sex with? You need an "alternate win condition"! For Spitzer, it was money. For the price that these escorts were charging, you need to have a LOT of it, and most of these women, certainly his most famous one, were beautiful and could more or less name their price. This is the one way that he did not have to go through the normal "courtship" sort of system to get a girl of the quality that he wanted.

For an analogy, imagine a first-person shooter video game where it's all about killing these monsters to win the game. There are lots of them, and they're really tough to beat. If you're good at the game, you kill the monsters, you win, and you get something really great in the end. For some reason though, in this game, if you can just avoid being killed by the monsters for many hours, you can also win! It's considered sort of a "cheap" victory by the purists of the game, but if the goal is to win, and if to you the fun is simply to get the reward at the end, then that is when you go for the alternate win condition. That is what Spitzer did. Was it worth the embarrassment? Only he knows.

Scandinavia Pictures and Videos!

2007-07-25T21:51:00.000-04:00

All 208 still photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10525991@N06/

Denmark - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_kgjbDvIeU

Norway - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVu7DZBY600

Sweden - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDJWiZ52Iyo

Finland - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI--ZP9KwLU

Various short clips from my regular digital camera - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nzaKMmi27U

Virginia Tech Massacre

2007-04-17T18:19:00.000-04:00

It's been a pretty tumultuous last couple days. This shooting has not *directly* affected anyone very close to me, but there have been a lot of impacts that have made me think about it a lot more than if it had been thousands of miles away. My mother's cousin Ed Weathers is an English instructor at VT, and my Mom emailed him, worried about his safety. (He and I have never even met.) He replied to my parents that he was safe, but one of his favorite students from the previous semester was killed yesterday in the shooting. I don't know the name, but presumably she was an English major.

In a bizarre twist for me personally, the shooter, Cho Seung-Hui or Seung Cho as he went by in the US, was practically my neighbor! He lived about a mile from my house, literally, in Centreville, VA, when he was not at school. He went to Westfields High School, where I would have gone if I had grown up in my current house. Many people at my work went to VA Tech, and you can't drive more than a couple miles around here without seeing a vehicle with VT Hokies stickers or ornaments of some kind. Most of them don't know anyone from there any more, but one co-worker I know well has a cousin there. He is fine, but his parents in India are upset that they will have to wait for some time to hug him. I think he'll be on the phone a lot in the coming weeks until his semester is over.

There are a couple of things that are annoying me about the reactions of others to this incident. One is the criticism of the response of the police in the incident. I've heard it voiced by a few people, but fortunately they don't seem to be the majority. The first incident was two people killed in a dorm room in a residence hall with hundreds of people in it. If the guy were after more targets, a dorm would be a fine place to pick them off. Sure, they are concentrated in classrooms, but I remember the way schedules were at my college, and people would often go off to their first classes in herds. He would have had plenty of opportunities. So he waited a couple hours, for what I don't know. I can't imagine anyone thinking at that time that this was just a "warm-up". They locked down the dorm and then determined that the shooter fled, sent an email to the campus and went from there. I would have thought just as they did that it looked for all the world like a personal vendetta. Two people dead, a man and a woman, and the shooter apparently long gone hours later with no more victims in a target-rich environment? Classic crime of passion. Anyone who thinks they would have guessed otherwise at the time is just fooling themselves. I probably would have gone to class even if I had gotten the email unless I was in that dorm. Give the police a break and stop pretending you know better!!!

The other irritating thing is the people jumping on the less gun control or more gun control bandwagon. I love how both sides seem to somehow think that their way would have "solved" it. First, the pro gun control people say that this means we need more gun control laws. The kid bought the gun legally, and went through the normal checks. He had no record. He was legally able to own the gun. He even bought the gun (at least one of the guns), 36 days before the shooting, which means a 30 day waiting period wouldn't even have helped. The there are the anti gun control people that think that if guns were allowed on campus that lots of people would have been packing and probably would have stopped him. Most people don't feel like carrying guns around even when they can, especially not at a place like a college campus. Maybe more laws would have made a difference, maybe fewer laws would have made a difference. I doubt either one would have made a difference, so stop trying to make political hay out of this!!! The kids' bodies are still warm, and people are pushing their bullshit political agendas. Knock it off and let people heal!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-04T09:19:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted here, and since then Christmas and New Year's have come and gone. I've been buying myself some Christmas presents after the holiday as well, as there are always things I know I need but forget to ask for. As with so many people after the holidays, I have a New Year's resolution that has something to do with fitness, though I really don't need to lose much of any weight. I have been doing cardio workouts regularly for the last few years on my recumbent exercise bike in the basement, and that has been all I need to keep fit. I have these little ten pound weights that a do a couple simple exercises with for a few minutes as I warm up on the bike, but they don't do much for me, so I made a little trip to Target on my way home from work yesterday to get something bigger to increase my upper body strength.

So I walked into Target and was immediately lost. I hadn't been to that Target in a couple years, and apparently they are going the "Super Wal-Mart" route with the food and all of that. I asked an employee with the biggest "bush" haircut I've seen in years, where the sporting goods department was now. It was on the other side of the store, so off I went. I got to the weights and found I had a few options. I could get a set of two adjustable dumbells for $85, but I really only needed one, and they only adjusted up to 25 pounds. I just bought a 25 pound dumbbell for $22 instead. I went home to try it out and tried a few simple exercises. It was difficult to do a lot of reps with it, but that was the point, and I plan to "grow into it"!

On another topic, will the world busybodies please leave Madonna alone??? For those that have not heard about this story, she adopted a baby from Malawi, and suddenly a few human rights organizations and foreign aid groups are in an uproar because they say that she used her celebrity to bypass the system. They make a lot of bizarre claims. First of all, they say it was easier for her because she is rich. OK, what is not easier to do when you're rich in the world? Even if she did use money to grease the wheels, (and there is no indication that she did), many Americans don't understand that about 4/5 or more of all of the countries in the world work entirely and only like this. The government of Malawi says it was legal, and the US government also has had nothing negative to say on the matter, though I'm not sure if they have any interest. The poor father had two of his kids die of malaria already! What do you think this kid's chances are if he's put back in the orphanage? A couple months ago when this came out, he had a lot of pressure put on him by aid groups (NGOs etc.), and others that thought the baby should stay in Malawi. They kept telling the Dad to make all of these comments about how he didn't know he was giving him up permanently and he wants to see him or whatever. Then once he went into hiding to get away from all of this attention, he said people keep telling him to say things. Leave the man alone! Others that may be interested in adopting from there may not now just because of all of the hassle they are giving Madonna.

Real Estate Investment

2006-12-05T20:31:00.000-05:00

So, I am about to take a very big step this week closer to the point of no return when it comes to real estate investing. I had briefly considered doing it a couple years ago when an investor bought the house next door with a group of people, but that group was doing flipping, buying and selling houses within months in a very speculative market. I looked into it a little but it sounded very risky and the stakes were just too high in my very expensive housing market. Fast forward a couple years to October of this year. At work, a friend of mine recommended and lent me Robert Kiyosaki's book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". It talks about various topics, some of which was financial advice that I already, some of which was old advice emphasized in a new way, some of which was new to me. He spoke of real estate as being a great basis for long-term wealth, and had a lot of figures to back it up. I looked more into it, and bought a few books myself, the best of them being "Real Estate Investing for Dummies". Another excellent one was "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know about Cash Flow ". I'm still reading that one.

I decided I needed to get started, but I needed to find a good place to do it. My options were fairly limited. I needed to either do it locally, or someplace where I had connections and felt comfortable with. That meant either the DC area where I live, Asheville, NC where my parents retired to, or upstate NY where I am originally from. Housing prices are very high in this area compared to rents. I would barely even be able to afford a down payment on one small property with the home equity line of credit that I got, and even then I would probably not even break even on rents because of the high mortgage payment. Asheville prices are more reasonable, but even there it looked like the ratio was not very favorable and the city's growth has been more recent, so the most desirable properties were again very expensive because they were quite new, so I went with upstate NY. Yes, I won't get a lot of appreciation in that market on the property, however because the mortgage/rent ratio is so favorable, it gives me a great opportunity to pay off the HELOC as soon as possible and buy more property.

I got my team together, a realtor, a property manager, a mortgage broker, a lawyer, and an accountant. All of them are in NY except my accountant who is local. I've identified the properties that look like they will give me the best cash flow, and on Thursday I will be flying up there to take a look at them. I plan on buying two initially and then deciding my next move in a few years when I pay off the HELOC. We'll see how it goes!

The election. Ah, yes. I helped elect Jim Webb and put the Democrats over the top in the Senate. I was ecstatic, needless to say. I thought Allen would somehow pull it out, but he did not! The same went for Talent in MO who was beaten by McCaskill. As for the House races, it looks at this time like there will be 31 total seats picked up by Democrats, more than my prediction of 19-23, and right in the 30-36 range that Stuart Rothenberg guessed. Governorships, I was dead on. The total was a gain of 6 for Democrats. Now I hope we can prove in the next couple years that people were correct to give control back to us. Social conservatism has hit the high water mark for the foreseeable future, and not a moment too soon. Of course, I think that it was already heading toward that end well over a year ago, but the people didn't get a chance to voice it much until now. All of the stupid moves that Republicans have pulled in the last couple years, Schiavo, Katrina, "stay the course", various scandals, finally came home to roost. Now it's time to prove that we Democrats can do a better job! Obama in '08? Has a ring to it, but honestly, I could live with McCain or Giuliani as president, and they are the Republican front-runners, so maybe it's win-win? We'll see!

More Election Coverage

2006-11-07T18:49:00.000-05:00

I was listening to some Fox coverage and some CNN coverage on the way home. On CNN they had James Carville, who is just awesome. He has a very quick wit, doesn't take himself too seriously, and is a very tough guy when it comes to defending his positions! He doesn't melt in front of formidable opponents.

They released some exit polling data on CNN and for a second I was thinking "Oh no, not early exit polling data again!", but it turned out to be generic data on which issues people saw as most important and whether the race was "nationalized" or not. On Fox, some Republican was on talking about how Republican turnout was ahead of Democratic turnout from 2004 by 35.9 to 35.4. I have no idea where he was getting that, but I highly doubt it. Soon some of the first races will end. I can't wait to see how things are looking!

Election Day!

2006-11-07T14:43:00.000-05:00

Need I say more? Well, I will say more, of course... I just can't believe it's finally here! After two major elections of seeing Republicans making gains in an election in 2002 and 2004 (2000 was mostly a wash aside from the top of the ticket), finally today should be a different story. I still am trying to figure out if there is some rabbit that the Republicans can pull out of their hat at the last minute once again. I don't see any rabbits, but I guess we'll all start finding out in a couple hours.

A site I have been watching closely is the Rothenberg Report. It is non-partisan, and has been predicting big gains for Democrats, which is great, but sometimes I think it's even a bit overboard. He is predicting:
+ 30 to 36 seats for Dems in the House
+ 4 to 7 seats for Dems in the Senate
+ 7 to 9 governors for Dems

I would love for him to be right, but I think the ground game for Republicans continues to be strong, and races always seem to tighten up along partisan lines right before the election. My predictions are:
+ 19 to 23 seats for Dems in the House
+ 4 seats for Dems in the Senate - Dems Cardin and Menendez hold, Santorum, Burns, Chafee, DeWine gone, Allen, Talent, and Corker hold on to win
+ 6 governors for Dems

A friend of mine at work thinks Republicans pick up five net seats in the House, and hold even in the Senate. He's a Republican of course, but he thinks the polls are wrong. I guess we'll see! Lunch is riding on the outcome. As long as we gain seats overall I win! I like my chances. Now it's time to go home and wait for the returns.

Karma Police, Arrest This Man!

2006-06-09T15:04:00.000-04:00

I was listening to some Radiohead on the way to work, thus the random lyrics. Here's another... "She's a rebel, she's a saint, she's the one that they call oh, whatshername..." Something like that. Name that tune!

Yes, it has been many months since I blogged. I guess I just kind of fizzled out on the politics kick, and wasn't sure what to replace it with. I have some ideas here and there. I don't promise it'll be enormously exciting, but you can bet that it will be sometimes!

I have been thinking a bit recently about good old upstate NY, where I was born and raised (Auburn specifically). It was not the hub of fun and excitement for sure, but I have lots of great memories from there, and I'm kind of mentally going through the ones I don't think of often so that I don't lose them. I remember Roseland. The link you see here is to the new Roseland, which I just found out existed in the same small city, Canandaigua. The old Roseland was a regular non-water amusement park for the most part. We would go there every year until it closed back in 1985. Then we went to Darien Lake after that, which was a bigger park, but never had the same feel. It is now "Six Flags Western New York" or something. The old carousel was then purchased to be part of Carousel Center in Syracuse. It's an enormous mall that also has convention space and so on. Hardly the same though as when it was at Roseland though. I will always remember the music that it made with the little mechanical drums and other instruments that you could see behind the wooden facade for just a fraction of a second as you went around the circle. Cotton candy, candy apples, Skyliner, which was the old wooden rollercoaster. It was a dwarf by today's standards, but at the time I thought it was the most amazing ride. The Gold Nugget was actually my favorite. It was a Haunted House, and you would get in little open cars that would take you around it. That was closed during their last year because of a fire that killed a few kids in WV that caused those types of rides to be required to have sprinkler systems. They knew they were closing anyway, so there was no point in spending the money I guess.

Wow!!! Check it out! Skyliner still exists! They moved it to someplace in PA! I would love to go there just to take another spin on it. It's in Lakemont, which seems to be near Altoona. Hmmm.

On another note, yesterday was the last day of Zarqawi's miserable excuse for a life. It could hardly have happened to a more deserving person. I doubt it's going to make a huge difference in anything in Iraq, but it might help some. We'll see. By the way though, did it seem a little strange how they put an enormous picture of the guy's face on a picture and even bothered to frame it for media consumption? Seems like they're trying a bit too hard, but hey, it's been a tough year or two for them. I guess we can expect a little showboating.

There Are Few Things I Enjoy More...

2005-10-27T19:10:00.000-04:00

...than watching Republicans eat their own young. That is exactly what they're doing right now, which is starting to turn incompetence into impotence. Fine by me, of course. Anything that keeps Dubyah distracted long enough to let the clock run out on this administration without letting him change the country is great. Not only that, but even if Dems don't control Congress after 2006, a much narrower margin would hobble all but the most bipartisan policy decisions he tries to make.

I found an interesting writer on Slate, Bruce Reed, who has put a lot of the thoughts I have had for the last few months into words. He's of course a Democrat. Some of his best gems:

Regarding the nomination of Ben Bernanke to replace Alan Greenspan at the Fed: "As one clever conservative told me, "I'm just relieved the president didn't nominate his accountant."

On Karl Rove, Reed writes: "But if Rove is not entirely the bogeyman Democrats would like to believe, he isn't the genius he and his own party believe, either. Whatever happens to Karl Rove, the Republican Party should learn to embrace, not dread, life without Rovism.
The Bush White House fears it will be lost without Rove's services. Then again, the Bush White House—and the country—seem quite lost with Rove at the helm."

Astute words on playing dirty: "Knee-Capping: Whatever the special prosecutor concludes in the Plame scandal, there are far, far worse things that Rove and company have done over the years—from knifing Max Cleland in 2002 to smearing John McCain in 2000. Jacob Weisberg may be right that no great joy can come from this prosecution. But whether White House aides intended to discredit the CIA or Joe Wilson, the whole sorry affair is an object lesson in why the knees you cap may turn out to be your own."

Putting Hurricane Katrina To Bed

2005-10-20T21:32:00.000-04:00

OK, if this isn't a smoking gun, nothing is. It's nice to know once and for all that the blaming of everyone else for Michael Brown's shortcomings was truly just a Republican "circle the wagons" tactic and nothing more. I don't blame them for doing it, since both parties do it. However, I don't ever want to hear that FEMA was on top of things from any more people though. Ridiculous.

Bottom Feeders

2005-10-17T18:00:00.000-04:00

Those bots that post comments to blogs with little links to their websites that they get a couple cents per hit from. Yeah, bottom feeders. So now for a little while at least, I will have to do the word verification thing for my comments. Sorry. Blame the owners of the bots.

I've been busy at work learning SQL. I've had exposure to it before, but not at all to this kind of depth. It's very interesting stuff, relational databases. Very logical, and it all makes a lot of sense especially once you get familiar the tables you work with most frequently.

Next weekend, my wife and I will be at the 49ers-Redskins game! When my favorite team comes to town, it's a must to go see them. Last time they were here, I had just moved down here fresh out of grad school, and didn't have the money to spend on tickets. I did see them beat the Eagles in Philadelphia two years ago in OT though. I'm sure it will be fun, even though the 49ers are simply horrible this year, much like last year. It's OK that they suck. I still want to see them play and put forth some solid effort!

Oh yes, and the Yankees are out of the playoffs since I last wrote. Few things warm my heart more than watching Steinbrenner fielding the best team that having no salary cap can buy, and losing in the first round of the playoffs. Hats off to you, George!

Swirling Around In My Head

2005-10-03T21:26:00.000-04:00

This weekend I flew up to my alma mater, SUNY Geneseo for my 10th reunion celebration. I stayed with my old friend and college roommate Jeremy, his wife, and twin seven month old daughters near Rochester. I saw lots of people that I had not seen in years, and many that I had not seen since graduation actually. I had many interesting experiences over the course of the weekend, but it was much more a mental journey than anything else in many ways. When I go "back" someplace, like visiting people from Geneseo, sometimes I feel like I am emotionally traveling back to that time to an extent, and even though my years of undergrad are without doubt what gave me much of the mental strength that I have today, I often feel that strength drain when I get back in that environment. (I'm not including people like Jer who I have visited with often since graduation.) For instance, I had the strangest conversation with someone that I had not spoken to since we were in middle school together probably, aside from maybe a "hi" or two around campus when we ended up going to the same college after I decided to go to a neighboring high school. I'll get into that more some other time, as well as the conversation and why it took me back so many years. It was such a time warp. It's not that I'm a different person entirely of course since college. It's just "me plus ten years", after all. It gets me thinking though about who I am, what I want in life and why, priorities, alternate realities (something I've thought about a lot recently).

I think I have reached a couple conclusions so far. I know that others have thought these thoughts before, and I have as well, but I am finding these two magnified suddenly:

1. Much of the time, I learn what I need to know after I could have made the most use out of that information.

2. One lifetime is very limiting. I want to live a thousand lifetimes as myself and see just what I am capable of, the good, the bad, and the ugly (but mostly the good of course). I think people can do that to an extent, maybe throw a couple extra dice, but more than that is tricky. How can you tell how many sides it has, if after you throw it once, you are only told the number you rolled?

Tom "The Hammer" DeLay Indicted!

2005-09-29T16:23:00.000-04:00

So it has finally happened. He was forced to step down (for now anyway), as majority leader. Couldn't have happened to a nastier person. Oh and by the way, Republicans should stop pretending that this is just another partisan attack. They are right when they say that this charge will probably not stick, but only because the burden of proof is for them to prove that DeLay himself knew what was going on and knew it was wrong. Because of the way the law is written, it's a high hurdle to jump. I'm just glad that he's finally being made to squirm.

Roberts was confirmed today. Fine. He's conservative, but at least he doesn't seem like a partisan hack.

Speaking of partisan hacks, did anyone enjoy Michael Brown on the stand in Congress? Hey, nothing is his fault at all! It's all the fault of the local officials he says. Is that what your extensive emergency management experience dictated, Mike? Those political patronage positions are only fun if you don't have to actually do anything, aren't they? Kathleen Blanco on the other hand did not take the bait, and steered almost completely clear of the issue, which was wise. I'm sure she could have done better as well. Brown is already gone though, so he can't possibly bungle anything like that again, though I find it hilarious that he has apparently been tapped as a consultant for FEMA now! Only in the Bush administration. He's loyal to a fault, I'll give him that, even when all evidence and common sense dictates that he should sometimes be otherwise.

Switching tracks to football now...Joe Gibbs has jumped the shark. He is another guy that just makes up his mind to go in one direction, no matter what the evidence dictates. He has Patrick Ramsey, a largely unmolded and untried new talent, (also untrusted, just because his predecessor and not Gibbs himself selected him for the team) and decides that he is finally going to start him. He's in for about a quarter and a half in the opening game and got slightly injured, but was only out for the rest of the game. Brunell was then in and after scoring all of three field goals against a bad team, is named the started. He beat the Cowboys with two touchdowns in the final few minutes of the next game against the Cowboys, but for almost the entire game before that he was just woeful. Now the Jets want Ramsey, but the Redskins won't trade him. Poor guy. The incompetence of the Redskins continues. They are the "home team" for where I live, but the San Francisco 49ers, my favorite team, are looking more competitive this year. They beat the Rams in the opening week, which was great, got blown out by the Eagles, and then last week nearly pulled the upset on the Cowboys. We'll see what the rest of the season brings!

German Politics

2005-09-20T20:30:00.000-04:00

So my German buddy Andi has had some things to say about German politics, and I thought I would chime in. Yes, Andi, to answer your question there has been a fair amount of coverage of it here as well. Just do a search on CNN or a similar one on Fox News or whatever news site you think is "the truth" and you will find plenty of stories on all of them. I also saw some video clips of their speeches after the election, and personally I thought they both looked really silly.

Schröder was going on about the fact that Merkel couldn't form her own government and saying that it meant that people didn't want him out of office, which I found pretty tough to swallow. He also said it was a really resounding vote that they did not want change, which I found insane. His party had after all lost a lot of support, and his party came in second in the polls!

Merkel was making similar overstatements in her speech, claiming a great "mandate" after winning the narrowest of victories (sound like a US president we know?). She may not even end up being chancellor even though her party got more votes than the SPD (sound like a US election we lived through not long ago?). She was pretty much demanding that she be given the chancellorship, even though she knows full well that she is not under any obligation to get it. She seemed pretty obnoxious.

So in short, I found both of them pretty unappealing, at least in their post-election speeches. Interestingly, in German elections, there is not the kind of culture war that we see in the US. Yes, there are differences between the old East and the old West, but that isn't the same thing that we have here between the parties. It seems that in Germany, no politicians from any of the major parties are trying to moralize from a political base, which is very refreshing. It really is all about the economy in Germany. In many ways, I think that should frequently be the over-arching issue. It's kind of like in football or any other sport. When the whole team wins, all of the hotheads on the team pretty much get along. In the same way, people that feel like they have economic opportunity and a decent future don't really feel like being angry at each other as much.

The Euro took a tumble after the election, and Germany seems to be in a pretty deep political crisis. We'll see how things go from here, but so far it looks like a mess. It's Europe's biggest economy and has the largest population of any EU country, so there is a lot riding on this. Let's hope they get this straightened out soon.

Finally The Story Begins!

2005-09-15T21:32:00.000-04:00

Yes, I've been slacking on the blog. No, I haven't been slacking in real life. I've been working hard at work, and last weekend was the aforementioned wedding up in Albany. So here are a couple pictures of the vacation, and of course there will be much more later. I will also be sharing some interesting aspects of Europe that I have noticed from last year's Switzerland trip and this year's Germany/Austria trip. The cities that I visited on this trip were Munich and Hechingen (near Stuttgart, where my American cousin and his German family live) in Germany, and Salzburg and Vienna in Austria. In German, it's actually "München" and "Wien" (pronounced "Veen"), for Munich and Vienna, and the other two are the same in both languages. These first two pictures are from Munich. The first picture is a cute barmaid holding up a couple beers...just kidding. It's actually my cute wife doing that!

We were in the English Garden in Munich, which is a huge, almost Central Park proportioned park. It has fields, trees, a creek winding through it, lots of paths, a restaurant, a Chinese tower where they play live music quite often, some food stands selling pretzels, roasted nuts, and other goodies. Bikers were everywhere. A bunch of people were playing softball. Others were playing with frisbees. There were a couple spots where people were putting on impromptu concerts with bongo drums or xylophones or combinations of instruments, with small crowds of onlookers. We ate outside at the little restaurant there. We had just gotten off the plane shortly before we got there, and we decided to eat at the restaurant. Our waitress was very nice. I spoke a lot of German with her for the first part of the meal, but then she went over to English when she started talking about the lederhosen-clad musicians in the tower that they played a lot of American tunes. I had some sort of cut of steak with dried onions and a type of brown sauce on it I believe. Chris got the apple strudel for dessert, which I had a few bites of as well. It was incredible! It was served as a big thick slice in a bowl of vanilla pudding sauce. Best apple strudel I ever had, and to be honest I might have to include apple pie in that too! I should have gotten one for myself, but I knew there would be other opportunities. It's Germany's version of apple pie, a folk favorite, and they have it almost everywhere. Of course, I think Austrians claim to have invented it, but that's another story. They also claim to have invented the croissant. Who knows, maybe they did?

Anyway, the next day we had the world famous Hofbräuhaus beer hall high on the list of things to see. While we were finding things to do before dinner, we happened upon the Jagd und Fischerei Museum (Hunting and Fishing Museum), which had lots of stuffed animals of all kinds, and no, not beanie babies. These were all hunted and fished animals, and there was also quite an impressive collection of old rifles used by the gentry of the time, with fancy inlay patterns on the stocks and everything. The old sleighs were also pretty neat. I have pictures of those too, but for now here is a picture of me outside the museum with a bronze boar. More to come!

YES, There Are Vacation Pics And Stories Coming!

2005-09-09T15:47:00.000-04:00

I know, it been several days now and nothing about the Germany and Austria vacation. It's been a very busy short week at work, and now I get on a plane to Albany in a few hours for a wedding in Saratoga Springs. So there are no pictures yet until Sunday. Then again, that's the first day of football season. VERY soon, OK?

On My Own Schedule

2005-08-21T21:28:00.000-04:00

So, I haven't written anything for a couple weeks, by far the longest drought on this blog since I started it several months ago now. My German blog has been idle for about twice that long, maybe longer. There is no particular reason for it. I used to blog a lot at work. My old work had long since failed to be exciting or challenging, so blogging was part of my way of filling my extra time with something else. Now that I have a more rewarding job, it is less of a priority. Also, months ago when I first started with this blog, politics was really starting to frighten me, and I just needed to make myself heard. It seemed that there would be no end to the power that conservatives would wield. I have seen their power start to wane now, and the pendulum is slowly swinging to something approaching normalcy. After a number of bad policy moves and public policy overstepping, the president and his party are rapidly falling out of favor with the public, and I feel the cool breeze of change in the air. Regular people are starting to stand up to the "turn back the clock on science and everything else we don't like or understand" types. It will be a little over a year before we know whether it is really a solid trend or not, but I am less concerned than I was, and therefore less motivated to write about politics. I'm sure the mood will strike me again, and probably soon, but not as often or as urgently.

Some quick movie reviews. I have seen several movies in the last few weeks, much more than usual. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was very clever and very funny. It definitely beat the original in my mind. I give it 8 out of 10. American Wedding, extremely funny, laughed through much of it, some implausible parts, but hey, it's comedy, 9 out of 10. Meet the Fockers, 10 out of 10, and I rarely put a movie there, one or two a year at most, laughed out loud through most of it. By the way, I think I'm in love with Alyson Hannigan. Hahhah! Can you blame me, really? No, not the nympho character she plays...she's kind of dippy in the movie. It's her "real life" looks and personality, cute, but very approachable. Approachability, if that's a word, is important! I'm afraid my wife would probably veto me though. Such is married life.

What else, oh yes, we are off to Europe next weekend. Last September we went on a tour of Switzerland for eight days (went through Globus Tours), including a tiny bit of northern Italy and the tiny country of Liechtenstein. It was my first trip to Europe, and second for my wife, first for those countries for both of us. This year, I made all of the Europe arrangements myself, plane, rail tickets, and hotels. Yes, there will be many pictures on here when I return! We will fly in to Munich, spend two nights there, train to Salzburg, a night there, train to Vienna, two nights there, and then all the way back past Munich to the town of Hechingen, near Stuttgart, where my cousin Jordan, his German wife and stepdaughter live. They have lived in Germany for about five years now I think. The trip will be great fun and the total price for the whole thing is exactly $1,590 each, which includes all transportation, hotels, and breakfasts. It will almost certainly come in under last year's total, and give us more free time. Of course staying at my cousin's helps too, but still it would be quite a bit less. Here is a picture of Schloss Hohenzollern, which is in Hechingen. We'll be taking a tour of that for sure.

The very next weekend we will be flying to Albany, NY for the wedding of one of three people I am still friends with from high school. They live in Boston, but I guess his fiance is from the Albany area originally. That is the aforementioned "flying on 9/11" trip, on the way back. Big deal, I say. Just please make sure the plane isn't going to lose cabin pressure is really all I ask. Oh, and then a few weeks after that I fly up to Rochester for my tenth college reunion. That should be a lot of fun too. I will actually be solo for that one though because Chris has a big event at work that she has to prepare for that happens the next week. I've never flown this much in that short a period before. I guess I'll get more used to air travel. Safer than driving, plus I get to nap. Anyone else got anything exciting going on? Do tell!

The Wrath Of (People That Think They Are) God

2005-08-05T15:03:00.000-04:00

Maybe Frist isn't as unreasonable as I thought. When you get the thumbs down from the evangelicals, it makes me think that maybe he's doing something right. Support potentially life-saving research after seeing how it is done, and *gasp* studying the issue in more detail? Allowing a compromise instead of further partisan bickering? Can't have that! Consumed by their own wrath. I suppose it's fitting.

Something Oxymoronic About W Talking About "Intelligent Design"

2005-08-04T17:40:00.000-04:00

I'm not going to actually write much more about that topic because it's just silly. "Species had to have been created by a creator because stuff's...well, stuff's too complicated...or something." Sorry Gomer, that's not science. Not that it will stop you from thinking it is. That goes double for you too, W. People fear what they don't understand, and you really don't understand it. If not for 9/11 you'd be barely a footnote in history. Hopefully Mark Warner will be able to undo the damage you have done to critical reasoning and research if elected in 2008.

So my new job as you have surely noticed is leaving me a lot less time for blogging. I actually had a really good training session today where for the first time I felt pretty close to being a subject matter expert on the things that I work on. That was a good feeling. The ramp-up time for this job is longer than any job before, but that's good too because that means it's complex, at least moderately vital, and it's not the kind of job that trained chimps can do.

I'm really starting to look forward to my Germany and Austria trip in less than four weeks. You may recall that we are going to Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, and Hechingen (near Stuttgart, where my cousin and his family live). I'll take LOTS of pictures, and post some of the better ones here.

In baseball news, aside from the better news that football is starting soon, what the hell is wrong with the Nationals??? Even worse, what the hell is wrong with the Orioles? They are tanking even worse, but I care even less, so I guess that's not so bad.

I'm currently enjoying a fascinating documentary on the Battle of the Bulge that I found on Netflix during my exercising time. It's all very interesting. The Germans had started near radio silence before the attack because Hitler was not telling much of anyone much of anything. He was of course extremely paranoid and thought that even some of his closest officers might be spies. We intrepreted this as "giving up" or at least a sign that he was conceding eventual defeat. Instead he was massing a quarter million troops for a counter-attack on a line that was thinly defended with mostly green troops across Belgium and Luxembourg. The Germans actually pushed quite a ways into Belgium before Patton swung around from his move on Berlin to halt the advance. It was a mix of complacency and confusion that caused the battle to be so costly for us.

Frist Sees The Light!

2005-08-01T09:54:00.000-04:00

Yes, it had to happen sooner or later. Frist comes to his senses "suddenly" about stem cell research. Well that's good. It took several years, but he finally figured out that it's a good idea to do it. You don't become the leader in medical research by letting other countries beat you to the punch.

That "Energy Bill" is about the biggest piece of pork to come out of Congress, in all of US history, and that's saying a lot. We are giving energy companies billions in tax breaks at a time when they are making record profits, because we hope that maybe they will spend some of it on environmentally friendly projects and on producing more oil in the US? That's funny. That would be really, really funny, if it weren't also so incredibly naive. Republicans should be enormously upset about this nearly unprecedented level of pork too, but for some reason, they are not.

By the way, what's up with the Nationals and the Orioles in baseball? They were both leading their divisions, and now they aren't even in the wild card driver's seat! What happened???

Vegemite Is Australian For "Raw Sewage"

2005-07-25T15:36:00.000-04:00

A co-worker and his wife who is from Australia just got back from there, and he brought back some Vegemite and some Timtams to work today. The Timtams are sort of like the Australian Oreo, the most popular cookie type food in Australia. They are a couple of rectangular wafers with a thin, soft, pudding-like layer of chocolate in between them, and the whole thing is dipped in a layer of regular chocolate. They're excellent!

For those of you that have no idea what Vegemite is, or who have only heard of it before, like me, oh it's quite interesting. It's about the consistency of butter at room temperature, and Aussies do actually like to spread it on bread and have it for breakfast. It smells, well, kind of salty, a hint of soy sauce maybe. You spread it on the bread or whatever you want to spread it on, but not a thick layer like peanut butter or jelly. Then you taste it, and that's when the real fun begins. It tastes like a mixture of soy sauce held together with that gelatin-like stuff on the outside of the meat in a can of spam, and a hint of pureed anchovies. It's awful. Eat it only if you want to be able to say you've had it. I don't plan to ever have it again.

A Thoughtful Evolution Article By A Vatican Correspondent

2005-07-22T18:37:00.000-04:00

I got this article from a friend of mine who has does canon law and works for the Las Vegas Diocese. It is very thoughtful, and it dispels some of the myths about evolution by those that dislike it because they think it is diametrically opposed to Christianity.

So it looks like John Roberts may be confirmed with relative ease. I'm prepared to see how he rules on things. We'll see.

I also saw some statistics on schools, and it's no wonder so many Republicans think that public education is a failure. The better schools have a tendency (taken as a state average), to be in blue states. Go figure. Hmmm, it might have something to do with the level of commitment toward public education. Yes, it's expensive to educate kids. It's also expensive not to.

Justice John Roberts?

2005-07-19T20:22:00.000-04:00

So this is apparently the guy that Bush wants for the Supreme Court now. I know little about him. I am trying to find some info on him now. I imagine he is probably anti-abortion and generally very conservative, but I will do some checking. There is a brief bio in the CNN story, and another here on the Fox News version if you prefer. Apparently he has recently said, "There's nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent." I guess we'll see, won't we?

Some Things Haven't Changed

2005-07-16T13:13:00.000-04:00

Republicans are complaining about the media being biased against them. The Vice President himself devoted part of a speech to how the media is making too much of the war opposition. The patriotism of people that do not support the President is often and openly questioned. The year? 1969. Some things haven't changed. There are few people that make me angrier than those that suggest that Democrats don't love this country every bit as much as Republicans. Slapping an american flag on your SUV doesn't make you a patriot. Wanting your leaders to do right by the country does. Of course the two sides have a different idea of what is right, and that's fine, but don't ever question my patriotism.

I've been watching a documentary on Vietnam as my exercising companion for the last few weeks. It's quite engrossing, and I'm finally almost done with the ten or so hours of content. There were some interesting people featured in it. It was the "American Experience" series by the way, filmed in the 80s, which makes it a bit dated, but it's history so it's pretty thorough. Henry Kissinger was heavily interviewed. John Negroponte was interviewed a few times as well. He seems to be the consummate diplomat, and quite respectable. John Kerry was also interviewed, and spoke well. Yes, the one that was dragged through the mud last year, that one. Anyway, it was all very interesting. It seems that from we could have gotten what we had wanted if we didn't keep supporting various murderous dictators in the south. I don't know what we were thinking with some of these people. How could we have expected that they would inspire confidence in the populace?

Driving Past An Iraq War Death?

2005-07-15T11:09:00.000-04:00

I was on my way to work this morning and I passed a hearse. Normally, no big deal. I did notice that it actually seemed to have a casket in it though, which I don't see every day, but again not terribly unusual. However as I drew closer to it, I noticed that it had an American flag on the casket, the car was labeled "Military", and the car had government tags. It was headed in the direction of Dulles airport which was only a few miles from where I saw it, and I suspect that was where it was headed. I wonder if it was an Iraq casualty, or if it was someone else that was just getting a military funeral.

Speaking of untimely death, I just found out that Freda Sorce, (the wife of Don Geronimo of the Don and Mike talk radio show), died in a head-on collision near Ocean City, MD. That's really sad. They often had her on the radio, and she seemed like a genuinely nice person. It's all very depressing. Anyone have any good news?

Karl Rove, And Republican Boredom

2005-07-12T20:17:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's too early to say for certain, but given Scott McLellan's verbal mind tricks at the press conferences, it is looking very much like it was Karl Rove that leaking the name of the undercover agent. You'll recall that our "fearless leader" W, said that whoever did it would be fired. Will he get his chance to make good on it? It's fun to watch Republicans squirm when they realize that their friends are not the magnificent people they make them out to be. Plus, come on, it's Karl Rove. Is anyone surprised? Really?

Oh, and this is another little gem I heard about. Here is the story from a Republican blogger, if you prefer. Tom Davis and John Sweeney are trying to push baseball around by issuing veiled threats about how baseball should not allow George Soros to co-own a team, and that if he is allowed to co-own a team, then maybe Congress would come down on them in some way. Bud Selig, the commissioner of baseball, said today that the decision before them is not political. Good for him. It had to be said. First it's flag-burning, because you know it's such a terrible epidemic here, now they don't want people with opposing political views to buy some things, next thing you know they will start passing ordinances on the length of male fingernails out of boredom. This is what happens when the party in control gets power and then gets complacent. They get busy, then they get bored, then they get stupid, and then they get voted out. I'm just waiting for the last part to happen now. It won't come a moment too soon.

Because What IS That Thing???

2005-07-07T21:11:00.000-04:00

OK, I just had to share this one, sent to me by a co-worker today. Even my wife, who loves nearly all animals, was taken aback. Apparently it won the "World's Ugliest Dog Contest". Very, very frightening.

On a more somber note, I hope they find the people who bombed London today. Why not write more about it? What's to tell? What else can I say? I have little to add to the story. I just hope they find who did it.

Born On The Fourth Of July

2005-07-04T12:24:00.000-04:00

Today is George Steinbrenner's 75th birthday. I really don't care a bit about that, but it was a bit of trivia that I picked up from ESPN this morning. I actually can't stand the Yankees, or the Cowboys for that matter. Any team that is considered "America's Team" in any sport just conjures up images of bandwagon-jumping rednecks, like the rednecks that I went to school with until I switched to a much bigger nearby district for high school where my Dad taught for 30+ years. I'm not saying that it's "not OK" to like a team that you don't live near, because after all I am a 49ers fan (since before they won their first Super Bowl), and I've never even been to San Francisco. These kids were all living in upstate NY, and were Cowboys fans with no ties to Texas because it was the "cool team to like" for the in crowd. That is just lame. Oh, and by the way, how 'bout them Nats? They just swept the Cubs on the road. Impressive.

Sandra Day O'Connor is of course retiring. Get ready for the shitstorm. It has already begun. I am actually seeing a glimmer of hope here though. If Bush nominates Gonzales, it might not be all bad. Conservatives would prefer someone, well, more conservative. I don't think Gonzales is the best choice overall of course, but given the other options, he's probably the best choice. As for being the first Hispanic justice, that's good, but being an "advocate" for one minority group or another is not just shown by giving them positions of power. If W really wanted to make a statement about that group, he could quietly tighten up the borders while at the same time recognizing the contributions of those here, and keeping the same rights extended until they become naturalized. Conservatives would quickly lose interest in complaining about illegal immigrants getting benefits when they saw the dollars spent every year going down as people naturally integrate into our society. That would truly be "compassionate conservativism", but I think most people know that term is a ruse anyway.

My first week of work at the new job has been great! I have met lots of good people that are all very good at what they do as far as I can tell so far. There are certainly some systemic issues as with anywhere else, but the actual people that work there practically radiate competence, and that is a nice change. I understand that it's still the honeymoon period so to speak, and I'm just now getting beyond the surface of understanding, but I don't recall this same feeling after a week at my last job. Incompetence is easy to spot for me now. As for me, I'm just trying to keep up and make sure that I don't become the incompetent one! The bar has been raised.

Today I will be going to my friend Dan's house (Nicnerd on my blog), to have some beer and other Fourth of July food and festivities. Oh, and on Saturday we also got a new kitten from the Humane Society to keep our cat Snowball company. His name is Mojo. He's eleven weeks old, and he's quite a handful. Here is a picture, and don't let his rare picture of him at rest fool you. He's quite a juggernaut. The two kitties are getting acquainted slowly. We'll see how long the growling and hissing lasts from Snowball.

Out With The Old, In With The New

2005-06-28T17:32:00.000-04:00

I had my last day of my old job on Friday. It went mercifully fast, especially since it was an "early out" day, so I left at two o'clock. I hugged all of my co-workers, the last of the Mohicans, the three women that make up the entire front line of the department now. I had lunch with my good friend Dan ("Nicnerd"), and soon after, the day was over.

Yesterday, I walked into my new job, just a few miles from my old one. I had an orientation, and got a nice new laptop. First impressions? I was in a less technical department of a more technical company, and now I am in a more technical department in a less technical company. For a non-technical company, their tech that they give to employees is much more impressive than what I had at my old company. I also feel like I am among a lot more "serious career" type of people. Nobody is just on a small "stepping stone" or just killing time at a "job". It's refreshing. These are all people that are "going places", and going there now. I have many, many more observations, but I will save those for later. So much to absorb. Until later...

If You're Dying Of Exposure, THEN It's OK To Talk To Strangers

2005-06-23T13:41:00.000-04:00

This is something that should be added to all of those lessons that are given to children. Of course I'm sure that by now you've heard about the eleven year old boy in Utah that got lost and was eventually rescued the other day. Have we really come to the point that we are drilling into kids so hard that strangers are not to be trusted, that kids will now nearly die, rather than be rescued by a stranger?

OK, I have to throw my lot in with the conservatives on this issue (perish the thought). It looks like municipalities can now do anything they please with your homes at any time, not just for reasons of "blight" or public works or whatever. Those reasons are already laden with conflicts, but I understand that sometimes they are warranted. Now they can just do anything at any time as far as I can tell. Sure, you get fair market value or whatever, but what the heck? Where does one have to move in order to ensure that they won't be forced to move again? Montana?

Oh, and by the way Hector, I was pleased to hear of your recent ebarfulation. I'm glad that you finally got a chance to ebarfulate. Now that you have ebarfulated, you will probably get more traffic. Ebarfulating is a wonderful way to start anew. The new definition that I have created is the act of making a major change or clean-up of electronic data.

My Very Own Butterfly Effect

2005-06-22T16:56:00.000-04:00

My rapidly approaching job change has given me quite a lot of opportunity to reflect on my life so far, and how I got to where I am. I assess this from time to time anyway, but when a big transition like this one comes up, I give this exercise more bandwidth. A great deal of life is opportunity, and what you do with it, and certainly being taught how to make sound decisions has been of the utmost importance. I feel reasonably sure that I could have ended up in nearly any city and ended up being successful. There are also chance factors that enter into our lives though, that guide us often unwittingly at the time, onto a path that fundamentally alters our lives from then on, and without which everything of the life you know today would be unknown. I know exactly where in my life the butterfly effect really took flight. (For those that do not know what the butterfly effect is, it is the idea that a very subtle change, such as the flapping of a butterfly's wings, can have a cascading effect down the line until a hurricane forms, just because of that one butterfly.)

For the first 18 years of my life, much of what happened in my life was of course heavily influenced by my parents. Being born to a certain set of parents, while it is of course of paramount import, fundamentally changes who you are by the very genetics that you inherit, so that doesn't really qualify. Of course, I did pick the college that I went to, and that was a big decision, however it was the college where my Dad got both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees, SUNY Geneseo. I have an aunt that graduated from there too, and another aunt and my grampa took courses there as well, so that clearly still traces back to family. So after arriving at Geneseo just days after turning 18 in the Fall of '91, I met my college roommate Jeremy Waterman, who is to this day a great friend of mine, though we don't get to visit as often as we'd like living 400 miles away. So anyway, fast forward five years later. Already by this time, several of Jer's friends had become mine as well, and I was in grad school at SUNY Oswego, in a program where his mother was and still is a professor. We were still roommates at that time, and one of our by that time many mutual friends was living down here in the DC suburbs of northern Virginia. We all decided we were going to move down there, but I was the only one that did. The others all found jobs around Rochester pretty much. So Peter and I lived down here for a year as roommates. Six months after moving down here, I met my wife Christina on an internet dating site, matchmaker.com. I was unsure of whether I wanted to stay in the area at first, with all of my other friends, and eventually even Peter too moving back to upstate NY, but economics and the deepening relationship with Chris meant that I stayed in this area. So everything that cascaded from my randomly chosen college roommate is what my life has become.

Just yesterday I was talking to former co-worker of mine that I just reconnected with after finding out that he just started working at the company that I will be starting with next week. He said that it's "all my fault" that he plays online role-playing games (MMORPGs, in gaming parlance). I got him to play the server that I played in Everquest shortly before he left the company. He now has a serious girlfriend that he met in the game. Without me telling him to choose my server over the dozens of other choices, he would not have met her. A close friend of mine, Nicnerd for those that have seen his posts, also played the same server as me in Everquest at my behest. He met his fiance the same way, because he was on the server I played on. So you see, it has all come full circle...The Butterfly Effect.

Saddam And Republicans Have Something In Common

2005-06-21T10:06:00.000-04:00

Apparently they both admire Reagan. I found this story quite fascinating. Aside from his delusions of still being President of Iraq, and his past atrocities of course, this guy could pretty much be anyone's grandfather. It's so funny that when you strip away all of the pretense and power, that he's just another senior citizen. If Saddam were born in the US, or almost anywhere else in the world, he would probably be spoiling his grandchildren, gardening (which apparently he does in prison too), and eating his beloved Doritos. Instead, he becomes a brutal dictator, is overthrown, and now at 68 years old he will never leave prison. It's interesting to think of what he could have been, and should have been.

Now, this is very funny. If this doesn't get DC's "top cop", Chief Ramsey, to pay attention to rampant auto theft in DC, then nothing will. It's kind of like someone torching the fire chief's house. DC, for those that do not live in this area, has undergone a fair amount of economic revival in many neighborhoods, most of it related to the real estate boom. This has pushed a large number of poor people into one of the neighboring counties of southern Maryland, Prince Georges County. The murder rate has been going up there in the last few years as DC's has dropped. DC has long since not been the nation's "murder capital", but property crime is of course still a problem as it is with all big cities.

I generally don't care at all about celebrity gossip. It just isn't my scene. However, I do love a good real-life mystery, and the Katie Holmes - Tom Cruise thing seems to just get "curioser and curioser". It sounds like the Religion...*cough*Cult*cough* of Scientology might have gotten their hands on her from the beginning. I also heard on Howard Stern, reliable source that it is, that Jessica Alba (mentioned in the article here too), was "interviewed" for a part, and that she said it sounded more like a date interview than a movie role interview. Very interesting. I'm starting to think the conspiracy theorists are right.

Hey, Two Dogs, I haven't been following the Killen trial too closely yet. What kind of evidence do they have on him from so long ago? Is he just going to walk again? Figured being a Mississippi resident that maybe you would have heard more detail. By the way, on my way home I was in the usual slow traffic, and some guy in the biggest, noisiest pickup truck you can imagine, zooms up in the lane next to me and revs the engine as if he can move more than a hundred feet forward. "Who's this jackass", I thought, as I looked for a "W" sticker on the cab. No clues there, but then I looked at the license plate. "MS N8V" That gave me a chuckle, and I wondered if maybe Two Dogs was in town.

The Longest Week Ever

2005-06-20T14:21:00.000-04:00

If any week will be, this will probably be it. I'm working my last week in a job where almost everyone I know knows that I am leaving. It's kind of like saying goodbye to someone after a visit but then bumping into them again unexpectedly and repeatedly just before they get on the plane or something. Not a big deal, but kind of awkward. Staying motivated to work is not a big problem because I don't want to leave the people I like with more work than they already are going to have to "make up for" by me not being here while they look for my replacement. We're pretty bare-bones as it is.

I'm getting war coverage burn-out, and I don't even seek out coverage. I've been in the apathy stage toward it for many many months now, but still it finds me. This "the insurgency is in its death throes" stuff is wearing thin. At a certain point, it seems like the Iraqis are going to have to simply sink or swim. You can't force everyone to care about their futures, and if it hasn't happened enough to our liking yet, is it really ever going to happen?

On a related note, Porter Goss says that we "have a very good idea" where Osama is hiding. We apparently can't get him because he is hiding in a "sovereign nation". What? Are you kidding me? That's what's stopping us? It doesn't seem like sovereignty been a big issue for us recently, rightly or wrongly, and in a case like this especially, why do we care so much? If he is in Pakistan, and they are *really* helping us, you'd think they would have come up with him awhile ago. I don't buy that Musharraf would be ousted if Osama were caught either. Osama supporters want him dead already, so what difference does it make?

Goodbye Neurocam

2005-06-17T08:41:00.000-04:00

So after a very short time of "playing" Neurocam, I decided that I have more than enough real stuff going on in my life to bother continuing. The quote on the site says: "Some of the most rewarding experiences we have come about through random circumstances of which we have no real understanding. It is sometimes important to commit to something we know very little about if the act of commitment in itself becomes part of an experience." - Bridget Fischer, CEO, Neurocam International

If I were in college or something then maybe it would be my only commitment, but as it is, that is far from reality. Anyway, if you email them, they then start you on a series of "adventures", where picture-taking is highly encouraged, and you are asked to complete a series of tasks, each one of them with a premise behind it. Usually it's very much like pretending to be involved in espionage. The emails make it clear that there are definitely "real people" behind this at every step guiding you along. It's kind of interesting, but maybe I'm a little too left-brain to get the full "benefit" of this suspension of disbelief. There are lots of other bloggers that blog about it as well, mostly more right-brain types, and many find Neurocam endlessly entertaining, but it just wasn't exciting enough to me to justify the time spent. Below is what I emailed them on Wednesday.

Hi. I think neurocam is an interesting social experiment, but it's not really the type of thing I'm interested in doing right now. Playing pretend cloak and dagger is a really cool idea, but it just doesn't hold my attention as it once might have. I wish you all the best, and I will continue to enjoy reading about the experiences of others. You do add quite a lot of intrigue to people's lives, for what as far as I can tell is no pay, and that is admirable. Thank you all, and keep up the good work!
-Erik

The Results Are In On The TS Autopsy

2005-06-15T14:13:00.000-04:00

Here is the story from Fox News and from CNN. Whatever your preference, it says the same things. Her brain was half normal size. When it comes to body organs, that is not a good number. It typically does not mean half-functioning. It typically means little or no functioning.

An autopsy on Terri Schiavo backed her husband's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding that she had massive and irreversible brain damage and was blind, the medical examiner's office said Wednesday. It also found no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused.

"The brain weighed 615 grams, roughly half of the expected weight of a human brain," he said. "This damage was irreversible, and no amount of therapy or treatment would have regenerated the massive loss of neurons."

So are all of those people that said she was "alive somewhere in there and just needed a little TLC", or that she could feel pain but not express it, and so much other such unsupported nonsense thrown out there mostly by conservatives, need to right now own up, and admit that shockingly enough, doctors know more about medicine than you do.

Now that we've gotten that unpleasantness out of the way... Let's hope that issues like this one, along with stem cell research, will show voters that there are many issues where it is clearly the Republican leadership that are out of the mainstream.

On an unrelated note, if you ever wanted to find out what life is like as a hostage in Iraq, here's a story on it. You can probably guess that the experience is not much fun.

New Beginnings

2005-06-14T01:45:00.000-04:00

It's official. I received a job offer yesterday from another company, and I took it! After more than two months, three interviews, and five interviewers, I made the final cut. I have been at my current company for over six years, and my current position within that company for a few weeks short of three years. It's a big step, but one I must take for my career. I'm purposely not going into a lot of detail here, mostly because it doesn't matter to most people. I got the offer yesterday during lunch, came back to find the written copy in my email, and accepted it shortly after that. Just before leaving for the day, I passed out my resignation to those that needed to get it, and walked out the door. My last day here will be Friday, June 24th.

I guess it's also a new beginning for Michael "The Kid-Toucher" Jackson, after he got off on his charges, so now he can get back to getting off on kids. It's too bad. Even the jury didn't seem to think he was innocent exactly, but they are probably right that the accusers came off as very unbelievable, and that killed this particular case against him. Hopefully he will never do it again, but history seems to indicate otherwise.

In other news, this guy that defected to North Korea is in the US for a week to visit his ailing mother. He defected in 1965. I think being forced to live in North Korea for 40 years is probably a fate worse than being in prison (a US prison anyway). Hopefully he will find peace. The people that protest him to this day need to get a life. He was young and made a mistake. He paid and then some, and he's an old man now. Time to let bygones be bygones.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame!

2005-06-11T13:45:00.000-04:00

My grampa was born 90 years ago today! We sent him an album with some pictures from my sister's wedding. Happy birthday grampa! Some relatives are going over there today, including his sister Wilhelmina (Aunt Willie), who is 94, last I knew anyway. He lives in upstate NY, near Ithaca. Much of my extended family, including me, were born and raised in upstate NY. Our family lived just outside Auburn, which is about 30 miles SW of Syracuse. Here is a picture of grampa and I from last year.

My parents are staying at our house for a long weekend visit, and I took them to see this game last night between the Nationals and the Mariners, which was great fun. It was tied going into the bottom of the eighth inning, 3-3, and then the Nats, who were never in the lead to that point, blew it open with a six-run eighth inning, and went on to win by that score, 9-3. You should have heard the roar when they got the go-ahead run. Very impressive. The Washington Nationals are DC's brand new baseball team. They are doing really well this year and are even leading the NL East so far! They were the Montreal Expos until the league moved them this year to Washington DC.

On a side note, if you see anyone who looks like this and has this look on his face, it's a good bet he has either killed someone or is about to. Proceed with caution.

Non-Surprise Of The Week: GM In Deep Trouble

2005-06-07T16:26:00.000-04:00

I saw a story just the other day about GM posting their twelfth straight declining sales month. For those of you counting at home, that's a full year of declining sales. Not good news for them. I saw a couple stories today that indicate that even for a company as enormous as GM, it's starting to hurt. Also, this editorial writer had an interesting take on it. Hector Vex had a post partly on this issue, which inspired me to write this post. Parts of this post are taken from comments that I put on his blog.

My first vehicle that was really mine was right after graduating college (undergrad anyway), in '95. It was an '87 Buick Somerset and the transmission blew up less than a year later, and the engine blew up less than six months after that. I don't fault GM for that though. It was old when I got it. The '94 Saturn SL1 that I got in '96 though was also a piece of crap. It had problem after major problem before I got rid of it for my first foreign car, a new 2001 Volkswagen Passat. It has had a couple problems, but by far the biggest problem was 100% covered by the warranty, so I didn't pay a dime. Yes, I did buy it new, but with the warranty not up until I hit 10/100,000 I'm pretty optimistic that my cost of ownership will stay low. GM is making the same stupid mistakes they did in 1981, when my parents bought their first Toyota. GM was still making boat-cars that people just didn't want. Today, they are still pushing hard for more SUV sales at a time when gas prices are dictating otherwise. (Hector says that they are trying to push their other models more too now, which I have not seen evidence of yet, but I will pay closer attention to it in the next few weeks.) They were also very slow to get on the hybrid bandwagon that is now booming. American reliability ratings are slowly improving, but they are still not good, GM vehicles especially (Ford is somewhat better). Make good cars and people will buy them. I'm not going to buy a vehicle that is going to bite me in the ass on the basis of making a "statement" that buying American is the way to go.

You also can't put much blame on those "evil unions". Why is that? Look at the countries where the other automakers are beating us. Japan. Do they work for cheap? Germany? Cheap labor there? Sweden? Cheap labor in Scandinavia? I don't think so. It has everything to do with market position, and not being agile enough to follow the trends. People buy Volvos, VWs, Toyotas, and the rest because they sell the types of vehicles that people want to buy. For the good of the US economy, it would be good for GM to do better, but don't expect me to advocate corporate welfare for them to cover their inefficient business practices.

My Sister Is Married!

2005-06-05T18:36:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of the happy event. In case anyone is wondering, I got all of these pics on my Fuji F-700 digital camera, including the digital video clip. First, my sister the beautiful blushing bride, married at 27 just like me. It will be difficult to get used to her with a different last name, not to mention all of the extra syllables in her new last name.

Katie and her brand new husband Kris dancing late in the evening. Katie still looks awake. Kris looks like he's about to fall over.

The proud Mom and Dad, at 56 and 62 respectively, looking great as always. They don't really like the spotlight too much, but they handled the whole thing with the utmost grace.

Katie with her maid of honor, Kim (on the left). Kim is very nice, and I talked to her quite a bit. She is recently married herself. I swear she's seven feet tall too.

One of the groomsmen, Rick, and his girlfriend Vanessa (though I might have mixed the names up with another couple, I met about 100 new people this weekend). Anyway, I chatted with her quite a lot also. She's very cute and funny. They've been together quite awhile but Rick hasn't gotten around to popping the question yet. If he still hasn't asked after they legalize polygamy, I will probably ask her myself.

My Aunt Doris, Uncle Chuck, and I. Uncle Chuck's wife is Aunt Vivi, who took the picture. Aunt Doris' husband, my Uncle Phil was at a grandson's graduation in Missouri I believe. My wife as I mentioned before, was at a friend's wedding in Chicago.

Aunt Vivi and Uncle Chuck during the "anniversary dance". They will have 50 years of marriage this January!

Click here for a short movie clip from when the wedding party was having pictures taken. They were told by the photographer to all jump in the air at once, and hilarity ensues!

See You Monday After My Sister Gets Married!

2005-06-02T20:41:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm off to my sister's aforementioned wedding in Florida near Jensen Beach tomorrow morning, flying in to West Palm Beach. My wife is off to her good friend's wedding in Chicago a couple hours after me. I'll be back with lots of pictures from my trusty Fuji FinePix F700 that I got for my birthday last year.

Meanwhile, maybe somebody can clue me in as to why so many conservatives (bloggers at least), think that Mark Felt (Deep Throat), is suddenly satan? Hey, that sounds like a sitcom name... "Suddenly Satan", starring Bob Saget... Anyway, whatever axe he may or may not have had to grind, do you think that we really would have been better off not knowing what a nut Tricky Dick really was?

Parental Involvement: It's What's For Dinner!

2005-06-01T19:10:00.000-04:00

So it seems that my conservative friends are once again beating the "public schools are all failures" drum, and the ever-present "and by the way it's the Democrats' fault" cymbals with it. I hate to upset the upstanding people in marching bands around the country with my metaphor, but I'm not part of the PC crowd, so as the Australians say, "Bad luck!"

I always find it interesting how many conservatives rail against public schools as a failure, and say that kids that go to private schools have a tendency to be more successful on the whole. Regarding the average success of the kids, you know what, it might surprise you to know that I think you're probably quite right! The problem for your "public schools suck" thesis though, is that this fact is largely irrelevant. Why? It's because you are completely ignoring the other variables that go along with it. I don't see any sane people going around saying that blacks are inherently more prone to commit crime than whites. This is because we understand that the "third variable" here is economic, and that when you adjust for that, there are almost no demographic differences there. Therefore, we correctly say that race has no significant effect. So what is the third variable in this case? Parental involvement. There are a large percentage of parents that are very involved in their children's education on every level and in most every school. Those parents are not generally the ones that have drug problems or are neglecting or abusing their children. I'm talking about everyday parents, most of which send their kids to public school. Parents that send their kids to private school and are willing to shell out the money to do it, are certainly going to fall into the motivated segment as well. If you were to eliminate the kids with disengaged parents from the public school figures, then suddenly your average is probably going to be right there with the private schools, not to mention a lot cheaper! There is not a high percentage of schools in this country that I would feel that a child of mine could not get a good education.

Of course, then there is the ideology question. Yes, there is always that. If the Sunday dose of religion is not enough for your liking, then by all means send your kids to private school. I would never begrudge you that choice. If you don't want your kids to learn evolution or sex ed or whatever you are railing against this week, then fine, go for it. If public schools are such a failure, and you aren't sending your kids there, why do you care anyway? You've got plenty of schools where you can learn your version of reality. Aren't these some of the same people that get upset when their choice of Pope was analyzed so thoroughly, since if they aren't Catholics, why should they care? The same ones that say that if you don't like the direction America is headed in, then leave? Take your own advice. Plunk down the 20K per kid to send them to private school and quit complaining.

This brings me to to the "plague of immorality" issue, touched upon in the last post. Parents today have more choices in how to raise their kids than at any other time in history. You have unprecedented geographic mobility, myriad school choices you can send your kid to, a couple dozen educational channels on TV, v-chips, web filters, movie, TV, and video game ratings, and all kinds of other ways that you can ensure that little Johnny sees the world in exactly the way that you want him to see it. Go ahead and complain that this stuff exists, but it still all comes down to parental involvement when you see how the kids turn out. The world is not falling apart nearly as much as you think it is.

Here's your nice generous helping of parental involvement. It gives you a strong brain and a healthy sense of ethics. What do you mean "why"??? It's because Paris Hilton told you it's what's for dinner! Now, eat up!

Kids And Russia Both On A Rampage?

2005-05-31T13:48:00.000-04:00

A kid in rural Ohio shot and killed a handful of family members and then himself on his own graduation day. A nine year old stabbed an eleven year old to death in New York City, with a steak knife. (What, she didn't have her first gun yet, you ask?) A couple kids in Florida beat a homeless guy to death because they were "bored". Why does this happen? Should we be outraged? Well, yes and no. Yes, we should certainly be upset at the loss of life, and try to figure out if it could have been more easily prevented. No, it's not any sort of cosmic evil. It's a few cases of screwed up families that clearly did not bother to teach their kids not to kill people. You can't blame that on politics or anything else besides that and be taken seriously. Take these same kids and raise them in your house, and they would be fine. This stuff happened in the 50's too. Most of my readers and I were just not around back then to remember it now.

Oh yes, Russia, at the rate your society is going, all of the other former Soviet states, the rest of Eastern Europe, and maybe even Africa and the Middle East will be modern democracies before you will. In other words, it will be centuries, if ever. You're lucky you can even get McDonald's to invest in you at this rate. Your business climate is a total mess. As soon as someone is successful and anti-Putin, whoops, you're guilty of...ummm, tax evasion, yeah that's it! See you in a couple more election cycles! *wave* Putin, you make ole' red-nose, Boris Yeltsin look like Abe Lincoln by comparison. Congratulations on setting your country back a couple decades.

Putin, barely avoiding a much-needed kick in the groin.

Various News, Personal Happenings And Otherwise

2005-05-31T10:44:00.000-04:00

Neither my wife nor I have much family in the area, so for a few hours of Memorial Day, we went to a wine tasting at the Tarara Winery. Our company's summer picnic was held there last year, and it was a fun time, so she wanted to see it for herself. I'm not really a great judge of wine. In fact, I'm undoubtedly a pretty poor judge of wine, since I tend to simply like the sweeter types, but I am getting better at it, slowly. Chris is a very good judge of wine already. We brought a picnic lunch, and after we ate that we did a tasting. I thought it was mostly pretty decent, especially the dessert wines of course. Chris was less impressed, but still found a few that she liked. They were out of the "Vidal Blanc", the dessert wine I liked best and bought a bottle of from last year. We got something similar though that is good with chocolate. They actually give you a Hershey's Kiss when they pour that wine for tasting, so you can see how the wine complements it. Nice touch. Anyway, we bought four bottles of wine, including the "Wild River Red" dessert wine that I mentioned. They also had some jellies made of various wines too, which were definitely interesting to say the least, but not interesting enough to buy.

This Saturday, my sister (and only sibling), is getting married, near where she lives in Jensen Beach, Florida. I'll be flying down to West Palm Beach from Washington-Dulles Airport on Friday morning. I'm sure a good time will be had by all. Interestingly, she is 27, the same age I was when I got married. It will be nice to see everyone. I haven't seen my parents since Christmas, and I haven't seen my sister since Christmas 2002, about two and a half years! I was told by a co-worker that I should never let that happen again. She's right, and it won't. She's marrying a guy named Kristoffer, who goes by "Kris". He seems like a very good guy, though I will be meeting him in person for the first time this weekend. This means my parents will likely be permanently having to distinguish between my Chris and Katie's Kris when talking about our spouses. Lucky them.

The weekend after this one, my parents will be coming up to our house for a long weekend. We'll be seeing a baseball game on Friday night between the Washington Nationals and the Seattle Mariners. That should be fun! It will be only the second major league baseball game my wife and I have ever seen, and the first for my parents! I have always felt that my parents sacrificed a lot in order to raise my sister and I, so it's the least I can do to introduce them to some new experiences. They will leave from our house to Ithaca, New York, where my grampa Grow will be having his 90th birthday party at his house. It's definitely a big event, even though in my family people routinely live into their 80's. (I merely lived through the 80's so far.) My grampa has an older sister that is 95 now I believe, and still volunteers at a retirement home.

I finalized my European travel plans last week. Here they are:
August 27 - Overnight flight from Washington-Dulles to Munich, with a brief transfer at London-Heathrow.
August 28 - Arrive in Munich, Germany just after noon, sightseeing and sleeping
August 29 - All day in Munich
August 30 - Train from Munich to Salzburg, Austria, sightseeing in Salzburg
August 31 - Train from Salzburg to Vienna, sightseeing in Vienna
September 1 - All day in Vienna
September 2 - Train from Vienna to Hechingen, Germany (south of Stuttgart), to my cousin Jordan, his wife, and stepdaughter's house
September 3 - All day in Hechingen
September 4 - Train from Hechingen to Munich for the direct flight home taking off mid-afternoon and arriving back home the same day

Sound like a plan? This random person has some nice pics of what I will see in Hechingen.

Castle Hohenzollern

Hechingen Market Square

What If Tomorrow The One True Religion Was Revealed?

2005-05-27T13:33:00.000-04:00

So tomorrow morning, everyone wakes up from their slumber. For some, it's been a rough night. Some are hung over. Some are up and ready to face the day very early. Others are up around noon. They all have one thing in common though. Just as they are waking up, they realize something. They all know what the one true religion is. Of the thousands of religions and sects of religions in the world, they suddenly know which one is correct (or maybe it's a mixture of existing beliefs, or brand new ones). They know which side of every issue the deity or dieties fall on.

1. Would people around the world get along better? Would there be less violence?

2. At the very most, only about ten percent of the world's population would have already "gotten it right" without this divine intervention. Do you think that some might be upset with their spiritual leaders for having not led them down the proper path? What would happen within cults?

3. Do you think that with a lot of these basic underlying issues "out of the way", that more human energy would be put to use in solving the more concrete problems facing us, or would we simply find something else to fight about and thus still cancel each other's efforts out?

Of Fingers And Burgers

2005-05-25T08:09:00.000-04:00

Here is proof (if any was still needed), that some people are in serious need of a good screw:

The ad, which has been running in major markets since last week, has drawn the ire of television watchdogs, including the Parents Television Council. "This commercial is basically soft-core porn," said Melissa Caldwell, research director for the PTC. "The way she moves, the way she puts her finger in her mouth -- it's very suggestive and very titillating."

You can't make up that kind of comedy! Putting her finger in her mouth is probably as "suggestive" of bulemia as it is anything else. As an aside, I really don't even think Paris Hilton is incredibly hot. What hotness there is, is at least partially negated by her incredible stupidity.

OK so as I write this, it's currently 51 degrees, and it's going up to a whopping 57. That's depressing. Paris might need to cover up a little more in this weather. Don't do it on my account though, miss "heiress (moroness?) of the Hilton fortune".

It looks like the stem cell research bill passed the House handily, garnering dozens of Republican votes along with almost all Democrats. 238-194 was the final tally, a comfortable majority as with public opinion, but it won't be enough for an override. Oh well, guess the abortions won't go for any useful purpose after all. They'll just go out with the rest of the medical waste.

By the way, regarding my post yesterday, it seems many conservatives are incensed at the compromise, because they wanted a fight. Like I said, careful what you wish for. You're better off with what you got, trust me.

Cooler Heads Prevail On The "Nuclear Option"

2005-05-24T08:42:00.000-04:00

It's about time some centrists got together and bucked the leadership on something. I'm getting tired of the all or nothing attitudes of some people. Yes, I know some people on both sides, conservatives especially I imagine, will be upset that there was a compromise made. You should be careful what you wish for. I think your centrist brethren saved you a few seats in the next Congress. The people we should all be thanking are the following:

Democrats
Robert Byrd (West Virginia)
Daniel Inouye (Hawaii)
Mary Landrieu (Louisiana)
Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut)
Ben Nelson (Nebraska)
Mark Pryor (Arkansas)
Ken Salazar (Colorado)

Republicans
Lincoln Chafee (Rhode Island)
Susan Collins (Maine)
Mike DeWine (Ohio)
Lindsey Graham (South Carolina)
John McCain (Arizona)
John Warner (Virginia)
Olympia Snowe (Maine)

Oh and by the way the Republican establishment is so stupid for not wanting McCain to get the Republican nomination. He's the best you've got, and he would beat Hillary easily if that's what you're really concerned about.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research Proves Naysayers Incorrect Already

2005-05-21T08:34:00.000-04:00

Of course, this breakthrough was not made here in the US. Without the federal funding that is normally procured for potentially life-saving types of research, we are lagging behind other countries in this area. It's South Korea that "got there first" this time, with something that many fundamentalists that were against this research said could never be done. On a side note, I also find that interesting. On these issues that involve medicine, conservatives will trot out these same conservative doctors to repeat the party line on why it shouldn't happen or can't happen. Then the other 98% of doctors will say it can be done, but are less flashy about it because they rightly don't care about the politics of it so much. Then conservatives can say, "Well, doctors disagree..." It's very convenient for them. While some segments of America try to turn back the clock on science, other countries are simply going to take up the slack. We're already seeing that. Basically every other country in the world is snickering at our silliness. I hope that twenty years from now "other countries" are not where all medical progress comes from, and we aren't stuck in America learning about how the Earth is actually flat, six thousand years old, and all life was intelligently designed by the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

It looks like there may be enough votes though in Congress to overturn Dubyah this time, which would be nice to see for once. This is an issue that deeply divides Republicans, but that Democrats are in favor of pretty much across the board. There may be enough of a coalition there to even override a promised veto. We shall see. What is that saying? "The life you save, may be your own." Well put.

Flying On September 11, 2005

2005-05-20T16:09:00.000-04:00

It looks like I may be doing just that because of a friend's wedding. I don't really care that I may be doing it either. Would you fly on that date, given a reasonable option, or would you avoid it?

I have lots of other things in the hopper for my blog soon, but I was too busy today to fully do any of them justice.

Could New Orleans Have Been Our Hong Kong?

2005-05-19T09:37:00.000-04:00

As I have mentioned recently, I just finished watching The History Channel's "The War of 1812". I never knew much about that war except that the White House and a few other federal buildings were burned to the ground. I had forgotten that we actually invaded Canada too! The war started when the British started to take our sailors and force them to serve in the British Navy. This was called "impressment". It went on because they needed men in their battles against Napoleon. The French were the dominant force in Europe at the time, and so they saw it as justified.

There were only three decent-sized battles in the entire war though. First was DC, where we were thoroughly beaten, mostly in terms of an unorganized retreat as much as actual casualties. It would have been worse and the city would have had more damage from fire too if a very strong hurricane hadn't come right after the British took the city (no Weather Channel yet). That put out the fires and caused many British casualties actually. They then pulled out of the city. Then there was Baltimore, and the still-famous Fort McHenry attack, where Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner". That attack was an American victory, though it was more of a "holding our ground" kind of victory.

The third was the Battle of New Orleans. By the time this battle started, Great Britain had shipped thousands of extra troops overseas to fight, since they had just finished beating Napoleon at Waterloo in 1814. As troops massed outside New Orleans on both sides, a peace treaty had already been signed in Belgium, but of course it still took a few weeks for a ship to cross the ocean for anyone in North America to find out (no phones or even telegraphs yet). We were vastly outnumbered by a far better trained and equipped army, but won one of the most lopsided victories in military history! Some scholars believe that if the British had taken over New Orleans at the time that the peace treaty was ratified by Congress, that the treaty would have indicated that Britain could retain control over it. Thus Britain could have owned a significant city at the mouth of the Mississippi for a long time to come, kind of like with Hong Kong in China. Can you imagine if New Orleans had just become an American city in the year 2000 like Hong Kong?

Our Amazing Memory, And Some Movie Reviews

2005-05-17T17:42:00.000-04:00

It's interesting how memory works. It seems that our memory works very much like a computer, or at least more like a computer than one would think. The major difference is that our memory is a lot more fragile and volatile. Bits get misplaced all the time. It's like a Google search where infrequently searched items are eventually inacessible or lost, and different types of information on the same topic can get disassociated.

Think of someone that you know, and think of the info about them in your head as audio files, video files, jpegs, text, and so on, or even as a database full of these things. After awhile, these parts can get jumbled, and cause us to forget. This is where you can place a name but not a face, or recall a person and an event very well, but forget the name. You probably used to have all of them together, and once your memory is jogged, you will again. The wild card with memory though is that our own experiences that we had previously will color our perception of a specific memory, and can cause us to categorize it completely differently. Computers don't really do this because to them, previous data doesn't affect storage of new information, but it does with people. This is just something to keep in mind. A pretty good (if heavily simplified), explanation of how it works is in this movie, believe it or not. It's an interesting indie film that I saw a couple weeks ago. Sure it's a movie, but it has a great deal of natural science in it, and some famous scientists speaking for long periods in between the acted parts. There is of course plenty of other more scholarly research on it on the net, which you can easily find with a Google search of your own.

Oh, and by the way, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is not all that great. It's not horrible, but it is also not particularly memorable. Unless you are a big fan of the book, catch it on video maybe.

A movie that's just plain not all that good is "Birth". Sure, Nicole Kidman is nice, but it's not nearly enough to carry this movie. It had some great potential too. It was an interesting subject, but poorly done I think.

I just finished watching: "The History Channel Presents: The War of 1812" as my "while exercising material" once I finished Ken Burns' epic "The Civil War" series. I have some observations about The War of 1812 that I never knew at all until recently. It had a lot more significance to our history than you probably think!

Update: My wife and I watched "Sideways" last night. It was OK, but not as good as the hype. Anyone watching "Revenge of the Sith" this weekend? Movies have been disappointing me recently. I want to see a good one!

Some Members Of The Flock Are More Equal Than Others

2005-05-16T11:04:00.000-04:00

There have been two stories in the past week or so of people being denied membership or the full benefit of a church based not on their personal behavior as it relates to religion, but their views on the behavior of others. Lines are being crossed all over the place on church/state issues recently. (Only the second of these examples here has to do with politics directly, but there are other battles such as teaching ID, and so on of course.) You might be surprised to know that it's fine with me to an extent, only because I see a silver lining. The more this kind of thing goes on, the more independents will start to find this special kind of ultra-conservatism more frightening, and thus their Republican party benefactors as well.

The more recent one was from yesterday, about Catholics wearing rainbow sashes to show support for gays and lesbians in the church. They are being denied communion because of their show of support for a change in doctrine. They aren't even violating any church law. They are just expressing their opinion that they would like a change, and for that they are denied communion. Nice.

Then there is the genius minister of a church in North Carolina that decided to kick nine people out of their church because they didn't support Bush. My favorite part of the story: "Chandler could not be reached for comment today, but says his actions weren't politically motivated." Now that is comedy!

A Blinding Realization

2005-05-14T12:51:00.000-04:00

I'm beginning to think that arguing with social conservatives is just a complete waste of time. No, I never expect to make any significant difference in what they think. What really became clear to me today on Rightwingsparkle's blog yesterday was some of the parts outlined in my comments. See below.

First someone made a comment about how there was "shameless hucksters" on the conservative side of the issue, making hay for political gain on the TS issue. RWS replied in part:
I remember people like you who called the white civil rights workers in the south in the '60's 'hucksters." I hope you are proud to be in their company Dirk. Pathetic.

Me:
TS was "disabled"? Be serious. RWS, I'm not necessarily a fan of Dirk's arguing style, but for you to compare him to racists because he doesn't agree with you about TS is just plain insulting, and to use your words, "PATHETIC" or "SICK" or "SAD", just like trying to compare your cause to that of civil rights workers. I try hard to be polite, but that is beyond what I can stomach politely.

RWS:
Erik, sorry, but that is how I feel. I saw injustice in the south and people who thought they were perfectly right in opposing civil rights.I see the life issues the same way. This is INJUSTICE. And I stand against anyone who feels it is ok to take innocent life. From the womb to the tomb.

Me:
I've been commenting here long enough to understand your positions well. That isn't what irritated me. Maybe it shouldn't. I know what to expect from conservatives in terms of their views. It just jolted me back to the reality that underneath the generally reasoned discourse, you believe that many of my beliefs are quite literally aligned with evil. It makes me wonder why I even bother to discuss things with social conservatives at all, when they see me and essentially all other Democrats this way.

Me again, after another Democrat commenter responded to my last comment, bold was added just now to part of it for emphasis:
Worrywart, well, call me naive, but I really sort of believed that some social conservatives could see past the culture war in their opinions of others, but it seems no matter how it's packaged, it's really the same. I'm beginning to think that the only reason some are even civil is because they hope that Satan's little helpers, so to speak, will convert to their side. In their minds, we are all agents of evil whether this is spoken or not, sugarcoated in "we hate the ideas but not the person" rhetoric. This whole thread has really hit me like a ton of bricks. It's seriously very depressing.

It's still depressing, but I'll get over it. I may need to re-evaluate what is or is not worth the effort.

A (Very) Brief Overview Of Evolution

2005-05-11T15:41:00.000-04:00

Since there seem to many misconceptions about what evolutionary theory is or is not, and what has and has not been found so far, I feel like now is the time to explain it. There are more complete explanations than mine, but this is meant as an overview to answer some of the misconceptions.

First, evolution refers to change over time, generally millions of years to speciate (evolve from one species to another genetically incompatible species). Start in your head with one species spread out over a large area. In any population, selection pressure is present for more desirable genetic traits, in humans too, but when times are good and most of the population is able to reproduce, there is little reason for small differences caused by mutations to become the norm in the gene pool. The mutations are just folded into the normal population and you can have all kinds of variance. For long periods, there will be no evolutionary reason to change. Then there will be a physical barrier that will impede the exchange of genes across the entire population. We see this sort of thing all over the world today. Marsupials are almost entirely confined to Australia for instance. They happened to go in that evolutionary direction based on pressures found on that continent, whereas elsewhere it did not happen. The barrier can also be distance. If the range for a species is extremely wide, the same effect can occur.

Then, disaster strikes, as it does with regularity on Earth. An asteroid hits, the climate changes, a new predator moves in, or any number of other calamities, and the existing species or portion of a species must adapt or die out. Suddenly, the little differences aren't so little any more for at least one part of the population. The longer-legged creatures will run faster, and predators will eat the shorter-legged ones instead. The climate gets colder and suddenly longer fur is a real life-saving asset. Genes that were once scattered in the population are now heavily selected for, and the look and genetic makeup of the species can change quickly and dramatically. If there are enough genetic differences in the population over a long enough time, genes between the two of them become significantly different in length or structure. Fertility between the "old" and "new" forms suffers, and eventually they are so different that fertilization is impossible. We see the early stages of this in modern day horses and donkeys. They are similar enough to breed, but not enough to produce fertile offspring. There are other examples especially in birds where there are similar phenomena. Lions and tigers can breed, but the fertility rate is not the same as with the original species. We can see these various stages of speciation.

Speciation can result in many different outcomes based on what fossil evidence and genetic analysis tells us. Parts of the population could die out, leaving another part under different pressures unchanged. Two different species could result from one. One different species plus the original species could remain. The entire species could evolve into another. The whole species could die out and not be replaced. All of these scenarios can occur.

One logical fallacy that is often presented is that it is impossible to reproduce speciation in a lab environment. Yes, it is true that we do not yet have either a time travel machine or a time speeding machine where we can see what happens over millions of years in a bottle. We see all of the necessary phenomena that I have outlined in various stages of action, in the lab and in nature, but in terms of evolution, humans have only existed for about the blink of an eye, and you are asking for us to reproduce millions of years in a few decades. We aren't completely there yet, but it does not mean that it's "impossible". All of the individual building blocks necessary are there for speciation to happen, and observable. We just can't speed up time.

Another fallacy also presented is that there are no "missing links". Due to the selection pressures necessary to cause speciation, the "transition" period is pretty quick geologically speaking, about what would be expected from a quick extinction or adaptation to a (relatively) sudden change. The environment is generally similar for a long time, and a sudden shift makes the process accelerate. Without genetic material or any soft tissue at all for that matter, it is very difficult to prove beyond a doubt that something is a transitional form, but we do find these forms on a regular basis. Certainly for humans in this case we have more evidence than for many other animals. Cro-magnon man, Neanderthals, and other types all made an appearance, leading to where we are today. Cro-Magnon man especially were actually quite similar to us. Neanderthals quite a bit similar as well, but probably not enough to reproduce with modern humans. Even just yesterday another portion of a "missing link" was found.

This brings up the issue of "halves are useless". Evolutionary cul-de-sacs are everywhere. We still have an appendix. Ostriches still have wings. So do kiwi birds. Bulls don't need horns in order to survive any more, since they are domestic, but it doesn't mean they disappear. They are not selected against, so they continue. The eye is a frequently used example in the opposite direction. What good is half an eye? Not much. However, each form comes from the last form, so of course the more "advanced" form is heavily selected for, and the old form dies out. If the change is not a good one, it won't last long. People that throw out analogies like a watch randomly coming together from nothing are posing the question as if that is what evolution is. It is not. It goes from one functioning unit to the next. Those that do not function are selected against.

There is much, much more to this, and far more detail than I could possibly put in one post, but at least this is an overview. Post some of your objections if you would like and I would be happy to answer as best I can.

Update: Nicnerd IMed me from his conference and told me there were "truck-sized" holes in my post, and mentioned that there are shell fossils in the Himalayas. Interestingly, that particular fact is something touted by "Young Earth" proponents, which Nicnerd is not. I'm not sure where he got that info. His fact is correct. The Himalayas were formed around 25 million years ago when continental drift shoved the Indian plate into the Asian plate. The land portion of both of these plates were underwater at one time, when "shells ruled the Earth". This was from around 300 to around 450 million years ago, roughly. Shells in the Himalayas? We should expect nothing less!

What If Everything You "Knew" Changed Overnight?

2005-05-09T09:35:00.000-04:00

What if tomorrow morning you woke up and just "knew". You somehow just knew there was no God, no heaven, no hell. What if your purpose on the planet was not defined by any external source other than your own environment, and it was up to you to define your goals in life and your method to reach those goals? In this scenario you would not have forgotten what you used to think or anything like that, or actually maybe it could? Maybe think about both possibilities! Maybe you would simply think differently at that point, or maybe you always thought it. It would not mean an absence of right or wrong either. It would just mean that humans and humans alone would decide what is acceptable behavior in society. Would it upset you? Would you be happier? How might your life be different? How would it affect your priorities in life? How do you think the world would be? What would be better, and what would be worse?

I already live my life with that assumption, though I am far from certain whether my assumptions are true or not. I usually don't give it a second thought, but I wonder how others would handle it.

FYI, BRB, OMG, AFK, LOL, WTF?

2005-05-06T18:40:00.000-04:00

Don't you just love internet jargon? So anyway, speaking of the internet, I thought this might be a good opportunity to let you in on some of my favorite sites, some of which I use all the time, some of which are just recent interesting discoveries of the moment.

First, a couple days ago I had got some excellent fudge that I ordered from Brigittine Monks that make it in Oregon. I got a pound of amaretto fudge and a pound of chocolate fudge royale with nuts. My wife and I watched something about them on Food Network a couple years ago, and I finally decided to actually give it a try.

Do you hate it when free sites require a ten minute sign-up so that you can gain access? Me too. This site solves that problem. Bookmark it or memorize it. It saves time and irritation, especially when trying to read the various news items that blogs link too.

This is a site I found through another blogger this week. It's damn funny! It's funny the way people that are on cell phones in a crowded city seem to be unaware that everyone can hear what they are saying, or maybe they don't care? Anyway, the site is here.

Having trouble with some phrase in German? Here is the place to go. I know that the "LEO" site is also popular, but this is what I have been using since I started practicing my German again a couple years ago. You can also curse me in German if you want. It'll be fun!

You Gave Them An Inch, And Here Are The Miles

2005-05-05T20:25:00.000-04:00

You see, until the social conservatives are finally shown that fewer people agree with them than they think, this is the kind of stuff that will happen.

First, it was the "droopy drawers" legislation is Virginia that was mercifully dropped.

Now it's "lewd cheerleading" in Texas, where football (and cheerleading), are a way of life, and the population is conservative enough that I can't imagine such a huge event isn't going to already be controlled anyway.

Even worse, some ignorant people in Kansas that wouldn't know the scientific method if it bit them on the nose, are trying to turn back the clock 80 years. My guess is that Kansas won't be pumping out very many biologists, if they manage to get them to not teach evolution as it is taught today.

What's funny is that even most of the conservative people that I know think these things are ridiculous, but because some conservatives are so convinced that the very far right is a majority, they are no trying to run roughshod over every institution they think that they can legislate. Hey, you asked for it. 2006 can't come soon enough.

Estate Tax Complainers

2005-05-03T10:15:00.000-04:00

Before I start, let me just tell you that there was frost on my car this morning. I live in northern Virginia and it's May 3rd. Stop the insanity, and turn up the heat. It's almost summer!

Interestingly, most of the people that complain about the Estate Tax are not wealthy enough to have to pay it. Opponents call it the "Death Tax". I try not to get hung up on semantics, so you can call it what you wish. I found a handy calculator on a financial planning site. Put in your info. Do you qualify for the estate tax at all? It's doubtful. I hope that one day I qualify for it, and if I do, I guarantee that I won't complain about it! I would undoubtedly be among the top percent or two of the best off people in the world! I can understand the small business and farm angle. Make the cap higher on those so that there is less of a tax burden on them, but don't simply reward wealth over work for individuals. It is very easy to make money with money as it is. Isn't this kind of "perpetual hereditary aristocracy" something that we have always tried to avoid perpetuating? (I just made that phrase up, but that's what it is.) Is it really too much to expect that the great-great grandchildren of today's upper class might have to actually work a little bit?

Here is a snippet from an article from a few weeks ago on the subject.

The House vote pitted repeal proponents, who held that a tax on inheritances is fundamentally unfair, against Democrats, who questioned how Congress could support a tax cut largely for the affluent that would cost $290 billion over 10 years, in the face of record budget deficits.

As an aside, isn't it funny how on this and certain other issues, many Republicans will say things like "fundamentally unfair" or "it's perfectly obvious", and "everyone knows that...". I get a lot of those sorts of comments from my Republican friends that post here too. They never lack for moral certainty, even when their case is very difficult to prove. Don't you want to know who is going to pay for this $290 billion with a "b" tax break, if it passes? No, it isn't businesses, or the wealthy who got the tax break in the first place. You and I pay, or our children, or grandchildren. Is this what passes for "fair" in your book? It does not in mine. "It's double taxation" you say? OK, fine, so how do you propose we pay for it then, aside from trying to cut waste that we should be trying to cut anyway? Is there a plan in place? It certainly doesn't seem like it, and it's this kind of continued short-sightedness on tax policy that will get us in trouble in the years to come.

Bush A Fan Of "Splash Day"?

2005-04-29T15:54:00.000-04:00

This story gave me a chuckle. Is the president under the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy? Below is just the text of the story in the link. Happy Friday!

GALVESTON, Texas — President Bush drew laughs from his audience Tuesday when he asked whether the Galveston area still hosts "Splash Day." The annual beach party that dates to the 1950s does live on -- but now as an unofficial gay and lesbian event. In town to speak about Social Security, Bush told the crowd: "I want to thank the mayor for being here -- Lyda Ann Thomas greeted me coming in. I said, 'Do you still have Splash Day?'" The crowd laughed. "You have to be a baby boomer to know what I'm talking about," Bush said. The crowd laughed again. Splash Day once marked the end of school and the beginning of summertime fun. The city backed off from it many years ago when it turned a little too wild, says Christy Benson of the Galveston Chamber of Commerce. It later became a party day for gays and lesbians. Drawing another round of laughter, Bush said: "I'm not saying whether I came or not on Splash Day. I'm just saying, 'Do you have Splash Day?'"

Sic Semper Tyrannus

2005-04-28T14:12:00.000-04:00

Just seems like a good random title for today. The state flag of Virginia says that on it, and it means something like "Thus ever to tyrants". See the pic for context.

The new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe movie looks very funny. I have of course only seen the trailer, but it does show a lot of promise! If you don't have Quicktime, just go to the official site and get it in another format there. John Malkovich, pictured below, plays "Humma Kavula".

I will preface the clip from the story below by saying that this link is from Fox News, before my conservative friends can bleat another claim of dreaded "MSM bias". Yep, looks like someone finally checked the polls to see what the American public thought of this. You can argue about the usefulness of polls all you want, but sometimes they are the only thing that will convince "the people in charge" of their errors. (The bold print is mine.)
House Speaker Dennis Hastert persuaded fellow Republicans fearful of political fallout to retreat from a fight over ethics rules Democrats insist were written to shield Majority Leader Tom DeLay. The 406-20 vote Wednesday night to return to the old House ethics committee rules opened the way for a probe of the Texas Republican by that panel. With DeLay fast becoming the poster child for bad behavior, the move was seen as an effort by Hastert to limit political damage.

On a related note, is it just me, or is Dennis Hastert looking more like Ted Kennedy every day? Maybe he's hitting the sauce due to all of this pressure? He's almost got the "Boris Yeltsin glow".

I am currently reading a book called "Spam Kings" that I borrowed from a friend. It's pretty interesting how these people work and just how socially awkward many of them are. These people should have all of their toenails ripped off.