Blog of Xanadu...

2003-02-10T18:30:00.000-05:00

The Blog of Xanadu has moved! Go here!

2003-02-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

Gimme gimme shock treatment Okay, the melancholy of the morning has been blown into the weeds. I put Tori Amos aside and on a whim put in the Ramones. Talk about a change of pace -- Tori Amos is akin to walking alone through a drab November landscape, while the Ramones are more akin to riding a racebike at high speed on a white hot summer afternoon. It definitely clears the head. Oh, and Dee Dee Ramone was a Reaganite. All the better...

2003-02-10T09:45:00.000-05:00

Moving the keys... I'm a fairly big music person. I have no talent to create music whatsoever, but I can appreciate the work of others. Tori Amos is one artist for whom I have immense respect, at least for her music. I know her only through the mask of recorded sound. Her 1991 release "Little Earthquakes" is one of the best CDs I've ever put in a player. The music is consistently good, and drags hard at my heart. This is what I'm listening to right now, even as I type. "Little Earthquakes" allows me to wallow for a little while in the grief, to be subjected to the catharsis that the Greeks believed so important for the audience of tragedy. It's not that my life is tragedy -- it's not. But we all have tragic moments; the loss of a father, a baby, the bittersweet transitions of life. The times when we know things must change, and when we shuffle our feet to a different beat, to a different sound, to a different destination. We must mourn, because we cannot contain our lives completely into ourselves, and it must leak from our souls and spill to the ground, where instead of a bitter poison, it becomes a sweet water that nourishes the seeds of our new future.

2003-02-10T09:32:00.000-05:00

Moving to MT... I'm slowly moving the blog to my own hierarchy at the Garage of Xanadu. It's not quite ready yet, but it's getting there.

2003-02-07T11:10:00.000-05:00

Welcome to Comrade Kim's Korean Restaurant Welcome to Comrade Kim's North Korean Restaurant. Pay no attention to the razor wire. Please take a seat. We have two specials today, depending upon your preference. First, we have a lovely cutting of fresh grass, served on a plain white plate. If this delicacy is not to your liking, we have an alternative special -- the Blue Plate Special. It consists of a blue plate. No, there is nothing on the plate, that's what makes it special. Do I hear complaints? Then we must beat you, or shoot you. Here at Comrade Kim's we allow no dissent. You will have your Blue Plate Special and be grateful for the generosity of the proprietor. Oh, I am so sorry, but you cannot leave. once you're here, you will stay. The door is locked, the doorman has a rifle, and the front stoop is laced with landmines. There is an exit to the rear, but it only leads to a Chinese restaurant who has also locked their door. They will send you back here if they catch you. And then we will make sure that justice is served, here at Comrade Kim's.

2003-02-07T10:56:00.000-05:00

New Links Look Left. Tweaked, too...

2003-02-07T06:41:00.000-05:00

A Loss of Life It's been a couple months, so I guess it's time to write about this. Jessica and I lost a baby around Christmas time. It was an early pregnancy loss, but that does not eliminate the grief and pain. Jessica took the loss hard, understandably so, since she was feeling the changes associated with pregnancy. I was only seeing the external results of physiological interactions. While it was only reality to me, Jessica was living it. We have been trying for a few months. What does that mean? That means that we were tracking her temps, keeping track of days when she might be ovulating and when we were trying to conceive. We were monitoring all the various things recommended by the book Taking Charge of Your Fertility. We were aware of when things were right for the possibility of a pregnancy. The end result was a positive in late November, 2002. We looked carefully at the little purple lines and determined that the results were Good. Huzzah! Jess went to her OB/GYN and got the relevant blood tests, which confirmed the pee strips. They scheduled another test a few days later to determine if the hormone levels were rising at a fast enough rate. In a nutshell, they weren't. More tests followed, with the hormone levels rising, although too slowly to be certain of a good pregnancy. Two ultrasounds showed nothing discernable. It was plausible that the growing baby would not be visible at 6-7 weeks, but at the second ultrasound at eight weeks, something should be visible. Then the hormone levels dropped. Not much, just a smidge, but enough to cause the doctor to discuss the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy, and the ramifications and solutions to such a problem. We weren't certain it was an ectopic, but all signs pointed down that road. The end result was a forced termination. The method was chemical -- a cancer drug called Methotrexane. Methotrexane attacks fast growing cells. It's a liquid, delivered by needle, and in amounts that are astounding. Sometimes, it doesn't work right off, and you need a second or third injection. It gets injected deep into your buttocks, like a gamma globulin. Jess had to endure two sets of two shots each. They left her sore for a day or two, and her HCG levels began to drop rapidly after the second. Her menses returned about two weeks after the second shot. Her HCG levels are dropping slowly to zero, the tide of life receding. It's over. The loss of our first in this way has left Jess scared of future attempts. She's had roughly twenty blood tests over the last three months, and the methotrexane shots caused her a lot of pain, physically and emotionally. She had experienced all the early pregnancy signs. We were talking about the necessary arrangements for the coming baby, and when to tell people. I was in and out of work a lot to provide emotional support for her at all the tests and fianlly for the Methotrexane shots. She cried more than I did, although we both had our tears and sobs for a lost little one. I still hold her a lot to keep the demons at bay. She marks the passage of time relative to the pregnancy -- this week she would have been entering the second trimester. We're wounded. It feels a little like a curse has been placed on us. Jessica is deathly afraid of having to go through the difficulty of an ectopic again, although she is eager to start trying to conceive as soon as the doctor okays it. I'm quietly hopeful. We know that the hardware works, and the chance of a second ectopic is low. That provides hope. Hope, however, can never fill the hole that's been left by the loss of our first.

2003-02-06T23:01:00.000-05:00

Battle of the FTPs I'm a cheap bastard. I like freeware, shareware, anything-I-don't-have-to-pay-for-ware. As such, for a long time, I've used WS_FTP for my website maintenance (and blogger for my blog). I just tried the evaluation version of CuteFTP. In the immortal words of Keanu Reeves -- Whoa. I guess I need to buy some software...

2003-02-06T22:50:00.000-05:00

Rain and snow, rain and snow... C'mon, weather, make up your mind. I despise this wintery mix crap...

2003-02-05T12:43:00.000-05:00

Colin Powell's Theme Song He likes wearin' moustache, He likes French cuisine but we won't let him use his weapons, until he's in a mausoleum. We got him under pressure, We got him under pressure. Nukes in the art museum, bio weapons in the dog. He foams at the mouth to use 'em, Hides his weapons in a London fog. He don't like other leaders, He likes whips and chains. He likes champagne, and beatin' out poor Kurd brains. He is not all we can handle, we're too much for his brain. We got him under pressure, We got him under pressure. We're gonna give him a message, here's what we're gonna say: 'It's all over.' He might get out a nightstick so we'll hurt him real real bad by the roadside in a ditch. We got him under pressure, We got him under pressure. We got him under pressure, We got him under pressure. My sincere apologies to ZZ Top...

2003-02-05T09:26:00.000-05:00

Hold Music Have you ever thoguht about why businesses do some of the things they do? Some things that seem to make no sense may perform a function that you never think thye would. This morning I had to call the customer service line for the local newspaper. I recevied a long message telling me that all the service reps were busy and that one would be with me shortly, the typical hold message. The message ended by telling me that it would be followed by silence. Silence. No hold music. Nothing. And silence it was. It was unnerving. Cradling the phone, but listening to nothing. I felt oddly frightened, as though the killer had snipped my only connection to the outside world, to the information services, and now he was coming for ME! Paranoia began to cloud my thoughts. Was he waiting in the supply closet? Around the corner? Was he watching me through the windows, seeing my every move, knowing what I would do next? Was he savoring my fear, drawing energy from my fright? Should I get the knife from the kitchen, see if I could find a gun in a desk? It anyone comes near me, it must be him. He seeks me, strives to take me away. I must strike first! Then the line clicked, and the Customer Service Rep came on the line. My reality snapped back, and the tattered fringes of paranoia smoothed to whole cloth reality again. Hold music, boring as it may be, may serve a deeper purpose. It may save lives, preventing the paranoid and frightened from stepping over the edge. Please, please, please give me some hold music when I'm waiting on the phone. My coworkers demand it.

2003-02-05T09:04:00.000-05:00

Dawn I wake in a grey room, with the lights out, and the golden sodium glow of the streetlamps spotting the walls. The dog lifts his head, curious, but not demanding. He rests it again on a paw, his token acknowledgement of my waking complete. I roll to my feet and dress. The sky is dark, rhinestone stars scattered in blue velvet. Through the window, I see it begins. The velvet tears at the edges, leaking light, bleaching away the stars and color. The cloth of night is dragged from our cage by inches, until the sun reveals itself at the edges of the earth, its golden glow spotting the wall. Dawn has come.

2003-02-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

IMAO has a couple comments on Korea. The closing line is priceless...

2003-02-03T09:46:00.000-05:00

Mel Brooks -- My oddball hero... To Be, Or Not To Be, The Producers, History of the World, Pt. I -- In his prime, Mel Brooks has been a force for laughter and humor. Even now, he's still one of the funniest men alive. Mr. Brooks brought something special to the screen, some thing that couldn't have come from anyone else. It was in the Jewish jokes, the subtle and the blatant. It was in the portrayal of the purveyors of Evil -- the Nazis, Toquemada, Ceasar. It was the way everything was subject to ribbing, either harsh or gentle. Mr. Brooks is a big part of the reason I became so aware of Judaism and what Jews had been through. But I didn't learn it as the Horrors of Humanity, I learned Jewish history through the eyes of a sympathetic man with gentle humor. History books told me the events, Mel Brooks showed me the humanity. I later learned about the Holocaust from survivors, and from Jews who fled the Nazis, but Mel Brooks showed me early on that the people who survived history somehow managed to laugh again. It's not that the sorrow isn't there, but rather that it has passed. Some never learned to speak of it. Some wrote their stories. But they all learned to laugh again, even at themselves. Especially at themselves, since they knew where laughing at others could lead. Mel Brooks is all that is great about Judaism. Warmth, humor, love, and integrity. The resilience to come back later and laugh even when the subject is your own lif or death. Thank you, Mr. Brooks.

2003-02-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

Shuttle crash... It's not likely to be terrorism. At 200K feet (about 38 miles), and at a velocity of 12,500 mph, there are few missiles that could hit it. The ones that could are huge and require some serious technology. The reports of the insulation striking the wing are not good -- the leading edge of the wing handles a lot of heat, and if a tile failed due to impact, it could lead to the wing getting effectivley burned off as the hot plasma from re-entry vaporizes the structure of the ship. The resulting tumble would cause the resultant loss of the ship. You can't tell much from the videos, but it looks like the ship broke up. If it lost the wing and tumbles, the top tiles wouldn't be able to handle the re-entry heat -- they aren't designed to handle it. Say a prayer for the families of the crew.

2003-02-01T09:57:00.000-05:00

Loss of the Columbia Foxnews CNN MSNBC ABC CBS UPDATE: AP Newswire via Washington Post God rest their souls.

2003-01-31T15:09:00.000-05:00

Well, SOG me, Mr. President. Recent revalations about American SOGs (Special Operations Groups) functioning within Iraq raise the question -- Why?? The obvious explanation is pre-battle preparations -- intel operations, a little work towards raising a popular insurrection, etc., the usual pre-war stuff you do to ensure that you win. I have a possible alternate explanation... What if the SOGs, or at least a few of them, are working to seize at least a few chemical, biological, or nuclear agents to show to the world what Hussein's been hiding? It would be an amazing coup if Colin Powell walked into the UN and showed them a vial of anthrax spores (carefully handled, at the very least). France and Germany would have to fold. Popular reactioon would be pretty solid, I think. Some would scream about violating Iraq's sovereign territory prior to war, but most folks would be impressed and consider the War to be instantly justified. Some of the inspectors might complain, but we could simply point to slothy response from the UN inspection teams from prior information handed to them. Some in the UN would be pissed, but mostly because they'd been outfoxed by dumb ol' George W - again. I really hope that this is what's happening. It would cement the war in the public eye and thrash the anti-US/anti-War crowd in one magnificent gesture. Of course, the bombs would need to begin falling almost immediately on the tail of the announcement, but that can be arranged. Oh, I hope, I hope, I hope....

2003-01-29T19:25:00.000-05:00

I was wrong about the Fench... The Fench are not like a little child. They are more like Grandpa Simpson. We're Homer and Marge, trying to get him into a home so he'll be well taken care of, but he's protesting "But I don't wanna go to the home!" Well, Mr. Chirac, get your wrinkly old country into the home and let us take care of business. Enjoy your retirement. J

2003-01-28T10:22:00.000-05:00

Are the French our enemies now? Go forth and read this.

2003-01-27T08:49:00.000-05:00

Superbowl XXXVII Superbowl XXXVII (37 henceforth) has come and gone. Woo-hoo! I can't wait for next season! The Superbowl is a love-hate thing for me. I love the excitement of the championship, and the hoopla that goes with it, but I hate seeing the season end. High points of the game -- The last second interception for a TD. The only drawback was that the DB should have taken a slower walk into the end zone to eat those last two seconds. It would have saved Oakland the humiliation of having to take the field after that cherry in the whipped cream ending for the Bucs. The blocked punt. Oakland did a terrific, heads up job on this play. It almost turned the game around, but TB's D was simply too strong for Oakland to overcome. My top 3 Superbowl Ads -- 1. The Referee -- The Clydesdales waiting for the review was priceless. 2. Office Linebacker -- We need one here at work sometimes. 3. Baboons & Polar Bears -- Reasonably clever, well executed. That's a wrap! UPDATE: BTW, the Dixie Chicks singing the National Anthem was the best rendition I've ever heard. Stirring, technically precise, and not overloaded with frills. The harmonization was beautiful. This should be an object lesson for any potential Anthemizer -- the song works for itself. Keep the vocal fireworks in check and you'll get a great performance.

2003-01-26T08:47:00.000-05:00

Adolescent France France has recently turned against us, turned tail, and allied itself with the freakazoid Chancellor Schroeder (does he play the piano? Is his wife named Lucy? Inquiring minds and all). Big Freaking Surprise. France has always been an ally of convenience. France has only placed itself with us to be against someone else, since the beginning of time. Initially, way back in the 1750s. France was an enemy, because we were in effect their enemy. We were English, and if there is one thing the French hate, it's the English. Ever since Agincourt, when the flower of French Nobility was left to rot in the sun and the mud, France has hated England and the English. St. Joan drove the English from France, but never French sensibility has never recovered from Agincourt. How could the 'superior' French army be bested, the asked themselves? Because they suck, answered the English. It was onlt when we rose agianst the English that the French suddenly became our friends -- because they hated the English. Once they saw we could fight the English better than the French could, the French joined the party, trying to squeeze in a little English bashing of their own, and trying to end up on the winning side for once. Well, we won, and the French hangers-on celebrated whilst dangling from our coattails. Not that the French weren't helpful. They were. They provided arms and men. We provided the guts and generalship. I suspect we would have won without the French, although this is not by any means certain. They provided tremendous aid. But they couldn't beat the British on their own just 25 years prior, so the value of their aid is hard to measure. After the Revolution, the French hung tough with us becasue it still behooved them to do so -- since they had a common economic, and later military enemy, once again the British. We fought the British off in 1812-1814, again, without French help, but Britain was still the big dog, and France needed us as an ally against them, although more economically rather than militarily. Time rolled on, and the British contemplated aiding the Confederacy, while the French hung with the United States as we devolved into Civil War. The South couldn't do enough to garner the support of the British, so we never had to call on teh French. But still they remained, since we were not on the friendliest terms with the British, and that benefitted France. Eventually, the Germans united under Kaiser Wilhelm and brought the French and English to war. We remained allied with the French, and the improved relations that had come together over the last half century united us with the British. WE all fought the Hun, and eventually won. The French were now closer to being allied with teh British, but the presence of the Germans kept the French a little scared, and the wanted to stay on our side. The Nazis came along and brought war back to Europe. We liberated France, and eliminated the German threat. The French no longer feared an incursion from the Germans, but the Soviet Threat loomed large and kept them on our side. Forty some odd years later, and the Soviets collapsed. The French were left confused. They had no enemy to fear, no reason to hide behind our skirts. It's taken about ten years, but now they think they can cross the street themselves. To the French, there are no enemies -- the Arabs can be dealt with, the British are part of the EU, the Germans are now their allies, and the world is safe as far as they are concenred. Sure, there are some terrorists, but the ones in France are isolated and, well, they only pick on the Jews, so like the bully picking on the hairy geek instead of them, they really aren't a threat to France. France is entering a political adolescence. They want to strike out on their own as a world power again, but are impotent to do so. No military to speak of, an ignored diplomatic corps, and the contempt of the greatest power on earth. Like an adolescent, they do the only thing they can do -- scream bloody murder and cry in their room at night. "But Mom! I don't want to go to war!" "But Dad! I don't want to eat your broccoli!" "Mom! Germany's picking on me! And after we drag them along for the ride to Iraq, and we win, and they discover that they enjoyed it... well, like a child, they'll talk about how tough they were to ride the big Mighty Mouse Roller Coaster, how brave they were on the Tilt-a-Whirl, and how mommy and daddy let them go on the big slide all by themselves. They'll think they've done something special, when all they've done is what mommy and daddy wanted them to do.

2003-01-24T11:08:00.000-05:00

Mr. Den Beste is at his Beste.

2003-01-24T10:05:00.000-05:00

Roe v. Wade It's a little past the anniversary, but what the hey... I've read most of the arguments pro and con over legalized abortions. My sentiments lie towards the pro-life side, although not strongly. I do, however, have a solution to the problem that I've been advocating for a number of years. I know it's the right solution, because it makes sense, and leaves pretty much every one unhappy. The salient question with regards to abortion is "When does a zygote/embryo/fetus constitute a living being?" The arguments either way range from birth to conception, with the current law falling in between at a point that call "viability" -- the point where a fetus can survive on its own, outside the mother's body. This point is vague, since some babies born at 25 weeks survive, and some born at 40 weeks can't survive regardless of the measures taken. Arbitrarily, the courts have placed "viability" at the beginning of the third trimester. Viability is a vague concept, at best. So let's go with something more concrete. Life support mechanisms have introduced a whole slew of laws that relate to the ending of life. Depending upon the state, it ranges from absence of self sustained heartbeat, to absence of certain levels of brain activity, to a combination of these and other factors. Most states have a pretty solid definition of the end of life. Logically, it would seem, the same standards should be applied to the beginning of life. If a fetus can sustain a heartbeat, shows certain levels of brain activity, and otherwise fits the state's criterion for being alive, the fetus should have a right to life. Since heartbeat occurs so early in the pregnancy (8 weeks), brain activity is probably a better measure of the "life" of the fetus. This applies some consistency within the law. For instance, a person bcan be very much alive even though they rely on outside mechanisms (Iron lung, dialyses, heart lung machine, pacemaker, etc.), just a fetus can be alive even though it relies upon the umbilical and placenta. This strikes me as emminently reasonable and balanced. And the pro-lifers and pro-choicers will both dislike it, which makes the probability of it being an accurate resolution all the more likely. Update :: Edited some typos.

2003-01-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

Never mind; it seems to be corrected now... Some one email me if you read this stuff. I need a little stroking :-)

2003-01-24T09:45:00.000-05:00

Yeah, the email like at the bottom of each post is hosed. And I've fixed the template. Ang Blogger won't pick it up for some reason... Grrrrr....

2003-01-24T09:24:00.000-05:00

Love in a Cup Mornings are interesting. Starting at 0500, I get to wake to the melodious burbles of my favorite piece of technology, the self-timed coffee pot. Provided I remember to assemble the ingredients the night before, the coffee comes to life at 0500. By 0520, when the dog has been out for his daily duty, the coffee is done and all that remains for my morning is to fetch a cup and the newpaper for a casual hour or two with FoxNews, the daily comics, and beloved coffee. My dad started me on the morning rituals. When I was a kid, I played in a hockey league for the couple years we lived in Wilmington, MA. I'd have games at 0600 on Saturday morning, a time when most kids are dead asleep. So my fahter suggested i have some coffee one morning. I was about ten. Say what you will -- one cup of coffee has less caffiene than a coke (well, not the way I make it), and less sugar. I'd always liked the smell, now I get the full effect. I can operate without coffee, unlike many cafaddicts. I think much of the effect of it on me is purely psychological. The routine of the morning cup stabilises the day. The morning drifts from its moorings without it. I can measure the morning by the three or so cups I have. If I'm rushed, two cups, typoically three, if i have time, four or more. Sunday mornings are the leisurely ones. I still get up at five, walk the dog, get the paper, and then get a cup. I can park my butt on the couch and relax. It'll be three or more hours until I decide to wake Sweet Jessica, and the solitude of the morning refreshes nearly as much as the night of sleep. When she wakes, I don't feel rushed to get things done, because I've accomplished something, either a little laundry, dishes, or some writing. I've read the paper. I've reviewed the news of the day. I've found that the normal course of events is still in place. Life feels good.

2003-01-23T13:10:00.000-05:00

The French Connection The French are attempting to delay and/or block the upcoming War with Iraq. Word on the street is that France is concerned about the terms of surrender. President Chirac was overheard complaining that the Iraqis don't treat prisoners nicely.

2003-01-22T15:49:00.000-05:00

Football around the world... Yassar Arafat has placed an appeal with the NFL to allow a new team, the Jerusalem Martyrs. Word has it that he will coach the team, and that the initial lineup is set. Apparently the team is weak on defense, but has an explosive offence...

2003-01-22T11:06:00.000-05:00

We came, we saw, we bowled Since we haven't much money and lots of time, we've joined a bowling league. It's a low scoring league, intended for the less than serious bowler. Last night was my first to bowl, and my opportunity to establish an average for the league, and for handicapping purposes. Naturally, I bowled well above my normal capabilities. I averaged 152. That's because I tossed a 192 for my second game. Holy cow, how did I do that? I started off astoundingly well -- for the first six frames, I threw five strikes and one spare. I did reasonable well for the last few frames, although not as astonishingly a well as the first six. I think part of it was the choice of balls available at this alley. There are small to XXL finger holes available for all size balls. instead of being bound by a 16 lb ball, I could throw a twelve or fourteen pounder. This improved my accuracy. I also moved myself from the furthest line to the middle line for my approach. It worked like a charm. I started it at the end of the first game, and threw two spares and three strikes. It gained momentum through the six frames of the second game, and it just rocked. I still came close to a lot of strikes -- balls where if I'd managed to place the ball alightly to the right, it would have gotten the five pin. I think I was losing control at that point, as I guttered a ball or two and basically threw like crap. towards the end. My muscles in my forearm were losing strength and control went out the window. I started using my shoulder for control, not my wrist, and that simply doesn't work as well -- larger muscle groups have more difficulty with fine control that smaller muscle groups. I ended up with a 44 handicap -- I hope my future play justifies it.

2003-01-20T15:23:00.000-05:00

An Ode to my Father... Mothers drive us nuts, fathers drive us to dinner. That seems to be the sentiment amongst the folks I've casually interviewed. Mothers, perhaps becaus they are there for all the things we do wrong, and are the place to which we tend to retreat as a very small child, tend to have a more apparent surface influence than dads do. So, here's to Dad. Here's some of the stuff i learned from him, directly or indirectly. Never panic over money, or much of anything else -- Problems like money issues tend to resolve themselves if you keep pecking at them. A change in income, or a loss such as a theft or accident, or some unexpected bill, can all cause stress and panic. Taking your time to tend to these issues carefully will find solutions -- sometimes short term, often long term. Short on cash? Eat ramen noodles until the next payday, and get by without something you might otherwise buy. Use a cheaper alternative, go without, cut back. Whatever it takes. My father showed me that the Calvin Coolidge approach often works -- 9 out of 10 problems rolling down the road at you will slide off into the ditch. The rest can be dealt with as they come. Rarely does a problem merit wailing ang gnashing of teeth. Wailing and gnashing teeth doesn't fis the problem, it only creates future dentists bills, and it can really piss of the neighbors. A good book is as good as it gets -- My dad read a lot. Magazines, books, newspapers, whatever. He was well informed and a very smart man. Rise early and enjoy the morning -- Dad was up at 0500 to read the paper and have his coffee, a habit I follow now that I'm grown. It's the best part of the day -- the solitude of a house in the predawn hours is a peace you can't find elsewhere. You have time to gree tthe day with a little bit of a plan. If you're going to leave, leave at dawn -- No one is on the road at 0530... except for me. Dad would load up the car, get us kids in the back, my mother up front, and we'd be on the road. We kids would wake up a few hours later, the sun in our face and the world outside the car windows completely different. Adn we'd have lots of time during the day to stop and see the sites, without sacrificing the distances traveled. We saw more on family vacations that I could imagine possible. Build it yourself -- Whether it's a kit desk from Office Max, or a rebuilding the entire kitchen, do it as much as possible by yourself. Every task was possible for my father, from skylights to kitchen cabinets to radio towers. He was an engineer by trade, and a genuine jack of all trades. He could do magic with wood, and fortunately I carry a little of that in my bones. I build a lot of what I need, and I do pretty well. Keep the peace -- My mother is a little reactionary (and if she reads this, I'll definitely hear about it). My father was good at interceding and settling her down, acting as a judiciary for the household. He was immenently fair, and reasonable. He once had an angry side, but it vanished when very young -- probably because my dad stopped drinking. Sometimes he would yell and shout, but the man I remember rarely felt the need to scream and yell. Explore the world -- My fahter loved the backroads. He'd use the highway and interdates when needed, but in general he'd make a little extra time to see what was off the beaten track. He found charms that beguiled me -- little restaurants, little towns, and beautiful places that no one really knew about. he spent a lot of time driving to visit the various County Seats in Texas, to see the old courthouses. I remember trips down backroads, through towering cornfields, past waving wheat, through horsefarms, beside streams and rivers. I remember the feel of the road, never a lonely place, always inviting. Put down roots, but don't become rootbound -- We moved alot when I was a kid. My father was in a business that sometimes required relocation. I grew up in Minnesota, Washington, Massachussetts, but mostly in Texas. I don't live in Texas anymore, although I am a Texan through and through. I know when to pick up and replant myslef. When you do it, you tear off some of the smaller roots, but you make the taproot stronger. You are self sufficient, even if you don't know it -- My dad solved so many problems in ingenious ways. He never stopped seeking a solution. he found ways to advance in his busniess, keep his hobbies alive, and to have time with family and friends. He never seemed to absolutely need anyone else. He would read, ask questions, and find solutions. he knew that the answers were there, even if he didn't know the answer yet. Everyone is a friend, at least at first -- My fahter passed away as a well loved man. He had no enemies. He was well known for his sense of humor, and I watched literally hundreds of people at his memorial. He never refused to help his friends. he offered his truck to people needing to move, his hands and skills to help bring a car back from the dead, and his mind to find solutions where none seemed to exist. He did this for everyone. Teach what you know -- He didn't really take that tack that his duty was to teach. He just did things, and although he sometimes fell short, when we wanted to try something he'd guide us in a way that reminded us that nothing was impossible. My father has been dead for a little over two years now. I've refrained from eulogizing the old man -- I'm not as sentimental as some, and other problems have pushed Dad's memories to the back burner for a while. But now the time seems right.

2003-01-19T15:59:00.000-05:00

WWJD? (What Would Jesus Drop?) Jesus was a peaceful dude, dedicated to bringing the people of the World up to speed on God and Goodness and all that. He dis, however, talk of War. Jesus would have understood a Just War, a time to go forth and smite the crap out of your enemies. Jesus knew that teh weak an ddowntrodden needed a leg up, and if giving them that leg up meant killing their oppressors. Jesus even said he came to lay down the smack -- "Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Matthew 26:51 Jesus came to kick ass and take names. So, given that technology has advanced over the years, we must ask, What Would Jesus Drop?" Seeing that Jesus wants to make the evil ones his bitches, and leave the rest to lives of peace, Jesus would make use lots of precision munitions. The lightning strike, the pillar of fire, the big ol' bear to eat your enemies -- Jesus has at hand the finest of God's own Artillery. And God doesn't miss. There is know such thing as friendly fire for the wrath of God -- Jesus has the Intel to drop a hot one right down your shorts. So, what would Jesus Drop? Jesus would drop a JDAM guided pillar of fire into Saddam's lap. Think of it -- the Prince of Peace calls in an airstrike right through the roof. Saddam's minions flip out as the old moustache bursts into flame, scarring the ceiling with his ashen remnants. Jesus wouild drop down a big wallop of wrath, and free the Iraqi people. C'mon, Jesus, let's go kick some Iraqi ass...

2003-01-14T09:03:00.000-05:00

Tuesday AM bliss... well, not really. I've been contemplating the consequences of change. Sometimes its good, sometimes its bad. Sometimes a short term agony will be replaced by a long term gain -- birth and exercise being examples of the latter. I've been through a lot of changes lately. I was in a situation that was untenable, and extracting myself from it has cost a lot. My father died just over two years ago, a victim of cancer. A divorce, an accumulation of debt related to the divorce, and the subsequent rearrangement of life that follows, has created some stresses that I can't control. I've changed jobs twice in the last three years, and in the process lost the voluminous leave time I'd accrued, along with a significant portion of my income. I had control over some of the events, such as the first job change, but not all of them, especially not getting laid off last August. It's the absence of control that is truly frightening. For now, I can't ust jump on the bike and head to the mountains like I used to. I can't take off a week. I can't spend the money on bikes and camera equipment. I can't even afford to shoot much film, because I can't afford the development costs. Things will change. I'm hard at work on a new novel, and it promises to be the best yet. The future will be brighter. I take solace. I have married a wonderful, beautiful woman. Iraq will fall. Iran will go through a transition without an invasion. North Korea will fall before too long. The world will spin through another day, and life will continue to thrive in spite of the environmentalists claims to the contrary. Micheal Moore will continue to be an idiot, as will Barbra Streisand, Noam Chomsky, and Robert Fisk. Rachel Lucas, Glenn Reynolds, and The National Review OnLine will continue to provide me with entertainment and information.

2003-01-13T12:52:00.000-05:00

I was reading a blurb on David Frum's new book The Right Man, and I was wondering -- For some reason, the US has always had leaders that were right for the times -- even when the times hadn't happened yet. Look at the great leaders after the Revolution -- Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan, Bush, Bush. Each was a President who came into office and was forever remembered for the events during his term -- Lincoln for the Civil War, Wilson for WWI, Roosevelt and WWII, Truman for Korea, Eisenhower for the escalation of the Cold War, Kennedy for the Cuban Missile Crisis, Reagan for the end of the Cold War, Bush for the Persian Gulf War, and now GWBush for the war on Terrorism. Maybe it's luck. Probably not. Maybe it's the Hand of God. Let your own convictions decide. What i can tell you is that it's a product of our system. Those who would aspire to power in the USA do not do so without being subject to the harshest conditions for survival. It takes moxie to survuve to the Presidency, political skill to win it, and dedication to maintian it once you're there. Presidents are run through a Crucible and forged into strong leaders, and generally good men. Sometimes, a bad one will slip through, but only every so often. Most of the men in the Presidency are strong, far stronger than they may seem at first. It's something to be thankful for.

2002-12-19T10:35:00.000-05:00

Merry Xmas!

2002-12-12T10:48:00.000-05:00

Marxism's failure I was reading this piece by Lee Harris, and it got me thinking... Marxism evolved to a statist culture because it would not brook any dissension from the masses with regard to the future of the state. The State decided what constituted Justice, regardless of the will or desires of the people. The failure of the Soviet Union, the English State under Cromwell, the French under The Terrors, Spain under the Inquisition, and most of Europe through the church controlled Middle Ages are all a product of the State, in its various guises, failing to provide a mechanism for the citizens to decide what constitutes justice. Most States provide a major legal mechanism for the resolution of conflicts -- courts, dueling, tribal councils, etc. The formal mechanisms are important for justice -- so that more egregious violators of the laws and rules can be punished publicly to show support for those rules and laws. Primitive systems such as tribal councils and other small group dynamics allow for direct input from the people. This prevents despotism, because the cheif or lord or baron must respond to the council, and ignores them at his peril. Richard III, Napoleon, et al., all eventually felt the wrath of the people in one shape or form. Systems that fail to provide the people justice will either eventually collapse through revolution, or because they are ignored by the people. Only those that use overwhelming force can afford to be unjust. The Soviet Union, Iran, Iraq and China are near perfect examples of states that do not (or did not, in the case of the Soviets) provide justice in the eyes of the people. Each uses force to secure the right of the State over the people -- Sharia in Iran, the will of the Dictator in Iraq, and the survival of the Politburo in the USSR and China. The Soviet Union fell when the need of the people for justice overwhelmed the ability of the state to respond and crush the demands for justice. Overnight, the system began to change. Russia, while no paradise of liberty, is in a position to respond more efficiently to the needs of the people for justice. The United States secures the rights of the people to decide what constitutes justice -- through the jury system, to start with. Through the legislative system, through the Federal system, and so, each step in the US contitution passes the power to decide what is justice to the people. Social as well as legal justice cna be addressed at the ballot box, either by voting for representatives or through referenda. Even with this responsiveness, the US has reached points where the changing needs of the people accelerated and the system could not keep up. The riots over the drafts of the 1860s and 1960s, riots in LA in the early 90s, are all signs that the public perception of justice has not been served. The system eventually responded, through legislation, by selective prosecution, and through efforts of various factions to come to a settlement. This is why the Anglo-derived systems of justice survive. They respond. Representative democracy will eventually come to overtake the whole globe, because it is the only system that responds to the people, and the absence of response is what eventually causes all dictators to fall.

2002-11-19T09:17:00.000-05:00

Uh-oh...

CALIGVLA You are the quintessential madman. Centuries after your death, crazies will still look up to you as the epitome of your kind. You were the favorite child of the family, but something happened that altered your mind for the worse. As emperor, you killed and you destroyed. You thought yourself Zeus and devoured your unborn child; a child conceived with your sister. Your murder will be celebrated, and your name will forever be linked with depravity. You were portrayed by John Hurt.

Which I, Claudius Character are You? created by Shiny Objects Found courtesy Joanne Jacobs, et al.

2002-11-15T11:39:00.000-05:00

A repost from way way back... My brain was working full gear on the commute in this morning... Particle Physics for Motorcyclists, Pt I Here is a list of the described sub-atomic particles found in the motorcycle world: posetron -- An interchange particle that acts in conjunction with receptors in the human brain; this response is known as "pose value". Harley Davidsons, Ducatis, and Bimotas have strong generators of posetrons, which increases the desirability of these bikes in the eyes of certain humans. Posetron receptors vary in humans -- some only respond to the subgenre of sport posetrons, others to cruiser posetrons, and still others are more specialized as receptors of brand-specific posetrons, such as Harley posetrons or Ducati posetrons. Note that some humans are equipped with the rare MotoGuzzi receptor. These people can be identified by their unusual haircuts and an insistence that linked brakes are superior. Note that certains motorcycles, such as the the Honda CB750, have no posetron emissions, and in fact may actually suck posetrons from other motorcycles. Note also that older bikes tend to generate a greater number of posetrons than newer bikes, so that a 1960 Bonneville will have greater pose-value than a brand new Yamaha. electron -- These are the particles that make the electrical and electronic systems on motorcycles work. Usually found in batteries, copper wires, and in later model machines, contained in a special black box. Note that this is the only particle visible to the human eye, as can be witnessed during a failure of one of the above mentioned parts, when the electrons are released in what as commonly known as "smoke". neutron -- This is a special particle that assists the operator of the machine in finding neutral. Certain motorcycles, such as Ducatis and some BMWs, produce no neutrons when standing still. Others, such as many Kawasakis, are fitted with a neutron generator to assist the user in finding neutral at a stand still. gluon -- This particle is prevelent in motorycle tires, particularly high quality sporting tires, giving them the ability to "stick like glue". The gluon content of the tire determines the available traction, and recent developments, particularly the radial tire, have given manufacturers the special ability to increase the number of gluons in a tire without any ancillary effects. The greatest negative effect of gluons is that gluons do degrade upon exposure to the atmosphere, hence the tendency for sporting tires to last a signifigantly shorter period of time than less gluon laden touring tires. gravitron -- The gravitron is an external particle that responds to motorcycle by dragging the bike to the ground. Individual gravitrons are weak, but gravitrons tend to accumulate in pockets, particularly in the wild, and wait for an unsuspecting motorcycle to wander by. The number of gravitrons increases with the presence of liquid precipitation, and goes through the roof with more solid forms of precipitation such as snow or ice. Certain bikes have gravitron repellers, although the efficacy of these is questionable. Note that gravitrons can also counteract the effects of gluons, if only for a moment, so an errant pocket could cause tires to fail to work in the expected manner.

2002-11-13T09:51:00.000-05:00

Which Founding Father Are You?

Who are you? Found thanks to Joanne Jacobs...

2002-11-10T08:50:00.000-05:00

Thinking about the elections... I was wondering if the trendline for the nation is heading away from the Democrats. Consider this -- the Dems were effectively in total power in the 1970s -- even Republican presidents were little more than whitewashed Democrats. Nixon and Ford followed in LBJ's footsteps pretty thorough;y. If it weren't for the Vietnam War, there probably would have been all Democrat presidents until Reagan. Then came the Conservative groundswell in the eighties. Conservatism made major gains with the capture of the Presidency and the results of Reagan's policies. Bush ran as a continuation of Reagan's policies, and won. Bush slid away from conservative principles, and was defeated by Clinton, who basically ran as a conservative. Clinton bull rushed to the left after being elected, and lost the House and Sentae in 1994. He rolled back to the right and maintained his presidency by taking conservative positions on many issues, including welfare reform, a Republican keystone policy. Al Gore lost to Bush -- I think the only reason he did as well as he did was because a lot of Dems and Indys perceived Gore as a continuation of the Conservative side of Clinton's rule. The Senate and House remained Republican, although by a small margin. Jeffords defects, turning the Senate over to the Democrats. The nation chooses to return the Senate to the Republicans at the next opportunity. There were various tactical reasons within the races to cause some of the close races one way or the other, but in general, the Republicans have been slowly gaining ground at the grassroots. It looks bad for the Dems as far as the long term trends go...

2002-11-07T16:50:00.000-05:00

If you traipse on over to DemocraticUnderground, they won't allow access to their fora unless you give them $$$. So apparently it's become a pre-pay pity party. Talk about limiting freedom of speech :-)

2002-11-07T09:36:00.000-05:00

Micheal Moore called for Tuesday to be Payback Tuesday. Mike, you were right... Yep, Tuesday was payback. Payback for obstructing appointees, payback for backing unions over the safety of the Nation, and payback for placing the desires of trial lawyers over the needs of the United States. Payback is rather sweet...

2002-11-06T05:53:00.000-05:00

Shooting down artillery shells is akin to shooting down supersonic ballistic missiles. It's a big step towards true theatre, and eventually strategic, missile and projectile defenses.

2002-11-05T17:59:00.000-05:00

Go vote, if you haven't already. I did, and it's made me more manly and stronger. My wife did, and she's gotten more beautiful and her breasts have gotten larger and firmer. Vote! It does a body politic good!

2002-11-05T13:57:00.000-05:00

Air Tactics, No-Fly Zones, and Airspace I was a-thinkin'.... The Saudis and turks cutting us off from using their bases for the impending invasion of Iraq is not as much of an issue as you might think... 1. The bases can still be used to support the No-Fly Zones. This means that they are, in essence, air-defnse bases. Plus, if we float a couple dozen aircraft at a time into Iraqi airspace for No-Fly coverage, they present yet another target for the Iraqis to track. If they shoot at those aircraft, we can off the offending missile launcher or gunner as a defensive manuever.We can't bomb everything from there, but we could, within the strictures of the No-Fly zone rules, take out their anti-air elements. 2. We could conceivably use the Saudi desert as a staging area -- park the troops ready to go, then perform the exact opposite of the Gulf Storm manuever and go into Kuwait and hang a left into Iraq. We have the navigation tools to do this easily. 3. The Saudis will probably let us at least fly-over for attacks into Iraq. Longer range, but still very useful. Overall, we've got tools to do without the Saudis -- and their lack of cooperation just lets us move them to the "Regime Change" list all the sooner...

2002-11-01T12:46:00.000-05:00

Sex Candy... After much thought this Halloween week, I've decided that candy is sex for children... Candy, in moderation, provides intense pleasure. Too much candy can be very bad for you, affecting you physically as well as emotionally. Candy from some one you love is amazingly pleasureable. Candy from a stranger is fun, too. If you do take candy from a stranger, make sure that it's properly wrapped -- for your protection. Candy can be innocent fun until you get it too often -- then you get cynical about it, even though you still love it. Candy can be addictive. Candy alone can be fun, but sharing the it with your love makes it more intense. Candy in public can be very exciting, but you have to be careful where you have it. Sharing Candy with a close friend can have a seriously negative effect on the relationship -- as can not sharing. Anyway, this is what happens when I'm allowed to sit and think for a while...

2002-10-31T10:06:00.000-05:00

John Derbyshire is writing well today. FWIW, I enjoy Derb's writing immensely. He's such an unBritish Brit. That's a good thing; trust me...

2002-10-31T09:56:00.000-05:00

It's the most, spookiest time, of the year... It's that time of the year again, and tonight I will be beseiged with goblins and creatures from beyond the grave, all scraping at the door, moaning softly "brains! brains!" No, wait, the election's next week. And I'm not in Minnesota or New Jersey, so I don't have to worry about the Creatures from Beyond the Grave. Whew! We've gotten three calls this week from odd numbers. We use caller ID to vet the incoming calls -- if the caller is blocked, they get a standard "we don't accept calls from blocked callers" message. If we don't recognize the number, or if it comes up unknown, we dump it to the answering machine to screen the call. For the folks we know, we answer the phone. Back to the three calls. Two came from the 303 area code, one from 757 (local). None left messages, but they all had "Name Blocked" or somesuch for the ID of the caller. None left messages. I wonder if any of these three are push pollers, those pollers who ask loaded questions seeking to instill doubt about a candidate for those receving the calls. I almost want to answer one, just to experience a push-poll, but my luck would probably put me in contact with a siding salesman instead. Oh well...

2002-10-30T23:43:00.000-05:00

Aieee-yah, the Dems are basically evil... I'm sure by now that you've heard the brouhaha over the "memorial" for the deceased Democrat Paul Wellstone. It turns out that the Dems held a Soviet style funeral, denounced the non-Dems present, and exhorted the Republicans to "put aside politics" and vote Democrat Uber Alles. It was a Nuremberg rally of sorts. This is basically evil. If Wellstone was the man of principles that every one claims he was, he would be mortally offended for ANYONE to be asked to abandon their principles in his memory. It's offensive to hear it. The Dems also spent part of the last week gearing up legal challenges so they can already have the ball rolling in court if their regurgitated White Socialist Old Fart selection fails to win the election. Yep, they're already suing to install the Emporer if they can't win legitimately. And this is what makes the Dmocrats Evil -- the complete absence of honor. The Democrats will do anything to secure and retain power. It's a fairly short step from using the bludgeon of the courts to secure a win (Hello, New Jersey) to using threats against people to secure a win. It already shows with the shrill cries from the Democrats about Social Security, helathcare, abortion, etc. -- they scream that we'll waltz back to the early days of the 20th century if they are not elected, that the Republicans will kill blacks, asians, hispanics, your babies, sister, grandmother, aunts, and uncles, if the Democrats are not elected. It's this inability to prescribe basic human decency to their opponents that shows the evil of the Democrats. i suspect thta the Democrats would pass a law allowing for the public flogging of member of the Republican Party if they could. They would ram their policies down your throat. They would take away your option of electing any other party, any opposition -- and that is evil.

2002-10-21T18:00:00.000-04:00

Beware the March of Cords... We are a society bound by cords, wrapped in wire, shrouded in cable. It didn't used to be that way. Once, long ago, the only cords we dealt with were umbilical. Once mother had gnawed through that cord to free us from the bloody afterbirth, we were free, never to be bound again. Well, unless we were captured by the tribe over the hills, strapped onto a spit, and roasted alive. Other than that, we were cord-free. Slowly, that changed. At first it was subtle -- the electric light crept into everyone's life, creating the difficult task of running the cord from the just-installed wall socket, across the carpet, and to Dad's chair, so the Dad could sit in a pool of yellow incandescence and listen to mother jaw about the neighbors and all their ailments. The light splashing from dad's shirt provided just enough illumination for mom to ruin her eyes knitting in the semi-darkness. In the meantime, baby crawled behind daddy's chair, causing mom to drop her knitting as she leapt to prevent the child from a 120V snack. A telephone soon followed. One cord, sometimes two. Not too much, and if you kept it in a corner it was hardly noticeable. A second cord invaded this pastoral scene -- the radio. Now dad could completely ignore mom as he listened to the radio announcer jaw about the politicians and their ailments. Now this was news! Baby had grown; now he waited patiently for the radio broadcast of the Lone Ranger or Buck Rogers, or the Shadow or the Green Hornet, ready to open his mind to the imaginative worlds of the pure audio broadcast. No one really knew what Buck Rogers looked like -- it didn't matter. My Buck Rogers could be the strong, handsome, daring hero I imagined, dark haired and powerful, while the girl down the street could imagine him to be blond and dashing. Who cares! Each child gets his own hero! Later, the cord came in again, this time for the appliances -- electric can opener, vacuum (that one a daring creature, dragging its electrical tail over the living room carpet, catching it beneath the lion's feet of the couch, or entangling itself with the table legs as the hungry vacuum pursued its arch-nemesis and natural prey, the lowly housecat... but I digress), the washing machine (sometimes out in the yard, but with an extension cord, we could make it work!) with its drying press to threaten little fingers, the refrigerator humming merrily in the kitchen. The child now helps with the chores, and the cords make his work expand. The girls vacuum and clean, the boys help in the yard. Soon the cords bring heat to the percolator, and coffee becomes instantly easy to make. The stove goes from gas to electricity, and suddenly the fear of immolation from the burners evaporates. Instead, the phenomenon of the not-red hot burner smacks our fingers. And the cords still came -- Television, the Giant Eye of the living room, with its cord. The Stereo -- now we have three cords -- one for the power, one to each speaker. They trail along the wall like electrical snail slime. Systems became componentized -- no more do we buy a box with the wires all inside, we buy five boxes with the wires all outside. Wires from the wall to each component to power the noisemaker, wires from the noisemakers to the amps to the speakers, dozens of wires, all identical. If you aren't the one who installed it, you can't figure it out. Even if you did install it, it still makes no sense! Then came the Home Computer. I was on the cutting edge, a computer was my Christmas gift at age 17, in 1983, before the Revolution. But it came with more cables. Power to the monitor, power to the CPU, a wire from the CPU to the monitor, a wire from the CPU to the keyboard. Then I got a modem, and I need a wire from the modem to the wall and form the modem to the phone. More cords! And it grew again -- Sound cards, with speakers -- three more wires. A microphone for the onboard telephone utility -- another wire. A mouse; and yet another wire. The TV sprouted a VCR, Cable TV, a DVD player, and surround sound. Six speakers! Six more cords drooling down the back of the TV cabinet and along the walls. Sweet Jiminy Christmas! A miasma of coax running from the wall and through each appliance so we get fully digital sound for each and every application imaginable. Power for five devices (a digital cable box joined the mix), a cable feed from the wall, through the through the digital cable box, thought the DVD/Surround sound, to the VCR and TV. Six speaker wires. A line splitter so I can tape something while I watch a television program. And the computer situation got worse -- a second computer, a line for the Cable modem, a network hub, a drawing pen, a bigger set of speakers, all with at least two wires, usually three, all hooked together in a miasma of plastic, color coded cables. The umbilical had its revenge. We cut the one cord at birth, and now the other cords have come back to tie us down. They are even trying to make us plug in our cars! But there is hope. Cordless phones... wireless networks... wireless speakers... laptops where we can joyously work without a cord, even if it is only for a few hours. If we can find a way to get the power from the wall to the computer without a cord, we could once again be free, completely free... Or will the cords be back to get us again? They waited a long time to get us this far...

2002-10-18T15:30:00.000-04:00

Was Iraq in a long term war with the US in 1990? It seems so. Here's an I wonder... Noting the information from this article, I wonder if the Gulf War was intended as the opening gambit a long term deception. Get this -- Iraq invaded Kuwait with the intent of using the Kuwaiti archives to create false identities for many terrorists. Typically, these records are not researched for defects and flaws; they're found after the fact. What if the Gulf War was a ruse to help establish the settings fro some long term goals for the Islamists out there? Yeah, it's an expensive gambit. It cost Hussein his vaunted army. But maybe that was in the plan. You don't need an army to condust a low intensity war of attrition -- you need operatives. You need warriors disguised amongst the population. You get that through falsifying identities. What if there is someone in NYC right now, an Iraqi traveling under a Kuwaiti passport, waiting shipment of a 'decorative trunk' or some other large peice of furniture, that could contain a dirty bomb or other bit of nastiness. Sleeper agents are nothing new. After the Gulf War, we in the US would hav ebeen very sympathetic to Kuwaiti citizens looking to relocate to escape the violence of the region. We would happily accept them into the US as refugees, either during the beginning of the War or afterwards. Only now are the records returning to Kuwait, and the Iraqis have had many years to tamper with the records. If I were in the Intelligence community, I'd be looking at recent arrivals from Kuwait, say folks from the last ten years. I'd be cross referencing the information State has against the information coming from the Kuwaitis. And I'd look for red flags, like missing documents, etc. It's already apparent that the Gulf War was stage 2 or so of the long term Islamic war against the West. We're entering Stage 4, as I see it, and we're only just now beginning to see the scope of the war. I'll get into what i see as the Islamic stages of this war later...

2002-10-16T09:37:00.000-04:00

This indicates significant voter fraud going on out there, primarily in the absentee ballot arena. The question of the day -- why is it that when one reads of voter fraud, all throughout the history of the Republic, it is invariably Democrats commiting that fraud?

2002-10-15T13:20:00.000-04:00

An Excellent article...

2002-10-11T15:24:00.000-04:00

I'm using a webradio called moontaxi.com here at work until i can get my music collection sorted out. It's pretty cool...

2002-10-11T06:25:00.000-04:00

Well, now I'm a working insomniac... I found a position at a local firm. It's good money and seems like a good crew. The insomnia is annoying. It's nothing new -- I've always been borderline, but this week it's been a little worse. Usually it doesn't leave me exhausted in the middle of the day, but until yesterday I was running very lightly on sleep and I'd been getting that nappy feeling in the middle of the afternoon. On to the war... I'm glad to see the resolution pass, in its original form. I wish it had been a for-real declaration of war, but Congress has no balls for real war, and probably never will again unless we get attacked by an identifiable state, something not likely to happen since attacking the US is pretty close to a guarantee of defeat. Plus, even the states that hate us still want to buy our toys and sell us their products. God bless our soldiers and keep them safe and sane.

2002-10-01T18:55:00.000-04:00

Ages and ages... Since July, I've been silent (if any one noticed...) Anyway, I was laid off as of 8/15, effective 8/4. Oh well. The jobhunt goes forth, and we'll see what happens. J

2002-07-25T09:55:00.000-04:00

Muslims in America need to explain themselves, and this column explains why...

2002-07-18T11:48:00.000-04:00

This scam would have gotten a lot of men...

2002-07-10T09:24:00.000-04:00

I've got you... under my skin... Jess and I have two cats, Cosmo, and Crazy Ivan, aka Itty-Bitty. Last week, Ivan was not in the best of health. He was lethargic, felt quite warm, and had retreated under the bed to hide for a while. So we took him to the vet first thing in the morning on July 1st. He had a lump behind his right ear, stiff and firm, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Dr. Stiff at Kiln Creek Animal Care took a look at him and determined it was probably an abcess, caused by a minor wound from a fight ot something that had become infected, and was inducing a fever. This is pretty common in cats with outdoor exposure, and Ivan loved to romp in the woods behind the house. She prescribed an antibiotic and gave him a shot of an anti-inflammatory and a broad spectrum antibiotic to start the healing, telling us to bring him back if the wound began to drain, or if it softened, so that they could insert a drain. Itty-Bitty perked up quickly as his fever dropped, and the next day he was eating and drinking at close to normal rates. Over the July Fourth weekend, a scabby portion developed over the lump on his neck, and a some scabby dried blood appeared on his throat. The wound on his neck grew a little, and we kept an eye on it. I could feel a small lump, like on his neck, beneath the scab. Itty-bitty scratched at it some, and eventually scraped all the fur away over the course of Saturday and Sunday. The wound was draining and appeared to have enlarged a little. Some necrotic tissue was apparent below the wound. The drainage was cloudy red, indicating blood and pus mixed together. The injury appeared to get slightly worse over Sunday, so I called the vet and made an appointment for Monday afternoon. The lump on his neck developed a scab at one end, either from the cat's scratching or from the infection working itself out through the original wound. Monday afternoon, I took the cat back to the vet, since both wounds had opened. This time Dr. Counsel, our regular vet, was the one to view the animal. She examined the wound on the throat and the scab on the cat's neck and decided that it would be a good idea to shave the area. So Itty-Bitty got shaved, and got a topical antibiotic for good measure. As Dr. Counsel was givning me information on tending the wound, she noticed something odd about it and took Itty-Bitty back to Dr. Stiff for consultation. Dr. Stiff hadn't seen the neck wound, since it had appeared between the two visits. Dr. Counsel came back and told me some interesting news -- Itty-Bitty did not have two abcesses, but rather had what apeared to be only one abcess (on his neck). The wound on his throat was caused by a Cuterebra, something I'd never heard of. Well, Dr. Counsel explained, Cuterebra is a fly larvae that burrows under the skin of a small mammal, cuts a little slit in the skin for a breathing hole, and then develops a cyst beneath the skin where it can grow and feed off the animal, until it reaches the appropriate point where it pushes out of the skin and burrows into the ground for a couple weeks until it becomes a big fly. The flies are called Bot flies or Warble flies, and are fairly large, something like 20-30mm long. Early treatment involves either suffocation with vaseline, or later on the larvae must be surgically removed. We opted for surgery. Dr. Counsel took Itty-Bitty for the night, to fast him for surgery and so that he'd be there for treatment and observation overnight. I asked Dr. Counsel to save the larvae so I could see them. The very concept of a parasitic larvae is nothing new, but I'd never encountered it firsthand. On tuesday evening, I picked up the cat. Drs. Counsel and Stiff had also explored the apparent abcess, and discovered that the abcess was caused by a partial body of another Cuterebra. They'd saved that fragment as well. Itty-Bitty was a little groggy form the surgery, but otherwise appeared to be fine. He seemed to have a sore throat from the intubation for the surgery, but the wounds looked much better and seemed to be on the path to healing. The good Doctors did not remove the necrotic tissue on his throat, since the wound was over the jugular and would present too much of a risk to excise. It should heal normally, and the dead tissue will scab over and slough off in a few weeks. Until then, the kitties are indoor cats. Healthy, sweet, chaotic indoor kitties.

2002-06-28T14:22:00.000-04:00

Peggy Noonan writes of something being wrong, perhaps dishonest, in Big Business. I think it's a byproduct of the Clinton Years. No, I'm not blaming Clinton directly. It's an effect of his playing fast and loose with the truth. Clinton set the tone. Now the chickens have come home to roost...

2002-06-28T10:34:00.000-04:00

Who want to be a Dictator? Regis Philbert: Welcome to the new PBS (Palestinian Brocasting Service) game show "Who wants to be a Dictator?" I'm your host, Regis Philbert. Our first contestant today is an older fellow from teh middle east, looking spry in that white and blue khaffya, let's welcome Mr. Yasser Arafat! Yasser Arafat : Good day, Mister Philbert. RP: How are you today, Yasser. YA: Doing fine, thank you. I'm just happy to have a chance today. RP: Let's get started. Our first question today, for influence and power in the Middle East, what organization was founded in the 1959 for the purpose of "Palestinian liberation"? YA: That would be al Fatah. We established it so we could blow up Jews and destroy Isreal. RP: That's right! Yasser, you've won the control of Fatah and the power of the terrorist organization. YA: (smiling) Good. Thank you, Regis. RP: Let's continue. What organization was founded in 1964 as an umbrella for dozens of Middle Eastern Terrorist organizations, including Black September, the group that killed the Isreali athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics? YA: (Rubs chin, gazes at ceiling) That would be the Palestine Liberation Organization, or PLO. RP: Is that you final answer? YA: Yes. RP: That's right! YA: (Smiles widely) Excellent! RP: Yasser, you've earned a chance at control of the PLO! Are your ready? YA: Yes, Regis. {More to come...}

2002-06-26T16:51:00.000-04:00

What our Enemies don't understand... I was reading this piece by Eugene Volokh, and it got me thinking. Go take a read, then we'll talk about it... Welcome back... Mr. Volokh makes some excellent points about our internal dissent, that it may give strength to our enemies. And he correctly identifies the dissent as a long term strength. We may release a prisoner who is truly guilty because of a consitutional technicality, but in the long run, we learn from the dissent and become more effective in our policies because we are critical of the shortcomings of whatever we do. That's the thing that really throws outsiders for a loop. We are critical of our own actions. We do rip ourselves apart internally over issues. To dictators, this looks like no one is in control. "How could Bush let them say that?" they think. "How could the Americans do anything to us when they are in a state of near revolt?" Well, Mr. Dick-tater, we argue amongst ourselves. We like to argue. We have an entire subset of an industry dedicated to arguing amongst ourselves. I know, if some one published a critical editorial in your newspaper, you'd have them shot. We'd just read it and call them bad names, then get on with the task at hand. You don't get it. We're generally open and honest, and very, very argumentative. That doesn't mean we don't stand together. Dissent doesn't necessarily equal disloyalty, even if it sounds that way at times. We let the idiots like Edward Said and Maureen Dowd speak, so we can shred their arguments in public, and so we can prove them wrong by kicking your dictatorial ass and making things better in the world.

2002-06-25T09:11:00.000-04:00

Saudi Commercials... I saw one on Bravo last night while the Lovely Jessica and I were watching "Not without my Daughter", the Sally Fields movie about an American woman who marries an Iranian, emigrates to Iran, and is essentially held hostage to a man who beats her and abuses her. He threatens to take her daughter from her, and being a m,other, she is in thrall to him until some outsiders help her escape. This was quite possibly the worst movie for the Saudis to choose for advertising. It portrays Islam as heartless, demanding submission from women and children and oppression of all people in the name of Allah. The events take place in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, and they show the "induction" of kids off the street, the various evils of the men in that sort of society, and the way that the culture enforces its network of oppression through the 'good will' of friends and coworkers. Then came the Saudi ad. A ballsy move on their part, but all I could think of while viewing it was "lying bastards!" Sweet Jessica asked me if they really expected us to believe them... "Are they that stupid?" she asked. Apparently, they are that stupid.

2002-06-20T15:00:00.000-04:00

It's been a few weeks since the new Star Wars movie hit the streets, and already it's falling off the horizon. It would be nearly impossible to match the 52+ week run of the first Star Wars, but I would think that Lucas could do better than a five week window. Lucas made some seriously wrong turns with the franchise, starting with Jedi and continuing with the re-release and subsequent prequels. Let's start with the beginning of the end -- Star Wars, Episode VI, Return of the Jedi -- There is little that is wrong with this movie and much that is right. The Emperor is Evil, Darth Vader shows some humanity (although it's hard to tell through black plastic eyes), and the good guys win. What is wrong is the Ewoks, and Sy Snootles and Salacious Crumb were too... stupid. It was like the Muppets had invaded and taken over. Not good. Not good at all. The Ewoks were just plain silly. Supposedly, the planet was to be the planet of the Wookies, but I suppose Lucas had two distinct problems there -- #1, finding hundreds of six foot five actors, and #2, no one really beleives that the Empire would take on a bunch of pissed off Wookies. So we get Planet of the Teddy Bears instead. FWIW, I did like the use of scout walkers in battle in the forest on Endor. Then came the re-releases, and in general, they didn't change too much, except for the Star Wars Episode IV release. The Mos Eisley spaceport scenes were enhanced, to show some really useless crap. The tall brachiosaurs were just plain silly. And then they have a throw away scene where one of the big things throws its rider after a speeder nearly collides with the beast (on a relatively empty street -- I assume the driver had just come from the Cantina). The whole thing reeked of "because I can". At least they rolled in the scene with Jabba and Han, and did a good job there. Empire and Jedi both had additional changes, but they were much subtler, so I don't have any additional complaints. Phantom Menace continued the downward trend. Jar Jar Binks was the lowest point. Any time you have a creature put in just for the pratfall, you've made a grave error. The whole movie reeked of targeting an eight year old audience. Add in the "Midichlorians", taking the Force from literally the power of the Universe to the power of the bacteria. Does that make the Dark Side what happens when I don't clean the toilet for a year. It's dark, it's powerful, and it's definitely full of little cohabitating life forms. I suppose Lucas wanted an objective standard by which to measure a person's capabilities with the Force, so that when the Jedi Council was presented with the information it would have greater impact. Whatever. Have them invent a Forcemeter, or some exercise that would make the strength of the applicant apparent. Otherwise, Darth Sidious, aka Palpatine, and any other Dark Side users, would just be using the little Midichlorian detectors to wander around and look for good potential apprentices. Maybe they are... I suppose the extended, way too long Pod race was supposed to show Anakin's capabilities with the Force, just as the Death Star sequence showed the capabilities of Luke Skywalker. Attack of the Clones showed a reversal of the trend. FINALLY!!! Jar Jar was muted, and other than his Island patois, generally reasonably behaved. No tripping over his own feet or getting his tongue tangled in things. Not too bright, and easily manipulated, but at least he's not tripping over Padme's skirt and ripping off Palpatine's gowns. Anakin seemed appropriately impatient, if a little plastic, and Padme slowly went from Senator to Real Woman over the course of the movie. Obi-wan seemed to be on his game, although his lines were somewhat unrealistic. George, please get all the way back on track. You're closer to the original in Clones than you were in Phantom Menace, but you're not quite all the way.

2002-06-19T14:41:00.000-04:00

I was reading about Heaven's Gate over at the Crime Library last night -- maybe we could get Hamas, Hezbollah, et al., to morph into a Heaven's Gate like entity and quietly off themselves, dressed in black, with new Nike's, $5.75 in their pockets, and a peaceful end without killing anyone else... I'll provide the first $5.75 for the cause...

2002-06-19T10:20:00.000-04:00

Blogger God Glenn Reynolds has a greate article on Version Fatigue at Tech Central Station.

2002-06-19T09:30:00.000-04:00

Larry Kudlow has a good article in NRO on the economic recovery.

2002-06-19T08:48:00.000-04:00

James Lileks at his best today, regarding the Palestinian murder of Jews. Just go read it...

2002-06-13T20:58:00.000-04:00

Salon has a great article on the effects of file sharing on the music industry. According to Professor Stan Liebowitz, it isn't hurting them. I suspect file sharing and CD ripping and burning will actually help the music industry. Here's why -- I buy a moderate number of CDs a year, maybe four or five. Usually, I'll hear something on the radio, find out the group, and see if the rest of their stuff is any good through some place like MP3.com or through the sample tracks on Amazon.com. It used to be i'd see if I could find the group on Napster, but that option is dead. If I like a couple songs, I'll buy the CD. I then rip it, take the tracks I like, put them into playlists to listen to while I'm on the computer, and burn them to CDs along with other songs I like so that I have CDs with just the songs I like. Those go in the car, and usually stay there, where they get beat to an eventual skippy death, while the production CDs stay safe in tehir jewel cases. I can remake the mix at any time, with little effort or time. If the one song is the only good thing from that group, I probably won't buy the CD. However, I will keep an eye out for it to be on a compendium CD like the "Now" series. Once it appears there, I ge that CD, plus a couple other one hit wonders, and I rip and burn like I would if I bought the full CD. In the interim, I'd use the Napster file until I could find the single in a form that justified the $12-$20 for the CD. File sharing doesn't replace CDs, it supplements them. CD burning is not used to steal the music, it's used to make the music into a form where I get exactly what I want on my CDs. Maybe that's what pisses off the music companies -- I'm getting music in the form I want it, not in the form they want to present to me.

2002-06-13T06:59:00.000-04:00

Technological Cycles I just watched a History Channel program on the Anaconda Mine in Montana. The Anaconda was built as a silver mine, but discovered copper instead. This was not a bad thing. It was in the post-Civil War era, and copper demand was surging. The telegraph, telephone, and electric light increased demand for copper to incredible levels. The Anaconda made millions, even as copper prices fell due to the increased supply of copper, then was smartly sold to Standard Oil for $39M. A few decades later, it was struggling as copper demand began to slide and as more discoveries increased the supply of copper. This got me thinking about the computer industry. In 1975, the computer industry was similar to the copper industry of about 1850. There was moderate demand, but not a huge demand. The computers were more expensive, because it wasn't worth automating too much of the construction of the computers since the number sold was relatively small. Then came the PC. It created a demand for more computers and businesses discovered that they could use a computer for document creation, accounting, and other tasks. Demand rose, and prices fell as supplies increased to meet the demand. Automation decreased the costs even further. Now, the desktop computer is ubiquitous. Name an office without a computer -- betcha can't. And now, it appears that demand may be on the beginning of a slide. Computer speeds are way up, but computers of the last year or two are so fast that the life cycle of the machine has been stretched. Windows 9X and NT have adapted to be relatively flexible and reliable with most hardware configurations, making it worthwhile to add or upgrade hardware versus getting a whole new machine. The simplicity of improvements isn't turnkey yet, but it's closer. The implications are becoming interesting. We're reaching a point where a computer and network connection are like an automobile -- everyone has one, or nearly everyone. The auto market doesn't really grow very much. The market is close to saturated and the end result is tight competition for your sale. Just price won't do it any more for most people. The computer market is reaching that point as well. Watch for a Sony Vaio PC Coach Leather Special Edition soon, and the Gateway Eddie Bauer Special.. The question is whether PCs will follow the Automotive Model or the Anaconda model. I think we'll be seeing more along the lines of the automotive model -- refinement and consistency across the lines, with new technology easily integrated into the newer packages as solid incentive to upgrade. The current PC market slump will recover, but not to the highs of a few years back. We're reaching saturation. Sidenote: If cars followed the PC model of open standards, you could plug a Chevy engine into a Ford chassis with Dodge instruments and seats. That could be loads of fun...

2002-06-12T13:54:00.000-04:00

Justice Scalia, at his finest...

2002-06-10T22:08:00.000-04:00

I am a busy boy... my apologies if anyone feels neglected.

2002-05-23T09:14:00.000-04:00

Virginia Postrel has an interesting column in the NYT on name cycling and fashion cycling.

2002-05-21T11:55:00.000-04:00

Testing...

2002-05-16T11:15:00.000-04:00

Intelligence and the Art of Preventing Terrorism Much ado about the recent reports of prior knowledge of the then pending terrorist action last September is making its way through the halls and malls of commentary lately. Much of it is overblown, grossly so. Intelligence work is hard, unremitting, detail oriented work. Lawyers on a tough case have it easy. Consider this -- you have limited knowledge of your enemy, limited knowledge of his knowledge, limited knowledge of his intentions -- and that's when you have a defined enemy such as a Nation-State. You have even less when you're dealing with a terrorist (dis)organization. Three factors affect your ability to understand this knowledge -- (Note: These are not standard terms, overall. I've been working on a theory if intelligence management for a while, and this is a distillation) 1. Dimension 2. Compartmentalization 3. Context 1. Dimension The dimension of a snippet of information is its size and accuracy. Information from know reliable sources, such as a trusted spy (read "Operation Solo", the story of Morris Childs, the epitome of a trusted spy) can be granted better status that that from possibly duplicitous electronic intelligence, or that from a spy of questionable reliability. Documents that have been spirited out of teh HQ of teh enemy would also be granted greater dimension, if they came from a more reliable source. The size of the information will also affect its diemnsion -- the entire plans for the invasion of Murkwater, Tennessee by the Hobbesian Army of the Potomac Valley would be of greater dimension than a snippet from a cell phone conversation reading "I have the plans. Proceed?" "Yes, proceed." The dimension of a piece of information also include corroboration, which increases the reliability of the data. For instance, take Chernobyl. Before the Soviets admitted the tragic accident had occurred, we knew a whole lot of what had happenned. Sattelites had pinned down the location, by virtue of the heat signature of the explosion. We had ELINT intercepts from various Soviet arms telling of the accident, panicking over the accident, trying to fix the problem, and trying to mask it from the free world. Soviets mouths were doing an Officer Bar Brady and telling us "Move along, nothing to see here" while our eyes and ears were telling us that something big had happened, and we had corroborating data to provide the dimension of the information. 2. Compartmentalization Compartmentalization is the seprartion of information gathering into separate cells for analysis. In a broader sense, intelligence information for the US is compartmentalized into foreign and domestic compartments through the CIA and the FBI, respectively. Inside each organization, the data is further compartmentalized into reagional, state, or individual country informationa s needed. Within a compartment, information is shared fairly freely. The MidEast section in teh CIA shares information about Isreal, Iran, Iraq, Syria, etc. etc., because these countries interrelate with greater hostility, and the organizations we need to track cross the borders of these countries with relative impunity. This makes sense, for the most part. The information for a region usually relates to actions within those regions, so restricting data to the folks dealing with those regions keeps the data safer, the sources more secure, and provides a more coherent picture of the region for the administration in power. Compartmentalization, however, presents some problems. The information the FBI gathers may not cross the barrier to the CIA, or may get misrouted to the wrong compartment. It may fall through the cracks, or its dimension may be misunderstood or misapplied because the knowledge to rate the source doesn't exist in the compartment it comes from, or the compartment it migrates to. Critical information gets lost this way. For example, take Aldrich Ames. Portions of the CIA knew that the Soviets had a spy in the organization. They knew that this spy had cost them sources. But they never got the information to Counter-Intelligence, because they valued the source of their information more than the information, and they didn't understand the breadth of the breach. CounterIntel knew they were losing spies they had turned, but didn't know how or why. The pieces of information didn't mate up, so the spy remained undiagnosed for a long, long time. Information about September 11 came from several sources, and while it was somewhat assimilated, it was not spread throughout the intel community. This makes it difficult to reliably asses the whole picture. Conceivably, the top dogs/Compartment heads are supposed to get together and solve this, but it doesn't always work -- especially consiodering that half the data was in the FBI, half in the CIA, and according to law, rarely the twain shall meet. Context Context is the final factor in intelligence. This is, simply put, what the information you have in hand means. Sometimes, you can dupe the enemy into providing you with context, such as the US did against Japan to set up the Battle of Midway surprise by tricking the Japanese into transmitting false information about Midway that the US had planted as a set up. Seeing teh false information echoed by teh Japanese provided context for other information referring to the same codename, illustrating that the Japanese were planning an attack against Midway Island. Absent that context, the major defeat that teh Japanese Navy suffered at Midway would not have happened. They might have been dinged, they might have been damaged, but since there were potentially multiple targets, defense of all of them would not have been possible. The precursors to 9-11 were of a similar vein. We knew that something was afoot. We knew that Al Quaeda was involved. We had suspicions about the Saudis taking flight school in the US. But we didn't have the links to tie them together into a particular plot. We don't have the resources to defend every single entity that could be attacked, so we try to focus out resources defending what is most likely to be attacked, unless we have information, in context, that tells us with reasonable accuracy, what will be attacked, and when that attack will take place. This is intelligence, and how it works. It is an art, not a science. It is hard, and while successes do occur, they never make the headlines. It's the failures that make the news.

2002-05-15T15:01:00.000-04:00

Democracy on my mind... There is an old political axiom that Democracies don't start wars. There is a great degree of truth to this -- if you review wars of the last four or five thousand years, it is invariably a totalitarian state (King, Dictator, El Presidente, etc.) that starts the war, or that provides the tensions that start the war. Even if the Democracy involved is the first to march to war, the impetus comes from the actions of the totalitarian state, either through state sponsorship of warlike actions, or through indirect intrusion. Why is that? It comes around to what a Democracy provides -- a modicum of internal control. Since the citizens of a democracy have to focus on their own government, they tend to have governments that focus on them. A leader who is unelected can act with little regard for the citizens, since they have no power over him. An elected leader damn well better listen to the people, or next election cycle, he's gone. This makes the people of a democracy more inward-looking. They worry about their own welfare. They would never condone an unjust war, so the leaders don't make war until absolutely necessary.

2002-05-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

Muhammad for Mayor I received an interesting flier in the mail recently -- one addressed to my perrenial roommate, "Resident". It's the local political season here in Virginia, with Mayoral and City Council elections galore. That implies that usual -- "Vote for Bubba" yard signs, "Vote for Crony" billboards, and the deluge of tax exempt mailings. This one came from the rare write-in candidate -- Abdullah Muhammad. I kid you not. We apparently have an Arabic/Muslim individual running for Mayor here in scenic Newport News. With a name like Muhammad, it's got to be good. Muhammad's primary platform consists of a "Living Wage" as his flagship measure for the city. That measure alone is one of the silliest I've ever read. Living Wage provisions essentially force local businesses to pay an extremely high minimum wage -- a "Living" wage. But what of the ancillary effects? Businesses that remain in the area will be forced to either higher fewer employees or to charge more for their services. Or, if they cannot get by with fewer employees, or if they cannot make it with fewer employees or higher prices, they will be forced to close or move out of the municipality. Either way, it's a losing proposition. The remainder of the flier touts various and sundry boondoggles -- a passenger and auto ferry to be re-established, youth centers, etc. etc. etc. Mr. Muhammad wants to spend, spend, spend, at least until the Living Wage wreaks havoc on the already iffy local economy. It has been said that part of the Third World's problem is that the best and brightest leave to come to the United States, and do not return once they've been seduced by the glories of our civilization. If Mr. Muhammad is their best and brightest, the Third World is in serious trouble...

2002-05-04T11:46:00.000-04:00

USS Clueless has a terrific screed.

2002-04-30T14:46:00.000-04:00

I've been a really slow blogger. Work calls, and calls with much loudness, so blogging falls by the wayside, as do many other Thing I'd Like to Do, such as the now defunct Garage of Xanadu website and several other tasks. One thing that has increased of late is saddle time -- time on the bikes. I've resumed regular commuting on the R1100RT, and I'm a happier boy for it. Riding is like a soporific -- not in the sleep inducing sense, but rather in the way that it has a hypnotic focus. Riding a motorcycle draws from the base of life -- the weather becomes very real, and far more intense, the air itself assumes rumbling, swirling life, the very pavement speaks through the pegs and bars and seat, and as the skies open and for just a moment, and in a fantastic reverie, if you are lucky, you have the ability to draw past the daily grind and the persistent problems of life, you can see the very face of God. You can grasp life, and suck the marrow from its dusty bones, and taste the sweetness that is living. I've literally seen God from the saddle. Not in the Michelangelo Sistine Chapel ceiling face of God way, but in the reverie of life that can only be found through religion or hard liquor. Like a drunk or a Witness, you make friends, hard and fast friends, but the friendships last past the Revival and the hangover and can bind forever. Motorcycling is my religion, and the saddle is my pew, the handlebars my altar, and the open road my church.

2002-04-29T08:43:00.000-04:00

Prime Palaver #3 Eric Flint makes an excellent case for an open system for electronic copyrights. Link via Instapundit.

2002-04-22T21:24:00.000-04:00

Hey, look! I'm not attached to any wires! Woo-hoo!

2002-04-16T08:50:00.000-04:00

Interesting... Instapundit and several other bloggers note the big Pro-Isreal rally in DC yesterday, but this morning neither CNN or NBC mention it. The local paper had a front page over the fold photo and an A3 over the fold story. Why is the mainstream media ignoring this huge rally?

2002-04-15T18:19:00.000-04:00

Apologies for the sudden dropoff in posts -- work calls, nay, screams for attention...

2002-04-11T08:28:00.000-04:00

Ariel Cohen on Saddam Hussein & Yasser Arafat on National Review Online Ariel Cohen makes a good case that Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat are colluding to keep the US busy in Isreal, to keep Saddam in power. Mr. Cohen doesn't delve into the reasons... but I suspect I know why. Saddam is probably close to having a nuke. If he acquires several, Isreal will be nuked, probably by way of several truck bombs. Arafat will then attempt to push the Isreali's into the sea. Even if Isreal survives, it will be deeply wounded, and Syria and Egypt could join the fray and attempt to finish the job. It is Iraq's Final Solution...

2002-04-11T08:14:00.000-04:00

Yahoo! News - Jewish school bus attacked with stones in Paris The French are, of course, doing little to prosecute the attackers, it would seem.

2002-04-10T12:13:00.000-04:00

The New York Observer has an interesting piece on resurgent anti-Semitism in Europe (link by way of InstaPundit ) It speaks of the complicity of most European countries in the Holocaust, and that got me thinking about 'European Civilization'. Somewhere along the way, British-American civilization went in a different direction than the Continent. Somewhere around the time of the French Revolution, the French lost the concept of the individual and subrogated it to the concept of the state. They've never recovered, and it is this replacement of the individual's rights with the rights of the state that has created what they have today, and that created the mentality that once the army was conquered, the people were conquered and they subjugated themselves almost with glee. It seems that the French people are not happy unless they are living under the control of another. Perhaps that is why the French dislike us so... when we had the chance to conquer and control them, we set them free.

2002-04-10T11:04:00.000-04:00

Saddam's Offensive William Safire at his best.

2002-04-09T15:52:00.000-04:00

Legitimacy And Labels (washingtonpost.com), by William Raspberry. Usually, I like Mr. Raspberry, but he is wrong in this matter. The PLO, Hamas, etc., all kill innocents. Not by accident, either, but with intent. If the murderous bombers were attacking military outposts, I'd give them credit for making war, not terror. But setting of a belt of high explosives in a mall, at a disco, at a Seder, in a retaurant, is not making war. It is killing for the sake of killing. It is done with joy and pleasure. Just listen to the hopeful videotapes of the bombers, who hope that they kill as many Jews as possible. This sort of murderous attitude is found in those high quality individuals such as Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Charles Manson. In fact, Yasir Arafat bears more resemblence to Charles Manson that to Charles DeGaulle. He has taken his 'family', and turned them into a murderous bunch. Charles Manson and his family are either dead or in prison. Arafat shoul join them, permanently.

2002-04-09T10:46:00.000-04:00

I watched the tapes for the GP1 race last night -- Suzuka in the rain. Valentino Rossi ran amazingly well, and the wildcard Ryo looked like the bomb on the Telefonica Movistar Suzuki. It's truly amazing to see these riders flinging their 200+ HP machines about in the rain. Proof positive that there is more traction in the wet than you'd think. Typically, the problem in the wet is not the water -- it's the oil and crap from the cages around you that spew their guts at intersections. Next time there's a light rain, take a minute and look at the intersections in your town. The dark marks are oil, and you'll see water beading at the surface if it's a light rain, or you'll see the classic 'oil rainbow'. Be careful out there...

2002-04-08T17:36:00.000-04:00

Take a look at the Ducati GP1 bike to be introduced later this year. What I noticed was the massive muffler, and more importantly, the massive titanium pipes feeding it. This engine must be a hell of a pump to move so much atmosphere through it. Better pumping means more power, plain and simple. I wonder when we'll get to see a better photo of the bike...

2002-04-08T17:28:00.000-04:00

Motogp also started yesterday. I bet I have at least one of these races on tape :-) Rossi wins, Roberts crashes. A wet, wet race...

2002-04-08T10:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday marked the start of the World Superbike season for me. Troy Bayliss is off to a rousing start, with six wins in six races. I missed the first two race sessions for some reason (because I'm stupid, or something like that), but yesterday's racing was quite excellent. Noriyuki Haga's crash in the first race, and his attitude in the second, give him the "I won't quit" award for the weekend. Haga ran fast in the first race, then fell back. He high-sided when he got the back end sliding excessivelty with about five laps to go. He was launched through the front fairing and took off the windsheils and upper with his head. In the second race, he leapt to the front and literally elbowed his way past Troy Bayliss to contend for the lead before dropping back. It was like he was saying, "Come on, Troy! Let's play!" Ballsy fellow, that Haga. The AMA also ran another Superbike race yesterday, with Nicky Hayden winning, as he did at Daytona. I haven't watched the tape yet, so comments are pending. Overall, a great day for motorcycle racing. Most of this should replay on Tuesday on SpeedVision/Speed Channel, so set VCRs to stun and get ready for some fun.

2002-04-04T15:25:00.000-05:00

Last night, we got a little rain... and a little power outage. The storms that rolled through eastern Virginny insulted a tree, which decided that it was much better to be recumbant that erect, and in the process of acheiving recumbancy, landed on the power lines. The power lines, amazingly, held the tree up. They did not, however, pass power along to our neighborhood. Well, crap. This happened while I was on my way home from the Day Job (I'm sure several readers will be glad to know that I have a day job, instead of trying to make a buck off of this enterprise :-), and I had to make my way through the gantlet of flares and flashing police lights to get into the neighborhood. As I drove down the street towards the little grey house, it was clear that the power was out. For the moment, I was back in the Nineteenth Century. I called the Lovely Jessica and let her know that we were in a time capsule for now. Dinner plans were squashed; the Foreman grill didn't make the leap through time very well and refused to warm up no matter how much I prodded and cajoled. We made a quick decision and ordered pizza, praying that the delivery driver wouldn't get stuck in a temporal vortex somewhere and drop our pizza into the Ice Age. I hate cold pizza. Sweet Jessica was not yet home, so I took the dog out for his evening constitutional. The rain had quit, but the temperature was dropping, so we didn't stay out long, just long enough for Beamer to do what a doggy needs to do after all day indoors. (Beamer is a white Maltese Peacock -- half Maltese, one quarter Cocker Spaniel, one quarter Pekinese -- and is quite possibly the cutest puppy on this half of the planet. The Lovely Jessica and I took Beamer to the beach the other day, and he drew oohs and aahs of adoration from all the passing girls. This annoyed Darling Jessica to no end, and now I am not allowed to take Beamer to the beach unless my Beautiful Jessica is with me. My darling guards her turf well, and I like it that way.) When we returned from the walk, I put Beamer into the Puppy Corral and tried to read. This required finding light. It was just barely bright enough outside to allow me to read from the light coming through the window, so I settled into my favorite chair in the Safari room and read while waiting for my darling and the pizza to arrive. The cats decided that I was a reasonable Time passes differently without television. Somehow, I manage to forget that. It seemed like I read about fifty pages in the short time that it took for Darling Jessica to arrive. I know it wasn't that much, but without the hurley burley of the television in the background, and without any other sound infiltrating my brain, I read more quickly, or time passed at a lower velocity. I'm not sure which it is. I accomplished more than I thought in the darkened house. Soon, Sweet Jessica arrived, and we lit candles as the day had begun to fade. The pizza man made teh jump back through time safely, and our pizza arrived in fair to middling shape -- the usual (Why is it that Domino's spent millions developing a way to keep a pizza hot, when chinese food always comes hot, no matter how long it takes to get there? Dominos should have talked to the chinese place down the road). Jessica and I dined by candlelight, a romantic Italian meal for two young lovers. Darling Jessica poses the ultimate question -- how, without electricity, will I be able to make my morning coffee? I just grin and point to the french press on the shelf, purchased just for such emergencies. Then we tried to figure out what to do with the evening... sitting in the dark seemed a little dull. The candles wouldn't last forever, and the flashlight had its limits as a useful tool for illumination. Now I see why families in the days before electric lighting had so many children. Maybe that's why the birthrates of civilized countries is falling -- "Not now, honey, I want to watch ER." Television may truly be the Evil Eye that does in Western Society. So, being the interpid temporal adventurers we are, we went to Barnes and Noble. We boarded the Schoolbus(tm), and headed into the future. Before too long, we saw the glimmer of electric lights! Then... Shops! And Stores! And Restaurants! Oh! To return to the beloved 21st Century! Now, perhaps the laptop and cell phone would work again! We wandered around B&N for a little bit, then settled into the little cafe at the back, Sweet Jessica with a hot chocolate, me with a venti Mocha Frappicino -- 20 ounces of pure caffeine topped with whipped cream. It makes my toes quiver with excitement just to think of it. Or maybe that's just the residual caffiene. I don't know, could be either. Jessica had collected a few of her favorite magazines (Marie Claire, Cosmo, etc.) on our little jaunt through the store, and began flipping pages, looking over the ads and articles, searching out the best stuff for her feminine wiles (Oh! What wiles!) I read a motorcycle magaine I'd brought from home. We passed the time together, quietly, but happily. Eventually, we left, heading home, hoping to find that the neighborhood had been pulled into the 21st century. It hadn't, but at least the burly workmen from Virginia Power were on the job. They had lopped off the top part of the tree, and left the rest leaning against the power lines. Makes no sense to me, but hey, I'm not a burly workman. We proceeded wqith caution through the dark neighborhood, trying to avoid running over women and children in the dark. I didn't fell anything squishy beneath the tires, so I guess I managed to avoid them all. The interior of the house seemed especially dark. None of the scattered light from suburban society filtered into the windows as it would on a typical night. We lit candles. Candles seem so pallid under ordinary circumstances. One taper cannot compete with 60 watts of electric light, much less the now blinding glare of three or four hundred watts used to light a typical room. We took care of the animals for the night, and retreated to the master bath. Jessica lit more candles and I brough in a couple multiple candle lamps we have scattered about the house. Before long, the bathroom was reasomably well lit. We retreated to the tub to end the long night. We lost power, but we found a new world, with a different luminescense.

2002-04-04T11:29:00.000-05:00

opinion.telegraph.co.uk - Struggle puts a premium on being anti-Jew Please read this opinion piece from the UK's Daily Telegraph.

2002-04-03T08:33:00.000-05:00

Kazaa has some hidden features I bet you didn't expect...

2002-04-02T14:21:00.000-05:00

War, Reason, & Innocent Civilians A bit of peacenik blarney. To take it apart one by one -- Civilians are innocent, even if they are technically the boss by way of a democratic republic. The reason you target soldiers in war is that soldiers are the ones who would take direct action against you, just as a cop will not fair at a burglar who has his hands in the air and no apparent weapon. Civilians will sit at home and watch TV, work, etc.; they are not the ones taking the shots. Targeting civilians just to kill civilians is not what WWII bombing was about. The vast majority of the bombing raids were targeted at the factories that make the weapons of war. Deny an enemy his weapons, an you reduce his warfaring abilities. Dresden and the firebombings of Tokyo were not undertaken lightly. The biggest difference between the actions in WWII and the actions of the modern terrorist are that the actions of the WWII commanders were undertaken with regrets, not celebrations. IIRC, the firebombing of Dresden also resulted in a few commanders getting fired for doing such a heinous act. Also, one must remember why the Dresden was firebombed -- it was because London was firebombed. Yeah, the Germans began total warfare in WWII. The same applies to the bombing of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. The decisions were not made to gleefully exterminate a few civiilians. Tokyo, Nagasaki, and Hiroshima were all legitimate targets from a strategic perspective, and it was with much regret that the decisions were made. Also, the intent of the ose bombings was to attempt the shorten the war, to get Japan to surrender without invasion, and to preserve the lives of millions of other civilians. The terrorists do not bomb with the intent to prevent destruction of all the Jews in Isreal -- they bomb to facilitate the destruction of all the Jews in Isreal. As for protecting civilians being counterproductive -- that's as false an statement as you can make. Targetting civilians doesn't make the civilians more sympathetic to the deaths of their enemies or soldiers. It makes them madder than hell, and all the more ready to commit to killing the enemy. Think about it -- on September 10, 2001, if someone had said "Yeah, we need top topple the Taliban and kill off Al Quaeda," no one would have suported such actions, even though Al Quaeda had already killed a fair number of US sailors and soldiers. But when they killed civilians at the WTC, the idea of killing Al Quaeda and their sponsors suddenly became a really popular idea, Finally, to address number four -- as I said above, killing civilians makes the country whose innnocents are killed all the more ready to kill the ones who killed the civilians. And you're an idiot if you think terrorists will negotiate. They might parley, to get what they can, but then they'll see that thay have power over you, and they'll terrorize again, and again, and again, until they push you off the face of the earth and own all that you hold dear.

2002-04-02T13:42:00.000-05:00

OpinionJournal - Extra A concise History of Arafat...

2002-04-02T13:24:00.000-05:00

Jews attacked on Berlin street It's starting again... the Arabs want an Anschluss, and then to begin the extermination of the Jews, perhap?

2002-04-02T10:41:00.000-05:00

Why don't they show the footage of the attacks on the WTC any more? I think I know why... because showing the attacks on the WTC would remind us why we should be fighting. It would put us, as a people, on the side of the Isrealis.It would remind us that there can be no equalization of the Palestinian murderers to the Isreali soldiers. It would remind us that Isreal fights our war. So they do not show the images of the attack. We shoul;d be reminded. We should get mad every time we see those images. We should be ready to kill off the totalitarian Arab states that have sponsored this violence. By not showing the images, American resolve softens slowly over time. The images of the jet airliners crashing into the WTC reminds us of the cruelty of our enemies. If they don't show those images, they aid the enemy. Come on, CBS, NBC, CNN, ABC, FoxNews, etc. Remind us of why we fight.

2002-04-02T10:35:00.000-05:00

Whoops... Blogger had a glitch yesterday and i apparently double posted about the First Lady...

2002-04-01T16:59:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the White House, where the First Lady reads from an eggroll... I limit myself to the menu, usually...