Winding down the year - 20 December 2007

Huh. Time’s moving faster around the holidays, rather than slower. Might be the work thing - rather than having two or three weeks of winter break, I get... two days. It does make a four day weekend, which is nice, but that’s it. So I’ll have to make the most of it.

The padded rugby squad will have one last chance of doing well in the Capital One Bowl on 1 January. Now that there’s a new head coach at Michigan, there's also going to be a completely new assistant staff. Hrm... does this mean that Michigan football will finally get up into the 21st century? Next year looks like it will be a really interesting year. Might be good. Might be bad. In addition to the coaching staff, a West Virginia disc jockey was dismissed from his position for gushing too much about the decision of the new coach to go to Michigan.

Congratulations to Queen Elizabeth II, who became the oldest monarch in the history of the United Kingdom at 1700 UTC today.

A possible active glacier has been identified on Mars. There has yet to be a confirmation that the ice is water ice, but the robots are going to get a better look at it as soon as they can. In other science, Scientific American chose the X Prize Foundation as its Policy Leader of 2007, citing the cash prizes the Foundation offers to science teams to hit certain goals, such as sending craft up into low earth orbit twice within a two week span, or sequencing 100 genomes in 10 days with a total cost of less than $1 million, or the really big $30 million prize for the first private group to land spacecraft on the moon. So not only is there glory and a place in the historical record, there’s some cash involved for those who can successfully innovate.

After many years of dealing with the United States government, the Lakota nation has withdrawn from the treaties that it concluded with the United States, essentially returning themselves to the status of an independent nation. The Lakota have offered tax-free living on their land, assuming that any migrants are willing to renounce their citizenship in the United States. Those in areas where casinos appear on native lands are a bit more aware of the nature of how the United States and the native tribes interact, but this action, as best I can tell, is perfectly legal - the land on which the Lakota tribe lives is theirs. The federal government of the United States now has to decide whether it will renegotiate treaties, uphold the ones it already has signed before, or utilize some more forceful method of bringing the Lakota land back into harmony with the country as a whole. This one is worth keeping an eye and a newsreader on.

Iraq looks like it could be made much more unstable, as Turkish troops entered Iraq in pursuit of PKK fighters, rather than just continuing airstrikes. The United States is now in the precarious position of trying to please both Turkey, who wants to get the PKK fighters, and Iraqi Kurds, who are the primary residents of the zones the PKK and Turkish forces are occupying. The prsident of the Kurdish region refused to see Condoleezza Rice, saying that the United States had already given Turkey a green light for their attacks. Yet, Iraq is apparently the quietest it has been since 2004, not that that’s actually saying anything meaningful. Back home, the editor of the National Review Online wants to pick John McCain, David Patraeus, Joe Liberman, and in the background, Mr. Bush and American soldiers as the people of the year, because they’re all gung-ho for the “surge” that is so very obviously working, have been for it all along, and continue to think that military might in Iraq is the best thing ever. And that Senator Clinton, MoveOn.org and anyone else who opposed the surge strategy or was skeptical of its results receive the anti-person of the year award. What, because it looked like a situation where things were going to go downhill fast and people were just going to keep dying without progress? History may be written by the winners, but the chapter on Iraq is not yet closed.

OpinionJournal prints an Extra where James Schlesinger says that Tehran only stopped its nuclear weapons program in name, and continued on with uranium enrichment openly. Supposedly, the weaponization part is fairly simple, once the uranium is enriched. And so we’re letting Tehran do precisely what it wants to. If they achieve nuclear weaponry, are they going to actually use it, or are they going to come to the MAD conclusion everyone else has, and just sit on them?

In a different OpinionJournal piece, Pete du Pont believes that emission-reduction treaties are more about limiting the developed world's economic power while letting the developing world remain unchecked than they are about climate change. He also says that the United States is making progress in emissions, but his figures don’t say what their baseline is. du Point does rightly note that China and its emissions are going to be the ones to watch for, with their growing power in the global marketplace.

ldragoon provides one more Nice Guy(TM) example, this one trying to chastise those interested in women's issues by claiming everyone should be working on "more important" issues. Not to say that other issues aren’t important, like say, keeping the earth around for us to argue about all this, but to say that gender equality isn’t at least on the same tier as all of those is pretty poor.

A Seattle spammer and his corporation have been indicted for mail fraud, wire fraud, identity theft, fraud connected with electronic mail, and money laundering, all related to his business that offers people “broadcast email” software, addresses, and services. If the allegations are true, and a conviction will get the spammer off the net, well, it’ll help a little, at least.

Liberal Eagle is nonplussed at Chris Matthews talking politics on just about anything but political viewpoints. The Republican Party, hwoever, seems to be in a full-fledged panic as the socially conservative, evangelical candidate is leading the primaries. I agree with the Huffington Post - the GOP thought they could rile up the evangelicals, make them into solidly-voting Republicans, but never thought they could field a candidate that would capture a nomination. This apparent hypocrisy in the Republican Party led Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post to compare the GOP to the KKK in amount and degree of supposedly Christian beliefs that are unbiblical. Hrm. If Huckabee wins the nomination on the Republican side, will we see third party candidates in the running? Perhaps the Ron Paul supporters will get bolstered with disenchanted Republicans? Wondering what Democrats who are not fans of the selected candidate will do. They could vote for a Green party candidate, Cynthia McKinney, or they could go with the usual “anyone-but-them” mentality and vote Democratic anyway.

Mayor 9/11's campaign has decided to court the primaries that aren't out front, banking that his name and campaigning on the back end will overcome any momentum or face lost by sitting out or losing the front-running primaries. Depending on who the voters in the early states elect, perhaps Mayor 9/11 will be able to pull off his victory by playing to the crowd that the first pickers obviously chose incorrectly..

Nicholas Carr thinks the cell phone boom could have some unintended side effects, such as the possibility of tracking where the phone goes, what it interacts with, and using that data to build profiles for marketing or surveillance. With as much personally identifiable information that’s collected, sold, distributed, aggregated, and otherwise manipulated, I’m not sure this makes things worse, but I’m still not very fond of the idea that things are communicating data to advertisers and others without my express consent for them to do so. Of course, if the idea for a transforming plane that sits on a power line to recharge itself takes off, I may not have to worry about my cell phone giving me away, with all the cameras around.

The Slacktivist ties together road rage and the I-35 “purity sieges” together in showing how both places tend to produce unChristian behavior, and that eventually, the teens/kids/younger members involved in the “purity sieges” will either stop listening to their conscience (and turn into good church leaders), or they’ll stop going to church and faith, while they follow their consciences.

Wired has one of the better lists of this year - the list of the top ten Vaporware products for 2007. All the stuff promised but not yet delivered on this year. For those that are software programs, perhaps there’s some choice language in the programming comments? Admittedly, the process of putting f-bombs and other such things into one’s code and comments is a time-honored tradition. If I recall correctly, someone parsed the Linux kernel for the f-word and found quite a few instances.

Something that actually has happened, Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories explores the use of a DIY three-dimensional fabricator using sugar as the medium for fabrication. The heat from the fabricator solidifies the sugar in layers, according to the pattern in question, and at the end, all the still-powdery sugar is brushed off. Interesting. But is it tasty?

For those who are nonreligious, or want to spread some discord around the current Christianized Solstice celebration arrive in a few days, Alterati offers up a few bits of ontological terrorism to perpetrate on those who still believe in a War on Christmas, or for those looking to stake out ground for their own traditions that have nothing to do with babes or jolly fat men. They could combine with some of Agnostica, if they liked.

And on the end of this entry, serious advice presented in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Namely, this long list of news and opinion has twelve tips to avoid seeming like a know-it-all as the end segment. Pot, meet kettle. Maybe. I think more people would be interested in the Global Orgasm campaign designed to coincide with the arrival of the winter solstice and hopefully boost the world’s karma and good vibes into actual change for the good. But that’s just me.

Solstice night - 21 December 2007

To those who celebrate or have already celebrated the changing of the days, a happy solstice to you, and thank Prime that the days will be getting longer. I’m off for the weekend and the two days that the library is closed, so huzzah and four day weekend. Got a package today from greyweirdo that had an adorable lion on the bag and an equally adorable roaring lion in the bag. I’ve got lots of sound-making stuff so far for Christmas, including the rocking, “Jingle Bells”-barking sled dog, and the DVD of A Christmas Carol that also came with the lion. And today was payday. Happy Solstice, indeed.

Another two additions to the Nice Guy(TM) Collection - tscheese presents what I call Trophy-Seeking Nice Guy(TM), and terrestrial_cel has Manic Razor-Carving Nice Guy(TM).

With regard to the string of padded rugby games being played at the collegiate level, lest one think that the postseason matchups are strictly about pride and the possible BCS championship, ESPN puts out another annual roundup of the goodies of the bowl games - each of the football players receives some perks for participation in that particular game. The marching band members are lucky to be somewhere warm in January, if they’re from Michigan, and there’s a lot of costs covered, but it would have been nice to get a $400 shopping spree or a Wii for performing in the game. Ah, well, we’re not the stars. Free good seats are always a plus, even with the requirement to play.

Internationally, I think the Washington Times is doing a little fear-mongering, reporting on a Chinese spying operation that was discovered and stopped in 2005. The Chinese intelligence agencies had obtained raw and analyzed intelligence through a translation company contracted to the government. I suspect the implication from that article is supposed to be that China is continuing to spy on America, and that we should do our best to be suspicious of anyone who looks Chinese, because they’re furthering the cause of China’s world domination. After reading that sentence again, I don’t think it’s outrageous enough that plenty of people believe it.

Israel and Hamas may be considering long-term truce agreements, if both sides can get the concessions they want from the other group. It would be a step toward actually completing a peace deal between Israel and Palestine, but I’m not holding my breath on whether any proposed truces will actually hold.

The Canadian Prime Minister spoke a profound truth today, saying that the Dalai Lama is not a call girl, and thus he shouldn’t have to meet with him in hotel rooms in secret. China has condemned Mr. Harper for his actions, calling it “disgusting conduct” that the head of state of Canada was willing to meet with who they would consider a rebel leader, but that much of the world considers a venerable religious leader and exiled head of state.

Michelle Malkin gives us a snapshot of the American populace, putting selected comments next to a story about the expiration of FEMA Katrina rent subsidies in Houston. Malkin’s selection has one comment reminding those who claim Christianity as their religion that Jesus has a lot of teachings about how his followers should help the poor, and then four or five surrounding it that preach the Republican Gospel that God helps those who help themselves, and anybody who is receiving government assistance is doing so because they’re too lazy or stupid to obtain a proper job and work. Malkin herself refrains from expressing an opinion either way, which is probably a smart idea.

The suicide rate for adults 45-54 is the highest it has been in the last 25 years, according to a United States government survey. Let’s see, 45-54 is traditionally around the mid-life crisis, the increased costs of children going to university, mortgage woes, the possible odd disaster, and the like. That figure is 16.6 completed suicides per 100,000, so while it’s not necessarily many, anything that drives someone to take their own life needs to be looked into.

The Associate Press released their list today of the top ten news stories of 2007, ranging from Virginia Tech killings to climate change through poisoned Chinese exports and Iran’s nuclear program.

Mr. Bush, while not getting into the discussion about presidential candidate qualifications, would supposedly ask them about what "principles" they relied on for decisions, and who they would rely on in the Oval Office to get straight talk. I’d call that an admission from Mr. Bush that his own principles and advice-givers have not done their jobs properly, but I see the world with a lens that slants away from his world view, so I am not a reliable source.

Declaring oneself for President means all statements made will get scrutiny to the nth degree, at least if someone takes your candidacy seriously. For Mr. Romney, this means his claim that his father, George Romney, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is fact-checked and turns out false, unless you interpret it that Dr. King and Mr. Romney marched in separate marches in the same “series”. So “with” in this case turns out to be “on the same side of” rather than “physically near”. If that’s really the case, then English grammar is at fault. If he meant something more intimate, though, there’s no evidence that any sort of march where the two were together happened.

Mr. Huckabee has more dirt dug up on him (strange how this all seems to appear as he looks like an actual contender for the candidacy) - in 1996, Huckabee basically called out the National Guard to remove the previous governor after said governor decided not to resign as he had promised to do beforehand. There’s nothing in the law requiring the governor to resign when he promises to. He did resign again when the soldiers were surrounding the capital building, but at the time that Huckabee called them in, he had no power or authority to do so. bradhicks points out that we usually call this a coup d’etat. I’m not sure how to parse how that reflects on Huckabee’s presidential-candidate self, but he’s got quite a few shady dealings in his past.

Even Green party candidates are not immune from dirt-digging - Radar Online has a look at Cynthia McKinney's candidacy and what she brings to the Green Party. Ralph Nader thinks John Edwards is swell, though, for taking an anti-corporate stance.

I’m skipping over a few TownHall columns that continue to repeat the Republican party line - the surge is working (and the Troops are Giving Us All the Gift of Freedom), waterboarding isn’t torture, Iran’s still trying to make nukes, and everything’s going so very well around the world that Democrats and the liberal media are scrambling for any bad news they can find. Instead, we’ll sum it up in one article - Republican Unity Trumps Democratic Momentum. By being the party with something resembling a backbone, even in the minority, and wielding the veto pen, they stopped any sort of meaningful change. With that solidarity, they're going to basically shut down the Federal Election Comission, demanding that all the candidates get voted on in a block. William Wilson thinks the FEC's mothballing is a perfectly good thing.

Several people in Oregon are very frustrated - their tax refund checks never appeared, apparently due to a glitch in software that marked them as donating their refunds to the state. Very much not good in that situation, as one of the people in the article was depending on that money to pay for some gifts. The state of Oregon does not appear to be moving quickly toward issuing any additional checks.

A University of Arkansas researcher thinks that tattoos are a way for people to construct their identity - behind each inking, there is a narrative, and in the combination and recitation of those narratives, as well as the symbols chosen for it in the actual ink picture.

For a moment, I wondered why WingNutDaily was covering an energy bill. But, given the chance to say the government is getting rid of incandescent lightbulbs and the compact fluorescent bulbs they’re replacing them with have “highly toxic mercury” in them, it makes more sense. They can then have Great Concern that if they should break, or be disposed of in great numbers, like when they burn out in Congress, then the mercury will be an environmental problem and solutions on their recycling are at least five years off. If advocates claims that the CFL will last five years longer and use 75 percent less energy are on, however, we’ll know how to recycle them when they burn out, and we’ll have saved a significant amount of energy expenditure and other pollution in the process. WND, of course, is too busy saying, “Look! Enviro-tards are advocating for something that will cause more environmental problems!” to pay attention to what’s actually being said. A more respectable paper, the New York Times, reports that the Environmental Protection Agency is blocking individual states from setting higher vehicle emissions standards than the federal mark. The crowning jewel in this environment-hostile environment is the headline on a report issued by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s Office of the Ranking GOP Member (read - Republican in the SE&PW Committee) claiming "U.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007". Two comparisons - one, what does the rest of the Senate think, and two, how many more scientists outside of that 400 are in the majority opinion, which is, by definition, a consensus?

A church in Washington D.C. holds midnight services to combat curses and witchcraft, all in the name of Jesus. It’s no surprise to me that the church is composed of mostly African congregants, where beliefs about the contagiousness of demons and witchcraft and a Pentecostal view of actual spiritual warfare fuse easily. I do find it interesting that they want to kick up the prayers a notch, thinking that the demons are actively seeking sacrifice and the curses are happening more frequently around what is supposedly one of the essential Christian holidays. I would think that proximity to such a holy day would make it difficult for “witches” or demons to do anything.

Last for tonight in strictly political things, and recipient of the American Civil Liberties Union’s scorn, a Woodrow Wilson High School senior, attending I.C. Norcom High School for a class on hotel management, was told to cover her shirt depicting two interlocked Venus symbols. The potential reasons for the request mentioned in the article, either “we are training students to go out into the business world” or “the shirt upset a conservative instructor and interfered with her ability to teach” both don’t carry enough logic or weight to count. The conservative instructor should welcome the reminder that there are other opinions on the world, and be able to teach, considering wearing a shirt is not an active disruption of a class. The “business world” argument really says, in my opinion, “People in the business world, and the majority of your customers, hate change or anything that jolts them out of their comfort zones. If you express yourself as a unique person, you will lose much of your customer base. Conform. Obey! Obey!” With as much as good marketing is now appealing to the appropriate niche, some showing of individuality might just be the right thing to draw in customers. All those items aside, we keep telling students that they have free speech abilities in the world, and that their constitutional rights don’t stop when they enter the school, and then speech or art or shirt-wearing that upsets administration or teachers with clout is censored because it’s “disruptive”. Let’s set a better example for students and not make a gigantic deal out of someone’s shirt-wearing or their orientation or anything that’s not actively interfering with the lesson, and even then, have a listen and see if they’ve got a point about what’s being taught. More learning is done in frank discussion than rote memorization.

In technology, Endgadget takes a peek in at Bug Labs' DIY electronics kit. Unfortunately, neither the screenshots nor the blurb really tell me a whole lot about what’s going on and why this piece-together kit is a neat thing. At least the Brisa 200 fan shows off what it’s supposed to do in the pictures.

Something much easier to understand is AT&T's offer to design and install complete RFID/GPS/GSM systems to track students, buses, and teachers as they go about their day. So, yet another school-to-prison comparison, anyone? ID cards, tracking, the whole works.

Further in technology, Larry Dignan concludes that Mac OSX is a more vulnerable operating system than Windows XP and Vista, based on the amount of flaws reported by Secunia. Upon closer examination, though, a random sampling of those items generates bugs, flaws, and exploits in third-party software being assessed to OSX in the count. Additionally, with Microsoft’s general unwillingness to acknowledge flaws exist until after their patching, the counts may be Microsoft-friendly. I also find the comparison between OSX 10.4/10.5 and Windows XP/Vista a little off - while the comparison that people want is OSX 10.5 = Windows XP SP2, OSX 10.5 is a younger operating system than XP SP2. Plus, nothing is taken into account of XP SP3, which is slated for release soon. I think it’s an apples-and-oranges comparison, in reporting methods, in age of operating system, and in what’s being marked as flaws.

Most importantly in this section, though, is the closure of analog wireless network bandwidth, meaning that older OnStar-equipped vehicles are no longer OnStar-equipped, some alarm systems won’t be effective, and an old generation of mobile phones will fall off the map. Communications companies are building out coverage in their digital network areas, but it remains to be seen whether the deadline in February will cause some areas to have no signal.

One bit of whimsy, right at the end of all this Serious Bizness - Stephen Colbert was selected as the Associated Press's Celebrity of the year. And one more list that’s probably worth looking at - The Explainer's Unanswered Questions of 2007. The one that garners the most votes will get answered.

The question I’m answering right now, however is “Is it bedtime?”. G’night.