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Time moves along - 23 December 2007
Dec. 24th, 2007 01:31 amGot a nice call today from one side of the family, where they were celebrating Christmas, and so I got to say hello and receive some “Wish you were here” from them, which is nice. I also ended up watching the adaptation of “Hogfather” and found the production to be quite fun. A well-cast production. I should probably start working my way through Discworld now, and see what I’ve been missing out on by not keeping track of this series. So now it’s well-past my bedtime, but tomorrow is Christmas Eve, today having been Buddha Day, and the Solstice before that, so I think I can stay up a little bit.
Doctor Football and the Michigan Man steamrolled the once-mighty Dolphins of Miami. Apparently, their summoners couldn’t hold the portal-way to the realm of the Football gods long enough to produce a second win. Only the Football Giants of New York stand in the way of The Michigan Man’s cannon now. Will Doctor Football be able to complete the spell that will ascend him to demigodhood, or will the Giants’ abilities be too much? (And then there’s the playoffs!) Tune in next week for the thrilling season conclusion!
Turkey continues to make northern Iraq less stable, finding and fighting PKK forces inside the country. Should Iran start getting into the act, all the good work done by Mr. Bush’s surge could be easily undone. Of course, the American troops leaving Iraq could do the same, and at much less cost of lives and money. At the same time, as Dahr Jamail reports in conversation with documentary makers Molly Bingham and Steve Connors, the fact that America is viewed as invaders and occupiers has significance when it comes to whether Iraq truly is peaceful and stable.
At least some good is coming to those training in the military - a Nebraska contingent, part of the Army National Guard’s 110th Medical Battalion, training at Fort Lewis in Washington has found that businesses in the area will pay for them to fly home for the Christmas holiday. Yay. After their training is done, however, they’re getting ten months of Iraq. I still thought it wasn’t permissible to send National Guard troops and equipment overseas. Kind of defeats the purpose of being a National Guard, doesn’t it?
In United States election politics, the Concord Monitor of Concord, New Hampshire, issued a unique statement from their editorial board on the opinion page today. The Monitor gave an anti-endorsement to Mitt Romney, laying out several paragraphs on why Mitt Romney should not be the next President of the United States. Considering the base that the Republican party is trying to appeal to, this anti-endorsement probably did not do much to change the state of hostility toward Mr. Romney, although it would give them a better reason than “He’s Mormon. Isn’t that some sort of polygamous cult?”
In South Korea, thanks to the new opportunities for women to work and advance their careers, and the dismantling of laws that favored sons to the exclusion of daughters, the birth ratio of boys to girls is moving back toward 100:100. Researchers and policy makers are looking at South Korea closely to see whether other son-weighted countries start moving back toward a balance as well.
The blast at Tunguska could have been caused by a smaller asteroid than thought, according to researchers at Sandia National Laboratories. Wait, when did they decide it was an asteroid touchdown that caused the boom? And if small asteroids can do that, no wonder we’re all worried about Second Impact.
The United States Department of Homeland Security may be gaining the powers of Superman, if the LEXID, which works with X-rays in the same way light does on lobster eyes, is a complete success. The design would allow DHS and others to see through concrete, wood, and other normally impenetrable surfaces and construct what’s inside/on the other side of them.
Reason Magazine watches media around the world selectively emphasise scientific research. Many papers take from the report "marijuana smoke is more dangerous than tobacco smoke", when the research is that smoking stuff is generally bad for you. Marijuana may not have all the links tobacco does because pot smokers don’t tend to smoke as much as tobacco smokers do, but if they did, then we’d see similar problems with regard to poisons and toxins in the smoke, and respiratory effects. As always, drugs taken in excess, from disreputable or unverified sources, or in some cases, in an unsupervised manner are not going to be good for your health. If you do use drugs, do so responsibly, please.
Let’s go to the opinion columns, where George Will lays the blame for all sorts of failures at the feet of Congress, including earmark-laden spending, the way that SCHIP increased spending is being funded, and smaller automobiles. Man, so much trouble and so few bills. Gridlock must be a beautiful thing, in the way that it makes sure nobody gets what they want.
Austin Cline, appearing at The General’s with yet another poster, notes that the conservative movement like to project itself onto those it claims to be fighting, accusing liberals of doing all the things that they are doing. And that sometimes makes for strange bedfellows, like an author trying to link homosexuality to the Nazi regime, and then bring that argument forward as to why people should fear and work against homosexuals now.
Having already invoked some subset of Godwin’s principles, let’s go for the whole thing and say that I expect a media circus around rapper-turned-actor Will Smith's declaration that Adolf Hitler was trying to do what he thought was good work. If the quotes are accurate, Smith does not endorse any of what Hitler said or did, but merely mentions that he believes Hitler thought he was doing good work. Shall we take bets on how many “zOMG! Will Smith is a Nazi!” posts, opinions, or headlines appear around the media and blog world?
Got to hand it to some Cuban refugees, who are credited with the creation of a truck-powered raft. It may be a raft built around a truck, but if it works in such a way that the truck engine drives a propeller or other conveyance manner, then that’s a pretty neat hack, indeed. Hopefully it’s got enough gas to get to the destination.
Persons worldwide may be/are already experiencing Vedas and other tales of the gods of India in graphic novel format, coming off the Virgin Comics imprint, yet another venture of mogul Richard Branson. From the sample works that are there, the stories promise to be colorful and alluring. If they are also faithful to their source materials, then it would be quite interesting to watch and read.
On the other end of the interesting spectrum, interesting in a Hello Kitty Hell kind of way (which had a Christmas tree constructed of Hello Kitty plush and the Hello Kitty urinal target recently), is Spiritual Water, purified water that has several Jeezis labels on it, or other prominent Christian figures and recitations. I can understand the idea of putting one’s religious beliefs into every facet of one’s being, but at some point, most gods tend to frown on mass commercialization that doesn’t really treat them with much for reverence. But, if this is really just worship at the Church of the Almighty Dollar, then all other gods can safely be sacrificed to it here.
Anyway, I have much to do tomorrow, and thus it’s sleepy-time.
Doctor Football and the Michigan Man steamrolled the once-mighty Dolphins of Miami. Apparently, their summoners couldn’t hold the portal-way to the realm of the Football gods long enough to produce a second win. Only the Football Giants of New York stand in the way of The Michigan Man’s cannon now. Will Doctor Football be able to complete the spell that will ascend him to demigodhood, or will the Giants’ abilities be too much? (And then there’s the playoffs!) Tune in next week for the thrilling season conclusion!
Turkey continues to make northern Iraq less stable, finding and fighting PKK forces inside the country. Should Iran start getting into the act, all the good work done by Mr. Bush’s surge could be easily undone. Of course, the American troops leaving Iraq could do the same, and at much less cost of lives and money. At the same time, as Dahr Jamail reports in conversation with documentary makers Molly Bingham and Steve Connors, the fact that America is viewed as invaders and occupiers has significance when it comes to whether Iraq truly is peaceful and stable.
At least some good is coming to those training in the military - a Nebraska contingent, part of the Army National Guard’s 110th Medical Battalion, training at Fort Lewis in Washington has found that businesses in the area will pay for them to fly home for the Christmas holiday. Yay. After their training is done, however, they’re getting ten months of Iraq. I still thought it wasn’t permissible to send National Guard troops and equipment overseas. Kind of defeats the purpose of being a National Guard, doesn’t it?
In United States election politics, the Concord Monitor of Concord, New Hampshire, issued a unique statement from their editorial board on the opinion page today. The Monitor gave an anti-endorsement to Mitt Romney, laying out several paragraphs on why Mitt Romney should not be the next President of the United States. Considering the base that the Republican party is trying to appeal to, this anti-endorsement probably did not do much to change the state of hostility toward Mr. Romney, although it would give them a better reason than “He’s Mormon. Isn’t that some sort of polygamous cult?”
In South Korea, thanks to the new opportunities for women to work and advance their careers, and the dismantling of laws that favored sons to the exclusion of daughters, the birth ratio of boys to girls is moving back toward 100:100. Researchers and policy makers are looking at South Korea closely to see whether other son-weighted countries start moving back toward a balance as well.
The blast at Tunguska could have been caused by a smaller asteroid than thought, according to researchers at Sandia National Laboratories. Wait, when did they decide it was an asteroid touchdown that caused the boom? And if small asteroids can do that, no wonder we’re all worried about Second Impact.
The United States Department of Homeland Security may be gaining the powers of Superman, if the LEXID, which works with X-rays in the same way light does on lobster eyes, is a complete success. The design would allow DHS and others to see through concrete, wood, and other normally impenetrable surfaces and construct what’s inside/on the other side of them.
Reason Magazine watches media around the world selectively emphasise scientific research. Many papers take from the report "marijuana smoke is more dangerous than tobacco smoke", when the research is that smoking stuff is generally bad for you. Marijuana may not have all the links tobacco does because pot smokers don’t tend to smoke as much as tobacco smokers do, but if they did, then we’d see similar problems with regard to poisons and toxins in the smoke, and respiratory effects. As always, drugs taken in excess, from disreputable or unverified sources, or in some cases, in an unsupervised manner are not going to be good for your health. If you do use drugs, do so responsibly, please.
Let’s go to the opinion columns, where George Will lays the blame for all sorts of failures at the feet of Congress, including earmark-laden spending, the way that SCHIP increased spending is being funded, and smaller automobiles. Man, so much trouble and so few bills. Gridlock must be a beautiful thing, in the way that it makes sure nobody gets what they want.
Austin Cline, appearing at The General’s with yet another poster, notes that the conservative movement like to project itself onto those it claims to be fighting, accusing liberals of doing all the things that they are doing. And that sometimes makes for strange bedfellows, like an author trying to link homosexuality to the Nazi regime, and then bring that argument forward as to why people should fear and work against homosexuals now.
Having already invoked some subset of Godwin’s principles, let’s go for the whole thing and say that I expect a media circus around rapper-turned-actor Will Smith's declaration that Adolf Hitler was trying to do what he thought was good work. If the quotes are accurate, Smith does not endorse any of what Hitler said or did, but merely mentions that he believes Hitler thought he was doing good work. Shall we take bets on how many “zOMG! Will Smith is a Nazi!” posts, opinions, or headlines appear around the media and blog world?
Got to hand it to some Cuban refugees, who are credited with the creation of a truck-powered raft. It may be a raft built around a truck, but if it works in such a way that the truck engine drives a propeller or other conveyance manner, then that’s a pretty neat hack, indeed. Hopefully it’s got enough gas to get to the destination.
Persons worldwide may be/are already experiencing Vedas and other tales of the gods of India in graphic novel format, coming off the Virgin Comics imprint, yet another venture of mogul Richard Branson. From the sample works that are there, the stories promise to be colorful and alluring. If they are also faithful to their source materials, then it would be quite interesting to watch and read.
On the other end of the interesting spectrum, interesting in a Hello Kitty Hell kind of way (which had a Christmas tree constructed of Hello Kitty plush and the Hello Kitty urinal target recently), is Spiritual Water, purified water that has several Jeezis labels on it, or other prominent Christian figures and recitations. I can understand the idea of putting one’s religious beliefs into every facet of one’s being, but at some point, most gods tend to frown on mass commercialization that doesn’t really treat them with much for reverence. But, if this is really just worship at the Church of the Almighty Dollar, then all other gods can safely be sacrificed to it here.
Anyway, I have much to do tomorrow, and thus it’s sleepy-time.
