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Rested and refreshed - 11 August 2008
Aug. 12th, 2008 12:25 amSo lots happens when you’re away. The coast was nice, though, and I got to reconfirm that the ocean is pretty cold out here. The wind was fierce, and the rain that came with it was also pretty chilly. All told, though, it was good time away from work and helped me to unwind.
The big sport celebration got off to a big kick - the opening ceremonies were cool to watch, as they always are, and the taking a lap around the stadium in the sky was really neat. Unfortunately, the Olympic truce isn’t really applying at all in this case, which leads to how Mr. Bush spent his day on Sunday, interspersing Mr. Bush and one of the American beach volleyball duos with pictures of the conflcits going on elsewhere in the world. Additionally, not everyone sees a more open and freer China, believing that we're seeing only what China wants us to see. There was also the murder of the father-in-law to the United States men's Olympic volleyball coach.
Issac Hayes, known for his "Shaft" theme and his role as Soth Park's "Chef", passed away at 65, following the death of Bernie Mac at 50 years.
Internationally, in addition to the ongoing Russian-Georgian conflict, the Kngihts Templar are suing the Vatican to clear their name and give them back their seized assets, a move that, if successful, and actually enforced, could cause some consternation to the Roman Catholic Church.
The United States is still waiting for North Korea to comply with their demands before delisting them as a state sponsor of terror, assuring the Japanese that the delisting would not happen today. North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are still in the crosshairs, and Syria may also get some targeting, after turning away the IAEA's inspection team.
According to Iraq sources, a deal is close on a timeline to get United States troops out of Iraq and let it stand on its own feet. The United States denies that there are any such things anywhere close to completion, and the sticking point of immunity for soldiers may yet prevent any deals from going through.
Domestically, the U.S. government insists that it can break copyright law when it wants to, saying that the DMCA doesn’t apply to them, or to organizations, only to individuals. So it’s okay for corporations to break the rules of the DMCA, but not individuals. You can’t pirate, we can pirate and rootkit and all sorts of other compromising things. And remember, foreign travelers, leave your laptops at home. Something as innocuous as gay porn might mean it gets seized with no return.
Not that the government will take care of private data all that well - a laptop gone missing with more than 33,000 names of people signed up for Verified Identity's Clear program has reappeared in the office from whence it disappeared. So all those people trying to get through the line may have just had their identities compromised. Nice to know the government chooses their partners in business well.
And, what’s this? Asking for more land to drill, but having plenty of exports to send away? That’s energy interdependence - I guess if someone really wanted to make a case about the need for Americans to have less price pressure at the pump, maybe they should ask Congress to require that all the current domestic drilling be used to feed domestic demand? The Wall Street Journal thinks the Republicans should explicitly tie more oil to economic growth, and lambast the Democrats for being willing to sacrifice some economic growth for the promise of cleaner energy in the future, or for being willing to tinker with the economy that works right now, dependent that it is on carbon. That said, there are things that are positive about high fuel prices, like more domestic jobs, less sprawl, and better work hours.
A success story in the “landowners versus mobile home residents” problem - the house owners abnded together and bought the property from teh land owners, and the Washington state government threw in a tax incentive as well, so now the residents of that community don’t have to worry about being evicted by land sale. Huzzah!
Members of an explicitly Christian biker group are in jail, with the leader on $1 million bail after allegedly attacking and attempting to kill members of the Hell's Angels biker group. Also from our “pillage, THEN burn” department, woman attacked by fox, then shot by husband attempting to kill fox - without removing fox from the woman first.
Let’s talk candidates. The McCain campaign is encouraigng its supporters to post preconstructed messages in the comments sections of blogs and newpaper articles so they can earn points, essentially engaging in comment-spam for their candidate. It’s like they’re trying to show just how much a campaign can implode and be run poorly and still have a chance at winning, trusting that the people who are voting for McCain will do so no matter what kind of stupid things he or the campaign does. Nine out of ten oil execs support Mr. McCain, after all, so what about the rest of us? For some, in fact, being in the pocket of oil companies is a positive thing. And the General aims to show how ridiculous these kinds of campaigns can get through parody. The problem is, what is clearly in the realm of parody gets eaten up day by day. Two days ago, it was Senator Obama’s obviously intelligence that was supposed to make you resent him. Yesterday, it was his celebrity status and popularity. Today? Apparently, the fact that the Senator is thin and in good shape makes him unfit to lead. Or that he believes America has fallen off the path and needs to get back on, which is right on message for the candidate of change.
Going into the opinion areas, Paul Ingrassia laments Detroit's decline, but says they should have seen in coming and that nobody should bail them out, although he says that if Senator Obama wins the White House, such a bailout would be considered. I don’t know. With the high desire to drop dependence on oil and make better and alternative-fueled cars, the company that can develop an electric that works first may be the only ones surviving. Perhaps a better way for the government to spend money on getting less pollution is a Cash For Clunkers program, where old and big polluters are bought and scrapped, but pay enough for those selling to buy or at least be able to finance newer and cleaner cars.
Mart Laar is okay equating communism with Naziism, despite referring only to the brand that called itself communist under Stalin, having long since abandoned Marx and Lenin. The headline is correct - “Stalinism was as bad as Naziism”, but the commentary itself refers to Soviet communism in general.
Bill'O devotes column space to praising musicians who praise America and God, instead of knocking on it. He’ll find a nice ally in Burt Prelutsky's condemnation of liberal "moral equivalency", where it’s just Wrong to suggest that the definitions of what’s good and evil have changed, and to condemn the evil actions of a country even if it’s better than the countries around it on any given day.
In candidate opinions - Donald Lambro thinks Senator Obama will make a mistake in permitting unions to organize through the collection of a simple majority of yes cards, rather than through the secret ballot process, despite the Senator’s assurances that the secret ballot process will not be disrupted, if the union or employer wishes it to go forward. Christine O'Donnell sees no wisdom in a bill designed to adopt the United Nations Millenium Development Goals, calling it “outsourcing” the United States’ decisions and dollars on foreign aid to the United Nation, harming our sovreignity and letting incompetents play with American tax monies.
In science and technology, Sytrofoam Dome Houses - cheap one-room houses currently being constructed in Japan. Perfect for a dormitory single or an apartment-size house. Might be a little confining for those that would want more, but multiple domes and connecting-pieces can be built on, so that there’s room enough for a bedroom and a living space.
Also, an alarm clock that cooks bacon and uses that smell as the wake-up aroma, viruses that can infect other viruses, invisibility cloaks in three dimensions, arresting the process of organ breakdowns in mice, with potential for human applications, jellyfish out of their normal waters, and limbo-capabale robots.
Last for tonight, Classic Kong, created with LEGO blocks, including, intitially, rolling barrels and jumping figures. And the revelations taht Kafka stashed explicit and dark pronography. Which, if you’ve read his novels, probably won’t surprise you. Instead, be awed by the meteor shower tomorrow. Or marvel at a winemaker bottling and marketing various varieties of water. Those people can probably afford an application for an iPhone that cost $1,000 and did nothing.
The big sport celebration got off to a big kick - the opening ceremonies were cool to watch, as they always are, and the taking a lap around the stadium in the sky was really neat. Unfortunately, the Olympic truce isn’t really applying at all in this case, which leads to how Mr. Bush spent his day on Sunday, interspersing Mr. Bush and one of the American beach volleyball duos with pictures of the conflcits going on elsewhere in the world. Additionally, not everyone sees a more open and freer China, believing that we're seeing only what China wants us to see. There was also the murder of the father-in-law to the United States men's Olympic volleyball coach.
Issac Hayes, known for his "Shaft" theme and his role as Soth Park's "Chef", passed away at 65, following the death of Bernie Mac at 50 years.
Internationally, in addition to the ongoing Russian-Georgian conflict, the Kngihts Templar are suing the Vatican to clear their name and give them back their seized assets, a move that, if successful, and actually enforced, could cause some consternation to the Roman Catholic Church.
The United States is still waiting for North Korea to comply with their demands before delisting them as a state sponsor of terror, assuring the Japanese that the delisting would not happen today. North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are still in the crosshairs, and Syria may also get some targeting, after turning away the IAEA's inspection team.
According to Iraq sources, a deal is close on a timeline to get United States troops out of Iraq and let it stand on its own feet. The United States denies that there are any such things anywhere close to completion, and the sticking point of immunity for soldiers may yet prevent any deals from going through.
Domestically, the U.S. government insists that it can break copyright law when it wants to, saying that the DMCA doesn’t apply to them, or to organizations, only to individuals. So it’s okay for corporations to break the rules of the DMCA, but not individuals. You can’t pirate, we can pirate and rootkit and all sorts of other compromising things. And remember, foreign travelers, leave your laptops at home. Something as innocuous as gay porn might mean it gets seized with no return.
Not that the government will take care of private data all that well - a laptop gone missing with more than 33,000 names of people signed up for Verified Identity's Clear program has reappeared in the office from whence it disappeared. So all those people trying to get through the line may have just had their identities compromised. Nice to know the government chooses their partners in business well.
And, what’s this? Asking for more land to drill, but having plenty of exports to send away? That’s energy interdependence - I guess if someone really wanted to make a case about the need for Americans to have less price pressure at the pump, maybe they should ask Congress to require that all the current domestic drilling be used to feed domestic demand? The Wall Street Journal thinks the Republicans should explicitly tie more oil to economic growth, and lambast the Democrats for being willing to sacrifice some economic growth for the promise of cleaner energy in the future, or for being willing to tinker with the economy that works right now, dependent that it is on carbon. That said, there are things that are positive about high fuel prices, like more domestic jobs, less sprawl, and better work hours.
A success story in the “landowners versus mobile home residents” problem - the house owners abnded together and bought the property from teh land owners, and the Washington state government threw in a tax incentive as well, so now the residents of that community don’t have to worry about being evicted by land sale. Huzzah!
Members of an explicitly Christian biker group are in jail, with the leader on $1 million bail after allegedly attacking and attempting to kill members of the Hell's Angels biker group. Also from our “pillage, THEN burn” department, woman attacked by fox, then shot by husband attempting to kill fox - without removing fox from the woman first.
Let’s talk candidates. The McCain campaign is encouraigng its supporters to post preconstructed messages in the comments sections of blogs and newpaper articles so they can earn points, essentially engaging in comment-spam for their candidate. It’s like they’re trying to show just how much a campaign can implode and be run poorly and still have a chance at winning, trusting that the people who are voting for McCain will do so no matter what kind of stupid things he or the campaign does. Nine out of ten oil execs support Mr. McCain, after all, so what about the rest of us? For some, in fact, being in the pocket of oil companies is a positive thing. And the General aims to show how ridiculous these kinds of campaigns can get through parody. The problem is, what is clearly in the realm of parody gets eaten up day by day. Two days ago, it was Senator Obama’s obviously intelligence that was supposed to make you resent him. Yesterday, it was his celebrity status and popularity. Today? Apparently, the fact that the Senator is thin and in good shape makes him unfit to lead. Or that he believes America has fallen off the path and needs to get back on, which is right on message for the candidate of change.
Going into the opinion areas, Paul Ingrassia laments Detroit's decline, but says they should have seen in coming and that nobody should bail them out, although he says that if Senator Obama wins the White House, such a bailout would be considered. I don’t know. With the high desire to drop dependence on oil and make better and alternative-fueled cars, the company that can develop an electric that works first may be the only ones surviving. Perhaps a better way for the government to spend money on getting less pollution is a Cash For Clunkers program, where old and big polluters are bought and scrapped, but pay enough for those selling to buy or at least be able to finance newer and cleaner cars.
Mart Laar is okay equating communism with Naziism, despite referring only to the brand that called itself communist under Stalin, having long since abandoned Marx and Lenin. The headline is correct - “Stalinism was as bad as Naziism”, but the commentary itself refers to Soviet communism in general.
Bill'O devotes column space to praising musicians who praise America and God, instead of knocking on it. He’ll find a nice ally in Burt Prelutsky's condemnation of liberal "moral equivalency", where it’s just Wrong to suggest that the definitions of what’s good and evil have changed, and to condemn the evil actions of a country even if it’s better than the countries around it on any given day.
In candidate opinions - Donald Lambro thinks Senator Obama will make a mistake in permitting unions to organize through the collection of a simple majority of yes cards, rather than through the secret ballot process, despite the Senator’s assurances that the secret ballot process will not be disrupted, if the union or employer wishes it to go forward. Christine O'Donnell sees no wisdom in a bill designed to adopt the United Nations Millenium Development Goals, calling it “outsourcing” the United States’ decisions and dollars on foreign aid to the United Nation, harming our sovreignity and letting incompetents play with American tax monies.
In science and technology, Sytrofoam Dome Houses - cheap one-room houses currently being constructed in Japan. Perfect for a dormitory single or an apartment-size house. Might be a little confining for those that would want more, but multiple domes and connecting-pieces can be built on, so that there’s room enough for a bedroom and a living space.
Also, an alarm clock that cooks bacon and uses that smell as the wake-up aroma, viruses that can infect other viruses, invisibility cloaks in three dimensions, arresting the process of organ breakdowns in mice, with potential for human applications, jellyfish out of their normal waters, and limbo-capabale robots.
Last for tonight, Classic Kong, created with LEGO blocks, including, intitially, rolling barrels and jumping figures. And the revelations taht Kafka stashed explicit and dark pronography. Which, if you’ve read his novels, probably won’t surprise you. Instead, be awed by the meteor shower tomorrow. Or marvel at a winemaker bottling and marketing various varieties of water. Those people can probably afford an application for an iPhone that cost $1,000 and did nothing.
