More data for you to parse - 22 January 2009

Hi, all - it’s that time again. Oh, and it’s an anniversary day for the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.

At the stage of nations, Sweden is slated to begin permitting homosexual marriages in May.

Elections loom in Iraq, which means assassination attempts and bombings. This country does at least refrain from resorting to actually doing those kinds of things - even though there were probably plenty of threats about doing it.

A nuclear deal between the United States and the United Arab Emirates could mean more progress toward nuclear energy for the Arabian peninsula as a whole.

A Las Vegas father stands accused of chaining his daughter to her bed to force her to lose weight, in addition to locking the cabinets and attempting to exert a degree of control that would not even let her leave the house for fear that she would get snacks and ruin the diet he provided for her.

On other fronts, Guantanamo is done, as are secret prisons of the CIA, according to an executive order signed by the newly-minted President Obama, now with two oaths of office taken.

Domestically, the former Attorney General might have quaked a bit with fear as he urged the current Attorney General not to call torture torture, so that members of the previous administration might escape prosecution for their roles in torture. The General thinks this is a fine idea, as the corruption has spread further than most of them expect. At the State Department, the new boss got a standing O and then some. Makes you wonder what was going on there while Dr. Rice was there.

White-powdered envelopes were sent to the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Law School's offices. Powder harmless, thankfully. Those having the spectres of other white powder attacks flash before their eyes, I don’t blame you.

An Iowa Hawk opens up the opinions with a post-election mockery of the President, sarcastically praising the election of an African-American while indicating that this particular African-American was one of the worst that could possibly have been chosen. Mr. Sowell thinks that now that we've elected President Obama, black Americans can stop claiming that "the man" is looking to put them down and keep them out of successful positions, and by virtue of that, black will stop playing at being victims, letting others cast them as victims, and move on. Mr. Bozell III complains about the cost of the inaugural festivities, as well as the media coverage of same in comparison to the former administrator's, noting the far more expensive balls for this president have not received the evil eye scrutiny on waste and spending. He has a point - austerity in these times would be a good gesture. What I want to know is how that money came to be - was it already raised in campaign, is it taxpayer dollars, etc.

Mr. Blackwell says the Republicans should be a loyal opposition - ready to work with the President, but unwilling to sacrifice their principles to do so, and so they should oppose left-wing court appointments, higher taxes, and anything perceived to be a weakening of the nation's security. So, basically, they should oppose anything that’s not conservative in nature. The WSJ believes that even with the Guantanamo executive order, President Obama is finding out just how hard it is to prosecute, release, or hold people who are residents there, sticking their tongues out and razzing the new President about how hard the job really is when you’re the one doing it (and taking shots at those who believe that rules and conventions still apply, even for unconventional warfare combatants).

Out of all of this, The Infamous Brad marvels at how John Williams managed to say in five minutes with four talented musicians what Barack Obama needed eighteen minutes and a microphone.

Steven Gutkin suggests that following its curb-stomping, if Hamas wanted to take a different tactic that would let Fatah, Israel, and monitors in to control borders and snuff out smuggling, the international community might react favorably, working with opening up borders and letting aid money flow in. Zimbabwe needs attention, and possibly a curb-stomping of its own so that the democratically-elected prime minister can take power away from Mr. Mugabe.

The WSJ condemns the Dutch courts for prosecuting the creator of a video that compared radical Islam to Naziism for inciting violence, arguing for the primacy of freedom of speech and agreeing with the prosecutors who rejected the criminal claims on those grounds.

On the economy, David Roche says we need to create a bank that will buy all other banks' bad assets at market price and force them to realize their losses, so that the markets can drop, collapse, clear off their bad stuff, bankrupt themselves, and then rebuild, instead of being prolonged through bailouts and other measures. Robert Barro thinks the Obama team is playing with inflated figures in justifying the benefits of increased government spending. Finally, because he can, Arthur Brooks trots out the figures that say conservatives give more than liberals do to charitable causes, explaining that things like church giving don’t explain away the gap, and that conservatives will still keep giving more even as the economy worsens. I’ve been hearing this for a while now, and I must inquire: what sort of point is one trying to make here? Something about big hearts or better principles or something else to prove that the conservative way of life is inherently superior based solely on its charitable giving?

And, because he already fled before the jobs were getting scarce, we're subjected to Karl Rove telling us all just how right the former administrator was on everything, from his major wars to his anti-choice stance. We’re probably going to hear a lot more of this from Turd Blossom as the next four years go by. Even worse, there will probably be an echo chamber on the matter.

In technology, the earliest sample of weapons-grade plutonium was unearthed... in a dump, people offering a bronze image of someone's unborn babies... which is kind of creepy, some thoughts about how to take space exploration one step at a time, starting with stations in LEO, then Luna, then Mars, then beyond, dropping human bases all along the way as we continue to spread humanity out among the stars, semiconducting nanotubes, machines approaching human task abilities, and a virus reprogramed to rebuild damaged nerve cells, which means we could be looking at ways of restoring severed spinal cords... and maybe even eyesight?

Last out of technology, hacking roadside signs that normally warn you of construction or ice or other hazards, and an iPhone application that turns it into a ballistics calculator, helpful for snipers.

The (pretty well late) 2008 retrospective! (Finally)

New year, new life, new possibilities. From where we came to where we go, hoping that I stop enough times along the way to get out and enjoy the scenery. It's nice as it drives by, but there are things that need to be examined in person. thus, some attempt an analysis of 2008, gleaned mostly from the few bits of my journal that weren't devoted to something else... and some bits that are.

The year began with some amount of tradition - the padded rugby squad playing a bowl game in Florida. Un-traditionally, they won. This was to be the last season of Mr. Carr at the Head Coach position, and in the last game he coached, he got victory. Very nice. I was still awed with the newness of my situation - out of school, employed, and pretty far away from home. There were other things in my life that were contributing to shaking things up in the new year, too.

Even in January, we were in the middle of a full-on primary war, with the prize of Iowa to begin the middle sequence. The CW kept Senator Clinton and Senator Obama at the front, basically evenly matched. Iowa went to the Senator, and people blinked and wondered what that meant. From that point on, the narrative was shaping up as to whether it would be the African-American or the woman as the Democratic frontrunner. Historic in their own rights, as well as a truly historic amount of fear being slung about, either about the candidate's supposed Muslim origins, or his racial heritage. Later on, a new charge joins in, but it takes a while. On the other side of the aisle, the frontrunning Republican candidates were being hammered for, in order, not running on anything but 9/11, being a scary evangelical, and being a Mormon. I don't believe the person who would eventually capture the nomination was even on the radar yet, although I could be wrong, considering what would happen next month. Most of the remaining attention was focused on a long shot candidate who was showing that running a mostly Internet-and-word of mouth campaign was viable in the sense of being talked about, even if it was totally non-viable when the ballot box arrived.

The country was still picking up from one hurricane - little did we know more would be on the way. The country was also in the midst of admitting or denying that torture was happening on Untied States controlled areas, conservatives were and are still trying to sell the people on the idea that Iraq was a success, despite its poisonous origin, and a lot of people were ready for the next administration, hoping they would wipe the last eight years clean as if they had not happened. Assuming they couldn't manage an impeachment and clear him and his vice out.

Went and saw Play! in Seattle, and was disappointed, for the most part, by the execution. the pieces themselves are wonderful, of course. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first month.

So, February. Super Tuesday. And when the carnage and wreckage were finished... well, on the Democratic side, it was still a close call. The Republicans had it figured out, though - John McCain, by not being anyone that had a singular issue to hammer on, snuck through as everyone around him exploded.

The lulz came out to play as the eponymous Anonymous began their campaign against Scientology, there were rumblings of collapse in financial sectors, another university shooting, more terror and fear as Iran increased centrifuges, the fallout on warantless wiretapping, and lots of other depressing things, like photographic proof of torture.

And Red Day came and went. Peacefully.

March onward. Major developments: vicious infighting in the Democratic nomination - at this point, we're wondering whether the Republican ticket has their attack lines already made out for them. Additionally, the beginnings of "Obama's black, and that's bad" "Obama's a Muslim, and that's bad", "Clinton is a woman, and that's bad" were starting to show up in the discourse.

Elsewhere, battles on surges, insurgencies, bailouts, education, Livejournal's ad revenues, Tibet, oh, and Super Smash Brothers Brawl came out for the Wii.

Terry Pratchett also found out he got Alzheimer's. Since then, he's been writing as very fast as his brain and machines will let him. Arthur C. Clarke died.

At the end of March, and the beginning of April, the Moisture Festival began (hopefully I can do that gig again this year), which was a hoot every time I got to play.

Unfortunately, at the beginning of April, I also had to fly home on very short notice because I lost a grandfather to Time and Death. Later on in the month, more on politics, finding out the populace hates only Scientologists more than atheists, more bits of Anonymous, limbo on children taken from a compound, the death of the discoverer of LSD-25, and a Ben Stein movie.

May is where we pick up the narrative again. "Mission Accomplished" entered its sixth year, an Army medical facility housed soldiers needing medical care in facilities that the rats were looking askance at, storms crushing people and houses in Burma, a quake in China, a seriously off-base interpretation of Firefly, the beginnings of the breakdown that is Zimbabwe politics under Robert Mugabe (he lost the election), economic stimulus payments, Anime Central (which may have been the last Freakin' Suite), the clearance-rack monitor that I got a VEWPRF or two ago as a gift dying, the Phoenix craft landing on a Mars polar cap and discovering the presence of water ice on the planet, the overturning of a homosexual marraige ban in California, another story which had things later on come up and rear their head.

June came, and with it, Summer Reading. Having laid the groundwork with school visits, the annual reading frenzy took off. Right at the beginning of the month, projections and actual totals indicated that it would be the African-American Senator, not the former First Lady, who would be the Democratic Party nominee. Although it was noted that this was unofficial, and that the Senator from New York might keep campaigning to try and sway the delegates at the convention. Practically, Senator Obama, Senator McCain, and the vast armies of keyboards, commenters, bloggers, and opinion columnists turned their sights on each other and began firing away in earnest. Closet Muslim, "terrorist fist-jab", and the like. Oil prices were also still on the rise, which meant the domestic drilling cries started to appear, to be met with the equally loud cries of "make better cars". robert Mugabe returned to his reign of terror, having intimidated the opposition into not appearing for fear of their lives. There were telecom immunities granted for warrantless work. Siblings visited me, making good on the trip that was canceled when I had to fly home to bury my grandfather. That was a weekend of pure awesome.

Another monitor died, as did George Carlin, and I watched a cat get hit by a truck. The truck never stopped.

July is the month that I was presented to the world, cold, wet, naked, and most likely hungry. This year, I spent it watching baseball. Detroit still lost. Elsewhere, the world was gearing up for Beijing hosting the Olympic Games, the Anglican Church thumbed their nose at the Catholics and appointed women as bishops, as well as some Catholics doing some appointing fo women bishops on their own, hubbub over a stolen consecrated wafer, Jack Thompson finally hauled before the courts with the disbarment threat hanging, the likelihood of troops coming out of Iraq and going into Afghanistan increasing, and the bginnings of the "Fariness doctrine" nonsense. The Dead Pool claimed another, as the writer and deliverer of the "The Last Lecture" died, and members of a Unitarian church in Tennessee were gunned down by a domestic terrorist.

Bring on August. Summer reading wraps up at the end of this month, signaled first by the end of the summer storytimes. We're already deep into planning the fall ones, if we haven't already thrown in our planning sheets, and we're getting geared up for the first-of-the-school year school visits. Anyone who thinks the library is a dull and boring place never sits in on our meetings or sees what happens behind the desk. Twilight mania was still going strong, although a bit of a hissy went off when the draft of book five got leaked to the Web. Elsewhere, the cracks were showing harder as we switched from "that tower looks like it might fall over" to "Someone find me support beams!" The best was still to come, of course. And there was that whole domestic drilling thing, Russia thumping Georgia, the Olympic Games, with their person-powered opening sequences, Detroit looking like a city even more on the ropes than usual, more below-the-belt punches about presidential candidates, including race, religious affiliation, and apparent political orientation, requests for ugly women to move to a remote town because the menfolk would take good care of them, and Rick Warren hosting the first Presidential debate, although neither candidate actually faced off against the other (and how that would come back to haunt us was thankfully unknown), confirming that there are still a lot of people in this country who want to know what religion their candidate has before listening to them on any other issue.

The Democrats had a convention, and despite someone praying for a flood to wash out the Senator's acceptance speech, it went on without a hitch, we found out Senator Joe Biden was his running mate, and that the fractiousness thought to appear from Clinton supporters never appeared. Senator McCain selected Sarah Palin, a monkey barrel full of laughs, as his vice-presidential candidate, setting up some historic possibilites.

The Dead Pool got Solzhenitsyn, Issac Hayes, Bernie Mac, and Julius Carry but Brian May got his doctorate and Ray Bradbury's still going. Oh, yeah, and Paris Hilton got John McCain good. (SNL would hit their stride later on).

September, yo! Republican conventions, complete with 9/11 videos endorsing the Republican candidate, music for which the artists said "I didn't give permission", masked by storms in New Orleans, and, you guessed it, Sarah Palin. Including her hacked e-mail account. Let the shark-biting commence. Oh, and if it hadn't been audible before, the complaints about media bias toward Obama start getting really annoying and kind of loud. There's also whispers of the "support the Republicans. We haven't had another terror attack in seven years. They must be doing it right" rumor.

Later in the month, a really big storm made mincemeat out of the parts of Texas in its path, the banks began the tumble, which is where the government say up and noticed there was a crisis going on, and then dumped 700 billion dollars to try and fix it, plus all the other money they had spent, several pastors revoked their own tax-empt status and dared the IRS to enforce it, high-profile homosexual marraiges in California, tainted baby formula, and Jack thompson finally getting the boot to the head that he's deserved for years.

Right at the end of the month, the two candidates did their first head-to-head.

An iconic movie voice was lost as Don Lafontaine joined the Dead Pool, and Paul Newman joined him.

Tenth month (although named to be the eighth) opened with a debate between the vice presidential candidates, the SNL stride well and truly underway by this point, and added on to it blaming why the crisis happened rather than fretting about the bailout and the mismanagement of its funds, the United Kingdom continued to look more and more like Airstrip One rather than a free and democratic society, the fraud conviction of Ted Stevens, of "Tubes!" fame, the ascendence and crash of a plumber from Ohio, the return and vengeance of several zombie attacks based on Obama's race, "terrorist sympathies", religion, and apparent socialism. It was the month right before the election, so they had to go all out. Proposition 8 also got much more airtime, as the deadline ran down on it. Ah, and a third presidential debate. We also found out that people in the high administration knew and endorsed torture, then denied it to us. And my parents and grandparents visited and saw me in my new digs and job.

November! Off at conference to start with, where much fun and gaming talk was had by all. On the plane ride back, the results of the election - with history made, as Barack Obama became the first African-American President-elect of the United States.

That was the good news. California's Proposition 8 passed, adding a Constitutional amendment to define what marriage is after a court decision overturned a law. That amendment is still under review to see whether it is in contradiction with another part of the California constitution. Several other anti-homosexual initiatives passed.

Some spectrum between channels opened up, Ubuntu ran another six-month update, the economy continued to die, and there were more layoffs everywhere. One the election was over, all that political momentum sort of died and stayed ded, despite the President-elect asking his supporters to turn their efforts to other causes.

A bargain stampede killed a person at a Wal-Mart.

The Dead Pool paid out on Michael Crichton and the drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Last month of 2008 - terror attacks abroad, the beginning of a smash campaign by Israel in Gaza, the cabinet is appointed, but not yet confirmed, a sign appeared in, and then was stolen from, the Washington State capitol building advising people against religion, right next to the nativity scene. Rioting in Greece, shoes thrown, possibly with the dust shaken off them, at the departing administrator, bailouts ahoy (and then some), more snow than the Seattle corridor knew what to do with (as well as the realization that my car can't drive uphill in snow. It can, however, reverse.), and, of course, the VEWPRFs.

And the Dead Pool still paid out. The man who coined sci-fi, icon and pin-up girl Bettie Page, Mark Felt aka Deep Throat, singer and Catwoman Eartha Kitt.

But Terry Pratchett got his Sir. And the next year looks to be very interesting, depending on how much the Obama administration can get their agenda going. See you all in 2010.

Last thing for this week - 23 January 2009

End of week! Not End of World (WTF, mate?).

Continuing to exercise swiftness in those areas that he has full control over, President Obama signed an executive order lifting a federal ban on funding groups that provide abortion counseling or services in countries other than the United States. The Unabashed Feminism Department is quite happy, as well as a rumor that the rule halt also stops the "conscience clause" brought into existence by the former administrator is also stalled pending review, where it will be killed.

For those interested in tracking the performance of the President (and this would be a good one), the Promise Tracking Page, for which there are probably a lot of bookmarks. Maybe even one from the President himself.

Jumping to things that will offend the UFD... and one that will probably amuse the left. The Monstrous Regiment, a movie that claims feminism has been the very worst thing for women ever since it appeared, purporting to show how women living biblically in submission to their husbands is the way to go. You can tell it's a winner by the warning about content - "abortion, sex, and immodesty," and by how they describe their all-female cast, some by name, and "other honorable wives, homemakers, and mothers." Yeah. For those wondering if there's some insidious cabal out to make the Handmaid's Tale into reality, well, there is a "patriarchy movement", whose adherents call themsleves True Women and who advocate for biblical submission of women to men. Because God designed us to be different, and put men at the head of women, and everyone should agree with that design and not advocate for equality. If someone wants to be a submissive, even in a biblical sort of way, that's their choice, but that's the point - they get to choose. Take away that choice and you don't have submission, you have slavery (of the bad kind).

The laughable object is that the Vatican is claiming that "homosexual behavior" in Catholic seminaries is on the decline. Setting aside why the pontiff wants to declare this... would you trust him? The pontiff also claims celibacy teaching and the screening for who's really called to be a priest is better. The General asks for some clarification on the Pope's statements.

Dan Goldman has a short-story comic about what happens when President Obama meets the new Mayan Era in 2012. Change, indeed. There's also a great line in there where the President remarks that if he were afraid of what was to come... he'd be wearing pants.

Confessions for two men from Chicago area planning to kill soldiers in Iraq, as well as the desecration of a soldier's grave by thieves. Additionally, the possibility that the Color Guard for the Super Bowl will not be able to watch the game.

Minnesota's contested Senate seat stays contested, after judges deny Al Franken's request to block Coleman's lawsuit.

Governor Palin is trying to correct percieved errors and hostility in media coverage regarding her and her children, feeling that the media has done several thigns in poor taste and judgment by bringing her children into the mix.

In the opinions, comedian Rush Limbaugh plants himself firmly in the camp of the anti-Obama, declaring on Sean Hannity's show that he wants President Obama to fail, on the condition that President Obama's agenda is a fringe-left socialist-collectivist agenda. Based on the rain of commentary coming down from conservative outlets, it seems to be a matter of accepted fact that President Obama is a socialist and will push a socialist agenda, so I think I can confidently say that Mr. Limbaugh is the first person to openly declare on the media that he wants to see President Obama fail. Two days into his presidency. That must be some kind of record. Naturally, his statement offends more than just liberals, because wishing failure on the President is pretty well damning the country, too.

Paul Kengor says that the former administrator is blameless for Iraq, because the media led him to belive Saddam had WMD, and he then decided we couldn't wait to see whether he did or didn&aops;t. Wow

Politico contributors Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris feel there are unresolved questions about the Obama presidency, including what he believes on Afghanistan and Iraq. Where to put Guantanamo Bay residents is also an issue of contention, even with a clear mandate to get rid of the prison.

Kimberly Strassel feels pitchforks and torches are coming from the Democrats regarding the former administrator, despite the current administrator's promise to set aside childish things. She also thinks that those investigations would be partisan attempst to punish someone, instead of trying to find truth. Plus, they'd evaporate good will. She also claims that they wouldn't learn much else... as well as a hint of something that sounds like "Besides, they didn't do anything wrong, and the President is right now busily sacrificing all those tools we need to keep us safe." The WSJ agrees, especially on the torture issue, figuring that any investigation would not produce convictions because the CIA people didn't know they were doing wrong and deliberately do it. They also believe that the line that the President suppsedly drew isn't a line at all, but a warning shot.

Peter Schiff is worried about just who will be financing defecit spending in the United States, especially for stimulus, as Carl Icahn figures we need to make managerial reform as we make company reform.

Andrew Murcia says Republicans have to reach out to youth (good luck on that in this environment), as Peggy Noonan comments on the spectacle of the inauguration (and how much it transcends partisan politics), while giving some advice on how to avoid riling up the opposition.

Last out of the opinions, Lori Roman is disgusted at how much race was mentioned in the Obama inauguration, with the implications that she is responsible for some of the crimes committed and attitudes of years ago. She wants the post-racial world, and she thinks that displaying it so much for the inauguration was counter to the fact that many people are living post-racial lives already. Jere Krischel asks the President to stop a bill in Hawaii that appears to establish a second government for the natives, potentially causing inequal treatment.

In technology, robots made to climb up structures, poles, and irregular facings, the possible development of a material that will serve as the cable to a space elevator, carbon nanotubes as film for flexible electronics and displays, creating tiny dolls made of living cells, more progress on manipulating and transferring quantum information over distance, even bigger amounts of data on hoodgraphic storage media, and speculation and possibly wank on the matter where LHC black holes might exist for longer than a second... despite the chances of this happening being nonzero, I'm betting on "infintesimaly small". But it's probably bigger than the amount of clue that this Microsoft rep had in introducing a DRM mobile music service that's more expensive than DRM-free Amazon and iTunes.

Oh, and worms around the Internet, this one worse than the last.

Last for tonight, the Good Stuff, like a modular house built for $5000 USD our of recycled paper, MIT scientists say the reason analog materials like Post-Its still exist is because digital tools aren't as easy to use, and thus offer up List.It, an attempt at a tool that can become your Post-Its.

And then, 389 years, a poster that chronicles a countdown of African-American issues up to the election of Barack Obama. G'night.