Who's Next?

They first bailed out the mortgage lenders
And I didn't speak up, because I had a mortgage
And then they bailed out the banks
And I didn't speak up, because I had an account
And then they bailed out the auto makers
And I didn't speak up, because I had a car
And then...

Pulling up and Pulling over

Saturday I volunteered at the Snohomish County History Museum, pulling up carpet in their new building to help get ready for their collection to move in. Carpet glue is tough stuff - we had times where five people with tools were making only inches of progress a minute pulling up a strip only about three feet wide. Luckily, only one room was that bad.

On the way back from pulling up carpet I pulled over at the site of an auto accident. The odd thing is that I never really considered whether to pull over or not - I just hit my hazards and pulled onto the shoulder. It wasn't until afterwards that I reasoned why I did - usually I don't pull over - that somehow the glances of twisted metal, person apparently caring for a victim, and lack of medics on scene got through to my sub-conscious as a gestalt without involving my conscious. I guess I'm better trained than I thought.

On the inside looking from the outside

If you're interested in Boeing 787 news, take a look at this:
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flightblogger/

I neither confirm nor deny any details of the presentation, nor can I confirm or deny whether I have information on the accuracy of said details.

So much for intelligence

So, while 79% of SPEEA's professional unit are fools, only 69% of the technical unit are. So much for superior intelligence being a survival trait.

Well, it is official. No contested matter I voted on in November came out the way I voted. OTOH, my predictions of the outcomes were very highly accurate.

Maybe I can get a job as a seer. There doesn't seem to be much future in being an engineer.

Of course, I'm not sure there's much future in being a citizen of the United States.

If you didn't know I was an engineer, what job would you think I had?

What happened to change?

I see a cabinet full of Washington insiders, salted with a few people from the current despised, awful, evil administration.

But fear not! The UN Ambassador will now be a cabinet post, because talking to a bunch of kleptocrats, dictators, and theocrats is never a waste of time. We need to work with the UN and its International Panel on Climate Creativity, rather than focus on the 10% of the world's nations that actually have the ability to do things beyond survive at the sufference of the major powers.

Black Friday

OK, what is wrong with people? How on earth do you open a store at 4:00AM for shopping?

Drugstores, OK. Grocery stores, I guess. But... department stores?

I admit, only one ad I saw had a 4:00AM opening. But two more had 5:00AM openings. Why?!?!?

What do you want?

I know what I want.

What do I want that I have a chance of getting? Ah, now that's a much harder question.

When people ask you 'what do you want?' what do you say? "Yeah, sure, I'd like super powers. I'd like to be a billionaire/an astronaut/a rockstar/..."

Or do you say "I don't know"? Because you know what you want, but you can't have it, and even admitting what you really want to someone else can be terrifying?

And then there's the things we want that we can have, but we wish we couldn't.

Poor, poor Lexy. And, of course, coming full circle on George and a-girl-named-Grey.

Yeah, I'm talking about Grey's Anatomy. What did you think I was talking about?

OK, fine, I was talking about both Grey's and me. Quite often they're the same. You think I watch the show for the blood? I've seen blood. I've done procedures in an OR. I've watched skin grafts. I'd rather I hadn't watched skin grafts, but I still have the bragging rights.

No, I watch the show because its about me.

Yes, it isn't about me. Shonda and the other writers don't know I exist, and aside from being glad I'm a viewer wouldn't care if they did know. Ditto the actors, the entire production staff, and the ABC network.

But it is, still, about me. Some of the people on that show are almost as real to me as Denny is to Izzy. Reality is about your perceptions. Love cannot be proven, but I believe it exists, and so for me it does.

I'm an engineer. I don't take things on faith. I want equations, and tests, and physical proof with multiple independent sources.

But some things you have to take on faith, because if you don't you can't even believe in yourself.

And sometimes you have to drink a third of a bottle of cheap wine and watch a TV show, and periodically ask yourself "why did that commercial use a four-engine turboprop airplane?"

And sometimes you have to start your own appendectomy.

That's just the way life is.

Erk

Ah, the power of ignorance:

http://howobamagotelected.com/

The failure, I think, is one of education. We teach children to expect that things will be spoon-fed to them. Study to the test. Multiple choice with one answer obviously wrong. 30 seconds is plenty of time for a news story. Heck, just read the headline.

And so the real world comes along, with complicated issues and an infinite number of variables in infintite combinations. People find that they're totally unprepared for it, but there's the media, with soundbites and headlines. The media thus has unbelievable power - they can tell people how to think, and many people will think that way.

I wonder if the media would have run banner headlines if John McCain had used cocaine? I'm sure that if they had, he'd have lost supporters, whatever the details were. But I never saw a single headline or subline on any media site, or heard on the radio, that Obama did. [from Wikipedia: As an adult Obama admitted that he used marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol when in high school, which he described as his greatest moral failure at the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency.[12][13]] 12 and 13 are CNN and the International Herald Trib. The CNN link doesn't actually have any substantiation of the cocaine part - the IHT cites Obama's own book. OK, we all make mistakes, context is important, and you often learn and grow the most by making mistakes. And it did make the news that Obama used illegal drugs, though I had to dig back via wikipedia to find the stories.

God is in the details. Context is everything.

And if the United States falls, I think it will be because of spin.

Fasten or zip?

There's an episode of Babylon 5 where Sinclair and Garibaldi are on a shuttle killing time, and Garibaldi brings up the question: when you're putting on your pants, do you fasten and then zip or the other way around?

In the spirit of that highly revealing personality question...

Do you turn on the water before or after you get in the shower?

Oh, and periodic update: the DJI closed below 8,000 today, having dropped 2,798 points since the bailout on 10/3/08. Your Federal tax dollars at work.

Good liquor and bad contracts

For those who may be wondering whether I'm alone in my dislike of the SPEEA contract proposal, it turns out I'm not.

http://answers.polldaddy.com/search.aspx?s=SPEEA

As of right now, 70% of the 616 respondants are voting to reject.

On a happier note, I've found a new and VERY tasty form of whiskey (OK, technically it might not be, but its close enough). American Honey is a derivative of Wild Turkey Bourbon with honey. http://www.beveragewarehouse.com/search/more_info.php?item_id=1708

Serving chilled is recommended. Yum!

Is this a joke?

OK, Boeing and the SPEEA negotiations team have a contract proposal, which the union is recommending we vote for.

My analysis of this recommendation, based on the contract details available so far, is that Boeing has bribed the negotations team.

If we work more than 144 hours of overtime in a quarter, our overtime adjustment goes up, though still not to time and a half.

Boeing is going to continue charging us for medical plans which used to be free, and reserves the right to add fees to plans in the future without consulting us.

But we get a raise! Which is about equal to the level of inflation in the last quarter. So we're still supposed to be a market leading compnay while paying market average salaries.

Grey's

Oh. My. Gods.

Zarth, Azel, and all their minions.

Yes, the bar is being raised. And not content with simply raising the bar, the scriptwriters have converted it into a battering ram and are laying siege. Big, crazy, wild, Braveheart-style siege. And the actors are loving it. The characters are hating it, but the actors are loving every second of it.

Me? I'm in shock. I'm in awe. 360J strait up shock. Starting an IV on your own hand awe (yes, it CAN be done - been there, saw it myself, know about the contest).

And I've barely even gotten to Denny. Yup, Denny. Dead-dead, no pulse-pulse, Denny. Or rather upright, physical, ghost Denny.

Or Lexie. Little Grey, little Grey, with the suturing team, little Grey, little Grey, oh the Chief's gonna scream...

More ups and downs than the aviation pioneers...

The DJI closed today at 8,835, down 1,961 points since the bailout passed.

That, however, isn't the interesting part. It fluctuated across a range of almost 920 points today (finishing near the top, BTW). A 10% fluctuation in ONE DAY strikes me as highly unstable, even if the trend is positive.

The DJI is down almost exactly a third Year To Date, BTW.

(Sings)
Those overpaid men with their stock trading schemes,
They go upity-up-up, they go downdy-down-down.
They impress politicians and steal all your beans,
With their upity-up-ups and their downdy-down-downs.
Up! Down! Looking for loot,
Leaving the trade,
In a gold parachute!
They're now evil has-beens,
Those overpaid men, oh those overpaid men with their stock trading schemes!

Proof of divinity

This morning, a golden halo surrounded my head as I awoke.

Of course the halo was formed of cat hair (and still attached to the cat, who objected when I got up), but we won't dwell on that.

Periodic update: the DJI has fallen 2,510 points since the bailout.

Why is being bisexual so hard to understand?

OK, this is driven off repeated watchings of Grey's Anatomy, last season and this season.

Callie, you're bi. You're not heterosexual, you're not homosexual, you're bi. You like both guys and girls. In a way, you'd think this would be easier to accept than finding you're a lesbian after obviously enjoying the... company... of men for most of your life.

Is there some social stigmata about being bi that I'm unaware of? I've known more girls who were bi than lesbian (with the guys I've known it's been the other way around, at least as far as my knowledge goes, I admit). I've dated a girl who was bi, which was interesting when we both were interested in the same girl. :-} (If you're reading this, though I don't think you are, this is the closest I've ever come to telling someone who wasn't the three of us about it.)

I've heard people suggest that most women are actually at least a little bi (at the "boys for fun, girls for comfort" level), and given that there's still some social pressure against being anything but heterosexual I'd imagine any survey to under report the actual numbers.

Still, is this a mental block on Callie's part? The writers? Or am I, for once, more in touch with sexual reality than the public consciousness?

Please, someone, tell me what you think here.

Oh, to answer the probably inevitable questions reader(s) might have, I am to the best of my knowledge heterosexual.

Tommy

"Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll-
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll."

-"Tommy", verse 3, Rudyard Kipling

My friends, to absent companions.

Be the change

In the spirit of being the change I want in the world, I signed up for a bone marrow registry today - and until the end of the month, you can sign up too for free!

http://www.marrow.org/

I have problems donating blood (they look at you funny when you show up at a place after passing out the previous time), and while I'm an organ donor (for anything someone can use, BTW), I'll be dead when that happens. Bone marrow and blood-producing cells, however, can be donated while you're still alive, with minimal impact to you.

And until we cure cancer (and HIV, judgind by recent research, see story here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122602394113507555.html ), there are a lot of lives to be saved out there.

Seeking a more positive note

Two stories I saw next to each other in the new yesterday:

Michael Crichton dies.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwqg5YsJqDBamy8X_c4f2AdN1FkgD94904FG0

Japanese scientists trying to clone extinct animals.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-big-question-will-scientists-ever-be-able-to-resurrect-longextinct-animals-by-cloning-992019.html

Good science fiction often becomes science fact.

Requiescat in pace, Mr. Crichton. You stirred my imagination more than once.

Election Wrap up

Edit: Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,664 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Well, as near as I can tell, no one I voted for who was actually opposed managed to win this time around.

OK, I'm going to vent. Democrats and liberals, don't bother reading this. You won, be happy. You're not likely to be unconstitutionally arrested sometime in the next few years (unlike, arguably, the last few years when we were both likely to get arrested).

Well, I'd like to congratulate Obama on beating Bush and Palin in the presidential race. I'm sure that was very hard to do, especially since neither of them were running for president. Of course, Palin doesn't have the experience to be president, but if she winds up with Steven's Senate seat in four years she will since four years in the senate is plenty of experience.

I'd also like to congratulate Joe Biden, but I'm not sure who he is since he got less press attention than Joe the Plumber. Apparently scrutinizing the Democrat VP candidate isn't newsworthy.

I will sleep more soundly at night once we swear in as commander in chief someone who's never served in the military in any capacity and has a whopping four year's experience in the federal government. He opposes defending ourselves against nuclear missiles and developing FCS for the army, which includes active defense systems for vehicles and numerous other technologies aimed at saving the lives of US soldiers. We'll have plenty of opportunity to see him as CinC; he already wants to get us into stopping genocide in Darfur and elsewhere as soon as he pulls us out of fighting terrorism in Iraq. Hey, the last non-military CinC we had worked out great, right? So he killed a few of my friends for nothing, no biggie.

However, this only begins our president-elect's qualifications. He's not only used marijuana (OK, let's be fair, he might be in the majority there), but also cocaine. Luckily he's also for universal healthcare, because that's worked out well for every country that has tried it, so someday all the country's cocaine users (who will also be helped by improved "social safety nets") can hope to be president.

Obama's opening speech tells us of a long, hard road ahead. Right, it will take years to escape the legacy of Bush, but 9/11 which happened less than a year after Bush was sworn in was all Bush's fault and not Clinton's at all.

Children have already been taught to sing the praises of our great leader, bringing to my mind the fictional Nehemiah Scudder, elected president 2012 (though he got 81% of the electoral vote and Obama is somewhere around 68%).

I welcome as the next leader of the free world Barack Hussein Obama II.

"Is anybody there? Does anybody care? Does anybody see what I see?" - "John Adams", 1776

Sic Transit Gloria Res Publica?

Looks like I was right.

Zarth.

I pray to whatever gods may be paying attention that I was wrong about him.

Silver Lining

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,171 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Silver linings for tonight:

I'll stop getting bot-calls.
I'll stop seeing annoying political adds.
I'll stop getting political spam mail.
At least Hilary can't be elected.
In four years it is very likely I'll get to say "I told you so."

Sleepy Weekend

Edit: Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,476 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Well, I slept most of the day Friday and Saturday, and I'm still tired today.

In between all that sleeping, my massive energy led me to watch movies and TV on my computer.

The movie "Saints and Soldiers" is a waste of time, IMO. Despite starting out with the claim that it is "based on a true story" as near as I can tell the true story is that WWII happened. Our main characters include a crack rifle shot who spent the pre-war years as a missionary in Germany and a hunter in the American southwest. Despite this he is placed as a line trooper in the 101st Airborne rather than any sort of intel billet or even (based on shown equipment) being his platoon sniper. He also somehow winds up at the Malmedy Massacre (which occurred days before the 101st was in the area), which is portrayed from a very German-apologist viewpoint BTW, and winds up meeting up an old friend who is now a German soldier. Twice. Riiigghht. Other protagonists include an obnoxious Brit photo-recon pilot who... takes extensive notes in code while he's flying. No wonder this guy gets show down. The only redeeming feature of this movie is that at least SOME of the soldiers seem to use bolt-action and semi-auto rifles. This doesn't really make up for the internal GPS units all our protagonists appear to be equipped with (lip service is paid to a map and compass, but it doesn't really hold up), nor the shot of a pair of US soldiers shooting a bazooka at a tree.

Switching over to the positive, ABC's Life on Mars looks like it might be interesting. The show appears to be a police procedural with sci-fi/fantasy elements (the main character is a detective in New York City in 2008 until he gets hit by a car and wakes up in 1973 - still as a police detective). I'm not sure how rooted in reality this show is either (I'm nowhere near an expert on police methods and roles in 1973 New York), but given the possibility that most of the show is a hallucination by the main character, any breaches with reality are easily explainable. I really like the conflict and slowly developing respect between the good cop main character and his bad cop boss. One nit, and it is entirely directed at ABC's on-line full episode viewer: I have no problem watching the show with limited commercial interruption, but can you for the love of all that is holy, clean, and sane in the world not show the exact same commercial in every slot?

All Hallow's Eve

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,615 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

OK, so there are many things people think of on Halloween. Graveyards, candy, the Great Pumpkin, vampires, costume parties... the list is long.

I tend to think of two very different themes on October 31st; I'll call them "candy & costumes" and "spirits & souls."

"Candy & costumes" is pretty obvious, though the costumes I wear tend to be rather more authentic than most people's. In many cases they are old uniforms that I, or family members, used to wear for real; one year I wore my father's Army Dress Uniform during the day, then switched to fatigues for the athletic period. I think of this as the happy parts of halloween.

"Spirits & souls", though it may surprise you, has nothing to do with horror movies or scary stories. One of my favorite episodes of Babylon 5 is "Day of the Dead", and I think of Heather Alexander's "Samhain" a lot as well. Yes, we're a lot closer to the dead, but the dead aren't something to fear. Absent companions are closer (for most of us, at least), then dead enemies.

Two things I have no interest in are pranks and horror. Pranks because most of them show no originality and are simply destructive, horror because I've seen quite enough of that in real life and have no desire to seek it out in fiction.

And, for the record, I believe in The Great Pumpkin rather more than I believe in most religious figures.

Perspective

Edit: Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,805 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Regarding last night's post:

Yes, I know that compared to most of the world's population I'm very well off. I have a steady job, a roof over my head, enough to eat, and no bandits knocking on my door asking for protection or looking for loot. For that matter, if they do, I have the means to stop them and a law enforcement system that will most likely protect me when I do.

I'm also familiar with Lazlo's Chinese Relativity Axiom. "No matter how great your victories or how painful your defeats, approximately one billion Chinese couldn't care less."

Well, this blog isn't about one billion Chinese, its about me, and the handful of people who read it.

Summary

Today:

Criticism
Disrespect
Lies
Failure
Bad timing
Bad news
Rejection
Abandonment
Frustration
Ineptitude
Denial

Leading to:

Apathy
Anger
Alcohol abuse
Loneliness

And, purely as a side note, bad spelling. Luckily for that there is spell check.

Half a dozen phone calls, at least one of which I shouldn't have made.

Three episodes of Grey's Anatomy, none of which I watched all the way through.

Oh, and I managed to get pizza sauce on a white shirt. My cat tried to bite me. I voted, and I can barely remember who I voted for. Its OK, almost all of them are going to loose.

However, I have established that Moroccan wine is better at room temperature.

For every cloud, there is a silver lining. In some cases it is monomolecular, but it is there.

Laughs

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,729 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

I really hope I can stop giving the daily status soon, but even if the DJI keeps going up like it did today it'll be the end of the week, and somehow I don't think the rate of rise today is sustainable.

I need some more laughs to start out my day, especially when I have early morning meetings at work like the one I did today, so I'm asking you: what web comics do you read in the morning?

I currently read Sluggy Freelance, Dilbert, Real Life Comics, User Friendly, Order of the Stick, and (on Sundays) Foxtrot.

Please note that while I don't insist on a punch line every day, or object to a dramatic plot arc now and again, I am mostly looking for laughs here.

Disassociated

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 2,620 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

I feel... isolated. Which is odd, since I just had three people over for a board game party yesterday and I've been re-connecting with people via Facebook.

Or is it because I've been reconnecting with people? So many have gotten married, had children, changed jobs, even just graduated from college! Effectively none of the people I spent those critical years with are still the people I knew then.

I've been thinking a lot lately of the modern mobile society. We grow up, then we move to go to college, and in many cases we move on from there to someplace else. We think nothing of driving half an hour and a dozen miles to work, and we don't get to know our neighbors. We chat online with friends we haven't seen face to face in years. We all slowly grow our own circles of friends, which never quite overlap with our old ones. Someone moves and doesn't pass on a phone number or an email address, and it is as if they've vanished from the face of the earth. No one knows where they are, or what happened to them.

I can't help thinking about how we connect with the communities we're in during the digital age. A LOT of the communities I'm part of are electronic; I seldom if ever see the people I talk to there in real life. So, in a real crisis, who do I turn to? The electronic communities won't be there. My friends in other states won't be there. Even my "local" friends are mostly hours away by foot, and in traffic jams probably not much closer by car.

So if it all comes apart, who do I turn to? Who will you turn to?

Hurry up and wait

It's not just the Army's slogan anymore.

So, over three weeks after congress rushed through a bill that there was no time to debate, it was so urgent, it needed to be done RIGHT NOW with no time spent closely examining what we were doing... over THREE WEEKS later the first action is being taken.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,444187,00.html

In more personal news, I fired off a hundred rounds of rifle ammunition (at an outdoor range not far from my house), played board games, and did two loads of laundry this weekend.

Security Breach!

I'll edit later with the day-end Dow.
Daily status: the DJI has dropped 2,417 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Just in case you still had any respect for the TSA.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/airport-security

Fake boarding passes, liquids in significant quantities, weapons and components...

But the real kicker is on the bottom of Page 3. Getting through security while looking nervous... and WITHOUT AN ID.

The smart terrorists are going to get through anyway. The dumb ones are busy blowing themselves up over in Iraq. The only people the TSA is disarming are law-abiding citizens who might be able to foil an attempted hijacking.

Slow day

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 2,105 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

So today I got up slowly, work up slowly, drove to work slowly due to traffic, and my computer has been running VERY slowly. People have been slow to reply to email.

Has the time-space continuoum been altered?

Obama's Spare Change

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 2,274 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

So Obama's somewhere around 10% ahead in the polls.

He's even further ahead in finances.

According to http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/mapApp.do?cand_id=P00000001&searchType=&searchSQLType=&searchKeyword=

Obama's raised about $603 million of the $1514 million as of the end of September, while McCain's gotten $332 million. Yes, Obama's raised almost 40% of the total money in this election, while McCain is at a little under 22%.

Obama's spent more than twice as much - $469M against $229M.

Breaking his promise to take public funding really seems to be paying off for Obama.

How does not taking public funding mean Obama gets more money, you ask?

Well, its federal law. From: http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/pubfund.shtml

"...To qualify for public funding, Presidential candidates and party convention committees must first meet various eligibility requirements, such as agreeing to limit campaign spending to a specified amount....Candidates also must agree to:

Limit campaign spending for all primary elections to $10 million plus a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) [The COLA brings it to $42.05 million!] This is called the national spending limit.
Limit campaign spending in each state to $200,000 plus COLA, or to a specified amount based on the number of voting age individuals in the state (plus COLA), whichever is greater.
Limit spending from personal funds to $50,000."

So by not taking public funding, Obama can raise and spend as much as he wants to, wherever he wants to. McCain has to follow the rules. Obama doesn't, even though when he was running against Hilary he agreed that he would.

Now, I can't prove any direct correlation between spending more and getting more votes. But is anyone going to contend that it hurts?

It would probably bother me more if the election were closer. I'd hate to think someone could buy their way into the Oval Office.

Game Design

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,762 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

I sometimes wonder how many hours, days, weeks, etc. I have spent wishing that a certain game was just a little different. That it had this feature or that feature, or did this differently... little tweaks, big tweaks, all kinds of things.

Do you do that as well? Are you unable to play a game without thinking of ways you'd improve it? Do you spend time hunting for the perfect game in a genre?

New Games

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,531 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

This appears to be the month of new games for me. Among other things, I played HALO for the first time yesterday. My skill at first-person shooters has not magically improved over the years. :-}

It ain't over 'till its over, but...

Edit: Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,817 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Its over. McCain needed a knockout win last night to have a chance at winning the election, and he didn't get it.

I gave up in disgust after 45 minutes. I'm tired of Obama running against Bush. I'm tired of Biden running against Palin. I'm tired of McCain and Obama dogding questions.

So next year we'll have Obama as president, most likely with a democratic congress to back him up. We'll see change, I'm sure.

Now I'm really glad I bought firearms this year - it may not be possible next year.

I'm going to try for a lighter note now. Here are some other campaigns I've seen this year.

3rd Prize: Go Green! Grinch '08
2nd Prize: Bigfoot - Nessie 2008: Things you can believe in.
1st Prize: 1,000,000 Strong for Colbert

And the Grand Prize goes to:
This November, don't vote for Obama, who will take your money and put it in the pocket of Jojo the Crack Whore and her 8 Welfare babies. Don't vote for McCain, who will take your money to line the pockets of big business.

Instead, vote for Ronald Reagan. He's dead. He can't take your money. And he can't make the country any worse than it already is.

Last Debate Tonight

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 2,218 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

How's everyone liking the roller coaster ride?

Well, the last debate is tonight. I'd say "at least they won't snipe at each other about the bailout bill since they both argued for it and voted for it," except I don't have that much faith in politicians not to rewrite the facts anymore.

McCain will have to really trounce Obama tonight in order to have a shot at winning next month, and I just don't see that happening. My attention is shifting to the Senate and House, even though I have even less control over the way Congress shifts than I do the White House.

I think Facebook pages somehow contain trace amounts of cocaine. I can think of no other reason for the amount of time I'm spending logged into that site.

Hmm

I'm not really sure how to take this article. On the one hand, I would have doubted that anyone could get elected president without courting the media. On the other hand, it seems to fit the general tone of the Obama and McCain campaigns.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/07/politics/fromtheroad/entry4507703.shtml

Oh, and:
Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,485 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Yes folks, after yesterday's giant leap and the morning's surge, we're falling again, albeit very slowly. No predictions for tomorrow, but we've got a long way to go if we're going to get back to pre-bailout levels.

The new hockey stick

I'll update later today with the closing DJI.

Take a look at: http://finance.google.com/finance?client=ob&q=INDEXDJX:DJI Zoom out to 1 year. Flip it upside down. Look familiar?

If you want to make the analogy even better, of course, you can zoom out to the max. Suddenly right now doesn't look so bad from a historical perspective. Not that I'm saying anything about using graphical information to paint a picture of a gigantic crisis to which people are proposing fantastically expensive solutions that could easily fail to work.

The Feds are adding another $250 billion to the bailout, pushing it to almost $1 trillion dollars. That's almost $1,000,000,000,000 of our money which is going into what looks to me like a band-aid over a bullet hole.

Oops!

Forgot to update yesterday.

Daily status (as of close of business yesterday): the DJI has dropped 1,408 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Quite a number of media outlets have trumpeted what is admittedly a big rise - but remember we'd fallen a LONG way from last summer's high even before the bailout bill. I may be proven wrong, but it hasn't even come close to happening yet.

Photographic memory

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 2,345 points (over 21%) since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Do you know anyone who has a photographic memory? I've seen it in books (fiction), TV shows, movies... but I've never met someone who had one.

So Lexi is a Lexicon (nice one, Alex), George is either a resident or an intern, and the moral of the story is that a little water can do a lot of damage. A nice Grey's Anatomy; I really like having more story (water leak, medical mystery solved) than soap opera, although I not-too-secretly enjoy the soap opera. :-)

No bottom! No bottom with this line!

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 2,217 points (over 20%) since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Well, the Dow seems to be well and truly screwed, Iceland is going bankrupt, and I've joined Facebook. I don't believe all of these events are related.

In other news, I'm officially predicting Obama will win the election, and not by a narrow margin. It ain't over until the electoral college votes, but I really don't see the math working out any other way. Obama's spending more money, moving up in the polls in most states, and already has a noticable electoral lead. Also, it seems to me that when the economy is bad the party in power tends to suffer, and democrats tend to do better than republicans. Obama's got both of those in his favor.

Answers, please!

Note: I plan to edit this post later today to add the DJI at closing.
Edit: Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1,544 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

OK, to both Senator Obama AND Senator McCain; if you're not going to answer the questions, why are you bothering to have the debate?

I felt some excellent questions were asked last night, and very few of them were answered.

One in particular bothered me. Someone asked if we would intervene in the event that Iran attacked Israel. McCain said he wouldn't wait for the UN to act. I would have preferred a stronger and clearer statement, but I think that's clear enough. Obama, however, who said he'd be in favor of sending US troops in to prevent genocide in answer to a different question, never actually said he'd commit troops to defend Israel. Again, his answer was vague, but I got the strong sense that he'd talk first. Granted, "without taking military options off the table." But that sure doesn't sound like a 'yes, we'd send troops' to me.

If we have an ally in the middle east, its Israel. How can you even think of sending US troops to prevent genocide in a country that has no ties to the US and not automatically be ready to support an ally when it is attacked? How is genocide in a country we have no ties to worse than genocide inflicted by another country on our ally?

Busy Week Coming

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 1349 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Tonight: The 2nd Presidential Debate
Tomorrow night: Ursulmas Planning Meeting
Thursday night: Grey's Anatomy

Some weekday evening I also want to mow the lawn, clean firearms, fix IE on my home computer, and call two people.

Moroccan Food and American Lead

Daily status: the DJI has dropped 840 points since the bailout passed on October 3rd. Your Federal tax dollars at work!

Saturday night my carpool to work took a party of five to dinner at the Marrakesh in Seattle (http://www.marrakeshseattle.com/index.htm). This was my second time there, and I have to say it has been highly enjoyable both times. One of the reasons I see for dining out is finding combinations of things that you never would have tried on your own. Mint tea is nice, chopped apples and bananas in cinammon sauce are nice, but together they are even better. :-)

Sunday to completely change cultures and activities I took a class on concealed carry for firearms. While my other classes with the Firearms Academy of Seattle have been highly positive experiances, this one was... rather less so. To begin with, it is a bad sign when I'm the second best shooter in a group of nine (not counting the instructors). The guy next to me in the lineups couldn't hear the range commands and after seven hours couldn't master the manual of arms for his own pistol. He wasn't the only "problem child." Moreover only a very small portion of the class was actually concerned with concealed carry; much of it was on drawing and holstering from a non-concealed holster. While I grant this is related to drawing from a concealed holster, there are other classes in the FAS tree that cover this.

Ah, the bailout is working already!

... or not.

Well, after reaching a daily high of 10,796 just BEFORE the bailout bill passed the house, the DJIA finished the day at 10,325; a drop of over 470 points from its peak to make a daily result of -157. Note that the DJIA closed at 10,365 on Monday after the 777 point drop I talked about earlier this week; forty points ABOVE today's closing price.

So Wall Street fell sharply when the bill failed, and has fallen again now that the bill passed. It seems Wall Street has about the same level of confidence in the bailout package that I do. Or perhaps, a radical thought indeed, the market can't be effectively driven by government programs?

Veep Debate

Well, I managed to catch the full VP debate last night.

I went in with no real opinion of Biden, a slightly positive one about Palin, a highly negative one of Obama, and a fairly positive one about McCain.

I came out with a highly positive opinion of Biden, a fairly positive one about Palin, a fairly negative one about Obama, and a fairly positive one about McCain.

So my opinions of three of the four principles went up. How often does that happen?

I wish Biden was running for president, and not Obama. Biden made me think he was involved, knowledgeable, genuinely cared about several issues, and despite his attemmpt to play it down I feel that he has some major divergence from Obama. IMO, that's a good thing.

I still don't feel Obama is qualified to be Commander in Chief, but my opinion of his ability to handle the domestic duties of the president has risen.

If the election were held today and Biden was running for president, I'd vote for him without hesitation or regret. As the tickets stand, however, I'm still leaning towards McCain.

I think the worst part of the debate for me was the period where both of them (I think Biden started it) were calling the candidates by their first names. This is a formal debate, and these people are US Senators, folks! You may or may not think they're qualified for the chief executive, but neither one has disgraced their office.

I suspect the media will say Biden won the debate, and I have to admit he made several solid points. Palin, however, certainly did nothing wrong, and highlighted a major divergence between Obama and Biden; part of the reason Biden came out looking so good to me.

Don't get me wrong, Obama's stated positions on a lot of issues appeal to me. However, I have very little confidence that he'll follow through on those, and the level of demigography going on disturbs me.

I love my country but I fear my government

-RAH

I was amazed to see this article on CNN; I would have been somewhat surprised to see it on Fox. This is more the sort of thing I expect to see on someone's blog.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/01/beck.future/index.html

A bipartisan system is very dangerous, IMO. While we at least dodged the bullet of having two families trade the executive office for more than 20 years, we've still hit 20.

The problem is that the bipartisan system encourages a binary view of the world. There is only right and wrong, nothing in between. Only democrat and republican, and no one who doesn't buy into one of the parties stands a chance. There can be only two sides to any issue. Pro life or pro choice. You're either with us or with them. Worse, there is no unity. We aren't Americans. We're conservatives or liberals first, and citizens second. We can't unite, we can only polarize.

The world isn't binary. The world isn't even digital, with finite steps. The world is analog, with an infinite number of shades of grey. Each shade is different, each person is different, and while white is clearly different from black there's no clear dividing line between white and grey, or grey and black.

Put up or shut up

For those who hadn't guessed already, I'm not a fan of the $700,000,000,000 bailout.

Here's an idea to reduce the cost to the taxpayer.

If the economy is really in danger, then all those executives who got multi-million dollar severance packages after a few years of running down their companies must have a lot to loose too. So let's set up the bailout a little differently. For every dollar they 'invest' the same way that proponents of the bill tell us we're really 'investing' this $700 billion, the government will put in not one, not two, but SIX dollars. That's right, if the people who are telling us how badly this is needed can put up just $100 billion, the government will put up the other six hundred billion dollars on behalf of the rest of us.

Somehow I don't expect a rush of people would go for this plan. Of course, that should say something about whether that $700 billion is really being poured into a hole in the ground or not.

Lucky Seven!

The dow has closed down 777.68; not only is that three sevens, but the 6 and 8 average out to two more sevens! The reason the market went down is probably closely related to the $700 billion dollary bailout that failed to pass; if 12 of the "nays" had switched to "yea" the measure would have been approved by 217 to 216; more sevens! Don't forget that the mininum passing vote (assuming abstentions remained the same) would have been divisible by 7!

What a lucky day!

Edit: How'd I miss this? The Dow fell 6.98%, which easily rounds off to... 7.

If I had $700 Billion

I'd be rich!

OK, the Federal Government is prepared to spend about $2,300 for every person in the US on a bailout that may or may not work. Here's some other things we could do with the money:

1. Build 350 gigawatts of nuclear power generating stations. Palo Verde http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Verde_Nuclear_Generating_Station cost a little under $6 billion to build three reactors that generate over 1 GW each. The ~100 GW we currently produce generates 20% of our electrical power, so this would put our nuclear power generation at 90% of our current electrical demands.

2. Build 7 space elevators. Dr. Bradley Edwards did a study and estimated the cost of an initial elevator at $20 billion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator_economics Let's assume he was low by a factor of 5 (not unheard of in R&D). We could lift 14 million kg per year into orbit with these and have a roughly ten-fold reduction in the cost per kilo lifted to orbit.

3. Build 80 nuclear powered aircraft carriers. The navy's CVN-21 program's first unit is expected to cost $8billion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_R._Ford_class_aircraft_carrier Let's say cost overruns on the first are compensated for somewhat by the economies of scale on later units. Related, a Virginia class SSN costs about $2.3 billion, a DDG-1000 will probably cost about $3 billion... you get the picture. We could buy an entire NAVY of several hundred ships for $700 billion.

4. Buy a year's worth of oil. We spend $650 billion/year on importing oil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States THAT ought to cut gas prices!

What would you do with $700 billion dollars?

Presidential Debate #1

Due to a mistake on my part, I only saw the second half of the presidential debate.

What I saw looked to me like a tie. McCain was a little more specific and detailed, but I'd expect that from him on foreign policy. IMO, Obama met his expectations, or at least my expectations of him.

What did you think?

Grey's is back :-)

Spoilers!
Spoilers!
Spoilers!

Last night was the season premiere of Season 5 of Grey's Anatomy. Two hours of pretty good television and really bad commercials.

I really liked Dr. Hunt (the army doctor who showed up); I heard somewhere he's likely to be a regular and I hope that's true - I really liked the actor in Rome and from the few Army docs I've known he did a really good job with the part. Plus you've got to love someone who staples his own laceration shut. :-) I'm hoping he shows up in uniform again; I spotted the jump wings right off (my father had a set, after all), but I never got a good enough look at the badge below them to tell what it was. Anyway, even if he is in the 'Almost Airborne' division, I hope we see him again. I'm also hoping he's a captain, just for the connection to Rome. Maybe with a wife who was informed he'd been killed in Afganistan and an med tech who only thinks about women and booze... OK, maybe not.

The iceicle impalement, OTOH, just seemed over the top to me, and not in a good way. Fall down, whack the back of your head, fine. Get an injury from that? That would have been fine. Happen to be in exactly the right spot when a SHARP iceicle falls STRAIGHT DOWN (for those who haven't lived with iceicles, that isn't exactly normal) and STICKS?!

People getting injured by iceicles isn't unheard of, don't get me wrong, but it tends to be blunt trauma, not penetrating.

Anyway, thumbs up to Season 5 so far (I'm carrying your child... gotcha!).

On a lighter note

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/09/22/nasa.ducks/index.html

Rubber Ducky, you're so great
You track glaciers, they migrate!
Rubber Ducky, NASA needs mail from you...

Microsoft (Won't) Help

This is a combination of a plea for technical assistance and a complaint about Microsoft tech support.

I have Internet Explorer on my home computer. Up until two days ago, it worked fine. Now it won't open. I've tried the desktop icon, the start menu, the actual program in Program Files, double clicking and rightclick/open on html files on my computer, no luck. I get a bit of hourglass-and-cursor, then it goes back to the cursor. I've tried waiting for up to 10 minutes.

No other program I've tried (word, excel, acrobat, notepad, a couple of games) has any problems, although it does take longer than usual to open "my computer" and folders on my hard drive. They open, it just takes 30 seconds or a minute instead of a few seconds. I've been able to download updates for McAfee and windows media player, so it isn't my internet connection.

I run Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 3. I recently installed an update, but IE worked for a short while after the install & reboot. IE is version 6.something. I don't have any other browsers installed (something I will be fixing as soon as I can - anyone know if I can get firefox without needing a web browser?).

Repeated reboots have had no apparent effect.

Now the rant. After trying the things implied or stated above, I called microsoft tech support. After asking about 20 questions (name, zip code (?), phone number, email address, operating system and version, etc.) they finally got around to asking what was wrong. I gave them a somewhat shorter version of the above. The guy then asked for my windows licence, and noted that since it was a Compaq OEM they didn't support it for free. He then offered me the choice of internet support (I interjected that my problem was that I COULDN'T GET ON THE INTERNET; he seemed uninterested), transferring me to Compaq tech support, or Microsoft tech support for $59.

My thoughts went something like: "Well, you've filled me with confidence so far, with the whole 'I'm following a script so closely I'm not even listening to your problem', so I'm not interested in paying $59 just yet. "OK, transfer me to Compaq."

Ring! Ring! "Hi, welcome to [garbled] how can I help you?" Oh goodly, this one has a detectable accent, and let's just say it isn't from anywhere in the US.

Me: [Problem statement]

"OK [20 questions, oddly similar to the ones above.] Well, you have three options..."

Wait a minute, this guy transferred me to ANOTHER GUY AT HIS CALL CENTER, and he's giving me THE EXACT SAME OPTIONS I GOT A MINUTE AGO!

Me: "Ah, instead of transferring me to Compaq, can I get their phone number?" I somehow resisted the impulse to ask how the weather was in India and whether he'd had any training beyond Script Reading 101.

"Thank you for calling Hewlet Packard... please say 'desktop', 'laptop'..." Er. OK, I guess they just gave me the generic phone number, not specifically desktop support. After three rounds with the voice-pseudo-recognizing software I get as far as desktop support. But it doesn't want to hear about Internet Explorer, Compaq, or Windows XP. After hitting three dead ends I hung up.

So, world wide web, I'm begging anyone out there who might have a clue to please suggest things to me.

Things the World Needs

So, cars have horns. We use them for everything from warning people of danger to showing our support for picket lines as we pass.

And that's a problem, because if you hear a horn when you're driving past a picket line, is it someone showing support for the strike or someone about to hit you?

Cars need a second external audible signal; a whistle, or a chime, or some such, to indicate good things. "Thanks for letting me merge in!" "Nice bumper sticker!" "Chime if you love sushi!" This way the horn could be reserved for hazard warnings while still allowing us to express ourselves.

We all need a little more positive feedback in our lives; especially when stuck in traffic.

Why They're On Strike

http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/othervoices/story/484625.html

I really like the point that a company that does "systems integration" as its only skill is an all-overhead company. What value does that add? "We're really good at making things out of Lego bricks." Um. That's nice. Can't I make my own things out of Legos?

Boeing used to make the Legos, then put them together. So anyone who wanted to make their own toys had to figure out how to make Legos, and then put them together. Now Boeing is training other people how to make Legos, and... I guess just hoping no one will notice that anyone can put Legos together, not just Boeing.

A Somewhat Convenient Truth

http://www.petitionproject.org/gwdatabase/Article_HTML/Review_Article_HTML.html

I've seen quite a lot of pro/con debate on human-caused global warming; this article seems to absolutely flatten, at least to me, any possibility that CO2 from fossil fuels is responsible. A number of different perspectives are taken, and quite bit of data is presented in easy-to-understand formats.

This contains many things I'd never heard on either side of the debate, and answered many questions I'd had about what things are "normal" as well as what things come from models, inferred data, and explicit data.

The article transitions to a discussion of energy consumption by the US, and a discussion of the use of nuclear power to reverse our current energy imports.

I welcome any comments, criticisms, and questions.

From the Frontlines: Banner War

I only daytripped to Banner War, and aside from chatting with various people the only thing I did was fencing. We did four non-white scarves vs. two white scarves, and surprisingly managed to beat them both times. Rapier turnout was much lower than I expected, and a few people I'd really expected to see there didn't show.

Loot!

Yesterday evening I attended a fundraiser for the Snohomish County History Museum. They were having a wine tasting and a silent auction. The only wine I really liked was $30 for a rather small bottle, but the silent auction was really fun. I won a set of a SCUBA lessons, a bag for my fencing gear (I've been meaning to get one of those for over a year now), a couple of gift certificates for places I regularly go (at or below face value, yet), and a basket of stuff from the Future of Flight Museum.

I'm pretty psyked about the SCUBA lessons; I really enjoyed doing SCBA work in rescue class, but I've never done it underwater.

Subscriptions

While I feel I'm jumping on a bandwagon (and I hate doing that) I'm subscribing to a trio of blogs I read on a regular basis.

If you read this on a regular basis, give in to the peer pressure and subscribe!

... or don't.

However, this is the perfect time to remind me if you've got a blog so I can stick it on my subscription list and read it. :-)

From the Frontlines: Warren War X

Well, after that last post, the Dow's 500 point nose dive, and a frustrating day at work I'm having a hard time writing about this weekend.

However, it was great while I was living it, so I'm going to do a brief recap. Warren War occurs as Aquaterra and her allies attempt to resist and invasion from Canada, notably the Barony of Lion's Gate.

Rapier included a field battle (point to the northerners), a sheep-stealing battle (5 sheep in neutral territory, hold 3 after 20 minutes for a time-limit victory of capture all 5 for an immediate victory; Aquaterra managed an outright victory after 10 minutes), and a trail battle (narrow front with one sheep per side to defend, point to Aquaterra). Apparently the Aquaterrans really wanted mutton for dinner. :-) The overall Rapier War Point thus went to Aquaterra.

The Bardic championship was fun as usual, though my performance was rather dissapointing. Despite a stirring rendition of King Rorik the Brave, the first round was single elimination and I lost to a truly excellend poem filking Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven with the subject of Baldur's Gate, performed (and I think written) by Nicholas Forester. I made a brief appearance as a buy Bard, and got to tell the story I crafted for this event: The Rising of the Wheat. I'll post a rough draft version later in the week if I'm more in the mood. On the plus side, the bardic champion was one I bribed at the start of the contest to declare for Aquaterra (three bottles of Mike's Hard Lemonade well spent), so the Bardic War Point went to Aquaterra as well, even if I didn't win it myself.

A wonderful fire dance, conversation and banter with fun people, and appearing in a pre-court reading/acting of The Elves and the Shoemaker... as the shoemaker's wife, while a girl played the shoemaker.

It was a great event, and it seems a real shame that it had to be ruined by a really bad monday.

The Sun sets on the British

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,422661,00.html

Britian will now accept Sharia (Islamic law) in some cases, including domestic violence. In essence, Islamic men in Britain can now legally beat their female family members.

I am shocked. I am horrified. I am deeply afraid.

It appears that the lights are once more going out all over Europe. Will we see them rekindled in our time?

Oil #2

I should have been more clear in yesterday's idea: the money would come from us in the form of tax dollars, not at the pump.

This spawns into another idea: tax imported oil and use the money to subsidize domestic oil production.

These are, of course, variations on a theme, as is today's more complex idea:

Yesterday’s idea too radical? Let’s try this on for size:

The US Government will form a corporation, initially government controlled and sponsored. Call it Patriot Gas. This company will only be allowed to purchase gas made from domestic oil production (including non-conventional oil). It will be allowed to produce, refine, distribute, and sell gasoline and related products.

During the setup period (call it two years) Patriot Gas will build or buy gas stations from other companies, set up their distribution network, etc. During this period, the US government will subsidize them to the point where their price per gallon is the same as the average for the region the individual stations are in (use AAA data). It will also guarantee startup loans so they can purchase and build their infrastructure.

After the setup period, a weaning-off period will start (call it two more years). The subsidy will slowly be reduced to zero. This will, presumably, cause the price per gallon to be greater than that of competitors. An add campaign will emphasize that Patriot Gas is made in the USA and point out where foreign oil is coming from, and what its paying for. People like me will still buy gas there, since we’re willing to pay the extra money to know where its going. Others, of course, won’t.

However, one long-term guarantee will be in place: the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve will only buy oil from Patriot Gas (i.e., only domestic production will go into the SPR).

At the end of the weaning-off period, we’ll see if this country really wants to get off foreign oil.

Tell me what you think!

Let's really get off foreign oil

You're got to hand it to OPEC; they run a sweet racket. They engage in what the anti-trust department would define as price fixing in any other industry, but since they're not under US law they can get away with it.

I think its time we put our foot down.

Back in the 1980's, there was a great interest in the development of oil shale, and at least some in other non-conventional oil production techniques. That didn't work out because oil prices fell due to an increase in the production of conventional (well/pump) oil. The industry is hesitant to invest in capital setup for non-conventional oil processing now because OPEC could flood the market with cheap oil again any time they want to, rendering non-conventional oil uneconomical once again.

There are huge (centuries worth) reserves in the US and Canada of non-conventional oil. But right now we're sending money to the mid-east, and a lot of that money is then going to fund Islamic terrorists.

So, here's my proposal. Let's have some people sit down and figure out the current oil needs of the US (and Canada, if they want in on the deal). We then setup a government program that will subsidize domestic (ONLY) non-conventional oil production methods, to the point where they are able to economically supply the current US demand without any imported oil. Who pays for this? We do. I for one would be happy to pay double the current price of gas if it meant my money wasn't going to our "good friends" Saudi Arabia, etc. I'll even take up the burden of paying a share for those who can't afford it. I think there are a lot of other people out there who hate funding Islamic extremists. Let's put our money where our mouth is.

Now, if the US demand for oil rises we'll have to go back to importing the difference. This plan isn't designed to let our oil consumption get out of hand. There would have to be careful safeguards to prevent abuse. Nor does this plan fix anyone else's problems: we aren't going to fund Europe, or China, or pay companies to import oil shale-produced oil from some other country.

I'd also make higher car/truck fleet MPG standards part of the package; and make sure the language doesn't give special treatment to SUV's.

What do you think? Is the core idea good? How would you make it better? How much would you pay to know that your gas money is going to US companies, employing US citizens, instead of mideast oil barons?

Mr. President, we cannot allow a mine-shaft gap!

NPR this morning talked about a stunning insight: there has been a pattern of alternating bald and hairy men in the premiership of the USSR, carrying into today's Russia.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94340197

There's even a little song, and comments about the baldness gap.

Grand Theft Pizza Party!

I love humorous coincidences. Two of the headlines on Fox's website this morning:

Cops: Truck Driver Stole More Than 13 Tons of Frozen Pizza
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,418521,00.html

Police Find 312 Quarts of Moonshine in Truck Weaving on Highway
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,418523,00.html

Who else is thinking pizza and booze for everyone?

Crossing the Picket Line

I dislike even the idea of crossing a picket line, but SPEEA members are required to (until our contract is up, that is). So today I crossed the IAM line.

I find it interesting that many people (myself included) argued for Boeing to be chosen to build Air Force tankers partially because they would be built in the US, which is better. Boeing, however, does not seem to share that opinion when it comes to other planes it builds. Those are better designed and built overseas.

The logic escapes me, it really does.

Anyway, with outsourcing and sub-contracting being a major issue of this strike, and given Boeing's questionable "negotiating" tactics and the fact that their propaganda is more transparent than the USSR used to put out, I'm fully with the machinists on this one.

Strike! (Almost)

At what was for all practical purposes the last minute, Boeing asked IAM 751 to come back to the table. The IAM granted 48 hours for additional negotiation.

Frankly, if I were in charge of Boeing I'd have fired my negotiating team and brought in new people. While improving the contract is expensive, a strike is even more so. Some sources have estimated $100 million a DAY is lost when the IAM is on strike. I suppose not having to pay the people on strike saves a little, but last cycle (2005), the IAM got a bonus equal to about a month's pay when they signed the post-strike contract. So for a month Boeing paid its machinists to walk picket lines instead of building planes. Also, the way things are structed, while the union can "reject" the proposed contract with a simple majority, it takes a two-thirds majority to strike. If that two-thirds majority is achieved, the contract is accepted by default! Boeing only needs to get 34% of the machinests to vote for the contract. Really, how hard can that be?

Apparently, for the current team, pretty hard. Some 87% of the machinests voted to strike this time around, and IIRC a similarly large majority voted to strike in 2005.

Either the executives who hold the pursestrings and/or the negotiation team are, in my opinion, incompetent. Boeing is sitting on a SEVEN YEAR backlog of plane orders, the "global supply chain" for the 787 has proven to be a disaster with the "partners" causing a year delay in the program while Boeing (IAM) mechanics do their work, and we're paying a company to ship parts off-site so they can ship them back again. Oh, the last is copycatting techniques we already use internally! It should be really trivial for Boeing to offer the union gaurantees on outsourcing, and a good contract overall.

Add in allegations of illegal negotiating practices by Boeing, and I think some people up top need to be kicked into the real world.

Probably they're too busy checking their stock options and multi-million dollar pensions.

Who turned the Sun off?

Apparently the Sun has had a lot fewer sunspots this year than it normally has in recent years as we move into a solar minimum, including none (or possibly one, depending on who you talk to) in the month of August. While at 43 days that's not much more than the 42 day spotless period twelve years ago (one solar cycle ago), its the first spotless calendar month in 50 or 100 years (again depends on that debatable spot - out, damn spot!).

I guess Sol decided it was summer vacation time, or maybe that measles shot finally worked...

Hiking

Monday I went hiking at Wallace Falls, a state park about half an hour east of Everett. Several hours of hiking was good, several hours stuck in traffic on the way home was not.

Oh well, you can't win them all.

I Fought the Lawn Part II

And this time I won!

OK, it took me two and a half months, but I have finally gotten the last bit of overly tall grass cut down to size.

Yesterday I also ran into a friend at lunch, bought plants called kinnikinnicks (no, I'm not kidding), and tried not taking my sleeping medication with indeterminate results.

Happy Labor Day, all!

Blog Feature

Yesterday I added a widget that shows the NASA image of the day to this blog - take a look to the right!

Ice Cream Making

I wasn't aware that each Tully's store made its ice cream on site. Now I wonder how many other places do. Does Coldstone? Baskin Robbins?

Do you know of places that make their own ice cream on site?

Something doesn't add up

Apparently some democrats are saying that McCain's choice of Palin as his veep means that he's putting someone without any foreign policy experience "a heartbeat away from being chief executive." I find this rather odd since the democrats seem to want to make someone without any foreign policy experience the chief executive.

I find it interesting that whichever party wins, assume the tickets remain as they are, the white male monopoly on the elected officials of the executive branch will be broken. While I think it is high time that monopoly be broken, I can't help but worry that both sides are rushing people into ticket spots to make a better election poster, not because they're the best for the job.

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0447166/

The original "The Gamers" was a hilarious romp through the world of fantasy gaming, with humor both clever in concept and brilliant in execution. If you've ever gamed in your life or seen it done, and you haven't seen it yet, SEE IT. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369445/ )

So when I found out there was going to be a sequel, I ordered it.

While Dorkness Rising is a good movie, it doesn't quite make it to the level of the original. The movie tries to introduce character development and depth; something the first movie lacked, but in my opinion didn't need. Is there excellent humor that makes my laugh three times that same night thinking about it? Yes, but it is more spread out than the original.

There are some great little touches as well - look for Mountain Doom, and a newbie player who finds a little bit of gaming bleeding into their real life.

I'm glad I've got the DVD, but I won't be dragging people in to see it as I sometimes do with The Gamers.

Another one bites the dust

Last night Caltrax, the familiar of the party wizard, died a rather messy death. There is strong evidence that our party now has a kamikaze wizard as a result.

That makes one PC and one party NPC that have died in this dungeon, two PC's and one party NPC that have been separated from the party with poor odds of getting them back alive (though we lucked out on all three), plus several close calls. We still haven't hit the dragon that is flying around out there somewhere, and it might not be the "big bad" of this dungeon. I'm starting to wonder if we're going to make it out of here alive...

Questions

What drives us to ask questions when we know we won't like the answer? Is it masochism? Foolish optimism? Is it the same impulse that drives us a prod a sore tooth to see if it still hurts or pick at scabs?

Do we take pleasure in predicting the end of the world because it absolves us from responsibility?

I'm reminded of the movie "Captain Horatio Hornblower" where two Royal Navy officers are discussing an upcoming fight with a more powerful Spanish ship. One says "I'll wager five guineas we're all dead by morning." The other replies "Done. Where should I send the money if you win?" So what drives someone to make the bet? Either they loose the bet and have to give the other guy money, or they die. How can they come out ahead in this?

And why do I sometimes feel the same way?

Sushi for breakfast

Today I had sushi for breakfast. I brought a pre-made California roll in from Trader Joe's. I'm not sure if that means anything, but I thought it worthy of note.

Drinking Age

Apparently several university officials have signed a petition to lower the drinking age.

I'm of the opinion that it should be 18. At 18 you have to register for the draft (if male), you can get a drivers license in any state, and for most legal purposes you're considered an adult. For most of the population it closely coincides with graduating from high school, also a rite of passage. When I was in college, I noted little difference in the total amount that people over and under 21 drank; just a difference in where they did it.

Of course, I also favor legalizing marijuana, so it probably won't surprise people that I favor a lower drinking age.

On the flip side, I think penalties for drunk driving should be much higher, and while I wouldn't actively support a ban on tobacco products, I wouldn't oppose one either.

Who's Next?

Georgia's been rocked back and its still unclear whether Russia really intends to hold their current ground or keep advancing, and already the next target may be in Russia's sights.

"As the West pressed for peace, Russian Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn was quoted by Interfax News Agency on Friday as saying that by accepting a U.S. missile defense battery Poland "is exposing itself to a strike."
He pointed out that Russian military doctrine permits the use of nuclear weapons "against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them," Interfax reported."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404194,00.html

So having taken out a prospective NATO member, now they're eying a recent one (Poland joined in 1999). Hopefully they won't choose to bait that tiger yet; I'm not sure NATO is anything but a paper tiger at this point.

Another victory for France

France succeeded in brokering a cease-fire between Georgia and Russia.

Pity no one seems to have told the Russians, who continue to advance.

Road Maintenance

In Massachusetts it was the pothole gnomes, who came out at night to dig potholes in the streets. There was a bridge near my house that was used for their PhD program.

In Pennsylvania I concluded that the department that paved the intersections was different from the one that paved the streets. There were persistant rumors that the mafia controlled the road crews; I don't believe it myself, the mafia are more reliable.

Here in Washington I think it should be called the Department of Random Grooved Pavement. I've seen more grooved pavement in three years here than in my entire life before then. Individual lanes are grooved, random 100 yard sections are grooved, and sometimes entire miles are grooved and STAY that way for weeks... or in one case months.

Sleepiness and Dreams

My dreams are more vivid and unusual, my sleep isn't as restful. Are the two connected?

I dream of going to college, sexual episodes, gaming, even going to work. In the mornings it is an increasing struggle to drag myself out of bed, and I've used the snooze button more this past week than I usually do in a month.

It is Tuesday, right?

Or maybe more like the Sudetenland

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,401243,00.html

Russia now seems to have launched a general offensive against Georgia (again, that's the country folks). Aside from the US airlifting Georgia's Iraq contingent back to their own country, international response seems to be something along the lines of "Bad, bad Russia!" I can't help thinking that the Georgians are probably feeling like the Czechs did in 1938.

The article notes some 20,000 Russian troops and 500 tanks committed. If they're still using Soviet-era TO&E's, that's about five tank regiments, which would normally make me think a corp with two motorized and one tank division, but the troop count seems low for that. If "tanks" mean "tanks and IFV's" as it so often does in the news, that's about five mechanized regiments; one heavy division or two understrength ones (much more in line with the stated troop strength). In any case, this is a serious committment of forces. If NATO wanted to help Georgia, we'd probably need to put a heavy brigade combat team on the ground to stop them.

Georgia, per wikipedia, has about 20,000 men in their ground forces, with a single armored battalion. Most of their gear is 2nd line soviet issue, putting them about two generations behind the current Russian troops. Wikipedia claims some 360 tanks (actual tanks). My last reliable information on Russia gave them about 14,000 although only 4,000 of those were 1st line equipment. As of 2002 the quality of the Russian ground forces was one step above abysmal, but they've come a long ways in the last half-decade.

What do you mean, "Do they have souls"?

Last night we had another gaming session. The main encounter was with roper. That's a creature about four times as powerful as our entire party combined. It captured and was prepared to eat two of our party, but Thistle convinced it to trade them for meat we'd bring it (horses, mules, and orcs). While the four of us were out looking for meat, the captives persuaded this powerful evil creature to reform, and from now on eat only non-sentient creatures (or things that attacked it, in classic Malcolm Reynolds morality). All unknowing, the rest of us returned with some deer, horses, and orcs, hoping that would be enough. Gridley had gone so far as to pray that if the creature would not negotiate, that Pelor would grant him the strength to vanquish it and save his companions even if it cost his own life. The roper demanded to know if the deer had souls.

Setmose deserves all the kudos I can give for convincing the roper to tread the path of good.

We also now know that dwarves taste better than humans. Who knew?

The Winter War returns?

In what strikes me as a disturbing historical parallel with the pre-WWII invasion of Finland, Russia looks like it is in a de facto state of war with Georgia (the country, not the US state).

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,399962,00.html

Things look to be getting out of control there, with a cycle of attack, counter attack, counter-counter attack... we hit a plane, they hit an airbase...

Fill 'er up... with air

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/08/air.car/index.html

A development group is proposing a hybrid car that runs on compressed air and gasoline.

I found it interesting that someone was concerned by the proposed 4,800 psi pressure; medical oxygen tanks generally run at 2,000 psi, and SCUBA tanks routinely run over 3,000 psi. It will hardly take a technological breakthrough to make 4,800 psi air tanks, though I admit that off-the-shelf might not be possible.

The technical details weren't clear to me from the article, but it almost sounded like the car would function as a jet at high speeds; sucking in air and heating it with a bit of fuel to create power. The idea has a certain appeal to me as someone who works in the aviation industry. :-)

Dream

Something tragic had happened in my life, and I needed to go back to college (undergrad) so I could get a good GPA and be eligible for a master's degree.

So its freshman orientation, and I'm in a college in central Michigan, which is located about where Utah really is, and no one believes I'm a freshman (because I'm about 30 and I look it). But I've got a room in a dorm which is right next to the student union-ish building, which is good because its the only place you can get food within a hundred miles. So I'm unpacking and meeting my roommates, and one of them already has a girlfriend, and I decide to get some food.

Suddenly I'm looking for my dorm room, and I can't remember which one it is. So I wander the halls looking at the names on the doors, hoping to see mine. But about half of the names aren't up yet, and I know becuase I'm not a normal freshman that I'll be one of them.

There was a lot more, but I don't remember it now.

No More "N"

Employees at Boeing who have worked there less than three years (consecutively leading up to the present day) have an "N" on their badge to mark them as new people who probably shouldn't be trusted (or something).

Yesterday I got a badge without an "N". I am no longer new. :-)

Getting exercise

I'm finally getting close to my exercise program targets for the first time in several months. My morning routine of pushups, weights, etc. had gotten missed a lot, and under par the rest.

I have a really hard time sticking with an exercise program, despite very much wanting to be in better shape for a lot of reasons.

Do you exercise? How well do you stick with it?

Ethnic food in other countries

So in just about any major city in the US you can get Mexican, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, French, Greek, and a bunch of other kinds of food. You can get Sushi in Pittsburgh and eat at a Brazilian restaurant in Seattle.

Is it like that in other countries? I know McDonalds and Starbucks have spread like a pandemic across the globe, but can you get French food in Pskov? Chinese food in Dover? How about calling for a Pizza delivery in La Trang?

New Mexico is a state...

...of the United States.
...of mind.

Either one works, and that's where I've been for the last week. I do several types of vacations. Going-to-wedding vacations are usually three-day weekends. I recently did the wilder style vacation with my trip to Las Vegas. Every so often, though, I take a vacation where I just slow down. I sleep in. I hike in the woods not to get somewhere, but just to be in the woods. I have no detailed plans for the week, or for the next day, or sometimes for the current day. This was the latter kind of vacation.

Everything moves a little slower in a county the size of Connecticut with a population the size of the Boeing Everett workforce.

So I saw the results of a forest fire at ground level (impressive).
I watched The Dark Knight.
I did some outdoor shooting.
I hiked.
I hung out with various people.
I played computer games.
I read three and a half books.
And I got a LOT of sleep.

The Dark Knight

OK, it's had the biggest opening weekend in history, its getting rave reviews left and right, virtually every person that I've seen or heard comment on it has loved it... and all I can say is "10,000 lemmings can't be wrong!"

Spoilers ahoy! If you haven't seen it yet, you read this at your own risk.

I didn't like The Dark Knight. I didn't hate it, I didn't think it was a bad movie, but I didn't like it. Batman Begins had a certain light-hearted feel to it. "It's a black... tank..." Is the dominant line for me of that movie. Not-quite-believable action is OK because its part of the humor that runs throughout the movie. Yes, there was drama, but it seemed to me to take a back seat to the action and the humor alike. How does Batman appear and disappear? Because he's a Ninja! Ninja can do that! Its kitsch, and that makes it a little funy if you think about it.

In The Dark Knight, drama has jumped from third place or lower to first, and the comedy doesn't quite ring right. The moment that defines this movie for me is the Joker walking out of the hospital as explosions go off, and hitting his detonator repeatedly to make the big one go. It seems like it was meant to be funny, and it might have been, but not coming right after the scene with Dent in the hospital and shortly after the death of Rachel. The humor of this movie is twisted - much like the Joker himself. Drama, disturbing concepts (courtesy of the Joker), action, and humor trailing along like a lost puppy wondering where its owner went. Now, I'm a medic at heart even if I'm not licensed in this state. I do dark humor. Death, disfiguration, and violence can be involved in things without necessarily making them not funny. But here it didn't work for me.

I also felt The Dark Knight was a little too long, with one plot twist too many. By about 3/4 of the way through the movie I was thinking "where did the Joker find all these guys/ how did he get all this information/how did he plan that in advance?" every few minutes. Then "Two Face" comes in and makes that look easy. Dent has no Ninja training - how does he manage to find all those people so fast? How does he get out of the hospital? How does he survive the car crash?

To finish on a positive note, I can say nothing bad about the acting. Everyone from the leads to the one-line characters did a great job. The special effects may not always be believeable, but they're quite impressive. All in all while this movie may not deserve to be the super-blockbuster it has turned out to be, there are many, many movies that deserve it less.

Dream

It was long, and complicated. It involved flying motorcycles (they used a runway, not magic), truth drugs, and a wide variety of other things.

But at the end, I came face to face with a tablet that contained the objective of my entire life. It was written in Latin (not real Latin, dream-world Latin). It was just a single word, and it meant 'live well'. Not live well as in "eat, drink, and be merry" though that was a small part of it, but rather to live a good, honorable, productive life.

What does your tablet say?

Brilliance

I just had a moment of brilliance. Someone needs to start a chain of coffee shops called Hot Love.

Think about it: "I need some hot love!" "Let's go get some hot love!"

Hot Love Coffee: because everyone needs more love in their life. :-)

I think it is snowing in Hell

...because I need to say something positive about the French Government.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,383924,00.html

A woman applying for French citizenship was denied. Among other reasons: "The woman told immigration officials that she did not know anything about secularism or her right to vote, according to the commissioner's report." Well, that sure sounds to me like she doesn't know enough to be a citizen, so good for the French, and it should be an open and shut case.

Several radical Muslim groups are protesting this decision, saying it violates various freedoms, which apparently include the right to keep half your population in ignorance of their right to vote. (Rolls eyes.)

Any extremists are dangerous, but Islamic extremists seem particularly dangerous to me.

A Man's Home is His Castle

I took a class in armed home defense on Sunday.

I picked up some good tips, and got in some very good practice shooting. However, either my arms are too weak or my pistol is too heavy for sustained one-hand shooting. :-(

This was the first time I'd done shooting in the dark (both blind and aided by flashlight). I've always known intellectually how much difference having your sights a little bit off means even a few yards away, but this really brought it home to me. In the dark, unless you have night sights, you WILL miss a lot of your shots, even with good technique otherwise. If you can perfect your stance and hand position you can still be fairly effective, but then there's the fact that if you're shooting in the dark you've probably got other factors stressing you out and reducing your base effectiveness.

Horseback Riding

Saturday I went horseback riding for the first time in my life.

I rode a mare named Shiloh for about an hour and a half - legs got a little tired, but overall I was in fine shape at the end and I didn't fall off!

Shiloh clearly felt that she knew more about the trail and following the horse in front of her than the idiot on her back did, but was willing to play along with the concept that the 165 lb biped was directing the 1200 lb quadraped. Perhaps she was hoping for more carrots at the end of the ride (if so, her hopes were fulfilled).

Riding a horse is very different from walking a dog or driving a car; the two closest experiences I have in my life. Most dogs I've spent time with let the human go along at their own pace while they scout hither and yon, never getting very far away but seldom following the same path either. A car, of course, requires constant attention (in theory, at least; I'm convinced Lupae has driven herself home a few times without much help from me). A horse... well, you need to give periodic input to go where you want to, but for long periods you can just relax and enjoy the ride. More physical than driving a car, but the horse does more work than you walking the same terrain would take.

Low branches are rather more of a problem, and a horse can't turn as sharply as a person can. The horse may or may not realize that your leg sticks out further than its body. It also may or may not care.

Still, it was a lot of fun, and I'm sure I'll be riding again soon.

What animals have you ridden?

Vegas! Part 2: Reactions

Las Vegas was a fun city. Las Vegas is a dessert city. Spending all your time there would be too fattening and generally unhealthy, but a little bit of it is good and adds a little sweetness to your life. Yeah, its in the desert, pun semi-intended.

I look forward to going back and exploring the things I didn't have time for this vacation. Other shows (Cirque de Soleil, Zumanity, maybe some magic), the attractions and displays at other casinos, hiking in Red Rock or riding in the Valley of Fires (when it is cooler).

Las Vegas has a lot of stuff you can see for free; the casinos write it off to suck you in, but you don't have to be sucked in. You can watch the fountain at the Bellagio without gambling there.

Ride the spiral escalators, look at the wild displays... heck, some of the billboards are worth a few minutes of your time.

I had a dream while sleeping at the Luxor. I dreamt that someone came into my room and adjusted the curtains. Someone else came in through a connecting door in the bathroom (there was a connecting door in the room, but not in the bathroom) and was brushing their teeth. I seldom have dreams like that - dreams where I'm in the same place in the dream and in reality. I was also able to move freely and speak; usually I'm handicapped in some fashion in my dreams.

Good News from DC!

The DoD is going to rebid the tanker contract!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/09/AR2008070901767.html

I know we're a long way from the end, but every step in the right direction is important.

Vegas! Part 1: Overview

I know "What happens in Vegas, stay in Vegas," but I'm going to share anyway. I was with a group of 2-6 people (total of 7 different persons) including myself for all of what I will describe here. Three of the people were locals (Air Force or dependants), and four (including me) had never been to Las Vegas before.

July 3rd, late afternoon: Flew in from SEA. Ate dinner at a Greek place, drove down Las Vegas Blvd.

Thoughts:
Middle of Nowhere, population 2,000,000, plus tourists.
Azel protect us, there are slot machines 20 feet from the gate.
Everything may be bigger in Texas, but EVERYTHING is bigger in Vegas.

July 4th (Independence Day!), morning: visited Red Rock National Park (gorgeous, but way too hot to hike in for long). Ate brunch at "Hash House a Go Go" (no, I'm not making that up) and had a Snicker's Pancake (a pancake about a foot in diameter, no I'm not kidding, with pieces of Snicker's Bar cooked in).
Afternoon: cooled off in a swimming pool.
Evening: BBQ and watched the fireworks at Nellis AFB. It was a mere 90 degrees outside.

Thoughts:
Zarth, 105 degrees in the SHADE?
Dear Azel do I miss being associated with the military. It really means more to toast to 'absent companions' with people who understand.
Must go to Red Rock again... when it is, oh, 80 degrees or so.
Why am I not surprised that the perimiter security at Nellis are contractors?

July 5th, morning/early afternoon: Window shopping at the Forum Shops (attached to Caesar's Palace). Exotic chocolate and good but overpriced gelato. Watched a guy tickle a ray (the fishy thing) under the chin.
Evening: Spamalot! Vorpal Bunny Slippers! The Lady of the Lake and her Laker Girls!

Thoughts:
FAO Shwartz is planning to attack someone with that 2.5 story tall Trojan Horse.
"Remember, what happens in Camelot stays in Camelot!"
[Sings] I'm not dead yet...

July 6th, morning: Valley of Fire(s?) State Park. I've never seen purple rock before, have you? Red rock, yellow rock, golden rock, brown rock, grey rock, black rock, yes, purple rock, no. The car tour was probably sufficient, though hiking/riding there would be fun to do when it is a lot cooler.
Evening: The Bellagio Fountain (watched two shows), amazing and fun. The chocolate artist (confectioner doesn't give the right impression) at the Bellagio. Fantastic and novel deserts and quite reasonably priced. And a chocolate waterfall. Did I mention the chocolate waterfall? The themed display in the main lobby was really nifty too; trains! Oh, and giant baby eaglets and lots of other stuff. Checked into the Luxor for one night (host had to work the next day, but I got a great deal - $65).

Thoughts:
At 110 degrees, it no longer matters that "its DRY heat!"
"If you maintain a pyramid properly it will last 6,000 years. Please excuse our appearance during construction."
MMM... chocolate art. I didn't know you could write on chocolate with edible ink.

July 7th, morning: attended a presentation on timesharing on Las Vegas Blvd. Didn't buy, but got some nice comps and free food.
Afternoon: The Star Trek Experience. I was kidnapped by aliens! Shot at! Tractor beamed! And... um... nothing to see, move along folks, just a weather balloon and some sunspots... :-)
Evening: Yes, I gambled in Vegas (roulette at the Luxor from one of the comps from the morning presentation; 22 Black never came up). Lost what I expected to loose, would like to try it with less of a rush next time. Got to the airport, and returned to SEA.

Thoughts:
Hotels on the Strip are designed so you have to go through/past the Casino to get to anything. Signs will lead you on the shortest path to your destination... that takes you through the casino. Security will direct you to your destination... by way of the casino. The buffet at the Luxor is good... its just past the casino.
The Monorail should run to the airport. No, really, its RIGHT NEXT TO the Strip, and maybe a mile from the current end of the line. The Monorail should GO TO THE AIRPORT. Yeesh. Some moving walkways in the airport terminal wouldn't be a bad idea either.
Live long, and prosper.

Things that should get more attention

A silicon valley startup is trying to scale up bio-engineered bacteria that turn bio-waste (grass clippings, food waste, etc.) directly into oil.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4133668.ece

This is interesting because if it works and is scaleable the numbers actually work for getting us off foreign oil; unlike ethanol which just doesn't measure up.

2nd Ammemdment Lives!

Just a headline so far, but the Supreme Court has (narrowly) upheld the US Constitution and struck down Washington D.C.'s illegal handgun ban.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372041,00.html

Still waiting on details - I'm hoping for a sweeping condemnation of firearm restrictions, but I doubt we'll get quite that lucky. Just having the ban struck down is a big step in the right direction, and I'm extremely happy right now.

The United States Constitution is still alive and kicking.

Edit: Text of the decision. Nicely written, and actually quite amusing. http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/07-290.pdf

Food Poisoning

So something I ate Friday... well, it didn't just disagree with me. It declared a crusade against my GI tract and was apparently conducting WMD research. Two hours after the initial offensive I realized it wasn't going to be over any time soon and dehydration was a serious risk, so I called for fire support.

In a very closely related note, I rode in the back of an ambulance as a patient for the first time.

It really gives one perspective; OK, the crew was a BLS crew, but I couldn't help mentally going "OK, you're going to ask me this, think this, decide this..." I wasn't terribly impressed by the medics.

The ER ran two liters of IV fluid into me (saline for both, I'm pretty sure - I was fairly out of it), and hit me with phenergan (antiemetic) and something else I didn't catch. When I was able to walk under my own power they turned me loose with a scrip for phenergan and advised me to go easy on my stomach for a few days.

Well, I'm still faintly nauseous, but it is getting better. Eating, however, it still something of a delicate process.

More and more I'm wishing someone would sell OTC IV fluid and nutrient sets for civilian use.

There is also evil and/or stupid life in DC

Big Brother is still watching you, and you can't sue him for it.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,369492,00.html

While I have more respect for President Bush than a lot of people in this country (and the media in particular) seem to, I'm no fan of a lot of his policies, and particularly his (IMO) blatantly Unconstitutional violations of individual and state rights.

Is terrorism a threat to the US? Yes, I believe it is.

Does electronic surveilance help prevent terrorist attacks? Yes, I believe it does.

Would allowing citizens to carry sidearms with low-velocity ammunition at will on domestic transportation virtually eliminate any possibility of highjackings? Yes, I believe it would.

Am I going to have a better chance of taking over a plane with a 20oz bottle of water than a 2oz bottle of water? No, not so much.

Does the US government have the authority to search or seize individual property (including email) without a court order? HELL NO! Fourth Ammendment, people: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. " You can't search my Gmail inbox without a court order to search that particular inbox any more than you can search my physical mailbox without a court order for same.

Note that I have no objection to the NSA reading the email of people in Saudi Arabia, or Mexico, or Micronesia if they feel like it. The US Constitution only applies to the US and its citizens, not anyone else's. For that matter, I have no legal objection to MI-5 or the Mossad hacking into my email. I'd rather they didn't, but they are not obliged to protect my Constitutional rights. MY government, MY Constitution, MY rights. What is so freaking hard about this, for Zarth's sake?!

OK, it can be hard to tell who's inbox it is. Fine, I get that. So if Congress wants to pass a law that says the NSA can eavesdrop on any server outside US territory until a citizen identifies the contents as their property, that's fine. If they pass a law that the NSA can eavesdrop on conversations known to be between non-US persons in US territory, well, I personally don't approve, but I'd accept it as legal.

OK, the Constitution didn't anticipate telecommunications. Right, got that too. Item the first: Ammendments. We've done 27 of them so far. If you really need to do something, make it Consitutional, and do it. I may not like it, but it would be legal. Item the second: The 10th of those 27: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." A.K.A. "Yeah, really, the Federal Government can ONLY do the things we say it can do here. We mean it. Sure, we just clarified a few things they CAN'T do, but that means the states can't do them either. Things that we don't allow the Feds to do, nor prohobit the states from doing, are still things the Feds are prohibited from doing. IMO, this is THE key to the US Constitution.

I'll close with one of the best summations of legal authority I've ever heard (props to The West Wing, Ms. Donna Moss): "In a free country you don't need a reason to make something legal. You need a reason to make it illegal."