A Couple Interesting Columns

I meant to post this first one a while back. I've heard over and over about how polls are saying people think America is heading in the wrong direction. Which I should think is obvious. I totally agree with that. But what frustrates me is that it always seems to be liberals that refer to these polls and use them as evidence that we need "change".

My beef is that there's never the obvious follow-up question. What is wrong and what is the right direction for change? What changes are favorable to most Americans and what will turn us back in the "right" direction? Starting with this column I've seen more attention to this obvious follow-up question. I read this a while back and thought that it said everything I was thinking.

If On the Wrong Track, Why Go Left? By Denis Prager


Column #2.
I see the cost of energy going way, WAY up in the not so distant future if things don't change and FAST. We haven't seen high gas prices yet. It will be much worse if Obama wins in the fall. We're sitting on all this oil but we don't drill for it. We not building more refineries or coal plants or nuclear plants. AND we're using a large percentage of our corn to make ethanol which is a net loss in terms of fuel consumption. How stupid is all this? And Congress wants to tax the oil companies? Sue OPEC? Put a tax on carbon emissions? That's all just incredibly dumb. Our Democrat controlled Congress has no clue.

Critical Thinking on Energy By Charles Krauthammer

And lastly a 2 parter about Liberal myths spread by the media.

Tackling Five Modern Myths Created by Liberals By John Hawkins
and
Tackling Five Modern Myths Created By Liberals Part 2

...for a total of 10 myths.

Vista

I just replaced each workstation computer we have in our network at work with a new Dell Optiplex that has Vista Business Edition on it. I've spent the last 2 weeks or so plugging in each new machine in turn and adjusting network settings, setting up admin and user accounts, setting up programs, transfering email archives and running updates and all of that stuff. Then Saturday with some help from a co-worker we took the old monitors and towers away and setup the new ones. Everyone will have a nice new 22" flat screen and fresh, brand spanking new computer on Monday. And a dust free desk and fresh vacuumed floor under their desk on top of that. I spent nearly my entire Saturday day doing all this moving around and cleaning up. After I finished my final checklist on each workstation I was ready to go home. I was exhausted and I felt like I didn't want to look at a computer for a long while.


I hadn't seen Vista until we got these computers. It took some getting used to at first. Finding where all the settings are took some getting used to. They seem to have renamed some of the control panel items and I've found I still need to switch from category view to classic few to find everthing. I've found all the stuff I need to in Vista and I'm adjusting to Office 2007. I don't see why Vista is criticized so much. I suppose now that it has been out for more than a year and SP1 is out all the kinks are worked out. I planned ahead to be sure all the software we use can run on Vista and aside from updating a few programs of mine we were good all around. I was due for a couple updated programs anyhow.

Now that I've seen Vista and worked on it, those Apple commercials that I hate that always bash PC's seem even stupider. I think the folks bashing Vista probably need to take a closer look in the mirror or look at who is behind the keyboard before blaming Microsoft or Vista for all their problems. Personal responsibility isn't popular these days.

Photo Dump

On my Yahoo portal they have this section of "Most emailed photos" and "Most Viewed photos".

They must have had a dog show or something a while back and I grabbed these and all the rest.

This one is like the cover of that Beck CD. I always thought that was fake. I didn't know dogs like this actually existed.
The Beck album cover for "Odelay". This dog is ready to dive.
Here's a cat and a mouse together. Looks a lot like my cat except for the black paws. I don't think my cat has ever seen a mouse but I think he definitely would have the sense not to bathe it if he met one. Maybe that's a gerbil or a hamster. I don't know. It's a rodent and cats and rodents aren't supposed to get along like these two are.

Holy carnage at a bike race. Bodies and bikes flying everywhere. I think it said somebody died in the description too. That driver better be in the slammer somewhere for good long time.

If I recall the description it said this beetle was seized from a package coming over the border. I find gigantic beetles interesting and disgusting at the same time. See my Insectaculture link over in my links section.

Snap Fitness

I joined Snap Fitness and I'm going to dump my YMCA membership. A Snap Fitness just opened not long ago that's less then 2 minutes drive from where I live. I even walked there the other day. It's cheaper than the Y even if I pay only month by month. If choose to make the longer commitment I can average down my monthly cost even further, plus I can suspend my membership for up to 3 months of the year if I want to. They're open 24 hours a day so if I feel like it, I can go jump on an elliptical at 3:00 in the morning. I don't know why I would do that but it's good that it's an option. Maybe I'll do it sometime just so I can say that I did.

I've been there for about a month now but before that I probably hadn't been to the Y since sometime in March I think. Those 2 or 3 months time off or whatever weren't real good to me but I'm feeling back on track now. I'm able to do a full hour on the elliptical and then cool off on a stationary bike for 20 minutes after that. I'm working off some weight too. It's not so much the weight as it is my composition really. I could be less soft in the middle and more lean for sure.

Netflix activity update

Updated list of movies I've seen this year or since this post. Most recent at the top of the list this time around.

Jeremiah Johnson
Batman Forever
This is War: Memories of Iraq
Sexy Beast
Before the Devil Knows Your Dead
Batman
Tool: Vicarious
The Punisher
The Brave One
The Cave
Dr Katz: Professional Therapist (Season 2)
American Gangster
No Country for Old Men
Hostel: Part II
V: The Final Battle
V: The Original Miniseries
28 Weeks Later
28 Days Later
Hot Fuzz
Four Rooms
Hills Have Eyes 2
Shooter
Black Sheep (mutant sheep, not the Chris Farley movie)
Sin City
Transformers
The Grudge
A History of Violence
Black Snake Moan
Live Free or Die Hard
Fantastic Four:Rise of the Silver Surfer
Fantastic Four
Stranger than Fiction
1408
Bourne Ultimatum

Right now I'm working my way through some of the old Batman movies. I remember the first one being real big when I was in High School. They even had a Batman ride at Great America which I have been on at least once and probably a few times. I never saw the movie until now and I'm wasn't all that impressed with it. I'm watching the rest of them and I feel like I'm sort of forcing my way through them. I messed up the order though somehow I've seen "Forever" before "Returns". Sometime next I'll make my way through all the Spiderman movies. Maybe those will be better but I doubt it. That newer Ed Norton Incredible Hulk movie they have commercials on TV now looks much better than the last one. I don't know why I'm watching all these comic book to movie, movies but I am.

I remember watching V when it was on TV when I was in 4th grade. This was before we had a VCR. I remember missing the beginning of one of them because I was at school for some sort of sex ed. thing they had. I remember a film of a birth which pretty much grossed us out as kids. We had to rush home when it was over so we could watch part 2 of the final battle I think it was. It's kind of corny to watch it now but it brought back some memories. I was surprised how many of the scenes I remembered as well as I did for not having seen it in 25 years. The special effects weren't as bad as I might've thought. Diana eating a guinea pig was pretty fake looking but other than that it wasn't bad. I'll probably get the TV series sometime but it's spread over 6 DVD's so it'll take some time to get through. Or I might skip it altogether. I have lot of other stuff in my queue I'd rather see before that.

The Road

Just got done reading this last Sunday while it was storming outside. It was a good read I thought, but I'd say it's not the kind of book everyone would enjoy. A friend of mine from work lent it to me after we had an in-depth discussion about "No Country for Old Men" which was based on another Cormac McCarthy book. This book is about a man and his son who are travelling down a road trying to survive in a world that is dark and gray and cold and destroyed by an unspecified event. The ground is covered in ash, the sun has been blocked out for years, and the air they breath is polluted with ash. Plant and animal life is non-existent. The two of them live off of any canned food they can find. It's pretty grim. They frequently came across dead bodies along their travels and have to be careful to avoid other people for fear they would be killed to be eaten. The event that lead to this grim state of the world is never specified in the book but as I read along I thought it sounded like the aftermath of a big asteroid. There's no mention of radiation anywhere but reading the forums at Amazon there are some folks that are absolutely certain it was a nuclear holocaust. Anyone that says that didn't read very closely I think. The book says, "A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions", and that's as specific as it ever gets. The ash everywhere and the fact that forests and cities are burned seems to match this. How the world came to be how it was in the book is of minor importance, but it seems to be the first thing that everyone says about the book to describe it. It was either a man-made disaster or one brought on by outside forces. It doesn't much matter, but what makes the book interesting is the journey the two of them have.

I just read now that this is being made into a movie. I'll check that out for sure. I wonder how that will turn out. NY Times article on the move here.

Victory!

I'm declaring victory over the ants that invaded my kitchen. This last Monday the invasion got a lot worse after I dumped a can of pears into a container to take to work and then left the empty can on my counter all day. I was in for a big surprise when I got home. The can and a dirty butter knife I left out were crowded with ants. I sucked up a whole trail of them through the extension on the vacuum but more of them appeared soon after. I've seen a few ants here and there leading up to this week so I've been leaving out some of this old poison I had. You dump a bit on some foil and the ants are supposed to be attracted to it. Instead the pretty much ignored it. After the escalation in ants brought on by my empty pear can, it was time to get serious. I went out and got some brand new, fresh Terro liquid ant baits at Walmart. I put one on the counter and one next to the fridge where the ants seemed to be gathering and they worked pretty good. The traps took care of most of them in less than 48 hours. I still have a few stragglers but I'm sure they'll die soon too. This Jones stuff must be some pretty serious poison. The label says to bury the container when it's empty. My bottle is over half full so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to with this old bottle now that I have new traps that actually work. Burying it in my backyard doesn't seem any safer than tossing it in the trash. Aren't they just going to bury it at the garbage dump anyway?

Tech TV

"So this is a one of a kind piece. There's no other one like this particular one in the world."

Guess what happens next.



This guy must be high on drugs. The leafy green kind most likely.

Economic Stimulus Check

CORRECTION: Government redistribution of wealth checks are going out this week. I'm thinking about using my check toward funding a new bike. While conceptually I'm opposed to this "economic stimulus" package it's not as if I'm not going to cash my check. Actually I'll get my share deposited directly to my bank account since that's how I got my tax refund this year. I'll spend it either way. My new bike might come in handy when gas is $4/gallon this summer.

Mike's Lemonade

This sign seems to be missing the key work "hard", in-between "Mike's" and "Lemonade". Dude bought one for his 7 year old son at a baseball game not realizing that it's an alcoholic beverage. Oops!

Mike's is a favorite alcoholic beverage of mine. If I have anything alcoholic in my fridge besides wine it's most likely going to be Mike's Hard Lemonade.

Pennsylvania Debate

This happened maybe 2 weeks ago now. Old news now, but watching it reminded me of how wrong for our country either of these candidates is. A couple of items struck me.

1. Lack of questions about real issues. Considering I could only stomach about the first half of the debate things may have changed later into it but the first half hour to an hour seemed to revolve around either Obama/Rev. Wright or Hillary/Bosnia. I didn't have a problem with that line of questioning. It serves a purpose when the candidates differ so little on issues. Questions that directly pertain to integrity and honesty are entirely appropriate. Sadly neither candidate has much in either department. This is the best Democrats have to offer? And why is it that each campaign had been attacking the other on these very same issues tit for tat in the days leading up to the debate yet when they are raised in the debate they are appalled at their mention?

2. Withdrawal from Iraq. I knew both of their positions on the issue was immediate withdrawal, but to watch and to hear each of them lay it out on television was more disturbing than I expected it to be. Each of them proclaiming they would withdraw no matter what advice to the contrary they may get from military leaders.

First from Hillary

MR GIBSON: So if the military commanders in Iraq came to you on day one and said this kind of withdrawal would destabilize Iraq, it would set back all of the gains that we have made, no matter what, you're going to order those troops to come home?

SENATOR CLINTON: Yes, I am, Charlie. And here's why...

And then this answer from Obama...

MR GIBSON: So you'd give the same rock-hard pledge, that no matter what the military commanders said, you would give the order: Bring them home.

SENATOR OBAMA: Because the commander in chief sets the mission, Charlie. That's not the role of the generals. And one of the things that's been interesting about the president's approach lately has been to say, well, I'm just taking cues from General Petraeus.

Well, the president sets the mission. The general and our troops carry out that mission. And unfortunately we have had a bad mission, set by our civilian leadership, which our military has performed brilliantly. But it is time for us to set a strategy that is going to make the American people safer.

Now, I will always listen to our commanders on the ground with respect to tactics. Once I've given them a new mission, that we are going to proceed deliberately in an orderly fashion out of Iraq and we are going to have our combat troops out, we will not have permanent bases there, once I've provided that mission, if they come to me and want to adjust tactics, then I will certainly take their recommendations into consideration; but ultimately the buck stops with me as the commander in chief.

Obama's answer is a little more crafty. It's wrapped up inside an explanation of the roles of commander in chief and military generals. The answer is essentially the same. Call it withdrawal if you wish but I call it what it is, cutting and running. Whatever name you put on it, it's weak and most definitely does not make us safer at home. Iran anyone? Iran is our real enemy in Iraq and if you don't understand that then you don't understand much.

3. Obama on Capital Gains taxes. I'll start with the excerpt...

MR. GIBSON: You have however said you would favor an increase in the capital gains tax. As a matter of fact, you said on CNBC, and I quote, "I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton, which was 28 percent." It's now 15 percent. That's almost a doubling if you went to 28 percent. But actually Bill Clinton in 1997 signed legislation that dropped the capital gains tax to 20 percent.
SENATOR OBAMA: Right.
MR. GIBSON: And George Bush has taken it down to 15 percent.
SENATOR OBAMA: Right.
MR. GIBSON: And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased. The government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?
SENATOR OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.

So let me see if I have this right. "For the purposes of fairness" Obama is willing to raise taxes on the investment gains of hard working Americans who wisely chose to invest a portion of their income, even if it means the government will take in less revenue as a result. Put in another way it would appear Obama is willing to sacrifice the prosperity of Americans for some perceived notion of "fairness".

Obama continued...

...for purposes of fairness. We saw an article today which showed that the top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion last year -- $29 billion for 50 individuals. And part of what has happened is that those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. That's not fair. And what I want is not oppressive taxation. I want businesses to thrive and I want people to be rewarded for their success. But what I also want to make sure is that our tax system is fair and that we are able to finance health care for Americans who currently don't have it and that we're able to invest in our infrastructure and invest in our schools. And you can't do that for free, and you can't take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children and our grandchildren and then say that you're cutting taxes, which is essentially what John McCain has been talking about. And that is irresponsible. You know, I believe in the principle that you pay as you go, and you don't propose tax cuts unless you are closing other tax breaks for individuals. And you don't increase spending unless you're eliminating some spending or you're finding some new revenue. That's how we got an additional $4 trillion worth of debt under George Bush. That is helping to undermine our economy, and it's going to change when I'm president of the United States.

MR. GIBSON: But history shows that when you drop the capital gains tax, the revenues go up.

SENATOR OBAMA: Well, that might happen or it might not. It depends on what's happening on Wall Street and how business is going. I think the biggest problem that we've got on Wall Street right now is the fact that we've got a housing crisis that this president has not been attentive to and that it took John McCain three tries before he got it right. And if we can stabilize that market and we can get credit flowing again, then I think we'll see stocks do well, and once again I think we can generate the revenue that we need to run this government and hopefully to pay down some of this debt.

It might happen or it might not? History has shown this again and again, yet you somehow think it will be different this time just because of market conditions. What an incredible display of economic ignorance. I rest my case.

Transcript of the entire debate here at RealClearPolitics.

White Jeans

I was on the internet searching for where I could get a pair of white Levi's and found this disturbing little piece of video. After viewing the entire thing a couple times now I'm still left dumbfounded by it. If I can help it, I'm never watching it again.

I have a pair of white jeans and they got stained so I'm trying to find a new pair.

Zoomquilt II

Man vs Wild redo

A bunch of the clips in my post a while back disappeared from YouTube. These are a few of the more interesting clips that I found again.

Elephant Dung


(dead) Zebra

Crucifix Spider


Tree Frog


Tiger Scorpion


The earlier video I had showed Bear drinking fluid from the camels stomach. That's not in this video but this looks to be same camel...different clip from the same episode.


Here's a quick review.

Stovecat

Slo-Mo Slap

A compilation of slow things.

Man vs Wild

Bear Grylls is the man in Man vs. Wild. I watched this episode not long ago that was a series of clips of him eating different things. The episode was called "Bear Eats".

• Palm Weevil Grubs 1:00
• Crucifix Spider 2:00
• Long Horn Beetle 3:00
• Sand Beetle 4:40
• Camel Spider 5:25
• (Dead) sheep eyeball (boiled in thermal pool) 6:45

• Freshwater trout
• Land Crab 2:30
• Water Snake 3:30
• Urine drinking 4:15
• Fluid from Elephant dung 5:30
• Everglades swamp water 6:00
• (Unspecified) lizard 7:45
• Everglades tree frog 8:20

• Sand Fish
• Fat tail scorpion 1:55
• (Dead) Zebra 3:15
• Goat testicles 4:50
• (Dead) Camel fat 5:35

• Termites
• Snails 0:30
• Grasshopper 1:15
• Cooter turtle 3:15
• Piranha 5:00
• Horned Viper Snake 7:20

• Fluid from camel stomach
• Palm tree dates 2:45
• Sugar pine cone nuts 4:00
• Eskimo Potato 5:00
• Berries 6:00
  
  

Skins a deer carcase and sleeps in it.

Sopranos Series Finale

This is what the end looks like.
I know it just looks like a black empty screen and it is. That's how it ends. The screen just goes black in the middle of a scene where Tony, Carmela, and Anthony Jr. are eating onion rings at a restaurant. The last scene is the topic of much debate as I found once I was finally free to venture out on the Internet without fear of reading or seeing something I didn't want to know prior to seeing it myself.

I'd have to say at first I was bit disappointed but after some thought and after watching it again a few times I've decided I'm fine with it. It's ambiguous what happens to Tony in the end. I went back and forth in my mind for days after I saw it and I read all sorts of things on the web. I think I've decided that Tony is definitely dead. That was my first reaction and I think it's correct. Here's a brief recap of the final scene as I see it.

Tony picks out "Don't Stop Believing" from the Jukebox on the table. This plays quite loudly throughout the entire final scene. I'll never be able to hear this song again without thinking of this scene. The song itself I think means nothing.

Suspicious looking guy in members only jacket walks into the restaurant ahead of Anthony Jr. and sits down at the counter. There are many cut shots over to other people in the restaurant as Tony converses with Carmela and then later Anthony when he arrives. Meadow is outside struggling to parallel park.Shots of other people in the restaurant continue but the most suspicious looking guy other than the trucker is this guy in the jacket at the counter who looks over at Tony's table a couple of times. I think this is the guy. The only reason I could think of that he wouldn't be the guy is that when he arrives at the restaurant he walks in before Anthony Jr. and not behind him. Maybe that's nothing but it seems unnatural to me if he's there to do what I think he did.
Members only jacket guy walks to the restroom just off to Tony's right.

Meadow finally gets parked and the shot below is the 2nd to last thing we see before the screen goes blank and everything goes silent. This I think is key. This shot is looking at Tony's table from the short hall to the restroom where members only jacket guy would be coming from.
After this shot you see Tony glance up to see (presumably) Meadow coming in the restaurant door, then suddenly NOTHING! Completely black screen and total silence.

I think what we witnessed was Tony's death. What we did was experience it as the final scene. The members only jacket guy shot him in the head. I don't suspect if you were shot in the head you'd hear it. You'd be dead instantly and it would be sudden.

Huh?

Reminds me of Stuart Little or that book The Mouse and the Motorcyle that I read when I was little. Only this is a frog and not a mouse. The caption says this:

Oui the frog sits on a miniature motorcycle in the eastern beach town of Pattaya January 10, 2008. Oui's owner says Oui loves playing with human toys and posing for photographs.REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND)

Netflix

I joined Netflix last November. So far I like it a lot. I've been through a ton of movies in a real short time. I get about one DVD per week now. It's super easy. I just set up online in my Netflix account a list of DVDs I want to see, they mail the top one on my list to me, and I mail it back in the postpaid envelope whenever I want the next one. Blockbuster will probably never see me again. Sweet! I should have done this a long time ago
This is what I've seen since last November in chronological order.

• Sopranos Season Six: Part 2 (Discs 1-4)
• The Prestige
• Blood Diamond
• The Illusionist
• True Romance
• Gangs of New York
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Stranger Than Fiction
• Fantastic 4

Fantastic 4 was pretty bad. I expected it to be. Ever since I signed on to this, even though my credit card gets charged every month it sort of feels like it's free somehow. I feel more liberty to rent some items that I never would have considered before. Some throw-aways. Best on my list above is probably Blood Diamond. I had to start with the Sopranos when Ifirst joined since the series ended and I haven't purchased the DVD set yet.