OOPS
I had to remove some links. Everything is still fine. My blog was rated higher than it should have been. I don't know how long the search engines keep things in cache. Wish me luck.

Big Brother
Of all the useless inventions. This thing takes a picture and video of people as you speak to them. It detects eye contact and records the conversation without interruption. This thing was obviously invented for the CIA, or some variant in another country. If it is making the open market, then it has been around for a while. The next time you speak to a bank teller or a police officer, remember these things are out there.
I remember a note about a device for police that sounded just like this thing. It detected people's eye and automatically ran their iris against a database. The article mentioned walking down the street and every one who was in the database would pop up on a little heads-up display in the glasses with personal information and a picture. I think it was the same article that said recording where people are and when is important even if you don't have their information, because they will eventually enter the database. The systems have trouble with contacts and polarized sunglasses.

Gas
I'm reading story after story about the economy. Is it like this every election year? India's stock exchange has tanked. (11% in one day) and the U. S. will have to up the rates to prevent inflation soon. The world is making just about as much oil as it can. With all the turmoil in the Middle East and elsewhere, any disruption will trigger a catastrophe. I bet by next Summer Gas will hit $3.0 a gallon. SUV and truck sales are down, but only slightly. It's about time. Watch the trucks on the road tomorrow and count how many have something in the bed vs the ones that have nothing, or only a toolbox or something permanent in the bed. It freaks me out how many Ford Excursions have only one occupant all the time. These are the same old arguments. I look in to my life and I ask why I have four computers. I ask why, and do nothing about it.

Fire
A friend of mine emailed me this afternoon. It's funny when you get an email from some one you talk to all the time with just small talk, and then you get one that strikes a cord. I read her email and leaned back from the screen. Looking over the top of the screen I remembered when I was a young man, watching a house in my old neighborhood burn. The firefighters ran inside and grabbed furniture and personal items to leave them outside on the lawn. The people were out of town. The neighbors were trying to find a phone number or a relation to call. You know how people are about their neighbors, I'm sure. Since the seventies, no one knows their neighbor. No one had a number. I never found out any more than that. I went on with my life. To this day, I cringe every time I hear about an apartment fire on the news. I fear them.
The email from my friend said the house behind hers burned to the ground. It was struck by lightning this afternoon.

Gothica
I'm watching Gothica. Don't waist your time. It is one of those movies where two people kind of change places. The one person (Dr. whoever) ends up loosing all the respect she has earned all her life. She is treated like one of the people she once treated (argh - blah blah blah). It is a story as old as dirt. She searches for the truth and, per formula, every one thinks she is crazy. The ending is predictable and disappointing.
It doesn't help that I have a think for Goth chicks.

One more day in Iraq
Wow, things look bad in Iraq. The future “president” (chair of the governing counsel or whatever) of Iraq was killed today in a blatant attack targeting him. It was right outside the green zone and really should not have happened. This throughs a huge monkey wrench into the self-governing plans for Iraq.
A nerve gas bomb went off From what I'm reading, it appears someone did not know how to make the mortar shell work properly (thank goodness). Some speculate whoever set up the bomb in question did not know what kind of shell they had. Well, now they do. Thanks to the story making headlines all over the planet.

Gun Running
A buddy of mine asked today where all these rocket launchers and AK47 rifles are coming from. We were talking about Iraq and Afghanistan at the time. Well, there are holes in the borders patrolled by Israeli troops. I bet there are holes in the borders patrolled by afghans. Syria is just plane blowing the curve (pretty damning article). it is a real chance they are next on the list of the Axis of Evil. It is only fair. Syria got a bunch of the materials from Iraq just before the war. Syria is the primary way into and out of Iraq for those who have questionable intentions.

Ball Lightning
Well, Thank goodness they figured This out. Another friend of mine sent a link late last week that described several lights following a drug enforcement plane around in Mexican air space. I can't find the link, but the movements of the lights are kind of freaky on video. They do seem to follow. the jet as it maneuvers. The pilots either did or did not see the objects. The video is infrared and was taken either from another plane, or the ground. The guy who made this whole thing a “thing” is a UFO nut.

Pictures
Cynthia figured out how to automatically put photos on the blog without much trouble. I know how to do it by hand, but that is annoying and time consuming. Now she wants donations for a $500 camera. It looks like a good one, but over priced. I couldn't find any examples of pictures taken by that model. That scares me. Good luck Cynthia. Get some snapshots on that blog.

Sorry for the book.