Iran's President is a Terrorist?

The Times said Ahmadinejad was a 23-year-old university student at the time of the takeover in November 1979 and was a founding member of the radical student group that organized the storming of the U.S. Embassy compound. Reuters

"This is the guy. There's no question about it," said former hostage Chuck Scott, a retired Army colonel who lives in Jonesboro, Georgia. "You could make him a blond and shave his whiskers, put him in a zoot suit and I'd still spot him." CNN (CNN)

“Thanks to the blood of the martyrs, a new Islamic revolution has arisen and the Islamic revolution of 1384 [the current Iranian year] will, if God wills, cut off the roots of injustice in the world,” he [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] said. “The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world.” His fiery language shows that he has not lost the revolutionary ardour that propelled him into politics as a young Basij Islamic militia volunteer who had fought in the Iran-Iraq war. It is also reminiscent of the rhetoric of Ayatollah Khomenei, the architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and is likely to sound alarm bells in the West, afraid that his victory could signal a return to post-revolutionary fundamentalism. Times Online (LGF)

Of course, these stories back-peddle a bit and try to cover their asses at some point in the story. It doesn't look good though. I love the U. S. trying to convince the terrorists in Iraq to get involved in politics instead of blowing things up. It looks like they have already done so in Iran. Remember this is the country that wants to make peaceful nuclear power. Forget the fact that it is easier to make bombs than electricity with nuclear technology.
I wish I had more to say about this, besides that it makes me sick. Not only is it state sponsored terrorism, but it is state run terrorism. It is a state that says "Fuck you, we are terrorists! What are you going to do about it?!? BWAA-AAA-AAAAA!! Death to America! Death to the Jews!" I'm supposed to think that I'm the bad guy because I can't help but think our system is better than theirs. Well, screw that, and screw them. I cannot wait until we finally get a viable oil alternative going and tell the whole Middle East to take their "kill every one who doesn't warship the same as we do" religion and their "to hell with the poor because they did something bad in a past life" beliefs and go fuck themselves.

Growing Up
Elle is two and a half. She learns new words every day. She defies authority. She sings with the radio. She dances every chance. She is afraid of things that happen on TV. She is jealous of the animals. She tries to play Nat and I off each other.
I can tell she will be a charmer. I can tell she will be stressed out her entire life. I can tell she will bounce around from one friend to another. I hope she is happy.

Wimbledon
I listen to the BBC quite a bit. Normally, i listen to Five Live. However, the pat two weeks have been devoted to Wimbledon. I'm not much on tennis, but I don't mind listening to it on the radio. I hate watching it except for the cute female players. I understand there is a market for videos shot from a low angle that has them grunting when they slam a shot.  I can only imagine. Anyway, Five Live is the news and sports station. I really like the commentary they have on a daily basis. However, when it is raining at Wimbledon and they have to fill the time talking with tennis folks, I cannot keep my eyes open. I wish they had some stand by disaster waiting to happen for those moments.
I remember hating the couple of weeks in the middle of the summer because HBO plaid Wimbledon all day. It was horrible. I was a willing zombie for just about anything that cable vomited forth at that age. I just couldn't watch tennis. I still cannot.

Loss Image Compression
I have been asked for about the ten thousandth time why JPG format looks like crap after you make some changes. It is because JPG is a loss compression. Some of the information in the image is actually thrown away every time you save it. It is best to work in a non-loss compression like TIFF or GIF or the native format of your favorite editor until you get the image you are happy with. Then, store it in a format that is going to be around for a long time. JPG is not a good long term storage solution because it is owned by a company out to make money. Most photographers just leave things in Photo Shop format, but this will have problems when Adobe sells out to an Indian company in a couple of years. Some prefer to leave the raw format of the camera. These images are enormous. They are proprietary to each camera and sensor and may not be supported for ever either. If Micro-crap had their way, we would all just use Paint and like it.
Example

Raw Picture	JPG after first compression	JPG after second compression
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16	1 1 4 4 6 6 11 8 9 11 11 12 9 14 11 16	1 1 4 4 1 1 11 11 9 11 11 11 9 11 11 11

The chart above is over simplified. I hope it gets the idea across.
Missing Numbers First Time = 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15
So, seven out of sixteen numbers are no longer there. That is nearly 50% compression. The difference may not be noticeable to the Human eye.
Missing Numbers Second Time = 2, 3, 5 ,6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
So, twelve out of sixteen numbers are no longer there. That is 75 % compression. Trouble is, the difference may be noticeable and the image may appear more blocky.
To the human eye, the photo looks the same until there is a tremendous amount of loss. The places where JPG format does not work are gradual changes and fades. For example, the sky going from a sharp light gray blue near the horizon to a deep sea blue near straight up. At too high a compression rate you will get blocks of color in these areas. The programmers out in the world have worked on this dilemma and things have gotten better in the last several years. Honestly, I store most of my stuff in JPG format just because it comes off the camera that way and I do little editing. If I do editing, I convert the image to a lossless compression format first thing.

Relationship
I know I'm not blogging much. I have tons to write about, but it is all private relationship stuff. Sorry.

DnD
DnD was a lot of fun. We started a new campaign that will eventually turn evil. It is a group of Elves that become a ... oh, how shall I describe it ... become a group of terrorists.
The group I'm playing with has come up with a bunch of new rules about talking. They are so fucking gamest and number oriented they had to come up with a way to completely eliminate the narrative side of the game by assigning a bunch of roles and rules dealing with debating amongst the group and NPCs. They don't even realize this is a gamest idea and that narrative people are left in the dust. They think they are doing me (the big narrativest) a favor by ASSIGNING A BUNCH OF RULES to debating. Get this. Instead of talking, they now have dice roles to see who wins an argument. It is nuts. I am completely lost. Why bother with a story at all? Why not just sit there and roll dice endlessly to see who wins? It really pisses me off that I will never have a chance to just lose myself in the story. They ruin the twists and turns by making up rules to predict everything. Not everything is predictable, nor should it be. They can't just enjoy the game. They have to have fixed rules to the point of predictability. Then they complain when they feel railroaded. It isn't even based on charisma or leadership. it is based on your skill points and where you put them. They need to create a politician class and just have done with it. I can't win.
The funny thing is, I'm not really a narrativest. I'm just lazy. If I can get out of having to pay attention to the rules, I will. They want to solve the problem by having more rules. That doesn't work for narrativests or lazyests. I've been known to give up treasure because I don't want to write it down.

Weekend
DnD was Saturday (see above). Natalie wanted me to leave at midnight. I understand the game didn't last much longer after I left anyway. Nat and I ended up at Wal-Mart buying dog stuff. Damn 24 hour world. While I was at the DnD game Natalie bought a dog. It is this little retarded looking mutt. She is cute enough, but it has caused some strife between Nat and I. When Nat called me to ask if she could get the dog, she had clearly made up her mind. I was under the impression that we had decided to wait on a dog for a while. We have a cat and a fish. She has been asking for a little rodent or something. She has been hinting at a large fish tank. I'm like "Stop already!" but she felt the time to get the dog was right. We have discussed the issue and I think we understand each other's positions now.
Sunday we went over and picked up Elle. My father bought a digital camera with a nice video feature. I plan on putting some of the videos on the photo web site. The camera takes better videos than any other throw down digital camera I've noticed. The video's I'm interested in are of Elle of course.
I so want a video camera. I have no idea what to get. I want one that I just plug into the computer and play or edit the videos without much hassle. All it takes is money. We have a wedding to pay for.

Question/Quote of the Day
If you are an atheist, can you get out of the "Act of God" clauses in insurance policies? Can you sue for violation of you civil rights?
Often, entertainers will use poetic license to make a boring story seem more interesting in order to avoid working for a living.

Modern China ~ Nazi Germany

"We may be seeing in China the first true fascist society on the model of Nazi Germany, where you have this incredible resource base in a commercial economy with strong nationalism, which the military was able to reach into and ramp up incredible production," a senior defense official said. The Washington Times

Man, China is scary. I've had a dream where China won WW III because they were willing to do what it takes to win. However, the postwar government fell apart and at the point of my dream, the world had collapsed into a high-technology tribal system.
Read both halves of that story. They talk about Americans inadvertently giving China technology. I remember a boat that could see through ocean water like it was not there. submarines could be spotted from horizon to horizon. Mitsubishi sold it to China for seventeen million dollars. It was priceless technology at the time. Then there was the European satellite launch via the Chinese that failed because someone had opened up a part that was not supposed to be opened.
Now, the Europeans want to open up weapon sales to China. Can you believe this? Israel "oops, sorry we sold drones to China." Every business I've heard of does tons of business with China now. Every time I hear someone say they are sending some information to China I cringe.
More

The L-2 [Chinese] submarine-launched missile to be deployed on the Type 094 and the DF-31 are the first strategic systems that will contain stolen U.S. warhead and missile secrets, the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Times. ... "These missiles will be able to hit any place in the United States, not just the Western states," said one official. "That's a significant new capability." The Type 094 will carry 12 or 16 JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missiles that were described in one intelligence report as a smaller version of the DF-31. ... China obtained design information on the W-88 warhead in the 1980s and a Chinese official disclosed the loss to the CIA in 1995. An investigation of the warhead compromise is focused on Wen Ho Lee, a computer scientist who was dismissed from his job at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and who is suspected of passing warhead secrets to China. He has denied the charge. The Washington Times

Thanks Guys.
More

Mr. President, China's theft of secret data on the so-called "W-88" nuclear warhead may be one of the most serious breaches of national security in our lifetimes. ... More serious than Aldrich Ames. Perhaps more serious than the Rosenbergs. This Guy

I'm not above a little Clinton bashing on the subject.

Jen's Newsletter

We're back from Kerrville, and recovered and full of memories. Next Tuesday, June 28, we'll be at EB5. EB5 International Coffee & Tea House, along with the new arts and entertainment newspaper of North Houston, The Spring Post, present "An Intimate Evening With" acoustic concert series. The cover charge is only $6 with all proceeds going directly to the artist. Doors open at 6:30pm, music goes from 7:30-9pm. 22557 Aldine Westfield Spring, TX  77373 832-483-8788 www.eb5arts.com EB5 is one of Springs newest business establishments providing culture, arts, culinary delights and music in a beautiful and personal setting. EB5 is also one of the best places for coffee, tea, wine, pastries, sandwiches and more! We'd love to see you!

Jen is a trip, well worth the cover charge.

Thought of the day
It is "a penny for your thoughts", but it is "put your two cents in". It costs more to voice your opinion when no one asked. That sounds about right.

Mobile
So, Nat was teasing me about my phone. I forget what the wording was. It was innocent enough, but I got burned out on being teased when I was a kid. I just can't take it. She said she would stop calling me and I threw my phone across the apartment and it shattered against a far wall. I managed to salvage the SIM card so I am using an old phone that still kind of works until my new one gets in. T-Mobile, of course, did not have the cheap phone in stock. Since I have a temporary, I told them I would just wait. The phones on sale are always on back order. Bastards.

Globalization

Even as it proceeds with layoffs of up to 13,000 workers in Europe and the United States, I.B.M. plans to increase its payroll in India this year by more than 14,000 workers, according to an internal company document. Those numbers are telling evidence of the continuing globalization of work and the migration of some skilled jobs to low-wage countries like India. And I.B.M., the world's largest information technology company, is something of a corporate laboratory that highlights the trend. Its actions inform the worries and policy debate that surround the rise of a global labor force in science, engineering and other fields that require advanced education. To critics, I.B.M. is a leading example of the corporate strategy of shopping the globe for the cheapest labor in a single-minded pursuit of profits, to the detriment of wages, benefits and job security here and in other developed countries. The company announced last month that it would cut 10,000 to 13,000 jobs, about a quarter of them in the United States and the bulk of the rest in Western Europe. ... By one calculation, the cost of softening the blow might not be all that high. For every dollar invested offshore, American companies save 58 cents, McKinsey estimates. And 4 or 5 percent of those savings could pay for a theoretical wage insurance program that would cover 70 percent of the income lost between an old job and a new one, as well as subsidized health care coverage, McKinsey said. New York Times

I wonder if I will live long enough to hear "What happened?" from all those CEO types who are suddenly out of a job because no one actually works for them and the Chinese and Indians figured out they don't need Americans to do the work any more.

New Baby
Justin and Christina had their baby. This is from Justin.

Hey guys, not too much time here, but I wanted to let y'all know that we have a little baby boy!  He was 8lbs 6oz (BIG-ole head), born at 6:22AM on 6/22/05 after about 30 hours of labor (5 hours of stage 2, and about 1.5 of pushing!!!)  Christina was absolutely amazing!  I really can't express how well she did.  Needless to say we were all a little pooped, so today is about the first time we've all been very conscious.  Both he and she are doing great! Here are a few pictures!  Take care.

Excellent job guys. You both did good.

Blame

IT: Inventor of Proxy Firewall Blames Hackers Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday June 22, @09:57AM from the get-your-rage-out dept. An anonymous reader writes "SecurityFocus published an interview with Marcus Ranum, the inventor of the proxy firewall. It's an interesting reading, and the end is even better: Truly, the only people who deserve a complete helping of blame are the hackers. Let's not forget that they're the ones doing this to us. They're the ones who are annoying an entire planet. They're the ones who are costing us billions of dollars a year to secure our systems against them. They're the ones who place their desire for fun ahead of everyone on earth's desire for peace and the right to privacy." ( Read More... | 144 of 187 comments | it.slashdot.org )

Yes. I blame the burglers for locking my doors and windows at night. I blame uninsured motorists for my high premiums. I blame disconnected bureaucrats for my high taxes. I blame the shift to a service economy for the permanent loss of jobs in this country. Assigning the blame is only good if you use it to effect change. Honestly, I would rather some thirteen year old who only intends to spray paint his handle on the wall picks the lock and shows me how shitty the lock is, before some thief, or the hell-bent terrorist does it.

View

Nice. This is the view from a friend of mine's new house. Not too shabby. Click on the image for a larger view. The cool colors come from the plants down in Freeport. His wife took the picture and sent it to him at work, after he had left. I cropped the photo to make it look like a panorama.

DnD is this weekend. I have no idea what the quiz is over. I found out the scans are going to be graphics only so I cannot have the computer read it to me. One more time Kelly takes it in the ass for being blind.
I can't eat. For some reason I can eat a small lunch. I cannot eat dinner. It makes me sick. The last couple of nights I've been watching Nat and Elle eat and just nibbling. Nat is sick too. We are both at each other's throats.

I promise I will put more on here later.

Dirty diapers.
Not nearly enough sleep.
Helping others without being able to help yourself.
Lost time with friends.
Sometimes weekends suck.

Cool site of the day
These guys have cool costume costumes and armor. They look expensive to me, but I bet you can find what you are looking for there.

Remote Diagnostics
So, we called SBC to come fix the frigging phone. It turns out to that some one had multiple lines in that apartment before. We had to un-multi-line it. Ninety something bucks. Bastards. The line still sounds scratchy. Anyway, The DSL stopped working Nat says. "It worked for a minute after the guy left, then quit."
"That sounds funny." I say to myself. I make an attempt to long in using VNC. It works. I can get to all the computers, but I can't get from the computers back out onto the net. I can even hit my own web page where all my pictures are stored.. It looks like port 80 is blocked from the inside.
I asked Nat to reset the modem, but that didn't help. I asked her to reset the router, but it is behind a toolbox. The toolbox is not where I want it. We still have not finished unpacking, so everything is in disarray. Well, I attempt to log into the router via one of the other computers. It does not prompt me for the normal user name and password. Ah, It begins to make sense. The router really is dead. For some reason it is blocking port 80 on the inside of the network. Nat can't get behind the toolbox. It will have to wait until I get home to pull the plug.
The whole thing took like ten minutes.
Special thinks to Sylvia, my boss, for teaching me diagnostic skills. I use them on a daily basis.

Work Internet out
It is amazing. It really seams that I get more done when I have internet access at work. I've noticed I get depressed when I don't have a link. It also happens that I can't look things up easily. I needed to look a bunch of things up on MSDN and couldn't get the info I needed. My productivity suffered. It did come back on after a while. Those were a shaky fifteen minutes though.

Fit
I want to video Elle throwing a fit for future posterity. Some people think she is a saint all the time. She is very cute, but she is a terror when she wants to be. Shooting a video now will help me prove to a couple of people that she is indeed a two year old. It will also provide ammunition for her teenage years.

Elle at Bed Time
At first, Elle refused to sleep in her own room. There were a couple of sleepless nights. Then, I started laying down on the floor and waiting for her to go to sleep before sneaking out of the room. The last couple of nights I've just been holding the door shut while she throws a fit on the other side. She cries herself to sleep. It kills me, but this is something that I believe is needed for her to evolve into a full-blown human being. The first night she pulled on the door and cried for nearly an hour. Last night she pulled on the door once and cried for thirty minutes, and not nearly with as much vigor. Hopefully, that is a positive trend.
I sat her down and tried to explain to her that she had one chance to stay in bed. She blew it in one minute. She kicked off the covers and started throwing a fit before I even left the room. When she gets like that, she will not listen to reason. The only thing that really saves me in this situation is that Elle has NO patience. If she just stood there and made no noise, I would give up and she could sneak out later. Fortunately for me, she gives it 100% until she completely gives up and goes to bed.

My Name
Elle has a vocabulary of mostly vowels. She says my name as a short "e" (as in "red") followed by a long "e" (as in "sheep"). Lets say "e-ee". No consonants. At least, this is what Nat tells me. I can't tell the difference between the cat's name and her word for potty. The only thing I get 100% of the time is "BYE BYE!!" as she waves her hand at me. That means go away.

DnD
We might actually play again soon. YES!!! I can't wait. It looks like it will be the 25th of June. The emails keep bouncing around on dates and what kind of campaign to play. I'm not too picky.
There was this pirate thing that I voted against because I really don't like seagoing adventures. It is just too limiting. You have to specialize to be any good at sea stuff. I've heard many times that famous sailors could not swim. No DnD player would use a seafaring character that could not swim. These gamest engineers will take every rule in the books, all the supplemental rules, whatever they can find on the internet, and any thing any one ever said in an email and put it all down in the perfect balance of bent regulation to make the perfect tool of floating destruction imaginable. Except Brian. He would play an earth elemental with cursed boots of sinking on a sea voyage, just because it is funny.

Store Wars
As a friend of mine described this, "It is freaky funny."

Wedding
I just said something that I thought I would never say to another man. "OK, I'll email you those cloth patterns." Ken has volunteered to hunt down some patterns for the kilts. Actually, it is a Tartan. Yes, I'm sticking with Tartan.

The Patterns er Tartans
They look like crap shrunk down. Click on the image and they look a bit better.

Waiting (from work)
I'm at work. I'm worried about Nat. She is ill and doesn't want to go to the doctor. It is 7:18 in the morning and the doctor's office doesn't open until 8:00. I have to wait 42 minutes before I can call the doctor and make her an appointment. It kills me to try to get work done while trying to help her.

Appointment
Nat is worse than a guy when it comes to going to the doctor. We went to the doctor this afternoon and she has some kind of lung thing going on. She needed a chest X-ray. Elle was good for a while, but she needed her afternoon fit. I swayer the only thing you can do is just wait her out. She ended up sleeping in the middle of the noisy doctor's office. I do have snot all over my shoulders.

Joke
Shakespeare said "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" If you get them all at once, you could claim inadequate representation at the murder trial. hmmmmm.

Divide and Conquer
We have all these nukes that we have no intention of using. However, we don't want our enemies to know that. Our leaders should twitch and giggle when they mention nukes. Those who would do us harm should be scared shitless of our intention or willingness to use our arsenal. We should use the CIA to plant rumors that Syria is going to frame Iran and attack the US.
I can see it now. The next time there is a Middle East pow-wow where they normally bad-mouth America, the representative of Iran would step up to a podium and scream "We know what you are up too you sneaky bastards!" while looking straight at the Syrians. This would be in Arabic of course. If this happens, do you suppose the Iranians would still end their Parliamentary meetings by chanting "death to America, death to the Jews"?

Kilts
Wholly shit Kilts are pricey. I had no idea you could rent a kilt.

Family Crest
I cannot for the life of me figure out how to link straight to the pattern. A Tartan is a pattern that your clan uses on fabric. I don't have one directly, but the clan Guthrie is apparently attached to my last name. Natalie is looking all this stuff up for the wedding. I'm about to ware a kilt for my wedding. That is the coolest thing I've ever written. A kilt is more cool than armor. I can't wait to see Adam and Mike in a kilt.
Natalie keeps shoving stuff under my nose and asking me my opinion. I have tried to explain to her that I have no fucking idea what she is talking about. She needs to find a women who is interested in that kind of thing. I don't bather her with the latest computer crap. I don't ask her opinion on "Shelby Cobra, or Portia Spider?" Sometimes I think she forgets I'm a guy.
Anyway, the real Tartan stuff is freakishly expensive. We will have to make due with something from China. Well, aren't all textiles from China?

Day
Got up. Ate at KFC. Got Tried to get Elle to potty in the potty. Put Elle to bed. She has a coughing fit and wakes up. I put her back to bed. Nothing. I finally just give up. I don't care any more I need to learn to live without sleep. They get sleep when I go to work. I have to be alive for work. I can't take it any more. I don't know what to do.

Sick
Oy, I've been sick all day. Elle went to her grandfather's. Nat went out doing wedding stuff. I slept all day. I'm still sick. I'm going to get off here and try to get some more rest.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll try <cough> be sick next time.

Blackberry

Hardware: Blackberry Future Uncertain Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday June 10, @08:07AM from the up-in-the-air dept. Dave White writes "Research In Motion and NTP have failed to reach a settlement in the Blackberry case. It looks like the door has been opened for NTP to be granted an injunction blocking the sales of Blackberry wireless messaging devices in the US. The New York Times (free registration yadda yadda) has the scoop on this interesting development." ( Read More... | 52 of 73 comments | hardware.slashdot.org )

I have a couple of friends with Blackberries. No one is worried about this any more. There are tons of products to fill in the gap left by the disappearance of Blackberry now. It is unfortunate that a good, popular, and profitable product will be ripped from the consumer's hands because a couple of companies cannot agree on a settlement. They sound like a bunch of middle school kids fighting over a basketball. Then, no one gets to play.

Recipe from [censored]

I wanted to make some Blazing Sweet chicken and actually succeeded rather well.  The mix is rather disgusting & I figured Winslow would get it.  I mixed together ketchup, Tabasco, cholohala hot sauce, dab of strawberry jam, little oyster sauce and two packets of Arby's sauce. Yes, it WAS good.  I wasn't even drunk.

I mentioned eating chicken nuggets with chopsticks. She had done this the previous evening. I'm inspired. I'm going to have to try it.

Apple and Intel

Apple and Intel are merging. By Robert X. Cringely

Robert has some good incite in the above article. It would make a pretty good "fuck you" to Microsoft, thus, I'm all for it. IBM doesn't even use IBM chips in their consumer grade computers.
Top Ten Slogans for the new systems.
10 "You do not need Microsoft to get your stuff done. All you really need is caffeine."
09 "All the software and half the crashes of Windows."
08 "You don't want to spend time to learn OS-X? You don't know Windows worth a crap now."
07 "Standardized hardware and software means when it says Mac compatible, it really frigging works!"
06 "Porn works just fine on a Mac."
05 "Chicks dig Macs."
04 "Yes, your I-Pod will work just fine on a Mac."
03 "Macs are not just for goth seventh year communication majors any more."
02 "Macs use the same ones and zeros, just in a different order."
... and the number one Slogan.
01 "Fuck Microsoft!"

Yes, I wrote those.

Car Theme Today

Car Trouble

GM, the world's biggest auto maker followed by Toyota, lost $1.1 billion in the first quarter and is riding out its worst financial crisis in more than a decade. It has been closing and idling plants over the past four years and will have cut its annual North American assembly capacity to 5 million vehicles by the end of this year from 6 million in 2002. Meanwhile, top Japanese auto makers are adding jobs and assembly lines in North America to meet growing demand there, prompting executives, including Toyota President Fujio Cho, to dismiss concerns that their success would reignite a political backlash. CNN

Now that i have a monthly car payment, I am concerned to find GM loosing 25,000 jobs. As much as I want the U.S. car makers to succeed, I bought a Toyota because I believe in the manufacturer's quality a bit more than the competition. I know they are not perfect. The only real evidence are the anecdotes of my friends. That means a lot to me.

Car Chase

Traffic came to a standstill on the San Bernardino Freeway for more than four hours Tuesday during an armed standoff in Alhambra between law enforcement officers and a suspect they had chased more than 75 miles after a bungled kidnapping attempt in Ventura County. The televised standoff finally ended about 3:15 p.m., when a deputy shot the driver in the arm and chest, officers tossed a smoke grenade into his stalled minivan and a specially trained Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department dog dragged the struggling man from his vehicle. LA Times

Car chases are getting out of hand. I watched a CNN report on a car chase in California (I-10) involving a minivan and many police cars. The C. H. P. was patient and tried several times to stop the vehicle. They finally pinned the vehicle against a cement wall with huge armored SWAT vehicles. They took a poll and dropped a flash grenade with some teargass inside the van. The cops then sent in a police dog to grab hold of the suspect.
This jerk put untold numbers of lives at risk. He busted a U in the middle of the freeway. He nearly ran several cars off the road. I'm starting to think there needs to be a way to disable civilian cars from the helicopter.

Control

A 6-year-old girl darted into traffic to save a turtle and was killed when she was hit by a car, officials said. Emily Kent was riding with her mother Sunday when they spotted the turtle trying to cross busy U.S. 41. Geraldine Kent pulled over so they could help, and Emily jumped out as her mother screamed at her to wait, friends said. The first-grader was struck by a car and died of her injuries. No charges had been filed. CNN

Well, Geraldine, Are you ever going to pull over and help a fucking turtle again? If I were her, I would go out of my way to smoosh a couple of turtles. They don't say whether or not the turtle made it. I hope people understand that kids need discipline. Where are the child safety locks in this story?

Jen Rathbun Announcement

In case you don't get the MTM Armadillo eZine (and why don't you!) Jen's song Married, Buried or Gay is #1 on the Texas Top 40 list.  Wow, who'd a thunk it! You can get Jen's hit CD "Coffee, Chocolate & Men" with the top 40 song "Married, Buried or Gay" from My Texas Music. and don't forget to sign up for the MTM Armadillo eZine to keep up with the latest in Texas Music. Jen

How cool is that?!

Corolla
Nat and I are the proud owners of a 2005 Corolla. It is white with a sun roof. I paid a little too much and we were upside down on the trade in. That's OK, it is a good car so far as I can tell. Hopefully we will get some good time and miles out of it.

Elle
Sleep
Elle still didn't sleep through the night last night. Nat had to get up this time. I got up yesterday. I kind of lost it too because Elle didn't cry, she just sat there beating on the door and yelling at us. She has a talent for waking up thirty minutes before the alarm goes off. That is not very fair.
Getting Ready
Elle came in from her room this morning to ours. Nat was in the shower. Normally, Elle would blow a gasket and beat on the bathroom door and call her. This time she pointed at the door and said "mama?" I said "She is in the shower. She will be right out." Then Elle, seeing me putting my boots on, said "soos" meaning shoes, and walked back in to her room. She came out with her little glow in the dark sneakers. I was floored. Elle was ignoring the fact that Nat was in the shower and just getting ready. Finally, some progress. Don't tell
Elle I said that. =]
Balloon
While we were at the car  dealership, the sales rep got Elle a huge red balloon. Nat tied the balloon to Elle's wrist. A girl scout, Nat isn't. She was a boyscout. Someone make her blog about that. The balloon got away and gently floated toward the ceiling. Elle looked at Nat, then at me, always back at the balloon. She pointed and was about to say something when "BOOM!!!" The Balloon was over filled anyway. It floated into some kind of transformer box next to a light. This show room is huge and has kind of that echo cavern sound thing going on. For about five seconds after the balloon popped, the whole place was silent. We were very embarrassed. Elle let out that nervous "mom hold me" cry. I couldn't help but laugh. The resonance rounded for about two seconds. The pieces of the balloon hit the floor before the sound faded.

Idea
If I could nuke one city and only one city it would be Jerusalem. It is too important to too many people. OK, I didn't say it was a good idea.

I Learned
In Europe, they don't really believe in doggy-bags after a meal.

Joke

The questions below about Australia, are from potential visitors.They were posted on an Australian Tourism Website and the answers are the actual responses by the website officials, who obviously have a sense of humor. Q: Does it ever get windy in Australia? I have never seen it rain on TV,  how do the plants grow? (UK). A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die. Q: Will I be able to see kangaroos in the street? (USA) A: Depends how much you've been drinking. Q: I want to walk from Perth to Sydney - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden) A: Sure, it's only three thousand miles, take lots of water. Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Australia? (Sweden) A: So it's true what they say about Swedes. Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Australia? Can you send me a list of them in Brisbane, Cairns, Towns ville and Hervey Bay? (UK) A: What did your last slave die of? Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Australia?(USA) A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe.Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific which does not... oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Kings Cross. Come naked. Q: Which direction is North in Australia? (USA) A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions. Q: Can I bring cutlery into Australia? (UK) A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do. Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA) A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Kings Cross, straight after the hippo races. Come naked. Q: Can I wear high heels in Australia? ( UK) A: You are a British politician, right? Q: Are there supermarkets in Sydney and is milk available all year round? (Germany) A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of vegan hunter/gatherers.Milk is illegal. Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Australia who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA) A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca which is where YOU come from. All Australian snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets. Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Australia, but I forge tits name. It's a kind of bear and lives in trees. (USA) A: It's called a Drop Bear. They are so called because they drop out of Gum trees and eat the brains of anyone walking underneath them.You can scare them off by spraying yourself with human urine before you gout walking. Q: Do you have perfume in Australia? (France) A: No, WE don't stink. Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth.Can you tell me where I can sell it in Australia? (USA) A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather. Q: Can you tell me the regions in Tasmania where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy) A: Yes, gay nightclubs. Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Australia? (France) A: Only at Christmas. Q: I was in Australia in 1969 on R+R, and I want to contact the girl I dated while I was staying in Kings Cross. Can you help? (USA) A: Yes, and you will still have to pay her by the hour. Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? (USA) A: Yes, but you'll have to learn it first

Anna sent me this. I hope It isn't a repeat. I have no idea where this originated, or how accurate anything may be.

Shrimp
I don't like shrimp. I don't like the taste. I don't like the places they are harvested. I don't like the chemicals in them. I don't get why people go ga-ga over shrimp. The first guy who ate a shrimp had a bad day fishing. I've had good shrimp. I went to Taste of Texas many moons ago and they had bacon wrapped shrimp. The sauce to dip them in was butter based. The batter that covered them was delicious. They were smothered in cheese. I'm only surprised they had room for the shrimp.
I read somewhere that many moons ago, lobster was originally trash-food. They used to make prisoners cook and eat their own lobster because there was no market for it. I don't know how true that is.

Asshole!

A community college professor has been charged with using his students' names and Social Security numbers to obtain department store credit cards. Bradley Neil Slosberg, 49, of Winter Haven, was arrested Friday on charges of criminal use of personal identification and scheming to defraud, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said. Slosberg and his girlfriend, Deborah Hafner, stole the identities of at least three of the students from his anatomy and physiology class at Polk Community College, sheriff's office spokeswoman Carrie Rodgers said. Hafner, 45, filled out the credit card applications and committed the forgeries, Rodgers said. She was charged with two counts of forgery and one count each of criminal use of personal identification and scheming to defraud. The couple could not be reached for comment early Monday. Slosberg had asked his students to write their names and Social Security numbers on a sign-in sheet, students said. "We all signed it," Amanda Bracewell said. "We figured, 'He's a teacher, what is he going to do with it?"' CNN

There should be a law against abusing trust. You get a brand across your forehead. Any one who trusts you again gets the same brand. Wasn't that an Outer Limits?

Education
Something I learned today; The density of mercury is 13,579 kg/m^3. The density of water is 1000 kg/m^3. Thus, mercury is 13.579 times more dense than water. Hence, the reason it is used in gravity switches.
Don't ask.

Ford Escort
The estimated trade in value for our car is $1470. I doubt we can get that. That is about $100 more than the last repair on it. I'm going to call the fly-by-night auto place she financed it through and find out how much she paid on it.tomorrow and find out how much Nat owes on the car. I bet it is in the neighborhood of $3500 or so. Yes, that right. We owe a fortune on a worthless car. The whole deal makes me sick. I've been so very blessed up to now for not having to deal with automobiles. The cost too much. They are dirty. They fall apart. They are a drag on society. I wish I could live without them.

Yesterday
Missed the blog yesterday. We took the car to "My Mechanic" for a break check and a look at the power steering. We rented a Toyota Corolla from a Toyota dealership. The mechanic's shop has a discount from that place. They came and got us. When we turn the car in, we can just leave the keys with the mechanic. Nice deal really. We ended up with a Corolla (LE I believe). Nat seems to like it. I love the idea of a Toyota. I want the four cylinder because every one I know who has had a four cylinder Toyota vehicle either sold it for a great price, or got ten years out of it.

Colonel Tim Collins Speech
Wow. I read this speech and I'm glad I voted for Bush. It is published all over the internet, so I will not quote it here. It is an inspiring quick read.
He isn't too pleased with his treatment in the army after this speech.

Date Format
I had someone complain about the date format that I use. I have set my systems (most of them anyway) to use the following format of time and date.
2005-06-03 06:15
or
2005-06-03_17-19
This is because even a text based sort will sort the date and time properly. When I write it out, I'll use an under bar between the date and time. I'll use a dash between minutes and seconds. Filenames are the big use for this system. I know files have a created, modified, and accessed date, but this is the date I want associated with the file.

You scored as Loner. Goth 75% Loner 75% Geek 44% Punk/Rebel 38% Stoner 38% Ghetto gangsta 25% Drama nerd 25% Prep/Jock/Cheerleader 13% What's Your High School Stereotype? created with QuizFarm.com

Eye Color

H E T E R O C H R O M I A by Bill_Lloyd_MD, on 5/4/2005 12:16:15 AM Welcome to our WebMD community. There are a wide variety of iris colors (tan, gray, green, blue, brown), but all of them rely on the brown pigment MELANIN for their color. How can that be? The iris tissue is home to a special cell called the MELANOCYTE. These cells produce and release melanin granules. On average, all humans have the same number of melanocytes, but we differ in the amount of melanin produced. Next we need to consider the Tindall effect. Look at the underside of your wrist. Do you see the prominent blue veins? But wait! You and I know the blood inside those veins is deep RED, not blue. If you don't believe this you'll just have to trust me...I'm a doctor. Venous blood APPEARS blue because of the Tindall effect. When visible light strikes your skin the melanin absorbs certain colors, transmits other colors, and reflects what's left over. The BLUE represents reflected visible light due to the Tindall effect. Now, back to the eyeball. The melanin in the iris has a similar effect. If there is lots of pigment granules the iris will appear dark brown. As the amount lessens, so will the color intensity. Brown – Hazel – Green – Blue – Grey – Pink (albinos...no pigment!) When the color of the iris changes (in part or totally) we call that HETEROCHROMIA. Heterochromia can be congenital or acquired later in life. Most causes have no genetic predisposition. Causes include faulty development, inflammation, hemorrhage, foreign bodies, medications, or excess pigment production. One more thing, an infant's eye color will change (darken) over the first 3-6 months of life. Adults who take the glaucoma eyedrop Xalatan (Latanaprost) may also experience darkening of eye color. WebMD hopes you have found this information useful. Come visit us often. WebMD

Thanks to Linda for the tip of searching WebMD. This wasn't up on the blog for two hours before someone had the right idea. I feel much better now.
Check out this poor schmuck (just kidding).

by neenuvar, on 5/26/2005 7:26:57 PM I have a question about my eye color. For the longest time I don't know what to put as my eye color on ID applications. When I was younger my eyes were always blue. I was the only one in the family to have blue eyes that anyone knew of. I know eyes change color after puberty, but mine always change color. Throughout the day my eyes can change from a series of different colors. It will be blue one minute, then green, then purple. I only noticed when people have approached me and complimented me on my eye color, of which was different each time. I noticed that sometimes they will change according to wardrobe or mood. Usually blue when I'm sad, green when I'm happy and then sometimes a mix. The thing is that its not a greenish blue, its either very blue or very green or very other colors. Its has never gotten to brown yet. For a week now it has settled into a mixed array of colors, one eye is mostly blue and green and the other is green, blue, purple and a few other colors. My friends think its awesome but I want to know if there is a reason for this, or its just a random occurrence. Thank you. WebMD

Debs
The first forty five minutes of Debs were pretty good. Then it turned sappy, while simultaneously sucking. The director was obviously pressured to "make a statement" instead of a good movie. Go rent Tank Girl instead.

Deep Throat

Now obviously, just because Mark Felt leaked to Woodstein about the crimes of Watergate doesn't justify the explosion of anonymous sources these days, nor the media's willingness to protect those with partisan agendas, nor does it mean that leaked stories are always accurate. But it drives home the point that for all the abuse and overuse of sources these days, there's a reason that some people won't talk to reporters with their names attached, and sometimes that is the only way for the press to blow the whistle on wrongdoing. Why did Woodward and Bernstein wait most of the day to confirm that Felt was the real-life version of Hal Holbrook? Sure, both reporters and Ben Bradlee took a pledge to honor the confidentiality agreement until Deep Throat's death. But a source coming forward and naming himself releases the journalist from the promise of confidentiality. In the end, it's hard to escape the irony that Vanity Fair beat The Post on the secret Woodward had kept for more than 30 years. Washington Post

I wish he had kept his mouth shut in the first place. Now, not only is governing more difficult, but no one trusts any one any more. He should have come forward in the first place if he was so goddamn worried about the condition of the world.

Eyes
For some reason my eyes have darkened. Normally, my eyes are a medium hazel. Nat mentioned last night that they looked darker than normal. I just looked in the mirror and noticed they do in fact look dark brown with just a hint of green. Is this a symptom of something? I've tried to go over what I've eaten lately and there is nothing far out of the usual. It must be a sign of lack of sleep. I've tried to Google a bunch of key words including "darkening eyes" as a symptom and gotten nowhere. I come up with literary references more than medical information. Is there a medical symptom search engine?

Credit Reports
Starting Today, you can get one free credit report per year from each credit report company. Start here for more info.
This is the email a friend sent.

Texans become eligible for free credit reports Starting Wednesday, each Texan will be eligible to receive a free credit report once a year from the country's three major consumer reporting companies. Thanks to a change in federal law passed last year, consumers can request a report from Equifax Inc., Experian Information Solutions Inc and Trans Union LLC which sell credit information to creditors, insurers and employers. The credit histories include information on where consumers live, how they pay bills, whether they have filed for bankruptcy, and whether they have been sued or arrested. Rights to the free reports were issued in phases nationally to help ease demand. Texas and other Southern states will join Western and Midwestern consumers who already have had access to their credit reports. Eastern states and U.S. territories will be eligible Sept. 1. "If you have ever taken out a loan to buy a car or a house, you know firsthand about the importance of making sure your report is accurate," says U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. "Someone else's mistake shouldn't cost you money." For more information, visit www.annualcreditreport.com.

Back
My back feels much better. Thank you for reading. The stages my back went through are below.
* Twinge while picking Elle up during a fit.
* Building agony during movement over two days.
* Locking up after laying on the floor putting Elle to sleep. Extremely painful.
* Return to the agony during movement and bending. using drugs to compensate. Lasts about four days.
* Dull ache for a day and a half. Again attacking with Aleve.
* Slight stiffness. I can remember it was there. Some movement produces a bit of a reminder that I need to keep my back straight.
Several of these symptoms overlapped. I'm not sure how long the whole thing has lasted. I'm still not quite over the experience.