MP3 Editor
I found a program called AudaCity that has done pretty well so far editing my MP3 files. When you obtain these things, sometimes they have problems. This thing fixes them pretty well.
You need the Lame_enc.dll to save MP3 format. This is the problem with open source. They can't include it because of distribution rights. They make it easy enough to install though.
Some dope out there thinks it is better to record one long MP3 instead of breaking things up into manageable pieces. This software makes it easy to highlight chunks and save as MP3. This would work well for converting old tapes or even (heaven forbid) records, if you are in to that sort of thing.

MP3 Player
I received my MP3 player today. It has been charging for a couple of hours. This one was recommended by only a couple of people. There are so many "iPod Killers" out there now, that it is difficult to tell them apart. I haven't thought of many new requirements for the ultimate personal device.
I'm having some trouble getting my old MP3 DVD to read. Most of the MP3's I've acquired over the years are burned to data CDs. I recently burned a data DVD and it has some trouble reading. I hope it is not corrupt. The copy faze is going to take longer than I thought. I don't really have an index of my stuff, so I just have to go digging. You can only really copy one thing off a CD or DVD at a time because the head has to jump from one spot to the other. That operation is extremely time consuming on a CD or DVD drive.
Lets see, how many MP3s do I have.70 data CDs and one data DVD. Lets say that those CDs are about 85% full. (750 * .85) * 70 + (4.3 * 85) = 44 990.5 gigabytes. That is not nearly as many as I thought. I'm only putting  I'll be able to go through my whole collection.

Poker
We are going to try again this Sunday. This one is a cheaper game, so I should only be out a couple of bucks for a fun time.

God Kills
This comment (from samizdata.net) makes an interesting extension of how candles may lead to lung cancer via churches. You know Europe is on the way to making tobacco illegal. They ban smoking everywhere. They are talking about making fatty foods illegal in the States. It is never going to end. As long as there are new politicians or news correspondents who need a cause, something has to be the top story.
Politicians need crusades to fight for. They need the voters to be just pissed about something to vote for them.
News people need news. There is not always a plane crash to cover. They want you to be just mad enough to keep watching.
What is the answer? Talk to people around you. Talk to your family. Turn off the TV. Find a pen pal in another country. Don't be afraid to say something every now and then.

Addictive Behavior
This article scares me. I remember a few years ago at my day job some people were passing some pornographic images around through email.. They got busted and many of them got fired over the incidents. Some people who had very long histories with the company were allowed to stay with the company with a promis to stop. They did not stop. They just tried to hide it better. They sued the company and ended up getting their jobs back, sort of. I bet their argument had something to do with the addictive nature of pornography.
I remember sitting in some one's office/cube talking about why someone would keep doing the transfers via email even after they had been caught. I told this coworker that I thought it was because porn is addictive.

News
Who's Next?
Between North Korea, Pakistan, Iran and the U.S.  selling all kins of bad stuff all over the world, this whole axis of evil thing is more or less true. I'm sure Russia and China are not far behind. Hell, France sells jets to African nations. If memory serves those jets France blew up in the Ivory Coast last month were French made.
Some Good News
A Polish woman was freed after being held in Iraq for a while. I guess you can't make any Polish jokes about freeing hostages.
Contractors Die in Iraq
Wow, allot of contractors have been killed and injured in Iraq. I had no idea. (from IntelDump). I know at my company contractors are teated a bit like they just don't count. We do much of the same work and have no benefits. I wonder how many direct employees of those companies have been killed or injured. Or, is the term contractor being used differently here? I may just need to get my terms straight.
Scramjet
Scram Jet Test is successful. It is basically a high speed ramjet (the f-16 has a ramjet design). I thought scramjets were invented in the 60s. I've looked around and it looks like the ramjet was invented in 1913. The scramjet seems to be considered a variant on that design and there is not much of a line drawn between the development of both.

War Blogs
I'm really getting into reading blogs. I've found several that are political and military in nature. The Belmont Club gives a definition of aware crime. Later there is a great description of battle tactics used in Grozeny last decade against the Russians and how similar tactics have been used against us in Falluja these last few weeks.
The blog-sphere is very full of itself lately. Bloggers are proud of a couple of good catches. They are only humans and are just as fallible as MSM (Main stream Media).

Tom DeLay
I voted against this guy. He is as crooked as a cornered snake. Now congress changed the rules to protect him. That makes me ill.

Jordy Glasses
I've been thinking about building a pare of glasses with a camera and display like this for years. I may have to check these guys out. The product that might work best for me is the Jordy Glasses. Pretty cool stuff. This will fall far short of letting me drive. Honestly, that is the biggest shortcoming to my situation. If I lived in New York (blech) I would not perceive it as a problem.
I'll tell you what I really need. I need a car that drives itself. I want to sleep on the way to work. I want people in the front to face the people in the back. I want there not to be any windows (or they are opaque most of the time) so there is no reason to flip people off. I want to play video games while I am on my way to and from aunt what's her names place. I want to watch satellite TV whirl traveling across the country. I want people who cannot stop drinking and driving to have the wheel removed from their car so they cannot endanger my life.

Oil for Food
I remember people complaining about Iraq getting money for oil during the embargo. Now they are after a French bank, among many others, for laundering money for Iraq under the cloak of humanitarian aid. This really makes me sick. I knew it was a mistake letting Iraq export any oil. It sounds like more money went into the hands of Saddam and Al Quida than the Iraqi people. I blame the bleeding heart liberals in both the U. S. and Europe.

Unusually High Volume
Every time I call the help desk at my office, I get "all agents are busy" and a note about how some exchange server has crashed. It is always an exchange server. Our company runs on email. If something happened to email the U. S. economy would collapse. Anyway, I have to call in and up the priority on the ticket to fix the server. They hate that. I've had a license server with problems since yesterday and I cannot get any help from them. We call it 1-800-No-Help. I had to listen to crappy light rock and the same help messages over and over and over and over. There was a company that had interesting random facts on their hold lines. People griped when they got a human because they were waiting for the answers to the trivia.

400GB
Nice. I've sworn my next computer will have 2 gigabyte of ram and as much hard drive space as I can stuff in the box. Of course, I've also said I'm going to get one of those portable desktops. The truth is, I may not buy another box like I have before. I may stick to portable computers and left over / second hand desktops for servers.

Telling Picture

Things that jumped out at me with this photo.

• They are only waring kneepads on their right knees.
• The guy on the right is a sniper. That is a semi-auto sniper rifle with a specialized scope.
  
• The sniper is waring elbow pads as well.
• The Hummer is armored. Look at the doors (that louver look on the back door) and the thickness of the roof panel.
• The little tower just behind the sniper's head is the snorkel kit for the Hummer. Which means, it can drive through waist deep water (up to the windshield) without too much trouble.

Joke
To impress a woman:
Wine her. 
Dine her. 
Call her. 
Hold her. 
Surprise her. 
Compliment her.  
Smile at her. 
Listen to her. 
Laugh with her. 
Cry with her. 
Romance  her.
Encourage her. 
Believe in her. 
Pray with her. 
Pray for her. 
Cuddle  with her. 
Shop with her. 
Give her jewelry. 
Buy her flowers. 
Hold her hand.
Write love letters to her.
Go to the ends of the earth and back again for  her. <>

To impress a man:
Show up naked.
Bring chicken wings.
Don't block the TV

Christmas
I haven't decided what to do about Christmas. I don't know what to get any one, or if I'm going to get anything. Christmas i a fun time for kids. I'm 35. I'm old. I'm tired of worrying about it. Lets go to mass and have done with it.
Then I think about all the fun we had a couple of years ago. My parents and I said it was going to be a lean year. I bought them a play station and a remote control truck. They loved it. My mom to this day chases the dogs around with the truck. The dogs are smaller than the RC. I'm not sure what is going to happen this year. The earlier they start playing Christmas music and putting up Christmas decorations, the more anti-commercial I become. Thanksgiving is next week. I've already become sick of the whole Wal-Mart Christmas world. Hopefully I can pull myself out of it.

Language
I agree with this language expert. The English language is falling apart because of managers and people trying to sound committed when they are actually saying nothing.

Warp Drive
Sometimes the internet has too many answers. Sometime this afternoon I wanted to sit down and figure out how long it would take for Voyager to get home. I thought for sure they did something screwy with the math I plunked a couple of search words into Google and behold, some one had not only done the math, but made tables and fully explained and contrasted the different series math. It was a bit anticlimactic. It looks like this is the math they based the series on alright. Ill have to figure out a more obscure thing to ponder.


Childhood Memories

How much of my childhood did I spend playing with these cars?

Data
Let's see, 75 CDs with about 100 songs on each is 7500 songs. If you throw in the couple of data DVDs with seven times that many songs per disk, we are looking at 10000 or so songs. Well, that is nothing. The person in this article is going overboard. He wants to have a copy of every song ever recorded. I didn't catch how he keeps track of the songs. I can't get to the text because it is being slashdoted.

Song

Artist:	Blondie [ Search RP ]
Song:	Rapture
Album:	The Best of Blondie [ Search RP ]

Me
I've given up. I mean it this time. I've come to the conclusion that there is no point in wishing for happiness. I'm thirty five. That is the age where most people trade in their dreams for security. I'm trading in for some quiet. I've said in the past that I'm tired of hearing myself complain. Here I go again. It is far more frustrating on my end. In the last couple of days I've come to the realization that I should stop wanting happiness. A mate will not make me happy. Several people have told me that. Mom, stop asking me about grandkids. Friends, don't ask me about my love life. For God's sake, don't talk to me about sex or love or relationships. I'm done with it. I am a non sexual being. I am here for the ride. From this point on, I'm running out the clock.
I quit.

OUCH!!

Song

Artist:	Heather Nova [ Search RP ]
Song:	Walk This World
Album:	Oyster [ Search RP ]

Poler
Well, that was fast. Never mind the poker. Someone died and someone canceled. It is complicated. No poker. I shaved my head and everything. I'm going to order some Chinese and keep blogging I suppose.

TV
I forgot how bad the dubbing is on TV. I'm watching Die Hard 2 on regular TV and they masked the bad words and hack the movie to pieces to try and cut language and violence. No wonder I haven't been watching in a while.
I also caught a news story about poker. Since ESPN has put poker tournaments on TV people have been playing more. They interviewed some high school kids only to find they play for money. I remember playing cards in school. Never for more than a couple of bucks. It is just good timing that this story came on during the time I was supposed to be playing myself.

Poker
I'm off to play poker in a bit. That is, if we can find the other two people who said they want to play. This is a different set of people than last time. We are doing smaller anty stuff. It should be fun. I hope we order some greasy food that is really bad for you.  Fifteen times, I' said to myself that I don't want to go. I seem to be afraid of social stuff these days. Well, I have been for years. I'm going if it kills me. I hope that isn't ironic in the end.

No!
Schwarzenegger wants to be president. I'm not sure I like the idea. All the war movies and shitty strong man movies will not convince me he is any good at running a country.

Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart holds the most Information about it's customers, and employees. According to this article, twice as much data as the entire internet. I doubt that. I don't know what they are counting as data.
One thing I learned in the article. The number one selling item during the last couple of hurricanes that hit Florida was beer, not batteries. The number two item was Pop-Tarts.
<2004-11-14 16:00>
Yikes, I posted this before slashdot did. Creepy.

Mobile Phone Projector

Well, they have red, now they need green and blue. Check out the cool laser projection display these Germans came up with. There are a million uses for this. I wonder if I should ad this to my PDA wish list below. Here is a Google translation of the original site. This little invention really has potential. While I was first reading the SlashDot article, I pictured line drawings and solid levels of  gray, er, red. I didn't catch what the power consumption is, but this little puppy has got to make it. I want this one to work. Motorola, get on the bandwagon! I'm telling you, this is the worst time in history to buy a new mobile phone. There are too many cool inventions that are just one hair's breath away from our pockets.

Really Reality TV
The BBC reports on a new reality TV show that makes some sense. This show rebuilds homes destroyed during the war. I'm not sure how, but people are selected and their homes that have been completely destroyed are rebuilt. It might boil down to who has the best sob story reading the one example they give in the article. I may have to stop putting the whole genera of reality TV down. Na!

MP3 Player
I just ordered an MP3 player. This one does all the things I wanted a couple of weeks ago. Some new parameters have come up. While doing research, I figured out that many of the next generation media players will play videos and, perhaps, play satellite radio. Now, if they also had built in phones and did what some of the palm and other devices do, then they would be the ultimate hand held device.
I've compiled a list of features that i want in my next all-in-one personal communications/media device.

• Full featured mobile phone that actually works.
• Net surfing.
• Address book and personnel data retention.
• Play media including audio video and whatever new stuff pops up.
• Receive all forms of TV and radio  transmission including satellite.
• Interface with existing computer networks.
• Allow easy fast friendly input through voice tactile and motion sensors.
• Talk to me if I desire so I can do other things wile using it.
• Hold computer information I may need (external drive).
• Take high resolution images and video.
  
• Communicate wirelessly with other similar devices and hubs.
• Play games (including online and over the wireless network).
• Have a power source that lasts weeks on a charge.
• Have a Lo-Jack type system and be secure enough for every day use.
• Fit in my pocket and be both shock and water proof.

This isn't too much to ask, I'm sure. This list keeps growing. I'm quite sure you will get another idea from me in the weeks to come. As I look at my phone, palm and this new MP3 player, I will note all failings and revise my requirements. Any one have suggestions?

White Bread
On my way home yesterday I figured I should stop and get some food for the weekend. Normally, I blow it off and just order some pizza or something, but it was a nice chilly day yesterday and I would almost enjoy waiting on the bus. I stop at my local grocery store and begin tossing a few odd foods into my basket. I use the carry kind of basket because I only want to get enough stuff to carry home on the bus. I grabbed some green bananas. I got cereal, some cans of soup, hot dogs, lunch meat, and some store brand mac-and-cheese (with real cheese).  Typically, the last thing I grab is bread. That way it is on top and less likely to get smooshed.
I walk slowly up and down the wall of bread. I start pacing faster and faster and grunting in disbelief. All the bread is something special now. There are fifteen kinds of wheat bread. There are nine kinds of white bread, half of which are some kind of wheat. The loaves that say white bread don't look white. I say to myself out loud (really too loud to be just to me) "Is there no ^white^ bread in this country any more." Just as I was about to embark on a rant to no one on the liberal infection taking over the food industry, this little old lady standing a few feet away stops and says "Oh, honey, you want this stuff." She points at the bottom shelf. The loaf says "enriched white bread." I thank her and say "This sounds like the stuff I was looking for." Oh, baby this stuff is great. It reminds me of the sandwiches momma used to make. I'm about to embark on a toast making adventure with my new, fresh, enriched white bread.

Arafat's Funeral
I'm listening to the funeral of Arafat on the BBC. Live commentary is broken only by gunfire from the crowd. People are standing around shooting AK-47s in the air in celebration. The militants are running around in jackets and those table cloth head scarves Arafat liked so much. The helicopters circled a couple of times before landing. I bet they didn't like the look of the crowd. The body is stuck on one of the helicopters. The crowd rushed up and surrounded the landing zone.
The commentator is ducking. It's terrible. I can hear him duck when automatic fire cracks off near him. He describes the people around him as jubilant. They don't seem to care about the gunfire all around them.
The car is having to plow through the crowd to get to the aircraft. It has to push people out of the way. The commentator is still surrounded by automatic weapons fire. People are trying to touch the coffin. The people carrying the coffin are being blocked by the crowd. People are climbing on top of the coffin. The Egyptian helicopters are unable to take off for several minutes. The commentator calls the situation chaos. He has lost sight of the coffin. There are ambulances trying to make their way in the compound.
There are comments coming into the news studio saying the Ayatollah's funeral was like this.

Dear Dogbert
A friend of mine sent me this in email. I can't find the original link on Dilbert. (I didn't look very hard.)

Dear Dogbert,

Lots of people write blogs, but I've never heard of anyone who actually reads them. What's up with that?

Kurt


Dear Skirt,

Blogs exist to fill the important market niche of writing that is so dull that your eyes will burrow out of the back of your head to escape. People do read blogs, usually by accident, sometimes on a dare, but those readers are later mistaken for Mafia victims with what appears to be two holes in the back of their heads. On closer inspection, you might find their eyeballs clinging to the drapes directly behind them. Unless the cat gets them first.

Sincerely,

Dogbert

Next Topic
The golden rule. The one with the gold makes the rules.
Law of supply and demand. The one with all the supply, can demand whatever the fuck they want.

Time Tracking
I've had a requested to track my time at work. I complained about it in an earlier post. I'm looking at my Outlook calender. It is amazing how many things double up on my time. I have multiple entries for several swaths of time throughout my week. I feel like Hermione Granger in book three.  Who says there is no such thing as time travel.
Last year I had a person schedule a meeting for several Fridays in a row on something that was complicated and involved thought. I have since scheduled an LMA meeting every Friday for the last hour of the day in my Outlook calender. (LMA: Leave Me Alone)  I think I need to do the same thing for the first hour of Monday. I've heard of some one scheduling early morning meetings on Monday.
That is still not as bad as a buddy's wife who has to call in at 2:00 AM because the meetings are in Europe. Screw that.

Song

Artist:	Lush [ Search RP ]
Song:	Undertow
Album:	Split [ Search RP ]

TV-Night
My friends have TV-Night on some Thursdays. It's fun. Tonight was not TV-Night. My friend's TV is on the fritz. I'm at home reading blogs and watching Star Trek Voyager.

Arafat
Arafat is dead. One of the blogs I read said "France says Arafat's condition has improved. He is dead." He is yet hated by many. I have to say, I believe he is a murderer and stole far more from the Palestinian people than all their enemies combined.  His wife is self centered and those who surrounded him at his death bed's side were far more interested in knowing where the money went than easing his passing. Now the vultures dissect the power that was Arafat. Even some Palestinian people say the road to peace can now continue. Every thing I've read says "He was a great voice for his people, but he was in the way of progress." I remember thinking years ago, when Arafat was first pinned in his compound, they are just going to wait until he dies. They are not going to do anything about this despot. I remember thinking the same thing about Saddam Husein. Thank God he is not still in power. Neither of these evil men wield control over armed men any more.

Spam
Tracking doesn't work. Tracking is tracking down people who have written virus programs or who issue spam emails. Someone just got nine years for an email scam. That is the exception. I don't think it is a deterrent because the money is still there. It is the same as illegal drugs. If the money disappears the crime will dry up.
Filters don't work. For every filter you try to implement, the spammers have seven ways around it. I've heard one of the spam filters grabs emails that don't have any real words in the subject.
Now, you can get infected with a virus from clicking on a URL in an email. It used to be, you had to open an attachment. I've noticed the nasty trend of these virus writers getting smarter and sneakier. There is more than bragging rights involved these days. Computer virus are big business. They make money by sticking spyware on your computer or taking over the operating system to infect other computers. The way spyware makes money is by tracking your movements and selling your habits to advertisers or by using the data collected to steel from you or your company.
I've only found one filter that seems to work.I use Gmail and there is a community of people out there marking email as spam. As a bunch of people mark the email as spam, Gmail starts pulling the emails into people's spam folders.

Theory of Everything
If I'm at the origin, and the furthest known (known: piece of knowledge of any sort) is at point 1. Then is there anything at point 2? The moment you know something is at point 2, it becomes point 1.
Will there always be something at point 2? Was there always something at point 2?
String Theory: More complex bullshit spouted by physicists who really won't admit they have no idea what is going on at the sub atomic level. Basically, String Theory says once you delve below protons, electrons, and  neutrons, you run smack into all of these little funny subatomic particles that have been given all kinds of cool names like B1 and B2 ... Those particles are actually gas-zillions of these tinny vibrating strings. The strings aren't made of anything. They just "are". Actually, they are little bits of torn reality or poly-dimensional-intersections. Some say for Strings to exist, there must be 6 hidden dimensions, or was it 29, or was it an infinite number? The strings don't really exist themselves. They are manifestations. Perhaps they are just the overlap of these many dimensions. The strings change shape or rate of vibration and they, in tandem, become different forms of matter or energy. As they change shape or rate of vibration, they give off electromagnetic energy, or the emit gravity, or the strong or weak force.
This all boils down to the simple fact that science cannot tell us what gravity is. It drives scientists nuts. It makes me laugh. We cannot say what holds us down. What holds the planet and sun together in a dance through the galaxy. That is the target of all of this. I wonder if I'll know in my lifetime. If you have ever dropped a bolling ball on your toe, you know about as much about gravity as any of the smartest people on Earth. Well, OK, knowing more would probably not help your game.

Media Player
I'm in the market for a new MP3 player. The trouble is, they do more than play music now. Some of them play videos. Most of them act like hard drives. It is a bad time to want one of these things. Next week some one will come out with the all in one doo-hickey that is a phone, plays music and videos, plays radio and TV, receives satellite TV and radio, acts like a palm device, has GPS, and lets you really surf the Internet for $39.95. I just know this is going to happen to me. I can feel it. Someone please tell me which one to get.

Office
some one commented on the MS Office post below. They recommend Word Perfect Office. I'm not so sure. At home, I use Open Office. It is free and works extremely well. I haven't upgraded in a long time. There is another called EZ Office. It is designed for Windows only. It appears to have gone from the scene. Star Office is basically Open Office. Sun has donated allot to the project. To each their own, but MS Office sucks.

Word
Microsoft loves their word processor. For years MS has been telling people who are trying to come up with a generic document format to go jump in a lake. Word for years has been deliberately incompatible with the formats that have come out. Why should MS change things while they are on top? Well, HTML, the language of the Internet, is part of this larger generic document language standard. XML, the data language is also a subset of the same standard. These and many other forms of communication came about despite Microsoft's efforts. Much of the innovation that we call the Internet came to be in the face of lawsuits and software patents that attempted to sop it? If MS had it's way, we would still be faxing word documents back and forth. MS seems to fight every new thing that comes along. They buy companies that do something new and act like they invented it first. I really want to see Microsoft fall. The trouble is, it will be by a foreign entity. There is no U. S. company that can stand up to them on their own turf.

Falluja
The New York Times has a great article on the fighting in Falluja. The best feature is the list of pictures. They have slide shows (on the right hand side) of both fighting sides. Some of the rhetoric between the soldiers is interesting as well. All those scary things you've seen in SciFi movies about soldiers having an unfair advantage with night vision and the ability to sand off for kilometers and destroy the enemy without them knowing are coming true.

Ivory Cost
It looks like the French are getting a taste of modern war. First I suppose we must define modern war. I define modern war as a technical impossibility You are not allowed to conquer a country or people to sort out the trouble makers. You must somehow single out only those who wish you harm and only after they have done you harm. You are not allowed to take any casualties. There can be now collateral damage, and no one is aloud to admit you are there to kill people.
France is in the Ivory Cost  Here is the scenario as I gather it. The official government is trying to put down a rebellion with force. The people are pissed because, well, they are the rebels. Their families are the ones getting killed. They hold protests, then throw rocks, then attack out-write French soldiers as they go about their daily business. The French are sending in more troupes. The local government is backing off a bit. It is the same old story. It is a domestic fight. As soon as the cops show up both sides turn on the cops (in this case , the French). Isn't this how Vietnam started?

Dungeons and Dragons
We played DnD again yesterday. Some of our player friends were not there. We had fun to be sure, but it wasn't the same group. The more business like group was there.
I missed Chris' left turns. He likes to play party-line characters, but he is so innovative so as to appear chaotic. He really is the mad scientist of the group.
I miss the whorl-wind that surrounds Sarah's character and her world. She reminds me of the torrent that runs through my head. Always turning and jutting off in it's own direction.
I miss Ken. Ken is the brain. He is the adviser behind the king.
The ones who showed all have their traits that make them unique.
Ethan is a Force Recon, soldier of all duties.
Brian is the chaotic entity, who always ends up fighting for the better of the group.
Alexis is the loner. She causes trouble for the group, or is it adventure? We wouldn't have it any other way.
Bryan is the essence of order and lawful acts. He is far to good at playing the "for us or against us", but it makes the game interesting.
Adam is insane. He is the perfect chaotic universe to play the Dungeon Master.
I, well, I am the watcher. I play fighters who tag along and only do what they must. I observe, and enjoy the ride.
I haven't come up with anything new. I bet all of these people have said these things about themselves at some point during play.

Party
I have this reoccurring dream. It is not identical every time. It is similar though. I'm at a party and I'm flirting with a pretty girl. Then a wave as tall as a house rushes over us. The water tastes of salt. The sensation of tumbling and choking on the cold water follow screams of drowning people and dimming lights choked out. I feel myself hit something soft and slippery. The water begins to recede away from me. I open my eyes. Then the most amazing thing happens. I keep dreaming for a moment. I look around my room and in some direction, not down, the water recedes away from me. The cold slippery mud I'm covered in turns to my warm covers. The room slowly appears as a wall of rippling murk slithers away.
The terror that occurs in this dream only touches the surface. I've had it so many times I know it is coming and I've trained myself to relax. I only wish I could save the girl.

WWII
I'm tired of movies about movie makers. I'm tired of books about writers. I'm sick of stories about cops and PIs. I'm tired of stories about World War II. I'm on a site that has a bunch of short stories. Several of them are about WWII in one fashion or another. It is the last great conflict from which you are allowed to make something beautiful. Now you are not allowed to make anything beautiful that comes from something where so many people died. truth is not politically correct. People die in conflict. People live too. Will you deny the stories of the living for the fear of hearing about death? I dare some one to be creative. Make a very interesting story about a guy who cleans carpets for a living.

Friday Off
I didn't go outside. I'm told by my friends who IM me from work that the day was beautiful. I leveled my character. I slept. I did some simple surfing and read some blogs. There are allot of people disillusioned about the election. I've noticed people who complain about Bush think of themselves. People who say they voted for Bush say things about other people.  There is allot of anger. There are anti-American blogs. People all over the world still hate us. 
I've noticed another trend. People talk about America and they talk about L. A. or New York. I said just the other day that The East and West coasts are not all of the U. S. There is much more to it. The people in the middle count. I still hear people calling Bush supporters hillbillies. I'm not a hillbilly and I support Bush. I (sometimes) think all liberals are fags. They are, of course, not all fags. Did I just say something that is not politically correct? That's too bad. I would watch my mouth, but this is America and I have a first amendment right to air my opinion. I take offense to being called uneducated because I don't have a degree. No body seems to care about  offending me. Is it because I'm white?

Arafat
I'm listening to the BBC talk about the Palestinian government and Arafat's health. It sounds like a bunch of ghouls circling a hospital waiting for information to slip out the door. Of course there will be a nasty transition when Arafat steps down. The big trouble is that he has not assigned a successor. They are hanging on some scan he may have been received. Is he dead, is he brain dead, is he dead dead? Come on guys. Lay off. The Israeli TV has announced he is brain dead. Bush says "God bless his soul." They keep interviewing different diplomats from the region. I have to say it sounds like allot of people have been waiting for this moment.

New Blog Idea
I'm thinking about starting a new blog just for my friends. You would send me an email and I would publish the note on the blog. You can pass out the address at will. I'll try to post a limited number of pictures. The whole thing would be open to any one who I see fit. You could publish anything from "My kid puked on my shirt before work." to "The mouse brain they have flying flight simulator will one day become self aware and take over the world."
I would act as editor for a while. Maybe someone else would take it. Or, every one would get their own blog. Maybe I could just start telling other people's stories on my blog. I've done this a couple of times lately. That one seems more like I'm steeling other's ideas.
Any thoughts.

Joke
Chicken and an egg lying in bed. The egg looks over at the chicken and in a pissed off voice says "Well, I guess we answered that question."

Day Off
I'm taking tomorrow off. The weather promises to be pretty. I'm going to sit out on the balcony and read. I'm trying to eat up some of those hours. I fully intend to get nothing productive done. I may be on chat, I may not. I don't have a clue if anything interesting will happen for the blog.

Go Eddie
Eddie's got the idea. I was listening to the comedy channel online. Eddie Murphy comes on and gives his routine and says that all men cheat. I know he is making people laugh. He also says that all men must conquer women. He harps on the conquering aspect of woman chasing. I've heard this comparison before, but It has never really dawned on me like it did today while listing to Edie telling people that they have no hope of ever having a monogamous relationship. My problem is I don't have the killer instinct. I wonder if my problem is that I am not dominant. Dominance may be a compulsion.

Election
It looks like Bush won. It cracks me up how the threats of lawsuits have not really started flying. As I'm typing this paragraph, the Democrats have not conceded. The rest of the world seems to be OK with whomever wins. I suppose they have to say that. They keep talking about past elections and how long is Kerry going to wait to take a hike.
There is something I noticed during the election. The U. S. is split right down the middle. California and the upper east coast were blue. The whole south, all the way through the high west coast was red. I am sick and tired of hearing about California and New York. The people in those two states think they are all of America. Puerto Rico may want to be the 51st state.  I wish I could give California and New York their own country to go to and be happy. Is there a way to throw a state out of the union?
The media is sitting there, looking at Kerry's front door waiting for an announcement The Democrats are saying "we want every vote counted." That sounds good I suppose. It really is going to come down to a few thousand votes again..
This s the first time I've voted. I'm among those four million or so votes Bush can count on to be ahead in the popular vote.

Baldness
Are there advantages to baldness? I'm trying to figure out how baldness came to be in the genetic fabric of humans. I don't get it. I heard somewhere that Chimps have male pattern baldness (we are similar genetically). It happened in the chain long before humans came along. Does any one out there have theories? I'm thinking extra cooling of the head as one ages, but then why mostly male baldness? I figure it must be a sign of age so younger males will know when to challenge the elders.

Radio
I constantly listen to online radio. I like the BBC in case you couldn't tell from all the posts quoting it. I notice many shortcomings. They drop the connection. They can't play some things because of contractual obligations. They sound like crap when some one is on a mobile phone because digital signals don't re-digital over the radio very well. There are other things that make me nuts, but I have to say I like listening to British radio. I hope they don't charge me a license fee.

Joke
A psychiatrist was conducting a group therapy session with four young mothers and their small children. "You all have obsessions," he observed.
To the first mother, Mary, he said, "You are obsessed with eating. You've even named your daughter Candy.
He turned to the second Mom, Ann: "Your obsession is with money. Again, it manifests itself in your child's name, Penny.
He turns to the third Mom, Joyce: "Your obsession is alcohol. This too manifests itself in your child's name, Brandy."
At this point, the fourth mother, Kathy, gets up, takes her little boy by the hand and whispers. "Come on, Dick, we're leaving."

Career Advice
I sent this to a friend headed to college soon.
<start>
I don't have any straight forward advice. I would suggest you consider a career you enjoy and can make a living with. Don't aim for allot of money. Science people usually end up in a lab somewhere performing the same tests over and over and over for an eternity. Engineers are some of the most satisfied people I know. Doctors are some of the least satisfied.
Think about what you can do every day for the rest of your life and try to turn that into a career. The funny thing is, many people in my office are not doing exactly what their degree is designed for. We have several ex-school teachers. There are some English majors managing programmers.
I like messing with computers. I always knew I would get a job making computers do what they were supposed to do in the first place.
College is nothing like high school. You are actually responsible for your own actions, and given incredible freedom to make it work. That is good and bad. I failed the freedom test.
If you do make a decision now, don't worry if you find out it is not the final answer later. Why do you think adults keep asking kids what they want to be when they grow up? They are looking for ideas.
...
If you hate being young, you will really hate being old.
* They will probably give you a credit card at 18, but if you don't have a job you will get in over your head and those evil money mongering banks (who really are out to get you) will come take everything you do have away from you.
* Going out on dates sounds good until you find out that every one is just out for one thing, or they just want to be friends, or they have issues, or the banks are after them. There is always baggage other people bring to the relationship.
* Kerry is a good guy, but he can't make up his mind. The thing that seems to have gotten him this time was his own voting history. Kerry's agenda seems to be "Kerry". I'm glad you want to vote.
* I am 35 and cannot drive. I seem to do OK. Not having a car saves me a fortune. The minute you get a car, you become the errand-child for the entire family.
* You will be forced to get a job for most of your life. Enjoy the time you can spend learning and read allot.
* College is cool. I didn't do well, but I bet you will excel.
* I've ended up in the emergency room about a dozen times in my life. (not usually for me) All but one of those trips were when I was out with friends.
* Being 18 will not put you in control of your life. You have to put yourself in control. Turning 18 just puts the weight of  decisions you make on your own shoulders.
<end>
I wish I could follow my own advice.

Changing Media
Newspapers are publishing mobile phone pictures on the front page. Bloggers are read as much as the top web pages for news. Things they are a-cha-a-nging. I wish the music industry would be as flexible. All people want is access to music. Sewing your customers and denying them what they want is a lousy way to win them over.

Gmail
There are two serious limitations to Gmail that are really making me reconsider using it.
1) To delete an attachment you must delete an entire conversation. If some dumb-ass replys to a long list of emails and attaches a four megabyte attachment I cannot remove the attachment without deleting the entire conversation.
2) HTML tags. I'm finding more and more that I need some form of formating that allows links and simple things like bold and italics in my emails. I've just become used to using them

Voting
I voted last Friday and I had to wait in line. I never voted before. I live in Texas. Lets face it, this is not a swing state. I'm listening to BBC 5 Live and they are covering the election. It is very interesting to listen to a foreign journalist explain the system we have in the U. S.. Voter registration is done by state here and the country on the whole there. While listening to the BBC talk about America, I realize how diverse this country is, both by region and from neighbor to neighbor. That fact makes me feel pretty good.
At lunch today the discussion was not who will win, but will we know the answer tonight. I hate to say it, but I know some people who would vote for a torque wrench if it were put up against Bush. I wonder if that is how Hitler won the general election. I have never done the homework to find out if Hitler was just running against some one unpopular. That is a scary thought.
I hear there are special funds the parties want people to contribute too specifically for the lawsuits we all know are coming. That is sad.

Halloween Party
Costume
I went to Justin's Halloween party Saturday evening. I was Mr Clean. It was a simple costume, but it went over well. I definitely didn't win any contests. There were a couple of people who showed up late who didn't have costumes on, but they were forgiven.
Best Costume
The best costume in my (byes) opinion were the two guys who showed up as storm troupers. I don't care if they did rent them. There were an unusual number of angels (and fallen angels) there. All in all a very creative crowd.
My Pictures
I walked in and started taking pictures. About a half hour before leaving, I looked down and noticed my camera said "Memory Card Full". I thought "That can't be right. I have a 512 megabyte card." I plopped in my backup 128 megabyte card and took a couple more. I was terrified that some error had happened and I lost them all. I didn't even get up Sunday except to puke and take some aspirin. I looked at the card today and sure enough there  were 250 pictures on it. I was floored. ... I have a problem. I admit it. I need to not take quite that many pictures.
I did take some pictures out because of poor shot quality, or I took too many pictures of some pretty girls (give me a break).
Here Are My  Pictures.
My HomePage.
If there are any pictures that need to be taken down, let me know and I'll be happy to oblige.
Other Guy's Pictures
Here is a link to Shannon's pictures. He is the tall guy in the red evening jacket and pipe. Oh, by the way Shannon, When I step in front of your shot I fully expect a beat-down.
Here Are Shannon's Pictures.
Kiss
I did get to kiss one lovely lady. I hope she wasn't just drunk. I've noticed her at other functions with the TMS crowd. We ended up on the couch making out like freshmen. I really should be embarrassed, but I liked it. I hope she did too.
So, someone tell me why I didn't get her number. I was drunk. BAH!!
Another Woman
There was a lady there who I'm kind of interested in. I was drunk enough to say something about it too. She would look at me, then immediately look away, and blow the momentum. She did this like five times. I don't know what was going on. Every time I was about to walk up and say Hi, she would dive into some other conversation. Great, she finds me repulsive.
Oh, Another Woman
There was a woman I hit on who, it turns out, had a boyfriend at the party. oops. I thought they were talking about another woman in black. You can't win them all.
Letter of Apology
Kelly doesn't get out much. Please forgive his childish advances and immature antics. Or is that Immature advances and childish antics? Anyway, he is just a goofy bastard trying to make his way the only way he knows how. "poorly."
I hope I have no vendettas waiting for me the next time I hang out with this crowd. Did I mention I was drunk?
Overall
It was a heck of a good time.

Nice
I'm moving to Alaska. A buddy of mine wants to take a cruse to the state next year with a bunch of friends. I think the decision of legalizing marijuana might clench the deal. His sister lives up there. They had a bear eat half their house once. That was after they traveled for days in canoe to get there. The rest of the family became concerned and asked the local sheriff to take a look. He flew over the place in a small plane and they waved, so it must be OK. It sounds like a heck of an adventure. We would not make it far past the tourist spots I'm sure. His sister and her husband now live in a city. They talk about how much warmer it is this year than in the past.

Mr Clean
The outfit is complete. I got a T-Shirt  that says Mr  Clean on the back (thanks to my mom). I also found a loop earring from my Grandmother's old jewelery box. Don't worry, it is no heirloom. That box only has costume jewelery. I will take plenty of pictures tomorrow at the party. I will make sure this time to have at least one of myself in the mix. I've been ordered to make sure of that by more than one person.
I don't really have the physique to pull off Mr. Clean. I'm faking it.  There are no pants in the pictures. I'm just going to ware genes and role. Last year one of the guys showed up in shorts and a t-shirt with a towel around his neck like a cape. The towel had a big "M" on it designed in duct-tape. The guy's name was Drew. He came as Mandrew, the thrifty super hero. It was original. Every one had good costumes last year. I got a kiss at that party.

Something on the White Board Today

I have to admit, this was not my most productive day. I was looking forward to putting my costume together all day. I was thinking about voting. I was wondering who will come to the party. The few things I got done, had to get done. I try to keep these days to a minimum. I had considered taking today off all together. That might have been a better idea. Cynthia took yesterday off to catch up on life. I might as well have done the same today.

Fallout
I had to move several files from my P2P machine to my server. There was still not enough room to burn a DVD. It turns out my DVD burning troubles are a bad batch of DVDs. They say 4 speed, but they only burn at 2.  The whole reason for getting that new equipment was to fix my lack of burning ability. Oh, well. It sounds like a good idea to get a 16 speed burner any way.
It's funny moving files all over the place. I'm burning some old files now. It takes ages at this speed. Maybe I can do some more tomorrow and Sunday. I don't know if I will have much else going on other than the party. Hopefully I will catch a movie with a friend of mine.

Thursday
I have to log all my hours. I'm pretty sure I'm going to switch tasks at my day job. They want to take the task that I spend most of my time doing and outsource it. There are plenty of other tasks that I can do, but who knows what will happen. I hope to keep up the blog if I loose my job. The departments are consolidating at some point. I may not survive the combination.
I have TV night with friends tonight. They have TiVo so we watch an entire week of TV in one evening. It really is the only TV I watch these days besides some news.

Remote Control Plane
I saw a remote plane that is launched using a rocket. Apparently that is the lightest most fuel efficient way to make these little planes get to altitude. They fly for miles on batteries after that. Then, glide to a landing. I think they don't want the heat from a gas moder.
I've heard of a Nuclear Rocket that has amazing potential. The article says this may make a trip to Mars possible. The sheer length of time it takes to get to Mars makes human exploration unlikely for now. NASA says they have plants in mind that might make the trip. I can't imagine being cooped up in a capsule, or even one building for six months with no chance of getting out, They will probably have to recycle everything including water. Yuck. I'd need at least a replicator.

Those Frog Bastards
I can't believe it. Well, yes I can They are French after all. France changed the rout of The Tour de France to screw Armstrong. I hope a different American wins. I don't even like Armstrong that much. He is a Texan and an American. He just rubs me the wrong way. He reminds me of a used car salesman.

Joke
This is an email from Anna-Banana.
####
1. Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backwards: NAIVE
2. Isn't making a smoking section in a restaurant like making a peeing section in a swimming pool?
3. OK.... so if the Jacksonville Jaguars are known as the "Jags" and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are known as the "Bucs," what does that make the Tennessee Titans?
4. If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhea...does that mean that one enjoys it?
5. There are three religious truths:
  a. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
  b. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian faith.
  c. Baptists do not recognize each other in the liquor store or at Hooters.
6. If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren't people from Holland called Holes?
7. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
8. If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
9. Why do croutons come in airtight packages? Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?
10 Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a racecar is not called a racist?
11. Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?
12. If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted,cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?
13. If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?
14. Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?
15. What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?
16. I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me ....they're cramming for their final exam.
17. I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks , so I wondered what do Chinese
 mothers use? toothpicks?
18. Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?
19. If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?
20. You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
21. Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn't zigzag?
22. If a cow laughed, would milk come out of her nose?
23. Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?
####

Tuesday
I just ordered a 160 GB hard drive, a new DVD burner, and an external drive case. My DVD burner is kind of aging. It is messing up on nearly every DVD lately. I ordered a new burner and that case will let me plug it into any USB 2 port and burn externally. That case will let me hook up any IDE device. I believe it will support ATA 200. I'm not sure. I'm not sure what  I'm going to do if I run out of space before the equipment comes in. I'll live I suppose. Some of my existing DVDs appear to have read problems. It isn't that many.

New Police Story
I'm watching a Jackie Chan flick called New Police Story. Some gang of nut-ball hoodlums just killed Jackie's entire regiment and his brother in law. Look out. I'm so not reading any of the subtitles.

Writer's Block
This morning was strange. I wanted to jot some notes down for the blog, but I just couldn't put my finger on what I wanted to say. It was like something needed to come to the surface, but wouldn't. Normally, I don't get the urge to write unless the words are there as well.

Joke
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they are going and hook up with them later.
I read recipe the way I read science fiction - I get to the end and think "Well, that's not going to happen."--unknown.
I got into an argument with my rice crispies this morning. I distinctly heard "snap - crackle - fuck him!" So, I dropped a peach on them. I don't stand for that kind of attitude from my breakfast.
My fake plants died because I didn't pretend to water them.
What is the difference between a musician and a large pizza? A large pizza can fee a family of four.
What's the difference between a bull and an orchestra? The bull has the horns in the front and the asshole in the back.

Blah
I found out recently that I have been misspelling the term "blah" as "blaw" for a long time. I apologize for this indiscretion, but I believe the term "blah" should be categorized as an anomonopeia. I will spell my anomonopeias as I darn well please.

More On Poker
It was a learning experience to play poker. I have  not seriously played poker for money since high school. I had a little poker get together for my bachelor party, but that was not for real. my best man spotted me the doe.
Something I learned, or relearned, about myself is I don't have very good control over my poker face. Now, the first tell is not really my fault. They teach you to watch people's eyes in poker. Watch what they watch. That is pretty darn easy with me because I have to use a small pare of binoculars to read the cards in the middle of the table. I haven't come u with a way to counteract that one yet.
Some one did let me know that the instant a king turned over, I grabbed a chip. That is also a tell. One that I should have control over in the future.

Suicidal Thoughts
When I was fifteen. I thought about killing myself. At that point in my life I didn't take it all that seriously. I've thought more about it as I got older and life got harder. The thing is, I didn't know at fifteen that I would not go through with it. That is something that I've learned as I've gotten older.
There is a feeling of fear that prevents me from doing it. It is the same fear that prevents me from doing allot of things. It is the same feeling that stops me from talking to women. It is the same fear that keeps me from achieving my goals. I wonder if those who try to help me achieve some of these wonderful things are actually helping me find the strength to kill myself. I hope not. I don't feel depressed today. I fear getting stronger. That is a hell of a thing.
It's funny. I'm watching a Star Trek Voyager. Belana (a half-breed human and klingon) has been genetically separated into two separate people one full klingon and one full human. The klingon side fights. The human side figures out how to escape the alien fortress.  That is how I feel most of the time. Like there are several competing goals and directions all swirling and getting nothing done.

Vacation
Not only do I need a vacation, I have 150 hours to blow. That is 3.75 weeks. I need to start taking days off. I'm seriously considering taking all the Fridays off for the rest of the year. I would get way to used to that. Do you know how hard it would be to work that first Friday next year? That thought is almost too much to bare.
I have some friends suggesting a cruse. I've never been out of the country. A cruse might be a good introduction to just leaving for a little while.

Paint Ball (from email)
Me - How did the rest of the weekend go?
Adam - Paint ball Sunday was too much fun. Laurie and I have big bruises all over our bodies. I, so far, have won the biggest bruise competition. I have one the size of a silver dollar and raised about 1/4 inch. It looks like the crab nebula.
The fun part was when you were implementing a strategy and it worked. There was this course with a gully to the side of a bunch of beat up cars. If the other team wasn't looking you could run down the gully and flank the other team. Eventually everyone knew about the gully trick and it became a big shoot out. One side had a distinct advantage if they claimed the half-way point (if the other side claimed the half-way point, they couldn't press as well.) I was involved in an attack with Michael and Brian where we took the gully and wiped out Laurie and Jamon guarding the gully. I was the only one left after the assault and ran into their base and got everyone in there to surrender.
Very fun.

Brazil
There is some disturbing combinations of news out of Brazil these days. They are getting yelled at for their nuclear efforts. Now they have launched a rocket into space. OK, boys and girls, can you tell me why these two stories scare me?

Turkey
Turkey is trying to join the European union. One of the things Turkey is getting yelled at about is the illiteracy rate of girls.  In rural areas the illiteracy rate is much higher among girls. Turkey really is a two sided country. They fight like mad to join the EU and yet they have people who live hand to mouth on subsistence farms. France has a hard time accepting Turkey because of the immigration problems.
The only thing I remember about Turkey is the this film I saw when I was a kid. Where a guy is nabbed by airport security carrying smack and spends a long horrible time in a Turkish prison. I will not go into what happens to him there. He is there long enough to learn some of the language. He escapes by killing a high level guard and taking one of the officer's uniforms and walking out the front door.

Today
I slept almost the entire day away. I cannot believe it is still Sunday. It feels like no other day. I've slept allot this weekend. It is a shame really. It feels like the weekend has blown by. I only had one thing to do and I didn't get it done.
A friend of mine says she broke up with her boyfriend recently. She was miserable today on email. What she doesn't understand is that she had a relationship. She will have another, probably soon. I on the other hand go for years between relationships. I cannot let it depress me any more. I have to keep moving forward. I have to act like I feel sorry for her pain. She will have some one in two weeks she is interested in and follows around. It will be a couple of years yet for me. That is my prediction. She tells me that I live like this out of choice. I have to tell her that even though she does not understand my life to not call it choice.
I just watched Donny Darko. That is a bad movie to watch when you feel like this. It reminds me of the time I nearly killed myself when I was fifteen. To this day I wonder about all the things that would be different.  I can't think of a single thing that would be better or worse. It seems like everything just is, and would still be without me. I've accomplished nothing. Oh, well. It is off to watch Tooth. That is a much less depressing movie. Maybe I'll have some hot dogs. Those will make everything better.

Hits
Last Week

Last Month

Key: Green = visits  Purple = page views
My normal number of hits on a given day is about eight or ten. Most of these are my mother. (Thanks mom) So, where did this variable mountain of hits come from last week? Well I deliberately put some key words in the middle of some paragraphs. I also deliberately complained about the layout of phone numbers at my work and used capital "X"s to describe it. This gave me "XXX" and "XXXXX" and so on. It worked like a charm. I got random hits all over the place.
If you look at the far left of Last Month's chart, that is about normal. I don't know what happened on "4". Some one read my entire site that day. The sudden drop off at 22 happened because the keywords are dropping off the end of my blog's front page. The hits should return to normal.

Songs

Artist:	Cowboy Junkies [ Search RP ]
Song:	Lay it Down
Album:	Lay It Down [ Search RP ]

Artist:	Blind Faith [ Search RP ]
Song:	Can't Find My Way Home
Album:	Blind Faith [ Search RP ]

Texas Holdem
I walked in and there were tons of food and pizza. I had a drink. I think it was a sort of martini. Adam has this concoction he likes to make.
The first game was up stairs at a huge table. There were thirteen players. We squeezed in . We were playing Texas Holdem. The buy-in was $50 and the bets were 1-1-2-2. If you know the game you understand what the means. It took me half the night to sink into a rhythm. It came eventually. It turns out I have a bad poker face. I have tells. I have poor sense of other's intentions. Every time I tried to call some one's bluff, it turned out they were not bluffing.
After some more people showed up, we split in to two groups. The upstairs group, and the downstairs group. I stayed upstairs.  It worked out pretty well. No one I really knew was up there. We were the no nonsense group.  The folks down stairs (meaning Adam) were loud and obnoxious. The upstairs group, however, came to play.
I think every one had fun though. That is what matters. That is what people say who won anyway. I came out about $75 ahead as far as I can tell this morning. I was up over a hundred for a short time . We cashed out when we split the game, and re-bought in.
During the second game, the one not dominated by Adam, some interesting social things happened involving me.  One of the hands came round and we were turning over our cards. I thought I only had a pair and was prepared to throw in my cards. Then someone noticed that I had filled in the straight. I muttered "ah-man" under my breath because I was embarrassed from missing it. From that point on it became a joke when people won to act disappointed and apologize. In the same hand, I tried to cover my embarrassment by saying something stupid like ""I only won by that much." holding my fingers up showing about a cm between them. That became a joke too. Some one had ace high and some one else had a boat and would say "I only won by that much, sorry. I guess I have to rack in my chips." I was the butt of a running joke with a bunch of people I didn't really know. It was awesome.

Texas Holdem
I'm off this evening to play a game of Texas Holdem with some friends. I fear I will simply be out some money by the end of the evening. I've had five people tell me different sets of rules on the game. Even my mom was able to tell me what some of the terms are. I'm surfing the net looking for ideas. Oh, yah, a flush beats a straight.

Song

Artist:	Herbie Hancock [ Search RP ]
Song:	Cantaloupe Island
Album:	Cantaloupe Island [ Search RP ]

Brazil may be next
Great! now Brazil is getting into the act. It looks like if you want to have a real leaver in negotiations with the U. S. you start refining nuclear material into fuel. I don't want to pay as high of income tax. Where can I find a centrifuge. I understand they are relatively cheap. That second article is very detailed. It makes me realize why the UN and Europe are out to shut Iran down.

Joke
Four Major League Baseball fans went rock climbing: a Yankee fan, a Red Sox fan, an Astros fan, and a Cardinals fan.
They had been arguing all the way up the mountain about who amongst them loved their team more and was the most "die-hard" fan.  
The argument grew hotter and hotter and the four fans grew more and more agitated. Such was the emotion that upon reaching the top of the mountain, the Yankee fan proclaimed loudly and earnestly to the other three, "This is for the New York Yankees!" and without a moments hesitation threw himself off the mountain. 
The supreme sacrifice!
Not to be outdone by a Yankee fan, the Red Sox fan jumped up and cried out,  "This is for the Boston Red Sox!" and quickly threw himself off the mountain, also willing to sacrifice himself to prove his devotion to his team.
Refusing to be outdone by the Yankee and Red Sox fans, the Astros fan rose to his feet, summoned up every ounce of his courage, and yelled at the top of his lungs,  "This is for the Houston Astros!" and without a moment's hesitation, shoved the Cardinals fan off the mountain. 

Song

Artist:	Poe [ Search RP ]
Song:	Terrible Thought
Album:	Haunted [ Search RP ]

Working Conditions
The real reason for outsourcing. I'm in Houston and we constantly beg the building people to do something about the crappy ventilation. There are a couple of days we wish we could open the windows. Most of the rest of the time, we complain there is no insulation around them. We have a nice area out back with a lake and trees. I would kill to be able to work out there with a wireless net. No dice. Wireless is banned. I would love to work at home in my underware.
I bet the issue is not warmer climate, but one that is in an area with better daylight. I bet a little light therapy would do the trick.

RDF RSS Atom and whatnot.
Good Gosh. Every one in the universe has something to say. I went looking for good RDF links and, let me tell you, I found them. There must be millions of information sources just begging to be listened too out there. That one link lead to a great list of lists and search pages for RDF RSS Atom and other links.

Funky Letters
I've always wondered what an "A" or "AA-" rated stock means? I found this site, but it didn't help.That one only covers debt ratings. Then I lost interest rather quickly.

Wireless
Funny thing about wireless Internet. It takes longer the second time you configure it. I'm not sure why that is, but so far, it is. I configured my old 11 mb connection on the first try. Then, it took me two routers to get it back. This new router and card are 54 mb and the exact same thing happened. It took me 30 seconds to set it up the first time. Then, it took me two hours to get it to work after I made one change.
IThe purpose of this experiment is to stream movies from my other computers (file server). 11 mb just won't cut the mustard. When it logs in at over 38 mb it seems to work. For some reason I had both wireless adapters logging in at the same time. That doesn't help really. It just slows the faster one down.

The Giving Tree
This was one of the first poems that ever touched me. I remember a teacher's aid reading it to a few of us in the corner of the classroom while every one else played. I was very young. I remember the poem. I remember identifying with both the boy and the tree at the same time. I wonder some times if this was the first real abstract thought I found.
Be glad to give. You cannot take it with you. Everything you take came from some one or thing that gave it. This poem reminds me that all the things I buy, or find, or read all come from God ultimately. No one takes without some one or something giving.
An old story.
One day a scientist stands before God and says "God, we don't need you anymore. We have learned how to create men."
God answered "Let me see you create a man."
The scientist picked up a hand full of dust and just as  he was about to breath life into the  grains, God said "Stop! ... Get your own dust.":

SharpReader RSS
I've giving RSS a shot. So far so good. I hated the last five clients I tried, but this one seems to be what I was looking for. Straight forward and simple. So far so good. I'm only getting Yahoo, Reuters, Slashdot(rss) and NPR at the moment. I'm sure the list will blossom.
Cool! I just got my Blog to work with RSS. Please note the new link on the right hand side that says "RSS Link".

Crazy Indian

Have you heard about this psycho? Check out the mustaches. He was just nabbed by the authorities. He was known for cutting off people's heads, and feeding body parts to the fish. He kidnapped a celebrity and at least one movie was made in his likeness.

I had the goofiest dream last night.
Chris, from Chris and Sarah fame, was directing a play. It was this kind of Monty Python Flying Circus thing. I'm a bit hazy on the details, but there was an ostridge in a dress on roller skates and people walking around saying "SPAM!". I was waiting in the wings for my queue holding a purple box for some reason. Tedford was laughing so hard he was snorting. Chris was on the floor on stage in front of me as part of the skit. I asked him if that was Tedford and he laughed and nodded. Ted gagged on a cackle and Chris and I nearly choked ourselves. I woke up laughing out-loud. I couldn't get to sleep for a half hour.

I've had this kind of day

Buy Button in the Brain
Is there a buy button in the human brain? This article is nuts. Advertisers are looking for a way to trick people in to buying products they don't need. The ultimate goal in marketing is to sell anything to any one at any time regardless of need or purpose. I heard a used car salesman say "I have to sell the cars on the lot. It doesn't matter if some one needs that car, I have to sell it to them." That is his job. If his mother came in and bought a hundred cars, no one would care.
The human brain was designed to feed, flee, fight, and have sex. The four "f" theory. The whole concept of buying and selling came a millenia after the specs were frozen for the human brain. I hope they are barking up the wrong tree. The most effective sales technique is to associate your product with one of the "f"s listed above. Selling food is pretty obvious, though they still try to use sex to place their specific product out front. Fighting and fleeing are used in political advertisements all the time. I hope this one does not pan out.

One Muslim view
I'll bet I know how this guy would answer at least one of my questions below. Abu Hamza al-Masri seems to think non Muslims should be killed, alledgidly. According to the article he has been charged with inciting murder based on race and other hate crimes in the UK. Is your religion your race? I'm not sure how all that works out.

Engineer
I just called our help desk at my day job. They are calling the support folks Support Engineers. I wonder if this is why so many design jobs are being outsourced. No one takes them seriously. I was a sanitation Engineer for a while (I worked for a maid service for a while during college). In Texas you cannot call yourself an Electrical Engineer in advertisement unless you are certified through the state. You can practice, but you can't put it on your business cards or on your web page. If you outsource the job, there are no such requirements.

Pop Tarts
Pop Tarts tern 40 this year. I cannot believe they have not outlawed Pap Tarts. These little mass produced pastries are responsible for 92% of all adult onset diabetic attacks (I'm making that up). They are a replacement to MREs. I remember the U. S. dropped vegetarian MREs in a  Muslim area to prevent starvation. I thought "drop Pop Tarts."
I know what I'm having for dinner. Yup you guessed it, chicken wings.

HalfLife 2
I cannot wait for this to come out. The hero in the game is named Gorden for God's sake. I plaid the original for hours. We plaid online. I completed the single player game and sucked at the online version. I just can't compete with the twelve year olds who have nothing better to do that learn every nuance of the game. Even getting your ass handed to you is fun sometimes. Not every time though. I have to arrange games with my geezer buddies (30s) so I have some one to smack down.

Tiny Turbines
I am thrilled that some one is working on this stuff. It is a tiny jet engine that puts out electricity and should replace batteries in many kinds of devices. The research is almost ready for the battlefield. The problems of heat and fuel sound like things the researchers can overcome. The device is designed to run on diesel fuel. I'm sure it will have to be well filtered. One D cell battery sized container of fuel can power a device many times longer than a D cell. Once drained , it can be swapped out quickly. This really looks like something that might work. If they get the little generators to work for portable devices, why not more? These engines sound very efficient. The first thing I want to hear is a test of a vehicle filled with these things 
These things eat up oxygen. They generate heat. I can't wait to have one on my belt. Imagen a laptop that runs for a week, then all you have to do is fill a reservoir and you are back in business. No recharging. No dead batteries to dispose of. No exotic chemicals to recycle. I find this very exciting. I hope this pans out. I've said several times that the next big step needs to be batteries. Actually, everybody says that, I just nod and grunt in agreement.