Tools
People tend to do what works. They are like water. Water finds it's path by flowing passively in the path of least resistance. The path that gets it to where it wants to go with the least amount of trouble. Now, some very bad people have found a tool to bend nations to their will. All it took was one week people to give in and the flood gates open. What are the rest of us to do? We must fight. All of us. I fear the change coming to our land. I fear the loss more of troops and support personnel without reason.

Banner

I bought this wall hanging a couple of years ago. They had dozens of wall hangings. It seems these are far more popular with Anime fans than posters. The place I bought this escapes me. i do like the art. This is Cowboy Bebop. This particular scene is Fred (The girl in the picture) leaving the rest of the crew to find her father. I liked Fred, she was very intelligent and nuts. There is a series and a movie. They are both excellent.

Books

I've gathered some books recently. They are not for entertainment. With the second company duties I needed a library of reference books. I only use about 5 of them on a regular basis. I have not cracked the two C++ books. Two of them are nearly identical.  One of them is actually Josh's book. If I truly understood the knowledge in these twenty books I would be a very smart programmer, and maybe some one who knows a little Spanish.

Kill Bill 2
I watched Kill Bill 2 last night. I have to say I liked it much better than the first one. Something about the first one just drove me nuts. I liked the fight scenes, most of the movie, but the animated part of the film reminded me far too much of Anime. That just made me want to watch a different movie. I want to watch both movies front to back. I bet that will answer some questions.

Cool Site
I found a col site on the subject of the Wheel of Time. Actually, WOT is just one subject on the page. This is a brilliant, artistic person who deserves a brows. She has a blog, but it looks like it hasn't been updated in a month.

Observation Concerning My Microwave
A couple of weeks ago there was a power outage in my apartment. It took a while, but I noticed my microwave oven stopped giving a beep when it was done.  Normally I have no time set on the microwave. When the power goes out, the display shows a bunch of dashed lines. The power goes out far too often to keep the dozen clocks set that go dead with every flicker, particularly the ones with no battery backup. It took a while to realize  Last night there was another power outage. Just for a moment, some lights didn't even fade all the way out. The next morning I warmed my coffee and the "I'm done." beep had returned. Visions of the ghost in the machine popped in my head. I know the only thing in my microwave I that moves are cockroaches. I don't like to think about it. A friend of mine who repaired electronics including microwaves said "I've never opened up a microwave that had been in a house for more than a year without finding a nest of cockroaches. Every one says 'Not my microwave.', but every single one." I don't like to think about it.

Armestrong
Lance Armstrong won  <yawn> again. That's nice. Yay us.

The Wheel of Time
I just completed book two.

Wow
There are these random waves the size of buildings just rolling around the open seas. I can't imagine running across the ocean in my small sail boat in a calm ocean, then a 25 m high wave simply appears and roles over me. It is funny, the things you learn rolling around the Internet.

Personal Page
I'm trying to think of something cool to do with my web page. I has to be simple. It has to be something that doesn't require much maintenance. Evey time I find a page I want to call "cool" I realize it is not the page itself, but the content that I like. Sometimes Flash pages a fun.  Some only work in IE and they can be over complex. Some pages have little to do with fancy, yet I visit them a couple times ever day. Even on days when I visit few other sites.
I would like to take a few centuries off and make a photo essay of beautiful landscapes around the world. I don't care if no one ever visits the site.  I don't care if no one ever comments or notices. I just want to go. There is nothing holding me here. Nothing that would not survive a while gone.

&#151;
The M dash is driving me nuts. The Wheel of Time is lousy with M-dashes. It is also way over ellipses pointed.. Every paragraph has five attempts to dictate where the pauses should be. I'm searching through the frigging files and removing ellipses points and M-dashes. The HTML code &#151; causes an M-dash to appear in the final document.

Donation
CNN reports a sperm donor must pay child support. There was no written contract. This was a donation between friends. It kind of reminds me of Will and Grace. I've had a friend suggest donating sperm. In the UK they have made it necessary for sperm donors to identify themselves. No anonymity. Soon the same will happen in the states. There is a trend lately to identify every one for everything they do. Some people still think they are anonymous online. They forget the IP they use even for a moment is tracked and kept for the authorities by their ISP. I have some friends who block any non -identified call. I don't know what the answer is. Soon though, I predict you will not be able to walk down the street without being tracked in the name of security. I don't feel secure letting an anonymous law enforcement agent track me. Every one says "I don't have anything to hide." until it is their 13 year old daughter on the video.

MS XP SP2
People have been waiting for a long time. to get the fixes and security updates in XP SP2 (Service Pack number 2). Now it looks like there are some serious questions to be answered before it comes to the public. MS is having some long term problems keeping up with their empire. The hackers are at the gates, attacking at every stone in the wall, creeping through places where water could not  flow. Other kingdoms gain influence seemingly at the grace of MS's enemies. It seems the whole world gathers just beyond the tree line. The port is busy. The crops yield well. The larder over flows. But the wind tells of a war to be lost.

Bullets
When I was a bit younger, a friend and I were walking through a parking lot near our homes. We were just messing around wasting time. There was three story office building that is gone now. A hospital took over the entire site. This site is at the corner of Highway 6 and Wilcrest in Missouri City Texas. That area is all built up now, but in 1990 or so there were still open undeveloped areas just across the highway.
As we sat there on the curb chatting, this sound came from just above us. It was a sound much like an insect whizzing past your ear. It was much further away. It was funny, but I could tel it was moving. The sound only lasted a fraction of a second. It was too fast to react, but I could kind of tell it had come from across the highway, at our backs, and traveled straight at the building in front of us. We didn't notice then, but a day later, one of the windows on the third floor, right in front of where we were sitting, was all taped up and cracked. That was my first real experience with the sound of a bullet. We never heard any pop. I figure that bullet was fired well away and may have been on it's way down when it hit the window.  I imagine it had slowed greatly. Hence the fact  I could tell from which way it came.

Firefly the Movie
I can't wait until this movie comes out. I nearly balled when the series was canceled. "Serenity", the name of the movie and the name of the ship, sounds like a cool concept. I didn't fall in love with the series until after it was canceled..I watched a couple of episodes and I was hooked. I need to find the DVD box set.

Dress for Success
I'm looking in to finding a new job at some point in the future. A friend of mine sent me a cool link that I need to read in depth. This place has always seemed like a mystery to me. I know nothing about cloths. I've seen their commercials on TV. To tell you the truth, I've had people tell me I look good when I dress up. I do not dress up often. Weddings and funerals. My wedding was the last one I dressed up for. My uncle Bobert's funeral was the last one I attended. I was four. I decided then, that I do not like funerals. I haven't been to one since. Hopefully, when I do buy a suit, I will not need it for any funerals.

Gmail update
The interface is the same as it was when I griped about gmail last time. There have been no real updates. Gmail has messed up a couple of times. I will compose an email and the silly server won't accept the send button. I'll get timeouts and not know if the mail ever sent or not. It usually only lasts for a minute or two, but it has bitten me in the but a couple of times. The conversations will not jive properly from some email clients. Some people send me a reply and Gmail picks it up as part of the same conversation. Others send replys and it looks like sixty different emails. This happens even though the whole body of the email is right there. Gmail still does not support HTML. I have no idea when they will abandon beta. It still rocks compared to the alternatives.

You can't escape
There is a story in the ether touting cruse ships will offer mobile (cellular) phone service. This means you will be able to make mobile phone calls from the ship to land. Charges are a bit high, but it should work. Between this and using mobile phones on planes, you will not be able to get away soon. When asked about people making annoying phone calls on the ship, an exec of one of the companies said "People will just get used to it."
AT&T is about to kick off G3 in the U. S. for the first time. This kind of service has been in Japan and Europe for quite some time. Honestly, it is about time.

Arafat
I remember when I was a kid thinking "There is no way this guy is going to last." Man, was I wrong. Arafat's own people are seriously ticked at him for cronyism  He used to lead a group of militants who killed people to achieve power. Somehow, I don't see him letting one strand of influence go without a fight. He was not elected. He was not appointed. He just clawed his way to the top. He has a degree in civil engineering and a Christian wife. If his own people asked him to step aside, would he?

Hangout
I'm missing a hangout. Every one of these shows on TV and in the movies, every one seems to have a hangout. Buffy and the gang have the Bronz, and the library/magic shop.  Friends have that coffee shop. The folks on Drew Carry have that bar (what was it called?). That Seventies show. has the basement. Homer has Moe's. Bart has the Tree house. Seinfeld has the cafe/restaurant.
Where is your hangout?

Late Evening in Kelly's World.
It's a Wednesday evening. I worked all day. I'll work all day tomorrow. I'm sitting in front of my computer listening to the blues on an online radio station. I'm drinking a glass of scotch. I just watched a movie about a man who died and left his family broke and broken. I cut myself shaving again. This time on the upper lip. I should just keep a bowl of broken glass by the sink. Goddammit! would this station stop skipping. Try to listen to the blues when the audio stream keeps cutting out.
Women will give you Fever. Fever till you sizzle, what a lovely way to burn.
All I need is a waitress and maybe some color lights. Maybe a beer sign on the wall. Something to eat between scotch and soda. The blues and maybe some swing. A dance floor that my shadow will not cross. The smell of cigarettes and spilled boos. The band as drunk as I am. Some one playing a horn like they know what they are doing. Stare at a woman's twirling hair as she dances alone. Sit, by myself, in my home. Drinking scotch, listening to the blues and telling the world all my secrets.

Go Jenna

Jenna Bush stuck her tung out at reporters for a laugh this week. I have to say, it made me smile.

SEE!! SEE!!
Thanks Philippines. I'm sure the rest of the world appreciates your floundering, you cowards! The authorities are finding people's heads in freezers. The fighting continues daily. Law and order are a dream. The areas outside the cities sound like the old west with AK-47s. An you, a nation with an insurgent problem, in your own back yard, give in to the terrorists. I don't care how it looks on TV. I have to say, this did not take long. I know some people from the Philippines and they are not cowards. The leadership of the country appears to me to be giving in to TV ratings.

Simpson's Trivia
I tried to capture a picture of Homer's pay check. It is Season 7, Episode 23, titled "Much_Au_About_Nothing". It is the one where proposition 24 want to throw out all the immigrants in Springfield. it is also one where a bear Tax. The amount of Homer's take home pay is 362.xx.  I don't know why I think that is interesting.

Grant Wood
Yes, you do know who this guy is. I am in a picture mood. These are all other people's pictures. I hope no one gets upset.


Random Simpsons Snaps

Speech
People rate public speaking above death when it comes to their greatest fear in life. Cynthia stood up today in a meeting at work and announced, in front of like 150 people or more, some work related event. She projected a heck of allot better than the people presenting the meeting. The PA was not working for the first half.
One of the gentleman who got up to give a presentation on driving safety (I have to sit through them even though i cannot drive (humph)) kept saying "you know", "um", clear his throat, laughing nervously and the like. All that can be over come. You just paws and try not to fidget. I'm no expert. The one thing that kind of disappointed me is he was not fully prepared for the meeting. I bet this was the first one he gave. If that is the case, then I think he did a good job. Lots of room for improvement.
Another thing they did was show a video file where a pedestrian gets killed. I don't much appreciate snuff films in safety meetings.

Feature Opp for Blogger
A female human being (Cynthia gripes when I call girls buddies) mentioned a new feature. She wants Blogger to remember (probably in a cookie) which entries she has already read. Sounds good to me.

I watched "I, Robot"
"One day they will have dreams." "Three laws safe". Those laws are just lines of code. There are some other laws.
If you ask me, old Calvin forgot a law. This is a Kelly Law. Nothing created by humans will ever qualify as human. No matter how much it looks or acts like a human. No matter how much it is better or superior to humans. It is not human.

Tired
I'm sitting here thinking about vacation stuff. My favorite idea is to take a week off and complete the Wheel of Time series. I bet I could do it in a week. Is that miserable or what? Well, where should I go? What should I do? To be honest, that is the most appealing thing in the list. It is cheap too. God help me, I'm boring. I remind myself of WD. He is a buddy of mine step father. WD has been described as that guy on the Twilight Zone where the world ends and he finds a library and is in heaven. WD likes to read. I'm not a big reader. I hope I can stick with this inertia that I've found with audio books and my computer reading to me. It would be so cool to be well read. Tonight, and the rest of the week I have evening work to do. I'm sure it will take the weekend to get it done too. That was expected. I knew it would do things like this. I am so damn tired though. I can't recharge my batteries. It is like I'm one man paddling a battleship. I need to get to it. Wish me luck.

The Wheel of Time
I found the official web page.

The Wheel of Time
Book one done. It only took a weekend. Only nine books and two prequels to go. I should be done with book two by the time book eleven comes out next year.

Blogger tools
I've noticed the tools such as spell checker and upload and the whole WISIWIG editor don't work in FireFox. Since I don't use IE anymore, I don't have access to these tools. You know, that sounds like discrimination to me. We live in a democracy. You vote for things. Majority rule. What about discrimination? Well there have to be allowances for the minority or the majority will run them off. That sounds great. Trouble is, there is a minority in every decision. I'm tired of being Tuckered..Maybe I should sue. On what grounds?
The only reason these browsers are not supported is because a minority of people use them. Even though the minority is growing, pages don't want to support the new browsers because it costs money. Before the alternate browsers will be supported It must either cost more to not support them, or they become the majority browser. There is a third possibility. If all the browsers used a standard (I'm not talking the IE standard either). This will not happen because whichever browser is in the lead will want to buck the standard and cause the world of script kitties to follow down a proprietary path. This is to keep them in the lead and keep every one else, who follows the "standard" behind. If you follow the standard you will not get any cool features from the leading browser to work.
Why do I let this stuff bug me? Why do I care? Why can't I just conform to the norm and give in? Wouldn't that be easier?  I want ice cream. Ah vanilla, my favorite.

Political cartoon
Linda sent me a hilarious Flash cartoon. It is not really one sided or the other. I tis just plane funny. It is pretty big so dial up folks may want to think twice.

The Wheel of Time
There is one thing about this first book that keeps me reading. It makes me want to be free. Nothing stops me but myself. This book makes me envy sheep herders and the Queens Guards.
I've heard some people who have read this series complain  about how wordy it is. They say "The first couple of books aren't bad." That frightens me because I'm reading this book (1) and I can feel a tendency to leading you down a bunch of dead ends in the middle of stories.

More on template
This one really is easier to read. I just got another comment to the affect. I just can't believe it, how far off my telling of ease to read is. I shouldn't worry about it. I should just move on. This doesn't mean anything. Anything, except that I cannot depend on my opinion of design. Knowing is good though.

DND
My friends who play DND every weekend must schedule the day they play. This may not sound like much, but it is a chore. There is no scheduling program that every one would ever agree on so one person must simply ask every one what day they are free. Then a graph must be made up. Then another mail sent out so the rest may enter their day. Then the one or few people who are left out must be consoled and perhaps, a new day selected.
I quit. So why does this vexed me? because I still get the bloody emails. I'm still in the distribution list, but not in the graph. I feel like I'm being mocked. I know it is absentmindedness.

Light

This is a picture I took at work. I leave things up on my Whiteboard every now and again to lighten the mood.

The Wheel of Time
I just started a book called The Wheel of Time. It is a book with ten tombs. It is a game too. I have to tell you that I have downloaded the text because I need the computer to read it to me. There is no way I could complete such a task without the help of technology. I hope all will forgive my indulgence. I'm on chapter four already.  There are 53 chapters. I'm almost a tenth of the way there.
I imagine starting on a journey from my home in the wood on a long journey. I first pass everything I know as my feet find their way down familiar steps. Then, without notice, I pass a place that is the furthest place I have ever been. Now, I find myself relying on tales of others who have lived near me all my life. The spoke of places not that far away where they found a good fishing hole.  Without a thought, I pass through a place where I have never heard. A place of which I know nothing. Only a few steps and I return to the land of family and friends. On my journey within days of walking I find a new land. One I've read about. One my family tells me good and bad things about. Then in weeks I find my way to a distant land. A land I have only known in tales of war from old men. Beyond this I find myself away from all I know and all I thought I knew.
I've never woken up in a place I did not know. I've never been outside my own country. I have little desire to wander.

My new template
I just noticed that my new template reminds me allot of slashdot. I had no idea until I had both pages open. If I could only round the corners.

Lower Pay
Here is an article about U. S. pay.  It just makes me want to cry. I fear our children will watch our great country fall. Perhaps not disappear. Perhaps not become something else. But fall away from greatness.

New template
Wow, I had no idea people hated my old blot template as much as they did. I've had comments from "It's nice." to "About time you got rid of that crap." To me, the white text on a black background is great and easy to read. I suppose it is a legally blind thing, because I had two people (one before and one after the change) say it was much easier to read after the change to black text on a white background.
I picked this one because it is wider. I got tired of scrolling for miles to get to the bottom of the list. It will support tables and photos better too I bet.
Let me know what you think.

Over a year?
It has been just over a year sins the invasion of Iraq. It seems like we have been at this for ten years. The death tole has gone over one thousand troops. Every day something else bad happens in the middle east. I haven't heard much about local news lately. I bet this kind of stuff has always gone on. I fear the U.S. legitimizes terrorist organizations by declaring war on them. They are like that little snot nosed kid who always drove everybody nuts. Then, one day, that kid gets in trouble for being annoying. This escalates until some one ends up with a bloody nose. That analogy sucks, but you get the idea. The last thing you do is give a kid a lolly-pop (see below) for punching another kid.

Philippines
The Philippine government is giving into the terrorists. I don't want to wish bad things on people. The Philippines have had plenty of trouble with domestic terrorism. There are rumors of al Quida roaming around the hills and jungles outside of the major cities. It would, however, serve them right if some local rebel group nabbed that same guy when he (hopefully) gets back home to his eight kids. (I'd try to get away too) This is no way to run a government. It sounds like the domestic situation teeters near collapse. Had the President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is cratering under domestic demands. The single largest source of income in the Philippines is citizens working abroad. The U. S. and others are not very happy about it. This whole situation set a really lousy president.

DND Chat.
I had a conversation with a guy here at work about DND. I have to be careful talking about DND at work. Not because of geek concerns. I work in a geek-rich environment. I loose track of how much time I'm spending yapping about completely off the wall stuff. We will end up debating the value of magic items or the reliability vs expendablity of hired henchmen. I think we had a hired guide named "Henson Smith" once. He insisted on waring red shirts.
We spoke of alignment. That subject comes up quite a bit at work. We reminisced of our past characters. He usually plays chaotic neutral. That way, he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. I normally play chaotic good. I did have a halfling thief that the DM made me change the alignment to chaotic chaotic. I miss that little guy. He was nuts, but fun to play. "You have just been teleported to the home of an evil god. You are on his primal plane of existents where his rule is supreme. Do you take a bite of the black apple floating in front of you?" "ok." He was not evil. He was just looking for something interesting to do.
James told me about some characters he played. We agreed, too many people have no clue how to play their character. I've played with people who chose paladins and played them completely greedy or just plane evil.
I think you should play your character for a while and then every one else votes on your alignment. The group of players I game with will never go for it.
That limits the choices I have for making a power character.
Ever hear of life altering events? This is one. You don't have control over everything. Deal with it.
What if I don't qualify for the same class?
Update your resume and sign up for a new class.
I suppose I should remember that it is just a game. I should not take things so seriously. I should lighten up. I should go ahead and play with those stupid game points. God! I miss playing DND. I miss the hours of just sitting there and making things up as I go. I miss arguing over whether a plus one sward can chip a dragon's tooth. I miss arguing for hours over firing an arrow blind through a hedge, while aiming solely by sound and gumption, what are the odds of hitting a man sized creature who is flat footed? How heavy is a sopping wet wizard's cloak?  (Think about a wizard with a four strength.) I have the books on the computer now, so I can get more reading done.
Maybe I'll start the wheel of time series.

There are a couple of disturbing thoughts in the news today.
Palestinian children are being taught to kill Israelis. I keep trying not to just take Israel's side in this conflict. It is the politically correct thing to do. Is this a matter of culture shock? is it considered normal in Muslim cultures to teach children to kill? I know this is not the only place it happens. I've heard stories of young men in Africa roaming around on trucks with mounted machine guns taking what and who they want.
First, there is a note about a sex scandal in Saudi Arabia. A prominent young member of a prominent family quite prominently had his driver sexually assault (rape?) his ex in a car. They filmed the whole thing with a phone and passed it around to a bunch of people. They could face the death penalty for taking part in the assault. That is not the most memorable part of the article to me. Part of it mentions that camera phones are baned in the entire country. Regardless of the ban, they are quite popular.
On a lighter note, too many rules make for people not listening to any of the rules.

Alarms
At work we have alarm tests on the first Monday of every month. They have announcements before and after warning you it is coming. It is annoying, but necessary. Whatever you do, don't get caught in the stair well when the alarm goes off. It will blow your ear drums.
A buddy of mine had an alarm put in with motion detectors. They had several false alarms. When the company narrowed it down to a faulty sensor, he found out a spider had gotten into the sealed unit from the factory. The little creature would pass by the lens occasionally and set off the alarm. This anecdote did make me find out some spiders can live for several years without eating.
A friend of mine just sent me an email. Her parents are going through a divorce and she just activated the alarm for the first time in four years or so. (Why have they been paying the alarm bill for four years?)  She went to let the dog out and of course, set off the alarm. The alarm company called expecting a password. No password means a cop will have to come by and look at her ID. Well, that might cost money, so the alarm company calls her mom on her mobile (I hope it is still the same number after four years.) her mom is at a happy hour. I wish I had a little spider in her phone listening to that conversation.

This is good
I've had respect for Israel and for the Israeli special forces most of my life. Every time I've heard about evil people just disappearing, I think first of the Israeli special forces. Sometime in the 80s Israel sent a crew to Spain and killed a member of Hamas who was staying there in the open. That takes guts because Spain naturally got pissed about the whole thing. Israel said something like "They cant' run, they cant hide. We will find them and get them." It was something cool like that anyway.
Well The Israelis don't have a perfect system. It seems they do stupid stuff too. This should show what an awake bureaucrat can accomplish.

Doom 3
I've been saying since before I started a blog that I am not going out buy a new machine until Doom 3 comes out. Now that the day is ny, the luster of the moment is gone. I don't feel the twinge in my trigger finger. I'm just not excited any more. I would like to be excited about it. The moment has past. I've grown away from Doom 3.
They say the new game is creepy and visually stunning. Cool.

The Same
The news sounds the same every day. A bomb blast in Baghdad.  An "ally" pulls out. There were no weapons of mass destruction in the first place.  It all sounds the same these days. How can news from a war be the same every day.  There is no news of the sick children our doctors are helping. There is no news of the financial support puring into the country.  Blah, blah, blah, it's all the same. I suppose interesting is bad in a war.

SNAFU
I found a collection of WWII era cartoons called SNAFU. It is about a goofy guy who screws everything up in the army. They were to teach lessons and make you laugh. They are a bit racist. They are funny. They are informative. These were made sixty plus years ago.
One of hte cartoons was about keeping secrets. One of the secrets they SNAFU doesn't keep very well is about a secret weapon that leaves a big hole on a Japanese island. This cartoon never played because it was too close to the atom bomb attack scheduled to go off later in the year.

Blogger Interface Test
OK. I said I would give the new Blogger interface a shot. Well, here it is. The word "Blogger" was not in the dictionary. No biggy, it has a learn feature. It looks like the spell checker works. It looks like the link thing works too. Bold seems to work. They could use an image link insert. I'm curious how the carriage returns, and blank lines thing works. ... It appears you have to stick in the <br> when you want a line break.

OK. I approve.