Dancing Skeleton
This guy is good. This is proof that there are still skilled performers in the world. Not everything is CGI.

What's in a name?
Kasia, I need to remember that name.

Presidential Candidates
A friend of mine told me about the debates last night. The way he described the goings on made both sides sound like a couple of six year olds pointing fingers at each other over a broken lamp. I'm so glad I don't vote.

Gel Pen
I left a full gel pen on my entertainment center with no cap on it for about six months. Over this time it lost nearly half the ink. The ink didn't drip on the wood. There is no trace of it. The only thing I can think of is it evaporated. The pen laying next to it is find. That one has the cap on it. Maybe someone has been breaking into my apartment and filling in forged credit applications using my gel pen.

Wireless Network
I tested out the wireless network at my buddy's house where we play DnD. I want to take notes while we are playing a bit like I did last time. That, incidentally, was the blog entry that convinced people I should stop playing. The battery lasted for a long time. The settings kill the notebook the instant you stop messing around. I look forward to writing something creative. I haven't been creative in a while.
I like my character. That always worries me. When you like a character they usually last five minutes. I'm considering rolling up a barbarian for backup. I've never been much for mages. I've played some clerics. I tend to do best with a big ax.

Cat
Every morning I get up at 4:30 and get ready for work. I shower, shave, stumble down the steps to the bus stop. There is not much special about it on most days. Some days it is raining. I actually like it when it is a hard rain over a gentle sprinkle. There is an indecision while walking, whether or not to put on the rain gear that ends up with me more wet than a hard down poor. This morning was not raining, but it was wet with humidity. Today will be a hot one. The headlights of cars driving by have that hazy look. My eyes tell me by their feel that it will be sticky all day. A hurricane just passed 400 miles to the East and our weather will be strange for a week for its passing.
As I walked to the bus stop this morning I realize my socks are riding down in my boots. This is something that happens in these boots all the time. These are the boots I spoke of in this blog before, the one's that hurt my feet for a while. Just as I round the corner to view the bus stop, I notice something sitting in my spot. Small and gray, it is moving. I remember a opossum that was scared off from the dumpster a while back and I stomp my feet loudly as I walk to scare it off. It only moves a few inches and it arches its back a bit. It is a cat. I didn't catch the shape in the gloom, but I did grasp its motion.  Cats really do have that unique grace to them. I sat down a ways away from the cat. I had clearly startled it with my stomping. I popped off my boots and adjusted my socks so they would not ride down again. I caught out of the corner of my eye the little cat looking at me as it sat in the arched back curl that cats do. The creature was yellow, not gray. It was in that adolescent stage between kitten and cat. it stood and stretched a bit. Then it walked half way over to me and stopped. It looked up as though to ask permission to continue. I simply looked back at my boots as I pulled the second one on and pulled my pant leg down over the top. The little cat was next to me, but not touching. I slowly put my hand up in front of him so he could catch a sniff. I said something softly, I don't remember what, and start scratching its ears. It leaned so hard into the attention that it fell over when I changed sides to get the other ear. The bus came and I went to work, a little richer for the experience.
I hope that cat was just out for an early stroll. There are quite a few stray cats in my complex. They are not hampered by the iron fence or gates. They pass along without leaving much trace or making a sound, save a per for a friendly stranger willing to scratch an ear.

Clarity
I love it when you can look at something that is normally cryptic as hell and tell what it is and what it does. The following URL is as clear as they come. Read the words. Don't worry about the slashes. I bet before you put this in your browser and check it out, you know what you are going to get.
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/walkabout
I put a message on my Yahoo messenger that says "Thinking about a Walkabout." A buddy asked me what it meant. I sent him the link above and added that a true walkabout is a journey of self discovery. They usually follow a stress in one's life. My life is a stress. I don't know why I let it get to me like I do. It is part of the wonderful world of Kelly.
I'm in a much better mood than earlier in the week. The same things that were just ridding my last nerve day before yesterday are rolling off today. I don't know what to say about that. Well, it may have been the little smile I got yesterday from a woman I meat. I wish I had asked for her number.

Remember Florida

I remember a Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs cut Florida away from the continent with a carpenter's hand saw and shouted, as the state floated away, "Take it away Cuba!!" I miss Bugs Bunny cartoons. Of all the things I cannot find on P2P networks. That is the one thing I wish I could find easier.

Space Station Hoopty
The ISS (International Space Station) is falling apart. Now the Russian resupply ships are having trouble. I carry in my wallet a "Space Pen". I like it because it fits in my wallet and is rugged enough to take the beating it gets. Those pens are pressurized so they will write in a weightless or vacuum environment. Someone told me it will work under water too. A friend said "The Russians use pencils. That is a cheap way to avoid th weightless problem." Well, the lead (graphite) from pencils is a conductor. The dust created by writing with pencils gets in the instruments and causes failures. This shows lack of planning and research. There are two ways to look at space travel. Do tons of painstaking, expensive, time consuming research and tests to design the best missions that are most likely to be successful. Or, throw money and deadlines at a bunch of managers and watch things blow up. Space travel is expensive. You have to do your homework. It takes ages. It is hard. You don't always make headlines.

Calender
I've found myself with too many calenders. I have personal stuff and works stuff. For a while I had two work stuffs. I may have school stuff again in the future. I own a PDA. It has all the calender, phone, address, and to do abilities. I find myself just using it to synchronize my work and home Outlooks. I never use it as a PDA for anything. I need to find a mobile phone that coves this ability. I have it with me all the time. Mobile phones are going through a transition at the moment. They are half way between a PDA or Game Boy and phone. Where the trend will stop is anyone's guess. The evolution is messy. So many systems are proprietary. Some will not be supported in a year or so. It looks like Blackbury may have some new legal troubles. Wish me luck.

Random Thought
Speed of light
300,000 km/second
300,000,000,000 mm/second
Gigahertz
1,000,000,000 click cycles per second. (1 gHz)
Computer speed approaching the speed of light.
300,000,000,000 mm/s over 1,000,000,000 click cycles a second = 300 mm (about a foot)
At 4 gHz, light only travels 75 mm in a clock cycle. (That is 3 inches)

Ivan
Well, Florida has been hit by three hurricanes so far this year. One of them hit Florida twice (once to cross and the other through the panhandle). If any of these hurricanes had hit Houston, we would be in a bad way. I know some people who left lower Louisiana, only to return to relative calm. It looks like LA dodged another bullet. One of the commentators said "There are two places in the U. S. under sea level, the other one is Death Vally." He was speaking from Baton Rouge. That is a city, literally, in the bottom of a bowl. Being bordered by a river, a lake and the ocean make for rough going in large storms. I heard it would only  take six or ten inches of rain in a short period of time to put eighteen feet of water in Baton Rouge. It looks like Alabama got a good shot of Ivan.

Machines
I've heard people say they need a new computer because there old one has imploded. They spec out their needs as "Web surfing, email, games ..." Its funny, but the most taxing thing I can do on my computer at work is check my email. It isn't  the local machine, it is the network. My email (Outlook) simply grinds to a halt the second I try to click o an email to bring it up.or copy an email to a folder. Sometimes it takes five minutes just to complete the most simple task. When I find myself toiling on the corporate machine, grinding, trying, I can't help myself. I have to try. I have to achieve. I am a fool, but that is what I am. The email just sits there. The hourglass taunts me. I find myself chanting softly "I'm paid by the hour. I'm paid by the hour."
I am not yet broken by the machine. I may never break. I fear caring the rest of my days. I will never retire. I will work until I drop. I will care every step of the way. Oh, if only I could create. If only I knew the magic words. Today, tomorrow the same things run past my desk and I solve the problems I can. I enable the non-caring to not care. I care. I can't help it.

Today
I'm in a dark mood today. I'm trying to snap out of it. Shake it off. What causes these fowl moods? Is it a chemical imbalance? I'm tired of being a slave to a tomato allergy. It's like there are two people running my day. There is the grump who snaps at people, and there is the guy who wants to help and make people smile.
These two have alto in common. They are both pleased to create. They are both hungry most of the time. The grump is a better programmer. The kinder one, by definition, has better people skills. I need them both to move forward. I spoke a while back about ID-Kelly. I'm not sure where the lines are. I'm not sure there are lines. ID-Kelly can be both nice and mean.
I remember an interview with Bruce Willis. He created a persona that helped him get along. I forget the name he used, but the character on Moonliters had a good deal of that character in him. The character had confidence, party attitude, he was the ultimate extrovert. I base my description of ID-Kelly off that character. My needs are different. I don't care about out-going, but I need confidence. ID-Kelly has what I need sometimes.
I'll get over it. Just thought I would vent. If I don't figure out something, I'm on my way to becoming one of those old guys with a bunch of skeletons around a dinner table in his basement. It's late, I'm going to go soak and listen to some classical music. That usually does nothing for me, but It looks like I'm trying to relax.

House Calls
I was listening to NPR and heard an interesting new piece of technology that is currently under trial here in Houston. What they are doing is putting remote monitoring systems in ICU an other departments that allows people in a remote location to monitor patients. The people in the ICU may be lessoned and a doctor is only needed for twice a day rounds instead of constant monitoring. This all sounds well and good until they interviewed the people doing the monitoring. They are obviously Indian. This trial is just a preliminary test to outsource medical care to other countries.
I envision a day when you don't get to see a doctor. You have a health tech ($15/hour) hook the monitor systems up to you  and some floating head will appear on a monitor with an all too familiar accent. India will be the most populous nation in 50 years. They will have all the jobs. They will have Bally-wood (Their version of Hollywood). They will be the center of programming, documentation, remote medical, and culture. The whole world hates the U. S.  Our culture is headed for a downfall. The problem is, we cannot become another Canada.  The rest of the world holds far to large a grudge. hopefully world wart three will take care of most of those ingrates.
Her is what I hope is happening. There is some grand plan to replace the oil industry with other jobs in the rest of the world. So much of the economy is based on energy that even if there is a new magic source of renewable energy, we cannot just throw the switch because the world as we know it would collapse into anarchy. Thus, other means of support must be inserted into other economies.
Between outsourcing tech jobs, doctors, help desk, call centers, research, manufacturing, and the like, the only thing left is management and marketing. We are going to be a nation of people trying to sell products and services made elsewhere to each other. The U. S. is trying like mad to open other markets around the world. I keep hearing it is to sell American products to new people. The only exports I hear increasing are jobs.

Last on Mirrors
Adam escalated the issue to Woody, who found the answer in a message board. I will not put the full text here. Basically, the whole thing boils down to this statement.

The axis you rotate around does not change direction in the mirror. The other two axises change.

The problem I had was I was always rotating around the Z axis. I was always turning my head.
 If I had turned around the Y axis (think of some one sticking a speer through my back and aiming at the mirror) Then my head changes direction and my hands change direction, but not the speer, or Y axis.
If I rotate around the X axis (Think about those acrobats who do the big T on the rings slowly rotating from right side up to up side down, also known as an inverted T), my left and right stay the same, but the up and down are reverse (or upside down). That doesn't make any sense does it? Well, trust me, it is the final word in any case.

Now, there is a slight delay between the light showing one and the other so, for the briefest moment none of these rules apply. As we delay the difference, or speed our observation, this will simulate the rotation around the fourth dimensional axis. What happens when you rotate so fast that the mirror has no time to reflect a single ray of light of the change? That is another conundrum all together. (just kidding, ignore this paragraph)

Sunday
Nothing of any particular interest happened today. I got a few comments on the blog. I got a few emails. I'm trying to put some DND documentation together. I watched some movies and some Babylon 5 episodes. This is what Sundays are all about. I turned on the TV for five minutes just to find out what was on. The Simpsons were playing, there was a football game on and some other sports thing. I don't remember. I then turned off the TV and started looking for some new books to read.

Two very interesting stories
So, the New York Times had a story about North Korea getting ready for a nuke test. A while  later, there is a 4 km wide mushroom cloud in a remote area of North Korea. hmmmm.
So, what is the big deal with North Korea having nuclear weapons? The leadership is nuts. The people are on the brink of starvation. They blame the South for all their problems. They hate the U. S. for protecting the South. The North Koreans have been implemented in the distribution of weapons to terrorist groups around the world. Some say North Korea is happy to sell to the highest bidder because it will hurt the West (U. S. and Europe) more than any of their interests. Western cultural hurts the North Korean government hold on power. It is not a democracy. North Korea showed off it's new missile earlier this year that could (with some work) reach California. Shall I go on?

Bald
When I was younger, I was terrified of going bald. Salena told me to stop bitching about it or stop hanging out with her. I used to have hair down to the middle of my back. It was red and wavy. It was thick as a rope. Well those days are gone. It is starting to get a bit thin in back. I used to joke that I would shave my head at the first real sign of baldness and just never grow it back again. Well, that seems to be good therapy. Being bald is no big deal. Going bald is annoying and worrying about going bald is just plane painful.
Last night at the wedding I got some complements on the bald head. I know it isn't the head they noticed, it was the posture and the nice shirt.  People really do pick up on your confidence. I can usually fake it for a while.
Any one want a picture?

9-11
My God. It's September eleventh. Two years ago today the U. S. changed a little bit for ever. I noticed a tribute in New York. They put two huge spot-lights pointing up through the spaces where the towers were. The photo looked nice.

Request
Some people requested the high res version of the Chris and Sarah's wedding pictures. So, here they are. These are the full 5 megapixel photos.
Links: Main Page or Directly to the page

More on Mirrors
--- Adam's Comment ---
About the mirror. The reason left is right and right is left in a mirror, but up is always up is because right and left are dependent on facing, while up and down aren't. If you were facing away from the the mirror then as you move right, your image moves right. If you are facing toward the mirror then the reverse is true. Facing, however, does not change up and down.
--- End Adam's Comment --
I must not have presented my point very well.  The debate is about the difference between my (every one's) perception of up and down vs right and left. When I turn away from the mirror the reflection does have the same left and right. (That is getting back into the physics of the conundrum). However, Up and down are the same whether or not you look into the mirror. There must be a fundamental difference between the way the mind looks at up and down vs left and right.
A caveman running through a forest would pick the path between two particular trees on the fly. The decision would be based on whatever the caveman determined was the easiest path. Like water choosing the path of a river. The path up and down, however, is a different set of needs. The ground has allot to do with it. I picture apes jumping from limb to limb. Now, we are talking some real differences between up and down vs left and right. The need for different on the fly conceptual realization and prediction come into focus when you start thinking of the needs as encountered through out evolution. A caveman may think "I need to step over that root." An ape needs to calculate the three dimensional position of his hand that needs to catch that branch over there. I read somewhere that during batting practice people do much better if they have a horizon in the distance to focus their eye on. If it is just a wall, they loose some visual focus. Pitchers do better when they have a  live person standing in front of the plate than when they have some box or target.
Its that I always thought I was just pointing in a different direction. It turns out the process of thinking and moving up and down vs left to right is fundamentally different.

Wedding
I went to Chris and Sarah's wedding reception last night. They danced every dance together (near enough) and they looked so good together. I envy them a bit. I had a great time. I took a bunch of pictures. Every one there seemed to enjoy themselves. Every one's eyes are closed. My camera does a pre-flash thing that gives every one just enough time to blink before the picture is snapped. Oh, well. I need a real camera. The one I have at the moment is really for snapshots.
Pictures: Main page or Direct Link
It feels good to have new pictures on the site, even if they are not the highest quality.

Page Breaks
I just learned how to put Page Breaks in HTML. They only come into effect when you print. Why print? This is my DND Character. I bet I'll need to print it at some point. I just used a bunch of tables, so they get split all over the place. that can be OK in some cases, but in the middle of the skills table makes it hard to read. I will eventually publish the character sheet here. Like I said, it is just a bunch of tables, so don't expect anything pretty.

Mirror
The image in a mirror is in reverse, or "mirrored". Why isn't it also upside down? Oh, I can do the physics experiment in my head and trace the lines from the object into the mirror, then back to my eye. It all makes sense from a scientific point of view. If I look at myself in the mirror, left is right and right is left, but up is still up and down is still down. If I lay on my side and look in the mirror of course, the image is still up side up, but also, still flipped right to left. So, it is my perception of the image that is reversed. That makes me think there is more of a difference between the directions up and down, and side to side. I always thought of them as pretty much the same. They are just different ways to point. This little experiment tells me, there is a difference.
If you think about it, when you go left and go left and go left and go left you are back where you started and you always went left. Even if you walk to the left around the world, you end up back where you started. If you go up and go up and go up, either you went down at some point (you were upside down in the middle of a loop) or you are on the fourth floor. This idea of a difference between up and down and side to side must have something to do with gravity, I just know it. It makes my head hurt trying to wrap my mind around the subtle difference.
Pickup a pen and drop it back on the table top. All the combined wisdom of mankind cannot tell you why that happens. They keep trying to tell me that bumblebees can't fly. Maybe the bumblebees know something we don't.
Comments?

NASA's $264M Lawn Dart
Have you heard about this thing? NASA wants to know what the Sun is throwing off on a daily basis. Hey, that has some good applications. I feel like my tax dollars are well spent on scientific pursuits that further Human knowledge. It crashed into a muddy spot in the desert, but now it's in a "clean room", thank God. I want to know who the fuck designed this thing to be caught by a helicopter with a hook on the end of an arm. There are so many problems with that idea. The thing that went wrong is the shoot did not open. Lets say it did. I can just see the helicopter; missing the shoot; hooking the shoot and spinning out of control to crash; missing the shoot and the device slams into the helicopter to crash. Come on, who was the project manager who approved "We are going to catch it with a hook dangling from a helicopter." This is proof only that high level people don't read their emails. I hope this instrument was supposed to be picked up by the shuttle and this was Plant-B.

Joke
A gorilla walks into a bar and asks the bar tender "How much for a beer?"
The bar tender thinks to himself what can a gorilla know about the price of a beer, and says to the gorilla "It's only $20."
The gorilla plunks down a $20 and the bar tender hands him a beer. The gorilla takes a sip and seems to enjoy his drink.
The bar tender trying to cover his petty larceny says "We don't get many gorillas in here."
The gorilla replies "At $20 a beer I can see why."

New Phone
I'm kind-of-sort-of in the market for a new mobile. I'm with T-Mobile at the moment and they don't want to haggle on the price of a new phone for an existing customer. No troubles, I'll go to Cingular, or Verison. I can keep my number now, so what do I care who's name is on the bill every month? They never put pertinent information on the descriptions. I want a phone that I can read, that can sync with the computer and hold more information on people than just their name and number. I need infrared or cable sync. I don't want to have to go through a service online to match up my names and addresses. I may need email in the future too. I look at the choices online and I keep changing my mind. I don't need a new phone. These cost a fortune. I hate dealing with rebates. Everything has a rebate on it.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
"Duck Dodgers and the 24 and 1/2 Century!" This is a new movie coming out this week. It looks pretty cool to me. This getting some good press, at least from the kind of people I listen too on this subject. I watched the trailer and it has a sort of P-51 (Mustang) vs flying dragons feel. Looks interesting.

Ghost in the Shell 2
This is another movie I've been waiting for.  I've heard good stuff about it. I finally had a chance to catch the trailer. It looks very good. I may have to catch this one in the theater. They say in the trailer that the original defined Anime. I don't think so. It raised the bar a bit.

Dracula
I just read Dracula. The original book by Bram Stoker. I understand why the movie recently was so difficult to sink into. The story seemed like bits slopped together. Well, the book is written in the form of journal entries and letters. I have to say, the book is far better at it than the movie. There are several distinct styles. No one character dominates. It is a good read.

My Funeral Arangements
I've given it at least fifteen minutes of thought and I've come up with my funeral arrangements. The plan requires the utmost secrecy, so shhhhh.
First, the corps is to be displayed as normal, open coffin, with the chest area, hands crossed, open. At a point in the middle of some one's words, a group of Duster clad, armed men is to burst in and take the room hostage. When people are ordered to stand away from the "Hell-Spawn", a man dressed much like Van Helsing is to march down the middle of the room and drive a large wooden stake through my heart. Just as his first blow rings true, a blood curdling screech is to emanate from the coffin and the body is to be made to lurch. Upon subsequent blows, smoke is to rise from the corps as the sound fades to a dull moan of anguish. At the last thunderous drop of the sledge, coffin, corps and all is to burst into flame. Van Helsing turns and exits as he came in, with a fast, business confident gate. His company are to storm from the place as he exits. They shout "God have mercy on his sole!"
How is that for an exit?

Today
Today is one of those days where every little thing is pissing me off. I mean every little thing. I find myself sighing every time I typo, which is about ever three seconds. I don't know what is the deal. I'm just on the rag or something.
...
I went and ate lunch outside behind the building. We have that little lake area out there and some dilapidated pick nick tables. That seems to have done the trick. I felt allot better after that.

Puppies
This guy was shooting puppies in the head and burying them. One of the pups hit the trigger of the gun (I think he accidentally shot himself) while he had an arm-load of pups. He is going to be charged with animal cruelty. I don't think he should. If he was disposing of the puppies in th most humane manor available to him, he shouldn't get charged. Trust me, shooting a puppy in the head with a .38 is not nearly as cruel as what happens to cows and pigs when they are slaughtered for our food. When they say "stunning" an animal, they mean with a pneumatic hammer in the head, or electro shock to the brain. My Vet. charges $90 a dog to put them to sleep. A .38 round is about $0.50 or so. It's too bad I'm not on this guys jury.

Russia

Russia is beside itself with fury over the atrocity that happened in a town called Beslan this last week. There have been funerals on TV all week. There have been protests calling for revenge. The international community debates one way or the other. People cry that another evil piled on top of this one will do the whole of the world no good. The Russian government says it will preemptively strike at terrorists when and where it pleases. Putin has promised not to resort to nuclear weapons. There is a video floating around that was taken inside the school during the conflict. Russian Television has been playing bits, but I've heard the contents of the video are far too harsh for general consumption. I've heard there are some photos taken via phones floating around too. The victims were held at gun point, denied food water and toilet facilities. They were shot when they tried to escape a burning school, and blown up for doing what they were told to do. Some reported rapes, beatings. All in all, hell. Besides all that, it was the first day of school. Can you imagine those surviving children having to complete their education? The parents will have to send their children to school again sometime. The resignations are already poring in. I wish people would blame the terrorists and not the officials who are most likely doing their best with the sources they have. Most government agencies I know of are only given the minimum to do their job under normal circumstances. Extraordinary stuff like this just is not covered. The Russian government has also offered a ten million dollar (U. S.) reward for terrorist convictions. It interests me that they offer it in U. S. currency. I understand the Ruble is a bit shaky. Preemptive attacks require three things. The problem must be present, imminent and you must have no other way to deal with the problem. The trouble is, who is to enforce international law? The powerful

Highlights
At my day job we have these things called highlights. What is a highlight? You sit there and tell the powers that be what you did all month to give them a reason to keep you around. I've gone though some of the other people's highlight documents to get an idea what was being looked for. Well, it is an interesting mix of bullet points and diagrams. I bet some people spend more time on the highlights than the work. I have to pick up. I was just throwing some text in this thing and moving to the next task on my list. I know now it is making a list somewhere that matters. I intend to give it a bit more thought from now on. I will also make sure to mention nearly everything that I do including off-topic help desk stuff that I normally blow off. Hey, it is work stuff, it goes in the highlights.
I get the feeling this is a document I want to pay attention to. Others may use this document to determine pieces of my future I want a say in. Last month's entry was not put "in" because it was late. Funny, I don't remember being told the due date, except "the end of the month".

Sleep
I slept like crap last night. I don't understand most of the time why I sleep one way or the other. This time, however, I know. I took a long nap yesterday and had a cup of coffee at about 5:00 pm to keep from taking another. I also stayed up reading a bit longer than I should have.

The Wheel of Time (maybe the end for a while)
Well, well, well. I have to say I'm sorry I ended the series on book ten. This tomb is all about politics and betrayal. There is no real fight in the whole book. It has a depressing feel to it. Some things that have been in place for a long time are tossed aside. Some plot lines you want to see done are left undone. All in all, it sounds like the rest of the books minus a good limb flinging battle.
Now I have to wait just like every one else for the next book in the series. The important thing is to write myself a note to remind me of the one important plot point so I don't have to reread the bloody series before starting book eleven. There are of course a hundred strings left untied in this book, just like all the others. I don't know how the author intends to loom this thing together in just two books. God, please let it just be two more books.

Things I learned today
Over two billion people speak or understand English.
The, then, round, son, house, friend, daughter are all words that have been in the English language since the fifth century.
English only came about in the Fifth Century or so as a language of many diverse tribes that settled in what is now England. It wasn't an official language used in government until the twelfth century. England nearly spoke Danish and French as official languages at two different points.
The English language is the largest breeder of dialects of any language ever.
The Internet is 85% English at the moment.
Some say that either English, Spanish, or Chinese in that order will be the primary global language by 2050.

TV
I didn't turn on my TV the whole weekend. From Friday when I walked in to this morning when I left it was off. I read. I surfed the net. I went to lunch with friends. I watched some movies on the computer (my DVD player hooked to the TV doesn't work) Not one minute of TV. I'm not going to replace the CD player in my stereo (it doesn't work either). I don't listen to CDs any more. I only listen to MP3s. I only use my stereo as an amp for the computer these days. I have VCR (Video Cosset Recorder) still. My VCR was old when I inherited it. To be honest, I haven't turned it on in five years. It works great as a dust collector. My TV is old. I don't want to buy a new one until this whole HDTV thing is worked out (what is another decade or two?). They say in a couple of years you won't be able to get TV out of the air. You will have to have cable or satellite. I say, "What TV?" By that time I will be watching full length Flash-Anime movies on my mobile(phone).

Reuters always has the best photos photos.

I look at this picture and my contacts start to hurt. I cannot imagine that much dust on an every day/hour basis of doing my job. I've heard it gets into everything, including sealed containers. This photo accompanied a prisoner release in Israel.
I look at this photo and I can hear the squeaking wheels and tracks echo through dunes. I can taste the dust. I feel the fear of a people who willingly have tanks driving around their territories to keep the peace. I hear the orders shouted in a language that must be Hebrew, though I might be able to  tell it from Chinese on a good day. Military service is compulsory in Israel. Every one 15 to 49 serves if they are medically able. People maybe defer for university I believe, but not for ever. Yet, people flock to Israel.
What do you see?

Frances
How often can you say a hurricane hit  the same state twice?

Wheel of Time
I'm three quarters of the way through the last currently available book. It is all about interpreting dreams and politics. I can't finish it tonight. I will have to read it tomorrow. I do hope it has a good ending. I do hope there are no surprises. I do hope the author does not introduce any new major characters before the end. Worry not, after this book, there will not be another until next year. Even then, I will only read it if I can find an audio book or text version.

Monday Off
There is something about having a day off in the middle of the week. It's a Monday today and it is Labor day, or Memorial day, I always get them mixed up. I noticed many people in my apartment complex were at work. It seems holidays mean less and less these days. When I went to Dilbert.com this morning It was a normal strip about business. I envision a strip with Dilbert sitting in his shorts flipping through channels. I picture Alice sleeping in and enjoying a dream about sleep. I picture Wally sitting on his balcony with his feet up watching the sun rise sipping on a margarita, or is it a my-ty

Sunday Evening
So, a female friend of mine gives me a call. She kept asking me questions and answering them herself. Every other word was "What do you think of ..." or "What would you do ..." but I didn't fall for it. I kept my mouth shut and just kept saying "I understand." or something along that line, when I spoke at all. I bit my rongue nine times. At the end of the call she said "Thanks, you made me feel better." I tried to bite my tongue again, but I blurted out "I didn't do anything." She said "I didn't expect you to do anything, just listen."
It works. It works. I kept my mouth shut and she ended up thinking I had helped. Well, men don't have to do anything to piss women off, I suppose we don't have to do much to make them happy either.

Goofy dream
I was in a small room with all the DnD folks. We were around a pool table that had no sides (the ball would role off the edge.) Sarah was trying to make a shot and people had to hold up bumpers at the last second to make the balls bounce back where they wanted them too. It was a bit like playing 3-D Pong for the people who were not shooting.

Razors
When did razors get so expensive? Gellett seems to have cornered the market on men's faces. How did this happen? They want $22 for a refill of 12 razors. They can't possibly last any longer than the previous design. They are very prowed of them.

Wheel of Time (continued)
I just completed book nine. I have to say, the cliff-hanger at the end of this book is not as cliffy as the others. This series seems more like a single long book than other series. As I listen to this adventure read out to me by my computer, I can't help but feel for the characters. This series is long enough to watch the characters grow up. I have to admit, I'm lost on some of the plot lines. Some one just got murdered and I don't have a clue who it was. You were supposed to have figured it out by the description of the people. I missed it. I'm not worried about it. This is a very complex story and I've heard I'm not the only one who has trouble following the plot.
Book ten is the last book that is currently available in the series. The next book is due early next year. Book twelve is unknown. I've heard there are only to be twelve books. What will I read after this? My standards are shot.

Friday
I got up and went to work like normal. At work I got allot done for a Friday. I went to lunch with some coworkers and we spoke of world events. After work I went to a friend's house to fix her computer. I helped her upgrade her hard drive a couple of months ago and now it seems it had died. I had negotiated a home cooked meal out of it, but this morning I received an invite to another friend's place for a DnD thing. The repair turned out to be the power supply not putting out as it should. Just plugging the drive into a different plug seemed to fixed the trouble. I forwent the home cooked meal to get to my place and rest before the game. I set  the clock for 5:50 or so and took a nap. Trouble is, I set it for AM instead of PM. I woke up at 9:00 and realized no one had called to find out what happened. Not only did I miss out on yesterday's party for a lame evening. Now I missed this evening's home cooked meal and game all for a nap.
Oh, well. Time enough to get started on book none.

Russia
Russia don't take much off terrorists. They gassed a bunch of people in a theater last year and killed half the hostages.. Now they raid a school, guns blazing, When a it is taken over by a pack of terrorists. There are all kinds of reports on casualty numbers. I have to say I respect their decision. It turns out the captures started firing on some kids running from a building.
At lunch today one of my coworkers wondered how long it will be before we have suicide bombers in the U. S.. I hope it is a long time, but I can't put my finger on why it has not already happened. My friend had some good points. Could you imagine watching a siege on an elementary school in Butte Montana that resembled the one in Russia? How about a suicide bomber in a theater on the opening day of some new blockbuster? There must be people out there who want to do this stuff. The limitation has to be people. I would like to know the kind of person who makes a good suicide bomber recruit. Is it a looser who always wares black and talks about getting scull tattoos? Is it a rejected smart kids? That is a debate I would like to have with an expert..
I don't go to many movies now, but will never go to movies if this kind of crap begins. I hope no terrorists are reading this. I just don't want to think about terrorists taking over an elementary school.

Prediction
Political Correctness (PC) is going to be the downfall of western civilization. It takes social focus for a community to over come a problem. Political Correctness dilutes social drive. PC is to avoid problems, not confront them.  Just a feeling.

Private space flight
Now that people are sling-shotting themselves into low orbit with garage jalopies, why are we using a thirty year old space ship to professionally launch satellites? I say it is time to replace it. We have had a couple fall apart. It is time to rethink and redesign. If the hurricane in Florida does much damage, NASA may not repair it. I can't find when the shuttle was first designed. It first flue in the early eighties. It is Ancient technology.
My fear is that someone like Bill Gates or a corporation will make it look like they are saving the space program and monopolize space. Honestly, let the market determine the path of space travel. It was always supposed to be taken over by the economic engine eventually, but I don't like the Microsoft model of transition to public company space flight.

Sensitive My Ass
I've heard all my life that women want a man who is sensitive and expresses emotions. I say Bullshit! Women want a man who is tough as iron, remembers to buy then pretty shinny stuff on the right days, and bends them over the back of the couch occasionally. I have to say it, the only time I showed emotions, it was taken as a weakness by the woman. I'm fed up with it. The one thing I have learned from listening to women is they are just as full of shit as men. They have no idea what they want or what they have when they find it.
New rule. Be me, don't pull any punches, and run at my own pace. There is just no reason to pretend to be anything else. It buys me nothing.

Atkins Diet
Finally the studies are starting to flood in. I'm tired of peoples' breath stinking. Please stop using the Atkins Diet. They say the reason the Atkins Diet works is because the poor selection of diet makes people board with food and that protein makes people feel full before other foods. The diet is no more effective than low fat diets. After a year, people start experiencing starvation symptoms.