Dragons Dragons Everywhere
Very cool dragon site. Natalie stumbled across this while helping me track down a dragon picture for my groom's cake.

More Day
Elle's first polysyllabic word. (as far as I know) She came up with it all on her own yesterday.

Day
I stayed home today. I didn't feel well. I have to be much more sympathetic to Nat for watching Elle all day, every day. That is a challenge. She changed cloths for no reason. She keeps throwing things around and making a mess everywhere she goes. Hmmm. Sounds like a kid.
That is all.

Maps
There was a day when you had to stop some place and buy a map. I remember pulling into shady places looking for a street map so we could find some party or friend's house. Things have changed. The other day Nat printed out a map to a friend's house and it guided us to our destination with the help of a mobile phone and constant communication.
We didn't need an atlas of Texas to get to our friend's place. We really only needed the final couple of miles. The map we printed was relatively detailed and represented only a small area. We knew how to get to the specific exit on the specific freeway. From there, it was guess work.
I remember blundering around the inside of a vehicle by flashlight or worse, dome light, trying to read oddly angled text that meanders along a crooked line on a page that was not printed at nearly high enough resolution for the size of the type. I have a vivid memory of one road appearing to cross the other when in reality, they only came close to one another and did not have a connection. I forget the barrier to be crossed to get from one to the other without rounding miles out of the way.
Though I have a GPS unit somewhere, I've never used it. It is too difficult to program. The software used to connect it to the computer is cumbersome and only works with proprietary map data. I've seen them used. The little homing pidgins work well when the geek wielding them knows their stuff.
HBO had a show about some Russian soldiers in a tank in Afghanistan during that conflict. The tank commander decided to turn to the highway and get back to base faster. The funniest thing though, there are these two squiggly lines between their position and the highway. hmmmm. Oh, well, full speed ahead!  Well, they end up being quite fortunate that it is broad daylight because those squiggly lines turn out to be a tremendous ravine. It didn't help that the engineer had fermented most of the break fluid into moon-shine.  With a quick chat to a truck on the other side (running down the highway) over the radio they find that it is hundreds of miles before there is a crossing. There, the adventure begins.
Map reading is as much art as science. There are things implied, but not said on some maps. Those colors just might mean something. I've witnessed a friend mark the speed traps on a map to avoid tickets. Every one has at one point stuck pins in a map for some reason or another. Now, I save favorites and paste links into emails.
Mobile phones will surf the net and display maps these days. I cannot wait until the day that I look something up from the passenger seat and save the day in some adventure with our friends.

Anna Banana's matrimonial prerequisites

1. we have to buy a house 2. we both have to get fixed 3. he has to ask me. 4. he has to buy me a shiny ring. Well, #3 actually comes first.  Well, technically #4 comes first, but I don't know about it until #3. Anna

That's Anna.

One booth allowed visitors the chance to shoot high-powered pepper balls at dummies. Taser International, the country's largest manufacturer of stun guns, was demonstrating its weapon on any willing takers, provided they'd sign a liability release form. Taser's stun gun (which delivers an electric charge through wires attached to two darts) works by disrupting the body's nervous system, immobilizing its victim. By mid-morning, Taser had more than a dozen volunteers, including Sergio, a dark-haired young man whose friends cheered and laughed as he sat in a chair to be zapped, one leg flying up straight in front of him as the jolt hit his body. ... "We haven't done human testing," Bitar said. "We haven't done animal testing," Gibbs added. "Yeah, not officially," Bitar said with a sly smile. He would not elaborate on any unofficial testing. Washington Post

(from Slashdot)
It sounds like there are some really cool things coming down the pike. I remember hearing about the Taser a million years ago and thinking they would really want a beam weapon like Star Trek's stun gun. It would be nice to zap people while they are running away or from a helicopter. I wonder if that lightning gun could be fashioned to work from a police vehicle from a greater distance. That would be handy for taking out vehicles and perps running from the cops.

Wow

More journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003 than during the 20 years of conflict in Vietnam, media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Sunday. Since U.S. forces and its allies launched their campaign in Iraq on March 20, 2003, 66 journalists and their assistants have been killed, RSF said. ... The death toll in Iraq compares with a total of 63 journalists in Vietnam, but which was over a period of 20 years from 1955 to 1975, the Paris-based organization that campaigns to protect journalists said on its Web site. CNN

I'm sure this does not bode well for the future of reporting in war zones. I suppose the days of bias reporting are finally being paid for with the blood of the brave people on the ground. The editors should pay a bit more attention to the fact that both sides think the reporting is bias to the other side.

Light Weekend
We tried to get the old printer hooked up to my computer instead of Nat's. We got her a new printer ($22 at Target.) The old printer only works on one page at a time. I installed the driver, but every piece of software installed without prompting. I hate that. I had to uninstall. By the time I got the printer installed, Nat had already printed the map that we needed. Then, we left it on the table.
Elle keeps getting scratched by the cat. She won't leave him alone. She chases him around and gets up in his face. I can't blame the cat. I wish she would just stop.
It has been beautiful weather. We got rain last night that came out of nowhere. I'm convinced it is a result of the hurricane in the gulf. It was very windy and plenty of rain. At first glance I thought it was just a surprise thunderhead. It lasted most of the night. There was tons of lightning as well.
The rain came while we were visiting Mike and Ronnie. I hadn't been out there before. I like their place. Their neighbors are loud, but they run a nice place. We didn't leave until after 1:00 in the morning. I'm not going to tell you how Nat said she wanted to leave.
Right now Nat is on her computer playing a Flash game. She tells me her high score every couple of games. I'm watching SG1 reruns on my computer and typing my blog. Elle is watching a movie (Cheaper by the Dozen) in the living room. Tiger, the cat, is asleep in the living room dreaming of how to get to the new rat. Our new nameless rat is in the master bedroom awaiting attention.
I'm chatting with Ken about business and wedding stuff. He is busy Tuesday. Josh is busy Monday. I'm free most of the time. I wish there was an easier way to make this stuff work. Those guys are impossibly busy. It is so difficult starting up new a business. this is what is happening with both of these guys.
More tomorrow, maybe

Update:  Nat says she set it on my table after we got back from the trip and we left at nearly two in the morning, not just after one.

Bullshit
From an email that is getting passed around.

It has been calculated that if everyone in the united states did not purchase a drop of gasoline for one day and all at the same time, the oil companies would choke on their stockpiles. At the same time it would hit the entire industry with a net loss of over 4.6 billion dollars which affects the bottom lines of the oil companies. Therefore sept. 1st has been formally declared, "the day we take back control of our own pocketbook",  and the people of this nation should not buy a single drop of gas that day. The only way this can be done, is if you forward this e-mail to as many people as you can and as quickly as you can to get the word out. Waiting on this administration to step in and control the prices is not going to happen. What happened to the reduction and control in prices that the Arab nations promised two weeks ago? remember one thing, not only is the price of gas going up, but at the same time, airlines are forced to raise their prices, trucking companies are forced to raise their prices, which effects prices on everything that is shipped. Things like food, clothing, building materials, medical supplies etc. Who pays in the end? we do! we can make a difference. If they don't get the message after one day, we will do it again and again. So do your part and spread the word. Forward this email to everyone you know. Mark your calendars and make sept. 1st a day that the citizens of the united states say "enough is enough"!

I have some problems with this bullshit email.
OPEC (Home, Wikipedia) Doesn't have shit to do with with "Arabic" people. That is raciest or at least xenophobic . Venezuela is a member of OPEC for God's sake.
A one day dip in sales won't hurt OPEC or any of he "oil companies". Besides, that just means people will have to go to the gas station the next day instead. Oil is in the Dashboard of your car in the form of plastic. It is in CDs. It is in the film on your windshield that helps prevent it from ripping your face to shreds when you get in a wreck. It is used to generate electricity. it is used to lubricate the noisy hinge on the door. Even food products use petroleum in many ways. It is in more or less everything. This is a useless venture.
The real solution is to use less. Not just oil. Use less of everything. Recycling sometimes takes more energy to perform than just making a new product. The best day to use less fuel is today.

Proof of the Day

Talking Heads
You know, there is one bad thing about network news. Well, there are many good and bad things, but one thing that is pissing me off as I type is the amount of air time the talking heads get. I did cart-wheels when CNN made their video service free (to compete with Fox and others) on the net. Now that I can get Cable News Network without Cable, I remember the twelve seconds of real field video followed by thirty minutes of a bunch of goobers talking about the twelve seconds of content. Anchor people and reporters love standing in front of a camera and yammering on about whatever they think will get them a by-line. Meanwhile, the action is crawling up the cameraman's leg. I hate that. I bet video blogs are not much better. I haven't found any that don't have some catch. So much for a live feed to reality. There are better ways to waist my time.
* Web cams on grunt's helmets.
* Howitzer cams.
* Humvee confessions.
* Reality TV where people vote live over whether or not they think the torture victim is telling the truth.
What do you think?

Joke

Boudreaux been fishin down by de bayou all de day and he done run outa night crawlers. He be bout redeye to leave when he seed a snake wit a toad frog in hits mouth. He knowed that dem big bass fish likes toad frogs so he dun decided to steal that froggie. That snake, hit be a cottn mouthed water moccasin so'd he have to be real carefull like or he'd git bit. He snuk up behind de snake and grabbed him roun de haid. That ole snake di'nt lik hit one bit. He commemced to squirm'n an wrapped itself around Boudreaux's arm try'n to get free, but Boudreaux, him had a real good grip on his haid, yea. Well Boudreaux pried hit's mouth open and got de frog and put's it in his bait can. Now Boudreaux knows that he cain't let go of de snake or hit's goin' ta bite him good, but he had a plan. He reached into de back pocket of'n his bib over-hauls and pulls out a pint o' moonshine likker. He pours a couple of draps inta de snakes mouth. Well that snake's eyeballs roll back in hits head and hits body goes limp. Wit dat Boudreaux toss's duh snake inta da crick then he goes back tuh fish'n. A while later Boudreaux dun feel sumptin tapp'n on his barefoot toe. Well, he slowly look down and dare be dat water mocassin, and he gat two toad frogs in his mouth.

I didn't run the spell ckecker on this one.

5 million rounds
I heard a terrorist boast once that they had 5 million rounds of M-16 ammo .223 or 5.56 x 45mm that they had somehow pilfered from the Israeli army. I searched long and hard and came up with a single source that says 1000 rounds more or less weighs 40 lbs. I like metric, That comes out to around 18 kg.  18 (kg per case) x 5000 (cases) = 90 tons. A large Tractor Trailer carries about 80 tons. (I cannot find a page to support that statement.) I suppose that is a possibility.

A Crane?

Israeli military cranes lifted a container which carried police to the top of an old fortress that serves as Sanur's community center. About 50 protesters, many of them young and not residents of the settlement, had barricaded themselves on the roof. On the outside of the stone fortress, a banner declared: "A curse upon those who evacuate us." CNN

[I hope that image link persists.]
After I thought about it for a minute, it made sense. You have far more control over a crane than a helicopter. You can stop the decent of the container a meter from the surface of the roof top. The soldiers can jump out and secure the touch down zone so no one gets smooshed. Then you can start loading people. Any one shooting the container for example would be unlikely to shoot it down.

DVD
I figured out how to burn a DVD from my video camera. It also works for other video files. I'm very proud of myself. Of course, no sooner do I figure this out than the next big thing comes down the pike. It never fails. I just cannot afford the cutting edge.

Speaking of Video
I'm going to have to find this flick. I had no idea.

The internet is world of magical possibilities where all your dreams come true, and for some of you, another one of those gets crossed off the list today. Cause here's a video of Eva Longoria kissing another girl, from a movie called Carlita's Secret. And just to illustrate how weird Hollywood is, it's from 2004. So Eva was doing movies with the production value of a snuff film 30 seconds before becoming one of the most recognized women in the world. And if you think that's weird, how do you think I felt when the homeless guy I was burying started to move. JESUS CHRIST, YOU SAID HE WAS DEAD! idontlikeyouinthatway.com

Skeleton Key
We went and saw the Skeleton Key Friday evening. It was alright. I liked the ending. I liked the acting and sets. I didn't much care for the idea. I wish I had a drink. It would have been more enjoyable with a slight buzz.

Google Images
I have too many hits from Google Images. The method of removing hits from Google image to my image site will not work for me because it requires access to the server root. I use my home server to host photos for my blog .Thus Google thinks the server is Blogger. I've done the little trick of putting a robots.txt file on my server, but it doesn't help much here. It isn't that bad of a thing, but It drives me up the wall because it shows up on sitemeter as a hit on my blog. The trouble is, my blog does not show up when the user gos to look at the picture. For some reason, other sites show up in it's place, even though the URL is right in the link. I'm not sure how it all works. It upsets me though.
Wish me luck.

Day
It was an extremely beautiful day. The whole time we were out the sun shone brilliant. We spent some time with Adam and Laurie. We got coffee and a good burger. Nat got some painting stuff. She really enjoys painting. I can't wait to get her paintings up on the walls. I've always wished I could draw. While in Aaron Brothers I noticed the sketch pads and the markers. I like drawing on whit paper with black pens. I like line art. If only I had any talent.

Word of the day
Schadenfreude: Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.
It is German. There is just no translation.

Question of the day
Why do beauty magazines make so many people feel ugly?

Song of the day
A song that makes me cry a little harder every time i hear it is Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen).

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’99 If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine. Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday. Do one thing everyday that scares you Sing Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements. Stretch Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone. Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.. Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly. Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young. Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel. Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders. Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out. Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85. Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth. But trust me on the sunscreen…

Artist:	Baz Luhrmann [ more from this artist ]
Song:	Everybody's Free
Album:	Something For Everybody [ more from this CD ]

Video
Well, I got the FireWire card and cable in last night. It went to my old address, but that is another story. I turn off the computer, plug in the card. I then turn on the computer, plug in the camera, run the software, and hit record. ba-da-bing. captured video. Nice.
DIVX Compression
1 900 000 / 58 000 = 32.7586207
58 000 / 1 900 000 = 0.0305263158
Basically, 33 times smaller or 3% of the original size. Not to shabby. You can see the difference in the shady arias, or arias where there is a fade in color like the evening sky. The full video is simply not viable. I need to get the video on to a DVD that plays in a standard DVD player. That will be the real test.
More to come.

Gaza
So, what is going on in Gaza?
I'm listening to the BBC as I type. The military is "evacuating" some synagog.  I hear the protesters in the background chanting protest songs. I hear loudspeakers preaching for the protesters to leave peacefully. The person reporting says he has not spoken to any one who is protesting who is from the settlement where they are protesting. These people have sneaked in just to make trouble.
The interviews with people who live there that I have seen all say they don't want to leave because they have put down roots. I've heard some interviews with folks that say the regular Israelis think the settlers are a bunch of "spoiled brats" who don't pay the same taxes. They were paid to go to the settlement in the first place. Now, they are paid to leave.
So, The regular Israelis are split over the subject. The settlers do not want to leave their homes. The regular Palestinians want a homeland. The radical Palestinians (among others) want Israel pushed into the sea.
It all sounds like an amazing scrum.
I have to say that the actions of the Israeli Military are exemplary as far as I can tell. They head up to a house ,unarmed, knock on the door and wait for the door to be answered. When protesters simply refuse to leave, they are carried out by the arms and legs to a bus. There have been reports of violence. There have been shots fired between entities unknown. The video is heartbreaking. The military is using an overwhelming numbers method of keeping violence down. Some of the photos  show ten military personnel on one protester carrying them to a bus.

First Thing
I walked in this morning and turned on the computer. I logged in. I stumbled to the BBC page and kicked off my morning (their afternoon) news show. As I'm reading an email I notice the stream hadn't popped up. I start troubleshooting the issue. I check the connection. Check the process. Check the system. Then it hits me, "put on the earphones stupid." Is it going to be one of those days?