Happy New Year From Mod-Blog!

Well, here's to all the memories from 2004. Many wishes and prayers to all our readers for a great 2005 from the entire staff of Mod-Blog.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Guess Who Else Was on Vacation?

Remember how the President was so at fault and callous for not leaving Crawford right away after the tsunami struck? Remember how he was "guilted" into leaving vacation early? Remember how the UN is the only group with "moral authority" to act? Well, guess who decided to stay on vacation during the crisis? None other than Kofi himself.

Q: Mr. Secretary, picking up on Richard's question, I think a lot of people are asking exactly why you waited three days on vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, before you decided to fly back to New York in the face of this extraordinary crisis. Could you give us a full explanation of your thinking on that? Secondly, what kind of signal does that 72-hour delay send to the nations to which you are now appealing for greater help?



SG: First of all, there was action. It wasn't inaction. We live in a world where you can operate from wherever you are. You know the world we live in now. You don't have to be physically here to be dealing with the leaders and the Governments I have been dealing with. You don't have to be physically here to be discussing with some of the agencies that we have done.



I came back here because we have reached a level that I wanted to have meetings with all the people that I have met with today. So, we have taken action. And I don't have to be sitting in my office to take action. I think the same goes for you in your profession.

I wonder if the liberals will lable Kofi with half the insults they've leveled at President Bush in the past couple of days. Somehow, I imagine not.

Can Someone Explain the "Amber Alert"?

Recently, a 16 yr. old female went missing. According to local media sources, she was "a cheerleader at small town highschool". Her mother thinks that perhaps she ran off with her boyfriend. So the local news shows the mother, crying, in front of "small town highschool". My question: so if you're just a smalltown, white cheerleader, and perhaps not getting along with your mom, and you decide to run off with your boyfriend, then what makes you not eligible for the Amber Alert? It seems to me that a missing 16 yr. old is potentially in danger any time she or he is missing, especially since, in this case, she is not of legal age?



Could it be that we use the Amber Alert selectively? That we have certain restrictions on what "endangered" means? I just wonder what the guidelines should be for including troubled teens who run away from home.

More Aid: $350 Million

The President has announced that the US has raised its original offering of aid to the Indian Ocean area ten-fold to $350 million dollars and Colin Powell has said that there could still be more to come. Let's hope that the politics stop soon and we can get onto doing more for the millions of suffering.

Wonder what diaster looks like?

Well, we have been fully numbed by the numbers: 50,000 dead then 80,000 dead then 117,000 dead and now 127,000 dead. We have seen pictures on the ground until they all seem like a blur. Need another view of exactly how much damage was caused by the Tsunami? Digital Globe has up a gallery of before and after pictures of places hit by the tidal waves. This is amazing stuff. Many make it look like God simply took a pencil eraser and scraped it across the islands.



Again Pictures compliments of the DigitalGlobe.

Year End Musings

Wow. Well, they came out WAY too long for the main page, but I stuck some Year End Musings onto our Faith and Politics page for today. Here is a taste. Click through for more.

Do you ever wonder about the structure of the world, versus the structure of the world that "They" tell you should be in place. Let's follow the logic:

1. One must eat to live.

2. In order to eat, one must have money. (Or some plants/animals to pluck, milk, shoot, grill, etc. Not my way.)

3. In order to have money, one must have a job.

4. In order to have a job, one must spend most of ones time away from home, family, friends, etc. doing tasks which generally one would not do if someone else were not paying us to do it.

So, in order to live, one must spend most of one's time away from those one loves.



But "They" tell you a different tale:

1. One must spend as much time with family and friends as possible in order to live well.

2. Jobs tend to take one away from family and friends.

3. "No one ever said on his death bed, "I wish I had spent more time in the office."

So, in order to live well, one must avoid work as much as possible to maximize time with family and friends.



So, we live on the edge of a knife...

I don't know if the thoughts are truly profound, or just something I had to work on for myself. But they seemed worth sharing, if only so that I was forced to work through them myself.

All Dressed Up and Ready to Go! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well, this year did not end out well with the Jakarta Tsunami and the death of Jerry Orbach, but overall it was a good one. From all of us here at Mod-Blog to all of you out there in the Blogsphere, we just want to wish you a VERY

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Taking back my Americans-Hit-By-Tsunami Comment...

Yesterday, I reported that 14 Americans had died from the Jakarta Tsunami, and noted "if anyone seriously cares." I intended that to be a reflection of the magnitude of the loss worldwide, and what is 14 Americans to 80,000 natives dead in countries in the region. But it turns out there is a big American problem down there as well. As many as 2,000 to 3,000 missing Americans that the State Department can not find. CNN has the story. The experts are reassuring - most of these folks may simply be out of touch, or have lost their connection to speedy communication. Thailand is the country with the most "missing Americans" and it is certainly not in a state to be worrying about keeping their internet and cell connections running 24/7. But the experts also have some wise advice for anyone who may read this Blog and wonder whether you should contact your family.

"Call your mother. This is a time where people who know they're hundreds of miles away from ... where the disaster might have occurred need to call home and tell their relatives, who know it's only a quarter-inch on the map."

Tsunami Death Toll Passes 100K

Around noon today, the the Red Cross speculated that the death toll from the Jakarta Tsunami might pass 100,000. Well, as of 23 minutes ago, Yahoo! News reported that the death toll has just passed 117,000.

Pilots dropped food to Indonesian villagers stranded among bloating corpses Thursday, while police in a devastated provincial capital stripped looters of their clothing and forced them to sit on the street as a warning to others. The death toll topped 117,000, and officials warned that 5 million people lack clean water, shelter, food, sanitation and medicine...Around the Indian Rim and beyond, families endured their fifth day of ignorance as to the fate of friends and relatives who had taken a holiday-season vacation to the sunny beaches of Thailand, India and Sri Lanka, which bore the brunt of the tsunami. Thousands were still missing, including at least 2,500 Swedes, more than 1,000 Germans and 500 each from France and Denmark.

And yes, they are actually bothering to tell us how many Americans have died. 14, if anyone seriously cares.



Apple also has up a list of charities active in the region who need donations.

Comair Computer Crash Explained

Finally, we have an explanation for the Comair computer crash that grounded over 1,000 flights and stranded thousands of travellers for Christmas. No, it was not Microsoft's fault. Turns out that Comair failed to upgrade their booking software to the newest version. The current version allows a maximum of 32,000 changes per month. Ice storms in the Midwest and unusually dense Christmas traffic required far more than 32,000 changes in December and... well... Kablouey! No word if Comair will be surfing VersionTracker more often in the future.

Tsunami Help

Tsunami Help has been set up and has a lot of info about all sorts of news and places to contribute if you're looking for more ways to help.

How You Can Never Do Anything Right

President Bush endured a day or so of mindless screams of "He shouldn't be at the ranch! He needs to be out giving press conferences and planning aid!" All of these claims in spite of the fact that there was nothing more he could really do anyway, until there was at least some estimate and therefore, understanding of what was needed from the US. He was supposed to show more empathy yadda yadda. Never mind that most of the people affected by this don't have working TV's right and probably couldn't care any less what the President of the United States had to say. Never mind that.



So what happens? The President decides to take the "lead" that liberals and the UN claim he should have. And guess what? Now, they're not happy about that. So what is it that the US is doing wrong now?

But former International Development Secretary Clare Short said that role should be left to the UN.



“I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up,” she said.



“Only really the UN can do that job,” she told BBC Radio Four’s PM programme.



“It is the only body that has the moral authority. But it can only do it well if it is backed up by the authority of the great powers.”



Ms Short said the coalition countries did not have good records on responding to international disasters.



She said the US was “very bad at coordinating with anyone” and India had its own problems to deal with.



“I don’t know what that is about but it sounds very much, I am afraid, like the US trying to have a separate operation and not work with the rest of the world through the UN system,” she added.

So, Miss. Clare Shortonbrains thinks that only the UN has the "moral authority" to perform aid operations? Yes, such moral authority that the UN has shown us in the past two years...



But you know what? Fine. Let's have a complete stop to all American operations attempting to donate food, money, and manpower to the Indian Ocean area. If we don't have the "moral authority" to put together aid, then let's see how well the world handles the crisis without American aid. After all, the UN is the only body qualified to deal with this situation. And we're "very bad at coordinating with anyone." What Miss. Shortonmentalability meant to say was that we were bad at pandering to French and German special interests that saw it as more important to keep making money off of Saadam rather than ending a brutal dictatorship that killed hunreds of thousands. The worse part about her comments are that Miss. Shortonwillpowertotakeonterrorism actually believes that the UN is fit to deal with this. If there's anything we've seen of late, it's that the UN isn't fit for anything but making money for its corrupt partners.

More Lies

The Evangelical Outpost takes on the newest figure twisting in the never ending attempts to paint the conflict in Iraq as poorly as possible.

Removing Foot From Mouth

The press was quick to jump all over Arnold's comments to a German reporter when he supposedly made the statement that the Republican party needed to move to the left. This was, of course, not something a lot of Republicans wanted to hear. It turns on there's good news for them. Arnold didn't actually say that the party should move to the left. Instead, the reporter now admits that isn't what Arnold said. His actual comments read differently and were apparently translated to "make it easier to read in German." Here's what Arnold really said,

"Keep [the Republican Party] to the right where it is, but ... cross over that centerline a little bit, because that would immediately take away 5 percent from the Democrats."

As a not-fluent-but-competent reader of German, let me assure you that there is nothing that tricky in Arnold's comments that would have required the reporter to change his comments from "We should stay where we are and reach out to the center." to "We need to move to the left."

Ward's Best and Worst Movies of 2004

All our talk previously about “best of” lists and so on inspired me to go ahead and put my own list of the best and worst movies of the past year. The lists aren’t in a final order because some of them are too close. Leave thoughts in the comment section. I'm not saying that everyone should run out and see these movies, just that I think they are good.



Best



LOTR: Return of the King - Great movie, regardless of what some fans with too much time on their hands might say. Visually stunning and enveloping in the story.



Bourne Supremacy – Managing to actually make Matt Damon appear intelligent deserves credit where it’s due. The movie is fast paced and keeps the story moving. On occasion, the dialogue gets cheesy but overall it is well written and well acted.



The Last Samurai – A great movie with a view. The story telling avoids the clichés of Dances with Wolves and yet still makes the point it’s aiming for. What could have been a “white man = bad” flick instead choose to focus on the problems that faced a nation in change, reflecting that people are people and there is no simple answer to the world’s problems. And I don’t even like Tom Cruise…



Collateral – Which makes it even more crazy that he shows up in two of my top movies. This movie took some flak for its “out there” premise. But this movie truly kept my pulse raised just a little bit. And that’s a rare thing these days. Cruise is as good as I’ve ever seen him and even Foxx carries his part with strength.



Spiderman 2 – Certainly a solid movie and a great story. The classic nerd-turned-hero that touches our hearts. We all know the deal. The technical and visual aspects of this movie are actually better than the story. This movie was OVER RATED. But it was still one of the best movies of the year.



Team America: World Police – I’m sure I’ll take some questioning for this one. But that’s okay. It’s not a great movie but it sure knows how to make a point. For relentless and brutal honesty mixed with biting humor, Team America stays as one of the top movies of the year.



The Passion of the Christ – For showing us that the story of Christ doesn’t have to be a low budget piece of crap, Mel deserves our praise. The movie is gritty, unflinching, and pulls no punches to make it’s case. Andrew Sullivan called it “pornographic.” I wonder if he would have been so sassy to the Romans?



Kill Bill – Even though one of the volumes came out last year, I will consider the entire work as a movie which was finished in ’04. Part 1 was violent and mesmerizing. Part 2 was touching and compelling. Together, they make a great story that is as solid as any in 2004.







Worst



Van Helsing – What a terrible piece of garbage. This movie was a disappointment in every possible way. The story was awful, the writing was wretched, and the acting was even worse. When the end came, I didn’t even care about the death. At least I knew it meant the movie was almost over.



Day After Tomorrow – Flat characters that no one could care about. Implausible story elements thrown together to create an orgy of weather related catastrophes. Open mockery of a President of the United States. Bad writing, bad acting, bad premise. Bad.



The Village – Zzzzzz…Zzzzz…Oh! Sorry about that. Let’s see…M. Night. That must mean that there’s a twist coming. Wait…Wait…Wait…What? That’s the twist? I want my money back!



Catwoman - Ha ha ha.



Ocean’s Twelve – This one was shocking. It should have been good. The first one was really enjoyable. But this sequel had no imagination and seemed to have no plot either. It seemed as if everyone was along for the paycheck.



Secret Window – We’ve seen this before just done a little differently. Johnny Depp does a good job with the character but it’s so clichéd on the part of King that it lacked any real shock. To be fair, maybe I saw it coming because I’ve read a lot of King before. It’s certainly not that I was so smart to get it, it wasn’t that hard.



Manchurian Candidate – More political fear and lies pretending to be entertainment. We all get it, Republicans are evil monsters with two heads who eat babies and oppress the poor by forcing them to work in slave labor and who want to take over the world to build our vast empire. Now, can we move on to something new?

Could Sri Lanka Have Been Warned?

The Washington Post has up a letter from a Sri Lanka native who is living here in America who asks an important question. Could Sri Lanka have been warned? And if so, how many could have been saved?

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, issued a bulletin 15 minutes after the initial earthquake occurred off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island. That was at 7:14 a.m. Sri Lanka time on Dec. 26. It would be almost two hours before the tsunami reached the coast of Sri Lanka...While no sophisticated early-warning system exists for the Indian Ocean, unlike the Pacific Ocean, there was time to warn Sri Lanka and other countries. A 1993 survey found that 90 percent of Sri Lankans have access to radio news. Many lives might have been saved if warnings had been relayed over the radio.

The writer goes on to clarify that he is not looking to assess blame, but to ask us to think of the future. A sophisticated warning system exists for the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Only the Indian Ocean is left unprotected, and without a preplanned warning system. Before now, it was let go because this seemed next to impossible. Now, we know it is not.

Jakarta Earthquake News Quickies

News is coming in faster than anyone can absorb it, but here is a quick round-up of stories. I can not imagine being in the middle of this as a victim or an aid worker or even a non-victim bystander.

1. The current death toll stands somewhere around 70,000, but the fate of 30,000 is still unknown in the Islands off the coast of India.
2. President Bush has authorized more aid, bringing us up to $35 million and has promised more is on the way, as needed.
3. Flickr and other online photo sites are full of first-hand pictures of the devatation of the Jakarta earthquake and tsunami.

And there is much, much more. Is it too soon to post that donate to the Red Cross link again?



Update 9:28 pm: More photos here, too.

Results of the Ohio Recount Are In! Kerry gains 0.25% on Bush

That's right. The Ohio recount demanded by the Green and Libertarian parties (who, to be fair, also raised over $100K to pay for it) has shown... almost no difference from the official tally. Yahoo news reports that Bush now wins the state by 118,457, which is a 300 vote smaller margin than the first time around. Mostly due to hanging chads which fell out when shaken vigorously. (You think I'm kidding, but I'm not.) For those counting at home, that means John Kerry has come 0.25% closer to victory... in Ohio alone. At this rate, he might just draw 1% closer nationally if every State required a recount. Sigh.

Jerry Orbach - Law & Order Legend Dies

I know, I know, what is the death of one man, when we are in the middle of mourning the deaths of tens of thousands in Asia and India? But CNN is reporting that Law & Order actor Jerry Orbach has died of prostate cancer at 69. Orbach was an extremely prolific actor, starring in movies, tv shows, and stage through his life. But what affected me most was his role on Law & Order. A few years back, my mother was confined to bed by a horrible case of shingles. The dry wit of Lenny Briscoe (played by Orbach) playing day after day on A&E helped her through the tough time, and provided considerable comfort when none of the medications could do so.



Thanks, Jerry. For making us laugh and cry and care through your 69 years of life on this earth. It ain't curing cancer, but it made a big difference none the less.

Here's to New Year's Resolutions!

Well, I figure I should start blogging sometime... Besides, I am not going to make those traditional resolutions for the New Year, such as: weight loss; having a more sunny, positive attitude; cutting my Starbucks intake; or start giving more time to helping Democrats learn to read. I resolve to not make any cliched New Year's Resolutions! But I do resolve to blog... at least once, every once in a while...if I feel like it...maybe.

A Helping Hand

Amazon has up an option for helping the victims in the East with One-Click shopping. Please consider giving to the Red Cross with this quick and easy method.

The Vatican: Wrong Again

In yet one more embarassing slip for the Vatican, they've stepped out and criticized Israel for not helping Sri Lanka, apparently because according to Vatican officials the Israelies are unwilling to help those of other faiths. There's just one problem about the Vatican's most recent rant, it isn't correct. As a matter of fact, Israel has already sent aid and manpower to Sri Lanka to help. As far as I can tell, that's more than what the Vatican has done. How about sending some of those Papal Guard units over to help? I doubt the Pope's life is in danger from any attack within Vatican city. As much as I respect Catholics, I have to again say that this Papacy and the politicians running it have become a total disgrace to everything good about Catholicism. They allow priests to molest children without sufficient punishment, they support murderous regimes, and they've blurred the distinction between evil and good. A new Pope, and a new administration can't come soon enough.

Fun With DU!

Quite possibly the most poorly thought out argument yet seeking to blame the US for the diaster in the Southeast can be found at DU today. The question asked is,

Since we know that the atmosphere has become contaminated by all the atomic testing, space stuff, electronic stuff, earth pollutants, etc., is it logical to wonder if:



Perhaps the "bones" of our earth where this earthquake spawned have also been affected?



You know, we've exploded many millions of tons of ordinance upon this poor planet. All that "shock and awe" stuff we've just dumped onto the Asian part of this earth -- could we have fractured something? Perhaps the earth was just reacting to something that man has done to injure it. The earth is organic, you know. It can be hurt.

Now to be fair, for someone used to being told that everything is the fault of President Bush, this isn't a horrible concept. And, the majority of DU'ers actually stepped up and put the idea down as the silliness that it is. Apparently, the bulk of them got through 6th grade science class with passing marks.



But there is one idiot so hopelessly caught up in his/her stupidity and partisan hackery that I just have to share it with our readers. Consider these enlightening thoughts,

All of the injuries done to our planet are interrelated, see this Reuters report linking pollution, tsunami's, and global warming. Those Right-wing Republican religious nuts with three or four children in an SUV are killing people daily. All of the pollution eventually sinks into the ground, & rots away the "bones" holding our planet together, and causes earthquakes.



They are happening after Xmas, when the pollution from the fever of driving around in SUV's to buy presents and burning extra energy in Xmas displays for crass commercial (Republican) propaganda is at its worst. See this article about the December 26, 2003 Bam earthquake. The Sumatra earthquake that happened December 26, 2004 is related to the tsunami and must be related to destroying the earth.



None of this would have happened if Al Gore had been elected in 2000, as the USA would have implemented the Kyoto Treaty.

Now this kind of demented and brainless rambling is exactly why those folks of DU are laughed at even by most other Democrats. This person is so off base that it's almost a parody. But let's consider what is being said. First to the Reuters article, it can be found here and never even mentions earthquakes or in any straightforward manner, pollution. It speaks of global warming, poor coastal development and other factors that we can't control. It makes no claim supporting anything to follow in the idiotic rant to come.



Next we'll move to the ad hominem attacks on Republicans. Notice, it's only Republicans that drive SUV's. I'll add that in my personal experience, I know more Democrats that own an SUV then I do Republicans. Consider this report from San Fran that shows that even in the most liberal state in the Union, half of the Democratic Senators own SUV's and allow the Senate to use SUV's as official government vehicles. Also, note how Republicans are "religious nuts." This of course has nothing to do with the discussion. But hey, it lets the poster take part in his/her daily thoughtless rhetoric so why should reality matter? Note also the hostility toward people who might want to have a few more children. Never mind that, as we've covered on this blog, conservative's reproduction rate is 2.2. This is the required norm for re-populating your country. The liberal's birth rate is a dismal 1.6, in line with Europe's shrinking population. So Republicans are re-populating in healthy proportion while Democrats die, and the left is jealous.



Next, "all the polution sinks into the ground and rots away the earth's bones." Okay, go back to Middle School. The Earth's "bones" aren't rotted away by pollution. Soil can be ruined and even rocks can be ruined by pollution. But the plates that are responsible for earthquakes are so far below the surface that "pollution" would never make it anywhere near them. Let alone have the chance to rot them away. This is the worst kind of so-called-scientific thought. This poster would have been laughed out of my high school science class for saying something so stupid, yet he/she is a grown person spouting this garbage. But hold on, because now we get to the really fun stuff. You see, Christmas is to blame. All of those Republicans made up Christmas so that they could get people out and pollute the earth a little more, because Republicans are the only ones who do Christmas shopping. And of course, all those Christmas lights are only put up on Republican houses. Remember this next Christmas, decorated houses are conservatives and non-decorated houses are liberals. This is actually why liberals are so opposed to Christmas, because it is a vile Republican holiday. Those pesky Republicans, giving birth to the Christ and all! Shame on them.



Then we move on to see that, wait for it...There have been earthquakes on December 26th before! Wow, what a conspiracy we have on our hands. Never mind that earthquakes happen on earth every single day. Again, that doesn't fit into the twisted worldview so we'll disregard that. Note also, the tsunami "must" be related to the earthquakes and the destruction of the Earth. Why? Well, despite the fact that both earthquakes and tsunamis have been around long before "pollution" this poster says it is so, therefore it must be so. As it might be said, "We don't need no stinking science!"



And finally, we come to the coup d'etat. If only we stupid Americans had been smart enough to elect Algore to office, none of this would have happened. He would have signed the meaningless Kyoto garbage and saved us all. Let's ignore the obvious fact that the protocol still hasn't been implemented because of other nation's reservations and assume that it had passed. Does anyone (aside from this poster) actually believe that Kyoto would have cut that much pollution that quickly? Right, I thought as much. But let's not stop there. Because if Algore had been elected, the terrorists probably wouldn't have attacked on 9/11 either. And I have reason to believe that had Algore been elected, Saddam would have cooperated fully with us. And, had Algore been elected then St. Reeves would certainly have not died because we would have mastered the power of stem cell research and the average lifespan of every human being in the world would have jumped to 459 years! And if we had only been smart enough to have elected Algore, then he would have re-invented the internet and we would now have a brand new way to come about information. Yes, the problem with our world isn't terrorism, poverty, and war. It's that we didn't elect Algore to miraculously solve all of these problems!



And the Democrats wonder why they can't seem to win these days?

Another Close Asteroid

The closest asteroid on course for Earth yet has been spotted. The chance of it hitting the planet is 1/45. Nothing to worry about, but a 2% chance of a hit is by far the closest that we've monitored yet. It's amazing to consider that our little home is so precariously unprotected from threats from space. I guess it's just not our time yet.

Jakarta Earthquake - 60K Dead Humans, 0 Dead Animals?

This is interesting. In the nature preserve on one of the islands hit by the tsunami, no dead animals have been found, but plenty of dead humans. Is this another case of animals predicting disasters? Or just evidence that there are a lot more eyes on the lookout for human corpses than non-human ones?

Your DNA On A Necklace

Personally, the idea of wearing my DNA pattern around my neck doesn't excite me and actually makes me wonder what could be done with it if it was stolen. If you're interested in that or just having a map made of your DNA, take a trip to Beijing's new DNA bank.

One Click Donations to Victims of the Tidal Waves

Amazon has up a quick and easy way to donate to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for the victims of the Jakarta Earthquake and Tsunami. You can pay with your credit card, and the cash will get to victims quickly. Amazon did something like this for the 9/11 families and it a lot of money was raised very quickly. C'mon, let's show the world that Americans are not "stingy." We just don't want Europeans messing with our tax system!

Houskeeping

I spent the afternoon doing some work on the blog. I hope everyone likes the justified text, new comment text, and Current Reading section. I'll try to keep it updated and everyone should feel free to make suggestions if there's a book they'd like to recommend.

Who's Stingy?

The UN official who yesterday made news by calling the US "stingy" has backed off his claim a bit as it has become obvious that the administration wasn't going to allow that type of charge to stand. Sadly, he wasn't alone. Every leftists blogger in the blogsphere jumped on the bandwagon to point out how horrible America is for not giving more money. It turns out the facts paint a different picture. We give .13 percent of the GDP of our nation, much more than all but a handful of Scandanavian countries give and that number does not include money to Afghanistan or Iraq. More importantly, it doesn't include food sent as aid. America gives more food to other countries than nearly the entire industrialized world combined. But hey, the UN said it so it must be gospel to the left.

Quantum Mechanics Gets Even Wierder

It is time for the Nomad to admit his shameful secret. Yes, even though I have a normal job during the day, I am a physics geek by night. Well, not a *REAL* physics geek. Those types debate things in numbers and integrals without every using an English word. I am one of those faker physics geeks who enjoys reading Discover magazine, gets the Physics Newsletter in e-mail, and grabs at least one Scientific American per year, just to remind myself that I don't know nearly enough about the subject.



The reason I raise this issue is that there is a new term floating around for quantum machanics these days which bears notice: "quantum darwinism." It gives additional credibility to those who believe quantum mechanics is the "Crazy Uncle in the attic" of the scientific world. For those who don't know, quantum mechanics is the theory that governs how things work when they are very small. "How small?" You ask. We're talking molecules, atoms, quarks, electrons, and below. At that size, things begin to happen which are… well... counterintuitive. For example, at quantum levels, a thing can literally be in two places at once or move from point A to point B without every occupying the space between them. And any observer on an experiment fundamentally changes the experiment merely by observing it. That's right, if you glance at your pet fish through the aquarium walls, you have somehow altered it. Yeah, I know. If you are thinking about quantum mechanics and your head does not hurt, you don't really understand it yet. But the effects have actually been observed in reality. Ask your physics teacher about the "dual slit experiment" if you want a good example of this.



"Quantum Darwininsm" is a new attempt to explain why though these effects exist at the quantum level, we don't see them in everyday life. Everyone looking at a painting sees the same one, and what they see will match what was written about it years before in an art critic's book. (Setting aside the matter of taste, of course.) This new theory essentially says that the mass of observers that exist in our reality (observers = anything that senses and understands, including a person, an animal, a video camera, etc.) force the things we observe into a single common state, because only one of them will satisfy all observers and maintain a coherent universe. If you doubt a non-coherent universe is a bad thing, consider any Nicolas Cage movie. Nuff said.



This post is already too long, so I'll stop it here. But you must admit this is a weird and fascinating idea. Well, at least the weird part.

Del.icio.us: Share your bookmarks

Del.icio.us is an interesting new site up for your experimentation. It takes the Flikr philosophy of a creative commons to share information, and extends it to bookmarks. By registering, you get a free place to store your favorite bookmarks online (with tags or keywords to help organize them). But each time you add a bookmark to the list, it is available for any other user to search and find. A useful way to find areas of common interest.



Here is my Del.icio.us page, for your reference. As you can see, much of it works. But I also did a few things incorrectly. We'll see how it goes.

Merry (Late) Christmas From Quizwedge

Well, Quizwedge went out to visit his family, Nomad, CRChair, and others back East and in the process neglected to post. Here he is with his family in watercolor:

New Poll

There's a new poll up so make sure to vote! The last poll was close but i think we all agree that we got pretty sick of the whole deal.

An I-Beam Pokes Thru

An I-Beam pokes thru
This is a picture from the stairway at work (New Britain). I noticed for the first time today that when they fixed up the place, they left an iBeam poking out into nowhere. Weird, though my brother (who works in construction) tells me this is normal. I dunno, I just felt it was worthy of note as an image of corporate lazyness and indecision.

Iraq Rejects Adjusting the Vote

Iraqi election officials today rejected U.S. suggestions of adjusting the results of the vote if the Sunni minority's boycott leaves them with no representation in Parliment. I can see why this made sense to some beaurocrats, but it is simply insane. Elections are about representing the people who want to take part in society. If "adjust the vote" made sense in Iraq, how much more here in America where usually less than 50% of the registered voters bother to even show up. Let's be honest, if that were the case incumbents would never lose.



Oh, wait.

Bin Laden Comes Out Against Iraqi Freedom

Well, all of the anti-American folks who claimed that Osama Bin Laden was a freedom fighter who only wants to overthrow corrupt pro-Wesern regimes really need to take a second look. The terrorist leader has officially condemned Iraqi elections. He claims anyone who takes part in them is an Infidel. Well, I guess that proves that the Taliban's totalitarian terrorist state was no mistake. It is OBL's dream for the world.

Hilarity Ensues

Right to the Point has a post up concerning the consequences of the left taking themselves too seriously. It would be funny if it wasn't so despressing to consider that these poor people actually believe themselves to be morally and intellectually superior to the rest of us.

America to Blame for Natural Disaster

It was only a matter of time before it happened. America is to blame for the disaster in the east. It's all because of our rampant militarism and war-mongering against evil tyrrants who kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

What the Troops Think

I have long said, and will continue to say, that I can't see how anyone here in the states can claim to know about the situation in Iraq better then those over there risking their lives for the mission. As long as the troops on the ground continue to support the war, then I will believe that what we see in the media are simply distorted lies. Once again, the troops have spoken and the considerable majority are in favor of our involvement in Iraq. It could well be that Americans will not learn the truth of this war until after it is over. Once our brave men and women come back and reject the lies that we are being fed on a daily basis, the lunatic left will be shown to have again been on the wrong side of history. Until then, we will have to be patient and wait.

Funny Because It's True

In two instances, Scrappleface reminds us of how well humor can serve to reflect the truth. In one post, we find the upswing to cellular radition and in the other we find the silver linging to inaction in the Sudan region. I got a good laugh out of both and hope that you do as well.

Debunking the NYT

Powerline (another one of those pajama-clad internet nuts) manages to completely demolish the rantings of another NYT times piece in record time. Yet again, the powerful MSM can't be bothered to use a simple Google search to fact-check their stories but a simple blogger can.

First-Hand Account of the Jakarta Tsunami

The Washington Post has up one of the few first-hand accounts of the Jakarta Tsunami. Pretty amazing stuff.

Then I noticed that the water around me was rising, climbing up the rock walls of the island with astonishing speed. The vast circle of golden sand around Welligama Bay was disappearing rapidly, and the water had reached the level of the coastal road fringed with palm trees...In less than a minute, the water level had risen at least 15 feet -- but the sea itself remained calm, barely a wave in sight....Within minutes, the beach and the area behind it had become an inland sea, rushing over the road and pouring into the flimsy houses on the other side. The speed with which it all happened seemed like a scene from the Bible -- a natural phenomenon unlike anything I had experienced before...After a few minutes, the water stopped rising, and I felt it was safe to swim to the shore. What I didn't realize was that the floodwaters would recede as dramatically as they had risen...

All of a sudden, I found myself being swept out to sea with startling speed. Although I am a fairly strong swimmer, I was unable to withstand the current. The fishing boats around me had been torn from their moorings and were furiously bobbing up and down.

Wow. I am so glad the area of the world where I live is nearly devoid of disasters. The worst we ever have is snowstorms and the occasional last few gasps of life in a hurricane.

Celebrity, What is It?

There are some interesting thoughts up at the Evangelical Outpost about celebrity and what it means in our culture. There are a couple of humorus thoughts and some very solid points.

Thought Police

Think PC language is on the decline? Think again. Make sure to take special care not to use formerly acceptable terms that are suddenly changed to "blacklist" status without the left telling the rest about it. Take this Senator who used the "wrong" term to describe mentally disabled children. Now, the liberals are aruging that he should have to resign. So we can't descriminate based on sex, age, race, or religion but we can based on syntax that someone might find offensive? And yet we're supposed to believe that the threats to freedom in this country come from the conservatives? Right.

Gollum Sees a Shrink

After hundreds of years of distinctly antisocial behavior, Smeagol also known as Gollum from Lord of the Rings, is recieving a full psychoanalysis. Conclusion? Psychology students either have too much time on their hands, or seriously need to get out more.

Toys More Secure than Fort Knox - News at 11!

Okay, maybe it was a mistake to lead off the day with the Jakarta Earthquake as each story I post seems more unimportant than the last. But I can't not post this one! Anyone who has bought a toy for a little friend (or themselves) in the last 5 years has come face-to-face with a terrifying truth of modern packaging - most toys today are packaged for secure shipping and secure display... which means it is now easier to get mind-altering drugs out of a child-proofed medicine bottle than it is to get a toy cell phone out of its packaging. The New York Times has up a story on one parent's struggle to unpackage this year's newest tickle-me/dance-with-me/speak-with-me/do-differential-equations-with-me Elmo. It used to be parents swore putting toys together on Christmas night (after Santa brought them, of course). Today, they swear on Christmas morning, trying to open them up. Progress, I guess.

Comair Cancels Over 1,000 Flights for Christmas Weekend

This seemed like a big deal until news of the Jakarta quake started pouring in. Comair - the Delta subsidiary airline that CRChair and I took to both Sean and Ward's weddings this year - has cancelled over 1,000 flights this weekend after its system crashed under the pressure of heavy holiday-related traffic and weather delays. Allegedly, the system had been recently upgraded and management failed to make sure either sufficient staffing was on hand to handle problems and also failed to have a back-up system on hand when the main one fell apart.



Lessons learned:

1. Always and I mean always have a back-up plan for a major upgrade.

2. Never schedule a major upgrade to your system before a holiday. Systems love to crash during people's vacations.

3. Always test your system assuming the worst possible conditions. Poor testers tend to test the common scenarios, and miss the ones covering Christmas traffic and the like.

4. Never let your all of your P.R. people have a holiday off. This story has gotten much bigger because no one was available to talk to the press or worried families.

5. Don't worry about our society losing its fear of God anytime soon. I will bet hundreds of travellers and Comair workers are rediscovering the power (and comfort) of prayer in terminals all over the nation.

Largest Earthquake & Tidal Waves in 40 years!

2282078269
Originally uploaded by dotcompals.

An 8.9 magnitude earthquake occurred today in the early morning hours after Christmas. Tsunami's (popularly known as tidal waves) swept the Pacific Ring of Fire. And thousands were killed.

Tourists, fishermen, homes and cars were swept away by walls of water up to 20 feet high that swept across the Bay of Bengal, unleashed by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake centered off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra...In Sri Lanka, 1,000 miles west of the epicenter, more than 2,150 people were killed, the prime minister's office said. Indian officials said as many as 1,130 died along the southern coast. At least 408 died on Sumatra from floods and collapsing buildings. Another 168 were confirmed dead in Thailand, 42 in Malaysia and 2 in Bangladesh....But officials expected the death toll to rise dramatically, with hundreds reported missing and all communications cut off to Sumatran towns closest to the epicenter. Hundreds of bodies were found on various beaches along India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, and more were expected to be washed in by the sea, officials said.

This is horrible and amazing. We forget how much power is locked up in this little island in space, and how easily our lives are shattered. It is probably time to start donating to the Red Cross, who will be providing medical and emergency food help to the people in their time of need.

Update 10:01 AM: I just noticed this amazing quote from the article above giving an idea of the true magnitude of the quake: "All the planet is vibrating" from the quake, said Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute. Speaking on SKY TG24 TV, Boschi said the quake even disturbed the Earth's rotation. (Emphasis added by me.)

Sleep well, good world

Well, Christmas is just about over. All of the presents given, all of the well-wishes wished, and the world is again reminded of peace on Earth, goodwill to men, and the incarnation of God. Let us rest for a bit now, so that we may return to the world on Monday, refreshed and better for our time with friends and family.

Virtual Bubble Wrap?!

This is just too weird. I am not sure which is stranger - that someone took the time to program it or that my relatives are forwarding it around like a Bill Gates money scam.

What is worse than coal in your stocking?

My father was one who would make threats that were hard to believe, but he always followed through. When I refused to hang up my coat, he would throw it out on the front lawn (leading to some COLD mornings at the bus stop). Now, some kids in Houston are finding out that you always have to take Dad seriously.

"We told them they were destroying each other and the calm and peace in the household. It had to stop," said the man, who did tell the paper that he works as an information technology specialist and lives in Pasadena...The boys pledged to be nice, but were back to their old ways the next morning...That night, Dad announced that he would indeed be putting $700 in video games up for sale on eBay. The oldest boy double-dared his dad to make good on his word...Son shouldn't have done that.

The auctions ended earlier today. But this is probably a better gift than most. Now the kids know there are consequences to actions. I knew a lot of kids who never learned that lesson at home. The lesson had to be brought home to them in the "real world" and it was even more painful.

Merry Christmas (day) from Nomad and Family!

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Mod-Blog!. We figured if Ward was brave enough to post his (cartoonized) face onto the web, then it was up to Nomad to bite the bullet and post his family picture.



There you have it! Oh, and be careful how you hold it! It'd be awful if somehow your thumb got in the way! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good Blog!

Merry Christmas From Ward and Muse

The cute one on the left is of course, my beautiful wife. We hope that everyone has a great holiday season and enjoys their Christmas (or which ever holiday you might be enjoying this season!) We'll be back after Christmas for more blogging.

MERRY CHRISTMAS (eve)!!!

Well, I am not sure how much the Mod-Blog staff will be able to update this site tomorrow. I know Quizwegde is back East with his family, and I know that I will be with family around the tree mostly tomorrow. And Christmas Eve services start at our church at 5 PM and go until midnight (multiple services, not just one) so chances are that I will not be posting much.



So we here at Mod-Blog want to wish all of our readers a HAPPY and BLESSED CHRISTMAS. Remember, it is not a day to celebrate a fat man bringing gifts (if that were the case, people would be celebrating everywhere I go!). It is a day to celebrate the incarnation of God in man, and the quiet beginning of the greatest religious, philosophical, political, and spiritual revolution in history. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to men on whom His favor rests."

John F. Kerry Loses Another State - New York

Wait, you thought Senator John F. Kerry won New York state? Well, apparently you are wrong. The official filing from the New York electors actually cast their vote for John L. Kerry. Both funny and sad. Someone needs a political spell-checker or something. And you know if George Bush had not won the election, the Dems would charge that the misfiling is a Republican plot to steal the election.

Mod-Blog's Patented Unusual Gift Ideas: Bzzzzt! Time's Up!

Well, time is UP. No way that you can order anything online today and get it in time for Christmas. And the brick and mortar stores will be full up with panicked shoppers. So what choice do you have left? What about gift certificates? Buy them online, send them by e-mail, or print them out and hand them over to your loved ones. A few options are available to you:

1. Amazon.Com: For books, DVDs, toys, etc.
2. Apple.Com: iTunes Music Store
3. EBGames.Com: Video games and systems
4. DVDEmpire.Com: For DVD Movies
5. Walmart.Com: Just about anything else.

Muppets Wizard of Oz?!

AICN has up some very weird photos of the muppet regulars dressed as the main characters of the Wizard of Oz. Apparently, this is another Muppet remake of a classic children's tale. Not sure how I feel about this one. Somehow you have to wonder if a puppet playing a character decrying their lack of a brain or a heart is not... somewhat... redundant.



Gonzo's design is pretty cool, though!

Only Christ will bring Middle East Peace

After the death of Arafat, there were many with hopes for peace in the Middle East. After all, without the Prince of Terrorism, maybe the Palestinians would consider the two-state solution. Yeah, right. Too bad, the new leadership is already promising the end of Israel... right after they get their own state from Sharon.

Fatah chief Farouk Khaddoumi said the Palestinian strategy toward Israel was two-fold. In the first stage, he said, the Palestinians would accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel. In the second stage, the Palestinians would seek to eliminate the Jewish state...In November, Khaddoumi replaced the late Yasser Arafat as leader of Fatah, Middle East Newsline reported..."[There are] 300 million Arabs, while Israel has only the sea behind it," Khaddoumi said.

Sigh. Thank God we are celebrating the birth of the real Prince of Peace on Saturday. Until He returns, it is unlikely that peace will come to Jerusalem.

The Ginch has a Cell Phone, Apparently

Camera phones have really taken the leap into the mainstream. How do we know this? Thieves are using camera phones to steal credit card numbers in stores. Hah, you thought cybercrime only happened online. You thought the worst possibility for camera phones was their use in the locker room. Not so. Suddenly more of James Bond's gadgets seem really scary.

The Media and Iraq

The blatant anti-Bush reporting continues even as Americans continue to die for the sake of freedom. Hugh Hewitt takes on the reporting from the NYT and makes me wonder, yet again, how that paper still maintains any dignity. How low will the far left continue to delve in order to paint the President as the source of every bad thing that happens in the world? And more importantly, how much longer will people continue to pay to have this garbage delivered to them? There are many places to go and find a rational liberal perspective, the NYT is not one of them. I become more convinced daily that the NYT must actually be run by the moderators at DU, that's the only way to explain the rampant ignorance, stupidity, and anger coming out of that paper.

Santa's Sleigh Wrecked! What Will He Do?!

We here at Mod-Blog have gotten some sad news. During a test flight in preparation for Friday night, Old Saint Nick was involved in a mid-air collission with a helicopter taking off from Sikirsky Aircraft in Stratford, CT. No one was hurt - having a magical semihistorical character for your pilot has some fringe benefits - but some of the press flacks at Sikorksy's P.R. department may be working overtime this weekend. Allegedly, Santa's sleigh insurance was expired, so the jolly old elf won't have the usual method of delivering presents this year.



In a journalistic coup that outshines everything since Watergate, Mod-Blog has obtained a list of the Top Ten alternative methods of delivery that Santa is considering, along with some handwritten notes on his concerns for each.

10. Tie elves to back-up sleigh, and have them flap arms REALLY hard. (Concern: Will the reindeer union approve use of non-members for sleigh propulsion???)

9. Fax I.O.U.s to children all over the world. (Concern: Not sure whether you put the paper in the machine face-up or face-down.)

8. Use Stealth Bomber acquired last year in our takeover of Hasbro, maker of G.I. Joe. (Concern: If NORAD can't track us clearly, I might be mistaken for an ICBM.)

7. Lose sufficient weight to fly over the world in a hot-air balloon. (Concern: Slimfast won't guarantee results in 2 days.)

6. Travel through the use of Wormholes. (Concern: Won't the worms mind?)

5. Take the Polar Express! (Concern: The motion-capture technique they used is really creepy.)

4. Use a teleportation device to beam myself into living rooms all over the world. (Concern: Elves claim Star Trek is fictional.)

3. Send all of the packages via UPS. (Concern: Signature brown uniforms not really in the holiday spirit.)

2. Fly around the world in a faster-than-light starship. (Concern: Not sure I can hire a wookie copilot in time.)

1. Use the magic ring I gave Mrs. Claus last Christmas. (Concern: Not sure she'll give it up. She keeps calling it "My precious.")

I'm Dreaming of an Icy Christmas

Not really, but that's what it's going to be anyway. Stupid fronts and stupid ice storms! Everyone around us gets snow and we get ice. What a crock. Oh well, at least I get to do my husand-ly duty and hold my wife close to make sure she doesn't fall.

Mod-Blog's Patented Unusuaul Gift Ideas: Proflowers.Com!

Okay, we are coming down to the wire now and hopefully most of our readers have already bought all of their Christmas gifts by now, and are just trying to find time to wrap them. But if not, there is still time to give a gift that will have them gasping with delight on Christmas day. It is too late for most online stores, but it is not too late for flowers! Why not consider sending your special someone flowers from Proflowers.Com? If you buy today, they can still guarantee arrival by Christmas. And the great thing about Proflowers is that they always ship their flowers budding, so they last for a week or more after they arrive, giving joy and beauty and fragrance to your giftee for a long time to come. It certainly helps to stretch out that Christmas spirit, and remind people of the beauty of God's creation.

Battletech: The Reality Series?!

That's right, an Alaska inventor has put together the first fully-functional robotic exoskeleton. That's right. All of us who grew up dreaming of Robotech or playing Battletech may be able to do the real thing in the near future. Well, maybe not.

Quickie Review: One Week with the Sidekick II

THE SKINNY: 

A great device, but not right for everyone.  If your primary use would be as a camera or a straight phone, don't even bother.  But if you are a heavy data user and want to stay connected to e-mail, IM, and the web, I have seen nothing better.  (And I have seen almost all of 'em in the SmartPhone sales space.)



The GREAT:

1.  Instant messaging is better on the SK2 than on my laptop.

2.  Always-on, push e-mail is a killer app.  I always know if e-mail is coming in.

3.  Web browser does a better job of rendering pages than any other minibrowser I have seen on any mobile platform.

4.  It is great to type an e-mail, start it sending, go back to a web page you started downloading before the e-mail, and take a picture, e-mail it to Flickr.Com, and then send a text message to my brother… all on the same device with overlapping functional times.

5.  Notes and Address Book cleanly moved from my Kyocera 7135 Palm Phone to the Sidekick 2.



The GOOD:

1.  Nice having unlimited text messaging.

2.  T-Mobile's service has been as good or better in my work areas than Verizon.  (Though I know Verizon has a larger coverage area overall.)

3.  The downloadable ring tones are very cool.

4.  Battery life has been great.  I lose about 1 bar per day, even with heavy use of the data function.

5.  Time Traveler application that is downloadable for a fee, is a great stopwatch/world clock.



The BAD:

1.  The camera is just about useless except in strong light.  Even with the "flash."  People taken in my church at close range with decent lighting are still so blurry as to be unrecognizable.

2.  T-Mobile's service will come and go IN THE SAME SPOT with no perceptible changes in wind, proximity to cars, etc.

3.  Web page loading is MUCH slower than on my Kyocera 7135 on Verizon.  But then, that is with the SK2 doing a full page and the Kyocera downloading just text.

4.  There is no identifiable way to download my calendar from my Palm, and upload it to the T-Mobile "Desktop Interface."

5.  The asteroids game that comes with the SK2 is awful.  I'd much rather have a text adventure or a simple board game.  (These are downloadable for a fee.)

Sullivan's Finally Lost It

Abandoning any sense of pretending to be remotely conservative, Andrew now claims (and no, I'm not justifying his site any longer with a link) that conservatives in this country are deeply unpopular. We have the past four years telling us otherwise, but surely he has some evidence, right? Or not. Instead, he insists that conservatives know how to use key words that make their positions seem positive enough to garner votes while actually remaining terribly unpopular. Huh?



Let's see what the people of the USA have said is unpopular...Late-term abortions, rampant illegal immigration, high taxes, gun control, and gay marriage. These liberal ideas continually get shot down by large majorities of voters in nearly every state. And yet we don't like conservative ideas? It seems to be a weak argument that it's all in how conservatives talk about issues. Sullivan, like many other liberals, is simply in denial. Are the majority of Americans in love with conservative principles? No. But they do realize that they're the more responsible choice and more Americans will continue to choose that choice.

Mod-Blog's Patented Unusual Gift Ideas: Sega Dreamcast!

So your special someone is dying for a new game system. They haven't seen a decent game system since the old Playstation 1, and are longing for a game system a little more up-to-date with a good selection of sports games, RPGs, and classic titles. But you can't afford to buy them a Playstation 2, and know that even selling your excess blood for cash won't yield enough scratch for an XBox or even a Nintendo DS. Well, what about considering some classic gaming? Some consoles that are less-than-new still have a LOT of life left in them. My system of choice would be the Sega Dreamcast which can still be bought on eBay for under $50. This system blows away the PS1 and has many great classic games like Soul Calibur, Jedi Power Battles, and Hydro Thunder. And the sports games are still recent enough to have close-to-current rosters and more than decent game play.



So, why not give it a try?

Do you need to ask permission to take over the world?

I have no idea if this story is true, but it sure outta be. Allegedly, it is the story of how Apple's Graphing Calculator came to be... even though Apple never knew about it and never paid the guys who made it. Guerilla hackers at their best.

A Little Personal Christmas Cheer

Our House Christmas 2004 (From the Right)
Originally uploaded by nomad7674.

Since Christmas is coming, it seems like a good time of year to share a little of Mod-Blog's personal life with our readers. (Don't worry. Not too much. I have no intention on giving out any of my credit card numbers or expiration dates.) So here is a photo of the house that I live in with CRChair (my brother.) Wish I could claim credit for all of this, but the woman who lives on the first floor did most of the decorating. We added in the candles in the attic window and the two fiber optic trees in the upper windows. Oh, and tghe mist off to the left of the picture? That is the Nomad's foggy breath captured for posterity.

Mmmm... Self Heating Coffee...

Now, I am NOT one to drink coffee. I like the smell, but the taste and the idea of pouring scalding water down my throat has never had much appeal to me. But after the weather this week, some hot coffee sounds good, if only to thaw my hands after even a brief excursion outside. But Wolfgang Puck is about to go us all one better with a single serving self-heating cup of coffee!

Beginning Jan. 2, consumers can buy a 10-ounce container of Wolfgang Puck gourmet latte at the store and heat it by pressing a button. No electricity. No batteries. No appliances....How does the can do it? A single step mixes calcium oxide (quicklime) and water. It heats the coffee to 145 degrees in six minutes — and stays hot for 30 minutes.

Of course, with all of the caffeine addicts out there, this might be more like a self-heating crack pipe than anything else. [Ducks all of the Starbucks empties tossed my way.]

SIN CITY Trailer - Whoa.

This looks like it will either be a really cool film, or the most pretentious comic book film of all time. At the very least, it is the name-droppingest film trailer of all time.



Update 12/23/04 6 AM: Here is a much better copy of that same trailer.

Mod-Blog's Patented Unusual Gift Ideas: Magazine Subscriptions

I know it sounds trite, but sometimes it really is nice to give a gift that keeps on giving. A DVD is great, but once you have seen it... well... it is a USED (or if you're nicer - preowned) DVD. Gadgets are great, but... they break or run out of batteries or most likely become obsolete before the giftee even has them out of the box. So, what about giving your special someone something that really is new every month (or week): a magazine subscription! For me, the best choice is Discover Magazine - a great way to keep up on cutting edge science without having to wade through the obscure mathematics. Either way, MagsDirect.Com is a great way to get mags at the cheapest possible price.

Eagles and Weasels

Eagles May Soar, But At Least Weasels Don't Get Sucked Into Jet Engines

I can't remember where I snagged that from years ago, but was reminded of it today. If it's your quote, come and claim it.

Nomad Is COLD!

While I am sure our Montana, Maine, and Canadian readers will be calling me a BIG BABY, but it was COLD TODAY in New England.




Ice, snow, and windchills well below zero for the first time this year, and I was almost stuck in our driveway by some well-blown drifts of snow. While I enjoy the cold and snow, generally, I like it when the weather eases me into it. Then again, there is that old saying from Mark Twain.

If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.

Don't believe old Sam Clemens? Well, check that weather report again. We're looking at a 58 degree day on Thursday. Sigh. I wish the Global Warming and New Ice Age folks would just get together and decide on one!

Ow, My Genes!

According to a new EU study, cell phone radiation - even in the amounts that actual cell phones admit in real-world situations - damage DNA in ways that is inheritable from one generation of cells to another. While such mutated cells are unlikely to bring the X-Men into the real world, they could lead to cancer for heavy cell-phone users. Suddenly, the idea of having both my new SideKick II and my old Kyocera 7135 on my hip at the same time is not so appealing.



Anyone else out there wondering what will happen if cell phone raditation (and thus logically, wireless networking radiation) is shown to have serious health effects? Will society choose to curb our use of wireless radiation, or will we decide that convenience and always-on information retrieval is more important? While I want to say humanity is too smart for that, I can't imagine many of my friends giving up their cell phones for anything. They'd rather die of cancer than have to wait 10 minutes to find out who Joey is dating this week.

The Most Annoying Liberal List

Right Wing News has their annual list of the most annoying liberals up. It serves as a good recap for the stupidity that has been the left in this last year.

The Sound of Desperation

It's getting almost painful to watch the rabid lefties lose all hope that somehow the will of the American people will be undone and President Bush will somehow not be sworn in for re-election.



Consider this article which claims that electors are bucking the system and standing up "against injustices done during the election." Now, without context, that might seem like a major deal and reading the highlights of the article would lead you to believe we're about to enter a time of chaos when John Kerry will suddenly be swept into the White House. But there are a few problems.



First, all the electors raising issues are from Democratic states (with the one exception of North Carolina, but I'll get to that in a minute.) That means, the electors who are threatening to hold up their votes are electors that will vote for Kerry anyway. This means that Kerry, not Bush, will get less votes. And in North Carolina, the Democratic electors are standing outside in the cold while the Republican electors cast their votes inside, without a hitch. More importantly, word has already come back that voting in these states is going forward without any problems. Therefore, if the story is even based in anything aside from a leftie's fantasy, it still hasn't materialized. But never fear, that hasn't stopped DU from picking up the thread and running with it in all-too-soon-to-be-shattered-glee. Remember this sound, it's the sound of an entire wing of a until recently major political party going the way of the dinosaurs.

SNL Over the Line?

At least one production worker thinks so after a sketch about Rush's drug problem. Not only does the unnamed source make a good point about the hypocrisy but also about just what a wretched pit SNL has become. Not only is it consistently no longer funny, but it's just become vile.

The End of Western Civilization

Apparently, hip and sensitive male liberals in Europe aren't allowed to urinate standing up for fear of alienating their female counterparts. Just remember, these are the people that liberals in this country hold up as models of what America should be.

Mod-BLog's Unusual Gift Ideas: Scott's eVest!

As my gadget collection grows, I find one of the big challenges is to find places to put all of my techno-toys. iPod, PDA, SideKick II, Nintendo DS, flashlight, etc. can quickly overload the pockets in a pair of jeans and every available inch of ones belt. What is a geek to do? Well, what about a Scott's eVest Jacket? Scott's eVest's line is NOT just vests, but spring, winter, and all-season jackets (including a sport jacket and tie suitable for church) that are filled with pockets to hold anything you can stick into them. Plus, a whole system to allow you to run the wires for your earphones or microphones through the fabric to protect them from the elements. And the whole thing is cut such that even a FULL jacket still hangs nicely.



If you have a favorite geek to buy for, this is one way to ensure they stay warm and look nice, even when they are toting along their entire technology collection!

So Just What is Kwanzaa?

I have to admit that I've been in the dark about exactly what the "holiday" is supposed to be about. There are some good thoughts here that detail some of the lesser known facts about the holiday and the man who made it. I also recommend reading her references at the bottom of the piece, there is some good info in there.

Time's Man of the Year 2005: GWB!!!

Time has announced their "Person of the Year."

President George W. Bush has been named TIME magazine’s 2004 Person of the Year.



“For sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his ten-gallon-hat leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters this time around that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years, we name George W. Bush as TIME’s Person of the Year for 2004,” writes managing editor Jim Kelly in a letter to readers.

I find it hard to find fault with the choice!

Democracy is Messy, So Don't Be Surprised

My ongoing favorite columnist Tom Friedman has some good advice for Americans as we move toward the chaotic period preceding elections in Iraq: chaos is normal.

What I worry about most right now - after a week in the Persian Gulf - is that we have entered a really complex, arabesque phase in Iraq. It requires enormous understanding of the complexities of Iraqi and Arab politics and the ability to produce outcomes not by the traditional, straightforward U.S. approach, but by the more subtle, bazaar-oriented politics in that part of the world.

Remember, democracy is fundamentally chaotic and even our own democracy had its own bits of weirdness. (Did you know that one of the Founding Fathers was going to attempt a Napolean-esque take-over of the capital, until he was turned aside by clever politicking?)

SysAdmin to Worldwide Users: Flee From Microsoft!

A linux sysadmin (i.e. certified system administrator - one of those geeks at your company who do nothing but make sure your servers and PCs are shielded from virii, spam, and hackers) found out his wife's Windows computer was infected by spyware (software that tracks your activities and sends back info to someone else) and trojans (tiume-bomb programs that can wipe out your PC just by being clicked upon). He decided to clean out the little monster, since he had multiple degrees in computer science. The result? It took 5 hours for him to clean things out. His conclusion? Windows insecurity is by design, and it is time for everyont to leave the system, or risk being overwhelmed by these problems.

That's right - a system administrator for 10 years with a degree in computer science and a RHC CAN clean up a single spyware infection in 5 hours. I hope you see what I am really saying here. How on this earth are people that aren't trained in Information Technology going to do it? ... Having now battled with spyware, I am finally motivated to speak up and say something to the world. I want to get a single message across: It's time for anyone running a Windows PC to switch to Linux. You see, the Windows platform is not just insecure - it's patently, blatantly, and unashamedly insecure by design and for all the lip service to security it's really not going to get better, ever.

It matches my own experience. I'd personally urge users to consider switching to Apple and MacOS X. But otherwise, I think he makes an excellent case.

Mod-Blog's Patented Unusual Gift Ideas: Framed Stock Certificate

They say that for the first time, the majority of families in America are now stock owners. In the days gone past, the average man worked at a company, now the average man owns a piece of the company. More and more, people's actual identity is becoming bound up in the companies they love and they feel pride in owning a piece of the American dream.



Why not suprise your special someone with a framed stock certificate of the company they feel that special bond with. Oneshare.Com allows customers to buy a single share of many of the companies on the NYSE and they will frame it to be suitable for hanging on the wall. Have an Apple fanatic at home? Why not buy them a share of Steve Jobs's original company! Have one who loves those Coca-Cola polar bears? Coke stock is available. And the best part is that these are real stock certificates, so if their company continues to do well, the gift only increases in value.

The Incredible Edible Egg

It seems China has the new world record for the largest egg. I'm just glad I wasn't the animal that had to pass that.

Earthsea Is Polluted, Says Author

Loyal readers already know that the Wardimer did not like Sci Fi's new miniseries "Earthsea." What you probably don't know is that the original author of the Earthsea novels also hates the miniseries. Her essential problems with the miniseries are:



1. Too many white folks - the original was truly multicultural,

2. No real story or plot - the original was very much a coming of age story, and

3. No consideration for the author - after her first sale, they never came back to ask advice, permission, or even blessing.



You'd think Sci Fi would have more respect for the authors that made their channel a possibility. But then, this is more evidence that the current management has no respect for its audience or its progenitors. They just want another profitable popular network.

Call it Ironic

The ACLU has violated their own rules. And just what did they do?

The organization has been shaken by infighting since May, when the board learned that Anthony D. Romero, its executive director, had registered the A.C.L.U. for a federal charity drive that required it to certify that it would not knowingly employ people whose names were on government terrorism watch lists.

So the chair signed on for a grant that required them to perform secret searches against their own donors. The self-described bearers of freedom in America and they're doing the same thing the Patriot Act allows. Imagine the horror! Of course, the paragraph I quoted really gets at the essence of the problem for the ACLU. It requires that they not accept money from those potentially on terrorist watch-lists. How dare the government tell them that they can't take money from terrorists! How can they hope to continue their assault against everything American if they lose money from all of their anti-western, American hating donors in Al-Qaida?

Mod-Blog's Patented Unusual Ideas: Digital Prints for the Real World

Nowadays, my film camera is more and more feeling lonely as my new Digital Rebel is pulled out more and more for the photographic opportunities. Now almost all of my "keepers" are digital and stored in Apple's iPhoto. But what do you do when you capture a pic that is so beautiful and memorable, that you know it would make the ideal gift? OFOTO!!! This Kodak-based company will either let you upload any JPEG or GIF or PNG picture for printing at any size, or you can simply click the ORDER PRINTS button in iPhoto. It is a great service and the quality is top notch.

Everyone Deserves A Mulligan

I think everyone needs a mulligan now and then.



(From http://www.comics.com/comics/pearls/archive/pearls-20041216.html)

Swiftboats and Democrats

What to make of the Kerry campaigns claims that they underestimated the Swift Boat Vets? If they actually did underestimate them, then it reflects just how little Kerry deserved to win the election. The fact that they couldn't comprehend how damaging something so unpatriotic as what Kerry did would be reflects how stupid the campaign would have been.



But, I don't buy it. I think they're lying. I clearly remember that I had only even heard of the Vets (before their ads came out) and the Kerry campaign was already threatening to sue stations that played the ads (We know how much liberals love freedom of the press as long as it agrees with their worldview.) The Democrats were all over this. They labeled the Vets as liars, cowards, and mentally unstable right from the beginning. The Dems reacted quickly to the group, they just couldn't compete with the message. And now the party is trying to close ranks and pretend that it was just a matter of money and advertising that lost them the election, not ideas.



But this is exactly why the Democrats will continue to lose if they keep on this course. They absolutely fail to admit that any of their ideas might be unpopular. Just visit DU or Talking Points or DailyKos. It's never "Maybe we are wrong, maybe people don't agree with us." Instead it's always "Our ideas are great, but the Republican dominated media just twisted our message and people don't know what we believe in because they're all slack-jawed inbred hicks that don't read the NYT." There are issues on which I clearly support the Democratic argument and I'm not alone. But there is virtually no Democratic party issue that garners more than 55% popular support. That means that at best, just over half the country agrees with them on any given issue. Much research shows the public split down the middle or even leaning conservative on any number of issues. Yet, liberals in this country act as if everyone thinks exactly as they do. And then they call conservatives closed-minded?

Premature Baby Stolen From Mother

Wow... the warped icon seems to be the best icon for this story. While the headline says fetus, the rest of the story uses the word baby. A woman was found dead with her unborn child taken from her womb. There is a chance the baby is still alive and so an Amber Alert has been issued. They are searching in Missouri and the surrounding states.



Nomad Update 7:56 PM EST: They found the baby alive and in good health! Praise God!

The Power Of Poop

It seems there is a "perfect fuel source": turkey poop. Benson, Minnesota will have a 55-megawatt power plant run 90% on dung with the fertilizer as a byproduct. Will this be a new power plant option in the next Sim City?

Mod-Blog's Patented Unusual Gift Ideas: Cell Phone Skins!

So, your gift-target has a cell phone. It is virtually glued to their ear half the time. And yes, the old piece of technology still is the particularly boring shade of gun-metal gray and looks exactly like everyone else's cell phone. If s/he were to drop it in a crowded street, 10 people would try to pick it up as their phone. Well, why not get them something to avoid this awkwardness from SkinIt.Com which offers all kind of patterns, symbols, and sports logos to skin your phone with. The skins attach to the outside of the phone and yet claim to be easily put on and taken off. Image you special someone enjoying their phone with either one of Skin-Its existing patterns, or maybe with a custom one based on a picture of your own making!



This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Apple/Moto to make Apple Cell Phone a Reality?

There are two Apple rumors that will not die.



One, that Apple is planning on releasing a PDA. Fake mockups appear every year or so, people stop buying Palm stock, and put off buying their next PocketPC for six months in hopes of a portable MacOS X. And the rumor is always false. Steve Jobs has gone so far as to say, in so many words, "The Newton was a disaster. We'll never do it again." And yet, ever six months, like clockwork, there is another Apple PDA Rumor.



Two, that an Apple-branded cell phone is immanent - usually pairs with #1 by claiming it will be a SmartPhone. People debate whether it should be CDMA or GSM/GPRS and Sprint contacts Apple to plead to be the first carrier. And then Apple denies it up one side and down the other.



Well, this time Forbes has the rumor of the Apple-branded cell phone but this time, it claims to have an actual person at Apple hawking the idea. Is the iPhone finally becoming a reality?!

Chinese City To Help Slow Down Abortions

While I'm not a fan of the Chinese style government, it appears that one city in China is getting close to the right track on the abortion issue. Guiyang City will no longer allow abortions of babies past 14 weeks with a few exceptions: baby is severely deformed, life of the mother, divorced mother, or widowed mother. They're not to the point that I would like, but it's a start.



Probably even better, parents will no longer be allowed to find out the sex of their child. Chinese couples are only allowed to have one baby so most will abort girls due to the high dowries they must pay for marriage.

Better Keep That Map

Looks like anyone that depends on a GPS unit for navigation should have a map in their national emergency pack. The White House has stated that in a time of national emergency, they might shut down portions of the GPS system to help ward off a terrorist attack. This would be a drastic move as the GPS system is used for everything from hikers to troop movement and so would only be used when absolutely necessary. I usually rely on Mapquest or Microsoft's MapPoint, though I have been tempted to get a GPS for geocaching.

Rumsfeld Pile-On

Can anyone explain to me why Donald Rumsfeld has suddenly become the equivilent of Kryoptonite to every politician, beaurocrat, and media man out there? The man presecutes a war for a few years and he gets kudos for his frankness and new ideas in capturing Iraq in almost no time. Everyone loves him. Suddenly, the election is over, and he is the only cabinet member not leaving or moving to a new post. So, suddenly he is the worst thing since brocolli?



Consider McCain and Schwatzkopf and the Washington Post and even Conservatives are offering only backhanded compliments. You'd think one slip at one press conference from a planted questioner would have less staying power.



Or maybe it is just a slow news week.



Update 6:15 PM: Now even normally anonymous Republicans are getting on his case! Wow. This is more action that we usually expect of a Lame Duck session. Or maybe it is a Sitting Duck session for Secretary Rumsfeld.

Mod-Blog's Patented Unusual Gift Ideas: Free Operating Systems

Broke this Christmas? Have a mother or grandmother who owns an ancient computer than can barely access the internet, and on which Windows crashes every 5 minutes? Have a CD burner handy? What about considering installing one of the Free Operating systems out there that can speed up and network-enable your special someone? FreeOS.Com is a good place to stop by to learn about such Operating Systems as Linux, FreeBSD, ReactOS, and others that are 100% Open Source and Free Software and yet are mature enough to entrust to a computer-phobe.



Just be sure to explain to them that they won't be able to play that 20 year old game of Backgammon they bought for their IBM AT machine.

Christian Student Band Banned from Anti-Drug Rally

According to the Toledo Blade, Rossford High School had a great idea for their anti-drug rally. "Let's hire a student band to play at the event," they said to themselves, "To get the kids excited and to invite a larger attendance." Great idea, right? Nope. They were attacked by parents who charged the school with violating separation of church and state. For having an anti-drug rally? Nope, because the student band happened to be a Christian band with songs that referenced (gasp!) God and Jesus.



Well, this makes sense right? After all, all students would be forced to attend and would have no choice but to be exposed to a highly religious event! Nope. All students were offered two alternative choices. One, they could watch an anti-drug movie instead. Two, they could just have a study hall to goof off in.



Well, this makes sense because the kids were against it, right? Nope. The student body was very much in favor of the concert. A few loud-mouthed parents and the school's law firm were able to veto the idea.



Sigh. Someone wake me when we come back to our senses. Sometimes a concert is just a concert.

Now THAT is a trailer!

Batman the movie was good. Batman Returns was bad. Batman Forever was GREAT but in a whole different way. Batman and Robin was so bad, as to be obscene.



But Batman Begins looks fantastic. Check out the link for the new Teaser Trailer in glorious Quicktime!

Nomad likes the Sidekick II!

You remember the incredible deal from Amazon on a Sidekick II? (If you have forgotten, I'll attach the graphic below, again.) Well, I decided to take the plunge. My work is installing new software to stop all webmail access to employees within corporate buildings in 2005, so it was time to find an alternate solution that was a little more cost effective than my Kyocera 7135 on Verizon. I bought the thing on Sunday, it was delivered Tuesday, and I was able to activate it and use it within 5 minutes. So far, so good. It gets better signal indoors than my Verizon phone, had a better web browser, has push e-mail for both T-mail and all of my other POP accounts, and has free unlimited text messaging. None too shabby.



Now, I need to decide whether to dump my Verizon account, or keep it for the better coverage in fringe areas and for the old phone number. Hmmm...

Airport Screens Spot Fake Bomb, Then Let It Fly

D'oh! WNBC is reporting that a Newark, NJ security drill went awry, when a fake bomb in a suitcase was spotted by screeners... and then promptly lost and allowed to load onto a plan to Amsterdam! Apparently, the supervisor planted the faux boomer (designed to look like a plastic explosive) in a suitcase to demonstrate the capabilities of his people. The scanning machines caught the device - alarms went off and everyone patted themselves on the back. Unfortunately, then a baggage handler picked up the bad and let it go.



While not as bad as a report from France, where a REAL bomb was allowed to fly during a security drill, this hardly inspires confidence. Especially in a city that is less than an hour's drive from New York City. The 9/11 bombers flew from Boston. They could just as easily have chosen Newark... especially since the place they had been staying was in NJ.

No More Late Fees!

Competition is a beautiful thing.

The Decline of Western Civilization Continues

I tend to be musically tolerant. I can listen to and enjoy just about any music. But I have to confess that I find the bulk of rap music to be simply insulting not only in its content but also in its style. There are some genuinely good rappers out there, but lets face it...Most of them are just plain awful and unimaginative. Yet rap has found its way into mainstream culture so much so that now Oxford has decided to add rap slang into the dictionary. This is just what we need, kids looking through the dictionary to find the official meaning of "Crack ho."