Michael Steel becomes RNC Head

After a long fight amongst would-be Republican leaders, former Maryland Lt. Gov Michael Steele has been elected as the first black head of the Republican National Committee. The selection has obviously come as a response to the election of Barack Obama, but it is also a sign that the GOP is ready to try and shake the image of being a party of "white guys."

The question of the size of the GOP's tent were brought into focus back in December, when former Tennessee GOP leader Chip Saltsman, who had hoped to become RNC chair, distributed a CD to Republican National Committee members featuring a song called "Barack the Magic Negro." Saltsman dropped out of the race last night.

"Steele's election won't help the party attract black voters immediately, but if Steele sets the right tone, he could help the party compete for them in the (way) future," said CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder. "As GOP strategists have always known, and noted, somewhat dyspeptically, it's white suburban voters, particularly women, who are responsive to a diversity message. The RNC isn't diverse yet; only five black delegates were chosen to attend the national convention. Steele was disgusted by that. It prompted him to run."

Senate passes ANOTHER DTV Delay

In a comedy of congressional dialogue, this week the Senate passed a bill to delay the digital TV cutoff to June which the House then voted down. Now, the Senate has unanimously passed another bill to delay the DTV cutoff which it is sending to the House again. This time, the switchover's delay will be voluntary. No broadcaster will be required to switch over on February 17, but will have until June 2009 to do so.

My guess is this one will pass the House. The question is whether it will really make any difference in the end. The only advantage after all to the broadcasters is power savings.

As True Today, As When it was Drawn

True for politicians everywhere. (from Speed Bump)

Biking Update - January 31, 2009

This will be another short update, because there is not a whole lot to talk about. I did not bike at all this week - either outside or inside - because I caught a nasty cold and have pretty much been sleeping and working while I recover. Luckily, doctors in the 19th century showed that weight loss can still occur while sleeping - sometimes you actually lose MORE weight while sleeping than while exercising - so the news was good this week. I still lost weight, though modestly, by staying on my diet.

This next week will probably see a small spike as Sunday is a "free day" (i.e. I can have what I want, within reason) for the Superbowl Party that CRChair is hosting. But if I recover, it will also mean a return to exercise, which can only be good for my overall health. I can't wait to get back onto 2 wheels!

"Coke Classic" is now just "Coke"

Twenty-one years after introducing "New Coke" - and then reintroducing the original formula as "Coke Classic" - Coca Cola is finally ready to remove the "Classic" label. It is the end of an era... an era of strange business decisions and proof that marketing does not truly rule everything.

Congratulations Commissioner Stern

Congratulations to David Stern who celebrates his 25th year as the Commissioner of the NBA this weekend. He has been the best and most forward thinking commissioner in sport over my lifetime. He has helped the NBA to become and remain popular and relevant through the normal ups and downs of the stars in his sport.

CAUGHT: Feds think they have the source of the Peanut Butter plague

Since September, parents have been afraid to send their children to school with PB&J or to let them have a peanut-butter cup, due to persistent reports of salmonella poisoning from peanut-butter-based products. It took quite a while, but the FDA appears to have found the source and the violations there are so egregious that the peanut industry is calling the plant in question "a rogue operator".

The FDA inspection report is preliminary, and the agency said the findings do not represent a final judgment on the company’s compliance with food safety laws and regulations.

But the report detailed problems which food safety experts say would be of concern.

The roaches were found in a wash room next to a packaging area. And a sink used for cleaning utensils also was used to wash out mops.

Of even greater concern, inspectors found open gaps as large as a half-inch by two-and-a-half feet at air conditioner intakes on the roof of the plant. Water stains were seen on the ceiling around the intakes and near skylights. The openings were above an area in which finished products were handled. Water leaks would be a problem because salmonella thrives in moist conditions.

Blagojevich booted

Illinois Governor Blagojevich has been impeached after a 4-day-trial in the Illinois Senate. This is a first for any Illinois governor, and was followed up with another vote banning him from holding any elected office in Illinois for life.

Mr Blagojevich has now been replaced as governor by Patrick Quinn, a fellow Democrat and the state's lieutenant governor.
Senators voted 59-0 against him after an impeachment hearing, despite his claim that he had "done nothing wrong" and there was no evidence of a crime.
After being sworn in, Mr Quinn told the senate "the ordeal is over".
He said the elected representatives had "reflected the will of the people".

All of this came out of FBI recordings in which the former governor attempted to sell President Barack Obama's vacated senate seat. Ah, the joys of innocent Chicago politics.

Drum Major quits over Inaugural Parade Faux Pas

Having played oboe/baritone horn in a Marching Band in high school, I know the joy (and the pain) that comes from being part of a parading troop. There is great joy to be had in bringing music to so many, and in representing your organization/town/state in front of so many. There is great pain and sacrifice required to build up the muscles to stand at attention for hours on end, march for hours on end, play for hours on end, and to show proper decorum for every show. It was all worth it (though I have no desire to join an adult drum corp or marching band now).

Apparently, a minor faux pas at the inaugural parade has blown up into a major kerfuffle, which has ended in the resignation of a drum major (i.e. marching conductor) from one of the bands that marched there. The drum major, having accidentally caught the new president's eye, nodded and waved to him. This was a violation of band decorum, and the band had chosen to suspend him for 6 months (no doubt a normal response for a position so coveted by so many). But an outpouring of anger from the internet over the perceived injustice has lead the poor man to instead resign from the band entirely.

We all need to learn that there are times to stand up for our fellow man, and times to let the rules of a micro-society work themselves out. I am sure many people hoped to get the drum major reinstated. Instead, they have denied him the very thing he loved.

Irony, Thy Name is Economics

From here.

DTV date delay fails

The news the other day was that the Senate passed the bill to delay the date of the DTV switchover.  With this news lots of people came to the conclusion that the delay was happening or at least inevitable.  Well the House has proved otherwise, at least for the time being.  Unless they try to push it through again in the next three weeks, Feb. 17 is still on.

How much support should Israel get

For some time I've debated, in my head at least, as a Christian how much support I owe Israel.  The basic question of my argument is whether or not the nation-state of Israel that we know is the same as the nation of Israel spoken of in the Bible.  Has God's special care for Israel been completed or at least diminished by the fact that we live in a post-incarnation/resurrection world?  I go back and forth between these questions.  In Romans the apostle Paul seems to indicate that God still has a special place for Israel, but that it is in some way different than it was pre-incarnation. All this leads into the question of how much support should we give to the nation-state of Israel?  I tend to be pro-Israel largely because I don't think they get a fair shake internationally, but should we hold them to a higher standard because they are Israel? I don't know that there's a clear cut answer to any of these questions, but I'm certain that it's not the clear cut answer some of the most pro-Israel Christians would have us believe.

HFCS demonized...more

My mom, who is notably eccentric on food issues, has been telling our family for years to avoid high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Recently HFCS has started to be the product of choice for food activists to go after.  After seeing much of the research out there, I can understand why - the stuff is chemically odd.  Nonetheless, more evidence for why we should limit our exposure was revealed recently - from 33-50% of all HFCS (in the studies at least) contained detectable levels of mercury.  As one doctor put it:

The best mercury exposure is no exposure at all

More study might be necissary, but these results are not promising. Worse yet, I might have to admit that my mom has been right all along. 

In an effort to be fair, I'm including a commercial by the corn industry in favor of HFSC.

How to get the best deal at a liquidation sale

Recently Circuit City has announced that they're going out of business.  The news of this sent bunches of people into a tizzy over the great deals they were going to find.  I really need a new bounce flash for my camera and I have a specific one that I'd like to buy.  So, I went to CC on the first weekend of their liquidation sale to see if I could find a good price on the flash.  Fortunately I am very aware of the pricing of this particular flash and discovered that even with the 10% off they were offering at the time it was still $30 more than I'd pay online for the flash.  I went again this past weekend and the price is now inline with the online prices.  I may go again this weekend to see if the price is down to where I'd like it to be.  With this in mind I find this Lifehacker post quite relevant to finding good deals at a liquidation sale.

Last year SuperPow television company released the SuperPow H9000 HDTV. The manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) was $2500. It was sold at HappyBox electronics stores for $2200 when it first came out and as newer models arrived it was eventually sold for $1250. HappyBox has a bad run and ends up filing for bankruptcy. Their inventory is now controlled by a liquidation company. The company responsible for the liquidation advertises that products in the store are deeply discounted, some things are even 50% off already! You walk in to check on the SuperPow H9000 and see that the price is $1250. You remember the TV was really expensive and that seems like a great deal for a nice TV, after all it's 50% off! The only problem is that you're getting 50% off the MSRP, which nobody paid even when the TV was the hottest model on the market. It may be a month or two into a large liquidation before that TV is actually marked down 50% from the actual street value to a wallet-friendly $625—and most likely someone not realizing they aren't getting a very good deal would have bought it well before that.

Happy shopping.

Another tech company stacking the deck

The NY Times fabulous tech writer David Pogue has outed online backup provider Carbonite for publishing fraudulent reviews on Amazon.com. As someone looking for a good off site backup solution for his company, this is not news that I want to see. Fortunately in my case Carbonite wasn't on my list because of their lack of Mac support, but still it's disheartening to see yet another company trying to stack the deck in their favor by gaming the Amazon reviews feature.

Fooball players are damaged in the head

More precisely they have severe damage to their brains as a result of repeated hits to the head. The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE), at the Boston University School of Medicine released a study documenting that the damage found in deceased football players is far worse than anyone had expected. 

"What's been surprising is that it's so extensive," said McKee. "It's throughout the brain, not just on the superficial aspects of the brain, but it's deep inside."

CSTE studies reveal brown tangles flecked throughout the brain tissue of former NFL players who died young -- some as early as their 30s or 40s.

McKee, who also studies Alzheimer's disease, says the tangles closely resemble what might be found in the brain of an 80-year-old with dementia.

"I knew what traumatic brain disease looked like in the very end stages, in the most severe cases," said McKee. "To see the kind of changes we're seeing in 45-year-olds is basically unheard of."

I don't know if better helmets are the cure to this issue, but something needs to be done because this is so not safe.

Is obesity contagious?

While it is true that the current generations are eating more fats and artificial flavorings/preservatives than past ones, scientists have still been at a loss to explain why more Americans and Europeans are obese than ever before. Not merely overweight, mind you, which is explainable by the rise of the couch potato, but actually obese. Many theories have been advanced, but now one is gaining the attention of more and more doctors. Obesity, in some cases, may be contagious - passed from person to person by a form of the common cold. A recent study showed that specific forms of one virus can cause fat cells to multiple unusually quickly, and laboratory animals infected with the virus grew fatter than uninfected controls, even when fed the same amount of food.

Of course, this is no excuse for failing to exercise or try to eat better. But it may provide a new therapy for those who have found it difficult to shed the pounds.

Will it SHRED?

In case "extreme" blender videos are not enough for you...

Nomad is Right...Again.

Nomad was right again with his prediction that the congress would delay the digital television change over. The Senate voted unanimously last night to delay the change over until June. Television stations will be allowed to change if they are ready, but will not be forced to until June. One of the main factors is that the Coupon program to help Americans buy digital converter boxes has run out of money, so this will give congress time to reallocate money to that fund. It will be interesting to see if this changeover happens this year.

It snows in UAE

In general, I tend to leave the Global Warming debate to environmentalists and policymakers. But I had to laugh at this one. For the first time in decades, it snowed in the United Arab Emirates. The event is so rare that local residents claim their dialect has no word for "snow".

If you had any illusions that Gitmo was about prosecutions...

...this may change your mind. The Washington Post has found that there were in fact no plans to create case files on detainees. Instead, files were kept broken up across multiple agencies and never integrated with an eye towards a court date.

Several former Bush administration officials agreed that the files are incomplete and that no single government entity was charged with pulling together all the facts and the range of options for each prisoner. They said that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were reluctant to share information, and that the Bush administration's focus on detention and interrogation made preparation of viable prosecutions a far lower priority.

While I have supported George W Bush in general, I always felt Guantanamo was an overreaction that could not be supported long-term.

Star Wars as told by someone who hasn't seen it.

I laughed several times at this - largely because I can understand how someone would get these ideas.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Hope is not for everyone

From here. I wonder how long until people begin to understand the potential impact of this.

When The Shoe is on the Other Foot

Imagine this, many of the inmates at DU have decided that they don't really mind bombing of sovereign nations as long as it is a Democratic president authorizing the bombs. To be fair, there are a small handful of people who are upset about the Pakistan bombing which is being reported to have killed several civilians, including children.

But it's amazing how many hawks there suddenly are in the progressive camp. But hey, at least they're finally coming around...

You Mean They're Dangerous Terrorist?

But...I thought all the Gitmo prisoners were just innocent victims of America's imperialistic agenda!

It's not much but...

it's nice to see someone in the MSM take a couple seconds from fawning over Obama to actually call him on his crap.

The Future is Now

Well, the future in that "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" sort of way anyway. And it's for kids too!

Biking Update - January 24, 2008

This was a poor week for biking and weight loss, but not a week in which anything was lost. This past Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so Nick and I had planned to go out biking in the afternoon. However, Mother Nature was against us and it snowed Sunday night and some of Monday morning. The roads were covered, and even by noon the shoulders (where we'd be biking) were covered by thick, wet snow. We decided that discretion was the better part of valor, so we decided against the ride. We then planned to hit the gym (Nick is a member, and could bring me as a guest) but later in the day, while cleaning up the Living Room in preparation for next week's Superbowl Party, I pulled a muscle in my back. Nothing that stops me from normal life, but it hurts enough that it was advisable not to stress it in the gym. The rest of the week was work, so no biking was possible.

Actually, between the back pull and catching a cold, I have not done much exercise at all this week. I am on a break from the 100 Pushup Challenge and have not done much biking in the attic. The good news is this has NOT caused me to gain any significant weight. I am holding below 220 lbs - the target I had set to hit by February - even without weight. So the diet itself is doing the job, apparently. And that is good news.

This next week will probably be no better for biking. Saturday we are traveling to Belle Mead, NJ for one of the two big yearly Bible Quizzing Meets. I'll be coaching the Lower (i.e. Junior High) Team with CRChair, and it will be a great time. But it will have us out of the house and committed from 6 AM to 10 PM, so no biking. Sunday, we'll probably be recovering and not up to biking. And then work begins again. Ah, the cycle of life.

Just what makes a Stradivarius or Guarneri a Stradivarius or Guarneri?

It appears to be how the wood is treated. Joseph Nagyvary, a former biochemistry professor has dedicated 33 years of his life towards proving that chemicals are what makes the difference in the sounds of different violins.

Gas in Shelton, CT

Gas in Shelton, CT
Originally uploaded by crchair

Next Up On "How The World Will End"

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It has been highly controversial in the scientific community with fears that it could destroy the world if things went wrong. Well, predictions have gone from there being no chance of black holes growing big enough to destroy the planet to "the growth of black holes to catastrophic size does not seem possible." In addition, the black holes may last anywhere from seconds to minutes. So, for those taking bets on how the world will end, add this to you list... and careful, I hear that the sky is falling.

Reason #1013 not to Pirate software

There are many reasons NOT to pirate software: ethics, legal issues, inevitable corrupted files, lack of tech support, denying developers the money they need to continue the software, etc. But we have a reminder of perhaps the best reason not to download software off of the internet: it is very likely to be infected with a virus or trojan horse. A pirated version of iWork is infecting naive and unethical users with a back door into their Macs.

Security firm Intego identified the trojan in question late yesterday. Dubbed "OSX.Trojan.iServices.A," the trojan is hidden as an extra package—iWorkServices.pkg—in an otherwise fully-functional iWork '09 installer. Once you authenticate with your password to install the software, the trojan installs as a startup item in /System/Library/StartupItems/iWorkServices, an area normally reserved for Apple-only files, giving it read, write, and execute permissions as root. It then connects to a remote server, essentially creating a wide open back door for malicious attackers to do just about anything they want.

Happy 25th Birthday Macintosh

A couple days early (according to the commercial), but still a happy anniversary.

Video of the Trumbull High School Marching Band at the Inaugural Parade

And again, I played in this band when I was in high school. Played for President George Herbert Walker Bush, back then.

What adventures will be seen?

From here. I can't help wondering how long Obama's honeymoon really will be.

Video of the Inaugural Speech

Again, in case you missed it. A well-crafted speech, I thought.

Full text of President Barack Obama's speech

For those who are interested. I believe this is in the public domain now.

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Congratulations, Mr. President

We here at Mod-Blog wish to offer our congratulations again to President Barack Obama, here on the day of his inauguration.

Microsoft to launch competitors to Apple's MobileMe and iPhone App Store

When Apple unveiled MobileMe as "Outlook for the rest of us", it was obvious that Steve Jobs was aiming at the heart of Microsoft. When the iPhone App Store became a runaway success, it was obvious that Microsoft could not longer be satisfied with their Zune. The question was, how long would the Windows Behemoth wait to respond. The answer is here. The question is, will their new "SkyLine and SkyMarket" products be true competitors to the Apple iTunes behemoth?

And, of course, the other question is whether these two products run on "SkyNet". (If you don't get the reference, may I suggest a movie download?)

TechCrunch Web Browsing Pad gets Prototype 2

Some time back TechCrunch expressed the frustration that many of us were feeling after the failure of the OLPC program. There were cheap laptops all over now, but none suitable for simply browsing the web comfortably while watching TV or lying in bed. The team set themselves a goal of producing a $200 touchscreen computer with wireless with only a single goal in mind - make the web browser excellent. After that, we had a long period of silence as iPhones, iPod Touches, and EeePC clones came out one after another.

Well, TechCrunch as released an update on their second prototype along with video of the unit in action and it does not look too bad. It runs a customized version of the Ubuntu (Linux) operating system and a Webkit-based browser (like MacOS X's Safari or Google's Chrome). It uses a low-power Via processor (similar to the Intel Atom) and has a 4-cell battery.

Of course, by the time this really reaches the market, Apple may have released their rumored iPad, Asus may have their touchscreen EeePCs, and Microsoft's surface may be ubiquitous. So, it may be an example of too-little, too-late. Still, it is nice to see a team ready to innovate, instead of just complaining and waiting for the big boys to step up to the plate.

Trumbull Marching Band Departs for the Inaugural

It is really great seeing my alma mater going off to see this moment in history. I wish they had shown a little more of the performance, of course. :-) Also, here is a blog of the events leading up to the parade by one of the students (I think).

This one's for Ward and Muse

The Process of Choosing a Candidate

I suppose this article is about 6 months late in coming. But watching the outgoing George W. Bush and the incoming Barack Obama, it has become more and more clear to me that it is nearly impossible to get the measure of a man while he is campaigning. George W. Bush was one man before 9/11, and a completely different man after 9/11. Pre-9/11 GWB would have been horrified to see some of the abridgments of personal liberty and extreme extension of government power that Post-9/11 GWB embraced and now defends as the finest accomplishments of his presidency. Pre-9/11 GWB saw tax cuts and government reductions as job 1. Post-9/11 GWB saw tax cuts as an engine to drive the economy, to allow government expansions which was really job 1. Pre-9/11 GWB was focused on social themes - education, faith-based initiatives - while Post-9/11 GWB saw social themes as an afterthought.

But how was it possible to see a Post-9/11 GWB while Pre-9/11 GWB was running?

We see the same thing now. I am not a supporter of Barack Obama's policies (though I do see him as a man riding the wave of history, whose time has come) but during the campaign he ran on getting us out of Iraq ASAP. Now, he is talking about doing the draw-down in line with GWB policies - 16 months or more. Obama ran on "changing government" but is now hiring the only people qualified to fill his posts - Clinton and Bush officials who are anything BUT "change". Pre-election BO and post-election BO are turning out to be two different men.

So the question is, HOW DO WE REALLY CHOOSE A CANDIDATE? We have known since before Mark Twain that you can never trust what a politician says. Since the advent of television and special effects, we can't even trust what we see a politician looking like. Make-up, double-talk, and special effects can lie convincingly in our day and age as never before. So, how do we really get down to the core of a candidate and understand who he/she is and how s/he will govern?

I am open to your thoughts on the subject. I am struggling with my own now.

Security Camera Footage of the Hudson River Plane Crash

This was popular on Twitter, so it seemed worth posting here for ease of access.)

Citigroup & Bank of America fall further, get bailed out further

Working in the banking field has been tough this week as bank stocks across the market have been hammered. Why? Primarily because of announcements out of Citigroup and Bank of America which underline how much risk they have gobbled up, and how poorly they have managed as they have acquired small bank after small bank. Citigroup has actually been split this week into two different companies - albeit still under the Citigroup umbrella of management - one of which is likely to be allowed to fail in the next six months. Both banks have also accepted large new sums of capital from the government, making the U.S. government primary shareholders in these companies.

Have we crossed the Rubicon here, on the weekend between presidencies, at a time when Bush is no longer president but Obama has not yet taken on the mantle? This looks and smells just like complete nationalization of the banking system, something our Founding Fathers (and Mothers) were absolutely against and which has lead Europe into a malaise which has kept unemployment high and growth low for decades. The timing of this move is suspicious as it gives all politicians the excuse of not having been in charge when it happened, thus there being no accountability for such a fundamental change to our economic system.

As a bank employee, I am happy to see it as a potential bringer of stability to an unstable market. As an American, I am sad to see it, as it may be the beginning of an era of extreme governmental intrusion and limitation of personal liberties.

Biking Update - January 17, 2008

I'll keep this one short - it was a good week for weight loss, but not so great for biking. The reason for poor biking is simple: weather. It has been either incredibly cold or with snow falling all week. Simply not safe weather for biking. But weight loss went better, and I was on the stationary bike in the attic every evening, so at least my conditioning should remain solid. I am down to a new low this week - 216.0 lbs - which is the lowest I have been in at least 5 years. My original goal was to hit 220 lbs (and stay there) by February 1, so I have hit the goal and surpassed it. It is unlikely that I can hit 210 lbs by February 1, but you never know. That would be quite a milestone. Speaking of milestones, if I reach 215.0 lbs, then I will have officially lost 70 lb since June 2008.

Here is hoping the next week is better for biking. But so far, it does not appear so. This frigid weather system is supposed to be with us thru at least Tuesday morning. It may warm up by Saturday, but then we have an all-day quizzing event which will take up all of my time. We shall see what life brings.

George W Bush's Farewell Address

Since George Washington printed a letter in the papers as his "Farewell Address" after 8 years of governance, it has become somewhat of a tradition for presidents to give some sort of presentation of their parting thoughts. Last night, George W Bush gave his. I will admit that I did not watch it live, but used the linked text of the speech to review his farewell. I would argue the key paragraph is this...

As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before Nine-Eleven. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our Nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe.

This is the Bush presidency, at its worst and best, in a single sentence. Every unexplained decision, every failure of philosophy, every frustration for liberals and conservatives alike is explained by this. For GWB, 9/11 was the defining moment for everything that came after.

It will be interesting to see what a post-9/11 president looks like in Obama. Or if he will be eventually pressed into the same mold.

Obama to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

In the least-surprising move of the year, President-elect Obama has let it be known that he intends to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy introduced by Bill Clinton. This policy, perhaps the least logical compromise of the last decade, allowed homosexuals to server in the military so long as they kept their relationships hidden. It was maintained by the George W. Bush administration in an attempt to keep the issue off of the public radar entirely.

I am sure this will eat up a lot of newsprint in the next few weeks, but it doesn't deserve it. This "compromise" neither served those who opposed gays in the military, nor those who felt they should be able to serve unrestricted. Still, such a horrible idea deserves to be noted when it finally dies.

Steve Jobs goes on medical leave

It did not generate much buzz here on Mod-blog, but for months now there have been persistent rumors of serious health issues for Steve Jobs. Jobs has consistently denied any serious issues, and even put out a letter shortly before MacWorld which claimed recent unexplained weight loss was due to a non-serious hormonal disorder which was being treated. Apple's stock has been jittery about this. It is sure to plunge now that Steve Jobs has officially announced a medical leave of absence to deal with his medical problems. He is still CEO and will be involved with strategy, but the day-to-day operations of Apple are now in the hands of Tim Cook, Chief Operating Officer.

The question remains whether this is a life threatening condition or not. Unlike most CEOs, the modern Apple has become synonymous with Steve Jobs. Only Bill Gates is seen as tightly joined to his company, and as central to its success. The question now is whether the market is willing to wait and see, of it they will use this excuse to cut and run in the midst of a Recession.

Gas prices

Gas prices
Originally uploaded by nomad7674.

(Sent from my 3G iPhone)

Pausing... to reflect

Experiment flirts with the barrier between Life and Non-Life

One of the great unsolved mysteries of science has always been where Life and Non-Living Chemistry meet. Life is capable of reproducing itself, of consuming energy, and of growing with time. There have always been some aspects of chemistry which seem to fit this criteria - crystals for example - but they obviously did not really show aspects of life. Now, scientists in California believe they have found the dividing line by creating a set of RNA molecules from scratch which are capable of self-replication.

The system, created by Gerald Joyce and Tracey Lincoln at the Scripps research institute in La Jolla, California, involves a cross-replicating pair of ribozymes (RNA enzymes), each about 70 nucleotides long, which catalyse each other's synthesis. So the 'left' ribozyme templates the synthesis of the 'right', which in turn templates the 'left' and so on, building each other via Watson-Crick base pairing.

'This is the very end of the line, where chemistry starts turning into biology,' says Joyce. 'It's the first case, other than in biology, of molecular information having been immortalised.'

Some, of course, will say this another nail in the coffin of a Creator God. Others will say it is proof that scientists lie. Wiser heads will realize it says neither, but is another window into how Life works and perhaps the mechanisms that drive our own bodies.

Funny Broadway Skit from SNL

I thought this skit was excellent from SNL this week. It gets better as it goes on.

Laser Bike Lane

It was great to see actual Bike Lanes in Dover, DE when we visited. Connecticut, on the other hand, seems to be allergic to such concepts... at least where I bike. But it would be nice to be able to bring along your own bike lane. And the fact that this particular design also makes use of lasers appeals to the science fiction nut in me.


Of course, one can't be sure local law enforcement will honor the impromptu sectioning of the highways and byways. But if you combine it with reflective wear and some good headlights, it still may keep you safe.

Portable Mac Security

I have a Macbook and I occasionally travel with it.  I'm always afraid of having it stolen - especially since my laptop bag is also my camera bag.  So I've been in the market for a good service that would help me get my mac back should it be stolen.  Enter Undercover 3 a service that helps you/the police to find your laptop when it's stolen.  The article does a better job of explaining it than I could, so you should click the link.  I'll still look at other services that do similar things, but something about having my computer start yelling that it's stollen sounds fun to me.

Unlimited Texting Certainly a Bargain for One Girl

A New York girl's father was sure glad he paid the extra $30 a month for unlimited texting when he opened his cell phone bill recently. His daughter had sent 14,528 texts in one month. If he didn't have the unlimited plan it could have cost him as much as $2905 just for the texting that month. The most astonishing part of the article to me was the following: "The average number of monthly texts for a 13- to 17-year-old teen is 1,742, according to a Nielsen study of cellphone usage." And I thought I understood teen life.

Gas flows again thru Ukraine

It appears the dispute between Russia and the Ukraine are over for the moment, and gas is again flowing. Good to see it resolved peacefully.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/01/12/europe.russia.gas.ukraine/index.html

Would Universal Health Care threaten personal freedom?

There are many reasons to be suspicious of President-elect Barack Obama's plan to introduce Universal Health Care: fears about corruption, lowest-common-denominator treatment, limitation of options, etc. But perhaps the most deep-seated is the fear that it may the first step toward legislating the behavior of citizens. After all, if I am paying for your health care, don't I have a say in how you live? This is not merely a "what if?" scenario, but a situation that many European and Asian democracies are dealing with today.

Government is always a balance between protecting freedoms and limiting freedoms in order to allow human being to live together peacefully and productively. As the debate over Universal Health Care begins in the next few weeks, we must remember the potential for evil in a system which is intended to do good.

Stupid Criminals

My mother loves the "stupid criminals" features on Jay Leno's show, so she is sure to enjoy this story. An Ohio man had his car stolen, along with his cell phone. A friend, on a whim, sent a text message to the stolen phone pretending to have "hot chicks and drugs". He then sent an address to meet at, which the criminals rushed to reach. The police were there instead. The following has to be my favorite line from the story...

And to make things easier for the officers, the suspects showed up in the stolen car.

"Green" Government

From here.

Pithy!

Biking Update - January 10, 2008

This was a good week for both weight loss and biking. Let's start off with the biking. From January 1 thru 4th, I was down in Dover, Delware, visiting Ward, Muse, and Baby E. I had decided to bring along my new Dahon Matrix folding bike, just in case. Well, it turned out that the area around our hotel was a great area for riding. It was set back in a small corporate park with a few nearby apartments. Within a few seconds riding, I had several large parking lots, a few residential neighborhoods, a gravel path, and (most surprisingly to me) some nice bike lanes on the roads! (For those of you in more enlightened parts of the country, bike lanes are almost unknown here in Connecticut.) I rode about 7 miles a day, first thing in the morning, and really enjoyed starting each day out and about in the world. And with my daily exercise already out of the way. When we got back, I took Monday off to recover and was able to use a few hours in the day to go riding along the beach in Startford with frequent Mod-Blog commenter "Nick." We had a great ride of 12 miles from Short Beach to Long Beach and all around the area.

So, only 9 days into 2009, I have already racked up over 35 miles worth of outdoors riding! And that is with average high temperatures of 34 degrees. Not bad for a guy who has been seriously biking for less than a year.

Weight loss also ended out well. If you look at the graph (yes, I am aware it is getting harder and harder to read - eventually, I will show only 2009 data, so it will be larger) you may notice a strange plateau around 222. As it is for everyone, the period from Christmas to New Years weekend was a tough time. I avoided sugar, but had a lot of carbs and larger meals, especially while traveling. However, while I was not losing, I am also happy to say that I did not do a lot of gaining, either. The daily bike rides kept the weight gain down to about 2.8 lbs overall. And by the end of this week, I was back below 220 which was my original goal to reach by February! So, I am encouraged. Now that we are back home, and I am back on the normal regimen for eating and exercise, I should see some more weight loss ongoing.

This upcoming week is going to be interesting. There is a slight chance we might bike tomorrow, but a snow storm is expected which is likely to put a kibosh on any plans. And during the work week, we are look at highs of 17 degrees Fahrenheit most of the week. Too cold to think about getting anyone else to come along when I ride. So this may mean any cycling I do would be odf the indoors/stationary bike variety. We shall see.

Saving Money On Generic Medicine

I figured that the price of prescription medicine might vary slightly between stores, but on the whole it didn't matter where you bought your medicine. I was very wrong. The article uses as an example generic Prozac where the price for 90 tablets ranged from $12 to $117! To be fair, there are other cases where the price is not so different. In general, Costco and Sam's Club are the best places that the article looked at to get your prescription filled and apparently they don't require a membership to use the pharmacy. There is a more in-depth article on The Wall Street Journal's website.

New England Does Something Right

Reading through the most recent statistics on teen birthrate, one thing stands out. New England teens are less likely to give birth than those from other areas of the country. The 4 states with the lowest birthrates are New Hampshire,Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut. (In that order.) I would think that is good to those who are raising daughters in the North East.

Palm announces its Next Generation phone

Palm has been working a LONG time to produce a next-generation operating systems. First, we heard about Palm 5. It was originally going to be a revolutionary upgrade to the PalmOS but wound up being a simple evolutionary change called Garnet. Then we heard about Palm 6... but that fizzled out without making it onto a single device. Then we heard about the new Linux-based OS called ACCESS... but eventually Palm passed on that entirely. Now, finally, Palm has announced their "real" Next Geneation O/S called "webOS" and actually has a product that runs it, called the Palm PRE. The new webOS is webkit based (same as Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome) and is based around the idea of building Apps using web tools like HTML, JavaScript, and XML. The built-in apps are made to automatically and wirelessly sync with Facebook, Google, etc. to keep your contacts always in sync.

One interesting omissions, sure to raise the ire of Palm's few remaining supporters, appears to be PalmOS backwards compatibility. It appears from the press release that existing PalmOS apps do not work with the new system. This was probably necessary to bring about the radical changes needed for webOS (and probably why it is NOT called PalmOS 6 or 7). But if I had invested hundreeds or thousands of dollars in Palm software, I'd be put out to learn it was all throw-away.

Here is hoping this gives Palm a chance to survive in a future where Apple's iPhone and Google's Android increasingly dominate the landscape.

An Excellent Analysis of the Zune 30 GB Leap Year Bug

It is unlikely that any of our regular readers is a Zune owner, but I have found the revelation and analysis of the bug in Zune 30 GB players that locked it up for all of New Years Eve to be fascinating. If you missed the original analysis, basically there was a bug in the year calculation function that runs just before the end of the boot cycle which ended up in an infinite loop on the last day of a leap year.

This article is a great read on the bug, and illustrates why QA is so important and how even now Software Engineering is an art. There are many solutions, but few which are both bug-free and elegant.

Oakland Mobs vandalize the city

Explain this to me again. You're trying to protest the killing of an unarmed black man by Oakland police. A clear case of racial injustice. So your solution is to vandalize and burn black businesses? Doesn't that seem counterproductive, to say the least?

The mob smashed the windows at Creative African Braids on 14th Street, and a woman walked out of the shop holding a baby in her arms.

"This is our business," shouted Leemu Topka, the black owner of the salon she started four years ago. "This is our shop. This is what you call a protest?"

...Sykes, who is black, had little sympathy for the owner of Creative African Braids.

"She should be glad she just lost her business and not her life," Sykes said.

All successful protests and revolutions have a few things in common - a strategy and clearly-set goals. Random violence and venting of mob anger is no strategy.

Overview of iWork.Com

When Apple announced iWork.Com on Tuesday, the internet was instantly alight with a single question, "Why bother creating a Google Docs competitor?" After all, many businesses and individuals already find Google Docs to provide all the function they need for FREE (iWork is free as Beta, but will be paid eventually). AppleInsider has up a good overview of the new service and explains how it fits into Apple's iWork strategy.

For Apple, online services are a way to enhance its desktop apps rather than to replace them. MobileMe enhances Mac OS X's Mail, Contacts, and Address Book by making their data available online and to mobile devices, or at least the iPhone and iPod touch. The new iWork.com does the same thing for Keynote, Pages, and Numbers: it makes it super easy to sync documents up to the cloud for access from the iPhone, as well as making it trivial to present documents to Windows PC and Office users, with no translation required.

I was originally quite excited about iWork. I bought the original and upgrades thru iWork 08. But I have honestly almost never used the software - opting for Google Docs, NeoOffice, and OpenOffice instead - and do not plan to upgrade to iWork 09. Perhaps iWork.Com can change the mind of others like me.

Mod-Blog friend writes a book

Kim Bensen is a friend of Mod-Blog, though you rarely would see her around here in the comments. I have known her since high school, and she employed CRChair for a while. Now she has written a book about her weight-loss journey with trips for others looking to get healthy.

Kim Bensen knows about weight loss. And weight gain. For years she was a successful entrepreneur, with her own advertising and marketing company, a loving husband, and four beautiful children. But Kim was morbidly obese, eating herself to death and falling off the dieting wagon over and over again. At her heaviest, she topped the scales at 347 pounds and could barely walk, tie her shoes, cross her legs or sit in a chair without fearing it would break. Finally, after struggling with diet after diet from childhood on, and hitting absolute rock bottom, she had had enough, and figured out how to stick to a diet plan once and for all. The result: she lost 212 pounds – fourteen dress sizes and 200 points of cholesterol – and has kept them off for five years!

The book not only has a good story, but has a strong spiritual foundation. It is worth a look, if you are in the market.

It makes you think...

MacWorld Keynote Info

Sean left this in the comments section, but I thought it was worth escalating his "round-up" of MacWorld Keynote announcements to the front page.

New iPhoto - face recognition, geotagging, facebook & flickr integration

New iMovie - Better editor, image stabalization

iTMS: DRM free music (80% now entire catelog by end of quarter)

MacBook Pro 17"

The other interesting announcement was iWork '09 which includes "iWork.Com" integration, which appears to be a competitor to Google Docs. The Beta will be free, but the eventual service will be pay. Hopefully, the cost will be included in a MobileMe subscription.

MacWorld is today

The majority of our readers who care are probably already aware that the MacWorld Expo (the last one Apple will attend) is scheduled for today. While Steve Jobs is NOT presenting - Phil Schiller has the honors instead - there are a huge number of rumors about what Apple is certain/probable/doubtful to release today to change the face of computing (or maybe just increase their profit margin slightly on existing product lines). The hottest include: official AT&T tethering plan for iPhone, new Mac Mini, new iMacs, and Tablet Mac based on the iPhone platform.

You can keep an eye on the MacRumors live feed around 9 AM PST (noon EST) to see what actually is announced.

Democratic House to Repeal Openness Rules

President-Elect Barack Obama has made much about "change" and bringing in a new era of open government. But it appears that the Democratic majority is on a different page, and are planning on repealing a number of reforms brought on with the Republican Contract with America.

Reforms to the House Rules as part of the Contract with America were designed to open up to public scrutiny what had become under this decades-long Democrat majority a dangerously secretive House legislative process. The Republican reform of the way the House did business included opening committee meetings to the public and media, making Congress actually subject to federal law, term limits for committee chairmen ending decades-long committee fiefdoms, truth in budgeting, elimination of the committee proxy vote, authorization of a House audit, specific requirements for blanket rules waivers, and guarantees to the then-Democrat minority party to offer amendments to pieces of legislation.

I hope this is a misunderstanding, and Chairperson Pelosi has no such plans. But majorities tend toward corruption. Then again, maybe it is the opening the GOP needs to reunify itself for a comeback in 2010.

Memo To World: Barack Obama is not yet president

There has been a storm of criticism of President-Elect Barack Obama over his silence on the subject of Israel's action in the Gaza Strip. International commentators, especially those in Britain and the Arab world, are furious that during a crisis of this magnitude, the president-elect takes the time to go on vacation and says nothing substantive to the Press.

Arab commentators and editorialists say there is growing disappointment at Obama's detachment - and that his failure to distance himself from George Bush's strongly pro-Israeli stance is encouraging the belief that he either shares Bush's bias or simply does not care.

The Al-Jazeera satellite television station recently broadcast footage of Obama on holiday in Hawaii, wearing shorts and playing golf, juxtaposed with scenes of bloodshed and mayhem in Gaza. Its report criticising "the deafening silence from the Obama team" suggested Obama is losing a battle of perceptions among Muslims that he may not realize has even begun.

While part of me wants to snidely point out that this is the problem with running on "change" and not policy, I really have to remind the world Barack Obama is not president yet. Asking him to step up and begin taking action is like asking for a violent coup in the USA. Until January 19, George W. Bush is still President and official American foreign policy is set by him. And Barack Obama - and the American people - understand this. An orderly transition of power is key to a successful democratic republic. And the fact that Obama remains silent at this time merely raises his reputation among those who would otherwise be his political foes.

So, foreign powers, please stop criticizing Obama on this point and start wondering why, after years of complaining about American interventionism, your own governments are not acting but instead standing around waiting for America to intervene.

Russia vs Ukraine on Gas

Much has been made about how energy markets have distorted world politics. But what happens when energy markets come up against a resurgent Russian Republic eager to return to Empire? We may soon learn as Ukraine and Russia are at loggerheads over gas shipments over a Russian pipeline that passes thru Ukraine to get gas to Europe for sale.

Ukraine -- long at odds with the Kremlin over its ambition to join NATO -- accused Moscow of deliberately cutting flows to Europe and said the bloc needed to send a signal to the Kremlin that it cannot bully its pro-Western neighbors.
"If Europe ... does not help us get out of this situation, then it can expect a more aggressive position from Russia on gas and other issues," Oleksander Shlapak, a senior Ukrainian presidential aide, told Reuters.
Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom blamed Ukraine for siphoning off or blocking deliveries of gas equivalent to one sixth of the total Russian supply to Europe, and said it was increasing exports to make up some of the shortfall.

Quickie Biking Update - January 3, 2008

I put up a major update on Wednesday, so I am going to keep this one brief (and no graph, because the hotel internet is not playing along). I am doing okay over the holidays. I am staying well below my last goal of 230 lbs, but am having a hard time staying at my new goal of 220 lbs. I hit it one day just before Christmas, and have not gotten back there. But my goal DATE for that was February 1, so I have some time to recover from the Christmas-New Years difficulties. And the difficulties are not getting in exercise. That is going well. It is the portions. Hard to say "No" when Mom2 offers more roast beast or you're traveling and you can't bring home the other half of your meal anyway, so... Anyway, overall staying on plan and staying sugar-free which has me feeling good. Except when I step on the scale and see that the larger portions are pushing me farther from my goal.

The last few days since New Years have been great for bike riding. We're traveling - visiting Ward, Muse, and Baby E - and the time at the hotels has been SPECTACULAR for trying out my new 2008 Dahon Matrix. I bought this thing to make keeping up my exercise program while on the go easier, and it has been paying off in spades. The first day away I biked in 14 degree weather with extreme windchill. (That is where the "ninja biker" picture up top comes from.) Yesterday, I rode around downtown Dover, where I was thrilled to see there were bike lanes. Today, I repeated my exportation of downtown Dover and tried out the Matrix on a few gravel paths as well as the nice roads. All of our hotels have been back in corporate-park type areas, so there have been a lot of empty roads to cut loose on. It is only 3 days into 2009 and I have already logged 15.88 miles. Nothing for a hard-core biker like Jill in Alaska or the Weekend Adventurer, but a good "morning jog" pace for someone like me.

Motivation... Or lack thereof

Fix for the Zune issue

http://www.zune.net:80/en-us/support/zune30.gym

Gas prices in NJ

Gas prices in NJ
Originally uploaded by nomad7674.