Happy Halloween to ye!
Just some random thoughts…

Today I dressed up as a liberal to work: “Kill innocent babies, not condemned criminals!” “Down with American Imperialism: Up with 3rd World Dictators!” “The sexes should be equal, but women are more equal than men - and minority women are the most equal of all.” My libby colleagues didn’t quite get the joke (oh well)…

The Razor has been upgraded to PHPNuke. Take a look if you haven’t seen it in awhile.

Andrew Sullivan writes good stuff, but has never answered one of my emails. Steven Den Beste has.

I used to live in San Diego and have followed the fires there. Most have scorched wealthy areas of the city, although as the fire moves inland, it will more likely affect people of moderate means. Most of the rich live near the ocean.

Note to Californians: Stop building in Fucking Canyons!

I wonder who President Bush will dress up like tonight? Jacques Chirac, Howard Dean or Saddam Hussein? My vote is for Dean, since Chirac is too scary…

It appears that God’s pissed off at Mel Gibson over the making of his movie The Passion.
Lightning has struck the actor playing Jesus twice. I am not making this up.

Better yet, God must be a Jew since Gibson’s Passion has been criticized for being overtly anti-Semetic.

“Describing the second lightning strike, McEveety told VLife, a supplement of the trade paper Variety: “I’m about a hundred feet away from them when I glance over and see smoke coming out of Caviezel’s ears.”

Smoke coming from your actor’s ears is not a good thing, unless he is Yosemite Sam.

Sorry not posting a lot lately. Lets just say, I hate Exchange server. It sucks. If it starts to flake, it flakes everywhere. At least with Lotus Notes, Postfix/IMAP, etc., you can keep it from whacking out everything. Whoever thought of keeping the entire companies mail in one giant file anyways?

Beyond that… Been busy emailing with Hiroki, my new buddy from Japan. Lots of stuff to chat about. Find yourself someone to chat with…

Also been trying to help out Eric who probably walked by me one day in 1991. I was in Rahfa at the time acting like an air traffic controller, and he was an MP processing refugees. He’s having issues with VA benefits, and I’m trying to help him find the exact times and places we were doing all the processing. I have that little green notebook somewhere…

Steven Den Beste has an interesting take on American Unilateralism in Iraq. It’s pretty “multi-lateral”. He also points out that real friends don’t mention their friendships; it’s just assumed - kind of the way I assumed that France would in the end support us. By stabbing us in the back they showed that they aren’t are friends anymore. But look at the buddies we have below. Nicaragua? Bulgaria? My my the Cold War is over indeed.

Albania 71 non-combat troops to help with peacekeeping, based in northern Iraq.
Azerbaijan 150-man unit to take part in patrols, law enforcement and protection of religious and historic monuments in Iraq.
Bulgaria 485-member infantry battalion patrolling Karbala, south of Baghdad. An additional 289 will be sent.
Central America and the Caribbean Dominican Republic (with 300 troops), El Salvador (360), Honduras (360) and Nicaragua (120) are assisting a Spanish-led brigade in south-central Iraq.
Czech Republic 271 military personnel and three civilians running a field hospital in Basra; 25 military police in Iraq.
Denmark 406 troops, consisting of light infantry units, medics and military police. An additional 90 soldiers are being sent.
Georgia 69, including 34 special troops, 15 sappers and 20 medics.
Estonia 55 soldiers, including mine divers and cargo handlers.
Hungary 300-member transportation contingent in Iraq.
Italy 3,000 troops in southern Iraq.
Moldova Dozens of de-mining specialists and medics.
Netherlands 1,106, including a core of 650 marines, three Chinook transport helicopters, a logistics team, a field hospital, a commando contingent, military police and a unit of 230 military engineers.
New Zealand 61 army engineers assigned for reconstruction work in southern Iraq.
Norway 156-member force includes engineers and mine clearers.
Philippines 177 soldiers, police and medics.
Poland 2,400 troops command one of three military sectors in Iraq.
Portugal 120 police officers.
Romania 800 military personnel, including 405 infantry, 149 de-mining specialists and 100 military police, along with a 56-member special intelligence detachment.
Slovakia 82 military engineers.
South Korea 675 non-combat troops with more forces on the way.
Spain 1,300 troops, mostly assigned to police duties in south-central Iraq.
Thailand 400 troops assigned to humanitarian operations.
Ukraine 1,640 soldiers from a mechanized unit.
United Kingdom 7,400, 1,200 more planned.

Other countries making troop contributions are Kazakhstan (27), Latvia (106), Lithuania (90) Macedonia (28). Details on these deployments were not available.

The United States is in discussions with 14 other countries about providing troops.

Economic reconstruction pledges for Iraq made prior to the Madrid conference:

European Commission $230 million for 2004

Japan pledged $1.5 billion the first year and is considering a medium-term package for presentation at Madrid.

South Korea $200 million over four years in addition to $60 million committed this year.

Spain $300 million.

United Kingdom $900 million for three years, starting in April 2003.

World Bank $3 billion to $5 billion over five years.
Source: ABC News

No France.. No Canada. No Germany. No loss.

Glenn Reynolds has an interesting perspective on the the CB radio at his TechCentralStation column. It seems the CB radio craze back in the 1970s had been spawned by the social engineering experiment of the 55 MPH speed limit so cheerfully enforced by that social engineer extraordinaire, Jimmy Carter, >thptt !<. For my take on Jimmy >thptt !< check this out.

I was part of that revolution - a 9 year old with his very own base station and FCC CB license. I lived near the “double nickel” highway 55, and spent many hours listening to truckers as they traveled through America’s heartland.

Reynold’s gives an interesting perspective on CB radio, one that I had never really considered. He sees it as the predecessor to the Internet and appreciates it for taking power from the elite and giving it to the masses.

Anyone who hates Carter >thptt !<, appreciates history, and digs Jacksonian democracy should check his article out.

Thanks to Chad for pointing out this insanely wacky show on Spike TV. Most Extreme Challenge is a Japanese import of “Takeshi’s Castle” - one of the billion shows that Beat Takeshi has had on Japanese television.

While the originals were funny, the insanity knob gets turned up to 11 by the editing and dubbing talents of the cast. What would have been merely amusing becomes completely insane. By the end of the first 30 mins the Kid was bouncing on the couch and I was rolling on the floor.

The fun isn’t just seeing Japanese salarymen and college students getting knocked senseless by wooden rollers or huge papier mache boulders, it’s the commentary that is a mix of Mystery Science 3000 and the Outdoor Channel’s Lumberjack Championships.

Having spent 5 years in Nippon, I think I’m qualified to state that the Japanese are wacked. However, mix in some American creativity and bam! the result is one of the funniest things to appear on TV in years.

Check your local listings for repeats of the Thursday shows over the weekend. You won’t regret it.

Our cyberpunk future is one step closer. Monkeys have figured out how to use only their brain to control video games. The were implanted with hundreds of electrodes. They had a favorite video game they liked to play with a joystick. After the implantation, their implants were hooked into the game computer.

“The monkey suddenly realized that she didn’t need to move her arm at all,” Nicolelis said in a statement.
“Her arm muscles went completely quiet, she kept the arm at her side and she controlled the robot arm using only her brain and visual feedback.”
The electrodes transmit faint signals to a computer system the researchers have developed to recognize patterns of signals that represent particular movements by an animal’s arm. These signals are translated and in turn control a robotic arm.
At first the animals were taught to use a joystick to control the cursor of a video game - which Nicolelis said they enjoyed playing. The researchers recorded and analyzed the electrical activity of the neurons near the implanted electrodes.

Apparently human trials are now under way. It is targeted currently towards the paralyzed being able to control wheelchairs and such. But I’m sure once the technology is proven and fully operational, I’m sure direct computer control isn’t that far off now!

May I never have to deal with another damn plasma TV again. But that’s another story.

Fox News correspondent Mansoor Ijaz talks about developments in Southeast Asia’s piracy problem.

During the past year, piracy attacks in the South Pacific have become much more sinister in nature. No longer are pirates boarding tankers or other maritime vessels for the purpose of taking cash, kidnapping crews for ransom, or seizing and selling the cargoes. Recent piracy incidents are now occurring because those boarding the vessels only spend a few hours at the helm to develop the necessary skills to navigate them — a bit like the 9-11 hijackers attending flight training schools — and then take the captains and co-captains with them when they abandon the tankers.

Apparently they’re also involved in kidnapping of a few senior scuba diving instructors from the area. One of the freed instructors apparently said the pirates/terrorists are involved in learning how to dive. But not to surface. Pretty disturbing when you consider that the 9/11 hijackers only cared about flying a plane, but not landing one.
The article is a fan commentary asking questions about the article. One question in particular is disturbing, but the answer is correct.

You say Al Qaeda is intent on disrupting the global economy to level the divide between the haves and have-nots. Can the U.S. pacify Al Qaeda without proving to them that terror works?

Sure, we can all convert to Islam at gunpoint. That would pacify them. Probably not anything less. This answer is better though:

Civilized people do not negotiate with terrorists no matter what their cause or concerns. We must simply destroy terrorism’s infrastructure, and a key to doing that is to identify potential areas of threat early enough that we dismantle their enterprises before they have an opportunity to complete their training or fully develop their instruments of terror (like tanker ships laden with radioactive materials and explosive fuels.)

Best cooking show host ever, Alton Brown has a few new books out.
Alton Brown’s Gear for Your Kitchen covers all you need for how to stock your kitchen with cookware, utensils, what works, what is crap, etc. My advice to people has always been never get that 10 piece set of cookware, because you’ll never use 5 of them. Get 2 of the same non-stick frying pan in 8″ or 10″, 2 of the same 2 or 3 quart saucepan, a big pasta pot, and a 10″ or 12″ cast iron frying pan. I’m a big fan of All-Clad and Lodge cast iron. But thats all most will ever use. My steamer that plops in a big saucepan has never been used. I have a large saute pan I think I’ve used 5 times in as many years because a good frying pan just works better for most things.
I’m Just Here for the Food: Kitchen User’s Manual is a ring bound tome that is supposed to stay in your kitchen cooking area, filled with reference materials you’ll need including cuts of meat, substitutions, areas for recipes and notes, etc.
I’m Just Here for the Food: Cook’s Notes is not what you’d expect. You’re the cook, and the notes are to be yours. So, in effect it is just a blank notebook with Alton’s mug on the cover. For those who need everything Alton, this is a must, if not, it is somewhat duplicated in the Kitchen Manual.
I’m Just Here for the Food: Food + Heat = Cooking is the classic of AB. This won’t teach you recipes, but it will teach you the magics of “how” to cook. You’ll learn why deep frying works differently than pan frying, what boiling does to the food, etc. Since this is like science class, learning the hows and whys will help you make decisions on how you cook your food.

From this well-fed pirate, happy cooking!

InTheBeginningWasTheCommandLine - spack[dot]org starts off about the differences between Apple, Microsoft, and other Operating systems and starts in general commentary about the human condition.

Contemporary culture is a two-tiered system, like the Morlocks and the Eloi in H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine, except that it’s been turned upside down. In The Time Machine the Eloi were an effete upper class, supported by lots of subterranean Morlocks who kept the technological wheels turning. But in our world it’s the other way round. The Morlocks are in the minority, and they are running the show, because they understand how everything works. The much more numerous Eloi learn everything they know from being steeped from birth in electronic media directed and controlled by book-reading Morlocks. So many ignorant people could be dangerous if they got pointed in the wrong direction, and so we’ve evolved a popular culture that is (a) almost unbelievably infectious and (b) neuters every person who gets infected by it, by rendering them unwilling to make judgments and incapable of taking stands.

That just about neatly sums up the difference in the educated vs. the masses. And I’m not talking about the “elite” because they’re usually more ignorant than the common folk. But in years past, the difference between the thinkers and the doers was much smaller. Most of what needed to be done in the world was doing, not thinking. That has changed, and now the gulf widens. Even those that could be doers have become the thinkers, the technology workers, paid more for whats in their heads than what they do with their hands. I’m one of those myself. I’ve worked manual labor, even worked as an electrician for a while. But I always came back to technology, be it electronics or computers. And I don’t look back.

Good luck to Vermont taking in all the libertarians. I think its a great experiment. Vermont has the history to make this a good place to start. Show that it works when people are willing to make it work. I highly doubt any state with large urban populations can ever work, but an overall rural area has a good chance.
Myself? Still working on Colorado. Maripat at RightWeAre.com is giving me advice on good places… thanks!
Been slow posting here lately. Work is “too busy” but that happens when upper management sits on their money all year long, and decides to spend all the money this late. Of course that means projects are already six months late. Which now have to be done while colliding with current projects. And let us not forget that now everyone’s vacation they’ve been too busy to take so far this year is coming due.
Scott is being interviewed by Wired magazine about the H1B visa program and IT jobs going overseas. More details as they come available. But it has been interesting lately seeing news stories where companies have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars by in-sourcing their IT departments. Might the tide be turning? If you have the low end jobs being filled by illegal immigrants, and the good technology jobs being done by H1B’s who send the money offshore, its putting a squeeze on everyone.
Is it just me, or does it seem like too many Muslims are being arrested at Gitmo? There can’t be hundreds of them there, so that 3 is a statistical aberration. The numbers are too high. A simple question with a difficult answer would be, “Can Muslims be faithful to their religion and the western way of life at the same time?” If the answer is no, that generally Muslims cannot be, then that leads to many issues in future relations between the west and Muslim areas.