That's my Bush

The situation with Iran continues to unfold while our intellectual catfish of a president continues to scour the low road of reasoning. According to a recent ABC report, the problem is continuing mainly because of the absence of US initiative. Russia is supplying uranium to the Iranians in a deal where the used nuclear material will be returned to Russia so that it cannot be turned into weapons. This will continue for ten years until Iran is capable of producing its own weapons grade uranium. Bush has not publicly opposed this and furthermore has not contacted Russia about their willingness to store nuclear waste. We could finally start using the rest of Nevada for something besides growing two headed lizards. The European Union has offered Iran economic incentives to stop their uranium enrichment program, but complain that none of the deals can be promised without US support. All the while, Bush avoids committing to any plan of action at all because he does not want it to appear that Washington even recognize Iran's government as legitimate. Honestly, while I understand the political statement, is there any other Iranian government that can influence this decision? Is this some huge Global War on Terrorism loophole? If anti-American forces control your nation you can do as you please because we will be inclined to ignore you. This may be even more well thought out than the war with Iraq.

PRO-GUN ATTORNEYS

The only list i could find was this one: THE SHOOTERS' BAR, but there were no lawyers that were pro gun listed for TN.

Does anyone know of a good pro gun lawyer in the memphis area?

cube

Near beer, far from home

I tried a non-alcoholic St Pauli's beer today. It wasn't the first near beer that I have tried, but it was the first good one. I am going to buy some more tomorrow to fulfill a purely psychological need. It may seem to be a sign of alcoholism to be comforted by the taste and smell of German beer in the evening, but I have long since learned not to let lofty idealism come between myself and the comforts of this world. Everyone else will make sure that you do your fair share of sweating and working before you pass on. It is up to you to make sure that you enjoy a moment of life now and then.
I read some more about Iran today. It is a particular concern of mine being in only a few hundred miles from it right now. Apparently they are getting the fuel for their nuclear power plant from Russia, which complicates things considerably. If this war was started to stop a potential sponsor of terrorism from creating or possessing weapons of mass destruction, then how do you turn a blind eye to this situation? On the other, you don't want to get drawn into any direct conflict with Russia after you spent the 50 or so years of the Cold War carefully maneuvering around it. It seems like a lose- lose situation. I think the best thing to do would be to incite a giant regional nuclear war where atomic capable nations like Israel and India attack their long time enemies Syria, Iran, and Pakistan. We would naturally support whichever countries won.

Learn something new everyday

Fifteen months after Japan's last liftoff ended in a spectacular fireball, an orange and white H-2A rocket blasted off Saturday on a mission officials hope will revive this country's once proud space program — now languishing in China's shadow.

The 174-foot-tall rocket, with the word "Nippon," or Japan (search), emblazoned on its side, lifted off into a cloudy sky just before sunset from the sprawling space center on this remote southern island.

I now know where the nickname "Nip" came from during war war 2. Interstice. Is "Nip" really a racial slur, when it is what the Japanese call themselves? For example, if I called my self a "Stump/Tree Jumper" would it be a racial slur?

"Stump/Tree Jumper" = Whites.

"Rednecks use Stump Jumper or Tree Jumper against hillbillies lower than themselves, but they also use it to point out hillbillies that commit incest- jumping the family tree."

Source: Racial Slur Database

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War all the time

I am not going to come right out and say that our president is a war monger, but when you feel it necessary to announce twice a week that you are not going to send your military to invade Iran maybe you should reflect on your actions a little more. The more he feels the need to announce how much we aren't starting a new war the more I feel uneasy that we are. My only consolation is the knowledge that he has already stretched our military thin in Afghanistan, Iraq, and South Korea. The only way he could get the manpower for another nation-building project would be to start up the ever popular draft again. Even if we had enough people ready to go, what exactly are our criteria for invasion these days? Soldiers are sworn to defend our nation, its people, and our way of life but how far does that go. When you start getting into potential threats (like Saddam's theoretical WMDs) you can justify almost anything. Maybe we should nuke England and claim that a time traveler warned us of their betrayal in the year 2028. Maybe we should be the ones to decide which countries are allowed to posses nuclear capabilities. Maybe we should just fly some B-52s over Tehran and introduce atomic technology the hard way. But maybe we should take wars a little more seriously.

Canada

I really have not had much to say recently, but this article about Canada and the missile defense system really got my blood a boiling.

Source:

"Prime Minister Paul Martin said Thursday that Canada would not join the contentious U.S. missile defense program, a decision that will further strain brittle relations between the neighbors but please Canadians who fear it could lead to an international arms race"

What type of arms race would this lead to?!?!?!?

We already have some of the worlds best missiles. The only other country that can come close to us in missile technology is Russia....though china will catch up to us in the next few years. In other words, we have already won the first leg of this arms race - Missiles that work and can strike anywhere in the world. These want-to-be-nuclear powers will first need to get that ability, if they want to enter into an equal arms race with the US. (It is important to note that China will reach the ability to strike anywhere in the world much quicker than we did. It is much easier to follow the technological tracks than it is to make the tracks in the first place.)

Secondly, the reason to develop the missile defense shield is because evil countries are going to get ICBMs eventually. They are going to develop ICBMs whether we have a missile shield or not, so we might as well start working on something that is extremely difficult to invent and requires much time, effort, and money.

Thirdly, the ability to create missiles that can evade our missile defense shield will not be an easy task. To really know for sure that you missile will work, you will need to actually test the missile against either our shield or a system just like it. If you launch missiles at us and they do not work, you are fried and we are fine. If you launch missiles at us and they hit US, you are still fried and we are somewhat less fried than you are.

Fourthly, seeing how we won the last arms race we were in, i feel fairly confident we can win this one also.

"But after the announcement, U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci told reporters he was perplexed over Canada's decision, which he said effectively allows Washington to decide what to do if a missile was headed toward Canada.

"We simply cannot understand why Canada would in effect give up its sovereignty - its seat at the table - to decide what to do about a missile that might be coming towards Canada," said the outgoing ambassador, who had vigorously urged Canada to sign on the plan."

Now that is dumb. Lower Canada will get the same protection our northern states will get, as will southwest and southeast Canada. North and Central Canada, of course, are on their own. I honestly do not know if America will try to protect Alaska or Hawaii at all. We will have a hard enough time protecting the 48 and might be willing to let the couple stragglers get taken out IF it saves the whole.

""We are certainly intending to defend our sovereignty and our air space and if anything develops in our air space, we expect, as a sovereign state, to be notified and have influence on any decisions," he said. "Canada's a sovereign nation and we would expect and insist on being consulted on any intrusion into our air space.""

Now that is even dumber. America CALLING Canada to ask if we can shoot somthing out the air before it reachs our airspace. America will not even think twice about shooting down something it thinks is a threat or is on a path to enter our airspace. Secondly, Canada will be notified indirectly through Norad, the same as Mexico.

Canada is basically going to just freeload off of our hardwork, in this case. Of course, if they really piss us off, we can always just expand our shield just enough to cover the fallout area around the US. The goal of the enemy missiles will be to get as close to America as possible at the last possible second. How that is good for Canada, i cannot figure out.

"Many believe that the umbrella, when fully implemented, could lead to an international arms race. "

Fine with me. Lets settle this once and for all.

Oh, and we are getting better with our missiles.

update: Fox News said the same thing i did only a few days later.

cube

Days that should become nantional holidays

No pants day via stewardess

Talk Like A Pirate Day

I just knew this one.

Other awsome websites you should visit.

BaconWhores and Nose via Texican Tattler

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Welcome

I would like to welcome Sandcastle back into the blogging fold. He was an original member, the name of the blog is evidence of this. Seeing how he is busy in Iraq, his posting might be sporeatic, but is always welcomed. You can read his entire collected works on the left sidebar.

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You are dammed if you do and dammed if you don't

Gun Watch: ""A Wyandanch man fatally shot a 20-year-old man who tried to enter his home through a window early yesterday, police said.....The alleged shooter, Sanjay Broomfield, 22, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, a felony."

The New York authorities could not get the shooter for shooting a guy that was entering his house, so they are going to charge him with owning a gun inside of his OWN home!!! I do not know the gun laws of New York, nor do i care to. If you can get charged with a crime for owning a gun inside of you own home, there is a serious problem.

cube

Real politics

This article is from a person (who seems like he) is in the know.

Source: "Finally, no matter when or how the Saddam Hussein dictatorship eventually fell, there has long been a high probability that this would result in a civil war between Iraq's Shi'ite and Sunni Arabs. No minority ascendancy class gives up power willingly, especially where their power has been largely underwritten by violent repression of the majority over a long period. The insurgency in Iraq is mainly fuelled by Sunni fears of what will happen to them when the Shi'ites take charge and perhaps revenge.

Even critics of the US-led intervention in Iraq should be willing to admit that it is better that such civil strife is supervised and ameliorated by the international community rather than the Iraqis just being left to get on with a civil war unmolested."

The entire thing lays out the current situation and geopolitical parties involved in current rebuilding of Iraq very well.

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The return and a departure

Hello everyone. I am returning to two things. The first is the war in Iraq and the second is this blog. I posted fairly frequently during my first deployment and hope to do so again. For my first post I would like to ask for a moment of silence remembering the late journalist and novelist Hunter S. Thompson. He shot himself in the head with his favorite handgun at the age of 67 or 68. Does a year or so really matter at that point? And let's face it, that is the cool way to go. Everyone from Hemingway to Cobain has chosen to leave the world at their own leisure. It is easier. You can plan for it. It takes all of the guesswork out of your final moments. Bit messy sometimes, but every decision is going to have its drawbacks. It is an admirable path altogether. They have all shared their creative gifts with the world and then exited before they became a nuisance with a bedpan in an old people's home. At this ripe old age it probably became clear that the days of interactive Gonzo journalism were coming to a close. And nothing helps sales like a sudden unexpected death. He was the last living writer that came out of the great social experiments of California in the 50s and 60s. His soul joins Kerouac, Kesey, Ginsberg, and Bukowski, and Burroughs wherever they may be. Rest in Peace.

Met a fellow blogger Friday night.

I met Brian of "Broken Quanta" and his wife. Our party was six people, half of which were bloggers (Broken Quanta, Stewardess, and Me) that i know of.

Brian did not seem as loud as i thought he would have been in real life. He also seemed tired. I then read his blog and confirmed my suspicions.

"Damn, I'm Tired"

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Sorry for the lack of posting

...but I was a little busy this weekend. Some details here. By chance i found one of the best chicken recipes i have ever tasted last week. I discovered the recipe on men's health. I like their recipes because I know they are most likely easy and are probably healthy.

Here is the recipe below.

Ingredients:
1 can (20 oz) juice-packed unsweetened pineapple chunks,
2 c onions, chopped
1/2 c tomatoes, chopped, peeled
3 T brown sugar, packed
3 T apple cider vinegar
3 cloves garlic , minced
2 - bay leaves
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t black pepper
1 pound chicken breasts , boneless, skinless, cut into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces

Directions:
In a 5-quart (5-L) Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat, bring pineapple with juice, onions, tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper to a boil.
Boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
Stir in chicken and return mixture to a boil.
Reduce heat to low.
Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Discard bay leaves.

I tell you that this is the best thing i have ever cooked in my life, and the most time consuming part of the entire dish was chopping up stuff.

cube

Dean says

"Dean said what?".
"Did you hear what Dean said?"
"Another day, Another Deanism."

There has to be a blog which brings all the things Dean said together. If I had categories, this guy would have his own.

"Apology Demanded
Two prominent African-American Republicans have demanded an apology from the new DNC Chairman Howard Dean for saying at a Democratic Black Caucus meeting last week, "You think the Republicans could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here."

And in a joint statement, Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele and former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts say they are outraged over the insensitive and intolerable remarks. Adding, "This kind of backward thinking remind us of a horrible time in history, when blacks were seen as servants." But the chair of the caucus says Dean's remarks were well received, insisting they were, "A statement of fact" and Steele and Watts are blowing things out of proportion."

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New taxation schemes

This post is in response to this post.

I was a very strong proponent of the national sales tax with only an exemption for food. I still think that would be fairer, but it would open up the chance for the government to decide which foods were taxed and how much they were taxed. The bastards could in effect enact fat taxes easier. I am afraid that the sales tax would be come more and more complicated as time when on, with it taking on sin tax functions in some cases.

The flat tax seems the easiest to implement (saving time and money), though a very large amount of money is going to be lost from the rich. That money will have to be made up some how. In other words, this will in effect be raising the taxes on a very large percent of the population (which actually is 100 percent fair, but I doubt the democrats will let bush play it off that way).

I doubt that a flat tax would have the intended effect of lowing government spending that some say it would, because people would just expect the rich to pay more, just like they are now. I also doubt with these problems the flat tax would last very long.

I see serious problems (not in theory) but in application with both of these ideas. I am know leaning toward the flat tax because it would actually give the federal government less power, spread the burden of paying for all the social programs around, and I think it has a better chance of staying pure for longer than a national sales tax does.

update: Just a little more information on the who-pays-taxes-gap.

"And never mind the fact the top 1 percent in this country pay a third of the taxes in this country. Or that the top 5 percent pay more than half."

This is an extreme gap to be made up if a flat tax were to be put into place. If a flat tax raises the taxes of an average person, you can expect this to be politically painful.

cube

A new kind of tax

It is not every day a new tax is invented.

As more and more hybrids hit the road, cash-strapped states are warning of rough roads ahead. Officials in car-clogged California are so worried they may be considering a replacement for the gas tax altogether, replacing it with something called "tax by the mile."

Seeing tax dollars dwindling, neighboring Oregon has already started road testing the idea. "Drivers will get charged for how many miles they use the roads, and it's as simple as that," says engineer David Kim. Kim and his team at Oregon State University equipped a test car with a global positioning device to keep track of its mileage. Eventually, every car would need one. "So, if you drive 10 miles you will pay a certain fee which will be, let's say, one tenth of what someone pays if they drive 100 miles," says Kim.

I personally do not have an innate problem with this exact tax. I think the tax is the fairer in some circumstances than a gasoline tax. The amount of gasoline you use is based on what type of car you drive and how much you drive. Which the environmentalists love to point out the gas guzzling SUV's as prime examples of why gas taxes need to be raised.

I suspect that there are a fair amount of cars driven by older people with fixed incomes. These cars may be in disrepair or of older models which are not as gas efficient. I also suspect there are a fair amount of older cars or cars with poor gas mileage driven by poorer people. So in taxing the gas, you are also punishing people for driving cars with poor gas mileage. That could be SUVs or old cars driven by your grandparents. The tax does not differentiate. Which that was the point of the environmentalists in raising gasoline tax, it just affected poor people as well as the rich people who could afford it.

I DO have a problem getting equipped with a GPS in my car if i do not want one, but in the next sentence the article contradicts itself.

"The new tax would be charged each time you fill up. A computer inside the gas pump would communicate with your car's odometer to calculate how much you owe."

A simple radio device that communicated how many miles i drove, just not where would be reasonable to me. Of course, in about 3 months people will figure out who to reduce the mileage it sends to save them money, but that is another issue.

My problem with this tax rests on the fact the gasoline taxes, federal laws, and technology are accomplishing part of what the environmentalists wanted. People are using less gas and producing less CO2. Of course this was not what the state wants. They want people to drive less so they do not have to spend as much money keeping the roads in good condition. Of course, it should be noted that making people drive less will only reduce economic activity which will further lower revenues, but they have not got to that point yet.

I also have a problem with being taxed for the same activity twice. You will be taxed when you buy the gas and then you will be taxed for using the gasoline on you next visit to the pump. It is like being taxed when you pull down you pants when you take a dump and then being taxed when you flush the toilet. That is simply and clearly wrong.

Other bloggers: Road Rash,Road Rash II, One way or another

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So what if i was right

Source:"So what is the stock market going to do? I do not know, and I really have not found a lot of information making predictions. Though the biggest thing I see coming down the pipe is the addition of hundreds of millions of dollars to the mutual funds of America if Bush gets his social security plan through. That could create artificial demand which could then raise prices past what the market will stomach which will then lead to a crash....OR....The addition of money could create an period of instability which causes stock prices to stall or drop....OR...The addition of the money could allow investors to find new markets and fund growth in those areas further raising the rate of growth in American and world wide."

Alex Tabarrok Confrimation:Can social security privatization raise economic growth? Certainly the answer is yes. It's a big reform which (done right) can significantly increase savings and reduce labor market distortions.

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Brand new card idea

Last night i was riding with some friends. My friends wife needed to go buy a birthday card. I realized that there was an entire niche market that was not being touched by these card companies. The dual purpose card.

My first idea was: "Happy birthday and sorry about you uncle." My friend, the driver, came up with this idea: "congratulations on getting married and it is a boy"

I think that given some nice designs and a computer program that allowed the user to pick out the dual purpose card, this could work well and probably would only be a losing business for about 50 years, which is a short time if you plan on living for ever.

cube

Wow

A friend of mine's wife was surfing the web and found a blog that was her sister in laws blog. It had her picture on it and everything.

Funny.

cube

Memphis politicians are in the baby making business

Well, if you have not heard the stories that happened last two weeks in Memphis, you missed out on some good stuff.

Our mayor called a press conference and informed the public that he was the father of a child that was three to four months old. Form what i could gather the woman was a white Yankee and around 40 years old. I am not sure about her age, as that seems a little old, but whatever. The mayor was single, so it is not to huge of a scandal. The woman was pissed enough to go and interview with a local station this week. The mayor has gotten a lot of criticism from the conservative media, who think that he has been a poor role model for the black community. While this story was juicy, it probably will not cause the mayor to lose his job in the short term. Though i can see he not getting re elected, not because he had a kid, but because he had a kid with a white woman.

The bigger story of the week was summed up in an personal email from a guy i know in the TN government.

"SENATOR JOHN FORD
The cloud over the legislature this week has been the long shadow of John Ford. His actions have created a whirlwind of controversy. Here are some of the allegations that have been recently uncovered.

Senator Ford lives outside his district. He claims his legal residence is in a funeral home in his district. He actually sleeps at homes he owns with his ex-wife and his girlfriend. Amazingly, there is no law stating that a [state] Senator must live in the district. We will attempt to change that this year.

Senator Ford passed a law that from which he would benefit without disclosing his personal gain from the Bill's passage. By rule, legislators are required to state their conflict of interest when they consider a bill in which they are likely to personally gain.

Senator Ford paid for his daughter's wedding from his campaign account.

Senator Ford failed to disclose his compensation from a partnership doing business with the state. The allegation that he failed to disclose income from a company doing business with the State of Tennessee will be the one most likely to bring him censure from the Senate.

Ethics complaints have been filed by citizens and the Senate Ethics committee is looking into the complaints and the charges. I am hesitant to say much because of the nature of an ethics charge. I want to encourage you to be patient. This process will not happen as fast as we might like, but it will happen. The charges will not simply fade away. After sweeps week is over and the television cameras have gone home, the Ethics Committee will continue to work. They will thoroughly investigate the charges and bring a recommendation to the Senate.

It is important to remember that any investigation into a Senator's ethical behavior is not a partisan issue, nor should it be staged for the media. The investigation must be, and it will be, conducted with fairness, diligence and with a passion for the truth. It will not be fast, but it will be sure

Jim Bryson
State Senator
Davidson and Williamson Counties"

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Interesting article

The End of the Transatlantic Affair

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What you should do for Vday

Call all of you old girlfriends. It would be fun. You could ask them about their life, what they are doing with their selves, and then tell them how happy you are in you relationship and that you hope their relationship is going great also. If they say they are single, tell them to enjoy their selves.

It would be fun.

cube

Investment advice

I am NOT formally trained in investing, but I think that I have a general enough feel for how it is done to not lose all of my money. In other words,, I think that I can spot a trend and not come in last.

At the beginning of last year I started my 401k and I was 22.75% up. I spent one night reading about my different options and put my money where I thought the economy was going. I took the riskiest profile for an investor and allocated five percent more to the riskiest funds. I happened to be right.

Today, I sat down started thinking about where this year's economy was going. I can make out anything right now. The first half of last year we had excellent job reports come out and we just rode on those until the end of the year. This year I am not sure we will have the same growth that we did last year. I feel there is room for growth. I do not feel that we are an full employment, but I am not sure what phase most business are in (Investment or cost savings).

The fed is still raising interest rates, the unemployment rate is at a point that it has been near to for the last few months. If we continue on the path we have been going the past half year, we will have steady growth, but not outstanding growth. I would expect the unemployment rate to be around 4.8-4.5 by December and for the stock market to have had modest gains.

I have been looking for a little more information one what they future holds and this article is they type of articles that I have been looking for.

"Bob Prechter, founder of Elliott Wave International, answers that question in the foreword to his book, "Conquer the Crash," in which he predicts a deflationary depression: "The reason I remain willing to express my unconventional view is that I believe that my ideas of finance and macroeconomics are correct, and the conventional ones are wrong.""

I have seen this mentioned a few times at tech central. While the tech central does an excellent job of trying to stay ahead of the curve, they tend to have a lot of doom and gloom type articles. Of course, this guy does not bother telling us what to do, just what he sees coming. I guess that I would have to give him money to get his advice.

One of the biggest problems I see this year is the value of the US dollar. A soft landing is what we are going for, if we go to low to fast, it could cause a massive sell off of the US dollar among people who happen to keep large amounts of money in the form of US dollars. Of course all that cheap stuff from china will still be cheap as long as china has their currency pegged to ours. If you think for one second that China will help us out, by either unpegging their currency when we ask them to or keeping it pegged when we ask them to, you are crazy man!!

So what is the US dollar going to do? I do not know. Hell Cato does not even know. John Snow tells us not to worry about the trade deficit, which is not the same as the dollar bit it is affected by the dollar.

So what is the stock market going to do? I do not know, and I really have not found a lot of information making predictions. Though the biggest thing I see coming down the pipe is the addition of hundreds of millions of dollars to the mutual funds of America if Bush gets his social security plan through. That could create artificial demand which could then raise prices past what the market will stomach which will then lead to a crash....OR....The addition of money could create an period of instability which causes stock prices to stall or drop....OR...The addition of the money could allow investors to find new markets and fund growth in those areas further raising the rate of growth in American and world wide.

I would guess the first one will happen, which means that if bush gets his plan through, I am going to move my stocks to a more stable footing a few months after it goes into affect. I might move stay at that less riskier profile for a year. If bush gets his tax plan through, I will move to the profile I have now, and leave it there for a year then reevalute.

If you have seen any credible estimates on the future of the economy for the next year or if you have any well reasoned arguments why I should buy as many guns as possible (because that and willing blondes are all that are going to be worth any money when everything hits the economic fan), please feel free to share them.

cube

Now I am worried

"New York City doctors have discovered a man with a previously unseen strain of HIV that is resistant to three of the four types of anti-viral drugs that combat the disease, and progresses from infection to full-blown AIDS in two or three months, the health department said.

We've identified this strain of HIV that is difficult or impossible to treat and which appears to progress rapidly to AIDS,'' said New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden. ``We have not seen a case like this before. It holds the potential for a very serious public health problem.''

The case was diagnosed in a New Yorker in his mid-40s who reported multiple male sex partners and unprotected anal sex -- often while using the drug crystal methamphetamine."


Well, that is it. All we need I for this strain to go airborne and we are all dead. Good bye life, I have lived you while I can.

If you did not have the motivation to do anything with you life and you are a 30 year old loser, it is too late now. You might as well try to beat that last video game because that is all you have time for. In fact if you play video games and do not speak to people, you stand a better chance of surviving the post HIV world.

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Don't fear the cubicle

"The five incendiary devices found at the Auburn commercial complex matched three devices found in homes in the upscale Lincoln subdivision, the FBI has said.

Letters to several newspapers purporting to be from the Earth Liberation Front said the attempted Lincoln arson was a statement against suburban sprawl, while the Auburn office building was targeted as "a statement against work and the horror of the (cubicle).""

That is what it actually said i promise.

cubicle

I did not do jack today

This is in reverse order that i did these things.

I caught up on ARMOR GEDDON.
"The hot brass slapped SFC Kennedy in the face."
Roby! Quit that shit, man!"
"Hey Roby, you want my grenade?" SGT Kennedy asked.
"What the fuck?" SFC Kennedy asked. "Where the fuck did you get a grenade?"

"From my buddy in 2-2IN," SGT Kennedy replied as he handed Roby the grenade.

Oh lord. Here we go, SFC Kennedy thought. I know he's gonna pull that pin and drop the grenade in the damn turret"

Found another reader: Digital Irony - Yishai's News and Rants
Thanks for reading.

Learned how machine guns work at how stuff works, which complements Wadcutter's series nicely. I will probably go back and ready what woodcutters has to say, because i an dumb and need pictures.

Learned how body armour works from how stuff works.

I almost solved Einstein's riddle yesterday, but revisited it today with a friend who said he solved it a different way. It turns out that he was mistaken. The problem i faced in solving this riddle was not being able to solve it. Because i had figured out most of it and what i did figure out was correct. My problem was part risk averseness and laziness.

Learned how camo works from how stuff works and read about the camo of the future.

I learned how the Jeep Hurricane works, a truly amazing jeep. I am pretty cynical, but the engine could be part of the answer for energy independence.

Read all of this edition of the onion.

Researched the movie home delivery services that are available: Blockbuster and Netflix.

Read all about the Beretta Px4 storm. I think Beretta is doing a few things well. One, they are realizing how important the web is. It is more important than just a store front, you have to have all of you information available. Consumers will tend to gravitate toward products that they feel comfortable or know the most about. Allowing them to read as much as they can on the web will help that along.

Two i think that they are gearing up for a Px4 storm release date soon for civilians. They created this website to draw civilians in, not law enforcement or military.

I also think that they did the release of the Px4 backwards. I would have released to civilians first, then the military. Or at least at the same time. For the testing phase i would have released the gun to a certified list of gun ranges and let them rent it and put it through the paces. That will solve the quality control problems.

I finally disabled script debugging in Internet explorer (annoying message boxes would pop up when ever there was an error). I could not read the Px4 storm page with it on. It got turned on somehow, and i just never bothered with how to turn it off until today.

And I also found out that they have some killer BB guns out there.

Apparently that is either the first thing i clicked on this morning or IE used up the space it had allocated for today. I am going for the latter, because i know i clicked on stuff before that because i was reading blogs before i say that.

cube

Onion Love Coupons

Onion Love Coupons

need i say any more.

cube

I am so pissed.

Source: "Some of the newly declassified accounts of detainees evoke scenes from a rock music video. German detainee Murat Kurnaz told his lawyer that three women in lacy bras and panties strutted into the interrogation room where he was sitting in chains. They cooed about how attractive he was and suggested "they could have some fun," he said.

When Kurnaz averted his eyes, he said, one woman sat on his lap, another rubbed her breasts against his back and massaged his chest and a third squatted near his crotch. He head-butted the woman behind him, he said, knocking her off him. All three ran out and a team of soldiers stormed in and beat him, he said."

I cannot believe that they US government would provide strippers for these pathetic terrorists. When a guy comes out saying this crap, do you REALLY think this discourages people from joining the terrorists in Iraq. Heck, I would join. Then surrender. Then i would say i have very high level information. I would also through in some comments about being a devout Muslim and that I am afraid of the evil, beautiful American women. These terrorist are freaking getting strippers and i ain't got squat. I have got to pay for this stuff while this freaking Muslim gets it for free. What the hell is wrong with America?

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THX 1138

I rented and watched THX 1138. Here is the movie homepage and IMBD page on it. My first gripe is the menu on the DVD. You cannot see any of the options. You press the directional buttons and nothing happens. It is only when you select an option you see what you have selected. Menus like that piss me off. Some of the are just bad design. For example, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle menu's problem was just a product of bad design. THX's problems are of an intentional design and that pisses me off even more.

On the extended features of THX I think I found every thing. There is even a choice where you can choose to go on to the next screen. When you get to that next screen only one direction button does anything. The only way I know of figuring our all of what is on the DVD is by trial and error. That means I choose the longest path to get where I want. If you want a taste of the cryptic crap that I had to go through to watch this movie, just go to the website.

The entire menu thing really soured my entire experience of the movie, but here is the rundown of what the movie was about, the coolest thing about the making the movie, and why this movie is important.

The movie was made in 1971, it was George Lucas's first feature film. Robert. Duvall played "THX 1138" a man who lived in the future. This future was a lot like ours, except it was not as cool. Everyone was bald, and they made you take drugs to make you happy, where as here they try to keep you from getting you hands on them. The basic plot of the movie is that THX gets off the drugs, falls in love, and rebels. The craziness continues from there. The idea came from one of George's student films while he was in film school. The movie was made only a little while after he got out.

The coolest historical fact about the movie is where they found all the extras to shave their heads (remember this was the early 70's and even the guys looked like girls). They went to a drug rehab and paid them 25 (or something like that) dollars a day to be in the movie. The got their heads shaved for free. It happened to work out really well, because those people look like the live in an underground city from the future.

The most interesting thing about this movie is that it was the first American Zoetrope movie, from what I could tell. The biggest names that were apart of this group when THX was made were George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. I do not know much about what Zoetrope did after its early years, but you can read the website if you want (they did some huge movies). The extra features which came along with THX explained the beginning of Zoetrope is actually worth watching. Once you get past the cryptic crap.

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Local guns

These are several local gun areas of the net that you should check out if you live in TN.

Tn gun talk
Tennessee Firearms Association

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Crunch the numbers

Safe Gun Storage Saves Kids' Lives

Well lets take a look at this study.

Grossman's team interviewed 82 families with a child who used a household gun to attempt suicide (95 percent of which were successful) and 24 families with a child unintentionally shot with a household gun (52 percent fatal).

They compared them to 480 families that owned one or more guns but did not experience a child suicide or accidental shooting.

That would be the suicide rate for the study was total was about 14 percent. The actual suicide rate for America is "10.6 out of every 100,000 persons" for the general population and in 2000,"suicide was the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds—10.4 of every 100,000 persons in this age group". That is the first problem with the study, the population samples are way off the national average.

The fox story gives very little information on the study. So i had to find the original myself. Here is the abstract. Well the actual abstract had a few minor differences.

"Results We interviewed 106 respondents with case firearms and 480 with control firearms. Of the shootings associated with the case firearms, 81 were suicide attempts (95% fatal) and 25 were unintentional injuries (52% fatal). After adjustment for potentially confounding variables, guns from case households were less likely to be stored unloaded than control guns (odds ratio [OR], 0.30; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.16-0.56). Similarly, case guns were less likely to be stored locked (OR, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.17-0.45), stored separately from ammunition (OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.34-0.93), or to have ammunition that was locked (OR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.23-0.66) than were control guns. These findings were consistent for both handguns and long guns and were also similar for both suicide attempts and unintentional injuries. "

This study studies suicides with guns and houses without suicides with guns then it states that if you lock you guns that you will "reduce these types of injuries".

One problem I have with this study is that it lumps suicides with unintentional injuries. I would prefer that they keep the data separate. I think it is important to note that they did not do that. Suicide and unintentional injury are two different beasts and need to be studied as such.

In this study all of the suicides were with guns, which in the real world we know that is not true. This omission makes the difference between two study groups greater. I personally think that it would be impossible to control for this difference, partly because this difference is crucial to the study. Actually, it was what they were studying. I think this study would have been more accurate if their suicide sample represented the average amount different suicide methods were used and their control sample was larger.

If i was going to study guns and suicide i would get a good sample of families that had a suicide death of a child in the home. They used "incident[s] in which a child or adolescent younger than 20 years gained access to a firearm". 20 years old seems a little old for a child, but i guess these guys know more than me. Then i would break those to sample groups into which locked or stored their guns safely and those that did not. This would allow you to find the suicide rate with guns for both of the groups. It seems like that number would be a little bit more accurate than comparing the group that had suicides against the group that did not.

This study almost makes it seem like that you can lock up you gun and it will magically save you child from suicide. That seems a little silly to me. I would believe that if it was for unintentional injuries, but it is for both sets of data.

This study was better than most, but it still seems incomplete to me at best.

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My guns

I think i have made a decision on the type of gun that i want. I think i am either going to by a Springfield xd or a sig pro. I have not shot a sig pro yet, though i have shot it's brother the P299. Once i am able to find anyone that has a sig pro, and will let me shoot it, i will give it a test run. If i cannot find anyone who has one, i might check into actually buying one that is used and see how much money i will lose on the deal if i took it back the next day.

So if you know anyone who has a sig pro in 40 caliber, and is willing to let me shoot it in the Memphis area, please let me know.

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Cultural war

It has been said that we are fighting for the hearts and minds of the Muslim word. I do not necessarily believe that. I am not saying there is not a culture war afoot, because there is. I feel we do not want to own their minds any more than we want to own their land.

On Friday night Michael Savage went on his "lets blow them all up rant"....Again. Weather he would admit it or not, he was advocating killing millions of people. While it might come to that point, i do not think we are there yet and i hope that we never get that desperate. Since we are not going to remove our problem, we are stuck with trying to change the actions of the Muslim\rouge countries and trying to convince the people of these countries to like us, while their leaders or personalized news services are giving them the exact opposite information. I personally do not care if they like us or not, as long as they do not dislike us enough to blow themselves up at my door step.

I want to address the issue of trying to make people not dislike us. We can free them, but just because we free them from an evil tyrant, does not mean that they will like us or will do what we say. We have to be realistic in our evaluation of the people that we are freeing. They are stubborn enough to want to kill Jews for centuries and centuries, always failing, and never giving up.

The also have do not have a culture of freedom with strong personal rights. We can give them of the legal structures that we have in America and i think many of them will be adopted readily because they are fair and just. But will the legal structures last? Or will they tear them down because they start to look like use and they, as a cultural, decided that they do not like what they see in the mirror.

I do not really think we should set out an picture of what we want these newly freed people to believe. I would prefer to give them the pure information and let them make up their mind. The simple and direct methods of getting our message across to a very large amount of people are easy to counter. For example, the radio waves that we are sending into Cuba are just being blocked by other radio waves. I have heard ideas which promote opening libraries, which would allow our point of view to be expressed easier. The problem with that is that, libraries can be barred or burned, and only so many people can get into a building. I thinks these ideas are not effective enough to allow large amounts of information to get into the hands of a large amount of people.

Instead of waging an cultural war we need to wage an information war. Not with our state news sources pumping our more news, but with state agencies putting news from private sources in the hands of the people who get no news (it does not have to be news, it can be movies or anything else that people from another country will watch). On idea would be to burn a few hours of CNN onto a DVDs and then air drop it over Syria. Or we could just run a few illegal outlets that burn the news DVDs and sell these in the black DVD market. Maybe we could provide internet tunnels for people who want access to the entire internet using their own computer from countries where that information is restricted.

I know these ideas suck, but i also know the old methods suck harder.

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Want to know how to shoot a handgun

...then go here.

This season he's giving us private lessons...
Every other week, Rob [Leatham he's so cute] will teach the skills that will improve your shooting. And we'll post the transcript of what he's shown us on television, so you can print it out, take it to the range and practice each lesson.

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Warm fuzzy feelings

If you are the kind of person whose heart is warmed by civilian gun self-defense, then you might want to check out the Civilian Gun Self-Defense blog.

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Dean?!?!?

Headline:"Dean Poised to Be New Democratic Party Chief"

Wow. I do not know what to say about this. I really see very few ways that this could turn out well for the democrats. I doubt that he will be able to keep his mouth shut, he was unable to do that on the camping trail. I also doubt that he will soften his points any as he spreads them to the party. If i was a democrat in the south, i would start backing away from his main points as fast as i could.

"The DNC chairman's job is to raise money, fire up the base and beat up on the Republicans every chance you get," said Kathy Sullivan, chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, who has endorsed Dean. "Howard Dean can do all of that."

Not in the a red state he can't.

I read several articles about this a little while back, but i did not believe that it could happen. Dean's main appeal was to young people who smoke pot and do not vote. Now they are going to put him in charge of things. How can this turn out good for the democrats?

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Please stop by and say somthing...

"Effectively today, my ass no longer works for Rupert Murdoch's ass. I am unemployed, and welcome both condolences and congratulations."

via Ivan Lenin

Machinegun shoot...Need i say more

MACHINEGUN SHOOT

The annual Ronald McDonald House Rock 103 Radiothon Charity Machine-gun Shoot will be held on Saturday this time, on February 5, from 1:00 to 6:00 pm. We will have a variety of exotic, rare, fun guns to shoot, including submachineguns, an elephant gun, police weapons, and more. Proceeds benefit the wonderful work of the Ronald McDonald House, one of the most worthy charities I can think of. The House provides a no-cost home for the parents of kids with life threatening illnesses, undergoing treatment at St. Jude’s Childrens’ Research Hospital. A child with cancer or a related illness is a parent’s worst nightmare, and the support of the staff and residents at the House helps them get through this horribly traumatic event. Please come help us with this important event.

This will happen at Rangemaster. I will be their. See if you can pick me out of the crowd.

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What the hell is popcorn?

It is not like the corn on the cob that i eat.

I found some answers here, here, and here.

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I just thought i would pass along this link

"I can't decide whether this is an elaborate fake, or just how it could possibly be real. The article is little help. What do you think"

Via Brendan of Tilted Fish

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State of the Union

"America's prosperity requires restraining the spending appetite of the federal government. I welcome the bipartisan enthusiasm for spending discipline. So next week I will send you a budget that holds the growth of discretionary spending below inflation, makes tax relief permanent, and stays on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009. My budget substantially reduces or eliminates more than 150 government programs that are not getting results, or duplicate current efforts, or do not fulfill essential priorities. The principle here is clear: a taxpayer dollar must be spent wisely, or not at all."
I think Bush let the budget get out of hand so he could cut programs. In other words, he played the democrats. He is just baiting them into complaining about the programs that the cut. If any do complain the are going to have their comments about the deficit thrown in their face.

"We will help an additional 200,000 workers to get training for a better career, by reforming our job training system and strengthening America's community colleges. And we will make it easier for Americans to afford a college education, by increasing the size of Pell Grants."

I do not like this idea at all. Though i will admit their is a strong argument for having the government fund education, especially since education has become so important, but i think that their is a stronger argument for making the kids just get loans.


"And when their recommendations are delivered, you and I will work together to give this Nation a tax code that is pro-growth, easy to understand, and fair to all."

I cannot wait. I recently have been leaning toward a flat tax, though i personally think a sales tax is more fair (there are just problems implementing it).

"America's immigration system is also outdated — unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country. We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our border. It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists."

interesting. Will have to see more.

"We must, however, be guided by some basic principles. We must make Social Security permanently sound, not leave that task for another day. We must not jeopardize our economic strength by increasing payroll taxes. We must ensure that lower income Americans get the help they need to have dignity and peace of mind in their retirement. We must guarantee that there is no change for those now retired or nearing retirement. And we must take care that any changes in the system are gradual, so younger workers have years to prepare and plan for their future."

Hell yea.

"Personal retirement accounts should be familiar to federal employees, because you already have something similar, called the Thrift Savings Plan, which lets workers deposit a portion of their paychecks into any of five different broadly based investment funds. It is time to extend the same security, and choice, and ownership to young Americans."

Well if the federal government does it, it must be a good thing.

"Because courts must always deliver impartial justice, judges have a duty to faithfully interpret the law, not legislate from the bench. As President, I have a constitutional responsibility to nominate men and women who understand the role of courts in our democracy, and are well qualified to serve on the bench — and I have done so. The Constitution also gives the Senate a responsibility: Every judicial nominee deserves an up-or-down vote."

He is going to get his supreme justices through.

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Sharpton is going down

Source:"The Rev. Al Sharpton will not eat at KFC and he doesn't think you should either.

Starting today, Mr. Sharpton is joining forces with the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to urge a boycott of KFC, which is owned by Yum Brands of Louisville, Ky. Mr. Sharpton and PETA want the fast food chain to require its chicken suppliers to put in place new standards for the treatment of the 750 million chickens they process for KFC every year in the United States. The rap mogul Russell Simmons is also joining the Sharpton campaign."

So let me get this straight, an African American preacher is telling me that i should not eat at KFC. There are several jokes that i could make here, but will not.

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Moore law is will be taking a break

Tech Giants Hewlett-Packard has announced that their researchers have developed a technology that in the coming years can replace one of the basic building blocks used to make computers… the transistor. The company announced on Tuesday that they have proved it that their new development ‘crossbar latch’ can provide the signal restoration and inversion required in computers without any needs of transistors.

I will take a few years for them to get it to "prime time", though it sounds very promising.

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Funny post

What if Bush has been right about Iraq all along?

"Crow. It's what's for dinner. "

via Texas tattler

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A post away from greatness

When I got in from lunch, my friend, logic, asked me if had seen the picture on drudge. I said no and told him to hold on while I went and looked at it. When I got there he said that it looked a toy to him. I told him that it was possible. We both started looking on the Internet knowing what our goal was. To post a post pointing out it was a toy to the world.

I had a post typed up, but never found any conclusive proof. I noticed that the gun was being held by the stock, which would be hard to do one handed, and tough to do 2 handed and aim correctly. I found some gi Joes that looked amazingly real. But I could never find the exact gun, or a gun with the front hold in the right place or a vest that looked like the guys. All the Gi Joes I found where just a little off. Either the knee pads where not just right or the clothes where just off.

My friend always believed it was toy, and I deleted the post, because I would have to 110 percent confident if I posted something like that. If I would have found the pics drudge had on his site, I would have posted it, but alas I was too slow.

update: If logic and i had only found this earlier.

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Gun try outs

I recently shot a smith and Wesson five shot .38 special snub nosed revolver. The gun I shot looked a whole lot like this or this. It had no external hammer and no rear sights. This was one of the models that I wanted to look at for conceal and carry. I shot amazingly bad with this type of gun.

It was nearly impossible to aim with it, and it did not fell like I was able to get off a decent second shot with this model of gun. Whenever I shot the gun, it would end up shifting in my hand. It would twist to the right, not matter what I did to keep it from moving. While this gun has its advantages, it is not a whole lot of fun to shoot, and it is a little tricky to aim correctly. I might consider this type of gun when I become a better marksmen, but right not I would not feel confident carrying around such a weapon.

I want to shoot one final gun and then I will compose my final list and post it. I am close to making a decision.

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The NAACP is screwed

NAACP Refuses to Cooperate With IRS Probe

You can do and say a lot inside of America, but the IRS can really screw you if they decide to. They will bend you over and make you grab you ankles. There are so many tax laws even the IRS does not know all of them. They can randomly pull one out of a hat until they find one you are violating.

I personally think the NAACP is taking the wrong approach here. If they are innocent, as they say they are, it is not worth fighting. It will take up too much time and too much money. It is a lot easier just to give the IRS your information.

Then again if they are really hiding something, they are screwed. I wonder if the NAACP even told its workers what a tax exempt organization is and what not to say.

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