Thursday, March 31, 2005

Zombie movie reviews and surviving the zombie attack

Zombie movie Reviews

Zombie Survival Manual - Part I (Break-out or bunker?)

Zombie Survival Manual - Part II (Bunkering)

Zombie Survival Manual - Part III (On the run)

Provided by Moral-flexibility.net Via les Jones

cube

Ohio election activities and observations (not mine)

Here is a report that i have not seen elsewhere. It detials many of the things that happend in Ohio during the election.


OHIO ELECTION ACTIVITIES AND OBSERVATIONS
Report to the United States House of Representatives
Committee on House Administration

Representative Robert W. Ney, Chairman

My favorite part of the report was the part qouted below.

"Examples of such intimidation include one Plaintiff who arrived at his polling place and
was called over to a table operated by MoveOn.Org that promised "Free Coffee." The Plaintiff
asked for a cup of coffee, was asked if he would voter for Kerry, and responded that he would
not. The person at the table refused him a cup of coffee. The Plaintiff then noticed that
individual and others were standing near the Plaintiff’s car. When he exited the polling place,
the MoveOn.Org table was placed in front of his car, blocking his exit. When he asked them to
move, the individuals harassed him, took his picture and recorded his license plate."


cube

So while doing some research....

...For my new side gig providing security services and armored transport for dogs, i found this: Dog: The Bounty Hunter

This guy is my new hero.

Did you know there are "Recommended Quality Standards for Excellence in Pet Sitting"?

So far my main competitor is "Mr. Scruff's Pet Care".

The advantages of the pet sitter are listed on Mr. Scruff's site.
"your home is looked after as well since we provide crime-deterrent services to make your home looked lived in."

I have this person easily beat, I will provide 24 hour security services for you dog, when and where ever the animal may be. If the dog is in your house the house will also receive the benefit of an armed guard. I will watch you dog and protect your dog. I will offer the finest in dog protection and transportation services.

So far i have broken several rules in "the standards for excellence in pet sitting". Here is a list of the ones i have broken.

The sitter is bonded and insured.
The sitter provides references.

The sitter provides written literature describing services and stating fees. (I am working on that)
The sitter provides a service contract which specifies services and fees.
The sitter keeps regular office hours and answers client inquiries and complaints promptly.
The sitter takes provides a service rating form for clients.
The sitter takes precautions to make sure a client’s absence from home is not detected because of any careless actions or disclosures by the sitter. (It is kinda hard to hide the presence of an armed guard.)
The sitter conducts business with honesty and integrity and observes all federal, state and local laws pertaining to business operations and animal care.(I am assuming I am breaking some law out there, though i am following the ones i know of.)
The sitter refrains from criticizing competitors. (You suck Mr. scruff)

Here are pics of me training to become the best dog security commando that i possible can.
Me preparing to transport the package Posted by Hello



Me transporting the package. Posted by Hello


update: Doggie CPR
cube

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

The Importance of Education

A good education lays the foundation for a person's life in this post industrial age. The ability to read, write, and reason are just modern counterparts to the plow, ax, and horse. A good educational foundation gives individuals choices. The more options a individual has, the less likely an individual will be to become a social burden though crime or inactivity.

As long as the education system works, I do not care how it is done. If a totally centralized education with no parent\student choice works....And works well. I am all for it. Of course, I do not believe that organization structure would work as well as others, but that is my personal opinion.

Fixing the education system is a long process because we are coming into the middle of the problem and we have to start at the beginning. That is one thing I like about NCLB. It starts young and adds requirements as the children progress, you cannot get much fairer than that. While fixing the current system is important, it is also worthy to note that we have a educational backlog that must be filled. Fortunately most of the people in most need of education help are in one place (jail). Unfortunately, they are also shunned by society.

I think lowest level offenders or ones who have proven their selves to be good inmates could be offered a form of work credit with private companies. Those companies could get free labor, while the prisoners got free training. The companies could be required to give the criminal a job after he gets out, and the criminal could be required to work there a certain length of time after his debt is paid. This problem would face many issues, such as unions and possibly upsetting the legal job market.

Another idea, that would work similar to the idea above, but would have a different set of issues to overcome, is allowing inmates to serve in the military. An idea that I have never thought of until I read a liberal's blog, odd.

cube

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Minutemen

The issue of civilians monitoring the border between Mexico and the US has triggered a lot of very bad press for the Civil Homeland Defense Corps. There are very two very different views about this group.

I have found several different sources and i would like to collect the different facts in one place.

The group named Civil Homeland Defense Corps (CHDC) started the "Minuteman Project that will place volunteers at quarter-mile intervals to watch a busy 50-mile stretch of border for the entire month of April". The nearly 1,000 volunteers hail from all 50 states and Canada. This group will be armed with "night vision goggles, radios and light aircraft ("30 private planes" )" and lawfully carried handguns (read CCW firearms). Though the CHDC will self prohibit rifles, though they are not legal forced to. The CHDC has been called "immigrant hunters" by the President of Mexico. Border Action, a border group, calls the group "vigilante[s]".

There are several misconceptions about the group and the issue. They have not started the project yet and their stated aims are peaceful. Mexico has tossed around claims of "vigilante attacks" near the Mexico-US border.

The problem is also not being fully stated in the press outside of America.
"And for those seeking to join up to six million undocumented Mexican workers already in the US, the crossing is about to get tougher."

Right now there are around 8 million unemployed people in America, just to give you an idea of how big this number actually is and what effect it has on our economy.

The tradition of citizens help border control is long and varied, though the recent actions of the CHDC are more direct and to the point than other such citizen efforts. This group's goals are being portrayed as near bounty hunter-esque, but in fact their stated goals are to "observe", report by "make[ing] lots of noise and [to] burn campfires at night to be very visible". They have also been very clear internally on what their behavioral patters are.

"If one single person steps over the line for their personal gratification, we are all stained with that irresponsible behavior and labeled forever as a fringe element that embarrasses all who are counting on us to make this historic statement," he [James Gilchrist] said."

The CHDC has attracted several main groups which are in opposition, the Central America-based gang called MS-13. The ACLU, who "has special observers for the event" which will follow the CHDC "10-15 feet distant" to ensure no ones rights are being infringed. The Mexican government "has asked U.S. officials to monitor the vigilante group so Mexican nationals caught during this protest are not abused." A border group called Humane Borders, who attempts to prevent people dying on the five-day trek through Arizona's baking heat by putting water stations in the desert.

sources:
Do-It-Yourself Border Patrol
minuteman Project' drawing protests
Gang will target Minuteman vigil on Mexico border via Drudge
The Minuteman Project
vigilantes' set for Mexico border patrol
Minuteman Project mistakes nature of immigration problem

cube

Stacey Campfield

Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville (the state of TN)) may have opened up a can of worms by starting a little ole blog. Stacey is boring but I think he is doing what is right. Serving the people that elected him. (I told him as much in his comments)

via Say Uncle

cube

Monday, March 28, 2005

Should this guy get fired?

An leo tasers drunk suspect till he cannot move


cube

My new favorite site

Milk and Cookies

Videos
Farting Preacher 2
Farting Preacher 3
Farting Preacher 4

I could not find the original easily.

cube

Silly boys with guns

I am not sure to make fun of these guys or what but here is their video (right click open and open up a new window to get it to work).

Go use some of their bandwidth.

(There were shooting at cans though it does not show up well)

cube

Saturday, March 26, 2005

A One Size Fits All education Plan

The educators of America try to create a one school fits all approach. In some cities all the kids from a geographical area will all go to school in the same location. That mix of students will then be taught by the same subset of teachers, all students have similar schedules (daily, monthly, and yearly), and all take tests at the same time. The school is a heterogeneous (not homogeneous) set of students with different skills and abilities.

Some of those students will be on grade level or above, and some will be below. The ones who are not will never receive the extra education they need to catch up, because the teachers are required to teach a certain level of material for a test which will be taken by all of the students in the school at the same time. A single class room is a heterogeneous set of student with varied skills, abilities, and learning styles.

The classrooms and the schools are disorganized in the sense of the abilities and skills of the students.

The goal in school organization should be to create groups of students who have similar learning styles and skill levels. Conceptually, you want to through all of the kids into a big barrel and sort the kids by different factors key teaching factors. The very organization of the school systems in America prevents this from happening. Some are geographically centered and are a sort of organized chaos during the day. Every hour all the kids get up from their seats, run around for five minutes, then go the their next class. There could be more continuity in the teachers, classes, and schedules.

Ideas for organizing schools have been suggested. You could move the teachers instead of the students. That would allow the students to be grouped together based on skills and learning ability. That would work well at the school level, but all of these kids still have the same schedule, which prevents the kids who are behind from receiving extra instruction. The next step would be to have a schools designed for certain tasks.

Many of the schools would be normal schools and would not change. What would change is that the some kids could all be bused to a central location then sent to schools which match there unique needs. Some schools would be schools attending all year round trying get the kids up to grade level, some schools could be schools where the kids have a certain learning style.

After the end of this massive reorganization of a schools system, you will have students organized and sorted according to there abilities, skills, and talents. The students could be tested yearly for placement in the system.

Not all schools would need this micro-organizing of schools, some are just fine as they are. Not all schools systems would need this macro-organizing of the schools system, though the might choose to micro-organize certain schools. Though the large schools systems could reap benefits by organizing their distircs, or organizing in a mid regional area between the district and the school. There could be regional hubs inside of the city which students are centrally bused to, then bused to their specific schools, or it could be the entire city, if it was small enough for travel in a reasonable time.

cube

Friday, March 25, 2005

More Schiavo

Fox has some really good varied articles about Schiavo.

Patients Often Suffer Under Twisted Medical Ethics By Radley Balko

"It’s time we stopped mingling our morals and our medicine."

Wrong Balko, it is time our morals start leading our medicine. With unlimited medical technology the only thing to guide us are our own personal set of morals. Our technology can either help or harm, and we need to have clear moral principles to guide the use of technology in caring for our extremely sick. In fact, the entire Schiavo case was caused by unclear moral direction from the wife and husband. The husband kept Schiavo alive for 7 years to get the malpractice suit settled, and then wanted to get rid of her once he got the money.

Morals out of medicine sounds like a great idea. No, it is a horrible idea that will only lead to the immoral application of medicine.

The Meaning of Life by Neil Cavuto

"Something is very wrong in a country that can throw you in jail for not giving your dog food and water, but not even care if you do the same to a human being."

Morals need to be clearly established and consistently applied.

Terri Schiavo's Case Is a Private Family Matter by John Gibson

"You can argue that crass politics are at the bottom of this saga — maybe. But I think it's a simple question that has people fired up: Is Terri Schiavo being given a right to die by her own choice, or is she being killed?"

We will never know.

A Solution to the Schiavo Case By Bill O'Reilly

"this whole ordeal can end right now if Michael Schiavo simply stops the litigation. He should stand up and say that he tried to implement his wife's wishes, but the greater good is now served by allowing her family to care for her as they want to do."

Bill is thinking along my lines. I would really love to know why hasn't Michael done that yet. I would have given up a few years ago.

cube

Bullets and Wine

In TN, we are close to have a poor handgun law removed.

"The State Senate passed a bill yesterday afternoon allowing handgun permit holders to carry guns into establishments that serve alcohol provided the person does not consume any alcoholic beverages.

The bill allows restaurant and bar owners to prohibit guns in their establishments so long as there is a clearly posted sign stating the policy. If a person is caught with a gun drinking in an establishment, he or she is subject to arrest and permit revocation.

Current Tennessee law prohibits taking guns into establishments that sell alcohol. A violation of the law is a Class A misdemeanor."

There are two reasons to remove this law. No one really followed it anyways and the people who did where just leaving valuable guns in their cars for people to steal.


Though i found this article: "This isn't the Wild West; guns have no place in bars". It will require registration, but i just used this email registrationssuck@aol.com from bugmenot.com.

"The State Senate has passed a bill allowing handgun permit owners to carry their guns into establishments that serve alcohol. You may ask yourself, "Why does a reasonable person need a gun at a bar?" Don't be stupid. The senators know best."

The article continues to make fun of gun owners.

"Here are only a sample of the reasons you should be able to carry your gun to a bar:
* You feel naked without your gun.
* Drunks are easier to shoot.
* When that hot blonde you're hitting on asks, "Is that a gun in you're pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" you can say, "Both!"
...
...
...
* Everyone else is doing it."

"That last one, was a real reason given by the bill's sponsor, Sen. Doug Jackson. Apparently, 33 other states have also passed similar laws. We're not sure that's a good enough reason."

First, is it a good idea to make fun of gun owners? Secondly, I wonder what this editorial board thought of the recent supreme court opinion to ban the execution of teenagers?

Then they really piss me off by quoting Johnny Cash.

"As Johnny Cash said, "Don't take your guns to town, Bill, leave your guns at home." "

Hell, town is where you need you guns. It is the cities where the largest amount of crime happens and where you probably will get shot. What this article fails to miss is that a person with a handgun permit would be able to carry their gun into gas stations and places like applebee's. The ban was on ALL places that serve alcohol, not just bars. Name a place you eat at on a Friday night that does not serve alcohol? Those are the places that could become legal to carry in.

"And if this bill does make it to the governor, he had better veto it. The Senate is pandering to the gun lobby. A vocal minority is trying to make a statement about gun rights. We don't think most people in Tennessee want to go to bars where people are packing heat."

That is why you carry the handgun concealed. What they do not know will not hurt them.

via Say Uncle

cube

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Terri Schiavo

The Schiavo case has drawn international attention. I feel that there is uncertainty in the diagnosis of Terri Schiavo's case, and for that reason this case should be reviewed heavily and fairly. I think this cases has called into question the very laws which govern the ones who are in-between life and death, only to be sent either direction by our will.

"The appeals court decision upholds a similar ruling Tuesday by U.S. District Judge James Whittemore in Tampa, Fla, who said the woman's parents hadn't established a "substantial likelihood of success" that she could recover from what doctors have called the "permanent vegetative state" she's been in since 1990, the AP said."

I think the root of the problem is the laws which are in place and that have tied the courts hands. These lawyers and judges would do well to remember these laws were created by man and can be struck down by man. The laws are meant to serve society. Society is not meant to serve the laws.

Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband has also played an important role in this political play. He as been attacked, mauled, and beaten verbally by the media. Very little effort has been put into understanding his position and the reasoning behind his actions. Some have just pointed out he only remembered the conversation with Terri (the one where she said she did not want to live this way) after Terri received money from a malpractice suit. Some have tried to pin him down as greedy. That piece of the puzzle does not match the with the fact that Michael was offered a very large sum of money to hand over the guardian rights of Terri to her parents. I do not believe that Michael is doing this for money. Most of the money has been spent on her care and lawsuits, and taking the buyout would have been the right play for a man who wanted just money.

Michael as also said that he wanted to get one with his life and move on. It seemed to me that the point of no return was several years ago. Terri has been in the brain-damage state for 15 years. Michael could have taken the buyout and left the stage quietly a few months ago, before this got really big. Michael could have also handed Terri over to her parents many years ago and just left. No one would have blamed him, if he felt his wife was dead and was never coming back, and he left. I would have considered him to be much less of a man, but the "in sickness and health, death do we part" oath is really conditional to most people.

Taken into consideration these facts, I have to believe that Michael either wants Terri dead because he believes that he is fulfilling her wishes or he wants her dead because he is afraid of what she will say if she gets better. I believe that Terri is fighting for life for a reason, she had survived in her state for 15 years for a purpose. I do not believe that purpose to be some political goal or aim. I believe that it is intensely personal in nature. If Terri dies, her ghost will probably haunt Michael for the rest of his life.

cube

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Furry creatures that don't like Phish

Following the Barbie blog is another installment of our monster invasions. This time we are looking at one of the more unpredictable and violent villains, the werewolf. They have superhuman strength, superhuman smell (both the ability and the odor), sharp teeth and claws, a communicable disease you haven't picked up at your local bar, an invulnerability to almost anything except silver bullets, and virtually no need for clothing. They are hard to detect and track because they change forms. Most of the time they are normal people like you and me, their savage sides only coming out when triggered by something like a full moon. Therefore they are almost impossible to find unless caught in the act. Although movie heroes usually make use of detective work to narrow down the suspects, their ability to spread their condition to their victims makes this unlikely. New werewolves could pop up after each attack. None of these new werewolves would even be aware of their condition. Most people mistake it for puberty. Even if the werewolves could be positively identified, it would be hard to convince outside authorities that you were ridding your town of a curse rather than emulating the Son of Sam. They are not dead to begin with like zombies, and they don't conveniently disintegrate like vampires. So you are looking at a best case scenario where you save the world but spend the rest of your life as a fugitive. The worst case scenario is that you kill the werewolf, discover it was your best friend, get convicted of murder, and spend the rest of your life as a maximum security prison bitch. My advice, at the first sign of werewolf activity you should leave the state. And if your state is Delaware, maybe two or three states.

Gun survey

I was floating aimlessly through the blogsphere when i found this lovely piece of information from Gun Watch:"Gun violence falls 63%". I personally think that is great. I then read the link that Gun Watch links to, but that source did not provide as much information as i wanted. So i went to the source of this survey: the Bureau of Justice Statistics. I found out how they came up with their numbers and what crimes were included into survey.

"Estimates are from data collected using the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), an ongoing survey of households that interviews about 75,000 persons in 42,000 households twice annually. Violent crimes included in the report are rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault (from the NCVS), and homicide (from the FBI's UCR program). Property crimes examined are burglary, motor vehicle theft, and property theft."

While this survey could be indicative of trends that are present in America, i think their are better tools that have more accurate crime stats. The survey actually uses some of that more accurate information to add to information they have no way of receiving by calling people. The Uniform Crime Reports of the FBI seems to be a much more accurate tool to judge the amount of crime in America, but they lack the pretty pictures the NCVS has.

The progun crowd accepts this information as good news,which it is. Though I saw no qualifiers of this being a survey and not a study. Which surveys are much to close to polls, for me to warm up to.

cube

Comments become entire blog posts

This comment was left in respons to this post Psychological Experiments

jerk... i was in my psych class searching for "psychological experiments" on google and your stupid blog came up and i read the entire thing thinking there was some point to it. but there wasnt. what a waste of time. you should do the project for me
-Pissed off Psych student

My reply is as follows it is in the comment section.

ok....but it will cost you.

in my real job my company charges 150 dollars per hour of my time.

I will charge you 75.

also, if you read the entire thing....how long did it take you...a few days...a few hours...

And at what point in time did you realize that my blog has ABSOLUTLY nothing to do with your class.

You are pissed at me for writing a post???

You should be mad at yourself because you are not that bright (ed- nice come back i know. I did not want to be to harsh on the Pissed of psych student, because many psych students i know are mentally unbalanced without their meds), though I am sure if you alter the chemicals in you brain enough you will not even know that.

your's truly

cube

update:
if i were you i would do my paper on this Psychological Experiment

http://www.prisonexp.org/

hell i practially just did write you paper with that one link.You had better cite my me using MLA format or mention me in the deciations.

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

String Theory

I have a pretty good grasp of the concepts basics physics world. I even understand some of the basic concepts of string theory (as well as an person who knows not enough math to shake a stick at can understand the theory). I almost understand the reasons for it's success or rather the holes in the theories that it was supposed to fix between the basic physics theory and the quantum theory.

It was my understanding that the biggest problem with string theory was that it really made no predictions. Well, it turns out that it did make some predictions. It just took awhile to work out the math.

"The problem with string theory is that the strings are fantastically smaller than atoms and, therefore, impossible to detect in any conceivable laboratory experiment. But recently, physicists realized that the extreme conditions that existed in the early universe could have spawned enormously big strings."

That was news to me.

"It is one of these "cosmic superstring" that some believe is passing between the Earth and CSL- 1, and, in the process, creating the curious double image of the galaxy. "

I find this article absolute amazing. More information is given further below.

If CSL-1 was the only piece of evidence for a cosmic superstring it might be easy to brush it under the carpet. But it isn't. There is the "double quasar" Q0957+561A,B. Discovered at Jodrell Bank near Manchester in 1979, the two images of a super-bright galaxy, or quasar, are formed by a galaxy lying between the quasar and the Earth.

The gravity of the intervening galaxy bends the light of the quasar so that it follows two distinct paths to Earth, creating two images of unequal brightness. Crucially, the two light paths are of different lengths and so the light takes a different time to travel along each. In fact, astronomers find that when one image brightens, the other image brightens 417.1 days later.

But this is not what has been found by a team of astronomers from the US and the Ukraine, led by Rudolph Schild of the Harvard- Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics. When they studied the two images, they noticed that, between September 1994 and July 1995, the two images brightened and faded at the same time - with no time delay The two images did this four times, on each occasion for a period of about 100 days.

The only way Schild and his colleagues can make sense of this behavior is if, between September 1994 and July 1995, something moved across our line of sight to the quasar, simultaneously affecting the light coming down both paths to the Earth. The only thing that fits the bill, they claim, is a vibrating loop of cosmic string moving across the line of sight at about 70 per cent of the speed of light.

To oscillate once every 100 days or so, the loop has to be very small - no bigger than 1 per cent of the distance between the Sun and the nearest star. And Schild and his colleagues calculate that the string must be remarkably close to us - well within our Milky Way galaxy. "

The way i am reading it is that there are two distinct images that look exactly the same and CSL-1 was the image they are talking about in that part. (Please correct me if i am wrong on that point.)

From what i know, this sounds a little strange. If the comic superstring is splitting the light perfectly into two distinct pictures AND it is moving at about 70 percent the speed of light, then that means our picture should change soon. I see a few options. The superstring could be sitting there spinning like a top or it could be heading straight for earth (or away from earth).

I am packing my bags and heading to mars.

cube

Barbie Memphis style

Mattel recently announced the release of 11 limited-edition Barbie Dolls for the Greater

Memphis market: Germantown Barbie
This princess Barbie is sold only at Wolfchase Mall. She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade Handbags, a Lexus SUV, a long-haired foreign dog named Honey and a cookie-cutter house. Available with or without tummy tuck and face lift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with an augmented version.

Bartlett Barbie
The modern day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Windstar Minivan and matching gym outfit. She gets lost easily and has no full-time occupation or secondary education. Traffic jamming cell phone sold separately.

Orange Mound Barbie
This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, a Ray Lewis knife, a Chevy with dark tinted windows, and a Meth Lab Kit. This model is only available after dark and must be paid for in cash (preferably small, untraceable bills) ...unless you are a cop, then we don't know what you are talking about.

Houston Levee Barbie
This yuppie Barbie comes with your choice of BMW convertible or Hummer H2. Included are her own Starbucks cup, credit card and country club membership. Also available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper. You won't be able to afford any of them.

Horn Lake Barbie
This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans two sizes too small, a NASCAR t-shirt and tweety bird tattoo on her shoulder. She has a six-pack of Bud light and a Hank Williams Jr. CD set. She can spit over 5 feet and kick mullet-haired Ken's butt when she is drunk. Purchase her pickup truck separately and get a confederate flag bumper sticker absolutely free.

River Bluff Barbie
This collagen injected, rhinoplastic Barbie wears a leopard print outfit and drinks cosmopolitans while entertaining friends. Percocet prescription available.

Frayser Barbie
This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased beer-gutted Ken out of Raleigh Barbie's house. Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, and a see-through halter-top. Also available with a mobile home.

Midtown Barbie
This doll is made of actual tofu. She has long straight brown hair, arch less feet, hairy armpits, no makeup and Birkenstocks with white socks. She prefers that you call her Willow. She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Overton Square Barbies and the optional Subaru wagon, you get a rainbow flag bumper sticker for free.

Whitehaven Barbie
This Barbie now comes with a stroller and infant doll. Optional accessories include a GED and bus pass. Gangsta Ken and his 1979 Caddy were available, but are now very difficult to find since the addition of the infant.

Southaven Barbie
She's perfect in every way. We don't know where Ken is because he's always hunting.

Overton Park Barbie/Ken
This versatile doll can be easily converted from Barbie to Ken by simply adding or subtracting the multiple snap-on parts.

Hah hah.

cube

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Zombie survial test

The Zombie Scenario Survivor Test






Official Survivor
Congratulations! You scored 84%!
Whether through ferocity or quickness, you made it out. You made the right choice most of the time, but you probably screwed up somewhere. Nobody's perfect, at least you're alive.







My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:










You scored higher than 93% on survivalpoints
Link: The Zombie Scenario Survivor Test written by ci8db4uok on Ok Cupid


via Dave Justus

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Movies

I have watched several movies worth mentioning either because the quality of the movie itself was an addition to our society or because it was an abuse against basic human rights.

I watched Navy Seals, with a young Charlie Sheen. It tried to be a knock off the ever popular movie Top Gun which had came out four years earlier. Navy seals had one good looking actor, some solid 80's background beats, and the rough and tumble macho attitude. In the end, the bad writing and the 80's background beats, killed this early 90's movie. I was surprised at how bad this movie was. I have seen plenty of Steven Seagal movies, but those are of a certain quality that you come to expect.

This movie i knew would be bad, i expected and was prepared for the worse. It surprised me by actually being better than i suspected in over all quality. Though that fact only lowered my over all rating of the movie. This movie was made bad not by the acting, not by the lines, and not by the story, but by the fact that they were trying to make a good movie. They failed in their attempt. This movie was bad because of they failed to accomplish what they set out to accomplish, another Top Gun type hit.

With some friends the other night i watched: Three 6 Mafia: Choices - The Movie. If you feel the need to bond with your drugged out, convict, gansta neighbors, then this movie is for you. The acting was bad, the sets were worse, and the directing was the worst. I can handle bad acting, cheap sets, but i cannot stand poor directing. This movie had some of the worst shots i have ever seen. The would do straight on face shots with no movement of any kind. I do not know if substandard film was used or if the the fool behind the camera did not know what made "motion pictures" interesting. Just because you know how to work a camera, that does not make you a director.

This movie was bad, but succeeded in what Three 6 mafia set out to do. They get loads of points for realism and grit, but not many on style. This movie is so beloved in Memphis that best buy about 5 miles west of me (toward the city of Memphis) stopped carrying this movie because it kept getting stolen. I guess it feels good to be loved, even if no one cares enough to pay.

On my own i watched Miller's Crossing, and i have spend the past few days try to think of ways to explain this movie in one sentence. So far i have come up with, "A thinking man's mob movie" or a "Dark caper film". Either one applies well. This was one of the best movies that i have seen in quite a long time. It is up there with some of the best ones i have seen...Period.

I absolutely loved this movie. It was made in 1990, so i missed it, but I am glad i got this one out of the 5 day rental section. The movie follows our friend Tom, while he plans and schemes his way out of trouble. This movie is a must see, but see it with friends so you will have something to talk about. This is one of those movies with a strong enough story to stand on it's own and it holds backh enough information to question the main characters motives. Deciding why some characters did the things they did will provide at least a few hours of enjoyment with you friends.


cube

Friday, March 18, 2005

I think i ruined that guy's day

Well, a funny thing happened on the way from work yesterday. I was going to a friends house and to get there you have to make a left turn on a busy street. There are two options for doing this. Use the street with the red light which you will get stopped at, but you will get through in a set amount of time or use the street where you have to turn left on your own. I always use the street with the light because it is always faster. Yesterday i was driving and I was at the point that i make the decision of which street to use. For some reason i decided to use the street without the light. I could see the end of the street without the light. No cars were going past and no cars were turning in. It tempted me into giving it a try by presenting a barren empty street.

Well....By the time i arrived at the end of the street there was a line of cars going past me and two cars trying to turn into the street I was trying out of. I was screwed and i knew it. I was ok with that, though. I had made my decision, i gambled and lost. So I sit there and wait on the first car to turn into the street i was turning out of. I know that he passed up at least one good chance to turn. The first car trying to turn into my street finally makes the turn. "Only one more car to go", I say to myself.

Well this car does not move. I have no idea what is going on. Was he not paying attention? Is he asleep? (It was dark and rainy.) Is he waiting for me to go? I figure the last option is the most likely. But going when someone else is letting you just to be nice is a risky proposal. You might get your wires crossed and crash into each other. That is why they made up rules of the road. Which this car had the ride-away, and I cannot see the guy because it is rainy, dark, and the beam of my cab is in the way. So i decide to wait and see how long it will take this guy to go.

I have plenty of time. I considered it a test of his problem solving skills. I checked and there was no one behind me. I would inconvenience no one but myself and the other guy. So i sat there for it seemed like for ever, but was probably 45 seconds to 1 min. His car does not move.

Then several things happen at once. A car pulls up behind me and i see the guy in the waiting car waving frantically at me to go. I decide to end this, so i change my blinker from left to right, and turn right. As i turn, the guy turns and yells something at me.

I think i ruined that guy's day.

cube

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Psychological Experiments

I have been in a weird mood recently. I have classified it as a form of information overload. The symptoms include, but are not limited to, stress, feeling the need to search out intellectual stimulation and at the same time not wanting to feel the need to search for intellectual stimulation. You end up mindlessly clicking on all of you favorite blogs, reading and rereading the posts that were written that day, listening to talk radio, and reading the news constantly throughout the day. You hunger for news and information and it does not satisfy.

So stewardess, came up with the great idea of just cutting myself off from the thing i seek most - Information. So at 10:30 last night, i stopped reading blogs, the news, and was not allowed to listen to talk radio. Works of fiction and entertainment are ok.

On the way to work, I listened to the flaming lips and that was relaxing. Then almost as an omen reinforcing that I was moving in the right direction, i noticed something strange as I was driving. I may have not noticed this oddity if my mind was engaged in analyzing, assimilating, and categorizing the news i was listening to. The was an MLGW (Memphis Light, Water, and Gas) truck and on the tail gate it had a message telling me to use my energy wisely with a picture of a thermostat in the background.

Which, that by itself is a little odd. They make their money by selling power and they want you to have the lowest bill possible. What really struck me was the TWO flashing lights that were active on the truck for no apparent reason. The lights are there so you can see the truck if it is parked on the side of the road, not so you can see the truck as it is driving. They were telling me to use my power wisely by turning down my heat in my house, but yet the trucks caution lights were on wasting power. Which i know the truck is not pulling power from the grid like my house does, but it still stuck me as odd.

cube

Ninjai: The Little Ninja

Chapter 12 is now out. If you have not watched all of the chapters from beginning to end, you are missing out.

cube

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

24 round up

I will have the body count posted for 24 later on tonight. I left the numbers at home and was unable to update the post during work. I also have a spreadsheet at work where i am keeping the numbers and that will need to be updated also. I forgot to post anything last week, because there were no kills and i was sick.

I would like to nominate Jack for the kill of the season. It was when he killed the merc leader. It was a knife to the base of the skull. That was easily one of the best kills all season. So far none have compared.

cube

What was it like when the USSR fell?

What were the steps that the USSR went through before it gave up the ghost? Could you relate each of the stages to some human psychological state? What were the factors that made the transition not turn into a civil war? Can any of the lessons that were observed during the fall of the USSR be used to ease the transition of the eventual fall of North Korea?

It seems, North Korea has started to tighten it's belt in an attempt to keep power.

"In the face of growing cracks in the system, North Korea amended its criminal code last year increasing penalties for expressing criticism of the government and other "anti-state" crimes. The revision, the fifth since 1950, also calls for tougher regulation on new crimes caused by infiltration of outside information."

North Korea cannot isolate their selves anymore (They may never have been able to as far as i know). They are surrounded by rapidly growing areas and are unable to produce their most basic supplies which would make them self sufficient. They have to send people outside to the country to bring items in.

"The North's authorities have also banned the use of mobile phones and confiscate them to prevent information from being leaked to the outside world."

I think we should air drop hundreds of thousands of cellphone\PDA combos with satellite uplinks. The government would get many of them, but some would be hidden and used by the people to communicate. We could load the phones up with lots of random valid numbers for news organizations. Or even detailed directions on how to start a blog. I do not know if the North Korean government can track the signals, but if they cannot, this idea would probably work.

"How to maintain the closure of the society in this globalization world community? This is a huge dilemma for North Korea to keep the hermit kingdom afloat."

The writer almost makes it sound like nice place.

cube

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Rethinking guns

I didn't realize how violent our country is until I moved to Germany. We have seen historically that Germans are not the most passive people, but it is a comparatively safe country. People don't get killed on the news. You can wander around by yourself at night. They claim it is because they don't own personal firearms. You can buy a rifle to hunt with, but it is registered and restricted to weapons that can be legally used for hunting. No one has handguns. This week we (the US) had the church service shooting in Wisconsin and the Nichols situation in Atlanta. This is following up the family of another judge being slaughtered in Chicago. If we want to look back any further there are endless accounts of school shootings, liquor store hold ups, car jackings, and everything else. I am a twenty-something male soldier and I think guns are as cool as everyone else (though I don't give them names). But maybe the price for having them isn't worth the novelty of owning one. I have heard all of the militia arguments about needing them for protection against criminals and a government takeover, but let's face it. The less guns floating around the less likely you are to be the victim of a crime involving one. And the government is already in control of our country. That's why they are the government. If you think owning a Glock is going to help you resist them you are mistaken. They have tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, submarines, aircraft carriers, laser guided missiles, and hovercrafts even.

Freedom

You see there is this letter you can sign to tell the FEC to not bother me (or you if you are a blogger).

Go sign it already. I am number 2532.

It begins....
"We are concerned about the potential impact that Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’s decision in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Shays v. FEC, 337 F. Supp. 2d 28 (D.D.C. 2004) and the FEC’s upcoming rulemaking process may have on political communication on the Internet."

I did not have place to put a message or I would have told them what they could do with their laws.

cube

Update on Ford

SENATOR FORD

The subcommittee of the Senate Ethics Committee found that there was a probable
cause for the full Ethics Committee to proceed on charges against Senator
John Ford. The charge is that Senator Ford did not disclose a major source of
income on his Senate Disclosure Statement. Senator Ford's tax returns show
$237,000 in income from a company doing business with TennCare; yet he did not
disclose any dealings with this company.

Interestingly, in 1996 Senator Ford asked for and received an Attorney
General's opinion on this very issue. The Attorney General told him then that
it was unethical and potentially illegal.

This coming week, the full Ethics Committee will meet to determine whether to
bring the matter before the full Senate. If the Committee refers the matter to
the Senate, Senator Ford has 20 days to respond. This timing would put any
action by the full Senate around April 1. At that point, the Senate, as a full
body, has complete authority to take whatever action it wishes.


Jim Bryson

cube

Sunday, March 13, 2005

Charon

Charon (pronounced Kar-ron) is a son of Erebus who, in Greek mythology, ferries the souls of the dead over the Styx and is also the name of my new gun.

I had put a Springfield XD .40 caliber on layaway about a month ago and I finished up purchasing the gun today. The gun is the four inch service model all in black. 3 12 round mags and a paddle holster came along with the deal. I field stripped it, cleaned it this afternoon, and I plan on taking it for a test drive one Sunday afternoon. I also took apart one of the magazines and while putting it back together, and I almost put my eye out.

I choose the XD for several reasons. One was availability. A few of the other guns I wanted to shoot were not available to shoot. Secondly, I was able to shoot an example and I did love the way it shoot and the way it felt. Also, springfield's customer service is good from the information that i have read.

cube

update: I took it to the range and it worked great. No problems feeding or ejecting. It could have had automatic targeting servos and a biomechanical interface so that the targeting recticle on my HUD was linked to the sights on my gun, but i will take what i can get.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Vampires - the kings of the undead

A vampire invasion would be much more difficult to fight off than a zombie invasion. Vampires are not too bad when they arrive in your neighborhood alone and you are aided by the few priests that would rather fight undead than molest altar boys. However, in large intrenched vampire communities like the ones presented in Underworld, Blade, and even Buffy you have practically no chance of winning. Your only hope is an ultra-powerful vampire hunter. And they don't sell those at Super Wal-Mart. In large groups, vampires use their intelligence and long life spans to conspire to overcome their inherent weaknesses. They blend easily into human societies, and then there is always the one super vampire that is bound to pop up. Unlike zombies, vampires are completely unstoppable to the average person using any widespread or common technology. Even if you do find a way, in the end you will find out that the only person you could trust was just turned into a vampire themselves.

war alternative fuels

This whole Middle East invasion should set back any mainstream ethanol plans for a few years. If we don't use all of this oil and natural gas we just liberated then what was the point? The natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan (on Farenheit 9/11) and the huge oil reserves in Iraq would make looking for alternatives seem unnecessary. Maybe ethanol could have competed with fossil fuels thirty years ago during the oil embargo, but politics are stacked against it right now. Don't get me wrong, I think ethanol85 is great. It is priced to compete with gasoline, it acts like gasoline, and it is made with 85% renewable resources. But while the world and economy as a whole stands to gain from ethanol, there are many powerful people and companies that stand to lose a lot from it. I think in the end greed will win. It usually does.

Caught this small section

I was reading through an tech central article and i read this part.

"Example: Newsweek syndicated columnist Fareed Zakaria recently spouted the nonsensical notion that, with a simple reduction in the greedy dependence of the auto industry on gasoline-powered engines, 500-miles-to-the-gallon cars could be on the market. Zakaria touted home-based "plug-in" hybrid powerplants running on 15% gasoline and 80% methanol or ethanol."

Either Zakaria does not know what he is talking about or the guy quoting Zakeria does not know what he is taking about. As far as i know, the "home-based "plug-in" hybrid powerplants running on 15% gasoline and 80% methanol or ethanol" do exist, though not in the form that Zakeria said they do.

Millions of cars in America are ready to be run on a mix of gasoline and ethanol. This mix is called E85 (15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol). These cars are "hybrids" in the sense that they run off of a mixed fuel, but not hybrid in the traditional sense of running off of gasoline and electricity.

The author of the tech central article, then goes on to write off all alternative fuels.

"He of course ignored the wallet-busting cost of producing, refining and distributing alternative fuels, including the aforementioned ethanol and methanol as well as hydrogen, compressed-natural gas, bio-waste, et al. Such pot-shot proclamations from the elite media are not uncommon, but do nothing to alter the reality that petroleum-based vehicle engines are here to stay for the foreseeable future.."

With several of these fuels i am sure the tech central guy is right, but with ethanol, he is WRONG. I am not so sure that it burst the wallet producing, refining, and distributing. I do not know the individual costs of those processes, but from what i could find out the price of a gallon of E85 was 1.85 from the pump at United Energy Dist. #1 in SC (803-642-0113 you can call if you like).

It is important to know that switching to E85 will not solve the CO2 problem (which i do not think it is a problem, because if the earth gets warmer more plants will grow using up the CO2 that is in the air), but it will help with ENERGY INDEPENDENCE and that is what i care about.

cube

Other cool sites

This site is awesome, i have never seen anything quite like it before.
Just click and drag you mouse, it took a few times for me to get it to work.

cube

Catching up

The first afghan blogger via annika.

The place for all of you spud gun needs.

cube

Friday, March 11, 2005

Scary zombies?

I find zombies to be the absolutely least intimidating creature of horror to attack ficticious cities anywhere. Their strong points are their ability to create others and their normally large starting numbers. However this is offset by a long list of crippling weaknesses. 1: Zombies are the dumbest creatures. They respond only to their one basic instinct to feed. This would logically stop their numbers from growing (as all of their victims would be completely devoured instead of becoming reanimated with slight flesh wounds) but doesn't seem to follow in films. They still are not capable of creating any tactics, traps, or plans. 2: Zombies are easy to kill. Destroying the brain has seemed to work in every zombie flick I have watched. They have no tendency toward self preservation at all. A zombie will not dodge bullets or cover its head as you repeatedly bash them with golf clubs. 3: Zombies are easy to identify. The lack of speech and decomposing flesh make them unable to pass for humans. 4: Most zombies are slow (in most flicks). Relentless but slow. If you are unable to destroy them, walking away quickly seems effective in most movies. 5: Zombies are weak. The average human seems able to overpower zombies in groups of twos and threes. They are also easily kept at bay by the flimsiest of physical defenses. Board up your windows or climb on anything high and zombies will not be able to reach you. Get on a sparsely populated island and you should have no problem containing and overcoming your zombie problems.
Of course, as with many things, planning is the key. You should take the time to establish a plan of what you would do in the event of a zombie attack. Find escape routes and safe places. Determine what supplies you will need to wait out the crisis. Food, water, weapons, and building materials will be essential. Grab as much fresh food as you can consume before it goes bad. Most people will be dead (or undead) and the police will turn a blind eye toward looting. So go crazy. Steal lobster and the most expensive cuts of beef you can find. Stock up on the liquor. Then sober up and start piling up canned goods for the long haul. Clean water should be stored in as many containers as you can find. When enough people die, the infastructure will shut down. Electricity and running water will be nothing more than pleasant memories. Also invest in iodine tablets or a personal water filter. Any building materials will be helpful. You want to make durable barriers to keep the zombies out of whatever area you decide to occupy. Finally weapons. Guns are great, but so many heroes run out of bullets. Make sure you have some sort of reusable hand-to-hand weapon. Anything that is hard enough to crush a zombies skull and long enough to keep you out of reach is great. Also consider some mass casualty and area of effect weapons. Zombies will typically attack in large groups. Even if they don't, you can take advantage of their low intellect and lure them into an alley. Then a hand grenade is great. For even bigger crowds try the Army's MK19. It is a belt fed machine gun that fires 40mm grenades. An automatic grenade launcher should have you zombie free in no time.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Why i dislike zombies.

Zombies are about the scariest critters i can think of. If fact, they are at the top of my hee-ba-gee-bee list. Their are several aspects about Zombies are unique. If you find one, there will be hundreds of thousands of more -- it is just a mater of time. Whereas, with werewolves and vampires, there is most likely only one in town. Though you should be extra careful and do a complete search to be sure. If you find one zombie, it is best to get out of town as soon as possible and do NOT go looking for any more.

Another fact about zombies that bothers me is their unknown origin. I found a list that probably is mostly complete, but it is by no means 100 percent complete. If you see a zombie, you will have no idea if it was produced by the government, aliens, or demons. In other words, you can solve all the smaller problems (killing the individual zombies), but not the big problem (stopping the zombie producing phenomena) .

Also, the methods by which zombies spread is also an big unknown. A particular brand of zombism can spread through bites, the blood, or even just through the air. The only way to find out how zombies spread their disease is through trial and error. You just have to hope and pray that either you figure it out quickly enough to save you skin or just apart of the lucky few that was in a coma for 28 days.

Zombies really do not have very many weak points. They cannot be repelled by holy water or silver. Their greatest weakness is their stupidity, but in great numbers that really does not matter because you cannot evade them forever. They can be killed, but you have to get personal to get a good shot in. This gives the persistent zombie (which they all are) a chance to infect you.

Zombies also are completely inhuman. Their only desire is to eat. Whereas, ghosts, witches, and wizards might be evil and very dangerous, they can at least be bargained with. They still have a rational, if somewhat disconnected from this world, mind.

The actual form of the zombies are quite revolting. The are slimly or extremely dry, half decomposed, and probably smell. Some of the other creates you might encounter have a much more appealing form. Vampires and werewolves can look quite nice -- if they are groomed properly.

Zombies give me the hee-ba-gee-bees and i am going to watch Dawn of the dead to get over my fear of zombies.

cube

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Crazy dreams

Recently, i have had some crazy dreams. I believe it is a combination of fevered rest and large amounts of sleep. The first one was about the gun thread that went on and on and would never end. This one was because of the fevered rest. I would click, read, respond, and it would keep going on and on and on.

The second one was where i was walking down the street with my left arm around a very tall black woman's waist. She was much taller than i am, and also a lot more buff. I was smiling and enjoying every single second of the encounter. I also asked the big beautiful black woman how tall she was. She responded that she was around 7 or 8 feet tall. She was also wearing a tight blue dress. That is all i can remember about that dream.

In the third dream, I was walking down the street and saw a woman with binoculars hanging from her neck holding up a couple as they were eating lunch. The robbery had been in progress for some time, I just did not notice it until i was real close. I had forgotton my gun, and i saw the guy eating lunch try to go for his, but the robber waved her finger and told him no. Since i had forgotten my gun, i went and hid behind the nearest corner. Either because i had X-ray vision or the walls were made of glass (I am not sure which), i could see the robber. The robber then used her binoculars and stared down the street. When at that point she told me that she could see me. So i ran further down the street and hid with some other people. I had a hard time finding a place to hide, nothing seemed to provide enough cover. As soon as i was hid, the woman was handled (I do not know how or by whom) so i went back up the street to talk\ watch people talk to the TV cameras. I played with children and talked to them on the way to the cameras.

cube

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Natural state of things

The fact that peace is spread in the middle east must be something special for all those old folks in the world who have never seen anything but tyranny in that area of the world. When the Berlin wall fell those same old folks were probably shocked and amazing at the USSR falling down.

I was nine when the Berlin wall fell, 11 when we defended Kuwait, 21 when the towers well, 22 when we freed those crazy afghans, 23 when we invaded Iraq. The times when bad things have happened are when the American army was not used to it's fullest but was held back for some reason.

To me and others my age it is normal for America to free the oppressed and it is normal for America to be the top dog. During my lifetime, America's army has been an overwhelming force for good in the world. AMERICA has been an overwhelming force for good in the world. To me, the natural state of things is that we are in control and we know what is best.

These constant successes could eventually undermine the arguments against using America's army for good and could over time increase the amount army is used.

cube

Wow

Michael Tuohey, of Scarborough, said he was suspicious of Mohamed Atta (search) and Abdulaziz Alomari (search) when they rushed to make their flight out of Portland International Jetport early that morning.

Atta's demeanor, his angry-looking eyes and the pair's first-class, one-way tickets to Los Angeles made Tuohey think twice

Wow.

cube

Saturday, March 05, 2005

I am sick

Man, I can come down with stuff quicker than anybody I know. Thursday morning I feel fine. Thursday after lunch my throat get itchy. I ignore it. Thursday afternoon and early evening I feel horrible. Around 9:00 pm, I realize that I am sick. So I go home from my friend house and check my temp. My temp is 99 point something. I get ready for bed shivering uncontrollably, I sleep horribly. I wake up in this morning and my temp is 102 point something. Take some stuff to bring it down, and go back to sleep.

It sucks being sick. My preferred cures are food and lots off it.

cube

Friday, March 04, 2005

A website that I hope never receives another entry

Defense of Others
I hear the email of the guy who is running this site is: guru at guruspace dot com.

cube

If everyone else is doing it....

That was the recent logic behind the supreme court decision to ban the execution of teenagers. The supreme court cited the fact that we were the only country in the world (or that was at least how i heard it reported and i know that is a lie) to still support the execution of teenagers.

Allowing the execution of teenagers in extreme situations and supporting executing teenagers wholesale are two different viewpoints. If you listen to the way this story is reported, you think that some states hold the last viewpoint. That simply is not true. Teenage executions are rare.

The problem that i have with the supreme court decision is two fold. One, the logic is weak. The fact that the majority of states have CCW laws does not affect the few states that do not allow concealed and carry. It never will. The anti-gun groups in those states will never listen to the logic of "what-everyone-else-is-doing". They will explain away the differences with statements of the effect "that they are some how special" or that "other states are somehow different" and what "works there will not work in their own state". The problem i see is the obvious hypocrisy in accepting common consensus in things you agree with and dismissing it when you do not agree. As a corollary, just because the rest of the world is doing somthing does not make it right and it does not make it wrong, it just makes it popular. Right and wrong never change, only our perceptions of it change.

Secondly, it limits the options of judges, juries, and lawyers. Gib at Crosblog says it best.

"The fact that death sentences are rarely imposed on juveniles is cited as evidence that society frowns on such things. I think it's at least arguable that the rarity of juvenile death sentences suggests that they're only imposed in the most extreme cases, and juries are giving the matter the serious deliberation it deserves. If death sentences were handed out across the board every time a 17 year old killed somebody, would there be less of a consensus? If so, should we use the fact that juries rarely exercise this discretion as a reason to take away said discretion entirely? [emphasis mine] "

Limited options only lead to limited results.

cube

Thursday, March 03, 2005

A point of clarification

I am not really against war, I am against wars that involve me and serve no worthwhile cause. I think most Americans feel the same way. This is my solution. We withdraw all American troops back to the western hemisphere. Not necessarily the US, because some of us prefer Costa Rica. We then draw up a map of troublesome nations. This can include anyone that has received negative media attention in the past three years. North Korea, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Nepal, etc. Instead of launching global wars, the US will return to its pre-WWII role as an isolationist nation. To deal with these problem countries, we will engineer wars using existing regional tensions. For example, look at Israel. Thousands of people have spent fifty years trying to hold together peace between Israel and its neighbors. If the US put its mind into destroying peace they would be at war in a month. Let nuclear-capable Israel invade Syria and deter Iran from building weapons. We will sell them whatever they need. Then move on to Pakistan vs India. Both are densely populated nuclear capable nations. This will help control global population growth. Pick your pony, or sell weapons to both. Then we can start turning North Korea and China against each other. China will completely wipe out North Korea, but that is not a bad thing. And if the North Koreans do have ICBMs equipped with nuclear weapons they might take out a little bit of China. The key is to distribute military technology in such a way that these conflicts are short and decisive. In the meantime, we can use our warhawk profits to balance the budget and build up defensive systems. Everyone wins. Or gets wiped from the face of the earth.

As a side note....

I have an idea that will change the way some American schools are ran. At my high school the bell would ring, all the students would get up to go to their next class. We would fill the halls with our lazy butts, laughing, fighting, running, and basically doing things that we shouldn't.

My revolutionary idea is to have the teachers go from class to class, instead of the students. Several advantages of this paradigm become apparent. For one, the halls can be much smaller, because not as many people will use them. This will save money in construction cost and heating and cooling costs.

Secondly, you can group kids by their learning style, such as all the dumb kids can be in the same room all day long or rather all the kids who learn better visually could be together and the teacher could adjust their teaching style accordingly.

Thirdly, the time in between classes could be reduced. Since the halls will be less crowded the teachers can run instead of walk, which will allow the school to make maximum use of the students time.

Of course the students would be allowed to go to the bathroom when needed, but they would have to have a hall pass and hold their hands above their heard so that the hall snipers will know they are not trying to escape. If they run, the dogs will instinctively attack, so the kids will have to walk slowly.

If i remember correctly, this is how the Japanese teach their students.

cube

22-pound lobster, to be saved....for later

On Tuesday, Owner Bob Wholey Wholey gave the lobster to the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, which will send him to an aquarium at a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum......

......People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent Wholey a letter asking him to work with the group to release Bubba back in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine.

Another group calling itself People For Eating Tasty Animals reportedly offered Wholey a hefty price for the lobster. At Tuesday's price of $14.98 a pound, Bubba would retail for about $350.

Wow. To bad no one got to eat this bad boy.

cube

update: Bubba is dead. Hah, they should have ate him when they had the chance.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

New plan

You have seen the Lazy man's workout. Which i thought was a gem of an idea, unfortunately it does not work for me. I am always too busy after i get off work to have time to do any working out. The few nights i do have time to do some physical activity, i do not want to do anything because i am lazy.

So i have adapted my ideas to match my situation. I am on the second day of my wake-you-butt-early-and-workout-plan. This plan involves dragging yourself out of your bed at ungodly hours to workout. By workout, i mean stretch, do push-ups, and do sit-ups one day and stretch and jump rope the next.

The first day i was out of bed at 6:10 and started stretching. My muscles do not want to move, much less be stretched beyond there normal range of movement early in the morning, so this takes some time. It also hurts like heck. I also did push-ups. My chest, shoulders, lats, and butt (some weird stretch i did really worked) were all sore or a little tight by midday.

Mission accomplished.

The second day i was out of bed at 6:18 and started stretching. After i loosened up, i tried jump roping for ten minutes. It was more like jump rope for a few seconds, mess up, curse, then repeat for ten minutes. My calf and thighs were really tight after i was done and everything that was sore from the first day still was.

Mission accomplished.

So far the entire experience has been one painful foggy dream\memory, which is exactly how i would like to keep it. If i actually start waking up before i get into the shower, i will probably stop because i cannot handle the pain.

cube

You were almost dead

Man that guy play solitare almost got his heart stopped by jack and curtis.

He wins the "You were almost dead" award of the week.

cube

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

A troubling discovery

Recently declassified documents and anonymous reports have uncovered a disturbing conspiracy. Apes are trying to take over the world! Their agents have infilitrated numerous aspects of human culture. By posing as test subjects they have gained access to secret scientific research. They have slowly been builiding sympathy among left wing Hollywood actors, befriending everyone from Clint Eastwood and Michael Jackson to the cast of Friends. They have been manipulating human eco-terrorists in groups like Greenpeace and PETA to advance their own twisted agenda. Perhaps the most immediately visible damage caused by the primates is in Africa where they have been carrying out experiments in biological warfare. They have infected millions of the local population with diseases by contaminating water supplies and popularizing the inter-species orgies that Jane Goodall pioneered. It is theorized that the various strains of AIDS, ebola, and anal warts were all created by apes. They have been reproducing and organizing clandestinely, and now have terrorist cells on every continent except Antarctica. The main attack is expected to begin in the American Northwest, where sasquatches have been running reconissance missions for years (see www.bfro.net). The only way to avert global domination is to arm yourselves as the great Charlton Heston taught you. He was the first to recognize these animals for what they are "Dirty, stinkin' apes!". If you live in an area where owning a firearm is prohibited you can still help. Deprive them of the peanuts they cherish so much. Do not grow peanuts and boycott their sale and manufacture. As I write this organizers are already assembling peanut burning parties. Currently I believe this blog is the only place to make this threat known publicly. Governments are trying to handle the problem without creating a public hysteria. Continue to check us out. I will post more information as I recieve it.