Rusted Sky

Obama: 'I Will Change The World' - Yahoo! News UK

With just three days to go he and his opponent John McCain are touring key states in an effort to woo undecided voters.
Senator Obama is still almost seven points ahead in the Real Clear Politics poll of polls, but the gap has narrowed slightly.

At a rally in Henderson, Nevada, he warned his supporters against complacency.

"At this defining moment in history, you can give the country the change we need," he said.

Lenin changed the world. So did Mao. So did Hitler. Cult of Personality leadership usually manages to change the country, and affect the world...

I'm thinking I've seen this story before. The ending wasn't a good one.

How Low Can It Go? Richardson Pegs Middle Class as Those Making Under $120,000 - FOXNews.com Elections

For the second time in a week, a prominent Democrat has downgraded Barack Obama's definition of the middle class -- leading Republicans to question whether he'll stick to his promise not to raise taxes on anyone making under $250,000.

The latest hiccup in the campaign message came Friday morning on KOA-AM, when New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson pegged the middle class as those making $120,000 and under.

J.

If you had to ask my favorite holiday, I think it would have to be Halloween. Why? Because it's a free-form one, where you can be pretty much anything you might want to be, and your only real limitations are your imagination and your budget.

Let's see. One year we had flying saucers land (and crash) in the front yard. The next year (after we moved) we tried an 'alien invasion' scenario - but I don't think it worked too well. The year after that, I believe, was the 'vet's office' with the badly slashed veternarian looking for the bad kitty. (That's the most gruesome one so far.) Last year was a 'Prison Break' - and this year we went a bit more traditional.

After all, this
is hardly scary compared to something like this. (Well, it's scary if you're aware of the historical and contemporary parallels of the proposals.)

Ol' Marcus the Carcass doesn't hold a candle to it.

Neither does the walkway to our house.

This MIGHT come close - Government munching on a taxpayer - but probably not.

Anyway - we had fun getting it all together. And the reward came when a very young Jedi knight (who was trailing a group of older children) had to be called back because he missed his candy. I asked him why he left without any... and he replied "I was too scared!"

I gave him a good-sized handful, and some lightsticks to scare away the monsters...

So now we need to start thinking about next year. Hmmm.

I wonder - Pirates, perhaps?

J.

One man, one vote - one last time. Are we in for an Orwellian period in US history, or will we toss a hammer into the works and elect McCain?

Time will tell.

J.

Obama's grandmother dies of cancer in Hawaii | U.S. | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's grandmother died of cancer, he said in a statement on Monday, a little more than a week after Obama interrupted the White House race to say goodbye to her in Hawaii.
"It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer," Obama said in a joint statement with his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng. "She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility."

J.

And I do not endorse Obama.

In the end, I'm making my judgement on accomplishments and proposals. Obama has basically mangled everything he's touched in his professional life. The Annenburg Challenge ended up blowing $150 mil to no good (or visible) effect. He quit his community organizing job because he wasn't making a difference. Nothing has been shown from his time at Harvard. No good came from the tenure he spent as a state senator. (Google up his involvement with Grove Parc - it's an eye-opener.)

As a Senator, he spent less than a year on the job before running for President. He's advocated for raising energy prices, weakening the military, creating a 'civilian security agency' of nebulous format that would be as 'strong as the military' - and has shown pretty much no clue when it comes to the ability to determine the difference between a friend and an adversary in the international arena.

He's charismatic as hell, full of himself, and willingly throws friends and acquaintances under the bus when it looks like they're inconvenient. His economic ideas would be a bad joke if he weren't serious, and his proposal to bleed the rich will very likely crash the US economy, and extend to the whole world.

And if he gets elected, he'll not take one damn bit of the responsibility for how his ideas work out. He will blame Bush first and the Democratic Congress second for anything that goes wrong, and there'll be enough apologists for him that he'll get a pass... then he'll screw things up again.

If you're registered, I urge you to vote against Obama. Our nation will survive his presidency - but there's a difference between sheer survival and a healthy and prosperous country.

That's it. Cross your fingers, tighten your seat belts, assume your crash positions, and hope for the best...

J.

Well.

Now we see what will happen with a Democratic President, House and Senate.

Here's hoping it's ONLY as bad as '92-94, and nowhere near as bad as the Carter years.

Our country will survive. But batten down the hatches - there's some severe storms on the horizon.

But thank God - this election's over.

J.

Little pushes, at first - to judge what Obama's response will be.

FOXNews.com - Medvedev: Russia to Deploy Missiles in Response to U.S. Missile Shield - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

MOSCOW — President Dmitry Medvedev says Russia will deploy missiles in its Baltic Sea territory in response to U.S. missile defense plans.

Medvedev says the short-range Iskander missiles will be deployed to the Kaliningrad region which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania. He has not said how many missiles will be deployed or whether they will be fitted with nuclear warheads.

J.

This will make a LOT of areas that weren't really good for solar panels feasible.

RPI: News & Events - Solar Power Game-Changer: “Near Perfect” Absorption of Sunlight, From All Angles

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered and demonstrated a new method for overcoming two major hurdles facing solar energy. By developing a new antireflective coating that boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle, the research team has moved academia and industry closer to realizing high-efficiency, cost-effective solar power.

J.

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

WTHR - Indianapolis News Weather -Obama campaign workers angry over unpaid wages

Indianapolis - Lines were long and tempers flared Wednesday not to vote but to get paid for canvassing for Barack Obama. Several hundred people are still waiting to get their pay for last-minute campaigning. Police were called to the Obama campaign office on North Meridian Street downtown to control the crowd.

The line was long and the crowd was angry at times.

"I want my money today! It's my money. I want it right now!" yelled one former campaign worker.

A former spokesman for the Obama campaign said 375 people were hired as part of the Vote Corps program and said people signed up to work three-hour shifts at a time. Three hours of canvassing got workers a $30 pre-paid Visa card.

The workers showed up to get their cards Wednesday morning at 10:00 am.

"There was a note on the door saying 1:00 pm and then at 1:20 pm everybody was like why is nobody here. They just got here and they're trying to get it organized," said Heather Richards, a former campaign worker.

Um. Yeah...

J.

We're already starting to see some of the 'change' Obama's promised. Over at Change.gov, we now have a new governmental office - that of the 'President-Elect'. Funny, I don't recall THAT in the Constitution...

But the Genie of Change has been uncorked and given apparently free rein. As the saying goes - "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it".

A Lot of folks thought they wanted 'change' - but there's a whole lot of ways to 'change' things politically - and most of them aren't what anyone would consider good for the country in the long run. And even then, some of the 'good' ones will have side effects that'll hardly be palatable. Short term? What works for the short term can really screw things up long-term.

But the electorate wished for 'change'. And they've gotten their wish.

For instance, we may have changed the Presidential job from being a 'leader' to a 'ruler'.

Obama Spokesman Says 'Obama Ready to RULE on Day 1' | NewsBusters.org

The co-chair of Barack Obama's Transition Team, Valerie Jarrett, appeared on Meet the Press this weekend and used, shall we say, an interesting word to described what she thinks Barack Obama will be doing in January when he's officially sworn into office. She told Tom Brokaw that Obama will be ready to "rule" on day one. It's a word that reflects the worst fears that people have for Obama the "arrogant," the "messiah," that imagines he's here to "rule" instead of govern.

And as far as taxes go, we're REALLY looking at a change on that. First when the Bush tax cuts expire, and then an additional 5% to the top bracket to pay for tax cuts to the lower 95%. 45% for the top bracket is obviously 'fair' - after all, you want them to pay their fair share, right?

As far as the economy goes - I'm thinking we're in for a rough stretch. Not much we can really do, just hunker down and pay off what you can of outstanding debt. Because you're going to see a change in the economy. You thought the LAST 8 years were bad? You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Security is very important to a lot of folks. And to Obama, with his 'Civilian Security Force'. But some have reservations...

The Associated Press: Georgia congressman warns of Obama dictatorship

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist or fascist dictatorship.

"It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he's the one who proposed this national security force," Rep. Paul Broun said of Obama in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. "I'm just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may — may not, I hope not — but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism."

All this change is SO good, some want a new holiday!

CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal - Planning under way for Obama holiday

Plans are being made to promote a national holiday for Barack Obama, who will become the nation's 44th president when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20.

"Yes We Can" planning rallies will be at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. every Tuesday at the downtown McDonald's restaurant, 1100 Kansas Ave., until Jan. 13. The goals are to secure a national holiday in Obama's honor, to organize celebrations around his inauguration and to celebrate the 200th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln, who was born on Feb. 12 1809.

Two years from now, I predict a lot of people who voted for Obama are going to be asking themselves what the hell they were thinking.

But the Genie of Change is out of the bottle, and the wish has been asked - and granted. And now - we're all having to share the results of it. Might as well enjoy it - and remember the results NEXT time the Election Genie comes around and some candidate's telling you that you want 'change'.

Because there's a LOT more ways things can go WRONG when you change them randomly, than right.

J.

It seemed the Left did whatever it could to tear down Bush's legitimacy and effectiveness.

Now there's this. From 52 to 48 With Love

I think the one where the girl is holding up the sign "We're all in this together" is the one which makes me the most angry.

NOW you remember that? For 8 YEARS you ignored that concept - and NOW you want to make nice? You figure without the cooperation of the folks who DIDN'T vote for Obama you might have a hard time of it? You've had your jollies ripping down Bush, and you want to forestall anyone doing the same thing to Obama?

WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU THINK OF THAT LITTLE CONCEPT 8 YEARS AGO, YOU IDIOTS!

/RANT

Electing Obama is indeed an incredible achievement - it goes to show how all a man who has essentially no experience has to do is spend 6 to 7 times the amount of money of someone who DOES have experience - and get the media on their side. Obama's got one hell of a job ahead of him, and I don't envy him in his task at all. And I'll support him - while still being critical of the things I think he does that will hurt this country. And I fully expect there to be MANY of those.

Obama has promised a lot to the ideologically far left. Satisfying them will ensure he's a single term President - and damage this country severely. We'll see where we go.

And 52? About all I can say is... "You first."

J.

YouTube - Ghostbusters black hole alternate ending

Happy Veteran's Day! See below for an additional message from Gen. Patreus...

"Confidential", "Secret" and "Top Secret" seems to be pretty much unknown to Obama. Realistically, what does he gain from blathering out what he and President Bush talked about?

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2008ｮ

BUSH ANGER: OBAMA AIDES LEAK CHAT DETAILS
Tue Nov 11 2008 09:28:10 ET

Just hours after President Bush and President-elect Obama met in the Oval Office of the White House, details of their confidential conversation began leaking out to the press, igniting anger from the president, sources claim.

"Senator Obama would be wise to keep close counsel," a top Bush source warned.

"BUSH AND OBAMA AT ODDS OVER AID FOR AUTO INDUSTRY," splashed the NEW YORK TIMES in an exclusive Monday evening, quoting "people familiar with the discussion."

The two met at the White House in private, without staff.

"Bush indicated at the meeting that he might support some aid and a broader economic stimulus package if Obama and congressional Democrats dropped their opposition to a free-trade agreement with Colombia," claimed the TIMES.

Either he has pretty much no sense of when to just plain shut up, or he's actively trying to piss off Bush, OR (and worst of the three, possibly) he's got folks in his own camp who simply will not stay silent when needed. Obama can learn to shut up, Bush will be out of office soon (and good luck to us all then...) but a determined leaker can cause one hell of a lot of trouble for Obama in the future.

Interesting times, indeed.

J.

Next Big Future: Graphene Production Advance : Route to large Scale Graphene Sheets#disqus_thread

UCLA researchers developed a method of placing graphite oxide paper in a solution of pure hydrazine (a chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen), which reduces the graphite oxide paper into single-layer graphene.

Man, I wouldn't want to be anywhere NEAR that manufacturing process. Hydrazine's nasty stuff. But sheets of graphene? Well, they've got to start somewhere, and tiny sheets will eventually lead to larger...

Makes you wonder though - seems like graphene's got all the good properties of unobtanium. Lightweight, incredibly strong, so far the engineers are just plain chomping at the bit to get hold of the stuff in large(ish) quantities.

Is this stuff a world-changer, or will it be just a lab curiosity?

J.

FOXNews.com - Cross-Bearing Elderly Woman Attacked by Gay Marriage Supporters, May Press Charges - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

An elderly woman bearing a cross who attended a gay marriage protest to voice her support of the California ban was attacked by demonstrators and may now press charges.

Carrying a large, Styrofoam cross, 69-year-old Phyllis Burgess showed up at a rally last Friday against Proposition 8, the ban on same-sex marriage that was passed on Election Day in California.
She was there to show her belief in traditional marriage, she said.
Within minutes, however, angry protesters swarmed around the Palm Springs resident, yanked the cross from her hands and trampled on it.

Gay rights protesters disrupt Sunday service | lansingstatejournal.com | Lansing State Journal

DELTA TWP. - A radical gay rights group is claiming responsibility for a protest Sunday at Mount Hope Church in Delta Township.

Protesters who entered the Creyts Road church along with worshippers surprised the congregation when they stood up during the service, threw fliers at churchgoers and shouted slogans such as "It's OK to be gay," and "Jesus was a homo," according to David Williams, communications director at the church. His father, Dave Williams, is the church's longtime pastor. He was not preaching at the church Sunday.

Pam Spaulding: The N-Bomb is Dropped on Black Passersby at Prop 8 Protests

You could see this coming, and this is what I'm talking about when you ignore the elephant in the room. Rod McCullom of Rod 2.0 blogs reports on the escalation of the "blame the blacks" meme that has been swirling about the blogosphere and the MSM.
A number of Rod 2.0 and Jasmyne Cannick readers report being subjected to taunts, threats and racist abuse at last night's marriage equality rally in Los Angeles.

Geoffrey, a student at UCLA and regular Rod 2.0 reader, joined the massive protest outside the Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Westwood. Geoffrey was called the n-word at least twice.

It was like being at a klan rally except the klansmen were wearing Abercrombie polos and Birkenstocks. YOU NIGGER, one man shouted at men. If your people want to call me a FAGGOT, I will call you a nigger. Someone else said same thing to me on the next block near the temple...me and my friend were walking, he is also gay but Korean, and a young WeHo clone said after last night the niggers better not come to West Hollywood if they knew what was BEST for them.

Los Angeles resident and Rod 2.0 reader A. Ronald says he and his boyfriend, who are both black, were carrying NO ON PROP 8 signs and still subjected to racial abuse.

Either way, I don't think the actions above would engender popular support for the cause.

Thought about putting in the "Biggus Dickus" bit from "Life Of Brian", but I thought it would be too risible...

J.

Or perhaps, the Age of "Too Much"?

Went to Office Max last night, and (as usual) I went over to their lighting section. The one we go to usually has a LARGE assortment of desk lamps, anything from flourescent to halogen to LED. Since it's coming up on the Christmas season, I expected their aisles would be full of all sorts of stuff, and there might be a couple of new desk lamps on display.

Well, not so much. The office furniture section was considerably pared down from what I've seen in the past, same with the desk chairs. There weren't the usual displays of stocking stuffers - but I'll admit it's still early in the year on that.

The lamp section? Gutted. Two halogens, a 'banker's desk lamp, a flourescent lamp, and a couple of table lamps. Either they're really clearing stuff out for Christmas, or there's a serious kink in the supply chain somewhere...

Oh, right. It's about the time now that cutbacks on shipping due to the increased fuel costs of the summer and early fall will be hitting. Ripples of THAT are going to be showing up for a while, I'd say. Probably the next big kink will the the credit meltdown - I wonder what that's going to look like?

So now the big question is, will the kinks work their way out, or are we looking at a long-term significant cutback on the variety (and likely amount) of goods that are available?

J.

Good for India!

Chandrayaan-I Impact Probe lands on moon-India-The Times of India

BANGALORE: India marked its presence on Moon on Friday night to be only the fourth nation to scale this historic milestone after a Moon Impact Probe Chandrayaan-I Impact Probe lands on the moon surface

Joining the US, the erstwhile Soviet Union and the European Union, the 35-kg Moon Impact Probe (MIP) hit the moon exactly at 8.31 PM, about 25 minutes after the probe instrument descended from the satellite in what ISRO described as a "perfect operation".

Miniature Indian flags painted on four sides of the MIP signalled the country's symbolic entry into moon to coincide with the birth anniversary of the country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, observed as Children's Day.

But it looks like we've got a Space Race on our hands. Here's hoping it gets further than the previous one did.

J.

The world has never seen such freezing heat - Telegraph

A surreal scientific blunder last week raised a huge question mark about the temperature records that underpin the worldwide alarm over global warming. On Monday, Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore's chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that last month was the hottest October on record.

This was startling. Across the world there were reports of unseasonal snow and plummeting temperatures last month, from the American Great Plains to China, and from the Alps to New Zealand. China's official news agency reported that Tibet had suffered its "worst snowstorm ever". In the US, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month, and ranked it as only the 70th-warmest October in 114 years.

Turns out Russia fudged the numbers. Or, rather, the numbers used were SEPTEMBER data, not October... And apparently, they've been having a problem with unbiased numbers... heat from buildings and uninsulated steam pipes will skew things when the weather gets cold, or so it's reported over at wattsupwiththat.com.

If the numbers you plug into a temperature model that you're depending on for accurate results and forecasting are garbage - what are you going to be getting OUT of it?

J.

So far, planets circling other suns have been detected one of two ways. Either there was a slight dip in the brightness of the star as the planet passed in front of it - or a wobble was detected in the star's position, and the wobble was caused by the gravity of a circling planet. It's pretty hard to detect a planet by reflected light over a great distance - there's simply not much there to detect.

HUGE EXOPLANET NEWS ITEMS: PICTURES!!! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Do you see it? That tiny spark, that wee blip of light? It may not look like much, but it is in fact a normal planet orbiting a normal star, 250 trillion kilometers from Earth.

J.

WizKids Games

The Topps Company announced today that WizKids will immediately cease operations and discontinue its product lines.
Scott Silverstein, CEO of Topps, said “This was an extremely difficult decision. While the company will still actively pursue gaming initiatives, we feel it is necessary to align our efforts more closely with Topps current sports and entertainment offerings which are being developed within our New York office.”

Man, that's... um. Makes you wonder - weren't they selling well, or is the 'align our efforts more closely with Topps current sports and entertainment offerings' more on the order of saying "Okay, we're going to concentrate on making a minature football and baseball gaming system..."

Either way - seems like they're doing the entire gaming community no real favors here...

J.

Kind of a shame we'll never get our fingers on any of it, isn't it?

Financial Crisis Tab Already In The Trillions - Financials * US * News * Story - CNBC.com

Given the speed at which the federal government is throwing money at the financial crisis, the average taxpayer, never mind member of Congress, might not be faulted for losing track.
CNBC, however, has been paying very close attention and keeping a running tally of actual spending as well as the commitments involved.

Try $4.28 trillion dollars. That's $4,284,500,000,000 and more than what was spent on WW II, if adjusted for inflation, based on our computations from a variety of estimates and sources*.

By my calculations, based on 130 million households... the government's given out (through various means) $32,957.69 per household. Of course, we're not going to see that money in any way WE could use it - but that's what's getting paid out on the various bailouts.

You know - there will be more demands in times to come. Cities, states, companies - the precedent's been set that you can go to the government trough and get what you 'need'.

But you or I? We can't touch that money. We're at the bottom of the totem pole, and everyone deserves our tax dollars more than we do. And if we complain about taxes going up, we'll be labeled greedy. So - if you thought were in the supposed 95% that'd be getting the 'tax break' Obama promised, you can pretty well forget it. That money's got to come from somewhere - and though you may think it'd be the 'rich', there's not enough of THEM for more than a drop or two in the bucket. (And if you voted for Obama because he promised to soak the rich - well, congratulations, how does it feel to be 'rich'?)

Think it'll come from 'big business'? Hah. Take a look at the chart here. The automotive industry in the US - the Big Three - loses money on each car they sell due to the costs of supporting the union wages and the retired union workers. And THEY'RE begging for their own bailout, above the money they've already been promised. What industry is supposed to pay the extra so all the goodies Obama promised can be given out?

(Yeah, the old joke comes to mind - what they lose on each individual car, they make up in volume. Humorous, but not exactly practical.)

Interesting times ahead, to be sure. I don't think we're going to enjoy them much, though...

J.

FOXNews.com - Oregon Woman Loses $400,000 to Nigerian E-Mail Scam - Science News | Science & Technology | Technology News

SWEET HOME, Ore. — An Oregon woman who is out $400,000 after falling for a well-known Internet scam says she wasn't a sucker or an easy mark.

Janella Spears of Sweet Home says she simply became curious when she received an e-mail promising her $20.5 million if she would only help out a long-lost relative identified as J.B. Spears with a little money up front.

Spears told KATU-TV about the scammers' ability to identify her relative by name was persuasive.

"That's what got me to believe it," She said. "So, why wouldn't you send over $100?"

Right. Better not send her any emails about coastal shoreline property in Kansas...

J.

Editorial - Pass the Colombian Trade Pact - NYTimes.com

We don’t say it all that often, but President Bush is right: Congress should pass the Colombian free-trade agreement now.

Mr. Bush signed the deal two years ago. The Democratic majority in Congress has refused to approve it out of a legitimate concern over the state of human rights in Colombia and less legitimate desires to pander to organized labor or deny Mr. Bush a foreign policy win.

We believe that the trade pact would be good for America’s economy and workers. Rejecting it would send a dismal message to allies the world over that the United States is an unreliable partner and, despite all that it preaches, does not really believe in opening markets to trade. There is no more time to waste. If the lame-duck Congress does not approve the trade pact this year, prospects would dim considerably since it would lose the cover of the rule (formerly known as fast track) that provides for an up-or-down, no-amendment vote.

But they're right. Columbia's been our 'friend' in the region for quite a while, and they deserve this. The objections the Dems keep coming up with look transparently false, compared to the other countries they keep trying to promote.

Sometimes you'd think they'd rather see the country hamstrung than allow Bush any sort of credit. Funny how the NYTimes can actually see this...

J.

With all the talk about giving GM an addtional $25 bil to keep doing what they've been doing, this little strip comes to mind regarding union stubborness.

Schlock Mercenary archives - Tuesday, June 19, 2001

Don't get me wrong - the unions did a lot of good work FOR this country... at one time. Now? They've changed from a beneficial symbiote to a dangerous parasite, and they're killing their hosts...

Can it be changed? Of course - but it'll require trimming back the amount the parasite consumes so the host can recover, and I don't see THAT happening voluntarily.

J.

Пожалуйста используйте английскую язык. Я не одобрю комментарии от доменов .ru до тех пор пока вы не сделаете. Если комментарий нет о столбе блога, то это спам, и не будет одобрено.

спасибо!

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt

J.

Iran said to have enough nuclear fuel for one weapon - International Herald Tribune

Somehow, I doubt the Iranian physicists will be unable to cobble up the same sort of thing. Making a smaller 'implosion' device (as for plutonium) is a lot more difficult, and putting something like "Little Boy" together wouldn't require THAT much effort. The problem, of course, would be mounting it on a missile.

But why use a missile? Put it in the bowels of a freighter, send it close to Israel's shore, and light the fuse. Blast effects AND a tsunami-like wave would do considerable damage...

(The one real problem - uranium bombs aren't all THAT powerful. They could probably get the same effect (with a lot less fallout) by packing a tanker full of ANFO. Greater nominal yeild (100kt vs 10-20kt) at a lower cost...)

Admittedly it's not a nuke - but if you're going for sheer bang for the buck, you might want to consider it...

J.

It's simple.

I speak English. I read English. I don't speak Russian, or read Russian.

I won't approve your comments unless they're in English - even the fractured sort which comes from Babelfish.

So, to the 20+ folks who apparently spammed my blog leaving Russian messages that didn't get approved BECAUSE they were from the .RU domain, I'm sorry - but I won't approve them.

Use English.

Thank you.

J.

Pretty much all of them obscene...

Bloomberg.com: Exclusive

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government is prepared to provide more than $7.76 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers after guaranteeing $306 billion of Citigroup Inc. debt yesterday. The pledges, amounting to half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, are intended to rescue the financial system after the credit markets seized up 15 months ago.

$7.76 TRILLION. That's $25,886 for every PERSON in the US (figuring 300 million people). $59,692 for every FAMILY (figuring 130 million of those).

That'd make for one hell of a stimulus, wouldn't it?

J.

Since gas prices were down, and this week was a bit slack (in that I could take some time off without any problems, and the little guy was off school) I tripped the trigger on the road trip machine, and it started operating Friday. How was it all? It went well.

I picked up the little guy Friday afternoon - and he literally couldn't believe that we were actually going... but I think it DID sink in once we passed Chattanooga and it was starting to get dark. He had things to keep him busy - I'd hired him as my navigator, ($10 a day, plus room and board) and he was in charge of picking out the proper routing and keeping me going in the right direction, plus logging (via GPS) latitude, longitude, elevation, and speed every 15 minutes.

We made it a bit past Ft. Campbell, KY and stopped around 11 PM, then we were up about 6 and got on the road very shortly afterward. One quick stop at Scott AFB later, Aaron saw some snow flurries - and could barely contain his excitement. (Me? I spent 8 years in Wyoming, 7 in St. Louis. I could surpress my excitement with little trouble.)

We came over the rise in Caseyville, IL - and could see the Gateway Arch on the horizon. We made our way to the Riverfront, went up the Arch, did the obligatory tourist routine of going UP the Arch - and then back down to the Gift Shop (though the tram exit didn't funnel through the gift shop, we still went through it...)

There was a tourist helicopter setup near the arch - and the price wasn't QUITE what was on the side of the chopper. But Aaron went up for a quick circling ride... and came back with his smile going ear to ear.

Then we headed out to the St. Louis Science Center - which was quite a bit more extensive than the last time I was out there. We took our time, looking at the Ansari X-Prize exhibits, at the replica of Spaceship 1 on display in the lobby, and caugh their star show. There was an extensive "Space Station" setup on the upper levels, and we took our time going through that, looking at remote sensing equipment and microgravity experiments. It was WELL worth the time.

After that - I got lost. Well, not lost - but turned around. Kept trying to find my way back to I-64E, but couldn't locate an on-ramp for it. So we headed west, waiting on an exit that wasn't "Exit Only"... then swung onto I-170N via a detour. (To be fair, Mapquest warned that I-64 was seriously torn up...) I saw a road name I recognized, got off to look at the map (my navigator couldn't keep up with the task - but the map wasn't very clear) and figured out where we were.

Hey, it's been 35 years, okay? Lot of road changes have come and gone - but the general layout hasn't changed much. The area we used to live in was transitioning from rural to suburbs - there were still fields across the road that lead to our subdivision. But now? Serious housing - the fields are no more. The entire area feels very built-up, with business parks lining the road. The subdivision, however, hasn't changed much. Some trees aren't there, some bushes are a lot larger than they used to be, hedges are much shorter... and I'm talking about the yard in the old house.

It was fairly dark by then - so I turned around and stopped for a moment or two in front of the house. It looks a lot smaller now...

After that - I continued on to the elementary school I used to go to. That also was a lot smaller than I remembered, and a lot had changed on the playground. The swingsets and slides were gone - there was now a fence at the back so you couldn't get at the stream (possibly a drainage ditch) at the rear of the property. Well, you expect changes after 3 decades.

At that point, it was time to find dinner - and after extensive back-and-forthing we ended up at a Denny's over by the airport. They've got an interesting 'Prime Rib Sizzler' dish that was VERY good, and Aaron really liked the meatloaf. Then we headed east to the motel, and got some swimming in before we collapsed for the night.

On the way, we caught sight of a VERY interesting building - Lumiere Place Hotel - which apparently has a 'fin' made out of LEDs. It had a moving pattern on it which reminded me of the advertisements on the buildings in BladeRunner. (Click on Nov. 22, and check out the 7-8PM photos.) Cool, eh?

The next day we'd intended to go to the Science Center again, but ended up at a brewery. Aaron thought it'd be interesting to take the tour, so I obliged him... then we started looking for a Wolf Camera store. (You see, earlier in the week I'd promised him we'd go to a camera store so he could look at video cameras. I just didn't specify which city...) It took us a couple of hours, but we eventually found two of them - neither of which had what he was looking for. (For some reason, he's interested in pro-grade camera equipment. We're talking stuff like you see used on shows like "Dirty Jobs". Go figure.)

We had a snack in a local mall's food court, then caught a movie (Madagascar II) which was pretty decent. Then we headed back - we were both a bit tired, and were looking forward to an early start back.

The trip back was uneventful, with Aaron continuing the logging. We stopped at a McDonalds for lunch which I'd gotten some truely awful coffee at two days before - and as we walked in I smelled something pretty bad - it could have been elderly chicken or beef, I couldn't tell. We used the facilities and beat feet - if the inside of the place smelled like THAT, we weren't going to sample the food. The coffee had been barely drinkable - I wasn't going to give them a second chance.

A half hour east, and we stopped again. This place smelled okay, and the coffee was MUCH better. We proceeded eastward, through various bands of rain, and stopped at the TVA Kentucky Dam, and after a few minutes we kept going.

We got into town right about rush hour, in the rain, and met Sue and the inlaws for dinner. Aaron had a fine time telling what he'd seen... and now I'm wondering...

Where next - and when?

J.

For a hell of a lot, actually.

We've got a country where virtually everyone has flush toilets. Not everyone has such a luxury. Where electricity is common and reliable, where water supplies are safe and sewage removal doesn't even cross most people's mind.

We live in a country where your options are limited not by religion or caste or skin color - but by your own decisions. Not everyone is so lucky. Caste, religion, skin color - they cause a lot of strife around the world.

We live in a country where medical care is available, and the best in the world. Most emphatically NOT the situtation in a lot of the world - though some may point at the government-funded health care systems overseas, they carefully do NOT point at the failures of such systems.

We live in a country where every 4 or 8 years governmental power transfers occur PEACEFULLY. This is very much NOT the norm of human history, and only recently (within the last 300 years or so) something that happens in regularly. Can you imagine Europeans during the Middle Ages having their kings step down every 4 years and having the PEOPLE elect new ones?

We live in a country where freedom is taken so much for granted that some ridicule it, and would curtail it for political gain. Where speaking one's mind freely won't result in reprisals, whether you agree with the government or not. Where you can travel freely, without showing internal passports.

We live in a time where, on a whim, it's possible to take my son on a 500 mile trip for no good reason, and be back in three days - in a car that can easily handle hours on end going 70 miles an hour. Think of the advances in metallurgy and engineering that would enable automotive technology to go from a situation where only the REAL rich could afford cars, and you practically needed to have a dedicated mechanic to keep the thing running - to a point where you essentially ignore the car until IT tells you something is wrong. Cool, isn't it?

Where I can post my (mostly unread) thoughts on anything I want on an immaterial bulletin board somewhere in Europe (1and1 Hosting is based in Germany, I believe) and have it read by millions (okay, a scant dozen or two...) of people,

It is a world of amazing advances which would astound our forefathers. Of things which would be essentially magic. Look at the Arch. Look at the internet, piped clean water, safe food, electricity... Look at the highway system, for heaven's sake - it'd turn the Romans green with envy.

We live in a time where the sheer logistics of everyday life move goods and fluids by the gigaton on a daily basis. Where you can ship something to Austraila and have it there in a day or two, eat peaches that were grown in Greece and packed in Taiwan, buy clothing of material that was woven in one country and stitched in another - and you pay a pittance for something long-lasting and durable. We live in a country where starvation isn't a major worry - obesity is. How often has that been the case in human history?

We live in an age of wonders unimaginable, and we take them for granted until they're gone..

Be thankful for peace. Be thankful for prosperity unmatched in the history of the planet. Be thankful for friends and relations. There's a million, million miracles happening all around - be thankful for them.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

J.

Since my lovely bride got me a Halo-Edition XBox 360 last year, I've been thinking about replacing the 27" CRT based TV with a larger LCD screen - but I've been a bit uncertain about doing so. I've seem plenty of the things that had pictures which were pretty bad - though that was probably more due to lousy signals coming in than anything else. As such, I've been persuading myself we didn't need one...

And then it happened. Had the car over at a transmission place for servicing and wandered through a nearby Wal-Mart to while the time away... and stopped and watched the movie "CARS" on a rather nice Sanyo system. It was clear, sharp... and my eyes must have deceived me. On some of the scenes, was that a... reflection in the paint on Lightning McQueen? It was hard to tell - but from a couple of feet out, it sure looked like there were reflections in the paint, like a good and glossy wax job.

Nope - it wasn't a Blue-Ray player... Hmmm. Could be...

That was about 3-4 months ago. We've been saving up our dough since - and finally had enough to get it. (We decided early on - in fact, before the bailouts were announced, that this year anything large we got would be on a cash-only basis.) Of course, we checked out places like Brandsmart and such, just to make sure... and of course there were sets THERE that we drooled over. (Note to self - drool and LCD TVs don't mix.)

But - we went ahead and bought what we were aiming for - a 42" Sanyo 1080p LCD TV. And we got it from WalMart.

Now, some might thing we were crazy, buying something like this the day before Black Friday. (Actually, the evening before - we got it on the way back from Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's.) We figured that it wasn't worth braving the crowds over - the price wasn't going to go down. The Friday Door-buster 5AM special was a 42" 1080p Polaroid LCD TV, for considerably less - but I couldn't find hardly any reviews on it on-line. Better to pay more, and stay with what looked to be a better product... (Though some would have problems with Sanyo...)

Of course, I'm going to need some HDMI cables eventually - and I've got them on order from Amazon.com for $1.30 each. There wasn't any way I was going to pay retail for the things (I've got three ordered, and the price PLUS shipping is less than for one at WalMart) and there was no way I was going to pay what Monster wants for them. A digital signal either gets through or it doesn't - a diamond-encrusted connector won't make it work better - and for what Monster charges, they'd better be rolling 'em in diamond dust!

Tomorrow I go get the new cable box. We'll even be upgrading to a DVR along with the HD... woo-hoo!

J.

About the digital changeover.

Not any more. After getting the new hd-dvr cable box (well, the refurbished cable box...) the installation wasn't difficult. (Plug A1 goes into Socket A1, B1 goes into B1, A2 goes into A2, B2 to B2, repeat until you run out of wires) Turn the power on... and the picture is incredibly sharp. (Here I thought it was good with the old box!) And then we turned to the HD channels...

Wow.

Simply put - there's no real way to compare an LCD picture with a CRT as far as sharpness goes.

We've come a long way from the first LCD displays. So what will be the NEXT improvement on display quality?

J.