Jungle Jil

Apologies On Breach Of Blogging Etiquette

2011-12-23T14:33:00.002-05:00

I did something on this blog last night that I've never had to do in over 12 years of blogging:

I had to take down a blog post.

True: I have removed personal information from this blog when asked to before, but I have never had somebody tell me to take down an entire post simply because they were concerned what other readers might think of it (and me), and actually listened to them... especially when that post did not specifically mention the person asking me to take the post down... especially when I stood 100% behind the content and opinion expressed in that post.

But, you see, in mentioning the company I work for on this blog, I inadvertently tied the content of this blog to that company. Thus I inadvertently ceded some measure of editorial control of my blog over to my company in the process. So when my company "seriously recommended" I take a post down because of their concern that my opinion would be confused with their own, I really could not say no. It's my mistake and I have to live with it now.

So, to those people who will notice that a post that they had read previously is suddenly missing from the blog lineup, you have my apologies for breaking a cardinal rule of blogging. It was not voluntary, and it will not happen again...

But that is primarily because this blog is ending and a new one will be beginning. The new blog will not have my name on it, or Epril's name on it, or my company's name on it. It will not link to this blog, nor this blog to it. You'll probably find the new blog eventually... but you may not. Sorry, if you don't. But all good things must come to an end.

Sorry Ron Paul

2011-12-23T13:53:00.000-05:00

I've liked Ron Paul forever... or at least since 2007 when I first mentioned him on my blog. He's the only libertarian conservative running for the Republican nomination for President this year, the only constitutional literalist running for the Republican nomination for President this year. He may have some crazy thoughts regarding fiscal policy, but he played all the right social issue chords and role-of-government melodies with me.

I wouldn't vote for him anymore (though I would have before), because his fiscal policy is too severe a bludgeon in a time that requires more tact and gentle approaches to a shaky economy, but at least he is consistent. He is an old-school fiscal and governmental conservative with liberal views on society and government's need to stay out of it... just like me.

Unfortunately, he was at one point in time, a virulent, unabashed, dyed-in-the-wool racist, anti-Semite, homophobe, and conspiracy theorist of the highest tin-foil-hat-wearing order, and published all of those facts repeatedly in a regular personal newsletter. I knew it was sort of bad 4 years ago, and I figured: The guy's a bit of a kooky old man, allow him a few peccadilloes that he can deny and we can ignore if anyone ever asks. (If I had been more seriously examining him as a candidate, instead of just "pondering", I may have been a little serious about looking into the content of those "newsletters", but I wasn't, so I waffled on the racism stuff.)

But of course, now the newsletters are front and center... and they are bad. And now Ron Paul's denials are front and center... and they are weak.

Sorry Ron Paul. I gave you a whole heaping plateful of spaghetti-a-la-benefit-de-la-doubt and it was not nearly enough.

You no longer appear to me as a rough-edged old coot with a heart cast from American Gold Eagles, the hand-me-down spirit of John Jay, Adam Smith's blood, and Oakshott's tongue. Now I see a sad old politician trying to dodge reasonable questions, avoid responsibility, deny culpability... while at the same time (as we all deep down knew would happen), more newsletters with your signature on them are being discovered filled with ever-nastier white-supremacist content.

I'm sorry we can't find a better person to put your ideas in, because those ideas of yours... and those ideas alone... are worth something to this country. And the country will be all the poorer as nobody will appreciate those ideas because they are coming from the person who is Ron Paul.

Daily Report: On Her Way

2011-12-22T01:07:00.000-05:00

Epril finally (FINALLY) got her visa. No reason for the 1.5 month delay was given nor apology offered. I had actually called the office of my Congressmen, Mr. Buchanan, and they sent out an inquiry. Based on the timeframes of the visa's approval and delivery to my wife, I suspect that their inquiry was a day too late to have an effect — my terse e-mail demanding either action or explanation sent a week prior was more likely to have done it — but I must say Rep. Buchanan's staff... their instant involvement and knowledge of what to do and who to contact was exemplary, and I can say without hesitation that contacting your Congressman (something I had never done before) is a worthwhile undertaking when you have a problem such as I had.

That said, Epril will be here next Wednesday. Christmas is no longer in the cards, I am afraid. Epril got a whiff of 4 a.m. church services, lechon baboy, and candied spaghetti, and decided to stick around for "her last Christmas in The Philippines". (Actually it was her mother's request.)

Epril and her family really are approaching this as if it were the last time Epril would ever see The Philippines or her family again. Obviously that's not the case, and I'm sure that on some level, they realize it, but at the same time, there is some finality to the way they are all going about Epril's "final days".

(Seriously... she might even be there for Easter, guys.)

Anyway, Epril will be arriving next Wednesday afternoon in Florida. After that, we'll probably eat something really American and really fattening. Then we will probably just spend a quiet few weeks at home.

Oh... and driving lessons.

You Know The Republicans Have Lost It When...

2011-12-22T00:54:00.001-05:00

... when the most conservative newspaper in the country, The Wall Street Journal, has to come out and say the Republicans are idiots. And it's not even gentle or qualifying, like you would expect: The subtitle of the piece is "How did Republicans manage to lose the tax issue to Obama?" (And it gets more scathing from there.)

GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said a year ago that his main task in the 112th Congress was to make sure that President Obama would not be re-elected. Given how he and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest.

The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play.

... But now Republicans are drowning out that victory in the sounds of their circular firing squad. Already four GOP Senators have rejected the House position, and the political rout will only get worse.

After a year of the tea party House, Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats have had to make no major policy concessions beyond extending the Bush tax rates for two years. Mr. Obama is in a stronger re-election position today than he was a year ago, and the chances of Mr. McConnell becoming Majority Leader in 2013 are declining.

See? That's harsh coming from The Wall Street Journal.

It's true though. The other day, I said that the candidates in the Republican Presidential primary were giving Obama everything he needed to win without his lifting a finger to help or hinder. I suppose it is fair to mention that the rest of the Republican party is doing their part as well.

Light Bulb Companies Pissed Off

2011-12-19T23:11:00.001-05:00

My libertarian sensibilities were offended when I heard that the government was outlawing incandescent light bulbs. Turns out, I was just being suckered by Republican hyperbole. You see, "outlawing incandescent light bulbs" was actually President Bush signing a bill that required light bulbs to use 30% less electricity (for the same amount of lumens) by January 2012. The fact that most light bulb makers decided that this goal would best be met by switching over to the fluorescent light bulbs was simply a fact of expediency and simplicity. There are actually incandescent bulbs that use 30% less electricity for the same light, such as halogen bulbs, but they aren't as common in the market.

Of course, Republicans are still going on fighting the "outlawing of incandescent light bulbs" and are working hard to make sure that, come January 2012, not only is the light bulb requirement repealed, but ALL light bulb standards are repealed as well.

Which, of course, annoys the hell out of the people who make light bulbs, who have spent millions re-tooling all of their factories to meet the new standards and make the new format fluorescent bulbs. They not only see the Republican attempts to repeal the law as potentially undercutting them, causing them to have wasted all that money, but also opening up the market to any fly-by-night company who is able to coast in with cut-rate incandescent bulbs and make a killing. The light bulb manufacturers are imagining 25-cent light bulbs from China on shelves next to their 2-dollar bulbs that the government had insisted they develop.

(And of course, when the 25-cent light bulb burns your house down... well, that's another story entirely.)

Quick Thought

2011-12-19T19:39:00.002-05:00

President Obama's chances of reelection are approximately 100%.

About 25% of that probability comes from the Republican primary in which every candidate had to claim "I'm crazy like you" to the people who are going to vote them in the primaries.

About 25% of that probability comes from attack adds from Republican candidates pointing at each other saying, "He's not crazy like us" to the people who are going to vote for them in the primaries.

About 25% of that probability comes from the rest of the American public looking at the Republican candidates and concluding, "You're crazy based on all the crazy shit I've heard you say in the Republican Primaries."

The remaining probability comes from the fact that President Obama has not even cleared his throat yet to start the actual campaign, and you know he's no slouch as a candidate.

Like it or not: Four more years. Those endless debates where all the candidates stood up and tried to out-tea-party each other was the best thing Obama could ever have hoped for. For every "I'll bring the jobs back" line, there was an "I'll arrest all the activist judges" line. Every candidate who said that they would repeal "Obamacare" also said they would start a war with Iran.

Republicans this year forgot the most important rule in politics: The more a politician talks (not makes speeches... but talks: as in debates, interviews, et cetera), the more likely he will say something that will make it impossible for people to vote for him. Think about it: If Rick Perry had never said a single word, he would still be the front runner in this race. But look at him now. If Mitt Romney hadn't attended a single debate, he would probably be polling better than he does. Bachmann and Santorum have done nothing in their lives except say jaw-dropping crazy shit since they graduated from high school. And let's not even get started on Gingrich.

Anyway, I put Obama winning the coming election 57% to 43% of the total vote... 14 points... against Romney. 60% to 40% against any other candidate.

Typhoon Hits CDO, Hundreds Dead

2011-12-17T13:25:00.000-05:00

CDO has been pummeled by one of the first typhoons to make it over the mountains in decades, and the results are catastrophic.

Due to it's peculiar location, as you can see in the image below, which is a map of the eye of every typhoon to cross the Philippines in the last half century, CDO and Mindanao are rarely visited by big storms. Therefore when one does come through (even a small tropical storm, as this one named "Sendong" / "Washi" was), nobody is prepared, and the results can be hideous.

Anyway, I assume my wife is okay because I spoke with her yesterday afternoon after the worst had passed. I don't know about her family out in Jasaan though. The last time a big storm came through, their house was endangered. But I'll assume everything is alright since Epril made no mention of it.

However for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people who lost their lives yesterday, and all of their family and friends, the small size of this storm, or the rare path that it took will be of little comfort. Keep those poor souls in your thoughts.

UPDATE: BBC is reporting now 652 confirmed dead and 808 additional still missing.

Daily Report: Delayed

2011-12-10T15:20:00.001-05:00

Bad news: Epril won't be arriving on the 13th as hoped. Her visa has not yet been approved, and the soonest it could arrive in Epril's hands at this point is Monday morning... the time at which she was supposed to be getting on a plane to Manila. God damn. Now it is a day-by-day waiting situation, which is just ridiculous.

This whole visa application process has been one bullshit situation after another. First all of the paperwork that Epril mailed to me from The Philippines took almost 50 days to arrive. Next, the American government lost her entire visa package between the California Service Center and the New Hampshire National Visa Center for 2 months. Now, the American Embassy in Manila is taking over a month to approve her visa. All of these things should have taken days at most to accomplish... and instead my wife and I have been kept apart an additional 4 months total on what is essentially governmental idiocy. It would be a fucking joke if it wasn't so frustrating and upsetting: We've got rather important Christmas plans that might be spoiled.

So, I retain my long-term optimism... but in the short term, I really want to just climb into bed and wait for the "here and now" to go away.

I miss my wife.

The New Truth About Lying

2011-12-05T20:37:00.001-05:00

When Mitt Romney's campaign put out an anti-Obama advertisement in which Obama was accused of saying something damaging/stupid, when it was clearly evident (when the Romney campaign's dishonest editing was redacted) that Obama was quoting somebody else's damaging/stupid statement, Mitt Romney's campaign responded with the following statement (and no, this is not a joke):

“First of all, ads are propaganda by definition. We are in the persuasion business, the propaganda business…. Ads are agitprop…. Ads are about hyperbole, they are about editing. It’s ludicrous for them to say that an ad is taking something out of context…. All ads do that. They are manipulative pieces of persuasive art.”

Think about that for a minute: Mitt Romney's campaign is saying that ALL political ads are trying to get people to think bad things about the other guy, so there is no need for them to be true.

That should be repellent to any sensible person. It is degraded. It is mercenary. It is the Romney campaign proudly and shamelessly admitting to being morally bankrupt and willing to lie to achieve power.

Yes, I have had it pointed out to me before that shit like this has been going on since America was founded. Go ahead and state then that Romney's campaign is in keeping with the finest tradition of Tammany Hall, and therefore is just engaging in "politics as usual". Yeah... Let's welcome back the days of Boss Tweed. Just remember: As of now, Mitt Romney is a guy who is apparently willing to blatantly lie to the American people about even the simplest crap, like the content of a campaign ad, and admit laughingly to moral turpitude when called on it, and who wants to run a government that already has serious problems with transparency, civil rights, and moral balance.

You know that 25 years ago, something like this would have sunk a presidential campaign in a heartbeat. Now a disturbingly large idiot segment of the American population just yawns and ignores, forgets, or even cheers for it.

Interesting Story On Police Usage Of Force

2011-12-05T13:59:00.001-05:00

The Huffington Post has a very interesting (and disturbing) cover story today about the increased use of "SWAT" teams (with raids up from a few thousand per year nationwide 20 years ago, to well over 50,000 a year now) and the general use of unnecessary violence for all kinds of law enforcement activity. The author documents (with links) how SWAT teams were sent to all kinds of places where no potential for resistance would normally be considered... such as the house of a person who had defaulted on student loans, or the Gibson guitar factory (over suspicions of illegally imported wood), or even on a group of vacationing Tibetan monks who had overstayed their visas.

Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they're fighting a "war," and the consequences are predictable. ... [I]t has become routine to use force that is disproportionate to the laws the police are enforcing. Because it has happened gradually over the course of about 30 years, the public has become accustomed to it.

Today, SWAT teams are routinely deployed against people who pose little to no threat at all. It's hard to come up with a legitimate reason that the federal government needs to send heavily-armed, heavily-armored SWAT teams to raid medical marijuana clinics, for example. ... There's also little justification for sending SWAT teams to raid the offices of doctors accused of over-prescribing prescription painkillers, co-ops accused of selling unpasteurized milk, or for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to send paramilitary squads into businesses suspected of employing undocumented immigrants.

At the 2008 GOP Convention, police staged preemptive raids on the homes of possible protesters and rabble-rousers. There were mass arrests of protesters and journalists, few of which resulted in any actual charges. At the 2009 G20 summit in Pittsburgh, camouflage-clad cops deployed sound cannons and arrested protesters, students and even onlookers. This was not because they broke any actual laws, but on their potential to cause disruption.

In 2009, I wrote an article for the Daily Beast about the odd phenomenon of cops shooting dogs. In drug raids, killing the dogs in the targeted house is almost perfunctory. We also see stories about cops killing dogs while chasing suspects across the property of a third party, or killing a dog who growls at them after they were called to a house on an unrelated matter. ... The often cold reactions from police departments to these incidents also show a certain indifference to the people they are supposed to be serving -- again, more the way a soldier interacts with citizens in another country than as with a police officer serving his community.

The amount of force the government uses to uphold a given law is no longer determined only by the threat to public safety posed by the suspect. Now, it appears to give an indication of how serious the government is about the law being enforced. The DEA sends SWAT teams barreling into the offices of doctors accused of over-prescribing painkillers not because the doctors pose any real threat of violence, but because prescription drug abuse is a hot issue right now. The feds sent SWAT teams into marijuana dispensaries not because medicinal pot merchants are inherently dangerous people, but because officials believe the dispensaries are openly defying federal law. It is, to put it bluntly, a terror tactic. Sending a couple cops with a clipboard to hand out fines and shut down a dispensary doesn't convey a strong message. Sending a bunch of cops dressed like soldiers to point guns at dispensary owners and their customers certainly does. ... The amount force government authorities use, then, is no longer based not on what sort of threat a suspect poses to the government or those around him, but on the political implications of the laws being enforced. It isn't difficult to see how we get from here to pepper-spraying and beating peaceful protesters, particularly if the protesters are becoming a thorn in the side of politicians or are losing support from the public.

The author summarizes with a good point: Back in the 1990s, political conservatives were the ones decrying the excessive use of law enforcement firepower at Ruby Ridge, Waco Texas, and even in the Elian Gonzalez raid, while liberals were mainly silent. With the Occupy protesters now being targeted for excessive use of police violence, the Conservatives are nodding their heads in satisfaction and offering congratulations to the cops for a job well done. When the pendulum swings back again, and it becomes Tea Party activists being beaten by police for waving guns around at a political rally, or it is Christians protesting gay marriage who are pepper sprayed because they were "outside of a protest zone", or abortion protesters who are tasered for blocking a sidewalk... will those same congratulations offered before still be forthcoming? Somehow I doubt it.

Daily Report: Another Update

2011-11-28T13:23:00.001-05:00

Yeah... sorry for waiting for more than a month for an update. Everything has been tossed up in the air and is spinning: a slow motion floating kaleidoscope of every detail of my life. All of us here are pretty certain that all of those things are going to land as a perfectly formed diamond-encrusted sculpture of joy and success, but watching and waiting for that to happen does not make it any easier.

Epril flew to Manila with her mother for a 3-day visit to get her health exam in the latter part of October. Then flew to Manila again with her mother for another 3-day visit for her embassy interview. That went great. She dropped off her passport on November 8th and was told that it would be shipped to her via a courier service. But that was almost 3 weeks ago, which seems like a long time to wait. I'm going to have to call the embassy in Manila tomorrow and see if I can find out what the problem is.

PeGreSol has been meeting with companies in Thailand and Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, as well as talking with Ukraine, Uganda, a couple of middle eastern countries, one South American company, and one very large American oil company. Now, we are at the stage of shipping out samples of FloWell to various corporate laboratories so that they can test the product themselves to make sure that not only will it work as advertised, but won't damage any of their equipment in the process. In December and early January, we should start performing our first field tests for clients (which will result in PeGreSol's first small commissions). Then, once the wellhead tests are done, each client/country will hopefully be expanding the use of FloWell by a factor of a thousand(s) and taking monthly shipments of that vast amount. After that, sales should increase exponentially on pretty much a weekly basis as more and more oil companies become aware that FloWell is being adopted industry-wide and rush to jump on the bandwagon.

I just can't stomach the wait! The transcription job is all but finished, as the pay rate there was deeply slashed at the end of summer. A job that used to pay me $75,000 a year; now I couldn't survive on what I make if I worked 60 hours a week at it (which I can't — not allowed and not nearly enough mental/spiritual desire). I'm barely making minimum wage really, though that is more a function of just not giving a shit about a job that used to be so great rather than the shockingly low pay rate that I have to work with. But honestly: Who the hell could be serious about a job that pays only 30% of what it used to pay (and is only getting worse), while looking forward to what in a few months should be a weekly income that is equal to my current annual salary? It is literally the same as busting your ass at McDonald's while waiting for your lottery check to arrive. Well, I'm doing it.

Epril should be arriving in Tampa on December 13th. Then a week later we will be driving up the East Coast to my mother's house in New York for Christmas. After that, we hope to visit New York City and possibly Washington DC. After the New Year, hopefully the money will have finally arrived to fund a trip to Thailand (both business and pleasure). Then after that it will be back to Florida to work on setting up a place for Epril and I to live.

But, as I said: Every single detail of everything I have mentioned above is currently "up in the air"... and I haven't the foggiest idea when any of the details are going to finalize themselves. Quite literally, if you ask me where I'm going to be at any given point in the future, I could not make a single promise, assurance, or assertion based on the current circumstances of my life.

Alabama Immigration Law Applied To Wrong Alien

2011-11-26T14:46:00.001-05:00

Apparently a police officer in Alabama didn't get the memo that the state's new immigration law is only to be applied to brown people with foreign accents: An executive of Mercedes Benz, visiting the local car factory his company operates there, was hauled off to jail after being unable to prove he was in the country legally at a roadside stop.

Obviously, the governor of Alabama was quite embarrassed and apologetic to the German auto company over the fact that the law actually was mistakenly applied to a respectable/white/desirable immigrant unable to immediately prove his legal status in Alabama on demand. (Fortunately, the Mercedes executive was released before the waterboarding was started, so no harm done.)

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T12:43:00.001-05:00

William Shatner shows us why he has been, is, and will continue to be the coolest guy in Hollywood: Watch as he pours all his energy and creativity into a fun little PSA for State Farm Insurance warning about improper use of turkey fryers. Seriously: Can you imagine any other actor rising so high by stooping so low?

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. Don't set yourselves on fire.

Ghandi Knew All This

2011-11-19T19:08:00.001-05:00

Throughout history, all around the world, if you ever needed to figure out which side of an issue the history books would eventually determine was the correct side of the issue to be on... it has always been on the side of the issue for which peacefully protesting, nonviolent people are pepper-sprayed, tasered, attack-dogged, fire-hosed, lynched, or murdered by law enforcement.

Seriously: Has there ever been a moment in modern history where state/official violence was unleased upon nonviolent protesters... and whatever it was that the protesters were protesting was eventually proven wrong? I can't think of any.

There should be a logical truism like Godwin's Law that states, "As soon as you can get the police to beat on you while you are engaging in nonviolent protest, you automatically win the protest."

A Republican-To-English Translation Aid

2011-10-24T22:57:00.000-04:00

Heh.

Liberal: A person who should be rounded up and shot but not really.
Marxism: A political and economic philosophy developed by Karl Marx and promulgated by Paul Krugman.
Media (Mainstream): Where you won't hear things.
Medicare: A fraudulent, socialistic boondoggle that is sacrosanct.
Mexicans: Brown people who have it coming.
Mountaintops: Ancient rock formations that have it coming.
Muslims: Brown people who have it coming.
News: Fox News
Obamacare: A Federally-mandated policy to address the national oversupply of grandparents through euthanasia.
Organic: Eaten by lesbians.
Party (Tea): A grass-roots movement of patriotic Americans fighting for the principle of "No Taxation With Representation."
Poll: A survey used to determine, to within a margin of error, what percentage of Americans are right.
Poverty: The condition of having inadequate financial or material resources due to not trying hard enough.
Propaganda: The politically motivated dissemination of biased information, opinion, or data through its publication in the New York Times.
Punishment (Capital): The legally authorized killing by the State of someone who is definitely guilty.
Racism: A form of discrimination that typically happens in reverse.
Regulation: Rules issued by a government agency for no reason.
Ronald Reagan: A fictional character based loosely on President Ronald Reagan.
Scientist: A person who employs a rigorous system of observation, experiment, measurement, and verification to perpetuate his Godless left-wing agenda.
Social Security: A redistributionist Ponzi scheme that is sacrosanct.
Socialism: An economic system invented by FDR.
Taxes: Levies imposed by the government that raise more revenue the lower they are.
Torture: A method of interrogation that does not rise to the level of torture.

More where that came from when you click on the link.

The 6 Lies About The Economy Republicans Tell

2011-10-24T03:17:00.000-04:00

Kevin Drum at Mother Jones sums up 6 fundamental lies about the economy that are demonstrably false.

I'll force you to click on the link to see why and how they are false (mostly actual data, studies, and historical facts), but I will summarize them here:

LIE #1: The stimulus failed. SUMMARY: It was too little, too late, but the people's whose opinions actually matter all agree it stopped an economic disaster. See "Mistake of 1937" for what not to do, and why we are repeating it.

LIE #2: The deficit is our biggest problem right now. SUMMARY: With T bond interest rates near 0%, trust in America's ability to pay debts has never been higher. Long term, yes, it's a problem. Short term, worry about the economy.

LIE #3: Lower taxes are the best way to grow the economy. SUMMARY: No historical correlation to prove that is the case. Last time taxes were raised (under Clinton), economy surged ahead. Last time taxes were cut (under Bush), economy stagnated.

LIE #4: Regulatory uncertainty is clogging the economy. SUMMARY: No business owner who was asked agreed with that fact. And, current administration has not been active at all in ramping up regulations in the business sector anyway.

LIE #5: Obama is debasing the dollar. SUMMARY: "Printing money" had no effect on dollar value. Exchange rates prove that. (And, we should wish the dollar value would collapse, because the value of American exports would increase.)

LIE #6: If you unshackle the rich, they'll rev up the economy. SUMMARY: Rich people are more rich now than ever before and corporate profits are at record levels, but they are waiting for economic improvement to invest in or expand their business ventures.

Self-Driving Cars Are Here... Quite Soon

2011-10-24T01:20:00.000-04:00

Based on what I'm seeing in this video with Google's driverless car program, we should see the first self-driving cars in showrooms in 2 or 3 years. Their prototype cars have driven over 100,000 miles with not a single incident. (Okay, one human driver incident.)

It's a pretty geeky 15-minute video, but completely fascinating for anybody who has been waiting for a true self-driving car. (And, just because it needs to be said: This driving is done on today's roads... no special futuristic road construction to instruct the driverless cars or anything.)

What this means is that we are fast approaching the moment in time when you can get into your car, program the destination, and then sit back and relax (preferably with a foot near the brake pedal... just in case) with a good book, video, or conversation. (And, the moment in time will arrive shortly after that when the first ticket for "driving while sleeping" will be issued.)

What "The 99%" Is Trying To Say

2011-10-22T12:33:00.000-04:00

Sometimes, you get an idea in your head that you cannot quite put into words. Then I read the "Open Letter To That 53% Guy", and it all suddenly became easy to explain.

The "53% Guy" is some otherwise-nameless young fellow who put up a picture of himself holding up a sign that said, "I am a former Marine. I work two jobs. I don’t have health insurance. I worked 60-70 hours a week for 8 years to pay my way through college. I haven’t had 4 consecutive days off in over 4 years. But I don’t blame Wall Street. Suck it up you whiners. I am the 53%. God bless the USA!"

In the open letter, the author finally stated what I had been trying to verbalize for a while:

Do you really want the bar set this high? Do you really want to live in a society where just getting by requires a person to hold down two jobs and work 60 to 70 hours a week? Is that your idea of the American Dream?

Look kid, I don’t want you to “get by” working two jobs and 60 to 70 hours a week. If you’re willing to put in that kind of effort, I want you to get rich. I want you to have a comprehensive healthcare plan. I want you vacationing in the Bahamas every couple of years, with your beautiful wife and healthy, happy kids. I want you rewarded for your hard work, and I want your exceptional effort to reap exceptional rewards. I want you to accumulate wealth and invest it in Wall Street. And I want you to make more money from those investments.

I understand that a prosperous America needs people with money to invest, and I’ve got no problem with that. All other things being equal, I want all the rich people to keep being rich. And clever financiers who find ways to get more money into the hands of promising entrepreneurs should be rewarded for their contributions as well.

I think Wall Street has an important job to do, I just don’t think they’ve been doing it. And I resent their sense of entitlement – their sense that they are special and deserve to be rewarded extravagantly even when they screw everything up.

Precisely.

The American middle class lifestyle is slowly being eroded away in order that our corporations become more profitable, more able to compete on the global stage. Look at my so-called "job" as a medical transcriptionist: I used to earn $40 an hour doing that work as recently as 5 years ago. Now, it pays less than half that. Why? For my company, it is because Indians can do my work more cheaply. Hospitals know this, and demand lower prices and force my company to slash wages, cut operating costs, and outsource work. In other areas of industry, skilled jobs and salaried positions are being replaced by semi-skilled or non-skilled hourly workers. (Do you see an MD doctor when you for a health checkup these days, or a physician assistant... or a nurse practicioner?) Other companies are streamlining production and improving efficiencies of workers without raising pay... or even paying them less (again, as with my company and its' "voice recognition" software).

Another quote from the "Open Letter":

Here’s how a liberal looks at it: a long time ago workers in this country realized that industrialization wasn’t making their lives better, but worse. The captains of industry were making a ton of money and living a merry life far away from the dirty, dangerous factories they owned, and far away from the even dirtier and more dangerous mines that fed raw materials to those factories.

The workers quickly decided that this arrangement didn’t work for them. If they were going to work as cogs in machines designed to build wealth for the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Carnegies, they wanted a cut. They wanted a share of the wealth that they were helping create. And that didn’t mean just more money; it meant a better quality of life. It meant reasonable hours and better working conditions.

We're going through something similar again: A new era of "improvements" in production whose benefits do not trickle down to the working class. It's generally unfair that this rising tide of technological know-how and improved production and management methods is decreasing prosperity, not increasing it.

And the question needs to be asked: Why make Wall Street the target of our anger? Did they cause this situation? Well, yes. They did. Another excellent thought regarding the anger directed at banks comes from a Washington Post opinion piece by Harold Meyerson:

Whence this fall — if not from grace (a state that few of us, and even fewer bankers, attain), then from the occasional decent opinion of humankind? At its root is the simple fact that the Wall Street banks over the past quarter-century have done none of the things that a financial sector should do. They have not helped preserve the thriving economy that America once enjoyed. They have not funded our boldest new companies. (That’s fallen to venture capitalists.) They haven’t provided the financing to maintain our infrastructure, nor ponied up the capital for manufacturing to modernize and grow here (as opposed to in China). Instead, they’ve grown fat on the credit they extended when Americans’ incomes stopped rising. They’ve grown plump on proprietary trading and by selling bad deals to suckers. (Citigroup, like Goldman before it, just agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to settle charges that it defrauded investors.)

The original J.P. Morgan was hardly a beloved figure. But in the course of attending to his business, he helped form the American economy. He consolidated railroads, cobbled together the companies that became U.S. Steel and General Electric. In pursuit of profit, he helped build the country. By no stretch of the imagination is that what today’s Wall Street is about. The country isn’t being built; no one’s been building it for the past 30 years. Wall Street’s interests are elsewhere, in realizing huge profits and bonuses for arbitrage and paper-swapping that has brought little but debt and ruin to the larger economy.

Again: Precisely. Remember back in the day when brokers and bankers invested in actual industries? Remember that other famous line from The Graduate? "One word: Plastics." Investors back then were all about emerging technologies and growing industries. Now everyone is involved in derivatives and futures and silly computer-generated everyone-wins investments that have no basis in the nuts-and-bolts reality of the business world. Now the only thing that attracts investors is proven and continued profit. Speculative investment in new areas has vanished. It's all just a game now among millionaires and billionaires — and politicians and CEOs — and the American middle class are disposable playing pieces.

And it was with that thought that I realized how to explain where we are at as a country: The return of the industrial era, where 99% of the American population is nothing more than a factor of production that can be squeezed and manipulated and used with as little care and consideration as the law will allow.

To quote one more time from the above-mentioned Open Letter, the fellow writes, "[T]he commitment we’ve made to the working class since the 1940s is something that we should both support and be willing to fight for, whether we are liberal or conservative. We should both be willing to fight for the American Dream. And we should agree that anybody trying to steal that dream from us is to be resisted, not defended."

More Republican Hypocrisy From The Daily Show

2011-10-19T17:25:00.002-04:00

John Stewart has some more fun, showing endless clips of Republican politicians urging Americans to "take to the streets", to "take our country back"... and then those same Republicans expressing concern about the Occupy Wall Street protests.

Deadly Indy Crash

2011-10-18T01:37:00.000-04:00

It does not get any worse or impressive than this. Prayers to the family of British driver Dan Wheldon who died.

Natural Disasters In US Over Time

2011-10-14T22:48:00.000-04:00

1980 to 2011, natural disasters in the United States

Red - seismologic (earthquakes / volcano)
Green - meteorologic (storms / blizzards)
Blue - hydrologic (floods / landslides)
Orange - climatologic (heat wave / drout / forest fire)

(Hat tip Sullivan.)

More Same Than Different On Some Issues

2011-10-12T19:05:00.000-04:00

Bad To Say, Even If It Is True?

2011-10-10T13:09:00.000-04:00

The U.S. Ambassador to The Philippines rubbed his host country the wrong way when he cited the statistic, "40% of male tourists come to The Philippines for sex."

I hate to say it, but... only 40%? Well, perhaps 40% of male tourists to the Philippines, when asked to list ALL the things that they plan to do while in The Philippines put "sex" as the #1 item, another 40% have it further down the list.

The final 20% are mongers from Thailand who are actually just taking a weekend break from all the sex they are having in Bangkok.

I Finally Figured Out What Republicans Are Doing

2011-10-09T21:34:00.000-04:00

I finally figured out why the Republicans are trying to roll back banking regulations to the way the regulations were right before the banking collapse; why they are trying to make it easier for corporations to ship jobs overseas, to pollute, to cut salaries, to cut corners; why they are making it harder for unions to bargain; why they favor health insurance company profits over patient care; why keeping taxes low for millionaires is more important than creating jobs for the unemployed. I've finally figured out why Republicans are blatantly working to increase the wealth of America's wealthy and improve the unbridled power of America's corporations at the expense of America's middle class on down.

The Republicans expect — as do I — that in the very near future, the world economy is going to collapse and the planet will enter a global depression of an unknowable-but-probably-catastrophic degree. Like it or not, what they are doing is putting as much wealth and power in the hands of as few Americans as possible before this disaster hits.

Why is this? Two simple reasons:

(1) With government spending cut as low as it can get... and taxes as low as they can get... and corporate and millionaires' income as high as it can get, and their investment coffers as full as they can get at the onset of this disaster, less American wealth will be frittered away on saving poor Americans from utter ruin, or be depleted by the massive swath of middle-class unemployed Americans using their life savings on day-to-day expenses.

Instead, that wealth can be used for the aggressive purchases of depressed foreign assets. The wealth can be used for the propping up of wealth-generating American assets that might otherwise flounder. The wealth can be used to give American business the financial ammunition (along with the free rein from legislative burdens) to fight against China and other countries' governments over resource allocation (food, fuel, and factors of production) and market share. The wealth will give corporate America what it needs to survive, and to emerge after the worst of the global economic collapse has passed in a stronger position than its competitors. The ability of America's largest corporations to survive in as free a market model as the Republicans can create will keep many more Americans employed than any government program could (although the collapse of small business in America will be a collateral result). America's corporate and personal wealth, in other words, will not have to be used to save "ordinary" Americans, but instead be used to preserve American corporations and American world economic dominance.

(2) The second reason is that when the American people start screaming, "Save me! Save me!", the American government (i.e. the Democrats, who will obviously be voted into power to enact some kind of modern New Deal) will (a) be too late to enact legislation/taxes to undo the massive "fortress of wealth" the Republicans have created, or (b) those same Democrats will see the logic in what the Republicans have done and might even join them in leaving the American middle class on down to weather the storm on their own while the "1%" keeps on accumulating and prospering.

In other words, Republicans are working hard to set up an economic/political system that will allow American economic hegemony to emerge victorious in the upcoming world financial/economic collapse at the expense of the American people.

So yes, like it or not, the Republicans are not worried about you, the "99%" — as the Occupy Wall Street people have come to call you. They do not care whether you have a job or not, or really if you even survive at all. They are only focused on America's long-term economic and geopolitical survival. I can't say, if — given the facts as the Republicans see them — I would disagree with the Republican plan, which I must say is a strong change of mindset from where I was before this realization. But I do think that America should be more concerned about its people's welfare than the Republicans are... or ever will be.

But, as I see it: There is my realization — stark in its truth and depressing in its consequences. Feel free to disagree if you want, but I personally do not see any other way to explain the otherwise-crazy shit that the Republicans are trying to accomplish and politically suicidal stands that they are trying to make... at least without just concluding that they are simply evil bastards, which I'm moderately inclined to think is probably wrong.

The Republicans are building a Noah's Ark for America... and you're not invited.

Daily Report: Update

2011-10-08T18:36:00.001-04:00

Epril's visa package is now in the American Embassy in Manila, and they have contacted her with the date for her interview: November 8th. In addition, she has her medical exam in Manila coming up on October 19th. Epril expects to receive her visa / green card on November 22nd, and we hope she will be in Florida by November 24th — Thanksgiving.

At worst, I'll be flying to Cagayan De Oro to help Epril pack, going to her Despidida party, and then bringing her back to America. Based on the money situation (still in flux) I may be leaving for The Philippines the day before Epril's interview on November 8th, or even the day before her medical exam, October 19th — though the 19th is quite unlikely at this point.

PeGreSol's first sales presentation will be around the same time, October 18th, and we should be getting our first set of general commitments from clients around then. (I had hoped that the first sales presentations would be this past week, but I am unfamiliar with how things work, and unaware of the logistics involved in getting a bunch of peripatetic oil executives in the same place at the same time. (UPDATE: Mike lets me know in the comments section, "The first seminar is on Thurs 13th in Brunei, the next on Mon 17th in Miri, KL Tue 18th and Kertih Wed 19th." I don't put up business details like that without permission... and I figure Mike's comment would represent that permission.)

But, PeGreSol has been contacted by several of the giants of the oil industry (both corporations and countries) and meetings with them will follow quickly on the heels of those clients scheduled later this month. Hopefully this Christmas will be of a sort Epril and I previously could only dream of.

In other news, Mom and Paul will be returning to Florida on the 26th of October. My cousin Paul and cousin Bobby from next door have both moved out of the house to embark on their respective futures. My piano playing is still coming along. My diet has sadly faltered over the last few weeks and I need to get back on track. The weather was glorious up until today when heavy cloud cover moved in. The season finales of both Doctor Who and Top Gear have come and gone and I don't have anything to look forward to on the television.

So I'm still waiting — rather impatiently I'm afraid. The days are starting to blur together though in a mind-numbing and meaningless light-outside-my-window/dark-outside-my-window asleep/awake process that is actually making the days go by much more quickly. So thank God for the doldrums, I suppose. I will be glad to see the doldrums go with news from PeGreSol that we have landed our first contract, but for now the doldrums are the anesthetic to my life's dreary and repetitive days, which are only there to measure the time between now... and then.

And now at least with Epril's Visa adventure finally drawing to a close, I have some definite thens to look forward to. I just need to get through these final nows.

Sarah Palin The Scammer

2011-10-08T08:25:00.001-04:00

John Stewart pieces together how Sarah Palin scammed lots of people: SarahPAC, which is in essence, Sarah Palin herself, sent out a mailer to her supporters that said literally, "Send in a donation to show how you support Sarah Palin running for President."

Then John Stewart first ran down the list of things that money donated to SarahPAC was spent on (including $10,000 to her parents for "signing cards") to show that the money was pissed away. Then he showed Sarah Palin's daughter back in June stating that Sarah Palin had already made up her mind about whether or not she would run for President.

In other words: Sarah Palin scammed people straight up; she used the "give me money and maybe I'll do something even though I've already decided not to" scam.

It truly amazes me that there are still people in this country who are obtuse and gullible enough to vote for this scumbag for President of the United States.

Comparison Taste: Glayva, Drambuie, Benedictine

2011-10-07T19:02:00.001-04:00

My friend Mike recently was extolling the "best liqueur in the world", an herb-infused scotch called "Glayva". Being rather familiar with the two other famous herb-infused concoctions, Drambuie and Bénédictine, I decided to buy a bottle of Glayva and do a side-by-side 3-way taste test.

First off, getting Glayva in America is frickin' hard. The number of places that stock this beverage is minimal. You might wind up having to order over the internet (and thus tacking on $10 or $15 to the cost of a bottle). Prices for Glayva are roughly the same as that of Drambuie and Benedictine: About $31 to $34 per 700 mL bottle.

1. Drambuie.

The principal taste of Drambuie is its scotch foundation, with the common alcoholic tingling and oak bouquet of the breed. Following this is a combination of honey wrapped around licorice/anise. Finally, as the alcoholic scotch tang settles, a gentle waft of spices, like opening your mother's spice cabinet, comes to the fore, and your mouth is warmed. It's not subtle or mild (but only in a way that foreshadows what I am going to say about the other 2 brands featured), but it is a fantastically friendly drink without a kick or harshness to it.

2. Glayva.

In comparison to Drambuie, the scotch foundation has disappeared completely. The mild alcohol twang is about 75% of the previous, and it comes after the honey flavor instead of in front of it as in the previous, and the nip of licorice is replaced with a comfortable, fruity accent to the honey. The range of spice flavor at the back end trends slightly more toward a dusky and smoky "French boulangerie" than the Drambuie's bright "Italian kitchen" range. Glayva is much more a liqueur while Drambuie is more a fortified scotch.

3. Bénédictine.

Where Drambuie and Glayva hung the honey flavor up in the pole position, Benedictine has almost no honey flavor at all. No scotch flavor either. I've drank more Bénédictine than either of the other liqueurs, and I always think that the principal aspect of Bénédictine is "essence of pine tree with a background of French toast and an aftertaste of pepper." If I had to carry on with the "kitchen comparisons" that I used for the previous two liqueurs, it would be "Christmas hearth fire". It has about the same alcohol twang as the Glayva, and occupies the same beverage niche as Glayva as well.

Verdict.

All three of these drinks are excellent in their own way. Glayva and Bénédictine are much more closely related to each other than either is to the Drambuie, which really stands as a separate type of liqueur from the other two. Drambuie is best enjoyed alone with a cigar and a pair of slippers. Glayva and Bénédictine are best enjoyed at the dining room table after dinner with friends.

I consider Glayva and Bénédictine equals in terms of quality of taste. I personally find Bénédictine to have a more complex taste and if I had to make a choice between that or the Glayva, that would be it. But that is merely a personal preference between two excellent, competing beverages. Neither will ever be boring, common, or comparable to any other liqueur on earth. I only wish Glayva were sold in more places in America so that it could get the attention and exposure it deserves.

Farangs Will Realize It's Not A Joke But Still Laugh

2011-10-06T19:47:00.000-04:00

There are Thai minds that really function at this level, especially male Thai minds, especially when drunk — which is often.

Thai man kills friend in Russian roulette

A 23-year-old Thai man has been arrested on murder charges after winning a game of Russian roulette with his friend, who was asleep at the time.

Ponthep told police he was still drinking on Sunday morning while his two friends, Sanchai and Ton, slept.

Seeing a pistol in Sanchai's belt, Ponthep decided to play a game of Russian roulette with his sleeping friend. He removed all the bullets but one, held it to his own head and fired. Nothing happened.

Ponthep then held the gun to the sleeping Sanchai's head and fired, putting a bullet through his skull and killing him instantly.

"Ponthep said he was shocked by what happened. He threw the gun away and ran home, where we found him," Uthai district police superintendent Thanaporn Pohthisuk said.

It was back when I first arrived to Thailand, when a British friend of mine told me that his gardener had got out a pair of shears and cut the garden hose in half to make the water come out twice as fast, that I realized that Thai people are pretty much capable of any thought, and acting upon that thought, no matter how ridiculous. A very good thing to know if you ever plan on living in Thailand: Don't just expect the unexpected... but expect the unimaginable.

Thailand is truly the world capital of Darwin Award candidates.

(And no, I don't think it was just a murder. I'm totally able to believe the fact that a drunk Thai guy actually played Russian Roulette with his sleeping friend. If you don't believe it, you just have not lived in Thailand long enough.)

America's Most Dangerous / Safest Cities

2011-10-05T20:15:00.000-04:00

America's 25 most dangerous cities (highest violent crime per capita):

Flint, MI.
Detroit, MI.
St. Louis, MO.
New Haven, CT.
Memphis, TN.
Oakland, CA.
Little Rock, AR.
Baltimore, MD.
Rockford, IL.
Stockton, CA.
Buffalo, NY.
Springfield, MA.
Cleveland, OH.
Hartford, CT.
Washington, DC.
Springfield, IL.
Philadelphia, PA.
Lowell, MA.
Richmond, CA.
St. Petersburg, FL.
Nashville, TN.
Kansas City, MO.
Miami, FL
Lansing, MI.
Elizabeth, NJ.

Americas 13 safest cities (lowest violent crime per capita):

Irvine, CA.
Temecula, CA.
Cary, NC.
Murietta, CA.
Gilbert, AZ.
Round Rock, TX.
Frisco, TX.
Simi Valley, CA.
Bellevue, WA.
Orange, CA.
Amherst Town, NY.
Thousand Oaks, CA.
Surprise, AZ.

Niggerhead: It's Not Uncommon

2011-10-04T13:51:00.000-04:00

Presidential candidate Rick Perry is getting a lot of heat for having had a ranch (inherited from his father, name changed decades ago) called "Niggerhead".

Simple fact is, "Niggerhead" used to be thrown around quite a bit. Andrew Sullivan's readers wrote in regarding all the different examples of "Niggerhead" that they knew of from the past:

It used to refer to the flower more commonly known as a black-eyed Susan (hence the name of Perry's ranch).
There was a shrimp brand by that name.
Types of coral and various rock formations were called that as well.
It was the name of a pond in Vermont and still is the name of a hill in Alaska.

So: In summary, much ado about nothing. Rick Perry's father bought Niggerhead Ranch back in the 1980s, and first thing he did was paint over the sign that named it so. Yes, obviously the word comes from people who were specifically thinking about black people when they said it, and it is obviously no longer an appropriate appellation in any use... except historically, as in this instance. But Rick Perry had nothing to do with the name given to the ranch before he (or his father) owned it, and his father had enough common sense (or, better yet: the knowledge that racism is wrong) to change the name. That's all he could do, and I consider the matter settled.

The Cleverest Thing Ever

2011-10-04T12:10:00.002-04:00

Conservative pundits were having fits last month after they (mis)read Michelle Obama's lips at a September 11 Memorial event, and claimed she was saying derogatory things about the American flag. As always happens, some creative mind with a bit too much time, and wanting to add to their portfolio of creative works, comes up with the perfect response: a website dedicated to bad lip reading:

Actually, Congresswoman Bachman makes about the same amount of sense in this video as she does in her usual speeches. ("Tell her I'll break a tree root up in her shrimp." "Jackpot Fishy Poopy-Pants!" Ah, pure genius.)

The Coolest Internet Thingy Ever

2011-10-03T20:04:00.002-04:00

Google Maps now has "fly-by" mode as part of its "get directions".

Step 1: Go to Google Maps
Step 2: Select "Get Directions".
Step 3: (I recommend:) Type in "San Francisco, CA" to "Danville, CA". (Lots of buildings and mountains to fly past.)
Step 4: Click on the "3D" button.
Step 5: (Important:) Click on the "Pause" button at the lower left hand corner of the map so that everything can load properly. You'll be loading a virtual version of every building, highway, and bridge in the Bay Area.
Step 6: Once it is loaded, let it fly. (Additional pauses may be necessary for people with slower internet connections.)
Step 7: Don't zoom around too much while paused (although you can): The program is still a bit buggy and may "kick you out" to a standard grey street map.

America Getting Results The Easy Way

2011-09-30T19:34:00.003-04:00

Some good points have been made regarding two recent "wins" against terrorism that made me stop and think.

First, the "death by drone" of this American guy, Al-Awlaki, in Yemen: What we DO know is that the guy was very vocal about fighting against America, hating America, jihad, and all that stuff. What we do NOT know is whether he ever got involved in what the intelligence community calls "operational actions" (e.g. plots, attacks, material aid) against America. What we may have witnessed was the American government assassinating an American citizen (no trial) for rhetoric that was, more or less, on the same level as the "God Hates Fags" people out of Kansas.

Glen Greenwald:

What's most striking about this is not that the U.S. Government has seized and exercised exactly the power the Fifth Amendment was designed to bar ("No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law"), and did so in a way that almost certainly violates core First Amendment protections (questions that will now never be decided in a court of law). What's most amazing is that its citizens will not merely refrain from objecting, but will stand and cheer the U.S. Government's new power to assassinate their fellow citizens, far from any battlefield, literally without a shred of due process from the U.S. Government.

Remember: Before you say "he had it coming", "he was a traitor", or he was "helping the terrorists with his words", consider the following scenario: A white supremecist leader in Appalachia is saying the same anti-American, take-up-arms, kill-kill-kill things to a crowd of angry white hillbillies as Al-Awlaki was saying to Muslims in Yemen. As the white supremecist finishes speaking, an army sniper from a building across the street shoots him through the head. That is the same thing — an assassination by the government of an American — with only a degree of jurisdiction as the difference.

Second, the arrest of the guy with the model airplanes wanting to load them with explosives and crash them into the capitol building. What we DO know is that pretty much every step the guy took was on a paving stone laid down by the FBI. What we do NOT know is whether this "would be terrorist" would have ever made it past the "contemplative" stage without FBI guidance.

"All for the best," is my thought: Anybody who will "step that far down the road" — whether that road is paved by the FBI or not — is, in my mind, a potential terrorist and a threat. But here is something I had not considered:

Julian Sanchez:

One possible motive for these elaborate and highly publicized stings is that, whether or not the particular people they indict would have moved from rage to action without prompting, the steady stream of news reports will eventually force any candidate for jihad to assume that an “Al Qaeda recruiter” who approaches them is much more likely to be an FBI informant or undercover agent than a genuine operative. That’s likely to make it much harder for any real recruiters who’ve gone undetected to rope in anyone savvy enough to be truly dangerous. In a haystack of 300 million people—or even 2.5 million Muslims—the government can’t possibly be confident it will be able to identify in advance all the particular needles who are really prepared to carry out an attack, rather than simply ranting online. They may have concluded that the next best thing is to create a climate of suspicion in which such people are unwilling to risk collaborating with others. That means that the scale and destructiveness of any attacks that do occur are more likely to be limited to what a lone individual can achieve.

Indeed. The FBI goes fishing for gullible-but-earnest zealots, lures them in, then splashes their spoiled "evil-genius plot" all over the news, and the really dangerous people who are smart enough not to talk to FBI agents about their plans, may slink back down under their rocks and stay there.

The Most Helpful Kitchen Hint I've Ever Seen

2011-09-29T00:22:00.001-04:00

How to peel an entire head of garlic in under 10 seconds.

This works so well I almost think they are playing a joke on us. I'm making chicken soup tomorrow, and I'll give it a try.

How To Succeed In Life

2011-09-26T22:00:00.000-04:00

Find one thing to do, and do it better than anybody else.

Daily Report: Looking Forward

2011-09-25T15:17:00.002-04:00

Blogger redesigned the entire appearance of its blog publishing software. I suspect my mother will have a fit trying to get used to it. Best of luck, Mom.

It's a gray, rainy day here in Florida again. It was actually nice for about a week, but now it's gone wrong again.

Epril's visa was approved on September 22, approximately 8 months after first mailing it in. Now the government has put Epril's visa application in the mail (where they had previously lost it for 2 months, June and July — fingers crossed this time) to send it to the American Embassy in Manila, who will then contact Epril with the date of her interview. Epril will go to the interview, then she will wait a couple of weeks for her green card, and then she will be getting on a plane to come to America.

But wait; there's more.

This coming week is the real, official beginning of my company's sales efforts, where hands shake hands, samples are tested, presentations are made, and promises are delivered. Over the next 5 days, people from PeGreSol will be scattered to 4 different locations in 3 different countries in Southeast Asia talking with oil companies about setting up contracts to sell them the product that will provide them wax-free oil wells.

Assuming that we get just one contract out of the four (though I am certain we will get all of them, and we are expecting hundreds, if not thousands, of additional contracts), I'll be buying a plane ticket as soon as possible to The Philippines and going to pick up Epril. Then we will be flying to Thailand, where we will be renting a house in Pattaya (Maid Go is even available to clean and cook). There, we will stay and wait for Epril's embassy interview in Manila, having fun with all of our old friends, and working hard at getting PeGreSol moving to supersonic speeds. Then we will return to The Philippines for Epril's embassy interview. After that, we will have a couple of weeks to wait around in Cagayan De Oro until Epril's green card is received, getting Epril packed, and again having fun with all of our old friends. Then we will throw the biggest despidida (going away) party The Philippines has ever seen for Epril once the green card is received. Then Epril and I will finally fly to America together. We will be renting a nice house in Sarasota: So we'll have houses in both Pattaya and Sarasota, and we'll spend part of the year in each place.

So over the next 5 days especially, I wish good luck to my business partners and our global sales crew. Hopefully by the end of this week, I'll be able to give my beloved wife the second-best anniversary present I could give her: The date of my impending arrival.

Possibly The Most Important News In Years

2011-09-23T20:15:00.003-04:00

Seriously. It is not often that one of the fundamental laws of the universe as we know it is broken.

While studying neutrino oscillations — where particles shift from one type of subatomic particle (muon-neutrinos) to another (tau-neutrinos) — scientists clocked a beam of muon-neutrinos outpacing the aforesaid ray of light by 60 nanoseconds.

In other words, scientists at CERN think (think, mind you) that they just witnessed something moving faster than the speed of light, which everybody believed (most notably Einstein) was simply not possible.

Oh. A month later and... never mind.

An Interesting Chart

2011-09-23T19:56:00.002-04:00

How To Improve The Educational System

2011-09-20T12:13:00.004-04:00

Surprisingly, spending more money on education is not the most important thing, according to the Economist. The main conclusion of the article seems to be "diversity of approach": Try as many different educational formats as possible and build upon what works best. Oh... and of course, the obvious: Good teachers. Oh... and of course, the also obvious: Good parents.

Here are the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) educational rankings by country for 2008.

Define Irony

2011-09-16T23:07:00.004-04:00

How about the man who literally defines himself by his take-no-prisoners, budge-not-an-inch, stick-to-the-guns approach to policy making writing this?

Republicans Corner "Creepy Political Party" Vibe

2011-09-13T15:27:00.014-04:00

It's true, ya know.

In the ~~first~~ September 6th Republican Presidential Primary Debate, the crowd of Republican supporters gave the biggest cheers of the night (the biggest cheers, not just "cheers", but the biggest cheers of the night) with regard to the fact that Candidate Governor Rick Perry had "executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times."

I support the death penalty, but I certainly do not get politically orgasmic over it, and it just surprises me that there are people who not just DO get politically orgasmic over it, but it is literally their biggest political erogenous zone.

In the ~~second~~ September 12th Republican Presidential Primary Debate, the crowd of Republican supporters gave further cheers for the concept of letting people without health insurance die.

While I don't believe that people with emergency medical situations should be refused care because of inability to pay "up front", I do believe that people with chronic medical conditions who do not have insurance should not be treated until they get insurance (yes: even government-provided insurance if/when possible). But again: Cheering and clapping about the prospect of somebody dying in America due to being denied medical assistance? Again: What kind of angry, heartless people do that?

I just could not be a part of a political organization that thinks in those terms. I fully condone the necessary evils that the American version of freedom, responsibility, and citizenship require, but I sure as shit don't clap about those necessary evils and I sure as shit wouldn't support any political movement that actually celebrates them... especially when they think they are God's Greatest Christians (cheer for killing, clap for death) at the same time.

UPDATE:

Andrew Sullivan says more or less the same thing:

Of course, even if such libertarian purity does make sense, that cannot excuse the emotional response to the issue in the crowd last night. Maybe a tragedy like the death of a feckless twentysomething is inevitable if we are to restrain healthcare costs. But it is still a tragedy. It is not something a decent person cheers. Similarly the execution of hundreds, while perhaps defensible politically and even morally (although I differ), is nonetheless a brutal, awful business. You don't delight in it. And the same is true of torture. Even if you want to defend its use in limited circumstances, it remains an absolute evil, no humane person would want to do it, and no civilized person would brag of it or dismiss any moral issue with it at all. And yet that is what Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney have repeatedly done. They are positively proud of their torture record. The fish rotted from the head down. Last night, we got a whiff of the smell.

When I Can Afford It, I'll Get One

2011-09-12T12:14:00.008-04:00

I just adore the look of this car, the Fisker Karma, a hybrid sedan (similar to the Nissan Leaf in that the only thing the gasoline engine powers is an electric generator while the only thing powering the wheels are electric engines) designed and built in America. Close to 100 miles per gallon equivalent, they say.

It really is the prettiest 4-door car I've ever seen: A blend of American muscle car and European sedan. A true design triumph that takes the standard sedan shape in a beautiful new direction. No wonder too: Mr. Fisker, according to the article in Car And Driver, "designed the BMW Z8 and the Aston Martin DB9 and V-8 Vantage", which are among the world's most beautiful cars.

What's next? I hear from Autoblog that a bit of a redesign is taking place, where the back end is going to get lifted up a bit to form more of a "flying brake" shape (think "station wagon") similar to the new 4-seater Ferarri FF.

UPDATE:

Here is the updated version, called the "Fisker Surf Shooting Brake"... even nicer! Well, I think I would have liked a bit more of a "hatchback", rounded rear than this (again, like the Ferrari FF), but it is still just a gorgeous piece of automotive art.

P.S. Since I've mentioned the Ferrari FF a couple of times, and not many people are familiar with Ferrari's new 4-seater coupé, here is a photo:

Best Thing I've Watched In A While

2011-09-11T13:21:00.002-04:00

Watch in order. These kids take a while to get their trick right... but when they do...

No, Really I Can

2011-09-10T19:20:00.005-04:00

I promised you video of me playing piano, and here it is.

Sorry about the sound quality. First generation electronic piano, little microphone on my netbook, and fingers that haven't touched a piano in 17 years combine for a suboptimal listening experience.

And no... nobody is calling you on Skype. That is my Skype ringing while I'm playing.

"The Self-Fulfilling Crisis Is On"

2011-09-10T11:44:00.003-04:00

When a nobel-prize winning economist comes on and says, in effect, "There it is. That was the bad sign that we've been waiting for. It just happened today." Then you know we're in deep.

Did the euro just enter its death throes?

By resigning from the ECB, Juergen Stark has conveyed, deliberately or not, the message that there will be no ... lender of last resort, that there isn’t enough political cohesion in the eurozone to stand behind countries under market attack. And this translates directly into soaring spreads for Spain and Italy; the self-fulfilling crisis is on.

My Wife Is Beautiful

2011-09-07T18:29:00.003-04:00

Daily Report: Waiting

2011-09-06T16:10:00.013-04:00

It's been terrible weather here in Florida: Rain and clouds almost all day, every day, since I got back from New York. Uncle Bob says this happens this time every year.

I quit smoking 4 months ago (and I was only smoking 1 or 2 cigarettes a day for a year leading up to that), but since stopping I've developed a bad cough... a big tickle in the back of my throat. Due to the times I cough (especially upon going outside), I've figured that somehow having stopped smoking made me more sensitive to breathing in stuff in the air. I bought some allergy medicine and that seems to control the cough.

Epril's visa is once again momentarily tripped up: The visa people didn't seem to care for the "official copy" of the marriage certificate I sent in, or the quality of the copy of the police clearance certificate either. Per instructions I got from the help line at the National Visa Center, I sent a "pretty please, look at it again" e-mail to the People Who Look At Things, and hopefully that will settle the issue. If not, I'll have to have new copies of the documents sent from Epril.

I've been practicing piano. I'm working on the 17th Chopin Prelude, Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique, and Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor (my old pieces that I was best known for playing). Hopefully I'll put up some videos of my playing on YouTube soon.

I'm now (along with my business partners) waiting on the first PeGreSol meetings with prospective clients, which are scheduled to start about 10 days from now. I'm so excited. FloWell is going to change the oil industry overnight... and certainly drastically change my life: Income from selling FloWell to only 2 (two!) oil wells on a regular basis would provide me enough to allow me to finally quit my transcription job. Mike is fully expecting us to supply FloWell to 20,000 oil wells in a very short period of time! Having my income increase by a factor of 10,000? I really just can't imagine it... but my fingers are so totally crossed, and I've even offered up a prayer or two.

By the way, here is why FloWell is so special (a description for the lay person): Imagine an oil well as a car. Every 45 days or so, your car's performance gets so bad that you have to take your car in to the repair shop, take the engine apart, clean out all the gunk that the dirty motor oil has left behind, put the engine back together, and put in new motor oil. If you don't do this, your car will eventually grind to a halt.

FloWell basically is a fluid that — while you are driving down the road — constantly drips into your car's engine, and stops any gunk from building up, and makes it so that your car never works less efficiently due to that gunk building up, and totally eliminates the cost associated with taking the car off the road and putting it in the repair shop to clean out that gunk.

So, in conclusion, FloWell is, as of now, the only product in the world that stops "gunk buildup" on oil wells as they are actively pumping oil.

Signs Amended With Amusing Graffiti

2011-09-06T16:03:00.002-04:00

This will provide you with half a dozen smiles at least.

Daily Report: Encounter

2011-09-03T17:05:00.010-04:00

I was out at the beach, wading back to shore in about navel-deep water. About 20 feet in front of me closer to the beach was a dark patch of underwater seaweed — of which there is not much on Florida beaches. Then I noticed that the patch of seaweed was being dragged towards me on the undertow, which was strange. In an instant, the dark patch was next to my hip, 8 feet long and as wide as the trunk of an oak tree... brown speckled skin: A manatee. He was past me before I could really react, and had swum on to visit a couple of people standing 20 feet further out. (I had just enough time to shout, "Hey, a manatee is heading for you!") His big snout came up in front of them for a few seconds, then submerged again, and his big rear flipper made a splash out out of the water, and he was gone.

Because I have a lot of readers from other countries who might not know what a manatee is, here is a video below. A manatee is a water mammal, sort of like a gentle walrus. They are vegetarians and hang out normally in canals and inlets where there is underwater vegetation and the water is a bit warmer. Cousin Paul says that they are friendly and curious, and will come up and visit with humans who venture into their habitat (or vice versa, as happened wtih me). However, they are a protected species in Florida, and messing around with them (or chasing after them, especially in water craft) is strictly prohibited.

Another Anti-Gay Gay Republican

2011-08-30T19:35:00.004-04:00

The vocally anti-gay Republican Senator from Puerto Rico just resigned from office after he put a photo of his culo (his actual culo... not his culo generally, but his culo proctologically) on a gay dating website.

As Dan Savage said, "Shouldn't homophobic politicians and anti-gay bullies be presumed to be gay until they get caught up in a straight sex scandal?"

So true: As I've documented before, the louder a politician/preacher speaks out against homosexuality, the more likely it is that he is secretly speaking out against his own personal demons.

And just because it bears repeating: I don't have a problem with closeted gay politicians/preachers, only the hypocritical anti-gay closeted gay politicians/preachers.

Daily Report: The Biggest News

2011-08-30T16:35:00.006-04:00

It's been a hectic 2 months, to put it mildly. Then I threw in a trip to New York to visit my family on top of it.

About the biggest news, I can't go into much detail at the moment but here is a general overview: I own 25% of a company that is the sales arm of a parent company that has created a product that is going to be purchased and used regularly for maintenance on every oil well on the planet.

Literally: If the sales of this product turn out to be only one percent of what my partners and I are expecting, my share of the commission from that one percent alone would still be 10 times more than the most I've ever earned before. It's that big.

That's it for now: Have to get back to work.

UPDATE:

My business partner in the comments section says to go ahead and spread the word.

So: If you own or manage an oil well and want to eliminate your paraffin buildup (and want to avoid it in the future), contact PeGreSol and we'll be happy to introduce you to FloWell, the newest in wax remediation technology: Not only is it the first nontoxic and nonflammable such treatment, but it works remarkably better than any previous wax remediation products.

Love This Photo

2011-08-27T19:29:00.003-04:00

I'm back in Florida now, having flown right past the hurricane as it was making landfall in North Carolina. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this hurricane's threat to Manhattan is a bit overstated. I doubt that the storm surge will reach street level in the financial district. We'll see.

Photo credit to Talking Points Memo... and whoever they are giving credit to.

Daily Report: Mostly Baby Photos

2011-08-16T20:50:00.008-04:00

My sister and her son Vincent and daughter Evie enjoying the pool at Watkins Glen State Park.

Evie having fun out on the grass in the back yard.

Evie is always exploring.

Campfire time in the great woods out behind the house.

Marshmallows for everybody.

Parents Hood

2011-08-16T12:27:00.002-04:00

Youngun

2011-08-08T23:09:00.003-04:00

25 years ago...

... and I haven't changed a bit.

Food For Thought

2011-08-06T14:12:00.002-04:00

For some reason, this chart does not include the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit that President Bush added on as well, which was $1.2 trillion.

Daily Report: Random Photos Posted

2011-08-06T13:31:00.006-04:00

With life being as slow and uneventful (yet hectic — but not worth writing about) as it is, little moments in time don't get written about on this blog and instead get set on the shelf where they accumulate until they create a large enough conglomeration of "unmentioned things" to warrant a mention here as a whole. (Or at least, that's what seems to have happened, since you are reading this.)

ANGRY BIRDS: These huge menacing turkey buzzards were hanging around outside on my patio waiting to hurt somebody, I think.

OLD FOLKS SWIMMING: My community's pool on a not-so-clear-and-bright day. There is a very pretty lake behind it, and a nice hot tub for soaking before taking a dip in the cool water.

KING KONG MUTT: My cousin Jonathan's giant dog (look at my toes for size comparison), Tank, came for a visit. He's a big ol' galoot who, as my uncle describes him is "friend to all, enemy to none." My cousin Paul describes him as "an oversized gerbil."

FREE POOL TABLES: The bar where I go to play pool. Like I mentioned: It is free to play as long as you buy a beer... and beer is always $2 (80 pisos, 60 baht) a pint... except for happy hour when it is 50 cents (20 pisos, 15 baht) a pint.

MY PRECIOUS(ES): I got my pool cues shipped from The Philippines, where I had left them. My prized possessions. The McDermott on the left has barely held it's value since I bought it in 1998. The Longoni, not so much, but it is still my favorite of the two.

YOUNG FOLKS SWIMMING: The local beach by my house: The water is always a beautiful temperature, it's quiet without any boats or cars nearby to make noise. There is not a speck of refuse anywhere. I wade out up to my chest, and then jog in the water down the length of the beach and back — easier on my joints, more strenuous my my muscles.

An Idea I Can Get Behind

2011-08-03T13:28:00.006-04:00

About time:

If you publish a blatant lie about a candidate during a political campaign, that candidate should be able to sue you for slander and defamation.

This should happen far more often:

A federal judge in Ohio said Monday that the Affordable Care Act does not provide for taxpayer funding for abortion. The statement was the cornerstone of the judge’s ruling to allow a defamation lawsuit brought against the Susan B. Anthony List by a former congressman to move forward.

Former Ohio Representative Steve Driehaus sued the SBA List for defamation of character during the 2010 election cycle, when the anti-abortion group ran an ad campaign on the premise that Driehaus had voted for a bill "that includes taxpayer funding for abortion," in reference to Driehaus’s vote in favor of the ACA.

Dreihaus, an anti-abortion Democrat, had initially filed a complaint with the Ohio Election Commission over a billboard that said he’d voted for "taxpayer funding for abortion." The OEC found probable cause that the statement was false, and the SBA List filed a complaint in federal court that its ads were based on the group's own interpretation of the law. The billboard was taken down but radio ads and flyers against Driehaus continued, according to court documents. Driehaus then countersued SBA List for defamation.

SBA List is ready to go to trial, stands by its statements and said the ruling "chills free speech."

Driehaus lost the election but Judge Timothy Black stated in a decision that the defamation lawsuit could move forward because "the express language of the PPACA does not provide for taxpayer funded abortion. That is a fact and it is clear on its face." SBA List’s request for summary judgment on the case was denied.

"It is a very big deal when a court says you can move forward against the 'malice' standard," said Paul DeMarco, Driehaus’s attoney. “This ruling allows us to go ahead with the next phase — discovery — where we believe we will find the SBA List either ignored the truth or purposely did not seek it out when making these claims."

"Free speech," my ass. The average person is not allowed to go around publishing blatant lies about other average people in this country; I hardly see how or why that rule should change when applied to political candidates.

You Can't Have Democracy And Freedom...

2011-08-02T17:24:00.005-04:00

... if you don't yet have a mastery of how to be human:

This month, a group of men spotted the couple riding together in a car, yanked them into the road and began to interrogate the boy and girl. Why were they together? What right had they? An angry crowd of 300 surged around them, calling them adulterers and demanding that they be stoned to death or hanged.

When security forces swooped in and rescued the couple, the mob’s anger exploded. They overwhelmed the local police, set fire to cars and stormed a police station six miles from the center of Herat, raising questions about the strength of law in a corner of western Afghanistan and in one of the first cities that has made the formal transition to Afghan-led security.

The riot, which lasted for hours, ended with one man dead, a police station charred and the two teenagers, Halima Mohammedi and her boyfriend, Rafi Mohammed, confined to juvenile prison. Officially, their fates lie in the hands of an unsteady legal system. But they face harsher judgments of family and community.

Ms. Mohammedi’s uncle visited her in jail to say she had shamed the family, and promised that they would kill her once she was released. Her father, an illiterate laborer who works in Iran, sorrowfully concurred. He cried during two visits to the jail, saying almost nothing to his daughter. Blood, he said, was perhaps the only way out.

“What we would ask is that the government should kill both of them,” said the father, Kher Mohammed.

Too many places in this world are not populated by people whose values qualify them for membership in humanity; why are we even wasting our time and resources trying?

Deal

2011-08-01T17:01:00.003-04:00

It looks as if the Congress may have finally reached a deal with the White House (I knew that Biden would be a good Vice President, as long as he didn't go out in public) to raise the debt limit and cut the budget.

I'm not happy with the precedent it set: The Republicans acted like a spoiled toddler, and treated this legislation like a bucket of toy blocks, grabbed it, and walked over to their side of the room and wouldn't consider letting anybody else play. Then the Democrats, playing the part of the wimpy kid, managed to cajole two or three single blocks from the Republicans to play with and somehow think to themselves... what?; that this is compromise?; reasonable?; success?; a recipe for future negotiations?

I'll be happy to tell the Democrats what this was: a tiny handful of hidebound Tea Party Republicans managing to strong-arm the rest of the federal government over a hugely important piece of legislation. Terrible.

Having said that, I'm generally happy with the spending cuts: Only $900 billion cut now (which hopefully will be of a sensible nature), then the next $1.5 trillion will be worked out carefully with a bit of study in a bipartisan congressional panel (snort!). As I said yesterday: careful and studious cuts are the more important thing. I also like the built-in concept of "if you don't make the cuts, the cuts will make themselves" included in the draft as well. I finally like the concept that raising taxes in the future is considered to be possible as well.

Now all we have to do is get the Democrats out of their diapers for the next round of debt-reduction negotiations, and hopefully a little bit more moderate cutting of the federal bloat can take place soon.

Whatever The Deal, This Isn't The Time

2011-07-31T14:36:00.014-04:00

So the Congressional Republicans are steadfastly holding the economy hostage against raising taxes on people earning over half a million dollars a year. In two days, the Congress will refuse to release the money to pay for the same budget it passed earlier in the year. (As Bill Clinton described it: Essentially voting on the same budget twice.)

(Of course, this will give the President a veritable line-item veto, another unforeseen bonus. One reason I'll never be president: Suddenly given a choice to spend limited Federal money where I choose, the first places to get fucked would be Federal offices, contracts, and activity within the districts of those Congresspeople who were such a pain in my ass.)

In their senseless battle, Republicans have endangered the U.S. credit rating. A cut in credit rating could mean an increase in interest rates for everybody. (And every tenth of a percent that the interest rate on federal debt payments go up, it tacks on an additional $13 billion a year to the budget deficit... not to mention an estimated $1000 annual "tax" on the average American family via increased interest rates on mortgages, car loans, and credit cards.

But really and most importantly, now is simply not the time to be engaging in massive cuts in government spending: During the recovery from a recession. Conservatives like to cry that "raising taxes will cause businesses to contract, not expand." I've got another point of view: 22% of all government contracts go to small businesses, and most of those contracts are in the "discretionary spending" category where Republicans are focusing the vast majority of their cuts.

Even Herbert Hoover recognized that you don't cut government spending, and that you instead raise taxes on millionaires when the economy is in the pits.

I'm all for smaller government and lower taxes, but you can't just start mindlessly, drastically slashing and gouging at the bloated federal government like it's some independent, separated entity that is not completely insinuated into every facet of life in this country, especially not when every facet of life in this country is in a straitened economic situation. Spending cuts have to be done slowly and with forethought and impact studies. I cannot imagine that any several trillion dollars of spending cuts hastily dreamed up in the last 3 or 4 weeks have had any kind of real impact studies done on them. Instead, this package of cuts will be passed and then a few weeks later several hundred people working on government project 1175 (whatever that may be) will hear that they are unexpectedly being laid off from work. Repeat that for however many number of government contracts have been cancelled all around the country. Start paying all of those people unemployment, and what has really been gained? Certainly the economy has not gained anything.

Our federal government is like a really jury-rigged electrical system in a big old house built in 1789, with hundreds of miles of wires running willy-nilly everywhere. Not at all a good thing: It's pervasive, it's a problem, it's dangerous, but it currently works. God only knows why it works, how it works, for how much longer it will work, or how much electricity is being wasted while it works.

Now imagine our current poor economic situation as that house in the middle of a stormy winter night when we need all the electricity for lights and heat and cooking and generally staying alive.

The current plan in the Congress is, on this particular night, to go up in the attic and just arbitrarily start ripping out the most "useless looking" wires from the rats' nest they see up there.

In other words, it is not that ripping those wires out and putting in a modern, efficient electrical system does not need to be done; but when the lights and stove and electric heater suddenly go pffft on this particular night, the poor timing will become immediately and horribly obvious.

I honestly would love to see a balanced budget and a government surplus. I think that the survival of America and its position as a world leader depends on having a government savings account. The Chinese certainly do. Nothing would make me happier and more optimistic about America's future than a tiny federal government that spends less, provides less, and impacts less on this country, and a debt burden that does not eat up massive quantities of our resources every year that could be spent on American social stability and economic strength. It's necessary, it's healthy, and it's inevitable.

But tonight it's cold, and waiting the short amount of time necessary for the sun to come up and the temperature to rise is the safer course of action in my opinion.

Daily Report: Update

2011-07-30T00:46:00.001-04:00

Both of Epril's approved visa petitions, after being "lost in the mail" for nearly 2 months (from May 27 to July 20), finally showed up in New Hampshire and were entered into the system. Epril's Choice of Agent form and my Affidavit of Support have now been submitted. Although timelines seem to be sketchy as hell, we are looking at approximately 100 more days until Epril's interview in Manila — November 7th. Sigh. I guess we'll miss our hoped-for anniversary reunion on September 27th. Well, one can always hope against performance to date that things will speed up now and exceed stated statistics.

I had my pool cues sent back from The Philippines and I've been practicing. I found that the local bar that I went to a few weeks ago for 50-cent beers, that has the nice full-sized pool tables will, any time of the day, let you play pool for free as long as you buy a beer. That's an awesome deal. There is a pool hall also in the area, but they charge anywhere from $5 to $7 per hour depending on the time of day. Anyway, I've managed to get my game back to about 50% of what it used to be back circa 1998 so far.

I have had yet another opportunity fall in my lap, and this one seemed atypically providential... and also a bit deja vu: There was a certain point in my life where I was having a very tough time, and out of the blue I received a phone call... on a phone that never rang... in a place in which I never spent much time... but happened to be in front of that phone at my most needy moment. It was an old friend from college who offered to have me come back to New York City to work... and the rest is (my) history.

Fast forward to now, and my phone rings again, and there is the same old friend, whom I had lost contact with for more than a decade, who contacted me again with yet another opportunity. Actually, this opportunity requires a major amount of effort on my part, but it's an enjoyable effort. I've been getting up at 7 every morning, studying this stuff straight through until 5 in the afternoon, having my quick cocktail hour with my Uncle, having a nap from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., and then working from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at my regular job. I haven't been this exhausted since college... and it feels good.

That's about it from here in Cougar Town. (I haven't even had time to watch an episode of Cougar Town in almost 2 weeks; maybe I'll enjoy one before going to bed tonight.) I'm seriously up to my eyeballs in stuff to do. It was only Epril asking me to write in my blog that had me dedicate this time before going to bed to write here instead of reading my book. But I'm afraid that really is all the time I have now.

Classic John Stewart

2011-07-28T19:40:00.004-04:00

John Stewart does one thing undeniably well: He finds people making hypocritical remarks, and then strings together a bunch of examples of their hypocrisy in a long, fun to watch, stream of "gotchas", accompanied by some of his classic self-deprecating Woody-Allenesque me-too-ism humor and a bit of overacting thrown in for good measure. This clip below is a classic example of that.

American Geniuses

2011-07-27T13:55:00.002-04:00

It's uplifting to see some American teenagers that are so far beyond normal levels of genius that they enter the realm of "awe-inspiring".

Shree Bose is a high school Junior from Texas. After losing 2 grandfathers to cancer, Shree simply decided to start working on a cure for cancer.

I don't know how she did it precisely, but she started off studying the fairly-common chemotherapy drug, cisplatin. First, she figured out how it worked on cancer cells. Second, she DISCOVERED (yes, discovered) how an intercellular protein commonly found in cancer cells eventually helped those cancer cells develop resistance to the drug. Third, and most importantly, she DEVELOPED (a junior in high school!) a method to manipulate that protein, stopping the cancer cells from developing resistance to cisplatin.

To put it simply: Shree Bose accomplished by herself what would normally require a team of university MD/PhD researchers to accomplish.

Amazing.

Food For Thought

2011-07-25T21:37:00.002-04:00

A New "Worlds Best Break Dancing Video"

2011-07-23T01:00:00.004-04:00

When I'm inclined to add the disclaimer, "no special effects used", you know you're going to see some pretty frickin' good moves.

Perfect Paragraphs

2011-07-22T22:38:00.002-04:00

Andrew Sullivan strings a bunch of them together:

The Republican refusal to countenance any way to raise revenues to tackle the massive debt incurred largely on their watch and from a recession which started under Obama's predecessor makes one thing clear. They are not a political party in government; they are a radical faction that refuses to participate meaningfully in the give and take the Founders firmly believed should be at the center of American government. They are not conservatives in this sense. They are anarchists.

Their fiscal anarchism has now led to their threat to destabilize and possibly upend the American and global economy because they refuse to compromise an inch. They control only one part of the government, and yet they hold all of it hostage. I cannot believe they are prepared to allow the US to default rather than give an inch toward responsibility. Except I should believe it by now. Everything I have written about them leads inexorably to this moment. Opposing overwhelming public opinion on the need for a mixed package of tax hikes and spending cuts, drawing the president into a position far to the right of the right of his party, and posturing absurdly as fiscal conservatives, they are in fact anti-tax and anti-government fanatics, and this is their moment of maximal destruction.

Boehner and McConnell have one goal and it is has nothing to do with the economy. It is destroying this president and this presidency. They are clearly calculating that the economic devastation their vandalism could create will so hurt the economy that it could bring them back to power through the wreckage. And they will use every smear, every lie, every canard possible to advance this goal.

My New Toy

2011-07-16T20:05:00.002-04:00

Mom was wondering if I bought a Kindle. Actually no...

Daily Report: House Guest

2011-07-16T18:29:00.003-04:00

I have a house guest: Uncle Bob's friend from Canada, a fellow named Mark, is staying in my house for a couple of weeks.

I like Mark because he's exactly like the kind of person you (hope to) find sitting next to you at a bar in Pattaya: In his mid-60s and tall; an old, globe-trotting adventurer, well-spoken and rakish, amusing and easy to laugh, and chock-a-block with stories: Trips through the mountains of Turkey, time on a ranch in the Outback, exploring fishing villages in Micronesia, or buying black market cohibas in Havana... and obviously lots and lots of stories about his time in Bangkok.

I enjoy his stories, and try and toss in my own paltry adventures when opportunity presents itself, but mostly I find myself saying, "Oh yeah... I saw that on the National Geographic Channel" as if somehow being aware of the existence of the places Mark has visited should justify my own membership status in Mark's Super Adventure Club.

And of course, as one would guess, Mark is full of the energy I haven't seen since I was 14: After we sat up till 3 a.m. drinking, Mark was up at 7 to ride his bike 7 miles to the beach, then came back and played a round of golf... and was half finished with his day before I had even woken up.

So yes, Mark is cool in a dozen ways that I'm not.

Oh... it looks like Mark is done writing an e-mail to his blonde model girlfriend back up North. So I'll have to go see if I can get some more stories out of him. Talk to you later.

Leonard Nimoy Does Bruno Mars Video

2011-07-11T18:52:00.001-04:00

He does creepy old guy every bit as well as he does Mr. Spock.

The Most Illegal Website Ever

2011-07-10T00:37:00.003-04:00

Letmewatchthis.ch.

Every movie and TV show ever, from the in-theater-/-on-TV-now variety to the classics, right in your browser, YouTube-style, free of charge.

Only hideous criminals should click on the link.

Cool Land

2011-07-05T19:03:00.002-04:00

I was chatting on the phone with a friend and, while doing so, idly gliding around the United States from a satellite's vantage when I noticed hundreds of square miles of curiously-plowed fields over Western Washington... quite cool. I'll have to find out what crops they are... or if somebody knows, leave a comment.

Daily Report: The Diligent Flaneur

2011-06-27T14:03:00.012-04:00

Epril's visa application got lost being sent from the USCIS in California to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire. I had to wait 3 weeks before I could officially file a request for somebody to look into what happened. As best I can figure, Epril's via application was just sitting around in California on somebody's desk, forgotten. Tack on another month I'm apart from my wife because some stupid fucker couldn't figure out how to drop something in the mail properly.

I went and saw "Super 8" yesterday, which should have had the subtitle "No More Mr. Nice ET". I think that action movies are starting to be written by computers now: they are so formulaic. Super 8 was simply a mashup of every government-alien-conspiracy / group-of-kids-adventuring summer blockbuster since Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and The Goonies. (But yes, it was a fine movie, all things considered... just not clever; movies need not be clever to be good.)

I was going to see Cars 2 until I saw that the summary/average of reviews on RottenTomatoes.com was even worse than the recent Pirates Of The Caribbean, which was so bad that after watching I almost stopped to bitch at the theater employees on my way out the door about it... something I had never been inclined to do before.

I've recorded about 200 of my favorite songs from Grooveshark, and now have them on my Walkman for... well, walks. However, it has been raining every day lately and I have used that as an excuse to sit at home and record more music instead of actually walking. Yes, okay... I'll go today as soon as the rain stops.

New direction in life: I'm going to start studying to be a court reporter! I found this article ("Surprising Six-Figure Jobs") and court reporter was listed. Considering I type well above 100 words per minute, used to play classical piano, and have learned several foreign languages, I figure (hope!) that I will be a natural at court reporting. Nice thing is that since the medical transcription job has me working evenings, I'll be able to do both jobs for as long as I can handle it.

The medical transcription has surprisingly picked back up for me as well. I'm not sure what has changed... probably just me. I went from struggling to do 1,000 lines in a day up to 1,500 without a problem. My daily production has not been this high in years. Of course, with all the expenses associated with getting Epril here, a vacation to New York coming up this summer, the thousands needed for Court Reporter training, and saving up to move into an apartment when Epril gets here, I need to have that extra output.

I've been out to shoot pool a couple of times lately. My game is slowly returning. It's now at about 33% of what it was at my peak. (When I break and run out in 8-ball 50% of the time, then I'll consider my game fully recovered.) Oh, another expense: I left my pool cues in The Philippines. I need to get those shipped back. They are actually the most valuable things I currently own... quite pricey when I bought them 12 years ago, and only appreciated in price since then. Yeah, I'm thinking it too: Thousands of dollars entrusted to the mail service that has served me so poorly of late. Good idea.

I'm about halfway through the fourth book of the "Tale Of Fire And Ice" series (also known as "Game of Thrones series"). What a let-down this book is. In the third book, the author killed off half of the 20 principal protagonists at the end. Now in the fourth book, he has simply stopped writing about half of the remaining protagonists and those protagonists that are being written about are either (literally) stuck somewhere when it is obvious they need to be someplace else to move the story forward, or they are wandering around aimlessly, not sure where to go.

Well the fifth book of the series is going to be hitting the shelves at about the time I finish the fourth book, so we will see whether or not the author has any idea how to kick this tale back into gear.

Just finished my walk after the rain finished. I won't do that again — at least here in Florida. After rain time comes gnat time, and apparently my bald white head is the handsomest thing your average gnat has ever seen. I must have killed 1000 of them during my 20-minute walk.

Another Beautiful Piece Of Music

2011-06-27T13:08:00.012-04:00

I've been listening to and recording music like crazy for the last few days. I stumbled upon this gorgeous piece that I heard in (of all places) an episode of Battlestar Galactica.

Now, the question is what is the time signature for this music? I'm pretty sure it is a 3/4, but maybe a 6/4 or 12/4. I've ruled out 6/8 because that is "one-and-a, two-and-a, three-and-a, four-and-a". This is "one-and, two-and, three-and, four-and, five-and, six-and".

There is a second version of the song below that is in that more traditional 6/8 double waltz time I mentioned, and it's actually neat to hear the difference.

Of course, if you want to get really stumped, here is yet a third piece from the same composer that has the first half of each phrase in 6/8 time, and then shifts to 3/4 for the second half:

(If you are having trouble getting all the Grooveshark widgets to load in this blog post, hit the F5 key to refresh the page. That usually works.)

By the way: Grooveshark.com is just a great place to find every obscure piece of music (as illustrated in this blog post). So far, the only song that I haven't been able to find is the 12" version of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes"... and that's pretty rare. Combine that with Pandora.com, which plays "more of the same" based on your musical preferences, and you have everything you could ever want for listening to music on the internet.

In New York State Gay Marriage Now Legal

2011-06-25T01:32:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to ~~all~~ a major portion of my old friends in New York.

Real gay marriage, passed into law by a Republican congress in one of the nation's largest states: that's the writing on the wall for the anti-gay brigade that even they can't fail to misinterpret.

Quelle Surprise: No Illegal Immigrants = No Harvest

2011-06-22T18:20:00.006-04:00

Georgia passed a "no-illegal-immigrants-in-our-state" law right before harvest. Illegal farm workers got the hint and took off. Now farmers are royally screwed as crops are not getting harvested.

Georgia, which passed an Arizona-style immigration bill in April that is due to take effect next month, has seen thousands of undocumented immigrants flee the state. A state survey released last week found 11,080 vacant positions on state farms that needed to be filled to avoid losing crops.

The solution? Not working out so well either:

For more than a week, the state’s probation officers have encouraged their unemployed offenders to consider taking field jobs. ... On the first two days, all the probationers quit by mid-afternoon, said Mendez, one of two crew leaders at Minor’s farm. Mendez put the probationers to the test last Wednesday, assigning them to fill one truck and a Latino crew to a second truck. The Latinos picked six truckloads of cucumbers compared to one truckload and four bins for the probationers. "It's not going to work," Mendez said. "No way. If I'm going to depend on the probation people, I'm never going to get the crops up."

Gee... Remember when people warned against deporting all the illegal immigrants because they do the jobs that Americans won't do? Who could have guessed that they would be right?

A Wonderful New Children's Book

2011-06-21T19:21:00.007-04:00

On sale at amazon.com. I'm also told that Samuel L. Jackson does the audiobook for this as well. Way cool.

Other good ones:
That's Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale
Monsters Eat Whiny Children
All My Friends Are Dead

Walk By The Beach

2011-06-20T16:54:00.008-04:00

I went with Cousin Paul for a walk down by the beach today. Not as eventful as a walk around Jasaan, but we did see a family of manatees in the canal: I wanted to swim out and give one of them a hug, but Paul talked me out of it. We also saw a turtle's house: Paul did try talking me into reaching in and grabbing the turtle, but I took a pass. After that we had a nice lunch at The Frosted Mug.

Daily Report: Pool

2011-06-19T12:46:00.003-04:00

I'm going to start practicing billiards again. I used to be an excellent player, probably a high B ranking. I was in the bar league in New York City and took 2nd place in the individuals 8-ball championship in 1999. I reached a point where pool had become such a big part of my life that I was putting in 20 or 30 hours a week. I decided that I either needed to dial it back, or quit my day job and go professional... which would have been a mistake.

Then I moved to Thailand and just stopped playing, and my entire game went to pot. About 3 years later, I tried entering a 9-ball tournament in Pattaya and embarrassed myself by getting stomped 9-1 in the first round (by a guy I would have beaten at my peak). I essentially lost interest in the game at that point and have played perhaps only a dozen times in the 5 or 6 years since then. So, maybe I'll start putting in a couple of hours of practice a couple of times per week... get my game back a little bit.

I was talking with Bob of Bob's BBQ in Pattaya the other night. Actually, Bob has sold the restaurant and moved back to America with the wife and kids. That's sort of sad, although it does mean that the World's Best Ribs are no longer half a world away from me should I choose to hunt them down.

I was also chatting with my friend Mike (still in Pattaya) who turned me on to SoundTap Streaming Audio Recorder, which lets you record whatever sounds your computer is making (e.g. whatever music your computer is playing) and turn it into an MP3 file. That's great, and I've already gotten back my favorite 50 songs from my lost music collection. The only problem is that you have to sit and play each song all the way through like in the old days with a tape recorder. I'm not even sure that qualifies as piracy since I'm not distributing what I record... more like a Tivo or VCR. If it is, at least it's not "out in the open" piracy, like downloading 4 or 5 thousand songs via LimeWire... the kind of stuff that gets the copyright police knocking on your door.

Funny

2011-06-18T03:14:00.003-04:00

All I could imagine was Paul opening up the trunk of the car with Mom and Gracie in it.

Well, it is 3 a.m. and I've had a couple of drinks, so I'm allowed.

Daily Report: DaysRunTogether

2011-06-15T12:48:00.008-04:00

I'm waiting for Epril's approved I-130 form to get entered into the system so that we can continue the process of getting her visa. Next comes a form where Epril tells the visa people that I'll be handling her application process from this point forward. Then comes the actual visa application itself, as well as my affidavit of support.

Somebody told Epril that if I had hired a lawyer, all of this would have gone a lot faster. That's so wrong: As long as no mistakes are made in the forms and attachments (and the mail service works as expected), nothing a lawyer could do would make the cogs and gears of government spin faster. Applying for Epril's visa was not that complicated, and the website VisaJourney.com has been a very valuable resource.

I was out with my uncle and cousins to a bar the other night... first time out to a bar in over 6 months. They had 50-cent pints of Pabst Blue Ribbon. That's 15 baht or 20 piso drafts for all you people over where everything is "cheap". Venice Sports Bar and Billiards also had free pool on their 6 tables, free karaoke (sung by some rather talented people), lots of high-def televisions tuned into the various sports channels, and a surprisingly good ratio of guys to girls, and young and middle-aged folks.

Unfortunately in Florida, places that allow smoking cannot serve food, and vice versa. So you can't get any bar food with your 50-cent drafts. That sucks a bit... but you can always have a pizza delivered, I suppose.

I bought an 8 GB Sony Walkman with an FM tuner to take for walks. Epril lost my old MP3 collection recently though and now I have to figure out how to get my favorite 800 songs onto this Walkman without shelling out 800 x $0.99 in the process. No, I'd rather not "pirate" them all again. I should just ask people to e-mail me my favorites. Heheh.

The dishwasher is messed up; I have to call a repair man. I bought another beef roast to cook, and this one did not come out as well. It had a large fibrous tendon layer running through the middle of it, which really made it impossible to chew. I finished the third book of Game of Thrones — George R.R. Martin sure doesn't hesitate to kill off the heroes in his books. Budweiser is now making a wheat beer, which is not too bad. The new Doctor Who season just finished: Awesome ending! I need to google how one can wash pillows. (Update: Dry cleaning.) I wish I could record Epril on her webcam singing love songs to me via Skype.

Well, still: nothing exciting is happening. I make it over to the pool every other day for a soak and a swim. I make it out to the store every other day for a bit of groceries. Uncle Bob stops by every evening for cocktails. Then I sit down to work for the evening. Epril is still on my webcam... only on my webcam. (It's been 7 months, 8 days, and 6-some hours since that was not the case... and hopefully only 3 months and 12 days more until it is no longer the case.)

Doggelganger

2011-06-10T17:54:00.007-04:00

If I were born a dog, this is what I would look like.

I have to admit, it's quite an improvement.

Yes, go to Doggelganger and upload a picture of yourself to see your canine countenance.

Actually, it's just a bit of fun to get you to consider going down to the pound and adopting a dog.

Unfortunately, I can't get a dog until Epril and I get our own place because my mother said it is bad enough with me pooping on the carpet all the time, another dog in the house would be too much.

Oh... just an afterthought:

Hmm... Epril is better of staying human, I think.

World's Most Popular Video Game Comes Alive

2011-06-10T14:31:00.001-04:00

Angry Birds Ao Vivo:

Another Cooking Show To Enjoy

2011-06-09T18:56:00.003-04:00

We've finally arrived at the point where one can say with full certainty, "If you can imagine it* you can find it on YouTube."

* Porn still not included.

For Mom

2011-06-09T16:26:00.004-04:00

By the way, this is what I was talking about regarding the dishwasher leaving spots. Before I put the Jet Dry in, this pan came out nice and clean. After I put the Jet Dry in, this pan looks like this every time now.

Cool New Battery Refuels Or Recharges

2011-06-07T20:59:00.002-04:00

MIT University is reporting a real breakthrough in battery technology.

The idea is that the energy, instead of being stored and discharging in the same place, is stored in a liquid form like oil. Then, the movement of the liquid through a membrane creates a flow of electricity: fully charged liquid goes in one side, depleted liquid comes out the other side. (This type of battery design concept has been around for a while, but the MIT team advanced the efficiency of the technology by an order of magnitude.) So, when your electric car runs low on charge, you simply pull into a "gas station", have the old battery fluid pumped out and new battery fluid pumped in. (Like rechargeable batteries, this fluid can be recharged; it is not thrown away. You could drive home with a half-full battery and recharge the fluid yourself as well.)

I've been saying for years that the future of "green technology" relies almost entirely on battery technology: The ability to carry large amounts of stored energy around with us. It is breakthroughs like this that are moving us ever closer to saying goodbye to using oil as an energy source.

I Miss My Wife

2011-06-07T15:14:00.007-04:00

Just A Thought On That Weiner Guy

2011-06-07T12:33:00.009-04:00

The CNN headline read, in part, that Representative Weiner was "sending lewd photos to women online."

Not really accurate: At this point in time, it would be more accurate to say he was "exchanging some sexy photos with his friends online." That's it.

I don't care how somebody gets their (legal) kicks in their spare time. It's not my business... even if it is my own Congressman. The only people who should have an opinion about a person's (legal) sexual behavior are the people directly involved in that person's (legal) sexual behavior. I only consider it my business when a public official offers, either directly or indirectly, an opinion or regulation or condemnation regarding other people's behavior, and then ignores those opinions or regulations or condemnations in his or her own personal life: Hypocrisy.

UPDATE:

Andrew Sullivan makes a good point: Sending pictures isn't the problem; lying about it after getting caught is. I'll agree with that.

UPDATE II:

In the speed-of-light news cycles these stories tend to have, I will correct myself: (1) The pictures might not have been "sexy"; although unconfirmed, they might have been lewd indeed as Salon says Brietbart has a photo of a disembodied cock that may or may not belong to the Congressman; (2) the photos may not have been "exchanged... with his friends" as one person has stepped forward to say the pictures were unsolicited and unexpected.

I call it as I see it: The disembodied cock photo doesn't sway me much, as it could belong to anybody, but one of the people that Congressman Weiner sent the photo to stepping forward and stating that the "bulge photo", appearing in the middle of a political discussion she was having with the man, "It didn’t make any sense... I figured it must have been a fake." Well that's just a bit slimy.

Like I said: Get your (legal) kicks where you will. But when you randomly interject sexual (or, possibly pornographic) images into somebody's political conversation with you as an elected official, that's sexual harassment... entry level sexual harassment, but still sexual harassment coming from a U.S. Congressman.

My support for the guy is fading fast.

Daily Report: Detail Doldrums

2011-06-06T23:48:00.000-04:00

This is as boring as it gets.

The new dishwasher didn't have any of that Jet Dry stuff in it, so I filled up the little container on the inside of the door. The next load of dishes came out covered in white spots and nasty powder crap... and every load after that. Unfortunately, putting the Jet Dry into the dishwasher is easy. Getting it out of the dishwasher when you don't want it there is altogether more difficult.

I took the weekend off from watering stuff. There was a big rainstorm on Friday, so I figured no watering for Saturday and Sunday. When I went out to water the flowers on Monday, they were all wilted and almost dead.

I gave myself a haircut... or, more accurately, shaved my head. Heheh: It's funny that back a few years ago, cool-but-balding people like Andre Agassi and Bruce Willis (following Michael Jordan's lead) shaved their heads and managed to sucker a large portion of the male population who wasn't going bald into believing that shaved heads were "stylish" and now bald guys like me fit right in without looking like Neo Nazis.

I bought a 3-pound slab of beef and made roast beef for the first time. I never trusted myself or my equipment enough to take a big expensive piece of meat and throw it in an oven and hope for the best. But it came out fine... about 10% too far past perfectly done, but unmistakably roast beef.

I spent the day lining up some of Epril's paperwork for her visa. The Bubba-Gump project made $4 today... split amongst 4 people. I accidentally deleted the video codecs for my computer and had to reinstall them. Oh: I finally put gas in the car, almost 2 months after Mom and Paul left me with a full tank.

Yup, life is boring. But then it's supposed to be: Epril isn't here, and I have no inclination to go walk on a sunny beach without her, go out to a nice restaurant without her, explore Sarasota's nightlife without her, or meet people and make friends without her. I'm just taking a year off from all that to wait for Epril to arrive. In the meantime I'll watch the grass grow and insist it's fun.

1984 Is Palin's Favorite Book

2011-06-06T11:44:00.003-04:00

The other day, Palin gave a mangled and confabulated version of Paul Revere's ride, claiming that the purpose of the ride was some sort of symbolic gesture to demonstrate to the British soldiers that American's wouldn't let them take their weapons, and to warn Americans to hide their weapons so that the British wouldn't confiscate them.

Or something like that — when you're making it up out of whole cloth, the stuff doesn't tend to be massively coherent.

So is that the end of it? Of course not: Palin supporters are now going through various websites like Wikipedia and trying to edit history to fit Palin's version.

On the Conservative version of Wikipedia, Conservapedia, Paul Revere's ride now has this tidbit added to it:

Part of the purpose of Revere's ride was to warn the British that colonists would exercise their natural right to bear arms.

We've always been at war with Eastasia.

Trekkies Now Making Star Trek Themselves

2011-06-05T18:50:00.007-04:00

This is brilliant stuff. Everybody who has been a true fan of Star Trek has dreamed of (or even attempted, usually poorly) writing and filming their own Star Trek episodes.

But now, a group of Trekkies in the village of Ticonderoga, New York, has (with a reasonable budget, quite professional production, and modern special effects) started to create the never-filmed 4th and 5th seasons of the original ("Captain Kirk") Star Trek.

They're doing it as an act of love for Star Trek, and they've got the support of Trekkies (and lots of actual Star Trek people as well) worldwide.

I've downloaded the first 6 episodes. I think that the acting is a little poor, but the episodes are well-written (and many are actually episodes written for the original cast but never filmed), and the "look" of the show (sets and special effects) is actually better than the original.

Anyway, click through to the Star Trek Phase 2 website. All of the episodes are available for free.

Daily Report: Approval-ish

2011-06-04T14:14:00.005-04:00

I got news on Epril's visa application today: It went all backwards... in a good way.

I had been following VisaJourney.com's instructions for obtaining a K-3 Spouse Visa and everything had gone as expected: First I submitted the I-130 visa application. Next I submitted the I-129F visa application. According to historical time data, the I-129F visa application was supposed to be approved sometime in mid-July and things would proceed from there.

Instead, now at the beginning of June, I received a letter stating that the I-130 visa application was approved.

According to the advice contributors on forum at VisaJourney.com, the approval of the I-130 application precludes any further action on the I-129F application: The I-129F application is the "express" visa application... sort of an "I-130 Lite" that would require Epril to make a quick upgrade in her status upon arrival to America to become a full-fledged "Permanent Resident", while the I-130 has the "Permanent Resident" status already included.

But the way I'm looking at it, the I-129F visa application is still sitting there, awaiting action. As far as I am concerned, even though the full I-130 visa application is approved, I'll need assurance that the I-129F application has been taken out of the system, and that a contradictory visa approval will not be catching up with the I-130 at some point in the future... or if it does, it won't confuse things.

It figures that this kind of stuff arrives on a Friday afternoon, and I don't check the mail until 8 p.m., leaving me an entire weekend before I can call the Immigration Service to ask them what to do, if anything.

But, the upshot still is this: Epril's visa application has been approved more than a month earlier than expected.

Actually I see here that the average days between the point we are at now ("NOA-2") and the interview worldwide is 160 days. Sigh: November 11th. Well, we will do our best. I looked at the data and it seems that when you take not the mean but the median number of days, it is closer to 100 days... September 12th. Here's hoping.

She Really Knows Nothing

2011-06-03T14:47:00.004-04:00

Sarah Palin tries to explain why Paul Revere made his midnight ride.

You can hear it in her voice, about halfway through, where she realizes that it was a dreadful mistake to confabulate details of Paul Revere's ride, and everything she is saying is going to be used as an example of her stunning general-knowledge ignorance.

Daily Report: Into The Void

2011-06-02T23:59:00.004-04:00

It's starting to get cloudier here in Florida; the rainy season is coming. Today I went out to the shopping mall and had a wander. I haven't been in an American mall in a very long time, and it was a bit funny to be walking through a mall that was almost entirely empty of people. Malls in Asia are always filled to the brim with people, even weekday mornings. I stopped by Yoder's Marketplace and had a slice of the peanut butter pie that had been mentioned on Man Vs. Food the other night. It was fair. I'll have to try some of the other ones to see if I like them better. (Yoder's had great coffee though.)

Cousin Paul dropped off a plate of spaghetti tonight for dinner. Yes, okay Paul: You're my favorite cousin... I'll admit that just as long as it gets me a regular helping of your cooking.

I discovered that Netflix has a great selection of documentaries and educational programming on their direct-stream selection. That's good: I was actually thinking of cancelling Netflix because their online selection of movies is so shitty, and I'm not interested in getting the DVD's through the mail. I've been watching an excellent series on the British Monarchy (viewing suggestion). There was also a fantastic 2-hour PBS documentary on the life of Martin Luther (another viewing suggestion).

I got an e-mail from one of my blog readers calling me a coward for not publishing his comments. Actually, the reason that your comments aren't being published is because you were a dickhead a while back and I got tired of reading your stupidity, and put a filter on my e-mail so that all your comments go straight to the trash bin and I never even know they are there.

I finished watching the 4 seasons of the television program, "Star Trek, Enterprise", the last Star Trek television series. It was okay. I had never watched any of the Enterprise episodes before; but as a Trekkie, I felt I probably should. My opinion: I think that the producers' and writers' were too restricted by the series premise of being a prequel to all other Star Trek series/storylines, and they weren't "daring" enough. Also, they spent too much time on various storylines (which worked so well in Deep Space 9) that the series got bogged down. Enterprise did have one clever bit though, where they tied in Khan and the Eugenics Wars with the fact that Klingons in the original series looked vastly different than Worf-era Klingons, and explained it all in a clever manner.

Now that I've finished Enterprise, I'm watching something that only true Trekkies ever take the time to watch: "Star Trek, The Animated Series", which aired for 2 seasons in 1973 and 1974. The episodes are actually quite good, if you don't look at them. I mean: They are written quite well with the original series writers writing and the original series actors speaking; in addition, the use of animation allowed a greater range of sci-fi environments and visual effects (especially in 1973) than live action ever did. But the animation itself was not well done. But, as I said: the episodes are all real Star Trek episodes — just trimmed to 30 minutes.

Work is still going well. I think that my new account (on the old software) will be switching over to the new software soon. That means it will be going over to speech recognition as well, which is every transcriptionist's bane. For me, in the old software, I type at a minimum of 300 lines per hour... closer to 350. With the speech recognition, I do 300 to 350 lines per hour. In other words, I can type dictation perfectly at least as fast as I can listen to the dictation and edit what the speech recognition software hears. Unfortunately, the S.R. work only pays 60% what the regular transcription work pays... so going to speech recognition represents a pay cut of one-third.

Well, there's always the Bubba Gump project, which should be moving out of beta testing tomorrow. Unfortunately, it will be months before we start seeing concrete results on that... before we know whether or not we've wasted weeks of work all for nothing.

Woman Charged With Illegal Abortion In Idaho

2011-06-02T21:30:00.003-04:00

My opinion about abortion has always been the same: Abortion should always be an option, and it should always be the last and worst option.

Why? Because there is always a last and worst option for a woman wanting desperately to end a pregnancy, and without the option for an abortion that woman will quickly discover that there are many options equally effective but far more awful than going to a doctor to end a pregnancy... and she will choose one.

An eastern Idaho woman faces a felony after she told authorities she took pills to terminate her pregnancy on Christmas Eve and kept the fetus in a box on her back porch for several days, according to a police report that was unsealed Tuesday.

Jennie L. McCormack, a 32-year-old Pocatello woman and mother of three, will be arraigned next Friday in Idaho's 6th District Court. She is accused of having an unlawful abortion on Christmas Eve last year after police say they found the fetus at her home on Jan. 9.

Uniquely American

2011-06-02T13:18:00.007-04:00

This fellow, Rob Bliss, had an idea to do a lip synching video in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after the city was listed as #10 on a list of America's dying cities. 5,000 people showed up to do the video him, and he closed off pretty much all of downtown Grand Rapids for the project.

On this Planet, America seems to be world capital of brilliant, fun, crazy, apolitical ideas that thousands of people can support and participate in for no other reason than because it is enjoyable. No pay, no credit, no obligations, no responsibility; at most, a sense of group pride — be it civic, social, religious, patriotic, or institutional — and the sense of satisfaction that Americans get from simply participating.

America: The world capital of participation.

p.s. Note the Filipino guy in the video halfway through?

Microwave Liquid Explosion

2011-06-01T01:12:00.004-04:00

I had this happen to me this evening while heating some soup in the microwave: It started to sizzle after about 45 seconds, so I stopped the microwave, opened the door, stuck in a spoon to stir it, and WHOOSH! Ultra hot soup splashed out of the dish. Fortunately, it wasn't very much soup, and not too much hit my hand, but the experience did leave a couple of red spots on my skin.

But yes, lesson learned: With liquids in a microwave, don't ever go sticking a spoon or anything into the liquid, because it can suddenly explode.

(I had heard of this before, but it obviously was not in my mind when I thought to stir my soup!)

Daily Report: Local Grub

2011-05-31T14:56:00.018-04:00

My sleep schedule is starting to skew forward again, which I don't like. I really wish I did not sleep as much as I do, but that has been the case since I was a child: Eight hours a night has never cut it for me; more like 9 and sometimes 10.

I'm going to schedule a visit to the doctor and get back on my stop-smoking pills. Not only do the Zyban pills cut down on my cigarette use (I'm back up to 3 cigarettes daily from the typical zero or 1) but Zyban does a fantastic job at regulating my sleep cycle better, so that I can make due with just 8 hours of sleep.

This afternoon, Uncle Bob and Cousin Bobby took me to The Frosted Mug, which would be a perfect hangout if it wasn't located right on the busy Tamiami Trail.

This was my second visit there. The first visit I had chili dogs, which were fairly good. This visit, I had a mushroom cheese burger, which was the best burger I have had in years! (Yes Bob in Pattaya, sorry.) Funny thing about parts of Florida: The Frosted Mug is one of the oldest businesses and buildings in the area, built in (get this) 1957!

Tonight there was simply no work to do. Whenever there is a 3-day holiday weekend, work can get a little tight, but we don't often run out completely. That sucked. But, I did sit down in front of the TV and pedal away for a few hours on my exercise bike while watching some educational TV.

Actually, I wound up watching a bit of "Man Versus Food" on The Travel Channel. Host Adam was visiting Sarasota for one particular episode. So, I found out the three "must visit" restaurants in Sarasota:

1. The Old Salty Dog on City Island. They have the best view from a restaurant, looking over gorgeous Sarasota Bay, and their deep-fried foot-long hot dogs appear insane... especially when you add the toppings.

2. Yoders Amish Restaurant, has pressure-fried chicken that is reportedly the best fried chicken a person can get. Also, more importantly, they have the best home made pies in Florida.

3. Munchies 420 Cafe, is a late-night eatery famous for crazy 5-pound-plus dinners-on-a-bun, and what Man-Versus-Food Host Adam (a guy whose show is all about taking crazy food challenges around the nation) says is the spiciest chicken wings on the planet. (He ate only 2 wings before giving up.)

So there you go: Four great restaurants in the Sarasota area!

And by the way, in the first video above, Host Adam mentions that Sarasota is noted for having some of the whitest sand on earth. It is true: Because of Siesta Key's pure quartz sand, it is perennially listed as one of the best beaches on Planet Earth. (1. 2. 3. 4.)

My Kind Of Cooking Show

2011-05-30T19:56:00.001-04:00

Mathematics In Music

2011-05-29T12:58:00.029-04:00

I've heard a lot of people say that music is based on mathematical patterns, but I've always found that a bit of a laugh: Nobody determines what notes to put in music by pulling out a calculator. Well, I was listening to one of my favorite pieces of piano music today and subsequently found an article written on the mathematical formula behind it.

Linus Kesson wrote this excellent article deconstructing Arvo Pärt's "Fratres". I hope he will excuse me for borrowing liberally his work, but this is such a great example of mathematical patterns in music, and his illustrations show so well the inherent patterns, that I really can't explain this without using them.

Fratres (the ear-wrenching minute-long violin solo at the beginning notwithstanding) is constructed of 9 "phrases" with a repeating and unchanging "bridge" separating each one. Although each phrase seems quite distinct from the others, it is only a matter of expression: structurally... mathematically they are all equal.

Each phrase is divided into 2 halves. Each half phrase has 3 measures building to a final measure of 8 chords. All chords are of 3 notes each. The first measure is in 7/4 time, and always contains 4 chords: 1 and 2, plus 7 and 8 of the final 8-chord set. The second measure is in 9/4 time, and sticks chords 3 and 6 in the middle to make 6 chords: 1-2-3 and 6-7-8. The third measure is in 11/4 time, and puts in chords 4 and 5, to create the full 1 through 8 chord set. That's the first half of the complete phrase.

For the second half of the phrase, there are 3 more measures in 7/4, 9/4, and 11/4 time. The chords are played backwards... but not as "chords 8 through 1", but instead played mathematically backwards. Keep that in mind.

So playing the 2 halves (the 3 plus 3 measures) as described above makes one of the 9 phrases. (A violin is added as a counterpoint — a narration, I like to say — on top of the phrases, but the mathematical action is always in the chords.)

Now, as mentioned, each of the chords is comprised of 3 notes. The middle note is restricted to the A-minor triad that the piece was written in. The top and the bottom notes work their way through a D-minor scale. (Stay with me on this.)

The circle to the left is the 7 notes of the D-minor scale. What Fratres did was start the bottom note of each phrase at one point of the D-minor scale and work stepwise around the circle 8 steps (arriving back at the original note), while the top note follows it two steps behind. (Halfway through the phrase, the progression skips up or down an octave, depending on which direction it is moving.)

This circle is the middle note of the 3-note chord phrases. It only plays from the triad of the A-minor chord. The mathematical reasoning behind the particular progression of tone choices between "A", "C", and "E" is explained in Linus Kesson's article, but it is bit too detailed to explain on my non-musical blog to my non-musical audience. Suffice it to say that the middle voice of the 3-note chords is always either A, C, or E.

So what you have finally are the 2 circles (the top and bottom notes on the inside, the middle note on the outside) rotating together through each phrase. Again, it is a little complicated as to how Arvo Pärt choose the starting points and the rotational direction for each of the 9 phrases, but the mathematical progression is absolutely precise and does not deviate through the whole piece.

Remember that I said that the first half (measures 1 through 3) of each phrase was chords 1 through 8, and that the second half of each phrase (measures 4 through 6) was mathematically backwards? Now you understand it when I say that the second half of the phrase is created by playing through the circles in the reverse order. Notice that there are 14 notes in the outer circle? When the second half of the phrase begins from its starting point, the middle note plays backwards a different progression of notes than it did going forward.)

Finally, under each phrase, you place a constant left hand "A+E" foundation, and you have the entire piece.

For those of you who can read music, take a look at the first half of the first phrase and the chord pattern as described becomes instantly recognizable:

Remember, the final phrase is in the third measure. The first two are the incomplete phrase being filled.

Now we have established that, indeed, composers can create music based on very strict mathematical progressions. But, let's face it: That's an easy thing to do. I can cook dinner on mathematical progressions. The question is: will it taste any good? I can paint a picture with a mathematical progression of colors. The question is: will it look okay? The question with mathematical music is thus: How does it sound?

Well, if you ask me, I don't think a prettier piece of music has ever been written.