$521 billion deficit? Send Treasury Department employees door to door selling those $2 boxes of chocolate covered almonds. That will give us a surplus in no time!

I'm not sure I want a chip in my brain to allow me to control my computer with my thoughts, but it sure is cool when you think about it. Or maybe not... Oops, I just did a search for Hot Women in Bikinis... Oops, I just did a search for Pizza and Beer... Oops, just because a picture of a Donkey showed up doesn't mean I was thinking you are an ass...

What is this world coming to?

And that was how the dirty little secret of Wharram Percy was uncovered after centuries of rumor. Frederick Percy (cousin of the village's namesake) was known as "Mad Percy" because of his dalliances in the occult. He kept slaves and regularly experimented on them in various ways. Sometimes starving them to study the results, sometimes purposely exposing them to diseases, and regularly knocking them on the head in order to practice brain surgery. Soon after he exposed his slaves to the Black Death, Frederick met his end in a bar fight.

Today was historic, we are now in the "commercial space flight" era. I like how the guy made fun of NASA.

Also today, John Kerry spent time kissing babies and children...

It's amazing how one thing can jog your brain into association with another completely different thing. One look at this article: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Science cracks killer bug's code made my brain launch into remembering all of The Plague by Albert Camus.

One of the employees on my team is going home to Hyderabad, India for a month, and asked me if I would like anything from India. This took my by surprise, and the only thing I could think of was a tiny Ganesh statue. I knew from my college years and religion class that Ganesh was one of the major gods in the Hindu religion, although I couldn't remember for what. Anyway, it turns out that he's the lord of success and is worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom, and wealth.

After some research, it turns out that a statue of Ganesh is quite an appropriate gift from Hyderabad. Hyderabad seems to be a progressive city and is viewed as a center of education. My spur of the moment request seems to have been a good choice.

My wife was somewhat distraught to learn of my choice of gifts from India, however. At first she was concerned about my requesting a statue of a Hindu god. I explained to her that to me it wasn't a god, just a symbol of a culture, and since I wouldn't be praying to it or anything there shouldn't be anything to worry about. I likened it to an action figure, just a conversation piece. At least I hope so... the Christian God was pretty clear when He said "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"... I don't plan to put Ganesh before Him, I just view the trinket as a neat little piece of a culture on the other side of the world. (btw... now that I think of it, Hinduism isn't relegated to "the other side of the world", there's a growing community here in Jackson now as well as all over the world. Also, they don't think there are many gods, they think there are many facets of the same supreme being.)

It's been a while since I last posted. I've been a busy bee... I've gotten more responsibility at work, plus I've gotten more responsibility at home. Despite these changes, I plan to start blogging more again.

At work I have been working in a supervisory position until such time as they deem fit to either promote me for good or hire someone else. I think I'd like the position, but it has so many downsides that I'm not totally sure I really want it. I applied for it, and I'm doing it, but it won't kill me if they decide to keep me in my current position. I'm a techie, and as a supervisor I'd lose some of my mad skilz. ;-)

At home things have changed drastically. I got married. Again, upsides and downsides. But I think the upsides far outweigh the downsides in this case! I married a beautiful woman, and got a cute five-year old daughter as well. It's been an adjustment, but it's worth it.

Basic hits 40 - Computerworld The computer language that I first learned is now 40 years old. It's what got me interested in becoming a programmer.

No IT job, no spot at Home Depot So, so depressing. Makes me wonder if I should start saving every little penny I can.

This will really make you think. Your brain will go in circles for a bit trying to sort it out: a US Navy base, holding foreign prisoners, on foreign soil. Whose law applies? Should the US court system be able to hear complaints and act on them? The following statement is what got me:

..more than 600 men from 44 countries who have been held for more than two years at the Guantanamo camp, and about the underlying questions concerning presidential powers in wartime.

Wow... more than two years. To me, it's time for the government to shit or get off the pot.

I'm glad to see this. Finally, a black student-athlete saying that there is no reason to lower admission standards. I've heard of colleges lowering their standards, I've heard of the NAACP saying standardized tests are biased, and I've heard of players dumb as a rock... but finally there's a student-athlete speaking out, all because of a stupid statement by Hornung.

Yahoo! News - At Least 21 Killed in Uzbekistan Clashes I'm so glad I live in the US.

This is news? Oh come on... there isn't a large corporation in America that doesn't contribute thousands of dollars each year to both Republican and Democratic campaigns. This isn't anything new either.

Rhetoric from the left proclaims that the Bush administration is catering to private interests. The fact is, this is done by every politician and the spin-doctors should get over it. In my opinion, it's best to appoint industry insiders to government positions... government could benefit from the streamlined practices of private industry. Admittedly, this could lead to preference in government, but I think this would be small enough that the benefits outweigh the problems.

I was watching the news last night, and one segement called "News in Black & White" came on. In this segment, news stories were shown separately to a group of white people and a group of black people. The two groups were asked about their feelings after watching each story. Not surprisingly, the white and black groups had different feelings, and the black group had feelings related to race whereas the white group did not. I felt that I needed to comment on this.

First off, as a group of people, whites are trained now from an early age not to try to draw any racial inferences from situations. Even if they do, they should not at any cost talk about it. So they wouldn't say anything about race even if they thought about it. Pretty much, we suppress those feelings and don't talk about them often.

I remember seeing one of the news stories they showed to the groups, and I remember what I was thinking. It was about a kid who claims he was harrassed by the cops when they questioned him about a nearby robbery. I agree with the black group... it shouldn't have been news. My reasoning was that the kid (by his own admission) did not respond to the cops when they first asked him over to their car. The dumbass should learn not to ignore a cop. The black group's reasoning, however, stemmed from racial issues. They reasoned it happens every day to black people and you don't hear about it, but since this was a white kid it made the news.

My real point here is that if you dwell on a topic enough, and keep it in your mind enough, eventually everything seems to relate. A devout Jew who is constantly studying Jewish/Christian relations might always see things that seem to point to bad feelings toward Judaism. A devout Christian who is constantly studying sex in the media might always see things that really aren't sexual in nature as bad. A person who is always studying racial tension might see something racial in an innocuous media item. My point is, if you're always looking for conspiracies, conspiracies are all you'll see.

Oh, and this article is what got me to thinking of this... if Japanese people can play a game where they "fight" against their forefathers, why does America have a hang up with racism? The difference is that Japan has left the past where it should be, in the past.

Good illustration of the way politics work. Say you want to cut taxes and get backed by everyone, say you want to up benefits, and get backed by everyone. But point out that doing both of those is impossible, and everyone distances themselves from you.

I agree with Bush, that a marriage should be between a man and woman, but really... is this a matter that needs a Constitutional Amendment?

Damn right this woman should be fired!

One of these days, people will learn that our law enforcement agencies are not infallible.

Science Fiction becoming reality... BBC NEWS | Technology | US military creates second Earth

A group of scientists, including 12 Nobel Prize winners, charged President Bush's administration with "suppressing and distorting scientific findings that run counter to its own political beliefs." US scientists tax Bush on climate. According to one report, cataclysmic global change could push us all into chaos within 20 years. Did this report come from some left-wing liberal tree-hugging group? No, this report was commissioned by the Pentagon. Will Bush listen to it and make his administration take steps to ensure our future? Or will he ignore it like the Kyoto Protocol?

I think this is a cool idea. I would love to do something like this, just to improve my photography skills.

This report is a little off kilter. For one thing, it points out that "the creation of new jobs always overwhelms the destruction of old jobs by a huge margin." True, but misleading. The number of jobs isn't what's important here, it's the jobs themselves. For instance, in my job, one must be a worker for a while before being a manager. That route gets cut when the worker jobs move overseas.

I also found this article about robots interesting.

I'm bored. I wish I didn't have to work today... [clicking heels together three times and chanting there's no place like home, there's no place like home...] HRRUMPH! Didn't work.

Ah.... is it mud-slinging season already?

It was never really a question of should we or shouldn't we, it was only a matter of time.

People, please read your software disclosure statements when you install software. You never know what that corporation really wants to do.

Can the Mouse be bought? This would create another entity to rival Time Warner maybe, but I don't think it will happen.

Next time I'm on the phone with an automated phone system, I'll just yell a few obscenities into the handset in order to get a real person. Wired News: A Way Out of Automated Phone Hell

Please, Please, Please protect your computer, for everyone's sake! Wired News: Cheapskate's Guide to a Safe PC

DOH! I forgot to call my mom on her birthday! I'm such a dumb-ass.

Sign of the apocalypse #2,378,981: Wired News: Popping Pills in Preschool

A very good, balanced discussion of offshoring. I am personally against offshoring for a few reasons.
1- tax money going to another country's work force
2- jobs going to another country
3- quality of work is lower because of translation issues

Speaking from personal experience, the company I work for has used and is still using offshore programmers (India.) I believe you get what you pay for... my manager has said he can get two of them for one of us. That's all well and good, but let's put it in different terms. Our system is like a baby... it takes great care and attention to keep it in good health. When you take that baby to a day care center, cost wouldn't be your top concern, care would.

Another Bad Idea from the Bush administration. Don't get me wrong, I think Bush is much better than Clinton, but he tries to circumvent too many checks and balances.

Another Bad Idea from the Bush administration. Don't get me wrong, I think Bush is much better than Clinton, but he tries to circumvent too many checks and balances.

A strong argument for traffic light cameras and speed monitoring cameras.

Yeah, the boob shot wasn't planned, it's just coincidence thatMTV promised shocking moments.

There are some very sick people out there.

These days, even a company can be based on a lawsuit. Or at least brought back from the brink of death.

Behold! The power of beer. I admire the Russian Army's dedication to that most holy of beverages.

Easiest to Misunderstand Quote of the Month:"'In the end, we are going to do everything within our power to eliminate the practice of 'driving while black,'' [Mass. Attorney General] Reilly said."

A friend showed this to me today. It explains a lot.
Update: found what I think is the original here.

Check out this blog: the cheating culture.

Bush Administration Targets O'Neill After Criticism Imagine that! Well, my take on the situation is that O'Neill is bordering on treason. Any officer of the government in that high of a position and has access to top secret documents needs to keep their mouth shut unless it's a matter of endangerment to the people. The White House's denial of the pre-conceived intent to oust Saddam is their business, it's not hurting anyone. And, I agree that the policy was formed before Bush was ever in office.

That's not to say I'm totally behind Bush. I just think O'Neill is on thin ice. A past member of the National Security Council should only come forward with information they are privy to if they are sure it's for the national good. I can't see how this is for the national good.

It's a sad day:Levi's Closes Last Two U.S. Sewing Plants. Of course, before long, there won't be much production going on in the U.S.

My dad and I were discussing Saddam's capture last night, and the topic came up about how we had both heard that Kurdish rebels had found him first but brokered a deal with the U.S. to "find" him. My dad was skeptical, and his question was "But why?". Well, it turns out that on the same day that he was "found", President Bush signed a controversial new law that gives the FBI power to circumvent the traditional checks and balances and get information from financial institutions without a warrant signed by a judge. Some excerpts:

Dempsey said the Intelligence Authorization Act is a favorite vehicle of politicians for expanding government powers without careful scrutiny. The bill, because of its sensitive nature, is generally drafted in relative secrecy and approved without extensive debate because it is viewed as a "must-pass" piece of legislation. The act provides funding for intelligence agencies.

"In our fight to protect America and our people, to make our world a safer place, we must never turn our backs on our freedoms," said Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-Idaho) in a November press release. "Expanding the use of administrative subpoenas and threatening our system of checks and balances is a step in the wrong direction."

I received some spam from MyShopper.net today. The email came from a MyShopper.net representative of sorts, and states that I ordered something from Factorydirectdeals.net. They would like me to call them to take a survey, yada, yada, yada.

First, I never ordered anything from Factorydirectdeals.net and I never would... their products and web site appear to be crap which makes me highly suspicious of the company in the first place.

Second, the inclusion of a phone number in the email led me to believe they really want to get me on the phone. Possibly to try some telemarketing of some sort, or to confirm my email address is good, or even to try to get personal info from me (credit card number for instance) in some sort of fraud scheme.

When I realized these two things, I did a little research. I find that the FactoryDirectDeals web site is run by In USA Group, Inc. which also runs some other relatively low class shopping web sites. (ShippingOnly.com and ThankUGift.com to name a couple.) Then I recognize a couple of these sites as "Trusted Retailers" on MyShopper.net's web site. This really got my "bullshit-o-meter" revving.

On the web site for In USA Group, Inc, I found this scathing statement on the use of spam as well as this revision. Interesting... very interesting.

But wait... there's more!!! MyShopper.net has a link in the top of their shopping sites list, linking to the National Consumers Alliance. This entity purports to be "America's foremost consumer organization" dealing with consumer rights and advocacy issues. Supposedly, they provide the consumer with discounts and consumer information. Then the kicker... I realize that the 1-888 number in the email is almost identical to the 1-888 number on NCA's web site except for the last two digits. Which probably means the two companies (MyShopper and NCA) are run from the same offices. A little more research reveals it: In USA Group, Inc and National Consumers Alliance are based in the same exact office. 9165 Roe Street in Pensacola Florida. All three companies are based in the same offices.

So, a spam email arrived for me, stating I had ordered something from FactoryDirectDeals.net and that I should call MyShopper.net for a survey. I had not ordered anything (which they know), and the purpose was just to get me to call them. Unfortunately for them, I did research. I plan to call MyShopper.net posing as a gullible citizen to see what they try to do to me. Then I'll call NCA and confront them about their connection with MyShopper.net and the spam I received. Spam from a third party company designed as a front to drum up business for the NCA which is supposed to help the consumer trust online businesses. Priceless!

Stay tuned for more when I get them on the phone Monday!

(UPDATE - 10 minutes later:
AHA! NCA involved in fraud. And I'm going to clue thewriter of this article in to what I found about the NCA as well. )