Musings in Search of a Muse

Yay! The new iTunes phone is here! (Yahoo! News) Okay, the Motorola ROKR was not a big success with just some 84,000 being sold. Sure, a lot of people griped about the 100 song limit, but who can really listen to that much music at one shot in the average day? I was mostly disappointed in the phone itself. I had really hoped to have the famous iPod touch wheel for a control. It would be so easily done.

But is the new Motorola SLVR any better? The song limit is the same, but missing are the integrated stereo speakers and the standardized headphone jack input. The phone itself is cooler. It is built along the lines of the famous, multi-million-selling RAZR phone but in reality it is no different from the ROKR. And I think I'd miss the speakers. Maybe I can pickup the older phone cheap.

Here's hoping the upcoming RAZR update with have iTunes. I suspect not, especially since Motorola has a music store of its own and Verizon is looking for a hot product to use with their Vcast service.

Rather than violate my employer's spam e-mail policy and forward a mail to all my colleagues I thought that I'd post the information here:

Hello,

We're taking part in the 11th Annual Burlington Penguin Plunge to raise money for Special Olympics Vermont and would really welcome your support.

Please take a moment to sponsor us. It's really easy - you can donate online by credit card and receive a record of your donation. Here's our page:

http://www.firstgiving.com/danscrazy

All donations are secure and sent directly to Special Olympics Vermont. Please join me in supporting Special Olympics Vermont and a fabulous cause!

Thanks and best wishes,

Dan and training buddies Kevin Bell

It looks like a decent charity. I always support Special Olympics. If you can fit it into your budget, I recommend you give what you can.

When it comes to T-shirts, they have to be something rather unique or simply plain. For example, when I visited St. Louis, MO I was prepared to leave town without the traditional vacation T-shirt until I saw that TV station KDKA offered shirts with their logo. Now how many tourists managed to get one of those that year?

Promotional shirts are are in my collection, though. After all, why should I pay someone for a shirt that advertises their business? They should pay me. The shirt has to be truly out of the ordinary or substantially cool to be an exception. My favorite of these is my Del's Service Center shirt from Eliot, ME. My brother Dana used to work there and gave me a couple of the shirts the mechanics wore. That was about 15 years ago. Since then Dana has given me several shirts from his own garage. Wearing one of them got me a nice price on a tire rim as the dealer thought I worked for the garage.

Okay, I wear some crass, commercial T-shirts from my employer. Mostly because they are sold to us very cheaply and it is sort of a fashion thing at work. I don't wear them on my days off.

Lifehacker had a news story yesterday about a cool shirt idea from Snap Shirts. Their software analyzes a book or your Web log for content and creates a word cloud (pictured at left) which is then transferred to a shirt. Now that's a cool idea. The cost is about typical for custom shirts from the Web, but also like most they don't come in real-man sizes -- XXXL. Oh, well. I would have spent the money, but husky is not in fashion.

The wireless network adapter I ordered for my TiVo showed up today and I have to admit that I was unsurprisingly disappointed. Well before I ordered the device I knew that I wouldn't be able to play any of the songs purchased on iTunes through the network. But I must have forgotten that I couldn't play any AAC files or DRM-protected WMA files. Still, the TiVo teasingly shows the folders.

Photos show nicely. The process is very cumbersome but I'm sure it will be handy once in a while. Videos from my computer don't even show up, just the folders if I add them to the TiVo desktop software. It would be nice to show the ones I've created in MS PhotoStory.

I'm rather impressed with the adapter itself (pictured at right). It is very solid and has a quality feel to it. I like the flip-up antenna. I had purchased another unit that looks like they typical flash drive and wondered how good the reception would be tucked away behind the head unit. I never got the chance to find out, though, as it didn't work. TiVo is very specific, it seems, and following their advice is a good idea.

One of my regular habits is listening to This Week in Tech, a podcast featuring techie gurus such as Leo Laporte, John Dvorak, and many others who those in the know will recognize. No, I don't understand everything they talk about, but the show is always entertaining. Okay, I mentally tune out now and then as my multitasking skill aren't what they used to be.

Episode 39 (for 22 Jan 2006) is rather above the average for this program. More so than the usual reports on hardware and software trends, fabulous in-depth of discussions of social and political impact of technology dominate this episode. Credit for this has to go to this week's guests, Greg Zachary of Business 2.0, and the President of the California ISP Association, Dane Jasper from Sonic.net.

Guests are often a highlight. Consider Episode 35 (from 19 Dec 2005) which featured a visit from Steve Wozniak, the legendary inventor of the Apple computer and all round really cool guy. Perhaps not of the same depth that impressed me in Episode 39, but a genuine hoot nonetheless.

If you have iTunes, click here to grab some episodes or, better yet, subscribe. Otherwise, click here to visit the podcast's home page. As Leo recently said, "This show is listened to in 43 nations, many of them around the world." Shouldn't you tune in?

"Someone I met years ago explained to me the difference between a personality and an actor, a personality being Eddie Murphy or Roseanne Barr, and an actor being Morgan Freeman and Alfre Woodard or Marlon Brando. And in the shrinking world of sound bites, the Internet, and other mass media, there were going to be fewer actors and more personalities" (Orlando Jones from a PopMatters interview, 2000).

Thank you, Mr. Jones, for neatly summing up the latter half of the 20th Century. Fortunately you seem to be a genuine actor. Your performance was one of the highlights of the movie Drumline. Unlike many actors of your generation you can convincingly play a variety of roles. Too many actors become personalities because they seem to play the same character - usually themselves - in every production. Eddie Murphy is a great example. How different is his Beverly Hills Cop series character from his portrayal of Donkey in the Shrek franchise? About as different as the characters he plays in his other films: very, very little. It is a tremendous shame, though, as in the film Coming to America Mr. Murphy showed that he does have considerable talent.

Yes, I enjoyed those films, but as with other personality-driven productions they tend to be just eye candy. Works such as yours (The Replacements, Bedazzled, and of course, "Mad TV") are better grade because of the depth a quality actor provides. I look forward to seeing you in future films and TV shows.

Just today I finished Joel C. Rosenberg's The Ezekiel Option, a book that might have been born from the union of a Tom Clancy political thriller and a Tim LaHaye treatise on prophecy. Like Clancy, it is filled with believable, real-world action. Like the all End Times fiction, the plot is driven by the sequence of events found in Biblical prophecy. Most books that I have read in this genre seems to concentrate on scripture (specifically proving that Jesus is the Messiah) while leaving characters flat and their environment without depth or realism. This marks them a step or two above a Bible study lesson without significance of sensible application.

The obvious comparison is the Left Behind series. These best-selling books seem to abandon all political sense as to how nations really interact based on the personalities of the men and women in charge. Rosenberg, however, has carefully crafted prophecy around well-researched national relationships. Not surprising, considering his background "as a policy analyst for William Bennett, Jack Kemp and Jeane Kirkpatrick at Empower America from 1993-1994, and worked for The Heritage Foundation from 1990 through 1993" (source) and as a writer for the a political news magazine. It also makes sense as Rosenberg began his book considerably later so he could take advantage of current events. Lastly, it helps that the publishing world favors the thriller genre of late.

Generally, it is a very good read. There were times that I didn't want to put it down. Quick paced, interesting subplots, and Scripture is nicely worked into the story, not just slapped in to setup a scene or to justify a section.

For some reason I can't get my TiVo to accept a widely-published hack that allows skipping forward 30-seconds at a time, but I like that the device is smart enough to recognize when a show starts again after commercial or when there's a change in the action when I hit "play" while zipping ahead in fast forward. It instantly jumps back to the moment when the show or segment starts.

At first I thought this had something to do with the fade up from black between advert and program, but it also happens mid program when there is a cut between scenes. Well, however it works, I rather like it.

During my last visit to the doctor he told me "Now you are getting to the age ..." and suggested a few things that make most men cringe. Not that anything is wrong. The only physical changes I've noticed in the last decade are a decreased metabolism, hair choosing new places to grow, skin texture changing, and a few memory problems. Most of these can actually be explained by the lack of good health from my total abhorrence of exercise and proper diet.

But Nikon's recent departure from the film camera made me feel old. Now Konica-Minolta is following suit and going further by ceasing production of film and processing labs.

Japan's Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. (4902.T) said on Thursday it would withdraw from the camera and color film businesses, marking the end to one of the best known brands in the photography world.

As part of the surprise move, Konica Minolta said it would sell a portion of its digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera assets to Sony Corp. (6758.T) for an undisclosed sum and cease production of compact cameras by March.

The company said it would stop making photographic film and color paper by March 2007, pulling out of a market shrinking more than 20 percent a year due to the spread of digital cameras, which don't use film to store images (Yahoo! News).

It seems like just the other day all the guys at the camera shop were wishing each other a "Merry Christmas and Happy Konica" as we did every year during the annual crass commercialization of the Messiah's birth. And us Canon users would regularly band together to pick on the one Minolta guy while we all secretly envied the cache of Nikon. Hard to think that's been about over for about a decade now.

Jimminy Crickets! I miss the old days of photography. Rock-solid Canon F-1 bodies that could be used to pound nails into boards, the elegant and nearly flawless Nikon FE, and drooling over esoteric cameras specially engineered to do things that only Sci-Fi authors could imagine that electronic cameras would one day do at the touch of a button. Each shutterbug had their own specialized formula list for matching films with conditions, filters, and the print paper to eventually be used. Any shooter worth their silver halides knew when to trust the Zone system, Sunny 16, or dumb luck over any instrument reading. Just holding a camera was a thrill because it was a partnership between man and machine.

When auto-focus first hit from Olympus and Pentax I could feel the change start. Multi-pattern meters were quickly outstripping all but the most experienced eye in quality. More plastics were used in everything so only high-end products retained the old-school feel. Program modes promised professional results without thinking -- and truth be told, the Action program and the Portrait program were really the same settings but the public couldn't be trusted to remember that. Zoom lenses boomed such that companies were offering choices like 80mm-200mm or 70mm-210mm when the actual bench mark measurements could be off by as much as 10mm either way. But it was possible so they did it!

And now we have digital because it is possible. But it feels as if we have lost the heart and soul of photography. Now that "anybody" can do it relatively well without knowledge or effort have we gained anything? The world's best images are more than pixels or even grains of silver in film. They are composed of creative needs, conscious choices, mastery of skills, timing, awareness of the situation, and above all, passion. Something made the shooter press the button. A good photographer will be able to tell you what and know all the elements that must come together for the shot to work. Quality images are not easy. I fear the digital age despoils our photographic heritage as much as the technology enables the past to be better preserved and the future to grow. You can give a man a picture and he'll be amused for a day. Teach a man to be a photographer and he'll be creative for generations.

How could I have missed the awesome instrumental "Glad" from Traffic? Rock and Honky Tonk do mix and this could be the perfect example. Yeah, it gets a bit too slow toward the end, but the opening 16 or so bars more than make up for that. It's my guess that musicians really like to jam with this tune, especially piano players and reed men (or women). I can picture after hours at a club and a trio or quartet just hanging out and flying with tunes like this. Then again, I noticed that only Traffic seems to have recorded the piece so maybe I'm one of the few fans.

As you can see in the picture I also picked up a few more tunes, particularly from Days of the New. The music in an advert for a CMT show has haunted me for a month or so now and I finally figured out that the track is "Touch, Peel and Stand." Fabulous raw guitar sound in this piece. Not sure I get the lyrics (or those in the other Days songs in the list) which seem to be the usual Alternative Angst variety, but I don't have to listen to them. 'The musics the thing' (apologies to the Bard), of course so I don't mind. It is great to listen to anyone put passion into their craft. "Shelf In the Room" is similarly good, though not as distinctive. No, that might not be the right word. I can't place my ear on the difference. "Touch" is more powerful than "Shelf" or "The Down Town," for sure. Maybe that's it. Who knows? I'm just "glad" I have them, too. Same goes for Soundgarden's "Spoonman," a song I picked up a couple weeks ago on the off chance that it was the music in the CMT advert. Yeah, I knew it wasn't when I bought it, but an excuse is an excuse.

Buying the Chris Rice piece "Cartoons" was a whim. It sallied between my Wish List and the Shopping Cart for a while. I'm sure its a sing-along hoot in concert and that kids love it. The premise on salvation is unique, certainly, but clear: A Hallelujah is a Hallelujah now matter how it is expressed. Aside from that, it is worth the money just for the cartoon impressions.

Shawn McDonald's "Take My Hand" just struck me as a fun way to express my frequent thought that I need God -- Very much the same message as Superchick's "Help Me Out God," with a lighter, peppier feel.

Not pictured here is yet another rendition of "Amazing Grace." Tree63's take on this standard is quite moving, even without bagpipes (usually the best way to play the song). You can find it on the album I Stand for You. When no other music invades my head this is the one I hear. Or just hearing a couple notes from anything similar sets it off. That's kind of nice, actually, though I'm sure my workmates are tired of hearing me humming it.

There are many rather good examples of the Rock primal scream, but my favorite has to be two minutes into "Electricity, Electricity" by Goodness from the School House Rock! Rocks album. It probably wouldn't take long for the average listener to notice that this is an update of ABC-TV's famous educational cartoons, but they would be hard-pressed to say this isn't a fabulous Rock song, especially once they hear that primal scream.

Undeniably, this is a tune that deserves to be cranked.

The only flaw I can find is that 52 seconds in there is a MS Windows-like piano Ka-Plink sound as if a download had just finished. Yup, it's on the CD.

CNN.com reports hospitalized with pneumonia: "Former President Ford is being treated for pneumonia, two days after being admitted to a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, his office said Monday. 'He is doing well and resting comfortably,' said Penny Circle, Ford's chief of staff. The 92-year-old former president was admitted to Eisenhower Medical Center on Saturday and has been receiving intravenous antibiotics, Circle said."

A new America began one day when the TV news media's top story was about the newly-sworn president making an English muffin for breakfast before starting his first day in office. Sure, the citizens were more jaded after the nation's biggest political scandal. Minds were focused on the economy, the impending bankruptcy of New York City, and the aftermath of Vietnam. But Mr. Ford reminded most everyone of a favorite uncle - friendly, open, and just a bit goofy. Maybe he wasn't a good president, but he was and still is a good man. Please keep him in your prayers and his family, too.

Yup. Learn something every day 'cause that which don't kill you ...

Normally, I like to learn things that are far more important, but I guess that will do for today. Sad, though, as I'll be at work tomorrow and will likely not learn anything.

My favorite Chuck Norris "Fact" is

Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting infers the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.

How this got to be an Internet phenom no one will likely ever know. But consider that dancing hamsters have only multiplied. Speaking of numbers, see the Top 30 Chuck Norris Facts here or be like tens of millions of others and vote for your favorites here.

Still want all-Chuck all the time? Learn more about Mr. Norris from IMDb from Wikipedia's 'semi-protected' article. Apparently there are some people out there who don't care for the high-kicking, ruggedly handsome man.

Whilst putting together a batch of quotes, words, and odd news stories to send to my workmates for the next couple weeks a coincidentally ironic quote popped up and reminded me of the current troubles in Congress:

Ours is a government of checks and balances. The Mafia and crooked businessmen make out checks, and the politicians and other compromised officials improve their bank balances. Steve Allen

Or to use a familiar aphorism or two, "The more things change the more they remain the same" and "Same ol' same ol'."

On a more positive note, the other day I came across a great cartoon (9 Chickweed Lane) featuring a relatively obscure word I am fond of using: wont.


Words can be astonishingly fun, can't they?

Way back when digital went consumer I said "five years and all this film will be pointless." It took longer than that but now Nikon has -- with few exceptions -- given up film. The F6 will remain for pros and the FM10 (which looks suspiciously like every other manufacturer's version ) for students.

Then there's the new Hasselblad with 39 Megapixels. Too bad I'm starting to get the shutter-bug again 'cause I can't afford all that stuff. And I can't afford to run film through the ol' Canon 630. Maybe I'll eBay the bugger and use the funds for a digital SLR. After all, it has been personally autographed by Dewitt Jones.

BTW - Didja notice the "targeted" advert placement in the pic? Gotta love the Internet, huh?

And let's hear it for Google Video, too! They make it easy to link their content to your page, just as I've done above. Plus, you can download some content to your PC or into your newest generation iPod (AKA, Video iPod). As you've probably seen in the news, some content costs money, but most of it doesn't.

Yay! My TiVo arrived today and I've been playing with it for a few hours now. Setup was very, very simple. I wish all technology was as easy to setup an operate. And I've already discovered some of the joys: Rewind live TV, choosing programs to record on the Web, and program name banners when you change channels.

Right now the beastie is digesting programming info. Later tomorrow I'll start shopping for a USB WiFi adapter so I can network it and use the TiVo ToGo feature with my laptop. Then again, maybe not. The unit has a built-in DVD player/recorder. But, what the heck. In for $300.00, in for another $30.00, I say.

For someone who generally doesn't care about Country music I certainly have a lot of it. In less than just a few weeks I've added three more songs to my collection, all from Big & Rich. Okay, some people I know don't think of them as Country as much as Rock artists with cowboy hats. I just call them "darned good." And having been raised in the Golden Age of the genre, though, I get the Country feel in every track.

Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)
from Horse of a Different Color
It is hard to find a bad song that a band has written about itself. Or maybe I can think of one. This certainly is a good one. I rather like the two-part harmony refrain. Very good melody, though not terribly original. What I'm trying to figure out is why they featured Cowboy Troy in the latter half of the song. Certainly he's part of the band and as a Black entertainer his presence helps them live up to the song's opening motto "Welcome to Country Music without Prejudice." But I'm not sure it helps the song. Otherwise the nods to artists past to build "pasture cred" and the background vocals are very nice touches.

Comin' to Your City
from Comin' to Your City
As a follow-up to "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)" this Country-Pop tune should prove to be a fair commercial success. With those tracks and "Rollin' (The Ballad of Big & Rich)" you'd think the boys write about themselves and the business rather often. Well, they do. Also on Horse of a Different Color is "Big Time," a song about guys playing music in a bar when they could be as well-off but otherwise dead-to-life executives that visit the bar. Rather like Bachman-Turner Overdrive's "Blue Collar," "Rock Is My Life," and "Takin' Care Of Business." I guess the concept sells, though. Look at all those movie musicals from the '30s and '40s that found the most convenient way to put music into the script was to make the story about people in show business. But while this song isn't as good as "Save a Horse" it is a pleasant repast and will likely make just anybody's party-themed playlists a little perkier.

Live This Life
from Horse of a Different Color
The night I bought this I was rather in the mood for songs with a rapid beat, hence the two previous downloads. But the vocals in the sample and the lyric "Met a girl in chair with wheels but no one else would see her" caught me. As it turns out this is a profoundly thought-provoking song. Consider this refrain:

Now I'm not sure if John Rich and Big Kenny are Christian or not, but even without a direct reference to Jesus in other parts of the song there are some deep values of faith here. I hope others get the idea. It's a bit out of character compared to other tracks by Big & Rich but they do it so well and I hope they release other tracks in this vein. Some of the non-commercial video clips on their Website (click on Videos then Extras) hints that this may happen.

Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) Already in my library
from Horse of a Different Color
My first track from Big & Rich and probably the best of their typical work. The video caught my eye on CMT with all the pretty women in a festive parade crossing an ironwork bridge. That lead "executive" dancer is beyond hot. But I digress. The song is really, really good even without the visuals. The clever accapella opening is followed by a plink and a thunderous guitar riff that should go down in Country and Rock history. The Country banjo and fiddle work thoughout work belies rather un-Country-like rhythm of the lyrics and the "break it down now" story telling near the end of the song. No, this is not your granfather's Country music. Big & Rich are certainly singing about cows, horses, and other familiar themes, but the twist they give the topics drag the genre into a new era. It might not be the 21^st Century, but it is new. All-in-all, I would classify this piece as brilliant.

Okay, I can buy this from iTunes ...

Rather than bloat this blog with my "homework" from Bible study, I've created a new one called Ergo Deus -- On Account of God -- to hold those posts and other pertinent commentaries and observations on Christian life. No, I don't intend to abandon writing like-topic posts for this blog, but rather I hope to create a bit more focus. This blog will continue to host my rants and posts that don't necessarily have any theme other than striking me as important. In other words, this one is for me and the other is for God. As far as "giving the devil his due," he's on his own.

Strange, but just about every time I watch The Three Musketeers (1993) there's a shot with Keifer Sutherland drinking from a bottle (see picture) that sooooo reminds me of a similar shot of his dad in Kelly's Heroes (1970) (sorry, no pic). The eyes, the beard, the grin .... But when I look at this still picture there's no comparison. It must be the mannerisms makes the connection for me. Watch the two sometime. Its really uncanny.

It looks like texting has finally found it niche:

CES 2006: Picks and Pans - Yahoo! News: "Free Ride: One of the better freebies at CES this year was a free ride on the Monorail linking the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Strip. The ride was courtesy of Sprint and was given to anyone with a cell phone that supported text messaging. By either sending a text message to a special number or dialing a toll-free number (both helpfully displayed on signs outside the Convention Center station), you got back a text message with a code that you then showed to attendants who gave out free one-way tickets. It was by far the fastest way to get to a hotel near a station." --Yardena Arar

When Lego Mindstorm was first introduced I saved my money and bought one. Actually, I whipped out to the toy store and made a credit card fairly warm. I built everything the box suggested and a couple variations on their projects. After that ... nothing.

Mind you, I love Lego building bricks. I've played with them for the last 35 years. And as I write this there are 3 or 4 models on my desk at home. My work desk has a set for when things get really bored (the blue truck model picture).

The Lego company announced a Mindstorm update a few days ago (source) that is far more sophisticated with features like Bluetooth tethering and remote control (like the robot above, right). "Wow! That is so cool," I said (not out loud) and was happily thinking about it until I realized that I hadn't touched my current Mindstorm set in a few years. Jimminies. How crass I've gotten, it seems.

I forget that I don't really have a creative bent. Of the sets on my home desk I've yet to build something other than detailed in the original boxes. The submarine set I have in the living room hasn't been touched in a while, though I have a few models on the coffee table that I fiddle with. That's probably what I do best -- fiddle and modify. The few times I get a creative bent I almost endlessly modify the design until I'm happy, bored, or both. My writing is like that at times. And any document I create at work. I guess I'm an editor. An editor that has a lot of good, clean fun.

My Circuit City (Chase) credit card let me down. TiVo let me down, too, but the root cause was the Chase company. Here's what happened:

September 30th I ordered a TiVo unit (see blog entry). A day or so later I received a generic e-mail from Chase that some sort of transaction failed but I couldn't get any information about it. Well, I figured the vendor would contact me.

That's where TiVo let me down. They didn't notify me about the transaction failure. I found out about it today when I called for the order status as about a week had passed since I placed the order. What bugged me more, though, is that there was nothing wrong with the card information when I verified it with the TiVo rep.

So I called Chase to cancel the card and it was the most painless cancellation process I've done in years. After dialing the toll-free number I had to press just 4 buttons. Not once did I speak with a person. Not once did someone try to save my account. Not once did I have to be put on hold.

I guess Chase didn't really want my business. Oh, well.

Wal-Mart's Website recommends a film about Martin Luther King, Jr. to shoppers who browsed a page about a Planet of the Apes movie DVD. According to a spokesperson "there was no racist motivation" (Source).

Yeah. Right. I really don't trust that company. The two most frequently heard words I hear in that store are "I" and "want." Seldom do I see any exhibition of the Cardinal Virtues. And this general demeanor of the store leads me to forget them, too. People look at me funny when I'm polite or smiling. Sadly, I do have to visit once in a while but I make those stops as brief as possible.

Some time ago I wrote about a really cool video -- "The Hardest Button to Button" -- from the Alternative/Rock group The White Stripes marveling over the innovative live-action/stop-motion animation style. Danged if our friends at iTunes didn't go and release a copy for $1.99. And danged if I didn't snap it up right away.

All of the band's videos are innovative and most look like they were a nightmare to produce. "Button" must have been the worst, not just from a timing perceptive, but the setup must have taken an army. One segment alone must have 30 or so drum kits wheeling around Ziegfeld-style. The one pictured here was part of a subway sequence that probably took all day even if someone did shoot with multiple cameras in with different angles.

Each fragment is full motion and expertly cut to synch with the hypnotic rhythm track. Very, very nice, really. Too bad the whole thing is only 3:31 long. I would have enjoyed seeing more.

Same with the classic "Fell In Love With a Girl" at 1:53 long. This one is animated in Lego building bricks. I almost wrote "entirely," but there are a couple shots that are clearly rotoscoped (or something similar), though with the state of computer animation I wouldn't be surprised if no Legos were used at all, but still in all it is fabulous. Of course, there are some anal-retentive folk out there that would revel in an animation project like this. I've often toyed with getting a Webcam to fiddle around with. Too bad the Lego version isn't available any more. I should have gotten it when I could.

Does this excerpt from an ABC News profile of Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disturb you?

From his first days in office, he began to express a fervent belief in the Shiite prophecy that the 12th imam, or the messiah, would return to save the believers and kill the infidels. What really got many people's attention was that the new president said it would happen in the next two years.

Some analysts fear just how Ahmadinejad might try to bring about the end of the world and what he might do with a nuclear weapon.

Well, it disturbs me. The video report aired tonight also mentioned that Ahmadinejad has discussed with others in his government a vision he had regarding his prophecies. Mind you, visions are a critical element of my faith, but I'm certain that Ahmadinejad isn't receiving these gifts from God, but rather from a powerful and sinister source.

Go ahead and look through some Bible commentaries (and the Bible itself, of course). It's pretty clear that Iran is going to be the problem. Maybe that's why the Bush administration is in Iraq. It is trying to create a buffer zone.

My thoughts on all this are far too chaotic to make sense to anyone but myself, I fear. It would behoove me to set aside some quality time to organize them into a coherent unit.

clutch: n.

1. The complete set of eggs produced or incubated at one time.
2. A brood of chickens.
3. A group; a bunch.

Well, that didn't help! How many in a clutch? Hmm ... let's try "brood" ...

brood: n.

1. The young of certain animals, especially a group of young birds or fowl hatched at one time and cared for by the same mother.
2. The children in one family.

Hmmm ... and I thought the height of indeterminacy was inside the Washington, D.C. Beltway. Lessee ... it is one, a couple is two, a few is three, some is four, many is five, a couple few is six, several is seven, ....

Many thanks to Dictionary.com