Musings in Search of a Muse

The Internet Movie Database's Daily Poll is amusing for as many reasons as there have been questions and today's is no exception. Or, at least, the result of the poll by the time I took it was amusing. I hadn't thought I'd be with the majority but I also hadn't thought that "Don't tell anyone ..." would be the top vote getter, either. It might be worth a look at the user demography information for the IMDb Top 250 movies for an explanation of these results.

Some three years ago I saw a press release from BMW for this vehicle and said to myself "Now that just makes too much sense to come to market." I guess it is starting to make less sense because it might be available soon.

"It has two seats, three wheels and so far has cost $2.9 million. Students at the University of Bath in western England, who on Monday unveiled the prototype of the CLEVER (Compact Low Emission Vehicle for Urban Transport), hope that it represents a greener future for transport" (Yahoo! News).

For someone like me, a CLEVER is sensible because 99.99% of my driving is done solo, over relatively short distances, and with absolutely minimal cargo. So why do I need a one-ton car? Besides, this looks so much cooler, especially as it leans into curves and turns like a motorcycle.

For your consideration:
Treehugger crash tests a CLEVER
BBC News coverage from 2004
New Scientist article about pedestrian safety
The Hindu has a great diagram

A very amusing Web page themed like a Kill Bill Vol. 1 lobby poster lists many amusing and valid reasons to dump Microsoft's browser and switch to Firefox (ahem ... note that I have a 'get' button on this page). The "Kill Bill's Browser - Switch to Firefox" page lists reason 8 as "Mozilla has never made a talking paperclip."

But I like Clippy! I prefer Rocky (the dog) or even Links (a cat), but the Office Assistant was a brilliant idea to suck people into learning an application. Whether teaching classes at the Gateway computer store, adult-ed classes at the local high school, or dozens of middle school kids, I found I had fewer problems throughout the courses when the students realized they had a friendly way to look up answers on their own. They felt empowered and began to rule the machine rather than let it rule them.

And the little critters are just plain fun to watch. Rocky goes to sleep when he is bored or looks interested when you type something unexpected. There are some clever people at Microsoft and this is one thing that I believe they got right. All the indignation from geeks who know their way around bit and bytes shouldn't have the influence it does on the software giant when ordinary people are the majority of users. I'll keep Rocky and his gang around as long as I can.

My nightly wont is to eat supper while keeping half an eye on something TiVo'd and reading through news stories from Yahoo! News, CNet, Wired, and other sources. Not one to leave well enough alone I tend to research a particularly intriguing article or four (or more). Really, it isn't much of a life but it keeps me amused and out of trouble.

Well, it did until I read "And the world's sexiest woman is" which proudly announced that "British actress Keira Knightley was voted the world's sexiest woman in a magazine poll on Thursday, beating model Keeley Hazel and Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson into second and third place respectively." Well, I can understand that. She's British, afterall.

Miss Knightley is, indeed, a comely lass, my opinion that still photographs don't really do her justice aside and I am rather attracted to the unique beauty of Scarlett Johansson, but I was clueless about Miss Hazel until I triggered an X3 Watch alert (I think ... I have to check).

Um ... a what? That requires a quick trip in the Way Back Machine to last year's celebration of Porn Sunday for explaination.

Like many Americans I've wasted time looking at Internet porn. And I mean wasted. There are so many other productive things to do. Besides, it's a terrible insult to the Lord and can easily lead to violating several of the Commandments. To help keep my weak self honest, I installed X3 Watch software last October -- and (facetiously) wrote about it -- so a buddy of mine could be alerted if any porn crossed my computer. Nothing like having a Big Brother in Christ watching to keep you honest. Now I spend my time doing better things, like reading the news.

And accessing porn in the process. Having no idea what Keely Hazel looked like I Googled her and the first hit linked me to a page that was 95% topless photos. Now I know what a lot of her looks like. Wow. She's very attractive. And pleasantly proportioned. And surprisingly plain compared to Miss Johansson or Keira Knightley. Here are some photos:

Miss Knightley's performance in Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)was marvelous. I also enjoyed her work in King Arthur (2004)and plan to rent Domino (2005), a movie in which she was anything but glamorous. She's a bit skinny for my tastes, but looks aren't everything. Her English accent is as much a part of my attraction to her as is the cunning displayed in her eyes and the humour in her lips.

It is no surprise that actresses rather than everyday people make lists such as this and I'm not surprised that Miss Johansson is on the list. The only film I've seen with her in it was 2003's Lost in Translation and she was completely captivating. If a woman can look good without fancy hair and makeup she can look good anytime. While watching the Academy Awards ceremonies aired after I saw the movie I was awed by a stunning blonde on the red carpet then was awed again when I saw it was this young lady. She's quite right in any light.

Then there is Miss Hazel and her chief accomplishment of being a Page 3 Girl in the United Kingdom. She's certainly qualified for it (by the standards I'm aware of) and I gather she's been featured several times. In the photos that I saw -- and that probably caused the X3 software to send out beacons of distress to my buddy -- she seemed rather expressionless and vapid, almost as if she were simply a voluptuous figure with the solidity of a typical chocolate Easter bunny. Maybe her usual state of undress doesn't leave much opportunity for a variety of expression and would the situations be different she would be likewise. We can only assume.

But my vote -- if we are basing this on simply external beauty as is typical for this type of poll -- is for Scarlett Johansson out of this group of three. If the list was limitless I could probably extol the virtues of many a fine woman (Charisma Carpenter, for one). In the long run, all women are true beauty unto themselves, though, for each is one of God's children and by seeing His love within them we are witness to beauty unparalleled.

Well, I guess the mouse is out of the bag. I meant to hit "Save as Draft" yesterday but I guess you've seen it. So read it, look into it, and think about it. It's a neat question.

Page 245 (Da Vinci Code) talks about hidden "M"s representing a part of the Sacred Feminine. How is that related to Hidden Mickeys?

See also p. 281 - Walt's Masonic ties (always listed as famous Mason get source)

Do more research. Guys @ Lodge will know but what can be pubbed w/o compro Masonic oaths?

need to publish post b4 movie (need a link?)

"Police: Man Steals 124 Gallons Of Gas" Police in Cumberland County are investigating the theft of hundreds of dollars' worth of gasoline. Middlesex Township police said a man pumped 124 gallons of gas into portable containers at the Flying J Truck Stop just outside Carlisle. Police said the man drove off without paying the $371 bill (WGAL.com).

Just 24 hours after I tanked up at $2.95/gallon for regular, the same filling station dropped the price back down to $2.89/gallon. Sheesh! Something tells me the fuel sensor in my car alerts local vendors.


At this rate I don't think it will be anytime soon before I'll see my car parked in front of my mother's house some 500 miles from my house again.

Thanks to a handy tip, I got in on the Yahoo! Mail Beta and it is sweet! The only drawback I've seen so far is the real estate it wants. Seldom do I need to run my browser full screen on my 15.4" (diagonal) laptop, but the new configuration makes it a necessity. Now if Yahoo! could make it more PIM-like, I'd really be impressed. It needs a to-do list and calendar integration.

Google needs this, too, and I thought when they released their calendar it would work more tightly with Gmail. It works rather well with my phone, though, thanks to another handy set of tips I found today. Long have I used Google's Short Message Service so I'm glad to seem them extend mobile support to the calendar.

Being the greedy, ungrateful child that I am, however, I want Google to be more PIM-like, too. Better yet, I'd like to have them work with my Palm Desktop. I stopped using my PDA long ago but I still love the PIM. It is much easier to use than Outlook and much more useful.

For that matter, I really miss the Calendar Creator program I used when I had my x386 with the 20MB hard drive. It made the best printable calendars I've ever seen. Data entry and management was nowhere as productive as anything available today, but it had it's moments. Here's hoping Google and Yahoo!'s competition will spur more productivity and make more moments.

• Gas taxes subsidize good roads.
• Good roads encourage driving.
• Driving uses more gas.
• Gas prices go up.
• Drivers complain about gas prices.
• Law makers decrease taxes to make drivers pay less for gas.
• Road quality decreases.
• Drivers complain about roads in poor condition.
• Law makers increase gas taxes to improve roads.

Has anyone noticed that supply and demand is a lot like the chicken and the egg story?

"The average gas price in Pennsylvania now stands at $2.94. The national average is $2.90. Some argue that lowering the state's 30-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline would help alleviate the price at the pump, but Rendell said that would take about $300 million away from the state's transportation needs" (WGAL.com).

And tonight I paid $2.95/gallon to tank up. That's six-cents more per gallon than it was fewer than 12 hours before. I knew I should have invested in a hybrid car last year. Or at least tanked up this morning.

When the Smart car was announced I waited and waited to get one. After considerable time, a company called Zap has finally been able to import them. Okay, about a hundred. It doesn't look like I'll be getting one soon.

Really, though, it's an ideal car for my needs. I seldom haul anything or anyone more than myself. As you can see from the picture at right, that's about all it would be good for considering the size.

"Whoa!" you say, "That doesn't look safe!" Our friends at Top Gear showed some video in one episode that had a Smart smacking into a road barrier at high speed then bouncing off! The passengers - had people been allowed in the car for the test - would have survived. The passenger-side door still worked, too.

Finances would keep me from buying one anyway. Good thing I'm happy with my Ford Focus.

"Sen. John Kerry dismisses as 'absolutely ridiculous' the notion that his support for Iowa and New Hampshire's prominent roles in the presidential nomination process means he thinks only the votes of white people count" (Yahoo! News).

Isn't that they way it has always worked? White males with property voted for each other, made the laws that kept them in power, and traded favors for such power. What? You don't remember as far back as Texas Republican Tom Delay's scandals over the past year or so? Then I guess you won't remember Jim Crow laws or Women's suffrage, either. There are just 14 women now in the U.S. Senate and very few blacks every were, looking at the historical record.

"Many Democrats complain that the two early nomination elections winnow out candidates based on votes from small states with overwhelmingly white populations. The party is considering adding, during those early weeks, one or two states in other regions to draw diverse electorates into the process" (ibid).

Of course having early Caucasus and polls in these states favors white candidates. It is the political equivalent of S.A.T. tests -- everything is normed on middle-class conservative white folk. Why do we have trouble recognizing it or admitting it? As long as people in Dixville Notch, N.H.* are willing to stay awake until well nigh Midnight to be the first in the nation to vote, we will have disparity in the process.

What Americans need to do is to reform the process that was probably fine a couple hundred years ago but is clearly broken now. There is no need to have primaries in this era, let alone on different days for different states. Rebuild the whole process along the democratic ideal from campaigning to the Electors. Mr. Kerry is wrong. Fair, equitable representation cannot be created by the means we use now.

(Photo Credit)
* The last time I saw a black person in Dixville Notch he was a tourist. Perhaps there is a reason the town is in the White Mountains.

27 February 1975 Mrs. "Prospective Tenant" from Barney Miller episode 1.6 "Stakeout" complained that gasoline was 69 cents/gallon.

23 April 2005 I paid $2.09 for a gallon of gas (source).

21 April 2006 Marketplace reports gasoline at $4.00/gallon in Beverly Hills, California.

The chart at left comes from the US Department of Energy. Might be a handy thing to keep an eye on in the next few months.

TiVo could tell you - 'cause you know they track what we watch and record - that often I don't zip through adverts and occasionally rewind to watch them. For the most part, though, I really don't watch the buggers at any speed. As while writing this post, adverts are merrily passing by during my recorded episode of Mythbusters.

Apparently this isn't good enough for some advertisers. "A patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says researchers of the Netherland-based consumer electronics company have created a technology that could let broadcasters freeze a channel during a commercial, so viewers wouldn't be able to avoid it" (Yahoo! News).

If this works on live TV then we are in trouble. Isn't that when you usually change channels? Then there is the question if this is legal. I'd attack that question from the idea of suitability for use. If I pay for my cable connection, for example, would it still suit my use if I cannot change the channel at will? Over the air programming would be acceptable fodder for the such disruption as no promise of usability if made.

On the whole, adverts aren't really that objectionable, rather other factors make theme objectionable. For example, anyone who watches the FX network with any frequency will tell you the same commercials are run over and over again, often with the same spot showing up in 4 out of 5 breaks within the same hour. Related to this is the incessant self-promotion that networks indulge in. Same goes for my cable provider.

Most annoying are the banner and corner teasers networks use to promote programming. Again, the FX network comes to mind as a prime offender but this is a common practice. These mini-adverts distract from the primary content with motion and sound.

If the public doesn't complain then we are either complicit or complacent. Either way the advert annoyances will continue. At least until something more annoying comes along.

Wandering around the building on a work break today I happened upon one of the perkier, more fun-loving managers and suggested that we need more theme days at work and suggested Towel Day. It "is celebrated every May 25 as a tribute by fans of the late Douglas Adams. The commemoration was first held on Friday in May 2001, two weeks after his death on May 11, and since then has been extended to an annual event. On this day, fans carry a towel with them throughout the day. The towel is a reference to Adams's popular science fiction novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (Wikipedia).

As the post title explains, the idea went over like a lead balloon even without the extended suggestion that the company buy us all golf towels ($6.25/per I found out later) to aid the celebration. Honestly, I didn't know they were that expensive. Well, neither did she. I was shot down without a warning. Almost as if I had asked for a date.

This doesn't mean that I'll stop pushing for a commemoration. Everyone could bring in their own towel. But if the company buys a few of these nice ones we could give them out randomly to anyone who participates.

Do you recall what I wrote nearly a year ago?

April 23, 2005: "Looks like we are in for petrol pricing of over $2.00/gallon for some time to come. A local station that has had mis-matched numbers for their signage now shows uniform new signs where the '2' looks pretty firmly ensconced. In the process the price went from $2.05/gallon for regular to $2.09/gallon. I wonder how much of that four cents goes to the cost of the new signs?"

Just the other day I paid $2.85/gallon at the same station. There's gotta be a reason. Le'see here:

• "Chad has threatened to stop oil production next week if it does not immediately receive several months' worth of oil revenues" (BBC News).
• "Wading into oil politics for the first time, Iran's hard-line president said Wednesday that crude oil prices - now at record levels - still are below their true value" (Yahoo! News).
• "Crude oil prices have risen once more to levels above $71 a barrel - a rise of 25% so far in 2006, and a threefold gain over the past three years" (BBC News).
• Supply constraints in Iraq, Nigeria and the Gulf of Mexico are also pushing oil prices higher, and analysts are predicting more pain at the pump for motorists, who so far appear to be only lightly tapping the brakes on demand (USA Today).
• "In addition to soaring crude, growing demand and problems at refineries - including lingering effects from last season's hurricanes and a switch to less polluting gasoline - have contributed to rising prices at the pump" (CNN Money).
  

So-called Patch Tuesday rolled around last week and I held off updating Windows as I usually have had a bad experience. Later in the week I saw a few stories touting the importance of the latest update and began thinking. Then with early Saturday morning fuzziness (9:30 AM) I was apparently unable to think so I installed the critical parts of the update.

Then my computer stopped working.

System Restore (one of Microsoft's best acquisitions) brought almost everything back. I still had to tweak a few things, restart a few times, and mince a few oaths.

Sunday, I read the story excerpted here:

Two patches released in Microsoft's April batch of security updates are causing system hangs, Windows crashes and the appearance of strange dialog boxes.

The problems stem from a nonsecurity modification to Internet Explorer and a critical fix for a code execution hole in Windows Explorer and affect third-party programs from Google, Siebel and Microsoft's own Windows Media Player ("Microsoft Patches Causing Breakages, Lockups" Yahoo! News).

And since then I have wondered why everyone seems to be scrambling to use Windows on their Apple computers. On my list of Top 1o Things To Do When I Win the Lottery is to buy a Mac.

Apparently the value of black people is declining:

AP: States Omit Minorities' School Scores: With the federal government's permission, schools aren't counting the test scores of nearly 2 million students when they report progress by racial groups, an Associated Press computer analysis found.

Minorities -- who historically haven't fared as well as whites in testing -- make up the vast majority of students whose scores are being excluded, AP found. And the numbers have been rising.

"I can't believe that my child is going through testing just like the person sitting next to him or her and she's not being counted," said Angela Smith, a single mother. Her daughter, Shunta' Winston, was among two dozen black students whose test scores weren't broken out by race at her suburban Kansas City, Mo., high school (Emphasis added; Yahoo! News).

There was a time when politicians decided that a black man was to be worth 2/3 of a white man in a census. Apparently this value has decreased and we are now much, much further from the ideal. Truly sad, indeed.

But remember that Jesus is the reason for this season, too!

"To a Christian, Easter Sunday means everything, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
Bernhard Langer

How does all this make sense?

• In 2004, the UK exported 1,500 tonnes of fresh potatoes to Germany, and imported 1,500 tonnes of the same product from the same country
• Imported 465 tonnes of gingerbread, but exported 460 tonnes of the same produce
• Sent 10,200 tonnes of milk and cream to France, yet imported 9,900 tonnes of the dairy goods from France
• (Source)

How some the BBC's show Hustle is so good? And how come I can't decide if series lead actress Jaime Murray is hot or just plain beautiful? Her clothing and mood seem to be factors though there is no denying the attraction of the accent. Rumor has it shes on the short list to play Diana Prince - Wonder Woman in the up-coming feature film about the Amazon princess. I can almost see that, but 'splain to me why? I just don't see it.

And 'splain why The Ten Commandments (see post below) tends to be shown around Easter every year. I don't remember Moses in the Easter story. Nor bunnies for that matter, but that's another issue.

For the 1956 production of The Ten Commandments, "Charlton Heston was chosen for the role of Moses by Cecil B. DeMille because he bore a resemblance to Michelangelo's statue of Moses in Rome" (Source). I find this interesting because Heston played the immortal artist in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965).

What do you think? Mickey and Chuck's similarity is pretty spot on if you ask me and the comparison to the Moses statue comes off rather well, too. I think it's the nose.

Never employ a sea otter as domestic help. During my recent trip to Connecticut I engaged a sea otter named Mystie to help take care of my house. She has one duty and that is to keep my bed ship-shape. It shouldn’t be a hard job as on the mattress is just one sheet and I sleep with only a blanket over that. My pillows don’t even have covers. Any otter of her diminutive stature should be able to handle that.

Yet when I come home nightly the bed is the same train wreck that I had previously. Sometimes it is worse, what with the abalone and mussel shells lying about from her breakfast and lunch. On the odd occasion or two I’ve had to gather up a leftover crustacean scuttling about. Almost invariably she leaves rocks in the bed. Usually, though, I simply find her snuggled up in my blanket, snoozing away when I get home (see above).

Maybe when she’s an adult she will do a proper job. Until then I’ll have to see if the pandas can lend a hand. It’s not like they’ve anything pressing at this time.

"The Old Man of the Sea," my mother calls him. That little statuette on the left-side of this vidcap is nearly identical to a pencil cup my grandmother kept near her rocking chair in the dining room of her house. The only thing that is missing is the miniature coil of rope near the figure's pipe hand that formed the pencil cup itself. Maybe this one was modified, maybe not. But the figure is identical.

This brought back fond memories and I'm glad I spotted it on the DVD that I just got. When mom phoned tonight we talked about this for a bit and she was tickled at the recollection. I'd take the little things in life like this over millions of dollars any day. Wouldn't you?

Well, I've got mine done. As usual I broke even, for the most part. Once again small refund from the Federal government nearly balanced out some of the outrageous local taxes. It works out that I'll owe the overall tax kitty about a hundred bucks. All were finished a few days later than usual so I'll post this entry dated 15 April one day early to compensate. Yes, it is still the 14^th when I hit the Publish button. Does this mean I can get a refund next year? Of course, everyone has until the 17^th this year so it probably doesn't matter.

By the way, does anyone else remember when the IRS had one of the coolest sites on the Web? Well, that's over. For another year running it just looks like a slightly more professional and tasteful verision of any other federal government page. And to think they once won awards for Web page design. Sheesh.

Music gets stuck in my head, images keep popping up, and every once in a while a word does this, too. Recently, it's been a word and a related phrase: Cop, as in "That's a fair cop." Most Americans don't think of it that way. To most a "cop" is either a police officer (empirically shown by searching Google for images of "cop" - think about how Google ranks pages) or just another word in the phrase "cop a feel" (frequently used in episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example).

The frequency with which the word pops into my head lately makes me wonder why it isn't showing up in my conversations. Thinking back over my day I'm sure I could have used it several times. But as I occasionally "dumb down" my vocabulary a tad when speaking with the people I assist in my job so as to make myself more clearly understood or so I don't sound like I'm trying to talk down to them (Really, I dislike the idea of making this judgment but experience tells me it can be necessary), I try to avoid words that might be unfamiliar despite the precision they could add or the simple joy or their use can bring. Cop might be just such a word. But I think it will keep sticking in my head until I use it a few times so I had better talk to people tomorrow.

The road to You-Know-Where is paved with good intentions, but Pennsylvania politicians from the Governor on down have chosen the alternate route, legalized graft (AKA, campaign contributions).

"Two months after Gov. Ed Rendell signed Pennsylvania's slots bill into law, he took a $10,000 campaign check from David Levan, who is now hoping to open a slots parlor near Gettysburg" (WGAL.com).

That isn't all he accepted, either. According to this document, there is at least another $53,000 in his coffers. I lost track in the plethora of names. With numbers like this and the equal application to members of all political parties, how is an Average Joe like me to combat the pending tragedy that slot machine parlours are likely to generate?

"Waitamnit!" someone is saying. "Didn't you just go gambling at casinos in Connecticut?" To which I answer: "Yes, I did." That doesn't mean that I want a parlor just outside the hallowed territory of Gettysburg. The town is a massive memorial. Do we want to sully hallowed ground? Put the parlours somewhere else. Put them in Philadelphia, the governor's real first love (ahem ... I didn't hear any congrats from hizzoner when Pittsburgh won the Superbowl).

My first and only trip to Atlantic City gave me the impression that gambling creates a shallow facade that hides decay and corruption caused by the institution itself. The neighborhood less than a block from the strip looked like a Somali war zone. When I heard that casinos were being built in the once peaceful and rather beautiful communities near New London, Connecticut I feared the same would happen.

A couple visits under my belt has belayed this fear, but it arises again with the impending opening of similar venues here in Pennsylvania. But other than the historic Gettysburg area I don't really care that much. With few exceptions the Commonwealth isn't that attractive or worth trying to preserve. Not that our politicians care anyway. The way they are lapping up these so-called campaign contributions from gambling interests shows their true concern.

My Barney Miller 1^st season DVDs showed up and I can't believe I hadn't bought them before now.

"During its broadcast run amid the many cop shows on television, many real-life police officers considered this the TV show that best depicted the reality of police life" (IMDb).

If you ask me, though, it was just darned funny. Sure, many thought the writing was superb, that it was and still is one of the finest examples of ensemble acting on the tele, and that the cast of regulars (and regular irregulars) was top notch. And it was an important enough program to have some of its props enshrined at the Smithsonian. But when you boil it down, the show makes you laugh.

At times it made me laugh so hard that my father would have to watch it in another room if he wanted to hear it.

Yup. I'm happy to have the collection and I look forward to collections for the other eight seasons. But why am I typing this? I should be off to watch the danged thing!

"I formally declare that Iran has joined the club of nuclear countries," he said. The crowd broke into cheers of "Allahu akbar," or "God is great."As part of the ceremony, costumed dancers performed on the stage, holding aloft vials of raw uranium and also chanting "Allahu akbar." Ahmadinejad said the West "has to respect Iran's right for nuclear energy" (source).

Okay, we're going to respect someone that lets other dance with uranium. Right. And give it up for those idiots with a backyard, a video camera, and an urge to recreate the stupid stunts they see on the tele!

Alright, that is a bit facetious. But other than the fact that Iran is filled with people who have avowed to destroy others that don't agree with them and their narrow views, why don't we (i.e., the West) want them to have nuclear weapons? India and Pakistan have them and nary a word was said. North Korea has them and yet we just keep appeasing. Israel has them and they get just a wink, a nod, and a "How's your father?"

No one should have nuclear weapons. Let me make that clear. But who are "we" to dictate what other countries can do with their resources? Isn't America the only country to have used such weapons? Perhaps Iran wants them because they can't get the picture of Slim Picken's riding a bomb down to it's target while whoopin' all the way out of their collective heads. The United States hasn't built a whole lot of trust lately (i.e., the last 50 years).

Yet who else is going to stop those avowed to destruction? Not France, the "champion of all the oppressed." They lost the spirit of Lafayette long ago and are slowing turning their flag completely white. Not, the United Kingdom, a good friend who is not friend enough to tell the United States when to shut up. Not China, as any nuclear confrontation is a tragedy they are poised to exploit. Not Russia, either, as she sees profit and a means to protect her borders.

No, someone has to take the moral high ground. Admittedly, the United States could take the lead with considerably more finesse, tact, and competency, but at least we are doing it. If all the world were more like Canada, we wouldn't have these problems, but it isn't and something must be done. If you need a reason why, consider that "a suicide attacker detonated a bomb at a prayer service in southern Pakistan Tuesday, police said, killing at least 41 people including the top leadership of an influential Sunni Muslim religious group" (CNN.com). Muslim on Muslim violence. Conflict just because some people choose to interpret writings that interpret the Koran differently. That would be like having Southern Baptists killing other Baptists.

The need is there, but so is the need to have it done right.

Harry Turtledove seems to write "What if ...?" history-based novels as if there were no other type of literature. I gradually wearied of them though I will always treasure The Guns of the South.

Bill Myers' book Eli is also a "What if ... ?" story, but one that is quietly more profound. Cultural holes abound, but getting around those reveals a rather good rendition of the story of Jesus Christ that should appeal to those that are confounded even by the simple New International Version (NIV) translation.

Better written than a lot of fare on the market today, the novel follows the spiritual growth of a dying man who is given another chance to know Jesus Christ but this time from the perspective of being an apostle of a Messiah that didn't arrive 2000 years ago, but instead made his first appearance in the late 20^th Century.

Hooked yet? It's a good read. Check the excerpt at Amazon. And check out this post on my other blog for a more faith-based perspective on the book.

Finally, someone with more exposure to the public that I get on my bandwagon about RFID chips.

Among these is Vint Cerf. He is one of the inventors of the internet and is now employed by Google as the company's internet evangelist. He told Click: "What everybody worries about is that these identifiers will be used not to keep track of the object, but of the person associated with the object and then there's a Big Brother scenario that everybody worries about. But when the economics get to the point where the readers are inexpensive and the chips are inexpensive, then you start to ask yourself who has the ability to read the chips and what do they do with the information?" (source).

If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Perhaps if I worked in the inventory control line I'd have a different view, but I don't like the privacy invasion potential. No, I don't plan on doing anything evil and I have nothing to hide, but the principle of freedom is on the line here.

For your consideration:

• Radio tag study revealed at Cebit
• Q&A: What is the RFID-hype all about?
• Wikipdedia article
• Perspective: RFID tags: Big Brother in small packages

Poking around in Google Earth I looked at the shot of my workplace and realized that my car is shown. You'll see it at right in the pink circle.

Well, I'm not 100% sure it is my car, but it is only one of two yellow cars ever in the lot and this is a typical Sunday staffing load. The other guy didn't work Sundays when this photo was taken so it probably was me. That's the side of the lot I usually parked on at the time.

Maybe it is strange that this gives me a small thrill, but I'll take whatever fame I get.

When I get my lottery winnings (okay, I have to win first) one of the first things I'll buy to furnish a new house will be a replica of the Lost in Space (1965) robot, B9. Click here to see how you can get one, too.

At one time I had the address for a company that created replicas of Forbidden Planet's robot, Robbie. I can't find it now, but I know I could dig up something if I had to.

After that last post I figured I should mention what I did on vacation. Here's the short list:

1. Drove to Maine to visit mom and others in my family.
2. Took mom to the Foxwood and Mohegan Sun casinos in Connecticut.
1. Mom lost forty or fifty dollars to the slots.
   
2. I was ahead about thirty dollars against the one-armed bandits then spent it all and then some on gifts for others.
3. Hung out with an old family friend and toured the old home around Groton.
1. Well, it's been thirty-plus years so lots of things changed.
2. Despite being late March and the usual signs of spring still absent, I felt winter was well over thanks to all the pine trees.
3. All the development can't hide the beauty of the Nutmeg State.
   
4. Ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Foxwoods.
1. I got to hold a guitar that Todd Rundgren and a bunch of people I never heard of had signed.
2. The eye candy was great, and that includes the waitresses.
3. But someone needs to tell me how the playlist went from The Hives to K.C. and the Sunshine Band to Metallica.
4. One of the waiters jumped on a chair, whistled loud enough that people in the casino stopped, and informed the lot that my mom was celebrating her 21^st birthday.
   
5. The Mystic Aquarium was fabulous.
1. A twelve pound blue lobster I saw some fifteen years ago grew is now twenty-four pounds (without butter) while a second has been added (tipping it at fourteen pounds).
2. An exhibit of jellies was so fascinating mom and I could have watched them all day.
3. They wanted $62 a head to molest ... er, pet and feed the penguins.
4. The gift shop took me for about $60 anyway.
5. Mom wanted to disappear before I could really get my monies worth of the tour.
6. For dinner on the last day of the trip we went to Blue Ginger, a restaurant owned by Food Network chef Ming Tsai
1. The digs had more in common with an ordinary college town eatery than the high-class establishment I was led to expect.
2. A number of problems with getting reservations for a specific time and day vanished by simply walking in when we wanted to eat.
   
3. Despite a menu filled with eclectic fare that should have pleased anyone but me (the meat & taters guy), mom ordered Chinese noodles with fresh vegetables and a simple sauce -- a dish she often enjoys in a restaurant near her home at half the cost.
4. On the other hand, I ordered the grilled Alaskan butterfish in wasabi sauce with vegetarian sushi and chipolte accents -- but I don't like fish or "hot" foods.
5. Desert for me was a pair of wonderful ice cream cookies, partly dipped in chocolate and crusted with slivered almonds, that were easily on par with the one I had at Emeril's a few years ago.
6. Mom's desert was a vanilla creme brule with cookies on the side, one with Happy Birthday written on it.
7. The rest of the vacation was comprised of fixing, cleaning, and the usual Honey Do list stuff.

Another fabulous vacation under my belt, I'm back home to my mold-riddled, cluttered trailer. Actually, this is my 2^nd night back. Last night I unpacked a bit, caught up on e-mail and some TiVo'd programs then went to bed. There was less unpacking tonight but I mostly caught up on some e-mail and created a few things for work (my daily routine there includes sending an e-mail with a new word, a quote or comic, and an odd news story).

Also tonight, I'm watching the latest delivery from Netflix, A Knight's Tale (2001). This is a wonderful story (well, based on Chaucer, it has to be), with some above average acting, plenty of exciting actions sequences, and a rather unique soundtrack. You have probably heard by now that it features such Rock classics as Queen's "We Will Rock You," BTO's "Takin' Care of Business," and War's "Low Rider."

Another reason to watch is Laura Fraser (at left), as Kate the Farrier. Minor characters can make or break a film and Miss Fraser is an example of the former. Then again, I've got a thing for adorable English women. Especially if they wear pigtails.

It is a really funny movie, to boot. Well worth a rental and if I ever see it for sale cheap I'll buy it.

Now I should be doing laundry or some cleaning, but since I had little or no fun last week I've decided to take it easy. Tomorrow I'll get busy. For now my biggest task will be writing a check for rent.