Bill O'Reilly

I'm not sure if I'd really qualify as either a Liberal or Conservative, but one thing is sure: I detest most of the extremist pundits, especially those such as Bill O'Reilly... (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560258810/103-3061641-0401433?n=283155)

Drink and Debate... Brilliant!

Oh you Irish, you make me proud:

"People here are educated," he says, but they like getting drunk. "There's nothing worse than a sober group taking itself too seriously."

How true. <flash to pictures of most american pundits of either extreme>. We could definitely use a little bit of this around these parts...
http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/travel/26letter.html?ex=1303704000&en=e700824db4ebf302&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

New Engine?

Supposedly this new engine introduces greatly increased efficiency with reduced fuel consumption and no reduction in power...

http://www.boston.com/cars/news/articles/2006/04/23/new_engines_a_family_affair/
Who knows with these things, the hype level is usually pretty high and this article is not particularly strong on technical details. But if this is legitimate, it will be interesting to see the alacrity with which it is adopted into production by carmakers, since it could provide insight into adoption trends for the car industry.

     Which actually also brings up another interesting question: with technology involving hybrids, onboard computers, and different-fuel based engines making technical leaps and bounds much faster than has traditionally been the case with automobiles, do the tradtional cost and pricing models still work? If cars losing their value not because of wear and tear but because of obsolete engine technology within the traditional lifetime of a car, do financial aspects of financing and warranties change their scope? Does leasing become more popular as people foresee higher frequency turnover of new cars in order to maintain up-to-date technologies? Or will that instead place greater emphasis on less expensive cars that can be paid for in full in a shorter amount of time?

  Should lead to an interesting set of changes, anyway...

Dance, monkey!

not my finest hour, but I'm pretty sure I won the battle... note the evil brew in my hand, source of all bad dancing in southeastern virginia.

Touche, alcohol...touche.

Anti-Wind?

Although I suppose it is innate in a vaguely democratic state, the constant bickering between the developers of industrial projects and the groups that rise up to oppose them is getting a little ridiculous.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801188.html

I can understand the desire not to have industrial power projects in your neighborhood or whatever, but I don't think you should be able to exert control over those developments in other people's communities, especially it will not really affect you in your area; i.e. aesthetic reasons.

The Church of the FSM

http://www.venganza.org/index.htm

I wish I had thought of it first, but they have done a fine job... here's to poking fun at everyone around!

Bio-Diesel questions...

So Bio-Diesel and other organic, non-fossil, fuel sources have been getting alot of press lately (http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/04/19/ap2681244.html). Which is fine, because at least they are renewable, as opposed to their closely related cousins: fossil fuels such as petroleum. But I guess my issue is this: world population is rising still. Food supplies, while currently sufficient, are going to be spread continually thinner over the coming decades. If we are trying to make bio-fuels a realistic alternative, then that would be a huge portion of food matter that would be diverted away from food production into the fuel production. So it would seem to me that this solution is, at best, a temporary or interim solution, which we can use as a stepping stone to fully electrical or hydrogen-driven transportation economy. The reality is that we only have a finite amount of organic matter available for food production, and we are finding it harder and harder to embrace new areas for that, why paint ourselves into a corner with further drain on these organic food/energy sources when we have plentiful power available in the realm of nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, etc?

Although I am kind of amused by the idea of feeding my car old corn-husks to fuel its fun...

Nukes and Greenpeace

although lifted straight from Slashdot, this is a really important issue, and I'm glad someone is finally dishing out the real deal on it.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR2006041401209.html

Freedom of Speech and Violent Extortion

so I've been pondering this all day, what with the Comedy Central censoring of Mohammed, etc. I can sort of see both sides of the issue, but I think maybe the problem is over-simplification.
On the one hand, by bowing to the implicit demands of unspecified muslim extremists, it would seem that Comedy Central has now established a path for focused terrorist tactics to be used for specific goal achievement. On the other hand, it isn't necessarily the job of corporations to be the ones setting the standard for free speech. That should really be individuals and the courts first, and then the corporations should reflect the desires of their constituent owners and obey the laws that govern them.

I guess the big thing for me is that freedom of speech is a sort of flag-waving cover-all phrase that is by no means a cut-and-dry issue. To be free to say what we want is important, yes. And we need to defend that right, especially when it comes to media censorship and the threats of special-interest groups that try to block specific information's release. However, that is not to say that we need to jump up and go to battle for every little thing, either. If we freak out about every little issue that could possibly be construed as an issue of free speech, we risk becoming the boys who cried wolf, so to speak; which is to say, by picking our battles we gain the momentum of supporting freedom of speech for a purpose. If we fight for the ability of people to say things that will hurt others or cause serious problems, are we really helping? By blindly shouting "freedom of speech!" we could very easily be doing much more harm, by associating freedom of speech with the protection of hate-mongering, special-interest media, and racial/religious/nationalistic propaganda.

To be fair, we cannot shut out such things, either, because they have the right to air their concerns and opinions, however misguided the majority may think those beliefs are. I think the most important thing for us to remember is that whatever our position, we always have a moral and cultural responsibility to think about the effects of our actions. Whether or not Comedy Central made the right decision in censoring the image is very much open to debate, and I don't pretend to know the right answer. I prefer to focus on the fact that at least somebody in a position of power might be taking moral responsibility into account when making decisions in the public domain.

Typical.

The one day where I come into work with a little bit of a hangover is the day that I have to sit through four hours straight of project briefings, training, and watch turnover briefs. Starting first thing in the morning. And then I don't even get to go home today, because I'm on duty. This day is shaping up like a pregnant whore: fat, disgusting, and completely undesirable.

blah.

And it has been decided that in the name of preventing ridiculous and excessive after-market modifications to my vehicle, my brother and I have taken to playing Need for Speed: Underground, and creating the most garish, ridiculous, and hilarious combinations of rims, spoilers, carbon fiber, decals, paint, etc. We are expressing our inner white trash.

score.

Orny Adams

just saw this guy at The Funny Bone comedy club, pretty funny. Dude had me laughing for like an hour straight. Of course, I'm sure the happy hour we did prior helped out, but whatever. Good times. Apparently, this club that is like 1/2 mile from my apt is a pretty decent comedy stop, since we have Caroline Rhea and Charlie Murphy coming through in the next month... I am so there. Darkness! hah.


anyway. Check the guy out.

Wind Power

A friend of mine getting out of the navy just got a job offer from a really interesting wind power company in Houston, and that got me thinking about the whole thing. I've really been getting serious about alternative fuels/energy, and this is one of those areas that I think will provide a really important part of the coordinated energy production grid. Anyone for the next exhibition? http://www.eshow2000.com/awea/

I mean, combine this and other electrical production means with a baseline power source such as nuclear power, and I think we might be able to work a realistic long-term solution that satisfies both our overarching desire to use inordinate amounts of energy, and our requirements for environmentally sound long-term policies.... now if only we can get some real movement in America, then perhaps we can convince places like China and India to follow suit, which is going to be the real test case for world survival, at least in terms of industrial pollution...

Economics, you whore...

well, here I thought I was pretty awesome, finally getting back into my graduate school courses and learning all sorts of things about money equations and stuff. But then I sat back and pondered the scenario, and came up with two very sobering thoughts:

1) It took a graduate course in finance to teach me how to calculate compounding interest, and

2) When I looked at my bank account I realized it doesn't matter how I calculate it, I'm still poor.


damn you, Bud Light. You haunt even my financial woes with your towering expenditure of my income...

and on a related note, TheOnion has a great article about Girls Gone Wild

Somebody Punch Me, Please.

so I came into work this morning to find out that one of my subordinates is a male stripper. This is not all that unusual, except for one thing. Now that the proverbial cat is out of the bag, he feels compelled to tell us stories about the freak-nasty wenches he interacts with during the course of his job. And just in case you are under any other sort of illusion, let me lay your doubts to rest: these are not things that you want to hear out loud. Especially before 7am on a Monday morning.

<sigh>

Oh well. The upside is that this adds considerable fuel to the sarcastic inferno that burns continuously in my office, stoked by my latent anger and unfocused aggression. Score one for the good guys?

LAZY.

why is it that I cannot convince myself to do *anything* on one of the only saturdays I've had off in many many weeks? Just clued myself in to the Balkan Beat Box thang... very smooth band, touring with Matisyahu apparently. Now THAT would be a kickass show.

Oh, the humanity

Well, here we are. Blogging away, like I have something interesting to say. Whatever. Here's the real deal: I will post things as they occur to me, which means that I'll post like three things in one day, and then nothing for a month. Such is the nature of ADD, I guess.

And as far as this blog, I blame Mo and Jed, who both adopted cellular phones prior to me, and somehow dragged me kicking and screaming into the technological hip. Damn youz...