Interesting number time.

NASA's yearly budget: $14.5 billion
MPAA's yearly ticket gross: $9.5 billion

NASA's budget has been at that price since 1990. MPAA's ticket gross grew 13.2% last year. I wonder how long before people start spending more for movies than space.

Sources: NASA and the MPAA.

Space Weather Forecast Center Faces Stormy Future. An interesting read, while the U.S. government probably should not be the funder of this program I think there is a real need for the center. The yearly budget of $8.3 million may seem huge, but the cost of a single GPS sattelite is $42 million. If the center saved two satellites in 10 years (for 11 years is the period of solar activity cycles) it would pay for itsself without a problem. Thinking about the sheer number of satellites in orbit due to our ever increasing dependence on them, and the effects solar flares alone can have on our power grid which doens't seem to be in for a major overhaul anytime soon despite the need (as illustrated by this summer). Considering the center in question monitors other space weather features besides the sun, it is a very valuable entity. Actually NOAA itself is extremely important and its information is used by the whole world, possibly it may be time to realize that weather forcasting of all types really needs to have not only greater funding but funding from the private sector that benefits tremendously by its services.

Photocatalyst News Story. Toto Ltd: Hydrotec Some very cool technology, see what happens when an industry has money for development of new technology?

Iraq Contracts. My response: So what? If you truely think about everything that is said in this article and look at some facts and then ask some questions which of course should make things clearer. First fact being that if you abuse people most likely they won't be your friends, i.e. the democrat policy of taxing the hell out of companies doesn't make many friends, thus most large companies are republican leaning to say the least. This is also true of the military, since democrats also have a nice habit of abusing the military by cutting funding to, you guessed it, the personel and their families so the money could be given to the unwilling to work as welfare. Now think about companies that would be willing to risk an investment in an unstable country. Think about companies that work defense contracts. These companies first have to be very large, and naturally have to former military personel on staff to have the know how. Next since everybody knows that its personal links that really rule the world, and much more rides on how somebody represents something than any of the atributes of said thing; it truely is a small world. Thus is it really surprising that those companies that get the contracts in iraq typically are republican leaning? I say not, in fact I would go far as to say the whole study itself is extremely biased because it doesn't list how many viable companies exist that are NOT republican leaning. There probably aren't many at all, so yes you can say that it may "seem" preferential, but a large portion of the facts just got left out. Name a logical fallacy and it probably was commited in that article. Actually I can't name any news article I've read lately that didn't violate at least one fallacy. Since it seems far too little people in this world have ever been exposed to the concept of fallacies I post the following links: The Nizkor Project, Stephen's Guide to Logical Fallacies.

How's everyone like this format? Is it easy to read, links easy to find, etc?

Okay this is how I spent last night: a) pulling off inspection pannels and whatnot in my basement to look at all the wiring. b) Realizing that due to my nature I'd be removing huge amounts of said wiring organizing and/or replacing it. C) Upon waiting for that realization to sink in I watch The Breakfast Club.

Sometimes I wonder about people's convictions and beliefs. I know I seem wishy washy from time to time and seem to be, according to a friend, bi-polar (but on a monthly basis). But what I am talking about are those deep rooted feelings and beliefs. Like if I asked the question: "What is it that you will absolutely accomplish in your life, what lasting effect are you to have?" There are few that I have met that are actually able to answer that question. I view that its important because it goes back to a previous rhetorical question I asked: If you don't plan on changing the world then what good is an opinion? Or its corollary: Why have an opinion if you don't plan on making a difference? Honestly I ask things because isn't it a waste of time and energy ranting about things out of your control? There is entirely too much anger and frustration emitted from people that have no plans to actually ever do anything about their anger or frustration.

You know I should try to not think about how stupid people are but sometimes its hard not too. This is especially true when people can't help but bring up the news. This is probably the largest pet peeve I have: Bringing up any news item that is top story, front page news. More than likely I already know about, chances are I probably knew about it when it first happened, and if it is of interest probably already did some research on it. Anyways the California wild fires. Yah I'm sorry people have lost their homes. But here's the deal, in southern California there is a law (that comes with pretty heavy fines) that says that you must clear all flammable brush from your property prior to fire season. This hasn't been done because the people living in these areas are those semi-rich folks that like their houses in the hills overlooking the canyons (which are great for moving fires) and don't get out of their air-conditioned splendor during the summer to mow down and thin the brush they are supposed to. Of course then their houses fuel the flames and then the fire moves into more populated areas. Its my opinion that if a property owner didn't manage their land the way they were supposed to do to prevent these sorts of disasters then they should not be eligible for federal aid, nor should be treated the same by insurance companies when it comes time for the payouts. Of course the government probably is to blame as well for not maintaining the fire breaks due to "looking ugly" (yah this goes back to the stupid people thing, if you can't understand the functionality of something and it looks ugly then protest and have it removed and look what happens) and because of the "budget crisis" that California has been facing. As for the search for an arsonist? Yah, I hope that makes people feel better since they found the "one" (at this point in time I recommend viewing the movie Arlington Road) . But I feel that's fairly stupid since at this time of year a glass bottle will ignite the brush in a couple of hours in the midday sun.

You know its somewhat sad to think about how difficult it is to live without internet at home. Since I have yet to get my dsl setup package I have spent the weekend and last night working in the basement moving the washer and dryer hook-ups. While in one way I could do this quickly the way I do things takes a significant amount of time since it requires fixing large portions of the work surrounding where I wish to run pipes, wires, etc. I should post a few pictures when I'm done, actually I keep on saying I'll post pictures, maybe I'll get around to it someday.

Hey anybody know of a good way to deal with the dryer output when you don't have a good way to get to vent it to the outside?

BTW 8-3 cable (what you use to run 240 to an appliance) is a major pain in the bum to work with.

If there was one annoying thing about calling a customer "service" number it would be the hold music. For example from when I called Sprint this morning and had to listen to Locomotion and Daydream. Granted they are good songs but I don't think its really wise to play a song that will get stuck in someones head for the rest of the day reminding them of the phone call. I think somebody should try heavy metal for hold music and see what happens. Thus here is a link: Bad Hold music choices - An Article.

Okay so heres a link for an interesting energy drink review. (You have to scroll down to December 17, 2002)

Btw there are after-effects of the one I spent 2 bucks for earlier: I have to piss really bad!

Laters!

First things first, I'm not dead yet. It seems that this massively scary energy drink isn't all that exciting. In fact it made me sleepy imediately after drinking it, and have remained that way for the rest of the day.

Secondly, I may never be able to get another drivers license in any state other than California. Yes folks thats right, I'm not legally who I say I am. So heres how the adventure went today:

A) Go to the BMV, I pass the test with flying colors (duh! I took it yesterday didn't I?) and proceed to go through the other crap associated with getting a drivers license.
B) Velma (what a name!) notices that my name on the birth certificate is not the same as on my drivers license...uh oh! Even though the last name on both my drivers license and social security card are in my mother's maiden name.
C) No license (arg!)
D) Call up the San Diego Recoder which I found out doesn't maintain divorce documents.
E) Luckily they gave me the number of those who do.
F) Call up them, can't find any records.
G) Call up my grand-mother and find out where they were living when the divorce was filed.
F) Find out that it was someplace named Fort Wachuka. Luckily my boss happened to know where that was (since he'd been there many many times, as it is the electronic proving grounds for the Army). Hey I wonder what my father did cause maybe thats how I got the electronics bug.
H) Call up the county recorder there and guess what? NO RECORDS
I) Call up the court-house here and find out that I need to go through an attorney to even get the papers for an official name change.

Needless to say its really annoying. But look out, I'm not who I say I am!... obviously.

Okay so today is an experiment. Today is really boring and I was nearly falling asleep at my desk so I went to the vending machine. And since we have already established that the vending machine is no longer stocked with my favorite drink I decided to try something new. Being in a strange mood I have decided to try Sobe's No-Fear Super Energy Supplement drink. And to curb my hunger I got a butterfinger candy bar. Mind you this drink looks really scary from the outside, black with flames and red letters, it is also half again taller than a normal can. This can screams: "drink me and die!". It has a unique flavour to say the least, each sip (no chugging this baby) has a subtle peachy taste followed by a mild tomato one as the slightly carbinated liquid moves from the front of the mouth to back and eventually down the thoat. For some reason the M.A.S.H. theme song (Suicide is Painless) is playing itself in my head. Maybe its a good thing that the guy in the cube next to me, Dave H., happens to know CPR.

If I'm not dead later from a massive caffine induced heart attack I will report on the effects of this "energy" drink.

Well guess what? I'm too dumb to drive in indiana and heres why:

A) If you want to make a turn you have to turn on your signal 200ft prior to the turn.
B) You have to stop at flashing yellow lights and yield.
C) If you have a red turn arrow and a green turn arrow you have the right of way to make the turn.
D) A loaded truck takes 400ft to stop.
And some other question I forgot what it was, but hey at least I got all the signs right.

Heres my beef with the ones I got wrong:
A) Only in indiana do you actually have the luxury of 200ft of road between places to turn, or for that matter visability.
B) WTF? This is obviously wrong, but you can't argue with the fact that it was obviously a screw up in the test that had gone un-noticed because it was one of the all-of-the-above questions.
C) This means that the light is obviously borked and you wouldn't have the right of way.
D) Supposidly the answer to this question depends on which test you take because sometimes the answer is 200ft.

Okay so now some quizes cause I'm bored:

Check out my Morality! 56% liberal, 44% conservative

You are Form 1, Goddess: The Creator.

"And The Goddess planted the acorn of life.
She cried a single tear and shed a single drop
of blood upon the earth where she buried it.
From her blood and tear, the acorn grew into
the world."

Some examples of the Goddess Form are Gaia (Greek),
Jehova (Christian), and Brahma (Indian).
The Goddess is associated with the concept of
creation, the number 1, and the element of
earth.
Her sign is the dawn sun.

As a member of Form 1, you are a charismatic
individual and people are drawn to you.
Although sometimes you may seem emotionally
distant, you are deeply in tune with other
people's feelings and have tremendous empathy.
Sometimes you have a tendency to neglect your
own self. Goddesses are the best friends to
have because they're always willing to help.


Which Mythological Form Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla



Congratulations! You're a Long Island Iced Tea!


What Drink Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Ah, the joys of moving. I should really know better than to move stuff that is still in boxes from the last time I moved. Or maybe I should write the date on each box so I know when was the last time I looked in that box. Needless to say my living room is now full of my stuff and need to figure out where to put it. I took a few more pictures, maybe I do some posting later then. Also, my bed is too big to get upstairs...which is really annoying. So its theoretically possible I may be trying to get rid of a nearly-new queen sized bed. Ironically, I could probably fit a king up their though because many king sized beds have split box springs (which is the part that won't fit up their with the queen). Well I guess the next tasks are address changes and trying to get DSL to the place.

Well I just increased my total debt fairly substantially. $57950 in fact. I.e. I bought a house.

A few thoughts on the whole abortion issue. While I personally object to it on moral grounds I believe it would also be socially irresponsible to ban the practice given what I know at the moment. To change my opinion in the mater I would really have to see firm demographics detailing race, age, income, marital status, etc. From what I have read thus far one could characterize the typical individual whom would op for an abortion as young or immature, typically poor, possibly uneducated, and always desperate. If we were to ban abortion clinics there are several possible outcomes these sets of factors would lead to in my mind. The first being abortions performed in less than desirable conditions by untrained individuals (and if you punish those who perform these, who is going to take up the added costs associated with girls that throw themselves down stairs, OD, or other self inflicted bodily harm?). The second a child born into a place in society where he would most likely grow up as another strain on our already broken welfare and judicial systems, if the mother didn’t have the presence of mind to use one of the safe haven laws (of which nearly all, if not all, states have but are generally not well known). Third, when a woman was independent the pregnancy could take her out of the viable work force in many of the low wage jobs and place her on the welfare system, which of course in general we wouldn’t want to see happen, especially with someone that could possibly advance to a productive individual that does not place a burden on the rest. While I would like to see a society where this is not an issue, I don’t believe we are anywhere near that point, for if we could ban abortion with a clean conscious then there would be no need to ban it at all. Yet another reasons government should not be involved with the personal choices of individuals.

Well there is a new movie with Hayden Christensen called Shattered Glass, which I am actually somewhat curious to watch, mainly to see if Hayden actually sucks as an actor or if Lucas is just that bad of a director (these being in reference to an excruciatingly horrible movie called Attack of the Clones). I have a feeling that the answer is the later and I'll loose all hope in his (Lucas's) redemption with the last Star Wars movie.

In case anybody ever decides to try it, waking up at 4:30am and trying to do 12 hour days is not only hard, but definately puts a life-sucks spin on everything. Today is the day that I will hopefully close on my house, I was hoping to move my bed and other heavy stuff over today, but it's raining. Figures.

This weekend I went shopping for appliances. Its annoying to say the least. So in honor of the whole thing I post a few quotes from a movie all should recognize:

"I flipped through catalogs and wondered: 'What kind of dining set defines me as a person?'"

"I had it all. I had a stereo that was very decent, a wardrobe that was getting very respectable. I was close to being complete"

First thing: Why is a birth certificate considered primary identification?
Second: Whoa! I found out that my mother was 17 and father was 19 when I was born. Crazy, I didn't know they were that young. I can't fathom having a kid at my age now, I can't even begin to imagine what it would have been like my first year or two of college.

I hate choices. Officially now, there is nothing so annoying as going through life like this: nothing nothing nothing nothing, whammo! 4 things, choose only one! What is this, some cosmic joke to make my head explode? Why can't they just be spread out over time so I would really have a chance to understand the ramifications of each and every choice. Why can't I be content with nothing instead? For some reason I can't I have to always be looking, never resting anywhere, and hence the predicament when I get nailed every once in a while with some impossible choice. It like being forced to pick a toe to chop off, I don't want to chop off any of my fucking toes, damn it! All I ask is to go through life with only one choice at time! I want to make the choices I want to make, not the ones I don't want to ever see ever again, I've already had to make them every single year for like 3 years now!

Sorry for the rant.

Okay so I promised I'd do some then and now pictures of the bonfires.

Then	Now
Then	Now

And a random picture of a really nifty vortex:

For everybody that has talked to me about their relationships this weekend, from the broken up, the about to break up, the trying to get together, or the confused (six is the number this weekend) these are the words I have. Just as everybody says, life will move on; no ifs, ands, or buts. You will grow, you will get over it, you will forget. And they will do the same. You already know the reasons so I will not explain why going back isn't possible. Breaking up is nearly impossible. Think back to when you had to take you dog or cat to the vet to be put down, you cried the whole way there, you looked in your pet's eyes and saw the pain and you knew you needed to let go. That is easier than breaking up, but you can't hold on forever and life will yank you appart if not moving in the same dirrection. To start one all over, sometimes you need to make the leap, forget your past, know the possibility of pain in the future but don't be afraid of it, each relationship is easier than the last and the heart runs out of room for scars. And finally the last one, act like the person you want to be, and you be that person and eventually you will forget what you were before you started acting. Everything here is in your head, there is nothing anybody can do for you or to you, just as you have the ability to act and control your dreams you have the power to change what your mind thinks.

The Chocolate bed. Major niftyness. I wish there were info on the Sheraton website about it.

Okie dokie picture time (Updated: not to huge but a little big still approx. 100kB each):

• Random water tower photo. Don't ask me why I felt like taking it
  
  
• Dancing Girls! Wow! Rose has cheerleaders? And in record numbers this year.
  
  
• Random Singing Folks. Sorry majorly blury. Oh my! Dr. Hudson is short!
  
  
• New Artwork on campus. Fairly cool stainless steel flame. Sorry I was trying to get some lens flare, but since its a digital camera it didn't come out as I would have liked.
  
  
• New artwork on campus. With people for size comparison.
  
  
• My mailbox. AHHHHHH! What are those new shiny things!. Mailbox numbers over 2000! And they put them where the hallway used to be...Yay for another bottleneck between classes. I guess its lucky for my I don't go there anymore! :)
  
  
• Bon Fire. Ooops I missed it, notice cinder block in the background for scaling. Yah it was really wimpy. I need to find a picture of both '01s and '03s fire and post for comparison purposes. Its such a bummer that we don't burn kreosote soaked railroad ties anymore
  
  
• The Tank. Hrm.... it hasn't moved...but what are those blocks under the treads for?
  
  
• "This one time at...". Random shot of the pep-band.
  
  
• The Lake I never saw. Turns out there was yet another lake right next to campus that I never saw (and technically its a swamp).
  
  
• The stream. I was bored.
  
  

Okay so a list (fragmented to say the least, in no particular order) of alums that I saw this homecoming:

• Singin'
  
• Rosko
  
• Charles
  
• The Maurers
  
• The Websters
  
• Pete (the crazy one who graduated as a CS then went to grad school for EE)
  
• Imler, Herb & Jon (listed together because thats how I saw them, also it reduces confusion when trying to figure out WHICH John it was)
  
• Laura
  
• Val
  
• Ami
  
• Becca V. (whom was a really cool RA, even if the following year she wouldn't give me the t-shirt for BSB-3 despite my driving the car pictured)
  
• Lots of Phantom Alums
  

So a shout-out to all them folks that returned to the smelly haute! :)

And also one for all the folks still there but don't mind hangin' out with an alum:
Heather, Kristin, Heather, Brandi, Dess, Luke (who's name isn't really luke), Dave (of ARC), and Andrew (of the flaming poy)

I probably forgot a lot, so I guess I'll amend when I think of whom I neglected.

And its a bummer that I missed these:
Rae (Due to chronic bad reception and voicemail tag), Kanishk, Anybody from my senior project group (don't know if there were there at all), My Department (I heard all the cool folks are retiring), Dr. Williams (The coolest hummanities prof to exist anywhere), Bryan T. (he dropped out, not cool), and Casper

Well that is for the most part I think. I have some random pictures to put up as soon as I get them off the camera.

Oh also our team played Trinity for homecomming this year. We did the best we ever have, we lost by 28 points with the prior lowest point spread being 32. Also we are 2 and 1 something that we haven't succeeded in doing in over 16 years. Whoopydoo!...Yah its pretty obvious I don't really care...I didn't go to the game or even stay the through the all pep-rally thingy either.

Anybody know if Singin' Dave, Runnin' Dave, or Gay Dave (Stompy) have blogs? Cause if not then I don't need to bother with using the distiguishing nick name on the side bar.

You know every once in a while you run across some little tid-bit about one of your friends that surprizes you, its a cool experiance when it does anyways. So basically I added kanishk's blog to the little blog list on the side. But he's the second person I know that has forced me to seperate my links between blogs and really cool homepages. So you should go to his homepage and watch the movies, they're really cool.

Links for today:

• Magic 8 WarBall. "Westerner" approach to foreign policy
  
• Allowable levels of rat hairs and insect guts present in our food. And you thought the only source of meat in our diet was intentional
  
• Chung Kwang. Yah sometimes its bad when you read a funny name off a wire and decided to look it up
  

Its now october. I'm still waiting for summer. Last year we had a nice hot summer here in indiana. But not this year, it had to rain every week and be cold. So to use the wookie defense "It just doesn't make sense". Yay for southpark, haven't watched it in like 3 years but then again I'm sure I'm probably better off for it.

Those are my random thoughts of this morning.

see look what happens when I wake up at 5:30am but can't get out myself out of bed till 6:30 because its too cold :)