OK, has anyone watched any of the FIFA soccer matches? I have not and I honestly have not seen anything about them in the TV listings. I even listened to several hours of Fox News today and didn't hear them mention anything about it.
If you hear when it is supposed to be televised, please e-mail me so I can watch a little. It is usually pretty good. At least the kids like it.
We have to postpone the painting scheduled for today. A piece of glass fell off a shelf and I caught it, with my left thumb. 24 hours later, it is still bleeding pretty good. It is cut pretty deep and goes right down to the bone. I know, I saw it yesterday when I set down the piece of glass. It was one of those moments where you think to yourself, "I think I am in trouble". I never panic in situations like this. I always maintain composure and fix the problem. The damn thing bled all night too. Every time I turned over, it would start again. I tried band-aids, but that is futile.
Then, how is he typing" you ask? For some strange reason, I never use my left thumb for anything in typing. I use my right thumb for the spacebar.
This is kinda "geeky." Well, no ... to tell the truth it is *REALLY* geeky. Really *REALLY* geeky. But it is a cool kind of geeky.
Google now has a built-in calculator! No, really! Go to Google.com and instead of keying in a word or search phrase, key in a math problem like:
To prove once and for all that your fearless bus driver has no social life and entirely too much free time, here are just a few of my favorite Google calculator searches:
The folks at Waxy.org win for best search, though, for using Google's calculator to find the answer to life, the universe and everything multiplied by the speed of light divided by three teaspoons
For a pretty good list of every math function and unit of measure that Google's calculator supports, check out: from Dustgun
Finally, for those of you who are Grandpa Simpson fans, I am sorry to report that Google's calculator doesn't yet convert rods to hogsheads... but I'm sure the math geeks at Google are frantically working on fixing that oversight.
If your wondering what the "slot" number is for, we have a DVD player that holds 300+1 DVDs. So, unless you want to put all the info in every time there is a power outage (which I really don't want to do and don't have the time for) You make a list. I pencil in additions and subtractions, then reprint it once in every 6 months or so. Or when ever the page gets to messy to read. The kids like to use them for places to set their drinks when they watch a movie. The problem with readding the information into the DVD player is kinda moot since it is now running on a UPS. That also covers me if there are power surges or fluctuations. We do live in a fairly bad area for that stuff.Slot Movie Title - Rating 1. Toy Story G Widescreen 2. Toy Story 2 G Widescreen 3. Buzz Lightyear of Star Command G Pan and Scan 4. The Iron Giant G Widescreen & Pan and Scan 5. Monsters Inc. – Disc 1 G Widescreen 6. Monsters Inc. – Disc 2 G Full Screen 7. Fantasia 2000 G Widescreen 8. Spirit - Stallion of the Cimarron G Widescreen 9. Chicken Run G Widescreen 10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – Disc 1 G Widescreen 11. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – Disc 2 G Widescreen 12. Lilo and Stitch PG Widescreen 13. Ghostbusters PG Widescreen 14. Space Cowboys PG13 Widescreen 15. Men in Black PG13 Widescreen 16. Men in Black 2 – Disc 1 PG13 Widescreen 17. Men in Black 2 – Disc 2 NR Normal 18. GalaxyQuest PG Widescreen 19. Starship Troopers R Widescreen & Full Screen 20. Roughnecks – The Pluto Campaign NR Full Screen 21. Roughnecks – The Tesca Campaign NR Full Screen 22. Roughnecks – The Tophet Campaign NR Full Screen 23. Roughnecks – The Hydora Campaign NR Full Screen 24. Roughnecks – The Homefront Campaign NR Full Screen 25. Final Fantasy, The Spirits Within – Disc 1 PG13 Widescreen 26. Final Fantasy, The Spirits Within – Disc 2 NR Full Screen 27. Star Wars, Attack of the Clones – Disc 1 PG Widescreen 28. Star Wars, Attack of the Clones – Disc 2 NR Various 29. Ben-Hur G Widescreen 30. Sparticus PG13 Widescreen 31. Gladiator – Disc 1 R Widescreen 32. Gladiator – Disc 2 NR Various 33. The Vikings NR Widescreen 34. Excalibur R Widescreen 35. Kull the Conqueror PG13 Widescreen 36. Xena, Warrior princess – Series Finale NR Full Screen 37. Monty Python and the Holy Grail PG Widescreen 38. Highlander – 10th Anniversary – Directors Cut R Widescreen 39. The 13th Warrior R Widescreen 40. The Evil Dead, NR Full Screen 41. Army of Darkness NR Widescreen 42. The Scorpion King PG13 Widescreen 43. The Mummy – Ultimate Edition – Disc 1 PG13 Widescreen 44. The Mummy – Ultimate Edition – Disc 2 NR Full Screen 45. The Mummy Returns PG13 Widescreen 46. Tomb Raider PG13 Widescreen 47. Legend – Directors Cut NR Widescreen 48. Legend – U.S. Theatrical Version PG Widescreen 49. The Ten Commandments – Disc 1 G Widescreen 50. The Ten Commandments – Disc 2 G Widescreen 51. National Velvet G FullScreen 52. The Sound of Music – Disc 1 G Widescreen 53. The Sound of Music – Disc 2 G Widescreen 54. The Wizard of OZ G Full Screen 55. National Geographic – Lord of the Rings NR Full Screen 56. Master of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien NR Full Screen 57. The Hobbit – Animated NR Full Screen 58. Animated Lord of the Rings PG Widescreen 59. The Return of the King NR Full Screen 60. The Fellowship of the Ring – Part 1 R Widescreen 61. The Fellowship of the Ring – Part 2 R Widescreen 62. The Fellowship of the Ring – Appendices Part 1 NR Widescreen 63. The Fellowship of the Ring – Appendices Part 2 NR Widescreen 64. Star Trek 2 – The Wrath of Kahn – Disc 1 PG Widescreen 65. Star Trek 2 – The Wrath of Kahn – Disc 2 PG Widescreen 66. Star Trek Insurrection PG Widescreen 67. Alien R Widescreen 68. Aliens – Special Edition R Widescreen 69. Alien3 R Widescreen 70. Alien Resurrection R Widescreen 71. Spiderman – Disc 1 PG13 Widescreen 72. Spiderman – Disc 2 PG13 Widescreen 73. The Last of the Mohicans R Enhanced Widescreen 74. The Sixth Day PG13 Widescreen 75. Collateral Damage R Widescreen 76. The Matrix R Widescreen 77. Robocop – The Criterion Collection NC17 Widescreen 78. Red Planet PG13 Widescreen 79. Red Dawn PG13 Widescreen & Pan and Scan 80. TimeCode R Full Screen (sorta) 81. Young Master – Jackie Chan NR Widescreen 82. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon PG13 Widescreen 83. Dr. NO PG Widescreen 84. From Russia with Love PG Widescreen 85. You Only Live Twice PG Widescreen 86. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service PG Widescreen 87. Diamonds are Forever PG Widescreen 88. The Man with the Golden Gun PG Widescreen 89. The Spy Who Loved Me PG Widescreen 90. Moonraker PG Widescreen 91. Octopussy PG Widescreen 92. A View to a Kill PG Widescreen 93. The Living Daylights PG Widescreen 94. The World is Not Enough PG13 Widescreen 95. Black Mask – Jet Li R Widescreen 96. The One – Jet Li PG13 Widescreen 97. The End of Days R Widescreen 98. Pitch Black NR Widescreen 99. Artificial Intelligence, Feature – Disc 1 NR Widescreen 100. Artificial Intelligence, Special Features – Disc 2 NR Widescreen 101. Stargate PG13 Widescreen 102. Contact PG Widescreen 103. Total Recall – Special Edition R Widescreen 104. The Abyss, Special Edition – Disc 1 PG13 Widescreen 105. The Abyss, Special Edition – Disc 2 PG13 Widescreen 106. The Planet of the Apes – Disc 1 PG13 Widescreen 107. The Planet of the Apes – Disc 1 PG13 Widescreen 108. Armageddon, The Movie – Disc 1 NR Widescreen 109. Armageddon, Supplement – Disc 2 NR Full Screen 110. Blazing Saddles R Widescreen & Pan and Scan 111. Gray Lady Down NR Full Screen 112. Away All Boats NR Full Screen 113. The Quiet Man NR Full Screen 114. The Cowboys PG Widescreen 115. Tora! Tora! Tora! NR Widescreen 116. In Harm’s Way NR Widescreen 117. The Longest Day NR Widescreen 118. The Sands of Iwo Jima NR Full Screen 119. The Alamo NR Widescreen 120. The Searchers NR Widescreen & Pan and Scan 121. Das Boot (in German) R Widescreen 122. Blackhawk Down R Widescreen 123. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angles PG Widescreen 124. Africa Screams NR Full Screen 125. Mystery Men PG13 Widescreen 126. Spy Kids PG Widescreen 127. The Goonies PG Widescreen 128. The Full Monty R Widescreen 129. NASA, The Ultimate Space Experience NR Full Screen 130. Learning HTML – The Standard Deviants NR Full Screen 131. Sting – The Brand New Day Tour NR Full Screen 132. Madonna: 93 > 99 NR Full Screen 133. U2 – Elevation 2001 – Disc 1 NR Full Screen 134. U2 – Elevation 2001 – Disc 2 NR Full Screen 135. The Frighteners R Widescreen 136. Die Another Day PG-13 Widescreen 137. Die Another Day – Special Features NR Full Screen 138. My Fair Lady G Widescreen 139. Star Trek Nemesis PG-13 Widescreen 140. Terminator 2 – Judgment Day - Disc One R Widescreen 141. Terminator 2 – Judgment Day - Disc Two R Widescreen 142. Stargate SG-1 (Season 1) Volume 1 NR Widescreen 143. Stargate SG-1 (Season 1) Volume 2 NR Widescreen 144. Stargate SG-1 (Season 1) Volume 3 NR Widescreen 145. Stargate SG-1 (Season 1) Volume 4 NR Widescreen 146. Stargate SG-1 (Season 1) Volume 5 NR Widescreen 147. The Jewel of the Nile PG Widescreen 148. The Sum Of All Fears PG-13 Widescreen 149. The Three Stooges – Curly Classics NR Full Screen 150. Romancing The Stone PG Widescreen 151. Stargate SG-1 (Season 2) Volume 1 NR Widescreen 152. Stargate SG-1 (Season 2) Volume 2 NR Widescreen 153. Stargate SG-1 (Season 2) Volume 3 NR Widescreen 154. Stargate SG-1 (Season 2) Volume 4 NR Widescreen 155. Stargate SG-1 (Season 2) Volume 5 NR Widescreen 156. Crocodile Hunter – Collision Course PG Widescreen 157. My Big Fat Greek Wedding PG Widescreen 158. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – Disc 1 PG Widescreen 159. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – Disc 2 PG Widescreen 160. Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets – Disc 1 PG Widescreen 161. Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets – Disc 2 PG Widescreen 162. Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension PG Widescreen 163. In Like Flint G Widescreen 164. Our Man Flint G Widescreen 165. In the Beginning G Widescreen 166. Finding Faith In Christ G Full Screen 167. Batman – The Movie G Full Screen 168. Bulletproof Monk PG Widescreen 169. XXX – Vin Diesel PG13 Widescreen 170. Goldmember R Widescreen 171. The Eagle Has Landed PG Widescreen 172. The Princess Bride – Special Edition PG Widescreen 173. Beauty and the Beast – Special Edition – Disc 1 G Widescreen 174. Beauty and the Beast – Special Edition – Disc 2 G Widescreen 175. Ice Age – Disc 1 – Feature PG Widescreen 176. Ice Age – Disc 2 – Bonus Material NR Full Screen 177. Rocky Horror Picture Show – Disc 1 R Widescreen 178. Rocky Horror Picture Show – Disc 2 NR Full Screen 179. The Smashing Pumpkins, 1991-2000 Video Hits NR Full Screen 180. Astronomy Adventure – Standard Deviants NR Full Screen 181. Scooby-Doo’s Spookiest Tales NR Full Screen 182. Scooby-Doo’s Original Mysteries NR Full Screen 183. Run Lola Run – 2 Sided Disc R Widescreen and Full Screen
Governor Bob Taft (R) 614.466.3555 Senator Robert Schuler (R) 614.466.4900 Senator Doug White (R) 614.466.8082 Representative Tom Brinkman (R) 614.644.6886 Representative Jean Schmidt (R) 614.466.8134 Representative Tom Niehaus (R) 614.644.6034
Hi Todd, Well, it's an interesting position to be sure. I think that you are correct in seeing that the greatest threat to the American ability to 'lead the world' lie in the nascent economic potential of India and China. It is in this part of the world where the geopolitical and economic upheavals of the 21st century will be centered. Europe is prosperous, but no longer growing, and I worry that we here in States have lost our sense of history. Without remembering the past and learning from it, we have little hope of leading the world into the future.Well, I am quite happy to have heard that one. Hey, and I am honest here. It took me about a hour to digest this reply completely. I am trying to be completely fair and balanced in my reporting, no sarcasm intended or implied.
As to the current state of US military power, I prefer to not couch this in terms of liberal and conservative. I can't really speak for what happened to the military under the Clinton administration because I know little about it. I do know that The White House and the Pentagon had a pretty strained relationship in those years. But while I am a supporter of maintaining a well equipped and professional military, I have some very serious problems with its current mobilization by the Bush administration. On one hand, militaries are meant to protect the nations they serve, but on the other hand, the fundamental purpose of armies is to destroy the enemy. the calculus of war is such that it would be irresponsible for armies to do anything short of completely demolishing the capacity of the enemy to resist, and in doing so, protect those whom they serve. It is this calculus which forces me to so vehemently oppose prosecuting war unless the nation is truly under threat. War is a very nasty thing, as I am sure you are aware through your service, and vicariously through the service of others in the military. The US armed forces today are a full generation ahead of any competing forces, and as such, have the capability of shedding an enormous amount of blood. If we are to shed such blood, let it be for a cause that we are certain is just. When Nazi Germany conquered all of continental Europe in the space of 3 months, and was bombing England in 1942, our way of life was at stake. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, laid waste to the US Pacific Fleet, and threatened invasion of the US west coast, our way of life was threatened. Our armed services answered the call and defended the nation with aplomb, albeit at tremendous cost in lives, both enemy and American.
Over the years, the "US economy has gotten bigger and wars have gotten smaller." In the post cold-war years, we have seen that the key threats to our way of life come not from nations but from rogue groups that operate secretly and disparately to shatter the confidence of Western populations. While the September 11th attacks were the worst example of terrorist activity to date, the US is not the first Western power to be a target of terrorism at home. When the Europeans rolled back their empires in the wake of V-E day, they were assailed by angry terrorists originating from their former colonies. These groups were seeking revenge for what they perceived as centuries of imperial domination. Orpheus response to the situation was almost entirely different from our response; instead of launching wave upon wave of military adventurism to rogue colonies, the Europeans focused instead on better police work at home and more compliant diplomacy abroad. The rewards of their more cool-headed approach have been evident for the last 25 years. There have been no major acts of terrorism within Europe for the last three decades, and aside from some home-grown groups (basque Terrorists and the IRA), terrorism in Europe is largely a problem of the past.
Compare that to our response. In response to 9/11, Bush, succumbing to public anger and the need to respond, attacked Afghanistan. This seemed like a good decision given the ostensible support the Afghan government had extended to Osama Bin Laden. In Afghanistan, our modern military faced off against a nation of hardened but poorly equipped islamic tribesmen who could do little to stop or even understand the ways that the US made war. As it did in 1979 in the face of overwhelming Soviet armor, Afghanistan fell, and a new foreign power was in charge. The cost of that war, financially, was relatively small, and it was here that the current administration faced its primary challenge. Could the Bush administration help build an Afghanistan that would reject fanatical people who would plan acts as outrageously barbaric as the ones in New York City?
To do that in Afghanistan required a number of things; patience, money, and most importantly, an understanding of the people we were trying to govern. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has failed on all counts. What has really changed in Afghanistan? The Taliban, which had bullied rival warlords to tow their party line, were Sunni islamic extremists who forced men to grow beards, banned women from public life, and banned music. In the new Afghanistan, warlords appointed by the US military to govern provinces in Afghanistan are largely Sunni islamic extremists who force men to grow beards, ban women from public life, and ban music. But there is one thing that they do that the Taliban would not allow, and that is to grow opium. Almost overnight, Afghanistan has regained it's title as one of the worlds chief opium and heroin producers. And the US government, all the way up the White House, tell DEA agents in neighboring Pakistan to look the other way, because there is no other way to fund reconstruction in Afghanistan.
And what or our military presence there? Outside of the ISAF, which is now a NATO entity, US forces are holed up in bases toting a great deal of firepower, but not really understanding how to govern or control an area where tribalism, factionalism, and patriotism rule the day. The situation is disturbingly familiar; the Soviets had pretty much accomplished the same thing in the mid 80's. I recently spoke with a former officer of the Spetnaz Russian Airborne in Russia, a veteran of the Afghan war who echoes the same sentiment. So, given this precarious situation, what could we have done?
Invade a much larger, even more ethnically divided country of course! Without any proof of involvement in the 9/11 attacks, George W Bush and his advisers duped the American public into believing that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction which he could use to threaten Americans at home. He could give them to terrorist groups, he claimed. Tony Blair, in an effort to preserve Britain's 'special relationship' with the US, was quick to announce that Saddam Hussein could launch his menacing weapons at a moments notice, showering the western world Fu-Manchu style with agents of chemical and biological mayhem. Of course, we knew what Saddam had and how long he had it; we sold him his chemical and biological weapons stocks in the mid 80's to keep the Ayatollahs of Iran from taking over the middle east. Ronald Reagan, in a special memo, even advised several armed services committee members to look the other way when it was reported that Saddam was gassing Iraqi Kurds. Gassing Kurds is a proud tradition in Iraq started by the Royal Air Force of Great Britain in the 1920's, and looking away from such atrocities committed by powers friendly to us is a proud American tradition. In his zeal to unleash a $200 billion war on Iraq, the Bush administration even stooped to using crude forgeries of uranium dealings between Iraq and Niger as proof of Saddam's nefarious intentions. WMD's became a household term as our troops rolled into Iraq, despite the fact that UN inspectors had found nothing to substantiate the Bush administration's claims. We killed 26,000 Iraqis in this war, if you could call it a war. 'Degrading enemy forces to a non-operational state' is the Orwellian pentagonspeak for slaughtering wholesale thousands upon thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians fated to die. And what has been gained by their deaths, and by the deaths of almost 300 Americans in Iraq? Last week, General Abizaid admitted that the security situation in Baghdad is worsening by the day. The occupation is costing the US a billion dollars a week. And the French, who understand well the costs of empire, are reminding us that they told us so. And have we slowed the spread of terrorism to the US and our allies? Well, we have bombings and reprisals in Israel, bombings in Mumbai, India, and bombings in Iraq against the UN and other targets. Soon, I imagine, we will see bombings on our shores.
Bush's zeal to use the military for the destruction and subsequent resurrection of nations he does not like is shortsighted, and his willingness to put the lives of servicemen and women at risk for spurious or unfounded reasons is criminal. Bill Clinton may have humiliated men and women in uniform, but Bush is putting them in the line of fire without just pretense, and that is far worse. Further, his outright disregard for globally established rules of justifiable military action and conduct previously sanctioned by the United States, squanders the sympathy and cooperative spirit that the rest of the world extended to us in the wake of the September 11th attacks. It also makes it more dangerous for Americans such as myself to travel abroad without becoming targets of violent anti-Americanism. And as this administration misuses the nation's military to take more innocent lives, I fear that it also endangers Americans here at home. If my sister or my mother was killed by a stray missile or a trigger happy soldier, I imagine that I might be inspired to take up arms against those who perpetrated such violence. By choosing the path of violence, the Bush administration increases the number of disaffected people on this planet who might seek to do us harm, in revenge for the destruction we have brought to them.
America is being led astray by people who have not learned the lessons of history; these are men who don't understand the way the world works, and only pay lip service to the values that we as Americans hold dear. The trials and travails of European imperialists should give our leaders pause as they contemplate lengthy and bloody occupations of ethnically divided nations. They should understand that war has irreplaceable human costs, and that violence only leads to more violence. If you recklessly take life, you are bound to generate anger and resentment. if the Bush administration really understood the concept of security, they would have taken $200 billion to improve airport security, put more police on the streets, or coordinate US law enforcement. They would have built stronger diplomatic ties with governments and law-enforcement agencies overseas, and improved cooperation between them and our own. They would have used the goodwill and support of the world after 9/11 to build a regime of international cooperation, to prevent malefactors from attacking our progressive values. No amount of money can bring that spirit of cooperation back.
Sorry for the long winded reply,
Arka C.
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I mean with the HTML? I am trying all new kinds of stuff and I wanted to know if anyone thought I was doing any better with how clean my code is?
Please e-mail me or IM me if you think so, (or even if you think I am getting worse) I would greatly appreciate it.
OK, I had this great recipe I found last year and I will try it later on next week. I wanted to share it because I am not sure if the kids will even eat them if I make it correctly. If you want a html version of the recipe, just e-mail me an I will send it to you.
Preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. 2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. 3. Into a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter mixture, beating well after the addition of each. Fold in the nuts, vanilla, and red and blue food coloring, being careful not to overmix the dough. The food coloring will make the dough a grayish color, resembling the color of brains. 4. Place the dough in batches in a potato ricer and push the dough out onto the prepared baking sheets in long tubes. With your fingers, loosely pat and arrange the dough strands into clumps resembling brains, pushing to form 2 lobes and shaping into a walnut-like shape. 5. Bake until golden brown on the bottom, 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. 6. Make the Blood Glaze: Combine the confectioners sugar with the milk in a small bowl and whisk to make a thick glaze. Add the food coloring and whisk to combine into a blood-like color. 7. (heh heh heh) Drizzle the "blood" onto the cookies and serve either warm or at room temperature.
