The financial meltdown is only beginning

Property values continue to drop, as long as they continue to drop, we won’t have monetary inflation. This meltdown is just getting started.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/113-million-homeowners-underwater-on-mortgage-2010-02-23

The supreme court has ruled that government censorship of corporations is illegal.

The upshot of the decision is that “the Government may not suppress political speech on the basis of the speaker’s corporate identity.”

http://bigjournalism.com/cmulder/2010/01/21/the-big-losers-in-todays-supreme-court-decision-the-msm/

Socialist Venezuela seizes french retail chain.

Venezuela seized French retail chain Exito after they doubled prices in response to the socialist government devaluing the currency by half.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100117-703649.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLEHeadlinesEurope

California Legislature Moves to Legalize Marijuana

California is bankrupt with surging unemployment and a population shrinking by a third of a million people a year; meanwhile state lawmakers are working on legalizing Marijuana.

First, they estimate nearly a billion dollars in tax income based off an estimated consumption of Marijuana, considering and Marijuana is largely illegal, I consider their estimate unreliable. Second, we must assume the vast network of illicit drug producers, traders and customers will suddenly want to start paying taxes, it’s important to keep in mind that successful business without taxes is far more profitable for producers and far more affordable for consumers. Considering the acceptance of illegality of this industry and it’s consumers I doubt much tax income for the foreseeable future.

If the state of California is really serious about financial solvency, it needs to enforce the anti union laws against the state workers union and cutback on public housing and welfare.

The problem isn’t the section 8 people, the problem is the state being broke, which can be corrected by breaking up the illegal state workers union and by cutting back or eliminating section 8. Legalizing illicit drugs and identifying new tax income opportunities isn’t going to correct state leadership which isn’t interested in balanced check books, what’s gained without sweat is given away without regret, and that is how the state treats tax income.

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/politics/Planting-the-Seed-for-Legal-Pot-81222877.html

“Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee”

The White House is proposing a 15% tax on bank assets. Bank assets are your loans and savings, this is a 15% yearly tax on your assets. The Government already Taxes your employer who pays you, your income which your employer pays you, your purchases paid for with income with has already been taxed and steals the value of your money with inflation.

Big Companies aren’t the ones who pay these taxes, you are; the money comes out of your pay and and is hidden in the prices you pay.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100114/D9D7FIMG0.html

Federal Government fails to renew START1 (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty)

First the our Government abandons Poland and Czechoslovakia on the 70th anniversary of the coordinated Soviet (Russian) and Nazi invasion of Poland which started the Second World War. Now it turns out that our Government has also backed out of monitoring Russian ICBM production, a critical element in enforcing the START treaty.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/01/us-to-stop-counting-new-missiles-in-russia/

Government manipulation of the American money supply over the last 208 years.

208 years of Monetary manipulation.

Individual Norwegian tax records are now public record.

Norwegian government make personal tax information public record.

Lutefisk and loot: Tax records open in Norway – Yahoo! News

Newspaper weekly circulation continues to slip

23 of the 25 top newspapers weekly circulation continue to slip, average of 10.6% in six months. Against the liberal slide, the Wall Street Journal expands weekly circulation.

Top 25 Daily Newspapers in New FAS-FAX

Congress moves to steal more money with inflation

Congress moves to increase national debt limit by an additional trillion dollars – a move to devalue existing money by a trillion dollars. Your savings isn’t safe.

Dems seek cover to boost debt limit – Manu Raju – POLITICO.com

Congress threatens the American Medical Association

Congress threatens a 21% decrease to what doctors can charge for their service, unless the American Medical Association agrees to Universal Healthcare.

The Associated Press: Analysis: Courting doctors in health care battle

Taxes hidden in retail prices

All products have hidden taxes, 13 Consumer goods and what percentage of their price is tax. For example, 51.20% of the price of Gasoline is tax.

Americans for Tax Reform Center for Fiscal Accountability

Wage Contractions

States begin to lower minimum wages in attempt to slow new unemployment.

Colorado minimum wage to drop as living costs fall

XBOX360 control with Call of Duty: World at War on the PC

This isn’t really posted anywhere well traveled so I’m posting it here.

Tge Call of Duty: World at War (COD5) box indicates that the game can be played on the PC with an XBOX360 control. This is a typo and the game can not be played with the XBOX360 controler.

Grand Theft Auto 4 Multiplayer on the PC

I purchased GTA4 for the PC when if first came out, I read that it had multiplayer but I wasn’t particuraly interested at the time. Well over the weekend I decided to give multiplayer a go and I couldn’t figure it out.

For some reason the guys over at Rockstar didn’t feel the need to include a multiplayer option in the menu but they did feel the need to confuse me with Rockstar Social Club and Games for Windows Live.

To play multiplayer GTA4 on the PC you must start the game normally and then start single player. Once single player finishes loading you must press the UP Arrow key to bring up your in game cell phone, from their you must navigate the cell phone menu to the multiplayer option. Once inside of the multiplayer browse screen you must select a game and load the content again.

What was rock star thinking?

Easy Log function on a TI-89 Titanium

I know this is outside of the normal topics discussed on this site but I felt a serious need inform others about hidden functionality on the Texas Instruments TI-89.

Recently in my math class I was required to use the log function on my TI-89 Titanium. I couldn’t find it except by using the catalog. I read the manual and searched on the internet, I couldn’t find a better method, I in fact fount a lot of worse methods. So sitting in class I started pushing the alternate function keys and pressing all the keys without their alternate function listed. The calculator does in fact have a quick key for the Log function. Diamond & 7

Comrade Obama sets CEO salary caps!

Comrade Obama is setting maximum salary for employees of companies who are receiving bailout money. Salaries can no longer exceed $500,000. Seems responsible and fair doesn’t it? They are the ones who made the mess; they are the ones who should be punished right? And besides, $500,000 is a lot of money isn’t it? It’s way too much pay, right? Especially since CEO’s don’t do the actual work, right?

Companies compete for CEO’s, they compete for decision makers. Limiting CEO pay will be the end of these companies; all upper management (people who make more than $500,000 a year) will be recruited by other companies, leaving only people who are incapable of the strategic thinking necessary to successfully manage such large companies. These companies will become headless monsters run by politicians, and politicians are renowned for not being able to balance budgets.

But wait! We can’t let these people leave these companies! They need to fix what they did! They are the only ones who know how to manage these companies! We need to make it illegal for them to quit their jobs! Right? Wrong. The road to communism is paved with good intentions…..

Consensus Decision Making

Consensus Decision Making is relevant to Business Communication because it is essential to identify people who are willing to compromise when one intends to negotiate. Identifying them requires understanding their methods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_decision-making

I reject this sort of decision making myself, on the ground’s that seeking consensus often requires compromising one’s own objectives. I would only compromise my position or objectives if I was not confident about the principles that I based them on. If I found consensus despite being confident, then I would be marginalizing my position and objectives in exchange for a better opportunity to have elements of them accepted. I would in effect be agreeing to lose in exchange for everyone else agreeing to lose as well. Understanding whom you are communicating with and identifying methods of communication and decision making can only benefit you. I found the article and associated articles interesting and relevant.

The Real Tyler Durden

In Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel Fight Club the narrator’s antagonistic second personality Tyler Durden seeks to force upon the world a new beginning, a fresh start by physicaly destroying of the credit industry. Tyler Durden has a real life counterpart, the Justice Department announced the foiling of a digital attack upon Fannie Mae’s server network. Rajendrasinh Makwana, a 35 year old from Virgina, installed a virus which would have wiped the mortgage giant’s hard drives this coming Saturday.

Fannie Mae is the largest mortgage financer in the United States, Tyler Durden would be proud.

Nobody is stupid, they’re just ignorant, right?

Someone who says “Nobody is stupid, they’re just ignorant” is saying something stupid. They could be stupid for not thinking about what they are saying or they could be ignorant for not differentiating between ignorant and stupid, or they could be both ignorant and stupid for not looking up the meaning’s of the words ignorant and stupid.

Stupidity and ignorance are completely different things.

The word stupid is an adjective used to describe someone with a slow mind. The word ignorant is an adjective used to describe someone who is lacking in knowledge. Being stupid isn’t being doomed to be ignorant, think book smart and being unable to apply knowledge. Being ignorant isn’t being doomed to be stupid, it’s just being doomed to look stupid for not checking your facts.

Ghetto Banking (Bank of Frank and Wells Fargo)

I recently took a friend to buy a car. Went into the ghetto car dealer’s office to find out about financing a loan for the car, they ran her credit and it came back approved by some ghetto bank that wanted to charge a financing fee. The sales manager told us he would find a better loan and he picked up the phone; he explained the situation, listened, and hung up. He turned to my friend and said that Frank would carry the loan if she paid sticker price. We left.

A few hours later over at Wells Fargo she was turned down with above average credit for a loan of three thousand dollars. The loan officer seemed very surprised; he thought it was no big deal. I’m scared, I had no idea the loanable funds market was so contracted that above average credit micro loans were considered subprime. Is Wells Fargo next?

Obama Picks all Washington Insiders for his Cabinet (SO MUCH FOR CHANGE)

Okay maybe it’s change… but it’s a few steps backwards. His cabinet picks read like a who’s who of the 90′s, a center right shift to friends of Bill Clinton. And, Instead of calling his appointees Washington insiders, the President Elect calls them Washington experience. So much for “Change” … maybe “Hope” will do better… make sure you know what you’re wishing for… (and voting for)

Secretary of State -> Hillary Clinton (Former First Lady, Junior New York Senator and Serious Presidential Primary Contender)
Secretary of Health and Human Services -> Tom Daschle (Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader)
Secretary of Commerce -> Gov. Bill Richardson (Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, appointed by Former President Bill Clinton)
Chairmen of Economic Recovery Advisory Board -> Paul Volcker (Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Appointed by Former President Jimmy Carter)
Secretary of Defense-> Robert Gates (Current Secretary of Defense Appointed by President Bush)
Secretary of Homeland Security -> Gov. Janet Napolitano (Former Bill Clinton Appointee)

That’s the first half – the President Elect hasn’t leaked/announced the second half of his Cabinet yet.

What’s wrong with saving American auto makers?

Everything!

But why?

Next year when President Barack Obama and congress move to save the American auto industry they will only make things worse!

What’s wrong with protecting American jobs and giving Americans a chance? President Clinton instituted import taxes on forign steel. This raised the price of steel to a point where the American steel industry could compete. His initiative saved forty thousand jobs in the American steel industry at the cost of two hundred thousand jobs in other industries which could no longer afford to buy steel. Saving jobs is always at the cost of other peoples jobs.

Don’t most industries fail because their inefficient? Doesn’t inefficiency force the cost of their products above a competitive level? Isn’t it the evil CEO’s who steal all the money and the workers repeating repetitive mindless tasks that make all of the money?

Unlikely.

The American auto industry is failing because congress protects monopolies of labor. A monopoly of labor is a Labor Union. American auto makers are forced to pay uncompetitive wages to government protected labor unions; wages three times higher then the wages of foreign auto workers. American automakers can’t fire anyone without the labor union going on strike. That’s not all congress already does to help auto makers, congress regularly imposes new emissions regulations, safety regulations, production mandates (like making hybrids) and every other conceivable madness. All of this forces factory retooling and product redesign. Oh! and I almost forgot more expensive steel!! Good thing congress is giving everyone a chance!

Instead of congress lifting regulations and opening labor anti-trust investigations. Congress and President Elect Obama want to restructure the industry and use tax payers money to give a massive injection of liquid capital so that jobs can be saved, jobs that are playing a large part in destroying the industry! But thats not all! They want to impose import taxes on foreign cars to give American auto makers a chance! But we have already talked about what happened when our government saved the steel industry (they actually saved the unions).

Couldn’t all of this be about votes? The more obsolete jobs politicians save, the more people who’s livelihood depends upon elected officials. Is it possible that it could all be a conspiracy? Of course not! That would be a vast left wing conspiracy! Pointing fingers and initiating investigations would be McCarthism! SO of course theirs no conspiracys. Their isn’t anyone who exists who would dream of undermining the foundations of government, of our prosperity, of our freedoms for the sake of personal gain. This is America and that would be silly. No junior senator from the rust belt would ever give tax payers money to save his constituency!

What will happen when everyone is saved - when everything is more expensive including our taxes?

Financial Crisis (Worse then it looks!)

1. When stocks crash, no one gets the money – it simply evaporates. The S&P and DOW have lost 40% in the last twelve months. That money is gone. Even at an unimaginable growth rate of 9% it will still take ten years to recover to the 2007 values.

2. When investment banks crash the loanable money market contracts forcing loan interest rates higher – making your home, car and credit cards more expensive.

3. The money in your freezer and under your mattress isn’t safe. Once Barack Obama is elected, congress will begin to pass Keynesian legislation where the federal government issues treasure bonds to the federal reserve in order to fund economic stimulus packages. This is equivalent to printing more money and in turn causes inflation which devalues your savings – thats right – your dollar will be worth less then it was when you initially saved it.

4. When the government issues more money – they are stealing from you – they are devaluing the your money and everyone else’s money in the devalued difference.

5. It isn’t near over! Their are still plenty of domestic and foreign financial crashes blooming. Their are still plenty of politicians around the world who are looking to cash in politically, to get elected by cooking up economic stimulus packages! Their will be politicians around the world for the next decade wining landslide elections and stealing your money to the sound of applause.

6. How can you protect your money? Buy property! Get a fixed interest rate – once Obama is elected and his economic policy’s devalue the dollar, the value of your loan will decrease, you will be in effect be paying less for your property.

I’m now accepting student loans from the government, I am fully excepting the value of my loan to drastically devalue do to inflation long before it becomes due. Thats me stealing from you.

Mail Fraud

In the mail I received some very official looking forms. The cover page was a long winded article about your eligibility to receive ATM fee transaction refunds due to a winning class action lawsuit in the state of Pennsylvania. The first form required you to prove your eligibility by providing bank account numbers and estimates of how much in transaction fees you have paid over the last thirty six months. The second form was an alternative method of proving fee expenses that required transaction records in addition to bank account numbers. The final form was required to prove your identity, it required your birth given name and any aliases that you your bank accounts may be under, it required a statement under threat of prosecution that you have not purgered yourself in any way, finally the form required your full address, telephone number, last of all it required your social security number and dated signature.

The mail fraud giveaway was of course the bulk mail rubber stamp and a lack of the recipient’s name. Sometimes I wonder if I’m in the wrong business.

The Ultimate War (2008 Revision)

I have updated my essay The Ultimate War with a number policy clarification and some fresh ideas.

Passive Aggressive Tyranny v. the Second Amendment

On July 11^th the Supreme Court ruled that the second amendment is constitutional. Four of the five supreme legal authorities within our country find our constitution unconstitutional. Specifically the sole article within our constitution designed to physically protect the minority from the majority. The second amendment protects me from trendy politics; it protects me from majority rule. When I hear of new “gun control” legislation designed to ban cheap guns, I see legislation attacking the poor; I see the majority denying the poor their right to self-defense. I know people who would never defend themselves, who instead use secret ballots to strip me of my freedoms, my very right to defend myself from secret ballots and the four Supreme Court Justices who find the Constitution unconstitutional. In economic terms every successful attack on the second amendment lowers the cost of our own oppression. If John Kerry had been elected president he would have appointed a liberal judge when chief justice Rehnquist died who would have voted in favor of supporting the District of Columbia’s very sensible however illegal ban on hand gun ownership. If John Kerry had been elected, the Supreme Court would have a majority of justices who find our Constitution unconstitutional.

History repeats itself, and that’s how it goes.

The old oppress the young.

McCain vs Hope

Presidential candidate John McCain might have found his political stride by associating himself to a popular Republican President of the past. Theodore Roosevelt’s moderate legacy of reform, environmentalism and tough foreign policy are the revered hallmarks of his 1901 to 1909 presidency. McCain might also cash in on confusions between the Roosevelts among moderate democrats who are susceptible to Barack Obama’s policy of hope.

I can’t think of any past presidential race with two weaker candidates.

Anyway, sorry it’s been so long since I have posted – I have been cheating on you with my other blogs.

California Legislature Attacks Personal Freedoms

Effective July 1st 2008 it will become illegal for drivers within the state of California to smoke cigarettes. cigars or pipes inside of vehicles containing minors. California Vehicle Code Section 12814.6

Effective July 1st 2008, talking on your cell phone will also become illegal and minors will face heavier penalties. Fines will expand with subsequent transgressions. California Vehicle Code Sections 23123 & 23124

What next, helmets and mandatory UV filtered goggles?

Not only does the state legislature and governor feel the need to control what we do with our cars, they also feel the need to impose regulations on what we do inside of our cars. In the name of safety the state continuously erodes our freedom.

Accept no excuses or justifications.

Google Internet Mapping in Action

Google Description of Page Ranks
PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important”.

The value of a ranking increases by a magnitude of ten for each rank. For example a site with a rank of six will be ten times more important then a rank five and one hundred times more important then a rank four.

So I was looking at page ranks today. My new game development blog has a rank of zero, however my old development blog has a rank of three and this blog has a rank of four.

Interestingly I noticed that my myspace page has a rank of three, where as my friends have page ranks of zero, making my myspace page one thousand times more likly to come up as a google search result then their pages. How can this be? My page is a lot lamer then most of theirs and a whole let less interesting in many cases, and most of them have more friends then I do. The only answer can be my other blogs which all link to my myspace page, resulting in increased importance for the myspace page.

How does this effect the myspacers? If your in my top 12 or leave a comment on my page, the resulting link will increase the importance of your page and in turn the pages of your top friends and those who have commented on your myspace page… and their pages as well…

Global Warming – Fact or Fiction?

I came across a very interesting website today. Instead of picking a side on the global warming issues, Climate Change Daily collects news and devides it into columns depending on which side of the debate the article leans to.

Stop listening to the news, your friends and your teachers and make your own decision. If you don’t care enough to read this site then you don’t know enough to have a position.

Climate Change Daily

Who does your money belong to?

Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his own brow?

No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God.
No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.

The above was stated by the fictional character Andrew Ryan in the video game Bioshock.

Below is the 2007 Federal Government Budget. 58% of Federal Income is Spent on wealth redistribution Social Security, Income Security, Medicare and Health; all services which I don’t qualify for which I pay for which I can’t afford because I have to pay tax’s so people who do qualify can collect on these services. Who does your money belong to?

Blind Man’s Bluff

A friend suggested to me last night that he was pondering if only a fixed number of souls exist. People with souls are self aware and everyone else is no more then an inteligent animal. My first thought on the subject leaned a little to patronizing patience. But this morning I was thinking, “what if he is right?”. So I spent some time trying to reformulate his theory into a more intuitive theory that is easier to identify with as well as work with.

At first I thought on the concept of inteligent animals and I concluded that their is no way to ever know for certain if someone is self aware or an inteligent animal. Not that this distinction matters anyway, because this is in actuality a matter of perspective not a matter mental faculty.

My reformulation yielded that their are in-fact two types of people in the world, those who see the world for what it is and those who see the world from their place place within it. Intelligence, personality, attractiveness, birth right, social status and wealth play no roll in your given perspective.

Ill try to draw an analogy. Imagine that some people are playing a derivative of poker known as Blinds Man’s Bluff, a game where each player can see all cards in play except for his own and must make his bets accordingly. The other type are playing another derivative known as Draw Poker, a game where each hand is known only to it’s owner. Everyones perception of the world is based on the derivative of poker they’re playing. Some people can only see everyone else’s cards and others can only see their own.

I suggest playing each game with the same players and comparing the difference in your performance.

On a side note I believe that each group will share political perspectives and that different age groups will have different ratios of each perspective type. At some point ill arrange a study.

Dating & Marriage

Life is way too short to spend any of it with the wrong person.

People have a lot of “reasons” why they are not married or why they haven’t set a date, whether it be “not tell after school” or “not tell shes older” or “not until I get that new job” is an indicator of a lack of personal commitment. Any excuse should be considered an auto-disqualification (Auto-DQ). You are wasting your time and your girlfriend/boyfriends time (life) by being dishonest through indecision. If are already in a relationship and someone asks you out on a date, if even for an instant you consider it, you need to immediately rethink your relationship. Remember, You don’t ever need to stay in a relationship because you think you owe someone, or you feel obligated, or you don’t want to hurt their feelings. You owe it to them and yourself to be honest.

Ask yourself if you want to spend the rest of your life with this person and if they want to spend the rest of their life with you.

Accept no excuses. Life is about you and when it’s over – that’s it.

The Pacific War

Sixty-six years ago the Japanese committed to and initiated a war unlike any fought in the history of the world. No war compares to the scale of the Pacific war between the United States and Japan, stretching north to the Aleutian islands, south to Australia, east to Hawaii and west to Burma. The Japanese knew they could not win a total war against the United States, however they believed the could deal enough damage to the United States Navy to force American concessions. They might have been correct, we will never know; the Aircraft carriers happened to be at sea when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor. Instead of destroying American sea power at Pearl Harbor, the pilots resorted to secondary objectives – the obsolete battleships built to fight the German High Seas Fleet during the first world war.

Americas response was a commitment to the total defeat of Japan. Japan’s fall back strategy in case the Pearl Harbor attack failed was a war of attrition, which Japan could never win, but possibly make the war so expensive in financial and human terms that the United States would come to the negotiating table. The United States never came to the negotiating table, four years later Japan signed the unconditional surrender, bringing an end to the second world war.

As the United States Navy and the Marine Corp readied for the Invasion of Japan which would dwarf the D-Day landings on the Normandy coast. The 509th Composite Group of the United States Army Air Force hijacked the war when the B29 Enola Gay dropped the Atomic Bomb “Little Boy” on the untouched city of Hiroshima Japan, vaporizing 70,000 people and destroying the city in an instant, and eventually killing an additional 60,000 people from after affects. Atomic bombing proved nearly comparable to the firebombing of Tokyo earlier that year which totally destroyed sixteen square miles of the city and killed over 100,000 people.  (compared to 4.4 square miles of total destruction in atomic bombing of Hiroshima)

The government of Japan was so committed that the weapon built to end the second world war needed to by used twice. Japanese scientists had reason to believe America had only one bomb. The Uranium Gun bomb dropped on Hiroshima was so costly and time consuming to produce that the United States in fact only had one, the Japanese authorities correctly surmised after the Bombing of Hiroshima that it would be a long time before another Uranium bomb was produced. However they didn’t foresee that the United States had been simultaneously developing two very different and unrelated atomic bombs. Three days later the city of Nagasaki was destroyed by the Plutonium Implosion bomb. Total war was now obsolete.

Vongo

 

I subscribed to the Vongo video on demand service, Vongo is owned by the parent company of the Stars network. Vongo media content is provided over the internet and can by viewed using what appears to be a modified windows media player. The picture quality isn’t particularly good, lower then DVD. Vongo claims access to over twenty-five hundred movies, the available library feels much smaller. So for I have had the service for three weeks; It worked pretty well for the first week, the download feature was broken the entire second week and it has been hit and miss this week, down about half the time. Vongo doesn’t appear to restrict the number of movies you can have downloaded at once, I currently have twenty four. The best thing Vongo has going for it is it’s price, it’s way cheaper then buying DVD’s and if you only watch three movies a month it’s cheaper then renting at blockbuster on renting them on pay per view.

Update:

In fact the Vongo service is down right now.

Hungarian Revolt

 

Fifty-one years ago this November the people of Hungary revolted against the Soviet sponsored communist regime. Protests and mass demonstrations escalated into violence when Radio Budapest was seized by crowd after being fired upon by the police. The Hungarian military was ordered to respond and take control of the situation – they instead removed the red stars from their hats and sided with the crowd. The revolt spread across Hungary and the Soviet military responded apparently in the defense of the Communist Regime (and Soviet self-interest). Immediately the citizens armed themselves and setup barricades in the streets of Budapest and began to fight the Soviets. In a week a ceasefire was agreed upon by the new reformist Hungarian government and it appeared the Soviets might be willing to negotiate – six days later seventeen soviet armor/infantry devisions brutally crushed the uprising. Public discussion of the revolt was heavily repressed for over thirty years afterwards.

The Soviets made it clear what your fate would be if you attempted to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact.

The last official proclamation of the Hungarian National Government during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The proclamation was written in the Parliament building as the author awaited arrest by the Soviet military.

“Russians go home”

Sugar in Space

Seven years ago “Scientists discovered glycolaldehyde, a molecular cousin to table sugar, in an interstellar molecular cloud.” It fell on def ears.

“Glycolaldehyde, an 8-atom molecule composed of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, can combine with other molecules to form the more-complex sugars Ribose and Glucose. Ribose is a building block of nucleic acids such as RNA and DNA, which carry the genetic code of living organisms. Glucose is the sugar found in fruits. Glycolaldehyde contains exactly the same atoms, though in a different molecular structure, as methyl formate and acetic acid, both of which were detected previously in interstellar clouds. Glycolaldehyde is a simpler molecular cousin to table sugar, the scientists say. “

I have always felt the warm pond theory was foolish, any life form that evolved would rapidly reproduce and consume all available food and then be extinct. The idea that the building blocks of life and life’s fuel could exist in a space cloud large enough to stretch from our Sun to the closest star Alpha Centauri is incredible and that the proof exists is mind blowing. This leads me to suggest that life could have formed in warm space clouds of unimaginable size and than do to the nature of gravity the clouds contract into Stars and Planets, and life continues to survive trapped on planetary oasis-es unable to escape the bounds of gravity. Only until modern technological species such as humanity evolve. We may have a lot more in common with extraterrestrial life then I could have imagined.

Why haven’t you heard of a theory like this? I’m willing to venture that the majority of scientists do not want to abandon the theoretical work they have spent their lives developing – and I don’t blame them, starting over sucks. Sugar in space flies in the face of nearly all the primitive earth evolution of life theories. You haven’t heard this theory because old theories die hard, like the earth being the center of the universe or Creationism and Marxism. New theories take new generations and time.

Read the NASA Article about the discovery,

Picking up Hitchhikers

Besides being a great way to get action, you usually get a pretty good taste of strange. Last time I picked up a hitch hiker it turned out that I went to high school with her older brother who had since married a girl I dated in back in high school. He was a rather memorable guy, he was well known for scraping the bottom of life with his teeth – and he liked crystal meth a lot. His little sister who I picked up was rather pretty, she stole a credit card statement out of my stack of mail before she got out of the car.

My Youth Escaped

At school today I had just finished a class and I was walking past an outdoor fountain, the soft wind was blowing little droplets of water on me. I was finding it enjoyable, when some punk on a skate board going way to fast plowed into me – hard. I shoved him down on his head picked up his skate board and angrily stated “what the fuck are you doing – this is a university”. He lay on the ground looking at me, then I threw his skateboard into the middle of the fountain. I turned to leave and everyone was looking at the scene, I could see some smiles – I smiled too. I certainly enjoyed the fact that he would have to get really wet to retrieve his skateboard.

I’m not sure if I was more angry about him crashing into me or his punkness. I feel my youth slipping away – inch by inch day by day.

Stem Cell Research

After ten years of political hand wringing and regulation a new method for producing stem cells has been developed. Scientists have developed a method known as Cell Reprogramming which converts regular cells into a form equivilent to stem cells. Humanity could be entering a golden age of medicine uninhibited by dogma or cultural uncomfort.

Read the external article National Review Online – The Future Is Now

You are what you do.

It frustrates me when people tell me about themselves. More often then not they describe someone other than themselves, but whom they believe themselves to be. I always judge a person based on whom they associate with and by the decisions they make.

How would you judge your own actions from another’s prospective? You are not who you think you are – you are what you do.

Tyranny of the Unaccountable

It angers me when I see those with little power and even less authority slandering people with real accountability. It’s easy to slander and defame in a free country, you have no enforced accountability when it comes to the famous, rich and or powerful. Untrue allegations and vicious slander will make you a career but once in a position of authority, offensive statements will loose you your career – exactly why Micheal Moore wont make a Fahrenheit 9/11 sequel. God help you if you compliment someone or make generalizations, fear of offending someone will get you buried alive. We are wolves led by lambs, it is the tyranny of the unaccountable. This is a country of millions of tyrants not a country of a single tyrant.

I fear people who pride themselves on their respect for every life style and every opinion – they are the ones who will not respect your freedom to disagree.

Veterans Day – 11/11/1918

When I think of Veterans day I think of my Great Uncle whom I met as a child, he fought in the trenches on the western front. Veterans day originally commemorated the end of hostilities on the western front of the first world war. Eighty Nine years ago the Germans signed the armistice, fighting ceased on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. However older memorials across Europe date the end of the war to June 28th 1919. Many Germans would likely agree, they continued to suffer and starve until the allied blockade was lifted with the treaty of Versailles. Ferdinand Foch the Allied Supreme Commander and American General “Black” Jack Pershing wanted to continue the war. Foch proclaimed that the Versailles Treaty was only a twenty year cease fire, he was only wrong by two months – September 17th 1939 Germany invaded Poland igniting the Second World War.

I honor my great uncle who braved the trenches of the First World War, my Grandfather who fought the Japanese in the South Pacific during the Second World War, my Uncle who fought in Vietnam, my Cousins who fought in the First Gulf War and my Friends who fight there Today.

Total Commitment Applied

Twenty Five Hundred years ago the city states of Greece faced a massive Persian invasion. Many chose to ally with the advancing Persians rather than be enslaved and destroyed – no doubt the best solution in a desperate time. Some cities refused and lost everything. This option was unavailable to the Athenians because they had dealt such a blow to the Persians in the previous war.

The Athenians had two choices and the city was torn between them. Conscript and equip the men of Attica for a final land battle or a final sea battle – either way the city would be destroyed. The Athenians consulted the oracle at Delphi; they were told they would be destroyed to the last. The indecision consisted without end until that special time once a year when the people of Athens voted to exile a single citizen from the city. Like modern times the demagogues slandered one another until the day of the election. The Athenian people exiled the major proponent for a land based battle. The merchant marine of ancient Athens fanned out across the Aegean Sea in search of raw materials for which to build ships.

With her fleet Athens was evacuated, the city overrun and destroyed. The Athenian allies wavered, the Peloponnesians under Spartan leadership wanted to build a wall at the Isthmus of Corinth where they believed they could hold off the Persians indefinitely with the same spirit they showed at Thermopylae months before, essentially abandoning Attica. The Athenians reminded the Spartans that Thermopylae would have been impossible without the Athenians fleet keeping the Persians from transporting troops by sea behind the fortifications at Thermopylae and that a fortification at the Isthmus could only be maintained if the Athenian fleet remained. Remain it would not if the Peloponnesians abandoned Attica, for the Athenians threatened to board there ships and head for the Italian peninsula safe from the reach of the Persians thus abandoning the Peloponnesians to be overrun by the Persians from the sea.

The Athenian fleet fought and won at the battle of Salamis while the Xerxes and the people of Athens looked on. Xerxes distraught with another defeat at the hands of a much smaller Greek force left his army under the command of a subordinate and departed for Perspolis (the Persian capital, famously burned to the ground by a drunken Alexander the Great). Xerxes army was later defeated by a confederation of Greeks at the Battle of Platea. The Athenians committed to war with the Persians would later liberate the Aegean and Ionia from Persian dominion.

The Athenians were totally committed, are you?

Never Relent – Never Surrender.

Everything in Moderation

Everything in moderation, wouldn’t be moderation would it?

What a foolish saying, I don’t take advice from people who use this saying. In my experience they usually think they know whats best for everyone, but never have a clue about anything.

Fallout

“War, war never changes. The Romans waged war to gather slaves and wealth. Spain built an empire from its lust for gold and territory. Hitler shaped a battered Germany into an economic superpower. But war never changes. In the 21st century war was still waged over the resources that could be acquired. Only this time the spoils of war were its weapons, petroleum and uranium.”

The opening dialog from the 1997 role playing game Fallout, one month and ten years ago.

New Article Stub – Recycling

 

I decided to start adding article stubs. These stubs will function as seeds that I will improve and expand upon as I feel inspired to do so. The first article I have readied for stub status is a short series of thoughts and opinions about recycling. Click here to read the full article.

Fearless

Today I encountered the second most fearless person I have ever observed (first is reserved). I witnessed a very pretty blind girl with her blind persons cane tapping down the middle of  wide courtyard, she was moving pretty quick. In her shirt pocket she had an iPod and it’s headphones in her ears. She was essentially blind and deaf and in a very crowded place. I would have attempted to make friends with her but I estimated that getting her attention could be at least hard and at most dangerous.

Short bus aside, she is among the kind of friends I want.

City of Violence

City of Violence is more then just violence, it’s about drunken violence. The guys pictured above are so hardcore they defeated two dozen butchers with extra long cleavers using only wooden sticks shaped like swords. City of Violence is an exciting romp through a South Korean slum equipped with themed gangs, like the girls in school uniforms and the guys in baseball uniforms – fun stuff. Oh I almost forgot the other things like love, friendship, betrayal, honor and stylish clothing. But I bet most of you are more interested in the awesome kungfu and that guy who kills all the cops at the police station with his feet so he can dump paint thinner out of a plastic water cooler jug onto a kid in a cage and than burn him.

Traffic School

Traffic School was beyond awesome.

Their was this Russian guy that would comment on everything anyone said. When the old women who thought they didn’t belong in the class would complain about fees, he would say “Welcome to America” when they complained about sign placement or poor street paint he would say “Go To Russia – they don’t have that shit”. At lunch he tried to sell me 19″ rims out of his trunk.

Most of the people in attendance were guilty of traffic violations other then speeding. Some of the people in the class attended traffic school every eighteen months (California’s limit). Some people tried to add their own experiences, friends experiences or even their own opinion to everything the teacher covered. One guy told a story of getting a ticket for nearly everything the teacher covered. This one woman named Barbie talked at the teacher the entire time, when I was leaving this big Indian guy associated with the Indian Casino here walked by me and asked if I had fun, then before I could answer he said “Fucking Barbie wont shit up”

The class itself was being held at a Methodist Church – in the Jesus room. The walls were covered with painting and fabric deals of Jesus being holy and glowy. Pretty much every conceivable hobbyist incarnation of Jesus was represented. My folding chair was awesome, something was irritating my back so shifted to the side a bit sliding my back along the back of the chair; my shirt got sliced open; the chair had a screw drilled through the back of it that was just barely poling through the fabric cover. My Six Million Dollar Man t-shirt is so ruined.

Death Proof

One psychopathic stunt man, eight girls, one sexy lap dance, lots of well written girl talk and one fantastic surprise chase sequence at the end.

Death Proof had a lot of references to other Tarantino movies, I didn’t realize how many I missed. The sets and dialog were very interesting, very intelligent and rather depraved. I found the movie itself refreshing and captivating like a train wreck. I really enjoyed the classic muscle cars, the restored Mustang and Challenger and of course the “Death Proofed” Nova and Charger. All said, I enjoined the entire movie – because I’m crazy like that. I wish I had seen the Grindhouse double feature in the theater.

E-Books

The Internet has made a giant leap in recent years. I had a networking teacher a few ago years who used to say “The internet is a great big bag – of shit” At the time we agreed that the internet’s best quality’s were also it’s strong points, internet gambling and pornography. Now, not only is the internet a fantastic contributor to media and software theft, you can also steal books as well. Trawling the various torrent search sights, I came across active torrents containing over thousand books, thievery inst exclusively for the fool anymore.

The internet also excels as a distribution for free things (or illegal distributed things?).

http://www.george-orwell.org/ Hosts complete copy’s of 1984, Animal Farm, A Clergyman’s Daughter, Burmese Days, Coming Up for Air, Down and Out in Paris and London, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Homage to Catalonia, The Road to Wigan Pier as well a number of George Orwell essays I was not perviousy aware of.  The website appears to be a part of a family of websites containing the works of Charles Darwin, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, and Charles Dickens.

Zardoz

“The gun is good… The penis is evil. The penis shoots seeds, and makes new life, and poisons the earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the gun shoots death, and purifies the earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth and kill!”

That little gem above was spoken by the flying stone head who delivers guns and grain to the exterminators in the 1974 classic Zardoz starring Sean Connery. Sean Connery plays a “Brutal” who is introduced to a utopian socialist future inhabited by the members of the next stage of human evolution, known as elementals. Elementals cannot die, their body’s are simply replaced (Chronic Inmortality?). Elementals who refuse to conform are punished with senility. Sean Connery has sex with all the women and break the system. Exciting no? It’s clear Zardoz did not age well, but still worth seeing when inebriated.

Zardoz is an excellent reminder that dystopia is utopia forced upon you by a madman.

Panzer Commander

Panzer Commander, The Memoirs of Colonel Hans Von Luck is the most recent rewarding read that comes to mind. Von Luck, Being a professional soldier would do his duty for Germany no matter the circumstances. In command of an armored recognizance battalion Von Luck spearheaded the Blitzkrieg (German for Lighting War) into Poland then France and Belgium under Erwin Rommel. He then fought to within two hundred miles of Moscow before being transferred to the North African front at Rommel’s Request. The Panzer Commander, The Memoirs of Colonel Hans Von Luck is an informative and insightful window into the Second World War and Russian Captivity. Click here to read the full review.

Nuclear Energy

I visited the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station yesterday afternoon. The power plant was decommissioned by popular vote in 1989. The facilities cooling towers on a clear day can be easily viewed from the California State capital in Sacramento, no doubt an powerful reminder to the state politicians who allowed the decommissioning of California’s power plants contributing to an energy crisis and the recall of Governor Grey Davis. The property is now a park with lakes abundantly stocked with fish. Around the lakes is an eleven mile nature trail. Surrounding the park are vineyards that stretch over the horizon, the vineyards are only interrupted by the occasional upper class home; all with exciting views of the decommission nuclear power facility.

The Astronauts Wife

I watched The Astronauts Wife last night, starring Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron. The movie was one of the better sci-fi thrillers I have seen in awhile. The plot was pretty simple, but excellent acting and high production quality kept me interested. I enjoyed the movie, it was slow, smart and unsettling. If your looking for something without any blood or gore to scare the wife or girlfriend – this will do.

Brave New World

“Christianity without tears – that’s what soma is.” – Mustapha Mond

I’m reviewing books, new and old as I read them or as I remember them. Over the weekend I read Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel Brave New World first printed in 1932, I will start here. Any feedback would be great. Click here to read the review.

Total Commitment

Total Commitment is the complete elimination of all less satisfactory results as viable options. Burn all bridges in both advance and retreat. Deny yourself all deviation. Click here to read the full article.

The Ultimate War

In the event extraterrestrial life is discovered.

The search for extra terrestrial life has succeeded. Radio signals have been detected from a nearby star system.

Humanity is not alone, what do we do know? Click here to read the full article.

 

 

Spread the Virus

This blog is a new conduit in the family of catalysts used to spread my way of thought.

What will be discussed here? I will analyze everything from books, movies, institutions, public policy, my experiences, people to and most importantly – me.