Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Don't fall for the "September Surprise".


Didya notice that the price of gasoline is down? Way down? It doesn't take a paranoid person, to think that there might be something going on here, or a genius to figure out just what that might be.

High Gas Prices = Angry People
Angry People = Incumbents Not Re-Elected
Incumbents = Mostly Republicans
Republican Agenda = Cut Taxes (more) for The Ultra Rich
The Ultra Rich = Oil Company Executives
Oil Company Executives = Able to Lower gasoline prices
Lower Gasoline Prices = Happy People
Happy People = Incumbents Re-Elected

Please please please don't fall for it. As soon as the mid-term elections are over, gas prices will be right back up near three dollars a gallon, and the excuse will probably have something to do with home heating oil. Just watch.

And if you don't vote, shut the hell up.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

We're going back. Why not together?


So we (The United States) have decided to go back to the moon. I'm all in favor of that, but the why bothers me. I have a feeling that the only reason we are really going is because of the New Space Race. The Chinese, Japanese, Indians, and heck, for all I know, the Venezuelans and the New Zealanders are planning missions to the moon. We tried a space race last time, and it was not without casualties (most on the Russian side, but we did loose a few). Why can't we put aside our differences and go together this time? I would think it would save money, and probably lives. I know it is a "national pride" thing, but we got together on the International Space Station, and that almost works. Especially given the proclivities of the current administration, I doubt that we will make international cooperation in space a high priority any time soon.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Conservatives, 5 Years into the Permanent War.


Five years into the state of permanent war, I have been listening to both the Conservative and the "Liberal" media. I know that I am biased, but I can't help but think that We have a tighter grip on reality than They do. As I listen to the Administration continue to preach Fear Fear Fear Fear Fear, I've been trying to understand how they can maintain their worldview, and do they really believe what they are saying? Yes, because they drink the Kool-Aid, they eat the Kool-Aid, they breathe the Kool-Aid, they sweat the Kool-Aid, they think the Kool-Aid, they dream the Kool-Aid, they live the Kool-Aid, they love the Kool-Aid, they think that the Kool-Aid is America’s greatest gift to the world, and they will never stop until everyone in the world thinks exactly the way they do, even if the world must be destroyed in the process. Indeed, a world that doesn’t agree completely with their view of what it should be does not deserve to exist. To save the world “from itself” they will send it to hell, “for its own good”. I can't help but remember what the solution was, right after the declaration of war. The drum beat went out, "Spend, Spend, Spend." Indulge your every whim. That SUV will fill the void in your soul. Sure it will. It saddens me to see that Five years in, we really are no different. There are just 2600 less of us. A friend asked why today hasn't been declared a national holiday. I replied that it would just be another excuse for big sales at the stores and another chance to barbecue. Where we go from here is beyond me. All I can say is that we must refuse to drink the Kool-Aid. The sign says 5 cents a glass, but really you have to turn over your soul. And once they have your soul, they never give it back.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

A geography lesson

I was zooming around the planet today at lunch, using the best program ever, Google Earth, just cruising around, looking for things that stood out, when I noticed a very very large shape in western China. (Right in the center of the image to the left) Now, I consider myself fairly geographically knowledgeable, (self proclaimed map geek) and I know that western China is notoriously desolate, but I had never seen or noticed anything this big on any globe or map. Upon further research, I found out that it is the Taklamakan, the largest "all sand" desert in the world. As features visible from space, (on cloud free earth days) it's pretty cool. Not Jupiter's Great Red Spot cool, but still interesting. It covers 270,000 square kilometers. One branch of the silk road went north of it, another went south. I'm sure there was a very good reason to have gone around, rather than across it. China has used it for testing their atomic weapons, another reason to go around. Check it out on Google Earth if you get the chance. Zoom as far in as you can to get a sense of how desolate it is, a whole lot of sand, with dunes that strech thousands of kilometers. I still want to go there. But that's just me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taklamakan