Bye-Bye Budweiser

So, what difference does this make? Just the loss of another American company? This story says that Anheuser-Busch's ad budget for sports is humungous and will be slashed by a third: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2008-07-14-beer-merger_N.htm

Another victim of the "global economy." What happens when the global market is all gobbled up? Do we switch to a galactic economy?

No, Brett! Don't Do It!

There is talk of Brett Farve coming out of retirement. I am sad to report that if he does, he is doomed.

Yep, he made the mistake of appearing on the cover of the Madden NFL football game, subjecting himself to the dreaded Madden Curse.

Good luck, Brett!

Seeing More Rummage Sales?

I think I am. I've never paid much attention, but it seems to me that I'm seeing more rummage, garage, and yard sales than before. I assume it's a sign of the economic times.

I have a friend in Milwuakee who shops the secondhand stores and rummage sales regularly for items to sell on eBay (and to add to his own prodigious collection of junk). I asked him if he is seeing more rummage sales. His answer: "Definitely." He always gets good deals. He has a knack for it. Now, he's getting great deals.

Actually, I'm lucky to be limited in my storage to what I can fit in my closets and a bin downstairs. Before my mother moved, I had access to a single car garage. Over the years, I completely cleaned that thing out at least three times. Each time, it filled back up again with my junk. If I had more room, I'd probably be out at those sales, too.

Good Science on a U-Haul Trailer? Believe It!

U-Haul trailers have been known their quirky graphics on the side for some time. It turns out U-Haul has some scientifically literate people designing these graphics. Exhibit #1, the graphic they are using for Iowa.
There was a large meteor impact near Manson, Iowa about 74 million years ago and left a crater about 24 miles across! But it gets better. There is an equation on graphic which tells you how far ejecta will land from the impact site...and yes, it's a CORRECT equation!

The Maryland graphic, although not as scientifically intensive, pays tribute the Goddard Spaceflight Center and the Hubble Space Telescope.
California gets a nod for the Jet Propulsion Lab and its role in the Mars rovers.
The California image leaves a little to be desired to be honest. Earth would appear as no more than a dot from the surface of Mars. They depict Earth closer to how it might appear from the Moon.

Colorado has a nice image as well paying tribute to the NOAA Space Environment Center in Boulder.

This is pretty good as prominences frequently follow the Sun's magnetic field and make those distinctive loops. You can also see granulation on the Sun's surface and Earth's magnetic field is depicted as being stretched out by the solar wind. Pretty good overall.
And one more for the road, the West Virginia one is particularly close to my heart.


The Green Bank Telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory is the largest full steerable dish in the world with a diameter of 100 meters. You will notice there is an equation on this graphic as well. It is the famous Drake equation that, if you knew all the quantities, would tell you how many intelligent civilizations there are in the universe. I spent some time at NRAO and worked on measuring radio frequency interference being detected by the Green Bank Telescope.

The space science ones tend to catch my attention, but there are some nice life science ones as well. You can find a complete list on U-Haul's web site. Wisconsin is not currently listed as having a graphic.

Although I enjoyed these graphics, I am not quite as enthralled with the ones for New Mexico and Nevada!

How to Get People to Take Mass Transit

Well, at least among men.



You can also read about it from Reuters.

Did RUSD Get Lucky?

"Dr. James Shaw, a professor at UW-Madison, is the surprise front-runner for Racine Unified's vacant superintendent's job. He also looks like the best candidate yet to apply for the job. Shaw has been a teacher, administrator and researcher, served as head of the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators and was named state superintendent of the year."

http://news.racinepost.com/2008/07/superintendent-shaw-strong-candidate.html

My first thought was, what's his problem?

My second was, get him to sign a contract before he sobers up.

Friday's Lost Video

This weeks lost video is a classic from two members of the Talking Heads - Milwaukee's Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth better known as "Tom Tom Club". The song is Genius of Love from 1982. Credit the grove to Grandmaster Flash's song "It's Nasty". (Prepare for a Diva in next week video)

The New “Johnny Cash”

For those of you who enjoy listening to Johnny Cash, this is a 15 year old with an amazing voice.

'The New Johnny Cash’

Black Holes: Political Correctness Gone Wild!

I tend to be on the liberal side, but even I know political correctness run amok. The story takes us to Dallas where County Commissioners were discussing problems with central collections office. Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield called the office a "black hole" for all the paperwork the office loses.

Commissioner John Wiley-Price piped up and and said, "Excuse me!" and offered the alternative terminology that the office was a "white hole". The Judge, Thomas Jones, even demanded an apology for the remark!

So let's review. A black hole (originally called a gravitationally completely collapsed object so you can see why there were looking for another name) is a big massive object crammed into a very small space that has a gravitational field from which even light cannot escape, hence the name black hole. If something falls into a black hole, its lost forever. The name has bipartisan support generally as both liberals and conservatives like saying any program they don't support is a black hole for taxpayer dollars.

Now a white hole, although most scientific evidence points against their existence, would be the opposite, a point from which matter is constantly ejected. If the office looked like a tornado of paper just appeared inside, then I might consider it a white hole.

So in short, black holes have nothing to do with race, Mr. Wiley and Judge Jones. Racism is a real problem in this country and crying wolf damages your credibility when trying to deal with instances of genuine racism.

Idiot Tax II

Yes, they do walk among us. Good cause, bad idea. I can't for the life of me figure out why these idiots think it is ok to put so many people at risk.

What should they do with this latest idiot?

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/07/08/2008-07-08_times_climb__again_man_scales_papers_hea.html

Cigarette Cop

Just trying to keep the pot stirred.

For the record, I quit nearly 13 years ago, after smoking for 30 years. I say nothing to anybody about their smoking. If you're in my apartment or my vehicle, you have to ask permission. The answer is usually yes. I'll only talk about quitting if you ask me, and then I'll tell you how I quit: talk to everyone you know who has quit; try every possbile method; pray/meditate; exercise; try, try again. I finally did it cold turkey. My sister used the patch. I have never regretted it.

Am I an Airline Passenger or Criminal Defendant?

Okay, this is so far out there, I seriously thought a lot of people were taken in a by a hoax until I went to the companie's web site and saw they issued a statement on this!

Lamperd Less Lethal is marketing a system of electric shock inducing bracelets they think all airline passengers should wear. Yep, if you got on a plane, you would have one of these little bracelets on that a flight attendant could activate and give you a pretty good shock, much like a Taser. Lamperd even has a fear mongering promotional video promoting the system (although it appears to be an older video, the update on their web site is dated July 8th, 2008 so they are still promoting this product).



Yeah, I can't see any problem with this can you? Flight attendants are highly trained law enforcement officers who would never accidentally shock someone. I imagine people with pacemakers and certain medical conditions would have to get waivers from wearing these (and terrorists are far too stupid to think of getting fake/forged medical papers...I bet the only people not wearing them on a targeted flight would be the terrorists!) Oh, and no chance someone could gain control of the system and use it in the hijacking. I have seen way too many "unhackable" systems hacked.

Another feature of the bracelet is the ability to track passengers in the airport. They will know what shops you visited, how long you were in the restroom, what restaurant you ate at and anything else about your movements from the time you check in to the time you leave your destination airport after your flight.

Fortunately, it looks like the TSA is not on board with this yet, but I will be keeping an eye on them.

The loss of liberty is a gradual process...first you are asked to wear one on a plane. Then you are asked to wear one in certain government buildings. Then...well, you get the idea.

Think I am going to develop an exclusionary medical condition real fast!

OPEN letter to the

"Do you read lips?" No.

"AH HA That proves you can" How do uou explain that just knowing that one bit of lip reading doesn't make you fluent. Like someon saying "Gesunhiet" and being told they can read, talk and understand German

She tried her hardest to make a point that I was being difficult on purpose. It don’t matter all the dangerous transfers I’ve done. Yesterdays was BAD and DANGEROUS and extremely painful. Why? Because they tried to use a lift with a dead battery. The same lift they tried to use yesterday but NEVER plugged in to recharge. So I asked Miss AH HA if she had unplugged it when she got it. “No, it works just fine (until they put a load (me) on it).” *an aside. My door is wide open. I’m sitting on a commode. One of the GOOD aides just walked in and asked if I wanted the door shut. You know, I hadn’t even thought about it with all the other hell going on.

Anyway, I said this bed lifts you may want to use it to lift as you are determined to get me sitting. “No, we know what we’re doing (why I almost fell out yesterday with a lift and sling not made for each other.) Well, you know what happened when my weight was drug off the bed and the sling went down four inches lower than the commode. While I’m not supposed to put weight on my arms, they sure did in their attempts to get me up on the now higher than me commode. At least all I said was ow ,ow ow, ow ow.

So again….. GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!!! You don't ever want to use _________ If you can go to ANY other hospital.

TICK TOCK OUCH

Yesterday was a good day. Today is kind of sucky. For a guy that never smoked cigarettes, I have no idea how the smokers make it through this. Before I went in I had no problem inhaling 2,000 ccs ofair on the breath machine and now if I get 1,000 it HURTS. The day after I honestly thought it was my last day. It felt that bad. I just hopI have more days like yesterday. While not a cake walk, it felt multitudes better than Friday/Saturday. I only came to awareness Friday at 8:45am. Too much double vision to read the papers, but I did manage to read about the guy that faked several heart attacks. Boy, wait until he gets a real one.

Anyhow, they don't let you sellp in a hospital. They waken you every night with tests and procedures like breathing excersizes. Oh UGHHHH Low potasium. If you've ever done a realy nasty shot, then that's potasium. Done. I chug it like a shot of speed rack tequila then chase with cranberry juice. Good thing I'm back on a regular diet as I followed with nthree chocolate covered peanuts. Another blood test nin two hours. God I ho-e i9t comes up.

Anyway, I'm alive. When I am stuck doing the potasium I wonder if its all worth it, but will think so once I'm passed this hurdle.

Biggest Stories from the Olympic Trials

I have been watching some of the Olympic swimming and track and field trials. How about you? Here are some of my picks for the interesting stories (in no particular order)

Michael Phelps - won every event he entered, will go for 8 golds. What else can you say?

Dara Torres at the age of 41 qualifying for the Olypmics in the 100m freestyle and 50 meter freestyle! Sets American record in the 50m.

Tyson Gay runs 9.68 seconds in the 100m final and then pulls a muscle and falls in the 200m! Ouch! What will happen to him at the games?

Amanda Beard made another Olypmic team, her fourth.

Bernard Legat won the 5000m and is going for the double in the 1500m later tonight. He lives in Tucson so he is my hometown favorite.

16 year old Jordan Hasay made the finals of the 1500meters where she finished 10th. Look for here in 2012!

I am sure there are others...what's your favorite so far?

You're invited to join fellow bloggers for a picnic at the BEACH!!!

You are invited to join other bloggers at a blogger picnic at North Beach's Oasis.
The date - Saturday, July 19th, 11am
Contact person - ME!! @ lizardmom@wi.net
RSVP SOON!!!
Please bring a dish to share, for ideas or to claim one as your own, just drop me a line and you're in!! Hope to hear from you soon!!

Sturtevant Building Inspectors Car Tagged

This vehicle belongs to the building inspector in Sturtevant. It used to be a police car. Where this vehicle is located is right around where some punk ass kids were egging cars, houses, and cop cars on July 3rd after the fireworks. Guess they might have gotten a little ticked because the cops were out looking for them. Looks like there are some childish, out of control kids now roaming and tagging in the village.

Look, Up in the Sky! It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a UFO! It's the Moon?!?

A story out of Britain making the rounds tells that tale of a woman who saw a UFO hovering in the sky nearby. She called 999 (the British version of 911) to report it and ask someone to investigate. Police responded quickly to find (well, I gave it away in the headline) the Moon.

We can all have a good laugh at someone mistaking the Moon for a UFO, but it really is more common than you would believe. Venus, Jupiter and the Sun reflecting off of low flying planes are other objects commonly mistaken for UFOs. We have satellites that can be quite bright, Iridium flares and the International Space Station. Old satellites that are no longer controlled can tumble and appear to get brighter and dimer or even "blink". On rare occasions, a fuel tank on a spent satellite or rocket explodes which can cause quite a light show.

Then there are other natural phenomena including meteors (and the uncommon point meteors), halos, glories, Sun dogs (and sometimes Moon Dogs), ball lightning, crepescular rays, light pillars and sprites to name a few.

So, what's the point? Any one of these things can and has been reported as a UFO by people who don't spend much time looking at the sky. And the people who reported them are not crazy, lying, or stupid, but inexperienced skywatchers. Frequently reports are cited from law enforcement officers or pilots as "proof" of UFOs existence since they are considered trusted and reputable. And they may be...however, unless they are well trained in astronomical and meteorlogical atmospheric phenomena, they do not have the ability to properly evaluate these phenomena regardless of whether the person is an air force pilot, a sheriff, or two crazy high school kids making out in a farmers field.

So start watching the sky. If you see something unusual, take good notes on time, your observing location, direction and elevation in the sky, and weather conditions. Then do a little resarch and odds are you will find your answer.

Happy 4th of July and Happy Aphelion!

As we kick back to celebrate the Fourth of July, we are also sitting farther from the Sun than any other day during the year. Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a perfect circle...sometimes we are farther from the Sun and sometimes we are closer. It comes as a surprise to most people that we are closest to the Sun in July!

We call this aphelion and are 152.6 million kilometers away from the Sun today. Six months from now in January, we will make our closest approach at 147.5 million kilometers away from the Sun. So the Sun is a little less intense now (averaged over the Earth) than it is in January. Of course, the seasons are due to the fact that Earth's rotational axis is tilted 23.5 degrees. The Sun is high in the sky and more intense in the northern hemisphere during our summer months and the days are longer giving us a nice warm summer.

It may also surprise you to know that the average global temperature is highest in July when Earth is farthest from the Sun! Its almost 4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than in January when we are close to the Sun! What the heck is going on here?

The answer can be found by taking a look at a globe. Notice that the northern hemisphere has a lot more land while the southern hemisphere has a lot more water. Land heats up and cools down very quickly compared to water (water has a very high heat capacity which means it heast up and cools down very slowly compared to land...living next to a large lake in Racine, I was very aware of that fact!) Therefore, the northern hemisphere heats up very quickly in June and July when the intense summer Sun beats down. In January, the southern hemisphere's summer, the energy from the Sun is larger, but the water heats up VERY slowly resulting in a lower average global temperature when we are closer to the Sun!

You can do a simple experiement to observ this effect. Take a digital camera. Get some solar film to cover the lens (you can raid eclipse shades available for a couple of dollars at American Science and Surplus in Milwaukee). Cover your lens with the solar filter and take a picture of the Sun sometime in the next few weeks. Wait until December or January and get your camera and filters our and take the picture again (be sure to use the same zoom setting!) Put the pictures side by side on your comptuer screen and measure the diameter of the Sun in pixels on your computer. You will find the Sun is smaller in July than in January. The Sun appears slightly smaller when it is farther away!

As I go out to watch fireworks after the improv show tongiht, I will be grateful that we are slighlty farther away from the Sun right now as the temperature will probably still be in the upper 90s here!

Going to the Parade?

In all the places I've lived in Racine, I've never been more than a block from Main Street, if not right on the street itself. The parade finds me. The past few years, I've holed up while the cat hides under the bed. I may take a peek at the pre-parade, or at portions of the goings-on, but I'm not up for sitting through the whole thing. It's a great time for family and kids, though, and I think it's grand that the city comes together for an event like this.

I took mom grocery shopping this morning and the store was busy. Lots of people buying soda and beer. You can feel an urgency in the air. On Main Street, the No Parking After Midnight signs are up, barricades dropped off at intersections, trash barrels strategically placed (there's never enough), vendors' trucks and trailers parked near the route. Everyone is getting ready. Everyone is getting set.

Tomorrow, everything goes!

Friday's lost video - July 4th edition

Not so much a lost video, but a fitting one.

Ray Charles - America the Beautiful. Nothing more needs to be said......

TICK TOCK

They put it off a day so they could torture me with tests. I go in about a half hour. Jeez but yesterday sucked. Glad when thiis one is done

A Full Sized Model of Phoenix: 1 inch = 1 inch

I have blogged before about the Mars Phoenix Lander. It is controlled from Tucson (near the corner of 6th and Drachman for those of you who know the city). I visited the building today and snapped a few pictures I thought I would share.

The exterior of the building is covered with a neat mural created by a University of Arizona art class.

The mural depicts Phoenix launching from Earth and landing on Mars. Small squares around the mural have everything from a Delta II rocket to Peter Smith (Principal Investigator or PI) and Marvin Martian.

Inside is the PIT. The PIT contains a full size model of the rover with working copies of the science instruments. They use it for testing...before they send a command to Mars, they send it to this guy and make sure it does what they want. If they want to test something before trying it on Mars, this is where it gets tested.

This model is not designed to look quite like the real thing. they also have a model that looks the same on the outside, but does not have working science instruments.


Oh, and we should zoom in on the stereo camera.

Separated at birtht?

It shouldn't be too surprising that the eye structures are similar. Wall-e probably is designed to see in 3-D which works better with two eyes and so is the camera on Phoenix!

Olympic Trials 100 Meter Champion: Tyson Homosexual?!?

I didn't believe this story when I first saw it and didn't post it until I have had some time to vet it, but it appears legit. One News Now, a conservative web site decided to install a filter to change the word "gay" to "homosexual" in news stories. The problem is, well, some people have the last name Gay, including a young man named Tyson who blazed a 9.68 seconds in the US Olympic Trials 100 meter dash.
According to the Washington Post story, "Fred Jackson, news director of OneNewsNow, tells the Sleuth his organization has now fixed the software glitch. "We took the filter out for that word," he said, without uttering the "G" word.".

He can't even SAY the word!

Now that they have shown their colors and admit they edited other people's stories to fit their agenda, I wonder what other edits are occurring.

100 Years Since Tunguska

June 30th, 1908. Without warning, a massive explosion occurred over a remote area of Siberia. Tens of millions of trees flattened over an area of hundreds of square miles by a blast 1000 times that of the bombs that flattened Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Earth had an encounter with a small asteroid or comet probably no more than 50 - 100 meters across. Heat from the blast was felt over 60km away. Fortunately, it hit a very sparsely populated area. Had it hit New York, London, Moscow, etc, the death toll could have been in the millions.

The object exploded in the air rather than staying intact until it hit the ground. Many smaller meteors will give into the stresses cause by passing through the atmosphere and explode before they hit the ground.

So what would we do if something like this was coming toward us today? Well, not much. However, the B612 Foundation is working on ways to deflect asteroids. This privately funded group wants to try to change the orbit of an asteroid by 2015 (being careful to select and asteroid that has no chance of threatening Earth after its orbit changes!)

All the techniques we are exploring to deflect asteroids require decades of advance warning. If we know about the threat that far in advance, we can make a small correction and decades later, it will miss us by thousands of miles.

The necessity of detecting these things in advance brings us to the current detection programs. Many programs currently exist to detect potential threats such as Spacewatch and Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research among others. Pan-Starrs and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will push the search to smaller objects.

There are no currently known asteroids that pose a threat. However, there is a potential one. Asteroid Apophis (about 300 meters across) will make a near approach to Earth in 2029 passing closer than our geostationary communication satellites. The odds of an impact in 2029 are exactly zero. We know it will miss.

But here's the catch. When it passes Earth, its orbit will change due to Earth's gravitational influence. There is a small area known as the "keyhole". If Apophis passes through this keyhole, it will come back and smack us in 2036. Fortunately, the keyhole is VERY small, only about 600 meters wide (and space is VERY big).

Just last week, the House of Representatives proposed a mission to study this asteroid (in HR6063, section 803). The proposal is for a low cost mission to place a transmitter on the asteroid. This transmitter would allow us to track its orbit much more precisely and tell us whether or not we really need to worry.

Impacts of this size happen probably once every 500-1000 years or so. On the 100th Anniversary of Tunguska, it's a good time to consider our preparations for the next one.

Going away for awhile

Looks like they are going to do some emergency bypass surgury shit here. Not looking forward to it at all. I may be able to post a few more times, but I think food and liquids are getting cut off at midnight. Eh, story of my life. Wouldn't be my life without drama. Can't get into the JT blogs here at All Saints so everyone will just have to learn it here. At least the nurses are pretty on this ward, and Kawwwman would be happy. My night nurse swishes. No need of Gaydar for him. Nice guy though, does his job well. I'll blog my recovery as it happens. Going to miss the fireworks it looks like. Damn but this sucks.

Watching the Fireworks

My husband really wants to watch the fireworks from the boat this year. I am so uncomfotable with that idea. It will be us and the kids and maybe my mom. It isnt a huge boat, so I already do not feel great about going on Lake Michigan during the day, let alone at night. So, not only does being on the lake at night make me nervous, but also I am TOTALLY afraid of the fire works falling down on us.

Can anyone tell me if they have experiene doing this and tell me if I am being paranoid and silly??

I will also be posting this on JT only because I need answers. So don't think I am a trader LOL!!

Racine to Welcome its Sixth Sister City

http://news.racinepost.com/2008/06/where-in-world-are-racines-sister.html

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/06/29/local_news/doc486716ed7e094179393084.txt

Zapotlanejo, Mexico is about to become the Belle City's sixth sister city. A delegation from that city will be visiting Racine this week, and municpal Presidente Alvarez Contreras will join Mayor Becker in walking the route of the 4th of July parade. There also will be a signing of the "twinning" agreement at City Hall at noon on Thursday.

Party on!

Madame Zoltar: What's Up Before It Goes Down

Hello, my faithful fans!

Here's a treat for you. An online Psychic Quiz:
http://www.ezines4all.com/fun/psychicquiz.htm
Watch out! It's eerily accurate.

In the week ahead, I see: mosquitoes. Ouch! Lots and lots of mosquitoes. Ow! Time to put on the Off. For those of you who prefer old-fashioned remedies, gasoline will also work. And there's no truth to the rumor that premium is more effective than regular. They both keep everything away.

I also predict that many people will be outdoors enjoying themselves and summer in Racine, so be careful behind the wheel or handlebars of whatever you're driving or pedaling around town. If you must overindulge, set aside the keys. Otherwise, I see jail in your future.

Finally, there will be no end to the turmoil on Racine's streets this week. I can already hear the wail of sirens and the popping of gunpowder at night. I see smoke and people gathering in the streets. Yes, that's right, the 4th of July parade and fireworks are this Friday! That portends a great commotion in the city. I predict crowds of onlookers at both events. There will be much celebrating. And probably a little over-celebrating, too. Have fun, take a minute to think about the founding of our country, and enjoy the three day weekend.

Thank you, friends, for stopping by.

Follow The Money

A few years ago, KUSD was found to have accumulated just under $50 million in extra cash, over actual expenses and hidden from the public! A few other districts were doing the same thing. Complaints and official inquiries forced the district to create a cover story, which was, the money was for future retirement obligations! Since the cash was exposed, the district decided to invest the bundle. They made a very risky investment and now lost many millions!
The question is, if KUSD can pay all expenses and still accumulate millions and RUSD budgets very similarly, why does RUSD always claim they are broke?

When Will Racine Have A Gay Pride Parade?

Gay Pride Parades are being held worldwide this weekend.

Racine has already had rallies for "rights" for people who enter the US illegally, and marches for peace, and candlelight vigils, but no visible support for our gay and lesbian community.

Why not?

I would think that this cause would fit in perfectly with the mayor's agenda to attract artists and other bohemian types to save us from ourselves.

How can we expect to have two major art districts and a vigorous connecting corridor without a nod toward the alternative lifestyles that will help support these ventures?

Maybe if we hurry, we can tack on an addition to the 4th Fest parade. How about a float with a big, symbolic closet on it, with people coming out of it and waving to the crowd?

"Gripe about your neighbor on RottenNeighbor.com "

The story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080627/ap_on_re_us/rotten_neighbors

The site:
http://www.rottenneighbor.com/

You can punch in a zip code or city name and complain about the idiots next door who let their dogs bark all day. Or find out if there are such idiots in a neighborhood that you're thinking about moving to. (The answer: yes, they're everywhere).

I typed in my zip code and found out something I wasn't aware of: there's one more sex offender living in my apartment building than I knew about; a guy I see and chat with almost every day. First degree sexual assault and he's a lifetime registrant.

Sometimes I think I don't wanna know . . .

Just What We Need: Ads Inserted Into Your Vacation Photos

Inventor Julius von Bismark just created what he calls an "Image Fulgarator" capable of causing images to show up in photos taken by digital cameras that are invisible to the naked eye.

He has taken an old camera and reversed the optical path turning it into a small projector instead of a small camera. A light sensor on the fulgarator senses when someone takes a picture using a flash. The fulgarator springs to life and fires an its own flash, capable of projecting an image onto any flat surface nearby for a fraction of a second, undetectable to the human eye but an image that will pop up on your digital camera.

I don't think I need to spell out the potential abuses of this technology...it will be obvious the first time you are on vacation and Coke ads start mysteriously appearing in your snapshots.

Fortunately, von Bismark seems to see the potential abuses of this device, has applied for a patent and seems like the type of guy I want holding this patent. The downside is that patents expire and eventually we will have to be dealing with the potential abuses of this system.

It's gotta be the water

Just something wrong here. Not going into how the JS beat the JT once again, but would like to know what is wrong with selection/nominating committees? The "NEW" now "OLD" chanclor for Parkisde (Podunk U) had a vote of no cofidence against him at his old place, and is being ivestigated for sexual harrassement and misapropriation of funds to the tune of $500k. Needless to say he has resigned before he even started.

Of note is how the selection committee never heard about the vote of no cofidence even though the recruiting/nominating committee knew all about it. Just a real shame and sham on folks who pay these buffoons wages.

I guess it just pays to read the JS instead of the JT.

Wannabe expose' reporter

I figured that I'd have getten an email by now from the wannabe reporter, but no such luck. I know all of the folks on the Wisconsin Assistive Technology Council and have dealt with each of them. I know what is moving and shaking in the AT world. My comments were based on fact when I questioned if the JT ever checked anything they got as copy for it's pages. Just a bit disheartening that they can't be more proactive and the wannabe appears to have been full of hot air. Another typical day from a typical kitty litter box liner.

Summerfest

http://www.summerfest.com/

Do you go?

I went a couple of times in the 70's and once in the 90's with a friend and her 11-year old son. I don't do well with crowds, or heat, or hyper-excited kids.

I've been to the Marcus Amphitheater a number of times for concerts. I'm OK with that. It's just all the people, people, PEOPLE at Summerfest that drives me nuts.

When I was there in the 90's, I somehow ended up agreeing to a ride on The Zipper. I must've been out of my mind. As the attendant locked me and my friend in, he said nothing about my glasses or the camera dangling from my neck. As soon as the ride started, both were airborne, slamming around against the inside of the cage. I shut my eyes and prayed. After it ended and I was off of the ride, I had to sit down for a few minutes. Just one more reson for me to stay away. And I can't afford it, anyway.

High Court Strikes Down D.C. Gun Ban

So, whaddya think? As I understand it, this doesn't much affect Wisconsin because we're already allowed to own handguns. We just can't carry them around. Or use them much.

In case you're wondering, I don't own a handgun. But I know quite a few people who do. I grew up around hunters who owned guns, knives, bows and arrows. I've never felt uncomfortable in the presence of a firearm and a responsible owner. Although I'm not conversant with all of the facts and figures in this debate, I nonetheless have an opinion which has the unmistakable ring of "truthiness:" I believe that the vast majority of gun related crimes are not committed by people who have legally purchased handguns for self-protection, nor do they involve the weapons that those people bought.

I AM very uncomfortable with thugs and criminals having E-Z access to guns. And with guns ending up in the hands of fools like the one who recently shot himself at the lakefront. Banning handguns hasn't seemed to stop those kinds of things from happening in other communities, though. Passing laws and changing behaviors are two different things.

The bad guys are armed - we should have the same option.

Friday's Lost video - a day early

Im going to be super busy tomorrow, so I am posting this early.....



Ok, I have always thought that Suzanne Vega had an incredible voice, and most people have heard of Luka and Tom's Diner. IMHO, this one tops them all. This Fridays (On Thursday) lost video is Suzanne Vegs's 99.9 F Degrees:

Islamic Marrage Expert: Go Ahead And Marry That Infant!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,371581,00.html

Islamic Marriage expert claims it’s OK for Muslim men to marry ONE YEAR OLD babies. I guess they figure that if it is OK for Mohammad it’s ok for them. As an older man of fifty-plus years, Muhammad married a mere child of six years old and co-habited with her when she was 9 years old.

And to think that some people say we should learn about this religion, and permit “Openness” and “Understanding”. I say protect your babies and don’t let Islam achieve their goal of domination of the US and Europe.

Who Says The Simpsons Isn't One of the Best Comedies on Television?

This screenshot is from Sunday nights show. The girls are nicotine addicts and SUPPOSED to be sucking gum off the bottom of the seats, but that's not what it looks like!



Any show that can produce an image like this and get it past the censors has to be doing something right. Notice they are only at seats occupied by men!

"Don't Go to Mars" says God

Conservative Voice blogger Robert Hood thinks we shouldn’t bother going to Mars. Why? Well, NASA’s philosophy is to follow the water. After all, water is essential for life so if we are to find life on other planets, let’s start with where there is water.

But Hood KNOWS how life started. “I have four year old kids in my church that could tell you where life originated. If people would bother to accept the fact that everything in existence is created by an omnipotent God then, we would not need to waste money searching for an answer that even small children already know.”

Yep, God did it...on Earth and only Earth so we shouldn’t bother exploring Mars. He gives no evidence except for the wisdom of the aforementioned four year olds in his church to support his assertion.

Science is about exploring and finding things out. It’s what we do. If there is a chance that life once existed on Mars (or that some microbial life still exists) I want to find out about it. I think most people are curious about how life began and whether life exists elsewhere.

I have a feeling he is really going to dislike the next mission, the Mars Science Laboratory. Scheduled for launch in 2009, it will carry a massive suite of instruments to explore Mars and look for signs of life. (I bet some anti-nuclear activists protest this mission as it will use a radioisotope generator...wait until closer to lift off for that fun!)

He also raises the money issue. Should we not spend this money here to solve our problems? Well, even if we shut down NASA all together (which would be a horrendously bad move) there is no guarantee one dime of that money would be allocated to any of the commonly cited problems here and could just as easily to to the war in Iraq, tax cuts, or new weapons systems. This argument is known as a false dichotomy.

I don't want this to be seen as a liberal/conservative issue as I know there are conservatives here who think this stuff is pretty cool (and to be fair, there are liberals who would make the spend the money here to feed and shelter the poor argument against space exploration). NASA is our national space program and having a strong space program keeps us on the cutting edge of science and technology, benefits our economy, and gives us a point of national pride as well.

The one bit of good news is that this guy won’t start spewing nonsense about UFOs and alien abductions since, according to him, the don't exist!

Looking for Customer Service in a Service Economy

It seems to me that as the United States’ economy transforms itself into what is called a service economy, we the people receive less and less service. These thoughts have been percolating in my mind lately while I’ve stood in line at various places: grocery store, bank, discount store, post office, etc. I’d swear that I spend a lot more time in lines than I used to. Why would K-Mart have only two registers open on a Saturday morning? Why did I have to wait in line 25 minutes yesterday at Piggly-Wiggly to buy 7 items? Why is telephoning any business now an obstacle course of phone menus and being put indeterminably on hold while a recording continually reassures you that your call is important? And the DMV – well, let’s not “go there.”

When I called customer service because my internet connection went down this past winter, I was on hold for 50 minutes. I assumed that there was some massive failure of the system and everybody was calling at once. No – it was just business as usual.

This morning I went to pick up some prescriptions from a pharmacy. When I arrived, there was a man ahead of me who obviously was experiencing a problem with his insurance coverage. These things happen. It took a little while, but things were eventually straightened out. End of story, right? Wrong. The man found this entire affair fascinating and proceeded to go on and on about every problem he has ever had with any insurance company in his entire life. He soon had two clerks and a pharmacist involved. He also kept looking back at me and making comments to me in an effort to get me involved in the conversation. Why in the world would I want to stick my finger in that wringer? I just wanted to get my prescriptions and get out.

Afterwards, I went next door to a grocery store. In the checkout line, the clerk was very actively involved in personal conversations with each of her customers. The yammering went on and on as the rest of us had to wait our turn. A couple of times she spotted people she knew in other lines, and started long distance, shouted conversations with them. And most of these people were more than happy to respond and ask questions of her and discuss all sorts of matters that had absolutely nothing to do with purchasing goods in a grocery store.

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe other people consider shopping part of their social life. I’ve always gone to the store to get what I need, not to meet people, or to make friends, or to tell everyone details about my personal life. Shopping or banking or working have always been a means to an end for me. I do those things to support my social life, not AS my social life. Maybe we need two different types of stores: stores for people who know what they want and just want to get it, and stores for people who want to wander about endlessly and chat with everyone.

I blame this and much more on the dumbing down of America. This country used to pride itself on excellence and individualism. That is no longer the case. Today, amongst the many “rights” conferred upon people is the right to drag anyone down to your level. As the PC police use “equality” as an excuse to make everything and everyone as stupid as possible, ignorance must be valued as much as intelligence, carelessness cultivated over craftsmanship, and volume holds sway over insight. Welcome to the land of the rude and the home of the dullard.

Liberal Judges Say It's OK to Rape A Kid and Live!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080625/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_child_rape

Damn them. They say it's "cruel and unusual punishment" to kill some sick bastard for raping a kid. Well Boo-fricking hoo to them. What you did to the 3 year old you had sex with was cruel and unusual. The sicko that raped his step daughter over and over and over - that's cruel and unusual. The perverts that get off from molesting infants - that's cruel and unusual. Way to defend life, liberty and the pursuit if happiness.

These sick bastards are on top of my list of people that deserve to die.

More JT Hypocrisy

Here is anexcerpt from a thread on the JT blog at:

http://my.journaltimes.com/post/mountpleasant/three_injured_after_car_flips_at_braun_and_willow_roads.html


Posted by: mom of 14yr old on June 24, 2008 3:46PM EST
Well where does someone start...just wanted to say whoever is praying for my daughter Alyssa I greatly appreciate it because this bitch messed my baby up and don't even have the nerve to call and see what the hell she did to my baby or even try to apologize for it which I would never accept it anyways! But she ain't even trying!!!!!! And also claims to have cared for my daughter and this is NOT love if you ask me and if you can drive impaired with my daughter in the car she could have just brought her home where she would have at least been SAFE!!! Now I get to sit here and wait while my baby has a machine breath for her!! Justice will be done!!!

Posted by: jemanialeena on June 24, 2008 3:50PM EST
the driver was going 90 over train tracks tire broke car flipped over the 14 yr old was thrown from the car is in critical condtion but is getin better as the days go by please eveeryone pray for her. she has no brain damage that is known of and no paralaises so far PRAY PLEASE EVERYONE THAT SHE WILL BE OK AND THAT SHE IS ABLE TO BE A KID AGAIN!!!!!!

Posted by: mom of 14yr old on June 24, 2008 4:40PM EST
who is this?

Posted by: jemanialeena on June 24, 2008 4:43PM EST
WHO IS THAT BITCH THINK SHE IS SAYIN SHE CARES BOUT MY ISSY THAT FUCKIN HOE GET SHE WHAT DESERVES AND THAT THE TRUTH AS FAR AS MY ISSY MISSY MOO GOES MY PRAYERS ARE WITH U ALSO I WANTED TO SAY WHO INT THE RIGHT MIND WOULD GO 90 MPH WITH A CHILD IN THE CAR O THATS RIGHT THAT BITCH IS RETADED AND WHO CARES SHE CANT PICK UP HER DAMN KIDS WHILE POOR ISSY WILL NEVER BE THAE SAME AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT THAT HOE WILL GET HERS U BEST BELIEVE ME!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: mom of 14yr old on June 24, 2008 4:49PM EST
Who are you jemanileena??? This is the 14 year olds mother...no one even knows my daughter's condition unless I have told them..and if anyone knows anything it would be helpful for my investigation in this accident.

Posted by: Elf on June 24, 2008 5:05PM EST
The sheriff's dept did at one time run a lot of radar on Braun just west of the tracks, several deputies USED to live along Braun there. I believe they may of actually of used their own driveways. My understanding is that SPD got pissed that they were running radar in Sturtevant and basically complained to the Sheriff saying to get out of Sturtevant...Which Sturtevant has done in the past when the Sheriff's dept ran radar in Sturtevant....I believe this was before Marchki was police chief. Maybe the chief can open up communication with the sheriff's dept and alow them to ASSIST in the trouble spots in Sturtevant until spd gets or alocates the manpower to the problem areas....

Posted by: workingforalivin on June 24, 2008 5:27PM EST
Don't count on it, Marschke was the main problem, he absolutely throws a hissy when the Sheriff's Dept. comes into Sturtevant. If the Sheriff Dept. is runing radar he will immediately position himself in order to make traffic slow down before the sheriff squad can clock them. There is no way he is going to let RASO into Sturtevant to help. The Sheriff Dept. has tried iin the past to run radar on the main roads 90th,STH 11, Braun, Wisconsin. As soon as a stop is made a call is made to the sheriff's Dept. or a squad races from the PD to position themselves in front of the sheriff squad. Let me just say if you believe one word Marschke is tellin you youre nuts. I have dealt with this guy first hand and the crap he pulls defies logic. If i even began to tell you the stunts he has pulled in the past I am certain no one would believe it.

Posted by: nolongershocked on June 24, 2008 5:33PM EST
the sheriffs dept is also very thin, they wouldnt be alot of help. i cant believe the jt hasnt removed some of these ignorant comments people to dumb to express themselves without swearing.

Posted by: nolongershocked on June 24, 2008 5:47PM EST
workingforalivin,.........what are you talking about give some examples so we know who were dealing with.

Posted by: workingforalivin on June 24, 2008 5:56PM EST
I just did , why the sudden interest, how do you know the sheriff's dept. is thin. I suspect ypu are affiliated with Marschke or SPD. I'm not interested in getting into a pissing match, if you are afffiliated then you know what I am talking about, enough said!

Posted by: nolongershocked on June 24, 2008 6:04PM EST
seems as if you got called out and dont have the facts to back you up, thats what i figured.

Posted by: LEROYBEANS on June 24, 2008 6:16PM EST
the sudden interest is in the above story is proof that they need help. who cares who works for who and who has ties to who. someone is going to get killed becasue our village board cant peel enough money off that stack they been using for beautification of the train tracks to hire another f'ingofficer. there is no pissing match my freind, just a bunch of us over paying into taxes pist off citizens.,

Posted by: nolongershocked on June 24, 2008 6:22PM EST
im just tired of people shooting their mouths off and not even having the facts. if it is the facts your speaking then share them with the rest of us that are trying to figure out how to help with this speed issue

Posted by: workingforalivin on June 24, 2008 6:30PM EST
Please, whoever you are, yep I'm a cop and if youre who I think you are you no D--- well who this is. Quit playin games this is all true and you know it. You get one Marschke in public and another bbehind closed doors. How can a guy cry staffing shortages and then play the games described above, he is a clown

Posted by: workingforalivin on June 24, 2008 6:36PM EST
Oh by the way I live in the Village and I pay taxes and my kid almost got creamed, I tried to approach it in a professional manner for 2 years, nothin. Got blown off and screwed with. I agree the entire area is in need of attention. But what I'm tellin you is don't count on Marschke lettin State Patrol or RASO help out. There is a problem and he is understaffed you would think he would be begging for assistance, nope same games.

Posted by: elissa on June 24, 2008 6:47PM EST
MS. EMILY MASON I CERTAINLY HOPE U GET A CHANCE TO READ ALL THESE COMMENTS THAT HAVE BEEN LEFT. HOW CAN U JUSTIFY THE INCIDENT THAT OCCURED ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON????? IT WAS TOTALLY SENSELESS AND CERTAINLY COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED. WHAT RIGHT DO U HAVE DRIVING AFTER REVOCATION?? IF THAT JUST ISNT ENOUGH U DRIVE WHILE BEING IMPAIRED. THE FACT IS THAT IS WHAT U HAVE BEEN CHARGED WITH. SO THAT INFORMATION IS A FACT!!! YOU HAVE CASUED A GREAT DEAL OF DAMAGE EMTIONALLY,PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY. TO A POOR LITTLE 14 YEAR OLD GIRL AND HER FAMILY THAT LOVES HER DO U EVEN CARE??? FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND U HAVEN'T EVEN CONTACTED ANYONE TO FIND OUT HER CONDITION!!!! ALL I CAN SAY IS HOW DARE U!!! POOR ISSY IS BEING KEPT GOING BY EVERY MEDICAL TECHINAL SUPPORT SYSTEM THAT IS AVAIABLE AT THIS TIME. THIS LITTLE GIRL WILL NEVER BE THE SAME 14 YEAR OLD SHE WAS ON THAT SUNDAY AFTERNOON. U TOOK THAT ALL AWAY FROM HER!!! MY ISSY HAS TONS OF LOVE AND FAMILY SUPPORT!!!!! WE WILL SEE OUR WAY THREW THIS THIS TRADGIC EVENT.IT WILL TAKE MONTHS MAYB YEARS FOR ISSY TO GET BACK TO BEING ISSY. WE WILL SEE OUR WAY THREW THIS AT ANY COST!!!!EMILY I HOPE YOU CAN LOOK YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR EVERYDAY!!! IT MUST B NICE THAT YOUR CHILDREN WERENT RIDING IN THE CAR THAT SUNDAY AFTERNOON!! IMAGAIN IF IT WAS YOUR CHILD GOING THREW DAM HELL. I HOPE U GET WHAT IS COMING TO U!!!! 2 TICKETS THAT TOTALED $10,000 WHAT A FUCKIN JOKE!!! THEY SHOULD LOCK U UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AUNTIE LISA LOVES U VERY MUCH ISSY AND MANY MANY OTHER PEOPLE ALSO. THANKS FOR EVERYONES LOVE AND SUPPORT. PLEASE KEEP ISSY IN YOUR PRAYERS. IT IS GOING TO B ALONG ROAD FOR HER.

Pork Invaders: Hip Outreach to the Younger Crowd

Yep, I had to post this from John McCain's web site, the unfortunately titled game...Pork Invaders (think dirty..."Pork invaders?") And he made the mistake of putting code on his website so I could embed it here!



You can see that it uses cutting edge graphics, exciting, fast paced game play, and the prize is learning how bad the other candidate is. Your score is tabulated in millions of dollars you save.

Pork Invaders is also a Facebook app...Facebook! A social networking sight used by the technologically literate.

I played the game...it was amazingly easy...you I had to TRY to die (I wanted to see what happened...nothing, unfortunately except "Game Over"). Does McCain think so little of the video game prowess of his supporters? Does he not ask us to work hard and accept challenges?

And the choice of Space Invaders. They just keep coming, wave after wave. Is he saying we can never defeat pork?

I predict this game will be a big hit among those who have not seen video games since 1980.

So make your predictions: What will be next? For John-McCain, I predict Pac-Man where you eat political action committees. He will follow up with his version of Bible Defenders to solidify his conservative base.

For Obama's web site, he will go more modern and put up a "Transformers" video game where you can see McCain's positions change before your eyes. He will then give people a chance to best his score in Obama Bowling.

We Have Been Banned...and other observations from Jury Duty

Yep, I had jury duty today (and I am at liberty to talk about it). The jury holding room had nine computers in it for people to use. In spite of about 150 jurors in the room, not all the computers were in use which surprised me as I thought there would be fights over them (if you had 10 of my coworkers in a room with 9 computers, there would be fights over them). I tried to access JT Irregulars and we were filtered! Yep, wouldn't let me check it but it WOULD let me check the JT blogs!

My only other time I made it to the courthouse after being called for jury duty was in Florida. It was a slip and fall case against Wal-Mart. During questioning, they asked if anyone liked or didn't like Wal-Mart. So I told them my opinion (I REALLY don't like Wal-Mart) and railed on their labor practices, union busting, outsourcing, and the Cheryl Crow-Wal-Mart censorship case. After my little rant, the defense attorney moved that the entire jury pool be dismissed as I had biased the pool against his client! The judge didn't do it, but I was not on that jury to say the least!

Now I need to back up for a minute to my arrival. They make you pass through security of course. They do let you bring in bottles of water and soda which got me thinking...if you can't bring liquids aboard a plane since you might make a "bomb" why can you bring so much into a courthouse? I am just saying.

Okay, so I surfed the web through the video introduction to jury service but still saw enough of the video to know that it is all about the patriotic duty we have to be part of the process. I get called and am in City Court which is a three block walk from where we reported...walk over there (not too hot at that time of day).

After passing through security (again all liquids allowed) and a short wait, we were in the courtroom. I noticed the jury swearing in said "Do you swear to God or affirm..." Guess they put that part in for us non-believers. I also noticed the prospective jurors responded to the oath with a mix of "I do" and "So help me God." The court officers seemed cool with both.

I was one of the initial 11 selected to be screened. It was a DUI case. The first thing everyone did was stand and state their name, marital status, number of children under 21, car driven, bumper stickers on the car, favorite television programs, magazines and radio shows. I was probably the most overtly political (but honest of course) in my answers about the Darwin fish and bumper stickers (Hate is Not a Family Value, Don't Assume I Share Your Prejudices, a Pride Flag), television shows (Daily Show and Colbert) and that I listen to NPR all the time.

They asked if anyone had any legal training and I volunteered that I listen to the NPR show Justice Talking which might not be formal training, but I knew that lawyers could get MCLE continuing ed credit through Wested for listening to the show. The judge, prosecuting attorney and defense attorney all laughed in a rare moment of levity.

More questioning...I had to tell them that my brother was arrested for DUI but found not guilty and that I had a student of mine die about 10 years ago while under the influence while she was driving home after a high school party.

Surprisingly, I was still put on the panel. I wasn't trying to get out of jury duty, but thought they might knock me out due to the DUI connections (I said I believed I could still be impartial...I am not close to my brother and the student was the one doing the drinking and driving so I couldn't hold a grudge against someone else).

One thing I liked is that the jurors are now allowed to ask questions! I heard about some courts allowing this on NPR. Given that this case would involve some science (breathalyzer results, Field Sobriety tests), I was looking forward to the opportunity. Questions had to be written down and given to the judge who would decide if they could be asked. Jury questions are subject to the same rules as the questions from the attorneys (no leading the witness and such) so the judge may or may not allow them to be asked...but hey, I am smart...I already figured out I could rephrase the question and try again just like the attorneys :)

The opening arguments started late in the morning. The prosecuting attorney gave a play by play of what we would hear in testimony. The judge asked if the defense attorney would like to make an opening statement and he said, "No,but I will" and then said he likes to joke around. It really was an odd, awkward moment when he tried to make a joke, people weren't sure if they should laugh, but it really wasn't that funny anyway. He then gave an opening statement that was very vague, talking little about the case and more about keeping an open mind, seeing justice done, etc.

We broke for lunch before the presentation of evidence...lunch started at about 11:45 and we reconvened at 1:30...lawyers like long lunches I guess.

The prosecution called their first witness, the arresting officer. Fairly standard questioning, what is his training in DUI screening, how many DUI investigations had he been involved in, and then getting to the specifics of the stop. After about 45 minutes, they ask they jury to leave the room and have a conference. After about half an hour, we are callled back in and thanked for our service. I asked if it was a plea bargain or a mistrial and they wouldn't say. We were done and went home early, sort of anti-climactic for sitting on my first jury.

I compared this to my experience teaching. The school I was teaching at in the 90's in Florida has a mock trial team. They were perennial state contenders and the state meet was over spring break. None of the bus drivers wanted to take the kids to state (they wanted their spring break) but I had a CDL and they paid my expenses, so sure, I will drive and get a free trip to Tallahassee (and still have six days vacation afterwards). I also went to the competition (which the students liked since they typically had NO fans make the trip).

You know what? They were good...very good. I couldn't help but comparing their techniques to the lawyers I saw today and there was no contest...the high school students were better prepared and smoother in their presentation. Two particularly memorable performances was a student from Germany who had the accent,beard and mustache and was playing a psychiatrist as a witness and had me rolling on the floor and another student who played a student who hosted a party where a classmate got alcohol posining...and it was a student you could see hosting that party in real life and he played the roll WAY too well!

I realize I have to take that with a grain of salt...the high school students only have one case to prepare (although they have to prepare both prosecution and defense) over several months and these lower level prosecuters and defenders are handling several cases at a time.

So there are my observations today. It was interesting overall and I hope someday to be on a jury that gets to deliberate. I also encourage all of you to not dread jury duty. Waiting can be a little boring, but both times I have been called, everyone has been very professional and they have taken good care of the jurors. Go in there and help see justice served. The people on this blog care about their communities and their country (yeah, even the ones I disagree with.) I would rather have people of above average intelligence who care about our communities in there making the decisions.

Thanks for those that succeeded in wading through the whole thing!

Which is Worse?

Watching paint dry, watching grass grow or watching baseball on TV?

H Club Accepting New Members

All you need to join is some fissionable material a trigger, and sme initiative and you too can be part of a most exclusive club.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teller-Ulam_design

Liberals in History: Madalyn Murray O'Hair

O'Hair filed a lawsuit with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in regards to the Apollo 8 Genesis reading. O'Hair wished the courts to ban US astronauts — who were all Government employees — from public prayer in space. Though the case was rejected by the US Supreme Court for lack of jurisdiction,it caused NASA to be skittish about the issue of religion throughout the rest of the Apollo program.

O'Hair constantly challenged and publicly debated religious leaders and public figures on a variety of issues. She described herself as a "sexual libertarian" and stated that children in sixth grade should be given sex education and allowed to have intercourse without supervision or restriction. She felt that relationships between people, such as emotional or sexual relationships, were not open to any kind of supervision by other people and especially not by the government

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madalyn_Murray_O'Hair

Solstice Moon Pictures

Last Wednsday night,my son and I walked our dog to Shoop Park to see the solstice moon. Beautiful night,couldn't ask for better weather. I brought along my digital camera to take some pictures. Only 5 out of 18 pictures I took came out. The rest were junk. I used a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H2. Didn't use a tripod(don't even have one). Hope you all enjoy the pictures! Thank you.

Obama's New Church

From the Onion Radio News, "Non-controversial Church Opens for Potential Presidential Candidates."

Making sure the disclaimer is complete

Believe it or not, I took the time to read the disclaimer at the bottom of the page. I think the Sheriff did a good job to CYA. But is anything missing? Should things be added like.....
Wash in cold water only. Do Not bleach.
If an erection lasts for more than 4 hours, contact a physician.
Any ideas?

Watching Ice Melt...Ooops! Sublimate

The Phoenix Mars Lander has been doing spectacular work recently. It has been digging trenches and collecting soil to analyze in its various instruments.

Phoenix has also taken pictures of the trenches is has dug. A white substance was observed on the bottom of one of the trenches. Could it be water ice, or was it something else, such as a salt?

Watching the trenches for a few days revealed the answer as we have seen the white stuff disappearing!

Salt would not disappear. This substance cannot be frozen carbon dioxide as it is too warm at the lander site for solid carbon dioxide (the lander has a weather station so we know the temperature).

The only substance we know that sublimates (changes directly from a solid to a gas) at this temperature and pressure is water based ice. The presence of water based ice is not unexpected...the Viking mission detected water vapor in the atmosphere of Mars and the Mars Odyssey satellite’s gamma ray spectrometer detected water ice near the poles.

Seeing it and watching it sublimate is still just cool!

Flood Food Voucher Applicants Swamp Human Services

"Milwaukee police said they have restored order this morning but will remain outside of the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center after a crowd awaiting free food vouchers - which never were to be distributed - became unruly this morning."

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=764962

2,500 people showed up for nonexistent food vouchers this morning.

Artist Relocation Programs

Here is a site with resources, links, videos, and more on Artist Reloction Programs throughout the United States: http://www.squidoo.com/artistsrelocation

I spent quite a bit of time last night going over the site and links. A number of things come to mind.

First, is climate. I notice that almost all of these cities are outside of the snowbelt. I wonder if that will be a factor?

Second, the video on Paducah (the mother of all ARPs) does not get specific on costs, but does state that they've spent "tens of millions" of dollars on their program in the past seven years. They also claim to get a return of $14 for every $1 spent, but again, provide no concrete facts or figures. Paducah has approximately 1/3 the population of Racine. Can we expect to pay three times as much? And get three times the retrun?

Third, and most troubling to me, is where are the African-Americans in all of this? I saw not one black face nor read one reference to people of color in any of the above materials. Racine's black population is sizable, much of it indigent, and is located in the areas most in need of revitalization. Do they have any role in Racine's Artist Relocation Program? Or do they just conveniently vaporize when the artists come to town?

Comedian George Carlin Dead at Age 71

I remember his bust in Milwaukee. Chief Brier's boys ran him into a chain link fence on the way to the paddy wagon. And it was all thrown out. Because we had freedom of speech in America then. Some people claim that we still do.

More Dangers of Superstition

This time from Tanzania. According to several articles online from the New York Times as well as the BBC, albinos in Tanzania are being killed a mutilated. Witch doctors are using body parts from albinos in potions. It sounds similar to stories of poachers using rhinocerous horns or elephant tusks in various potions.

Some of you will take comfort and say this couldn't happen here. Farther down on this page is my post where a teenager died after his family relied on faith healing. Many people in this country reject modern medicine for different reasons. We had blogs (on the JT site) discussing vaccines.

Let's say Joe has a terminal illness. He meets a healer who claims to have a cure that he can get by killing a young man and harvesting bone marrow from him. Is it really a stretch to think that someone in this country would make that bargain?

“Is it white flight? Some might want to create their own homogeneous population. You can’t ignore that that might be one of the possibilities,” Turner

Maybe a large and growing village wants to regain local control of its schools, like perhaps the Oak Creek School District or the Cudahy School District or the South Milwaukee School District...all east of I-94 in Milwaukee County.

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/06/22/local_news/doc485dd49a14f24741493504.txt

Is KK's Avatar Next?

Recently the women in the online role playing game Age of Conan suffered involuntary breast reductions. It turns out that men who play these games like looking at virtual women with large breasts. Earlier this month, players were distraught to find that their creations had lost some of their endowments.

Funcom, the company behind Age of Conan, released a statement saying that the problem was caused by a patch for the software and to restore the women to their former glory.

So, KK, are we going to crack down on sexy avatars here (or disturbing ones like, well, you know which one!)

Madame Zoltar: This Week's Predictions

Hello dearies!

My prognostications for the coming week:

In an effort to deflect criticism from his proposal for a city water park, Mayor Becker will explain that the project could be used to defuse rivalries amongst inner city gangs: "Instead of shooting it out, our troubled youth would have the opportunity to settle their differences with water balloon fights, like mature adults do." Hizzoner will then drift off with comments about "those guys need a bath, anyways" and "who the hell do they think I am - the mayor?"

Racine Unified School District will announce the need for an Ideology Update. "Our current ideologies are antiquated and ill-suited to the needs of modern students," will read a statement issued by the school board. "Not only that, but we don't even know where or what most of our present day ideologies are. Given the need to keep up with the ever-changing ideology of our fast paced world, we foresee a $200 million ideology gap in the near term. Unless alternate funding mechanisms are developed or sought to address this gap, another referendum becomes a very distinct possibility."

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will make public its recommendation that state funding be withheld from any road repair or construction project that does not replace existing intersections with roundabouts. "Roundabouts are the wave of the future," a DOT spokesman will say. "Why should we waste our efforts on bettering the skills of Wisconsin drivers when we can make the roads navigable to a blind man doing 2 miles an hour? Our estimate is that roundabouts will provide employment for DOT personnel well into the next century."

It's summertime, kiddies, so I also predict a lot of fun! Ta-ta!

Mayor Becker's Response to Crime in Racine: A Water Park!

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2008/06/21/local_news/doc485daa0fc5729192539155.txt

Isn't it illegal to perform the duties of the mayor while under the influence?

How long does this farce go on?

It's like half the population of Racine does not exist to him. What the hell is wrong with that man?

Leadership

Christopher Columbus discovered/claimed the new world in the name of Spain in 1492. For the next 96 years Spanish explorers established that claim throughout north and south America. The Spanish fleet enforced the claim, but in 1588 King Philip II decided to invade England, with a new less experianced commander. His military advised him agaisnt the invasion and even they did not predict bad weather. The Spanish fleet was defeated! If King Philip II had simply listened, America would be a Spanish speaking nation today. Leadership is important!

Hale Bopp Spy satelites?

http://www.wired.com/culture/art/news/2008/06/secret_satellites?npu=1&mbid=yhp