Second American Revolution?

Selling T-Shirts to raise money for Women's Center

2006-05-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

Our college, Oregon Institute of Technology does not have enough money for daycare let alone a place for parents to find information on getting daycare. I am donating 50% of the profits from t-shirt sales to help. If you want prints email me at Rakista@gmail.com

http://www.cafepress.com/womensci

With the Iranians getting ready to blow us all up...

2006-04-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

What does Iranian food look and taste like; because, we have fought the Germans, Japanese and Vietnamaese and most Americans only know about them through the cuisine. Will Americans be eating Iranian style buffets in 20 years after the 1st nuclear war, or will we relegate them to the British level of cuisine exchange? Only time will tell.

Iranian Recipes

More Iranian and Persian style recipes

If you are in La La Land you can even eat at a Persian/Iranian style restaurant called Javan.

Morasah-Polow, looks especially good; sweet, savory and spicey. My bet is that this will become the lemon chicken of Iranian-American style restaurants.

Tabula Rasa

2006-04-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

I recently got a copy of Steven Pinker's Blank Slate and I am thoroughly enjoying its well thought out comprimise between the nature and nurture sides of human development.

New 19" LCD monitor

2005-11-27T19:24:00.000-08:00

Got a new monitor today, it weighs like 1/10th of my current 21" inch SGI monitor and the colors are not weird from being turned on for 10 years. Happy days.

My top neighbor is only 7% is that normal?

2005-11-10T09:11:00.001-08:00

On my Last FM account my "neighbors" are people with similiar musical tastes to my own. I am unsure of the exact metric used in calculating them but I am sure that most people do not listen to the amalagration of music in my collection because while most people have neighbors in the 20-30% range my nearest one hovers around 6-7%.

My top neighbor is only 7% is that normal?

2005-11-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

Volcano Vaporizer

2005-11-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

I bought a Volcano Vaporizer about a year ago and have been nothing but pleased with my purchase. Not only are my lungs feeling better but I have a cool coffee table item to spark up conversations with people who come over for parties and the like. It gets about as much play time as my MAME system I setup 2 years ago on the big screen TV and people are known to bring weed over just to try it so unlike my MAME station it actually pays for itself.

HP Laptop stories

2005-10-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well I got my laptop back from HP finnally and I have to say I am pretty pleased with it. The electrical transformer had failed in the charger pack along with some of the connects on the power board inside the laptop and both were replaced without comment. The only thing I wish this laptop had was some nicer speakers because these creative ones sound crummy at any sound level.

Can the US military do anything more?

2005-09-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

Much of the US military is now bound up in two conflicts. One in the dust blown desert of Iraq with its radically divided Baghdad and the other in the hurricane ravaged gulf coast whose epicenter is New Orleans. If anything else needs the attention of the US military one of the current deployments will be jeopardy of losing support. On one hand if the US withdraws from Iraq it may avert at least some criticism at home that they are insensitive to the needs of their citizens; however, if they leave Iraq in the hands of a radical shia bloc, the Kurds and the small secular group of sunnis there will be no knowing if the Middle East will not succumb to regional war over the souls and oil reserves present in southern Iraq.

Dead man switches and British STK policy

2005-08-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

In one of my earlier posts I ruminated about the possibility of a wireless heart monitor defeating the British shoot to kill policy. I am surprised that any shoot of kill policy can be used without martial law since Dead man's switches have been known since the industrial age began and have already appeared in suicide bombings according to Wikipedia. It would seem to me that this policy would have a remarkably low possibility of achieving success more than once. This policy that is now known to future terrorists will only ensure that eventually confrontations using lethal means will result in triggering of whatever explosive, chemical or biological weapon they have weaponized.

Entertainment sucks

2005-08-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

Well it looks like Serenity has been "LEGO-ized" for the upcoming movie of the same name. I didn't realize that the series Firefly was so short, whoever was the corporate drone or hive that cancelled that show I hope you have golden parachutes for when you get canned.

It looks like Futurama is being raised from the dead to feed on delicious space braaiinnssss! The sales of the DVDs have put those cartoon dollar signs in front of the eyes of any swarmy Fox executive who has touched the right and true word of the quarterly report. I would like to hope that in the near future cartoons will become cheap enough to make that even 10k fans can keep a regular series afloat, as I am really getting sick of the Family Guy/Simpsons/American Dad schtick of a nuclear family gone whacky. Nuclear families do not go whacky.

Carless Cities

2005-08-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

I have long been interested in the concept of a city without cars being that I am one of the worst male drivers out there; sorry women my sister's antics has ruined my opinion of all of you. A book called Carfree Cities has emerged from the well stocked shelves of the internet and has stirred up much emotion in regards to the prospect for me. Reading it from cover to cover I was amazed at how even the most simplest mode of transports would be radically changed by designing cities from a car free view. For instance how would you manage mail? Robots, pneumatic tubes or mail carriers all seem plausible in the scenario laid out with detailed discussions of each possibility.

With gas prices soaring out of control and biodiesel being called into question without radical changes in the way we raise the crops to produce it there may be little choice in the near future for advancing city type civilization without going car free.

List of Mi-6 Ops

2005-08-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

Well looks like a list of Mi-6 operatives in the now familiar guise of ambassadors and embassy staff has been released by a claimant referring himself only as the moniker of "A". Hopefully this will be handled with less pomp and instead a good hard look into such circumstances that would lead to this happening so closely to the last breach in 1999. A culture of intelligence operatives should be more savvy about who knows this information and the dissemination of this knowledge in any condensed form should of had misinformation implanted in each recipient document and personalized to the receiver. A single name in some BFE country would not solicit much attention and could be randomly generated for each person easily with any proper document control software with support for versioning and scripts.

Last FM

2005-08-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

Last FM, is more than one of those services that offers up a overwhelming array of similiar artists from your music collection as it offers up new human beings as well. From which I have taken similiar music preferences as a guide to new music. I have found some smashing new artists (to me) from Nick Drake to Jack Johnson. Happy Days!

Way to defeat British shoot to kill policy

2005-07-29T00:29:00.000-07:00

Could a simple heart monitor like these defeat the British shoot-to-kill policy? Wiring older wired devices to the bomb's detonator directly might rise suspicion but with these new wireless models being had for under 50 dollars they seem perfect for the job. The model I'm looking at on Radioshack's website would fit around the waist and could be worn under the bomb ensuring that police would have to remove the bomb belt before they got to the monitor which would further complicate things. I'm sure it is only a matter of time before the police find their policies need to be revised even further in light of the simplicity these devices represent. I don't know exactly how quickly the heart deteriorates after destroying the locus of the central nervous system (brain) but you can bet dollars to donuts a drop of 30-40 bpm would be enough to trigger the bomb if setup with such intent.

So police forces that are dealing with suicide bombers have even less options on their hands and might be better off investigating detection options before these people get into crowded public areas in the first place. The radio frequency range used by these devices should be added to any said frequencies if any that the police in London are already scanning for at the entrance to the underground stations. The only thing I could think of is if the police carried a transmitter of their own that kept the trigger thinking that it was still receiving a heartbeat. That would mean they would have to be able to detect any such frequencies in the area before shooting took place and repeat them.

2005-07-25T16:01:00.000-07:00

Stone age dildo has been found in Germany approximately 28,000 yr old. It is not robust as modern peniuses suggesting that if you have a small penis the best chance to star in a porno is to transport yourself back in time.

2005-07-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

2005-07-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well we know now that Polanski pry was not hot to trot so near the death of Sharon Tate. Yet his existance in France still disgusts me and I hope others who think that his drugged rape of a 13 year old girl does not allow extradition. I guess in France such things are more common than here that to a frog justice does not need to be served when it comes to rape but don't tarnish a child rapist's reputation or pay 50k pounds.

2005-07-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

Developing story but it appears they have caught a suspect in relation to the bombings, alive this time.

2005-07-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

Well more and more information is pouring out of the white house CIA leak affair to the point some may say of stupidity as the coverup has been handled ineptly with many he said she said discrepancies ramping up the criticism from bloggers and reporters alike. Allah god and jebus please take down the Bush administration in a storm of shame, I'll tithe 10% to all major world religions. I promise.

2005-07-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well the supposedly impregnable resolve of the British is faltering and it may not be long now till we see Londoners in a new light of fear, uncertainty and doubt. With the ability to recruit perhaps dozens of cells in Britain a summer or a year of attacks may become an unwelcome certitude in the minds of the millions who ride the underground every day.

2005-07-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

Apparently a Colorado Republican lawmaker has disclosed his idea for retaliation by bombing Mecca to the dismay of many Muslims worldwide who are increasingly worried that eventually a large enough terrorist attack may provoke a punishing blow by US military might on civilian targets. If it worked to stop Japan by bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Dresden in Germany by inflicting misery and suffering to the point of submission by an entire people who is to say that it would not stop Al Qaida if they nuked Mecca?

2005-07-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Is it possible that the chemist that made the bombs disabled the weapons before they could be used this time? Why else would 4 of the devices fail? Do we have a sense of guilt in a terrorist chemist? They appear to be similiar to the ones in 7/7 and barring two chemists why else would they fail?

2005-07-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

Well Valerie Plame's identity was marked as secret in a memo fielded at the whitehouse. So it looks more and more like the 'Bush Legacy' will have more than a footnote devoted to the bitter partisan politics that unraveled from the false yellow cake story in Niger that was the basis for the Iraq war as presented by Colin Powell to the UN.

2005-07-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

Looks like Britain is getting an FBI-like agency to fight organized crime. With violent crimes with guns hitting record highs in the UK this will be an interesting approach as the American FBI was largely ineffective at stopping the Italian Mafia during prohibition. Appareantly much of this crime is caused by the UK's stance on soft drugs such as marijuana.

2005-07-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

Why do the French allow a convicted child rapist like Polanski to stay within their borders? He raped a drugged 13 year old for god's sake and now he is complaining that his reputation has been stained by the revelations that he was hot to trot days after Sharon Tate's grisly Manson-inspired murder.

2005-07-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

Londoners are lucky that the explosives used by Al Queda are notoriously unstable and difficult to manufacture. Triacetone triperoxide (TATP) also called the mother of Satan is not an explosive in the typical sense as the "explosion" is the state change of the molecule as it rushes to fill space. With one of these devices used in the mass transit bombing available to investigators they may be able to tell if these devices were made by the same chemist or if they are dealing with multiple bomb manufacturers which will complicate any attempt to extricate extremism from English soil.

2005-07-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

Rove and Libby the puppet masters behind the administration involved in dirty politics. Nevah! Lol. Could it really be another Watergate, what should we call it Rovegate, CIAgentgate, or something even more convoluted.

2005-07-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

I'm always meme surfing through wikipedia and I'm always glad to find information that I likely would not have found by any other means. I share one with the Slashdot surfers now.

Peak oil is also called the "Hubbert Peak" after the person who described the peak American production of oil 15 years in advance. Are we already in depletion as some predict, click the link for a 3 page essay with critique that seems to have its own good points.

2005-07-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

India would be a good counterbalance to any radical nation in the Middle East such as Iran in the near future or Pakistan if it falls to hard-line Islamists. Looks like the PM of India is seeking nuclear secrets from the Bush regime, I hope they can establish something that may also deter Red China from talking anymore bullshit about going toe to toe with the Yanks over Taiwan.

2005-07-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

If you are the type of person who likes polls during the elections I think you are missing out on Pew's forays into political and religious sensibilities like this mammoth report on how different countries view Christians, Jews and Muslims. It is a shame that aethists were not polled for as I would like to see my chance of surviving in a country like Turkey if I ever plan on opening an American bistro serving hamburgers and chips into my old age.

2005-07-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

Contribute to the Rove article on Wikipedia. It is fun watching the Rebublicans try to warp history in real time. Also an overview of his petty life on rotten.com.

2005-07-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

I hope England gets a military edge over the US it would be nice to have the eyes of the world turn elsewhere. I bet the British will build amazing space superiority weapons or something that will double as an asteroid prevention system.

Any bets?

I'll help them with robotics, wonder if they need any?

2005-07-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

Interview by Noam Chomsky on the future of democracy both in the US and elsewhere among other topics gives some hope from stories of librarians (normal and otherwise) of "John Ashcroft, Bush and the rest tried to impose the Patriot Act in a way so extreme that it just aroused enormous resistance. For example, they wanted surveillance of public libraries, and public libraries throughout the country just refused." I always like reading his contemporary Interviews and will be throwing up a link when he comments on the latest London Terrorist Bombings.

2005-07-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

It looks like the militaristic ambitions of China have not abetted even with the crushing defeat of Yugoslavia and the largely succesful operations in Iraq and Afghanistan by the US military machine. Taiwan immediately in the post World War II world was a worrying tipping point for discussions of western military strategy in Asia. With the recent talk of China escalating the language of this dilemma in world affairs to a new level we may be seeing a Red China that is rising to reclaim Taiwan as a political and economic interest.