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I have been saying for years the highest growth industry in years to come will be tattoo removal. Looks like I may be right. I still don't get tattoos. I also don't get piercings and the "tribal" stuff like flesh tunnels.
eeeeeewww
Time has a great article about the origins of wine.
Why would anyone allow their child to be alone with this man?
I do not understand why SCO is pursuing this strategy? They are acknowledging that it is hurting what you would think is their core business. Now they want to sue Novell. At first I thought this was a gambit to be purchased. Now I don't know what it is.
It is like a bad soap opera...
An interesting take on how therapy has become a replacement for having confidants and also for generally weathering the tough times.
I can understand the perspective. Also I think it is assumed that therapists are not biased. They actually bring baggage to the table.
I also think you have to watch out because SOME are irreligious, and can turn people from the path of faith.
Is another linux distro. needed? I am not sure this is a good thing. I know RedHat specifically has irritated the opensource community, but firther splintering is not good. I would like to know if this will be a fork of Debian or if it will ride on top.
We are violent, they are cockroaches. We are both getting awfully fat.
Haven't they figured out yet that President Bush means what he says. A certain ex-dictator of Iraq didn't think so. Neither apparently did France or Russia. I guess they will learn someday.
I have thought from time to time about decamping and becoming an expatriate. It is not for lack of love for the US. I just think it would be neat to live in another country for a time. To make you appreciate what you have here.
Looks like Amazon.com has unwittingly open-sourced some books with its new search feature.
The big problem with the coming hydrogen economy is the pumping and storage technology. It will take a huge effort to replace the gasoline infrastructure.
I hope that hydrogen cars do happen in the future but there are many hurdles to conquer. We need to focus on as a national priority like we did the in the afformentioned apollo mission.
The original and sparse Arcanus Maximus. It was located on blogger which I never liked.
An interesting article about Vietnam after Tet, and how this relates to Iraq. I was unaware of the post-Westmorland changes, and how the Paris peace accords undermined South Vietnam.
an excerpt from the article:
Tet represents another, less widely understood, turning point in the Vietnam War. Soon after the offensive, Gen. Westmoreland was replaced as the U.S. commander by Creighton W. Abrams, with a notable change in U.S. strategy and tactics. The contrast of the two eras is pregnant with lessons for the far smaller guerrilla war in Iraq.
"More troops" was Gen. Westmoreland's first request from Vietnam, and also his last one. He sought to take the battle to the enemy, with "search and destroy" missions intended to find the major enemy units hiding in the jungle hills. It was a war of attrition, using superior U.S. firepower to destroy the enemy's forces faster than he could replace them. But the scale of the Tet assaults was scarcely encouraging.
"More troops" was Gen. Westmoreland's first request from Vietnam, and also his last one. He sought to take the battle to the enemy, with "search and destroy" missions intended to find the major enemy units hiding in the jungle hills. It was a war of attrition, using superior U.S. firepower to destroy the enemy's forces faster than he could replace them. But the scale of the Tet assaults was scarcely encouraging.
Under Gen. Abrams, "search and destroy" was replaced by "clear and hold." This is recorded in "A Better War," by Lewis Sorley, who notes that most of the histories of Vietnam pretty much skip the post-1968 period. Abrams put emphasis not on attrition but on the security of the local population, and the training of the South Vietnamese who would continue the fighting as Americans left.
The success of these programs was tested by the Easter Offensive of 1972. Some 200,000 North Vietnamese troops attacked on three fronts. U.S. ground troop withdrawals continued as scheduled, but President Nixon ordered heavy air and naval retaliation, including the mining of North Vietnamese ports. With this air support, the South Vietnamese army repelled the invasion. The North Vietnamese lost half of their attacking force and half of their tanks and artillery. The legendary Vo Nguyen Giap was quietly removed from command of the Northern armies.
Three years later the North had recovered sufficient strength to repeat the offensive. But by then the Paris peace accords had been signed, with U.S. prisoners returned at the cost of allowing Hanoi to infiltrate military units in the south. With Watergate, Congress had passed the Case-Church Amendment forbidding military involvement in Southeast Asia. Sen. Edward Kennedy passed a $266 million cut in supplemental spending for Vietnam, and funds were slashed for the coming year. Counter-insurgency expert Sir Robert Thompson remarked, "perhaps the major lesson of the Vietnam War is: do not rely on the United States as an ally."
This time the South Vietnamese got no assistance from the U.S. and fell before an assault by 20 tank-led divisions. Some million refugees took to the seas as "the boat people." After the loss of Iran and some trying times in Europe, the U.S. elected Ronald Reagan, who revived the American military and faced the Communists down at Reykjavik. The Communist empire fell after all, and Vietnam goes down as a lost battle in a successful campaign.
How is it that we are all getting so fat? Is it portion size, or the type of nutrients (Ala atkins, paleo diet, etc.), genetics, or the modern sedentary lifestyle?
I don't accept genetics since they wouldn't have caused such a quick change. From what I have read the portion size, and the proliferation of processed foods seem to be a big factor.
We need to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Both because of the foreign policy and the environmental pitfalls inherent. We need to fund a massive project looking at fusion, biodiesel, solar, wind, or turkey guts.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=8770 for a good article about the Martha's vineyard NIMBY wind power hypocrites.
Please read "Feeling under attack, Arabs turn to Islam for answers" from the Christian Science Monitor. It reconfirms my thoughts about the war against terror. We must be careful how we treat the neutral parties in Iraq and Afghanistan. We must also be mindful how our role in the Middle East effects public perceptions.
This article speaks to my Libertarian side. Why is it your employer, or the government's responsibility to provide you with health insurance? I think that if this were each individuals responsibility then the system would work better.
The MSA and catastrophic health insurance appeals to me.
I think the Marriage as a modern institution is in deep trouble. This article from The Atlantic attests to that. It seems that people marry because they don't know what else to do in a relationship. The taboos against taking up married behavior (cohabitation, having children) are gone. I am not saying the good old days were perfect, but marriage as an institution was definitely more sacred and important.
We know from studies that children in two parent households are better off. That is not to say they can't be fine in a single parent house, but on average they are better in an intact married house.
Marriage and the vows of marriage are sacred and holy. This aspect is ignored today. Instead, it is just a big party. It validates consumer choices, and those choices can be undone quickly.
It is ironic that the only people left that seem to want to get married for life are gay. The main function in marriage should be life-long commitment, shared risk/reward, and raising children. This should be a faith based institution only. I think domestic partnerships should be the secular equivalent that is sanctioned by the government. This would disestablish marriage as a state institution, but it might highlight it as a moral choice.It is ironic that the only people left that seem to want to get married for life are gay. The main function in marriage should be life-long commitment, shared risk/reward, and raising children. This should be a faith based institution only. I think domestic partnerships should be the secular equivalent that is sanctioned by the government. This would disestablish marriage as a state institution, but it might highlight it as a moral choice.
A great story about a man in the UK who has survived 19 years living with AIDS. The quote that got me was:
"Since 1991, I devoted my life to voluntary work. I do the work in the memory of the people I loved," he said. "When I was young, I had a big car, enjoyed life and probably was a bad guy. HIV has been hard, a painful experience, but changed my life, finally positively," he said. "But without, as well, that new technology (medication), I wouldn't be here today".
A good quote on the nature religion.
The purpose of religion is to show humanity the way to union with God. So fragmentation is always a falling short of our human calling. And if it happens? Then we must remember that sometimes only the pain of division teaches us how sweet was our association. If we can remember it before our ways part, then thanks be to God."
This from clarkhoward.com:
Kids watching TV as infants
Clark saw a report from the Kaiser Foundation about how parents are raising children, and some of the news was frightening. Multimedia is taking over our lives, it seems. One in four children under age 2 have a television set in the nursery. Some parents are playing cartoons and videos to keep infants quiet and busy before they are aware of whats going on around them. Some are even playing video games as young as age 3. And special computer software is now being offered to kids as young as six months old. Having kids so engaged with electronics at such a young age is not a good thing. Clark doesnt think that watching television is a bad thing in itself. He used to watch tons of TV. But today he doesnt watch much at all, except for football. So, it didnt harm his life. But television can become a substitute for human interaction, and that is not healthy. Kids need to play and involve their bodies as well as their minds. We hear a lot about how kids are obese and need more exercise. But kids also need to exercise their imaginations as often as possible.
I am still of two minds on this. I really think the right thing to do would be to wait until the Church resolves the issues of homosexual marriage. I do not like to see clergy in non-married sexual relationships. When the Church decided one way or the other on Gay marriage then that would point the way on actively homosexual clergy. This seems like a divisive end around.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That is Newton's third law. Israel may be hurting themselves more than helping themselves with thier reactions to terror. This is a position I had not fully considered. How does it apply to our occupation work in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am not sure.
I understand the impulse to destroy in retaliation for the suicide attacks. I think there is a place for retaliation, but I can never tell how much is too much.
I was watching Letterman the other day on my tivo. The guest was Pamela Anderson. I thought about how pretty she was in her early "Home Improvement" days, and how she has ruined herself since then. She looked like a plastic Barbie doll. It is like she was trying to obliterate the imperfections in her soul by trying to perfect (or at least in someone's eyes) her body. This doll-like hyper-sexual image is just not appealing. We are all flawed (morally, spiritually, and physically). It is what makes us human. It started with Adam and Eve's choice to eat the fruit, and continues today.
I was thinking about this on the way to church. My daughter had fallen in the driveway and skinned her knee. It was like it was the biggest thing that had ever happened in the world. High drama! I realized that it is by our scars we know we are human. It is by our scars we can know joy. It is by our scars we can understand others pain and imperfections. It is by His scars we are healed.
As an episcopalian I disagree about the comments about the Eucharist in this article, but it is very enlightening. The Eurcharist is central to episcopalian worship and I do not understand the Mary centric nature of SOME Catholics. I walked through a hispanic market the other day and there were hundreds of shirts, blankets, rugs, statues or the blessed mother and maybe 4 or 5 of the Son of God. I think there are plenty of people that keep Mary in perspective, but there are also plenty who I think may venerate her above where they should. I wonder if this is because Jesus is intimidating to them. I am not sure why. I think all in all this is a very good reflection on how Mary (and all Saints) could be better reflected on in churches in the Protestant tradition.