Liberal Media Bias - Unbelievable!!!

Here is a perfect example of the liberal media bias you continually hear about.

Here is the link to the page (as of 9/17/08):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26761804/

It will probably be gone shortly, as these things may scroll off as other news arrives, however one of the sections on this page states:

"McCain camp ‘disappears’ Fiorina
Sept. 17: A McCain advisor explained today that Carly Fiorina will now “disappear” after her remarks Tuesday that the 2008 candidates, including John McCain and Sarah Palin, are not capable of running a major corporation..."

There is a video link to click, and if you watch the video of Carly stating this, she actually mentions, John McCain, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden! Apparently earlier in the day she made some comment along these lines regarding Sarah as well, however the point I'm making is that the quoted paragraph that everybody reads is slanted to lead the reader to believe that she said it just about McCain and Palin. Many people won't bother watching the video, so it plants an image in their minds that "McCain and Panlin couldn't run a major corporation, so they surely cannot run the US.". Amazing...

I'm trying to send this to WSJ's op-ed section, however cannot find their email address...let me know if you know.

Thx...

Computer Cable Organization

Component Side


I recently hit the limit on the number of times I could look at the computer wiring in my home office. It began to stress me out so much that I finally decided to tackle the job. I got the idea from declutter.com, and have improved upon it a little. I used cable-ties to neaten it up a bit. I also routed all connection through the pegboard to the other side. I cut holes just large enough to fit the necessary connectors through. I also used a octopus power strip for the power adapters. In retrospect, I should have probably mounted the powerstrips on the backside, as they take up alot of room, and aren't really necessary on the component-side of the board. This board will then mount to the underside of my desk. I'm hoping that the components throw off enough heat to warm the desk itself, as it is a bit cold to rest your arms on for long periods of time.

The silver box in the upper-left corner is a DVD reader/burner. When this board is mounted under the desk, the front of this DVD burner will be flush with the front of the desk, providing quick easy access. Other components are: Memory card reader, USB hub, cable modem, DSL modem (which I use as a backup for work purposes), wireless router, wireless mouse receiver, phone-connector for Skype, phone jack, and 2 power strips. I will post a picture of the installed version once completed.

NYC Vigilantiism

I consider myself adept at noticing suspicious behavior. Generally, these are types of behavior that others in my company generally don't notice. Today, while gazing out of my office window, I noticed 2 people in what I thought was an office across the street. The first thing I noticed is that they didn't seem to be dressed appropriately for being in such a nice office space in midtown, such quality noted by being able to see into most every office directly across from me.

I then see the woman leave, and the man proceeds to quickly look into what appears to be a large duffle-bag, then, a bit too quickly, looks back the way the woman went. I then see him grab something and hurriedly put it in the duffle-bag. At this point, I think that he's stealing something from either this woman, or from the office. He proceeds to suspiciously look around, and place more things in the bag. He then grabs the bag and quicly leaves, following the direction that the woman went in.

I took note of his description, and waited to see if the woman would come back, and start flailing her arms (or produce some other unknown-at-this-time display of angs) at her missing things, at which point I would go to this other building in an attempt to describe to her what I saw. Well, she never came back, and after a while, when the lighting changed, I could not see that it wasn't an office at all, but the 2nd level of a Barnes & Noble bookstore. I then immediately knew what happened...

I went over to the store, walked up to the 2nd level, and to the exact spot where I saw the man and woman. Just as I thought, it was the most discreet place on the floor, where one could stuff a bunch of books into a duffle-bag, especially with the assistance of a lookout! I then spoke to the manager, who then confirmed that they have a lot of book theft, and that they have "particular trouble with the area" where I witnessed the above. I took her number, and will be ready for the next time they come book collecting!

Child Locators / Troop Locators ???

We can apparently locate a lost child if they are wearing a $179 watch (see http://www.gpschildlocatorwatch.com ). So why can't the government install a version of these on each soldier in Iraq? I'm sure that, with our governmental technological capabilities, the gps locater installed in this relatively small watch could be shrunk down a bit, and placed under the skin of a soldier. (In fact, I believe that I heard about this on 60 minutes a while back where a test was being done on a child with one of these under-the-skin locators).

I doubt that the watch contains anything too proprietary, however lets do a quick analysis. Since retail costs are about twice wholesale, and wholesale price is about 125% of manufacturer price, then the price from the manufacturer comes to about $71.60. There is profit built into that for the manufacturer, but the government should be able to get a good deal by buying one for each one of our troops. So lets say they can get it down to $60/watch. 250,000 troops * $60/watch = $15,000,000 total cost. That is probably equal to the rounding error in the overall budget in the war.

Even if we had to buy all the watches at $179 each, that is still only $44,750,000...still within reach of our government.

If we cannot get the components small enought to imbed under one's skin, then why not take the functionality, and imbed it within, say, the automatic weapon of the soldier. You know that the terrorists would keep the automatic weapon for future use (of course, it would not be public knowledge, and strictly Top Secret, that the weapon contains a GPS receiver!).

The watch also allows for the equivalent of a 911 call. If one of our guys can trigger this emergency call, we could be notified immediately of an in-progress kidnapping, and begin tracking the soldier (and kidnappers) immediately. This would result in either a) quick capture of Al-Zarkowi and his gang of henchmen, not to mention others or b) the kidnappers would soon figure out that we are able to track our soldiers, and would then stop kidnapping them. Of course, they would resort back to just trying to kill them. I'd rather die of a bullet in combat, than from being decapitated while alive!

Looking For...

I'm looking for some of the following people who used to work at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company.  It's time we scheduled a night out!
Janet Estrella
Maria Gallego
Michael Pins
Eric Beal
Jimmy Gianos
Danny Young
Dan Chapman (I think Bob knows where to find him)

The following have been found!
Robert J. Salvador
Tom Nevin
Frank DiFalco
Alexandra Wiecek

If you are one of these people, post a response to this Blog, and I'll get back to you.
Thx.

Burning Man

The man burns in 8 days...

I thought it appropriate given my littering complaints below...

Troubling Video

Yesterday I saw an extremely troubling video...you'll never guess what it was about.

http://www.uselessjunk.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=683

It looks to be part of a documentary on hornets and bees. It is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, and was a bit upsetting to me as well. Not that I ever cared much about insects, however it brings to light a huge inequality in nature. It shows how a single hornet finds a bees nest of about 30,000-40,000 bees. It then goes back to its own nest to recruit about 15 other hornets, who all return to the bees nest. Then the slaughter begins...these 15 hornets decimate the whole beehive, snipping off the heads of every single bee in a matter of a few hours. I felt a bit sick after watching the video....I'm sure that anybody reading this would make serious fun of me, but watch the video before making any comments.

I'm thinking to myself, here are these honey bees, not bothering anybody, just trying to make a living and helping mother nature polinate flowers along the way. Then along comes evil incarnate, and slaughters every single one of them for a few days worth of food. There's just something not right about the whole thing. You expect a certain level of viciousness while watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, however this takes the cake!

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Along the same theme, the other week I went out for a bike ride. I haven't done so in years; I was riding my moutain bike, wearing my helmet, and a water bottle with ice water. I'm tooling around some backwoods areas, and find this large wasp nest attached to a fence. I had just seen one in the Museum of Natural History a few weeks earlier, so it interested me a bit. However, I didn't see any wasps going in or out of it. I waited for a few minutes, and saw no activity. Like a genius, I thought I would give it a little kick, yet I was ready to bolt if needed. Surely enough, I kick it, and wasps start swarming out of the nest! I run to my bike, waving my arms about my head as the wasps circled me. I jump on my mountain bike, have one leg over the seat while pushing with my other leg to get going, then pedaled my ass off! I made it out without a single sting, however was laughing out loud at how ridiculous I must have been...I felt just like a little kid again; it was quite refreshing!

Now, hornets and wasps are not the same, but I never the less want to return to the nest, spray it with some insecticide, then later return to put the nest in a plexiglass case for display. I'll let you know how that goes.

Life's Philosophies

There are a few philosophies that I live my life by...I'm slowly, but surely adding to this list as my life progresses. Feel free to adopt them, as I fell that they are beneficial for all:

1) Never backup more than you have to (when driving a car, that is). This little rule has saved me from no less than 3 accidents.

2) If you are backing up, and hear a strange sound, stop immediately, get out of the car, and check things out!
-My wife didn't live by this philosophy, and hence ran over her pocketbook, and crushed a $300+ blackberry.
-Generall, this is a good idea as well if you have kids. Usually once a year you hear about a child being killed because their parent backed over them in the driveway. I'm sure they heard or felt something upon impact, but kept on going.

3) Leave the beach cleaner than when you came!
-I always clean up my garbage, as well as any other garbage within my line of site, both when I'm arriving at the beach, and when I leave the beach. It makes me feel good, and will probably make you feel good too! And god help the person that I will someday witness letting their dog take a crap on the beach, and pretending that it didn't happen (I'll probably end up in jail that day).
-This is also falls under my general "Never Litter" policy, but I like the slogan I've come up with. I might try to see if New Jersey will sponsor it for public awareness.

4) Treat others with respect, until they treat you with disrespect; at that point, give them a chance to appologize. If they don't, then they become a mortal enemy.
-I have a few people on my s--- list. They will never come off the s--- list until I have exacted just revenge. I have about 6 people on that list as we speak; one has been on it for about 20 years, but I have not forgotten.

I'm sure I have a few others, but have never written them down, so I will post them as they come to me.

Complaints

Today I see this guy throw a cigarette box out of his window on the GSPway. Anybody who knows me knows how I hate litterers, so I am more than peeved after witnessing this. The guy then starts exiting at my exit, so I decide to follow him. After a 15 minute drive of following him, the guy turns into my development! Turns out, he lives 2 houses away from me! What a coincidence...haven't decided what to do to him yet...

This leads me to a more targeted complaint of mine...I hate smokers! They are generally rude and inconsiderate, and feel that cigarette butts are bio-degradeable. They litter our streets and beaches, and don't even think twice about it.

While living in New York City, I occassionally would witness somebody littering, and would be determined to intervene on Mother Nature's, and my behalf. Generally the offender would say something like, "mind your own business", and I would respond, "I am minding my business, now pick it up, and throw it away, or you're going to have a problem on your hands! (but only if I thought I had a chance at taking the guy)".

Some teenage girls were in the subway, and one dumped her dead walkman batteries on the ground. I go over, pick them up, and they are watching me. I then go over to the trash and spike them into the garbage can as hard as I could, one at a time. I think it was empty, because they hit the bottom of the can, and made a loud BOOM as they hit bottom. They thought I was nuts, and I think I scared the s--- out of them; hopefully taught them a lesson.

Anyway, this leads me to the most important point...DON'T FRIGGING LITTER, because if you push me over the edge by littering, and then mouth off to me when I confront you, both of us could be in a world of hurt!

Somebody Up There Doesn't Like Me

You know when something bad or unsettling happens to you, and you say to yourself, "Somebody up there doesn't like me!"? Well, here's the latest one that happened to me.

I decided to pick up my car from the mechanic (having new brakes, muffler, and oil change) by riding my bike to get some exercise. It is about 5 miles away, and is a hot day. Since it is a truck, I was going to put the bike in the back, and then drive home. I pay, get in the truck, press the "down" button to the back window, and guess what? It doesn't work!

The mechanic insists that it wasn't anything they did. I must open this back window every week, and it never exhibited this problem before. Mr. Mechanic doesn't have time to look at it right away, so I schlep back home on my bike...a bit longer of a ride than I had anticipated.

Now here is the real kicker...we get a call from them, and when they went to troubleshoot it, it worked fine! Unbelievable!!!

Classic....