Month: January 2006

Not sure if this is the right forum or not for this. If there are any IA engineers or network engineers who are interested in working the security side of the house I work for a company in Dulles, VA who are looking for people. If you know of someone or are someone who is interested, you will need to have or be able to get a security clearance.

Please let me know if you are interested, and my apologies if this is the wrong forum…

Cheers!

JB

I would like to present Reasons 1 through Thirty-Six Point One Three Billion why the U.S. is currently fighting a war in Iraq:

DALLAS (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. posted record profits for any U.S. company on Monday — $10.71 billion for the fourth quarter and $36.13 billion for the year — as the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from high oil and natural-gas prices and solid demand for refined products.

So more flash fun for the day. If you’ve worked in Information Technology, I think you’ll get a kick out of getting some revenge. My personal fave is the Piñata Gun!

So today’s diversion is Whack the Pinguin. Yeah, I know it’s spelled wrong. But it’s fun. My record was 322.9. Couldn’t ever beat that, though. How about you?

Interesting news article from Vermont today:

VT Judge Increases Sex Offender Sentence

Based just on this article, my inclination leans more towards the judge’s initial ruling as well as his justification for increasing the sentence.

What are y’all’s thoughts? Should the sentence have been much higher to begin with?

And, on a grander scale, what is the purpose of the justice system? Should it be concerned with rehabilitation, or simply provide consistent consequences to those who break the law?

Ran across this item on Slashdot today:

Independents Push For Second Firefly Season Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wed January 25, 03:47 PM from the anything-to-bring-it-back dept.

ovanklot writes “It seems that Brilliant Screen Entertainment is looking to see if there is an audience for a second season of the science fiction show FireFly. From the article: ‘It’s possible that subscribers may choose one of three playback options; monthly DVD deliveries, TV On-Demand using your cable or satellite provider, or computer viewing via Streaming Download.'” They are asking folks to fill out a short survey to gather demographics for support in their efforts to get Fox to release the show to them. The site also stresses that they want neither money nor confidential personal information.

Now wouldn’t that be a revolutionary idea? A TV series filmed as a direct-to-dvd monthly serial? I LOVE the idea!

You can participate in the survey for how you’d like to watch Firefly. So long to “So Long, Firefly“, eh? I’d happily eat my words.

Question one.. who do we boycott?

It was reported today that come september, UPN and WB will be no more. In their place will be a single network, CW (Short for CBS/Warner) – and the surviving shows will return for future seasons there.

Why do I care?

Well, my two fave franchises, Star Trek and Buffy had their homes at UPN and WB respectively (with Buffy ending on UPN after leaving WB). And I, like legins of fans, clamor for their return. In addition, there ar emany who have deserted UPN after the uncerimonious cancellation of ENTERPRISE, and the same holds true for the WBafter the unfair cancellation of ANGEL.

To be honest, I discovered the Buffyverse on DVD, but I am still kind of mad the WB got rid of it when it was getting so so good. On the other hand, I was watching the launch of UPN when VOYAGER debuted in 1995. Its weird to think these two networks will be gone.

The real question is what will the identity of the new network be? WB has been youth. UPN started scifi and is now geared toward black women. Of course.. where does Smackdown fit in there?

Could this be a good thing? It could make CW long for past glories.. and maybe use Telefilms of Buffy or Trek to gather former viewers. Hey… it worked for TNN – now SPIKE.

So tonight, as a result of a discussion with my neighbor Hoss (He reads, but doesn’t write… YO DUDE!), I did some research on the National Debt.

I ran across the National Debt Clock, which keeps a running tally of our current debt. I owe $27,000 today. As does my wife. As does each of my kids.

I have four kids.

So what does this mean? This means that I owe a total of $162,000 to domestic and foreign interests as a result of the spending decisions of my representatives in Washington.

That’s a pile of money. I wonder if I could just pay off my share and opt out of taxes?

But seriously, what is to be done about this? We are talking actual, cold, hard cash which our government is in debt for. Since the government of the USA is us, what are we gonna do about this pile of money we owe? $27,468.48 is a big chunk of a working year for most of us. What will be done in our great-grandchildren’s day when they will be born in debt to the tune of 10 years of their working life?

In response to Emil…

My point was not to propose a specific doctrinal analogy between the belief in religion and the belief in Santa. My point was to elicit empathy as to how annoying it is to have those wishing to “battle” about religion by relating a hypothetical experience you might find annoying in an equivalent way.

For those who missed it, this is Emil’s post:

In general, those who let us believe in Santa, eventually recanted their story. There would be no point in going back to that story that nearly everyone (other than the children) agrees is basically a myth. Then again, we do have historical knowledge (St. Nicholas, etc.) about true events that apparently developed into the Santa Claus story.

But those who’ve told us about God, in general, have not recanted their claim. If Santa Claus is based partly on some truth, how much more likely is it that the claims of God’s existence are true?

(An important note: I am talking mainly of the existence and reality of God here. I’m not so focused on “religion” or “Mormonism” necessarily. It seems when I talk of God, several people here take that to somehow imply I’m talking of the LDS church. Yes, my view of God is colored by my belief and upbringing in the LDS church. But my knowledge of God’s existence comes from my own experiences and also from accounts repeated by others of various faiths. That fact–that God lives–is the thing I most strongly believe in regarding spiritual things.)

EDIT by matthew: Linked for clarity.

Justin brought up an interesting point in another thread. All religious end-of-the-world-type questions aside, will humanity be around in a thousand years? Why or why not? What do you think should be done to ensure the survival of our species amidst the threat of pandemics, nuclear proliferation, possible ELE (Extinction Level Event: think of the classic “bullet through an apple” picture, but with Earth as the apple and a hyperkinetic comet or asteroid as the bullet), etc.

Obviously, we humans have a very difficult time grasping probabilities and planning for disaster based upon those probabilities. Hurricane Katrina was proof enough of that. It seems we have enough difficulty coping with logarithmic math: the population of the planet is already at unprecedented levels, and threatens to double or triple again within the next hundred years. Will we have the resources to sustain this kind of growth? What’s the actual most palpable threat to the survival of the entire race — as a species — within the next hundred-fifty years?

Guidelines:

• Appeals to the Millenium, Rapture, or other unprecedented world-saving supernatural event will result in a mandatory lashing with a warm, dead trout.
• Appeals to some as-yet-unknown scientific invention… see trout note above.
• Although abortion will almost certainly arise in any such discussion, please discuss only as a practical matter, leaving questions of whether it’s “right” or “wrong” out of it. For the sake of argument, assume it’s a neutral thing with only societal ramifications (such as devaluation of infant life).
• I do not have a warm trout handy. A frozen one propelled at high velocity may have to suffice.