Spam...what can you do?

Here are some interesting articles on the problem of spam email. The first one below talks about how 70% of all email coming from Asia is spam (not something to be proud of).
The seond deals with a major spam arrest which just recently occurred. I sure hope we can make some headway against this problem.

I knew postage had gone up, but this is ridiculous

An over 4 trillion dollar charge from the post office. I think you could send a package to another galaxy for less than that.

iTunes DRM Free

I think this is a neat idea and I'm curious to see how well it catches on. I am an avid iTunes customer, but I pretty much stick to my computer and my iPod. But even for me the main benefit would be that, hopefully, iTunes would not have to validate the digital rights on my purchased content before syncing my iPod. I don't know how many times I've gone to sync with iTunes and it ended up deleting all my purchased content from the iPod because it said that I wasn't authorized access the material. Of course I was authorized but I had to re-authorize in order to get it to resync back to my iPod. It's not so bad if you only have a little bit of data, but I store TV shows on my iPod and each one is almost half a gig. So resyncing can take a while. Anyway, this non-DRM material may be worth getting just to avoid that problem. I'm also interested to see how it affects the piracy market. From what I've read, the name of the purchaser of the content is still encoded in the file so haphazardly sharing these non-DRM songs around will not be an anonymous escapade.

Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii is the most active on earth

I wonder how much pollution this volcano puts out per year. Perhaps Al Gore should make the state of Hawaii fork over some carbon credits for this baby.

Microsoft Touch Table -- this looks like something Apple should have done

Yet another flaw in a Microsoft product

40 Years of Star Trek

If you like motorcycles, these are the guys to know

Someone needs to redefine the word "controversy" if this actually qualifies as one

Rush Limbaugh has been playing some parodies that center on Barak Obama and Al Sharpton. John Fund of OpinionJournal.com discusses (and pretty much dismisses) what is supposed to be a brewing controversy over this. Some people are apparently trying to compare this to the Don Imus episode. As far as the comparison goes, there is none. Which is about as much as I can say for the controversy as well. It seems more like a bunch of neerdowels who've appointed themselves as the Speech Police and decided they're going to try an take down anyone who says anything that they might find objectionable either now or sometime in the future. All I can say is that if they're going after Rush, I hope they've got extra rations of their antidepressants; they're going to need them when their dreams come crashing down on them. Anyway, I've heard these parodies and frankly, they're pretty funny. If nothing else, I've learned some new "Your mama is so fat..." jokes.

It's Blake and Jordan in the American Idol Final

Although I personally believe that Melinda and Lakisha were the two best singers in the competition by far, I wish the best of luck to each of the finalists.

Malaria and DDT

Since April 25th was Malaria Awareness Day, many people are quick to criticize President Bush and the United States for not doing enough for addressing this serious problem. But a little investigation of the issues involved reveals a much different story. Here is a link to an article regarding Malaria and the restrictions placed on the use of DDT as a means to combat malaria by the environmentalists. I think if there ever was an example of the consequences of ideas (particular malformed ideas) it is in this area of the use of DDT to combat malaria. Millions of people have died as a reult of some very wronly coneceived policies.

When Politics Kills: Malaria and the DDT Story

OK You "Heroes" Fans...here's a sneak peak at the final episode

I'm looking forward to this one.

Religion and Tolerance - A Balancing Act

This is a very thoughtful article on religion and the concept of tolerance. I can appreciate much of what this writer says. Almost all reglions claim to have found the truth and in many cases that truth is exclusive of other belief systems in one form or fashion. Also, many of these "truths" are contradictory thus demanding that they cannot all be true. The answer that many are tempted to seek is to embrace contradiction in the name of "Tolerance"; but by doing so they only destroying any notion of Truth whatsoever. To accept two contradictory ideas as true does not render to the believer an additional truth but steals from him all truth. We must use our minds and our hearts when evaluating belief systems.

Finding the kidnapped soldiers

If any of the kidnappers are captured alive they should be tried, and if found guilty, executed. The penalty for kidnapping a soldier has to be so severe that others are deterred from trying it as well. Just as in the US we have more severe penalties for attacking policemen, so it should be when our soldiers are essentially trying to perform the same function in Iraq. I realize that these terrorists have no regard for law, life, or freedom; however, I think a public showing of our determiniation to enforce a real peace would be useful.

Global Warming Scare Update

Check here for your latest global warming scare videos:

Mitt Romney...he's becoming more interesting to me

Although his name is not as well known, I think Mitt Romney looks and sounds very presidential. I believe he has a real good chance of winning the nomination.

This is so cool...a real life treasure hunt that pays off big time

I just think that this is such a cool deal. Imagine finding half a billion dollars worth of gold and silver coins. But beyond the sheer monetary value is the historical value. I'll be really interested in hearing more about the types of coins, where they come from, and when they come from. Very neat.

New Immigration Bill...Is it good or not?

I personally have nevery really had a problem wth providing some mechanism for allowing illegal aliens to stay in the country legally as long as the mechanism was controlled and aggressively weeded out the "bad eggs" among them. It has just always seemed unrealiistic to me to deport upwards of 12 million people. Having said that, however, I also believe that the border security also has to be enforced aggressively to prevent a massive influx of non-conributing illegal residents who will drain the social benefits system dry. Regarding the amnesty question, as far as I can tell this bill both IS and IS NOT amnesty depending on how you want to frame it. I think in the strictest terms it is technically NOT amnesty because it does impose a penalty on those who fall under the jurisdiction of this bill; however it also provides a mechansim for those who entered this country illegally to avoid the current penalty for their actions, namely "deportation". So I really can't find fault with those who espouse either position. This video is a pretty good summary of what the current immigration bill proposes.

It's about time for Halo 3

Here's a video regarding the relase date for Halo 3. It's about time this thing came out. Sounds like September 25th is the magic date...for now. I just hope it's worth the wait.

Is this really a scandal?

In light of all the scandals in the Clinton Administration regarding things done to/for members of the opposite sex, can anyone really believe that this a scandal? So he helped his girlfriend get a job, so what? Did he lie about it? Did he bomb another country to distract attention from it? Oh wait, I forgot, he worked for George Bush!!! Well in that case let's crucify him (sarcasm intentional).

This is an unusual police chase story

"Truthers" - What a Joke

James Taranto pretty well summariszes the insanity of the 911 Truther movement.

Time to whiddle down the field

I think that the time has come that the Republican debates start paring down the participants. As entertaining as some of these people are, there is just no way they are going to make it to the top 5 let alone become the nominee. After this point they'll just be sucking up air time that will be better spent listenting to the people who actually have a chance of winning.

Fred Thompson....is he going to run or not?

Fireworks are cool

Here's a great little video describing how fireworks actually work.

Halle Berry video....She's a star

Global Warming Scare is Out of Hand

Even if these future "climate ambassadors" are right and that the North Pole was a topical environment 50 million years ago, how can they then possibly think that any current rise in global temperatures is due to man's activities. Obviously humans weren't driving around in SUVs 50 million years ago and "stinking up the planet", and yet "somehow" the earth still managed to acheive a tropical climate at the North Pole. Why on earth then do these people think that there's anything that man do to make even a dent in the global warming trend. And I don't even necessarily agree with their supposition that the North Pole was a one time tropical, but the complete incoherence and self-contradictory nature of the global warming movement is way out of hand. These people need to step back, take a deep breath, plug their brains back in, and start thinking this stuff through.

She's Back!!!

I had hoped that Brittney's recent "episodes" would have convinced her to scale back on the explicit nature of her performances; which lead to only a temporary and ultimately hollow thrill. But...I guess that's not the case