Random Thoughts 1/31/07

• You know 3-D right? What about 10-D? That's right, ten dimensions! It's actually not that difficult, just a little abstract. It's simply three sets of three movements with a point on each end. I'll explain: Dimension 0 is an imaginary point in space with no height or width or depth. Dimensions 1 through 3 are, you guessed it, height, width, and depth. But for the purposes of imagining the other dimensions it would be better to imagine dimensions 1-3 as an ant walking down a line, taking a fork in the line, and then jumping back from point to point as the line is folded over on itself. Got it? A line, a fork, and a fold in three-dimensional space. That's our first set of three. Now a line from 3-D space right now to the same space later is a line in the fourth dimension; we call it "time." Every choice is a fork in that line and represents the fifth dimension, leading to different destinations. That's easy. Still with me? Now it gets hairy. If you've ever wanted a "do over" you could go back in time (4th dimension) and make a different choice (5th dimension) but you could also just fold your current self over to an alternate reality self in a different timeline on a different fork, jumping from point to point through the 6th dimension. That's a our second set of movements: along a line, a fork, and a fold, but this set is in time instead of space. Now picture all of the alternate timelines of history for the entire universe squeezed down to one point. Now imagine a different universe created separately with all of its possibilities as another point. Draw a line from one universe to the next; congratulations, you've just moved in the 7th dimension! Take a fork in another direction and you're in the 8th, fold it over to jump from universe to universe and you've moved in the 9th. Got it? The third set of movements is also along a line, a fork, and a fold to make 9 dimensions total, three each in space, time, and possible universes (every conceivable arrangement of creation God could have made hypothetically). Wrap all of those together into one point and you've got the 10th dimension… with no more theoretical points to theoretically move to. Easy!
• I've always rooted for the AFC team in the Super Bowl. I asked my folks which team to root for in 1986 and they said, "The Patriots (vs. the Bears), they're the AFC team like the Chiefs." So for 21 years I've always rooted for the AFC team, regardless of other considerations. I started out 0-12 with a deep seated resentment toward the Bills. But in the last nine years I'm 7-2 and feeling much better, thanks.
• Some stores are finally refusing to stock 3.5 inch floppy disks. It's 2007. I'm fairly certain I've not used a 3.5 inch floppy since the late nineties, when I began using email regularly. My first iMac didn't even have a floppy drive and that was 1998. I'd be interested to know what on earth you'd use a floppy for nowadays (besides as a drink coaster).
• I read that the flyover for the Super Bowl will be performed by the Air Force Thunderbirds. Cool. Here in Kansas City it's not unusual to get a B-2 flyover from Whiteman AFB, but the Thunderbirds are great too. But the planes most likely to get me to an airshow in the next few years: the F-22A and F-35.
• We're getting another minor snow storm this afternoon, giving us about an inch of blowing snow. Naturally everyone in Kansas City is running their car into the ditch and canceling Wednesday night church. Wimps. I can hear Canadians laughing at us. If we can avoid it, we're not canceling church for an inch of snow. If people can't make it, they can't make it. That happens. But we'll carry on. When in doubt, we're having church.
  

Flying Gas Stations

Okay, let's try this again. The Air Force is going to ask again for proposals for the KC-X program, which will replace the 50-year old KC-135 refueling aircraft. The last KC-135 was built in 1965 and the old planes spend quite a bit of time getting repaired and rebuilt.

That said, they're also a plane with an excellent safety record and rebuilding the current fleet is actually cheaper in the near term than buying new ones. The proposed replacement would have been the KC-767, a newer Boeing plane of about the same size and capacity. Italy and Japan have already chosen the KC-767 and Boeing seemed eager to push this on the Air Force as the obvious replacement tanker.

But the KC-767 isn't a significant improvement in capability when compared to other proposals. The European Airbus KC-30 (based on the A330-300) carries 20% more fuel and has more cargo space and is already the choice of Australia. A possible KC-777 (based on the 777-200LR) would have 65% more fuel capacity and almost twice the cargo space – big enough that the total number of planes needed could be reduced, thus saving money long term.


I'd love to see a KC-777 (I think Boeing's 777 is just about the greatest thing since sliced bread). It's bigger, newer, faster, better, and American! (I'm not biased am I?) But a lot of politics goes into something like this, so you never know.

29,000 Hits

We hit 29,000 hits some time during the night. Thanks so much for reading and thanks for posting comments. I really enjoy the feedback (even the hopeless teasing from poor Microsoft zombies).

Sunday, February 11 is my blog's second anniversary and I'll have some updated stats then.

Yatta!

Al Gore is Still Wrong (and Dangerous)

From the Drudge Report:

Two powerful new books say today’s global warming is due not to human activity but primarily to a long, moderate solar-linked cycle. Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years, by physicist Fred Singer and economist Dennis Avery was released just before Christmas. The Chilling Stars: A New Theory of Climate Change, by Danish physicist Henrik Svensmark and former BBC science writer Nigel Calder (Icon Books), is due out in March.

Singer and Avery note that most of the earth’s recent warming occurred before 1940, and thus before much human-emitted CO2. Moreover, physical evidence shows 600 moderate warmings in the earth’s last million years. The evidence ranges from ancient Nile flood records, Chinese court documents and Roman wine grapes to modern spectral analysis of polar ice cores, deep seabed sediments, and layered cave stalagmites.

Unstoppable Global Warming shows the earth’s temperatures following variations in solar intensity through centuries of sunspot records, and finds cycles of sun-linked isotopes in ice and tree rings. The book cites the work of Svensmark, who says cosmic rays vary the earth’s temperatures by creating more or fewer of the low, wet clouds that cool the earth. It notes that global climate models can’t accurately register cloud effects.

The Chilling Stars relates how Svensmark’s team mimicked the chemistry of earth’s atmosphere, by putting realistic mixtures of atmospheric gases into a large reaction chamber, with ultraviolet light as a stand-in for the sun. When they turned on the UV, microscopic droplets—cloud seeds—started floating through the chamber.

“We were amazed by the speed and efficiency with which the electrons [generated by cosmic rays] do their work of creating the building blocks for the cloud condensation nuclei,” says Svensmark.

[…]

Unstoppable Global Warming documents the reality of a moderate, natural, 1500-year climate cycle on the earth. The Chilling Stars explains the why and how.

So, to review:

1. We don't cause global warming.
2. We can't stop global warming.
3. It's not the end of the world.
4. Taking away economic freedom and punishing wealthy, developed countries doesn't change any of this, you communist.

From Glurge to Glue

Necessarily insensitive moment of the week: Barbaro, the champion racehorse who was euthanized yesterday, was only a racehorse. So let's get over it. Barbaro was a really fast racehorse, yes, but still just a racehorse and doesn't warrant the agony, grief and overwrought eulogies that suddenly emerged last night. I understand that an animal can tug at our heart strings like few other things in this world, but let's be careful here.

This is anthropomorphism of the worst kind. Are we speaking about an animal or a person? Do we know the difference? I've heard this animal described as brave and competitive, winsome and stouthearted, but he wasn't. He was bred and trained, rewarded and conditioned. Yet people easily overvalue an animal that has the appearance of essential human qualities while undervaluing actual human life.

I'm amazed that this country can glurge over the death of an injured racehorse and yet abort almost a million babies every year. How do we justify grieving the death of a horse and not the 13-day starvation of Terry Schiavo?

Random Thoughts 1/29/06

• Happy Kansas Day! Kansas – ticking off Democrats since 1861. Kansas became a state, to the chagrin of pro-slavery types, on January 29, 1861.
• I was impressed with Morgan Shurlock's documentary Super Size Me, where he ate nothing but McDonald's for a month – and it nearly killed him. But a Swedish researcher put 18 people on the same diet and none of them developed liver problems like Shurlock did. Only one gained 15% of his body weight and several had little gain at all. The conclusion: eating fast food affects people differently. My conclusion: Super Size Me wasn't as much a documentary as it was propaganda. I agree with Spurlock in general and have all but sworn off fast food myself, but that doesn't mean that Spurlock's experience was anything other than anecdotal.
• We had a young man from our church ship out this morning for Iraq with the Marines. He's actually a Navy Corpsman but he's assigned to a Marine battalion to be stationed in Western Iraq. We're very proud of him and will be praying for him while he's gone. He's 19.
  
• I'm actually looking forward to the Super Bowl this next Sunday, or at least half of it. When Peyton Manning is battling Brian Urlacher, I'll be glued to the game. But when the Bears offense and the Colts defense is on the field… uh, that's another story.
• Though General Petraeus was approved unanimously to be the commander in Iraq, Congress seems bent on opposing the General's efforts there, including this surge. But I wonder if President Bush could have gotten more support for the surge if he'd pretended to be against it?
  

Whistler's Mother

Brennan is learning to whistle.

A month ago I explained to him how to whistle and, in the convening weeks, he's been practicing. Now that he's able to produce a note (and usually just one fleeting chirp at a time), Brennan walks around the house with his hands in his pockets, casually tweeting away.

It was adorable… for the first thousand chirps. Now Shannon and I are hollering, "Brennan! Enough with the whistling!"

I also worked with him on enunciating his "t-h" sounds (instead of making a lazy "f" or "d" sound). So when his mom gets on to him for whistling, Brennan, hands still in pocket, switches to "thuh, thuh, thuh, thuh, thuh…"

Thinking Like Thomas Sowell

“The most fundamental difference between President Bush and his critics has not been in who has made mistakes, because both have. The biggest difference has been that the President has taken a long-run view of the worldwide war on terror, while his critics are seeking a quick fix. Critics claim that there is no connection between the war on terror and the war in Iraq. They don’t seem to notice that the terrorists themselves obviously see a clear connection, which they express in both words and deeds. Terrorists are pouring into Iraq, even at the cost of their lives, in order to prevent a free, democratic government from being established in the Middle East. They see victory or defeat in Iraq as having major and long-lasting repercussions throughout the region and even throughout the world.” — Thomas Sowell

[Thanks Jim R. for the heads up]

Other great quotes from Sowell in a similar vein:

"Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric."

"Like a baseball game, wars are not over till they are over. Wars don't run on a clock like football. No previous generation was so hopelessly unrealistic that this had to be explained to them."

"Many of the same people who cry 'No blood for oil' also want higher gas-mileage standards for cars. But higher mileage standards have meant lighter and flimsier cars, leading to more injuries and deaths in accidents — in other words, trading blood for oil."

And for the conspiracy theorists out there: "The simplest and most psychologically satisfying explanation of any observed phenomenon is that it happened that way because someone wanted it to happen that way."

Digital Ready or Not?

TV is going digital and I'm waiting as long as possible to get on board.


We have two televisions, the 11 year old TV that we bought when we got married, and a hand-me-down TV that we had repaired. The former sits in a cabinet and is only used periodically. The latter is our everyday, living room TV. Both are kind of quirky and don't work perfectly but they do the job. For now…

But broadcasters are switching over to digital broadcasts only and that means that my televisions (and my VCR) will soon be obsolete (Rep. Dennis Hastert and other politicians are insisting that the warning label above be placed on televisions like mine that are still sold in stores). I'm hoping to hold out as long as possible, both to make a more informed decision and to save money.

• I want more information and personal recommendations on what type of TV to buy: plasma, DLP, LCD, etc. How well do these machines age? I'd like a TV to last me 10 years or more, especially if I drop $1000 or more on it.
• I want to know for sure if my next DVD player should be Blu-ray or HD-DVD.
• There are some fascinating advances in technology that could swing the market in a new, unexpected direction, so I'm waiting as long as I can before I commit. Several facets of television use could potential change including computer-to-television interface, TiVo, satellite television, wires v. wireless, and game systems, to name a few.
  
• I want the prices to come down as far as possible as before I buy anything and I need time to save the money in advance.
  

State of the State of the Union

Just a few notes on last night's speech:

• The President did better than usual and much better than I was expecting in regard to his delivery. He was articulate, animated, and (as usual) exceedingly gracious.
  
• The reception was not as cold as I thought it might be. I was anticipating boos.
• Why didn't Bush explain the Iraq situation like this when he announced the surge?
  
• What's up with Democratic representatives who lambaste the President behind his back but act buddy-buddy with him once a year during this speech? I don't get that. And if I was the President, I'm not sure I could accept their disingenuous glad-handing. I'd be too personally offended.
• Isn't it interesting to see what Nancy "Blinky" Pelosi was unwilling to applaud to and what made her squirm uncomfortably? Every President ought to have a member of the other party seated behind him, just for entertainment's sake.
  
• Senator James Webb from Virginia gave perhaps the most listenable opposition's response I've ever heard. But what did he mean when he said the Democrats wouldn't have a "precipitous withdrawal" but then compared the situation to Eisenhower's ending of Korea? What? Isn't North Korea still a serious problem 55 years later? I'm still not sure what good can come from the Democrats (lack 0f a) plan.
• Webb's tone of animosity (basically threatening the President with impeachment) was more along the lines of what I was expecting. Snide, seething, hostility. Nice.
  

Random Thoughts 1/23/07

• It would be hard for me to muster any additional apathy for this year's Academy Awards… But Borat, Al Gore, and the movie Happy Feet all got nominated. You've got to be kidding.
• The State of the Union? Gas prices and unemployment are down. Stocks and 401k's are up. Obviously we need Hilary's "chat" on a new direction of our country. Maybe she can get things back on track! Actually I wish the President would say something like this rant.
• I'm thrilled with the Colts making the Super Bowl. It just seems right that Peyton Manning should go to (and hopefully win) the Super Bowl during his career.
  
• History provides some perspective. The losses in Iraq have amounted to about 50 military deaths per month. That's less than 1% of of 9,500 soldiers we lost each month during World War 2. That means we had three times more deaths in one month in World War 2 than we had in almost four years of Iraq. Even worse, 13,000 soldiers were killed each month during the Civil War and World War 1 saw upwards of 20,000 deaths per month in combat.
• Do you want to see what computer interfaces will be like in the future? First look at the iPhone with its multi-touch screen. Then watch this video showing what multi-touch can be in the future.
  

Communicator in Chief

Here's an interesting note on the President that I thought was worth re-posting from Uncle Jimbo over at Blackfive.com. [Note this is not about the State of the Union but the surge speech from awhile back.]

If I could change one thing about George W. Bush's presidency, it would be to make him sound other than he does. This has handicapped him in every effort to convey ideas to all of us. His serious dis-ease with English has allowed his enemies to portray him as a dunce, and tonight's performance was about par. He made some very important points fairly well, but his mannerisms, accent and history ensured that the message will resonate poorly.

His most important point was reminding us that the power of the Commander in Chief requires that he refuse to care too much what the polls say. This is vital to any chance of maintaining a course toward victory rather than an acceptance of some flavor of defeat. It would be nice for say, Victor Davis Hanson to sit in for W and discourse on why Command is an exercise of power on behalf of others who may buckle under it's horrifying strain. We cede the authority to fight on our behalf to a leader, not a collection of town hall meetings or sadder yet the results of a poll showing the public's discontent with the reality of war. We were well aware that collectively we are a community with less staying power than necessary for the defense of something as fragile as liberal democracy. A plebiscite on just about any of our wars would have shut them down short of victory and left us all demonstrably less safe and free.

So instead we vested control of keeping ourselves safe in an executive, a Commander in Chief, who would consult and be supplied by Congress, but Command independently. That is why we look so hard at national security as a component of a possible President's profile. We are screening them to see if they are made of tougher stuff than the rest of us. We know we are weak and so the system is designed to compensate for that by requiring someone to accept that responsibility on our behalf. This person must act in ways that hurt now, that cause pain, suffering, and death because we know that collectively we would fail to do so. Fortunately we realize this and so we can vote our consciences and still retain our, oh so American, right to bemoan the lack of clear cut, simple victory.

We can not afford to leave Iraq in defeat and will not do so during George W. Bush's presidency, that is what he was elected for. We knew Kerry would run and we knew that was wrong. President Bush has done, commendably, what a Commander is supposed to. War is a series of disasters culminating in victory, the hard part is not caving to the price. W has not thus far and so victory is still possible.

Quitters Never Win

I keep hearing politicians and talking heads say that 20,000 additional troops won't work. Why? Supposedly because the tactics will remain the same.

But who said our methods and techniques are staying the same? I thought I heard of several changes to our strategy in Iraq, including a change of command and (most importantly) the application of force against Shiite militias like Al-Sadr's. Isn't that huge? Didn't President Bush eat all kinds of (unnecessary) crow and altar his plan? Didn't he (needlessly) admit to all kinds of "mistakes" and didn't his detractors dance with glee? I seem to remember all of that.

But it doesn't matter. The complainers mocked "stay the course" for months. Now they refuse to give a fair opportunity to the President's new Lieberman and McCain-inspired troop surge. So what options are really left?

Only one: get out and go home. The politicians have wet their fingers, stuck them in the air, and, since November, have decided that the voters want out of Iraq.

But the consequences of going home could mean genocide and a redeployment of Islamist fighters to Western countries. It would be a death knell for democracy in that part of the world and spark a potential refugee crisis. It would sign the death warrant for every Iraqi who was brave enough to help us and guarantee we'd never see that kind of cooperation again. It would destroy our international reputation and our ability to deter future threats – the very things the complainers want restored!

The bitter pill is that, as a nation, we don't seem to have the wherewithal to see something through to the end. If the unpleasantness doesn't end within a three years, we want out. That was true in the Civil War, World War 2, Korea, and Vietnam. The first two we barely won before time ran out. The others we negotiated our way out of victory (to the detriment of the Korean and Vietnamese people). Even our Revolutionary War only had 33% approval. Isn't that about where Bush's ratings are right now?

I keep hearing these malcontents complain that Bush has not caught bin Laden but I haven't heard a single alternative plan to limit radical Islam in the future. I'm just so sick of hearing how bad Iraq is and wrong the President is, when I don't hear any plans on what to do next. And being more popular with Europe or yielding to the ebb and flow of the electorate is not a plan.

Put Me In Your Pocket

My grandparents sang quite a bit and one of the songs they sang was Put Me In Your Pocket. This song strikes a romantic chord in our family because Grandpa was sent off to war shortly after they were married. Fortunately, their story didn't end like the song.

Here's the lyrics:

Two lovers sat one evenin'
Beneath the pale moonlight
Tomorrow he was goin' away
Life's battle for to fight
He told her that he loved her
That he'd return someday
And take her for his lovin' wife
And then he heard her say

Put me in your pocket
So I'll be close to you
No more will I be lonesome
And no more will I be blue
And when we have to part dear
There'll be no sad adieu
For I'll be in your pocket
And I'll go along with you

That evenin' soon had vanished
The boy, he went away
And when at last he did return
For a happy wedding day
His sweetheart, she had vanished
To heaven she had gone
But she left to him a photograph
On which she wrote this song

Put me in your pocket
So I'll be close to you
No more will I be lonely
And no more will I be blue
And when we have to part, dear
There'll be no sad adieu
For I'll be in your pocket
And I'll go along with you

Depressing stuff, huh? Hank Locklin, of the Grand Ole Opry and Please Help Me, I'm Falling fame, recorded the song in 1966. But it turns out it wasn't original with him, with several other artists recording the song in 40's and 50's.

The song appears to have been written in the 1930's by W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel. O'Daniel was a Democrat politician from Texas who had a storied career in radio, song writing, flour production, and politics. And yes, he is the inspiration for the character of the same name in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? which blurred the lines between fact and fiction in the depression era South.

Pappy O'Daniel's "Light Crust Doughboys" recorded the song as early as 1933 and again in 1936 as "Pappy O'Daniel and his Hillbilly Boys."

Hasta la Vista, Vista

The new Microsoft operating system is called Vista. It's been a long time coming and many Windows users I know are eager to finally get an upgrade. But I fear they may be somewhat disappointed. And then a few months from now Mac users will jump another technological leap ahead, kind of rubbing salt in the wound. I almost feel guilty for being so excited about my preference in computers…

But not so guilty that I couldn't revel in this article from MIT's Technology Review, which is fairly critical of the most recent version of Windows. So critical in fact, the author says he's converted from a Windows loyalist to a Mac convert. He laments: "Regardless of widespread skepticism, I was confident that Vista would dazzle me, and I looked forward to saying so in print. Ironically, playing around with Vista for more than a month has done what years of experience and exhortations from Mac-loving friends could not: it has converted me into a Mac fan."

He realizes that, "many of Vista's "new" features… mimic OS X features introduced in 2005." The new Windows copycats Mac's dashboard widgets and other amenities Mac users have been using for two years. The author also conceded that, "Playing with OS X Tiger in order to make accurate comparisons for this review, I had a personal epiphany: Windows is complicated. Macs are simple."

You don't say? It so happens that ease-of-use is directly proportional to the efforts of the designer. Remember that simple is hard and hard is simple, i.e. it's difficult to make something simple to use and easy to make something that ends up being hard to use.

Check out Walter Mossberg's article in the Wall Street Journal, where he says, "Vista isn't a breakthrough in ease of use. Overall, it works pretty much the same way as Windows XP."

Mossberg also notes how the new Windows is really just the old Apple, "Nearly all of the major, visible new features in Vista are already available in Apple's operating system, called Mac OS X, which came out in 2001 and received its last major upgrade in 2005. And Apple is about to leap ahead again with a new version of OS X, called Leopard, due this spring."

Apple is just loving Vista's mediocre reviews. Apple even put up banners at their conferences promoting the latest version of Mac OS X by saying, "Introducing Vista 2.0." That's just cruel!


Regardless of Apple's smugness, of the people I know who've used both OS X and Windows extensively, nearly all prefer the ease-of-use and innovative features of the Mac. It's not even close. Really the only people who tease me about my affinity for Macs are those who haven't used them and have spent great time and effort to acclimate to the hard way of doing things on Windows, which I hear isn't so hard… once you get used to it.

But isn't that the point?

That Little Boy of Mine

I found the lyrics to a song my mother used to sing to us. As near as I can tell, and info on the internet is always a bit sketchy, it was written by Wayne King, Benny Maroff, and Walter Hirsch, and sung by Bonnie Owens (who was married to Merle Haggard).

Who cares for fame or fortune
Who cares for wealth or gold
Because I find a fortune
Within my arms I hold

A tiny turned up nose
Two cheeks just like a rose
So sweet from head to toes
That little boy of mine

Two arms that hold me tight
Two eyes that shine so bright
Two lips that kiss goodnight
That little boy of mine

No one will ever know
Just what his coming has meant
Because I love him so
He's something heaven has sent

He's all the world to me
He climbs upon my knee
To me he'll always be
That little boy of mine

And when he lays his head
Upon his pillow so white
I pray the lord above
To guide him safe through the night

In dreams I see his face
And feel his fond embrace
There's no one can replace
That little boy of mine

We Have Met the Enemy…

I found this at Mudville Gazette blog:

This is stunning. In response to the poll question: "Do you personally want the Iraq plan President Bush announced last week to succeed?"

Twenty-two percent (22%) said "No."

A full third of Democrats (34%), one-fifth of Independents (19%) and one-tenth of Republicans (11%), respectively) said that no, they actually want the "surge" to fail. Not whether they think it is likely to fail or succeed, but that they personally want it to fail.

Let that sink in for a second.

Doomed?

The Doomsday Clock is the famous symbolic clock begun in 1947 by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists to represent how close we are to Atomic Doom (seven minutes until midnight back then). In 1953, after the Soviet Union exploded its first hydrogen bomb, the clock was set to 11:58 – just two minutes until midnight. In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the clock was set back to 17 minutes until midnight.

The clock has now been moved up to 11:55, only five minutes until the end of the world! Why? Did Iran or North Korea test another bomb? Did terrorists steal old Soviet nuclear material? Did Jack Bauer quit early and go home? No. It's because of global warming.

Seriously.

I'm not making this up.

Global warming. It's more dangerous than nuclear terrorism. Mathematician Stephen Hawking said so. And so did science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke. And they can't be wrong.

So duck and cover, the ice is melting!

Forecasting Dogma

Heidi Cullen, the host of the global warming show, The Climate Code, on the Weather Channel, said recently that if a meteorologist denies global warming he should have his credentials taken away.

I can top that: I say burn the unbelievers at the stake! Die, heretic, die! How dare they blaspheme the undeniable truth that warm (or in any way unusual) weather is the direct result of SUV emissions?! The temperature has gone up almost an entire degree Celsius over the last few decades and is almost as warm as it was before the car and airplane were first invented! Obviously we're causing it!

Never mind the melting of the glaciers thousands of years ago that once covered Kansas City. Ignore the volcanic eruptions that easily equal our CO2 production in a single explosion. And just forget the mountain of evidence that says our planet heats up and cools off because of things we can't control like the orbit of the planet and the natural activity of the sun. It's actually your overbearing SUV and your disgusting capitalism that's the problem!

In fact you'd be well off to just skip this article written by meteorologist James Spann, who says he doesn't even know another meteorologist that believes humans cause global warming… unless they get paid to study the human effect on the global climate. I wouldn't waste my time…

Well, well. Some “climate expert” on “The Weather Channel” wants to take away AMS certification from those of us who believe the recent “global warming” is a natural process. So much for “tolerance”, huh?

I have been in operational meteorology since 1978, and I know dozens and dozens of broadcast meteorologists all over the country. Our big job: look at a large volume of raw data and come up with a public weather forecast for the next seven days. I do not know of a single TV meteorologist who buys into the man-made global warming hype. I know there must be a few out there, but I can’t find them. Here are the basic facts you need to know:

• Billions of dollars of grant money is flowing into the pockets of those on the man-made global warming bandwagon. No man-made global warming, the money dries up. This is big money, make no mistake about it. Always follow the money trail and it tells a story. Even the lady at “The Weather Channel” probably gets paid good money for a prime time show on climate change. No man-made global warming, no show, and no salary. Nothing wrong with making money at all, but when money becomes the motivation for a scientific conclusion, then we have a problem. For many, global warming is a big cash grab.

• The climate of this planet has been changing since God put the planet here. It will always change, and the warming in the last 10 years is not much difference than the warming we saw in the 1930s and other decades. And, lets not forget we are at the end of the ice age in which ice covered most of North America and Northern Europe.

If you don’t like to listen to me, find another meteorologist with no tie to grant money for research on the subject. I would not listen to anyone that is a politician, a journalist, or someone in science who is generating revenue from this issue…

I have nothing against “The Weather Channel”, but they have crossed the line into a political and cultural region where I simply won’t go.

Terrible, Terrible Irony

Apple, Inc.

Apple announced its numbers for the last fiscal quarter (which included Christmas): They sold over 1.6 million Mac computers (up 28%) and over 21 million iPods (up 50%). The company, which recently dropped the term "computer" from its name, posted revenue for the quarter of $7.1 billion and profits of over $1 billion.

Meanwhile the recently announced iPhone will be available this summer. The iPhone will be the latest "must have" gadget from Apple, combining the PDA, cell phone, and MP3 music player in one brilliant device, purportedly "five years ahead" of today's smart-phone technology.

Finally, check out the latest commercials from Apple: "Surgery," where PC nervously prepares to install Vista; "Sabatage," where PC replaces Mac with an imposter to stroke PC's ego; and "Tech Support," where PC has a camera installed, not realizing Mac already has one built in.

Dodging the Draft

I often jot down notes and random thoughts for articles during my day. I don't usually have time to turn each of them into full-fledged articles but I save them as drafts and hope to get back to them later. Unfortunately the number of draft articles are growing without getting finished. Some articles I eventually get to and post on my blog but others pass from relevence and get deleted after a few months.

When it's all said and done, it's kind of hard for someone to tell when I'm actually blogging. Sometimes I'll finish and post of a bunch of stuff that was already 90% done. Other times I'll write for a couple of hours and not get any of it posted on the blog.

Not So Innocent Bystander

"I think one of the reasons you keep hearing about Iran is because we keep finding their stuff in Iraq." - Marine General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs

28,000 Hits

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The Road to Hell…

"Honesty, integrity, loyalty, being fair and honest with people has always been the trademark of what I've done."
-- Nick Saban, in an ESPN interview.

I saw this interview late last night when I got home. Saban explained (in not so many words) why he had to lie about not wanting the other coaching job in order to not be a distraction to his current team. And since his intentions were good, it wasn't really lying.

Um… keep trying there coach.

Plays Well With Others

I went up to camp yesterday for the Mid-Winter Retreat, fighting the freezing rain and snow the whole way. The roads were really dangerous and the trip back home was even worse.

But when I got there I was delighted to see how well things were going, especially for Jay-rod. The first thing I heard was how great his sermon was (from earlier that day) and he had really connected with both the students and the adults. He was playing games and laughing with the kids and you could see how much everyone appreciated him. He was thriving and I couldn't have been happier for him.


I know how difficult ministry can be for a young man: People place little confidence in you because of your age and seem quick to level criticism for almost anything. Meanwhile you're pulled in twenty different directions, expected to meet competing needs and mutually exclusive goals because pretty much everyone you know is your "boss" in a sense. Add to this mix a few of your own mistakes and miscues and you have a recipe for discouragement.

But yesterday I think Jay-rod was having a good day. I was so happy for him I could have hugged him… but we're guys, so I played it off and slugged him in the shoulder instead. It's all good.

VDH on Surging Criticism

Victor Davis Hanson is probably my favorite historian and, without a doubt, my favorite registered Democrat college professor from California. He wrote the following on his website about President Bush's plan to surge troops in Iraq:

All the requisite points were made by the president, almost as if [he] were quoting verbatim Gen. David Petraeus’s insightful summaries of counterinsurgency warfare — an Iraqi face on operations, economic stimuli, clear mission of clearing terrorists out of Baghdad, political reform, a “green-light” to go after killers — while addressing the necessary regional concerns with Syria and Iran.

But why believe that this latest gamble will work? First, things are, by agreement, coming to a head: this new strategy will work, or, given the current politics, nothing will. Second, the Iraqis in government know this time Sadr City and Baghdad are to be secured, or it is to be “see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya,” and they will be on planes to Dearborn.

VDH also said this in regard to the Democrats' response:

Finally, note the pathetic Democratic reply by Sen. Durbin, last in the public eye for his libel of American troops (as analogous to “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others”). There was no response. Durbin simply assumed credit for the Bush policy of deposing Saddam, fostering democracy, and then blamed the Iraqis and said enough was enough. Not a word followed about the effects of a rapid withdrawal. In other words, the Democratic policy is that anything good in Iraq they supported, anything bad they opposed. And they will now harp yet do nothing — except whine in fear the surge might actually work.

Most anti-war people I know are generally tired and squeamish about the war, or about war in general. The majority of those I know who want to "come home now" can not articulate the major components of this conflict or project what may realistically happen if they got what they were asking for. They just sincerely want the dying to stop and everything to be "better" somehow, though they lack a coherent plan to secure those wishes.

But some folks, like Sen. Durbin, know exactly what the consequences would be. They understand that there are no easy choices (except in hindsight) and that their proposals might seriously hurt our country. So why would they continue to propose the cut & run, blame ourselves first, everyone for themselves policy? I have a theory about that: They think we can take it.

It's okay to encourage defeat in foreign wars, they believe, because the only real casualties will be their political enemies. The "defeatists" believe we can survive a loss or two and perhaps we need to lose for instructive purposes. After all, it's far more important to demonstrate how evil American capitalism, Western hegemony, the military and all military action truly are.

They say they support the troops but what they imply is that they pity the martyrdom of these soldiers who die for an unjust cause. You can tell this because, though they might talk about brave soldiers, they'll never celebrate heroism, especially if it were to inadvertently glorify the cause being fought for. Remember, fighting for what's right is wrong in the first place.

I truly believe that some people believe we can weather losing a war or two and that doing so will serve their ideological purposes. And how wrong is that?

Out of Hot Water

Our hot water heater died yesterday. I was taking a shower and noticed that I wasn't getting much hot water, then Shannon showered and lost hot water entirely. She checked the hot water heater in the basement and it was cracked and leaking.

So we had to buy a new one today, which is not the big deal it would have been before the Dave Ramsey class. A $400 hot water heater? No problem, we've already got money set aside in an emergency fund. So we just went out and paid the man. No stress, no borrowing, no interest payments. We just paid the man.

That's awesome!

Surging Ahead

It's hard to be too optimistic about President Bush's plan in Iraq, there is a lot that depends on the Iraqis and, frankly, they haven't been real dependable on the whole. I want this to work; I want Baghdad to be pacified and wouldn't mind at all if Iran and Syria got their comeuppance. But it's just easy to see how this approach will be less potent than necessary. It's a real leap of faith to assume that the Iraqis will live up to their side of the plan.

That said, what other choice do we have? Have you thought about the Democrats' approach? The guys over at Blackfive.com said it well:

On the other side, the Democrats response was actually pretty accurate on the assessment of the situation (with the requisite partisan barbs thrown in for good measure), but as usual, they completely fail to recognize the consequences of their course of action. Talk about history repeating itself; this is eerily reminiscent of the Democrat's Vietnam playbook. This is one of the reasons that liberals in charge are so scary. They have no compunction about guaranteeing and then ignoring a good old fashioned genocide. That is what's coming in Iraq as soon as we leave. Scarier still is the idea that when we left Vietnam to a well trained (compared to the Iraqis) South Vietnamese Army, [the Democrats] didn't just cut off direct military assistance when the North came down, they cut off ALL economic aid. This is probably what they will do to the Iraqis even if we secure Baghdad and train up their Army. Once we're out, and the Iranians start moving in, the Democrats will cut them off.

It's wrong to abandon those Iraqis and I was appalled at the Sen. Durbin's calloused "you're on your own" attitude. And more frightening is that failure in Iraq will likely encourage Islamic radicals to follow us home.

Christmas Books

I've finally placed my order for some books that I'll receive as part of last Christmas. I had a some money and gift cards and I've been trying to decide which books to order. This was my final decision, but I'm already second-guessing my choices. They are:

• State of Fear, by Michael Crichton. This book was recommended to me a year ago and I'm finally getting around to it. I've read most of Crichton's novels but none in the last four or five years. So this will be like old times.
  
• Caro's Book of Poker Tells, by Mike Caro. I've decided that I really enjoy learning about human body language as it relates to interpersonal communication and deception. It really helps to know during counseling when someone is lying to you. And, believe it or not, it's also useful during a card game.
• Sidney & Norman, by Phil Vischer. Vischer, of Veggietales fame, is a talented Christian children's book author. I've already read this book but would like to have a copy in my collection.
• Flyboys: A True Story of Courage, by James Bradley. This is the author of Flags of our Fathers, which was a gift I thoroughly enjoyed (by the way, thanks Jim R.), and this is another story of World War 2 heroism.
  
• King Lear, by William Shakespeare. I only read the Arden Shakespeare editions – they have the best footnotes. This will be the tenth volume in my collection and my first reading of King Lear.

My Eyes!

I was reading instructions today on viewing a newly discovered comet. They are as follows:

1. At dawn, go outside and face east.
2. Using binoculars, scan the horizon.
3. The comet is located just south of due east.

Yeah, and so is the sun! The last I checked, binocular manufacturers discouraged using their product to gaze directly into the sun.

But if staring at the sun with binoculars at dawn seems too risky to you, you do have a second chance:

1. At sunset, go outside and face west.
2. Using binoculars, scan the horizon.
3. The comet is located low and to the right of Venus.
4. A clear view of the horizon is essential.

It'll be the last thing you view clearly.

The Horn of Africa Theater

How many wars are we actually involved in right now? I believe it's just one, but it has many facets.

The news came out yesterday that the U.S. bombed a group of al-Qaida terrorists in the African country of Somalia. Somalia was recently retaken by Ethiopian troops (trained by Americans) kicking out the Islamic Radicals, who had taken over the country. The U.S. Navy is offshore checking boats for fleeing terrorists and now the Air Force is engaging the bad guys from the air. The rightful Somali President supports the U.S. airstrikes and is determined not to let the Islamic fascists run the country. Ethiopia has been willing to help in this fight but the country of Eritrea, one of Ethiopia's enemies, has been supporting the Islamic terrorists in Somalia.

Some folks are upset we're involved in the Horn of Africa. But I see it as another facet of the Long War against Islamic Terrorists, with Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan fitting under this umbrella. They are seperate fronts, or maybe even seperate theaters, but not a seperate war. World War II is probably the best analogy with fighting in far-flung places like Burma, the South Pacific, and North Africa, with a strategic focus on Nazi Germany even though it was the Japanese who bombed Pearl Harbor.

Our goal in this war is to squelch Islamic radicalism by killing terrorists and destroying the totalitarian regimes that support it. We then undermine thier ideology by introducing democracy, capitalism, women's rights, education, etc.

This war is being fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa, and elsewhere. It may easily move to Iran, Syria, or Saudi Arabia. When Israel fights Hezbollah in Lebanon, it's fighting the same war that we are fighting. When soldiers hunt down Islamic fighters in former Soviet republic of Georgia, they're fighting the same fight. And when Ethiopian soldiers fight al-Qaida in Somalia, they are fighting the same fight.

So what does pulling out of Iraq accomplish (or staying the course without winning for that matter)? It keeps you from accruing more casualties in that one theater but it sets you back from winning the overall war. Why? Because if Iraq is no longer the magnet that draws international terrorists and terrorist money into our sights, where will they then go? To undo Afghanistan? Lebanon? Detroit?

I'm not sure why this President hasn't done more to connect the various facets of this war to each other. Allowing Iraq to be seen as an optional and seperate activity only hurts the cause of winning there. But hope springs eternal and perhaps we'll yet prevail.

Comments?

Random Thoughts 1/9/07

• Wikipedia's featured article yesterday was Operation Auca, the 1956 attempt by missionaries to make contact with native people in Ecuador which led to the deaths of five of those missionaries. In Christian circles, this is a well known event. But I was still surprised to see it on the front page of Wikipedia.
• I'm slowly working my way through another book by Victor Davis Hanson about the Peloponnesian War. That's the long Greek War between Athens and Sparta, that led to the fall of the wealthy, democratic, and liberal Athens to an enemy she shouldn't have lost to and maybe shouldn't have been fighting in the first place. It's really unnerving to see parallels between Athens and the United States. I'm most concerned that there are Americans today who either think that we can't lose a war or that, if we did, it wouldn't have any real significance to our daily lives. The truth is that, as unthinkable as it is, all nations eventually fall and that reality ought to be taken seriously.
  
• Apple introduced the iPhone today. Check out its website, this phone is really impressive. This is the way these things ought to work. You can see the new commercials and other new stuff from Apple on their website.
  
• I was told this was the greatest commercial ever. I don't know about that, but it is kind of clever. The actor is Bruce Campbell of "B movie" fame.
• It looks like our church will have a second, concurrent Dave Ramsey class, on a different night of the week. We had a much larger group of interested people than we expected. More information will be forthcoming.
• Please, please, please change the college football bowl system into a playoff system. This was the first year that I didn't watch a single bowl game, though I wish I had watched the Boise State - Oklahoma game. And I'd sure watch Florida play Boise State if they had the chance. Fortunately we can watch a college sport do it right in March (Go Kansas!).
  

Out of Sight, Out of MInd

Brennan and Tanner got in trouble this morning after church. Their mother asked them not to go outside afterwards and yet they did anyway. They were playing around back when Shannon found them there.

"Didn't I tell you not to go outside?!"

Brennan protested, "But we didn't know you'd come looking for us!"

Uh, son, it doesn't matter if we come looking for you. You do what we say because we're the parents, whether we check on you or not.

Church Camp in January

Don't Forget that the Mid-Winter Retreat is just around the corner!

January 13-15, 2007
The Day of the Lord!
Joel 2:1

Registration is from 1pm to 3pm Saturday, Jan 13
The cost is only $50 and the form can be downloaded at the website here.

This special event on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend is for both Junior and Senior High students and runs from 1pm Saturday to 1pm Monday.

Don't miss it!

Mission Lake Christian Camp

Talking Heads

The Drudge Report regularly lists the ratings for cable news shows. It's interesting to see who's the most popular and it's almost always the shows on Fox News. Here's the list from January 4:

CABLE NEWS RACE
THURS, JAN 4, 2007
VIEWERS

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 2,505,000
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1,802,000
FNC SHEP SMITH 1,374,000
FNC HUME 1,258,000
FNC GRETA 1,194,000
CNN KING 1,014,000
CNN COOPER 835,000
CNN DOBBS 814,000
CNNHN GRACE 676,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 665,000
MSNBC SCARBOROUGH 648,000
CNN ZAHN 643,000
CNNHN BECK 467,000
MSNBC MATTHEWS 424,000

This is pretty standard with all of Fox's shows beating CNN's best, Larry King, and MSNBC barely registering on the Richter scale. My personal favorite is Brit Hume's show, which is almost all politics and current events and no missing teenagers or murder trials of the century (that's Greta Van Susteren's bailiwick).

My personal opinion is that Fox is more balanced (dare I say, "Fair and Balanced?") than the others. Bill O'Reilly is a traditional Libertarian, Hannity is a conservative Republican, and Combs is flaming liberal Democrat. And that's just Fox's top two shows. Smith and Hume seem pretty conservative but Van Susteren is not, and neither are many of the regular guests on these shows. And many of the conservatives are not social conservatives, but rather political or financial conservatives – and there is a difference.

I suppose that for those who are used to a liberal slant to the news, the middle of the road might seem a little extreme. But if you actually watch Fox News, you realize that there is quite a bit of diversity when everyone is NOT marching in liberal lock-step.

And audiences like that.

Signs of the Apocalypse?

Signs that the End is near:

• The Chiefs and six whole teams from the NFC made the NFL playoffs. The Giants and Seahawks didn't even outscore their opponents on the year.
  
• Two words: Nancy Pelosi.
  
• A sequel to the movie National Treasure is being made, titled National Treasure: the Book of Secrets. Prepare for another mindless romp through pseudo-history. I guess this makes a trilogy if you count the Da Vinci Code.
• Simon Cowell, of American Idol fame, is the highest paid Briton on TV.
• Three words: Hillary Rodham Clinton.
  
• In an Associated Press poll, 64% of those polled said they use the F-word, some several times a day (8%). According to the poll, 32% of men said they use the F-word at least a few times a week, as do 23% of women.
• Kansas City Mayoral candidate Kathryn Shields, who is subject of a federal indictment, said she is, "a victim of political terrorism."
  

Signs that the End may tarry yet:

• That obnoxious prime time soap opera for young people, "The O.C.," finally got cancelled.
• Two words: Sam Brownback. Who, among a few other decent people, will be running for President in 2008.
  
• The Saints made the Playoffs. Good for them. My perfect win-win Super Bowl pairing would be the Colts and Saints. How could you not like that?
  
• Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, recently of Ft. Leavenworth, is going to take over in Iraq. Some folks don't like him, but even I'm kind of tired of the ham-fisted to limp-wristed yo-yo approach we've had in Iraq. At least this guy is a true Lawrence of Arabia-type of counter-insurgency expert.
• Even Gerald Ford can get a fair shake in the media (as long as he dies first).
• Have you seen how cute my kids are?
  

Random Sports Thoughts 1/4/06

• Kansas City has a good chance of getting the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team has been offered a rent-free agreement to play in the new Sprint Center, which opens in October. They will also get a partnership in the management of the Arena without having to pay for anything. That's a pretty good deal. The Penguins will decide in the next 30 days.
  
• Miami Dolphins coach Nick Saban said two weeks ago that he was "not going to be the University of Alabama coach." This week he was given 32 million reasons to change his mind… and he did. Saban seems a bit defensive that sports fans everywhere are super offended by his two-faced lack of integrity. Saban replies while sitting in his new Crimson Tide office, "…my integrity for doing that is being questioned. Other people have done this. They just say, 'I have the right to change my mind.' So in my eyes, when I said that, it wasn't a lie. The circumstances changed and I made a different decision. That's not lying." Yeah, sure thing coach, you are the definition of integrity and loyalty. You just changed your mind (to do the opposite of what you said you'd do) and, besides, other people have done it.
• The Steelers may have to find another coach for only the second time since 1969, when most experts expect Bill Cower to retire next week. Chuck Noll and Bill Cower, the two long-time Steelers coaches, are the anti-Nick Saban.
• I made the playoffs in my fantasy football league, going 11-6. I'm surprised to have done well without a solid QB or running back. Instead, I had some great receivers from bad teams, two great kickers, and a lot of luck. Next year though, I intend to get as many good RBs as I can; it's the only sure fire thing in fantasy football.
• What is the one kind of sporting event that gets three big red thumbs down on my TiVo? Professional wrestling. I'd rather have a root canal than have to watch that stuff. But my TiVo thinks that since I watch college basketball and the NFL then I might like to try Total Annihilation Cage Smackdown and Burlesque Show VII. Mmm… no.
• What happens if the Chiefs are actually able to beat the vulnerable Colts in the playoffs? They have to play the Chargers. Yikes. I'm not that optimistic that the Chiefs can get a playoff win, but if the Colts lose, it'll be because of their weak run defense. And that does match up nicely with the Chiefs' main strength.
  

Radically Fascist

Victor Davis Hanson, once again, puts things into perspective in a recent article which concludes as follows:

So how, aside from killing jihadist terrorists, can we defend ourselves against the insidious spread of radical Islam? Here are a few starting suggestions:

• Bluntly identify radical Islam as fascistic — without worrying whether some Muslims take offense when we will talk honestly about the extremists in their midst.

• At the same time, keep encouraging consensual governments in the Middle East and beyond that could offer people security and prosperity, while distancing ourselves from illegitimate dictators, especially in Syria and Iran, that promote terrorists.

• Establish that no more autocracies in the Middle East and Asia will be allowed to get the bomb.

• Seek energy independence that would collapse the world price of oil, curbing petrodollar subsidies for terrorists and our own appeasement of their benefactors.

• Appreciate the history and traditions of a unique Western civilization to remind the world that we have nothing to apologize for but rather much good to offer to others.

• Finally, keep confident in a war in which our will and morale are every bit as important as our overwhelming military strength. The jihadists claim that we are weak spiritually, but our past global ideological enemies — Nazism, fascism, militarism and communism — all failed. And so will they.

Random Thoughts 1/2/07

• I want to say thank you again, to all of the wonderful people who have been a blessing to us over the holidays. We received several nice cards and a some generous gifts, some of which were given anonymously. God bless each of you!
• James Dyson was knighted by the Queen of England recently. He's the guy who invented the Dyson vacuum cleaners that my wife and I just love. It's the first vacuum that just makes sense to me; every feature is right where it intuitively ought to be. I can't imagine buying any other vacuum, now that I have a Dyson. It's the Macintosh of vacuum cleaners: you can get cheaper, more powerful vacuums but you can't get a better one.
• Global Warming Nuts (more aptly thought of as Blaming Global Warming on Humans Nuts) are trying to put Polar Bears on the threatened animals list. Are they actually endangered? No, but they could be if we cause all of the ice to melt they say. The truth is that the global polar bear population is thought to be twice as large as what it was 100 years ago and in some areas they are actually increasing. This has caused thin, underfed bears to be found (because of overpopulation). Also, in some areas the bear population is down because there is less ice. But people didn't cause that; even the nuts say we have only bumped up the temperature 0.6º C in the last 200 years.
  
• Some of you may have wondered why I haven't said much of anything about Saddam Hussein's execution or the passing of former President Ford. I have my reasons and will probably comment at a later date. But I'm just going to hold my tongue for now.
• I'm glad that Jason Dunham finally received the Medal of Honor (postumously). He's the Marine that jumped on a hand grenade to save the lives of his friends – a true hero that has been largely ignored by the main stream media. I did a little research and discovered that Dunham is one of four who have made that same sacrifice. Two Marines (including Dunham), a Navy Seal, and an Army soldier have shielded grenades with their own bodies at the cost of their lives. Add to these heroes a list of dozens of American fighting men (and women) who have shown amazing combat valor in Afghanistan and Iraq and yet the average American can't name even one. So let me name a few: Paul Ray Smith (MoH), Jason Dunham (MoH), Raphael Peralta, Brad Kasal, Brian Chontosh, David Bellavia, Chris Adlesperger, Ross McGinnis, Michael Monsoor, and many, many more.
  
• Irish novelist Oliver Goldsmith once said, "Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter." I thought this rings so true in the face of so many conspiracy theorists, Bush-haters, and the criminally-ignorant of history.
  

Random New Year's Thoughts

• Happy New Year!
• The Chiefs backed in to the playoffs yesterday. They needed to win and have three other teams lose. Sure enough, against all odds, they pulled it off. Special thanks go the amazing imploding Broncos, the Cincinnati work-release program, and the Titans' Vince Young hype machine.
• We had the lock-in at church last night and things seemed to go really well. That doesn't mean I actually lasted very long. I ran out of gas at about 5am and was home looking for something healthy to eat an hour later. I've discovered that it's hard to do an all-night lock-in when you're a) 30, and b) on a diet from sugar-pop and junkfood.
  
• We watched Super Size Me today. It's a documentary where this guy does an experiment of eating nothing but McDonald's for 30 days. It almost kills him… literally, hurting his liver and heart and gaining about 25 pounds in thirty days. It took him fourteen months to undo the damage of one month of fast food.
  
• Elijah keeps running around and asking, "Idthit dunday or doosday?" It's Monday. Why? Do you have an appointment?
• So much for job security in the NFL. Denny Green of the Cardinals and Jim Mora of the Falcons were fired today. Both of these guys may not have had a fair shake though. When has anybody won with the Cardinals? And what is a coach supposed to do when the best player on your team (perhaps the best athlete in the NFL) is only the twentieth best QB? If any team is a coach-killer, it's Arizona (Oakland's a close second). If any QB is a coach killer, it's Mike Vick.