Brooke, I'm waiting!

I see in the news today that Brooke Burke and her husband have split up. So Brooke, if you want to date an older man with no money, then I'm waiting for your call. :-)

Ass Juice

Robin took this photo at a bar in Las Vegas last week. I thought it was hilarious. "Ass Juice", as it is known in this bar, is a mystery drink. Before a bartender goes off his shift, he makes up a batch of "ass juice" from whatever he/she wants. They then leave it for the next shift to sell.

The next shift's bartender does not know what is in the ass juice since it was made prior to him or her coming on duty.

NYC Tourists busted with maps and photos!!!

Breaking News!!! Holy cow! This is scary. Five Egyptian men with maps of the New York City subway system and video of New York landmarks have been arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Newark, N.J.

Who would have thought that a tourist to the Big Apple would take videos of landmarks and have a map of the subway on them? That would certainly raise my suspection! I mean they should wander around lost. And don't they dare use the new video camera they bought themselves last year to video tape such high security landmarks as the Statue of Liberty, Grand Central Station, Empire State Bldg, etc.

If this is suspectious behaviour, then I'm guilty as sin. When I was in Rome last year, I had a little subway map in my pocket. Elena had her video camera. Yup.... pretty odd behaviour if I say so myself.

Payola in the record industry

In the news today, Sony-BMG finally accepted the obvious and admitted to breaking payola laws. They accepted a $10 million dollar fine. However, they are not the only one record label who does this. I suspect that the other companies are not far behind in negotiating settlements to avoid prosecution.

Payola, for those who don't know, is the practice of paying a radio station to play a particular song. When the radio station fails to disclose to their audience that someone paid them to play the song they are listening to, then the radio station has broken the law. Here are two excellent links that describe modern payola in American radio: [Salon][SlashDot].

In 1960 the US outlawed payola, seeing it as a form of bribery. To get around these laws, the record companies and the radio stations come up with all sorts of clever ways to "compensate" programming directors at the radio station in exchange for including the label's songs on the station's play list. It is so bad that the companies that own the stations expect compensation as part of their normal business.

Basically, every minute of broadcast time is bought and paid for by someone. Not just the ads you have to endure between songs, but the songs themselves. That is why radio in the US sucks.

I was wondering about something this morning when I read about this. Why are the radio stations even bothering to appear to be not accepting bribes to play songs? If they simply disclose the fact that the music was bought and paid for, then wouldn't they be able to simple set the price for labels for pay for airtime? Why try to avoid the law? Why bother with schemes and fines and bad press?

After all, the public is numb to such commercial exploitation. The line between commercial sponsorship and entertainment content was blurred a long time ago. Sponsors pay television to put their products into the programs. They pay movie studios to put their brands in the movies. Video games have products in them. Why does radio continue to pretend to be above it all? Everyone knows that they are not.

The risk of course is that the radio station is afraid that they will loose credibility, and hence listeners. What idiots. Don't they know that they have lost all credibility a long time ago? Why not just go with it and disclose the "sponsorship" of music?

They need to wake up and realize that Podcasting and other web delivered music streams are going to kill radio if they keep this up. Why on earth should I endure and hour of crap bubblegum pop and obnoxious ads on my drive to work? I have an alternative now. My computer can download a Podcast stream of excellent tunes from all over the planet while I sleep. Then I simple plug my iPod into my car stereo and enjoy.

The greed and abuse of radio station owners and big music labels are killing their golden goose. I'd say lets all step aside and let them finish the job. The sooner, the better.

Some Fun Today

I light of all of the depressing news in the world. I though that I would lighten things up a little with some pictures of dumb-ass people. Enjoy.

Be careful when cameras are out!	Oh the irony!
Redneck Olympics

They have it all bass-ackwards

Last Friday at the holiest mosque in Islam, the sermon was delivered by Dr. Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayis, Imam of Islam's holiest mosque, Al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Despite Saudia Arabia's claims to have cracked down on hate filled sermons by radical imans, he was allowed to deliver a rant on one his his favorite subjects;. how much he hates the Jews and the west. Here is part of what he said:

Oh, Allah, heal our sick, have mercy on our dead, release our prisoners, and save our Al-Aqsa Mosque. Oh Allah, liberate our Al-Aqsa Mosque from the defilement of the occupying and brutal Zionists. Oh Allah, make it high and mighty until Judgment Day. Oh Allah, punish the occupying Zionists and their supporters from among the corrupt infidels. Oh Allah, scatter and disperse them, and make an example of them for those who take heed.

Now this doesn't make a lick of sense to me. If he feels that Allah is all powerfull, all knowing, perfect, and omnipitant, then why in the hell is he asking him to do things for him? Isn't that putting the cart before the horse? If the "Zionist" and their infidel supporters are truely such as problem, then doesn't he think that Allah will take care of things himself?

I mean why is he asking Allah to do his dirty work for him? Wouldn't that be putting himself above Allah, which is a sin in his faith?

It just seems very backwards and stupid to have to beg your god to kill people you don't like. It is just a lame ass cop-out. If anything, he should be praying to his god to not punish him for having such evil thoughts. What a jack-ass loser.

Just tell them I'm dead

On CNN today. The direct marketing association is putting together a do-not-contact list of dead people. Apparently the DMA feels that sending mail to dead people is a waste of money, and irrates the family when telemarketers call for the deceased.

This is awesome! I want to tell them that I'm dead. Then I will not be bugged anymore. Yea!

Here is where you register to get on the i-am-dead-list.

Shitty Jobs I Don't Want

In Today's LA Times, there is an article about a new weapon that the defence department is putting the finishing touches on and want to deploy in Iraq next year. It is called the V-MADS, for vehical Mounted Active Denial System. It is a Jeep mounted microwave gun.

But New Scientist magazine reported Wednesday that during tests carried out at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, participants playing the parts of rioters were told to first remove their glasses and contact lenses to protect their eyes.

In another test, they were also told to remove metal objects such as coins in clothing to avoid local hot spots developing on their skin.

So I want to know... who were these people that played the particpiants? How much money they they get paid to stand in front of a microwave and get nasty dose of radiation?

Reckless Genetic Engineering

Here in Australia, on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company), the government owned national media outlet, they are broadcasting a documentary series called "DNA". It is a series about the discovery of DNA and how it is being used.

I caught the broadcast last night of an episode named "DNA: Playing God". It focused on the biotech revolution started by Dr. Herbert Boyer of UC San Francisco who figured out how to make emzynes splice strands of DNA. In 1973 he joined forces with Dr. Stanley Cohen and inserted those snipped strands into the genes of bacteria. Specificity, they were able to take a gene sequence from a frog and insert it into the DNA of a E. Coli bacteria. Then they were able to get the modified E. Coli bacteria to reproduce itself making billions of copies of the artificially modified bacteria.

Their discovery lead to an explosion in recumbent DNA field, with scientists all over trying experiments with this technique to transfer genes across species. There were no controls, and no checks, and no balances. It was the wild west of research.

Some of their actions were downright reckless. For example, one scientist modified a E. Coli bacteria, grew it, and used himself as a test subject about it's safety. He would drink the bacteria, and then examine his stool samples. He concluded that bacteria can no survive the digestive system, and therefore it was safe.

The Asilomar Conference: In 1973 the safety of such experiments was discussed in a conference. The conference leaders decided to request the National Academy of Sciences to appoint a study committee to examine such recombinant DNA experiments. Paul Berg, a Stanford University biochemist, was appointed as the chair of the committee and he asked for a temporary moratorium on certain types of research and called for an international conference to discuss potential problems. In February 1975 such a conference, now known as the Asilomar Conference, was held in Asilomar, California. Guidelines with respect to physical and biological containment were drawn at that conference to effectively self-police the scientist community doing such research. It was a landmark event in the history of recombinant DNA. Subsequently, the National Institutes of Health, the funding agency for life science research in the US and elsewhere, developed its own guidelines modeled on those of Asilomar Conference. These guidelines, tempered by further research in progress, have remained the touchstone for researchers in the genetic engineering field.

The conference brought awareness of the risks to the scientists doing this leading edge work. One thing that was brought to light at the conference was the lack of awareness of safety procedures, risk minimization, and oversight of the scientists. These scientist simply didn't know what they didn't know. At the conference where scientist who work with deadly agents in chemical and germ warfare. These people were very aware of the risks of infection, containment, and how to mitigate them.

The gene splicers where doing these things in open labs with no controls, no containment equipment, and no clue as to what might happen. It was research just for the sake of research. They did not have the benefit of experience of dealing with truly dangerous and deadly toxins. Some of the guidelines were simple and blindingly obvious. For example, a rule you should not allow food and drink into the lab. It was not uncommon for people to handle genetically modifed material in their right hand while munching on a sandwich with their left. Not smart, but they were not even thinking of such precautions.

Going back to the scientist who drank his own creation to prove it was safe. I was flabbergasted by his attitude. There are many ways for infectious agents to get into the body. The most obvious is through cuts in the skin, and via sexual transmission. The AIDS virus can't be caught by eating it. But it can be caught by fluid transfer with blood exchange or sexual exchange.

I was shocked at how reckless it all seemed. It is like they learned nothing from the chemical disasters of the last 100 years. Wonder chemicals that seems like perfect solutions when they came out turned out to have terrible and long lasting side effects. Birth defects, cancer, resistant virus strains, auto-immune diseases.

The new US ambassador to Germany

William Timken

One thing I like about Australian TV is the broader world perspective that they give the news. In particular, there is a channel called SBS, a quasi-government channel sort of like the UK's BBC. They broadcast news programs from other countries. Some counties, like Italy, get 30 minutes a day. Other countries get one program a week.

The German news is broadcasts in both English and German. I happened to catch the German news yesterday. They were talking about the new US ambassador to Germany, William Timken. They pointed out that Mr. Timken has no experience as an ambassador, nor does he speak any German. The news program also pointed out that his predecessor, ambassador Daniel Coats, also did not speak any German.

I got the point of the matter. They are peeved that the US can't be bothered to give them an ambassador that they feel is worthy of the US-German relationship.

Mr. Timken is the chairman of the family-owned steel company Timken Company in Canton, Ohio He is a big contributor to Bush's election campaign. Obviously, some Germans feel that Mr. Timken bought the posting from Bush.

Carver 3-wheel Hybrid

Check this out. It is a new vehical being sold in Europe by Carver. It is hybrid between a car and a motorcycle. It moves fast, gets excellent fuel economy, and can slip through dense traffic.

What makes this car special is the tilt mechanism. The body tilts like a motorcycle, while the read wheels and motor stay stable and on the road.

Thoughts on radicals within Muslim communities

I've been reading in the news lately how Tony Blaire, the UK Prime Minster, has been reaching out the Muslim leaders in the UK to ask them to help find the radicals within their faith to prevent more attacks like what happened in London.

The response from the Imans has been less than overwhelming. As usual, they always qualify their answers and support with a Big But. They always say, "But what about the Palistinians? But what about Iraq?", and ad naseum. But I digress.

Obiously, radical Muslims that decided to become suicide bombers do not work in a vacumn. They must have had encouragement and support. They all just didn't wake up one morning, learn how to build bombs that fir in backpacks, and all go to London and blow themselves up at the same time my coincidence.

However, I think that is is a mistake to assume that the circle of people involved is large. That is large enough for tips to come in to the police. The reason the pleas to the British muslims seem to be ignored is simply because the vast majority don't know what the hell they are talking about.

It would be the same as if an FBI agent showed up at your church and asked for your help indentifying those in your congregation that support violent anti-abortion protestors. You would say to yourself, "Are you kidding? What do I know about these nuts? I don't have anything in common with them. I don't know any." Just because the radical calls himself Christian, and claims to be fighting for Chritian beliefs, doesn't mean that most Christians know anything about them, or even condon them.

Further, to then demand that the same Christians then go loudly protest against these unknown radicals is silly.

In the UK, and here in Australia, the governments have responded to critisim of religion by passing blastphomy laws. It is illegal in Australia to trash talk abother faith. A christian preacher is currently being prosecuted because he gave a sermon pointing out what he saw where the faults of Islam.

This law was passed with the encouragement of the Australian muslims.

This is insane. Rather than pass laws making it illegal to diss someone else's faith, they should have passed a law telling the faith to get thicker skin. What happened to "stick and stones may break my bones. But words will never hurt me"? They already have laws on the books making it illegal to harm someone or property. But to make free speach illegal is going too far.

Their faith should be stong enough to stand up to critisim. They should be answer questions, and dispell misunderstandings. Why are the muslims so afraid of people? Are they hiding something? Why is it they are allowed to dish out critisim, but not take any?

The answer is because one of the tenants of the faith is that it is perfect. Therefore, all critisim must be nothing but an attack from an ignorant infidel. The concept of discussing the downsides or faults doesn't exist because there are no downsides or faults.

Honor & Shame culture - by Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie, the author of "The Satanic Versus", penned a very good letter to the UK Times about the culture of honor and shame that exists in Pakistan and India. In this culture it is an accepted remedy to restore the honor of a tribe by shaming a women with rape.

It boggles my mind to attempt to comprehend how this could be. But it has been this way for long, long time. Sadly, it will be that way for a long time to come. I can't even express how disgusted I am with Pakistan every time I hear about another "honor" gang-rape.

Mukhtar Mai

The case of Mukhtar Mai, who was gang raped by a group of men under orders from her tribal council to punish her tribe because her 16 year old brother was seen holding the hand of girl from another tribe. The fact that the Pakistani courts have allowed these men to walk free, and seems to be squirming to find a way to avoid punishing them for what they view as a normal event.

The families of the British bombers

The UK Indy says:

Bomber's family: why we fear the racial backlash...

The family of one of the London suicide bombers has revealed how it has become 'criminalised, persecuted and vilified' amid growing fears of a racial backlash in the wake of the atrocities.

If the suicide bomber's families would suffer any kind of backlash, I really don't think it would be a result of their race. It would be the result of the fact that one of their family members became a mass murderer. Mass murderers are not very popular among any race.

Simpsons Hit-n-Run

Thursday night I went over to Sean's house for some fun. Sean's wife and kids are out of town on vacation leaving Sean at home to his own devices. When the cat's away, the mice will play. We decided to have a pizza delivered and get drunk on wine and play video games on his X-Box.
We have done this before when his wife has left him stranded at home. I guess it is pretty silly having two middle age 40 something men dead drunk and pissing themselves laughing at a video game. We are kids at heart.

I have to say, the game is brilliant. The humor they managed to cram into the game is amazing. Every time we play we find new jokes hidden all over. The billboards, business names, street names, and dialogue are all jokes, witty sarcasms, and trivia snippets from the cartoon.

If you want to have fun and play a game that is not full of gore, violent, or stupid, then play this.

GM snatches defeat from the jaws of victory

Australia has a domestic car company. Holden. They are own by GM. In US terms, they are to Australia what Chevy is to the US.

Holden makes a sports car named the Monaro. It is an awesome machine, and very successful down here. It is a old-school muscle car. No room for kids, and fuel mileage be damned. They have big, powerful motor, rear wheel drive, and they don't cost a lot when compared the German and Japanese luxury cars.

It has been so successful that GM has brought it to the US and rebadged as the Pontiac GTO. Holden Australia is building left-hand-drive models for the US market.
And, it has flopped. Why?

Well, somehow GM managed to screw it up. There are have reports of serious quality problems with the GTO. Problems that the Monaro doesn't have. GM moved the fuel tank into the trunk for the GTO, leaving no trunk. They managed to cram in a bunch of other changes that frankly were not needed.

If you want to know more, read the automotive reviews for the GTO. They rip it for the quality defects. Car and Driver wasn't too nice about it. The Aussies are pissed off at GM for ruining what should have been a sure thing. They were hoping to be able to sell a bunch of these to the US market. Now it looks like it won't survive GM.

Compare the photos below of the Australian Monaro (top) and the American GTO (bottom). They don't even look like the same car!!! This is the same as if one day while you are at work, your wife takes your loyal hunting dog to vet, has his balls snipped off, give him a poodle style haircut, and puts a bow on head. It's not the same dog any more.

Holden Monaro

Pontiac GTO

The Monaro screams tetesterone. The GTO looks like something that a sorority girl would drive to the mall on a Saturday afternoon. Look at the GTO's dainty little "B" column. The bigger rear seat windows (so her girlfriend's can spot the shoe sales better). The more rounded nose and softer rear end... gotta take that edge off!.

To their credit, Pontiac has done something right for the 2005 GTO. It has more power. They put the new Gen III LS2 V8 under the hood. This is the new generation small block V8,6.0L, 299kW, OHV 16 valve, with Sequential multi-port electronic fuel injection. This is the same motor GM puts in the Corvette.

The GTO comes standard with a 4 speed automatic transmission with overdrive. An optional 6-speed manual is available for more money. What!?! An automatic? A 4-speed automatic? What a waste. Are there that many people out there who can't drive a stick? Why don't they just put a diaper on the car?

The Monaro has a Gen III LS1 V8, 5.7L, 260kW motor and a 6-speed manual transmission.

Still. What's the point of hiding that extra power in a car that looks like you bought for your wife?

The problem is that GM couldn't leave well enough alone. They have too many cooks in the kitchen. They had to tweak the chassie to put their Pontiac signature grill on it. Then they figured while they were at it, let's make other changes! All those executives have to justify their jobs. So they build cars that look like they were designed by a committee.

Life after Howard Stern

Howard Stern

Howard Stern fans, like me, know that last year he quit his job as the top morning radio program in the US. He is defecting to Sirus Satellite Radio, a subscription based digital radio broadcaster. This will allow Howard to get out from the jurisdiction of the FCC and be as raunchy as he wants to be. He has been working under contract for Infinity Radio, part of the media giant Viacom, for years.

Infinity has been trying to figure out what to replace Stern's morning slot with. He was their biggest star. His show is consistently the ratings winner in all the major US metropolitan markets. His defection has been a big blow to Infinity. To their credit, they are doing something smart, which is why I bring this up in my blog. It is not often that I see one of the US media giants doing something that I think is smart.

Rather than try to replace Howard Stern in all his previous markets. They have opted to tap multiple personalities to fill in for different markets around the country. They have given the two top markets, New York City and Los Angeles to David Lee Roth, former lead singer for the 70's-80's rock band Van Halen. This is smart because rather than trying to find a magic bullet to replace Howard, the are casting their net wide and letting new talent build an audience. They know that are going to take a beating. So they might as well use the farm teams to find the next Howard Stern somewhere out there in the US. They are spreading their bets, which will pay off in the long run. Just hope that they can recognize true talent when it shows up.

'Diamond' David Lee Roth

Personally, I don't think that David Lee Roth is going to cut the mustard. He is a has-been. A relic from the 80's. And a general all around asshole. He can't fill Howard's shoes because the appeal of Howard was that he was a nobody, looser that could never get the girl. Howard looks and act like a freak show. He is able to get strippers and porn stars on his show and flirt with them shamelessly. But he never got anywhere with them. At the end of the show, he would always go home to his wife. That was his gimmick.

Diamond Dave, on the other hand, was the hard partying lead man for one of the most successful rock bands in the 70's and 80's. He had everything. Girls, money, drugs, adoring fans. He doesn't have it any more. He is now working as an ambulance EMT in New York City.

Passport Authentication Online

There is a popular TV show here in Australia called "Border Patrol". It is a reality TV style, behind-the-scenes, look at the job of Australian immigration and customs officers and their day-to-day dealings with the public. Think of "Cops", but at the Sydney international Airport. It is a good show. It amazes me how many people show up with proper visas, dodgy stories, drugs, and illegal or bizarre goods.

One of the tasks of the immigration officers is to determine the validity of each incoming passenger's passport and visa. On the program they have often pull suspicious passengers aside for further investigation. Something about the passenger’s documents, story, or behavior has tipped off the officer that something isn't right. Usually, the passenger is trying to get into Australia illegally with forged documents.

When the officer suspects that the passport is fake, they have a forgery export examine it under a microscope. The officer will also call an officer at the passenger’s consulate to verify the information. If there is no consulate, or it is off hours, the officers has to guess.

The techie side of me found this to be unacceptable. I find it amazing that here in 2005, with the Internet available to most anywhere on the planet, that a simple passport verification system has not been implemented.

How hard is it for a nation’s passport department to put the data from their passport files on a web server? Not hard at all. How hard is it for these same nations to put these servers on a private intranet, or VPN on the Internet? Again, not hard at all. They should be able to do the whole thing in a week.

Then all the Australian immigration officer has to do is log on to the passport holder’s national passport database website and enter the passport number. The web server will return a web page with the same information that should be on the passport the officer is holding.

Simple as that!

To make things ever more efficient, the airlines could forward a list of passports to the destination’s immigration department. They could pre-pull the records of the passengers and make decisions while the passengers are still in the air. They will have hours to review the list, compare them against warrants and other watch lists, and do their job right instead of making snap decisions after the passenger arrives.

Other Benefits:

• If someone arrives with a fake or altered passport, it will not match the information of the passport issuer's database. This will kill the fake passport market since the passport can be authenticated by the issuer, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, anywhere on the planet, within seconds.
• If you loose your passport while travelling, it will make it much easier to have a host nation issues a tempory passport based on the data provided. Just like American Express issues temporary replacement credit cards on the spot. They then issue a real replacement that arrives at your home address a couple of weeks later.
• The system can also be used by immigration services to analyze visa requests before travelling. This can eliminate the process of having to mail your passport off to an embassy and hope you get it back. The request should be able to be processed online.

How about this idea? If the server uses XML instead of HTML, the data served by the issuer's server can be easily digitally processed by the client nation. This data can then be easily be forwarded as searches against other databases that would effect the decisions of the immigration department.

The French have solved all the world's problems!

Shintaro Ishihara Governor of Tokyo

Saw this hilarious little news story about the governor of Tokyo Japan, Shintaro Ishihara. He is being sued by some French language students because they claim he insulted the French language. He is reported to have said "French is a failed international language because it cannot be used to count numbers."

In French, some numbers can be unwieldy to say, such as 90, which translates as "four-twenty-ten."

But English can be difficult too. But it is not has bad as other languages!

For example, where did Eleven and Twelve come from? Shouldn't eleven be "oneteen", and twelve be "twoteen". The rest of the teens are the single digit number and the syllable "teen" (for "and ten").

And what does the "ty" mean on twenty, thirty, forty, ..., ninety? Does that mean "times 10"?

Still... Those French lovers must have some mighty thin skin to have to resort to law suits when someone insults their precious language. The world's going to hell in a handbasket and they are worried that someone in Japan doesn't like French.

Well. I guess having solved all the world's problems, they can focus time and energy on stupid things like this.

Grand Theft Auto Video Game

The video game Grand Theft Auto - San Andres has burst into the news this week when it was discovered that a tiny little hack named "hot coffee" will unlock x-rated content that was embedded in the game. Hillary Clinton has decided to take the game's producer, Rock Star Games, to task over this.

Now I love video games. And love sex and meaningless violence as much as the next guy. But I do think that RSG crossed the line here. I have no problem with either them, or someone else, producing a mod for the game. In fact, this sounds like an awesome hack. Hell, some of the best games I've ever played where user produced mods for Doom and other FPS(*) games. But this was deliberately installed, and then hidden, in order to deceive the game rating system. That was uncool.

I also can't help but think that people are going to run out and grab the PC versions of GTA now before a "cleaner" version is released into the retail channel. The resale value of the x-rated GTA-SA should go up as they become scarce.

*FPS: First Person Shooter is a computer or video game where the player's on-screen view of the game world simulates that of the character, and there is a high percentage of combat. Example, Doom. (More...)

We Are Not Afraid

Found this excellent site today for those who think bombing us will cause us to cower in fear. We Are Not Afraid.

9/11, Bali, Madrid, London. Is this a war?

Today I read two excellent essays by Lee Harris regarding the "war" that Al Qaeda as declared on the world. I put the word "war" in quotes because Mr. Harris argues that this is not a war. It is a blood feud. He claims that we are mistaken to attempt to frame these terror attacks as battles in a war. They simply do not fit. However, when framed within the concept of a blood feud, which is an integral part of middle eastern tribal society, they makes perfect sense.

They are well worth the read.

Click HERE for the essay about blood feuds (Written after the London bombings).
Click HERE for the essay about Al Qaeda's Ideology (written after Sept 11).

E-mail gone wrong

A friend sent this "news story" to me today. It is so obiously fake, and an urban legend updated for the Internet age. But it is still funny.

An amazing story about an email gone wrong

A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.

Because of hectic schedules, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with the wife flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in the room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and, without realizing his error, sent the email.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned from her husband’s funeral. He was a minister who had died of a heart attack. The widow decided to check her email, expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted.

The widow’s son rushed in to the room and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My Loving Wife
Subject: I’ve Arrived
Date: October 16, 2004

I know that you’re surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P.S. Sure is freaking hot down here!

Donald Trump.... what a scumbag

Donald 'Da Crook' Trump

I've never liked Donald Trump. I do admire successful people. He is an exception. How on earth can someone who claims to be successful businessman, the man with the golden touch, loose money owning casinos? Simple. He is crooked as a dog's hind leg. Anyone who invests their money in his enterprises has to be a stupid fool.

He is crooked, and rich, because he knows how to manipulate the books so that his personal fortune always gets the winning investments, and his shareholders get stuck with the dogs. He has mastered the art of using OTM (Other People's Money).

He sucked so much money out of his casino that it never had a chance. That is why it went bankrupt. I'd bet the company that "owns" the casino has to pay Donald a fat licensing fee to use the Trump name. That way he gets paid when the shareholders don't.

This weekend Donald is up to his usual three-card-monte tricks. He participated as a buyer in a bankruptcy auction of land he already owns in Atlantic City. Yes, that's right. He is bidding on his own property. And guess what? He won the auction. Story on CNN.

One of his companies came out as the winner for property that another one of his companies owns and had to dump in a bankruptcy fire-sale. In the words of Shakespeare's Hamlet, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."

Here are two free investing tips:

1. Never invest in a company that doesn't have a full time CEO. Trump is CEO of a handful of his companies. His attention to his hotel & casino company is a fraction of what it should be.
2. Never invest in a company where CEO and top executives have inherent conflicts of interest such as also owning the company that the owns the land, name, or other critical resource. Trump owns the land under his casinos, and he owns the name on their marquees.

This is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

Wow. I just installed Google's new Google Earth program. I am just... speechless. This is the most fantastic f**king thing I've seen in a long, long time. I've have spent the last few hours "flying" around California, Australia, Italy, Central Asia. This is like using a flight simulator that covers the whole planet.

It uses data from satellite photos, 3-d terrain mapping, building, roads, landmarks, etc to give you a 3-d perspective of any spot on earth. You can "fly" down the I-5 from Seattle to Los Angeles with all the mountains around you. I flew up the Nile River in Egypt. Wow.

You have to get this. You need broadband though. Here are some screen shots I took. And it is free.

My house in Cottesloe Lat: 32° 0'44.33"S Long:115°45'11.98"E

Santa Barbara

Firenze (Florence), Italy

Real pubs have troughs

See these pictures? Take a close look. What do you see? Running along the bottom of the bar is a trough. Why? It is a urine trough. A feature of classic Australia pubs. You don't have to leave the bar when you have to piss.

I took these photos at the 19th hole at a local public golf course. Rebecca, who took me there, told me that pubs in Australia used to ban women from pubs. She told me that classic Australian pubs have this feature. A hangover from the bad old days.

Pretty cool, huh?

Photo of the day

I saw this while on the way to work this morning.

My Little Life Saver

A couple of years ago I was hit by a car while riding my bike. After that my lower spine problems got so bad that I couldn't even stand. I had an operation last year to prevent my spine from pinching off the nerve that goes to my left leg.

Also last year I bought a little product called "Nada Chair". It provides back support by correcting my sitting posture. It has made such a difference in my life.

Last year I did a lot of flying, in coach. I flew around the world, about 70 hours in the air over 12 flights. I was very concerned that my back would not be able to handle it. I took my Nada Chair and it made the whole journey a breeze. I had no problems at all. In fact, I found that I was able to sleep comfortably while sitting upright. It keeps me from slumping when asleep. I don't wake up with a sore lower back.

In addition to using this when I fly, I also use it at work 3 times a week. It keeps my posture correct and makes the constant back pain I used to have a thing of the past. It has really helped ease the pains I used to have from sitting at my desk writing software all day.

I have their SlouchBuster for travel. It zips up inside itself and becomes the size of a small paperback. I find it very easy and convenient to take with me on board flights. I do get some strange looks from my seatmates. But once it is on, you don't notice it.

I don't know if it is for everyone. I am glad that I found it. It is such a simple idea too. It is based on the technique that Tibetan monks use to sit while meditating. They use ropes between their knees and spine to force the their spine straight, and also give the spine some relief. Nada Chair simply took the idea and made it easier to use.

I don't want to make it sound like I owe stock in them or anything. I don't. I just found that this little thing has made such a difference for me. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution. If you suffer from back pain, at least try one for a while.

Chechnya Redux

First, a little geography lesson: The southern most extent of modern Russia runs along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains running roughly east-west from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. Beyond this south-western border are the newly formed nations of Georgia and Azerbaijan, formally part of the USSR. The area on both sides of this mountain range and hemmed in between the two seas is known as The Caucasus.

On the north side of the border is a chain of about a dozen tiny Russian Republics, the best known being Chechnya. Take a look at this map and you can see them there clustered up in the lower left hand corner of Russia. What these republics have in common is a large population of Muslims. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, this area of the world has become a religious fault line where large numbers of Muslims live with, or next to, non-Muslims. This area has since been host to savage internal battles for independence from Russia.

Chechnya is a tiny place. A mountainous landlocked nation of only 19,300 square km., about the size of Connecticut. It has 1.3 million or less people, which is about the population of Maine. Yet, it has become a massive headache for Russia, having fought there for years on end with no progress being seen. It is often compared to America's experience in Vietnam.

Despite the enormous cost, Russia has not given in to Chechnyian separatist demands for independence. The reasons are many. Russian doesn’t believe that their problems will end there. If Chechnya secedes, then the other republics will follow. The militant separatists will implement a harsh Taliban like Islamic government on Russian's doorstep. Moscow will loose control of the oil rich Caspian basin and the land needed to pipe the oil out of there.

Next door to Chechnya is another republic named Dagestan. It is larger than Chechnya, about the size of Maryland, with 2.6 million people (Arkansas has 2.6 million). Never heard of it? You will. It is rapidly becoming the new battleground between Russia and militant Islamic separatist. The never-ending war in Chechnya has spilled over to the other republics.

Yesterday, Russian troops had a 4 hour shoot-out with the leader of a violent Islamic militant group in Dagestan. I mention this because I think that republic is about to explode in violence. The Chechnyian militants have been trying to expand their war against Russian to all of the Muslim republics in southern Russia. They have been helped by Islamic militant volunteers from the Middle East, and funded with Saudi petrol-dollars. They want to open a new front on their war with the west. This is going to be one of the fronts. Like in Chechnya, Russia is going to take the brunt of it.

Here are some educational links:

• BBC Profile of Dagestan.
• BBC Profile of Chechnya.

Corporate Failure Levy - US to bail out GM

Wow. It looks like us taxpayers are going to have to bail out General Motor's pension obligation, as I predicted in a previous post. Caught this in the news today:

General Motors Corp. and other government contractors can recover some pension shortfalls from the U.S. government, a federal judge ruled.

Judge Nancy Firestone of the Court of Federal Claims in Washington ruled that the federal government must pay some share of the pension funding deficit accrued under flexibly priced contracts it had with Allison Gas Turbine, which GM sold in 1993. GM claims the government owes it as much as $252.8 million in defined-benefit pension contributions.

Detroit-based GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, has been seeking reimbursement of the costs, based on accounting adjustments as of the time of the Allison sale, since 2000.

"If the calculation results in a deficit, then the government's share must be increased," Firestone wrote in a June 28 opinion declining to dismiss the case. "The plaintiff is entitled to a settling-up."

GM shares fell 55 cents to $34.22. The stock has fallen about 14% this year.

The US CRA's make me sick

Thomas Chapman CEO of Equifax

This is disgusting! I'm ashamed that I ever worked for this company! At least I can say I didn't work for them when this bozo was in charge.

The CEO of Equifax, Thomas Chapman, gave a speech last month where he claimed that it was unconstitutional and un-American to force Equifax to allow US citizens to see the credit report file that Equifax keeps on them.

Here is the article.

So he wants to charge the US public to make sure that the info he keeps on them is accurate.

A "CRA" is a Credit Reporting Agency. In the US there are three: Experian (aka TRW), Equifax, and Trans-Union. As I mentioned in a previous post, starting in 2005, the CRA's have to provide you a free copy of your file every year. So, it is your un-American duty to demand that they do what the law requires and give you a copy of the information they have on you.

I've noticed that both the Commonwealth Club and Eqifax Corporate websites have removed their references to this speech he gave on 27-June-2005. The press-release webpage for Equifax has a dead link for this speech. They must have forgotten to remove this link. Oops!

The Commonwealth Club removed all references to his speech. However, Google had an archived version on their servers that mentions him as a keynote speaker at a speech about the future of the credit reporting industry. The whole speech seems to have dissappeared.

Drunk Driving Laws Rant

Today's Los Angeles Times has an article profiling an LA attorney who has made defending DUI arrests his specialty. I think the article is at best very misleading, and at worst, a free advertising coup for him. The fault I have with the article is that is portrays him as a DUI defendant’s best choice. He even has a slick ad campaign calling himself "Top Gun" DUI attorney.

Myself, having been run through the DUI mill twice with Claire, I know a little bit about the DUI industry. I call it an industry because that is what it has become. It is not about public safety. It is not about punishment. It is all amount money.

Now before you all get all bent out of shape, hear me out. I am not condoning drunk driving. Not at all. What I am doing is pointing out how what seems like a good idea has been perverted beyond recognition. In fact, I am convinced that that government wants people to drive drunk.

In two words, here is why: Easy Money.

Crime doesn't pay. Almost all of the criminal defendants marched in front of a judge have little to no money on them. The law enforcement, prosecution, and punishment of criminals is expensive. However, there is an exception to the rule... DUI. DUIs, unlike other crimes, make money. They are highly profitable both for the legal profession, and for the law-enforcement profession.

The reason for this is because this is the only law the "normal", law abiding, taxpaying, working citizens break (speeding too). That is why for so long drunk drivers were not taken seriously. They were just regular folks who had one too many. Then came MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. They brought the focus of lawmakers on drunk driving and succeed in getting the laws tightened. They got the drinking ages raised to 21. The got the drunken limits dropped to .08. They got the fines and punishments raised so that they were no longer slaps on the wrist.

Then something very bad happened...

The courts, law enforcement, the lawyers, and other services discovered that there was a lot of money to be made. Even better, they get to set the prices to whatever they feel like. There is no accountability, and they get to do it all on the name of protecting to public! What a great scam.

I say this because I had the audacity to ask the Sheriff's Department where all the money I was paying went. I asked them how they came up with the prices they charged for the court-ordered "education" services. I asked them to justify what they were demanding. I was told to shut my mouth. That it is none of my business. And that convicts don't have to right to ask questions.

It wasn't me who was busted. It was my wife. But the money came from our family budget. It was my name on the checks. Whenever I asked, I would run into a brick wall. I swear one time up the county jail a deputy almost took to beating me with nightstick for asking such questions. I obviously hit a nerve with them. I was asking questions that were not supposed to be asked.
Specifically, here how the scam works.

The Lawyers: The lawyers, like Top Gun in the LA Times article, earn thousands of dollars representing defendants in DUI cases. They charge about $4000 to $9000 dollars for a run-of-the-mill first-time DUI case. But a lot of people don’t know what they are getting for their money. What they get with DUI law-mills, like Mr. Top Gun, is nothing but routine paper pushing cranked out by a secretary on a computer. They file all the usual challenges knowing full well that none have a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding. I would not be at all surprised if the LA County DA’s office simple rolls their eyes when they get a form letter from Top Gun’s firm, and throw it in the trash. The whole exercise is going through the motions.

It is easy money. Get paid shitloads up front and go through the motions of a well rehearsed script. Mail in routine defence paperwork, then plead no-contest to the charges. The defendant pays the price and the lawyer goes golfing.

The problem with this is that they are not getting any real defence for their money. What they are getting is someone to hold their hand. If they really want to defend themselves, then they are going to have to come up with another $10k and more for real service.

They key is to find a lawyer who specializes in DUI cases personally. Not one that has a paper factory with his name on the letter head, but he doesn’t even know who you are. He or she should not be part of a large, we-do-everything, law firm either. They are just as bad. They charge a lot of money for mediocre service.

The DMV: Above and beyond the criminal charges and punishment, there are the “civil” fees that are added to everything. The DMV has gotten in on this racket too. They have discovered that they can charge special fees (don’t call them “fines”) to DUI convicts. And the great thing about is, they don’t have to answer to anyone about it. They get to charge whatever they feel like. I asked how they justify raising the price of a drivers license by hundreds of times just because it was a DUI return. They claim some vague mumbo-jumbo about “public awareness campaigns”. But you don’t have the right to question them since you are a convict. Yea, right. That money goes right into someone’s pocket.

The “Education” Industry: Now this is the part that really peeves me off. One thing that is required of convicts is that they attend a multi-month alcohol education class. I don’t have the problem with the concept, or the class. What I have a problem with is how it in implemented. First, they tell you what and where the class is. You are not given any choices. They also tell you how much you have to pay. Again, no choice in the matter. It costs hundreds and hundreds of dollars. When I asked how they came up with that price, and how “XYZ Industries” managed to secure the contract to provide these classes, I was told to shut my mouth. The whole arrangement stinks sky-high of corruption and collusion. Wow. A vendor gets to win a contract for a service that is court ordered and they get to set the price to whatever they want.

Now here is the other part of their scam. They set it up so you almost have no option but to fail and pay the fees all over again. Because you have no choice as to when or where, they raise the chances that it will conflict with your work or children. They schedule them at crazy times, I think in order to make it impossible to catch public transportation there. All in order to increase the odds that you might be a minute late. If you are a minute late, you are denied entry. If you miss a class, then you have to start all over again from the beginning. No credit or refunds for fees paid.

In Claire’s case, she was lucky. She didn’t work, and I was able to buy her a license that allowed her to drive to and from the class. Most people in class were not so lucky, and about half had to do-over because of work or family conflicts.

Jail: Even the jail gets in on it. In addition to the fines, lawyer fees, DMV fees, class fees, court fees, and a million other fees, the jail also charges money. They allow these low-risk offenders to perform public service, for a steep fee. Yup, they charge you not to be their guest. So not only do they don’t have to spend money feeding you and paying guards to watch you, they get to charge you money for the privilege. The Sherriff’s department doesn’t really want you in their jails. They would rather just have the money. The whole thing just struck me as en extortion racket.

What Is Drunk?: Another thing that peeves me about the drunk driving laws is how they define drunk. It strikes me as extremely simplistic to claim that someone who is .079999 is perfectly fine to drive, and someone who is .00001 more than that is drunk and get the full brunt of the law thrown at him or her.

What they do here in Western Australia, that I think is a smart idea, is to define multiple levels of drunk drivers. Blow 0.05, and you are on the first level of drunk driving. A .06 is the next, up to 0.08 where you are considered to be criminally drunk. Each level has it's own punishments that get measurably more serious as the level goes up.

The Solution: I am convinced that the elimination of drunk driving is the last thing that the state and local justice departments want. Because if they really did want to eliminate it, then they would implement real solutions. Not just feel-good solutions that serve principally as a source of revenue.

They should eliminate all the money. It has corrupted them. If they were serious, then they should simply sentence first time drunk drivers to a year in prison. Nothing else. No forced classes that they won’t pay attention to. No cleaning parks in lue of jail time. No enormous DUI industry. People will learn soon enough how serious drunk-driving is when they know they are going to locked up for a year for doing it.

Until that happens, the whole thing is nothing but a money making extortion racket.

The Lazy Ass Award goes to...

This sounds so cool! I would have been laughing my ass off. A guy and his dog slowing driving around Sears looking for the tool department. Talk about lazy!

Truckin' through the mall leads to arrest
Last Updated Tue, 05 Jul 2005 09:38:40 EDT
CBC News

Police in Edmonton have laid charges after a man drove his truck through a sliding door into the city's biggest shopping mall, calmly drove around for five minutes, then left through another exit.

The bizarre incident began at around 5 p.m. Sunday, when staff at the West Edmonton Mall heard a loud noise, they told local newspapers.

They looked up to see a blue Dodge Dakota wending its way through the Sears department store. The driver was wearing sunglasses, and a large dog was sitting at his side in the vehicle's front seat.

The pair left through another set of doors.

Both entrances were damaged in the incident.

Police stopped a truck in downtown Edmonton a short time later. The 35-year-old driver has been charged with dangerous driving and mischief, as well as driving a vehicle without a valid registration and insurance.

Animal control officials took control of the dog found in the truck.

Reminds me of an incident last year here in Perth. The police were called when a jogger reported a car driving on a the running track of a public athletic field. It turns out the driver was taking his dog for a walk and didn't want to bother to walk himself. So he put the dog on a leash, set him outside the car, and slowly drove circles on the track as the dog walked along side the car.

I mean how lazy can you get?

No sex tonight?

From a friend of mine...

No sex tonight?

I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ so much. And I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing. I have never figured out why men think with their head and women with their heart. FOR EXAMPLE: One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed. Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says "I don't feel like it. I just want you to hold me."

I said "WHAT????!!! What was that?!"

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to hear..."You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for me to satisfy your physical needs as a man."

She responded to my puzzled look by saying, "Can't you just love me for who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?"

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to sleep. The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big, big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried on several different very expensive outfits. She couldn't decide which one to take so I told her we'll just buy them all. She wanted new shoes to compliment her new clothes, so I said lets get a pair for each outfit. We went onto the jewellery department where she picked out a pair of diamond earrings. Let me tell you...she was so excited. She must have thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even know how to play tennis. I think I threw her for a loop when I said, "That's fine, honey."

She was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement. Smiling with excited anticipation she finally said, "I think this is all dear, let's go to the cashier." I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, "No honey, I don't feel like it."

Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled "WHAT???!!!"

I then said, "Really honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while. You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman."

And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added, "Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy you?"

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either.

Slipping on by

It is winter here in Perth now. That means almost every day there are rain squalls coming through every 30 minutes or so. This rain makes riding the train to work fun. When the rails get wet, the train conductors sometime have problems stopping. Like this morning. It is fun to watch the passengers waiting on the platform witness their train slide past, brakes squeeling, coming to a stop way past the station. Sometimes the conductor just gives up and keeps going, leaving the passengers stranded.

A fly in the urinal

Now this is a good idea! These photos are of the men's urinals at the Amsterdam Airport. Notice the little black fly? The fly is not real. It is embossed on the porcelain. It is a trick invented by the Dutch to reduce the amount of piss that splashes out of the urinal by giving men a target. Apparently, men can't help but try to aim for the fly. It is reported that this reduces the mess in men's restrooms by up to 80%!!!

The managers at New York's JFK Airport know a good thing when they see it. They have copied the idea for their urinals. So have the Germans.

This, and other fascinating photos of urinals from around the globe are on www.urinal.net. They even have a map of urinals throughout North America. Jeeze. What's wrong with just pissing behind a tree?

Canada's most hated woman is released

Karla Homolka (1993)

I see in the news that Karla Homolka is due to be released from prison today. Her and her husband were convicted of the rape and murder of two teenage girls back in 1993. For those who don't know of her, she could be considered to be a Canadian version of Susan Atkins of the Charles Manson 'Family'. Except in Karla's case, she outraged Canadians by locking in a plea-bargain of a 12 year sentence before the full extent of her role in the crimes became known. Hence, she is getting released today.

The definitive book about her and her husband's crimes is 'Deadly Innocence', which I read back in 1999. What a scary book!

Well, I wonder how many steps she will go before she is shot? Perhaps Vegas odd-makers are taking bets?

20 million years old ... gone in 60 seconds

Before...and after

Along the southeast coast of Australia, in the state of Victoria (East of Melbourne), is the Great Ocean Road. Think of it as an Australian version of California's Highway 1 through Big Sur. One of the landmarks on this road is a cluster of monolithic limestone rocks off the coast named The Twelve Apostles. There are actually only 9 of them. Now, there are only 8. Sunday, one collapsed. It was witnessed by a small number of tourists who took the photos seen here.

Click HERE for the news story.

Free annual credit report

For my friends and family in the US. I hope that you are aware that thanks to changes in federal law that you are now eligible to receive a free credit report from the three CRA's every year.

Go to www.annualcreditreport.com to receive yours.

I did mine. I was able to access two of my three reports online. Experian claimed they could not find mine and told me that I need to call them to get it.

This is your information and this is your right to view what the CRA's have on you. Use it or loose it. You should exercise this right every year from now on.

I also found that the Trans Union site allowed me to forever opt out from getting credit card solicitations from the data in my file. Less junk mail!

I have noticed that I can not get to the site from an Australian ISP. I have to remotely log on to a computer in the US and then use that computer to get to the site. They don't make it easy.

Why not North Korea?

I subscribe to a couple of Australian based political debating message boards. I find that often I am one of the more conservative persons on the board. Most other members being young, idealistic Aussies who tend to allow emotion to dictate their arguments.

I find that these people have the mistaken idea that the US has the ability to solve all of the world's problems overnight. They feel that all the problems in the world must be caused by the US deliberately allowing them to occur. Since we have the power to control everything, then it must be our fault.

Those who disagree with the US invasion of Iraq use the same arguments over and over again. They reason that if the US invaded Iraq because it felt threatened, then why have we not used the same excuse to attack North Korea? The answer, in their minds, is because the reason for Iraq is something else. Usually they subscribe to much more sinister reasons, from stealing Iraq’s oil to George Bush wanting to prove his worth to his father.

The flaw in their reasoning is that they are comparing apples to oranges. NK is not Iraq. Iraq is not NK. True, Bush named both as members of the “Axis of Evil”. But that does not mean that the solution to one threat must be identical to another. Nor does it mean that that all must be dealt with in the same time frame.

Using this logic, these same people would be yelling about the hypocrisy of the US attacking the German and Italian armies in North Africa and Europe after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in WWII. They would have been jumping up and down asking why we were wasting lives and money in Europe when the Japanese were running around Asia doing whatever they wanted.

I’ve given the matter a lot of thought and frankly I think that we correct in not doing to NK what we did to Iraq. I also can not see a scenario that would require it. Here is why.

Reason #1: The 800 Pound Gorilla.
In regards to the threats from North Korea, the 800 pound gorilla is China. North Korea shares a long border with China, longer that the border with South Korea. North Korea is a product of Mao Se Tung’s China. The bottom line is, China has more to loose if NK attacks than almost anyone else. China is North Korea’s best friend and their worst enemy. At the end of the day, the US doesn’t have to deal with NK. China will.

Reason #2: Real threats versus rhetoric.
Despite all the rhetoric and saber rattling coming from North Korea, they haven’t attacked any one recently. Saddam did, more than once.

Reason #3: Kim Jong Il is Contained.
Despite Kim Il Jong’s absolute grip on power in NK, he has no fans outside of his borders. He doesn’t have the ability to claim to represent all Asians. Saddam, in the other hand, tried to export his cult-of-personality outside of Iraq. He came to see himself as a leader of all Arab people. Many Arabs outside of Iraq looked to Saddam as a hero and a role model. The same can’t be said of Kim Il Jong.

Reason #4: China’s World Role.
China today wants to be part of the world. They have in the last 30 years come a long way towards opening up trade, relations, and information to the world. Like a drunken uncle showing up at a family wedding, they don’t want NK to spoil things for them. They don’t get anything from NK but headaches. If push comes to shove, NK is going to find out the hard way how hard China can hit.

Yes, China saved NK in the Korean war. They had their own reasons for doing so. I think that Kim Il Jung is betting that China's "special" friendship will save his ass. I think he is betting wrong.

Reason #5: Oil.
Yep. Even oil is a factor. NK is not a threat to any critical resources. Saddam was a threat to the Middle East oil supply. More importantly, the oil funded Saddam. The only thing that NK has been able to do to get money is sell missiles to Iran and get into the drug smuggling business. The bottom line is, NK doesn’t have anything the world needs or wants. NK is finding it much more difficult to sustain itself and has a greater chance of collapsing under its own weigh. Saddam was able to export oil to fund his dictatorship.

Reason #6: The Reality of War.
If NK did manage to ignite a war, then China will end up with a mess on their hands that they frankly don’t want. If NK attacks SK, Japan, or the US, then China will find itself with an ugly war in their own back yard. I don’t think China will allow things to get to that point. I think that NK’s days are numbered. If Kim Il Jong gets to the point where China truly feels that war is imminent, then they will have no choice but to invade. And frankly, it won’ be pretty. North Korea will simply cease to exist.

I think China is simply waiting for NK to either collapse, or evolve into something more benign. But if they feel they have to act, then I think they will. And it would not surprise me at all if they tell the US about what they doing, and why, and perhaps even ask for help.

Think about it. China doesn’t need a nuclear war in their backyard. They also don’t want US troops stationed on their border. Nor do they want millions of starving Koreans invading them. So if they run low on choices, then they will do what they have to do, which is to take out NK.