Descartes walks into a bar....

René Descartes

So René Descartes walks into a bar, sits down, and orders a drink. The bartender peers into the parking lot and says "Hey Descartes, your headlamps are on," whereby Descartes replies, "I think NOT."

---funnnney! :-)

Shelby Foote (1916-2005) RIP

Shelby Foote

Shelby Foote died yesterday
--> Obit on CNN

US Supreme Court decision on eminent domain

Man. I can't believe that the USSC decided that it is OK for governments to take private property to give to other private property developers. It is not like it is a going for a public road, park, or building. What a load of crock!

Some good news. A man has figured out a way to use this new power to screw over one of the Supreme Court Justices. He wants to build Hotel Lost Liberty on Justice Souter's home property in NH. Where do I sign up?

Weare, New Hampshire (PRWEB) Could a hotel be built on the land owned by Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter? A new ruling by the Supreme Court which was supported by Justice Souter himself itself might allow it. A private developer is seeking to use this very law to build a hotel on Souter's land.

Justice Souter's vote in the "Kelo vs. City of New London" decision allows city governments to take land from one private owner and give it to another if the government will generate greater tax revenue or other economic benefits when the land is developed by the new owner.

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."

Clements indicated that the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.

"This is not a prank" said Clements, "The Towne of Weare has five people on the Board of Selectmen. If three of them vote to use the power of eminent domain to take this land from Mr. Souter we can begin our hotel development."

Clements' plan is to raise investment capital from wealthy pro-liberty investors and draw up architectural plans. These plans would then be used to raise investment capital for the project. Clements hopes that regular customers of the hotel might include supporters of the Institute For Justice and participants in the Free State Project among others.

This ruling is crazy. Foundations like The Nature Conservancy could loose the land they bought to protect from development. You could loose your own house because the city wants to put a shopping mall there.

Battle of Trafalgar re-enactment

Admiral Nelson

Yesterday off the coast of Britain, thousands watched a re-enactment of the battle Battle of Trafalgar. For those who don't know what this is, it was a sea battle in 1805 off the coast of Trafalgar, Spain. The British Royal Navy, under the command of Admiral Nelson, destroyed the combined sea forces of France and Spain. It gave Britain command of the seas for 200 years.

Now what has me puzzled is why on earth did France and Spain agree to participate? That would be like the US navy agreeing to reenact 1941's Pearl Harbor attack.

MS Word Radio Butttons

This post is technical. It provides a way to implement radio-button style check boxes in a Microsoft Word document. This is something that Microsoft seems to have overlooked.

How to Create Mutually Exclusive Check Boxes by Using a Macro

Background: A friend of mine was using MS Word to produce a survey for her office. She wanted to allow the user to open the document and select one 6 ratings for a survey by selecting a check box. She found out that there was no way in Word to have the other check boxes turn "off" when one was turned on. She called me for help. I wrote her this small VB solution. It is very flexible and can be used by anyone.

Microsoft offers a solution to this problem on their website. But it is really lame because it requires the user to update the program every time they add, change, or remove a check box. I figured I could do better and make one that would never need to be changed. Mine is smart enough to figure out how to group checkboxes without the user having to learn how to program.

• In your Word document, go to Tools > Macro > Visual Basic Editor. This will launch the MS Visual Based editor.
• In the Project Explorer Window you will see your project with a folder named "Microsoft Word Objects".
• In that folder you will see "ThisDocument". Double click on that to open up the code window.
• Then insert the follow code.

Sub Radio_Check_Box() ' ================================================================ ' This program allows a MS Word document to have check-boxes that ' behave like radio buttons. ' By Ron Larson - ron.d.larson@gmail.com ' May 2005 ' ================================================================ ' Use Instructions ' To use this, specify 'Radio_Check_Box' in the field 'Entry' ' under 'Run Macro On' in the properties for a check box. ' - Right click a check box ' - Select 'Properties' ' - Pull down the combo box under "Run Macro On Entry:" ' - Choose "Radio Check Box" ' - In "Field Settings - Bookmark" text box, enter a unique name ' this control in the format "groupid_value", where "groupid" ' is a common name between the checkboxes in the radio button ' group, and "value" is unique within the group and represents ' the value selected. ' ================================================================ ' Details ' The program works by grouping check boxes on the active document ' by a common name. This is called a "group name". It assumes that ' all checkboxes that share the same group name as part of a radio ' group collection. ' If a member of the group is selected, the program scans the ' document for other checkboxs that share the same group name and ' turns them off. This way, only one check box in the group can ' be on. ' ' A document can have more then one group. ' ' A check box does not have to belong to a group. This can be ' specifed by not putting a name in the bookmark field. Or putting ' a name that does not have a "_". Or by putting a name that is ' unique within the document. ' ' Clicking a check-box that is controlled by this logic will only ' turn it on. It will not turn off. ' ================================================================ ' Group Name ' The key to this is the bookmark name you select for your checkbox. ' That is what connects the checkbox in a radio-button relationship ' with each other. ' ' The program assumes that all checkboxes that are part of the same ' radio-button group will have a common group name. The bookmark ' name is formatted as 'groupname_value". ' "groupname" is the name of group of check boxes. ' "value" is a unuque value ' ' Example: A form as two check boxes as an answer to a "Yes/No" ' question. The names should be "question1_yes" and "question1_no". ' The group name is "question1", and the values are "yes" and "no". ' ' Example: A form has rating question where the user is asked to ' rate the information as helpful on a scale of 1 to 9. ' The names should be "rating_1", "rating_2", "rating_3",... ' and "rating_9". The group name is "rating". ' ' ================================================================ Dim fSelectedField As FormField Dim selected_group, selected_name As String ' Go Through each of the selected fields selected_group = "" selected_name = "" For Each fSelectedField In Selection.FormFields ' Form field must be a check box. ' What is my checkbox's group name? If fSelectedField.Type = wdFieldFormCheckBox Then selected_name = fSelectedField.Name selected_group = formfield_group_name(fSelectedField.Name) Else Return End If Next ' Go Through each of the fields For Each fSelectedField In ActiveDocument.FormFields ' Form field must be a check box. If fSelectedField.Type = wdFieldFormCheckBox Then ' See if we are on top of the check box we selected If fSelectedField.Name = selected_name Then fSelectedField.CheckBox.Value = True Else ' No.. see if it is a member of our group If selected_group = formfield_group_name(fSelectedField.Name) Then ' It is, so switch it off fSelectedField.CheckBox.Value = False End If End If End If Next End Sub Function formfield_group_name(field_name) As String ' ================================================================ ' Function to extract the group name from a control field name. ' The group name is left of the last "_" found in the name ' ================================================================ If IsNull(field_name) Then formfield_group_name = "" Return End If If Len(field_name) < 3 Then formfield_group_name = "" Return End If last_underscore = 0 For I = 1 To Len(field_name) If Mid(field_name, I, 1) = "_" Then last_underscore = I End If Next I If last_underscore > 0 Then formfield_group_name = Left(field_name, last_underscore) Else formfield_group_name = "" End If End Function

Then insert the check box form fields into the Word document. You will find them on the "Control Toolbox" toolbar.

Right click the check box and pull up properties.

• Set the default value to "Not Checked"
• Set Run Macro On Entry to "Radio_Check_Box"
• Set Bookmark to whatever name you want, such as "grp01_a".

The bookmark name must be unique for each checkbox in the document.

Dying on our dime

Last Sunday's Los Angeles Times Magazine featured a cover story titled "Dying on our dime". The article was about the growing population of older inmates in the California prison system and their staggering medical costs. It was a very interesting article. It uses an example of an 82 year old prisoner who needs kidney dialysis every day, which costs about $436k a year to provide.

The article goes on to suggest that the three-strikes-and-you're-out policies of late are going to cost staggering amounts of money as these three-strike prisoners age behind walls. It asks the reader to question to wisdom of that sentencing policy and its impact on their pocket book. It also suggests that older convicts are no longer a threat and should therefore be released.

I'm mentioning this article in my blog because I feel that it totally misses the point. The journalist who wrote this is failing to step back and look at the macro-economic picture. She does not address the question of who is going to pay for their medical care if they were not in prison?

The answer is Medicare (MediCal specifically). If they are old enough to be eligible for Medicare coverage, then that is what is going to pay their medical bills. Medicare is tax payer funded, just the like the prisons. The bottom line is, the taxpayers are going to have to pay for it no matter if the convict is in or out of prison.

So that makes the whole point of the article moot. The only question, and the real crime, is why does the CDC (Calif. Dept. of Corrections) allow themselves to be billed that much for what should be routine medical care?

The answer, I feel, is that the CDC does not want to fulfill its mission of providing medical care for its inmates. I think that they have embarked on a strategy of performing their duties so poorly that the state will have no choice but to take the job, and hence the responsibility, away from them. If they pay outrageous fees for poor service, the public, courts, and politicians will eventually demand reform.

I am not clear about the eligibility of inmates to receive Medicare benefits. Are they excluded from Medicare as long as they are imprisoned? If so, then California should demand that Medicare contribute to the medical expenses of elderly inmates

The solution is for California to demand that the CDC fulfill it's charter and come up with an effective solution for this. They know there is going to be a growing demand for aged medical care. They must bring the care to the inmates rather than paying the extra expense of bringing more and more inmates to the care (as in the example given). If they know they are going to have a lot of inmates who need dialysis, then bring the dialysis to them. Put the inmates with common medical needs together so that medical services can be delivered efficiently and cheaply.

For example, they could build an aged-care nursing home within a prison. They could build a CDC hospital next to a state medical school to give inmates in their custody close access to more advanced medical care. Rather than paying extra guards to drive these people all over.

Also, the state is going to have to recognize that the CDC nursing homes and hospital are going to have to be located in the urban areas and not stuck out in the middle of nowhere. They have to be closer to the medical and human resources that are needed to provide medical care. The closed Marine Air Base at Tustin in Orange County would have been perfect. Part of March AFB in Riverside would be good. The Mare Island Naval Station in Contra Costa would be good.

Doing this will go a long way towards detaching the issue of inmate health from the issues of justice, punishment, and reform.

American bashing at Aussie Universities

I saw this article about a thin-skinned Yank who fled Australia in tears after being taunted at a Queensland university.

Ignorant Aussies on the east coast call Americans "Sepos", which is short for "Septic Tank", which rhymes with "Yank", which is slang for "American". I know... it is a stretch. They use it because they want to "take the piss out of you". In other words, they want to get you riled up.

I've never been called a "sepo", at least to my face. One Aussie was about to. He got the "Se" out and I gave him a dirty look. The kind of that says "That is going to be your last word.". Then he shut up. It is not as common on the west coast. Perhaps because there are not as many Americans out here on this side of Australia.

I think if one was ever dumb enough to call me a sepo, I'd put him in a headlock, slam his head into the wall, then buy him a beer and get drunk with him.

Getting back to the article. I have run into leftist Aussies that hate Bush, the US, and all that stuff. I just dismiss them as clueless pinko commies that haven't a clue as to what they are talking about. If they really had things their way, they would be speaking Japanese or Chinese as slaves in a labor camp. They are idiots, and I don't worry about idiots.

I don't shy away from being American either. I'm more than willing to discuss the bad and good parts of my country. I know we are not perfect. I don't pretend that we are.

So to the Oregon student that fled home...Grow some balls for Christ's sake.

Puzzle

A friend sent me this puzzle last night. I can't believe it stumped me for more than a minute! Arrrgh.

3 men go into a motel. The man behind the desk said the room is $30, so each man paid $10 and went to the room. A while later the man behind the desk realized the room was only $25, so he sent the bellboy to the 3 guys' room with $5. On the way the bellboy couldn't figure out how to split $5 evenly between 3 men, so he gave each man $1 and kept the other $2 for himself. This meant that the 3 men each paid $9 for the room, which is a total of $27, add the $2 that the bellboy kept = $29.

Where is the other dollar?

The future of movie theaters

Tuesday's merger announcement of AMC Entertainment and Loews Cineplex - two of the USA's biggest theater operators - underscores the industry's attempt to bolster profits in an era of sagging attendance and competition from other entertainment sources.

Read the writing on the screen. The days of huge multiplex theaters are over. I think this is a good thing for the public.

The moving going experience today is just too much. The prices here in Australia are around AUD$16, which works out to about USD$12. I think they are around $10 in the US now. Then you have to stand in line, pay for overpriced popcorn and soft drinks. Then when you are in the theatre, they make you watch 30 minutes of commercial ads mixed with previews. In the mean time there are mobile phones going off. People chatting, etc. . If you take a date to a movie, you could be out about $50.

I know I rarely go to a theater any more. Perhaps 2-3 times a year, tops.

The film industry, to its credit, has been smart on how it now distributes films. Rather than be afraid of the home entertainment market, they embrace it. They now make more money from the DVD release of a film than the theater release of a film. You can buy a film on DVD for about the same price it costs to see it in the theater. If you have a family, it makes economic sense, since the whole family can watch it for the price of one purchase.

Where they have gotten smart is to allow the price of DVD's to be low enough to both make them impulse purchases, and to make the pirate and online versions of films simply not worth the bother. The music industry on the other hand insists on charging big bucks for every CD, dispute the fact that the CD may suck, or that it costs them nothing to produce each CD.

The DVD's also offer the consumer more options, with extras, director's cuts, etc. I know I like being able to pause a film to use the restroom, take a phone call, or simple continue to watch it the next day. I like being able to rewind if I did not understand some critical dialog. I like not being forced to sit through commercial ads, and having to be further insulted by knowing that I paid a lot of money for the priviledge.

However, I don't think that movie theaters are going to disappear. They still serve a purpose, which won't go away. They work well for dates, and are still needed. How else are you going to get to strangers to sit together in a dark room? It allows them to spend some time together without being forced to talk to each other. It gives them a safe subject to talk about afterwards.

I am seeing what I think is going to be the future of theaters going on right here in Australia. They are called "Gold Class" theaters. They have smaller rooms, with pairs of nice Lazy-boy reclining chairs and a small table between. They offer beer, wine, pizza, and sushi. They have waiters who bring your food and drinks to you. They do not bombard you with ads before hand. It is actually a pleasant experience. They will be expensive, but I think people will feel they are worth it from time to time.

The home entertainment market is good for the film fan. It gives the studios a new market for their films. Better yet, it allows them to produce films that are not geared for mass market teen-agers. They can make a good film for adults, and let the rental and buyer market pick it up. Films like "Shawshank Redemption" failed in the theaters, but redeemded themselves many times over in the home entertainment market once people started to tell their friends about it.

The mom-n-pop corner video rental store is going to change too, if they survived. They were killed by the large chains. I don't like Blockbuster and Hollywood video stores who only seem to stock the latest Hollywood crap and not much more of anything else. I think that the smaller boutique video stores will survive as the big chains fail. They are going to switch to a rent-n-keep policy. If you rent the movie, and like it, then for a reasonable fee you can keep it. They will be able to stock more varied titles to cater to all tastes. The big chains are going to be caught between the boutiques, and Walmart, Target, and Bestbuy selling the same video that people used to rent. The won't be able to compete on either end of the market.

Smart little kid!

BBC NEWS: Boy hailed for air safety gadget

A Scots schoolboy has been praised by airport bosses after inventing a gadget which could help prevent plane crashes. Daryn Murray's Aircraft Debris Protector warns pilots of dangerous material lying on runways before they prepare to land.

The 12-year-old from East Kilbride was inspired by the Concorde crash near Paris which was thought to have been caused by a metal strip on the runway.

The British Airport Authority (BAA) is keen to develop the idea. The operator, which owns Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports, believes it could make runways extra safe. The detector works by using a camera attached to a remote controlled device which rolls along a small track on the side of the runway. The camera is able to pick out images of any potentially dangerous debris from the ground and send warning messages to aircraft using the runway.

The French Concorde crash in 2000 was believed to have been caused after a tyre was punctured by debris.

Daryn entered his gadget into the Young Engineers for Britain competition at Hampden Park on Friday. Daryn said: "My uncle is a pilot and I'm really into planes. I decided I wanted to try and make something that would make people more confident about flying and help out pilots too.
"The machine can detect debris up to as small as a nut." The Duncanrig Secondary pupil, who wants to be a mechanical engineer, added: "I'm really pleased with it."

BAA Scotland's engineering director Colin Crichton, who chaired the judging panel, said it could add to the runway inspection process. He said: "Daryn's idea could offer an additional safety measure, and we're keen to speak to him about how he can develop his idea. "We'll be inviting him to Glasgow Airport to go behind the scenes and meet the team who safeguard the runway."

David Aitken, head of craft, design and technology at Duncanrig Secondary, said: "It does appear to address a need. "It attracted a lot of interest with the judges but needs to be developed a bit further. "It wouldn't take a great deal of investment to install this in airports - Daryn's model was made for around £100.

"I think there will be more contact between BAA and myself in the future."

Story from BBC NEWS: Published: 2005/06/20 15:32:31 GMT © BBC MMV

Madness

Some recent incidents in the news really make me wonder. What is up with Islamic nuts? They are truly mad.

Yesterday in Nashville, Tennessee, local Muslims are all bent out of shape because the police did not immediately respond to their multiple 911 calls. They were calling because a guy found a defaced Koran on his doorstep.

Yes, that is right. They called 911. Not just once, but multiple times. The police were busy dealing with real emergencies at the time and just didn't get over there for a couple of hours. Why, that's discrimination! Shame on those police for not being hyper-sensitive about a damaged book. They should have let the American infidels die while they comfort the poor Muslim who discovered the horrendous artifact.

To make matters worse, the damn police apologized to the local Muslims for the delay. That is bullshit. They should have prosecuted them for abusing the 911 emergency system with stupid crap like this.

What are we teaching our kids?

Read in the news today about an 11 year old Boy Scout in Utah that got lost in the wilderness for 4 days. He did a good job surviving. However, he hid from rescuers trying to find him because he was trained to never talk to strangers.

That is sad. It is very sad that we are so afraid that we train our children to assume that EVERY person out there means us harm. Yes, there are monsters out there. But they, on the whole, far and few between.

I don't have kids. But I don't think that I would want to raise one to be fearful. There is of course common sense. But you have to let me grow up. They have to take some risks. Otherwise, what do they become? Afraid of everything?

He wanted to know what it is like to be married!

I saw this article in today's newspaper. It cracks me up. He probablly is better off than if he had been married to her, divorced, and then been screwed over by a nasty divorce attorney.

Still. He was an adiot. You got to hand it to her though. Only 31 and manages to own a handful of properties in Sydney. She must be doing something right.

Hooker keeps house sold by client
Vanda Carson
22jun05

A PROSTITUTE can keep a house sold to her at a massive discount by an infatuated former customer after the NSW Supreme Court ruled she did not exploit his emotional attachment to her.

Fang Lin, known as Christine Lin, who successfully argued that she had only a professional relationship with electrician Dan Yun Xu, can keep the house, on Sydney's north shore, which is valued at up to $900,000.

Mr Xu, 57, who had paid Ms Lin, 31, for sex over six years, sold the house to her two years ago at an agreed price of $700,000 but she only paid $560,000.

Mr Xu asked judge Reg Barrett to order Ms Lin to give him back the house or repay him. He said he had sold the house to Ms Lin to try to persuade her to leave her job as a prostitute at several Sydney brothels and live with him and have his child. Mr Xu said it was his way of expressing love and affection for Ms Lin.

"If I didn't sell, I would have lost her," he said.

Mr Xu said Ms Lin threatened to end contact with him if he did not sell her the house, a claim Ms Lin denied.

But the pair never lived together and Mr Xu now lives alone in the Chatswood house following his transfer of the property to her name. He pays rent to Ms Lin, who continues to work as a prostitute and now owns several investment properties in Sydney, according to yesterday's judgment. Justice Barrett found Mr Xu was infatuated with Ms Lin and was deluded in believing his feelings were reciprocated.

"He sold to the defendant ... as a means of attempting to advance his relationship and to ingratiate himself with her," Justice Barrett said.

During the six years Mr Xu was Ms Lin's client he showered her with gifts and gave her money on top of what he paid for sex. He visited her at brothels and they went on dates to the Sydney Casino, to restaurants and on an overnight trip to Canberra.

Ms Lin charged $500 for a typical night out, which included dinner and sex.

"Throughout some six years, there was no mutual commitment to an emotional relationship beyond intimacy incidental to the prostitute-client relationship," Justice Barrett said.

Mr Xu had sex with other prostitutes during the six years, and Ms Lin had "four or five" other clients she saw regularly as well as her brothel work. Just because Mr Xu had been foolishly generous and made an "imprudent bargain" did not mean the court should overturn the deal, the judge said.

Mr Xu had argued that a card celebrating the anniversary of their meeting - given to him by Ms Lin - proved their relationship was real. The card, picturing a boy and girl with their arms around each other, said: "In you I've found the love of my life and the closest truest friend of my heart. Happy Anniversary".

Ms Lin had added in her own writing: "Til death shall part us and our hearts will always remain as one. Still want to marry you. From the person who loves you the most."

But Ms Lin told the court the card was just "a game or a joke" where she played the role Mr Xu wanted her to play.

Mr Xu's lawyer said he planned to appeal the decision.

Shadow Ministers

They have a political entity here in Australia called a Shadow Minister. I keep seeing these shadow ministers being interviewed and quoted on the news. So I finally had to ask, "What the hell is a shadow minister?"

The obvious answer would be someone in the government who is in charge of shadows. Why? I have no idea. Did they figure out how to tax them or something? It turns out that a shadow minister is what I would term an "anti-minister".

A government minister is a top ranking official in charge of department of the government. It is sort of like a secretary position in the US, such as out secretary of defense, secretary of state, and so on. And like in the US, they are usually assigned their jobs by whoever is in charge. In Australia, the Prime Minister. In the US, the President.

The prime minister belongs to a political party, so they of course assign these minister jobs ("posts" as they call them here) to people in their own party. The other political party then assigns what they call a "shadow minister" to the same post. However, the shadow minister doesn't actually have the job. They just get to pretend they do.

It works like fantasy baseball. You don't get to actually own a baseball team. But you could pretend you do. You could pretend to buy and sell players, win games, and loose games. You get to second guess the decisions of the real owners and managers.

In Australia, the party not in power sets up a complete shadow cabinet of shadow ministers. Just like a complete fantasy baseball team. They get to run around in their fantasy world making decisions that have zero concequences because non of it is real. What a great system. You get to claim that you have solved all the countries problems with your fantasy government inside your virtual country on planet la-la-land.

Now here is where it get silly. From what I've observed living here, a shadow minister has the easiest job in the world. All you have to as a shadow minister is criticize any decisions made by the real minister by claiming that you would not do the same thing. How hard is that? Just say the opposite of what the real minister says and you've done your job!

For example. Lets say that the minister of polishing apples issues a decree that apples must now be polished clockwise instead of counter-clockwise (or anti-clockwise as they say here). The nightly news will then have the shadow-minister of polishing apples storming up the steps of parliament surrounded by aids carrying important looking papers loudly proclaiming that the minister of a butt-head and that he would not to the same thing.

Now here is the funny part. The press actually interviews shadow ministers! Yup. They take them seriously. Why? I have no idea. I think it is simply a lazy way for the press to claim they are presenting a balance of news.

So the reporter breathlessly asks the shadow minister. "What do you think of today's decision by the minister?" Well no shit Sherlock. Of course that is what he is going to say "I would do the opposite." Do you think he is going to say "Yea. That's a good idea! I would do the same thing." Of course not. How else do they differentiate themselves from their opposition party?

National Council for Uneducated Americans

A friend of mine sent me those postcards from The National Council for Uneducated Americans . Click on image for full size view.

Pet Kangaroos

A co-worker of mine is going to spend next week house sitting his parent's country house out side of Perth in the hills. They have a few acres backed up to the national forest. They need him to feed the animals while they are away.

Some of the animals he has to feed are 15 or so pet kangaroos that his mother has. They are not totally domesticated. They run around in the forest at night doing whatever it is roos do at night in the forest (they 'play'... as Darrel puts it). They stop at his parents house in the evening for dinner before heading off to the forest. He told that his mother has been doing this for years and now she is feeding the 3rd or 4th generation of this family of roos.

He told me that if they are not fed, they get rather 'snippy' and start kicking on the front door. It that doesn't work, they then start going around the house tapping on the windows to remind the occupants that it is feeding time.

He said that you can pet the young joeys. But when they get older, you can't really play with them. They have very sharp nails on their feet and paws. And they are very strong, fast, and have a nasty kick.

I asked Darrel if he can film the roos begging for dinner. I'd like to see that!

Sore Looser

Douglas Wood

Six weeks ago, an Australian/American named Douglas Wood was kidnapped in Iraq by insurgents. Here in Australia, the highest ranking Muslim cleric, Sheik Taj El-Din Al Hilaly, decided to personally go to Iraq and negotiate the release of Mr. Woods.

Sheik El-Hilaly

Sheik El-Hilaly is a controversial figure here in Australia. He is very abrasive and had more than his share of controversy in the past with inflammatory statements. He recently gave a sermon at the Sidon mosque in Lebanon in which he told believers that one day a muezzin will call out "Allahu Akbar!" from the top of the White House, and that "September 11 is God's work against oppressors."

So off Sheik El-Halaly went with all kinds of fanfare and promises. Most people, including me, felt happy that he was doing this. This selfless act was seen as a positive thing for both him and his congregation. It would go a long ways towards repairing the damage he has done with his past statements and actions.

Over the last few weeks or so he would pop up in the news claiming that he was close and it would be a matter of hours before Woods would be released. After a while, he became the boy-who-cried-wolf. He seemed to be running around making a lot of noise, but accomplishing nothing. Somehow he ended up in Egypt, for medical care he claimed.

Last Friday, Mr. Woods was found locked up in a house in Baghdad by Iraqi and American troops conducting lighting raids on suspected insurgent safehouses. After a brief gun battle with the captors, he and two fellow prisoners were freed by the troops.

Today, Sheik El-Hilaly has claimed that the raid to free Mr. Woods was irresponsible. He claims that he had negotiated the release of Mr. Woods. He claims that Mr. Woods was placed in that house by his kidnappers (along with the other two) as the agreed place to be found by the troops. He describes that raid as irresponsible because they were going to be released in 12 hours anyhow, as negotiated by him. [Click here for the story]

This is so stupid. There is nothing wrong with coming home empty handed. At least he tried and people would have respected him for that. But no. He has to try to steal credit where credit is not due. He just managed to undo any goodwill he gained by being a sore looser.

Medication...

In pharmacology, all drugs have two names - a trade name and a generic name.

For example, the trade name of Tylenol is acetaminophen. Aleve is known as naproxen, Amoxil is amoxicillin, and Advil is ibuprofen.

The FDA has been looking for a generic name for Viagra. After consideration by a team of government experts, it recently announced it has settled on the generic name of mycoxafloppin. Also considered were mycoxafailin, mydixadrupin, mydixarizin, mydixadud, dixafix, and of course, ibepokin.

Pfizer Corp. is making an announcement soon that Viagra will soon be available in liquid form and will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power beverage suitable for use as a mixer. Pepsi's proposed ad campaign claims it will now be possible for a man to literally, pour himself a stiff one. Obviously, we can no longer call this a soft drink. This additive gives new meaning to the names of cocktails, highballs and just a good old-fashioned stiff drink. Pepsi will market the new concoction by the name of Mount & Do.

The long-term implications of drugs and medical procedures must be fully considered: Over the past few years, more money has been spent on breast implants and Viagra than was spent on Alzheimer's research. It is believed that by the year 2030, there will be a large number of people wandering around with huge breasts and erections who can't remember what or who they're doing.

The film "The Aviator"

I rented the movie "The Aviator" this weekend. This is Martin Scorsese's biography of Howard Hughes, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I was really let down. What a disjointed film! It was certainly not "Citizen Kane".

Robin watched it with me. She gave up trying to follow it and went downstairs to read a book. I don't blame her. At least I know something of the history of Hughes, so I understood some of the context of the the scenes.

My fault with the film is that no background is presented in order to put what you are seeing into a context. In particular, no where in the film does it explain (or did I miss it) that Hughes' money came from his father's oil tool business in Houston Texas?

The film opens with some bizzare scene of a little boy being bathed by a woman in a sensual way. They don't try to explain who the woman is. You might guess it is his mother. Then it jumps to a 20 something punk directing a WWI aviation film called "Hell's Angels". What is the connection? Is the director the same little boy we saw earlier?

I also noticed that the film does not attempt to put events into any kind of time frame and current events. One has to assume that the Great Depression is going on. Or that WWII has broken out.

The film totally overlooked the brilliance of Hughes when it came to marketing his film "The Outlaw" starring Jane Russell's breasts. The film does discuss the problems the film had with the MPAA. But in reality the film, when first released, flopped. Hughes decided to withdrawl the film from the market and started the rumour that it had been censored and was "too hot" to show. He gave the rumour enough time to gain momentum until the public couldn't wait to see what was so awesome that the film was banned. It was a stoke of maketing genius that wasn't repeated until Terry Gilliam's masterpeice "Brazil" was produced in 1985.

I can go on with example after example. You need a cheatsheet with the film to understand what it going on.

So, read his bio first. Then watch the film.

Ugly American?

Thursday night I went to the American ExPat Club's monthly get-together at a bar in Northbridge. I mostly went as an excuse to get out and have a beer. I really enjoyed the last one I went to where I met this girl from San Diego. Her husband is a cartoonist and she is a Daily Show fan like me. We ended up having a great time chatting.

This time it was different. I did not enjoy it. Only three people showed up, and they all smoke. So they took a table outside on the patio. It was cold and raining outside, so I froze while having to breath second-hand fumes. The San Diego woman and her husband couldn't make it. They have some cartoon deadlines they were late on.

Who did show up was a 41 year old woman from Birmingham Alabama. She is here in Perth going to college getting her masters. She works at a gas station convenience store when not going to school. She is huge, very overweight. She seems lonely and comes to these get togethers just to get out. She also seems to have a hard time finding or keeping friends. I quickly figured out why. She is depressing. She dominated the conversation and kept steering it back to her.

She struck me as one of those people that I categorize as "energy vampires". They are the people who have the ability to suck the joy and energy out of you. They don't enrich you, or bring value to your life. It is difficult to not feel sorry for these people. They always seem to victims of this or that. Your natural reaction is of course to offer help, advice, sympathy, whatever. But then you learn that they really enjoy being miserable. All of your efforts to help are wasted. They use their misery as a ploy for attention. It works. So why change?

The conversation of the evening, as directed by the energy vampire, revolved around how difficult and how long it takes to adjust to life in Perth, so far from home. She has been here for 3 years or so now. She is still struggling.

It just pissed me off. Who cares? You are in Australia. No shit they do things different. Yes, I have noticed. No, I don't let it bother me. I enjoy a lot of differences. Some I don't like. But I don't worry about it. I usually think they are funny.

Eventually she got on the subject of why they are different. She claims that the difference is that the US was founded by religious and political refugees who voluntarily moved. Versus Australia that was founded by convicts forced to come here for petty crimes.

She is a loud woman, and some Aussies sitting at a nearby table overheard her. That got them pissed off, so they started having a loud conversation about how they didn't like loud-mouth Yanks.

I'm not going to go to anymore of these meets if she is going to be there. I mentioned this to Robin and she agrees with me. She does not like her at all. We like some of the members They like to talk about what they are doing, and fun stuff, versus what they miss about home. I wonder if they can ban her?

Bad place to build a building

Near my office in West Perth is a train station for the Fremantle Line, the public transport train that runs through the western suburbs between Perth and Fremantle. When I take the train to work on rainy days, that is where I disembark.

Next to the station is a new construction project where they are building a new condominium tower. The pedestrian exit for the station goes right in front of the construction site. Often the passengers have to pick their way though trucks and equipment being unloaded at the site.

They have been working on it for over a year now. Progress is amazingly slow. I reckon that the developer must be getting his panties in a twist over the lack of progress.

I dawned on me today why nothing is getting done. Every time a train stops and disgorges passengers, all work on the site stops as all the workers pause to perv on all the good looking office girls walking by. The problem is that there is a train every 7.5 minutes. The trains run every 15 minutes, one northbound and one southbound. So about every 7.5 minutes a pack of passengers has to run the construction site gauntlet out of the station.

If the developer were smart, he would install a tall fence around the perimeter of the property to block the view of the outside world from the guys in the inside. It would probably pay for itself in a week of productivity gains.

Michael Jackson Verdict

Beware of this 'man'!

Man. I can't believe it. They let him walk. It is a sad day for children today. A wealthy pedophile monster is allowed to live amoung us and prey on the children of stupid star-struck parents.

Osama bin Laden as a modern Hannibal

Hannibal	Osama bin Laden

I watched an interesting documentary about Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who waged war again Rome, around 200 BC. I couldn't help but to notice the parallels between him and Osoma bin Laden. This is not praise for bin Laden. For all of Hannibal's strengths and victories, he ultimately failed, and failed spectacularly, in his quest to restore the glory of the Carthage empire.

Hannibal came from a respected and wealthy Carthage family.
Bin Laden comes from a respected and wealthy Saudi family.

Hannibal was born in a time when the vast and mighty Carthage empire was in decline and being eclipsed by a newer rising superpower, Rome.
Bin Laden is from a time after the collapse of the Ottoman empire, which was replaced by the rise of western superpowers, such as the Britain and the US.

Hannibal came to view Rome as the cause of Carthage's decline and failure. He hated Rome and wished to see it destroyed. He hated Rome's military might and their ability to control the once proud Carthage city/state.
bin Laden came to see the west as the cause of the decline of the Islamic caliph under the Ottomans. He hates the US's military might and their ability to buy, conjole, and interfere in the affairs of the Islamic nations.

Hannibal declared war on Rome and made it his life's mission to destroy it.
Bin Laden declared war on the US and made it his life's mission to destroy it.

Hannibal shunned personal glory and riches. He dressed, ate with, slept with, and fought along side his soldiers.
Bin Laden shuns personal glory and riches. He seems be fine living on the run in caves inhospitable areas with his trusted staff.

Hannibal invented new cunning methods of warfare against Rome. At first he succeeded. He was able to demonstrate the world that the Roman army was not invincible.
Bin Laden perfected new cunning methods of warfare against the west. He demonstrated that the US military was not invincible.

Hannibal was unable to use his military victories to persuade the allies of Rome to switch allegiances.
Bin Laden has been unable to use his victories to persuade the allies of the US to switch allegiances.

Hannibal ended up having to resort to terrorism to gain the support he needed for his campaign.
Bin Laden has to to use terrorism to get support from the Saudi Royal family.

Rather than fight Hannibal on their own turf. Rome took the battle to him by attacking the Carthage controlled silver mines in Spain. These mines are what funded Hannibal. Until Hannibal attacked Rome, Rome had been content letting the Carthagians profit from the mines since it gave them money to trade with Rome.
Rather than fight Al Qaida only in the US, the US took the battle to Bin Laden by attacking Afghanistan and Iraq. These places were providing sanctuary and support for him.

Hannibal had to leave Italy to defend his nation in Spain and north Africa.
Bin Laden has had to spend a lot of time and energy trying to keep control of his home base, the middle east, rather then spend their efforts on exporting his war.

Hannibal eventually lost his war. He spend the last 20 years of his life running and hiding from arrest warrants from Rome. He was eventually captured in what is now Turkey, where he committed suicide by poison as his captors closed in. He died alone, a broken and bitter man.
Bin Laden will loose his war. It may take 20 years to catch him. But he is on the run, always hunted. He will die alone, broken and bitter.

Rome never forgave Hannibal for his crimes against Rome They hunted him for the rest of his life.
The US will never forgive bin Laden for his crimes against the US. We will hunt him for the rest of his days.

US Social Security Rant

!--- Caution RANT Ahead -----!

I'm going to go on record here that I think Bush's plan for SS is terrible. I think he has the right idea, to expand the investment options for SS funds. But his proposed solution of individual self-directed accounts creates more problems than it solves.

Diversify Investment Options:
One problem is that Congress made the SS surplus a cheap line of credit for them to borrow from. There is nothing wrong with investing in government bonds. But to force a pension fund to invest only in low-yield bonds is a mistake. It goes against the wisdom of diversification of investment portfolio, and balanced risk versus yield for the time frame of the investment.

The solution is to free the SSA from these investment retrictions. Instead, they should allow them to manage themselves like any other pension fund. They should be able to hire the fund managers they think will meet their objectives. They should be able to make investments that they feel will return optimal returns within the given time frames.

The arguments against this is that people don't feel that the government should be investing in private industry because it creates a conflict of interest. Well, that conflict of interest is there anyhow. All the more reason to place the investment decisions in the hands of a board who are responsible to the investors versus Congress.

Perhaps this "conversion" can take place over a 5 year schedule to help midigate the impact on the federal budget. 20% of the surplus, per year, can be rolled out of cheap T-bills into a professionally managed pension fund.

Increase Revenue Contributions:
Right now, only the first $80k a year of income is taxed at 12.4% for SS contributions. Half is paid by the employer. Half is paid by the employee.

Part of the funding solution is to bring in more revenue by increasing the tax. This can be done by either raising the percentage, raising the cap, or a combination of both.

I think the best idea is a tiered tax. Keep the current system in place. Tax income from $80k to $100 at 6.2% percent, paid by the employee only. This way there is no additional tax burdon placed on business. Then tax $100k-$120k at 3.1%, again paid by the employee.

In addition, these limits ($80k, $100k, $120k) need to be re-evaluated and adjusted every 5 years to account for inflation.

Stop Automatic Benefit Increases:
It is financial suicide to saddle SS with automatic cost-of-living-adjustments (COLA) without an corresponding automatic adjustment on the contribution side. You can't give out more money than you take in. That is common sense.

Instead COLA should be tied to the investment health of the surplus fund and projected revenue. To have automatic increases is contributions through tax increases is politically impossible. No one wants an open-ended comittement. So therefore the only solution is to kill automatic COLA.periodic evalutation of contibutions.

Obiously increases will be needed to keep up with inflation. But these increases should only be funded by improved investment returns first, and contribution increases second.

Mandatory IRA Investment:
I believe that there should be more investment options for SS funds. The question is who will make the decisions? The individual, or the SSA? The private, self managed retirement accounts Bush wants to create already exist. They are called IRA's. They have been around since the 1970's and there is a well serviced and regulated industry in place. To create a new class of retirement accounts is overkill.

If the idea of self-managed retirement accounts is implement, then it could be done by simply mandating IRA invesment. Employers could send their share of the SS tax to an IRA account nominated by the employee.

Australia already does this. It is called SuperAnnuation. Employers are required to contribute 9% of an employee's salary to a retirement account. The employee is responsible for telling their employer what account to send the money to.

US employers already do this too for 401K and other pension contributions. They submit taxes withholding tax quarterly. It is not a stretch to simply add SS contributions to the same distribution system.

Investment Advice

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.

With Enron, you would have $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.

With WorldCom, you would have less than $5.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of Beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling price, you would have $214.00.

Based on the above, current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It's called the 401-Keg Plan! :)

A new low for the rent-a-celeb industry

Schapelle Corby

For those who have been following the Schapelle Corby drug smuggling case in Bali, Indonesia. Today her legal team announced that they had hired Anisa Tri Hapsari, Indonesia's most famous soap-opera star, to sway public opinion in Indonesia in favor of their convicted client.

What I have failed to find in these news reports is if the actress really believes in the cause. It is one thing to shill for a shady product or investment. But to stand up for convicted drug smuggler is something else. It could backfire on her since most Indonesians abhor drug smugglers.

I can't help but think that Corby's legal team just got ripped off.

Satellite Photos Online

Both the USGS and Google have put satellite photos of the US online, for free. They are so fascinating. You can waste a whole day looking up places you use to live and work. Or finding landmarks. Here are some interesting places I found. In general, the USGC photos are sharper, closer, and more detailed. They are also black and white. The Google photos are usually color, and not as high resolution.

For world-wide satellite photos, go to TerraServer. But they don't let you zoom in very far without a paid subscription.

• The US Naval Observatory in Washington DC, which is the official capital residence of Vice President Dick Cheney. Notice that Google's mapping service have this place blurred out.
• Top Secret Area 51 in Nevada, where the US military tests out their latest weapons. What is this? Or this?
• US Navy Base at Gitmo in Cuba.
• Mom's house. I can see my blue Dodge pickup truck in the driveway!
• World Trade Center after 9/11. You can see the hole in the ground. Sad.
• Hoover Dam, Mount Rushmore, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon North Rim
• Boeing 747 plant at Everett, Washington. That is the largest building on the planet.
• Trinity - Site of the world's first nuclear bomb detonation.
• Playboy Mansion West

Optical Illusions

Found this very interesting site from MIT about optical illusions. It is amazing what the brain can be tricked into seeing!

Overheard in New York

Damn. I ran into this awesome little website: Overheard In New York. It is a collection of snippets of converstations overheard in New York City, usually on the subway. There are some really weird people out there. Be afraid... very afraid!

Comic Book Artist

I met a fellow American here in Perth through the American Ex-Pats club who works in the comic book industry. Her husband is Aussie, and he is an artist who does the drawings for some of DC's comics. She does a lot of the technical and boring paper work that gets his art to the editors and publishers back in the US.

They are a very nice couple. She is originally from southern California. Graduated from UC San Diego. She worked for DC Comics, where she met her now husband. She is a self-described computer geek.

Robin and I went over to their house last night for drinks. They live in an really neat converted warehouse in Northbridge that was subdivided into units. Very interesting architecture, with high airy ceilings, hardwood floors, and lots of space. They have their office in what would be the dining room. They use the enormous Apple flat LCD monitors, which produce stunning images. They also have two beautiful Burmese cats that are so fun to play with.

When we came over, her husband was busy finishing up some illustrations that were due. The art work was fantastic. It was a very dark and gothic comic, with what looked liked vampirish monsters and violence. He was mixing punch out of real photos, such as snarling teeth, and embedding them into the faces of upside vampires. The effect was both very realistic and detailed fine comic art. I was very impressed.

Like me, she is a big fan of The Daily Show. She misses that about home. She manages to get episodes here, so she burned me some to CD so I can watch them. She also misses Mexican food.

I'm stoked. She sent me home with two CD's chock full of past episodes of The Daily Show. I'm going to have a good weekend!

Windows PC - Free Software List

Updated 15-July-2007

Since I seem to have always been the family IT geek who is pimped out to relatives and pumped for help, I've decided to post a list of free software that I feel any Windows machine should have.

Make sure that Windows has all the latest fixes installed. Run Windows Update from Internet Explorer, under the Tools menu.

Also make sure that there is enough memory. If there is less than 512MB, then install more. Otherwise, the machine will run like shit.

Install Anti-Virus and Spyware removal software first. Make sure there are no viruses or spies installed.

Security > Anti Virus:

• AVG Free Edition[GriSoft] - Anti-virus
• Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Classic[Avira] - Anti-virus
• Avast! 4 Home Edition[ALWIL] - Anti-virus

Below are free, online, virus scanners for periodic Virus Scans:

• Symantec Security Check[Norton] - These guys make Norton Anti-virus!!!
• BitDefender[] - Can only use with MS Internet Explorer because of ActiveX
• Trend Micro Housecall[Trend Micro]
• Panda Software Activescan[Panda Software]

Security > Anti Spy Ware:

• Ad-Aware SE[Lavasoft] - Spyware detection and removal
• SpyWare Blaster[JavaCool] - Prevent installation of spyware programs

Security > Windows Vulnerabilities:
Windows often comes with services enabled that are not needed and leave it vulnerable to attack. So it is a good idea to disable unneeded services, or to modify the default options.

• DCOMbobulator [GRC] - Disable Windows DCOM service
• UnPlug n’ Pray [GRC] - Disable Windows PnP service
• Shoot The Messenger [GRC] - Disable Windows Messenger service

Security > Firewall:

• Zone Alarm [ZoneLabs] - Firewall
• Leaktest [GRC] - Make sure that your firewall is working from the inside!
• Shields Up! [GRC] - Test your firewall from outside.

Security > Pop Up Blocking:

• Hosts File [MVPS] - A replacement 'HOSTS' file for you Windows that will stop most parasite software and pop ups from getting going. Simple, free, and highly effective!
• Google Toolbar for IE [Google] - Popup suppression for Internet Explorer

Security > Encryption and Passwords:

• 4U Only [Dillobits] - Password Manager
• TrueCrypt [TrueCrypt] - The best encryption tool out there. An absolute must of you have a USB flash drive!
• Perfect Passwords [GRC] - Excellent source for perfect passwords. Especially handy for creating passwords for encryption (see TrueCrypt).

Security > Anti-Phishing & Scams:

• OpenDNS [] - Smarter and safer DNS service to help prevent you from becoming a phish scame victim.

Video Players

• VLC [Video LAN] - Video player Notes: Will play pretty much all video and audio formats on the planet.
• Windows Media Player [Microsoft] - Audio and video player Notes: MS’s media player. Does OK. Version 9 is the highest that will run on Win98
• QuickTime [Apple] - Video player

Audio Players

• Shockwave Player [Macromedia] -Play Shockwave Audio Streams
• iTunes [Apple] - The best player.. comes bundled with Quicktime. Also works as an excellent ID3 tag editor.

Audio Rippers

• Audio Grabber [] - Best Ripper out there when coupled with LAME MP3
• LAME MP3 [] - The best codec for encoding MP3 files from your CD collection. You need to install the LAME binary image on your computer, then configure Audio Grabber to use it.
• Media Monkey Standard [Ventis Media] - Rip Audio CD's to MP3. Does a pretty good job and is it little easier to use and Audio Grabber and LAME.

Audio Editors

• Audacity [] - A free audio editor. Handy for editing MP3 files to get rid of ads, junk, etc.

Image Viewing & Management

• FastStone Image Viewer[FastStone] - Image Browser
• FastStone Screen Capture[FastStone] - Save screen shots
• FastStone Max View[FastStone] - Fast Image Viewer
• FastStone Max View[FastStone] - Batch Photo Resizer
• Picasa2 [Google] - Photo album management
• Fotki [Fotki] - Internet photo album sharing - better than Flikr!

Drawing Programs

• Paint.net [Washington State Univ.] - Bit Mapped Drawing Program Note: Works on Win2K or WinXP only.
• Gimp [GNU] - Photo Editor (Like Adobe Photoshop)
  
• Alibre Design Express [Alibre] - 3D Solid Modeling CAD software.
• Inkscape [] - Vector Drawing Program (Like Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X).

Internet Applications > Web Browser

• Firefox [Mozilla Foundation] - Web Browser Note: After FF is installed, there are a number of plugins, themes, and extensions that can be installed to increase the functionality of FF. The plugins needed are all listed on this sheet. They are Acrobat Reader, Flash Player, Java, Quicktime, Real Player, Shockwave, and Windows Media Player.
• Google Toobar for Firefox [Google] - A better Google search tool bar. Get rid of the search box that comes with Firefox and use this instead.
• Flash Player [Macromedia] - Play Flash animations

Internet Applications > Email

• GMail [Google] - Web based email client.
• Thunderbird [Mozilla Foundation] - Email client

Internet Applications > RSS Reader

• Google Reader[Google] - Web based RSS Aggregator. Easy to use and very handy. The best way to keep up with your favorite blogs and news sources.
  

Internet Application > FTP

• FileZilla [SourceForge] - FTP Client
• Serv-U [Rhinosoft] - FTP Server (easy to use).

Internet Application > P2P (Peer to peer file sharing)

• BitTorrent [BitTorrent Inc] - Internet File Sharing

Internet Application > VoIP and IM

• Skype [eBay] - The universal way to make free phone calls world wide. Be sure to configure your profile for privacy. Otherwise lot of bored Chinese teenagers will call you to practice their English.

File Readers & Management

• Ultimate ZIP 2.7 [Ultimate ZIP] - Manage compressed files. Get 2.7, the sponsored version.
• Rename-It! [Werner BEROUX] - Batch filename manipulator
• Edit Pad Lite [JG Soft] - Text Editor. Much better than Notepad!

Abobe Acrobat PDF

• Acrobat Reader [Adobe] - The official PDF reader... slow and fat.
• PDFcreator [SourceForge] - Ad Free open-source PDF creator.
• PDF995 [] - Create your own PDF files.

Alternatives to Adobe's bloated and slow PDF Reader:

• PDF SpeedUp [] - Use this with Adobe's reader to make it run much faster!
• FoxIt Reader []
• PDF Action Reader []
• Brava Reader []
• eXPert PDF Reader []
• PDF Action Reader []

Misc. Utilities:

• JRE (Java Runtime Environment) [Sun] - Run Java applications and applets
• DirectX 9.0 [Microsoft] - Graphics enhancement
• SyncBack Freeware [Bright Sparks] - PC Backup/restore utility.
• WinDirStat [SourceForge] - Windows Directory Statistics. - An easy graphical way to see where all your disk space is being used. Very handy for finding wasteful downloads you forgot about.
  

Windows OS Advanced Utilities

• Atomic Clock Sync [Chaos Software] - For Win98 - Keep your PC's clock in sync. Note: WinXP has a sync feature built into the clock. You just need to config & enable it.
• CC Cleaner [CC Cleaner] - Remove unneeded files from Windows system.
• Power Toys for Windows XP [Microsoft] - Clever little enhancements to Windows from the brains at Microsoft. These are things that should have been put in the official release, but were not.
• Startup Mechanic [OpenSoft] - Speed up tool - analysis of start up procedures.
• Ultimate Boot CD [Source Forge] - Utility to boot PC and fix things when all else fails.
• RegClean [Microsoft] - Speed up Windows by stripping junk from registry.
• TweakNow RegCleaner Standard [Tweak Now!] - Speed up Windows by stripping junk from registry.
• BelArc Advisor [Belarc] - Create a detailed report of your PC's configuration. Very handy report to give to tech support so they can see what you have on your machine.
• SysInternals Utilities [Microsoft] - Advanced and free untilties for advanced users to manage the operating system. Not for amatures!

Remote and Secure Access:

• Hamachi VPN [GoToMyPc] - The best and easiest VPN system out there! As Steve Gibson says, "Hamachi Rocks!"
• Tight VNC [Tight VNC Software] - Virtual Network Computing Server. Allows remote access and control of PC from another computer on the internet. Note: Install the client on the controlling PC. Install the server on the controlled machine.
• No-IP Free Dynamic DNS Service [No-IP.com] - Static domain name for leased IP addresses. Note: Used to find a computer on the Internet.
• No-IP Dynamic DNS Client [No-IP.com] - Needed for VNC clients to easily find the VNC server. Note: Install this client on the machine you want to access. The same one with the VNC server.
• Be sure to configure these programs to not run automatically!!! They should only be manually started when needed to allow a trusted guest to gain access to your PC.

Networking

• Network Stumbler [Net Stumbler] - WiFi (802.11a/b) Network Finder

Applications

• Google Docs & Spreadsheet[Google] - Online only Word processor & spreadsheet. Quick and easy.(Compatible with MS Word & MS Excel).
• Open Office [Sun] - Word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program (Compatible with MS Office).
  
• Palm Desktop [Palm] - Solid PIM (contacts, appointments, notes) replacement for Microsoft's Outlook.
• Google Earth [Google] - I can't say enough about this most amazing program. Wow!
• FreeMind [SourceForge] - An excellent Mind Mapping application. Very easy to use and handy for planning and organizing complex subjects.
  

Games:

• Arcade! Classic Arcade Pack [Neave] - Classic games Asteroids, Packman, Pong, Snake, Space Invaders, & Tetris.
• Su Doku [Microride] - Addicting numeric 'crossword' puzzle Use this to make new games, or to solve those in the newspaper.

Products Worth Paying For:
Some products are worth every dollar they charge. I would not hesitate for a minute to buy these. I've added this list to the bottom of the page since this page is dedicated to free software for home Windows users.

• MS Office Suite [Microsoft] - Word for word processing, and Excel for a spreadsheet. You don't need to go buy the lastest version. Office Suite versons 2000, 2003, or XP, though no longer supported, are excellent products and can be bought on eBay for not very much money.
• SpinRite [GRC] - The best insurance against hard drive failures and problems. Cheap at twice the price.

Hutt River Province Principality

There is a tiny independent nation just north of Perth called The Hutt River Province Principality. It is run by His Royal Highness Prince Leionard.

Here is the country's official web site: www.huttriver.net

Prince Leonard

The country was founded in 1970 and has been independent for over 35 years now. The king, Prince Leionard George Casley, started the country by seceding from Australia when he found a loophole in British and Australian law.

This is no joke either. It is the real thing. You can drive up there and camp in his country, for a fee. You can also apply for citizenship, with a passport and everything. The Prince is very approachable too. He will come out and have a beer with you if you go up there.

My boss, Garry, went up there last year camping and spent a few days in HRPP. He met Prince Lionard and had some beers. Garry said that the guy is smart as a whip. He explained to Garry exactly how he found and exploited the British Commonwealth laws to secede from Australia based on real grievances with the West Australian State Government and the laws the Commonwealth has to remedy grievances.

I am going to go up there next month camping. I want to look into buying myself citizenship while I am there. Should be interesting. I'll post how it goes.

I recommend that you check out their web site, or Google for more information about the country. It is very inspirational.

Stolen Years - Australian POW's

The local museum here in Perth has an current exhibit called "Stolen Years". It is an examination of Australian POW's from WW-I through Korea. Yesterday was a holiday here in Western Australia, plus the weather sucked. So I went to check it out. Robin, Loretta, and Robin's friend Roger decided to come along too.

I thought it was very interesting, but very sad and very depressing. The worst was the section on the WWII prisoners of Japan. They had it really, really bad. The conditions at the German and Italian POW camps were a vacation compared to those the Japanese ran in South East Asia.
The girls and Roger got bored about half way through and left me there by myself as they went off to gossip and catch up on news. That was fine with me. The exhibit was very sobering and there was a lot of material to read. They had on display many of the diaries and logs that were secretly recording by the POW's. One in particular was hard hitting. It was a log maintained by an Aussie doctor who worked on the Burma railroad. He kept track of the deaths of the fellow POW's, recording the date, rank, name, cause of death, grave number, and other details if possible. It was heartbreaking to read. Day after day, dozens of deaths from dysentery, and some executions.

Another interesting item was in the WWII Europe POW's section. There was a photo taken in one of the bunkhouses. On one wall of the bunkhouse was a gallery of photos of girlfriends. Standing in front of the wall was a handful of very glum looking Australian and British POW's. The wall was an American bashing "shrine". All of the girls in the photos had given up on their Aussie and British POW boyfriends and had either hooked up or married American servicemen. So it was a wall dedicate to the betrayal of the POW's by their girlfriends who could not longer wait for the war to end. The anti-American sentiment was very obvious in the section.

Web Sites I Like

Here is a list of many of my favorite web sites, and what I like about them. I will update this list from time to time.

Humor

• Overheard in New York
• Overheard in the office
  
• The Onion News Parody
• Late Night Joke Archive Leno, Letterman, and more without the hassle of watching them.
• Tom Tomorrow
• Political Cartoons collected from all over the world.
• Bore Me The best from your inbox. All those silly jokes, pixs, vids, etc in one place.
• Post Secret ... strange...
• Watley Review - almost believable fake news.
• Dumbass Daily - News from the shallow end of the gene pool (NSFW!)
• Timothy McSweeny Lists - Intelligent humor
• ZUG - Great pranks and scam-the-scammer stunts.
  

News

• BBC World News
• Watching America What the rest of the world's press is printing about us.
• North Korea News "Dear Leader's" official mouthpiece from the hermit kingdom. I don't know to laugh or cry. These guys are truly out to lunch. I would have this under "Humor" if they didn't have nukes.
• Ananova Quirkies - Real stupidty and truely offbeat news.
• CNN Offbeat - Offbeat news... strange and weird
  

Science

• MIT Optical Illusions
• Scientific American
• How Stuff Works - Ever wondered how something works? Here are the answers.
  

Travel

• World Time Server Easy to find the time anywhere on earth - or to coordinate future phone calls.
• TerraServer USA USGS satellite photos. See your house from space!
  
• Google Maps with satellite photos. Great tool!
• Google Earth - Go anywhere on the planet in 3-d. Wow!
  

Shopping

• Epinions Lots of feedback from real customers of everything!

Entertainment

• IMDb The ultimate source of info about any movie.
• Number Stations , Conet Project Shortwave signal stations, espionage, & secret signals
• The Gallery of Transport Loss These guys insure cargo ships & planes. Lots of photos & vid-clips. For those who fly, or operate boats, you will love this.
  

Blogs I Like

The blogsphere keeps getting bigger and better. Here I list some of the blogs that I enjoy following, and why. I will add to this list from time to time as I discover new blogs I feel are worth the time to read.

• SV Sandpiper my brother! :-)
  
• Rantings of a Sand Monkey An intelligent Egyptian with a wry sense of humor
  
• Little Green Footballs political - calls it as he sees it
• Right Thinking from the Left Coast political - A sane voice!
  
• Syria Exposed A Syrian who sees through the BS
• E-nough! French/American relations
  
• Drew Curtis' FARK.com Fantastic, funny, and interesting little news stories every day
  

Going home!

Got my airline tix's today! Flying home Aug 19. Have to fly back Sept 4, Labor Day Weekend. I get to stop in Tokyo both ways. I don't think I will have time to get into the city. Should be something different. I've never been there before.

I went though work's travel agent and they quoted me $11,800 AUD! Yes, over ten thousand dollars to fly between Perth and Los Angeles. I called my local travel rep and she got me a flight for $2200 AUD, about $1700 USD. Much better.

Also got a letter from the landlord. They are letting me stay for two more months. But they want me out by Aug 23, two days after I leave to LA. So I guess I will have to move house before I take off. I'm looking forward to this trip. Yea!

I'm not bored. Honest

Well it seems that my helpful contribution to the world in regards to publishing the discount cross-reference in the Entertainment Guide is unappreciated. *sob*

So I think an expanded rebuttal is in order to the questions posted by my sister:
1) You have waaaaay too much time on your hands and your hobby of collecting European leader bobbleheads isn't really paying off like you thought it would.

You know... I just thought they were gonna be the next Beanie Babies. Who knew?

2) You have difficulty sleeping and don't get porn pay channels on the cable box.

No. There is no porn here in Western Australia. The don't offer it cause it isn't legal. You can't even go buy porn mags that are more explicit than a Victoria's Secret catalog. The only thing you can do is mail order it from companies based in the capital of Australia, the ACT, where it is legal.

However, there are plenty of brothels in Perth, and Australia for that matter. They are not illegal here. They are not technically legal. They just are not illegal. They have been de-criminalized. They are rather large businesses and are well known and perfectly accepted as just another business in town.

So one has to wonder why a man can't buy a dirty mag, but can visit a brothel. I think it has to do with the labor unions, and the past labor oriented governments. The bottom line is, they don't want anyone doing anything that doesn't require at least one person getting employment from it.

Just like you can't buy a newspaper from a news rack. You have to find a news-shop and buy the paper there, from a human. You can't buy stamps from a vending machine. You have to stand in line and buy them from a clerk at the post office. It all means that every transaction involves two people. The customer and the vendor.

One thing that has me puzzled is why they let Aussies pump their own fuel. Why don't they have laws like in Oregon that requires a teenage pump monkey to do the job for you. Perhaps they just have not thought of it yet.

3) You have undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder and this sort of activity is "soothing" to you.

You ain't far from the truth there. :-) Actually, I'm just a cheap bastard. I don't like saving only 25% when I know I could have saved 50%.

4) You have lost your job, are too embarrassed to admit it to your family and friends, and just made this list to keep you busy and make sure your Excel skills stay sharp.

I wish. I would love a break.

Babies

Last week I hooked up with Louise for breakfast in Cottesloe. Since she is not working right now, it is pretty easy to talk her into going out, as long as she doesn't pay. It was nice to catch up with her.

On our way into the cafe, she ran into a friend of her's who just had a baby. The new mother had the baby in a pram (baby carriage) all wrapped up from the chill. Since I know nothing about kids and babies, I said nothing as Louise cooed and did all the "what a beautiful baby" stuff. Finally, I figured it would be impolite of me to not at least acknowledge the kid. So I asked the mom, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

The mom just looked at me in silence for a minute. She blinked her eyes in shock and said "Boy babies had penises and girl babies have vaginas. Can't you tell it is a boy? It That is why I put a blanket with blue dots on it. If it was a girl, I would have used a pink blanket."

Well excuse me for not undressing your kid to determine the gender. Yes, I know how girls and boys are different. True, I had not noticed the subtle color difference in the blanket. I try to not make assumptions based on stereotypes, so even if I had noticed, I would not have assumed anything more than it was simply a blue blanket. Perhaps next time you take the baby out, draw a beard and mustache on him so you won't be offended by questions like mine.

Louise aplologized for me later. She explained that her friend is a medical doctor and throws terms about like 'penis' and 'vagina' like nothing. Plus, she is a new mom, which I assume means they are hyper-sensitive about anything that might be interpreted as negative about their baby. Perhaps she interpreted my question as "Your baby boy sure is feminate!"

One more reason to avoid people with babies. Frankly, I don't care what their gender is. They are all the same for the first year any how. Nothing but screaming poop machines. And they look really old and weird too.

I guess there is some truth to the old joke: "Q: Why are babies so cute? A: So you won't kill them".