John's Big World: April 2006

Sunday, April 30, 2006

An Anti War Demonstration that I would like to have seen...NYC

Yesterday NYC saw a demonstration that according to sources, streched 10 city blocks in the Big Apple.
To the right are some photos of the demonstration with people dressed up as members of the current administration as well as people carrying all sorts of neat flags and messages for our leaders...... notice Rev. Jesse Jackson and Cindy Sheenan in one of the photos.....

How cool it is that in this current state of turmoil here and abroad that we as citizens can still do these sorts of things to voice our displeasure at what our government is doing.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in the streets to call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq – just hours after a soldier died in a roadside bombing in the country. April is the deadliest month for the troops this year.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan were among the many notables participating in the end-the-war rally. Actress Susan Sarandon, and the Rev. Al Sharpton also joined in the demonstrations, which city officials say stretched for about 10 city blocks.

I have to say I am proud of all of these people that came out to practice their rights to free speech and rights to assemble......Go NYC!!!

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Largest cruise ship set for maiden voyage - Apr 29, 2006

Holy Titanic Batman!!

The world's largest cruieship is about to make it's maiden voyage across the seas. Four times the size of the legendary "Titanic" and weighing in at about 158,000 tons.

I hope this baby doesn't sink in the icy atlantic waters!
I wonder if they have enough lifeboats on hand???

Read the article below:
CNN.com - Largest cruise ship set for maiden voyage - Apr 29, 2006

A Good Saturday to all....

Friday, April 28, 2006

I Finally Have to Agree with Bush- Sing the U.S. anthem in English only, Bush declares

I saw this a few minutes ago and I almost crapped my pants.

A "spanish" version of our "National Anthem" was made a few days ago.

When Bush was asked about this at a Rose Garden Press Conference he replied that he feels the anthem should only be sung in english.

I agree with him.
America (The U.S.) in particular was created to be an english speaking state. If one wants to be part of this nation and all that it entails then I agree they need to speak (and sing) the language which is so very much a part of this country.

I just hate it when I go to a restaurant and I hear the hispanic or the middle eastern people talking to their children and to each other in their native tounge. We are in America folks...which is an english speaking nation. That means when you are out in public...speak our national language. Save your ethnic tounge for when you are at home with your families.....like my grandparents did when I was a youth. They were polish and they spoke that tounge at home but they never did when they were out and about...

Read below for Bush' missive on this subject:

CNN.com - Sing the U.S. anthem in English only, Bush declares - Apr 28, 2006

Happy Friday

Thursday, April 27, 2006

May 12-14..Get Ready for a Show! Self-destructing comet to flash close by

Want to watch a cool show from space?

Get a pair of binnoclulars or better yet a good telescope and you may be able to see a comet falling apart while it passes by the earth.

This show is slated to commence on the 12th of May (just a few weeks away) and according to the article below will be a pretty intense display of what the heavens have to offer us.....

Read the full story below:

New Scientist SPACE - Breaking News - Self-destructing comet to flash close by

I will have the popcorn ready for this one.

I just hope there are no clouds in the sky on those evenings....it would be like having smears on my tv screen while I am trying to watch a good movie.....

Ill have a Shot with that Big Mac-Bird flu plan to include drive-through exams

Get ready for Drive Through Flu Clinics and more....

The "Bird Flu" is in the news again.
Most reports are saying that the U.S. is far behind in its plans for being prepared for this pandemic which will probably mutate to affect a large portion of the world's population in the next few years or sooner...

From a few articles below that I have linked to, a few paragraphs on what officials are saying:

"If the U.S. government does nothing, a deadly global flu outbreak is likely to strike a third of the population, according to the results of a computer simulation published in Thursday's journal Nature."

"The Veterans Affairs Department has developed a medical exam that could be conducted in VA hospital parking lots, with those who suspect they may be infected able to get a quick exam. The program is modeled after a drive-through flu vaccination program conducted last year."

"Federal officials say the first case could show up in the U.S. in the coming weeks or months as birds migrate from overseas!

The article also says that President Bush is expected to approve a national response plan in the the next week or two laying out how agencies should respond if it (the flu) were transmitted to humans."

The article also says that part of this plan assumes a "worst case scenario" that as many as 90 million people in the U.S. would become sick and 2 million would die during this worldwide pandemic.

Some other reports are saying that if this flu mutates and starts affecting humanity in mass that up to one third of the U.S. population could become infected and possibly die.

Most scientists that are studying computer models and forecasts say that there is only enough "tamiflu", which is the drug of choice for fighting this menace right now, to help only about 5 million people. That is about enough protection for one upper sized metropolis...say most of Chicago.

And some bad news for the "weak ones" of our society in the event of this outbreak. The article also says:

"Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health's infectious disease chief, said in an interview with The Associated Press last week that scientists are debating whether to vaccinate first those most likely to spread the virus, rather than those traditionally first in line for winter flu shots, including the very old, very young and chronically ill. That policy still is under debate, he said."

My thoughts for today on this:

I think we need another "Big News Story" to take people's minds off of all of this. Maybe a full scale military strike against the evil infidels that we call "Iran". Oh wait...that seems like it may happen in the next few days...I sure hope not though!!

It seems that this flu could yet be a major "depopulation event" as I have read about for many months if not the entire past year.

Only a few weeks ago, officials and scientists were saying that the threat of this flu on major population centers was being overexagerated. Is there something that we as a population are not being told about??

An event possibly created by Mother Nature but also possibly helped along by official government responses (or lack there of) to help control the population of the planet which even at this minute in time, is spiraling out of control.

Welcome to population control in the 21st century.
Wouldn't the idea that was brought fourth in the book and movie of the 70's called "Logan's Run" be a better way to deal with population control. For those unfamiliar with that book and movie...the sypnosis was that everyone over 30 years old be "terminated" to make room for the the younger generations and so that the planet could keep a substainable level of recourses for it's peoples.

Hmm....those are my crazy thoughts for today...

Click below for the articles from CNN where most of the quotes and information regarding this post came from:

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/04/26/preventing.pandemic.ap/index.html

CNN.com - Bird flu plan�to include drive-through exams - Apr 17, 2006

Warm Regards to all for a good thursday.

Global Dimming

You think I meant "Global Warming"??

Yes I have talked about that in a few posts here and again.

But an opposite effect that us humans may have on the planet has caught the attention of scientists for a few years already.

What is "Global Dimming"?

In a nutshell it is the man made result of pollutants being put into the air and those pollutants surrounding our planet in a sort of shroud and thus reflecting a lot of the sun's heat away from the planet back into space. With this effect in place because of various different things we put into our air above us, we have literally created a sort of man made sun shield for our planet. Cool ha?? Well not really. As the article below (plus the entry from the Wikepedia site) will show you.

Wikipedia, an online source that I visit quite a bit, has an interesting entry for what this phrase means:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_dimming

Read on for an article that I pulled off of a site (and the rights go to the "Los Angeles Daily News" where the article first appeared).
I have reposted it here in it's entirety.

An interesting theory to say the least:
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In case you haven't yet reached your limit on alarmist information, this week's "Nova" report, "Dimming the Sun," should help you surpass it quite handily.

We've all heard about global warming, which suggests that greenhouse gases have made the planet about a degree warmer than it was a century ago.

Now comes global dimming, a phenomenon that ostensibly cools the Earth, but in fact has masked the rate at which global warming has actually been occurring.

Global dimming is the result of pollutants in the air deflecting the sun's rays away from the Earth. One scientist, Gerald Stanhill, wrote about it years ago, but the notion was considered so outlandish that his research was dismissed.

In recent years, disparate other studies have confirmed it, and, in a bizarre twist, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, helped push research along.
David Travis of the University of Wisconsin charted America's climate in the days after 9/11, when all planes were grounded.

With jets' condensation trails eliminated from the country's skies, the temperature range days were warmer, nights were cooler was the largest swing in the past 30 years, he discovered.
So while the greenhouse effect has been warming the planet, global dimming has cooled it a bit, which means that global warming is occurring faster than anyone realized.

And while particle pollutants have been reduced from our skies, amounts of greenhouse gases escaping into the air proceed apace. Which means the world could be 5 degrees hotter by midcentury or, by one scientist's particularly dire reckoning, by 2100, the temperature could be as much as 18 degrees warmer.

And you do not want to know what that would mean.

Nova's "Dimming the Sun" explicates a lot of particularly confusing science succinctly and intelligently, and its message is undeniably sobering. But all this creates a bizarre conundrum: Pollution which causes health problems but does block the sun's rays is somehow good?

Â© 2006 Los Angeles Daily News. All rights reserved.
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So there is the conundrumm. Global Dimming or Global Warming. Hmm.

I think we haveroyallyy screwed up our planet at this stage in our occupation of it.
Maybe we willextinctt ourselves without help from ameteoritee or any other of the doomsday scenarios that have been put fourth by all the people who enjoy putting all those theories out there.....

That is my thought for Thursday, the27thh day of April in the year 2006 of our life on this planet we all call Earth.

Home Sweet Home.......

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

The Fox Guarding the Hen House

This article just made me laugh.

So there is all this stuff going on in the world to try to take Iran's nuclear capability away and then this...

The U.N. has elected "Iran"...yes Iran to it's international "Disarmament Commision". The goal of this commision?
To reduce the nuclear threat in the world of today!

I think it is high time that this useless internationa cabal of theives and morons is disbanded or at least kicked off of U.S. Soil.
The next thing you know the U.N. will elect the president of Iran to head the U.N.!!!

(Just possibly, Iran isn't as much of a threat as our U.S. Government is making it out to be???)

Seems like a lot of double talk going on in the world today.
What is one to think??

Click below for the story as reported by one the Twin Citie's papers:
AP Wire 04/19/2006 Coleman criticizes Iran's election to U.N. Disarmament Commission

A New Tax System For America??

I came across this on another Racine Blogger's site.

Interesting information on a system for taxation that just might work in this country.

I have included some of his excerpts from his blog and then a link to the report which is in a PDF File and one will need Adobe's PDF Reader software to read it.

(I have linked to Adobe's home page again for those that would like to download this free software....if they do not already have it.)

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During tax time every year many of us wonder why we have such an inefficient system for collecting taxes. There are other ways of imposing a tax and not bending to special interest groups.

The first one that comes to mind is the Flat Tax. A Flat Tax is as easy as it sounds, take your income and send a flat percent of it to the federal government. This idea has a long history of followers, it’s most famous is former Presidential candidate Steve Forbes.

With a Flat Tax there would be a level of income that would be exempt and every dollar over that limit would be taxable at a flat rate. There would be no other exemptions or deductions allowable.

Example: All incomes over $50,000 would be taxed at 15%.
If you earned $45,000 your federal tax bill would be $0.00.
If you earned $55,000 your tax bill would be $750 ((55,000 – 50,000) x 15% = $750).
If you earned $10,000,000 your tax bill would be $1,492,500 ((10,000,000 – 50,000) x 15% = $1,492,500).

And a link to this Racine Blogger:
http://gopfolk.blogspot.com/

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http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/1000530.pdf#search=

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

A good Tuesday to all....

Monday, April 24, 2006

Bush Bashing...Why would anyone want to do that??

I have come across a few articles in the past few days that made me laugh a little. This one (a video segment from CNN) talks about two new movies that are about to or have come out....Watch the segment:

Watch: New movies bash Bush, risk backfire

And then there is a post from "The Daily Kos" which a lot of people already check out on a daily basis. Supossedly the post was written by a "White House Insider" who spills some beans on some of the weirder things that go on in the day to day White House. I think two of the funniest excerpts were the following:

"Donald Rumsfeld needs to wear iced underwear because of some medical condition, and he has his secret service detail hold his spares. He was recently getting uncontrollable long-term erections and had to change up his medical treatments. The underwear and the erections is why he uses a standing desk, not because he is some super-man. He also wears nylon stockings, not because he's gay, but to control some vascular problem with his legs which causes him intense pain."

(I felt that the photo to the right was appropriate for this post- considering the above quote from the Kos...)

"President Bush uses anti-depressant medication, a lot of it, at a stupendous dosage, and he is hiding it from the American public. This is the real reason he stopped drinking. Because of the dosage, he is also impotent."

Click the link below for the full story:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/12/24219/8100

And there is also mention in the CNN story of how the "Dixie Chicks" are bashing the pres. in one of their latest videos as well as "Neil Young" making a song that doesn't shed a nice light on our leader.

Happy Bush Bashing Day......

Sunday, April 23, 2006

The Sunday (April 23, 2006) News According to John

As they say..."Buyer Beware"!!
(I think the photo to the right says it all!!)

This post I have decided to dedicate to what "Nature" is really all about when it comes right down to it.....and that my friends-is SEX.
Without it there would be no living things to appreciate the fact that "Spring is in the Air"!

So onto my Sunday Ramblings.......

Spring is in the Air

In my neck of the woods, Spring is trying to come out of it's shell and though the weather at night is still pretty brisk and cool with overnight temps in the 40's (Fahrenheit), the days have been trying to get into the uppers 60's and even a few instances of hitting the very comfy "70 degree" mark once or twice.

The trees have buds, the grass is starting to become a little greener in spots, the air has that spring time smell of pollen and though not a lot of rain, when it has, it leaves a fresh spring smell in the air....as it did last night after an early evening downpour, where even while it was raining, the sun was peaking through the clouds at times.

So what else does spring in South Eastern Wisconsin bring?

Well some of the signs I have seen which are the "telltale" markers of the onset of warmer weather are people driving around with their windows of their cars open...
(and those lucky few that have convertables often have their tops down-these people up here are mostly middle aged men and women that are either going through 2nd childhoods or who think they are cooler than everyone else)
....people outside raking their lawns or mowing their grass and of course we have those that even when it is only 55 degrees during the day are walking around with shorts and tanktops...thinking that there is a heatwave going on.

For myself, some of the things that I look forward to with the coming of spring are the following:

-being able to take nice long walks along the shore of my "mini ocean" that is called Lake Michigan, which is about a mile or so from my place.

-Opening up my windows in my apt. to let the fresh spring air in and breathing life into my little cave that has been closed up all winter long and before too long will be closed up again with the AC running due to the high humidity levels here in SE Wisconsin.

-Drives into the country to see all the changes that nature has in motion from it's long winter slumber. It is so neat to see the valleys and hills of this part of the state come to life at this time of the year. On one side there will be the grass and the trees starting to grow again and on the other side of the road you can still see vestiges of snow clumped into little mounds where the sun had not hit in the preceding 4 months.

-Watching all the animals come out of their winter slumber and seeing the birds returning from their winter vacation spots to make their summer homes once again amongst us northerners.

-Seeing people outside doing all sorts of things such as washing their cars in their driveways, planting their spring flowers on their porches, burning leftover leaves from the fall that got stuck on the ground before winter came too suddenly last fall, old ladies up on their step ladders washing their dirty winter stained windows so they can see all the wondrous spring changes and esp. watching all the multitudes of people just coming out of their winter hibernation cycles and spending more time outside.

-I also look forward to taking a drive up to my home town to visit my mother's final resting place in the spring.

I have not done this in a while and the spring seems like a perfect time to pay her a visit. Her resting place is set next to a little path of running water with trees in the background and in all of that cemetery, it has to be one of the prettiest spots in the whole place.

On to the news as I see fit to print.......

Contents

Good for the Goose but not Good for the Gander (CIA Employee Fired)
Prison Sex (They Get it More than Most of Us!!)
Laptops Rule (outselling desktops and making one's lap the new desk)
A Strange Girl writes about "masturbation" (Everyone does it...most of us just lie when we say we do not...)
Possible Blog Exposure (A new blogging service for Bloggers and for the media)
A Blog from Iraq! (Want the real perspective on what is happening over there?)
U.S. Soldiers get a "Plea Bargain Deal" for appearing in Gay Porn Films (82nd Airborne!)
Tolerance is the Key Word (A Blog post from the "Kringleshpere")
Islam Vs. Judeism (The harbinger of the Next World War??)
Save the Internet (We may have to start paying more for what we are doing on the web)
The Loss of "Freedom of Speech" (Hu Heckler gets more than she bargained for)
Closing thoughts

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Good for the Goose but not for the Gander

Mary McCarthy, who has been a CIA Employee for many years, helped "out" the secretive activities surrounding the prisons that our Administration have been operating through out the world, unknown to all but the highest levels of individuals in our government. Her "leaks" led to a "Pulitzer" prize winning story about this network of secret CIA prisons.

What I find funny about this is that there were also people in the whitehouse that had a bit to do with all of this...but I guess President Bush needs a "scapegoat" to take the heat off of his administration. Sort of reminds me of the "Scooter Libby" fiasco of a few months back.

A CNN link to this story in it's entirety:

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/04/22/cia.firing.ap/index.html

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Prison Sex

Here is an interesting little story from the pages of the Wisconsin State Journal, which tells of the law on the books that make it illegal for prison staff to have sexual encounters with prisoners.....WTF?

They had to make a law on this??? You would think it would be common sense not to diddle with the dummies in the first place. The story talks about this happening mostly with "female" staffers. A no brainer there folks.

Most of these women are probably small town girls who's boyfriends and or husband's are either not giving the "polish sausage" up because their girls remind them of nasty cops or maybe just too busy playing with each other in the fields to care about their women.

I like a few of the quotes from the different department of corrections officials in the article as well. Enjoy this one. I did!!!

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=81192

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Laptops Rule

I have been using a laptop computer for over three years now and I do not know how I ever lived without it. It is a constant companion and travels with me on my days off or when I take a vacation. I use it for blogging, emil, watching movies, talking with my friends and a whole bunch of other things.

Though I use a desktop at work, I often thought it would be cool if we had a laptop there also. I could probably get so much more work related projects done if I were able to sit in the dining room where I could keep an eye on my staff and yet get some things accomplished. I know....keep dreaming.

A recent article in Wired Magazine talks about the changeover from desktop to laptop in terms of popularity:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/computers/0,70688-0.html?tw=rss.index

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A Strange Girl and masturbation

I will let the article speak for itself. Warning: She does mention "cucumbers"!! I had to laugh at that paragraph. And if you are easily offended by blatant sexual talk than I implore you to NOT click on the following link which is also courtesy of Wired Magazine:

http://www.wired.com/news/columns/1,70708-0.html

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Possible Blog Exposure

Since I started blogging way back in 2004 (which seems like an eternity now) I have tried to write things that not only interest me but that others may find fun to read or maybe just find a new favorite thing to do or learn something that they may not have known about previously.

When my current blog was featured on the Langa List Email Newsletter, my traffic to my blog increased alot and that made me very proud. Some people emailed me saying that they liked my site and that they would return again. I dont know if they know how appreciative I was about their comments.

Now there is a new service that is trying to further blur the lines between us bloggers and the media professionals. I came across the article in Wired Magazine. Following is a link to the article as well as the website they are talking about:

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,70631-0.html

http://www.blogburst.com/Public/Overview/Welcome.aspx

http://www.blogburst.com/Public/Bloggers/RequestInvitationSubmitted.aspx

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A Blog from Iraq

His name is Zeyad. He lives in the U.S. Occupied country of Iraq. He is 27 years old. He is a dentist. And he is afraid for his life.

But he has access to the internet which gives him the ability to blog about what his day to day life is all about. The picture that he paints is not a very pretty one. There are some bright and happy moments though but there is alot of uncertainty for his and his family and their future and the future of a free and peaceful Iraq.

I have jsut started to dig into his missives and there is quite a bit to read. By all means, if anyone is interested in knowing what is really going on over in Iraq (other than what is reported by the daily government controlled media) than click on the following links.

First click on the Wired Magazine story and then come back here and click on the link that will take you directly to Zeyad's blog.

http://www.wired.com/news/wireservice/0,70719-0.html?tw=rss.index

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/

I wish Zyad well and hope that he sees prosperity and peace in his near future.

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U.S. Soldiers get "Plea Bargain Deal"

This just in....

Some members of the famed "82nd Airborn Division" have agreed to Plea Bargains with the Military. Why did they have to "plea bargain"??

It seems that their military stipends were just not enough and that when offered a chance to appear in a gay porn production for some pretty good dough....they jumped at the idea of "gay for pay" and took part in a few videos that were shot right next door to Fort Bragg! (I am sure some are already thinking what I am about to say......they should rename the town "Fort Fagg"....hee hee).

But seriously, after the plea deals go through, they will be dishonorabley discharged.

Way to go you horny, money hungry little boys!! Maybe I will change my mind and get one of those "yellow stickers" that you attach to your car that says "Support our Troops"....

I am so proud of my troops!!!

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/04/042306military.htm

(If anyone wants to check out the videos in question, email me, as I have uncovered the link to that site on the web as well. For purposes of decency I will not link to it here though.)

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Tolerance is the Key Word

There is a blog out there that I am linked to. I think I may have mentioned it before. It is called the "Kringlesphere" and it is a discussion blog for all things "Racine". The website address is below:

http://kringlesphere.blogspot.com/

The latest post talks about an article that was in the Racine Journal Times Newspaper called "Parson to Person". A local reverand of a a luthern church here in Racine (where some of my friends attend-Grace Luthern) also has a blog and is a contributer to that blog as well. He posted a neat missive on this latest article from the Journal Times as well as cross posting it on his blog, which can be linked to below. He talks about tolerance. Tolerance is different than acceptance. All things do not need to be accepted in this world and it is up to each and every individual that has free will to accept or not accept something. But there are a lot of things in this world which we must all TOLERATE. I have posted a comment to the Reverand's post on the Kringlesphere blog. Click the first link above to read his post and then to read my reply (John).

I am also a contributer to the Kringleshphere, though I haven't had a chance to write a post as of yet. I do not keep up with the "going ons" in Racine all that much and I know I should but with work and the little free time I do manage to squeeze out for myself, I tend to look at the bigger picture of U.S. and World events when I am looking for the news.

Add to that I absolutely hate our local newsppaper. I do read it at work from time to time but I find it to be very biased....which a newspaper should not be. Case in point was the reporting of the "Adrail White" case. I do not think that any of it was handled very well. I will not go into that right now except to say that god forbid should anything bad happen to me or any of my friends that I care about...I sure as heck hope that our local rag would not drag our "names and reputations" through the mud before they have had a chance to investigate things properly and from a nuetral perspective.

A link to the "Preacherblog". Very interesting stuff. This pastor (is that the right word? I am a catholic by upbringing so I am not sure) also has his sermoms posted online and some cool links to other blogs. I am finding that I like his writing style very much. Maybe I will have the pleasure of meeting him in person one of these days.

http://preachrblog.blogspot.com/

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Islam vs. Judeism (The Harbringer of the Next World War?)

A book I am currently reading (Hope of the Wicked) talks about some very powerful people and their agenda to usher in the "New World Order", which I have blogged about a few times (ok quite a few times) in the past. The chapter I am on right now is actually scaring me a bit...esp. after reading the following article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4936284.stm

Ok, so let me explain breifly. The chapter of the book talks about these powerful individuals that lived in the later years of the nineteenth century about circa 1895 and then another group who held some pretty powerful world leadership positions in the early 20th century around 1915 or so. In this chapter is discussed the catylists to bring about three world wars. World War One which is talked about and strangely resembles pretty much what did happen to bring about that bloodbath. Then the story gos on to talk about how these individuals would usher in World War Two and suffice to say....the things that were talked about by these people back in the late 1800s and early 1900s came about pretty much the way that they were planned.

The next World War was also talked about. In this war, forces unseen (very powerful people who seem to control the world stage behind the scenes) talk about how they will usher in this destructive event, which they say will lead to the Armageddon of the Bible. It is to be a confrontation between the Muslums(Islam) and the rebuilt Jewish state( The Zionists) that will take place in the middle east and will involve all nations of the earth. A sort of "holy war" or "crusade" it is to be likened to.....

So...this book was published back in 2000 AND THE MISSIVES OF THE CHAPTER THAT I AM READING ARE DEALING WITH PEOPLE WHO WERE MAKING THESE PLANS IN THE LATE 1800S AND EARLY 1900S. In the book are mentioned the current state of Iran (Persia) and the Palestine and Iraq and Israel and the Arab countries of the gulf as well as Russia and China and of course the U.S. and the U.K. and the rest of the European continent, which the people back in the late 1800s surmised would be a "European Union" by that point.......wow!

It is as if this book I am reading is like reading today's news, but in reverse. Sort of like a time machine if you will. The coincidences are just way too amazing to be coincidences. I am still in the middle of that chapter but from what I have read already, it seems that the time for ushering in the age of the "Anti Christ" as well as other Biblical predictions is right at our doorstep.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

A TV Commerical that Really Says Alot!

Ok so watch the following "tv commerical" by clicking on the link below:

http://www.ucc.org/commercial.html

This has got to be the BEST TV Commercial I have seen in a long long time!!
Kudos to whoever created it.
Supossedly CBS and NBC are refusing to air it as they feel it is too controversial!

Click on link for the story:
http://www.ucc.org/news/u113004a.htm

WTF???
Too controversial.
I think all the major world religions could learn a thing or two from this "church".
I wonder if they have a location here in Racine??

I think I want to join.
(Not the one though where people get catapulted out of their seats).

http://www.brookfielducc.org/
The above link is one for one of their churches that I found in the metro Milwaukee area.
I think I may just check it out....

A Large Portion of Eastern Europe Flooded

Is this just a fluke or could it be another side effect of Global Warming?

Up to 7,000 people have been evacuated from different villiages and towns along the Danube River in Eastern Europe (see photo to the right).

I have two employees, where I work, who come from this area of the world so I try to keep up with what is going on over there.
It seems almost too much rain at one time has made the Danube River, which is Europe's 2nd largest flowing body of water, flood it's banks in many areas of Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.

I have not heard of any deaths as of yet, but there surly must be lots of displaced people across this very populous (and poor) region of the world. I feel so bad for these people.

It is raining here in SE Wisconsin right now and that just makes what is happening over in Europe a little more real for me to imagine what they are going through but in actuality, I can not even begin to fathom what these people are going through and I honestly hope I never have to.

CNN has an interesting article that talks about the torrential rains that have caused all the flooding in that region of the world.

Click on link below for the article:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/04/19/balkans.floods/index.html

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

No Peace, No End to War and a Stalled Democracy

The President's "OTHER Woman" visits the Windy City....

The secretary of State was about 70 miles south of me today, paying a visit to the "Chicago Council of Foriegn Relations", which I have surmised is a part of "The New World Order" that hopes to rule the planet under one "organization" of sorts someday.

If I had the day off, I was going to try and attend. But alas I had to work at my hotel here in Racine.
The cost was $60.00 for non members and the event was held at the Chicago Hilton Hotel as I remember reading...

In her remarks to the audience in attendance at this "seminar", she mentioned that there will be no "Victory Day" in Iraq for a long time to come and that the instability and violence will continue for some time while the Iraqi's try to establish their government.

One of her quotes: "Americans must be prepared for violence to continue in Iraq, even after a government is formed. There will be no Iraqi equivalent of V-E Day or V-J Day," Rice said. Those are the days of Victory in Europe and Victory in Japan in 1945."

She also talked about the situation in Iran and mentioned that while diplomatic efforts to diffuse the situation are still being discussed, other options (read between the lines here- Nuclear action) are still "on the table.

Some very interesting comments esp. the last paragraph where she talks about "The Double Standard".....click on link below for the article that the AP wrote:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/RICE?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

A good evening to all

Boy Karl Gets His Wings Clipped and Boy Scott Getting the Boot...A White House Make Over

I am going to call this the "Straight Eye for the Queer Guys" post....and that title will become clearer as one reads farther down this post.

What is Georgie to do....is his hand being forced by others (maybe his new Chief of Staff) to get the "pansies" out of the rose garden???

Damage Control at the "Gayest" White House Ever??

Well low and behold, two of his most noticeble "front line boys" (who by the way followed G.W. from Texas at the beginning of his administration), Karl Rove and Scott McClellan, are now either resigning or being moved to less important posts where they can do far less damage to the reputation of what already is a sorely bruised and battered reputation.Alot of this stuff that I am about to talk about has gone unreported in the mainstream press.

When one's personal preferences are what seems to be completely at "odds" with a conservative led government such as the one we currently are being led by, it just makes sense to keep most of these things "swept under the rug".....but the info is out there if you bother to look for it and read between the headlines.

The strangest thing about both Rove and McClellan's demotions and departures is that both of these Bush loyalists have been so tightly woven into the day to day operations of this administration that some have actually wondered if the two of them, along with a few others, were actually calling the shots and making a lot of the important decisions (aka blunders) that the pres. has been accused of making and that have not been very popular.

There are also rumors that these two "good old boys" are of the "I like boys" persuaision...which in itself there is nothing wrong with...but in a very homophobic administration I find it amazing that Bush has surrounded himself with lots of alleged gay men....gay men that have been doing his bidding for quite some time now.
(Just google Rove or McClellan with the word gay in front of their names and you will get tons of links and in particular you may get a story recalling a reporter named Gannon who was rumored to be Karl Rove's "Bitch Boy prostitute" that serviced many male members of the white house a few years ago).
Come on now...Rove's nickname given by Bush is "Turdblossom"...what in the hey? And Scott is called by Bush often "My Scotty".......

A few links to the story as it is unfolding:

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/19/mcclellan.intl/index.html

McClellan says he's leaving (2:43) Emotional video of Scott McClellan talking about his resignation....What a crybaby!!!

In part of the video, Bush comments that Scotty will be hard to replace. Indeed....he has had a lot of time to master the art of covering up his boss' blunders and mis steps and there are even rumors that this good old boy (along with Rove) helped Georgie satisfy his lust for good old "Brokeback Mountain style sex" at times through out the years....

http://mindprod.com/politics/bushismsgay.html

Click on the above link and read some of the president's comments on some things that when put into the proper context are just too damm funny to dismiss as being nothing other than what I comment on above. Quite a few good laughs await you!!! Make sure you read all the way down and also click on some of the "camera icons"...alot of "cute" photos.

(updated April 19, 2006 at 849PM)

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

All Options Are On The Table-President Bush says of "The Iran Situation"

When asked earlier today if his administration was planning a nuclear strike against Iranian "Nuclear Facilities", is what the Pres. told reporters in a morning news conference at the White House Rose Garden.

The instability in this region of the world is getting worse and worse. A backlash of sorts is starting to emanate around the globe and a lot of nations are fearing what I am fearing.

And that is that the current U.S. administration is in the midst of planning an pretty intense and possibly nuclear invasion of Iran. The plans surely involve (in a secretive manner I am sure) talk about that government's "overthrow" and all of what that entails (look at the current situation in Iraq). Iran in the mean time is trying to show to the world that the big bully "Bush" and his gangmembers aren't frightening it and they are using pretty harsh words and doing some pretty interesting things on their own to further "antagonize" Mr. Bush (see a few paragraphs below for what Iran is doing in relation to the Hamas led government of Palestine)....

Click on the link below for an AP article regarding this latest comment by King George:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAN_ARMY_DAY?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

I have been reading a lot of different viewpoints over the last few days from various different people on why diplomatic discussions may or may not work and what the consequences of a nuclear strike on Iran would be for the very unstable region of the Middle East.

To make matters a bit more shaky in this area, it has also been reported that Iran is, as of this post, offering Palestine $50 Million Dollars in response to the U.S. and Europe's cutting off all financial aide to the Palestinian Government:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAN_PALESTINIANS?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-04-16-21-03-42

I do not think that the "Nuclear option" is a good one, as do many of the people who's thoughts on all of this I have been reading the last few days.

A recent article from the web site of CFR (Council of Foreign Relations) gives some good thought process to a lot of what is happening as well and what some of the ramifications would be if we do go forward with military "maneuvers" against Iran to "force their hand" so to speak:
http://www.cfr.org/publication/10428/

I hope we have the common sense to try to work out our government's "perceived" problems with Iran in a diplomatic non invasive manner. Because if we do not, I fear that all this "destabilization" over there will only get worse.....and that is surely one thing the world does NOT need right now.

A good Tuesday to all.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Restaurant workers file labor charge

This is to be my one post for today.

The rallys that were held a few weeks ago seem to be creating a bit of fall out at places across the country and even my little back yard here in SE Wisconsin is not immune.

Read the article below and then read my comments underneath:
JS Online:Restaurant workers file labor charge

I feel that Applebee's had every right to terminate these individuals.
An employer does not have to honor "time off or day off" requests. The business demands need to be met first and foresmost.
If a person expects to stay employed in a job...then they must do their job to the best of their ability.
And that means working as hard as they can and foregoing personal endevors for the benifit of their employer.

That is my view. Some may think I am crass thinking this but the more and more that the years go by...the more I see a continually "eroding work ethic".
I applaud the managers of this Applebees for what they did. Those employees "walked off their jobs" pure and simple and did not listen to their supervisors!

A good Monday to all.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

The Starbucks Effect

An interesting article about my favorite coffee chain and my favorite beverage of choice (I am drinking one right now):
JS Online: News:

It is funny how I can relate to pretty much everything this guy says in the above article.

Starbucks sure has made a name for itself in the world of today. Maybe the folks at "starbucks" should get together with the guys at "Google" (if they haven't already) and do some "cross marketing".

One interesting part of the above article (which you can read by clicking on the JS Online News link above) has this quote, which I had to giggle about. The quote follows:

Simon believes Starbucks succeeds by "selling comfort" in an anonymous, often dislocating world. He says he has lost track of the number of times people have told him that when they traveled to a strange country, "the first thing I did when I got off the plane was go to Starbucks."

"There's a deep sense of unpredictability in the modern world, and what Starbucks provides a lot of people is predictability," he said.

What is so funny about the above quotes is that I actually have felt that way for some time.

A few years ago I took a 2 week road trip out west to The Rockies and the western states in the center of the nation. Everytime I needed to connect to myself and to feel a little more "at home", I would seek out a "Starbucks" or a "Barns and Noble" that carries the wonderful caffeinated substance and I would immediately feel more "at home". At one point during a very tiring day out in Denver as I was driving through the mountains west of the city, I was starting to get a little tired and worn out and as I came into Breckinridge, which was a ways up in the mountains...I saw a little yellow building that looked like a little cottage. And then I looked closer and I saw that familiar logo.....

Starbucks! I yelled to myself "How cool"....
I immediately felt rejuvenated by just seeing that logo and after getting my usual "Grande STRONGEST Brew" of coffee that they had, my return trip down the mountain was so much more doable than it seemed just a few minutes before.

Ah...the "Starbucks Effect".

That "effect" for me is everywhere. I drink it at home in the morning when I get up (as I am right now) and we proudly serve it at the restaurant I manage and my favorite bookstore here in Racine also proudly serves it. Starbucks is so fully ingrained into my life, it is like a "Best Friend". Sometimes maybe too much. Oh ooh...I think I just admitted that I am addicted to this stuff. Ikkes!!

(The Sunday News will not go out this weekend due to my having to work the holiday. I will try to catch up with world events and other misc. Commentary on Monday or Tuesday).

A Happy Easter to all.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Climate change: The great Atlantic shutdown

The phenomena of Global Warming and it's effects on the World has been predicted by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber in their book "The Coming Global Superstorm" which the movie "The Day After Tommorow" is based on.

Now New Scientest Magazine (in it's latest weekly issue) reports on the fact that one of the catylists for such change could indeed be happening soon.

A short "ditty" on all of this by clicking on the link below.

(You will have to go to your local bookstore to pick up the latest issue of the magazine to read the entire article....or stop by my place and browse the current issue which is sitting proudly on my coffee table).

New Scientist Premium- Climate change: The great Atlantic shutdown - Features

Time Travel in our Future?

An interesting article that I just read about one scientest's quest to build a "Time Machine". You could call this guy the H.G. Wells of the 21st Century.....

How neat it would be to be able to travel either backwards in time or forward to the future.
How many times do you wish you could go back and change just one little thing that has happened in your life...and that one little thing would change your current state of life?

Well, according to the following article, that won't happen because once you travel in time, you will thus be experiencing things in a "different universe" of sorts.

Read on for an interesting concept, that according to some brilliant minds, is coming closer to reality.

And a link to the article in it's entirety: http://physorg.com/news63371210.html
_____________________________________________________________________________________

"The closer we get to the moment a time machine is built, the clearer it will become that it is already interacting with us in our present."

Now physicist Ronald Mallett says not only will a time machine be built in this century, but also that the grandfather paradox, which would theoretically prevent one from doing something in one's own past that would change one's present, "won't be an issue." His explanation about this parallels what Whitley claims to have been told by time travelers just a few weeks ago.

Lisa Zyga, writes in PhysOrg.com that Mallett, a professor at the University of Connecticut, has used equations based on Einstein's relativity theory to design a time machine that works with circulating laser beams. He expects to be able to build and test the device within the next 10 years.
She quotes Mallett as saying, "Einstein showed that mass and energy are the same thing [referring to his famous equation E=mc2]. The time machine we've designed uses light in the form of circulating lasers to warp or loop time."

By arranging mirrors in a specific way, Mallett can create a circulating laser light beam which should be able to warp space. He will add subatomic particles with extremely short lifetimes to the device, hoping to observe these particles existing for a longer time than expected when they are placed in the light beam. This would indicate that they have moved into the future.
Mallet compares the experiment to stirring coffee with a spoon. If the coffee is empty space and the spoon is the light beam, the coffee becomes swirled as you stir. Dropping a sugar cube into the coffee is the equivalent of dropping in the subatomic particles. Einstein said that whenever you do something to space, you also affect time. Twisting space causes time to be twisted, meaning you could walk through time the same way you walk through space.

Zyga quotes Mallet as saying, "The Grandfather Paradox [where you go back in time and kill your grandfather] is not an issue [because] time travel means that you're traveling both in time and into other universes. If you go back into the past, you'll go into another universe. As soon as you arrive at the past, you're making a choice and there'll be a split.

Our universe will not be affected by what you do in your visit to the past." He adds, "I believe that human time travel could happen this century."
__________________________________________________________________________

How neat. I wish they would hurry up so I can go on some real cool vacations!!!

Bodies found in park scoured for missing Milwaukee boys - Apr 14, 2006

It seems that the two little boys here in Milwaukee who have been missing for months have finally been found.

The authorities are not saying for sure that the two bodies that were found in a local lagoon are indeed the two boys....but the location is close to where they went missing, so I am sure it is only a matter of time before positive identification is made as such.....

CNN.com - Bodies found in park scoured for missing Milwaukee boys - Apr 14, 2006

Friday, April 14, 2006

Don't Loose You'r HEAD...

Click on the link. Enough said.....

JS Online: News:

My last post for today!

More Remains Discovered near WTC site-Part Three

I can only imagine how many "souls" are floating around this area of NYC. Close to 80 more "bone fragments" were again discovered in the Highrise Building that is situated next to where the World Trade Centers collapsed on 9-11.
This is the third time in recent weeks that more human remains have been found. This building is literally a "holding spot" for some of the many souls that were lost on that awful day and more and more pieces of their earthly remains are being discovered each and every day.

I remember leaning up against the base of that building when I was out in NYC this last fall and though many people will think me crazy for saying this...I felt so much "displaced energy" eminating from that building and the WTC site in general, that as I walked away from the area, I felt totally and emotionally drained.

I hope they can finish cleaning up this building and then commence with the deconstruction of it soon. These souls deserve to be put to rest once and for all......

The latest on the discoveries and the continuing clean up efforts:
JS Online: News:

Iran again using Big Words to threaten Israel...

...And the U.S. tightening it's grip on Palestine.
And what country is in the middle of all of this??

The State of "Israel".
Boy what a "quagmire" all of this is becoming on the "World Stage".

I have a book sitting on my bookshelf which I have been waiting to read until I finish my current one on the New World Order. I think now I may just have to start reading this one as well. It may just make some sense of all the back and fourth bantering and bickering that is currently going on in relation to Iran and Israel.

The book I am talking about is called ""War Without End" and it is written by Anton La Gurdia and the idea behind the book is about "The Israelis and the Palestinians and the Struggle for a Promised Land".

I am googling the book on the web to see if there are any sypnosis' on this next bit of reading material that I am about to undertake...

Click below for an overview of the book I am talking about:
http://www.holtzbrinckpublishers.com/academic/Book/BookDisplayLarge.asp?BookKey=918766

And the article from the A.P. that talks about Iran's latest threat to the "Zionist movement" under way through out the middle east.
JS Online: News:

And now today also, the U.S. Government has issued a "directive" , on the order of more "sanctions" that essentially freezes and stops all "financial" transactions with the Palestinian Government.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HAMAS_US?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

(And the U.S. Government's reasoning behind this latest move: islamic terrorist activity....)

I believe that if dialouge, both political and economic can be sustained with the Islamic Factions" that make up a good deal of this area of the world, are seriously undertaken by the world governments, then alot of what is happening now could be stopped. But I do not think that is going to happen.

Could the differences between "Islam" and "Zion" herald in the end of the world?
Think about that after looking at the sypnosis for the book and also the article on Iran and the other posts that I have written about in the last few weeks.

We sure are teetering on the edge of something big here folks and I think everyone needs to do a lot of very hard thinking before making the next move.....this game of "chess" is starting to scare the "beejeebies" out of me.

What is our world coming to and what in the heck are we getting ourselves in the middle of over there???
Whatever it is in it's current state...it is not good.

The Al Qaeda Myth

Is Al Qaeda as much of a menace to the stability of the world as the U.S. and U.K. Governments are claiming?

Or is this "terrorist" orgnanization a result of these two most powerful government's doing, as a result of it's foriegn policy decisions through out the world?

Read the article below for a very revealing expose on what could possibly really be the result of some much "misguided" political moves by the current world superpowers.

TomPaine.com - The Al Qaeda Myth

Makes one wonder where we are going with "Iran" and any other countries that may soon come under fire by the two most powerful nations on earth.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Flight 93 Transcript

I wonder if the producers of the "Flight 93 Movie" had access to this "Cockpit Voice Recorder Transcript" while they were making the movie that is to be released in a few weeks??

The transcript, along with the actual voice recordings were played in the courtroom for a jury, by federal prosecutors seeking the execution of Zacarias Moussaoui.

I am currently looking for the actual recordings and as soon as I can find them, I will try to post them here....

CNN.com - Flight 93 Transcript - Apr 12, 2006

Updated at 1:36pm: I have found one supposed audio recording of the flight 93 recordings. Click the link below to listen. The page will have a download link. If you click on it, the file will open in Windows Media Player. If you "right click" on the download button, you can select "save target as" and save the wav file to your computer's hard drive:
http://www.airdisaster.com/download2/ua93.shtml

A good Thursday to all....

Google Launches Calendar-Some Outlook Competition?

My "Big Brother" friend Google has just launched it's newest addition to it's growing family of toys.

At this rate, Google will (if it is not already) soon be the "One Stop Shop" for everything related to computing. How long before we are being offered a "Google OS" (operating system).

I just looked in their "Labs" section and I do not see anything close to the OS thing just yet....well maybe the "Google Desktop" is a first incarnation....but there is so much out there with the "Google" brand on it that one could almost run a computer with nothing but "google made" applications.

Don't get me wrong here. I love Google. I just have some concerns that all of the things that they are into and or getting themselves into could end up being used against the average citizen in the future. Gmail for one thing and the search feature of the "google desktop app", where all of the items on one's desktop are actually links that are available via a web interface.

The gmail thing is definitely creepy. So the company that says, "Don't be evil" (or whatever) is now saying, "Serving Chinese Internet users (is) the company's No.1 priority". This was recently quoted from Google's chief executive Eric Schmidt at a conference in Beijing. I'm sure we all know how Google is handling its searches in China.

I can just see some scenario in the future where the [insert enforcement agency here] subpoenas your Google data and says, "Well, according to this email and your calendar you were involved with the [insert pro-peace, electronic freedom or left-wing group here] when you met with 'Jeff' at his 'house'. We know that Jeff is involved with [group mentioned above] and we easily found his house thanks to satellite mapping technology.

Paranoid? Maybe...but it seems to me like we're giving away our freedoms for the sake of convenience.
My previous notion that "google" is out to take over the world may not be that far fetched. They sure do have their fingers in an awful lot of "cookie jars"...

Gotta love all this innovation!!
Go Google!!!

Click below for the full story:
CRN

And a direct link to the google calendar home page where you can download the newest "beta" of this new application:
http://www.google.com/googlecalendar/overview.html

And for all those nifty little "toys" that google is playing with in it's "labs", take a look at the web sites here:
http://labs.google.com/

http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

The Search for ET goes on...updated 8:44AM

A New Telescope to search out the heavens for "light signals from distant civilizations"...

(Photo: Primary Mirror of The Planetary Society's Optical SETI Telescope at Oak RidgeConstruction of Planetary Society's Optical SETI telelscope in Oak Ridge, Massachusetts. The primary mirror on 16 February 2002. Credit: Paul Horowitz)

How cool is that?
And it is happening right now!

In addition to SETI....
(Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: http://www.seti.org/ )
.....searching the universe, or at least parts of it, for the last few years for radio communications from distant civilizations, a new "optical telecsope" has been dedicated to the newest search for friends from the cosmos.

The optical telescope was given to "Oakridge Observatory, which is about 35 miles from Bostonm via a grant from the "Planetary Society".

Oakridge and other observatories have long used other telescopes for this very thing, but this new telescope will be dedicated SOLEY for the use of finding intelligent civilizations elsewhere in the universe.

Click on the links below to learn more about this exciting endevor:
http://www.planetary.org/about/press/releases/2006/0411_Planetary_Society_Opens_Worlds_First.html
JS Online: News:

And a little more about the forces behind this awesome milestone in man's search for other life forms in the universe can be found by Googling the term "SETI".

Lots of info. for those interested in trying to find out what some very brave and intelligent people are trying to do to find signs of life other than our own in this massive wonderous universe of ours.

Updated: After reading with renewed interest, some information on SETI's website, I have decided to try and do my part for the "search for extratarrestrial intelligence" and so I have just downloaded the "BIONIC" Software to my computer and plan on installing it and running the application this morning. I had the original SETI AT HOME software installed on my various computers through the years but had lost touch with the application when the original software changed to the BIONIC version. It just ate up too much of my computer power and made my laptop run way too hot....but it seems that a newer version is out now and they have fixed alot of the things that made the original application a bit sluggish on some people's computers.

To those that may be unfamiliar with SETI AT HOME, it is a project that was started a few years back by the Planetary Society where people could download a "screensaver type application" to their computers that would scan various "radio signals" from the heavens.
These signals were sent by the SETI team to your computer and during idle times (when your computer is not in use), the application would take over as a "screensaver" and anylise blocks of info that were sent to the application and once the info had been anylized, it would be sent back to SETI.

The new version of the software can not only anylize radio signals from the heavens but in true "Grid Style Computing"...crucnh information on other subjects as well.

A link to the BIONIC site for anyone wishing to download the application is below:
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/

Happy Crunching for Alien Life to All......

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Google's DNA Branding- Success in the 21st Century

The following article talks about how GOOGLE is coming close to having attained the "Holy Grail" of "BRANDING......being all things to all people.

The company sure does have alot of "fires burning" and I even had an idea a few months ago....

A "Restaurant" called "GOOGLE CAFE" and the tag line under the logo would be "Your Search For Great Food Has Ended" , or something similar. I would offer a menu that looks like a search page on the web and of course offer free wireless access and "brand" the hell out of food titles and decor. I think it would be one of the most popular eateries around. (The food would also be top rate and offer the best coffees and beers from around the world and it would be the cool place to be seen).

Hey GOOGLE...are you listening?
Drop me a line if your interested?
With my many years of restaurant experience and my many friends in the industry, I could help you make your next few million!!!

Click below to read the article that talks about Google's successes in whatever it seems to do....
Slashdot Google's DNA

America in Crisis....The World in Crisis

I think that we are in official crisis mode, though most people will probably still be going on with their lives as if nothing is happening. The world headlines, not to mention just the local headlines are starting to get a little scary.

At the top of the list is the escalating situation in Iran, which if we are not careful could lead to a nasty World War.
Then we have the illegal immigrant situation that is exploding at the seams all across the nation.
An Emergency declaration being put into effect in California because of a potential break in some levees and a possibility of massive flooding out there.

I could go on and on but I just want to go watch a movie and relax. And then sleep.
I have a feeling 2006 will be a year to remember for a lot of reasons and most will probably not be very good ones.

All of the above is in the news so I won't bother linking to any of those stories. Suffice to say that all of what is going on is starting to seem like the beginning of "Very Troubled Times" for the entire planet.

A "Hopefully" Good Week to all....

Monday, April 10, 2006

UAE and Duabi World Ports STILL in the "Picture"??

The UAE seems to be a pretty exciting place. I can see why "Bush and Co." want to be in "bed" with these people..... and just look at the picture to the right. What country is just above the UAE? How funny I thought that to be since it is the very country we are about to "subjegate" next. Poor Iran.....

So, getting back to the story I set out to pen down when I started this post and then I got a little off track.... (Isn't it amazing how little things seem to come together once you start looking at the "Big Picture").

.....As I was driving home from my dad's house tonight, I was listening to "Coast to Coast AM".

George Neoury was talking to a "Mariner" from the U.S. and they were discussing how the AUE Company that did not get to take over our ports due to all the political fallout,through another of it's connected companies(Istithmar PJSC), now has purchased a major "Shipping Services Company" which will give DWP (Duabi World Ports) the ability to pretty much do whatever it wants in relation to our shipping industry and port operations. The company that was aqquired is called "Inchcape Shipping Services".

(Not that it matters all that much, as I reported earlier and the mainstream news media didnt grab ahold of the fact that a very high level executive of that UAE based company has been nominated to be the U.S. Maritime adminisrator....David Sanborn-look back in my archives for more on this).

So as the two were discussing on the radio show, it seems that 1/2 of their plan was foiled but now another related half is coming out of the woodwork. Merryl Lynch was overseeing this latest transaction. Doesn't anyone realize (or care) that so much of the world is being bought up by these Arabs???

Well, I think that there is alot more going on again than people are being told. Who knows...maybe one day soon, The U.S.A. will become the U.A.E. (United American Emrites)......just a thought.
And if something like this comes to pass, you thought our freedoms were limited now?

The UAE Government even "filters" internet access within it's lands.
(Click on the link below for more on that):
http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/uae/

And as I continued to dig on this region of the world, I came across this little tidbit from a web page that talks about the UAE and all that it is ( A quote from the website I visited):
At present levels of production, oil and gas reserves should last for over 100 years. Despite higher oil revenues in 1999, the government has not drawn back from the economic reforms implemented during the 1998 oil price depression. The government has increased spending on job creation and infrastructure expansion and is opening up its utilities to greater private-sector involvement.
The site where I gleemed the above info from:
http://www.skillclear.co.uk/uae/default.asp

A few quotes from the article that I found after "googling" this company that Coast to Coast talked about:

"Commenting on its latest acquisition, Istithmar Managing Director, Osman Qureshi, said:
'ISS has set the pace by combining the latest web-based technology with the unparalleled expertise of its people, strategically positioned around the globe, to stay ahead in an ever-changing maritime environment and delivering premium services to the world's leading vessel operators".

"Istithmar's primary focus is growth and asset appreciation through a diverse portfolio of investments. Moving forward, we will pursue a broader strategy expanding acquisitions internationally,' Jackson said."

"ISS manages over 50,000 port calls each year through a network of 2,300 people located in 210 ports in over 50 countries. With over 2,500 clients across the oil, cruise, navy, container and commodity sectors ISS, in partnership with some of the world's leading operators, has developed an innovative menu of tailored services. These range from local trouble shooting to our global voyage management package. Electra had acquired ISS from Inchcape Plc in March 1999."

A link to this transaction:
http://www.ameinfo.com/75242.html
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And a little background on the UAE for those that just may be unfamiliar with this rapidly growing republic (courtesy of their official government website):

The United Arab Emirates lies on the Eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the south western corner of the Arabian Gulf. It is bounded to the north-west by the Arabian Gulf, to the East and south-east by the Sultanate of Oman and to the west and south-west by Saudi Arabia, and part of its Eastern boundaries lie on the Gulf of Oman.

The total area of the UAE is around 77,700 square kilometers, excluding the small dependent islands. The emirates of Dubai is located in the northern part of the UAE. It stretches over 72 miles (115 km) on the Gulf coast. It lies between longitudes 16° and 55° East and latitudes 16° and 25° North. The total area of Dubai is approximately 2428 square miles (3885 km²).

Population: In addition to its native population, the United Arab Emirates is inhabited by a mixture of Arab nationals as well as Asians, Europeans, etc. The UAE society is distinguished by a high population growth rate due to rapid economic and social developments. In 1995, the population of the UAE reached 2.4 million while in 2000 the population was estimated at 3.1 million.

The population of Dubai in 1995 stood at 689,000 the majority of whom live in Dubai’s city and suburbs with a small percentage residing in some villages and agricultural areas, while in 2000 the population of Dubai was approximately 862,000.

Language: The official language of the UAE is Arabic according to the constitution of the country, while English is widely spoken especially in business and trade fields. Expatriates use their mother tongues but not at official level.
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Wow....no wonder they are trying to buy up the planet!! That's alot of new human beings in just a few years.
They are just like damm rabbits!!! And they want to take over the world. Maybe George is planning on giving them Iraq and now Iran as "gifts" so they won't try to all move over here...just another crazy thought.

Is King George's Court on the Way to "Self Implosion"?

This just in....

It seems that Condi and Donny are fighting again and for two top level cabinet members to be disagreeing on something so important in this sorry administration...to me it is totally laughable:

Read on:
http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=136217

Bush's "Messianic Legacy"??

Does President Bush think it is HIS "God Given" right to invade Iran and wipe out the "Infadels"?

Well he does feel that it is his responsibility to deliver the "Mid East" from war and oppression and into "peaceful democratic forms of government".
And we know he feels he has to protect our ally Israel.
And will all this truly come about with a "preemtive military strike" in the next few weeks or less?

Alot of this stuff is starting to take on a lot of "Biblical Overtones", so much so that if one digs into some of the sayings of Isiah and more so into the "Book of Revelations" that what is happening today in our world could at times, having been torn right from the pages of those books of the bible.

From the CNN Video (Which I have linked to below) where Seymour Herch is being interviewed, this seems to be the consensus.
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The following is an outtake from the CNN interview that Hersh was given a bit ago:

BLITZER: Here's, among other things, what you write in the article: "A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said that Bush was "absolutely convinced that Iran is going to get the bomb" if it is not stopped. He said that the president believes that he must do "what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do," and that "saving Iran is going to be his legacy."

So what's your bottom line? Do you believe, based on the reporting you did for this article, that the president of the United States is now aggressively plotting military action, a pre-emptive strike against Iran?

HERSH: The word I hear is "messianic." He thinks, as I wrote, that he's the only one now who will have the courage to do it. He's politically free. I don't think he's overwhelmingly concerned about the '06 elections, congressional elections. I think he really thinks he has a chance, and this is going to be his mission.
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And the rumor mill has it that this strike is being planned with "Nuclear Weapons".....

I just hope to God that there is some great power out there somehwere that can stop this all from happening. The world sure is a scary place right now.

Watch the CNN Video:
Hersh: U.S. military already in Iran

And view the article, as CNN is reporting it:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/10/hersh.access/index.html

Sunday, April 9, 2006

The Sunday (April 9,2006) News According to John

My Sunday Ramblings

Another week has passed (well not really PASSED but more like "Hit us in the Face") and quite a bit has been happening on this 3rd Rock from the Sun.
The headlines have been full of destructive weather, nasty political rumblings in Washington and through the world, strange killings, a few mysteries, some cool scientific discoveries and one or two heart breaking and even a few heart warming stories.

Anyone watching the news or reading the daily papers will see all of the above.
My aim today is to go beyond these stories and while I may be talking about some of the above things, I want to dig into some of the more interesting things happening and give my perspective on some of what is happening and also talk about some of the things that are going in my "neck of the woods".....

So without delay, let us start:

Contents

Spring Time in Europe (A friend's travels across the "Pond"..."Icing on the Cake")
The Escalating Situation in Iran (Will the U.S. NUKE a Soveriegn Country?)
Big Brother or Big Mother? (AT&T Forwarding All Internet Traffic to NSA?)
NARUS 6400 (The Big Brother/Mother Computer that is keeping tabs on us?)
Closing Thoughts (My personal editorial of sorts)

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Spring Time in Europe

First off I have to say that I am very envious of the following experience I am about to write about. I had asked if there was room in their suitcases before they left. But, there wasn't so their eyes and thoughts will have to do for now:

Two of my friends recentley returned from a dream vacation overseas. I was wondering how things went for them and have been thinking of them for the last few weeks. Earlier today I recieved an Email from one of my friends and she reports that they had the most wonderful time on their little jaunt across the pond. I am so happy that they had a great time (and from the email, it sounds like their trip was full of excitement and that everything went perfectly).

One of my dreams is to make it across the ocean myself to see some of what they just experienced along with other parts of our "Old World". I originally had planned a massive vacation for 2004 but due to unforseen circumstances, I did not get to go back then. That vacation still ended up being wonderful as I chose to take a two week long "Road Trip" across the Western Section of our nation.

I will probably reminisce a little on that in the future again some time (and if one were to look back in my archives from that period of time: http://jrepinski.blogspot.com/2004_06_01_jrepinski_archive.html, they could probably search through my travellouges of that trip) but for now I want to share a little bit of my friend's trip to Europe. A few lines from the email I just recieved:

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We had the best time. It was the ultimate trip and we catergorized it as the best trip ever!!!!!

Paris was so beautiful and overwhelming that I actually had tears when I saw the Eiffel Tower. I couldn't believe that I was actually there seeing something that I had only dreamed of.

The whole trip was so powerful and exhilerating that I get shivers when I think about. Amsterdam was gorgeous. All the buildings were unlike anything I have ever seen and the people were so incredibly nice.

In Paris there was definately a language barrier but in Amsterdam as soon as you spoke English to someone they would then speak it right back to you. We found this awesome Dutch bakery our first day there and had the best chocolate I have ever tasted! Everything just seemed to work out perfectly.

The train stations were a little complicated at first but once we figured out how to read the signs it was a piece of cake. The trains were so fast and clean. The funny thing about the trains is that they didn't always anounce what stop you were at so we really needed to pay attention. The times they did announce, first they would say it in Dutch then English and as we were approaching Paris they would speak in Dutch, then French then English. It was crazy to hear the many different languages.

We didn't have any problems at all. Everyone was very nice and we met a lot of interesting people. We stayed at a Courtyard for the employee rate and because we were employees they seemed to treat us better. I think they loved the fact that we were employees from the US and decided to stay with them.

We went on a guided tour from the hotel call Holland Stopovers on our last day there. That was like the icing to the cake. We had already been walking around from a few days and we had guide books and everything but the woman that showed us around was actually from there and gave us the history of the areas we had already walked. This was definately worth. She picked us up in her van and first took us to a wooden shoe and cheese factory where we were shown how they actually make the shoes. Then we saw the Rembrandt Windmill, then she walked around with us in downtown Amsterdam. The last thing that was included was a canal tour on one of the many boats. And that was so cool.

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The Escalating Situation in Iran

Are we getting close to the World's first nuclear confrontation since World War Two??

This seems to be the consensus of a lot of different people including our own administration (who will by the way be leading this confrontation) as quoted by a few of the recent articles I have read over the course of the last few months and in particular the last few days. Things are getting a bit scary out there.

I am going to repeat here, my prior feelings on this situation by simply saying that I don't feel this administration has the right to attack a soveriegn nation that is (by all accounts from most media that is not controlled by the government "Spin Machine") just trying to protect itself from the big bad "Zionists", which unfortuanately the U.S. is and has been controlled by for a very long time. And you all thought that Israel was being protected by us......

A couple of articles that may give a better feel for what is currently happening and what many are afraid will erupt into the initial stages of the Next World War (The Last World War).....

This quote from a CNN news article that originally appeared in The "New Yorker Magazine" a couple days ago, which the first link takes you to that article (all below-including an article from out of the U.S. as well as an article from CNN):

The U.S. administration is stepping up plans for a possible air strike on Iran, despite publicly pushing for a diplomatic solution to a dispute over its nuclear ambitions, according to a report by influential investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060417fa_fact

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060410/asp/foreign/story_6080051.asp

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/04/09/hersh.iran.reut/index.html

And last but not least, to get a feeling of real U.S. thoughts on Iran, as close as one can get without being in the inner circle of those who ultimately make those decisions (and these people probably are the ones who make these decisions..), I have included an article that I found on the CFR (Council of Foriegn Relations) web site:

http://www.cfr.org/publication/10355/iran_vexes_us_policymakers.html

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Big Brother or Big Mother??

AT&T Forwarding All Internet Traffic to NSA?

So this is my phone company as well as my ISP. Should people be worried that the government is so totally entrenched in our lives at this point that if you pick your nose, they will probably know about it?? It is probably too late for worrying or anything else. A "police state" such as the one we are becoming, monitors all of it's citizens. This is your warning to be good little boys and girls....and no dissention! Otherwise you may find yourself in a detention camp in Alaska.....

Read the following missives from Slashdot and a few other places. and click on the underlined words for links to more articles on these "Big Brother" tactics. I have said it before and I will say it again....

Welcome to 1984 (We may be a few years late....but we have finally arrived!)

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1. An anonymous reader writes that "SpamDailyNews is reporting that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a brief that claims AT&T has been forwarding internet traffic directly into the hands of the NSA. The brief was filed under seal (a procedure that allows only the judge and the litigants to view the document) in order to give the court time to review the information. From the article: 'More than just threatening individuals' privacy, AT&T's apparent choice to give the government secret, direct access to millions of ordinary Americans' Internet communications is a threat to the Constitution itself. We are asking the Court to put a stop to it now.'"

2. pkbarbiedoll writes "The recent discovery of AT&T's monitoring program has raised more than a few eyebrows. While the class action suit filed by EFF is pending (as well as a seperate suit filed against the NSA filed by the ACLU), interested parties are taking the time to learn more about the scope of this massive invasion of privacy. Bewert examines the Narus architecture used by AT&T in their previously shadowed (and ongoing) collaboration with the NSA."

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NARUS 6400

So a little bit more on our friend, the NARUS Company. Their website is interesting and though I have just begun to read through the many links and pages on their site, it seems like one of the guys from the webiste called "The Dailykoss-State of the Union" has done some digging and uncoverd some nifty little tidbits on this company and it's board of directors and it's overall mission to help usher in the age of "Orwell's 1984". Read on by clicking the link below. And after the article, click on the comments to expand those and read some of those as well. Alot of interesting commentary on this subject:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/8/14724/28476

I have begun to some more digging into this company and though I have a long way to go, I have discovered links already via "Google" that suggest that this company may even be into RFD stuff such as barcodes that can read info that are on products and things. They also have their hands dug into "cell phone technology" and other stuff. They sure do have a global reach already as suggested by the following links that I have included as well. I have a feeling that this company is very much connected to "Big Brother" and all that it implies. Keep on eye on that name folks.....NARUS. I have also included a link to this companie's web site as well.

http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/August2002/3932.htm

http://www.barcodes.com/htmlprod/class-81.html

http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Nov2003/6068.htm

http://www.shanghaiist.com/archives/2006/04/05/shanghai_to_blo.php

http://narus.com/index.html

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Closing Thoughts

As I start a new week (well actually end my weekend with one more day off), I see the world heading into more trouble (Which it has been doing for thousands of years) than I can remember in recent history.

Our nation being ravaged by storms of unprecedented magnitude, killing everywhere, kids running amok, pedophiles and sex crazed politicians and teachers being caught for doing nasty stuff with minors, politicians arguing over everything.....and the list goes on and on. I feel like I am living in the last days of the "Ancient Roman Republic" at times. I just hope we fair better than they did and that history looks upon this time in a light that can at least be seen further in the future. Who knows though as it seems right now that all of what is happening can very well turn this current time into a very "hard to reconstruct" memory for any future historians.

Extra: "The Great West Racine Black Out of 2006"

On another note, I had strange thoughts on the wonder we call "Electricity" last night. What brought that about? Well, it was shortly after 2:30AM and I was browsing the web when all of a sudden the power went out in my little cave of an apartment.

My laptop has a battery so it was quite weird to loose all lighting and the little tv that was switched to the Weather Channel on my desk. I thought it may have just been my little place so I got up and looked outside and it was complete darkness outside. I went outside to see if I could hear a storm or something approaching. Nothing. Just silence except for the dogs in the neighborhood starting to bark (why the dogs would bark because of a power outage is beyond me...maybe their lights in their respective dog houses went out also) and the sounds of some cars traveling down the main road just down the street from where I live.

So I went back inside and started lighting the few candles I had around the "cave" and since I am on a Wireless Router for my internet connection, I had no access to the web and the things I was looking at, I decided to shut the computer off and then I thought after about 25 minutes still without power that maybe I should call the power company to report the outage as I figured there probably aren't alot of night owls like me still awake at 3:00AM.

So...I reach for the cordless and no power! Darn, that uses electricity also. So I go into the bedroom where I still have an old "landline" phone hooked up and I call the power company and get a recording that they know about the outage and are working to repair it but do not know how long it will take.

So I decided to go to bed as I couldn't watch a movie and I hate reading by candlelight. I am in bed and it is so quiet as the fan that I normally have on to make background noise is also not working due to electricity. (Am I the only one in the world who can not sleep without some sort of white noise??)

And so I am laying in bed and wondering what would happen if the power would stay off forever or even for just a period of time where all the things we as humans have come to depend on as far as comforts, went away. The TV, the computer, the ability to keep things cold in the fridge, AC comfort in the summer, people who depend on electricity to stay alive in hospitals and even at home, and all sorts of other things that we have come to take for granted. Tossing and turning, I decided to get up again and just spent a few minutes looking out the windows and talking to my room mate Scrappy( my pain in the but kitty) and then we decided to go back to bed.

About an hour later the power came back on just as I was finally starting to fall asleep and I heard the answering machine click on and announce that I needed to set the time and the fan clicked back on and lights that I had on before the outage came back on. The "Great West Racine Black Out of 2006" was over and with that I hit my head on the pillow and slumbered pretty well for the rest of the night.

Ahhh...electricity. I did go out today and bought a bunch more candles and a big cooler and a few other things that will keep me comfy in the case of an extended version of what happened last night. I still have to look for some batteries to hook up to my laptop (I have one but it is very old and I do not know how long it lasts) and maybe even one of those nifty little generators that power an entire apartment. But where would I keep that?? Oh well, it is a thought.

I just rented "BrokeBack Mountain" and am going to pop some popcorn, grab the licorice and hunker down on my sofa and watch a movie......unless the power goes out!!!

Warm Regards for a good week to all.....